To Axel: Noticing the slight grimace of pain on your face, she says, ‘Well, I hope that didn’t hurt too much, or you won’t like what the afternoon brings.’ She begins to gather things to bring out to lunch, and doesn’t inform you of Baen sneaking up behind you. Baen, having circled around to your back, has climbed up on the counter, and with a young boy’s shriek, leaps from the counter, holding a meter long, fairly thin wooden stick. The stick smacks the top of your head, breaking in half. Baen himself grabs onto your shoulders, clinging to your back, with the cheerful giggling of a kid having the time of his life. Serena looks over, ‘Well, you may as well carry him outside now, it’s time for lunch.’
To Anders: Gren awkwardly receives your embrace, his body language making it evident that he has not experienced anything like this in a long time. His face visibly softens, and he looks down at the ground for several long seconds. ‘Thank you, young one. I have not experienced much in the way of compassion in a long time. I am the sole survivor of my family, but I think that you could be someone worthy of joining the clan, when you are ready. Let’s go to lunch.’
"You hear that, Baen'ika?" Axel says, locking the boy's legs in under his arms, and giving them a bit of a squeeze, "The call of a good meal beckons us. A young warrior must feed himself to grow his strong muscles. Onward then, to lunch!" Axel bucks the young boy on his shoulders, but doesn't let him slip, and carries him out to the table.
Yeah, nice job using some of their words Axel. I think we can fit right in. Just need to make them see that.
Anders pats Gren lightly on the shoulder, nods, and follows Gren to lunch.
I think this could work out after all.
To Vyr: ‘Armor under our clothes? Nah, young’n, that’s just Gren, crazy vod, that man.’ He shrugs, ‘But he’s a good guy, at heart, he has just lost a lot, and it has made him into a hard man. The only person I know who can stand against him in a ring, and not visibly shake in their boots is Drang, if possible he’s crazier.’ He shakes his head, ‘Crazy barves. Come on, let’s go to lunch.’ He begins leading you over to several tables set up to eat at.
"Onward to lunch then. Are there more chores after lunch? Actually don't tell me. I am going to enjoy lunch and not worry about what will come next. I can't change it so what is the point in worrying."
‘Well, let’s head back, it’s almost time for lunch.’
Tarros gives a small smile and a nod, pleased that Trask seemed to approve of his reasons for being here and slightly awed by the former Jedi Master's story.
GM: As you gather around the table, other members of the clan begin to appear, from whatever their chores for the morning were. They are an assorted bunch of species, including Humans, Bothans, Falleen, Wookiees, Twi’lek, and several other, more exotic species.
A large Wookiee, with incredibly dark, thick hair, gives a roar in the Wookiee language, calling everyone to the table. Drang steps forward, and says, ‘Welcome, to our new recruits! Welcome to your first meal with the clan! I hope you survive the meal, we have training this afternoon!” With that, he dives into his meal.
Axel looks the new Falleen over. So is this Mr. b****-face? Or the other Mrs. b****-face... I'm confused. An unpleasant thought crosses his mind and he shivers, then quickly returns to his food. It now has his undivided attention, as chopping wood all morning has made him hungry. Between mouthfuls he gropes for his cup, only to realize it is missing. A**hole took my caff. Friggin' jackass. He glares down the table at the green skinned perpetrator.
Subconsciously though, he feels right at home. It feels a lot like the gang life. You get pushed and gotta be prepared to push back. You take what you can, and give nothin' back. You don't take no for an answer.
Vyr stares back at the would be intimidator. "Wookie be prepared to get 100 credits richer. Thank you for having faith in me." Vyr turns back to the human whole stole his food. "I look forward to you training me, sir." Vyr stabs his fork into the man's other steak and begins eating it on his plate. "This is probably stupid but letting you push me around sounds stupider. As an aside this is a really good steak. My hand goes to the cook."
"Pleased to meet you, Sel. My name is Anders Karson-Kelborn."
Anders shakes her hand with a tentative smile.
She's really pretty. Better not make a fool of myself, as this is likely another test.
"What is that stuff? That's not bacta is it?"
Anders points to the strange substance that Sel rubbed onto his cut.
