Dead Suns, Session 38

Watch video of the game session on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Jj5pKVlm2hc.

The crew had successfully bypassed the Corpse Fleet forces moving towards the engineering section of the Stellar Degenerator. Worried those forces might double back once they realized the Starfinders had thwarted them, Cypher and Switch left to set up traps to slow down their foes.

While the rest of the group rested, Wesley hacked into the internal sensors in the forward section of the ship. He found he could track the Corpse Fleet across the entire ship to ensure they would not be caught in a bad position. The group inventoried their gear and made some adjustments in preparation (adding radiation buffers to armor, etc). Wesley began concocting a crazy plan with a wheelbarrow, a fire extinguisher, and a flashlight but no one seemed to be on board with that one. Eventually, they decided they should use their holoskins to disguise themselves as Corpse Fleet just as Cypher returned from his work.

Wesley, via the sensors, was able to identify there were three approaches to the bridge. One opened onto the lower section of the bridge while the other two approaches opened onto the upper section of the bridge. Based on Nuil’s knowledge of the Maltur she thought the command station would be in the upper section. They entered the bridge and quickly discovered Nuil’s recall had failed them, an uncommon occurrence, and the command station was in the lower section.

A few undead soldiers lingered in the upper section while below a couple manned the command station. An enormous, undead vesk (Gatecrasher) stood guard over Admiral Serovox who floated in the center of an arcane circle of power. Standing around the circle and chanting were Serovox’s acolytes and the vessels through which he had stolen control of the ship. Standing away from the ritual was an undead soldier with incredible hair (Jacen) which immediately reminded the group of Ryder’s luscious locks.

The good looking undead reacted to the PCs and questioned them, “Kreth! What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be below finding the Starfinders.” It seemed the illusion was somewhat successful.

Cypher responded he had brought one of the Starfinders to serve as a sacrifice for the ritual. Jacen protested that a sacrifice wasn’t needed for this ritual because the power they needed came from the Denizens of Leng around the circle. Cypher went on a tirade about how everything was better with a sacrifice and sacrifices were all the rage these days. Jacen bought the bluff and gave up his protest.

One of the undead minions, a necrograft robot, wasn’t so convinced and began scanning Switch. Cypher feigned working on Switch’s bonds while working on his datapad to hack the necrograft robotlike he had done in the hangar bay. Only the large undead vesk noticed Cypher’s actions and questioned him. The illusion had begun to unravel. Despite Cypher’s protests, Gatecrasher demand he comes to the lower level and accounts for his actions.

Gatecrasher had begun to suspect Cypher was not Kreth and asked him a question about what Kreth had said to him hundreds of years before when they had conquered their first planet together. Cypher responded, “I said, never screw with the Starfinders!”

The subterfuge had ended but the PCs still had the element of surprise.

The group rolled initiative for the last time (in this campaign) at the 41 minute 20 second mark in the video.

As the rest of the group leapt into battle, Wesley and Drez wondered if they still needed to act like prisoners. Ryder and Cypher dropped their disguises and Ryder opened fire. Ryder hit one of the necrograft robots right in the eye and sent it flailing over the rail. It crashed into a computer system and died in a crackling explosion. Cypher activated his cloaking device and blended into the wall. Drez snapped to and tossed a grenade into the lower section. The explosion rocked several of the undead on the lower level. Wesley tried to maneuver TIM-X to take a shot but the drone’s rifle bounced off the rail and slammed into its own dome (a critical fail card, lost access to that attack). Nuil pulled out her big gun and dropped a wall of fire into the lower section. She laced it around the ritual circle and back up to where Gatecrasher and the minions hit by Drez’s grenade stood. The room was ablaze with burning corpses!

GM Note: I completely forgot about Nuil’s wall of flame and did not anticipate that attack. More power to her! She torched the bad guys good. Two undead soldiers remained in the upper section. One soldier remained at the controls for the ship. Gatecrasher and two twisted sisters (burned but still unliving), Jacen, and Serovox were all that remained of the foes the Starfinders originally found on the bridge when they arrived.

