Starfinder: Attack of the Swarm (Fate of the Fifth) AP pbp

[Kangaroorex]

Ratticus starts to head outside in his second skin thinking himself all smart and sets one foot out the door and begins shivering violently.  he dashes back inside and sees the cold weather gear laid out on his locker and thankfully pulls it on.  it takes him a little while to get his packs outside the gear but properly dressed he heads out again, deciding maybe the big guy can have a day or two off from being tormented...

 

when he gets to the briefing room he ensures his little display function is turned off and nods a sheepish thanks to Vitharyan for keeping him from freezing.

[haldir]

Right at 2200 hrs.

 

"My name is Lieutenant Jan (yhan) Danvers & I'll be your superior for the rest of this mission."

 

"Alright, you have your mission from the Major, so you don't need anything else from me, other then, be alert out there. The Swarm are in a lull right now, but who knows what they are planning. Report back anything out of the ordinary. We will have someone monitoring the channel the entire time you are out there. After your shift is up, return to base for further orders."

 

The young lieutenant says to the gathered party.

 

"Dismissed, & good luck!"

 

The party makes it way out of Camp Cavalier, which sits a few miles outside of Brinnoa. The party's destination is a couple of hours, outside of the capitol city in a hilly area. Someone, please give me a Survival check.

 

 

[ferret]

Survival check 10+7=17

[haldir]

Alright, with no further distractions, the party makes it to the Delta Escarpment. Again, it's a very hilly area, there is some snow piled up on some of the hills & it's cold but it's not freezing yet. By the time the party makes it here, 2 hours (had you failed the check, it would have added an extra hour to the march, as you went in circles....) have gone by & the moon has fully risen in the sky.

 

It's a clear night & the star provide Dim light conditions. 

[Zero Prime]

Vith returned Maus' nod, and once dismissed approached the diminutive engineer, "Couldn't rightly let you freeze your tail off."  Looking towards the others, he noted the make up of the group, "I'll take point, get us to the escarpment quickly.  Forecast calls for a wind out of the west tonight, going to be a cold one boys, might want to turn on your enviro controls til sun up."  He pinged the comms built into their helms as he disappeared into the snowy terrain around them.

 

"Keep this channel open for sit-reps," he gave another pause, "Gustav might be best to have you take rear, make sure no vexxers get behind or beneath us, keep our asses covered.  Ta'Naton, if you want to take fore protect the Doc and our engineer, we'll get this little march done and be back in for the morning bell."

 

He monitored the comm for changes in the basic plan, but soon moved forward of the group to ensure that he had good eyes on the terrain as they progressed forward towards the Delta Escarpment.

 

Survival (Navigation) 13+10=23

Stealth (Full Speed) 14+12-10=16

[ferret]

"You know, it does seem a bit ironic that we are working very hard to look for something we're praying we don't find."

 

   As the party advances, Gustav carefully scans as much of the ground as he can see in the dim light looking for spoil tips, vent holes or other signs of underground activity.  During his time as a miner, he saw the corporation's repeated efforts to hide signs of shafts that "accidentally" extended beyond the bounds of their mineral rights. He believes there is no way a shaft or tunnel can be totally hidden since the spoil has to go somewhere and nothing can live down below with a steady supply of air.

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by ferret

[Kangaroorex]

Ratticus thanks him, He is not used to the cold...anywhere except when raiding a freezer!

 

Ratticus is concerned with keeping up and keeping track of the party in particular, how someone that big can be that hard to track while trying his best to stay inconspicuous while for him practically running at full tilt.  He manages and he is constantly squelching the urge to cry out for the others to wait up  but the only thing the group hears is the occasional panting and (about 5 minutes after the Vesk takes off) "keep this rate up i wont be needing the heaters" before the mic goes silent.

 

stealth (17+9-10=16)

perception to keep track of the leader and not to trip on something 13+3=16

 

He sets his drone on watch to ping him if it detects anything moving or out of place and it quietly spins the camera round from its little nest on the top of the pack (perception 12+0=12. stealth 17+8=25)

 

eyes out he chases after the party, trying valiantly to stay in the middle of the pack

 

[Corsair]

Doc greatly admires how easily his companions are maintaining the pace and their dexterity. Thanks to his companions' discrete [although he does notice] keeping an eye on him.

no modifier, rolls a 17 on his survival check.