"Thanks for the healing, by the way."
I don't remember bacta patches smelling like that. Come to think of it, that wasn't a patch at all. Intriguing.
Catching something out of the corner of his eye, Anders turns just in time to see Vyr steal the blue-haired man's steak. Anders' mouth drops open in stupefied horror.
He's going to get flattened! Anders thinks to himself, astounded by Vyr's temerity.
It's much like watching a Speeder wreck: you just can't look away.
Tarros wrinkles his nose while the Bothan is away, then offers a hand once he returns. "Tarros." In contrast to the Bothan's gluttonous behaviour, Tarros focuses on being careful and polite while eating, almost as if he could make up for the rudeness of the other being.
I've had to deal with worse. If I learned one thing from the Hutts, it's that you can't always pick who you work with.
Well, I guess that isn't really "the one thing", but it's certainly the one that comes to mind...
After the meal has finished, Drang stands and speaks. ‘For the afternoon, training. For today, you grunts go with Samson. He will teach you twits how to blow some stuff up. You with the cut, see Tryyk before you start.’ He gestures to the Wookiee. The young man with blue hair groans, then stands and motions for you to follow.
Vyr stands up and follows behind Spiky, who name he just learned was Samson. "I look forward to learning from you Samson." he sincerely says to the man. 'No use getting everyone pissed off at me. It is a good thing I have worked with explosives before. At least it isn't a strength or melee training. These others look bigger then me.'
Anders quickly walks over to the Wookie, an expression of curiosity on his face. While blowing up things sounded fun, the possibility of medical attention was far more valuable.
"Hello, vod."
Anders nods respectfully, speaking in Mando'a due to his ignorance in determining Wookie genders. Best to stick to a gender neutral language in cases such as these.
Tryyk (Wookiee): The towering Wookiee grabs Anders’ face in a massive, hairy palm and smears an amount of bacta over his wound.
Once finished, Tryyk growls and points you in the direction of the field where Samson has just begun some introductory lessons with explosives.
Samson: Samson leads the group, minus Anders, to a table near a large open field with numerous large tree stumps littering the area. ‘Alright you chakaar, we will be continuing to do chores today throughout your training for the afternoon. This,’ he beckons at the large field, ‘is to become our new field. Our task for the afternoon is to blow up the tree stumps.’ He bends down to pull some items from a crate underneath the table.
Samson introduces you to the different components of the explosive you will be making, and shows the process of mixing, packing the mixture into a cloth package, and shows you how to set it in the roots of a stump. He then shows the process of inserting a detonator, and, after backing you off to a certain distance, puts his helmet on, and presses the switch to detonate. A loud sounds, causing all of you to lose your hearing for several long moments. When the dust settles, there is a small crater where the stump had been.
‘Now, you will each be mixing numerous batches, planting them, and inserting the detonators. When it is safe, I, and only myself, will be setting off the charges. Go to work!’
Anders nods his thanks to the large Wookie, and jogs out to the trio of recruits.
Stump removal via explosives? Awesome!
Anders cracks a huge grin as he goes about his task, muttering under his breath as he does so.
"Nitrogen-based charge... Add some oregano, to give it a little kick..."
Anders gives his batch a sniff. Needs more...
"Hey Vyr! I bet mine makes a bigger boom than yours!"
Anders cackles happily, a manic glint in his eyes. This one's for you, Dad. I hope you can see this wherever you are!
Anders carefully walks to his assigned stump, and plants his explosive. Taking out a can of spray-paint, he paints a mushroom cloud on his stump.
"It is not the size of the 'boom' that matters Anders. It is where you place it. Of course a boom helps though. I didn't make a great one, I can admit my mistakes. " While Vyr didn't create the best bomb he did know where to place the charge. Most place it on top of the stump and expect the high EX to do the work for them. Vyr placed his inside one of the cracks on his stump. Vyr whispered, half to himself and half to Anders if he was still listening. "Ever see someone step on a land mine, Anders? You don't want a large explosion for people. No, you want a smaller one. To big and they go flying and get nocked out by the blast wave or the wall. Then they don't suffer. You want a small one to rip part their leg. Take them out of the fight and the medic that is busy trying to repair him. Messes with everyone's mind as well. Effects both that witnessed and those that created it. One little exposition can do a lot of work. From the largest ship to the smallest stump. Explosives solve many problems." Vyr finishes his speech and steps back from his stump. He returns to Samson and hands him the detonator.
