Jack Haggerty
First Post
I'm going to use this thread as an Archive for the Misadventures of the Star Wars Iconic Characters.
Star Wars Iconic Reruns...
Jack Haggerty
First Post
Prologue.
Prologue: The Invasion of Theed.
The green Twi'lek, Deel Surool, smiled from a palace balcony as the familiar shape of his battered ship, the Mystic Burn, soared into the sky overhead. His distraction had worked, gaining the attention of the battle droids long enough for the four Jedi Padawans and a handful of his friends to reach the ship and escape. If only they could run the blockade, they might reach Coruscant and warn the Jedi Council of the invasion of Theed.
He finished tying the sythrope to the balcony railing just as droid patrol burst through doors. Two metal ovoids, the first an explosive grenade, the second a canister of concealing smoke rolled under the feet of the mechanical soldiers. With a flash and two dull thuds, smoke and droid bits flew from the doorway, while Deel lept from baclony and slid 30 meters down the rope to a courtyard below.
"It is time to make myself a little less distracting," he mutters to himself before hotwiring the ignition of an abandoned aircar. The repulsors flared to life, and as he rocketed toward the open plains, he called to his friends in the sky, "Good Luck! And May the Force be with you!"
Prologue: The Invasion of Theed.
The green Twi'lek, Deel Surool, smiled from a palace balcony as the familiar shape of his battered ship, the Mystic Burn, soared into the sky overhead. His distraction had worked, gaining the attention of the battle droids long enough for the four Jedi Padawans and a handful of his friends to reach the ship and escape. If only they could run the blockade, they might reach Coruscant and warn the Jedi Council of the invasion of Theed.
He finished tying the sythrope to the balcony railing just as droid patrol burst through doors. Two metal ovoids, the first an explosive grenade, the second a canister of concealing smoke rolled under the feet of the mechanical soldiers. With a flash and two dull thuds, smoke and droid bits flew from the doorway, while Deel lept from baclony and slid 30 meters down the rope to a courtyard below.
"It is time to make myself a little less distracting," he mutters to himself before hotwiring the ignition of an abandoned aircar. The repulsors flared to life, and as he rocketed toward the open plains, he called to his friends in the sky, "Good Luck! And May the Force be with you!"
Jack Haggerty
First Post
Chapter 1.
Chapter 1: Unpleasant Accomidations.
You wake up confused. Confused because you didn't think you were that tired, and confused because you woke up in the emergency escape pod.
As the wild herd of banthas trample about your brainpan, you ruminate on the events of the past two days... After the Trade Federation blockaded Naboo, the droid army invaded. The Twi'lek, Surool, offered his ship to escape the planet, but had to remain behind and create a diversion to give the rest of you a chance to flee. Running the blockade was remarkably easy, as the majority of the Federation vessels were caught up in an attempt to capture the Queen's own personal ship. After evading pursuit, you charted a course to Yag'dhul, where you could resupply the ship's stores and make some minor repairs, before heading toward Coruscant...
And that was when you fell asleep just after the hyperspace jump.
Shortly before the invasion, the young Padawans were together in Theed taking a vacation from Jedi training and the rest were busy attending classes at the Royal Academy. Now, you find yourselves crammed into the small six person escape pod of the Mystic Burn.
Inside there are the six acceleration couches, two storage cabinets, and a status console. There are two portholes, one to the front just over the status console and one mounted in the rear entry hatch. All of your weapons and personal belongings have apparently been taken from you.
You can hear footsteps in the corridor outside the hatch.
Arani:
Arani sits up a little too quickly, and immediately regrets it. She hesitates just long enough for the pounding in her head to subside, then, as quietly as possible, Move Silently +8 she takes a look at her fellow passangers. Arani has no medical skills at all, but she's mainly looking for blaster burns, open bleeding wounds, missing limbs, etc. Are we all here?
Assuming everyone's present and in one piece, she'll try to look out the porthole in the rear entry hatch without being seen.
Jack:
Aside from being unconscience, no one seems to be the worse for wear. Carefully scrambling over the heap of sleeping bodies, Arani takes a peek out the hatch porthole. As she does, two men dressed in ragged spacer's clothes meet in the corridor, the tall one sports a scraggly beard, and the shorter one is coated in dust and grease. She can barely make out what they're saying...
"...all still alive?" Scraggly asks.
"Far as I can tell... thumble amble gumble humble," Dusty replies.
"'At's good. Fomble amble gumble primble wemble camble... sell 'em when we reach Danju. Mebbe buy some parts an' turn this... scumble humble imble somble... worth flyin'. You jus' make damn sure they don' get away."
"Don' worry, I... magumble sumble... the door. They's..." Dusty's words trail off as the deck plating begins to shudder and clatter. Soon the jitter becomes a pronouced audible shudder throughout the entire ship.
"Son of a Sith! What in the Blue Blazes is goin' on here!" Scraggly shouts and grabs on to a nearby bulk head for balance. In a moment, both spacers stagger out of sight toward the cockpit.
Sia-Lan:
Sia-Lan sits up groggily, blinking her eyes several times to clear her head. She flips her padawan braid over her shoulder in a gesture she's done many times, in many more usual circumstances.
Slowly, she stands, trying not to trample any of the others in the crowded pod as she tries to make her way to the door where Arani seems to be listening quietly.
As she reaches the other, she tries to make eye contact and shrugs confusedly as if asking a question.
Sen:
Sen sits up rubbing his temples "By the blessed crown what has happened here?" He then looks around at the others in the pod making sure no one is hurt or injured.
Arani:
"There are two of them out there. Slavers, maybe . . ." Arani turns to address the group. "Listen. I don't know what's going on, but we've been through tighter scrapes than this. We all know what's at stake here. If anything happens to the ship, Deel will kill us." Arani is attempting to inspire confidence, both in the group and herself. Diplomacy +12. "Kel, Rory, let's get this door open. The rest of you, be ready."
Arani will try and work with the Rodian and Wookie to open the door. Computer Use +9, Disable Device +5, Repair +5.
Kelko:
Slowly, the vision of the crowed escape pod comes into focus for the Rodian. He looks around from his half-prone, half-croutching position. Clearing away the mental cobwebs, he begins to asses the situation. To his dismay, when he begins frisking himself, his tools are missing. To his horror, so is his blaster pistol. Cafefully rising from the contorted postiton, Kelko glances about an sees Sia-Lan and Arani spying out of the portal window. Hearing Arani's request for help, he staggers about to check the console panel and then storage cabinets for possessions, tool, or weapons. "If know Deel, secrets should be hidden in here."
Kelko will check the status console to see if any infomation can be obtained. Pilot +8, Computer Use +2, Craft (electronics) +6
He replies to his human female friend in his broken Basic, "One momonet, 'Rani. Maybe some help in these," as he moves to check the storage bins.
Then Kelko will attempt to search the stoarage bins for anything he can use to jury rig open the door. Profession (mechanic) +2, Repair +8, Search +2,
Sia-Lan:
Sia-Lan moves to the storage lockers, trying to see if there is anything useful within them, also getting out of the way of those who are working on the door. Search +4
Jack:
With a boost of confidence [+1 attack, skill checks and will saves for the next 10 minutes], everyone sets to work.
Using a small control console located next to the exit, Arani manages to easily open the escape pod's inner hatch. When she attempts to open the outer hatch into the ship itself, she can only listen to the gears and latches hum and groan within the bulkhead for a moment, while the blastdoor stays firmly closed.
Kelko checks the status board. A hyperspace indicator glows red, annoucing that while ship is still in hyperspace, the pod cannot be launched. A glance at the mottled grey flowing past the outer porthole confirms that warning. Another pair of red lights indicates that neither the autopilot, nor the emergency beacon have been activated. Two more lights, one red, one green annouce that the inner hatch been opened, but the outer remains closed. Finally, in the very center of the panel sits the sole control device, a large red button marked "LAUNCH".
Opening the first storage cabinet, Sian-Lan finds a half dozen emergency spacesuits. [We will treat them as standard flightsuits.] As Kelko returns from the console to assist in the search, they discover that the second locker is... locked... using a numeric keypad combination.
From where he sits on the floor, Sen can see that most of friends have woken up and are busy searching the pod for a method of escape. A handful of his companions are still knocked out on the floor. He also notices some sort of bundle secured tightly beneath each of the six acceleartion chairs.
The ships continues rattling and jostling in a progressively more violent manner, until the noise is nearly unbearable.
Set:
"Uhhhh!" Set grogily shakes his head aand pushes himself up from lying face down on... The Wookiee!. "Ahheee!" Spitting out wookiee hair Set scrambles to his feet bumping into the others moving about the pod.
"Sithspit, What's going on." Set says loudly. "Ahh my head, I don't remember deciding to take nap in an escape pod, and definately not on top of wookiee!" Set reaches down to check for his lightsabre and finds it gone from his belt. "Alright, which one of you took my lightsabre, is this somekind of joke? It's not funny. I'll hang up whoever's responsible by the most painfull apendenge I can think of if I don't get it back right now."
Set glares about at his compainions, occationally he glances down at the peacefully slumbering wookiee with disgust wiping his mouth for anymore wookiee hair.
Sen:
"Be at peace Set Harth, none of us are with our normal gear... but look underneath your seat there and see what is in that bundle."
