Nomi moves in to intercept the thugs and one of the droids not precisely who is on whose side.
Kalus gives chase to Raden, coming around the bend he fires another stun bolt at him, but the blue rings flash harmlessly past the Devaronian.
Avizzi ducks to the other side of the doorway, firing a slug that rips through a thugs head with a grisly spray of blood.
Nomi moves into the main warehouse spinning her lightsaber defensively.
Taril runs at one of the other thugs, (other yellow) and fires her blaster right in his face!
The red laser bolt destroys the man's head, leaving only a blackened mass of flesh.
-----------------------------
Both of the droids run in at Nomi, circular saws spinning and whirling!
Nomi dodges and spins, avoiding both the attacks.
---------------------------------
" She's a kriffing Jedi!! " one of the Aqualish thugs yells, looking in Nomi's direction before firing his pistol at her from behind a droid. The Bothan moves closer and also fires his blaster pistol at Nomi.
She easily bats away the first with her lightsaber, but the second shot gets through her defences, hitting her side, burning her badly!
The last Aqualish thug (Blue) takes cover behind the upturned card table and fires at Taril
But the bolt goes wide.
---------------------------------------
Outside, Raden turns drawing his own pistol groggily, firing a lethal bolt at Kalus then he keeps running...
The bolt flashes past Kalus's face, about a foot to the right.
Nomi: 24 dmg and -1 step on condition track (-1 to defences, skills and attacks)
Raden: 10 stun damage (-2 condition track)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Avizzi smoothly draws his ion pistol and once more steps from behind cover, just long enough to fire a shot. He aims the ion blast at the nearest droid , hoping to wreck its mechanics and shut it down for the time being.
"Hey 'kriffing Jedi'--maybe you should get to cover."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Nomi grits her teeth and presses on.
Avizzi ducks out of Cover and aims a ion blast at the closest droid. He hits, and crackling energy washes over the droid. Sparks jump here and there and the droids movements become stilted as it malfunctions from ion damage.
Nomi grits her teeth, slicing her golden blade through one of the droids legs and then sweeping it in an arc that cuts the droid in half. Stepping away from the carnage into 'cover'...
Nomi: 24 dmg and -1 step on condition track (-1 to defences, skills and attacks)
Raden: 10 stun damage (-2 condition track)
Once again, Kalus continues his pursuit of Raden. "Come on, just surrender and this goes so much easier for you. I was even offering to pay you, for kriffing's sake!"
Gritting his teeth, he flicks his blaster over to lethal and fires a shot, hoping he'll be able to just bring the Devaronian down.
Running and shooting at the same time appears to not be the most effective strategy, however.
With all of the blaster bolts flying about, Taril can't help but grin widely.
Not sparing a glance at the headless thug at her feet, she takes sight on another thug (Green) and snaps off a shot...
Kalus chases after Raden, switching his blaster to lethal and firing again but the Devaronian is staggering left and right and the bolt misses.
Meanwhile inside Taril grins and takes aim at the Bothan, getting another head shot.
----------------------------------
The remaining construction Droid lashes out at Nomi, Nomi spins out of the way but gets grazed by the whirling saw.
-----------------------------------
The thug behind the card table fires at Taril, the red dart whizzes dangerously close!
The other remaining Thug ducks around the droid, trying to surprise Nomi, and take better cover from Taril. Nomi easily deflects the blaster bolt into the floor.
-----------------------------------
"Come on, just surrender and this goes so much easier for you. I was even offering to pay you, for kriffing's sake!"
" Pay me, to go to my execution! " Raden yells back, firing his pistol wildly over his shoulder as he runs.
As he looks over his shoulder to fire he trips on some rubble, falling to the ground. He flips to his back, leaning on one arm, pointing his pistol at Kalus with the other, he still tries to scramble away.
Nomi: 30 dmg and -1 step on condition track (-1 to defences, skills and attacks)
Raden: 10 stun damage (-2 condition track)
Nomi dances around the droid, lightsaber flashing.