Serovox raged! The ritual was broken and he lost control of the Steller Degenerator. He bellowed, “Kill them! Kill them all except for Ryder. I want his face!”

Both sides pressed the attack!

One of the twisted sisters warped her body and crawled up the wall to attack Nuil. She struck the lamerta with multiple punches and Nuil’s armor warped and grew brittle where struck. The group realized how dangerous the sisters were and Drez dropped to the second level to keep the second twisted sister busy.

Gatecrasher charged through the wall of flame (taking massive amounts of damage) and leapt into the upper section. TIM-X and Wesley tried to retaliate but failed to harm the undead vesk.

Serovox glowered at Nuil’s wall of flame and snapped his fingers (dispel magic). The wall of flame disappeared. Jacen, who now had an open path to the PCs, rushed up the stairs to the upper section but could not reach the PCs before they began to fire on them. He revealed his solarian abilities and summoned a protective wall of graviton energy to protect himself from their attacks.

Ryder opened himself to the attacks of the necrograft robot and fired on the twisted sister attacking Nuil. His gun misfired and flashed in his eyes making it difficult for him to see (fumble; all enemies have concealment for one round). NOTE: The seal on his pistol negated this penalty but narratively, he struggled until his vision cleared.

Nuil recognized the danger she was in and cast invisibility on herself. She then climbed to the ceiling and worked her way away from the twisted sister and Gatecrasher.

Cypher activated his holographic clones and rolled a 4, best roll for this ability in the entire campaign. Four Cypher clones appeared and Cypher leapt across the room to get away from Gatecrasher. The undead vesk swung on him but chose the wrong target and smashed a clone.

The twisted sister which had chased Nuil did not know where her target had gone so she dropped down next to Ryder and attacked him. Ryder continued to fumble with his vision problems and somehow managed to dodge every attack.

Drez continued to fight the twisted sister in the lower section. He could not penetrate her defenses but she continued to land attack after attack. Multiple crits in her multi attack and she dealt 88 points of damage, stunned Drez, and ripped into his flesh spreading her filth and poisoned Drez.

The battle had begun in the PCs favor but the tides were quickly turning.

Wesley directed TIM-X to continue attacking Gatecrasher and then activated his jump jets to leap over the undead vesk and land on the lower level (on one of the computer terminals). He fired on the twisted sister who had immobilized Drez and blasted her from behind. Although she still posed a great threat, she was not looking well (um, as well as normal, that is).

Serovox drew his red plasma sword and then launched a fireball (well, the Starfinder equivalent of a fireball) at the center of the PCs on the upper level. The admiral did not care if he harmed his allies as well and the upper level exploded in flame. The PCs on the upper level were able to take some cover but were still hurt by the attack.

Jacen dropped his protective shield, moved closer to the PCs, and summoned a second shield. The new shield stood between himself and most of the PCs but did leave him vulnerable to part of the upper section.

At that moment, Switch finally reached the bridge and joined in the fray! He rushed the twisted sister on the upper level. He drew his ultrathin necroblade and crit her doing 66 points of damage.

Ryder was glad to have the group’s second soldier back and guardedly stepped back from the twisted sister and Gatecrasher. Unfortunately, his vision had not yet cleared and he could not hit her.

Nuil (still invisible) scrambled across the ceiling and dropped down behind Drez. She force-fed him a healing serum (restoring 23 hit points).

Drez was still stunned but managed to fight off the effects of the twisted sister’s poison.

Cypher fired on the twisted sister on the bottom level and then moved to cover behind a crate (along with his clones). The twisted sister was not looking good at all!

The twisted sister on the upper level reeled from Switch’s attack and she retaliated with a flurry of blows at the android soldier. Several of them connected doing damage but he resisted some of it.

The lower twisted sister turned to Wesley. Both Cypher and Wesley had hit her but she could not tell which of the ysokis was the real one and which were clones. Attacking Wesley was a sure bet and she pummeled the human mechanic for 56 points of damage.

