In the middle of your conversation, the holocommunicator you were given begins to trill. Upon pickup, the grizzled face of Grovan is projected above the device. 'Mandalorians! How is your mission going? Nevermind that. New information. The old fart, Kof? Kosh? Ah, right, Koth. He managed to repair his droidamathing, HK-51 or something, and get him running. That droid is kind of ok, calls everything a meatsack and tries to kill them. We had a few chuckles over that, and we are currently working on replacing his weaponry with up-to-date hardware, and giving him new armor plates, get this, made of beskar. Yeah, we got ourselves a decent amount of beskar, Drang discovered a seam of ore running right through the new well he was digging. Anywho, we will soon have an indestructible assassin droid doing our bidding. Ok, back to my main purpose in calling. The droid managed to connect with his counterpart, HK-55, over a subspace frequency. The droid, or should I say droids, are expecting you. Still active after all these years, who knew. We even got a location for you. You make it to Sobrik yet? Once you get there, find a speeder to rent, we will reimburse you. If there are no speeders to rent, steal one, I don't care. The droid is expecting you. Go two-hunnerd and fifty klicks to the north, there should be a low, rounded hill a dozen meters or so tall. Approach, and have a black and pink flag flying from your speeder for identification purposes. Otherwise he will kill you. The droid has some sort of mission for you to accomplish before he will leave the planet with you, however. Good luck. Survive this, and we have four brand new suits of beskar sitting here for you.'
As you talk about the droid, and the museum, the elderly Bothan, who introduces himself as Eramus Bwa’a’tu, overhears your conversation and gives you directions to the museum. He also doesn’t know about any droid factory, though he points you to one of his friends, a Rodian scrap dealer named Rev, who makes scrap runs south of the city, and could perhaps have knowledge of the factory.
--At the Museum—
You arrive at the museum, which is housed in the ancient spaceport. You are charged a fee of 10 credits per person for the guided tour. You are kindly asked by the attendant to store your weapons inside a number of lockers inside the main doors. The tour guide, a cleanly polished fluorescent green protocol droid leads you through the museum, speaking in a tinny, annoying droid voice. The droid leads you into the main hall of the museum, which is filled with dozens of deactivated combat droids. The droid drones on, giving you the make and model number of each droid, explaining that these droids were all made or found on Balmorra, and when and who they were built for. You are led into a second hall, one filled with protocol and servant models, and then a third, filled with hundreds of failed prototypes. The final hall is labeled, on a sign above the door, Hall of the Unknown. This room is smaller, but is filled with 82 droids that the museum has not been able to properly identify, or activate in order to gain more information. Of the 82 droids, all but four are either not the correct age, or don’t fit the profile of an extremely advanced combat/assassin droid, or have any resemblance to the HK series droid you encountered on Mandalore. The protocol droid leads you back to the entrance, where you are allowed to retrieve your weapons and leave. You exit into the fresh-ish air, and may proceed wherever you like. The scrap dealer should be in the market, and there is local food available there.
The journey to Sobrik is uneventful. Several times you see small groups of people, but each time they scatter into the distance as soon as they see your armaments. When you enter the city, it is clear that even though it is in ruins, it is very much alive. As the wee hours of the morning dawn, you locate a small hovel with several rooms for rent for mere credits per night. A cheerful Bothan and his wife wave you inside and offer you a couple rooms for the remainder of the night, giving you this first night free of charge, because the night is nearly over, and your group looks exhausted.
When the dust settles, you find yourselves picking through the wreckage, looking for survivors and salvageable equipment. Most of the survivors are injured, but mobile. The pilot looks through the survivors, pausing at each to assess their injuries. She sets, binds, and splints various injuries, but also drives her combat knife between the ribs and into the heart of three survivors, one with a crushed ribcage, one with lungs filling with fluid, and the last being impaled through the chest by a jagged piece of durasteel, taking the corpses and laying them out in a line, ready to be laid to rest. When she reaches the dead woman, she fumbles with the woman’s belt, pulling the holster off the belt, a beautiful, ornate holster carrying an old, ornate blaster pistol. She moves to a waking Samuels, pulls him to his feet, and hands the pistol to him, grip first. ’Samuels, Zor is dead. You now lead the Warboys.’
