THE KETHERIC-HIVE AFFAIR (Balder's Gate 3 in Space! Quest)

BORN TO TIEF, WORLD IS FUCK
NAME: Karlach Cliffgate
RACE: Tiefling
HIT DIE/MELEE DAMAGE: 1d12 | HIT POINTS: 21/21 | LUCK: 6/6
PROFF: +2
XP: 0 | LEVEL: 2

STRENGTH​
DEXTERITY​
CONSTITUTION​
INTELLIGENCE​
WISDOM​
CHARISMA​
16 (+3)​
16 (+3)​
13 (+1)​
8 (-1)​
10 (+0)​
12 (+1)​
Save: +5​
Save: +5​
Save: +3​
Save: +1​
Save: +2​
Save: +3​

RACIALIZED TRAITS
Darkvision: Can see 100 feet in darkness without colors. Born this way, ma called it 20/Evil vision.
Light Sleeper: Only needs four hours of sleep for a long rest. Learned this in CapFor - nap when you got it.
Energy Resistance [Fire]: Take 1/2 damage from fire. This is why we got the cheap apartments, near the radiators.
Speed Malus: -1 meter of movement per round. Gorby Jr. is a pain in the ass.
Hider: Can hide when even only lightly obscure. Learned to duck pretty fast in the military.
ABLITIES
Action Surge (1/rest): Can take an extra action, refreshes on a short rest.
Reckless attack: Can gain advantage on Str based attacks while giving enemies advantage to hit you.
Rage (2/day): can go into a rage for 1 minute, gaining advantage on str checks and saves, +2 to str damage, reistance to B, P and S damage. Can't cast spells while raging.
Fighting Styles: Defensive (+1 to AC while wearing armor), Ranged (+2 to hit with ranged weapons), Blind Fighting (gain blindsight to 10 ft)
Second Wind (1/rest): Can use a bonus action to get 1d10+Level HP.
Natural Explorer: Ensure that the group has enough vac-suits and full tanks unless enemies take specific actions to negate it. When trapped with limited resources, double what the GM says you have. Create 3 shifts as a crew, rather than 2. Can patch suit as a free action. once per session, you can declare one thing to be true about a space station, habitat or spaceship - if the GM refuses, you're given a Luck Point.
Favored Enemy (Fascists): Get advantage on Wisdom (Survival) to track them and Intelligence rolls to know about their tactics.
Broad Proficiency: Martial Weapons, Heavy Weapons
Single Proficiency: Vac-Suits, Light, Medium, Heavy
Tool Proficiency: Repair, Shuttles, Armored Fighting Vehicle
Fighter's Luck: Get x3 LP per level.
Skills [8]: Skilled in Athletics, Acrobatics, Stealth, Perception, Persuasion, Performance, Intimidation, Insight
Expertise [2]: Expertise in Athletics and Stealth (double proff bonus.)​

GEAR

Armored Vac Suit (AC 19, 7 Bulletproof)
Bulletproof: AC applies to gunfire. If an enemy rolls 8-17, remove 1 bulletproof.)​
M-Gloves: Can create two mage hands as a free action, controlled by focused

Collapsable Knife: +5 to hit, 1d12+3 damage
Concealable: Advantage to hiding, -1 intimidation
Sharp: Deals 3 damage on a miss.​

MP-5: The Solar System's sexiest SMG
Effective Range: 0-25 Meters | 25-50 Meters
Damage: 1d4+3| Caliber: Medium | Recoil: 4 | ROF: 8 | Magazine: 30+1 | Intimidation: +3
Special: Tacti-Cool (comes with a built in, infinite use wand of Ray of Frost, which can be fired from the weapon whenever you want.)
Underslung DC8-ROFW: 60 foot range, 1d8 frost damage, reduces enemy movement speed by 10 feet on a hit.​

Arachne 9mm
Effective Range: 0-50 Meters
Damage: 1d4+3 | Caliber: Medium | Recoil: 7 | ROF: 3 | Magazine: 15+1 | Intimidation: +2
Special: Frangible - you can buy Small Caliber rounds for this to reduce the recoil to 4.​

23 magazines fully stocked of 9mm rounds

Standard patch kit
Effect: It can patch any hole of about palm size or smaller. Unfortunately, since they're designed to be 'slap and forget' patches, they can't really patch bigger holes effectively. Fortunately, you can apply them as a free action.

Computer Tool Kit
Effect: The computer tool kit is the collection of various lengths of wire, soldering gun, screwdriver (magnetized) and other nibbly little bits you need to do repair work on a computer, physically speaking. This won't do anything to debug it, unless you're being really literal about debugging here.

Cuffband
Effect: A plastic set of restraints. Good for dissidents, bounties and, until the Supreme Court's decision re Staton V Solarium Primary School, unruly children.

