Eclipse Station Star Wars d20mod

[DMfromTheAbyss]

A Long time Ago in a Gallaxy Far Far Away.

The New Republic Struggles
To Maintain Peace in the Gallaxy
As the Evil Galactic Empire's most recent
Gambit failed to destroy the New Republic fleet,
but did ferment the growing unrest and shake
the confidence of the Republic's citizens.

Following this millitary showdown the
Tion Hegemony's withdrawing from the New Republic
Darkens what should be a moment of respite from
The unrelenting war with the Empire.
Claiming the Empire of Xim The Despot reborn
They rebuff all attempts at diplomacy from either side.

Strange tales of Dark Jedi continuing their Shadowy
War with the Jedi being trained at the Luke Skywalker's
Jedi Academy Bring both fear and hope
To the People of the New Republic.
Even the Recent strike by the empire at Yavin while
The Majority of the Jedi and New Republic Forces were
Engaging the Imperial Fleet ended in failure,
Though at the cost of many of the Jedi Masters there.

Far from the center of the Republic-Imperial Conflict
The Royal Family from the wealthy Planet of Angrille
Prepares a Mercenary army to challenge the mysterious
Forces that have claimed their planet. Having called
On both the New Republic and the Jedi order for help
to combat these so called "Sith" without any aid
Forthcoming they look to less savory allies.

On an Ancient Space Station Near the
Unknown Regions a group of Unlikely Allies decends.
Their actions may shape the destiny of the Republic,
The Empire, The Jedi, and countless others
In the course of their adventures.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Frae'al is awoken as the tramp freighter she was on gets hit by something. At least that's what you thought as you scrambled to see what was going on. The crew is swearing up a storm as they determine the hyperdrive failed. The pilot is strangely quiet as he gazes out of the cockpit. As you head over you hear what sounds suspiciously like a rattling of small impacts to the starboard of the ship. looking out the viewport you see what looks like a planetary ring. A planetary ring you seem to have hit. Looking at the closer debris you see it's just old nuts and bolts, technological junk. In the distance through the debris field which stretches out as far as you can see you see a Huge grey shape, Spherical with countless impact craters it looks like a small metallic moon.


Cyrus Novan tried unsucessfully to calm his frantic R2-X1 as it continued to warble it's disbelief at what the sensors were showing. Massive gravitational disturbance and the only object of any consideration within more than a parsec was a large space station. Continuing to complain that it was the second coming of the Death Star or some "imperial super interdictor mega weapon of the week" he refused to calm even when you started seeing all the debris that looked not so much like wreckage... but just like massive amounts of Interstellar Flotsam, The rather overcomercialized com on repeat calmed the droid somewhat, by his reasoning any imperial super weapon would doubtless NOT have a thinly veiled commercial advertisement being sent through underpowered transmitters on audio only. It certainly was impressive though, looking at the shear size of the thing, almost the size of the death star, and solid by the look of it. No weapons and almost no power readings from the surface. Picking up rather uninteresting transmissions about getting off of work in an hour from what appears to be a group of tramp freighters scouring the debris with tractor beams, seems harmless and yet.. that odd sense of freefall the moment before a plunge was all you could sense from the area.

Amira Reytal saw it but didn't believe it. A station that size amidst a collosal debris field and what did it have for shields.. a giant frigging solid durasteel shell?! Didn't these people have modern technology... Though the way the shield "opened" was impressive enough, splitting open as it did in front of the ship had almost made the rather excitable pilot wet himself. Keeping the debris cleared with tractor beams it had then let them pass the "shield" being moved by what looked like nothing more than massive gears the size of cruisers. Inside it was a different story however. An ancient looking series of hubs around a massive central shaft, leaving 98% or the interior as empty space. Ramshackle port control and crowded docking conditions did not improve any of the shuttle crews estimation of the reception that awaited them. They said that with the hyperdrive KO'ed like it was you'd be better off looking for a ship that wouldn't be in repair dock a month or more.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Saved for initial party set up

Characters:
Frae'al,: Defel Bounty Hunter
Cyrus Novan,:Jedi weapon master
Amira Reytal,: Dark Jedi

Players: (respectively)
RandomLunatic: Frae'al
Ridai: Cyrus Novan
Miata: Amira Reytal

The party is in and or hanging around the docking bay of Eclipse Station. They have recieved the basic information on the station put out by the station management (via com on the way in).
In a sultry female human voice in basic "Welcome to Eclipse Station. This is the Station Manager for Eclipse Station, please remain calm your vessel may have sustained damage, but please be at ease as this station has full repair facilities available at very reasonable prices. The station Security are a group known as the Black Web Mercenary group. Please be respectful with these individuals at all times as they are what passes for local law enforcement. If you require directions they can be gotten from the regularly placed station terminals. Please do not stray from the marked and patrolled areas of the station, Station management makes no claims of even relative safety beyond those bulkheads marked with yellow safety tags. Full service Ship repair and refueling along with most varieties of consumable are available for purchase from the station techs throughout the docking hub. If you are unable to pay the 400 credit docking fee please contact station management as arrangements can be made to help you whatever your situation. Other hubs of the station are out of bounds and travel at your own risk beyond the Recreations deck and Commerce Deck. Feel free to check out our world class Cantina and other available recreational activities... The Bizarre has many interesting shopping opportunities including our "classic" droid resellers, and ship parts from around the gallaxy. The Command Hub is strictly forbidden to visitors and non-employees of the station and the lower hubs are not yet considered safe for travel... Welcome to Eclipse Station. (and the message repeats)

The interior of the station is a study in contrasts, as modern and ancient technology abound on the Docks. Strange conduits and wires make up the walls around the large hanger all your ships (or what's left of them) reside in.
In addition to the XJ-x-wing, the Tramp freighter and the Shuttle you flew in on there are a dozen ships, a few headhunters, a YT1300, A large brick like ship that looks more like a drop ship than a legitimate space faring vessel, a y-wing (longprobe variety) and an asortment of unfamiliar vessels. On your way into the docking bay you also saw several other such bays circling to either side of the station, several of which look like they could cantain up to a corvette sized ship.

There are a mass of station personel working on ships and their apparent supervisor is having a loud discourse with one of the ship captains over the availability of hyperdrives. There are two armed guards next to the entrace to the turbolift wearing black uniforms with an arachnid stylized unit patch, both look like older very scarred individuals, each has a lightrepeating blaster and apparent full body armor that looks like it's seen use. Each also has at least 2 of what look like vibroaxes. The single Station Terminal for the entire room is unoccupied, however as each of you approaches you catch sight of the other two.

(Yes that's right the party is bumping into each other at the ATM, or equivilent, I don't expect you to immeadiatly form a group here but it is a case for seeing each other for the first time and possible introductions. All of you are fresh off your respective ships, relatively penniless and confronted by what looks like an expensive proposition in finding a way off this station, by the sound of the arguement, hyperdrive's seem to be in much demand and quite pricey around here. For reference you can already see the mercs at the door tensing when they see the three of you walking in the same direction. Your groups first hurdle it would seem is going to be a social and financial one.)

[Miata]

After taking her first good look at the station, Amira comes to a conclusion.

"This place is a dump. Half of it is falling apart, decent ship parts seem to be rare and overly expensive, and I am actually quite surprised that those mercenary 'guards' are not actually some gammorean thugs. I need to leave this place, the sooner the better, or there will be trouble."

Then she notices the other two approaching the same terminal she is headed for, and the guards reaction to this situation, which by the standards of a normal space station would probably be considered nothing out of the ordinary. Here in this place though it seems even the slightest mistake could lead to an escalation of the scene.

"Ah just what I need. If those two start something now, I'm sure the wannabe guards of this station will be all too happy too try and give us some nasty marks from their blasters."

That in mind, she keeps approaching the terminal, always keeping a close watch on the tensed up guardsmen.

[RandomLunatic]

The battered tramp lowers its boarding ramp and the first person down is a Twi'lek, whose goal of being the best-dressed individual in the sector was hampered by two obstacles: A lack of money, and all the fashion sense of a brain-dead Rancor. Right on his heels is a grease-covered human, who is shouting and gesticulating angrily. While the two arguers make their way down the ramp, a part of the ship's shadow seems to come to life and make a break for nearby pile of shipping crates.

Behind the crates, Frae'al takes stock. She was long overdue for a date with a refresher-her fur was matted and dirty all over. She could not remember the last time she had had a full night's sleep either. She had gained a new understanding for the behaviors of marks over the last few months-being hunted was hell on any sentient. She may have given her pursuers the slip, for now, but they would be back. Meanwhile, she still had no money, and was now stuck on an ancient space station in the middle of nowhere with no way off.

She needed to find work. Of course, in doing so, she make herself a target-in fact, this is what caused so much trouble on Bimmel. But she had even less choice now than she did then. Without money, she could run no further. The cantina was usually a good place. If that did not pan out, she could try the bazaar. She knew her way around a hyperspace motivator. Or a navicomputer. Or a droid. And if nobody down there needed someone with her talents, she would find an altruistic Hutt.

Her mind made up, she sets off for the computer terminal the greeting had mentioned, only to discover two others had had the same idea, and that the guards seemed to be taking an uncomfortable interest. In no hurry, and not wanting unneeded personal contact, she pauses at a discrete distance and waits her turn. Her visored gaze shifts from the terminal to the guards, trying to figure what they find so interesting.

[Ridai]

Cyrus quickly lands in one of the hangars, avoiding the floating junk as much as possible.
"R2, take care of the ship, I'll be back soon.", the Jedi says to the panicky droid while climbing out of the cockpit, which locks behind him.

Cyrus investigated rumors of Sith activity in a nearby system and when he wanted to set course for the Jedi Praxeum, having found next to nothing, his XJ-Wing picked up strange signals. Soon after, his hyperdrive burned out and here he was.

The Jedi wears a plain dark brown robe, has dark brown hair at about chin-length and a short full beard. Looking around inside the hangar, Cyrus makes his way to the Station Terminal to get information on how to contact station management. He notices the nervous guards, makes a mental note and waits for those who access the terminal before him to finish doing so, keeping a respectful distance. After that, he searches for the information he needs and tries to contact the management.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Miata is first up to the Station terminal.

It has a Menu and several options
You can talk to Station Management, pay docking fees (credstick slot) que up for various ship services, ranging from having a ship built from scrap and installing what on most ports would be highly illeagal smuggler or weapons modifications to getting your ships pantry refilled. As to paying docking fees (400 credits for those with a ship.:smallamused:) or job opportunities, depending on a skill assessment from the management, there is work sorting and collecting useful scrap from outside the station (200 credits per day), several jobs with the technicians in the Docks working on ships or rebuilding parts. (pay commensurate with experiance)(gee go figure hyperspace engine repair experience tops their wanted list). Mercenary, exploration and archeological experience are also listed, but in a "please contact station management to discuss more exciting job opportunities!" open ended fashion.

There is also a ships registry that has a listing of ships currently on station (it's a big list) and station maps which are quite simple and list several of the destinations both legit and illigitimate according to the initial welcome message. Most have to be reached by going to the central turbolift section, unless you want to see more of the docks.
Available Hubs from the Turbolift
*Command Deck: Secure home of station Management
*Recreation Deck: Cantina and various Dens of Pleasure and Vice
*Comerce Deck: Home of the Bizarre
*Residential Deck: Home of Legitimate Station residents
*Industrial Deck: off limits, Home of Illeagal fighting tournaments (note!?!)

(!?!)Yes this is listed right on the official map.

As your waiting everybody notices as a garishly dressed Rodian walks up to the guards and promptly gets grabbed, scanned (small hand scanner, very modern) and apparently taken into custody for "questioning". 4 More guards (also equiped with heavy armor and weapons) appear out of the passageway behind the guards to take him away. This all happens in the span of mere moments. As the rodian is hauled away he's protesting in rodian that he didn't do anything. One of the initial guards talks into his wrist (a com?) and clearly says "One possible, resuming search. Docking bay 26 out."

[Miata]

Skipping over the list of available jobs, Amira sighs.

"Looks like I have no choice but to try out for some mercenary work, or that exploration stuff they mentioned. Maybe I should contact the station management about it and find out what it is exactly. Altough I have to admit, these illegal fighting tournaments sound rather tempting. I bet there's some serious money to be had there, and it could be interesting. And seeing how it is officially advertised here, it's likely that there won't be too much trouble for all those involved in it from the station authorities. At least less trouble than you would get into on a normal station for that kind of stuff."

Her thoughts are interrupted by the scene involving the Ithorian and the guards breaking out. Amira watches them closely, unsure of how to proceed.

"Damn it, I knew these guards were trouble. I wonder what that guy did in the first place. Let's just hope they don't decide to scan me and find something they don't like. That could get pretty ugly."

[Ridai]

Rough place, Cyrus thinks when he sees the Rodian being taken away. The Jedi asks himself if the man actually did something illegal.

When Cyrus can access the terminal, he skims the options. The exploration offer is probably my best bet. The note about the illegal fights is worrying and speaks volumes about the attitude of the management.

He sighs and contacts the management about his ship and the exploration offer.

[RandomLunatic]

Frae'al watches with detached interest as the hapless Rodian is taken into custody. She speculates on what he may have been guilty of. Combined with the information readout, her judgement of the station and its mangement is vindicated. These guys have a lack of shame that would make a Hutt blush. Looks like technical work for me. Nice, safe, lucrative, and above all, low-profile. She slipped a 'dirty' chip-one with no data to steal or corrupt except for a score or so of infodumps from similiarly questionable terminals across the galazy in it-into her pad and downloaded the station map and a few other choice details. She keys a final query for the price of lodging and food before signing off.

Walking away, she runs a virus scan-she did not trust this terminal half as far as she could throw it. One that is finished to her satisfaction, she punches up the technical help wanted and dials the given comm code.

((How do you want OOC? Take 10+17 on Computer Use for virus scan, 27.))

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@ Amira: Well as you observed you noted that the rodians' fashion sense was indeed terrible, but other than that and the casually taken and disarmed hold out the rodian was carrying there wasn't any sign of wrong doing. The rodian did look a bit twitchy though, perhaps he was nervous?

@Cyrus: The Console gives you a com number to call to contact management directly. When you call it you hear a feminine voice that sounds suspiciously like that on the com-advertisement earlier.
"Hello I see you are currently owing a docking fee for a rather nice looking x-wing, Interested in doing some exploring... (slight pause) Mr... Novan is it? I believe we have several "interesting" jobs for someone of your "talents". If your interested come up to the command section, I'll have you cleared with security... It's something right up your alley."

Your not sure by her tone if she's flirting with you or not, but she's deffinately hinting at something, by her tone you'd guess that she was smiling devilishly the whole time.

@Frae'el

Apparently your caution was justified... Though the Virus scan picked up "something" it wasn't a virus per se. There is some sort of weird little file taking over your datapad. You watch with interest as it starts doing something... looks like it's going through all the old files, which are luckily enough nothing you are terribly concerned with. The Pad currently has no capacity to transmit and recieve data and you could care less about wiping the whole thing. Then an odd thing happens and you see the files actually compressing.
You see the screen flicker and it seems to be done... surprisingly enough everything is still there, and the virus scan is now registering the datapad as clean.
Checking to see what just happened you run a full diagnostic and not only is everything ok, it seems you're using a small fraction of the room for all the files on the datapad including the operating system. Interestingly enough there is a new file labeled "marks". Checking out the rest of the datapad's rather limited functions you notice the whole Datapad's system has recieved a new and obviosly viciously more effecient data management system, in fact your seeing a lot of options the pad did not have previously for data storage and sorting. Heck a few of the minor quirks this version of datapad are known for seem to be missing, and trying another datatransfer with an expedible card shows you that both the download time is quite a bit faster and that the datamanagement system seems to be highly transmittable as now the card is reading 75% empty when it had been full. It's almost like some sort of bizarre virus operating system. If you had to guess this sort of software would have to be highly advanced, like nothing you'd expect out of a fritzy old data-terminal. It also seems to have all the information you wanted downloaded and has the interesting parts highlighted... Friggin Scarry.

(I rolled for you as it was a time sensitive roll and the taking a 10 would not have spotted the change as it was occuring, I Think you'd be happy to know you got the first nat 20 of the game, thus the copius information on what happened... for reference you can always delete all the information on the datapad and start over with no net harm done... still it's tempting to try and tinker with... and the file listed simply as "marks" might hold more clues as to what did this.)

[RandomLunatic]

((Sweet!:smallbiggrin:))

Frae'al's brow arched behind her visor. This was certainly unexpected, and definitely bore looking into-later. Right now, an opportunity was slipping through her fingers-wherever there were people hiding, one could often find somebody willing to pay good money to find them. Checking to make sure her commlink still indetified as 'Vrax', she called up the code for station management and punched it in.

[Miata]

This is most irritating, I wonder what's next."

Amira is lost in thought for a moment after witnessing this situation, but then just sighs and focuses on the task at hand again.

"Time to find a way to earn money I guess"

She goes back to the terminal and calls the station management.

Now let's see what they got."

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Amira opens a com channel to Station Management and a sultry, female, human sounding voice answers.

"This is The Station Manager what can I do to help you... Miss? (brief Pause)Hm! Indeed it's not often we get one of your "particular" order visiting, What can we help you with? Oh this is brilliant, I'm sorry would you mind turning around, as you can see..."

@ Frae'el opens a com channel to Station Management and a sultry, human, female sounding voice answers.

This is the Station Manager, are you in need of lodgings or further Information on your stay or are you looking for something a little more interesting, Miss..?
I'm sorry I seem to be getting a little feedback... Ah that's the problem, You'll note the black robed human 6 meters from your position over by those crates is also utilizing the same frequency on her com, My what are the odds... In any case what information can I help you with.

@ Amira: ... The defel some 6 meters to your left is utilizing the same com frequency.. fascinating cooincidence really... In any case we can assuredly come to some mutually beneficial arangement if you tell me exactly what is it that you require?

@both Amira and Frae'el: You both could just make out that you were indeed having a conversation with the same person, at the same time, and said person's words were different for both coms... And you share a brief akward moment staring at each other. You also realize, at about the same time from the references that the Station manager can apparently see you somehow becouse she knew down to the meter where you both were...

(still waiting on Cyrus's response)also talking with the station Manager as luck would have it...

[RandomLunatic]

Frae'al gives the robed figure a piercing glare, an effort wasted by her lack of visible facial features. Then she spins on her heel and walks away, searching for an unused frequency. Can you hear me now? Good. I'm...

She paused. While there was almost always good money in hunting-there was a reason she had taken the career up in the first place-the only better way to paint a big 'Frae'al was here' sign would be to take a blaster and carve the words into the wall.

..I'm interested in the technical work mentioned in your terminal message. I do have some experience with hyperdrives. Over.

[Miata]

After taking a look to the left to confirm what the station manager just told her, Amira can't help but wonder if that was really a coincidence, but lacking any options to do something about it, she just shrugs it of and answers:

"Well I have just checked the terminal and saw that you were seeking people for various 'jobs'. So I decided to contact you and ask if there is something that I could assist you with. In exchange for proper compensation of course."

"Somethings quite odd about this manager. She's watching us, but for what reason?"

[Ridai]

[OOC: Sorry about the wait, the second to last update hit after 11 PM where I live.]

It is very obvious that the "management" has it's petty little plans. But it's necessary to get off this station. Cyrus has met a lot of that kind of people, especially on Nar Shaddaa, so he isn't surprised in the least. Walking with his normal, fast pace, he goes to see what the offer is.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

(@ Ridai: I'll try to respond pretty quick just to keep things moving but don't worry if you can't post for a while... hey real life happens, if your unable to post for over a week then I'll worry. So no problem at all.)


@ Cyrus: You walk up to the guards and anti climatically nothing happens, they definately give you a good visual going over, and as you get close one of the scarred older gentlemen gives you a slight nod. Traveling through the station to get to the Turbolift you are impressed with the shear size of the station, it's almost a mile (1 full star destroyer) of walking to get to the turbo lifts, to either side you see derelict rooms and some with quite a bit of activity (usually technical or supply reorganizing in nature). There is also a hotel of sorts down one side passage and a large tunnel you cross has tram-lines on the ceiling, but there's no sign it's seen use in ages. Getting to the Turbolifts you have a selection of a dozen lifts. Upon entering a simple readout gives you the choice of destination hubs. Selecting the Command Hub you have a minute or so ride to your destination. Exiting the turbo lift you step into a veritable kill zone of guards, emplacement weapons and security devices. You get waved through, and your presence seems to have bolstered the morale of the guards if anything. You do over hear one of them say "Good another Jedi..." You get guided via the guards pointing the way and find yourself coming to a blast door being guarded by a venerable Wookie and a grizzled Togorian, both in well fitted Black web armored uniforms. The Togorian asks while opening his massive clawed hand toward you "YouR weapons, or if you'd pRefeR you may keep them and talk to the Boss fRom out heRe... there's a secuRe com on the wall just theRe."

@ Amira: "Yes there are a number of jobs someone of your talents could help me with, I'll give you a selection. The most lucretive would be to find a particular being on the station who has been making trouble for us, though there are definately some problems both in locating and dealing with this "creature". It pays a total of 25,000 credits... more than enough for passage to your choice of destinations... Shall I continue or have I caught your attention?

@ Frae'al: "Well if your interested in staying on for a while at about 300 credits a day you could easily afford passage off station in a few weeks, you might even be able to make double or more if you work exclusively for one of the several bounty hunters on station, I have it on good authority several of them are "Very" eager to be able to get off station, If you have experience with Capital scale hyperdrives I believe that Hutt bounty hunter "Nameless" has no fewer than 6 bounties waiting for collection, though I suppose there's no rush since he "prefers" the dead only contracts... So! Should I forward you to my cheif of repair operations or send you straight over to one of the Bounty Hunters? (DC10 streetwise auto success... out of the 10 best Bounty hunters in the gallaxy... Nameless is considered #4-6 depending on who you ask... He's known for working with several Droid bounty hunters (GSAD 43 and IG-88) which fuels rumors that he is a droid himself.)
Although I do have another job that pays considerably more, although it's based more on your shall we say, racial abilities..."