Samuels moves over to your group, looking you over, viewing the minor injuries, and tosses half a dozen medpacks to your feet. ’You’re lookin’ for a droid?’ He points towards the east, ’Sobrik is four miles that way. The people there may or may not help you. There is an old droid museum there, and a droid factory to the south, check there for your droid.’ He then levels his blaster at you, ’Now go. We could have gotten away with a single loss, your stupid acts caused us to lose nine. Go. We will help you no further.’
The shockwave hits, sending the Juggernaut tumbling. The tank gets ripped to shreds, with much of its shattered insides exposed to the outside air. Anything not secured goes flying, including Vyr, Tarros and Axel. Vyr, while securing his load to a couch, manages to hang on to her arm, but still slams painfully into a flying sheet of metal, knocked loose during the tumble. 6 points damage. Axel loses his grip as the harness he grabbed frays under the strain, getting flung into a wall support and losing consciousness. 11 points damage and a fractured rib (not broken). Tarros suffers worst of all. The support he grabs simply lets go of its welds when the shockwave hits, and he is flung dozens of feet from the tank. He tumbles into a rock, his left hand breaking his slide, getting crushed between the rock and himself. 16 points damage, plus the smallest 2 fingers on his left hand are broken. Tarros stays conscious, and watches the tank tumble and slide another hundred feet farther down the road. The pain causes him to pass out shortly after.
Anders is able to maintain his grip on the handhold until the rear ramp of the tank lets loose from it's latches, and he falls onto it, when it dislodges completely from the tank and slides to a stop a dozen meters behind the tank wreckage. He sees his friends meet their painful fates, but also witnesses the death of 5 other people inside the tank.
After everything has come to a stop, Anders and Vyr, the only apparent conscious survivors of the wreck pick their way through the wreckage.The find Axel shortly, out cold, and not awake. He will wake when he posts, same with Tarros. Most of the injuries are relatively minor, as the healthy people aboard the tank were mainly able to grab hold of something before the crash. The woman piloting the tank stumbles from the cockpit, a large gash down the side of her face, and holding a dislocated arm with her other. Samuels is found out cold, but otherwise uninjured, but the other lady, the one Vyr rescued, is found with her neck leaning loosely at an unnatural angle. This seems a blessing because, with a closer examination, her stab wound is found to have been through her lung, which would have led to her death in mere hours. Plus, her left arm is found a dozen feet away, severed at the shoulder, though it is clear that it was cut by a jagged piece of metal, and not torn asunder because Vyr was holding onto it.
The moment that Vyr drags the woman onto the ramp, Samuels slaps the door control, which causes the ramp to rise towards it's closed position, and the rescuers are dragged off the ramp as the tank lurches into gear, ancient tires squealing and tired suspension unable to soften even the slightest bump. The juggernaut smashes through the bottom of the rising garage door, tearing a massive hole through it, but also ripping the comms antennae and the remaining laser cannon from the outer hull. A scream is heard as the soldier manning the turret is flung against the floor of the tank, a dislocated shoulder hanging limply at his side. A muffled thump is heard as the tank bounces over a boulder, blowing out a tire, and throwing anything unsecured in the air. This goes on for almost two minutes, when an explosion is felt through the ground. The injured have been secured, and all that can be done now is to hold onto something tight and hope the shockwave doesn't still carry enough destructive power to destroy the tank.
I would like a strength check from you all in your next posts, to find out if you are able to maintain your grip on whatever you grab onto, be it a part of the tank, or another person.
