Let's go to our left I don't want to walk into an exposed lobby and perhaps a trap".
"You lead. I'll cover our backs either way."
Heads straight across looking for the leaders.
"Lets move!"
Torin yells after Venkru "Come back, you crazy fool."
Jarl grimaces and peers out to see if anyone tries to take a shot at Venkru, if they do he will try to shoot them first.
You march down the corridor towards the offices. No resistance. All guards must be at the doors. Security is REALLY sloppy. You guys find the main offices. As you approach.
You hear voices on the other side of the door. Get closer to listen.
"Something's certainly off here. I just pray we aren't walking into a trap, and it's that the attack caught them unawares."
"Stay back here. I hear some voices, but can't quite here what they are saying." Ellor speaks quietly and will try to move forward stealthily to make out the conversation.
"Someone want to go get the droideka and let the others in the back door?"
Perception
Jarl holds back at Ellor's suggestion and holsters his blaster pistol to heft the blaster rifle now that he has more room to work with.
He looks towards Venkru, "Not me, let's handle what's here on our own and let the droideka handle the downstairs".
Beyond the door you hear people talking.
Voice 1:"We have finished getting the remaining equipment sent to the palace. We have the charges in place."
Voice 2:"Good. Zadora was a fool to betray me. Now get yourselves out of there and fall back to the palace. We will send reinforcements from Lok soon."
Voice 1:"Yes Nym. It will be done. Okay men, pack up, we are leaving!
Ellor moves back to the group. "They're setting up a bomb to make this place go boom, and are about to move out. Time to break up the party, methinks."
Jarl nods to Ellor, "Can you open the door so we can shoot in there?"
"If it's locked by anything other than a computer, I'm not going to be of much use. As bad as it could get very quickly, I suspect our best bet is to bust the door down, and hope they aren't standing right over the bomb. I don't think anyone here is particularly good at non electronic locks."
"He has a point." Torin says.
"Yep, who wants to kick the door down? That's not my department".
It is an electronic lock.
"If they are setting a charge and leaving via the roof, we might be better off getting out of here before the place goes sky-high."
Ellor will sneak up and try to disable the lock so that the party can enter the room.
Failure. DC 25 Comp check. One attempt per person. People who attempt cannot assist.
"One more try an then we got to get out of here the way we came!"
Torin moves to the door. To see if he can open the door. Not seeming able to open the door.
"Alright let's get out of here!"
Jarl starts heading back the way they came anxious to get away from the detonation.
Heading down fast!
Ellor will take the rear again, covering their tail.
You all scatter heading downstairs as fast as you can.
You guys (Presumably, but correct me if I am wrong) head to the back door. You escape out into the alley. No explosions yet. What do you do?
"Get tha droideka an let's get far away!"
Heads for the vehicle to man the guns.
"Shouldn't we warn the others?'
Opens com-link....
"Building rigged to blow! Get away!"
"Satisfied?"
"Works for me."
"Lets go than." Torin says after Venkru informs the others of the bomb.
"Let's get back to our speeders. They musthave some way to escape and I would like to try to catch them if possible".
"Where to?"
"Anywhere that gives us a better vantage point to the roof is my best guess".
You flee the scene quickly but few of the others heed your warning. 5 minutes later. "BOOM!" An explosion erupts from the offices causing great amounts of collateral damage. The fighting stops and it appears your side has won.
As you wait for the smoke to clear a transport lands. It has your markings on it. Time to get paid.
As you approach the craft, more people barrel out of the craft. Only a handful of original attackers remain. After the fresh crew foils out of the craft, Zedora's right hand man Yeebo steps out and approaches the survivors. "All your base are belong to us."
Yeebo nods. "Well done. You all have survived this phase of the attack. The next step happens tomorrow. We storm the palace. Now get some rest."
With this few people against a prepared defense. It's a suicide mission.
If you have nothing to say then Yeebo leaves with nothing more to say.