[RandomLunatic]

Does she know? How? I'm listening, the bounty hunter prompts.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Frael: In a far colder more buisiness like tone the female voice continues

"Simply a matter of locating a being for elimination. I then need you to lead a team of "exterminators" to it and make sure it can't cause me any more problems... E v e r. Your abilities should allow you to get close to the creature without risking detection, I'll transmit the details of the sightings and attacks. Find it and you'll be well rewarded. I'm certain even the Droid bounty hunter's skill's won't be able to trace you if I intervene on your behalf. Do we have an understanding?"

(I'm going to assume you download the information off the comlink on a datapad (not the moded one unless you say so))

As you download the information you see the creature is attacking people around the docks. From the security footage your also reasonably certain you know why the Rodian got grabbed earlier, the creature looks to be wearing a very odd assortment of clothes which blur it's outline and shape, it sometimes appears very humanoid, sometimes very beast like, except it sometimes looks almost glossy... like scales? (perhaps some sort of shape shifter?) Despite the high quality footage it's hard to make out much more other than that as the creature moves "Very Fast", and it stands like a person and runs like an animal. Maybe 1.8 meters tall/long, quite possible it has a tail. From the reports it hasn't "eaten" any of the targets, so it's not hunting for food. It looks like it's been targeting any persons relatively alone, though in one case it killed 3 dockworkers in as many seconds then scampered up through a hole in the wall. All the attacks locations are also shown on a map, it includes an area for you to check out out in the uninhabited boonies of the docking hub, well away from any of the used bays.

[Miata]

"I'd like to hear what else you've got first, but yes, consider me interested in this one."

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@ Amira: "Well aside from that job I have need of someone to make sure several sections of the Industrial section are clear of any dangers so we can get some workers in there, say 2000 credits, The "Imperial" Science section has been complaining about harrassment from unknown sources I need someone to calm them and deal with their issue. The "New Republic" Science section has reported missing technical materials, so find whoever is removing their equipment and stop them. Either of those would pay 1000 credits. We also have a visiting diplomat in need of a body guard, the contract so long as you are on station would pay 200 credits a day plus room board and possible job opportunities off station when they leave...
The job I spoke of would involve the removal of a murderous creature from my station, it has killed 13 workers so far and I want it dealt with before their efficiency is further impinged upon. So do tell which of these catches your interest?" (it seems as if she's trying to guage your loyalties, waiting to see if your political leanings are pro or anti Imperial.)

[RandomLunatic]

She knows. She just will not tell as long as I am worth more than whatever Torga's offering. I wonder what he is offering these days anyways. Then she will try to recoup her money.

Yes. She plots the sightings over the map she has. It's not using the passageways, Station. Do you have a ultility map I can work off of?

[Miata]

"I see. Well the other matters seem to me like they can wait for the time being. We don't want this 'creature' to cause any more damage than it already has now, do we?"

Amira smiles a little bit at her last statement. "And we also don't want me to miss this chance to get a nice amount of much needed cash either. Besides, taking on a job that has to do with politics might not be a good idea at this point in time, for the risk of being discovered by the wrong people. That and something tells me it's a bad idea to reveal more information than absolutely necessary to this so called 'station manager'."

Then, focusing her attention on the conversation at hand once more, she adds: "Alright, give me all the information you've got on this 'thing' of yours, and I'll see to it that it is dealt with as soon as possible."

[Ridai]

I wonder what the purpose of this station is, Cyrus thinks when travelling through the massive station. He is not surprised to see the high number of guards close to his destination and remains calm. The comment of one guard he passes and the reaction of them to Cyrus makes him ask himself if they are relieved or are taking pride in outnumbering him.

However, if they wanted to attack him, they would have already done so considering the amount of personnel and turrets. He trust in the Force to guide him (while remaining tranquil and ready) and gives his blaster and lightsaber to the guard and steps inside, putting his hands into the opposite wide sleeves of his cloak, respectively.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

(ooc@Ridai:I was about to complain about you not using a color for in character speech... but then I looked and realized Cyrus barely talks... Nice.... the quiet jedi, and BTW did you call green to match the lightsaber? Also We may be getting the Hapan Officer and the Bothan Spy in soon, characters are still being ratified.)

@Frae'al: Station management provides a "scan" of the area, though honestly it's something of a maze of conduits and layers. She warns that they recently had an entire band of raiders hiding in what they thought was a garbage chute (it led to a 40 meter wide area). So don't take anything for granted, they still haven't figured out what a fraction of the tubes and conduits were actually for.

@Cyrus: As you step into the room the Togorian tells you to remain calm, she's a sweet girl really, and you note they flank the door as it closes. Inside you can hear voices of several people, probably tech-workers by the brand of humor they banter about. You walk out onto the rear of a large room to a railing overlooking the almost cruiser styled bridge.You see a massive central assembly with ranks of cameras and data feeds in front of it, and around it rows of data filing humans busy at work. As your about to ask someone where are you supposed to go, the central assembly turns like nothing so much as a huge chair and you find yourself face to face with what at first glance would be a long haired blonde human woman, Except for the subtly wrong blueish grey tinge to her skin and the sharpness of her features, almost like she had angular insectoid plates just under her skin. You also realize despite her seemingly being the same relative scale as you (maybe a 6'tall woman) she is eye to eye with you as you are essentially a floor above her. You then note that from the waist down she is a blue/grey organic spiderlike armored behemoth with 4 Bladed, armored legs that easily give her the height to match you. In "addition" to her appearance there's something unsettling about her that almost reflexively makes you pull the force in around yourself (roll see force skill diff 15).
She leans in past the railing to the point of being inside your personal space, smiles her wickedly sharp fanged smile at you and says in the voice you've come to identify as the Station Manager. "My you're even tastier looking in person! Tell me Jedi what brings you to my little corner of the universe?"
Behind her from the workers you can hear a few muffled chuckes and a feminine giggle that at least slightly break the tension. She then leans back slightly, still smiling fiendishly. You note her eyes look very human except the iris's have a faceted look. She's also wearing a thin band of wires over her temples that make her look like she's wearing some sort of high tech tiara, some thin wires from which seem to extend like strands of a spiderweb to connect with the ceiling.

@ Amira: "Well for your own safety why don't you come up to the command deck, it seems someone's taken an unhealthy interest in you, So are your enemies Imperials, bounty hunters or are you just generally popular? And fair warning that large boxy craft you just walked in front of belongs to a rather competant bounty hunter who has taken bounties for the Empire, the New Republic and the Hutts, so reguardless you had best hurry... As to the mission I'll give you relevant updates on the way, but essentially it appears to be a shapeshifting murderous unknown creature that kills my repair staff for sport."

[RandomLunatic]

Frae'al buries her face in her datapad as she walks towards the search area, occasionally sparing a glance up to avoid walking into things. Taking the data in, she tries to make a sense of the creature and its movements.

Meanwhile, another part of her mind is wrestling with the nature of the beast itself. Maybe a shapeshifter. Maybe there is more than one. Maybe it uses some sort of personal holoprojector to disguise itself. She had heard of such things, if never actually seen one.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Frae'al: Walking around with your head down at work over a datapad seems to make you less conspicous than you would have guessed in such a busy docking area. The guards apparently don't bother with you at all and you walk out into the station's laberinthine passages.

As far as additional information, the attacks are at very irregular intervals, the personel don't have anything notably in common, many didn't even know each other according to the data you have. Heading into the vauge region around where the attacks occured you begin to try to make sense of the schematic sensor readings of the various tubes access ways and bizarre passageways winding through the station. You've gone quite a ways off the beaten track and haven't seen anybody in a few minutes when...

(ooc sound of dice being rolled) You see something out of the corner of your visor. Looking up and to your right you see a creature skulking along on the ceiling/wall interface a ways down the tunnel. Looking alot like the creature you've seen on the datapad, only having a greenish reflective tinge to it's skin. Bundled in the type of clothes you'd get out of a rubbish bin you nevertheless see a decidedly lizard like shape underneath though nothing looking like a tail which is odd becouse you definately made it out on one of the better recorded images. The creature is apparently unaware of you, then it stops and cranes it's vaugely humanoid/saurian head around almost like it's sniffing the air. It looks right at you, seeming to focus on the datapad and visor for a second then gives a very evil sounding hiss...
You have initiative, what do you do?

[Ridai]

The pseudo-arachnid woman belongs to a species Cyrus never encountered nor has heard of. The Jedi steels himself against the sudden "threat" that accompanies her presence and keeps eye contact.
"I picked up strange signals from this system and investigated, subsequently losing my hyperdrive, so I am here, right now, to listen to your offer to pay the docking fee and a new hyperdrive.", Cyrus says in his deep, slightly gravelly voice, straight and to the point. By the looks of her "tiara", she seems to control part of the station's systems with a neural interface. And judging from her talking to Cyrus and the two other persons he saw in the hangar, her ability to multitask is enormous. So a succinct manner of talking should be appropiate when speaking to someone with that kind of mental acuity.

See Force [roll0]
OOC: Yes, I matched the text color with the color of Cyrus' lightsaber. And I try to play Cyrus as an experienced Jedi who embodies (or tries to embody) the teachings of his Order (and the calmness shown by experienced Jedi is just cool).

[Miata]

"I suppose you can say I'm just... popular as you put it."

"Damn it, I've already attracted attention to myself. This is definitely not good."

"Very well then. I shall come up and see you, so we can discuss this mater in private."

With that said, Amira leaves the terminal to make her way up to said command deck, wondering just how much the station manager knows about her, and how many bounty hunters she would encounter on this station.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@ Cyrus: The Station Manager stares at you, you get the feeling she's taking in every nuance of motion and even the tiniest inflection in your voice as you speak, her piercing gaze seems to take your full measure, seeking out any weaknesses or openings. Waiting a long moment after you finish speaking she seems to come to a conclusion. As she speaks she tosses her gaze upward and sighs.

"Great.. you remind me of my uncle, Absolutely no fun. I'll cut to the chase then. Come on down here." and she gestures you to workstation. "Take a look at these." and you see the workstation activates showing pictures taken from the scenes of several grizzley murders. It then shifts to blurry action shots of some sort of creature caught at bad angles. (see description above... same info Frae'al got earlier.) "Now this thing has been killing people and avoiding all of my considerable resources. It's already killed one self proclaimed jedi who thought she could handle it... she dissapeared, but she claimed that it was "aware through the force" which was what was making it so hard to find. Apparently she found it though. We did find this." A passing worker hands you a lightsaber in an evidence bag, though it's clearly of strange manufacture, it is a legit article... you can almost get a sense of it's former weilder off it. "Help me stop this thing, and I can Help you out. No money, no bribes... you help me and I help you ... Simple. You in?"

@Amira: You walk up to the guards, one of which mutters when you get closer. "careful girly... best hurry." You note the two guards step over to block the passageway after you pass, eyes alert and looking a bit grim.
You head directly for the turbolift, passing predominantly empty corridors and rooms. As you hurry you find your legs almost want to break into a run on their own account, almost like something is drawing you forward. You swear you can hear some kind of (dance?)music, but everytime you focus on it, it fades. Then off to your right down a long winding passage you sense "something" in the distance, your pretty sure you neither heard nor saw anything... Feeling a little disoriented what do you do. (Sense force, Farseeing, or just rolling on sense/control are available actions to try for more info)

@ Just the Players (think of it as a cutscene)
The large square Dropship opened it's doors to great noise as capital scale interlocks suddenly opened and a great expulsion of cooling gasses caused clouds of fog to form around the boarding ramp as it quickly lowered. A shadowy figure strode noiselessly out, down the boarding ramp. Without breaking stride in one fluid motion it drew a custom built long-doublebarreled blaster Rifle. A featureless black visor surveyed the docks... causing thousands of targeting solutions instantly tracking every object of interest to be calculated.
As several of those nearest the ship took notice the docking ramp quickly withdrew and the entrance snapped shut with a resounding and final sounding boom. As everyone glanced at the ship, few noticed that in the brightly lit docking bay the shadowy armored figure had completely vanished.

[Miata]

(Now I wish i already had that prestige class level, that would make it alot easier.:smallsigh:)

Sense Force:

[roll0]

Amira stops in her tracks, feeling more than a bit confused, and reaches out for the force to try if she can feel what exactly it is down there.

[RandomLunatic]

Sithspit! Frae'al took a step back involuntarily. She takes a final look at her datapad to note her location before snapping it off and putting it away. Calling in her discovery, she takes a few more steps back, hands falling to the reassuring weight of her blaster pistols. Though only slightly larger than hold-out blasters, they carried nearly the punch of a heavy. Time to see how much stomach this thing had for a fight,

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Amira: You can't tell what it is... you do know what it feels like... Danger, Excitement, rage, a twisting feeling of WRONG in your gut. You can't tell exactly how far down it is "a-bit down that way" is as close as you can tell. It's definately triggering your fight or flight reaction though, the hair on the back of your neck is definately raised so to speak. (not sure if you really have any depending on precise haircut)

The music seems like something else... Almost like a weird empathic syncing up of some sort... it sounded like raunchy cantina dance music. Might explain the feeling "Drawn" thing. You've felt something similar at the Shadow academy, usually when student sleeping nearby had had a particularly "rough" day (shared nightmares are rarely fun).

@ Frae'el:

The beast surges forward, leaping toward you off the wall, scampering on all fours, and dang but the thing is fast, it covers almost all the distance in a few heartbeats. As it charges it's mouth opens in a "wrong" way, going wider than the head should allow for. As it is now much closer you can clearly see the weird crystalline skin and twisted flesh beneath that seem a mockery of life. Something in your gut just tells you that this thing isn't a natural creature, it's an abomination. Instead of roaring or making any challange noise it makes almost no noise, not interested in chasing you off, just interested in getting it's mismatched daggerlike fangs into you. It is now at point blank range... Your turn.

[Miata]

"Whatever it is that causes this feeling, it's definitely nothing nice or pretty. Maybe it's that monster the station manager was talking about. If that is the case, I can end this more quickly than I expected. If it's not, then I might get into more trouble than I was looking for on this station.

And what is this other feeling I get? Is that thing threatening someone? Sure feels like it.

But whatever the case, I have to check it out at least. I can't afford to let this chance pass by just like that. The faster I find that thing, the earlier I will be off this station after all."

After coming to this conclusion, Amira starts sprinting down the corridor, towards the place where she thinks this weird feeling is coming from. While doing so, she will reach into her robe with one hand, to where she keeps her lightsaber hidden, just in case she might need it soon.

[RandomLunatic]

As the thing closes trying to take a bite, Frae'al whips up a quick appetizer: Blaster Bolts au Tete.

((Full attack, Rapid Shot, Multifire. Precise Attack goes to damage on the first attack. I am going to assume the thing can actually see me via the Force well enough that I do not count as invisible-if not, then add +2 to all attacks, use Flat-Footed defense, and add the SA damage I will put in at the end of all these rolls.

First attacks (1d20+10=12, 1d20+10=22, 1d20+10=29, 1d20+10=30) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1792307/)
Iterive attacks (1d20+5=21, 1d20+5=8) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1792313/)
Confirming crit (1d20+10=29) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1792314/)
I am going to assume the 8 does not have a hope in Hades of hitting. Damage for the rest goes in order., e.g 1st damage roll, first attack. Iterives come last.
Damage rolls (3d6+3+1=17, 3d6+3=10, 3d6+3=17, 3d6+3=11, 3d6+3=12) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1792319/)
Bonus critical damage (3d6+3=12) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1792320/)

Finally, SA Damage
Sneak Attack damage (1d6=6, 1d6=1, 1d6=2, 1d6=2, 1d6=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1792324/)

Phew! What a mess.:smallyuk:))

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Frae'el: Your series of Blaster bolts (mostly)nail the creature, forcing it back. The creatures' weird crystalline skin seems to deflect all but the most direct hits, but there are still a collection of deep holes burned into the beast's chest.
net damage of 42, creature has 5 DR and def 20 and no sneak attack
It then leaps to the attack, Biting and clawing viciously in a blur of motion.
2 hits for a total of 31 damage 15 and 16 damage respectively, it also missed 4 times(3 of which were not likely to hit... and it rolled really well on damage Frae'el manages to dodge the worst of the damage but recieves a pair of nasty cuts. The beast is now standing adjacent to you, wounded but blood thirsty. Disturbingly enough you can see the ratlike face that sloughed off as the jaws opened, lying behind the gnashing teeth and skull like a thrown back hood.

@Amira: As you begin to sprint you hear rapid blasterfire.
(Note* I'll point out that for just such an occasion there is a power I believe you have called burst of speed...:smallwink:)

OOC: For reference just so we don't get bogged down in numbers why don't we spoiler the crunchy bits in the future, or if you want to save the headache you can tell me what your doing (full attack with rapid shot etc...) and I'll do the rolling for you... with real dice in your choice of color:smallbiggrin: whatever you guys feel like. (I have two 3/4 gallon candy jars filled with dice so I take any excuse to use them)

[RandomLunatic]

Should be 42-you missed a 1 somewhere.

I have to go to work, so next to make it faster, 2-meter step back and rapid shot stun bolts. Precise Attack adds to first attack roll.

First shot (1d20+12=19) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1792394/)
Other full BAB (1d20+11=22, 1d20+11=21) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1792396/)
Iterives (1d20+6=13, 1d20+6=22) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1792397/)

3 hits, DC 19 Stun each.

[Miata]

Amira reaches out for the force, using it's power to increase her speed above and beyond the limits of an ordinary human, and heads into the direction of the blaster fire.

"That proves it, something is there. Now let's just hope I get there in time to see what's happening."

(Using Burst of Speed, which costs me 5 HP and brings me down to 115. Yeah you are right, I didn't remember I had that power, I'm still new to the system after all, so the reminder is highly appreciated.:smallsmile:
Also just for the record, if you don't mind, I'd prefer to roll my dice myself in spoilers. It's just way too much fun to roll them yourself, at least to me.:smallbiggrin:)

[Ridai]

A strange and deadly being. Cyrus analyzes its every move, searching for ways to evade or counter its attack. The eye of the Weapon Master. After that, he memorizes the presumed location of the being and turns back to the Station Manager.

"I will see what I can do. May I ask who this Jedi was and if you would mind me taking the lightsaber with me? Perhaps glean some information on its owner from it.", he again maintains eye contact and talks in a steady voice. After she answers, Cyrus says "I will be on my way then." with a slight, respectful bow and leaves for the location of the monster (taking the lightsaber with him if the Station Manager allowed it).

The Jedi gets his weapons from the guard and looks at the lightsaber, if he has it, while in the elevator down (and checks his weapons to be sure).

[OOC: Seems like I'm missing all the combat madness. :smallannoyed: But I'm okay with you making the rolls.]

[DMfromTheAbyss]

ooc: No problem everybody, I'm giving you the options, if you prefer to roll, I completely understand, I only offer becouse I like rolling too:smallbiggrin:

@Cyrus: The station manager nods that you can have the lightsaber, but tells you "You might want to take some help with you, after all safety in numbers, and I'd just as soon not be picking up both of those in an hour or so. Wait by the elevator and I'll see who I can whip up in a whole minute and 30 seconds." She looks a little distracted as she then says, "Her name was Elena Stormwind, she said she was trained by a Master Korveck "The BladeMaster", she claimed to be unmatched in mastery of her weapon, and was pretty darn confident too, didn't seem to help her though. You can actually head down to the docking ring now, hopefully your backup team will be waiting, it appears my scout has already located the thing so best not dawdle, and if you damage my elevator by playing with that thing I'm charging you for it."

As you collect your weapons the Togorian hands you an additional Heavy blaster with clips and a holster he took off himself saying "I'd take something a little heavier than what you had if I were gonna fight that thing... " The blaster appears to be a Blastech T-6 Thunderer (3d8+3) one of the largest heavy blaster pistols on the market. You have trouble even holding it up, but seeing you take it seems to comfort the Togorian... The wookie looks on giving the Togorian a warble that could only be interpreted as "you big softie".

Checking out the lightsaber, before you step into the elevator reveals that it looks longer handle wise than you've seen, has a number of strange dials you're unfamiliar with, and upon activating it it has a bright orange blade, that after extending to almost 2 meters goes "limp" and sags down to the floor, dancing about a bit at it skitters sparks over the floor. It's not a lightsaber, it's some kind of lightsaber-whip. You quickly deactivate the saber (which takes a moment the off button and on button are different) before it melts the floor too badly. Vibe wise it feels both strangely feminine and very straight forward for such a strange weapon. (Luke's recommendation for fighting such weapons when you heard of them was to use a second saber to block, or run and come back with help... per Luke's fight with Lumiya I believe).

@Amira: You race closer to the sounds of blasterfire and what sounds like melee combat as you get closer, it must be just around the corner, which is confirmed when a Strong Stun Bolt goes flying into the wall up ahead. (game wise you are now within charging range, except you can't see the target and it's around a corner.)

@ Frae'el: (ooc so i did, didn't carry a 1 sorry... monster HP updated)
Rolled fort saves with results of 18, 14, 6, unfortunately with a net fortitude bonus of "yikes" +15 it resists the stuns. This is one VERY Tough Bugger.

The Stun blasts wash over and refract off the crystaline skin of the monster as it starts systematically trying to kill you. One bite in particular goes deep, obsessed with digging it's teeth deeper the remainder of it's attacks do little more than scape your fur and skin. 20, confirmed crit... and a bunch of rolls that wouldn't hit your AC by a mile 20, 2, 4, 5, 8, 5) for total of 28 damage

[Miata]

Amira runs around the corner and, depending on the situation, she will react accordingly. If she sees something that would match the description of the monster going around on the station, she will draw her lightsaber and charge into combat. If it is just a shootout between some thugs or whatever, she will stop in her advance and watch, trying to get a better understanding of the situation first.