A large number of enemy troops congregate in the hallway behind the four new arrivals, just as Axel reaches them. The unleash a withering barrage of firepower at the group, though the majority of it flies overhead or is absorbed by armor. One of the soldiers turns and flings a grenade into the mass of enemies, felling a half dozen or so, though more appear behind. This soldier is hit by numerous bolts, most splashing harmlessly across his armor, though one hits him in the back of the armor knee joint as he turns, causing him to stumble and fall. Samuels, the mechanic, quickly hoists him across his shoulders and begins carrying him to the tank. When the group reaches a cross-passageway, the last remaining uninjured soldier stops, and unslings a large blaster and begins sending wave after wave of blaster fire, cutting down the front ranks of enemies. Axel and Samuels, and their loads, reach the tank and dash in, depositing the injured men on crash couches. The last soldier turns to make her dash to the tank, drops her weapon, and begins running. She is hit by a half dozen bolts, to which she slows, stumbles, then regains her feet and continues running. Her head swivels from side to side when she reaches another cross-passage, scant feet before he reaches the garage, and a look of panic crosses her face, as a figure steps out, and she is impaled upon the sword blade he lowers at her. She falls to the ground, and the enemy who impaled her gets hit by dozens of bolts from his own troops, and falls to the ground dead. She pulls the blade from her torso, and begins pulling herself along the ground toward the tank, a bright red smear of blood being left behind her.
Time is up, you should be leaving now. The soldier is close enough now to recognize as being the woman you first encountered within the base, and the one that Vyr spoke to earlier when you were split up. If you would like to bring her aboard, it would take a single person 2 rounds to reach her and bring her aboard. You would not get clear of the blast radius if this is done, though you would be far enough away that most of the explosive force would be dissipated when it hits you, you would only be hit by the shockwave, any explosion/shrapnel would not reach you. Make your choice, leave now, without saving her, and escape without major harm, or rescue her and have a moderate chance of harm.
The last enemy disappears around a corner. The garage falls silent. For one long minute, nothing happens. More time passes, leaving only seconds until you depart.
--Inside the Tank--
The man is holding his injured arm, and speaks through clenched teeth. 'Ready to go... Just need to wait for... Samuels to arrive...two-and-a-half minutes... until the blow.'
6 rounds until departure.
Shortly before the time to leave, you see the mechanic, Samuels, appear at the end of the passageway. He is leading 3 other soldiers with him, one of which is slumped over the shoulders of the two others, being carried. At the rate they are moving, it will take a good minute for them to arrive.
The advancing ED takes three shots, one to a leg, one to his sword arm, and one nasty one straight to the throat, dropping him like a sack of nerf-nuts.
The other fires a shot at Tarros, landing a glancing blow. 13 damage. He then screams something into his comlink, before turning and running from the garage.
ED is still within sight, though Axel would no longer be able to fire at him from his position inside the tank.
-Inside the tank-
Axel finds a man leaning heavily against a crash couch beside a partition a few feet inside the tank. He has a nasty-looking blaster burn on his left arm, painful, but not life-threatening.
All of your shots fly above the merc's heads, traveling ineffectively into the garage wall. ED's 1 and 2 both take aim and fire.
ED1's shot thunks harmlessly into the tank ramp, but ED2's bolt thud's into Axel's back as he scrambles up the ramp. Axel is no longer benefiting from the cover. Axel takes 12 points of damage. ED2 exits cover and begins advancing toward the ramp, unsheathing a medium length blade from a shoulder scabbard.
Before ED is able to unleash a second shot, your bolts bring him down. 24 rounds until departure
18 seconds pass. 21 rounds until departure.
Two more soldiers enter the garage, with a swarm of soldiers just now visible at the far end of the corridor leading out of the garage. The two close ones open fire. ED1 and ED2
One bolt catches Anders on the arm, dealing 11 points of damage (stun). The second, from ED2, misses all the party members, and flies into the open rear of the tank, and a scream of pain emanates from the tank an instant later.
ED1 and ED2 sprint into the garage and take cover behind some small boxes. The now have the same cover as you.
Your thunderous fusillade of blaster bolts plows into the line of men, shredding armor and instantly cauterizing wounds. All seven are blasted to the ground, and smoke wafts into the air. The smell of scorched flesh fills the air, and you move on.
You go through the last door to the garage, four and a half minutes before the self destruct goes off, and see a venerable old A5 Juggernaut tank sitting in the middle of the garage. It is old, rusted, and the primary turret has been removed. It sits on saggy suspension, and it is evident that the suspension underneath at least two of the five wheels on the side visible to you has collapsed. The second tire from the rear is also flat.