Kalus flicks his blaster over to stun and fires at Raden again.
Rolling his eyes and advancing on the Devaronian, Kalus says, "You know, believe it or not, I wasn't talking about you interfering with the Hutt's operations. The universe doesn't revolve around you."
"Sithspawned Devaronian's kriffing lucky I'm not still with the Black Corsairs. Otherwise, I wouldn't have tried to take him alive."
Avizzi fires another blast from his ion pistol at the remaining droid.
Nomi dances around the droid lightsaber flashing, but somehow she fails to land a blow.
Kalus stalks towards Raden, flicking his blaster back to stun and firing again at the Devaronian. Raden groggily aims his pistol back at Kalus, his arm wavering unsteadily. Then the pistol slips from his grip and he slumps back into the dirt.
Avizzi fires a bolt of blue energy at the construction Droid. The bolt crackles, passing between two of the droids legs, narrowly missing its body.
Taril takes aim at the Thug behind the card table firing,
The bolt hits the Aqualish's shoulder and he curses in pain.
----------------------------------
The construction Droid swings it's circular saw, cutting deep into Nomi's shoulder
Nomi falls to the ground, lightsaber deactivating and clattering across the duracrete. Her consciousness fades to black as blood pumps from her wound.
----------------------------------
The Aqualish Thug returns fire at Taril,
The bolt slams into Tarils left lekku searingly painful
" Dont let the Jedi die, we can turn her in for the bounty! "
The other Thug fires at Avizzi holding his pistol with both hands and aiming carefully, Avizzi ducks back as a red bolt slams into the wall.
" Does she have to be alive, can't we just turn in her lightsaber as proof? "
Nomi: 0/40 and -5 step on condition track (unconscious assuming force point spent)
Taril: 8/25 HP and -1 step on condition track
Thug Blue: 10 dmg
Raden: 18 stun damage (-5 Condition track Unconscious )
Sheathing his vibroblade, Kalus kicks the blaster away from Raden before grabbing his collar and dragging him back towards the hole.
Avizzi curses under his breath as Nomi drops, and this time when he comes around the corner, it's his slugthrower that roars out a shot toward the thug that fired on him. The bullet splatters through the crook's skull. [oco](Presumably.)[/ooc] Prey would do well to remember it is just that: food for the predators.
Taril grimaces as the blaster bolt sears her sensitive lekku, "Is that any way to treat a lady?" she quips as she sends her own blaster bolt back in return
Kalus drags the semi conscious Devaronian back to the hole in the warehouse wall.
Avizzi ducks around his corner again, his slugthrower roaring as he sends a slug splattering through the thugs brain pan.
Taril sends a blaster bolt screaming into the last thugs chest, burning a hole through his armour and into his chest.
---------------------------------
The droid continues to follow its last command, launching its self at Taril with a massive leap.
But the agile Twilek easily avoids the obvious attack.
Nomi: 0/40 and -5 step on condition track (unconscious assuming force point spent)
Taril: 8/25 HP and -1 step on condition track
Raden: 18 stun damage (-5 Condition track Unconscious )
Devaronian behind him, Kalus fires his blaster at the lone remaining droid.
Unfortunately, his blast went wide.
Avizzi steps fully from cover now, firing his ion pistol at the final combatant: the droid.
"Tsss. Of course, the one I don't tamper with the insides slags out..."
Taril smirks with satisfaction as the impertinent thug fall back onto the ground, only to have to spin away from the leaping droid.
Concentrating on the swift moving droid, Taril levels her blaster and fires...
Taril spins gracefully under the construction Droid's circular saw, levelling her blaster straight against its photoreceptors. The droids head and primary circuits turn to hot slag as she pulls the trigger. The droid falls to the floor lifeless.
Combat over, you have the stage? What do you do with the fallen Nomi? What do you do with The semi conscious Devaronian, Warwick Raden?
