Escape from Hawking Harbor

"Escape from Hawking Harbor" is episode 43 of SuperQuest Saga. Echo, Persephone, Primina, and Sebastian dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge police, robot panthers, TSA, lasers, and turrets as they dash through Hawking Harbor towards'' The Starling. Space-battling their way through three military ships, the crew finally return to The Brunhilde'' and jump away.

Introduction

 * Will Stark shall be your retreating dungeon master this evening.
 * Josh Freeland is playing Sebastian Crenshaw, the half-orc paladin.
 * Your Special Guest Jake is playing Persephone Goldpetal, the firbolg druid
 * Brian is a space wizard. His name is Echo.

Recap
The party has just defeated The Fury and The Mystic, two of The Freelancers. The Mystic mentioned The Logician before exploding. As the combat ends, and the literal smoke clears, blue and red lights are seen reflecting off the smoke and the Viananelius police arrive on scene.

Lower Your Weapons
Six robot-like panthers and thirty-six ground troops arrive with three supporting hovercraft in the air. Over their intercoms the party hears them state “Lower your weapons and hands in the air. You are all under arrest. Resist, and we will open fire.” The party is locked in their sights and Persephone emerges from the ground and ends her wild shape, laser sights of the officers settling on her as well. She stealthily picks up the staff that The Mystic dropped as she emerges from the ground, and holds it above her head in a stance of apparent surrender. Echo sheathes his blade and raises his hands while Sebastian slowly lowers his BFG. From behind their helmets Sebastian and Echo decide they need to make a break for it via their integrated bracer jack communications. Their sudden movement causes the officers to open fire, but they successfully dodge most of it, as they escape inside the harbor entryway.

Persephone slams down her staff conjuring a Sleet Storm outside the entryway that delays the officers and allows the party to make progress into the main terminal. As the party pushes through the security they receive a call from Victoria on their bracer jacks. Sebastian asks her what’s going on since they’re a little busy, and she tells them she sees them on the news. Echo asks how she knows it’s them since some of them are in disguise and she tells him she sees him yelling into his bracer jack. She asks if they’re trapped and if they’re able to get off the planet. Echo informs her that they are moving to The Starling as that is their best plan for escape. Victoria forwards coordinates to Echo who sends them to The Starling as he remote-starts it. If they can make it to his ship, they will rendezvous with The Brunhilde at the coordinates.

As the party rushes ahead toward Hangar A, the Hawking Harbor’s security guards attempt to stop them and open fire. They cause almost no damage while the party sprints ahead. As they pass through the security doors, four of the panther robots crash through the glass and the party glimpses the law enforcement officers and two of the machines struggling outside in the conjured storm.

The four robots that entered rush forward to try to engage the party. Sebastian uses his Lay on Hands to heal both Echo and Persephone in an attempt to keep them from getting knocked unconscious as they escape. Echo launches small cylinders from his hands and palms which erupt into steam, conjuring eight steam mephits. Four of the mephits immediately advance on the robots, while the other four cast Blur on themselves to become more of an obstacle. Persephone uses a healing cartridge from one of their medical guns to heal and slaps her palm on the floor to cast Erupting Earth, causing damage to the eastern entry to slow the robots down.

Hangar A
Echo, Persephone, Primina, and Sebastian enter Hangar A hearing the sounds of combat between the mephits and the robots behind them. It sounds like the mephits are dropping pretty quickly. The docking bay is filled with ships of varying sizes and designs and all around they can see civilians trying to flee or hide from the chaos outside as emergency sirens sound and lights flash.

They begin to dash across the hangar making it nearly halfway down before security turrets emerge from the ceiling to fire upon them. As the turrets start to lower, three of the panther robots burst into the hangar, leaving one to deal with the mephits as their programming has identified the party as priority targets. Sebastian pulls out his BFG and fires on one of the four turrets and manages to temporarily neutralize it. Echo follows the burst of Sebastian’s autocannon and casts Magic Missile, sending a barrage of missiles towards the turrets destroying one and causing some damage to a second. Persephone also uses her arbalest pistol to shoot one, as does Primina, and the party keeps pushing forward. The turrets manage to score a few solid hits on the group and as the rounds impact, the three panther-bots advance upon the party, gaining ground fast.

Sebastian asks if Echo can hijack one of the other ships in the docking bay. Echo says there’s no guarantee that he would be able to start it, he thinks their best bet is his ship since it’s primed for departure. They continue to sprint through the hangar deciding to force the robots to close in on them before engaging them. As the robots get closer, Persephone turns around and shoots her hand towards them conjuring a Tidal Wave in the hangar. The wave severely damages one of the three pursuing bots and knocks them all prone. The party dashes onwards.

Hangar B
The party runs into Hangar B, which looks a lot like Hangar A, with the robots hot on their heels. When the robots reach the entrance Echo casts Grease on the floor to slow them and buy the group more time to push forward to Hangar C and The Starling. Two of the robots (officially called dirlagrauns) lose their footing and fall but one manages to keep its footing. Seeing this, Sebastian wheels his plasma autocannon around to open fire on the one advancing dirlagraun, dealing some severe damage. In preparation for combat, Persephone heals the party with Mass Cure Wounds to ensure the party can hold the line and Echo activates his Bladesong.

