As Six says the name 'Desh', the yellow-skinned Feeorin - heavily muscled and topping out at over 2.3 meters tall - gives a casual mock-salute. His red eyes take you in for a few seconds before looking at the other naked newcomer on the floor. His swoop gang leathers look like they were sized for someone smaller, along with the fiber armor - both of them have rips and cuts in key locations to keep them mostly functional over his huge body. And he's bristling with weapons… sporting a monstrosity of a repeater in his hands attached to a power generator on his back, two vibro blades lashed into crossing sheathes, a vibro-axe handle peeking over his shoulder, and a pulse-wave pistol in a holster at his hip.
Great… more pink-skins to keep alive, he thinks as he takes the moment to check his repeater's connections once again after its rough treatment in the last combat.
You realize that the Sith tremorsword is made of that rare material Phrix; it is possible to parry a lightsaber or blaster bolt with it.
Six looks over the bodies of the fallen Sith, inspecting their equipment. Picking up the Aural Amplifier, he tries it on for size.
"Well, at least these guys brought us some new toys. I'd still rather have Jayne than these little nerf stickers."
"Yes, it does feel a bit awkward to prance around in scavanged equipment." Dax agrees with Six as he still looks questioningly at the newcomers.
"Ah'm jes glad I have pants again. Whipping around a electroprod in mah all-together is a bit dangerous, you know what I mean?" Jerrn takes a moment to examine the broken lightsaber, to see what parts he'd need to make it functional again.
Desh chuckles, a low rumbling sound, "Ha. We're all glad you found some pants, farmboy…"
Finished double-checking the power cuff on the repeater, he looks up impatiently, "How long we gonna stand here waiting for her? Amin, we're leaving. You're welcome to join us. This place smells like Sith, and apparently they're looking to blow it up. Time's runnin' out."
He turns back to Jerrn as a thought occurs to him, "Hey, farm boy, try out that big blade the one Sith dog was wielding... I heard somewhere that they're decent stand-ins for lightsabers because they can block energy attacks. Something about being made of Freex? or Phrix?"
"Huh. Worth a try, Ah s'pose." Jerrn picks up the tremorsword and gives it a heft.
Nodding in approval of Desh's sentiment, Amin picks up one of the vibro swords and stretches his limbs."The Feeorin is right. We should get out of here, especially if what you say about explosions is true. Do we know a way out?"
Six chuckles mirthlessly. "Heh - well, about that. We just ran into some sort of Dark Jedi type that vanished in roughly that direction," He points to the Sith's last position. "I'm guessing that explosions are bad news for Sith as much as for us, so I assume we go that way. It's not a lot to hang all of our survival on, but you play the cards your dealt - sometimes you cheat death, and sometimes he calls your bluff. Just not today."
The new body is alive, but still unconscious.
You hear the voice: "Beware. The Sith alchemy often holds a remnant of its owner. It will offer power to the wielder..."
You hunt around for more carrying capacity, and realize that one of the computer stations has extendable travel wheels. By taking the remnants of the workstation off the top, you have a makeshift gurney. Capacity two medium humanoids.
Making your way out of the Chamber onto the catwalk, you make your way across the bottomless shaft to the central core. Close up, you see the conduits, power couplings and other industrial hardware traveling up and down the shaft. You can see literally millions of those pods lining the shaft, but you can see or hear no other life signs.
There is a turbolift here, and when you press the summon button, you hear it whirr and the door whooshes open after 30 seconds. There is nothing inside. It is clean and well lit, but industrial bare.
Looking at the command panel inside, you see that there are several hundred possibilities. The ground floor indicator is at the very top.
"Dark Jedi?" he quirks a brow and then leans close to Jerrn"Beware the Sith Alchemy friend, I trust you are in control of your emotions?" Although Amin harbors no ill feelings, his confidence can be mistaken for arrogance. When he has a moment, Amin searches the ebbing flows of the force for signs of the dark jedi which his rescuers had spoke of
As you open your senses to the Force, you find yourself in a roaring blaze of Force; rushing through your body like being hit by a continuous bolt of Lightning. This is many, many times more than you have ever felt before.
"Ah'm as in control as Ah can be, Ah guess. This whole mess is startin' to vex me like a cloud of sand fleas on a bantha, though. Let's get outta here and find ourselves a way off this... whatever this is."
Desh nods as he heads over to the naked human girl. He quickly strips off the shirt under his armor, wrapping her in it for some level of modesty before putting her next to the unconscious wookie on the impromptu sled.
You won't like the smell, but at least you'll survive.
Then he follows the others to the lift, keeping his eyes open and repeater ready as they wait. When it opens - and they see the ridiculous amount of buttons - he shrugs. "Ground level, right? Surely that leads to the exit." Then he mashes the button with one of the barrels of his repeater.
Six grabs a strap on the sled, helping Desh drag it onto the turbolift. He takes a position next to the doors as they close, ready for whatever awaits on the ground floor.