Knowledge Tactics
"How far is the palace?
Jarl turns to the others giving them a lets chat in private look.
Watching the explosion, Ellor can't help but ponder how desperate the defenders of the palace will be. When Yeebo shows up and explains the next stage of the plan, he can't help but wonder if he may have signed on for the wrong side. Still, without more evidence that the high loss of men came from bad command decisions rather than poor personal decisions on the part of those who died, he wasn't particularly in a position to voice his concerns out loud, despite his grave concerns about assaulting the palace. Even with the droids they "rescued," it wasn't going to be pretty, and it would be necessary to have a plan B ready just in case. Waiting to see if any of the others have any questions, and whatever answers they might get, Ellor waits for a chance to fix the droideka up properly. Catching Jarl's look, it relieves him that he may not be the only one to see the potential stupidity of this plan.
"Why not take the palace now? Before the space-rats that ran from here reinforce the palace. I only like to banish the same opponent once, usually death handles that."
"Taking the entire palace probably isn't possible, but getting an advance team or two in that can prevent them from digging in might make a world of difference when the main force hits tomorrow." Ellor comments thoughtfully on his ally's idea.
Torin shrugs "Sounds like a plan to me."
Yeebo looks at the four of you. "Oh? You want more already do you. Then I guess your volunteering to be the advance for am I right?"
He gestures north at the dunes. "The palace is two hours by skiff in that direction. Feel free to use one of our combat skiffs to get there. I look forward to the results." Yeebo crosses his arms and give you the Rodian equivalent to a dare glare. He is daring you to advance on the palace as you suggested.
You guys feel up to hitting this thing without backup? Good news is that you all do gain a level.
"If nothing else we can hit the vermin that left here and cut off the palace from the rear!"
Looks around at the other mercs...
"Anyone else got the balls to come along, or you waiting for an invitation?"
"Too bad you won't get to see our Droideka in action!"
Ellor, not finding the hostility overly helpful, addresses the rodian quietly, "It's less about what I would want, and more about what is called for in this situation if I do not desire to see it get worse. Right now, it is still possible to cause some havoc before they can fully set their defenses. The more people who go to help do this, the better, but even just the four of us can improve the chances of tomorrow's larger assault." With that, he simply turns his bike to the droideka and the the other half of his team on the other bike, "Come on, we've talked long enough. Time has come to prove our words or prove our worth by dying in the attempt," before heading off toward the palace.
You guys may level now. Report in when your all leveled up.
"Do we hit and run the palace or do we attempt to get inside by joining with our enemies? It might not work but it is something to consider what are the odds that they know everyone in their own organization?"
"I suspect at this point, their numbers are reduced enough that infiltration would be tricky at best, suicidal at worst. I suggest we disrupt any activity around, into, and along the perimeter of the castle, keeping them off balance and making them think they face a much larger force, while identifying weak spots we can enter when the main assault begins to hit them from behind. When fighting with a guerilla sized force, it's best to stick to tactics that best suit that force. Direct assault will be necessary for ultimate victory, but it can only succeed if preceded by feints, distracting subterfuge, and the general sowing of chaos amongst the enemy. I don't suppose anyone picked up some high explosives at the armory? That would make the breaching part much easier when the time came for it."
"This attempt is suicidal anyway based on the forces and equipment we have available to us. I agree that a hit and run tactic is the only way to soften them up succesfully without dying in the process which is why I thought infiltration might be a viable option. I do see your point the probability of success is low. Perhaps there is another way to infiltrate them, if we can get a schematic of the palace, there are often other access points besides the front and back doorsto these typesof structures".
"I would imagine the schematics of the palace of a major crime lord are not easily obtained under the best of conditions, which these are most certainly not. Still, we can keep our eyes open for any alternate entrances that may be hidden in the general area."
"I guess then we have to just go and see what we can do to them while these guys saok in a hot tub and get pedicures."
Torin grins under his breather before saying "Feels good to go back to doing what I use to do."