FINANCES

Q-Card: +0
Specie: 1 Gold

LEGALITY
Current Hab Legality: Not in Hab
Intimidation: Not in Hab
Total Criminality: Not in hab


STARSHIP - USAF-SGF Short Sword (Drizzit Class)
Acceleration Max: 3Gs | Handling: +4
Sensors: 5 Locks, 2 Jams

STRUCTURE SPACES: 300
Thrusters (10): 25 [10 Armor]
Externalities (9-4): 85 [0 Armor]​
Weapons: 72​
2 Fore, 2 Starboard, 2 Port, 2 Aft, 2 Dorsal, 2 Ventral S&R Draconic Limited Twin Linked 40mm PDCs
1 Dorsal Multipurpose 32cm Launch Tube​
EW/COM: 5​
D98 Panopticon Installation​
Cargo: 6 Tons​
Life Support (3): 39 [10 Armor]​
Radiators: 10
Water Recycling & Air Filtering: 15
Cabins: 10 (6 Bunk Rooms, 3 Cabins, 1 Officer's Cabin)
Sickbay: 5
Mess Hall: 5​
Command, Control & Communication (2): 5 [10 Armor]
Engines (1): 90 [10 Armor]
ARMERMENT
S&R Draconic Limited PDCs
Range: 0 | Damage: 1 Damage
ROF: 4d10 | Special: +5 to hit Torpedoes

32cm Launch Tube
Range: N/A | Damage: Per torpedo
ROF: 3 per round | Capacity: 17 Torpedoes

MD-82b Armor Piercing Chemical Torpedoes (12)
Special Note: These use high density hydrogen fuel bricks and have an extremely short duration
Acceleration: 20G | Handling: +4
Structure: 3​
Thrusters: -
Externalities (9-4): 1 [Armor 1]​
Weapon: 1​
High Yield Armor Piercing Warhead: 30 damage​
Life Support: -
Command, Control & Communication: -
Engine: 1​

T2-9 Tactical Nuclear Interplanetary Ballistic Missiles (5) [INOPERABLE]
Special Note: These use Zevar drives and have infinite range.
Acceleration: 10G | Handling: +4
Structure: 3​
Thrusters: -
Externalities (9-4): 2​
Weapon: 2​
Tactical Nuclear Warhead: 300 Damage (5km radius)​
Life Support: -
Command, Control & Communication: -
Engine: 1​
Description: A 300 ton warship, the Short Sword comes armed with 12 point defense cannons capable of covering every angle of attack and a 3 tube dorsal mounted torpedo bay, with 20 torpedoes, currently stocked with 15 MD82b antiarmor torpedoes that burn high density hydrogen fuel (making them high speed, short range), and 5 IPBMs with 30 kiloton tactical nuclear warheads. These have Zevar drives. They do not have "range" limitations.
 
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I continue to enjoy D&D in rocketpunk, 1980s-style space. Thanks, DragonCobolt!

[X] Plan Blood From Stone

Seems simple enough.
 
"-the Entmoot put their vote forward, counterbalancing the overwhelming majority of the Conservative Democratic party's vote on the bill for the appropriation of a defense platform to be located at the Mardok Tashas. Nicknamed Star Wars this bill would have appropriated approximately two billion dollars for the construction of high powered energy weapons to target and intercept interplanetary ballistic missiles fired in the event of a solar system wide general war. However, the Entmoot and the Progressive Republics have both spoken out against the bill, citing the treaty of Mardok as-"
So is the Entmoot the Green Party of this world? Presumably, they are led by Treants, or at least were in the past. I imagine dryads are a major demographic within it as well.
 
Adhoc vote count started by DragonCobolt on May 11, 2024 at 11:30 PM, finished with 7 posts and 3 votes.

  • [X] Plan Blood From Stone
    -[X] Pay now - lose 2 specie
    -[X] Approach on foot (sneaky)


Approaching sneaky?

That's gonna be a sneak check, DC14

Which I believe you are expert in, which means +7 in total!
 
Bear Baiting Part Two (3.1)
You nodded. "All right..." you turned back. "Follow me, stick close, and remember, sound travels for shit out there."

They all nodded, though Raphael frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "I hope you don't-"

"I do not," you said, then grunted as you picked up Gorby Jr.

***
Your vac-suit felt comfortable and good - like a second skin you hadn't worn in too long. With your helmet on and your Mag-gloves on, you crunched out of the buggy, your MP-5 in your hand. Lae'zel, Wyll, Gale, Astarion (despite his bitching) and Shadowheart followed after as you kept the small rise between you and the ships. You went to your belly, hearing the painfully loud crunch and grind of pebbles and grainy dust against your body armor. You crawled to the ridge and peeked up and over. The Adventurers had locked up into their ships and were probably wiling away a few hours.