Sen will then look under his own seat to see if he also has one of these bundles. If so he will examine it quickly and look inside of it.
Sia-Lan:
"Hsssstttt!!!" Sia-Lan whirls from inspecting the suits to face Set, her eyes flashing brightly in the darkened interior of the pod.
In a whisper dripping with venom, she spits her words at him. "Set, quiet! None of us has our stuff, now be useful for a change, and see if you can help!"
Sia-Lan glances nervously towards the small window hoping no one heard the outburst over the noise of the ship. She turns back to the suits, checking that the air supply is good on all of them before turning with a scowl towards the locked cabinet...
Dorn:
Slowly, Dorn awakens, squinting as he carefully sits up and surveys the situation. He absently runs a hand through his hair and winces at the horrible combination of his godawful headache and the rattling of the ship.
"Ok, either Deel's ship has shrunk a lot since I was last awake, or somebody has really screwed up and we are in an escape pod."
He glances around, slowly coming to the realization that he is indeed stuck in an escape pod with his companions. With a sigh and a grimace of mild pain, Dorn stands up and looks at Sen.
"Hey Sen, is Deel's ship going to explode or what? From the sounds of things, I'd say we better not wait too much longer before we launch this pod."
Dorn looks down at his belt and suddenly seems alarmed.
"Hey, where is my lightsaber?"
Realizing that things are actually much worse than he initially thought, Dorn begins to focus his thoughts. He quickly walks over to the pod door to peer out of the porthole while speaking to his friends.
"Would somebody like to update me on the situation?"
Arani:
"Here's the short version - we all passed out and woke up here. We have no equipment. There are at least two men on board the ship, and they were just discussing their plans to sell us off once we reach Danju, wherever that is. We're in hyperspace, and there's something wrong with the ship. Meanwhile, my home has been invaded, everyone I've ever known is probably being tortured and killed, and there's nothing I can do to help because I can't get this freling door open!"
Arani kicks the door for emphasis.
"Frel."
She takes a deep breath, then turns back to the door lock and tries again.
Kelko:
After a cursory inspection of the console, Kelko moves to the cabinet, which is secured by a numeric keypad. He turns to the young daughter of a noble and speaks as best he can over the humming and clanging of the ship, while pointing to the security device on the storage bin.
"This here, 'Rani, can you get into this?" The rodian remembers the time she was able to disable a similar keypad only weeks ago, when they snuck into the staff-only library of the Royal House of Learning.
If nothing comes of the locked cabinet, Kelko will move to see what the package is under the seats.
Arani:
"I'll be right over. Let me just finish up here."
Arani smiles at the Rodian, and then turns back to the keypad on the door.
Assuming she fails again to open it, she'll try to open the storage bin.
Set:
Set looks as each person speaks, his expression getting more stormy as he hears that no one really knows what is going on. Wearing a sullen look Set looks beaneth the closest crash-seat reaching for the bundle there. He begins to mumble. Something about regreting going to Sia-Lan's room for yesterday's notes from history class, and getting dragged into another one of her Sithspawned adventures.
Hawk-bat droppings, that wookiee smelled. Set makes a mental note to NEVER be in such close quarters with a wookiee again. He could never understand how Dorn could live with his room-mate Rorworr.
Sitting down with the buddle in his lap, set kicks Rorworr none to gently. "Wake up Furball, I'm tired of walking around your smelly-hairy frame."
Set will investigate the contents of his package.
Rorworr:
With a huge yawn Rorworr wakes up flinging his arms wide inadvertly knocking Set on his butt. Wit a soft chuckle he starts looking for his backpack and going though his pouches as he rumbles a questions to Sen in Shyriiwook.
~Sen where are we, where is my translator droid, and why was that egotisical ass Set kicking me? This tub feels like it breaking up and I need that droid so the rest can understand me!~
Sen:
Sen smiles down at the wookiee.
"Friend Rorworr it is good to see you awake and unharmed. Well it would appear that we have been drugged or knocked out and are confined into this launch. It looks like we are to be sold off as slaves or some such nonsense, so all of our gear has been stolen. But fear not I am sure we will figure a way out of here and we will bring those responsible to justice! Also look under your seat there at that package... I am unsure what they contain but perhaps they might shed some light onto our predicament."
Jack:
Sia-Lan inspects the spacesuits carefully and finds that the life support modules on each are charged to a full ten hours.
Arani savagely kicks out at the door, whcih retaliates by bruising her toe. Once again assaulting the control console, she tries a few manual override command codes the Deel was fond of, but to no avail. The outer door, which whirs and hums in a desperate attempt to open itself, remains securely sealed. With a withering glare that would seem to melt through practically any substance but the durasteel the blastdoor is constructed from, she turns away from her nemesis toward Kelko and the unfortunately locked storage cabinet.
The others, rummaging through the packs beneath the seats find that they are wilderness survival packs, perhaps in case of an emergency landing on a hostile planet. Each of the six packs contains a basic field kit along with a comlink and a pair of medpacs.
"WHAM!" complains the starship, "Clang, clang, clang..." The rattling and jouncing suddenly stops with a lurch that throws everyone off their feet. Outside the porthole, the shimmering grey of hyperspace fades to starlines which shrink to pinpoints of light flickering in the blackness of realspace. Finally, the ship makes a hard, fast turn, tumbling everyone across the deck into a heap in the far corner if the space pod.
Sia-Lan:
Worried that this pod may suddenly need to launch, Sia-Lan Focuses on centering her thoughts as the group tries to untangle themselves from the heap they are in. Reaching out with the Force she tries to swing the inner hatch closed... Move object +6
Arani:
"You may have won this time, door, but I'll be back. Someday I will have my vengeance!"
Rorworr:
Rorworr looks at the pack under the seat to see if it contains his Droid, if it doesn't he moves toward the cabinet and Kelko. Motioning his fellow Pilot aside he grasps the edge of the cabinet and pulls (17 Str) if that doesn't work he gets mad at it (Wookiee Rage) and tries again.
Sen hears, ~Open you piece of useless salvage!~
Sen:
Sen also untangles himself for the others that where thrown to the floor and straps the survival pack to his belt. Fearing what might happen next he will try and get into one of the seat to strap himself in if need me.
He will then close his eyes and focus himself through the Force to see what dangers...
Sen will use the Force to view the bridge of the ship to get a general idea of what is going on. Farseeing +7
Jack:
From her place amidst the jumble of bodies, Sia-Lan concentrates on the Force, willing the heavy hatch door to close. The inner hatch groans in protest, but haltingly and slowly slides closed. VP]
Sprawled on the floor, Arani curses the door.
Rorworr stands up from the tangle, shouldering his comrades aside. Rushing to the locked cabinet, he tries vainly to wedge his fingers in the cracks of the door and pry it loose. Undaunted, he lets loose a growl and a roar unleashing a two-fisted punch against ill-fated storage device. [Wookiee rage!] The metal door buckles enough for him to grab the an edge and wrench it off its hinges. Inside are two hunting blaster rifles, two defense blaster pistols, two long curved wilderness vibroblades and two small utility vibroknives. On the bottom of cabinet lies a case of four extra power packs.
Stepping up to the forward porthole, Sia-Lan looks out just in time to see a pock-marked wall of stone rush by only meters away.
Sen-Udo staggers to his feet, clutching the survival pack to his chest. [It's a rather large backpack filled with equipment. See the description in the Core Rulebook for a "field kit". It'd be rather uncomfortable to wear it while strapped to one of the acceleration couches.] He drops into one of the chairs and fastens the safety straps about himself. With slow, calm breaths, he settles into the Force and visualizes the cockpit of the Mystic Burn. He recieves a brief glimpse of Scraggly and Dusty wrestling with the controls of the ship, as another dim figure rushes out the cockpit door. [-5 VP]
Set:
Rolling smoothly to his feet now that a 400 pound wookiee was nolonger spread across his legs, Set surveys thier tiny launch. "Now Rorworr, why did you rip the door off the cabinet when the outer hatch was much more offensive." says Set snidely. "It was keeping us traped in here after all." Set shrugs
Set uses the force to call a blaster pistol to his hand (move object +5) feeling much better armed, he calmly take a seat.
"As much as I enjoy watching everyone rush around like a bunch of Gungan tadpoles, I think we should calm down and make some decisions. I, for one think we should try and take the ship back before whoever is flying it crashes us into a sun."
Sia-Lan:
Gasping suddenly as she sees the pock-marked stone when she expected to see a starfield, Sia-Lan turns and faces the other occupants of the pod...
"Gang! we just missed hitting a rock, we might want to strap in!"
Sia-Lan moves to a seat, trying to center her thoughts for whatever may come...
Rorworr:
Rorworr growls an untranslatable reply to Set and grabs a Blaster Rifle, going to a crash seat he straps in. Where he starts a pre Crash check on the pod and Growls at Sia and Sen to tell everyone to assume crash positions and to get Kelko up front to help him Pilot.
Arani:
"Hold it. Are we really talking about abandoning ship here? How are we supposed to reach Coruscant in an escape pod? And who's going to tell Deel we lost his ship?"
Arani looks around the pod interior.
Jack:
One of the small, light pistols flips through the air, end over end, landing squarely in Set's hand as he sits down. [Treat the pistols as sporting blaster pistols, -1 VP]
With an eye on the porthole, Sia-Lan sets herself down in another chair. To her relief, the close-call with asteroid is over in a moment and the star-dappled blackness of space returns.