Sith infiltrator armor, Light, cost 5,000, +4 Armor bonus to Ref Def, +1 Equip bonus to Fort Def, Max Dex bonus +3, Weight 10 kg, Availabilit Military
...integral helmet with shortrange comlink, integral stealth field generator [2 charges left] All armor pieces must be worn to operate stealth field, cannot be dismounted from the armor.
You all crowd into the turbolift, and Desh mashes the ground floor button. You are pressed down as the lifts accellerates upwards rapidly. Thirty seconds later, you feel weightless as the lift slows, then stops. The doors open automatically, and the first taste of nonrecycled air tastes sweet as you gaze on what looks like an abandoned fuel station.
You count at least fifty swoop bikes parked around the station, and a couple of dead gangers, blood pooling around their throats.
Looks like the guards never knew what hit them, maybe a stealth field silent kill with vibroblade.
The swoop bikes all look like some variation of the Nebulon-Q swoop racer. Gang members, pirates, and other scum use it because of it's affordable price, it's high speed, and its intimidation factor. It's a bike for those who live fast and die young. However, it is difficult to control and imposes a -5 equipment penalty to all Pilot checks (included in stats below). You would need to be a GOOD pilot to fly it.
Nebulon-Q Swoop
Large ground vehicle (swoop)
Init +7; Senses Perception +2
Defenses: Ref 18 (Flat-footed 11), Fort 13; +0 armor
hp 20; DR5; Threshold 18
Speed 12 squares (max velocity 600 km/hr)
Fighting space 1 square; Cover total
Base Atk +3; Grp +16
Abilities Str 16, Dex 24, Con --, Int 16
Skills: Initiative +7, Mechanics +2, Perception +2, Pilot +7, Use computer +2
Crew 1, Passengers 0
Cargo 2kg, Consumables --
Availability Licensed; Cost 5,500 (new), 1,050 (used)
You note that three actually have sidecars.
You can tell little about the planet you are on, it seems to be fairly standard gravity and air, the terrain is rolling hills with verdant blue foliage and short scrub. A slash of an unpaved road passes nearby. The sky is overcast and gray.
Hauling his skiff out of the lift he unserimoniously dumps the cords and heads to the swoopbikes. "Come on guys. Try you keys, their bound to work on one of them." Taking out his key he tries it on the first one he reaches.
Although he doesnt mention it at first, as Amin breathes in fresh air, he still feels shaken." Be Wary friends, when I search for other force users I felt an overwhelming blaze of Force; like a continuous bolt of Lightning through my very being. This is many, many times stronger than I have ever felt before."
His tone is grave and he clears his throat." I have no skill in piloting, I would prefer to ride in the sidecar."
Jerrn points his key toward the swoop bikes and triggers the automatic find function on the key.
"Ain't a thing been built I cain't fly. Hop in, Jedi, let's fly!"
Use the Force (Pilot):
" Be Wary friends, when I search for other force users I felt an overwhelming blaze of Force; like a continuous bolt of Lightning through my very being."
Six picks a row of bikes, and tests out the key. He signals Desh to alert him to a larger bike, possibly sized for the Wookie.
"No time for sermons, Jedi. I just want to know two things. Where is the bike that goes with this key, and where is my damn rifle? Ask them, next time you commune with the spirits, or whatever it is you people do."
You find the big bike the wookie clearly used (all the hair...), as it happens, it had a sidecar. The other keys fit a stock bike, each one customized in some manner; chrome spikes, impeller holo-flames, leather strip-flaps, etc.
If you need to hotwire a bike, you can use a Mechanics DC18 roll and a minute or two to do so.
As you heat up your bikes, you can bring up the auto map and find that there is a route track leading to this point in a winding route from a point about fifty km away. Looks like they were following hilly terrain.
Desh keeps looking back at the strange elevator shaft from which they emerged. I remember having gear, too… maybe we just missed it?
He tries to take a quick look around the refueling station while the others find bikes.
If nothing presents itself, Desh walks back towards the others, shrugging. "I guess we move out. Unless one of you geniuses knows where we are, I say we follow their path backwards. See where these knuckle-heads came from." He thumps the wookie on the shoulder with the butt of his repeater to indicate who the 'knuckle-heads' are.
He fishes one of the keys from his pocket, holding it up as he clicks the response button… when he finds it, he takes the time to tie the wookie across the long seat behind him before firing it up…. the deep, throaty chugging of the engine bringing another half-smile to the feeorin's lips. "Not a half-bad swoop for some idiot ganger to have."
It's just a real old fashioned fuel cell station, with an underground tank, a couple of rusty fuel hose/impellers, a carport roof, an old fashioned attendant's booth, and nothing else. If your stuff was here you would have seen it right away.
Dax rakes his brain as he looks around, trying to get a clue where the hell they were.
"I don't see a better option." he replies to Desh as he fires up his swoop after securing the unconcious ganger. "Might as well follow the bread-crumbs."
The speeder bikes start up immediately, and you can tell the gangers lavished a lot of attention on their bikes.
They are a little difficult to control, but those of you who have real piloting skill find them sweet fliers and fairly nimble.
Those who aren't real pilots find it takes all their attention to hold a straight line.
