Author Topic: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement  (Read 4353 times)

FakDendor

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Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« on: October 04, 2019, 06:00:30 am »
Welcome to this 4th gamemaster sandbox! This one is intended to be more of an adventure than a single encounter - and full disclosure: it might be too deadly! I appreciate your help testing this adventure, and I'm willing to make changes and edit as we go in an effort to balance the adventure to 13th level PCs.

Spoiler: 'House Rules' (hover to show)

Spoiler: 'Gialle Halya' (hover to show)
Spoiler: 'Ghost' (hover to show)
Spoiler: 'Talinn' (hover to show)
Spoiler: 'Tar-No-Sha' (hover to show)
Spoiler: 'Torkad' (hover to show)

-----
The PCs have a lead on a powerful force artifact that may assist them in their war effort against a Yuuzhan Vong invasion. Their information from Chiss scouts points to the presence of this artifact on Calagroth: a jungle world with a settlement of Rakata - a previously encountered "regressed" culture of once-advanced primitives. This settlement was doing relatively well until remote scans showed a recent decrease in activity. No one has visited the world in several months. They are travelling to this world to investigate and hopefully secure the artifact. The PCs will start with a well equipped freighter - the Enduring Light as they have been involved in a conflict. Our adventure begins as the Enduring Light reverts to realspace above Calagroth...

Spoiler: 'Starship' (hover to show)

You feel a lurch in your stomachs as you revert to realspace. You brace yourselves for blaring alarms, tense shouts, and the shudder of incoming fire. But, for the first time in awhile, your arrival seems to be a quiet one. No ships of any kind are in your vicinity. No communications are sounding over the ship's comms. The passive sensors detect only Calagroth's jungles spinning pensively below. A more active search may reveal more.

Spoiler: 'Image of Calagroth' (hover to show)
« Last Edit: October 06, 2019, 04:28:49 am by sienn_sconn »

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Ghondar

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Re: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2019, 07:46:48 am »
Spoiler (hover to show)

FakDendor

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Re: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2019, 08:53:56 am »
Spoiler (hover to show)

StevenO

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Re: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2019, 09:29:37 am »
Fak - I hope you don't mind too much but I put in Ghondar's updated stat block in the first post.  If you have them other places you may need to put them in.

I'm going to assume Tar-No-Sha is doing the piloting for now.

For the start Talinn will activate Inspire Confidence which should give everyone else a +2 morale boost on all skill checks and attacks until the end of the encounter at which time he can just restart it.  He'll enter a Serenity trance for a round and then using Sense Force to try to get a read on things; not sure on the range but I think a 40+ could be enough to learn things.  Gialle could be of assistance on the check as she could these other exploratory checks.  With this out of the way Talinn wonders what he may know/say about this world using Knowledge checks (take 10 produces 30 result).

Torkad is a bit better with the Sensors that Ghost so hoping Torkad would make a sensor sweep of the area then the planet taking 10 using his +13 skill with +2 morale (IC) and whatever the ship gives.

Let's see what's out there now.
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sienn_sconn

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Re: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2019, 11:39:49 am »
Spoiler: OOC (hover to show)

Tar-No-Sha holds the ship on a steady course towards the equator of the planet, ready to alter course at the suggestion of the sensor operator.
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Ghondar

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Re: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2019, 01:32:31 pm »
Spoiler: actions (hover to show)

Torkad scans the green planet and surroundings with ships sensors. Gialle helps him set the ranges, and then turns to help Tallin. As she knows nearly nothing about the Force, she defaults to what she knows inspires men regardless of species and task at hand.
"Come on, oh great Jedi. Impress me. Show me what you can do." she purrs.
« Last Edit: October 04, 2019, 01:53:58 pm by Ghondar »

FakDendor

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Re: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2019, 02:35:59 pm »
Torkad, with a 32 (the ship has a +2 INT modifier) you feel confident there are no detectable ships in the area. However, as your sensors turn to the planet nearby you detect abnormal heat signatures on one of the larger forested continents, and as you focus on the signal you are able to get a visual: a thick blanket of dark billowing smoke seems to have covered a section perhaps 50 kilometers across. When paired with the heat signatures you suspect some sort of fire below. The smoke is throwing off your sensors at this range - you will have to get closer if you want to investigate with the sensors further.

Talinn, you do not sense any danger or presences in your immediate vicinity, but from the world of Calagroth you feel something dark, unsettling, and unknown to you - despite your knowledge. And there are other feelings too - more familiar though not more pleasant: suffering and pain and anger. There are sentient beings below that smoke, though their presences feel "fuzzy" to you - as if you were on the verge of losing connection to a holonet broadcast.

