DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games CFH: A Call For Heroes CFH2: Welcome to Jakku

GM

The CR90 looks broken backed. Much of the hull's eroded white metal plating is missing, exposing the framework beneath and it juts from the sand like a skeleton. The ship must have impacted on its 'neck', the entire bridge section is twisted scrap. It's only the heavily armoured turbolaser turret, intact, that allows you to recognise the wreck of a Rebellion-era corvette.

Fira Bon tells you it was once the Starlight Wanderer but its space-faring days are long over. Now it is the base for nomadic scavengers.

Patchwork awnings hang from its sides and cables run out from the innards, spliced into a mishmash of electro-mechanicals. One of the main engines has been salvaged, set up on a rig and repaired for high energy power generation.

Despite living in the desert, the scavengers are a colourful bunch, a mix of hardy species in robes, wraps and junker jewellery.

Most noticeable is a picket line of riding beasts, huge, scaled lizards with long tails and bird-like faces. The toes of their feet are splayed and almost flat.

These are the Varactyls that will take you out to the Star Destroyer and up across its hull. Fast moving, agile climbers, native to another desert planet, Utapau.

The scavengers rely on the Varactyls for their livelihood, but Bormo has paid in advance to hire them out for your team.

The Sunstrider swoops in, landing repulsors revving, the ship clumsy and off-balance with the cargo container locked to its underside.

Finally it touches down in the soft sand, stirring it without kicking up a cloud.

The rear hatch opens after some clunking and the steps extend down.

Bormo grabs his scav-tech shock stave and is first out. A friendly face for the locals.

The rest of you follow in order.

"Stay with the ship." Fira Bon says to Mhar-li before exiting.

"Stay with the air-cooler. Copy that." Replies Mhar-li.

The heat hits you, then the sun's ferocious glare.

Breathing the air doesn't cool you, it's a dry, uniform temperature over 35 centigrade. About as hot an environment as any human can still be active in.

There are hotter planets in the Galaxy, Tatooine for one, but at that point the locals live underground, or wear special climate gear like the Sand People.

Your soles sink into the sand, a sensation you probably haven't felt in some time.

The BB-unit handles it fine though. They're designed to operate in the extremes of space.

A dirty A-LT tracked droid looks amazed by the appearance of your marvellous new astromech.

Other scavengers are standing in huddles in the shade, looking confused, fearful, nervous. Male, female, young and old.

It's not the welcome you were expecting, it's not the welcome Bormo was expecting either. He slows his approach, himself uncertain now.

There's trouble. Is it you?

[And this is where the Beginner Game module officially starts.

I want to gauge roughly your disposition as you disembark, then will base skill checks off of your character's inner dialogue and external actions.

At present I haven't given you much to react to, but consider that the locals seem scared. Everything your contacts told you suggested you were expected and the deal done. A battered Quadjumper would not disturb scavengers, nor would a droid or any sentient species (this is Star Wars -- there are weird creatures in any crowd scene). It's plausible that they are upset by some other thing that you simply aren't aware of yet.

The scavengers aren't armed or hostile at present.]

Jelly Bean

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Jelly Bean was a Twi'lek. That much was readily apparent. The lekku gave that away, sure, but the point was, her people came from a planet that was about as arid and harsh as could be found. Stepping out into the dry desert air of Jakku was not as great a hardship upon her as the others, save for maybe Jix. The Rylothians, as hey called themselves, were long adapted to such climates as this.

Jelly Bean stepped onto the hot dry sand and smiled. She wore her google about her neck for now but they would probably be useful very soon. She surveyed the horizon, then the gathered scavengers, and her hand slipped ever closer to the low slung blaster pistol strapped along her leg. There was that 'bad feeling' thing making her skin crawl and her lekku twitch. And then she stilled her head tails and, just as smoothly, she relaxed her hand. No reason to make whatever this was any worse. Jelly Bean was very fast on the draw, but there no reason to advertise it.

"Ut Chuba," hissed Jelly Bean lowly in Huttese.

"Oh yeah, this is gonna go great..."

Preach

He waits for being directed to step from the container hauler. His head is wrapped against the harsh sun, his clothing loose and layered. He looks as if he might be from this planet as much as any other given his tattered clothing, and lack of obvious weapons. Seeing the locals looking concerned, he tries to see where they might be looking, if that might give him a hint as to what is bothering them. He expects that they are the focus of the local's current attention, but people often betrayed themselves with little looks, little actions. He has been a guardian for longer than some of his companions have been alive. First and foremost assess the situation. He let his instincts guide him. He knew too that the Force was in play and would guide him correctly. If this was a trap, he would sense it shortly. Hopefully not too late to act.

He waited to see who would speak to the locals. In particular, he took cues from the leaders of their little group.

Sirra

The young woman stepped out, breathed the hot air.
She was momentarily nonplussed, but quickly got over it. Just another thing to adapt to.

She looked around and did a quick survey of the people.

Lovely. Just lovely. Nope. Something didn’t fit here. These are not shiny happy people.


Her eyes did a quick flit around further afield to see if she could spot a reason other than them why. Her hand also smoothly came to rest on her waist in a ‘relaxed’ pose. Also conveniently close to her sidearm.

“I think I hear thunder on the horizon ...”. she murmurs only loud enough for those adjacent to her.

She flashes a smile. The smile might not be more than skin deep, but all they could see was her skin.

Amos

The Rangy ex-lawman stepped off of the shuttle and into the heat of the desert planet after shedding his long coat and laying it over one arm. He shouldered his scatter blaster causally over the other shoulder as he looked around the settlement, taking in all of the visual clues that he had earned the hard way over years of dicey situations.

Something has these folks spooked.

A vibro machete was obvious on his belt as he moved about ten feet away from the group to one side so as not to be lumped together.

Winta

As the ship touched down, she shut her eyes and centred herself. ... peace ... calm ... friendship

The hatch opened. She opened her eyes, and followed Bormo out. She slipped on her peaked cap as she stepped out of the ship's shade, and the sun hit her. Its peak shaded her eyes. Winta told herself that the rest of her protective gear could wait.

As Winta followed Bormo, a little off to the side to see past him, she could sense that there was a tenseness in the air. She tried to reach out for its source and to calm it.