Rifle in hand, Rorworr settles into a chair just little to small for his Wookiee frame. [Treat the rifle as a sporting blaster rifle] Glancing at the status console, the Wook quickly realizes how mistaken he was thinking that he'd need any assistance "piloting" this glorified tin can. It was apparently designed to be utterly fool-proof. Aside from a rudimentary com-unit, and a small sensor display screen, the only "controls" consist of a status panel of green and red lights and a single button. A row of three launch interlock lights glow green to indicate that the ship is in realspace, the hatch doors are closed, and the pod is ready to launch. Another pair of lights glow red, since neither the autopilot nor the emergency beacon have been activated. In the center of the panel sits a large red button marked, "LAUNCH".
Arani looks about the pod and then takes a quick head count. She suddenly realizes that there are seven beings in a six-person escape pod.
Through the hull, you hear a distant staccato whine that sounds notoriously similar to the Mystic Burn's laser cannon opening fire. The defector shields outside the porthole flare as return fire assaults the ship in retaliation.
Rorworr:
Rorworr stashes the Blaster Rifle where it's out of the way but close to hand under the crash couch.
In Shyriiwook to Sia and Sen, ~Sia get the others into the couches, the two smallest ones will have to double up, if we have to launch it'll be bumpy.~
~Sen can you use your Jedi abiies to see what's going on outside the ship or can one of the others do it?~
Arani:
Arani takes a seat, but she's not happy about it, "If we're going to do this, let's get it over with."
Kelko:
The rodian swiftly grabs the other blaster rifle and manuevers his way up to one of the couches closest to the wookiee. While securing himself and the rifle below, he makes his best attempt to mask his concern with calmness. His comments, turn from collective thoughts to rambling "I don't think Deel will have worry. There is shooting out there. If we live. Hope something is closefor us to land. We break away now is good, cause thugs more worried about attack. We break away now is bad, because they might not know we are gone and not follow us and we not get ship back for Deel. Echa! We break away could be VERY BAD cause we might get caught in the fire fight!" His speech turns to whisper as he if finally secured and ready.
Kelko glances at the small display to see if anything is close enough for an escape pod to travel to. He fears that launch is all but inevevitable now and prepares for the blast.
Jack:
Again, the ship is rocked by laser fire as Arani straps in, and Kelko takes his seat near the status panel.
The sensor display is currently inactive, since the pod has not yet been launched.
Sia-Lan:
"Anyone know our chances of survival if this heap goes up while the pod's still attached?" Sia-Lan strains against the straps to see if she can see anything out the porthole. "Arani, do you have any better ideas? I'm willing to listen to them..."
Arani:
Arani sits quietly. She's thinking about the proper behaviour for a woman of her station, proper safety procedures for an escape pod of this type ("never, ever share an acceleration chair!") and the possibility of Dorn being reduced to a fine red paste.
She looks at Dorn, looks at the others, and then at Dorn again . . .
Sia-Lan's question interrupts her train of thought. "I wish I did have a better idea." She glares at the door. "I think we've really only got two options. We could wait it out here, hope the nerf-herders who've taken the ship can survive whatever mess they've gotten the Burn into, and use these weapons to overpower them when they come back here to collect their 'merchandise.' Or we launch, try to survive whatever's going on out there, and hope we land somewhere civilized enough that we can get a message to Coruscant. Then we track down our hijackers and show them the error of their ways. But we need to decide now." Over the course of this speech, Arani's voice has grown more confident. "Let's go. I trust Rory flying this tin can more than I trust those yahoos flying anything."
Before she has a chance to change her mind, and in the voice she normally saves for dealing with unruly servants, she adds, "Dorn! Get over here now! We're sharing this chair."
Arani unstraps herself, and will try to fit her and Dorn in the same seat with the maximum possible safety balanced against the minimum possible improper bodily contact.
Sen
Sen will look to the Wookiee "I will try". He will then close his eyes and focus on the Force and try and get a look at who is attacking the ship... Sen will again try and use Farseeing (+7) and try and get some information about who is attacking this ship.
Kelko:
Kelko quickly turns his head at breakneck speeds to Arani after her speech. With a little excitment he begins to shout, "WAIT! There might be other option! If we can get them to let us out of pod, we can get them, and us, and Deel's ship out of mess trouble! Then we deal with them for closing us in here later."
Without unstrapping from his chair, Kelko looks around for anything remotely resembling an internal commlink or intercomm system to try to talk to pirates into cooperating.
Dorn:
Dorn is thinking about possibilities and the best course of action when Arani's commanding voice slices through his concentration like a vibroblade. Despite the rocking of the ship, Dorn does his best to maintain his balance and look casual at the same time. He gives Arani a meaningful look, then looks at the chair, and then back at her again.
"You and me, in that tiny little seat?"
As another blast rocks the ship, Dorn almost falls, and with a shake of his head he quickly heads over to the chair.
"Ok, ok! I'm convinced!"
He hesitates just long enough to grab the remaining blaster pistol from the locker and then does his best to settle in beside Arani without making her too uncomfortable. As he shifts in the seat, trying to get somewhat comfortable himself, Dorn's elbow accidentally digs into Arani's side. He offers her a friendly smile of apology.
"Hey, it could be worse. At least I'm not a Hutt."
Deciding that he isn't going to be able to get anymore comfortable, Dorn sighs and directs his attention to Kelko and Roworr.
"Will one of you launch the pod already? This chair is cramping my leg, and if I have to stay scrunched up too long it might just push me over to the Dark Side."
Jack:
Closing his eyes, Sen once again reaches out to the Force, and a vision seeps into his mind... A tall man stands on the bridge of a ship. Six other beings are busy at their battle stations. He looks out the port to watch a handful of out-dated fighters flush a battered freighter out of a small but unusually dense asteroid field. "Power the tractors and the ion cannons," he commands, "and lay in an intercept course."
Another hard jolt breaks Sen's concentration, and he comes out of his reverie. [-5 VP]
As Arani and Dorn wedge themselves into a single chair, Kelko frantically searches for a last minute method of contacting the pirates. He finds only the escape pod's basic comm-unit and the hand-held comlink from the survival pack.
Set:
Set tucks his blaster into his vest. Checks the straps of his crashseat. Crosses his arms, and puts on a sulky expression, as he expects someone to bump into the lunch button at any momment.
Set mumbles something about being ignored yet again. Since Set was one of the first to sit down he chose to sit by the porthole to the outside. He looks out there now while he waits.
"I have bad feeling about this.”
Sen:
Sen opens his eyes and says "I am not sure who is attacking this ship but they are about to grab us with a tractor beam. I believe they are out to capture this ship. Also we are in a very dense asteroid belt... we may wish to wait..."
Chapter 1: Unpleasant Accomidations.
You wake up confused. Confused because you didn't think you were that tired, and confused because you woke up in the emergency escape pod.
As the wild herd of banthas trample about your brainpan, you ruminate on the events of the past two days... After the Trade Federation blockaded Naboo, the droid army invaded. The Twi'lek, Surool, offered his ship to escape the planet, but had to remain behind and create a diversion to give the rest of you a chance to flee. Running the blockade was remarkably easy, as the majority of the Federation vessels were caught up in an attempt to capture the Queen's own personal ship. After evading pursuit, you charted a course to Yag'dhul, where you could resupply the ship's stores and make some minor repairs, before heading toward Coruscant...
And that was when you fell asleep just after the hyperspace jump.
Shortly before the invasion, the young Padawans were together in Theed taking a vacation from Jedi training and the rest were busy attending classes at the Royal Academy. Now, you find yourselves crammed into the small six person escape pod of the Mystic Burn.
Inside there are the six acceleration couches, two storage cabinets, and a status console. There are two portholes, one to the front just over the status console and one mounted in the rear entry hatch. All of your weapons and personal belongings have apparently been taken from you.
You can hear footsteps in the corridor outside the hatch.
Arani:
Arani sits up a little too quickly, and immediately regrets it. She hesitates just long enough for the pounding in her head to subside, then, as quietly as possible, Move Silently +8 she takes a look at her fellow passangers. Arani has no medical skills at all, but she's mainly looking for blaster burns, open bleeding wounds, missing limbs, etc. Are we all here?
Assuming everyone's present and in one piece, she'll try to look out the porthole in the rear entry hatch without being seen.
Jack:
Aside from being unconscience, no one seems to be the worse for wear. Carefully scrambling over the heap of sleeping bodies, Arani takes a peek out the hatch porthole. As she does, two men dressed in ragged spacer's clothes meet in the corridor, the tall one sports a scraggly beard, and the shorter one is coated in dust and grease. She can barely make out what they're saying...
"...all still alive?" Scraggly asks.
"Far as I can tell... thumble amble gumble humble," Dusty replies.
"'At's good. Fomble amble gumble primble wemble camble... sell 'em when we reach Danju. Mebbe buy some parts an' turn this... scumble humble imble somble... worth flyin'. You jus' make damn sure they don' get away."
"Don' worry, I... magumble sumble... the door. They's..." Dusty's words trail off as the deck plating begins to shudder and clatter. Soon the jitter becomes a pronouced audible shudder throughout the entire ship.