When they stop each time to catch their breath, he checks each of them quickly, including Vith, much to the towering Vesk's amusement.

[Dilvish the Deliverer]

Ra-astar nods quietly at Vith suggestion that he takes point and moves up to the front of the party, nimbly working his way through the terrain (desert stride: move through non-magical difficult terrain in deserts, hills and mountains at normal speed).  His mote floats in it's normal position above his right upper shoulder glowing softly.  He places his feet carefully, but does not seem to be overly worried about moving stealthfully.

 

Perception 10+4=14

[haldir]

The party sets up for a 13 hr shift. The temperature does drop to around 24 degrees F (or -4.4 C for the Imperial members ) but it stays there for most of the shift. The first few hours (note: Suskillon has a day of 26 hrs, so just 2 more then regular Earth hours), nothing just a quite evening on Suskillon. The mid shift hours thou........ (who ever is active & out searching the area, give me a Survival check).

[Corsair]

I have cold weather gear, rolled a 15, the hospitaller tent is set up for use by the other members.

[haldir]

Ok, the tent can house 2 people...

 

Doc, you are out on patrol & searching the area with a light source, you come upon some tracks. The tracks are of a Suskillon brush stalker, a large endangered predator native to this region. Thou, they are hours old, the creature long gone from the area. Afterwards, you don't come across anything else.

 

The shift continues for everyone with nothing, just like it has for the past week. The light of a new day barely breaks on the horizon & the 13 hour shift is in it's 10th hour when everyone see something:

 

A loud atonal alarm is followed with an all-points emergency broadcast over your comm units. A hurried female voice says, “Attention all Suskillon ground forces, this is Spacedock Prime-1. We are under heavy attack! A Swarm armada has entered in low orbit and has begun to—shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.shhhhhhhhhhhhh” the transmission ends as abruptly as it began in a burst of ear-splitting static.

 

Up in the sky high above Brinnoa, hundreds of small lights flash—the telltale sign of starship combat.

 

What does the party do?

 

[Zero Prime]

Doc had set up the tent at the hollow of the hill, to keep the unit out of the wind while they patrolled the area, when their comms crackled to life Vith immediately stopped on patrol.  As the enormity of the emergency broadcast struck him, he looked skyward, Spacedock Prime?!  It was the central hub of incoming and outgoing trade for the continent, it also housed the Suskillon Orbital Defense flight groups, the pilots who defended their orbital soverignty.  

 

He looked to his squad mates, "If SP-1 is under attack," he paused, stunned, "an additional battlegroup?  Reinforcements?"  The flashes of ion-charged orbital weapons reflecting through the night sky over Brinnoa, he suddenly had a chill go down his spine, causing his tail to quiver back and forth rapidly.  "Break down that tent," he called to his squad, while he tried to raise SDF Command on comms.  "SDF Command this is 5th Battalion, Midnight Squad, on recon patrol 6 miles west of Cavalier.  SP-1 broadcast received.  Orders?!?"

[ferret]

Gustav stretches his muscles which have stiffened from a night in the cold and looks around for a spot to make coffee.  He sighs in regret at not being more insistent that they make camp on the ridge where they could see the surrounding terrain.

 Turning to Vith he says in a quiet voice others won't hear. 

   "Whoa, Big Guy.  I know you are concerned, but you need to stop trying to contact SDF Command.  They may be a bit too busy right now to deal with a small squad.  If you think we need new orders, I suggest you follow the chain of command and call battalion ops.  Me, I happy to keep right on with our current mission until we are told otherwise though we need to be alert for anything triggered but arrival of the new Swarm forces.

[Kangaroorex]

While the 'big important people' wrangle about what is going on and whats happening, Ratticus sends Pip to do a spiral pattern around the camp and to circle out of sight (stealth 15+8=23) to locate caves and other potential hidey holes or entrances and to report back ever loop or half loop or 20 minutes whichever comes first. it stays low to the ground and starts sweeping for potential hidaways and threats (it is a stealth drone after all, with adaptive camo) 

 

once Ratticus sets that up he goes to see what needs to be done in the camp and makes sure his pea shooter has a good set of batteries .  basically stay low, act cool, and assume anyone out there will shoot the bigger targets first... all the while ensuring that those bigger targets don't get mad at him!