Jix

She follows the others off the transport, aware their tension has increased, her eyes providing further information, small telltale signs of unrest she has come to associate with increased risk, ambush or other negative situations.

She bends down, shrugging off her weapon and pack, getting organised to move out as they intended. However, if something else occurs, she will be ready, weapon to hand.

2BB-2

Organics. Not the reaction that was expected, which in turn begged the question, what had the locals been expecting? Now was not the time for a sarcastic comment in Binary, there was ice to break and it had better come from someone whose grasp of protocol was up to the task. 2BB-2 proceeded out slowly with the rest.

GM

It only takes you a few seconds to gauge the scene.

There is a large red awning to one side, creating a patch of deep shadow where vehicles are parked.

There is an old, bare metal Treadable, big enough to carry over two tons of cargo in its belly, and probably belonging to the scavengers. And then there is a row of swoop bikes, each built from junk with a pinion mount and painted fuel tank, about the only surface on them not sand-blasted.

Jelly Bean doubts that scavengers would have much use for swoop bikes. They're fuel-hungry and extra high maintenance on a desert world like Jakku.

Preach would think similarly. Jakku scavengers aren't wasteful of resources, every vehicle they operate must have a vital function. The Treadable, used for moving sites, even the Varactyls will provide an edge in salvaging the big wrecks. Swoop bikes are useful for going fast.

Amos has a gut feeling that the swoop bikes belong to a swoop gang. He's seen their kind before. Bandits, thugs, formed into small, highly mobile gangs sharing some creedo and usually serving the local underworld.

Meanwhile, Sirra looks outwardly relaxed whilst skimming the scavengers for signs of hostility. She notices a brawny Whiphid gripping a wrecking bar, standing in front of his wife and child. Likewise with some other scavengers. That one holding a shock prod. That one a lump hammer. They aren't as unarmed as they first seem. But in a threatening situation it's amazing what weapons people can find close to hand; scavengers probably more than most.

Jix sees that the scavengers are a roughly equal mix of species, mostly originating from desert worlds or otherwise of a rugged physiology. She sees Whiphid, Twi'lek, Skakoan, Kubaz, Nikto, interspersed with humans. No Jawas. All seem in good health, weathered by the sun and thin but not starving. They're spooked, yes, but they've huddled into familial groups rather than one mass rabble or combat units.

Winta's face shows passive amiability, though through the Force she more actively tries to sooth the fear and aggression she senses. She feels the mood change in one very old, very wrinked Nikto woman who's head looks like gnarled wood. Fear of Winta quickly changes to fear for Winta.

2BB-2 rolls to catch up with the others, extending his antenna. He does not pick up any unusual transmissions from the camp. The A-LT droid tracks the BB-unit with its own photoreceptor. It has a faded green and orange paintjob that was probably the height of fashion 40 years ago. Now it just looks like a mistake. The A-LT-series were designed as multi-purpose units; the scavengers have converted this one into a water cooler and dispenser. No joke when you work under the Jakku sun.

Before the team can share their observations, there is a commotion inside the wreck of the Starlight Wanderer and figures emerge.

They wear a variety of dishevelled flight and field jackets, caftans or trekking trousers, heavy-duty gloves and boots, and all their faces are covered, some by proper swoop masks, some just by sacks.

They are all strapped with blasters, a variety of rebuilt junk from the Battle of Jakku, Rebel and Imperial. There are nine of them for six swoop bikes.

If they're a swoop gang, they're the filthiest, roughest-looking swoop gang in the Outer Rim.

Following them out are a grey-haired, bronze-skinned Zabrak woman and an Arconan with Y-shaped head and irridescent eyes, both in desert robes. Probably the scavengers' leaders, they appear to be under some duress.

The shortest swoop ganger wears urban camo---you doubt it's meant to be ironic---steps forward, burly strides, making himself seem bigger and his hand rests so callously on his blaster pistol, it pushes it even further into its holster. You sense he is not afraid, but then, you do not look intimidating. You barely look armed. Jix's heavy blaster rifle is resting behind his pack.

"What the pta!? This is what you loca-scavs smuggle to the surface?" His synthed voice is contemptuous, "More scavs?"

The Zabrak scavenger-woman fumes, "I told you, you're wasting your time. There's nothing for you here."

The other swoop gangers seem disgruntled by this but Urban Camo isn't dissuaded.

"I be judge of that, Vontoba. We came for makacheesa*, we take makacheesa."

His goggled glare alights on 2BB-2.

"Feirfek! Now that droid some high-end gear, bros. Brand new product."

What do you think is going on here? And what are you going to do about it?

*Huttese for 'pay-off'.

Amos

The tall man's eyes took note of the positions and firepower of the swoop gang members, waiting for his leader to decide on diplomacy or action.

While waiting he slipped his coat on.

Sirra moves back slightly, next to the aforementioned droid, placing one hand on its dome and the other hand on her hip, and starts figuring out who would be the clearest shot should shooting be needed, and waited for the ‘brave and fearless leader.

Winta


She caught up with Bormo. "Has the quadjumper got guns?" she asked him quietly.


She concentrated on the obvious leader of the swoop gang, using the force to calm things. She did not want the situation to lurch off into sudden violence.

"The BB unit is not theirs to trade, " she told the swoop gang's leader.

2BB-2

On the one hand, the Gangers were absolutely right: the BB-series was indeed at the high end for droids, everything from the selenium drive to the gyroscopic propulsion system at the apex of automaton architecture. 'Brand new' was perhaps pushing it a bit, 2BB-2 in particular saw himself as a seasoned veteran of the Resistance rather than some neophyte orb fresh rolled off the Industrial Automaton production lines.

On the other, 2BB-2 was done being a commodity. The Resistance had thankfully steered clear of the Rebellion's habit of using droidkind as treacherous gifts, as The General's brother did with both the legendary Artoo and Threepio in his infiltration of the Hutt palace on Tatooine, as the story was told, but that didn't mean the option was off the table here if the Swoop Gangers could be made use of.

Silently, his primary photoreceptor focused on each ganger in turn, then started going across their vehicles, a sensor out for exploitable weaknesses on the presumption they wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Or even a few choice beeps and durdles of binary insulting their parentage and origin for an answer, which was another tempting option not yet taken.