"Son of a Sith! What in the Blue Blazes is goin' on here!" Scraggly shouts and grabs on to a nearby bulk head for balance. In a moment, both spacers stagger out of sight toward the cockpit.
Sia-Lan:
Sia-Lan sits up groggily, blinking her eyes several times to clear her head. She flips her padawan braid over her shoulder in a gesture she's done many times, in many more usual circumstances.
Slowly, she stands, trying not to trample any of the others in the crowded pod as she tries to make her way to the door where Arani seems to be listening quietly.
As she reaches the other, she tries to make eye contact and shrugs confusedly as if asking a question.
Sen:
Sen sits up rubbing his temples "By the blessed crown what has happened here?" He then looks around at the others in the pod making sure no one is hurt or injured.
Arani:
"There are two of them out there. Slavers, maybe . . ." Arani turns to address the group. "Listen. I don't know what's going on, but we've been through tighter scrapes than this. We all know what's at stake here. If anything happens to the ship, Deel will kill us." Arani is attempting to inspire confidence, both in the group and herself. Diplomacy +12. "Kel, Rory, let's get this door open. The rest of you, be ready."
Arani will try and work with the Rodian and Wookie to open the door. Computer Use +9, Disable Device +5, Repair +5.
Kelko:
Slowly, the vision of the crowed escape pod comes into focus for the Rodian. He looks around from his half-prone, half-croutching position. Clearing away the mental cobwebs, he begins to asses the situation. To his dismay, when he begins frisking himself, his tools are missing. To his horror, so is his blaster pistol. Cafefully rising from the contorted postiton, Kelko glances about an sees Sia-Lan and Arani spying out of the portal window. Hearing Arani's request for help, he staggers about to check the console panel and then storage cabinets for possessions, tool, or weapons. "If know Deel, secrets should be hidden in here."
Kelko will check the status console to see if any infomation can be obtained. Pilot +8, Computer Use +2, Craft (electronics) +6
He replies to his human female friend in his broken Basic, "One momonet, 'Rani. Maybe some help in these," as he moves to check the storage bins.
Then Kelko will attempt to search the stoarage bins for anything he can use to jury rig open the door. Profession (mechanic) +2, Repair +8, Search +2,
Sia-Lan:
Sia-Lan moves to the storage lockers, trying to see if there is anything useful within them, also getting out of the way of those who are working on the door. Search +4
Jack:
With a boost of confidence [+1 attack, skill checks and will saves for the next 10 minutes], everyone sets to work.
Using a small control console located next to the exit, Arani manages to easily open the escape pod's inner hatch. When she attempts to open the outer hatch into the ship itself, she can only listen to the gears and latches hum and groan within the bulkhead for a moment, while the blastdoor stays firmly closed.
Kelko checks the status board. A hyperspace indicator glows red, annoucing that while ship is still in hyperspace, the pod cannot be launched. A glance at the mottled grey flowing past the outer porthole confirms that warning. Another pair of red lights indicates that neither the autopilot, nor the emergency beacon have been activated. Two more lights, one red, one green annouce that the inner hatch been opened, but the outer remains closed. Finally, in the very center of the panel sits the sole control device, a large red button marked "LAUNCH".
Opening the first storage cabinet, Sian-Lan finds a half dozen emergency spacesuits. [We will treat them as standard flightsuits.] As Kelko returns from the console to assist in the search, they discover that the second locker is... locked... using a numeric keypad combination.
From where he sits on the floor, Sen can see that most of friends have woken up and are busy searching the pod for a method of escape. A handful of his companions are still knocked out on the floor. He also notices some sort of bundle secured tightly beneath each of the six acceleartion chairs.
The ships continues rattling and jostling in a progressively more violent manner, until the noise is nearly unbearable.
Set:
"Uhhhh!" Set grogily shakes his head aand pushes himself up from lying face down on... The Wookiee!. "Ahheee!" Spitting out wookiee hair Set scrambles to his feet bumping into the others moving about the pod.
"Sithspit, What's going on." Set says loudly. "Ahh my head, I don't remember deciding to take nap in an escape pod, and definately not on top of wookiee!" Set reaches down to check for his lightsabre and finds it gone from his belt. "Alright, which one of you took my lightsabre, is this somekind of joke? It's not funny. I'll hang up whoever's responsible by the most painfull apendenge I can think of if I don't get it back right now."
Set glares about at his compainions, occationally he glances down at the peacefully slumbering wookiee with disgust wiping his mouth for anymore wookiee hair.
Sen:
"Be at peace Set Harth, none of us are with our normal gear... but look underneath your seat there and see what is in that bundle."
Sen will then look under his own seat to see if he also has one of these bundles. If so he will examine it quickly and look inside of it.
Sia-Lan:
"Hsssstttt!!!" Sia-Lan whirls from inspecting the suits to face Set, her eyes flashing brightly in the darkened interior of the pod.
In a whisper dripping with venom, she spits her words at him. "Set, quiet! None of us has our stuff, now be useful for a change, and see if you can help!"
Sia-Lan glances nervously towards the small window hoping no one heard the outburst over the noise of the ship. She turns back to the suits, checking that the air supply is good on all of them before turning with a scowl towards the locked cabinet...
Dorn:
Slowly, Dorn awakens, squinting as he carefully sits up and surveys the situation. He absently runs a hand through his hair and winces at the horrible combination of his godawful headache and the rattling of the ship.
"Ok, either Deel's ship has shrunk a lot since I was last awake, or somebody has really screwed up and we are in an escape pod."
He glances around, slowly coming to the realization that he is indeed stuck in an escape pod with his companions. With a sigh and a grimace of mild pain, Dorn stands up and looks at Sen.
"Hey Sen, is Deel's ship going to explode or what? From the sounds of things, I'd say we better not wait too much longer before we launch this pod."
Dorn looks down at his belt and suddenly seems alarmed.
"Hey, where is my lightsaber?"
Realizing that things are actually much worse than he initially thought, Dorn begins to focus his thoughts. He quickly walks over to the pod door to peer out of the porthole while speaking to his friends.
"Would somebody like to update me on the situation?"
Arani:
"Here's the short version - we all passed out and woke up here. We have no equipment. There are at least two men on board the ship, and they were just discussing their plans to sell us off once we reach Danju, wherever that is. We're in hyperspace, and there's something wrong with the ship. Meanwhile, my home has been invaded, everyone I've ever known is probably being tortured and killed, and there's nothing I can do to help because I can't get this freling door open!"
Arani kicks the door for emphasis.
"Frel."
She takes a deep breath, then turns back to the door lock and tries again.
Kelko:
After a cursory inspection of the console, Kelko moves to the cabinet, which is secured by a numeric keypad. He turns to the young daughter of a noble and speaks as best he can over the humming and clanging of the ship, while pointing to the security device on the storage bin.
"This here, 'Rani, can you get into this?" The rodian remembers the time she was able to disable a similar keypad only weeks ago, when they snuck into the staff-only library of the Royal House of Learning.
If nothing comes of the locked cabinet, Kelko will move to see what the package is under the seats.
Arani:
"I'll be right over. Let me just finish up here."
Arani smiles at the Rodian, and then turns back to the keypad on the door.
Assuming she fails again to open it, she'll try to open the storage bin.
Set:
Set looks as each person speaks, his expression getting more stormy as he hears that no one really knows what is going on. Wearing a sullen look Set looks beaneth the closest crash-seat reaching for the bundle there. He begins to mumble. Something about regreting going to Sia-Lan's room for yesterday's notes from history class, and getting dragged into another one of her Sithspawned adventures.
Hawk-bat droppings, that wookiee smelled. Set makes a mental note to NEVER be in such close quarters with a wookiee again. He could never understand how Dorn could live with his room-mate Rorworr.
Sitting down with the buddle in his lap, set kicks Rorworr none to gently. "Wake up Furball, I'm tired of walking around your smelly-hairy frame."
Set will investigate the contents of his package.
Rorworr:
With a huge yawn Rorworr wakes up flinging his arms wide inadvertly knocking Set on his butt. Wit a soft chuckle he starts looking for his backpack and going though his pouches as he rumbles a questions to Sen in Shyriiwook.
~Sen where are we, where is my translator droid, and why was that egotisical ass Set kicking me? This tub feels like it breaking up and I need that droid so the rest can understand me!~
Sen:
Sen smiles down at the wookiee.
"Friend Rorworr it is good to see you awake and unharmed. Well it would appear that we have been drugged or knocked out and are confined into this launch. It looks like we are to be sold off as slaves or some such nonsense, so all of our gear has been stolen. But fear not I am sure we will figure a way out of here and we will bring those responsible to justice! Also look under your seat there at that package... I am unsure what they contain but perhaps they might shed some light onto our predicament."
Jack:
Sia-Lan inspects the spacesuits carefully and finds that the life support modules on each are charged to a full ten hours.
Arani savagely kicks out at the door, whcih retaliates by bruising her toe. Once again assaulting the control console, she tries a few manual override command codes the Deel was fond of, but to no avail. The outer door, which whirs and hums in a desperate attempt to open itself, remains securely sealed. With a withering glare that would seem to melt through practically any substance but the durasteel the blastdoor is constructed from, she turns away from her nemesis toward Kelko and the unfortunately locked storage cabinet.
The others, rummaging through the packs beneath the seats find that they are wilderness survival packs, perhaps in case of an emergency landing on a hostile planet. Each of the six packs contains a basic field kit along with a comlink and a pair of medpacs.