Nomi: 0/40 and -5 step on condition track (unconscious assuming force point spent)
Taril: 8/25 HP and -1 step on condition track
Raden: 18 stun damage (-5 Condition track Unconscious )
Kalus drags the semi-conscious Rodian over to a chair, setting him in it and then saying, "Anyone got some mesh tape or binder cuffs to tie this guy up with?"
"Here." Avizzi draws some tape from a pouch on his belt and tosses it to Kalus. "Good hunting." Even as he throws Kalus the tape, though, the togruta moves to Nomi and crouches down, examining her wounds. Growing up hunting, dealing with death and danger every day, you learn how troubling injuries can be, and it's better to take care of things as soon as possible rather than let them go. Quickly assessing the woman's wounds, Avizzi pulls the medpac from his belt and sets about trying to clean and patch them.
Nomi comes to shortly after Avizzi finishes treating her wounds with bacta patches and injecting her with a weak stimulant to get her awake again. The togruta doesn't grin when she wakes up, but he does nod and offer her a hand. "No bounty today, I think. Maybe cover tomorrow, though."
Taril gives the droid a kick then looks over to Nomi. Seeing Avizzi tending to the fallen...Jedi?
Taril shakes her head, There's no such thing, anymore.
She then drags the assorted thug bodies and lines them up. Then she rifles through thier pockets and belts, building a pile of useful items and credits.
Once she's satisfied she found all she can, she saunters over to the sabaac table and gathers up all of the stakes the players had played with.
Nomi slowly comes to as the stimulant takes effect, through blurred vision she sees Avizzi leaning over her saying something about cover. Behind the Togruta, Kalus swims into view meshtaping the Devaronian's hands together.
Off somewhere in the distance comes the clattering sound of Taril stacking things into piles.
As Kalus finishes binding Raden, the Devaronian is starting to regain consciousness himself... " Wha, wha... "
"You know, you truly are an idiot. You could have gotten paid by us, given us evidence to frame a rival, and been able to continue whatever side business you're running, and all you had to do is put us in touch with Darga. Now, here you are, taped to a chair, all your thugs dead," here Kalus draws out his vibroblade, "and I'm going to start cutting off fingers if you don't answer our questions. So, let's start with an easy one: what side operation are you running that involves interfering with Darga's operations?"
Raden squirms in the chair, eyes wide as Kalus draws his vibroblade, trying to work his arms free of the mesh tape. " Woh, calm down, stop, wait! So, Ok, listen, uh, wait, I'll tell you exactly how to reach Darga, ok, uh then, uh I, I'll give you credits, heaps of credits and, you get what you want, and uh Let me go, alright? "
"Hmmm...see, that's not necessarily good business. I'm from Nar Shaddaa, so I know a thing or two about Hutts. And I know you can't just waltz into their strongholds and expect them to welcome you with open arms - unless those arms belong to a rancor. Gifts usually work great for a Hutt - you know, things like slaves, weird insect things to eat, and traitors. So, Raden, I'm going to ask you again: what operation were you running that interfered with Darga's operations?"
" Its nothing, alright, really small time. Darga wouldn't care, I, I just ah freaked out..." Warrick starts, but then sees this tack isn't going to save his fingers either. " Fine, stop. I'll tell you... I've been skimming credits for years but that's not why Darga will kill me... every now and then a shipment of spice goes missing, or, well the freighter gets raided... see I've got allies, a small group of pirates. It's pretty clever really. I pay these pirates to raid Darga's cargo using his own credits, ha, then I've set up my own spice business right under his nose. Stupid sleemo thinks a rival crime lord is moving in on his turf... " Warwick pauses, " Ok, so now you let me go alright, I'll pay you, you can go to Darga tell him all about me while I skip the planet... "
"I think you misunderstand your position, Raden." Avizzi brushes his hands on his trousers as he steps up to the chair. "You were clever to set up a scheme, but it isn't so smart telling us all about it. But then, you're not a predator, are you, Raden? You're just a scavenger. And all the scavengers on every planet I know of have one thing in common: when the real predators come into their turf, they roll over with their tail between their legs." The togruta taps one of the devaronian's fingers and looks to Kalus.