The loading ramp is down, and there is a woman standing on it, blaster at the ready. Axel will recognize her as the woman he spoke with earlier. She is waving at you, and starts yelling when you get close. 'Good to see you! Cover the ramp!' When you reach the juggernaut, she speaks again. 'Samuels on his way? Nevermind, we won't leave without him. Cover the rear, I'm going to fire this old girl up. We leave in two-point-five minutes, you need to defend us that long.'
She heads into the tank, leaving you to defend. You see a single enemy walk in. He really looks like an evil dude. We will call him ED. He fires of a shot at Vyr as he approaches, missing by a hair's margin.
Anders leads you down the hallways, opening several bulkhead doors along the way. Just before the garage, you run into seven thugs wielding blaster rifles. As soon as they see you, they open fire on your group.
The passageway is 2 meters wide, they are 15 meters down the passage. They are firing on autofire, you are all in the affected areas. 1 and 2 are firing at Anders in front, 3 and 4 are firing at Vyr, 5 is firing at Axel, and 6 and 7 are firing at Tarros.
Atk and Dmg Thug 1:1d20 - 1 ⇒ (15) - 1 = 143d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 6) = 12 Atk and Dmg Thug 2:1d20 - 1 ⇒ (7) - 1 = 63d6 ⇒ (6, 5, 6) = 17 Atk and Dmg Thug 3:1d20 - 1 ⇒ (19) - 1 = 183d6 ⇒ (4, 5, 2) = 11 Atk and Dmg Thug 4:1d20 - 1 ⇒ (5) - 1 = 43d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 4) = 9 Atk and Dmg Thug 5:1d20 - 1 ⇒ (15) - 1 = 143d6 ⇒ (4, 4, 4) = 12 Atk and Dmg Thug 6:1d20 - 1 ⇒ (17) - 1 = 163d6 ⇒ (3, 1, 3) = 7 Atk and Dmg Thug 7:1d20 - 1 ⇒ (6) - 1 = 53d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 1) = 8
The door is thrown open, and standing there is the mechanic Anders spoke with hours ago. There are 3 guards with him. He tosses a bundle containing all your weapons and equipment to the floor. 'Get up. The base has been attacked, we are evacuating. We have ten minutes before the self-destruct goes off. Follow me, Magnus is waiting.' He gives you a few moments to gather your things, before some loud shouts come from down the hall. He raises his pistol and squeezes off several shots down the hall.
Once you are geared up, he speaks again, gruffly. 'Nine minutes. Come.' He then moves down the hall, toward where his bolts went seconds ago. You follow him down the hall, stepping over two corpses, still smoking from the bolts that felled them. You are led through several hallways, when he suddenly stops you, and begins listening to his comlink. After a few moments, he speaks into the communications device, 'Affirmative, on our way.'
He steps to Anders, and asks him a question. 'Do you remember the route to the garage?' At Anders' nod, he pulls out a small flimsi card, and hands it to you. On it is written a single sequence of nine numbers, 592702749. 'This code will allow you through all doors in the base. I have to go help some people in trouble. Get to the garage. There are people there that will get you out. Wait for me, but if I am not there two minutes before the boom, get out. You will need that time to get clear.' He, and the three guards then set off at a run, back down the corridor.
There is now 7 minutes until the self-destruct goes off. At a run, it will take 2 minutes to reach the garage, where help is waiting.
Several hours pass, until it is well after midnight. IF any of you remain awake, you suddenly hear several muffled explosions, immediately followed by a loud, wailing klaxon echoing across the base. These sirens are loud enough to instantly wake any sleeping person. This is shortly followed by more explosions, these close or powerful enough to shake the mountain. Over the next half hour, you can hear many troops running through the halls, and many explosions.
Suddenly, it calms down. The explosions stop, though the sirens continue to wail. After a few minutes, you hear someone undoing the locks and latches on the outside of the door to your room.
After a few moments you are all escorted by your questioners back to the main control room, where you were first questioned. All except for Tarros.
For Tarros, the images of the men sneaking up on the group fizzle and disappear, being shown to be nothing more than computer trickery. You are then brought to your friends.
As a group, you are brought to another smaller room, this one much nicer than the first one you were put in. This room has four nice cots, no smell, and the refresher in a separate room at the back, and there is no hole in the ground. After you enter the room, however, the door is still closed, and locked.