You nodded. "Okay, come on, come on, come on..."

There.

You spotted them.

A pair of dust plumes, kicking up across the wastes. You adjusted your radio, and heard a squealing transmission.

"Uh, this is the trade frigate Thormastan, approaching buggies, please identify yourselves."
"Heh," you said. You glanced back, catching the eyes of the others and made a hand sign for good. Then you went back to watching.

The two buggies were both bigger than yours - probably why they'd gotten spotted - and they were driving straight for the two ships. A voice crackled and came back over the line. "We're here tracking another buggy - you must have seen it."

"Uh...what buggy are you tracking?" the Thormaston's com officer sounded suspicious.

"Listen, buddy, just tell us where the fuckin' buggy went. Auntie Ethel wants to nab it."

Long silence.

The two buggies were now coming right up towards the two parked frigates. They slowed to a stop and the side doors opened and half a dozen redcaps popped out of both - their visors painted a bright chromatic red. They were all toting guns. The voice from the buggy came through again. "We don't want any trouble, but if we need too, we can-"

"Boss!" One of the redcaps pointed, broadcasting in the clear. "Boss, that's fuckin' titanum armor!"

"What the-"

One of the big frigates unfolded a metal plate in the side of the armor. It shifted its weight a little bit on its landing gear - and a big, brutal looking rotating cannon came out of the side, swiveling around and aiming at the buggies and the redcaps. As it did so, a new voice - female and very gruff - came over the line.

"Listen, you knife eared scum," she said. "I don't give a fuck what that goddamn hag wants. You are going to get back into your pissant little buggy and you are going to fuck right off. Understood?"

The redcaps remained still for a long moment. You could see that the back of one of the buggies had opened and two more redcaps were coming out - these ones had big felt caps on that settled over their helmets. You whistled. Auntie Ethel must be pissed. Then you did a quiet figure in your head on how many millions of dollars anyone would throw down for Raphael's grumpy ass and figured...yeah that made sense.

"We're ready to be peaceable-" the redcap on the radio said.

"And we're ready to turn you into chunky salsa," the hard-voiced woman said. "Do you know what that is? That's an S&R Draconic limited six barreled rotary point defense cannon. We have enough 10mm armor piercing rounds to turn half of your goddamn shithole greenskin berg into ghosts. So maybe-"

One of the redcaps gestured and the two with hats popped out of cover.

The PDC opened up and four redcaps were suddenly surrounded by sprays of red dust - as bright crimson as blood. Their bodies trembled and dropped, but the two redcaps with the hats pointed and gestured. A pair of red rubies whipped through the air and both struck the PDC. The entire frigate heeled hard to port, rocking with the impact as the boom got loud enough to sound like a muted firecracker. When the smoke cleared, the PDC was a smoking, slagged wreck.

"Goddamn it, scramble-" the radio clicked off.

The redcaps started to rush forward, leaving their dead on the ground.

"...well, holy shit," Astarion said, startling you - his helmet was pressed up against yours. "It actually worked."

The redcaps had fanned left and right, splitting into two somewhat reduced squads, and were both going for the airlocks that were on the sides of the heavy vehicles. The other frigate didn't seem to have a gun - or if it did, it wasn't popping it out while there were close ranged magical artillery that might blow a dozen gold pieces worth of hardware into slag. The Adventurers weren't stupid, though: They let their airlocks remain closed and dared the redcaps to start cutting in. You flicked a quick glance over them, nodding.

You had two options: Wait for them to really get stuck in, then creep either onto the Thormastan or her sister ship...

Or...

Or!

You could go for the secondary airlock. Both frigates had multiple airlocks - it was just that the secondary airlocks were higher up. But the outer edge of a frigate was covered in handholds. You could clamber up them easy enough, in Mardok Gees and with your training. And you were pretty sure you knew exactly where those airlocks would be. You could slip in, hit both sides before they knew it, and get a frigate of your very own before anyone was any the wiser.

The image was tantalizing.

Risky, though.

---
What do you do?

[ ] wait and strike from behind at the best moment
[ ] Rush and clamber up the sister ship.
[ ] write in who you take (anyone not taken will provide overwatch)​
[ ] Write In
 
[X] Rush and clamber up the sister ship.
-[X] Take Lae'zel and Astarion

They can probably do the climb quickly, and Lae'zel and Astarion are assets to close quarters combat. Gale and Raphael can be babysat by Shadowheart and Wyll, who are also at least familiar with modern guns and unlikely to friendly fire us in the back.
 
[X] Rush and clamber up the sister ship.
-[X] Take Lae'zel and Astarion

They can probably do the climb quickly, and Lae'zel and Astarion are assets to close quarters combat. Gale and Raphael can be babysat by Shadowheart and Wyll, who are also at least familiar with modern guns and unlikely to friendly fire us in the back.
Really torn- want to jump in and also want to bring Gale along as a sleep bomb. But the other 3 will be shit out of luck if they are caught unawares without that.