A loud CRACK! sounds, causing all of you to lose your hearing for several long moments. When the dust settles, there is a small crater where the stump had been.
"Heh." Tarros grins as his hearing returns. "That's pretty cool."
‘Now, you will each be mixing numerous batches, planting them, and inserting the detonators. When it is safe, I, and only myself, will be setting off the charges. Go to work!’
Tarros shrugs. "Never done anything like this before... I guess we'll see how it goes. I'm up for learning new things."
Tarros doesn't seem to take naturally to explosive work. His placement is pretty bad, but at least he connects the detonator correctly.
"Ever see someone step on a land mine, Anders? You don't want a large explosion for people. No, you want a smaller one. To big and they go flying and get knocked out by the blast wave or the wall. Then they don't suffer. You want a small one to rip part their leg. Take them out of the fight and the medic that is busy trying to repair him. Messes with everyone's mind as well. Effects both that witnessed and those that created it. One little exposition can do a lot of work. From the largest ship to the smallest stump. Explosives solve many problems."
Tarros shudders. "Sounds like you've done some nasty stuff."
"For the afternoon, training. For today, you grunts go with Samson. He will teach you twits how to blow some stuff up. You with the cut, see Tryyk before you start."
Awesome, Axel thinks to himself, grinning. Finally, some action. We've had meat, now bring on the spuds!
"Alright you chakaar, we will be continuing to do chores today throughout your training for the afternoon."
Wut? I thought we were blowing up s***?
"Our task for the afternoon is to blow up the tree stumps." Samson introduces you to the different components of the explosive you will be making, and shows the process of mixing, packing the mixture into a cloth package, and shows you how to set it in the roots of a stump. He then shows the process of inserting a detonator, and, after backing you off to a certain distance, puts his helmet on, and presses the switch to detonate. A loud CRACK! sounds, causing all of you to lose your hearing for several long moments. When the dust settles, there is a small crater where the stump had been.
Ok, I get that using explosives is more fun, but seriously, someone could get hurt. Wouldn't a tractor be a safer method of removing tree stumps?
Axel watches the stump get pulverized the way a child might watch candy being pulled out of a box. "Ow." he says, his ears ringing. Then realizing he can't hear himself he says again louder. Still unable to hear himself he starts shouting at the others. Axel continues trying to talk to himself and shaking his head until the ringing goes away and his hearing comes back.
"Now, you will each be mixing numerous batches, planting them, and inserting the detonators. When it is safe, I, and only myself, will be setting off the charges. Go to work!"
Axel gets to work mixing the explosive powder. "Heh, reminds me of science class in 5th grade," he says to no one in particular. When the pack is ready he expertly fastens it to the stump, practiced hands at work. Then he attaches the fuse and hurries back to Samson.
"Alright, now let's make things go 'boom!'" he says with a huge grin spreading across his face. This time he makes sure to cover his ears before the blast.
You spend the afternoon making explosives, planting them, with Samson setting them off when safe. As the afternoon wears on, the number of stumps littering the field slowly begins to go down.
One particular time, when Vyr has planted an explosive, and is walking away, Samson grins, an evil-looking grin, and, when Vyr is around 40 feet from the stump, presses the detonator, setting off that specific charge. The ensuing explosion, and subsequent shockwave, throws Vyr off his feet, to faceplant in the mud.
When Vyr recovers, with some blood streaming from his broken eardrums, he will look up to see Samson kneeling over him. In what sounds like a quiet voice, but must not be, must be a very loud yell, due to Vyr’s damaged ears, Samson tells him ‘I hope you’ve learned your lesson. Never steal from someone who can kill you a hundred ways with his left hand.’ He stands up, and puts out his hand as though to help you up. ‘Go see Tryyk, he will help you regain your hearing.’
Tarros shudders. "Sounds like you've done some nasty stuff."