"WHAM!" complains the starship, "Clang, clang, clang..." The rattling and jouncing suddenly stops with a lurch that throws everyone off their feet. Outside the porthole, the shimmering grey of hyperspace fades to starlines which shrink to pinpoints of light flickering in the blackness of realspace. Finally, the ship makes a hard, fast turn, tumbling everyone across the deck into a heap in the far corner if the space pod.
Sia-Lan:
Worried that this pod may suddenly need to launch, Sia-Lan Focuses on centering her thoughts as the group tries to untangle themselves from the heap they are in. Reaching out with the Force she tries to swing the inner hatch closed... Move object +6
Arani:
"You may have won this time, door, but I'll be back. Someday I will have my vengeance!"
Rorworr:
Rorworr looks at the pack under the seat to see if it contains his Droid, if it doesn't he moves toward the cabinet and Kelko. Motioning his fellow Pilot aside he grasps the edge of the cabinet and pulls (17 Str) if that doesn't work he gets mad at it (Wookiee Rage) and tries again.
Sen hears, ~Open you piece of useless salvage!~
Sen:
Sen also untangles himself for the others that where thrown to the floor and straps the survival pack to his belt. Fearing what might happen next he will try and get into one of the seat to strap himself in if need me.
He will then close his eyes and focus himself through the Force to see what dangers...
Sen will use the Force to view the bridge of the ship to get a general idea of what is going on. Farseeing +7
Jack:
From her place amidst the jumble of bodies, Sia-Lan concentrates on the Force, willing the heavy hatch door to close. The inner hatch groans in protest, but haltingly and slowly slides closed. VP]
Sprawled on the floor, Arani curses the door.
Rorworr stands up from the tangle, shouldering his comrades aside. Rushing to the locked cabinet, he tries vainly to wedge his fingers in the cracks of the door and pry it loose. Undaunted, he lets loose a growl and a roar unleashing a two-fisted punch against ill-fated storage device. [Wookiee rage!] The metal door buckles enough for him to grab the an edge and wrench it off its hinges. Inside are two hunting blaster rifles, two defense blaster pistols, two long curved wilderness vibroblades and two small utility vibroknives. On the bottom of cabinet lies a case of four extra power packs.
Stepping up to the forward porthole, Sia-Lan looks out just in time to see a pock-marked wall of stone rush by only meters away.
Sen-Udo staggers to his feet, clutching the survival pack to his chest. [It's a rather large backpack filled with equipment. See the description in the Core Rulebook for a "field kit". It'd be rather uncomfortable to wear it while strapped to one of the acceleration couches.] He drops into one of the chairs and fastens the safety straps about himself. With slow, calm breaths, he settles into the Force and visualizes the cockpit of the Mystic Burn. He recieves a brief glimpse of Scraggly and Dusty wrestling with the controls of the ship, as another dim figure rushes out the cockpit door. [-5 VP]
Set:
Rolling smoothly to his feet now that a 400 pound wookiee was nolonger spread across his legs, Set surveys thier tiny launch. "Now Rorworr, why did you rip the door off the cabinet when the outer hatch was much more offensive." says Set snidely. "It was keeping us traped in here after all." Set shrugs
Set uses the force to call a blaster pistol to his hand (move object +5) feeling much better armed, he calmly take a seat.
"As much as I enjoy watching everyone rush around like a bunch of Gungan tadpoles, I think we should calm down and make some decisions. I, for one think we should try and take the ship back before whoever is flying it crashes us into a sun."
Sia-Lan:
Gasping suddenly as she sees the pock-marked stone when she expected to see a starfield, Sia-Lan turns and faces the other occupants of the pod...
"Gang! we just missed hitting a rock, we might want to strap in!"
Sia-Lan moves to a seat, trying to center her thoughts for whatever may come...
Rorworr:
Rorworr growls an untranslatable reply to Set and grabs a Blaster Rifle, going to a crash seat he straps in. Where he starts a pre Crash check on the pod and Growls at Sia and Sen to tell everyone to assume crash positions and to get Kelko up front to help him Pilot.
Arani:
"Hold it. Are we really talking about abandoning ship here? How are we supposed to reach Coruscant in an escape pod? And who's going to tell Deel we lost his ship?"
Arani looks around the pod interior.
Jack:
One of the small, light pistols flips through the air, end over end, landing squarely in Set's hand as he sits down. [Treat the pistols as sporting blaster pistols, -1 VP]
With an eye on the porthole, Sia-Lan sets herself down in another chair. To her relief, the close-call with asteroid is over in a moment and the star-dappled blackness of space returns.
Rifle in hand, Rorworr settles into a chair just little to small for his Wookiee frame. [Treat the rifle as a sporting blaster rifle] Glancing at the status console, the Wook quickly realizes how mistaken he was thinking that he'd need any assistance "piloting" this glorified tin can. It was apparently designed to be utterly fool-proof. Aside from a rudimentary com-unit, and a small sensor display screen, the only "controls" consist of a status panel of green and red lights and a single button. A row of three launch interlock lights glow green to indicate that the ship is in realspace, the hatch doors are closed, and the pod is ready to launch. Another pair of lights glow red, since neither the autopilot nor the emergency beacon have been activated. In the center of the panel sits a large red button marked, "LAUNCH".
Arani looks about the pod and then takes a quick head count. She suddenly realizes that there are seven beings in a six-person escape pod.
Through the hull, you hear a distant staccato whine that sounds notoriously similar to the Mystic Burn's laser cannon opening fire. The defector shields outside the porthole flare as return fire assaults the ship in retaliation.
Rorworr:
Rorworr stashes the Blaster Rifle where it's out of the way but close to hand under the crash couch.
In Shyriiwook to Sia and Sen, ~Sia get the others into the couches, the two smallest ones will have to double up, if we have to launch it'll be bumpy.~
~Sen can you use your Jedi abiies to see what's going on outside the ship or can one of the others do it?~
Arani:
Arani takes a seat, but she's not happy about it, "If we're going to do this, let's get it over with."
Kelko:
The rodian swiftly grabs the other blaster rifle and manuevers his way up to one of the couches closest to the wookiee. While securing himself and the rifle below, he makes his best attempt to mask his concern with calmness. His comments, turn from collective thoughts to rambling "I don't think Deel will have worry. There is shooting out there. If we live. Hope something is closefor us to land. We break away now is good, cause thugs more worried about attack. We break away now is bad, because they might not know we are gone and not follow us and we not get ship back for Deel. Echa! We break away could be VERY BAD cause we might get caught in the fire fight!" His speech turns to whisper as he if finally secured and ready.
Kelko glances at the small display to see if anything is close enough for an escape pod to travel to. He fears that launch is all but inevevitable now and prepares for the blast.
Jack:
Again, the ship is rocked by laser fire as Arani straps in, and Kelko takes his seat near the status panel.
The sensor display is currently inactive, since the pod has not yet been launched.
Sia-Lan:
"Anyone know our chances of survival if this heap goes up while the pod's still attached?" Sia-Lan strains against the straps to see if she can see anything out the porthole. "Arani, do you have any better ideas? I'm willing to listen to them..."
Arani:
Arani sits quietly. She's thinking about the proper behaviour for a woman of her station, proper safety procedures for an escape pod of this type ("never, ever share an acceleration chair!") and the possibility of Dorn being reduced to a fine red paste.
She looks at Dorn, looks at the others, and then at Dorn again . . .
Sia-Lan's question interrupts her train of thought. "I wish I did have a better idea." She glares at the door. "I think we've really only got two options. We could wait it out here, hope the nerf-herders who've taken the ship can survive whatever mess they've gotten the Burn into, and use these weapons to overpower them when they come back here to collect their 'merchandise.' Or we launch, try to survive whatever's going on out there, and hope we land somewhere civilized enough that we can get a message to Coruscant. Then we track down our hijackers and show them the error of their ways. But we need to decide now." Over the course of this speech, Arani's voice has grown more confident. "Let's go. I trust Rory flying this tin can more than I trust those yahoos flying anything."
Before she has a chance to change her mind, and in the voice she normally saves for dealing with unruly servants, she adds, "Dorn! Get over here now! We're sharing this chair."
Arani unstraps herself, and will try to fit her and Dorn in the same seat with the maximum possible safety balanced against the minimum possible improper bodily contact.
Sen
Sen will look to the Wookiee "I will try". He will then close his eyes and focus on the Force and try and get a look at who is attacking the ship... Sen will again try and use Farseeing (+7) and try and get some information about who is attacking this ship.
Kelko:
Kelko quickly turns his head at breakneck speeds to Arani after her speech. With a little excitment he begins to shout, "WAIT! There might be other option! If we can get them to let us out of pod, we can get them, and us, and Deel's ship out of mess trouble! Then we deal with them for closing us in here later."
Without unstrapping from his chair, Kelko looks around for anything remotely resembling an internal commlink or intercomm system to try to talk to pirates into cooperating.
Dorn:
Dorn is thinking about possibilities and the best course of action when Arani's commanding voice slices through his concentration like a vibroblade. Despite the rocking of the ship, Dorn does his best to maintain his balance and look casual at the same time. He gives Arani a meaningful look, then looks at the chair, and then back at her again.
"You and me, in that tiny little seat?"