[RandomLunatic]

Frae'al yelps, then snarls in anger. What is this thing? More than just scent-scent doesn't let them get that close. Switching back to the at least somewhat effectual kill shots, she blows away sections of its carapace.

Multi, Rapid. Precise Attack goes to 1st damage roll.
First shots (1d20+10=21, 1d20+10=14, 1d20+10=21, 1d20+10=11) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1792612/)
And, spookily, IC just quit working. Switching to forum roller.
Ititerives:
[roll0]
[roll1]

Damage (DR included):
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Frae'el and Amira: Amira comes running around the corner at full tilt, charging as she ignites her Sabre she attacks the rear of the creature. Frae'el finds that the distraction of the lightsaber wielding woman (is that the same person who called on the same com frequency earlier... yes yes it is!) distracts the creature and allows her to place her blasters right up against the creatures wounded chest.

ok game effect is you guys are flanking, Amira gets her attack at a net of +2 to hit from flanking (+2). If you wanted to you could also activate Battlemind for an additional +5 to hit at a cost of 7HP,(it's a free action) If you really wanted to nail him next round you could also use enhance Ability:strength, which depending on your roll can really help both to hit and damage FURTHER... But that would take up your attack.

Frae'el meanwhile gets to re-use those attacks from last post but now takes into account flanking... and thus sneak attack... lets see if that helps a bit shall we. You can keep your rolls just add the sneak attack damage.

We'll see what the creature does depending on the results

[Ridai]

Cyrus nods to the guard after he gave him the blaster and straps the holster around his waist on the way back down.

Judging from the description given by the Station Manager and looking at her choice of weapon, Elena Stormwind most likely fell victim to her overconfident nature or was caught by surprise. Cyrus concludes that if she is still alive, he should be careful around her.

If the team mentioned by the Manager isn't there, the Jedi waits for a moment before hurrying to the location of the beast, readying himself to draw his lightsaber when he sees it. Otherwise, he wastes no time.

[Miata]

After getting herself into a favorable combat position, Amira reaches out into the force once again, this time to strengthen herself for the coming encounter.

"Now let's see what that beast can do when confronted with the power of the force"

Activating Battlemind (108 HP left). Yeah I will also activate enhance ability to boost my strength.

Enhance Ability (Strength):

[roll0]

[RandomLunatic]

SA Damage (3d6=4) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1793186/):smallfurious:

[DMfromTheAbyss]

OK... umm wow :smalleek:

So the beast, though wounded -77 HP feel free to check my math, this is applying the sneak attack to every attack for reference... yes I do that... technically a lot of damage but when playing with jedi in the party hey... Speaking of which a certain Jedi now has a 24 effective strength, so if weilding two handed nets her an additional +4 to hit and damage... I will point out she also has Power Attack...eww continues it's attack on the defel, ignoring the human for the moment. Still confused it manages only 1 effective claw slash for 15 damage, taking you to 74 total so far OUCH:smalleek:
The Current situation is this..
This again makes it Amira and Frae'el's turn, you still have it flanked (it's not very smart at least) effective Defence is 18 and Amira is currently at an effective +9 to hit +4 to damage and can power attack (looks like you can get some use outa that feat hint hint:smallwink:) and also gets to full attack. Frae'el meanwhile gets to add sneak attack to every separate hit:smallcool: but may very well want to back out of the fight a bit.
Lets hope it goes well...

[Miata]

So Enhance Ability gives me + 6 to strength, and I forgot to roll initiative should it be needed.

Initiative:

[roll0]

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@miata yeah you still beat it's init with your roll, so no real change. I had you at a 15, Frae'el on a 14 and it on a 5 (with a plus 4 to the roll:smallfrown:), so it's fast but not very quick on the uptake apparently. In the future I'll try and post this and let you guys roll yourselves, but with the way the fight started it just kinda naturally devolved into you go-it goes, and right now you go.

[Miata]

Amira, feeling the power of the Force strengthening her, holds tightly unto her lightsaber, and swings it with all her might at the beast.

Full attack action:

First attack: [roll0]

Possible damage: [roll1]

Second attack: [roll2]

Possible damage: [roll3]

I declare the beast as my dodge target, so my AC against it improves to 22.

Oh, and I am currently at 105 HP after using Enhance Ability.

Edit: I forgot to figure in the flanking bonus, so add + 2 to both attack rolls. Since it has an AC of 20, I suppose both attacks would hit anyway tho.

[RandomLunatic]

With the human'a unexpected arrival, Frae'al focuses more on defense and lets the newcomer get its attention.


Fighting defensively, Defense at 25. Precise attack goes to 1st attack damage.

First attacks (1d20+8=14, 1d20+8=17, 1d20+8=24, 1d20+8=15) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1793374/)
Ititerives (1d20+3=18, 1d20+3=8) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1793378/)
Damage (4d6-2=11) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1793379/)

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Amira and Frae'el: Being pinned between blaster fire and lightsaber the beast screams in agony. The second blow from Amira sends the beast into the air. It lands heavily and tries to scramble to it's feet, you see gouts of dark blood from deep in it's chest leaking to the ground in large quantities at the "thing" spasms and finally lay still. The beast took 132 damage (fixed again!) by my math not bad guys:smallwink: by the way Amira... remember you have power attack... extra damage up to plus 10 when you are hitting real easy like that. And cudos to Frae'el who dispite horrendous rolling managed to survive and do most of the damage.:smallamused:

@Cyrus:By the entrance of the Elevator on the docking hub, you see five mercenaries, Carrying 2 tripod mounted f-webs broken down the mercs seem ready for a major land war. As Cyrus exits the elevator the mercs salute and say "ready to go! Orders sir?". You likely do not immeadiatly see the Bothan leaning agaist the wall in the shadows. (spot diff 25)

@Asyr: Being promised a job opportunity to get transport off station by station management, you show up to the designated point. Supposedly your mission is to provide intelligence and light fire support. You probably wonder what the Mercs are getting paid considering their exitement. The mercs were concerned earlier that the supposed officer they were to meet up with was late. Then you see a jedi get off the elevator and it answers the question on who this person your supposed to meet up with is, though you definately get that here we go again feeling. The jedi doesn't seem to notice you yet.

[Miata]

"That was definitely my target. Guess this mission was easier than expected. But now let's see who this other person is. Looks like she got attacked by it just now, I just wonder why, and what she's up to."

Amira deactivates her lightsaber and takes a closer look at the whole scene, especially the Defel who was fighting the beast moments ago. Then she decides to speak up.

"And who might you be?", she asks her in a calm voice.

Yeah I forgot about Power Attack there. I didn't even remember that the AC of the monster was already known to us, and that it was so low. I'll try to remember it next time, but by the time I realized I hadn't used it in this fight, it was already too late and I had already rolled the dice.

[Narthlotep]

Wow, a Jedi being saluted by mercs toting f-webs around. Probably is my boss for this little scouting trip. Asyr thought to himself, leaning against a bulkhead. Damn, I'm almost out of cash again, along with food and drink. I hope that management remembers its promises, but hey it beats being stuck on this hind end of space with no hope. Leaving his musings behind him, Asyr pulls out a comlink. "Station control, this is Asyr. Your Jedi has met up with the mercs. Am I to break cover or start scouting now?"

[Ridai]

The mercenaries look like a war squad and them saluting Cyrus is a unexpected change of pace, considering that most mercenaries aren't on good terms with the Jedi.
"We will leave immediately. Watch the surrounding, cover each other and follow me.", he says in a strong, calm tone to give them a sense of strong leadership. Their safety is more important for the Jedi than his own right now, too many people already had to die because of the beast. Without wasting any more time, Cyrus leads the way.

Spot check auto-fails, because there is no rule of 20 for skill checks.

[RandomLunatic]

Frae'al just stands there for a moment, breathing heavily. When she has recovered her breath, she say I go by Vrax. You... wait, you're the one from the docking bay, aren't you? Management got you hunting this thing too?

Once introductions are out of the way, she gets back to business. Calling up Station Management, she gives them her location, along with I've got a dead one down here. And it doesn't look like the others. Reptilian, quadrupedal, but no tail. And-and it's not natural. Doesn't move natural, doesn't look natural, doesn't act natural. Ridiculous as it sounds, it seems to me like some sort of engineered bio-weapon. Looks like somebody brought a bunch aboard-I don't know if you have any enemies targeting you, or you just got picked for testing, or if they just broke loose during shipment-but somebiyd made these things.

[Narthlotep]

Well I guess that answers that. Asyr starts skulking off ahead of the Jedi-led mercenaries, being as alert and cautious as he can, switching channels to the mercenaries'.Essentially I'm taking 10's on hide and move silently every round (skill mastery is fun) for 25's in both skills, and rolling spot/listen checks near continuously.

[Miata]

"Indeed, I was at the docking bay, and to answer your question, yes I was hired by station management to take care of this thing too. In fact, I was just on my way to meet up with them when I noticed this fight going on here, so you could call this little situation an interruption of my plans. In fact, I believe it would be best to wait and see what management has to say about this newly changed situation."

With that, she kneels down to take a closer look at the creature, trying to figure out what exactly it is they had just fought.

"What an interesting turn of events. If what she claims is true, there might be more trouble ahead than this job is worth."

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Asyr: Station management tells you to "Keep the team under suveilance, but you might want to introduce yourself in case anything gets messy so they're aware you are on their side. If things get rough provide assistance, but your main mission is to remain undetected and find out what you can, it's now suspected some outside group might be involved as it might be some sort of bioengineered creature. That means somebody directing it, that means somebody watching, I want you watching for them."

@Amira and Frae'el: You turn to inspect the creature, a spreading pool of blood surrounds it. Without it moving and with the majority of the clothing sliced off or burnt it's easier to see the creature looks like a giant quasi bipedal tailess rat. The Face is pulled back in such a snarl you see it's barely connected at all, almost peeled completely off. The blank white eyes while creepy don't appear to have any connection to how this thing saw as they are pretty much connected only to skin. The skin itself seems scaley and reptilian with an almost speckled mineral quality, like mica or some such, mostly see through too (ick) though from very recent experience you know the stuff is pretty tough and refractive of energy. The claws look enlarged and covered in sharp bone, like the claws and bones were fused to make them into longer cutting implements. The jaws appear animalistic, teeth are long but more scavenger than predatory, except 4 tusk like teeth, 2 upper 2 lower that dominate the mouth. The muscles under the skin look twisted and swollen. As you approach closer...

The apparently dead beast surges superhumanly quick to it's feet and swipes in Amira's general direction with a foreclaw slinging it's blood in a spray, as you desperately pull blasters and lightsaber the creature takes off increadibly fast down the passageway, leaving bloody footprints and a large splat mark on a wall as it scrables to turn down a side tunnel and escape.

Looking at the amount of blood you have trouble believing it's still capable of moving much less running... never mind running that fast.

Station Management then calls and tells you the backup team is almost there.


@ Cyrus: The mercenaries form up behind you with blaster rifles at the ready. You begin quickly marching toward the location of the beast when you feel something... it suddenly feels like something terrible has or is happening, you can feel pain, someone's pain, It feels like someone has just commited some act horrible enough to perturb the force itself.

[Miata]

at which speed is the creature moving? Would it be possible to catch it with Burst of Speed?

[Ridai]

Cyrus, surprised by the disturbance in the Force, picks up the pace and tries to find out if the pain could be associated with what he sensed from Elena Stormwind's lightsaber. The Jedi now draws his lightsaber, but doesn't ignite it yet.

[Narthlotep]

Over the com to Cyrus and his mercs: "This is your eye above, Asyr Dan'kar. Station control has some new data about the target. They are possibly bioweapons, and I'm here to to provide overwatch and some light support if necessary." Since I'm susposed to be looking for whoever might be controlling these things, I might as well get a better vantage point. Electromagnets don't fail me now. As he said his introduction, he turned on the electromagnets, and started up the wall, with the intent of walking along the ceiling, providing for a better vantage point to try and find whoever/whatever is directing these creatures, along with a nasty surprise for any potential ambushers. Damn, makes me wish that I hadn't used all of my grenades up back on Malastare, this would of been an opportune time to use them.
((OOC: Taking 10 on the Climb check for a grand total of 26, and still going with the auto 10's in hide/move silently (25 in each), along with being on high alert/looking everywhere.))

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@AmiraIt's hard to measure it's exact velocity, but yes you think you might be able to catch it, but it would be a very close race, and involve using several consecutive rounds of burst of speed, and running checks... you'd almost think the thing had burst of speed too... .

@Cyrus: You get the feeling her saber might have something to do with the intensity at which you felt that disturbance. The mercs match your pace and theoretically your closing fast on the location of the beast's last sighting. You also sense something else, almost like a song just out of hearing, something very tragic about the feeling of it...

@ Asyr, You can make use of the electromagnets to climb the walls, and keep a look out, and stealth, but the distraction of climbing/sneaking/keeping a look out will distract you somewhat and slow you down a bit. (essentially -6 to all said rolls and slow movement to 1/2) As that would put you behind the quickly moving jedi and mercs what do you want to do. You could also rush the whole deal and just take -10's to all the roll's(I think that might put you down to the point where a PC might technically be able to see you... on a good roll (15 net) anyway) or you can remain ultra sneaky and go slow...

[Miata]

Alright, that would cost too many hp to just catch up with it.

Amira shakes her head. "Not worth it right now. We should better wait for that so called backup. We might have stumbled upon more problems than expected."

[Narthlotep]

Damn, the mercs and jedi are really pulling away, I guess I can stand being a little less stealthy. Asyr thought to himself as he started to pick up the pace, not caring if he was making some noise or if it would be easier for someone to pick him out along the ceiling. Besides, those mercs are making enough of a racket to draw any unfriendly attention, and what's more of a threat, a lone Bothan for a stroll along the ceiling, or a goon squad from station control? On top of that, who looks up that often in an enclosed place, like a space station?

Yeah, I'll take the -10 penalties and do my best to keep up with the goon squad.

[RandomLunatic]

Frae'al nearly jumps out of her skin as the thing takes off. By the time her blasters are ready, it is already gone.

Gee, really? Where I come from, it's perfectly normal for dead things to get up and run off like they're trying to jump to lightspeed, she observes sarcastically. She checks the charge on her blasters while waiting for the backup to arrive.

[Miata]

"I have seen worse before.", Amira replies with a calm voice. Where I come from, you get used to it."

[DMfromTheAbyss]

A very short time later

@Cyrus and Asyr: As the Jedi and 5 mercenaries march down the hall accompanied by a barely noticable thunkthunkthunk noise from the ceiling the first thing they note is a change in the smell, from dusty ancient station, to very fresh charred meat and blood. As they turn the Corner they see a shadowy form with a visor reloading blaster pistols and a black robed woman with a lightsaber staring down the tunnel opposite their approach. Notable is the fact that something has apparently taken a chunk out of the shadowy form (which also sports a few deep cuts), and the black robe on the woman has a very bright crimson blood streak going from waist to opposite shoulder. There is also a congealing pool of blood, a few streaks of gore and stray blaster marks, and fading bloody footprints leading into a giant radial mark on a tunnel wall and continueing down the tunnel.

@Frae'el and Amira: The first sign of the so called backup is the tromp tromp of heavy booted feet. Expecting a small army you instead see a Brown robed jedi in front of a group of 5 blaster rifle wielding mercs. (Diff 15 spot/listen check to see the orientationally challenged Bothan on the ceiling) Having a lightsaber at the ready the Jedi looks calm and collected but determined. You see the mercs are hauling the components for 2 f-web emplacement weapons.

OOC: Finally the whole party is togeather and has a mission. Feel free to discuss your options, Roleplay up the meeting, the two jedi (sith) are kinda obvious. The Bothan is going to be hard to find, the Defel is hard to see and the mercs are just hard headed.
Before that however all the comlinks from the party get the following message.(not the mercs, they are not special)

The Station Manager says in a no nonesense voice. "Alright you should have met up with the others I've sent. I suggest you all take a minute to get organized. If this thing or things can be found I want it/them dealt with. I honestly don't care which of you is in charge of this little "party" but i suggest you discuss that before going into life or death combat. Oh and if there are more than one of these things I will be giving you appropriate compensation. Have your appointed leader contact me when your ready to go."

The mercs also seeing you have injured have several medpacs to spare, but aren't terribly trained in their use if anyone wants to heal Frae'el a bit. I will default to the merc's seargent doing it (Treat injury +4 net) if noone else offers.

[Miata]

Spot: [roll0] I can't apply the medipacs, since I don't have any ranks in that skill.

Amira looks over the group that just arrived.

"Just what I need, a Jedi to deal with. As if those monsters weren't enough already."

She shrugs that thought off for now and speaks up:

"So you guys are the promised backup. I suggest we organize ourselves as fast as possible and move out. That thing can't be too far away by now, and it should be easy to follow it since it's leaving a rather obvious trail of blood."

She pauses, and then adds while pointing at Frae'el.

"Oh, and I suggest one of you should take care of her wounds, I am not particularly skilled in that area and would probably mess up more than I would actually help her."

[Narthlotep]

After hearing the message from station management, Asyr stops over the blood pool, and clears his throat.

"Since the management seems intent to have us know who we are and what we can do, I'll start off. My name is Asyr Dan'kar, and since most of you haven't noticed me before I cleared my throat, it's somewhat obvious what a couple of my talents are. Also, management wants me to look out for who or what is controlling or directing these creatures and either deal with it myself, or light it up for everyone to see and deal with. I also have experience with demolitions, computers, and tracking, though it doesn't take a lot of skill to follow bloody footprints. Combat wise, I know some martial arts, and I'm a halfway decent shot."

Great, another Jedi. I just hope that management doesn't decide to tell the bounty hunters on this station about their existence, otherwise this could get very messy, very fast.

If anyone decides to look up, they'll see a 1.6m (5'2") tall Bothan colored like a German Shepard in urban camo, hanging upside down by his boots, crossing his arms, waiting for everyone else to say their piece.

OOC: I'm popping out of stealth for now, until the introductions and a plan are made, then I'll go back into stealth mode and provide overwatch services. Also, I have no training in the treatment of injuries, so I'm not going to volunteer for patching up Frae'el.

[Ridai]

"Cyrus Novan.", the Jedi introduces himself with a nod. "I can act as the appointed leader, unless someone else feels more up to the task." The faster we decide who the leader is, the faster we can follow the bioweapon.

Considering the freshness of the blood on the floor and the intensity of the feelings moments ago, Cyrus has a sneaking suspicion about the bioweapon. He tries to sense if the currents of the Force in this place carry any feelings similar to the disturbance in the Force earlier by concentrating on the lightsaber as a focus.

He then looks over to the woman wearing the black robe, obviously a Sith, and tries to sense her anger and fear, how much she has been corrupted by the dark side. She is obviously stranded here too, most likely without coming here on purpose (she wouldn't do this job if she knew about the anomaly), so Cyrus decides to concentrate on finding the beast for now. But he still wonders what brought her to this place. "We should put our differences aside for now, as there is a more troubling task at hand."

If the others don't mind him being the leader, he contacts the Manager. "This is Cyrus Novan, we will start following the bioweapon now."

[RandomLunatic]

Oh great. Jedi and Sith. She takes a few steps to the side, not wanting to be in the line of fire if they come to blows.

Once her wounds are tended to, she thanks the Merc and says I'm Vrax. As you might guess, my specialty is infiltration-unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work on these things. I don't know how, but it could see me fine. Since stealth is useless, we should have a real fast runner up front to give us enough advance warning to get the E-webs and then lure them back into the killing field. It was fast, but I've heard that Jedi are too... She lets the thought hang for a moment, then continues, We'd also do well to post a rearguard, since we don't know if they will be coming after us. This I'd be willing to volunteer for, unless somebody else really wants to do it.

Oh, and one more thing-be sure to look up. The one I found here was running along halfway up the wall when I first saw it.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

The Seargent does a passable job patching up Frae'el. Using an advanced medkit (think automated medkit for dummies, it gives him step by step instructions) Looking at the wounds he tells you "You should really check into a medbay, but with this in your system you should be feeling a lot less pain, also managed to stop the bleeding and make sure nothings getting infected at least. Though this little gadget does tell me you had something called Ranat Salivary infection strain-4A. Not sure if that's relevant" Frae'el gets back 5 HP due to a good roll from the merc with the help of the autodoc on the medpack.

@Cyrus: give me a see force check... and another and another... so 3 see force checks for the saber, the area and Amira respectively.

@Amira: yup Cyrus is checking you out... you can roll a force defence if you care, and or a see force check to try and see what's got him so interested in that weird saber he's looking at, Or just take a gander at him too.

@Asyr: You note that the blood trail will be very easy to track... for a while at least.. it gets fainter as it goes though.

[Miata]

Yeah I think I will check him out too. So that's:

Force Defense: [roll0]

See Force (Saber): [roll1]

See Force (Cyrus): [roll2]

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Amira: You sense what almost feels like a thread of pain from the saber. As to the Jedi he seems very calm and hard to read.

[RandomLunatic]

Sounds lovely. Any chance you know what that is?

[Narthlotep]

Ranat saliva, about how tall was this thing? I might be able to explain why normal stealth didn't work against that thing. If it's based off of a Ranat, it most likely smelled you. However, what I know about Ranats states they can't run around halfway up a bulkhead without some sort of mechanical assistance. And Cyrus, mind asking management if we have permission to blow up the production facilities of whatever is making and controlling these things?

Looking down at the pool of blood and the tracks leaving it, Asyr starts to follow the tracks from his vantage point on the ceiling, dropping back into being stealthy, and on high alert once everyone is has said their peice.

OOC: once we have a plan I'm going to be going slow and stealthy following the tracks/group, with the earlier penalties (-6 going 1/2 speed) with auto 10's in hide, move silently, survival and climb for totals of 19 hide &move silently, and a 13 in survival for tracking (additional -4 because I don't have the track feat) and a 20 for climb

[Miata]

"Somethings wrong with that saber, if only I knew what it is."