You pull yourself out of the realm of the force and consider more conventional facts: Calagroth is a jungle planet surveyed by the Chiss several times - though no recent surveys have occurred in recent months. The planet had a population of devolved Rakata that had been doing quite well - unlike most of the isolated Rakata remnants. You've had previous interaction with devolved Rakata and found them superstitious, aggressive, and unfriendly. Many Rakata live in ruins of their former force-powered technology that they no longer have the capacity to operate or even comprehend. Some worship the technology they once created. If there is a force artifact on Calagroth, it is conceivable it has something to do with the Rakata.

Calagroth itself is a hothouse jungle world prone to intense cloudburst rainfall. Chiss survey data found the world to be far older than most habitable planets, with very little geologic or volcanic activity. Under these conditions a large fire seems unusual.
« Last Edit: October 04, 2019, 03:50:11 pm by FakDendor »

Ghondar

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Re: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2019, 03:01:10 pm »
Putting all the surveys by both Force and mundane means together, Gialle sighs. "Why do I have this nagging feeling that what we are looking for is in the middle of that fire down there?"

"Tar, bring us closer. The smoke disrupts our sensors at this range." asks Torkad, still monitoring the sensors.

Spoiler (hover to show)

StevenO

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Re: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2019, 05:05:43 pm »
Talinn: I concur.  We need to investigate the area by that cloud of smoke more closely but be on the lookout for landing zones near the area.  There's some kind of "evil" about this place and I may be able to learn more when we get closer however it also feels like there are beings down there.  They may be in some sort of trouble but with that unnatural fire we should still be cautious.

Spoiler (hover to show)
« Last Edit: October 04, 2019, 05:13:04 pm by StevenO »
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sienn_sconn

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Re: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2019, 05:22:12 pm »
Tar-No-Sha dips the ship towards the center of the smokey region.

"A fire is just a fire.  It's an act of nature.  We shouldn't make any assumptions about what it could be until Torkad has made his scans."
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StevenO

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Re: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2019, 05:36:51 pm »
The fire may just be a fire but that doesn't change the fact that "something" is down there.  A jungle burning like that is generally not a natural occurrence as moisture and rain should prevent that level of combustion.
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FakDendor

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Re: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« Reply #11 on: October 04, 2019, 05:52:06 pm »
As the Enduring Light approaches Calagroth, you are now able to visually perceive the roiling smoke that shrouds the jungle from your sight. In a few places you perceive small motes of light that Torkad confirms to be fires. Talinn, with your knowledge of physical sciences you are able to discern that the fires are burning vegetation - but not in a natural pattern. Something may have set these fires. You also note that scans of the smoke do not detect dangerous or unusual compounds.

Spoiler: 'Smoke' (hover to show)


Torkad begins a more intense scan begins to map the surface in detail as Ghost quietly and efficiently digs through the cargo stores. He finds only two breath masks but each has ample filters.


Spoiler (hover to show)

Torkad, as you begin to scan the surface, you detect a cluster of stone structures that match those from the Chiss surveys. They are, perhaps unsurprisingly, deep within the smoke cloud, about 20 kilometers from the nearest edge. You also pick up something...strange...within the settlement. The sensors define it as some sort of dense coral growth - which makes you think think they must be malfunctioning until a second scan confirms the same. The second scan also detects fluctuations of intense magmatic energy from within this growth, reminiscent of some kind of small volcanic cone.

Talinn, you stretch out with the force, searching, probing, and feeling...an empty void. This is a Yuuzhan Vong construct - an installation of some kind!

You've encountered Yuuzhan Vong magma launchers before - but never so large, or so stationary. You feel a direct approach from the sky might be risky.
« Last Edit: October 04, 2019, 05:54:26 pm by FakDendor »

sienn_sconn

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Re: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« Reply #12 on: October 04, 2019, 06:11:01 pm »
Spoiler: Breath Masks (hover to show)
You Make the... Contest #9

You Build the Character:  #33, #37, #44

Ultimate Dream Builds: #1, #11, #16

http://stat.rumandmonkey.com/tests/1/6/5261/20800.jpg

StevenO

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Re: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« Reply #13 on: October 04, 2019, 06:36:46 pm »
Spoiler (hover to show)

Talinn:  May the Force be with us all, it appears the Vong have made it here before we did.  Tar, try to keep us clear away from that thing but be prepared to take evasive actions.  Do we have an appropriate landing site found yet because I'm not sure we want to get caught by what ever may be with that?  It looks like we may need to go in on the ground.

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FakDendor

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Re: Gamemaster's Sandbox 4: Raid on the Settlement
« Reply #14 on: October 04, 2019, 07:49:43 pm »
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