"My friend here said the Hutts like gifts. Not much of a gift it isn't delivered, though."
After righting the game table, Taril piles all of the credits and weapons there, then saunters over to the interrogation.
Tapping a finger agains her chin, she nods, her lekku waving sinuously, "Indeed, the promise of a present is delightful, but to actually recieve? Divine! "
She looks down at the unfortunate Devaronian , thinking, "Did you find a dataslate on him?" she asks Talus
Raden tries to deal a few more times before it sinks in that nothing he says will get him out of taking you to Darga... he leads you across the street to the small warehouse to the north opening the doors to reveal a small speeder that everyone can squeeze into.
2-1B inspects Nomi's wounds in the Medbay, administering an anaesthetic that allows her to stay awake through the procedure, the droid begins to perform surgery. Fusing muscle and skin back together and repairing burnt skin. After about an hour it is done.
Next it tends to Taril's wounds, applying a Medpac first and then continuing with about ten minutes of minor surgery.
With everyone's wounds patched up and the feeling returning to Nomi's body, the group sets off in the air speeder again, Sirona wishing you luck as she carries out some maintenance on the Banshee. Raden's directions take you zooming through the bridge city, weaving in and out of ruined buildings and taking shortcuts through the rubble. The trip to Darga’s palace takes half an hour, and Raden’s winding course leads the team into a dense cluster of buildings that blocks out their view of the Cato Neimoidian sky.
As you approach Darga’s palace, you see that it is cleverly hidden among the ruins of several destroyed Neimoidian palaces. In fact, on first approach, there seems to be nothing of importance in the area. But on closer inspection, it becomes clear that the Hutt’s palace is cobbled together from former Neimoidian estates. The entrance to the palace is a pair of massive blast doors, 5 meters tall and carved with elaborate Hutt runes, set into the front wall. The doors appear to be unguarded.
Kalus approaches the blast doors with the bound Raden. He pounds on the doors, three powerful hits, then waits to see if there is a response.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Avizzi clambers out with the others, rifle in hand and the safety off. He casts a wary eye about, his montrals twitching with anticipation. "Would it be too obvious to say I have a bad feeling about this?"
"We're walking into a Hutt's lair. Bad feelings come with the territory. Hopefully we won't be here too long."
A small communicator set in the door clicks on and a gravely voice speaks in Huttese. " Coo are u um choy, Sa do poonoo unko? "
Avizzi continues to glance around, but he doesn't glance at the battlements with enough attention to notice the thugs' arrival.
Kalus notes the location of the two Nikto before turning to the communicator and responding in Huttese.
"We have found evidence of treachery on the part of one of the illustrious Darga's lieutenants. We have come to present the traitor and our evidence to him, if His Greatness allows it."
Taril complains bitterly throughout the medical droids ministrations, trying in vain to unsettle the droid's very clinical bedside manner.
Whole, she steps off of speeder and with hands on her hips , looks up at the typically overstated Hutt palace.
She grimaces at the communicator's Huttese, obviously not a fan of the language.
She waits, as Kalus talks, allowing the sun to warm her lekku, steeling herself for the typical welcome her kind can expect inside a Hutt palace.
Nomi gives the minutest of nods in the direction of the thugs.
Nomi nods ever so slightly in the direction of the battlements above the door, alerting Taril and Avizzi to the presence of the Nikto thugs.
A small photoreceptor swivels in the comm unit, whirring as it focuses on Kalus and Warrick. " Ha ha ha, Raden... U are noleeya che it ateema. "
With that there is a heavy clank of metal on metal, and the blast doors part to either side. A rush of cold, dry air flows outward from the Hutt’s palace, and a pair of Gamorean guards motion for you to enter and one of them tries to take custody of Raden.