Amira turns to Cyrus to answer him.

"Very well, you can lead this little party if you want. As for our 'differences', I'm not here to fight the Jedi, and if my judgement is correct, we seem to share the mutual interest of wanting to get rid of these beasts, so we might as well work together to complete this mission."

With that being said, she starts to turns around.

"Now I suggest we should get going, I'd rather finish this as soon as possible."

[RandomLunatic]

It was big, scaled, tailess rat-like thing, about *insert size estimate here, since I was never actually given any numbers:smallwink:* It did sniff me me out, or at least it sure looked like it, but there was something else too-sense of smell alone isn't that accurate.

[Narthlotep]

I think that it's most likely someone having fun splicing genes together. It was most likely using a Ranat as a base, then added in some reptilian genes, along with some other stuff. It most likely smelled you first, then used some other sensory system to pinpoint your position. I'm not too sure what bands of the electromagnetic spectrum your fur asorbs, but it might be possible that it has sensory organs that detect the infrared radiation, similar to pit vipers.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Everybody: Frae'el and Amira would say it was 1.6 meters, maybe 1.8 depending on how it "stood".
For reference Ranats are usually about 1.0 meters tall, mean ratlike sentients who hate humans, and just about everybody for that matter.

When queeried Station management gives permission to blast, burn, or slice anything related to whatever is making these things but no high explosives, as it is an ancient space station, don't want to kill everybody, just those things and whoever is controlling them.

[Miata]

Before setting out to hunt the creature, Amira will try to heal some of the damage she took earlier with the help of the force.

Heal Self: [roll0]

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Amira you heal 5 points of damage

[Ridai]

Cyrus asks Management for permission and tells the others her answer. As for the Sith, Cyrus thinks she understood what he ment. "Shall we go?", he asks and follows the bloodtrail.

See Force
Amira [roll0]
Place [roll1]
Lightsaber [roll2]

[RandomLunatic]

Yes. Blasters in hand, she takes place at the rear of the formation, keeping watch ahead, behind, and up.

Take 10 Spot/Listen, 20 each.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Cyrus: You sense that Amira has a little less than 1/5 the darkside influence as the Jedi Weapons Master who helped train you. That being said Kyle Katarn did have anger issues and a checkered past...
The saber has the sort of link a lightsaber often has with a jedi who built and put a little bit of themeselves into the weapon, this link is maybe a bit stronger than most, she obviously felt the weapon was an extension of her, and with the force it's sort of true.
The area around you feels... well the station is the oldest thing you have ever sensed by far, including the thousands of year old massassi temples. You don't sense any thing dangerous immeadiatly around you, though you do sense an odd pulling sensation, that falling or about to fall sensation you felt upon initially finding the area when your hyperdrive died. The creature, even if it is at all connected to the saber is to distant to sense.

@Everyone: The group begins to move along. Jedi and Sith in the lead. Bothan on the ceiling being stealthy. Mercs keeping togeather, Defel dropped back slightly. The trail is comically easy to follow at first. But as you continue the trail gets less and less obvious, eventually after what feels like miles of slightly curved hallways twisting through the docking ring the trail is lost entirely. The section your in has little light coming from the occasionally sputtering working light panels. Areas abound where the metal plating on the walls has been removed, exposing tubes and wiring of unknown derivation. Some of said holes in the wall are more than big enough for something like this thing to get through.

@Asyr and Frae'el: You see movement coming from down the tunnels, furtive and relatively quiet shadowy movement of small creatures. You make out what looks suspiciously like a spear or two. Frae'el sees this coming from behind you. Asyr sees it coming from in front.
Game effect is the trail is now more difficult then your passive rolls allow for tracking purposes, any further tracking will require a result above a 13 difficulty. Also note that you've seen enemies, or potential enemies in your lookout, which tends to distract most people from making tracking checks. But yes you can probably pick up the trail after you deal with the present problem.

[Narthlotep]

Asyr pulls out his blaster rifle and comlink (set to the Merc Sargent's frequency) It looks like we have contacts up ahead. They appear to be armed with spears, and are approaching.

Well, we'll find out how hostile these targets are going to be in a few seconds.

Putting his comlink away yet again, he lines up on the lead creature, taking aim and waiting for someone else to start hostilities.

OOC: I stop moving, pull my A280, and start aiming on the lead target. My hide/move silently rolls are 19 each

[RandomLunatic]

Are they smallish, 1.5 meters or less? Frae'al whispers into her comm, We have more coming from behind. I suggest getting those repeaters set up. I'm going to see if I can get a visual. With that, she takes two steps backwards and disappears, merging into the shadows.

Her eyes wander down to the bottom left of her field of view. Sensors in her visor read the movement and bring up a menu. Fixing her gaze on the box that reads LOLGHT, she blinks twice. The sensors read this too and adjust the visors parameters, taking in more light to improve her view. Then she stares at their shadowers again and tries to get a better image, punching the magnification up a few times if necessary.

Switching visor over to Low-Light mode.

Hide/Move Silently (1d20+21=22, 1d20+20=37) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1795533/)

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Asyr: As the creatures approach you can hear them making strange noises, still very quiet but definately signalling each other as they spread out accross the hallway, staying low. Approaching closer you can see they possess mostly primitive weapons (sharpened bits of metal on a stick) but a few of what look to be blaster pistols. They hunker down like they are waiting for some signal. There are maybe a dozen of them.

@Frae'el: You quickly meld with the shadows, and the lowlight vision supplies you with seing more of the diminutive humanoids than you would have guessed at. Numbering 20, they are armed with nets and clubs primarily, though said weapons seem to be made of technologically advanced materials. (clubs made out of sections of piping, Nets made of tied microcabling and wire) By the way they stalk forward it looks like they're stalking game. As you get within 10 meters they still show no signs of seeing you, their attention is riveted on the mercs, Sith and Jedi. They then stop and appear to be holding position waiting for something. By the small frame and ratlike appearance you think these may be the Ranats you were recently discussing. They don't look much like the creature you fought earlier at all, being furry and much smaller. (1 meter or so standing up)

The Mercs quietly signal to Cyrus and Amira to stop and 4 of them start setting up the 2 F-webs. The seargent conveys through handsigns that there's something ahead and behind. (or tries to, he is obviously not good at charades). You do end up getting a general sense that they recieved word on the comlink that something dangerous has you surrounded. Large power cores and tripods are deployed as the barrels are then mounted on the tripods. a few cable connections later you hear a resonant hum and the Mercenary Seargent motions Cyrus towards one and Amira towards the other, he then goes with Amira and crouches down behind the battery. The 4 other mercs man the f-webs. Aside from the hum and a flickering light panel sparking things get very quiet.

[RandomLunatic]

Frae'al silently slinks back into the nearest side passage, turning her comm's volume setting down so only she can hear it, and barely. Speaking at lowest level that the link will pick up, she reports I've got about a score of them back here. I'm guessing them to be Ranats. They're armed with an assortment of improvised weapons scavenged from around the station-clubs and nets, mostly. They're holding their ground and seem to be waiting for something. How's it look up front?

[Narthlotep]

Asyr whispers over the com channel to the mercs and jedi "It looks like there's about twelve or so, most have variations on the sharp bit of metal lodged into a stick, though some do have what looks like either slugthrower or blaster pistols. They are crouching down, looks like they are waiting for something or someone to send them a signal."

[Miata]

Amira draws her lightsaber, but does not ignite it yet. Then she whispers to Cyrus:

"Better get ready. Depending on what they do, this could get pretty ugly, and something tells me they are not here to invite us over for dinner."

[Ridai]

Cyrus enters the opening stance of Ataru, holding his lightsaber vertically to his right side with both hands, but doesn't ignite it either.
"Chances are that the beast controls them or the Ranats fear it, which would fit with the beast perhaps being a transformed Jedi. There is enough evidence that it might be possible.", the Jedi whispers back to Amira, figuring he should voice his hunch before they run into the bioweapon again. Maybe she can be saved. Cyrus waits silently for what is to come.

[RandomLunatic]

Sounds like the front group was meant to start a firefight to distract us so the rear guys could swoop in and subdue us in melee. If you two Jedi want to come back here and and help me open a can on them, I'm pretty sure the Mercs and Asyr can keep the others at bay if they try something.

[Narthlotep]

Ahh, the old 'hammer-and-anvil,' be careful about the Ranats. They have been known to eat humans that they down. Also, it seems that they are awaiting a signal. They might try to start negotiations first. He whispered into his comlink.

[RandomLunatic]

Station Management advised me they had trouble with raiders in this area. I'm going to hazard a guess we're looking at them. From the looks of them, if they even try to negotiate, it will be 'throw down your weapons and we'll let you leave in one piece'. And I doubt they'd hold up their end.

At any rate, I don't want to sit here for whatever these guys are waiting for to turn up because one, it is unlikely to be conducive to my continued well-being, and two, I'm not getting paid by the hour down here.

[Narthlotep]

So Cyrus, do we have premission to engage? I'd say that the first group of raiders is about 40 meters ahead of us, ducking down and doing their best to not to give away their positions. I have a bead lined up one one of them, though I'd prefer not to take a shot until the f-webs are set up and ready to lay down suppressing fire, as I'm a little exposed where I am, and opening fire isn't going to do much for my continued remaining hidden stratagem. Asyr whispered into the comlink, shifting his aim to one of the creatures holding a blaster.

At least your getting paid for this little escapade, all I got was a vague promise about management helping me get off this station.

OOC: Ok, roll my initative, and I'm essentially going to start taking shots of oppritunity once the f-webs open up, with the ranats with projectile weaponry being my primary targets.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

The silence is broken as The Ranats toward the front of the party suddenly surge to their feet and charge. Many blaster shots are fired, some of them even in your direction, though they seem to largely be firing for effect. A few of those with spears launch them from a running start. The Ranats appear to be screeching and generally trying to make a lot of noise. (the ranats are now approximately 30+ meters out, those behind the party still have not moved.)

One of the mercs takes one of the small spears to his shoulder, though it punctures his armor he still seems relatively ok. One of the stray blaster bolts goes directly for Amira's head, before she can activate her lightsaber, you see the shot stop as it impacts the F-web's (now visable) shield a fraction of a meter in front of her. Amira feels a gust of heat but takes no damage.

the F-web's shields grant a DR15 energy to everyone withing 4 meters of them, though as seen with the spear, physical and indeed a shot fired from within the shield does normal damage to those inside. Firing out does require you to put the business end of the weapon outside the shield though.

(OOC I believe that would be a call for initiative. Feel free to include your action(s) and any relevant rolls, if a target is invalidated etc by someone else's action, expect a PM asking what you'd like to change your action to.)
Ranats: 9 Mercenaries: 18
(also for simplicity's sake I'll tell you the Ranats have a defence:16 and HP:9)

[RandomLunatic]

Frae'al's head whips around at the sound of blaster fire behind her. She smirks, seeing her judgement vindicated. Soon, the backstabbers would make thier move. She readied her blasters. When they did, they would learn the shoe really hurts on the other foot.

What is their flat-footed defense? I assume these guys cannot see me, at least.
Initiative versus Ratan (1d20+4=20) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1796594/)
What a waste of a good roll. Frae'al will stay put until the rear group runs past her, then shoot them in the back.

[Ridai]

"Fire at will! I will distract the twenty in the back!", Cyrus shouts and lets the Force flow through him, sending him towards the Ranat as a rapid blur accompanied by a streak of green light and slightly to the side, so that the mercenaries can still shoot past him without a problem. Perhaps the Ranat will concentrate on him.

Initiative: [roll0]
Cyrus activates Burst of Speed and moves right next to the Ranat, but more to the side of the tunnel (?), so the mercs can fire past him.

edit: What the hell?! If the Ranat move closer (inside of 20 meters from Cyrus' current position), he charges instead, using Rapid Strike and Combat Expertise (for 2 points), attacking twice (can't edit in the rolls).

[Miata]

Seeing that Cyrus is going to cover the back, Amira decides to go for the front. While she charges towards their position, she ignites her lightsaber and reaches out for the force to strengthen herself.

Initiative: [roll0]

Amira moves towards them as far as she can this round, aiming to engage them in melee combat. Her dodge target will be the Ranat closest to her, who will also be the one she will try to attack first.

She also uses Enhance Ability to boost her dexterity.

Enhance Ability: [roll1]

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Frae'el: You assume correctly, they cannot see you and their flatfooted def is 14, you got behind them as well

@Cyrus: updated sometimes going slow has it's advantages, redecide your actions based on the combat results thus far.

So far we have
The Mercs: 18
Ranats: 9
Cyrus: 6
Frae'el: holding action from 20
Amira: 12
Asyr: 15

The mercs open up the two f-web heavy repeating blasters on the onrushing dozen Ranats. A half dozen shots light up the tunnel like a red strobe. 3 of the onrushing foe's are hit and blasted to pieces. The mercenary seargent stands and sprays a full auto volley from his rifle, clipping one more and it goes down less spectacularly. 3 hits for 20 damage each, and 1 hit for 15.

Asyr then adds to the fire from the ceiling. (assuming I'm rolling? he gets 2 hits and downs both targets for 12 damage each)

Amira then moves out 10 meters brandishing her lightsaber and calls on the force to enhance her reflexes.

The remaining 6 Ranats from the charge continue to throw spears (none with blasters are still up) 1 spear almost Hits Amira but she leaps up and it goes through her robe missing her legs by an inch. (missed by 1... curse you enhance dex heheh) They move up somewhat to 20 meters (about 10 from Amira) but don't seem quite as enthusiastic.
Leaping from holes in the wall another 8 Ranats bearing vibro-knives and crude swords surround the Mercenaries. Frae'el notices the stealthed 20 by her seem conflicted on weither or not to join in a few looking at the devastation wrought by the f-webs start to slink forward.

Cyrus and Frae'el now get to go.

[RandomLunatic]

When the diminutive aliens cautiosuly creep past her hiding spot, Frae'al opens fire on them from behind. The result it not so much shooting fish in a barrel as it is dropping a Thermal Detonator in a barrel of fish. The two nearest her are dropped by high-powered stun bolts, and her other victims are not even that lucky, going down with holes burned in their backs and heads. One hapless indivudal gets the entire back of its skull disintegrated.

Since Cyrus seems determined to charge the rear group, I will take my turn after he moves.

Full attack, dual wield, rapid shot, multifire. Precise attack goes to main hand ititerive attack, first two shots are stun. Assume I keep shooting the same one until it drops.

First attacks-1st two are stun (1d20+10=18, 1d20+10=15, 1d20+10=23, 1d20+10=15) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1796706/)
Main hand ititerive (1d20+6=24) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1796709/)
Off-hand ititerive (1d20+5=20) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1796711/)
Two DC 19 Stuns, and
Damage rolls (4d6+3=18, 4d6+3=23, 4d6+3=14, 4d6+3=12) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1796713/)
3 dying rats, and one killed outright.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Frae'el Assuming Cyrus does charge.. well he said he would sorta... rolling it out both the Ranats get stunned and the others do indeed perish, or will without prompt medical attention, net efferct 6 drop out of the fight.

[Narthlotep]

Seeing that the mercs are getting overrun by ranats bursting out of the walls, Asyr looks down, judging the distance to the floor, contemplating dropping from above onto one or two ranats and start going martial artsy on them, once the threat imposed by the blaster wielding raiders is dealt with.

ooc: Yeah, I'm going to let you roll, as it seems easier than linking to an outside source or forcing you trusting me about the rolls. Also how high is the ceiling? If it's low enough that I won't take more than a couple of dice of falling damage, then I'll drop onto a ranat or two to help give the mercs some breathing room (firing into or out of a melee isn't my cup of tea) So next round I'm moving back towards the mercs and taking a shot at one of the charging ranats.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Asyr: Yeah it's a long way down, these tunnels are close to 10 meters tall. You're reasonably certain you could roll with it, but it'll still hurt. You are basically directly over the spear chuckers at the moment though. Risky to try and land on one directly... but possible. Do you feel lucky? (jump, attack roll for MA and save required for doing that... could get you hurt specially if you land on a spear, could also squish one in highly dramatic fashion...
And all the blaster wielding Ranats have been killed by yourself or the F-web.

[Narthlotep]

OOC: I was contemplating dropping down one one of the ones that burst out of hiding around the mercs, not one of the 6 remaining ones in the F-webs line of fire. I'm not crazy enough to try that kind of stunt with anyone else but Kell or Zockruss. So essentially I'll help mow down the remaining 6, then work my way back to the mercs and do the DFA attack there)

[Ridai]

Seeing the Ranats jumping out of their holes, Cyrus reacts with a flurry of rapid, wide swings aided by his acrobatic fighting style, using momentum to his advantage.

As Cyrus stands near the F-Web, I hope he can make a full attack with Rapid Strike against three targets with a 2m step before it.

Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Attack 2 [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

Attack 3 [roll4]
Damage [roll5]

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Cyrus cleanly bisects 3 of the Ranats before they really have a chance to react.

@Frae'el: Are we still saying screw it and opening the can o butt whoopin on the unsuspecting ratpeople or not, you'd be semi reavealing your location by firing, without a jedi to draw fire, and 20 of em between you and the party... still killing a quarter+ of them might just make em think twice. Your call.

@ Narthlotep: Kell could probably suck it up, Xockrus would so be stuck in the reultant CRATER that it'd be better to wait for at least a partial airlift from Vek... you'd still fall, but you'd fall slower.

[RandomLunatic]

Yeah. I edited the post to reflect the cirumstances. I do want it understood I am targeting the guys with the nets.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

The Mercs: 18
Ranats: 9
Cyrus: 6
Frae'el: 8
Amira: 12
Asyr: 15

The Mercenaries bravely try to ignore the Ranats with blades near them as they continue firing into the Spear chucking Ranats. They account for two more.(4 left) The Seargent attempts to hold off the 5 remaining blade weilders with another burst of precise fire from his rifle. killing 2 (3 left).

Asyr starts to magnetically tromp back along the ceiling, taking two potshots with his rifle, 1 connects for 14 damage dropping another of the spear chuckers. (3 left)

Amira is then confronted with either going back to help or finishing off the 3 spear lobbing Ranats (one of whom recently airated your robe). (Note* either group is well within charge range, or normal movement for that matter)

[Ridai]

[OOC: As I will most likely be sleeping when my turn comes up...]

Cyrus will take care of the remaining blade wielding Ranats.

Full attack with Rapid Strike

Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Attack 2 [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

Attack 3 [roll4]
Damage [roll5]

[Miata]

Amira charges at the spear throwing Ranats, attacking the one who pierced her robe earlier.

Attack roll: [roll0]

Damage: [roll1]

[Narthlotep]

Seeing that the Jedi and mercs have things under control up front, Asyr continues heading back to help out Vrax.
OOC: Essentialy, move action then potshot at a ranat not engaged in melee with someone, with the intent of getting in position to do the DFA once the ranats in back get too close for blasters.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Amira viciously cuts down the Ranat that earlier nearly hit her.

The Ranats with spears attack Amira, one biting her in the leg as the other gets his spear cut in two attacking her. Amira takes 6 damage

The knife wielding Ranats meanwhile manage to hit one of the Mercs. He looks badly hurt. One attacks and misses Cyrus.

The 14 Ranats behind the party lay about themeselves in a disorganized manner. 4 in particular have Frae'el surrounded, apparently using their noses to at least figure out roughly where she is. They seem unable to land a hit however. Using nets and crude clubs the others flail about the area in a vain effort to engage their invisable assailant. Several nets are tossed... nowhere near anybody. and several of them start to flee entirely (4 are running after having lobbing man sized crude capture nets at empty squares near you.

@Frae'el They have you surrounded, but apparently can't see you as such... you still get the +2 for being invisable to them.

Cyrus is unable to get to all three of the blade wielding Ranats, but does kill two of them without difficulty. (leaving 1) The Mercenary captain then goes and downs the remaining attacker with a solid shot from his blaster rifle. One mercenary checks on his wounded compatriot, while the other 2 continue to use their f-web. For fear of hitting Amira, they target the Ranats behind the group, swinging the gun to bear, they immeaditaly open up, getting one hit which easily downs the small creature. (9 left behind the group +4 are running away)

Asyr then takes a shot and kills another. (IRL he just showed up at my house heh guess I was taking a bit long there sorry IRL distractions)

Amira then gets to confront her 2 attackers who are at melee range.

[Miata]

Amira attacks them with her lightsaber, trying to finish the battle with those two quickly.

Full attack action:

Attacks:

[roll0]
[roll1]

Damage:

[roll2]
[roll3]

[RandomLunatic]

Frae'al's blasters speak again and again. Trying to fight a defel in these lighting conditions is like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands. The four Ratans surrounding her are gunned down in succession while they flail uselessly at empty air. With the immediate threat removed, she fires on the less decisive individuals milling about, collecting several more with lethally accurate fire.

Same as last turn, except no stun shots.

First attacks (1d20+10=27, 1d20+10=29, 1d20+10=22, 1d20+10=29) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1797298/)
Main hand iterive (1d20+6=17) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1797300/)
Off-hand iterive (1d20+5=14) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1797301/)
Damage rolls (4d6+3=14, 4d6+3=18, 4d6+3=18, 4d6+3=14, 4d6+3=24, 4d6+3=13) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1797302/)

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Amira cuts one of the remaining Ranats down, the remaining one next to her falls on to it's face, which has the side effect of ducking her strike. Amira isn't sure but from the noises it makes it might be begging for it's life.

The Ranats remaining to the rear of the party seem unable to connect with the Defel in any meaningful way as a four around her continue striking ineffectively. Frae'el takes advantage of the close quarters to kill not only the four around her, but take an opportune shot on one of the closer club wielders.

Amira missed on a 1, which I rule as an auto miss, though it's not a fumble either. Frae'el missed once on account of the "milling about" unsure Ranats fighting defensively as they were beating the deck plates looking for you.
The remaining Ranats flee, (8 total) The Mercenaries take a few pot shots at the retreating Ranats... firing a stream of shots into the walls over them and generally firing for effect.