The door is flung open, and four guards stand outside. When they see the situation in the room, they burst into laughter at the sight of Axel's legs poking out of the ground. 'He'll need the hose.' One of them mutters, before they pull Vyr, Tarros, and Anders out of the room, and roughly yank Axel from the hole and escort him out as well.
They escort you to the main hall, where they separate you, and bring each of you to a different part of the base.
Vyr:
You are escorted to a large room several floors up. This room looks to be in much better shape than most the base, though it is constructed of the same materials. Two guards accompany you into the room, and the room begins to rise, turns out, it is a large freight elevator. Once at the top, you are left alone on top of the hill the base is in, alone with the same lady that interrogated you earlier. The guards pat you down again, this time removing your outer cloak, and locating the blaster you hid earlier. They remove the charge pack, and leave the weapon with you, now rendered useless. They then take the trip back down, leaving you there. Without turning to look at you, the woman begins speaking. 'We have decided, you must not be a part of the gang we rescued you from earlier. You are too well equipped for that gang. That means, you must be part of another gang, one we are not aware of yet, and one that we are ill-equipped to deal with.' She turns to face you and continues speaking. 'What I would like to do is make a deal. You tell me which gang faction you belong to, where your base of operations is, how to get in and destroy it, and your true purpose for being in the hills earlier. You tell me this, and you will be free, though I will execute your companions.'
Anders:
You are brought to the base's garage. With guards standing nearby, a thickset, short male Cathar approaches you. Wiping grease from his hands, and tossing the rag aside, he greets you, and shakes your hand (if you allow it). He grabs a couple of hydrospanners, and tosses one to you. 'Know anything about fusion engines?' He then leads you over to a armored personnel carrier and begins working. 'Check the tire pressures.' He commands, and continues talking. 'We had a meeting, and decided you are not enemies. Well, I decided myself you are not, our leader still has doubts. You're here so I can offer you a deal. Tell us your true reason for being here, and where you come from, and if you do belong to a rival gang, and we will let you go. Of course, your companions will remain behind, to be done with as we see fit.'
Axel:
After escorting you outside, and blasting you off with a high-pressure hose, you are brought, dripping wet, to a firing range, where several soldiers are working on their marksmanship. You are given a blaster, and you quickly note that it has been locked into it's lowest power setting, where it wouldn't give a fly a sunburn. Another female, this one carrying a multitude of weapons, points you to a firing booth. Numerous targets are set up in an open field, some moving, some not. She lies prone beside you on the ground, and begins picking off targets, one by one. 'So buddy, what do you call yourself? You have the look of a soldier about you. You can't hurt anyone with that blaster, but you can do some target shooting. Seen much action?' She takes a few shots over the next minute, not saying much, and allowing you a chance to respond. 'I've got some more questions for you, if you don't mind. What part of the galaxy you hail from? You don't look like someone who's spent time here? Plus, then you would have known not to intrude on the Sand Rat's territory, or ours, for that matter. Ye'r companions said ye were lookin fer a droid of some sort? This planet hasn't produced droids for decades, why do ya come now?'
Tarros:
You are brought to a state of the art security station, with cam views from all over the base. You are shoved inside, then left alone in the room. There are no controls you can see, just the screens. You see Vyr outside talking to your greeter, Anders with a mechanic, and Axel out at a firing range. These views all are without sound. Unknown to your companions, each of them is being approached by a figure wielding wicked looking knives or pistols. A voice booms out of the shadows of the room. Your friends will die if you do not tell the truth. Who you represent, where you are from, what you are doing here, why you trespassed on our land, and what do you know about the ship we saw land near the Rat's territory yesterday? All these answers we need. You have one minute to tell the truth, or your friends die.'
Axel squirms down into the small hole, which drops around 1.5 meters, before abruptly leveling off into a tunnel stretching off in one direction. Another foul stench permeates this tunnel, this one the sickly sweet smell of a corpse several weeks dead. Lo and behold, there is a large corpse of a humanoid man crammed into the tunnel, blocking it. What makes it creepier, is that the corpse is wiggling.