As another blast rocks the ship, Dorn almost falls, and with a shake of his head he quickly heads over to the chair.
"Ok, ok! I'm convinced!"
He hesitates just long enough to grab the remaining blaster pistol from the locker and then does his best to settle in beside Arani without making her too uncomfortable. As he shifts in the seat, trying to get somewhat comfortable himself, Dorn's elbow accidentally digs into Arani's side. He offers her a friendly smile of apology.
"Hey, it could be worse. At least I'm not a Hutt."
Deciding that he isn't going to be able to get anymore comfortable, Dorn sighs and directs his attention to Kelko and Roworr.
"Will one of you launch the pod already? This chair is cramping my leg, and if I have to stay scrunched up too long it might just push me over to the Dark Side."
Jack:
Closing his eyes, Sen once again reaches out to the Force, and a vision seeps into his mind... A tall man stands on the bridge of a ship. Six other beings are busy at their battle stations. He looks out the port to watch a handful of out-dated fighters flush a battered freighter out of a small but unusually dense asteroid field. "Power the tractors and the ion cannons," he commands, "and lay in an intercept course."
Another hard jolt breaks Sen's concentration, and he comes out of his reverie. [-5 VP]
As Arani and Dorn wedge themselves into a single chair, Kelko frantically searches for a last minute method of contacting the pirates. He finds only the escape pod's basic comm-unit and the hand-held comlink from the survival pack.
Set:
Set tucks his blaster into his vest. Checks the straps of his crashseat. Crosses his arms, and puts on a sulky expression, as he expects someone to bump into the lunch button at any momment.
Set mumbles something about being ignored yet again. Since Set was one of the first to sit down he chose to sit by the porthole to the outside. He looks out there now while he waits.
"I have bad feeling about this.”
Sen:
Sen opens his eyes and says "I am not sure who is attacking this ship but they are about to grab us with a tractor beam. I believe they are out to capture this ship. Also we are in a very dense asteroid belt... we may wish to wait..."
Jack Haggerty
First Post
Chapter 1 (cont'd).
Jack:
With a pop and a rush of acceleration, the escape pod slides out of it's berth falling steadily away from the Mystic Burn. The status console comes to life and the sensor display quickly locks on to a nearby planet. Stars wheel by outside the windows, and the pod reorients itself to the new course.
Out of the battle, and apparently unnoticed amidst the chaos, the pod falls calm and quiet except for the low pinging of the distress beacon.
The planet that the autopilot has picked up seems to be rather close, if the sensor display is any indication, and should only take a few minutes to reach...
Sia-Lan:
As the pod hurtles through space, Sia-Lan closes her eyes and focuses on her thoughts, again trying to center herself in readiness for whatever might lie ahead. As the ride continues, a slight smile spreads across her face and she opens her eyes...
"You know, when I was a tyke, many of my imaginary adventures started off in just such a fashion... even though I'm a little apprehensive, this could be fun..."
She cranes her neck trying to catch a glimpse of the planet out of the small porthole as they spiral closer to the gravity well...
Sen:
Sen smiles a bit at the "adventure of it all" and then leans back, closing his eyes. The last few "visions" have taken a bit of a toll on him and he tries recover some of his fatigue back...
Sen will use Heal Self +4 to try and recover some of his Vitality lost.
Arani:
Arani squirms a bit, and hopes she's not blushing.
Set:
Set moans at the word "adventure".
Jack:
Soon the planet looms in the forward view port, a dull green orb swirled with thick white clouds. Ahead of you, closer in, you can barely make out the tiny form of the Mystic Burn blazing its way into the atmosphere as a squadron of small fighters follow it in. The larger ship is nowhere in sight.
Moments later, the pod fire its retros and drops beneath a blanket of clouds. Lush jungle forest races by below. The pod drifts lower and lower, riding on its respulsorlifts. With crackling scrapes alongside the hull, the pod dips into the trees themselves. One final breaking blast, and the pod comes to rest.
Again, the pod falls silent, but for the urgent ping of the emergency beacon.
Arani:
Arani unbuckles, and practically leaps out of the seat. She'll run over to the porthole, and take a look outside.
Rorworr:
As the pod settle's to the jungle floor, Rorworr unbuckles his crash harness and stands up. Turning to Sia and Sen he shouts in Shyiiwook.....
~Get everyone unbuckled and gather the packs and anything else we might be able to use, we might have been seen launching from the Burn and I want a head start on any pursuers.~
He reaches under his couch and grabs the Blaster Rifle and survival pack, then moves to the hatch to open it.
~Sen when we get out have someone use thier powers to find any lifeforms that are sentient and/or hostile. We need to move and move fast, I'll take point since this is my kind of eviroment the rest of you decide where you'll be.~
Set:
Set very reluctently gathers up his survival kit and pats his blaster reassuringly, rises from his chair and steps up behind the wookiee.
"After you Rorworr, hairiness before beauty," says Set with a smirk.
Set will take position in the middle, blaster in hand and makes some effort to walk silently
Rorworr:
Rorworr turns around and rumbles in Shyriiwook at Set, ~But on Kashyyyk I'm considered handsome and they would think you had the mange Set,~ pats him on top of his head then opens the hatch after everyone is ready.
Sen:
Sen will unstrap himself from the crash chair and follow the others out of the ship. "Rorworr looks to be taking point, and I believe he is right in that we should get away from the lifepod as quickly as possible". Sen will then also concentrate for a second and stretch out his senses to their limits...
Sen will use Enhance Senses +8 to bonus his Listen and Spot.
Jack:
With a pop and a rush of acceleration, the escape pod slides out of it's berth falling steadily away from the Mystic Burn. The status console comes to life and the sensor display quickly locks on to a nearby planet. Stars wheel by outside the windows, and the pod reorients itself to the new course.
Out of the battle, and apparently unnoticed amidst the chaos, the pod falls calm and quiet except for the low pinging of the distress beacon.
The planet that the autopilot has picked up seems to be rather close, if the sensor display is any indication, and should only take a few minutes to reach...
Sia-Lan:
As the pod hurtles through space, Sia-Lan closes her eyes and focuses on her thoughts, again trying to center herself in readiness for whatever might lie ahead. As the ride continues, a slight smile spreads across her face and she opens her eyes...
"You know, when I was a tyke, many of my imaginary adventures started off in just such a fashion... even though I'm a little apprehensive, this could be fun..."
She cranes her neck trying to catch a glimpse of the planet out of the small porthole as they spiral closer to the gravity well...
Sen:
Sen smiles a bit at the "adventure of it all" and then leans back, closing his eyes. The last few "visions" have taken a bit of a toll on him and he tries recover some of his fatigue back...
Sen will use Heal Self +4 to try and recover some of his Vitality lost.
Arani:
Arani squirms a bit, and hopes she's not blushing.
Set:
Set moans at the word "adventure".
Jack:
Soon the planet looms in the forward view port, a dull green orb swirled with thick white clouds. Ahead of you, closer in, you can barely make out the tiny form of the Mystic Burn blazing its way into the atmosphere as a squadron of small fighters follow it in. The larger ship is nowhere in sight.
Moments later, the pod fire its retros and drops beneath a blanket of clouds. Lush jungle forest races by below. The pod drifts lower and lower, riding on its respulsorlifts. With crackling scrapes alongside the hull, the pod dips into the trees themselves. One final breaking blast, and the pod comes to rest.
Again, the pod falls silent, but for the urgent ping of the emergency beacon.
Arani:
Arani unbuckles, and practically leaps out of the seat. She'll run over to the porthole, and take a look outside.
Rorworr:
As the pod settle's to the jungle floor, Rorworr unbuckles his crash harness and stands up. Turning to Sia and Sen he shouts in Shyiiwook.....
~Get everyone unbuckled and gather the packs and anything else we might be able to use, we might have been seen launching from the Burn and I want a head start on any pursuers.~
He reaches under his couch and grabs the Blaster Rifle and survival pack, then moves to the hatch to open it.
~Sen when we get out have someone use thier powers to find any lifeforms that are sentient and/or hostile. We need to move and move fast, I'll take point since this is my kind of eviroment the rest of you decide where you'll be.~
Set:
Set very reluctently gathers up his survival kit and pats his blaster reassuringly, rises from his chair and steps up behind the wookiee.
"After you Rorworr, hairiness before beauty," says Set with a smirk.
Set will take position in the middle, blaster in hand and makes some effort to walk silently
Rorworr:
Rorworr turns around and rumbles in Shyriiwook at Set, ~But on Kashyyyk I'm considered handsome and they would think you had the mange Set,~ pats him on top of his head then opens the hatch after everyone is ready.
Sen:
Sen will unstrap himself from the crash chair and follow the others out of the ship. "Rorworr looks to be taking point, and I believe he is right in that we should get away from the lifepod as quickly as possible". Sen will then also concentrate for a second and stretch out his senses to their limits...
Sen will use Enhance Senses +8 to bonus his Listen and Spot.
Jack Haggerty
First Post
Chapter 2.
Chapter 2: Jungle Boogie.
Stepping outside the pod, you find yourselves in the midst of a dense jungle. Thick meter high undergrowth closes in all about the escape pod, and tall, wide tree trunks support a green canopy of leaves hundreds of meters above. The sky is completely concealed from view, and only a wan, green light filters through to the forest floor. Behind you, a narrow swath of broken braches leading up to a small escape pod shaped hole in the canopy.