GM

"No, I think not." Says Bormo regretfully, adding, "Be careful, Winta. They are Strus Clan. A family of swoop bikers. They rip off scavengers and sell to Unkar Plutt, Kanjiklub, the Hutts. There's no low to which they won't descend."

Bormo steps aside to let Winta speak to the gang.

The leader wears camo mesh draped over his head like a veil, hiding his face and his voice is synthesised. Even his hands are gloved, so they don't even give away reflexive twitches. Reading him or his cohorts' body language is a difficult but familiar problem in a Galaxy full of sentient species and extreme climates.

The swoop gang are an intimidating, motley bunch. Rough, dirty; you can probably smell them from where you stand. But covering bare flesh is common sense on a desert planet and goggles and face-masks essential gear if you're screaming around on a swoop bike.

Sirra walks alongside 2BB-2, her hand drifting to her hip, the butt of her knife and the sling of her blaster rifle. The BB's scan of the vehicles shows the bikes are more of a hybrid skimmer, probably lacking the high altitude ceiling of most swoop bikes and redirecting that energy towards ground speed.

They must be a swoop gangs most prized possessions. It should be noted that they are parked in a row, in front of the monstrous DN-25 Treadable. The tracked heavy vehicle doesn't look like its operational. Though, nor does any of the tech around the scavengers' camp yet it clearly is.

Jelly Bean has noticed the same but her attention is drawn now to two of the thugs who are stalking towards her, keenly interested.

Amos, feeling a chill---must be a cold day in Jakku---pulls on his longcoat.

The two thugs grunt to the leader in some Strus Clan patois.

The leader, Urban Camo says to Winta, "Me bros like the red Twi'lek. We take her, schutta, leave you the droid. Welcome to Jakku."

Touching his mind with her own, Winta finds that it is emotionally stunted but already calm. For some, aggresion is not an emotional response but a primeval form of communication, and either way, changing emotions does not change one's motivations.

[I have a battle map and game tokens from The Beginner Game. I might upload them.

In the meantime, to keep things conceptually simple, from an overhead POV we have a straightforward stand-off between the seven PCs and nine Strus Clan gangsters.

No-one is in cover, though there's various cover available. It's one manoeuvre to get into cover and it gives a Black dice to anyone targeting you with ranged weapons.

There are bystanders, these just give us something to spend Threats and Despair on when you roll dice.

There are six swoop bikes in the garage, so some of the gangsters must ride pillion. There a Treadable parked perpendicular to them.

All the action is taking place within Short range, talking range.

If you're not interested in game mechanics, don't worry, I just post notes on them for those who are. First and foremost, play your character and describe what they're doing in the fiction.]

Jix

He is crouched, pack in front of him, using it for cover whilst he powers his armour and selects a target. Probably the bikes, all of them. The bikes are precious, they already need more, so hitting the bikes should definitely divert their attention. He flicks the rifle to auto fire, it still lies on the ground behind the pack. It is in an easy position to grasp meanwhile it looks like he is on one knee and fiddling with the pack straps.

But now he is all soldier.

Winta

*No scope for subtlety here then ...* she thought having felt the mind of the gangster leader. She let her force attention on him drop. She knew that there was nothing more to be achieved there.

Instead, Winta reached out with the force to push the start button of the Treadable, telling herself that this would be a pretty useless bunch of scavengers if the vehicle wasn't actually in working order.

"I am sorry," she told the gang leader. "That's not how it works."

"The Twi'lek is not some possession to be passed between owners or just taken. She has free will. And I am sure that she will use her free will to resist any attempts to enslave her."

"And then things will go very badly for your men."


"Shall we make a fresh start to this negotiation?"

Jelly Bean

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"Kriffin' i'cha poodoo," hissed the Twi'lek woman. Their arrogance was as repulsive as they themselves were. Droid or Twi'lek didn't matter to her, you don't make deals about her or her team. She started forward, a couple paces, toward the two advancing on her. The natural sway of her hips counterbalanced by the swing of her lekku could make a weak-minded dungcreeper forget everything else around him. Her hand strayed dangerously close to her blaster and the tips of her lekku twitched in violent agitation. There was not going to be a peaceful resolution to this situation, despite Winta's best efforts at mind tricks.

Maybe they knew there was a Hutt bounty for an escaped slave, a Lethan Twi'lek. Maybe they had seen the First Order's warrant report for Outer Rim fugitives. Maybe they thought they'd have their 'fun' and then collect a reward. She would have to 'change' their minds...

Running for cover would expose her, and the first person to run or reach for a weapon now would break this mess wide open. But, one way or another, this was going to get broke, and soon. Her forward movement was meant to close the distance and enable her to use the two swoopers as a shield against other swoopers farther back by limiting their angles on her.

"I don't like that word," she stated flatly.

If either of them touched their weapons or made a gesture that they were going to attack, she would react with her blaster, and fast.

Sirra:

Her body language shifts from that of a vaguely disaffected and bored late teenager to a much more predatory stance.

These people disgusted her. Either way, they were a casual disorder. A selfish disorder. Something that disgusted her in her previous life and did the same now. She leveled an icy chance in their direction.

“Unwise. It would be foolish for you to play kick-the-rancor.”

She smoothly moves forward a few steps, muttering to the BB unit. ‘stay with me for the moment”

She is making it so she can get a head start on diving to cover if action breaks out. In that case, she plans to dive to cover, draw and take aim at the leader and fire.

Amos

He still had his scatter blaster in one hand resting on his shoulder as he watched yet another example of stupidity and a good example of why sterilization for some people is needed.

"You should listen to the lady there boy. No sense losing a life for ten minutes of pleasure." he drawls, then looks over the scoopers. "Well, make that five minutes."

Preach

"People," he called in a sing-song tone meant to get their attention. "Peace is a choice, as is war. Do we choose to act to take life? Or do we act to preserve life? I understand that things are tough here, I know hardship." He raised his arms outward to show how tattered his poor robes really were. It also served to free up the cloth from where his lightsaber was harnessed on his hip. He stepped away from others, and a bit forward. "I wish to preserve life, but your choices will determine how things go. Be very smart, as I am sure you are, do not give away your hard-earned economic and personal well being in jeopardy." Looking the leader right in the eye he said "walk away, make the choice for peace. Make the choice for life. The Force will protect that choice. Anything else leads to things you do not want."