The Gamorean's lead you down a long, dark hallway illuminated at seemingly random intervals by torches set in sconces on the walls. As you pass through the hallway you can't help but feel that something is watching you from the darkness. Unmarked metal doors are set into the walls at various points, and the air is thick with the smell of dust and rotting wood.
Moving deeper into the palace, you get the sense that the building was once bright and beautiful.
Eventually, the Gamoreans lead you toward the soft sound of music and voices, which come from the Hutt’s throne room.
Darga’s throne room is both opulent and repulsive. A thick layer of oddly scented smoke drifts through the air, rising out of braziers in the corners of the room. Once-beautiful tapestries line the walls, though most of them have been torn, burned, or stained to the point that they are almost unrecognizable. A raised dais in the center of the room supports the massive bulk of Darga the Hutt, and behind his dais a large, open balcony seems to extend into darkness.
As you step into the throne room the sounds of conversation and music come to a halt. Silence reigns as every eye turns to watch Raden being led into the throne room along with some new visitors.
Darga's eyes each of you then looks at Raden.
" Raden, Nopa nur estasu do perfidulo sed u koose eksteruloj tah myo tribunalo? "
Raden begins grovelling and pleading in Huttese until the Hutt cuts him off in a booming voice.
" Lasaia! "
Darga summons his protocol droid and addresses you all directly, having the droid translate for him.
" So, you bring one of my own trusted employees before me claiming he is a traitor? Explain to me how you know so much about the inner workings of my organisation? "
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Nice digs..." Nomi says under her breath as they are escorted in. *koff* "Though it needs a good airing out."
Taril steps forward a bit, holding up Raden's dataslate, "Well, Darga , here's the situation. We approached your little pooda here, she says with a derisive nod towards Raden, " 'cause we wanted to meet your augustness. We're a capable crew that wanted to work for the best and the baddest criminal boss in the sector. " here she pauses, giving her lekku a sensual flick, "Anyway, he got all trigger happy, thinking we were trying to horn in on his action. We put down his crew and now we're here...All of his malfeasance is recorded here in this dataslate..."
Finished her spiel, she waits, hip thrust out, her gaze expectant on the slug-like crime boss.
" Oh Ho Ho, " The Hutt booms. " So you want to work for me, hmm? Well you seem resourceful at the least. "
The Hutt makes a gesture and one of his cronies rushes forward to take the Datapad from Taril's hands.
" Guards! " The Gamoreans holding Raden straighten, paying attention. " Take this Bantha Poodu to the dungeons so I can think of his punishment... "
The Hutt twists his massive bulk back to Taril, Kalus, Avizzi and Nomi. " You have, perhaps done me a great service today, exposing Raden's treachery. Why don't you stay in my court for a while, we can get to know one another and perhaps you'll get a chance to show me some more of your skills. Tonight we'll have a banquet, hmm? "
"We appreciate your gracious invitation, mighty Darga, and we look forward to your banquet tonight."
Let's just hope we're not the ones on the menu.
Taril inclines her head to Darga, "You honor us, Darga." she says simply, then turns back to the others and makes a face as if to retch.
She then begins a circuit of Darga's throne room, exchanging greeting here, laughing at a crude joke there, all the while engaging in seemingly meaningless smalltalk....but really trying to glean information on Darga and his secret...Project Sarlacc.
After a few moments' scowling at the prospect of staying in this cesspit for the rest of the day, Avizzi decides to follow Taril's suit. The togruta begins making chatter with the denizens of the 'palace,' mostly aiming for anyone who looks like a trader and engaging them with Bocce. He seems comfortable enough falling into this practice, almost as much as the twi'lek, although his companions recognize a predatory aspect in him even now--hunting in a different sort of wilderness.