You can pursue but the Ranats are spliting up, crawling into holes much like the rats they look like. They will likely be difficult to catch.

There are two stunned Ranats and several wounded but not quite dead yet specimens (if you hurry to tend them at least) and one of the shot Ranats is actually stable.Then there's the by one by Amira apparently begging for it's life, or insulting you, in it's chittering language it's hard to tell.

One of the mercs is badly wounded, but apparently still able to fight. A lot of Ranat Corpses and flaming blaster holes from the F-web provides a little more light.
What's everyone doing?

Asyr climbs down and finds the continuation of the original creatures trail, looks like more than blood is coming off the creature, tiny refractive crystals from the creatures hide seem to be leaving a much fainter though followable trail.

[RandomLunatic]

Point of interest: Fighting Defensively will not actually help them, as that tactic provides a dodge bonus, which is lost to an invisible attacker anyway.

Frae'al takes one final snap shot at the fleeing figures. Then she turns and tries to sort out the two she stunned from the mass of bodies lying on the deck. I've got two live ones back here, she calls down the passage, Somebody want to lend me a hand?

Finding the two lucky 'winners', she puts a second stun bolt into each to keep them out while she disarms them, then drags them away from the other bodies so they will not a have weapons to reach for when they come to. Asyr, you seem to know a lot about these guys. Do you know the language?

Regardless, when they come around, they both get a great view of the blasters being trained on them. You do not need to be a genius, or even fully awake, to realize two blasters and two captives equates to approximately one blaster per head. Do you understand Basic? she grills. If she gets no answers, she continues [Rodese]How about Rodese? [Ryl]Or Ryl? [Huttese]Huttese? [Defel]Doubt it's Defel.

[Narthlotep]

I know a lot about them, yes, but I don't have the correct vocal chords to speak their language. However, the smarter ones do know galactic basic, generally. Wait, some of them had nets, right? why not just bag them up in a net, and interrogate them while they're tangled up?

Great, we have prisoners. The Jedi is gonna throw a fit if we just execute them, and we don't have the manpower to guard them, I really wish that the defel had just shot them with kill bolts, it'd make life easier. Well, while I'm wishing for things, maybe something a little more concrete than a vague promise about how management is going to help me with transport out of here would be nice.

As Asyr was talking and musing, he grabbed a net or two and proceeded to wrap the stunned ranats up in them, then went back to picking out the trail of the creature we were hired to deal with.

Well, anyone have any ideas about what to do with our prisoners? We really don't have the manpower to spare to look after them, and I'm pretty sure that management isn't going to send another squad our way to deal with them. Cyrus, do you want me to ask or do you want to do it?

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@randomlunaticThe proper place for a rules discussion would really be the ooc board... But...I would argue that while a dodge bonus against an invisible foe would indeed be negated (Which I could think up several situations where this would not seem to make sense... this being one of them, I would also argue you can dodge an opponent if you have a good idea of their location),

From pure Raw it could also be argued that the bright conditions engendered by the blaster fire both from you and an F-Web or two could change the lighting situation enough to in some ways mitigate your cover.

Theoretically this could temporarily over the course of that round and the one before negate your invisibity bonus and theoretically cause you to not get the +2 bonus from invisibility for all your attacks, and cause their attacks from the round before you killed them to ignore the additional penalties and miss chances in addition to netting them a +2 flanking bonus...

The entire problem is one of exact lighting. Whereas the initial set up clearly denoted a lack of sufficient light, it also mentions a flickering light panel... and later a glowing Barrage from the F-webs... by RAW it's purely a Game masters perogative weither any or all effects involving your "Invisability" racial trait is applied in moments where temporary illumination brightens the area. By said raw I could also say that dispite illuminating you with a superlaser off the deathstar, you are still invisable due to the prevailing light conditions before and after the blast though so it's something of a moot point.

So yeah with lighting it's a judgement call that I as GM made that they had enough trouble seeing you to take the penalties to hit, but still get a dodge bonus... call it mitigating factors, best case scenario you would have killed one extra Ranat, Worst case scenario would have been in the order of 8d6+36 damage + netting+ possibly dragged off and eaten. (highly unlikely but possible)

I went with the GM thing... and went with what seemed fair. If you want a game that is completely by RAW and goes with every little quirky rule, even when they don't make sense then perhaps you did not note the "mod" in the title that reminds us that this is a homebrew game, and many and sundry rules are changed and altered in quite significant fashion so as to make more sense and provide better game balance, indeed their purpose is to make things more fun via application of a DM tool I like to call common sense.

If you know an invisible bounty hunter is about 10 feet down the hallway from you, you can't dodge him becouse you cannot tell his precise location down to within a two meter square? Running away, possibly in the approved zig and zag fashion, providing a changing target face and speed doesn't affect his to hit at all unless you can see the guy.. really? I must honestly say i disagree. Sorry for the rant.

[Ridai]

Cyrus switches his lightsaber off. "Attend to his wounds.", he says to the mercenaries and walks over to Asyr. "Go ahead, ask him."

What we do with them comes down to if they are intelligent beings capable of feeling remorse or if they are primarly territorial and motivated by food. Chances are if we let them go, they will regroup with the others that fled and lay another ambush, either against us or someone else. Even if Cyrus does not like it, killing them does look like a viable option in this situation, as the chances are high they will ignore mercy and continue to kill people in the future.

The Jedi decides to wait with the decision after the Ranat have been questioned. Meanwhile, he contacts Management. "Management, this is Cyrus Novan. We got ambushed by about 40 Ranat, most of them are dead, the rest fled. One of the men is badly wounded but stable, requesting backup to get him out of here."

Huge moral grey zone there, yay.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Cyrus: the Station manager responds in a carefree manner...

"Oh Ranats.. AGAIN! Damn we've cleared them out like four times now, might be time for a fifth. I wouldn't worry about dealing with them though, they're just pests. Though to be perfectly honest according to official scientific semantics from your republic they are a full fledged sentient species, as entitled to all rights and such as any human would be. Mind you on my station that means squat. So It's entirely up to you, if you can make them see reason and stop being a bother so much the better, but honestly what you do with them is not my concern. If your precious sensibilities are bothered you can leave em tied up, or you can just let em go... We've dealt with them before, we will again.
Sure they've been known to eat the occasional neer do well slumming on the station, but they don't kill my men and certainly not for sport (mumbled: they would definately eat them at least...) Thankfully they're not nearly as bad as some of the organized pirates we've seen in the station, though there "shouldn't" be any more of those down there anymore."

@ Everyone: The mercenary Seargent again takes out his autodoc medpack and patches up his wounded compatriot. After the treatment the merc takes up his pack again and says he's ready for combat (apparently he wasn't that badly wounded, though he's definately lost some color he looks a bit better than Frae'el health wise. in the statistical sense that he has a higher percentage of his HP left say 17/24 The merc Seargent asks if anyone else wants treatment while he's got it out.

[Ridai]

"Very well, Cyrus out.", the Jedi answers and puts away his comlink. "Just let them go afterwards.", he says to Asyr.

[Narthlotep]

I know that this is going to sound callous, but I think we should leave them to the tender mercies of their compatriots. Our job is to deal with the bioweapon, not general nuisance control. And I have one last item to add about Ranats: They eat babies. Yes, you heard me right, they eat babies. In fact, from what I've read in the first contact reports, they prefer babies to other sources of meat, something to do with them being more tender or something like that.

Asyr says this, looks down at the tracks again, then points the direction that the weapon took. I believe that our target went in this direction.

Times like this I almost wish that I hadn't had the lack of sense to tell my parents that I wouldn't spy for them. Heh, I of wonder how my little sis grew up... If I'm lucky, mom and dad would of learned from their mistakes with me and not try to force her into doing anything; but I'm not that lucky, she's probably a good little bothan spying on things that don't concern us all so that the spynet has another juicy bit of gossip to sell.

[Ridai]

"Then just leave them here, it is more or less the same. Let's go." Cyrus follows the trail.

edit: [OOC: Delay the "Let's go." if Frae'al can communicate with the Ranat.]

[RandomLunatic]

Hang on. They might know something. Give me two minutes with them, please.

You still have not told me if they understand me or not.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Frae'el: The two stunned ranats look dazed, and uncommunicative, if they do understand you it's hard to tell looking at their hate filled beady eyes. One of the Ranats is talking however... the one over by Amira is chattering away... though noone knows what it's saying... it is saying it in a pleading tone of voice however with it's head bowed like it's in prayer. Also noone's tied this one up for reference, he's just been prostrating himeself before Amira since the last round of the fight.

It's speach sounds something like "Nvachoo drul chazalssicit dall Bouda. Bouda null fann chazzi cal Ni. Ni Kall Bouda, Ni kneet Bouda. Bouda knell Kneet Odas! Bouda kelfen Sinoras Jiid... Ni Kall Bouda!."

It could almost be some sort of Pidgin of Basic.

(ooc this would be a great spot to try out telepathy or just see if you can figure out what it's saying, it seems much more communicative than it's more recalcatrint fellows who by the look would just as soon eat you, or the talking Ranat by the looks they give him.)

[Ridai]

Cyrus tries to glean information from the talkative Ranat's mind and figure out what he says by comparing his words to Basic or dialects of it and by trying to discern the gist of it through his speech and behaviour.

Telepathy [roll0]
Intelligence roll for speech analysis [roll1]
Wisdom/Sense Motive (basically the same for Cyrus) roll for behaviour analysis [roll2]

HP: Down to 117

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Cyrus: You read the intent behind his words to basically be "please don't kill me!". He is panicked but neither being deceitful nor planning anything, he probably thinks he is speaking your language. His speech follows a very close patern to basic, it just seems a bit off enunciation wise. Some confused vowel sounds and with some strange words replacing key nouns. Now figuring out any specifics might require talking to him... and hopefully he can understand at least as much basic as you do his "language". To recap he is begging and pleading on his knees with his head bobbing down to the ground in a worshipful manner in front of Amira.

@ everybody OOC: Points if you can tell what his name is...
a hint to understanding what he's saying, it helps if you say it outloud, ideally in a whiny begging tone. Skill and ability checks may net you hints but don't solve the puzzle...

[Narthlotep]

Asyr points at himself, and says My name is Asyr. then points at the Ranat, Are you called Bouda? Don't worry, we're not going to eat you.

OOC: wait, does what the Ranat say sound anything like bothese?

[Miata]

It's speach sounds something like "Nvachoo drul chazalssicit dall Bouda. Bouda null fann chazzi cal Ni. Ni Kall Bouda, Ni kneet Bouda. Bouda knell Kneet Odas! Bouda kelfen Sinoras Jiid... Ni Kall Bouda!."

His name is Bouda. "Ni kall Bouda" = Don't kill Bouda. "Bouda kelfen Siinoras Jiid" Kelfen is most likely = help, Jiid I guess is Jedi, Sinoras could be Sith, so I guess he's offering to help us, or at least me. The rest I am not sure about yet, but since it's following the Ni Kall Bouda line, I would assume Ni kneet Bouda could mean don't hurt Bouda. Still gotta think a bit more about this to figure out more.

[RandomLunatic]

Due to the frequency of repitition, I am going to assume its name is 'Bouda'. This would make 'Ni Kall Bouda' into 'No Kill Bouda'. Still working on the rest.

Watch them, Frae'al says to the Mercs, meanign the two tied-up Ranats, and goes to towards the more talkative specimen. After lsitening for a moment, she tests a theory. Bouda... your name is Bouda?

EDIT
Damn, beaten twice to the punch. If we go by Kneet=hurt, then 'Bouda knell Kneet Odas!' could mean he heals injured... something. Odas=Merc? Sinoras Jiid=Sith or Jedi? SOunds like the second half he offerign to make restitution. It is the first two sentences we need to crack.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

OOC: I would contunue the conversational puzzle but It seems someone killed it before it got another initiative (Points for getting info to Cyrus, Getting the name to Asyr and Frae'el, and killing the puzzle in a mighty blow to Amira.)

So you begin having a conversation with the Ranat named "Bouda". He seems more than a bit nervous that your going to kill or "eat" him. His brand of Basic is terrible but after some head scratching and conferring you think you can understand him. He tells you right off

"Bouda kinn Jiid odas nas way. Deek Nam ni Kall odas senoras Jiid, Deek Nam kneet odas Senoras Jiid, Bouda Diim ov Senoras Jiid, Deek Deek bed Diim... Bouda Kelfen kall Deek Nam? Bouda kham ne kneet Bouda, Bouda Kham Asyr ani odas noe?

He gestures as he speaks, at least now understanding that your having trouble understanding him. He makes directional motions for the first part (toward where the trail heads) and seems scared for the middle, he looks up oddly hopeful giving you the Ranat equivilent of puppy dog eyes at the end. He also sensing your confusion tries to help out with your vocab: Kneet=mouth chomping chewy noise (kn- eet=eat) Some of the weird pronunciation is doubtless due to the overbite the size of mack truck and oversized teeth.

He seems willing and eager to answer your questions. The other ranats seem to be struggling in their nets, possibly angered that Bouda is talking to you.

[RandomLunatic]

So the Jedi went that way? And this 'Deek Nam' ate her? And you want to help us kill it?

[Miata]

Amira turns off her lightsaber to calm the ranat down.

"So, Bouda, you want to help us deal with the monster? Well I guess we could allow that."

She then moves a few steps in the direction Bouda is gesturing to, to show her intention to follow him.

[Narthlotep]

Asyr reaches into his bag, and pulls out a ration pack. Bouda, are you hungry? This is food. Asyr says, opening up and handing the ration package to Bouda. Just be sure not to eat the wrapping, it's not very tasty. And Vrax, I think he's trying to say that this 'Deek Nam' didn't kill the other Jedi, but do something similar to chewing or eating... oh, I think I just lost his train of thought right in the gutter. Wait, there was another Jedi on this station? If Bouda here is willing to help out, I say that another blaster isn't a bad thing. Asyr then looks around for one of the blaster pistols the other ranats had, then gives it to Bouda, unless someone else asks him not to.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Bouda eats the rations, package and all without hesitation, boy he packs it down like it's going out of style. He takes the blaster like he has an idea of how to use it (at least he's holding it correctly and not pointing it at anyone at the moment.) the blaster by the way seems a bunch of thrown togeather parts. very bulky for what amounts to a blaster pistol. Though it does seem functional enough

Bouda seems eager to show you the way and get away from the other Ranats. You note he keeps his blaster somewhat pointed their way as if nervous about them. He follows the tracks aways then shows you where there is a semi hidden stairway blocked with wreckage. Frae'el and Bouda have no problem getting through the wreckage but those of you larger will have some difficulties following DC 15 climb check, anyone having trouble may get assisted by those who make the check by more than 5, For reference the Mercs make it with some difficulty, but are having enough trouble with the F-webs that they can't help others. You can attempt the climb or go another way, though Bouda seems to think this is the best way.

[Narthlotep]

Well, it looks like theres quite a few hidden passages in here. If anyone wants help I'd be more than happy to assist.
I'll take 10 on the climb check for a total of 26. Depending on the difficulty, I can portage the F-webs if the mercs want me to, along with assisting whoever wants or needs it.

[Ridai]

Cyrus strengthens his muscles with the Force and gestures to Asyr to help him through.

Enhance Ability [roll0]
Climb (+2 from being assisted) [roll1]

+10 to strength, add +5 to the Climb check (not that it matters with a frickin' 2...). I'll try the Climb check again and take 10 for a result of 16. HP 114

[Miata]

Climb: [roll0]

[DMfromTheAbyss]

So Asyr helps the mercs up As Frae'el follows Bouda to the top. Frae'el finds the much smaller passageway at the top reminds him of some sort of maintanace passage. Maybe 8 feet accross. It has a number of closed doors to either side and the passageway ends in more stairs. The mercs make it over the debris that the smaller characters had no problem sqeezing through, except with a few grunts and complaints. Cyrus and Amira bring up the rear. The debris shifts as they are climbing over, both loose their footing and find themeselves tumbling back to near the bottom. As luck would have it of course Amira finds herself landing directly on Cyrus in a pile. Amira and Cyrus both take 100 points of embarasement damage but manage to remain physically unhurt from the slide off the debris Looking up they both see a large piece of metal framework tumbling for them and as they prepare to be hit, hear a Grunt of effort from Asyr as he magnets onto the debris and stops it from tipping down onto the prone pile of force sensitives.

Aside from red faces and a sore arm for Asyr, no real harm done. The pile, reduced in height somewhat should be easier to climb at least now taking 10's allows you to pass with no roll required... still embarrasing and could have been worse but for Asyr's quick save.

Once things have gotten sorted out the party continues to follow Bouda up the passage, up another long flight of non-debris strewn stairs and finds itself in another 8 foot wide, 60 foot long hallway, the other end of which has a very modern looking security door, complete with retinal scanner. Bouda points, refuses to go further and whispers "Deek NaM..."

[RandomLunatic]

Ret scanner, eh? Frae'al asks with mild amusement. Drawing her blasters, she says Cover me, before stealing off down the hallway.

Taking 10 on Hide/MS checks down the hall, 31/30. Assuming nothing tries to eat me before I get to the door, Use my security kit and take 10 trying to get the door open-30.

[Narthlotep]

Ok Bouda, if you don't want to come, then please watch for anyone trying to sneak up on us from the way we came. Also, sargent, you might want to get a f-web set up, just in case there's another ambush waiting for us. Asyr pads down the hallway to cover Vrax after saying his piece, drawing his sidearm, just in case.

Well, at least this way we've cut down significantly on the amount of time we would of had to spend following the crystalline trail. I just hope that there isn't an ambush waiting for us on the other side of this door.
Ok, I'm taking 10's on hide and move silently for 25's in both, and taking up position at the opposite doorpost of Vrax. Also, the sidearm is my heavy blaster pistol.

[Ridai]

Cyrus positions himself next to the F-Web while being slightly nearer to the door, lightsaber drawn but not ignited yet, to intercept anything that may come charging down the hallway.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Frae'el has some trouble with the security door, but a few minutes of work, after opening up the relevant panels she does manage to bypass the security system entirely. It should open now... to the first person who steps up to it reguardless of weither they even have eyes. After that it will likely stay open indefinately as it's closing routine has been disabled as part of the emergency open bypass used.

Now as to who wants to step in front of the door...?

[Ridai]

"I will go first."

Cyrus ignites his lightsaber and approaches the door in a defensive stance. He reaches out in the force and tries to feel if the owner of the lightwhip or something relating to the weapon can be felt in the room behind the door.

Gonna be tense, son! *grabs popcorn*

See Force [roll0]

Full defense (if I can do that without losing my first turn in case something does happen as soon as the door opens)

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Cyrus: You sense a miasma of darkside energies, and several darkside "beings" (3) on the other side of the door, The lightsaber-whip is almost burning to the touch from the agonizing twisted pain coming off it when you focus on it. Assuming a defensive stance you feel at least moderately ready as the door opens.
(yes going full defence will give you extra AC until your next turn, so if the badguys beat you on Initiative yes it's a smart move, otherwise won't matter much.)

@everyone: The door slides open and you are confronted with... an apparently empty metal grated catwalk, There is clearly several lower levels to the room as evidenced by the corroded ladders you can see. Strange smells and notably reddish vapors swirl inside. You get a horrible sense that someone is watching you, the tension in the air is thick enough to sense without need of the force. The hum of Cyrus's lightsaber is the only sound.

[RandomLunatic]

The scrape of metal on syntheleather almost sacriligously intrudes on the scene as Frae'al draws her blasters. Switching her visor over to the IR spectrum to cut through the haze, she waits for Cyrus to lead, and cautiously follows.

[Ridai]

"Stay on guard, the dark side is strong in this place, I can sense three of its servants ahead. And pain from the missing Jedi's weapon." Not fearing the dark side, but keeping cautious, Cyrus slowly walks onto the catwalk, looking around for the beings he felt and reaching out with the Force to get a better sense where they are or what they are planning. Anticipating trouble, Cyrus lets the Force flow through him, sharpening his reflexes.

Full defense
See Force [roll0]
Spot [roll1]

edit: Forgot Enhance Ability (Dexterity), see OOC

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Frae'al: Switching to IR tells you that the room is very warm, close to body temperature for alot of sentients. The fumes have an acrid smell like an industrial chemical plant. As you start to follow Cyrus into the room...

@Cyrus: As you enter the room you see the catwalk overlooks another catwalk some 12 feet below you, and 20 feet down from that you see the main floor. The Catwalks provide acces to a variety of tubes and electronic monitoring equipment. You sense 2 of the Dark side presences... 5 meters above the inside of the doorway, the third now seems out of range. As you sense them...

@ Everyone: Two creatures looking like 1.8 meter tall, crystal scaled, clawed and tusked monstrosities leap down onto the catwalk to either side of Cyrus with a resounding crash. Both tried to grab ahold of Cyrus but miss as he rolls out of their grasp.

Roll for initiative

[RandomLunatic]

Frae'al switches back to low-light vision in time to see Cyrus get attacked from above.

Initiative for big fight (1d20+4=14) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1800553/)

[Miata]

Amira draws and ignites her lightsaber to get ready to battle these creatures.

"So that's how it is eh? Now lets see who's stronger in the dark side."

Initiative: Damn messed that up, gonna do it in the OOC.

[Narthlotep]

There's two of them, now where's the third? Asyr looks around, trying to spot the third being that Cyrus sensed, while peeking around the side of the door.

OOC: initiative roll : 1d20+2: 14, spot check (1d20+0) 19, while trying to have some cover/not be in the line of fire for the f-web

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Asyr: You don't see the 3rd creature, looking at the setup does make you wonder if this isn't the backdoor though, big vats of stuff makes you think there's a main door somewhere down there, probably a much larger door on ground level. You also see a young man in a station worker uniform down there, peeking up through the catwalks in a fascinated manner, he has spikey hair with weird white streaks and kinda creepy eyes. As to the f-webs, they will likely not be able to hit anything through the door anyway, though they are currently manned and ready.