Winta

*There we go,* she thought to herself, as Preach said his piece, *a fresh start to the 'negotiation'.*

Winta

She sighed and with the force engaged the forward motion of the Treadable. The brigands now had a choice - fight or go and rescue their bikes before they were crushed by the Treadable.

She know that some would shoot anyway and most likely at her ... she pulled her lightsabre into her hand as it ignited, preparing to defend herself from fire.

Jix

As he had been watching the bikes, he noticed the Treadable start to move. Figuring that was a move by his team, he switches his focus to the leader of the opposition instead, prepared to fire at the first sign of action against them. He will lift his rifle and aim, taking strain to fire if needed.

GM

The sun beats down, creating a stark contrast of white sand and black shadow beneath the wreckage. The metal groans in the heat.

Somewhere a steelpecker bird tap-tap-taps on the hull.

Winta's eyes are on the Treadable, off to one side, someone having wisely left the cab door open. (An all-enclosed metal vehicle, its interior would become a pressure cooker with the doors closed.) There is a power lever assembly, similar to what might be found in a starship.

Preach stands between the factions, arms raised, ushering peace. For a second, the Strus Clan are bemused.

"Know what, you is carrion!" Growls the leader from under his camo hood, hand grabbing his junk blaster.

Chaos erupts.

Suddenly the Treadable rumbles forwards, the solid metal tracks clattering on their sprockets. The thing must weigh over 15 tons and crushes the first of the parked swoop bikes like an old fuel can.

The swoop gang go crazy.

Jelly Bean reacts first, pulling her blaster pistol and sending a salvo of plasma bolts at the two thugs closing in on her.

She might've hit one of them. She didn't hit any bystanders at least; a miracle considering how many are gathered around.

Jelly Bean is diving into cover behind a tool chest as the thugs return fire. Hot metal spalding dashes her face as the bolts sizzle through the cavities in the tool chest.

Her team-mates also come under fire, Sirra and Amos stippled by debris too. Even 2BB-2 is targeted, an avaricious Strus pointing at the droid before opening fire with his blaster set to stun.

The BB-unit has a hardened chassis and is unfazed. Although a second bike is crumpled by the Treadable only a metre behind him. He should stay out of its way, hardened chassis or not.

Loud grunts and blaster fire as a couple of Strus finally spot Jix. The brawny Verpine had tried to keep a low profile, not easy when you're 200 cm of green carahide in powered ultramesh. Her loose-fitting bodysuit has transformed into tight-fitting chrome plate. Bolts explode in the sand around her or burst off her armour, as she shuffles forward, the heavy blaster rifle sliding into a good firing position.

Slow motion. Scorching red bolts criss-cross the camp, Fira Bon and Tiras joining in on your side with their blasters. The scavengers don't panic, they disappear into their bolt-holes like womp rats, dragging their children with them.

The leader is struggling to aim his blaster, shooting wildly at Winta with a wizened old Nikto clinging to his forearm. Winta and Preach's words must have inspired the crone.

Sirra rolls to her belly after a pantherine dive behind a pile of wall panels. She snaps off a shot with her ZOK-10 hunting blaster, punching a smoking hole straight through the leader's head. The crone doesn't notice, still gripping the leader's arm with her eyes squeezed shut.

Amos has stayed on his feet, lining up a shot. He whips out his scatterblaster and fires, a burst of yellow bolts that kicks up a swathe of dust in front of him and puts down two of the thugs, including 2BB-2's attacker.

As a third bike dies noisily under the Treadable, the sound of high-volume blaster fire is heard as Jix lights up his two Strus with red death. They fall, riddled with burning black craters.

The bitter smell of Tibanna gas hangs in the hot desert air. Sweat drips from eyebrows. But the blaster fire rages on.

Fira Bon and Tiras go wide, covering each other as they move, heading either to Jelly Bean or the Treadable.

With a woosh and crackle, the first lightsaber is ignited.

There are at least two Strus still fighting as far as Winta and Preach can see. One dead ahead, tangling with a scavenger boy, maybe 6 years old, trying to pick him up and use him as a human shield.

Another is climbing up onto some drums, trying to get an angle on Sirra's position.

2BB-2 can see that Jelly Bean is being pinned down by the blaster fire of one attacker while his buddy scrambles off to one side, trying to manoeuvre around her cover.

The red-skinned Twi'lek sits between them and what's left of their swoop bikes.



[Winta, Preach, and 2BB-2's turns next. Everyone else can post too, if you have an idea what your character wants to do next or want to summarise their current state of mind. Etc.]

Winta

She takes a quick glance around to assess the overall situation .

"Get the one climbing up there, if you can, please!" she calls to Preach, indicating the other Strus they can see - the one climbing up - as she makes herself hard to hit as she closes with the Strus trying to take the boy hostage.
Her intent on reaching him is is to cut his weapon in half - and whilst aspiring to not take the hand or fingers too she recognises that she's probably not skillful enough with her sabre to achieve that, and that body parts will probably be involved. However, her absolute intent is to not harm the boy, and if that looks likely she'll draw her gun.

[edited to attack a valid target]

[Sirra shot the Strus leader dead, but here are Winta and Preach's remaining target options.

In full view:

Strus trying to take 6YO boy hostage.
Strus climbing wreckage to get a shooting angle on Sirra.

Not quite in view (but in full view for 2BB-2):

Strus shooting at Jelly Bean from cover.
Strus scrambling to outflank Jelly Bean.]

[OOC: - Ah - I missed that - I shall edit.]

Jix

He intends to finish what has been started. His aim is to prevent the others from being hurt, In this mode that is to kill the enemy, in his other mode, she will deal with injuries and try to help her team. The soldier in him looks for the next targets, and he realises Jelly Bean needs help.

Preach

The choice had been made. Winta called her desire, and Preach cascaded in action. He moved with much more speed and ability than his aged frame indicated. It might be that the Force assisted him, it wasn't clear.

He moved to try and intercept the one climbing.