[X] Talkos
 
The Scramble (3.1)
You flicked your tongue along your lisp, thinking quickly. "Okay, Lae'zel, Astarion, you're with me."

"Why me!?" Astarion asked, plaintive.

"You're a vampire, you can bite em," you said. "And I want Shadowheart and Wyll to cover our asses. No offense, Gale, you're new. ANd I want you covering us with MSRAC."

"I...what?" Gale asked.

"Magical, Short Ranged, Artillery Coverage," you snapped out. "Gods, okay, you all ready?"

"No," Astarion said, while Lae'zel checked her sword and nodded with her hand - she had picked up the gesture, it seemed, having noticed how hard it was to actually see someone nodding in a vac-suit. You grinned at her, then gestured and stood in the same motion. You scrambled up and over the edge of the lip, then skidded down with a spray of dust and motion. You glanced over at the frigate that was being boarded and saw that the redcaps had both their wizards at the door and were smacking it with acid bolts, which hissed and frothed and bubbled. Given enough time, that shit could eat through anything. You hoped all eyes were on them as you sprinted forward, the other frigate coming closer and closer and closer. The side of the hull had a name stenciled on the side - Short Sword- which was sure a hell of a fuckin' name.

You found the contact points for tethers, and started to immediately scramble up them - each was close enough that you could reach the next with your hand, so you could tether walk along the hull of the ship in free-fall. Thanks to both the light gravity of Mardok and your life doing scrambling like this on ships in thrust you were able to go up and up and up, scrambling past a blunt armor plating and to the airlock on the back neck of the ship. Once there, you glanced down and saw that Astarion, despite his whining, was making amazing time - scrambling from hold to hold to hold. You noticed he'd actually taken off his gloves and was using his bare fingers to grip and hold easily. If the cold bothered him, he didn't show it.

Lae'zel was moving a bit more slowly and cautiously, but she also had a natural for moving from handhold to handhold. YOu wondered if her ships had similar scrambling situations. You grinned at yourself, amused at the alliteration. Then you got to the airlock. Now here was the hard part.

"Do we force this fucker...or..." you muttered.

"Allow me,"Astarion said, his voice tired and annoyed. He shifted his stance, one leg cocked against the lip of the airlock, the other tucked against his chest. He crammed himself in and leaned in close, his fingers working on the console. He worked his way through some of the external systems and you weren't quite sure what he did - but the end result was the outer door opened. You reached down, helped to haul Laz'zel up the rest of the way, and then the outer door sealed.

"How'd...you do that?" you asked.

Astarion smirked. "I'm a clerk," he said.

"Right," you said, slowly. "What kind of clerk?"

He shrugged, and looked very smug. "Now, if you do not mind." He moved behind you and the inner door. You frowned.

"You know I ain't a Ranger, right, I don't got power armor..."

"Yes, I'm aware," he said, as the inner airlock door opened and a faintly shocked looking tech in a black and red jumpsuit stood there, holding a repair kit. His eyes widened and he went for his gun - drawing it faster than you expected. He fired and something smashed into your chest, hard enough to make you drop backwards, wheezing. He swung his gun around, aiming it at Astarion, shouting wildly. You drew your knife and in a single fluid motion extended it then slammed it into the man's palm. He screamed, the gun dropped, and Astarion moved so fast you swore he teleported. In an flash, he was behind the man and his fangs sank into his throat. The man gaped, his eyes widening, his back arching. His hand spasemed as the blood dripping from his hand slowed, then stopped...his face became sunken, withered...and then Astarion released him and the adventurer dropped to the ground.

You yanked off your helmet, gasping. "Holy shit," you whispered.

"You have been shot," Lae'zel said, and you swore she was even concerned.

"Yeah...fine! Just...ow." You said, rubbing your chest. "Nothing a kiss can't improve."

Lae'zel kicked your shins.

You, though, were thinking as fast as you could - and through your ringing ears, you could hear the crackle of a radio-com from the guy's belt, a big bulky one. "Malik, report!"

---
[ ] Try and have Astarion bluff that he's Malik and that was an accidental discharge
[ ] Screw it, rush the bridge
[ ] Write in


Surprised Adventurer rolls a 13 versus your 12 for initative and goes for his gun. He gets a 14, which is between 8 and 18, and thus, hits your bulletproof vest. You lose 1 level of bulletproof.

You slash with your concealable knife, doing 9 damage, then Astarion does a chomp and finishes him off
 
I think at some point, Lae'zel needs to shove a gun in Karlach's face about the appropriateness of flirting with an arguable subordinate that is not reciprocating.
 
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