@ Amira:ooc: reminder you might want to go ahead and roll out/put up your battlemind (free action) and enhance ability (I'd go str for damage output and hitting) Also remeber to power attack if you figure your to hit is more than adequate.

@Frea'al: functionally your best bet for vision will likely be the normal spectrum, there's a lot of heat and red light and fumes in the room, but it's not vision impairing to any game effecting degree. Though it does provide an interesting backdrop.

@Cyrus: It looks like the two monsters are moved into a flanking position. you also FEEL someone looking at you directly and can't help but wonder how much of their tactics is being directly controlled by someone else...

[Ridai]

Quickly getting up after the roll, Cyrus drops into the opening stance of Ataru with practiced speed, evaluating the situation, ready for battle. "Someone may be coordinating them from this room.", he says to the others.

Before the beast in front of him can attack again, Cyrus further augments his battle prowess and unleashes a torrent of lightsaber strikes and sweeps combined with turns and jumps on it, further closing openings in the Jedis defence in the process.

Initiative [roll0]

Acitvate Battlemind (Current HP: 104), Full attack with Rapid Strike and Combat Expertise 5 (current Def 36), attacking the beast further away from the door (OOC-Post with rolls) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5243505#post5243505)

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Alright official start of round 1. Situation is Cyrus is being flanked just inside the room. Asyr and Frae'el are flanking the door poking their heads in. (theoretical partial cover from inside) and Amira has just lit her saber and is standing just behind the furry gun toters. Cyrus goes, then the creatures, then everyone else. State your actions with relevant rolls. Creatures' Def is 20, DR 5. Cool descriptions for fighting moves is not mandatory but encouraged.

Cyrus flips around laying waste the creature in front of him, lightsaber crashing into the beast over and over. After an impressive show like that it would be very satisfying to have any sort of reaction, but the beast though with a trio of very deep slashes, appears unmoved, like it is beyond any pain.
98 damage net... VERY Nice though he's still up

The Beasts begin clawing and biting at Cyrus, the viciousness of their attack is truely impressive, still they have a hard time connecting with the acrobatic Jedi and it looks like aside from a number of near misses slicing into his robe he is untouched, then a thin razor like cut appears over his brow, almost after the fact leaving a trail of blood down his temple, it seems even the Jedi is having trouble dodging all their attacks... Out of 12 incoming attacks, 1 hit. Cyrus takes (2d8+6) for 12 damage.

[Miata]

Amira strengthens herself with the force and rushes forward, eager to confront the creatures.

Battlemind: [roll0]

Enhance Ability (Strength): [roll1]

And she moves towards the creatures, trying to engage them in melee.

[Ridai]

[OOC: In case I miss the next turn.]

Cyrus continues the exchange of blows with the bioweapons that has more similarities to a blender than an usual fight. The Jedi barely feels the cut, too immersed into and concentrated on the battle, and maintains his momentum from the spin during which he was hit. Drawing wild spirals and curves into the air with green light, Cyrus ups the pressure against the beast he already carved into to force it to make a mistake, to create an opening in its defense he can exploit. If the first bioweapon drops unconscious, Cyrus spins around, forcing the other beast between him and Amira.

Current HP: 92
Full Attack w/ RS & CE 5 (wounded bioweapon first, if it drops during the full attack, Cyrus attacks the other)
Attacks [roll0] [roll1] [roll2]

Damage [roll3] [roll4] [roll5]

[Miata]

Amira charges the beast, swinging her lightsaber over her head. She jumps into the air and brings her glowing red blade down on it, trying to chop it in half.

Current HP: 89, Current attack bonus: + 27 + 2 from charge.

Flanking and attacking the monster.

Attack roll: Doing a power attack for + 10 damage.

[roll0]

Damage:

[roll1]

[RandomLunatic]

Frae'al opens fire on the wounded beast. The blast scour the armor on the creature's flank, sending flecks of superheated crystal blasting back towards the door.

Full attack, multishot, rapid shot. Shoot the wounded one until it falls.

First shots (1d20+10=14, 1d20+10=12, 1d20+10=21, 1d20+10=20) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1801020/)
Iterives (1d20+5=23, 1d20+5=6) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1801023/)
Damage rolls (DR included)(3d6-2=4, 3d6-2=8, 3d6-2=13) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1801026/)

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Asyr takes a shot at the as yet unseen by most, guy in the station uniform. Interestingly enough he shoots him straight in the chest to no noticable effect, he then switches weapons to the more powerful rifle while keeping Amira between him and the crteature.

Frae'al notices the same difficulty damaging the beast as before as it's crystaline skin deflects the energy from the blaster bolts, still blasting bits off will wear the creature down and allow for more lethal shots later. (suggest manuvering for sneak attack... As DM I'm considering giving you a damage reroll ability, maybe instead of the other alternate class feature we mentioned PM me if interested:smallwink:, 25 damage total
Amira then brings her lightsaber down in a leaping chop the severs deep into the beasts collar bone, but the thing barely notices and takes it without flinching. 33 damage

There is a voice from below that says in an arrogant voice. "Is that the best the Jedi can do? Lets see how you deal with this!"
As this is said a wave of cold despair washes over the room. Cyrus seems particularly targeted and the weakness engulfs him. Cyrus takes 32 damage from the Force ability life drain, The party is then hit with a fear effect giving Cyrus a -6 to hit and skill checks and everyone else a -3 to hit and skill checks

Everyone can see the white-streaky haired young Man in the rather plain mechanics uniform smiling at you in a disturbing way from the ground floor.

(I realize this may change some presaid actions for round 2, and yes everyone made the save against the fear except for Cyrus, apparently our villain has it out for him.)
This brings us to round 2, Everyone may post their actions, Cyrus then the beasts, then Asyr and Frae'el, then Amira and finally the villian revealed.

[Narthlotep]

Seeing the strange eyed person in the station uniform, Asyr fires on him, assuming that he's the person that scared the wits out of Bouda, while keeping an eye on the two creatures that jumped Cyrus, ready to jump out onto a wall if they decide to attack him. That's the first round, Roll out my attacks if you want to, and I'm declaring dodge on the creature closest to me.
Asyr drops his sidearm and draws his rifle, lining up on the person in the uniform, and taking a shot. That's the second round, Free action: drop the pistol, move action: draw the rifle, attack action: take a shot at the person down on the floor, still declaring dodge on the creature closest to me, and I'll keep firing at the guy down on the floor for the next few rounds, reactivating the electromagnets and walk/climb my way to a better firing position on him. Auto 10 on the climb check for a net result of 23.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Narthlotep: For reference the person(s) in question are the same, a creepy guy in a station mechanics uniform with white streaked hair and creepy eyes.

[Ridai]

Actions as written in my last post, minus Combat Expertise

[Narthlotep]

Well, it appears that that man is immune to blaster fire, let's see if he's immune to whatever is in these vats and tanks... Asyr thought to himself, switching his aim from blaster resistant man to the tank closest to him.
Yeah, I'm going there... Death by Environmental damage! Maybe there's acid or poison or flammable stuff in the tanks, seems to be worth a shot.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Cyrus, after weathering the dread manages to focus again on his enemy and gets a few solid hits as he spins about acrobatically. another 60 damage to the creature and still not down, it's taken 183 so far for reference The beasts assault appears less driven and accurate than before however, like by entering the combat himself the "person" below stole back some of their aggression. Fearing the openings in his defence will be easily taken advantage off he is thus pleasently surprised that the dance seems to have slowed on both sides.
6 attacks 0 hits:smallfrown: 0 Damage
Amira faces the other Beast as it turns. It snaps off a vicious bladed backhand that bares her cheek open and covers the left side of her face in blood. Amira takes 16 damage
Asyr then takes a potshot with his rifle into what's in Vat #3. Easily hitting and puncturing the thin metal, the blaster bolt ignites the liquid inside. For a moment it looks like the trickle of flame is all that will result, then the vat errupts, spewing flames over the area. The Dark Man (Deek Nam) in the station uniform sidesteps ungracefully and as the fire spreads onto the floor he moves towards the ladder to escape the spreading napalm like goup.
Frae'el and then Amira still get to act before the creepily unarmed appearing man dodging fire down below.

[RandomLunatic]

Summoning her faltering courage, Frae'al moves in behind the heavily wounded creature while it fights Cyrus and blasts it from behind point-blank.

2-meter step into flanking position on the badly wonded one, guns blazing. If it drops, I will switch to the creepy guy.

First attacks (1d20+11=28, 1d20+11=29, 1d20+11=19, 1d20+11=13) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1801500/)
Iterives (1d20+6=11, 1d20+6=12) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1801501/)

Damage rolls (DR Included) (3d6-2=8, 3d6-2=10) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1801502/)
SA Damage (1d6=4, 1d6=6) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1801503/)
I rolled SA seperate because the guy is too far off to be affected, if it comes to that.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Frae'el blasts away at the creature, aiming a blaster bolt into the fissure created by the lightsaber strikes. The shot seems to get through vaporizing enough internal structure to finally make the creature stagger and fall. As it starts to rise again a second blast into the hole left by the first truely finishes the beast by severing the spine entirely. 28 damage to finally finish the thing at -211, 1 point over what is required to put it past the -10 threshold and kill it outright...

Amira is facing off with the other creature...

[Miata]

Amira attacks the other creature:

Full attack action: Using Power Attack to boost damage for both attacks by + 1.

Attack:

[roll0]
[roll1]

Damage:

[roll2]
[roll3]

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Amira Forces the creature back with a pair of mighty blows that send the creature staggering back. Still the strikes that would fell a lesser creature do little more than break chunks off the hard crystaline skin of the Monstrosity. Creature has now taken 84 damage.

The man in the station uniform leaps into the air, as he does so he makes a grabbing motion towards Asyr. Moving almost like counterweights Asyr finds himself lurching over the railing into empty space as the man seems to float up through the air, quickly covering the distance, he then lightly steps on to the catwalk. Asyr however is not so lucky as the telekinetic force which seems to have carried him over the fires on the ground floor suddenly releases. Asyr takes 25 points of falling damage folowed by 12 points of fire damage... (ouch sorry Narthlotep) The man is now adjacent to his creature and looking angry that his other creation has died. Asyr is now on the ground floor having rolled clear of the fire. (somewhat painfully)
Despite looking unarmed the man looks around disdainfully and says with a touch of mania in his voice. "Who would face the Great Nekali Talis, I'll have you as replacements for my beast you killed!"
He makes a strange motion with his hands and blades rip through his sleeves, unfolding and revealing a pair of long 1 meter long segmented spiderlike black crystal catclaws. Between the alien looking claws and the insane look he starts to appear less human than his creation.

This starts round 3
Cyrus goes first.

[Narthlotep]

If he thinks he can fly, then I'll show him what fun physics can be. Asyr heads towards the nearest wall, waiting to reactivate his electromagnets until he reaches it, taking a shot at the now armed psycho.

[Ridai]

"Empty words from someone who is stumbling in the dark, led by his delusions of grandeur.", Cyrus says with a firm tone after dodging the claw of the remaining bioweapon and creating room between himself and his enemy with a quick swipe. Quickly assuming the opening stance of Ataru again, ignoring the creeping fatigue in his body to the best of his ability. The Jedi increases the pressure on the bioweapon again to goad the Sith into making further rash decisions, using his weakness against him.

Current HP: 60
Full attack against the bioweapon (RS; assuming the penalty is still there) [roll0] [roll1] [roll2]

Damage [roll3] [roll4] [roll5]

[RandomLunatic]

While the Force-users clashed with weapons and words, Frae'al stepped to the side to get a clear line of fire and opened up on the ersatz mechanic. She said nothing, preferring to let her blasters do the talking. They were powerful speakers, and tended to leave lasting impressions.

Shooting the Dark Guy. Attack rolls assume he sees me-if not, add +2, use FF defense, and add SA damage.

Shooting Deek Nam (1d20+7=27, 1d20+7=13, 1d20+7=25, 1d20+7=14) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1801977/)
Iterives (1d20+4=13, 1d20+4=10) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1801984/)
Confirm crit (1d20+9=14) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1801985/)
Since I have no idea what hits, I am just going to roll damage for all of them.
Damage to Deek Nam (3d6+3=13, 3d6+3=12, 3d6+3=15, 3d6+3=12, 3d6+3=14, 3d6+3=13) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1801986/)
Critical Damage (3d6+3=14) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1801987/)
SA Damage (1d6=4, 1d6=5, 1d6=4, 1d6=1, 1d6=4, 1d6=1) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1801988/)

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Cyrus acrobatically slices into the Remaining beast opening up massive gashes in the beasts hide. creature has nowtaken 184 damage, almost..!

The beast goes berserk attacking both Cyrus and Amira, hitting Amira twice with claws and Cyrus 1 time with it's bite and once with a lucky shot from a claw. Amira takes 32 damage, Cyrus takes 31 damage

Asyr climbs free of the flames and fires a bolt into the back of the psycho. The bolt goes through his uniform leaving a noticable area of crystaline refractive darkness on his back. Meanwhile Frae'el lights him up from fairly directly in front of him. Bolt after bolt hits him square on in the chest, his entire uniform is frayed and on fire from the blaster bolts. One of Frae'el's bolts clips him in the neck leaving a nasty burn. 19 damage on psycho boy

From outside the noise of the f-webs and blaster rifles set to full auto can be heard, and some screaming, human by the sound of it.

Amira is confronted with a choice of targets, and everyone is starting to look like they can't take a whole lot more. And the remains of the burning uniform drops away revealing skintight crystal armor "grown" onto the man, it looks unnatural and seems to have a definate organic component to it, you can see bits of skin and organs pulsing just under the midnight murky surface.

[Miata]

Amira grits her teeth, trying to surpress the considerable amount of pain she's feeling from her wounds.

"This thing has to go down right now, I don't think I can last much longer."

She swings vicously at the beast, trying to bring it down as fast as possible.

Current HP: 41

Full attack action, Power Attack for + 1 damage.

Attack:

[roll0]
[roll1]

Damage:

[roll2]
[roll3]

[Narthlotep]

Well, Mr. 'I can fly and throw people around' let's see how well you respond to an annoyed bothan putting you into a full nelson while a couple of Jedi slice you into ribbons. Asyr thinks to himself, continuing to climb. I'm going to climb back up, and attempt to grapple Talis once I'm in range. Climb check is still an auto 10 for a net result of either 23 or 26, depending on how long fear lasts, and an attack roll of 1d20+7=26 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1802286/), that has the -3 fear penalty factored in, for the hypothetical grapple check if by some miracle I come within range of the dark man this round.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Amira reapetedly hacks at the creature putting her back into each blow, which leads to a surprise as she notices a lack of resistance on the 2nd swing. Looking back after whirling around from the momentum she sees the beast has apparently fallen in twain from the last hit. creature is at -235 of 200, so dies horribly

@ Asyr: yeah climbing the 10 meters might take a few rounds... just taking potshots or trying to hustle? At max climb, risking falling a tad it will take 1 round to climb all the way up and do nothing else.

Talis extends his digit like claws and attacks Cyrus like an animal as he sees his creature cut in half before him. Surprising Cyrus somewhat with both his speed and reach, with the unusual weapons knocking the lighsaber out of line after the initial hit, he plunges the claws into the jedi's arms and legs, seeking to sever the muscles and incapacitate him. (doubtless then to slowly torture mutate him etc...) 1 miss 3 hits for 5 damage to Cyrus taking him to 0 with 43 points of unused overkill to show off with Laughing he then turns to Amira. Cyrus falls as blood spurts from the claw wounds.


That makes it the start of round 4... luckily enough everyone goes before Talis. (for reference the fear effect lasts till the end of round 10. Everyone's Battlemind/enhance ability will go down round 9 (as they sorta went up on round 0, this includes Talis who put them up as well... mind you this is extremely unlikely to go that far into overtime... )

[Narthlotep]

O.O.C.: I'm willing to hustle and do a full round of climbing. There's enough people milling around near Deek Nam to make it worth my time to get back up to the catwalk and attempt to grab him next round, instead of trying to take potshots into a growing mess of a melee.

[Ridai]

Cyrus doesn't stagger, he falls down, killed instantly.

He is at -19 HP.

Well, that was a short campaign for me. At least Cyrus rolled for a total of 298 damage over 3 rounds, 258 after DR while being the main focus of all three creatures in those rounds.

[Narthlotep]

Uh-oh, Cyrus is down. Bugger station management, this thing has to go down now or we're all done for! While climbing, Asyr reaches into his bag, pulling out an explosive charge, setting the timer for a 6 second delay, but not activating it yet, waiting until he gets close to the psycho, a tear comes to his eye as he continues upwards, thinking that for there to be a chance his erstwhile allies to survive he might have to grab the psycho and fall back down into the flames with him. Yeah, I'm going to change my proposed action for when I get close enough to Deek Nam to slapping a demo charge onto his back, activating it, and knocking him off the catwalk. My skill check for setting the timer is going to be a 23, thank you skill mastery. You can roll out the trip/grapple/bull rush/whatever will work game rules wise, and if Deek Nam decides to grab me, well then I'll just have to go down with the crazy man. And as it seems dramatically important/cool enough, I'll spend a force point to help make sure that I can actually connect, along with using heart and extreme effort for a grand total bonus of 2d6+5.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

That leaves Frae'el and Amira standing against the clawed psychopath, while Asyr is climbing up to the catwalk.

[RandomLunatic]

Throw 'im off! Into one of the tanks! Frae'al urges Amira while she shifts her aim down to the man's leg. The pant leg is shredded but the crystal refracts and diffuses every erg, taking on a dull orange glow.

Kark...

Since I only hit on a Nat 20, jut going to roll them all at once.
Shooting Deek Nam (1d20=1, 1d20=12, 1d20=18, 1d20=15, 1d20=11, 1d20=14) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1802982/)

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Amira is facing off with the Talis, only moments to react while he prepares to finish her off as well. She sees Asyr climbing the wall behind him, apparently unseen. Frae'al looks desperate as eveything she's shot at him has been pretty ineffective. Meanwhile Cyrus spasms a bit in reflex on ground as he bleeds.

Things look quite desperate for our heroes... Amira's turn.

@Cyrus: (Yes even dying, or nearly so is no escape from the story)
You find yourself standing on a featureless ripling dark blue void, The sky is a swirl of stars nebulous colors and darkness. You feel no sesnsation and wonder if you are dead, you clearly remember falling, bleeding to the ground. But strangely in this place there is no pain, no attachment... In front of you a figure in an old spacers cloak torn and ragged with age looms before you. As it approaches a sudden explosion of light and radiant warming vivacious energy intercepts it and seems to take on some semblance of a woman (if a woman were made out of spiraling stars and light dancing about). Begging it says.
"WHY why must the good ones always fall... PLEASE I beg of you do not take him yet we can find a way.. I could..."
The cloaked figure interupts in a deep resonant tone. "Being good is not always enough, if he has the temerity to live he can, I won't take him, but neither will I allow you to help. He makes it on his own... or he doesn't make it. You coddle your champions, leave them unprepared to live on their own, that is your weakness. I am the arbiter of balance, but I shall let him decide this.
The figure moves before you, it asks of you. "Would you Live Cyrus Novan, or will you choose peace, tranquility, an end to pain. Life can be very painful, Would you fight to prolong that pain? Would you fight death itself, knowing the inevitability of your eventual loss? Fight it despite the pain, fight it with every breath and Fiber of your being, using every tool and trick at your disposal?
The figure seems to get more passonate as it talks, you see trails of crimson fire begin trailing down the cloak, to eventually engulf the being in a fiery sheath. Behind you see the lady of light looking dejected and heartbroken, eventually looking away, choking back a sob. She looks back over and you can almost make out the emotional impression of a mother, fearful for her child's life.
What do you do?

[Miata]

She might be right, tho I don't really like this.

Amira charges into the guy, trying to throw him down, hopefully into one of the tanks below.

Going to try the suggested Bantha Rush.

Strength check:

[roll0]

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Amira darts in, as Talis' claws block her lightsaber from hitting him and slash at her leg, [spoiler] Amira takes 10 damage, currently at 31[spoiler] he aparently does not deem anything your bare hand can do a threat to his armored form, so doesn't react at all to your grabbing him. He seems rather surprised in fact as Amira lowers her shoulder and with one arm on his not glowing hot leg flips him unceremoniously over the railing. He gets out a "whaa?" before hitting the top of the tank, which, apparently quite brittle, shatters underneath him. Fog rolls out from the tank from the shattered top. The temperature drops 20 degrees in the room and seems to be cooling rapidly as the fog hits the flame (from the earlier vat explosion) you notice the flame smothers instantly. The temperature stabilizes somewhat as the fog stops pouring out of the large vat Talis fell in, though it still roils over the surface, occluding any view of what happened to him.

There is no noise from outside. There is all manner of strange chemical equipment around the place, Frae'al notices a small bank of computers in one of the corners down below. Also notable is the reinforced blast door on the ground floor, and the large service door to the other side.

Out of initiative, what do you do now?

[RandomLunatic]

Once Talis hits the tank, Frae'al turns and stares down the hallway, trying to figure out what happened out there.

Spot check on hall (1d20+10=14) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1803547/)

[Narthlotep]

O.O.C.:Well, since Asyr isn't doing much, he's going to pop his head out and check up on the mercs and ranat.
Well, it looks like Talis is on ice, or at least cryogenic fluids for the time being, anyone mind if I pop out for a quick peek at what's going on outside? At the very least I can grab someone who knows how to use a medpack to check if Cyrus is still alive.

As Asyr peeks out the way we came in, he deactivates the demolition charge, stows it and his rifle away, and stoops down to collect his sidearm, slightly concerned about the sudden quiet outside, Asyr decides to approach the doorway cautiously.

So, I'm going back into stealth mode, taking 10's in hide and move silently, for 22's in both.