Gatecrasher swung an aurora shock caster around and tried to blast the PCs on the upper level but they dodged. The energy field smashed into the wall and sent debris flying everywhere. Electricity spidered across the wall from where the blast hit.

Wesley dropped back from the twisted sister and fired at her but missed while TIM-X flailed at Gatecrasher.

Jacen finally reached the PCs and swung at Ryder with his solarian weapon but fumbled. He did 28 points of bludgeoning damage to himself as he tripped and slammed into the rail.

Switch cleaved through the twisted sister doing 41 points of damage (and she had 42 hit points). The One Hit Point Wonders strike again! Fitting for the final combat encounter of the campaign. Switch spun the attack around but missed Jacen.

Ryder cleverly distracted Jacen and then fired at him point-blank. He hit the solarian square in the chest but the undead warrior resisted some of the damage. He then shouted down to Drez and bolstered his ally restoring 34 stamina.

Nuil used her magic missile attack to finish off the twisted sister on the upper level and further harm Gatecrasher. The second magic missile bloodied the undead vesk.

Cypher continued firing on the remaining twisted sister and almost dropped her but not quite. He remained behind the crate and activated his cloaking field making it even more difficult to attack him.

Drez stepped forward and drew his nova lance from his back. With his haste circuit activated he circled around the twisted sister and stabbed repeatedly at her. He managed to hit her with his second lunge and destroyed her. He then moved over to the only remaining necrograft robot (the one at the helm of the Stellar Degenerator).

Gatecrasher saw Drez move and he dropped from the upper level and smashed down with his hammer but Drez dodged the massive attack.

Wesley scrambled back from Gatecrasher and blasted the necrograft robot to smithereens. Cables from the robot ripped out of the console and everyone felt the Stellar Degenerator tilt.

Serovox saw what the PCs were about to try and he summoned a wall of force around the helm.

Jacen became fully graviton attuned and activated a Star Quake. The gravity field around the ship shifted as he stalked towards TIM-X, causing damage to everything around him and knocking Switch to the ground. He slashed through the drone with his solarian weapon and destroyed him.

Wesley screamed, “Nooooo! You bastard!” Jacen laughed maniacally.

Switch jumped to his feet and quickly lost the distance with Jacen. The solarian spun and easily parried the attack.

Ryder (still struggling with his vision) fired at Jacen and missed.

Nuil moved into the middle of the room and summoned a powerful arcing surge which she sent cascading through Gatecrasher and Jacen. The undead vesk shook violently.

Cypher fired on Gatecrasher but couldn’t hit him.

Drez summoned his resolve to “keep fighting” and restored 21 stamina and then launched a full attack at Gatecrasher but fumbled. He slipped across the forcefield and missed.

Gatecrasher chuckled and swing his hammer at Drez but the quicker vesk ducked the attack.

Wesley primed a grenade, tugged on Gatecrasher’s pants, and dropped the grenade into the undead vesk’s trousers. He then activated his jump jets and leapt away. Gatecrasher swung on the mechanic and smashed him as Wesley fled. Then the grenade went off in his pants. Bits and pieces of armor and gore flew all over the place. Gatecrasher stumbled and somehow managed to stay on his feet.

Serovox flew onto the upper level and slashed through Ryder’s should with his plasma sword. Ryder felt himself weaken as if just being near the admiral was draining his strength.

Jacen’s graviton power began to grow again and he summoned it around himself to increase his defenses. He then launched flashing strikes at Switch and slashed through him doing 59 points of acid damage. Thank the gods Switch has a huge reservoir of stamina.

Switch smiled and slashed through the solarian twice and drove him to his knees. Jacen barely managed to push himself back to his feet.

Ryder felt the aura around Serovox tugging at his reserves of strength but he managed to resist the magical assault.

Serovox took the momentary respite in action to parlay. “Ryder, there’s no reason for this. We did so miss you when you left the family. I had to go and clone you, create this other one but I’d much rather have the original.”

Ryder protested, “There’s only one original. That is no clone. He doesn’t even look like me!”