As you pull the survival gear and weapons from the crashed pod, the jungle remains unervingly quiet as the emergency beacon continues its strident call for help.
Ok. To sum up... You are in the midst of a dense jungle. Everyone is in good health, except for Sia [-3 VP, currently] who is slightly worn from Forcing the blast door closed.
Kelko:
The rodian grabs a survival pack, along with the hunting rifle, and steps out of the pod to join his friends. "ECHA! This is more like it. Now do we wander off, or set up ambush for pirates when looking for us. That hole in treetops might be a dead giveaway of where we are."
Sia-Lan:
Thinking that it maybe useful in clearing out any foliage, and as a poor substitute for a light saber, Sia picks up a vibroblade and a survival pack, and will pick up the rear of the party as they move off
"Watch your step, we know very little about the flora and fauna of this place."
Arani:
Arani will grab the remaining survival pack, and hand it to Dorn. (What? You thought she was going to haul it around the jungle herself?) She'll also pick up one of the vibro-knives - she's not proficient, but it's better than nothing. She'll look over the flightsuits, and ask "Are we going to need these?"
Dorn:
"Not unless you are planning on climbing a tree and jumping. I think that pod has seen its last days in the air."
Dorn smiles as he steps out of the pod and is handed the survival pack.
"Hey, thanks Arani. You know, you've been very generous to me lately. First you share your seat, and now you give me the last survival pack. I didn't know you cared so much." Dorn winks at the young noble as he straps on the pack, and then glances around his new jungle surroundings.
"Well, one thing is sure. We've got a long walk ahead of us no matter which way we go. I say we get a move on and let Roworr lead the way. He knows this kind of environment. Hopefully he can keep us from getting eaten by the native flora and fauna."
Dorn suddenly slaps at his neck as he waits for the rest of the group to decide on a course of action. "Ow! Um...does anybody know if these survival packs have any bug spray?"
Dorn starts focusing on the Force as he waits, calming the bad feeling he is already getting about this little excursion into the woods...
Arani:
Arani turns a very bright shade of pink. "Just take the pack."
Jack:
As the group gathers outside the pod, you hear the Doppler-shifting whine of an ion engine flying by overhead above the forest canopy.
Gear Update. Aside from the clothes, or fur, on your backs you are currently carrying...
Sia-Lan:
Hearing the engine noise, Sia-Lan whirls on the group. "C'mon people, we have NO time! Rorworr, pick a path and let's move!" Sia-Lan glances nervously about as if expecting something to go wrong.
Sen:
Sen nods his head in agreement, "Yes let us be away from here as quickly as we can"
If there are any of the weapons left he will grab one but he is not really worried about it. Sen will take a position towards to back of the group. Mostly he concentrates trying to get his force powers to work...
Sen will use Enhance Senses +8 to try and boost his senses
Jack:
Sen grabs the last vibroblade and vibrodagger from the weapons cabinet, before scrambling into the nearby underbrush with everyone else. The whine of the ion engine engine fades into the distance.
Sia-Lan:
Just inside the cover of the brush, Sia-Lan waits until Sen passes her by, then she falls into the rear keeping her eyes and ears open for trouble...
Kelko:
The rodian scrambles to gain some cover among the overgrowth, himself. Once the whinning of the Ion engine has left ear shot, Kelko will being to meticulasly check the ground for any type of tracks or markings.
Kelko will take 20 to search for tracks to follow or markings to determine if any wild life is near. Listen +6, Search +2, Spot +6, Survival +5, Track.
Jack:
As the group hastens into the concealment of the undergrowth and away from the clearing created by the crashed escape pod, Kelko scans the ground for signs of wildlife. Nothing could be seen or heard in the immediate area, with all of the fauna apparently frightened into hiding by the crash landing.
A few minutes search away from the landing site reveals an inconspicuous narrow dirt trail crossing your path. It heads off into the jungle forest in either direction, following a gradual slope down to the right, and a steeper uphill grade to the left. The trail still appears to be moist from an early morning rain, and a myriad of tracks are jumbled together following the trail in both directions, making it difficult to identify any of them.
Amidst the trail, two are most prominent and recent. The wide blunt-nailed footprints of some large four-footed beast most likely belong to some herbivorous herd animal. And the small splay-toed tracks seem to be the property of a meter-tall earth-bound bird.
Set:
Being far more use to the urban jungle of Coruscant, Set feels completely out of his element. In an increasingly hysterical tone he says, "Well, what do we do now, Crash-landed in some insect infested jungle, who knows how far from any sort of civilization or starport. Does anyone even have an idea what planet this is? Kelko? Rorworr? Recognize any fauna or flora? We could be lost here forever, or eaten, and no one would ever know what happened to us! What are we going to Do!”
Suddenly Set begins firing his blaster into the surrounding vegetation. After several shots, a great deal of noise and the sound of collapsing foliage, Set turns to the rest of the group.
“What? I thought I saw something move.” His weapon hand trembles slightly and he breathes in gasps. His blaster seems to be pointed in Arani’s general direction. Smoke is curling up and out of the barrel.
Jack:
A troupe of knee-high simioids flee, leaping off through the trees and hooting in alarm as the foliage that was their hiding place is reduced to a smoldering collection of twigs by Set's unrestrained volley of blaster fire. Higher up in the canopy, a flock of aviads take flight into the sky and cackle a loud warning which echoes off the forested slopes.
Arani:
"I know the feeling. Look, Set, I'm scared too. But we're all still here, and we have each other. We'll get through this. So how about a little of that fabled Jedi calm?"
Rorworr:
After Set fires his blaster, Rorworr turns around, looks at him and holds his finger upright in front of his lips. Speaking low in Shyrrlwook to Sia and Sen, ~Tell him if he does that again without my express permission that I will pull his head off and use it as a Booche Ball.~
Rorworr resumes point position at about 5 meters in front of the party.
Sia-Lan:
Sia-Lan sprints up from her position in the back of the party, doing a brief somewhat comical dance around a fleeing simioid, with an irritated expression on her face she slides on the organic debris and interposes herself between Set and Arani.
"Set, keep your head on, we're trying to remain unnoticed," she hisses. "Can we just keep moving please!"
A look of concentration passes across her face as she appears to concentrate upon the latch holding the energy pack in Set's blaster. [Move Object +6]
Jack:
With a click, the power pack releases from and slides from the blaster pistol. [-1 VP] Startled, Set fumbles a moment and catches it with his other hand before it lands on his foot.
Set:
Set drops the blaster and clip from his numb fingers and turns away from everyone, taking a few steps away. His fists clinch then unclinch, his shoulders rise then fall, as he struggles to gain focus using Jedi meditation techniques.
After a few moments he turns back to the group. Set's face is once again masked in an arrogant smirk. Pretending the last few moments never happened, "Well shall we continue are little hike? I for one would not like to sleep in the mud with a snoring wookiee for company if it can at all be helped."
Sia-Lan:
"No one wants to spend the night out here, and with the noise we've been making, the need for us to move quickly grows stronger by the second."
With a troubled look upon her face, Sia-Lan picks up the pistol and the energy cartridge, then falls back to the back of the party, trying to listen for sounds of pursuit.
Arani:
"I agree. Let's move out." Arani will take up a position as close to the middle of the pack as she can.
Dorn:
Dorn watches Set intently and looks vastly relieved when Set drops his blaster. Making a mental note to himself to talk to somebody about Set when they get back to Coruscant, Dorn shoulders his pack and follows the others into the jungle.
"What a day this is turning out to be..."
Sen:
Sen looks around a bit, and shakes his head sadly. Then he will move up, "Kelko, Rorworr, let get moving. You two take the lead as you are the best here. Quickly now..."
Rorworr:
Rorworr hand signals the group to wait there for a few moments while he scouts ahead. The party watches as the Wookiee glides effortlessly though the jungle undergrowth, going around the bend he turns and grins at them.
In game terms I'll be going down hill, the rest well... can a wookiee look inscrutable?
Kelko:
The rodian carefully tails the wookie, keeping his eyes and ears open for any unfriendly activity or sudden evidence of sentient travel in the growth, blaster rifle at the ready. Hide +4, Listen +6, Search +2, Survival +5.
Jack:
Rorworr and Kelko press on downhill through the jungle. Moving swiftly along the muddy trail through the foliage. The others following them have a little trouble keeping up and start to fall behind. As you move along the trail, one by one, the frightened denizens of the jungle find their voices again. A chorus of hoots, chirps, buzzes and howls fill the distant background.
After a half-hour's march, the Wookiee and his Rodian companion step into a clearing on the edge of wide, slow-flowing brown river. The trail leads down to the river's edge, and continues into the forest on the opposite shore. Shortly, the rest of the group catches up.
Above the rushing of the river, you can hear a faint droning hum from somewhere far beyond other side of the river.
Chapter 2: Jungle Boogie.
Stepping outside the pod, you find yourselves in the midst of a dense jungle. Thick meter high undergrowth closes in all about the escape pod, and tall, wide tree trunks support a green canopy of leaves hundreds of meters above. The sky is completely concealed from view, and only a wan, green light filters through to the forest floor. Behind you, a narrow swath of broken braches leading up to a small escape pod shaped hole in the canopy.
As you pull the survival gear and weapons from the crashed pod, the jungle remains unervingly quiet as the emergency beacon continues its strident call for help.