Jelly Bean

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Jelly Bean laid on her back, one lekku pinned uncomfortably under her right shoulder blade. Those blaster shots had cut right through the tool chest. Her choice of cover was about as useful as teats on bull Nerf. Her face burned from where the liquefied metal had splashed her. She winced a little at the pain but there was nothing to be done at the moment. Staying alive was the prime concern and she knew she was pinned down. A clear objective with an obvious obstacle. She could work with that.

Laying as low on the ground as she could made her target profile as minimal as possible. But, given the tool chest wasn't really stopping the blaster fire, it would only be a matter of time before they just melted the thing and then killed her. But they didn't want her dead, right? Wait, would they? No... Ummm... no... But she had heard of the Hutts catering to that kind of sick druk... Stop it! Focus!

And, what if one of them was looking to circle around while she was pinned? Definitely Kriffed!

Join the Resistance, save the Galaxy! It'll be fun, they said. See all the best desert hotspots and frozen wastelands in the Galaxy. She sighed and reached for her thermal grenade. Yeah, nobody said any of that... More like, 'look, you'll probably die in painful way, crawling around on some outer rim drukhole where it's a thousand kriffin' degrees, and getting sand between your boobs... But, we need you and May the Force be With you... Yeah, something like that!

Jelly Bean did NOT arm the grenade. It was a distraction. Way too much damage and way too close to it. Looking to her side she saw what was left of the swoop bikes... Prized possessions... She tossed the grenade over in that direction to land near the bikes. She waited to hear if anyone noticed it, sitting there, bright and shiny, If so, she then rolled over, out of cover, with her blaster in hand and fired at the shooter who was keeping her pinned down.

Amos

He saw that the little lady was in a bit of trouble and moved in her direction with his scatter blaster to lend her some aid as was only the gentlemanly thing to do.

"You boys just can't decide if you want to shoot someone or make her swoon with your charms. I don't think your charms are going to win out."

[Is 'the little lady' Jelly Bean, KenSeg? We don't really have any Cara Dunes in the scene so they're all pretty small.]

Hehe, yeah. He kind of looks at JB like a kid sister

Sirra:

She dives, barrel rolls, and comes to a stop behind her cover, raises her weapon and takes quick aim at the gross and brutal man..

“You bore me. Goodbye.”

She says as she takes her shot at the leader.

She felt no sorrow at that one’s passing.

Action. Here we go. For now, she could not think about moral dilemmas, ethics, philosophy, who is right or wrong, or even revenge. Here she could just act.

She takes careful aim at the one trying to move into position to get a bead on her and fires.

If she takes that one, she tries to move to new cover to get a better angle on another one.

2BB-2

It seemed the Twi'lek could do with some assistance. 2BB-2 made a BBline for the one that was unleashing pinning fire, cryoban projector readied to throw their aim off. A quick warning modulation about the flanker, and hope for the best.

GM

Stride and lunge, Winta closes with the Strus and the boy, blaster bolts sizzling passed her as she chops with the lightsaber. A controlled flex of the wrists, the green blade cuts through a 45 degree arc but the Strus surprises Winta by turning his shoulder into the blow, as if he thinks she's wielding an energised riot baton or some such.

The tip of her blade slices through the gangster's shoulder and chest cavity, almost filleting him. He falls to the ground smoking, steaming and pumping blood.

The boy screams and runs... straight into the arms of Bormo, who catches him and drags him into cover.

Nearby, another Strus has climbed up about a metre on the hull, pressing himself flat against the metal as he steadies himself for a shot.

Suddenly a shadow flits over him. The explosive hiss of a lightsaber. The Strus looks over his shoulder. He's now lying across a bubbling line of molten metal. His expression is hidden behind his swoop-mask but it's probably confusion as he falls in two, severed at the waist---

Preach stands from a crouch, raising his violet lightsaber into a guard and looking for another target, but the rest of the fight is obscured by junk.

Sirra and Jix hustle to their feet with their rifles, time to bump up.

Another swoop-bike falls victim to the Treadable, squealing as it goes.

One of the swoop gang is breathing raggedly under his sackcloth hood, his field jacket smoldering where it was grazed by Jelly Bean's blaster. Kneeling, he's about to push off and rush the Twi'lek but he hears the whir of a servo next to him. Turning around he's confronted by a BB-unit staring at him, a nozzle extending from its front.

There's a whoosh and the Strus disappears under a plume of white vapour. Cryoban is a lethal chemical, designed for suppressing hyperfuel fires. It saves lives but is otherwise very bad for your health.

Amos sees the cloud, but where's the other Strus? Jelly Bean throws an object into the arena. Chromed, looks like a hydraulic motor from a droid or something... then Amos realises its a shaped thermal grenade, capable of blowing the leg off an AT-ST.

Whether the ex-marshal ducks or not, the grenade flushes out another of the Strus, who runs, arms pumping away from the grenade only to be cut down by Jelly Bean's light repeating blaster. He flops over a barrel, smoke rising from his back.

As for his cohort, the vapour clears quickly revealing a flash-frozen corpse. Probably a pithy blurp-bleep from the droid as the nozzle retracts into a hatch. Who knows what the Binary translates to?

Fira Bon jumps into the cab of the Treadable and winds down the engines before it can any more damage. The swoop-bikes are flattened out in its wake, sparking and fuming. Tiras the scout stalks over to Amos, heavy blaster pistol at the ready.

"Hey mate, I don't count so good but ain't we missing one?" He asks, scanning the dead.

***

The Strus Clan gangsters drags himself through the dust, coughing behind his swoop-mask and goggles. He was badly hit by the scatterblaster and with the sounds of fighting dying out, he's not sticking around.

Skirming under some wire fencing, he stays low. The swoop-bikes are totalled, his brothers are dead and he's hurt, but he'll live to fight another day, he'll be back.

He rolls onto his back, about to sit up and comes face to face with over 2 tons of Varactyl. As a riding beast they are known to be very protective of their keepers. The Varactyl's beaked maw snaps shut.

***

Elsewhere in the camp, a terrified scream is heard and abruptly cut off, coming from the direction of the Varactyl stalls.

After the first shot, the fight had taken only 20 seconds if that. It was over as suddenly as it started.

All nine of the swoop gang are confirmed killed.

Bormo hands the boy over to a couple of very upset parents. The rest of the scavengers have emerged, including their apparent leader, the Zabrak woman.