"Necessary stuff. It always makes you feel better if you say it was necessary stuff and not nasty stuff. We were fighting for our freedom. They were the enemy and everything was permitted." 'I see similarities between the Toffs and these noble worriers. They use physical pain to try and prove that they are better then you. Nothing but bullies but I kinda like Ffon. Stick it through these tough time so you can be an ass to the next new guy. This military if full of idiots.'
The explosions sends Vyr to the ground.
"So this is how the game is played. I should have taken my own steak back and not yours." Vyr stands on his own without the help from Samson. "You are stronger then me and good with explosives. You could have killed me if that is what you wanted. I respect your abilities but not your methods. Take my food tomorrow and I will take yours again. I look forward to our dance tomorrow, Sir." Vyr leaves and goes to see the wookie. 'He takes my food again tomorrow I will stab him with my fork.'
"Necessary stuff. It always makes you feel better if you say it was necessary stuff and not nasty stuff. We were fighting for our freedom. They were the enemy and everything was permitted."
"Whoa. Pretty hardcore. Was it more of an army-type deal, or sort of guerrilla things?"
------------------------
When Vyr gets back, Tarros sidles up to him and softly taps him on the shoulder. "Hey, you okay? Seems these guys are pretty tough on you. Might want to think about keeping a lower profile."
The afternoon ends when all the stumps have been cleared. The clan shares an evening meal, before returning to some final chores before night falls.
The next four days follow much the same format, with you being woken at dawn, doing various chores after a small meal, followed by lunch, training for the afternoon, and more chores in the evening.
On your second day at the farm, you are instructed on methods of melee combat, being run through various drills by Ffon. After the torturous afternoon slaving under the cruel Samson, Ffon’s cheery, lighthearted attitude, and sense of humor are a welcome break. The third day, you are instructed on stealth tactics, learning how to camouflage armor and skin, and blend into the terrain. This is taught by Yarbe Crane, the young Bothan male Tarros had met at lunch on day one. On your fourth day, you are trained in how to properly apply medicine, this is taught by Tryyk, the Wookiee. Much of what you learn from him is through watching him do it, unless you understand Shyriiwook, then you will have a better understanding. On the fifth day, you are each given a rifle, and brought to a range where you spend the afternoon working on marksmanship. This is overseen by Xin Garn, the husband to Serena, also a Falleen.
On the sixth day, you are awoken at the normal time, but this time by Drang. He wakes you by emptying a large bucket of ice cold water onto each of you. ‘UP! Get up you lazy chakaar! Today is your first test. You will be given primitive weapons, and sent into the forest. You will not return until you have collected enough meat to support the clan for the next week. Your trainers will be shadowing you for the day, but they have been given instructions not to help, in any way. They may speak to you, and you to them, but they will not offer any aid. They are waiting for you outside with your weaponry. GO!’
After drying off and getting dressed, Axel heads outside. Well, if nothing else, this should be interesting. I've never gone game hunting have I? Do we at least get a rifle? Something like a flintlock carbine out of one of them old-time holo-vids? Axel certainly looks forward to the day's activities with a certain amount of curiosity and amusement.
Vyr quickly awakes up after the "warm" good morning by Drang. "Yes, sir." he says and quickly gets ready. He goes out side the meet Ffon and see what weapons they are given. Once the hunting starts he wonders if this is a team exercise of a solo one. Either way this could be fun. Vyr has never gone hunting before but maybe that Tarros guys knows how to hunt.
Tarros leaps out of bed, dripping wet. "Y-yes sir!" He grabs his cloak and pack, then runs out the door.
Outside, he looks for a bow, but also grabs a knife if one is available. Realizing that the others have changed (or at least dried off) before coming outside, he feels a little foolish. Pulling his all-weather cloak tighter, he waits until everyone is ready.
I think I hate him.
Anders flops out of bed with a pathetic splat, and grabs a change of clothes.
"Does anyone actually have any experience with this kinda thing?"
Anders looks around curiously, his hair still damp.
Tarros raises a hand and peeks out from underneath his cloak's hood. "Yeah, I've sorta done this kind of thing. It was kind of my job for the last little while. I can show you how it's done."