In your formation and following the reverse of the course in the auto nav, you follow the cut of the road through some hills, then turn up a small river.
UTF:
While speeding along, you have some time to think.
While you don't recognize this world specifically, you wonder at the old technology evinced by the fuel station. You wonder if this was an old colony, maybe on the outer rim? You know that many colonies were cut off when the Great Hyperspace War rolled over the Galaxy...
While following the river on your swoop bikes, your smooth ride is interrupted by automatic blasterfire tearing up the water all around you.
Looking behind you, you see five swoop bikes ridden by Sith Stealth troopers howling up behind you and blasting away at you in ambush!
#1: for a possible energy damage.
#2: for a possible energy damage.
Jerrn, drawing the attention of two attackers, feels a warning in the Force and dodges, they both miss.
#3: for a possible energy damage.
Dax Oan also feels a warning in the Force and also dodges his attacker.
#4: for a possible energy damage.
Desh is hit for minor damage to a taillight.
#5: for a possible energy damage.
And Six is hit right through the canopy for ten damage (five was absorbed by the bikes DR).
CLICK for the Tactical situation.
What is worse is that a missed shot hit a tree at the waters edge and dropped a large branch in your path.
Desh and Dax make pilot rolls to avoid the obstacle.
Desh bike: 17
Dax bike: 20
Jerrn bike: 56
Six bike: 20
1: 20
2: 20
3: 20
4: 20
5: 20
I really need you to finish your character sheet and put it in your profile, I can't tell what kind of initiative bonus you have.
Desh:
Dax:
Six:
Jerrn:
Amin:
Enemy:
ROUND 1--
SIX
DAX OAN
JERRN
DESH
ENEMY
AMIN
Although Amin is slow to react, he calls upon the force to deal with this problem. Sensing he's in the best position in the rear, he pounds down on the riders with a devastating cone of force, hoping to knock the pursuers right off their bikes.
Calling out to his comrades over the comm, Six draws a blaster and fires at their pursuers.
"AMBUSH! Watch yourselves!"
Pilot:
Jerrn brakes the swoop abruptly, then guns the engine, coming in tight with Sith #1. He swings his newly acquired sword at the sith, attempting to slice the man in half!
Attack:
Damage:
Easily avoiding the falling tree, Desh looks at his blown tail-light, then his red eyes focus on the dog who shot it out. "Oh, you're gonna pay for that!"
The words barely leave his lips before he slams the throttle nearly into reverse, the engine shuddering as he pulls the swoop violently towards the unsuspecting Sith's machine in a ramming maneuver.
ROUND 1--
SIX____________
As blaster bolts flash all around them, kicking up boiling spray and blowing chunks out of trees lining the river, Six yells out a warning.
"AMBUSH! Watch yourselves!"
Before drawing his blaster and firing back at their pursuers outside the canopy. He takes a shot at Red-3, but narrowly misses the agile little bike.
[npc] DAX OAN_____
Feeling the Force guide him, Dax first deftly dodges the falling tree, then hits the retrothrusters to bring his bike to an emergency stop, using the splash of the tree to hide his action. The action quickly yowls by him. Revving his engine, he takes off again, taking up the rearmost position and gaining.
JERRN____________
Jerrn brakes the swoop abruptly, then guns the engine, coming in tight with Sith #1. He swings his newly acquired sword at the sith, attempting to slice the man in half, but he misses as the enemy craft jinks out of the way.
The Sith Tremorsword deals 2d6+2 (4+14).
DESH____________
Easily avoiding the falling tree, Desh looks at his blown tail-light, then his red eyes focus on the dog who shot it out. "Oh, you're gonna pay for that!"
The words barely leave his lips before he slams the throttle nearly into reverse, the engine shuddering as he pulls the swoop violently towards the unsuspecting Sith's machine in a ramming maneuver.
With a jolt, the machines graze each other, scraping off paint and external fittings. Pilots and passengers takes3 damage, the bikes just shrug off the damage.
ENEMY ___________
Red-1 slams against Jerrn’s bike, dealing 5 damage to all passengers, but no damage to the bikes themselves.
Red-2 drops back and shoots big chunks out of Jerrn’s chassis.
Red-3 fires on Six and hits the bike for 3 damage.
Red-4 does a proper ram on Desh, dealing 15 points to the people and 10 to the bikes. Both bikes are looking really damaged now.
Red-5 is unable to hit anything.
AMIN____________
Although Amin is slow to react, he calls upon the force to deal with this problem. Sensing he's in the best position in the rear, he pounds down on the riders with a devastating cone of force, hoping to knock the pursuers right off their bikes.
A powerful wave of Force energy rolls off of Amin as he gestures, and Red-2 and Red-5 crumple like they had run into a wall, just before their fuel cells let go and they explode. Debris rains down on the river, but the swoop bikes outrun it as they scream around a bend, their repulsor lifts creating a minor roostertail spray.
Desh bike: 7
Dax bike: 20
Jerrn bike: 46
Six bike: 17
1: 20
3: 20
4: 10