Mhar-li walks around the corner, coming from the Sunstrider, wearing boom-tune headphones and singing to herself.... Scavengers are dragging Strus bodies into a grisly row. Already repair work has started on the camp. The A-LT unit looks quite embarrassed as he leaks water from a hole punched in his chassis by a stray blaster bolt.

Shocked, Mhar-li stops singing, "What the---"

Once the Resistance team are regrouped, Bormo introduces them to the leader.

"This is Vontoba, headwoman of this scavenger tribe." He says, letting you to introduce yourselves.


[Well done. We will have a round or so for introductions, contemplation, follow-up actions and questions, before I set you your next challenge: Social encounters.]

Winta


She scanned and counted, and was content that all the Strus were accounted for, and that all her team were on their feet - or ball. Winta deactivated her lightsabre and returned it to her hip. She looked down at the scavenger at her feet. "Sorry about that," she told the corpse. "I really did not expect you to step into the swing."

She paused, centred herself and returned to her original purpose as she walked over to the Zabrak woman.

"Good day," she addressed the woman. "My name is Winta. I am sorry about the mess."

Jelly Bean

Image

The Ryllian woman, or Twi'lek as the race is more universally known, stood up and gingerly tested her cheek and one lekku where she had been splashed by the molten metal. She was not a stranger to pain; it was a part of life for a slave, especially until fierce until they are broken into docility and made properly submissive. Jelly Bean endured a lot of pain at the hands of her Master's enforcers.

She made several facial gestures, as though she wanted to feel the extent of the pain, perhaps even relishing in some twisted way. That lasted a few moments and then she sauntered over toward the inactive thermal grenade. Her ruse had worked, but if not for her team, she would still have been killed or worse... dragged off to be abused and then sold back into slavery,,, or still worse, turned over to any bounty hunters carrying the Hutt's marker. But that was a thought for another day. Today was not tomorrow and there was nothing she could do about things that hadn't happened yet. Collect the grenade, that was something she could do right now.

A few more paces and she paused and tried to shimmy the sand in her suit to less 'delicate' places. She even opened enough to reach inside and try to wipe and rub away the sand that was chafing against some of her more delicate assets. But it was a pointless and frustrating effort because sand didn't care for her comfort, it just went places because it could. She would have to strip down right here in front of everyone to get the sane off, and then... Then what? More sand... Always more kriffin' sand.

Finally she gave up on fighting the silicates intruders and stalked the rest of the way to get her grenade. The explosive device was not something she had any intention of leaving behind. She noticed the A-Lt droid as he picked it up and sighed sadly. Poor thing. Jelly Bean felt a connection to mechanical things, it seemed to be the way her connection to the Force worked. But don't get her started on that whole Old Jedi religion thing again. The Force was a tool, a way to connect. Pocketing the grenade she started toward the A-Lt when the leader of the scavenger tribe noticed the same thing, the droid was damaged and leaking water. Water was life on planets like Jakku and Ryloth. This would be a serious blow to the tribe, and she and her team had to bear some of the responsibility for that... Sure, they were on a mission to save the Galaxy, or the New Republic, or something... Beat the Kriffin' First Order! Whatever. The point was, they would be no better than than the First Order if they did what they wanted to whomever they wanted in the name of whatever it was they believed in. To these people, just trying to eke out a living and stay alive to next hard day, things like saving the Galaxy lacked perspective.

"Kweekuni Winta," she called out to the team leader in a patois of Huttese and Galactic Common. Winta's attention, she looked to the A-Lt droid and then back again to draw her attention to the damage to the droid. "I can fix," she said... or asked... it was hard to tell sometimes with Jelly Bean and her accent when she spoke languages ill-suited for Twi'leks.

She glanced at a 2BB-2. She wanted his permission too, or at least his acknowledgment since Winta had final say over their limited resources. Jelly Bean only carried a few droid repair patches and using one here would be one less she could use on their little friend. But Jelly Bean hoped Winta would allow it. It felt like the right thing to do, and maybe it would ease their new worry and help close the negotiations for getting over to the old Imperial wreck. Jelly Bean waited for Winta's decision.

Sirra:

The young woman smoothly holsters her weapon and moves over towards the others, once more looking more brooding than brash.

Looking at Winta, she states calmly, as she points to the deceased leader.

“I’m not sorry about that one. He was willing to buy and sell people like cattle. He got a cleaner death than he deserved.”

Outwardly, she sounded cold. Inwardly, as with anytime she now,killed, her mind at least momentarily was dragged back to a place she did not want to go, to that reminder of her own mortality that had been her own ‘death’.

Winta

Her attention drawn by the Ryllian woman's call she looked over to see her indicate the damaged droid. and her intent to fix it.

"Sure!" she called back with a wave, and returned her attention to the Zabrak woman.


She let Sirra's comment slide past her. As Sirra said, some people were indeed evil and irredeemable, but Winta always felt uncomfortable being the one that made that call, forever removing the opportunity for redemption. This was especially so, when - in the case of the one she herself had killed - there had not been the opportunity to make the offer to be redeemed.

Jix

He slings the rifle so that it again lies across his back and then she picks up the pack. She looks around for anyone that needed attention. First her team then anyone else. She does not even spare the enemy a glance. And just in case she misses anyone, she asks.

"Anyone injured?"

Preach

He straightened from the fighting pose, and in one fluid movement shut down the lightsaber and placed it in its place at his belt. He held the locals drag the bodies to where they wanted them. The whole time a look of calm complacency on his visage. To him he had offered them the choice, they hadn't listened, and he hadn't expected them to. However, that was all he could have offered. Death was just part of life, The Force went beyond.

Once they were all gathered he lowered his head and offered a little bit of recognition to the lost, even though he didn't really care. He just wished to be respectful of others and their feelings. Rituals were important, they allowed for people to do what needed to be done.

Finally, he offered to Bormo "interesting day."

2BB-2

Rolling back with the others, receptors picked up the look from the Ryllian, and the damage to the local droid. A gesture of goodwill after a highly tense initial meeting, unexpectedly so, would probably do more good here than keeping one of several patches for later. Good thinking from the lekkued organic, all told. A nod from the free-floating head with an unmistakably affirmative bleep.