Vyr turns to Tarros. "I have never done this kind of thing before. Hope I can learn form your example. We need enough meat for a week so hope we find lots of animals. Any idea what we are hunting?"
Tarros's face lights up as people start asking him questions about things he actually knows.
"Dunno. We'll have to look and see. Ecosystems sorta follow the same rules, even on different planets. There's gonna be some sort of herbivore out there, and we probably just want to find the biggest one - most meat on the slowest frame, generally speaking. Watch for tracks, missing food sources, that sort of thing, and we'll find where they go and what they eat. Then it's just a matter of time."
"Well, if it comes to beating down banthas with a stick, I'm gonna grab the biggest stick I can find and stay away from the horns." Axel's attempt at bravado is only met with an awkward silence. Actually, what's a bantha gonna care about sticks? The hell are you smoking Axel? "Um, I guess that'd be a sharpened stick? Maybe?"
Tarros doesn't really have a response to that, and looks away while the awkwardness hangs in the air.
Great. One quiet dude, one loud dude, and one crazy dude. I'm doomed.
Anders tries not to make eye contact with Axel.
Your trainers meet you outside, and present each of you with some traditional hunting weapons. You each receive a spear (Medium, 1d8, Piercing, simple), and a bow (Medium, 1d6, Piercing, simple), and 40 arrows.
Gren motions you toward a landspeeder sitting nearby. ‘This speeder will take us to the hunting grounds. Expect no help from us. On the grounds, you will find numerous different animals, all of which will provide food for the clan. Most animals will be of species that have been imported from all over the galaxy by others, that have been allowed to roam free. You may see kath hounds, vanx, Corellian banshees, massiffs, rontos, womp rats, and other, more dangerous beasts. There is also rumored to be several packs of Tuk’ata somewhere out there. If you see one, try to bring it back, Revik has said he has eaten one before, and supposedly it is delectable.’ With that, he, and the other trainers board the speeder, wait for you to as well, and then you begin the hour long journey to the Revik hunting grounds.
Vyr takes his weapons and gets on Ffon's speeder. He holds up his spear and shouts to Axel. "Hey Axel! We got our sharpened sticks. To the hunt. This will be fun."
After they begin traveling to the hunt, Vyr asks Ffon a question. "Any last minute advice for me? Couldn't hurt to ask. I have never done this before but I can't wait to try. Usually I ambush or trick my prey. Not hunt them down."
Axel plucks at the string of the bow as it is handed to him. It makes a soft thrum as it vibrates. Whoa. Right back to stone age. They weren't kidding when they said "primitive." Does this thing even work?
"Hey Axel! We got our sharpened sticks. To the hunt. This will be fun."
Axel is secretly grateful that the grey-skinned alien at least laughs at his joke, and he laughs too. "Haha, that's right!" he says, clapping Vyr on the back, "Now we'll go catch us some wampas. I got this great idea, I'll stand out in the open and wave my hands in the air and act all scary and stuff, and then when it makes to rush me, you jump out from the bush and catch it by surprise! Shove that pointy stick of yours right up its-..." Axel can be heard trading absolutely rubbish combat tactics with Vyr all the way to the speeder.
...
Axel can't help but fidget on the drive out. He keeps examining his spear, plucking his bow, and makes more than one bad joke about pulling the ears off a Gundark. They eventually arrive at their destination and Axel trundles out of the speeder with his hunting gear. He slings his quiver over his shoulder, and the spear as well, and hefts the bow.
...
After everyone is ready to go, Axel decides to test his aim with the bow. C'mon Axel, just like 'Robbing Hood and the Teenage Mutant Acklay Hunters'! How hard can it be? He takes aim at a tree about 20 paces away and fires at the trunk.
The arrow embeds itself snugly in the tree bark, though not too firmly. he walks over to the arrow and yanks on it. It comes out easier than expected. Hmm, not bad. Now so long as the quarry stays still...
"You seem pretty relaxed about all this... What if some sort of ferocious beast attacks us?"
Anders cringes as he sounds like a little girl. Please don't make fun of me...