Serovox countered, “He’s got your hair!”

Wesley grudgingly agreed.

Ryder ended the discussion by raising his blaster and shot Serovox in the leg. He then ran to take cover near Switch and his haste circuit finally ran out of energy.

Nuil unleashed a second arcing surge which tore through Gatecrasher and Jacen again. Serovox bellowed for them to find the “techno-witch” before she could do more damage.

Cypher leapt out from the crate and taunted Gatecrasher, “I remember what I said on that planet. Die, *BLEEP*.” He laser ripped through Gatecrasher’s chest and the behemoth dropped to the ground, dead (like, really dead… not undead).

Drez could not resist Serovox’s aura and was suddenly fatigued. He activated his jump jets and leapt onto the upper level and landed in front of Serovox. He swung with confidence and was surprised when his attacked bounced off an invisible field of energy protecting the admiral. He focused his second attack and managed to get through the admiral’s defenses to do some damage.

Wesley also succumbed to Serovox’s aura and was fatigued. He stumbled out of range of the aura and blasted Jacen who was engaged with Switch. Looking down at TIM-X he levelled his blaster at the solarian and blasted him in the face. Jacen’s undead brains went flying out the back of his skull.

Admiral Serovox was alone. He looked at Drez and cast “rewire flesh” on the vesk soldier. Drez was overcome by the magic which began to work his flesh and transmute him into a robot and mechanical parts, tearing the flesh as it converted him.

Switch, now free from Jacen, charged down the upper section and engaged with Serovox. He slashed through the admiral, bloodying him.

Ryder fired at Serovox but could not connect.

Nuil unloaded on Serovox with magic missiles.

Cypher followed the other’s lead and shot the admiral as well (barely hitting but a hit nonetheless).

Drez sees the look in Serovox’s eyes, a look he knows all to well in his prey. Serovox is about to run. The vesk taunted, “Well buddy, nothing gives me greater pleasure than jamming this right up your ass!” The vesk warrior attacked viciously but Serovox parried the first attack. The second one caught him in the side and tore away chunks of flesh. The admiral still stood (with 6 hit points remaining).

Wesley, aided by Drez’s assault, slides around the corner like Tom Cruise in Risky Business, raises his gun and tells his allies to duck. He fires once and the round flies between Drez and Switch. A red dot appears in Serovox’s forehead and with a popping sound, Serovox’s brain matter goes flying out the back of his head.

They won. The Stellar Degenerator was theirs.

The lingering vestiges of Serovox’s power quickly dissipate. The remaining Corpse Fleet vessels turned and fled.

Cypher and Switch remained on the bridge while the rest of the PCs returned to where the Maltur slept and began to awaken them. Although disoriented, the lead Maltur recognized Nuil as a lamertian, and asked her why the Stellar Degenerator had been unsurfaced again.

Nuil and Ryder explained about the Corpse Fleet and the barrier which had cut off a large portion of the Starfinder fleet in the Scoured Stars system (including Wesley’s parents). Somehow the Maltur sensed the remainder of the Corpse Fleet on the Stellar Degenerator and sent two of their soldiers to deal with the remaining threats.

The next few days were spent restoring the Stellar Degenerator to a fully serviceable state. The Maltur and the Starfinders exchange information and eventually, the lead Maltur decides they should help the Starfinder Society. He activates the Degenerator’s warp drives and within a few short hours, they find themselves dropping into real space outside the barrier surrounding the Scoured Stars system.

Wesley is given the honor of activating the weapon. The beam leaps out from the Stellar Degenerator. There is a long pause before the Sivv/Maltur begins to work. It takes some time but the barrier begins to crack. The barrier breaks and dissipates.

Almost immediately from somewhere in the Scoured Stars system, there is a transmission on all frequencies, “This is Starfinder 0672, 0672. Whose out there? Can you read us?”

Wesley responds, “0672. This is Starcrusher… With Artisanal Weaponry!”

Fade to black! We hoped you enjoyed the campaign!