Jelly Bean

Image

With her approvals accounted for, Jelly Bean swung around and knelt before the A-Lt.

"I need to have a look," she said with a level of compassion most did not reserve for Droids. "I think I can get you fixed up again... Yes?"

Fusion cutter and a patch, then a few other tools and some connectors and bridges, just in case, came off her belt or out of several pockets on her jump suit. When she was ready to begin, she looked at A-Lt and smiled as she reached out to put a hand on its exterior shell. Once she did, she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths and reached into the force to find her cneter and connect with the electronics and servos and relays, to find her way through the droids mechanical and electronic systems to diagnose the situation.

GM

The scavengers soon have the Strus blasters laid out on a table, checking them over. They're mostly old DH-17 and DL-21 blasters. From the soot on their barrels and acrid stench of burnt metal, they're in need of new XCiters for a start, but the scavengers will find a use for them.

They even pick over the remains of the swoop-bikes. At the very least it's thinly-pressed scrap metal and there's less of that on a starship carcass than one might expect.

Jelly Bean kneels down next to the A-LT unit and laying a red hand on the droid she concentrates, just as Maz Kanata had taught. In her mind's eye she endoscopes through the droid's internals, picturing her progress on a schematic, as if the Force is melding her knowledge with the physical fact.

A repair patch won't be needed. No vitals damaged. The blaster hole is ugly but superficial, it's the water tank that will need repairing if it's to continue its job.

The droid introduces itself as Walt and still seems dedicated to his core programming after all these years. He lives to serve.

A couple of teenage boys are very eager to help Jelly Bean and are soon running around to find a container to decant into and anything else the mechanic needs. Sadly for the boys, being a Twi'lek she's adapted to the scorching heat and doesn't need her brow mopping.

Not so for the rest of the team. Jix and Amos rehydrate with a chem-cooled slushy from their packs. Preach, Sirra and Winta are dressed more like the locals, in microclimate robes, and are more comfortable standing in the sun.

Bormo leans wearily on his staff, disturbed by the killing and nodding in agreement to Preach.

"This is not good. There will be repercussions." He says quietly.

Vontoba. The bronze-skinned Zabrak woman has an unclipped crown of horns and her grey hair hangs loose. Her tattooed face has a proud look, someone content in their role as leader, someone happy to live this more primitive life.

She dismisses Winta's apology.

"Not your fault." Vontoba says, "Rip-raptoring scum arrived before you landed... must've heard we were bringing in a container direct from orbit.

"You tried to avoid this, but maybe you should have let them take your droid and be on their way.

"Those aren't any swoop-gangsters you just killed. They are Strus Clan. Literally all brothers, cousins, inbred and depraved, but fiercely loyal to one another.

"The Clan will come looking for them and we can't be here when they do."

Vontoba turns to the Abednedo priest.

"I'm afraid the deal's off, Bormo. We need to pack up and leave and we're taking our Varactyls.

"You can have your money back. I'm sorry."

Bormo nods, as if he expected no less. He can't fault Vontoba's logic and she's offering to return the money. As far as he knows, it will just mean the mission takes a day or two longer or is a wasted trip for the Resistance.

But you know that you need those Varactyls and there is no time to waste.

What will you do?

Can you convince the scavengers to stay?

They won't sell you the Varactyls if they're moving out, they'll need them as transport. And you aren't carrying the sort of currency that scavengers would be interested in anyway.

Do you steal them? Rob them like the Strus Clan?

It might be time for you to put your heads together, preferably in the shade.

Winta

"I don't suppose we could rent the Treadable from you for a while?" Winta asked Vontoba. "I am sure we could find mutually acceptable terms."

[Just a quick meta for you, so you can stay on point.

You need the Varactyls because they're fast and can climb the wreckage of the Imperial Star Destroyer without risking collapse.

The Treadable weighs tons and is very slow. Think World War 1 tank. It won't help you in this instance.

The Sunstrider could get you to the ISD wreck quickly but can't hover over it without risking collapse because it uses repulsorlift.

So the challenge is: You need the Varactyls, how do you obtain them?

You can either convince the scavengers to stay and rent the Varactyls to you, as per the original deal, or obtain them some other way.

If you want to discuss as a team, you can do so here. We can assume you find a shady, private spot, possibly under the garage awning.]

Preach

He looks to Winta, "we really need the beasts as they can help us get where we need to quicker than the lumbering bulk. He looks to the scavengers "what will it take to make the original deal work? How many of these clan members are there? How long will it take them to get here? Will they come as a group or will they come as different groups, disorganized?"

Winta

"Well," she responded to Preach, "If we could get the beasts in the container, we could get the Sunstrider to take us and the beasts to as close as we need to get before setting off onto the wreck. Similarly, once we are done, Sunstrider could get us back to them quickly."

She thought for a bit.
"Perhaps we could get the Sunstrider to move the scavengers to wherever they wanted to go?" she offered as an option.

Jelly Bean

Image

Jelly Bean smiled at the boys and shook her head at their overt antics and that made her lekku waggle a little. Maybe it was on purpose. Sometimes the best (and most appropriate) tease was also the most subtle. She asked them for two scraps of metal, one must be proper for potable water and must not rust. While they were away, she cut out the damaged metal so she would have clean surfaces and lines.

"I will get you fixed right up and back on duty soon Walt."

Looking around the droid she watched and listened as best she could to the conversation. They had every right to be fearful. Swoop gangs seemed a universal thing on every world with enough criminal enterprise to attract a gang mentality. Tenga the Hutt had his own gangs on Nar Shadaa. These people weren't warriors. They were already risking everything as it was to help before the Struss showed up. But time is not an ally right now and the mission required tha theyA thought occurred to her, but she needed to get Walt done. Maybe this gesture of goodwill can afford them a small 'ask' and still get the scavengers safely on their way.

She needed to finish Walt first. Winta and Amos were the big bosses.

Where are those boys?

Sirra

She stands casually, with her arms crossed.

“Tubby isn’t ‘our droid’. He is his own droid and is traveling with us. No one gets to ‘have him’.”

“I have just a few questions, if you could indulge me. You know where the rest of this refuse ...”

Here she motions to the corpses.

“Stays. How many are there? How long might it be before they notice the garbage collectors have taken out the trash?”