[Miata]

Considering his heavily altered appearance, which was obviously enhanced by biological experiments, Amira is not yet convinced that Deek Nam does not pose a threat anymore, so she tries to feel his presence with the help of the force.

See Force:

[roll0]

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Frae'al and Asyr: you see some signs of major carnage outside. 1 of the f-webs has been destroyed. You see a few of the mercs showing signs of some life, You also see a wide eyed Bouda crouching behind the remaining F-web at the gunnery controls. You hear the merc seargent's voice asking Bouda what he sees. Bouda replies "Nufinks um ee spells sumfink." (apparently the mercs have worked on his vocab a touch) You also see a badly melted creature, as much made of bone as flesh. It looks like it died directly in front of the remaining f-web. (It was the wounded one Frae'al and then Amira tangled with earlier.) The seargent seems immobile behind the f-web, having had a leg mostly cut off.

Overall it looks like most of the mercs may need the medpack as much as Cyrus.

@Amira: you sense very little from the open topped container except cold, which you hardly needed the force to tell you. However you sense SOMETHING behind the reinforced doors. It nearly screams darkside and wrong as much as the creatures you just fought. The room itself seems to be steeped in the darkside though, so it may be coloring your perceptions.

[RandomLunatic]

Hurry, one of you go get the medpac! Frae'al says, holstering her blasters. Using her claws, she tears out pieces of the Jedi's robes to use in bandaging his wounds. Sithspwan, that's a lot of blood...

Stabilizing Cyrus (1d20=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1803684/)

[Narthlotep]

Damn, I think the Mercs need it more.. It looks like the one that we were tracking doubled back and went to town on them. I'll do what I can for them then run it back for Cyrus. One of you might want to call our status in to management and ask for a med team or two. It looks like one or two are ambulatory, other than that everything's peachy out here. Asyr then breaks stealth to assist where he can, then run back to help out with Cyrus.
Ok, here's my treat injury roll (untrained of course) for stabilizing the mercs. (1d20+0) 17, plus whatever bonus the medkit will give. O.O.C.: Miata, once your done looking around, you might want to do a heal other check, if you get a 10 or better Cyrus will stabilize for the cost of 1 hp, then the Jedi can start healing himself back up once an hour, along with yourself

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Asyr: If your using the auto doc (ECM 602 deluxe medkit) it grants a +4 equipment bonus to your treat injury. (has a recorded voice and medical sensors near so it can basically tell you step by step what to do. It also has every tool for surgery from laser cutters to medicines. though after this it's starting to look a bit on the empty side.) After diagnosing the Mercs, two are dead, 2 will make it (stabalized) and the seargent is going to need a new leg (the autodoc tells you to cut it off and cauterize it, he is no longer conscious btw). You take care of them as best you can. Bouda is looking around acting scared and trying to stay out of your way.

Frae'al meanwhile notices that Cyrus is still bleeding from multiple stab wounds to his shoulders and theighs, but considering the depth of the wounds they aren't bleeding as much as they should. You wish you knew if that was good or bad. (once you get the autodoc over to Cyrus I would suggest just doing an aid another action (55% chance)for the +2 to the roll and helping Asyr... apparently Defel first aid doesn't apply well to humans, though you did at least make interesting bandages out of his robe.)

When anyone tries to call station management you get no response as there seems to be some sort of jamming going on. Might have something to do with the computer set up down in the room. (hint hint)

[Ridai]

Cyrus doesn't understand what he is seeing. He can only guess that it may be a vision sent by the Force or people who became one with the Force talking to him. But he does know that he still has something to do in the world of the living, even though he apparently lacks the needed strength and wisdom. "Send me back."

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Cyrus: "So you would live then?" The roaring ball of flame asks. "You at least have a sense of self preservation, but is that enough for what is required of you?" The being looks over his shoulder at the crying being of light, then quickly back to you. "What is required of a champion is strength, not of arm, but of spirit, indomidable will, perseverance, the desire to get stronger, to not be satisfied and forever push yourself, defy the odds, challenge the unbeatable, define who you are!" The being then gives you a sidelong glance and asks earnestly. "Is any of this getting through to you? Or do I waste my breath?" It then flat out states. "I cannot let you go back, but you can go back, Show me your courage, your soul, what makes you YOU and I'll not be able to stop your return." The lady of light looks up and begins to look somewhat hopeful, the burning cloak being seems to be crossing it's arms waiting for a response.

[Ridai]

Cyrus remembers his past, what he went through and what he could finally free himself from when he became a Jedi. From that moment on, he could use his power to prevent and alleviate suffering, bring peace to others like the Force brought peace to him. Thus, Cyrus does not need words to express what defines him, his face only shows his determination, his unwillingness to be defeated by a slave of the dark side, the corrupting weakness that seeks to throw everything into chaos. The only thing he says, to give the cloaked figure something to think about before Cyrus leaves, is:

"Apathy is death."

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Cyrus: "Interesting philosophy... and not without merit, I see I can keep you here no longer. I look forward to seeing how this philosophy of yours ultimately works out." As the being says this the flame fades from the cloak, and the colors in the sky start to run togeather. The surface your standing on gets darker and less defined. As you begin to loose sight you begin to feel more, almost like your surfacing back into your emotions, reintigrating with your physical self. The last thing you hear is a snipet of conversation. "Do you think he'll work out?" says the lady of light. "Dunno, He might, better than most you've picked, calm under fire at least, though a bit trusting to fate." The cloaked figure judges. Then the lady happily responds "I knew you were still on my side!" Then a strangely seductive dark feminine voice says. "Dunno, I kinda like him too, he might end up with me..." As the two feminine voices raise to argue the cloaked figure cuts off both their attempts. "Enough You Two! back off, like I said originally it's up to Him, quit interfering." Both feminine voices then blend togeather in an "AaaWW come On."

Asyr manages to stabilize Cyrus, though he doesn't regain consciousness, he at least appears stable. Utilizing the remains of his robe he looks a bit mummy like, but it looks like he'll live.

What are Amira and Frae'al Doing meanwhile?

[RandomLunatic]

Frae'al readily relinquishes care of Cyrus to somebody who knows what they are doing, and goes to take care of something she knows-computers. Checking first, to see if the guy left it open, or some reminder of the password lying around-some were really lazy when it came to security-she tries to gain access.

If the guy did not make it easy for me, take 10=27 to slice.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Frae'al: OOC he definately didn't make it easy, he was obviously brilliant and paranoid. You manage to get to some of the unsecured files. Formulae and bizarre cult like religious ritual type stuff mostly. The comm jammer can be disabled with a little more work but it'll probably take a while as it looks hardwired. (no roll required... just time) You see there is some truely paranoid security on some of it though (haven't breached that yet it's DC 30) From what you can tell on the secure files they look like text files and some sort of comm gear program. By the look it might have some sort of holonet hook up. It also has a definate alarm hook up if anything messes with the file without some specific code being input, even 1 screw up would set it off.

One of the Files you can get to is named "Eclipse Station Intelligence"
Opening it gives you a list of intelligence and observation files about the station, some even have connected video links, among other titles there are...
The Station master's True identity, Mandalorians, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Imperials, 10% galactic mass, The Hyperspace Sargasso, Master of the Arena, The Red Mask, Black Web Mercenaries, True Sith sighted, Palpatine's agent, Jedi in white, Correlated sargasso sources, NRI agent, Vadduran Syndicate, Primitives aboard from non-space sources. Cantina's funding, Force sensitives abundant, Angrille mercenary fleet, The Station's builders.
downloading or reading anything specific or trying the security?

[RandomLunatic]

Frae'al starts by disabling the jammer, reporting her success when done. After that, she starts downloading whatever files she can. Most of it looked like junk-and it probably was-but she oculdlsort it out later. Then she starts slicing the security.

Everything seemed to be going fine until an alarm bleeped and the computer's security measures started kicking in. Blast! Working quickly, Frae'al set up a virus program that the security woudl be sure to latch onto right away-and it did. And became just as corrupted as its late owner. Yes!

Slicing madman's security (1d20+17=24) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1804617/)
Force Point (2d6=12) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1804620/)

BTW, you are doing it again.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Amira: What have you been doing the whole while, you have about 15 minutes to check out the doors as all this is going on. They've taken care of the wounded and checked the computer. Apparently they're leaving any checking of the doors to you.

@Frae'al: Uh oh. The Computer shuts down and a suspicious beeping starts... Beep Beep Beep ...

You did manage to get the files you were after, your virus delayed it long enough for the download. No time to check them though. Success at getting the files but you seem to have set something off anyway.

[Miata]

Amira sighs.

"Guess I'll have to do the dirty work again. These doors give me a bad feeling. The dark side is strong here, and that usually means trouble for those who want to mess with it."

Amira walks over to the door that's closest to her and takes a look at it, trying to figure out what might be behind.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@ Amira: Well checking the large service doors reveals that they open to a very large tunnel running through the station. You can tell it's one the the major tunnels that circles the station by the fact that it goes far enough in either direction for you to see the very gradual curve, and also by the presence of the rails for some sort of long unused mass transit on both the floors and ceiling. You see countless doors identical to the ones your poking your head out of along the walls. If you were out there it would be impossible to tell one set of doors from another.

Aside from the back door up three stories that you guys came in through, that leaves the big reinforced blast doors. The sense of something very darkside continues to press against your senses as you near the big double doors. You sense pain, anger, fear, desperation, panic and terror from the other side. If you had to guess at something that would cause such a sustained level of pain and fear you'd say torture (having witnessed that and worse at the shadow academy) but the anger or enjoyment of any tormentor seems to be missing from the equation, so no torturer, or at least not one you can sense. The doors themeselves appear to be locked, though the panel to open them is right by the doors on your side, and there is no password or other protection keeping you from opening the doors, still... do you open the doors?

[Narthlotep]

When Asyr first hears the beeping, he says Thats not a charging beep... thats a count down beep... I believe we should RUN!!! and starts to drag Cyrus back out of the chamber, hoping that whatever bad thing that's gonna occur will be limited to that room, as it looked like Frae'al jammed the back door open.

Well, if I have enough time I'll drag the still living mercs and Cyrus into the shielded area around the set up F-web, and set the second shield up to help asorb any possible damage from whatever the countdown is counting down to...

[Miata]

Yeah I'll open the doors.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Amira: You open the blast doors, which indeed seem to be the extremely heavy duty variety you note as they open in three stages. You finally see into the interior and see the walls are composed of cages, some of which are inhabited by Vicious Ranats who begin screeching and scrabbling at the bars to their cages the moment the doors open. By far the most notable thing in the room is the black spherical hovering droid in the middle of the room. It seems to have central glowing red eye, a large injection needle and a shockprod arm, though currently it's just hovering in the middle of the room.

Behind the droid you see something more akin to a human sized cell. Inside is what might have once been a human young woman, She is shackled tightly to the far wall, and has what looks like black liquid slowly being fed to her intravenously via several tubes. It doesn't look like it's for her health though, her skin looks almost see through, showing veins and arteries, her flesh is starting to take on a twisted look, Her bloodshot yellow eyes when she looks upon you are filled with complete agony. Her mouth seems open in a silent scream. Littering the inside of the cell are what look like weird designs drawn in blood, strange crystals of red, black and violet color and the bones of what you can only assume were Ranats or small human children. Her cell has a shock field, apparently as extra security should she break the thick steel shackles. You see neither controls for the cages or cell inside the room.

[Miata]

Curious and disgusted at the same time, Amira walks into the room to take a closer look at the scenery, hoping to maybe even find a mechanism to open the cells.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Amira: The hovering interegation droid floats toward you with menace as it says "None are allowed entrance but the Master." [spoiler] quickstats Def: 16 HP: 20 Initiative: 4 (I fully expect you to one shot the thing... still it's there, IF you beat it's initiative go ahead and roll your attack(s), as it's floating up to you, you may full attack).

Inside the room you see an utter lack of any visible means of opening the cages and cell. Though it does remind you of a test at the shadow academy you underwent, they locked you in a room and you had to see the other side of the door to unhitch a locking mechanism. (Farseeing/move object test) Though you didn't do so well in the test as you ended up getting frustrated and cutting through the door with your saber. Though that lesson may very well apply here as well.

You get a sense of urgency from outside as you hear Asyr's none too subtle "Thats not a charging beep... thats a count down beep... I believe we should RUN!!!"

@ Frae'al: What are you doing after the screen goes dark, you completed the download barely in time and now there's a quiet beeping coming from somewhere. Asyr takes off up the wall and drags Cyrus back out the back door.

[RandomLunatic]

Looks like I am nto the only one having problems with the forums...:smalltongue:

What the kark! Frae'al exclaims. She had just trashed the software security into oblivion, so this had to be some sort of hardware backup. Taking out her tooklit, she tears open an access panel and starts looking for the source of the beep.

Sorry, Frae'al does not give up that easily. I have a disable device check, and I am not afraid to use it.:smalltongue:

[Miata]

Initiative:

[roll0]

Full attack:

[roll1]
[roll2]

Damage:

[roll3]
[roll4]

Hearing Asyrs warning, Amira turns to run for the exit after dispatching the droid.

"Damn it, I wish I could have found out more about what happened here, but it's no use. I don't exactly feel like blowing up, so better get out of here."

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Amira takes off toward the... (up the ladders and out the way you came in?, or front doors?)(also note again if you want to really make some distance burst of speed is an option)

Asyr is dragging Cyrus to safety in the tunnel above. give me a spot/listen check, don't bother with taking a 10 you need a high roll

Frae'al is digging frantically to find the source of the beeping. Give me a Disable device check and/or an electronics check(not computer use... as you surmised the problem is hardware not software.)

[RandomLunatic]

Disabling Alarm (1d20+17=22) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1808451/)

[Miata]

Wherever the others are, gonna help Asyr drag Cyrus once I'm there.

[Narthlotep]

Spot then Listen (1d20=18, 1d20=8) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1808480/)

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Asyr sees motion from the steps leading up the tunnel. Amira comes running up to help drag (or now carry) Cyrus. The motion has no apparent source and aside from catching it out of the corner of your eye... still you know you saw something.

Frae'al finds the source of the beeps... a small square device rigged up to a simple 1 way power router. It's personal power supply is set to go for 3 minutes. Following it back to an energy monitoring gadget on the bottom of the computer, she also sees another 16 cables from the monitoring device. Following the 16 cables is difficult as they split off into 32 then spread out into the floor apparently going different directions. The variety of cabling would be the same used for some 1 shot demolitions charges, once the signal is sent it's pretty much moot to cut the cables. Thinking about it though, if nothing has gone off yet... what kind of munitions have that long a charge up time...? roll demolitions

On all of your commlinks you hear a female voice (definately not the station Manager) ask in a bored tone "This is S.Y.A.P.J. rescue party, do you have a copy? What is your status and position? Anybody still alive out there? Hello? (barely heard grumble: send a frickafrak jedi or two, real stupid sister. Waste of my frikkin time willya...)"

[Narthlotep]

After Cyrus and the mercs are in the shield bubble of the remaining F-web, Asyr pulls out his comlink. S.Y.A.P.J. rescue, this is Asyr, thanks for the concern. We've neutralized whoever was making the creatures, along with 3 creatures. Our situation isn't too pretty right now, though. I think we've set off some sort of failsafe pulling data out of a computer terminal in the creature factory. I hope you brought stretchers and a med team or two, as the mercs and one of the jedi aren't going to be able to move for a while.

He then stops transmitting and whispers to Amira, careful, I think we have contacts ahead. I'm not sure if they're hostile, so keep your saber ready.

Asyr then flips the transmit button again, S.Y.A.P.J. rescue, what's your current position?

[DMfromTheAbyss]

Asyr and Amira find themeselves surounded by Nearly a dozen Heavily armored figures with an assortment of personal weaponry. The leader wielding a force pike, steps forward (she seems shorter than the rest) and says in the same voice you just heard on the comlink... "Right behind you. This everybody? Get these folks to the transport. We'll handle it from here." With a dissmissive wave she stalks toward the door. Several of the burly power armored individuals help both of you, Cyrus, the mercs and the panic stricken Bouda down the tunnel back down the stairs to a waiting speeder while the rest follow her.

Frae'al gets another call on her comlink. "Anybody else up here, Sit Rep. What are we looking at?" At almost the same time you see armored figures coming through the front doors in millitary fashion. You see them secure the area, one comes to stand near you, doesn't say anything but gives you a slight nod. Several others go into the prisoner area and you hear some swearing and high powered stun blasts. The screech of mutant Ranats is cut off abruptly.

[RandomLunatic]

Frae'al activates her comm. A bomb. Thirty-two of them, actually. With a power regulator hooked to a 3-minute supply. Know anything that fits that description?

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@ Frae'al: You think the only reason for it not to have gone off is for it to be on some sort of series timer, maybe used to synch up highly separated charges... possibly to do the sort of damage needed to cause a breach to hard vacumn for the station...
"No but I have a feeling we'll be getting to know all about it in intimate detail shortly." The woman replies. Frae'el sees her march into the upper door and jump down the 10 meters to the floor. Barely breaking stride, she motions to the armored figure next to you. "Take her to the transport and get them out of here. DEMO Team I need a scan YESTERDAY! MOVE MOVE!"

The large armored man next to you offers an arm and tells you "You might want to just climb on and hold tight... the transport pilot's not going to want to slow down to pick us up if I know her." You see him pointedly adjusting the repulsor jetpack on his back.

"We have another survivor!" Is yelled from back in the reinforced room and you hear swearing in an unfamiliar language.

[RandomLunatic]

Sure, why not, Frae'al says, quickly gathering her things, I'v always wanted to be killed by a rescuer. Nevertheless, she takes the proffered arm and holds on tight. Ready, she says, sounding less than enthusiastic.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Frae'al: The gentleman gets a firm grip on your belt and wraps 1 arm around you in what you hope is a secure grip as he walks from the room. He comments, "Nothing to worry about, routine run." He then activates the repulsor jetpack and drifts off the ground. Drifting forward at the speed of a fast run he gives you a glance and says "Ready?" then you see him using his spare arm to swing his balance forward till he's parrallel to the ground.

And then you accelerate, via what sounds like solid rocket boosters down the large open passageway. Achieving a speed of just over 40 meters per second, though it feels alot faster without any vehicle to speak of around you, your "pilot" seems to get bored and begins hotdogging slightly by swerving near the walls, floor and ceiling. Possibly the worst thing you notice as you travel at near ballistic speeds down the tunnel is that the man holding onto you seems to be humming and indeed flying in tune with some music you hear softly from his helmet. Just as you are becoming certain of your impending death from wall, ahead you see a repulsor skiff, with a few armored figures and several familiar ones that seems to be traveling at slightly less breakneck speeds. The figures get abruptly larger as you close and suddenly everything swings around perspective wise. Amazingly enough you feel yourself pushed down into one of the seats of the Skiff as your senses reel. In front of you you see Amira and Asyr also securely belted into seats, and the prone body of Cyrus and the mercs atop stretchers.
"Slow flying there Aeddith, thought we'd have to put down the handicapped ramp for you..." The pilot of the skiff quips, the Jetpack pilot responds. "Well I had a passenger, and Defel are not aerodynamic." One of the other Armored passengers looks over to assure you, "Don't worry, now that everyone's aboard we can make good time."

@Qiorin Sroon: "Well sir, given your situation we will surely see what we can do about getting you transport off station, However the Hyperdrive shortage we are working under precludes me from being able to lend your government a functional ship at this time. Perhaps if you were to make arrangements... we do have a brilliant mechanic who might be able to aid you in getting a ship put togeather, she also is seeking employement off station... Perhaps you can help each other out." The Station manager explains as she gives you the co-ordinates for an unused dock on the far side of the station. "I will of course be happy to provide you with quarters and an unused bay for the duration of your stay, As soon as I can I'll see to it that we will sell you a functional hyperdrive at least." She finishes before cutting off the call.
You find yourself in a busy docking bay. The normal assortment of riffraff and smugglers you'd associate with such an out of the way station are present in large number. Tempers appear to be flaring as desperate ship captains appear to be competing for the few functional hyperdrives. Those having one find themeselves over booked, and have for the universally denied your requests for a ride reguardless of the price. Aside from the docking ring, theoretically you could also head to the apparently well thought of Cantina or a commercial district of some sort known as the Bizarre. All your attempts to gain entry to the command section have been firmly denied. What do you do?

@Eris Taket: "I'm sorry my dear, despite all your much needed talents... You Are Fired. Given your repeated attempts to gain access to regions of the station we have REPEATEDLY told you are off limits, and the fact that our clients have again demanded your head on a platter for your "subversive spying" into classified areas I think you would be better off moving on. Unfortunately with the current scarcity of hyperdrives, the best I can do is... Well there's a Hapan gentleman with some millitary backing I could set you up with. He needs a ship, has money for parts. You know how to fix a ship and hyperdrive, but need money and somewhere to go... If your interested I'll have him meet you in Docking Bay 505, Otherwise stay out of trouble and good luck, And please, PLEASE stay out of anymore trouble on the station." and with that the Station Manager ends the com.

Having worked at the station for awhile you know the station pretty well, especially the busier sections of the docks, 505 is in the middle of nowhere. You might have let your curiousity get the better of you a bit, but the Republic science section has some fascinating experimental equipment for Astro-Navigation that you saw come in. Well now your in quite the mess. What do you do?

[stupnick]

@DMfromTheAbyss

Seeing that he seems to be stranded for the time being, waiting for them to supply him a place to stay, and a ship to use, Qiorin decides to send a message back to the station manager. He seemed busy enough to not warrent a call, at least at this point in time.


Yes, a ship and dock would be
appreciative, I would be Interested
also in that mechanic, As getting one
of those, will save you from paying
someone exorbant fees to install

Please contact me back.

Looking around and knowing that he would never get out of those bidding wars alive, the Hapan heads to the catina. Well, time to sit and wait for the call back. he mutters to himself under his breath.

Walking in he looks around and heads over to an empty place... well relatively empty, and orders himself a light drink.