Vyr turns to the human that sounds like a scared girl. He could make his voice go that high but he doesn't tell everyone that. He stops his "tactics" conversation with Axel for a moment to reply. "Isn't that the point? They attack and we kill it. Wait, is this a human joke?"
"Screw you and the Ronto you rode in on, Vyr."
Anders scowls at the grey-skinned alien.
"The nastiest animal I've had to deal with is a nek, so sue me if I get a little nervous of large predators."
Anders grumbles, hefting his spear.
"Still, it could be worse. They could have only left us with our explosives from earlier."
Anders pauses.
"On second thought, I think I'd have preferred that."
"Did you deal with one of a pack of them? Those are Cyboreean attacks dogs right? I can understand how they are terrify but yelling at me isn't going to help. We will need to work together if we are going to kill anything of any value. By the way don't screw my Ronot. His name is Butter Knuckles and he is my friend." Vyr giggles at his own terrible joke. "I am sorry that I upset you, Anders."
"With the four of us moving together, most hunting carnivores should ignore us," Tarros adds helpfully. "They are FAR more likely to go after individual prey animals than an armed group of humanoids. The only time we'd be attacked would be if an animal was truly starving, or if they had a large enough pack that we were viewed as a viable meal. Even in that case, they would focus on a single one of us, likely the weakest or slowest."
Tarros realizes that his initially-encouraging speech became considerably less so towards the end, and promptly shuts up.
Ffon and the other trainers dismount the speeder. Each trainer hands each of you a single medpack, a small amount of field rations, enough for a small meal, and as a group you receive a topographic map of the area. The map depicts an area approximately five by ten kilometers, with two large, wooded hills dominating the landscape, one with a rocky crag standing several hundred meters above the trees. Around the hills, and between is a large amount of grasslands.
‘Go Hunt!
Tarros adds the medpack and rations to his backpack, then opens his map to take a look.
"Hmm. Pretty simple topography... we'll wanna check for a river or something. Don't see one on the map, but water's gotta flow somewhere. Anything worth hunting is gonna need to drink."
With that, Tarros starts marching into the bush, eyes open for signs of animals.
Vyr simply follows Tarros's lead on this one. He knows what he is doing and Vyr has no idea what to to.
Axel just keeps on grinning the whole time, happily following Tarros' lead. He adds a few pointers that he thinks are smart, or that might be of use, but mostly it's just nonsense and garbage. It's clear he has no idea what he's doing.
"Man this is just like Boys' Brigade, like at the camps they used to run back home. Some good stories came out of those trips, though mostly bad ones. Lotta' rough kids in one place get's kinda messy. Like that one time we mesh-taped a guy to that tree and just left him there... man he must have been there for hours."
Anders tries to help Tarros, but only ends up seeing the same things Axel points out.
Well, this isn't great. Some help I am.
"Man this is just like Boys' Brigade, like at the camps they used to run back home. Some good stories came out of those trips, though mostly bad ones. Lotta' rough kids in one place get's kinda messy. Like that one time we mesh-taped a guy to that tree and just left him there... man he must have been there for hours."
Anders blinks at Axel's anecdote.
"Are you volunteering?"
Anders makes it clear that it's a joke, but some part of him is serious.
"Are you volunteering?"
"Sure," Axel turns around and approaches Anders, "I'll hold you up while Vyr tapes your arms up, then your legs..." He makes to grab Anders' hand.
Anders jerks away violently, or takes other defensive action, and probably adds some vocal indication of his displeasure.
Axel stops and grins at him, with just a hint of insinuated rivalry. "What's the matter, Anders? It's jut a little fun." He holds Anders' reproachful glare.
"You misunderstand me," Anders bats Axel's hand away. "I'm asking if you're volunteering to be bait. You seemed to like the story so much, how about you fill the part?"
Looking at the other two shrewdly, Anders proposes a better idea.
"Actually, how about we use Vyr? He's not even trying to help track anything, so how about we help him help us all?"
Anders grins ever so slightly maliciously at Vyr as he pulls a roll of mesh tape from his belt.
"Actually, how about we use Vyr? He's not even trying to help track anything, so how about we help him help us all?"
Axel is actually confused for a second, then realization dawns on him and he guffaws. "Actualy, yeah. What about that Vyr?"