GM

Winta employs the Niman principles. In a game of Dejerik, one normally reacts to their opponent's move but the Niman disciple assesses all available moves first, irrespective of their opponent, to find more effective moves perhaps obscured by the opponent's play.

The Varactyls are the crux of the problem.

They could transport one animal at a time in the cargo container, shipping them out to the Imperial Star Destroyer. Factoring in the time taken to load them, they'd probably break even on the time saving, and burn more fuel on the Sunstrider.

They could save time by calling in the Sunstrider after the job's done, flying out a scavenger to pick up the Varactyls, but even then, the time saved isn't likely to be decisive.

And ultimately, the problem remains the same, convincing the scavengers to loan you their highly valuable Varactyls when they need them to move their camp. They will probably need the Treadables too, just for moving their salvaged wares.

The Sunstrider could definitely speed up relocation for the scavengers, if they even know where they're headed. And there's the lingering worry that the Strus Clan knew about the Sunstrider's arrival, suggesting someone is monitoring traffic, probably Unkar Plutt's mob.

Vontoba is already rallying the family heads and telling them to pack up. The tribe reluctantly agrees with this call. There's evidently much more to salvage on the Starlight Wanderer, its wreck only recently uncovered by the wind, but no-one wants to expose their families to reprisals from the Strus Clan.

You are a Resistance team. You've paid well to hire the Varactyls but you will be gone from Jakku by the end of the day. These scavengers live here.

Vontoba waves off questions from Preach and Sirra.

"I'm sorry but I don't have time for your problems. We have plenty of our own." She says.

At about the same time, Fira Bon and Tiras reappear. They've retrieved long range weapons from the Quadjumper, Fira Bon carrying a DLT-20A Longblaster, Tiras a classic Homesteader slugthrower.

"Strus Clan," Fira Bon literally spits in the dust, "gotta hate 'em."

Tiras answers Sirra's question, "They usually hang out on the other side of Carbon Ridge where sensors can't detect them. Like to stay mobile, hey. Don't we all. You won't find them, even from the air. Might find you though."

"More could be here anytime soon, gramps." Mhar-li answers Preach. Taking a swig from a canteen, she points at the trashed bikes, "Swoops like theirs will do three-hundred kloms an hour across flats. They just have to point and squirt."

"So running might not be the tribe's best play. Could just get caught out in the open." Fira Bon says, patting the Longblaster.

The veteran looks to Winta and the faces of the rest of the team.

"Look, I told Bek me and my crew won't let you down. We'll stay here with the Sunstrider and guard the camp. We got long-ranged firepower. Mhar-li can handle a pistola, good as any. Bormo has that staff of his.

"You just gotta convince the tribe to stay."

Mhar-li looks skeptical, "Headwoman already said no."

"Vontoba ain't some gang boss. Sure, she does what she thinks is right for her people, but only reason she's in that position is because she does what her people think is right."

Bormo catches on fast, nodding, enthused. He turns to you, the Resistance.

"There's also Torani, the Arconan you saw before." Bormo explains, "That's his Treadable. He's the tribe's dealer. He is suspicious of strangers but he has an instinct for survival that the tribe rely on. If you can convince Torani that they should stay put, the tribe will listen."

Fira Bon considers this, summarising:

"We can fortify the wreck, turn this camp into a fortress. Then when Strus Clan do come, we kick their teeth in.

"Meantime, if the tribe honour the deal, lend you the Varactyls, mayhaps you'll lend them a hand at a later date. An IOU if you catch my drift."

Fira Bon looks to Bormo, who nods his approval of the idea, though adds:

"If time is of the essence, my friends, then you should 'divide and conquer'. Speak to Vontoba and Torani separately. If you speak to them together, they won't want to overrule one another and might call a tribal council meeting."

Fira Bon claps the scout on the shoulder, "Alright, me and Tiras will keep lookout. Guess we don't have much time. Two of your team should take Vontoba, two take Torani, the rest of you mingle with the tribe. Hearts and minds stuff."

Jix asked if anyone was injured. No-one is. But this might be her opportunity to check the health of the tribe's younglings, as an example. It won't take long for Jelly Bean to fix Walt, then she could talk the talk with some of the techies. She might even learn something about the Starlight Wanderer. 2BB-2 might be helpful as a talking point.

Although Sirra likes to keep a low profile, she and Amos might have just the right attitude to convince the Arconan.

Winta and Preach have already showed themselves as spokespersons, so it would be appropriate for them to take a second run at Vontoba.

Preach

He will do was Winta directs. She is the team leader and is willing to help any way he is able.

Winta

She nodded to Fira Bon and Bormo, "Worth a try."
"And thank you."

"Vontoba has chased you away once," she told Preach. "See if you and Amos can persuade Torani, the Arconan, that staying put would be the best policy: that they would lose a lot by leaving and make themselves vulnerable to ambush. I'll try to persuade Vontoba of the same thing. That at least here, the Sunstrider's crew would be here to assist them. If necessary, they can deflect blame onto us."

She gave Amos a smile. "Use that charm of yours on Torani, Amos."


She looked to Jelly Bean. "You're with me. Let's see if we can charm Vontoba.


"The rest of you," she said looking round the others. "Let's see if we can win some hearts and minds - maybe by just being nice or maybe by fixing things / people, whatever ... "

"Ok." She concluded, taking them all in as she scanned around, .


"Vontoba. Wait," she called.
When she had caught up, she tried to charm and persuade the woman, that there were better options for her.
"If you leave you will be making yourself into targets. You will be in the open and you will be making yourselves look guilty."

"If you stay here, you know the ground, you can leave things where they are. If more Strus arrive, you can tell them the truth - that it was my group that killed them." she indicated the Strus bodies.

"With a small lie, you could say that we already had your Varactyls, so you were in no position to take up against us."

"I appreciate that we have brought trouble upon you. We can ow you a favour in return, if that would help"

Sirra

“I’ll give it a go, boss. Although ‘fixing’ things hasn’t been my speciality.”

[Sirra go to CFH3a: Lookout Post
Amos and Preach go to CFH3b: Garage
2BB-2 go to CFH3c: Turret
Jix go to CFH3d: Living Quarters
J.Bean and Winta go to CFH3e: Main Reactor]