[Thiel]

Oh bummer! mutters Eris as she puts down her comm. How was I supposed to know the DX 2S generator was off-limit? She droops a little until a stray thought sneaks up on her. Wonder if that Hapan "Gentleman's" ship is Hapan-built? I think I'll take a look. With a happy grin on her face she set's out for dock 505, only delaying to fech her pack in her quarters.

[RandomLunatic]

No music, Frae'al says a bit breathlessly, buckling in. Her fur seems to have turned a paler shade of shadowy gray, if that was at all possible.

[Narthlotep]

Why no music? I find that a good tune generally settles the nerves after a rough day.

Since Frae'al was nice enough to say what the failsafe was, I'll "roll" (namely take the auto-10) on demolitions for her, for a result of 26. I'll announce what I come up with to the rest of the group.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Qiorin: You take the walk over to the turbolift. Notice a bit of a goings on with station "security" apparently out in force. They pay you no mind as you continue down to the entertainment level. Upon getting out and walking to the Cantina you see a few questionable gambling dens, what can only be a "House of ill repute" and finally come to "The Eclipse Cantina".

Getting inside you see a surprisingly highbrow establishment, with a subtle high class deco, and thick plush carpeting. The facilities include a zero g dance hall and an assortment of environments. The Bar itself looks positively identical to one in an officers club on Hapes you've visited, except for the burly 3 meter tall blue colored bartender with enough jewelry to open a store. Tatooes and scars cover most of the rest of the visible bartender though, and he casually wipes down the immaculate bar and asks in good basic what he can get you.
As you are about to respond your attention is stolen by the start of some sort of stage show. Featuring two dancers of different looking near human races, you notice the entire cantina hushes. Looking around this impresses you somewhat considering the rather rough looking patrons of every describable species. As you see the stage show progress you sit at the bar captivated, only as it ends do you realize the Bartender has been quietly waiting. As the show ends the bartender nods and comments "First time in here huh? That's still my general reaction too, so what can I get you?"

After having a drink or two, (for such an out of the way place they seem to have just about everything you could ask for and a considerable amount your unfamiliar with) you get a message on your comlink from Station Manaagement mentioning that the mechanic will meet you in docking bay 505.

@Eris: You begin the long trek to docking bay 505. Passing a Xim the Despot era drop ship (WOW how did they even get a hyperdrive on that..)and a modern Jedi academy model X-J X-wing you can't help but marvel at the variety of ships you see here. You then pass a Rodian captain threatening the life of a repair crew unless they can get that hyperdrive fixed in the next 24 hours...lotta that going around lately. You finally head into one of the access tunnels and start hiking through the ancient machinery that honeycombs the station, who's purpose still baffles those who work here.
Finally getting to a tunnel that should provide you a straight walk you start hiking in earnest, enduring the drawback of working on such a collosal station (sore feet). You continue walking for some time.

Then a noise like thunder and a shockwave knock you from your feet. you take no damage but if you did I would note it here You see the floor looks buckled and twisted. Behind you the fallen walls have completely blocked the way you came. In front of you you see a rift has opened up, almost 10 meters wide where the tunnel literally just tore itself apart. You note no lack of atmosphere or leakage of strange gasses into said atmosphere, which is a minor miracle considering the damage to the station. You hear a surprised person mutter "What the Kar Poon was that!" not far behind you. Which is odd becouse there wasn't anybody there a second ago.
Looks like your trapped on a secluded piece of blocked off tunnel with an invisable person. ?

@Frae'al, Amira, Asyr, & comatose Cyrus:After discussing somewhat the findings with the fail-safe, Asyr comes to the conclusion it might have been a series of overloaded power generators set to go off in close series, probably to get a compression effect that would tear apart the entirety of the docking ring via contortion. You determine this as you are speeding down the tunnel, far to fast for any margin of safety. Then you hear a sound. Not a subtle sound like a blaster canon or even a fuel dump going up in a titanic explosion, more like the sound of a world ending in fire and cataclysm. The shaking in the walls is visable as concurrent ripples running through the metal. In the distance behind you a hellish red glow. Your pilot seems to be trying to get every bit of speed out of the skiff, as parts of hullplating and conduit as big as the skiff start to shake free of the station to rain down in front of you. Expertly dodging the debris, kicking up sparks as the skiff skids briefly against the wall you continue forward. After several long seconds of this the floor evens out and the ceiling ceases to devulge obstacles. Moments later the skiff comes to a stop. The armored figures stop and turn as one toward the party and the Jetpack pilot who brought in Frae'al says "Told you it was a routine run... no problems, lets get you all to the medbay." And they then take you to the medbay. (once they can get you to take off the safety straps).

[stupnick]

@DMfromTheAbyss

Watching the show, and not quite sure what to make of it Qiorin just shakes his head and turns back towards the bartender. After what seems like hours waiting for the Station manager to contact him back, a sigh of relief crosses his face.

Looking down at his comlink, he stands up and begins to head out, leaving the bartender a decent tip and thanking him for his service.

Turning back towards the bartender after a few steps, Qiorin has a confused look on his face.

Umm, what's the most direct route to Dock 505?

Recieving directions, Qiorin heads there post haste.

[Thiel]

What the?exclaims Eris as she's thrown off her feet. After a moment she clambers upright again and notices the rift. No pressure loss? That's odd. She takes out her glow-rod and is just about to poke her head through it when she hears someone a voice behind her. The shock nearly makes her fall out through the hole, but she manages to recover her balance. She flashes her glow-rod around the tunnel and asks: Who's there?

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Eris: "Nobody with a name Miss." the voice responds, interestingly enough there is still no sign of a person where the voice is clearly coming from. Though it continues "I'd step away from the precipice there, my sensors show it's over 30 meters deep. It looks like something crimped the stations Hull shut though, Atmosphere seems stable, which is weird coming from an old station like this, I guess they really knew how to build em.." The voice seems to be moving towards the drop off as it speaks. "Looks like the damage is more concentrated towards the middle of the ring, if you could get toward the outside, might find some intact tunnels."
Your attention (may) be more absorbed in looking over the actual damage you can see. It stretches into darkness but you are seeing more of the station's guts then you've had the opportunity to yet, and something gnaws at you, you've seen something similar before. An illumination like a spotlight appears to be shining from where the voice stopped talking. Illuminating the stations guts much better. Around the light you see an intense distortion in a vaugely manlike shape. (like some sort of old school personal stealth field generator but much more advanced) Your attention split, which do you look at first? (roll physics, and first aid checks for the station, or Knoledge Technology and computer use for the stealthfield.)

@Qiorin: You head back up to the docking ring. Getting out of the turbo lift you see a disaster scene with Heavily armored soldiers helping a group of wounded up the turbolift, several of them on stretchers. Station security is out in force, though they again pay you no attention. You see somewhat shocked looks all around. A battered looking skiff lay on the side of the tunnel. Continuing to follow your instructions you find the tunnel blocked with fresh debris, some of the metal edges still smoking.

[Narthlotep]

Aside from that psycho getting a last laugh, you guys seem to be quite a few steps above the standard search and rescue party, let alone anyone affiliated with station management, if that was a routine run. Who do you work for, normally and what do you consider a difficult job? Asyr asks, unbuckling himself, and assisting with anyone who wants or needs it.

[stupnick]

Qiorin spends a while asking questions about what happened, and actually attempts to help out where he can. After that, he begins to attempt to find another way to the dock he is going for.

[Thiel]

Nobody with a name, huh? says Eris as she studies the damage. Your mum must have been in a bad mood that day. She pulls out her datapad and does a few calculations. Anyway, if this is your idea of a dramatic entry then I hope your bank account is in better health than mine, 'cause this is going to be expensive as hell to fix.

I assume that by first aid you mean repair.
Repair: 1d20 20=36 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1811137/)

Knowledge (Physics): 1d20 17=25 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1811140/)

And in case you'd forgotten that I had it I'll include
Knowledge (Engineering): 1d20 19=26 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1811143/)

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@ Eris: The cloaked figure responds absentmindedly "Yeah my mum definately had some issues. But don't try pinning this on me, it would take a volley of capital scale proton torpedoes to do this sort of damage, maybe very concentrated turbolaser fire. As I have neither on me, nor have access to that sort of millitary hardware, I doubt very much I was involved. I was just trying to follow someone who looked like they knew where they were going, this station can be quite the maze. It looks like the outer hull held over there, This station is definately tougher than it looks." The figure becomes shadowy but considerably more defined as they drop the stealth field. A dark grey cloak conceals most of the being. Hard to tell weither it has environmentally sealed power armor or is a droid however, definately no fleshy bits showing. Also under the cloak you see enough hardware to open a weapons concession stand, vibroblades, blasters and grenades all in evidence. Actually I meant treat injury, not first aid... sorry been thinking too much d6. Looking at the station starts making you think there's something "organic" about the design, especially looking at the damage. The repairs look like they'd take a thousand people a few weeks to fix in null G with lots of spare parts... if you know the station crew and resources it's gonna take alot longer than that.

Qiorin: Asking around one of the helpful station mercs tells you there was an explosion. Some people working for the Station were investigating a murderer and he set off some sort of bomb. Don't worry the station is ok, just a hole out in the area we weren't using anyways. If your looking to get to docking bay 505 you can just walk around the other way (motions clockwise), little longer but the tunnels over that way are gonna be a mess. Most of the wounded seem to be being helped up to the medbay. One of the wounded, a burnt and battered looking Bothan seems to even be trying to help. Looks like they have more than enough people to take care of things.

@ Asyr: The merc tells you "Any mission you can walk away from is an easy mission when you work for Commander Sayala Mars, looks like your mission was a little tougher, motions towards Cyrus. Though at least you did better than the opposition. Lets get you up the turbolift now. When you try to help get Cyrus up the merc you were talking to motions you back, "Look YOU are wounded, let us help You. Your job is to relax for a bit. Oh and who said the psycho who set off the bombs got the last laugh. That explosion happened about 8 seconds too early to be the set bombs... well the original psycho's set bombs anyway." He winks and says "We have a few psychos decent with explosives too."

The wounded (as in the party plus mercs) are carried, helped up the turbolift to the command hub and through into a waiting medical bay. Everyone is bandaged up and told to rest. A 21B medical droid sees to everyone's wounds. Amira is told she has some definate infections from that Ranat Bite that may require sedation and minor surgery to her leg to ensure no lasting problems (like infected bone marrow). A medical technician tells Frae'al and Asyr they can make themeselves comfortable in the room, there are some holo-programs you can watch. (he shows you how to work the remote). The surgery with Amira (assuming she consents) should only take 5 minutes but may leave you groggy for awhile. (according to the 21B).

[stupnick]

Qiorin Heads the long way to the dock, eager to begin getting his ship repaired and off this planet.

[Narthlotep]

So what channel do you want to watch? Considering you lack of music appreciation, I guess that music stations are out of the running. News work for you? Asyr asks, flipping through the channels until something interesting comes up.

[RandomLunatic]

Oh, music I'm fine with. It's when the pilot can't listen to it and fly in a straight line at the same time that I object. But I'm far more interested in this, she says, holding up one of the datacards holding the files she had grabbbed form the computer. She tosses it to Asyr. Take this one. I'll go through this one and we'll see if there's anything useful in here. Most of it looks like it was written by a spiced-up Rodian.

[Thiel]

Yeah, it would. Though given the amount of toys you've brought to the party and the kind of clientèle this place usually picks up I wouldn't be surprised if someone had taken a shot at it. Using her glow-rod for illumination, she inspects the rest of the tunnel within reach. Well, we certainly can't go back the way we came. she says and points back the way she'd come from. I don't know about you but I suspect it might be a good idea to get moving. I don't think this tunnel is going to be the best place to hang around if something else goes boom.

[Narthlotep]

As you wish, hrm... this is interesting. More like the collected minutiae of a paranoid mind than a strung-out spice junkie. Besides, anyone going to that extreme of a level to protect data most likely has some good stuff in there. Asyr then pulls a datapad, slots the datacard, then starts going through the data, looking for anything interesting.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@Frae'al and Asyr: The news looks like it's all about the Tion Hegemony (ooc: feel free to search wookie-pedia for details on the Tion hegemony) withdrawing from the New Republic, lots of corespondants insisting that it's a crazy move, as without an armed forces of it's own it will soon be conquered by the empire. Others insist it's some sort of trick to draw the empire out as revenge for the recent string of battles in the Striax sector.
Going through the files you see a lot of crud that basically reaffirms that the man you killed was brilliant, crazy, had no love of anything, himself included (oh lord the bad poetry turns the stomach) and obviously was here collecting data as some sort of spy for a master. He never mentions his master's name except in the extremely secure stuff you got, which gives him the name "Sith Lord Verdraxus". Apparently all this work and information is an attempt to garner teaching and secrets of the dark side. From the few recordings of said Verdraxus you get the feeling he had nothing but contempt for Nikkoli Talis, repeatedly reminding him that only after he got some useful information would he take him on as an apprentice. There is also some interesting perspectives on a few of the many mysteries surrounding the station. Overall it looks like Talis thought all these mysteries were related is some sort of nexus of fate that he claimed was swirling around the Hyperspace Sargasso. He was still digging to see who was truely behind these orchastrated manipulations in the force. From some of his meditations he seemed absolutely terrified of some "endless darkness and eternal light" and mentions something called the "red mask" blocking him from seeing certain events. You both can request more info by looking at specific files. Each of these will require it's own PM, titles are...
The Station master's True identity,
Mandalorians,
Grand Admiral Thrawn,
Imperials,
10% galactic mass,
The Hyperspace Sargasso,
Master of the Arena,
The Red Mask,
Black Web Mercenaries,
True Sith sighted,
Palpatine's agent,
Jedi in white,
Correlated sargasso sources,
NRI agent,
Vadduran Syndicate,
Primitives aboard from non-space sources.
Cantina's funding,
Force sensitives abundant,
Angrille mercenary fleet,
The Station's builders.

There is enough here to keep you busy reading for days.


@Eris: "Agreed" the Nameless form replies. "I'll do a bit of scouting, see if there's anywhere we could get out." As it/he says this it rises quietly on a repulsor cushion and flies out over the rip in the station. Leaving you alone with the glow rod in the very large empty place with no way out, what do you do?

@Qiorin: You start on the long walk. Traveling for what seems like a long time ,you stumble across quite the scene in the deep recesses of the station. It looks like a pair of Rodians carrying a female prisoner, wearing stuncuffs and a light brown utility outfit, but still struggling. The Rodians have obvious vibro knives and blaster rifles at their belts, but seem to have their hands full trying to move and contain the struggling girl. As you watch she gives one an impressive kick to the snout before her legs are grabbed again. They haven't seen you yet....

@Amira and Cyrus: Both recovering from surgery you are resting safely in the medbay, understandably taking a rest when your dreams are disturbed.
@Cyrus: you have the sensation of a being looming over you as you drift into and out of consciousness. Appearing alternately the face of a boy, a man and a demonic wooden mask covered in dripping blood. Speaking the mask says "We... Shall... See." as it looms particularly close over your prone form. You then feel a cleansing burning sensation throughout your body and are startled awake by a noise. You find yourself in a hospital/medbay with your personal possessions on a tray next to the bed you are in. Amira is in a bed accross the room, though apparently she seems to have just violently awoken...
@ Amira: Your nightmare begins with a dark robed man telling you how helpless you are, you try to move and can't. Then suddenly you seem to wake to someone choking you... reaching out with the force you feel.. Nothing!, struggling and kicking against your unseen assailant you feel truely helpless, desperate for air as you feel a burning need for oxygen that seems to block out any other sensation. Then at the last second before you would die it stops and you find yourself lunging up from the bed gasping for air. Looking around you are in a medbay with Cyrus accross from you in a bed, seeming to have just awoken, the covers look like you have been kicking them and the pillows are drenched with sweat and tears.

@ both Suddenly you both note with alarm that you're lightsabers are missing from your gear.

[stupnick]

@DM

Does it look like they are

1. Security?
2. Related to the mob or underground
3. Look Competant, compared to myself?

If no, I will try to assist her

If yes,

Good Evening Gentlemen, it seems you have your hands full there. Any chance I would be able to assist you with anything. She seems just right for some things I wouldn't mind "Trying out" on her. It's fun when they struggle, isn't it Smiling ever so slyly at them.



question, would it be unreasonable to have a empty cred stick or two?
Also just incase it would be require for anything [roll0]

[Thiel]

Showboat. Mutters Eris as the stranger flies off.
She picks up a piece of debris and throws it out over the edge and waits for the sound of impact. When it doesn't arrive she snorts in disgust and sits down with her legs dangling over the edge. After a while she takes up her datapad starts typing idly. I wonder just how big that explosion was?

[Narthlotep]

Darn, if I were a normal Bothan, I'd be drooling all over this data, but you know what, this stuff doesn't seem that interesting compared to weather or not station management is going to come through with all the promises they've given to our group. Funny, isn't it? We come into a treasure trove of data, and the only representative of a species that has a galaxy-wide spy network isn't interested in it. Asyr looks over to Frae'al and smiles.

I guess that I'm a bit more pragmatic than most of my kind, but out of the data that Talis picked up, the ones about the Sargasso, galactic mass, and the true identity of whoever is running this place seems the most pertinent to our continued survival off of this station.

Seeing as I'm a bit more pragmatic than most other Bothans, I'll share with the rest of the group that's in medbay about those topics.

[Ridai]

As his vision sharpens, Cyrus looks around the room without getting up and tries to assess his current condition. After that, he lets his head fall back onto the pillow and asks in a tired, whispering voice: "Are you okay?" The Jedis thin, nearly gaunt frame is easy to see without his robe, along with his share of scars on his visible skin.

Current HP?

[RandomLunatic]

Heh. Just my luck-billions of Bothans out there, and I get the one that's not into this. Typical, she says lightly. Of course, one never meets a Bothan who claims to work for Spynet.

They'll pay up. Less a hefty chunk for medical expenses, of course. And another deduction for rescue, I bet. But they'll pay. Stiffed beings have far too many ways of making your life miserable not to.

A moment's pause, and then a worried note creeps into her voice as she asks How did those guys know when and where to get us? I do not recall comming anybody about what we were doing until after the fact.

[DMfromTheAbyss]

@ Cyrus: Strangely enough except for being starving you appear fine, some definate new scars, but the wounds are GONE?!? (OOC Currently at120 HP for reference Amira is also at full HP) The 21B Medical droid comes over to tell you to rest, the nerves may take time to heal, you may experience numbness and loss of feeling in your extremeties. It then seems puzzled at your lack of residual wounds and damage, (for reference you feel 100% fine.) You can hear Asyr and Frae'al talking outside. The 21B tells you it might be from you being a Jedi. It gets you a tray of fruit to munch on. You also notice that Amira has a decided red mark on her neck, almost a handprint.

@Qiorin: (ooc they appear to be heavily armed rodians with no identifying uniforms or insignia, They do look a little shady, but your unsure of any underworld connections they may or may not have. Hard to judge their competance... then again it's taking two of them to wrestle a human girl down the tunnel and she's getting some shots in. Tactically speaking you do have the drop on them, though if you don't act quickly they will likely see you.

@Eris: Just as you are calculating the approximate output of a weapon capable of doing that sort of damage... (and the numbers you were crunching were starting to make it seem more like a weak superlaser than a strong capital scale weapon) The Nameless fellow returns. He stares at you through a blank visor that reveals nothing about what might be behind it, and says "well I found something, it's quite a ways down, looks like a passageway/tube that survived the blast, though it seems to have quite the secure lock on it. I tried to hack into it and well..." He removes his arm from his cloak... it looks limp and somewhat cooked, the smell of burnt wiring is strong, a retractable dataplug from the wrist is out and still smoking. "Ran into a bit of trouble, the safety lock doesn't speak binary apparantly and doesn't much like me. I don't suppose..." He motions with his good hand at your toolbelt. "You could take a look at first this then the lock?" He looks at you with his head tilted just so, like a child asking it's parent for something (if this is a droid it's human motion emulator is fantastic)
"Also I'm going to need a way to carry you down there, there's no real place to set down, the tube's at an angle and the floor is, well very sharp looking"
He raises his other arm and fires a net at the wall, it trails a strong power cable back to his arm, the net sparks with stun energy at it impacts the wall,(apparently onboard weapon system?) "This might carry you, soon as we unhook the powersource, you wouldn't do me much good while stunned would you..." (looking at the net it's big enough to wrap around a pair of wookies.)

@ Asyr and Frae'al: You hear the two jedi wake up.

[Thiel]

Eris looks a bit sceptical as she surveys the net. Of all the ways you could humiliate me you chose this? What do you think I am, a bunch of fruit? She asks and starts unhooking the power-source. Oh well, at least it's novel.

Disable Device: 1d20 17=29 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1812847/)

[stupnick]

@DM

I proceed with the ruse of trying to buy the girl..

I do try to make myself look non agressive and unarmed.

[Narthlotep]

It seems that the Jedi are waking up, if you are done pouring over data for a while, would you allow me the privilege of escorting you out of this room to meet up with the rest of the group? Asyr says, smiling and offering an arm to Frae'al.

To answer your question about the folks in power armor, we were in a com jamming field for a few minuets. Most likely the station manager called them in when a transponder one of us was carrying stopped transmitting for a short time period. I did see our leader coming off a turbolift, from who knows were, let alone the mercs not having some sort of tracker implanted, carried, or built into arms or armor. As to them knowing where we were, I'd say they followed some sort of homing beacon, or simply followed the blood and body trail to find our general location.

[RandomLunatic]

Oh, I suppose, she says, taking the arm. It would have been far less work for them to just track our commlinks-and dispatch the mercs when we dropped off the grid. She lowers her voice. Of course, they would have had to have been following us pretty close the whole time-we were only in there for 60 seconds. That begs the question of why they didn't send those guys in in the first place. They were evidently already being paid to hang out in the area, why not use 'em?

Think we should've gotten them flowers?