As the standing dirlagraun closes in to engage, Echo draws his katana and runs to meet it, destroying it with a slice like a samurai. The two remaining dirlagrauns advance through the greased floor and, as soon as they are within range, they start whipping at Echo with their barbed tentacles. Their attacks bounce off of pieces of Echo’s armor that break off to form an umbrella-like shield as he conjures Shield with his reaction. Sebastian looks towards Echo but before he can move Echo yells for the rest of the party to head for the ship, he’s got the dirlagrauns under control. Sebastian aims his autocannon and fires some supporting rounds, immediately destroying one of the dirlagrauns and damaging the other. Primina attempts to fire on the dirlagraun, but fails and accidentally strikes Echo’s shield instead. He turns to her in disbelief as she apologizes. Persephone smacks her palm on the floor and casts Erupting Earth; two spires of earth erupt in front of Echo and the remaining dirlagraun is destroyed.

As the party turns to run towards Hangar C they see a large steel door slowly dropping to close them out. They dash on, knowing they have just enough time to reach the door if they maintain their pace, but they start to quickly lose steam. They realize that they either need to somehow speed up or do something to to slow or stop the door. Quickly assessing their options as they continue to run forward, they close in on the door just in time for Persephone and Sebastian to get their hands underneath it. Echo casts Enlarge on Sebastian, causing him to double in size, while Percy helps lift the door as she Polymorphs into a giant albino ape. They hulk out and compound press the door up, holding it open as Echo slides through. Percy and Sebastian step through and release the door, allowing it to crash down with a sound that echoes throughout the whole hangar. Persephone is super stoked and beats her chest triumphantly before dropping her Polymorph. The Starling is within sight.

The Starling's Flight
With nothing standing in the way between the party and The Starling they hop in, maneuver out of the hangar, and ascend towards the barrier of the city. As they ascend in the sky, three military ships begin to close in from behind them, and the party prepares for a spaceship battle. Echo is seated at the front in the conical shaped cockpit. On a raised deck above him, Percy and Sebastian are seated at consoles with large screens that control The Starling’s cannons. Primina sits between them in an emergency seat that is slightly too small. Echo presses a button and the wings of The Starling come up forward from the back as combat begins.

Persephone uses the cannon and hits the center military ship. Sebastian takes a shot at the ship on the east, dealing some damage. Echo manages to safely maneuver the ship to a higher altitude while searching for a point in the barrier to break through. The first enemy ship fires upon The Starling and deals some damage to its shield. The second ship misses but the third destroys the shield, dealing some damage to The Starling.

Persephone takes aim again at the center pursuing ship but misses. Sebastian misses his shot as well. Echo uses his computer wizardry to locate a weak point to punch The Starling through the barrier and starts to maneuver towards it declaring “I’ve got us set up, everybody hang on.” The three pursuing ships fire on The Starling again and two of them hit, burning through the shield and damaging the ship.

Persephone critically hits the central ship with the cannon but does not manage to destroy it. Sebastian misses his shot. Echo lines up The Starling to shoot through the barrier as two of the pursuing ships fire at them and miss. Echo meets resistance as the ship comes up against the barrier but The Starling manages to punch through. They see ships scrambling to pursue them, but it’s too late. Within minutes they meet The Brunhilde waiting with its hangar is open, and as soon as The Starling lands inside, The Brunhilde jumps into hyperspace.

The Party

 * Sebastian Crenshaw: A half-orc paladin. Recently contracted with Archduke Ramazall.
 * Persephone Goldpetal: A firbolg druid. Commands the powers of nature.
 * Echo: An elf Bladesinger/fighter/rogue. He's got this.

NPCS:

 * Primina: The loveable MacGuffin. Too big for the extra seat.
 * Victoria: A tiefling female. Captain of The Brunhilde and watcher of the news.

Music

 * SuperQuest Saga Theme - by Brian

Out of Character

 * During the Hangar B chase Will gets tired of calling them panther-bots and provides their proper name: Dirlagrauns, named after displacer beasts.
 * There's an app on Echo's bracer jack that remote-starts The Starling.
 * The Mighty Ducks are referenced by Brian and Special Guest Jake when Will references the dirlagrauns as "D1," "D2," and "D3" for initiative.
 * Echo's smuggler background gives him proficiency in Use Vehicle.

Mechanics

 * The spaceship battle is a mix between a combat and a skill challenge.
 * During each round, Sebastian and Persephone have an opportunity to make an attack roll (+5 to hit) to fire on the encroaching enemy with the ship's guns, which deal 3d12 damage.
 * When an enemy is hit, that enemy ship has disadvantage on its attack.
 * Echo will need to take advanced maneuvers to progress the ship towards an escape requiring Use Vehicle or other comparable skill checks.
 * The Starling has an AC of 18 and 100 HP. The shield provides 30 temporary HP and recharges 10 HP at the end of each round.