Ok. To sum up... You are in the midst of a dense jungle. Everyone is in good health, except for Sia [-3 VP, currently] who is slightly worn from Forcing the blast door closed.
Kelko:
The rodian grabs a survival pack, along with the hunting rifle, and steps out of the pod to join his friends. "ECHA! This is more like it. Now do we wander off, or set up ambush for pirates when looking for us. That hole in treetops might be a dead giveaway of where we are."
Sia-Lan:
Thinking that it maybe useful in clearing out any foliage, and as a poor substitute for a light saber, Sia picks up a vibroblade and a survival pack, and will pick up the rear of the party as they move off
"Watch your step, we know very little about the flora and fauna of this place."
Arani:
Arani will grab the remaining survival pack, and hand it to Dorn. (What? You thought she was going to haul it around the jungle herself?) She'll also pick up one of the vibro-knives - she's not proficient, but it's better than nothing. She'll look over the flightsuits, and ask "Are we going to need these?"
Dorn:
"Not unless you are planning on climbing a tree and jumping. I think that pod has seen its last days in the air."
Dorn smiles as he steps out of the pod and is handed the survival pack.
"Hey, thanks Arani. You know, you've been very generous to me lately. First you share your seat, and now you give me the last survival pack. I didn't know you cared so much." Dorn winks at the young noble as he straps on the pack, and then glances around his new jungle surroundings.
"Well, one thing is sure. We've got a long walk ahead of us no matter which way we go. I say we get a move on and let Roworr lead the way. He knows this kind of environment. Hopefully he can keep us from getting eaten by the native flora and fauna."
Dorn suddenly slaps at his neck as he waits for the rest of the group to decide on a course of action. "Ow! Um...does anybody know if these survival packs have any bug spray?"
Dorn starts focusing on the Force as he waits, calming the bad feeling he is already getting about this little excursion into the woods...
Arani:
Arani turns a very bright shade of pink. "Just take the pack."
Jack:
As the group gathers outside the pod, you hear the Doppler-shifting whine of an ion engine flying by overhead above the forest canopy.
Gear Update. Aside from the clothes, or fur, on your backs you are currently carrying...
- Rorworr: Field Kit, Comlink, 2 Medpacks, Sporting Blaster Rifle.
- Set: Field Kit, Comlink, 2 Medpacks, Sporting Blaster Pistol.
- Sen-Udo: Field Kit, Comlink, 2 Medpacks.
- Kelko: Field Kit, Comlink, 2 Medpacks, Sporting Blaster Rifle.
- Sia-Lan: Field Kit, Comlink, 2 Medpacks, Vibroblade.
- Arani: Vibrodagger.
- Dorn: Field Kit, Comlink, 2 Medpacks, Sporting Blaster Pistol.
Sia-Lan:
Hearing the engine noise, Sia-Lan whirls on the group. "C'mon people, we have NO time! Rorworr, pick a path and let's move!" Sia-Lan glances nervously about as if expecting something to go wrong.
Sen:
Sen nods his head in agreement, "Yes let us be away from here as quickly as we can"
If there are any of the weapons left he will grab one but he is not really worried about it. Sen will take a position towards to back of the group. Mostly he concentrates trying to get his force powers to work...
Sen will use Enhance Senses +8 to try and boost his senses
Jack:
Sen grabs the last vibroblade and vibrodagger from the weapons cabinet, before scrambling into the nearby underbrush with everyone else. The whine of the ion engine engine fades into the distance.
Sia-Lan:
Just inside the cover of the brush, Sia-Lan waits until Sen passes her by, then she falls into the rear keeping her eyes and ears open for trouble...
Kelko:
The rodian scrambles to gain some cover among the overgrowth, himself. Once the whinning of the Ion engine has left ear shot, Kelko will being to meticulasly check the ground for any type of tracks or markings.
Kelko will take 20 to search for tracks to follow or markings to determine if any wild life is near. Listen +6, Search +2, Spot +6, Survival +5, Track.
Jack:
As the group hastens into the concealment of the undergrowth and away from the clearing created by the crashed escape pod, Kelko scans the ground for signs of wildlife. Nothing could be seen or heard in the immediate area, with all of the fauna apparently frightened into hiding by the crash landing.
A few minutes search away from the landing site reveals an inconspicuous narrow dirt trail crossing your path. It heads off into the jungle forest in either direction, following a gradual slope down to the right, and a steeper uphill grade to the left. The trail still appears to be moist from an early morning rain, and a myriad of tracks are jumbled together following the trail in both directions, making it difficult to identify any of them.
Amidst the trail, two are most prominent and recent. The wide blunt-nailed footprints of some large four-footed beast most likely belong to some herbivorous herd animal. And the small splay-toed tracks seem to be the property of a meter-tall earth-bound bird.
Set:
Being far more use to the urban jungle of Coruscant, Set feels completely out of his element. In an increasingly hysterical tone he says, "Well, what do we do now, Crash-landed in some insect infested jungle, who knows how far from any sort of civilization or starport. Does anyone even have an idea what planet this is? Kelko? Rorworr? Recognize any fauna or flora? We could be lost here forever, or eaten, and no one would ever know what happened to us! What are we going to Do!”
Suddenly Set begins firing his blaster into the surrounding vegetation. After several shots, a great deal of noise and the sound of collapsing foliage, Set turns to the rest of the group.
“What? I thought I saw something move.” His weapon hand trembles slightly and he breathes in gasps. His blaster seems to be pointed in Arani’s general direction. Smoke is curling up and out of the barrel.
Jack:
A troupe of knee-high simioids flee, leaping off through the trees and hooting in alarm as the foliage that was their hiding place is reduced to a smoldering collection of twigs by Set's unrestrained volley of blaster fire. Higher up in the canopy, a flock of aviads take flight into the sky and cackle a loud warning which echoes off the forested slopes.
Arani:
"I know the feeling. Look, Set, I'm scared too. But we're all still here, and we have each other. We'll get through this. So how about a little of that fabled Jedi calm?"
Rorworr:
After Set fires his blaster, Rorworr turns around, looks at him and holds his finger upright in front of his lips. Speaking low in Shyrrlwook to Sia and Sen, ~Tell him if he does that again without my express permission that I will pull his head off and use it as a Booche Ball.~
Rorworr resumes point position at about 5 meters in front of the party.
Sia-Lan:
Sia-Lan sprints up from her position in the back of the party, doing a brief somewhat comical dance around a fleeing simioid, with an irritated expression on her face she slides on the organic debris and interposes herself between Set and Arani.
"Set, keep your head on, we're trying to remain unnoticed," she hisses. "Can we just keep moving please!"
A look of concentration passes across her face as she appears to concentrate upon the latch holding the energy pack in Set's blaster. [Move Object +6]
Jack:
With a click, the power pack releases from and slides from the blaster pistol. [-1 VP] Startled, Set fumbles a moment and catches it with his other hand before it lands on his foot.
Set:
Set drops the blaster and clip from his numb fingers and turns away from everyone, taking a few steps away. His fists clinch then unclinch, his shoulders rise then fall, as he struggles to gain focus using Jedi meditation techniques.
After a few moments he turns back to the group. Set's face is once again masked in an arrogant smirk. Pretending the last few moments never happened, "Well shall we continue are little hike? I for one would not like to sleep in the mud with a snoring wookiee for company if it can at all be helped."
Sia-Lan:
"No one wants to spend the night out here, and with the noise we've been making, the need for us to move quickly grows stronger by the second."
With a troubled look upon her face, Sia-Lan picks up the pistol and the energy cartridge, then falls back to the back of the party, trying to listen for sounds of pursuit.
Arani:
"I agree. Let's move out." Arani will take up a position as close to the middle of the pack as she can.
Dorn:
Dorn watches Set intently and looks vastly relieved when Set drops his blaster. Making a mental note to himself to talk to somebody about Set when they get back to Coruscant, Dorn shoulders his pack and follows the others into the jungle.
"What a day this is turning out to be..."
Sen:
Sen looks around a bit, and shakes his head sadly. Then he will move up, "Kelko, Rorworr, let get moving. You two take the lead as you are the best here. Quickly now..."
Rorworr:
Rorworr hand signals the group to wait there for a few moments while he scouts ahead. The party watches as the Wookiee glides effortlessly though the jungle undergrowth, going around the bend he turns and grins at them.
In game terms I'll be going down hill, the rest well... can a wookiee look inscrutable?
Kelko:
The rodian carefully tails the wookie, keeping his eyes and ears open for any unfriendly activity or sudden evidence of sentient travel in the growth, blaster rifle at the ready. Hide +4, Listen +6, Search +2, Survival +5.
Jack:
Rorworr and Kelko press on downhill through the jungle. Moving swiftly along the muddy trail through the foliage. The others following them have a little trouble keeping up and start to fall behind. As you move along the trail, one by one, the frightened denizens of the jungle find their voices again. A chorus of hoots, chirps, buzzes and howls fill the distant background.
After a half-hour's march, the Wookiee and his Rodian companion step into a clearing on the edge of wide, slow-flowing brown river. The trail leads down to the river's edge, and continues into the forest on the opposite shore. Shortly, the rest of the group catches up.
Above the rushing of the river, you can hear a faint droning hum from somewhere far beyond other side of the river.
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