DC15 Perception:
You see an antennae poking out of the chest cavity. You also hear sounds of eating.
--Up in the room--
As Axel explores the hole, after several moments, you begin to hear noises outside the door. It sounds like the locks are being removed.
She snaps her fingers, and several more guards step forward to drag you by the shoulders to a small room, with 1 cot, and a dirty refresher unit in one corner. This time they remove your weapons, pat you down to search for any hidden items, and remove them from your person. A DC20 Stealth check will allow you to keep a single weapon that would be considered light for you.
You are roughly shoved into the room, where the door is then closed, and locked from the outside. The room measures 4 meters on a side, and 2.5 meters high. The cot is worn and threadbare, with the bedsprings showing through the mattress. It sags almost to the floor if anyone puts their weight on it. The refresher does not flush, and smells terrible. The stench fills the entire room, and causes an assault on your senses. In the center of the room is a half-meter wide hole, which curves down to a tight tunnel several feet below ground.
Stench(vs. Fort):1d20 + 15 ⇒ (3) + 15 = 18 Anyone who this succeeds against, moves down 2 steps on the condition track, feeling nauseated. This lasts until you remove the condition, or until half an hour has passed, when you become used to the smell.
She seems satisfied with Tarros' answer, having correlated with Vyr's, though she still grabs Tarros by the collar of his shirt, lifts him off the ground with surprising strength, and tosses him to land on his backside on the crumbling permacrete floor.
She moves to Axel, looks at him, crinkles her nose, and knees him in the groin, without asking any questions.
Moving on to Anders, she stares at him for several moments, then signals someone behind him. A massive Houk materializes out of the shadows, and grabs Anders from behind. The female licks her lips, speaking, 'My, my, you're a cute one, aren't you? Now, how strongly do your loyalties lie to your gang? You're better looking than most of the rabble they recruit.' She runs her finger down his face, tracing the jawline as she reaches the chin. With a jerk, she slices a small cut into Anders' chin with her fingernail, drawing a small amount of blood. No damage. She licks this blood off her finger, and utters a low chuckle. 'Now lets say I believe the lies your companions told me. Why would I help you find a droid? Why indeed, when we could find this droid on our own, and use it to our advantage? A Hunter-Killer is always a good asset to a fighting force, even if it is 4000 years old. How do you know we haven't done that already?'
You are led for several minutes into the hills, where you are loaded onto a bench, and transported via speeder to distant location. When you land, your blinders are removed, and you are led, hands still bound, into a control center. A guard then removes the bindings, freeing your hands.
The same female figure from before approaches you, and removes her helmet. 'Welcome to Bugtown, idiots. Why are you here? We are currently in conflict with large numbers of bandits.'
She walks to Vyr, and places her pistol barrel against your forehead. 'Again, why are you here? Why are you claiming to be looking for a long-defunct droid unit. That line was decommissioned four millenia ago. And, it was never manufactured here. NOW! TELL ME WHY YOU ARE HERE!' Her finger begins tightening on the trigger, as she pauses for you to speak.
No snipers are visible in the scrub surrounding the path.
The female lowers her blaster imperceptibly, firing a single shot into the dirt at Vyr's feet. She makes a motion with her hand, and four expertly camouflaged figures with large blasters rise out of the brush, and secure your hands behind your backs with plasteel binders. Your weapons are left in place, or slung over your shoulders.
The female speaks again, in response to the obvious disapproval on your faces. 'Just a precaution. You will be blinded. Our destination is classified. You will follow.'
Blindfolds are placed, covering your eyes, and you are led off into the hills.
After around two hours of a steady jog into the mountains, a number of blaster bolts start pinging off the rock in front of you. Four figures step out of the rocky ridges bordering the path and level blasters at you. They each fire three shots through the group of you, in quick order. A glance behind shows a full dozen men, each dropping to the ground with a single blaster burn in the center of their foreheads. The blasters are again leveled at you, and two of the figures stride behind you, warily watching you, but focusing their main attention back down the path.
'HALT! What is your purpose here?' The lead figure demands of you in a female voice. 'You are surrounded. We have four snipers training their weapons on you at this moment, in addition to us.'
Once everyone gets safely to the ledge, the ascent can begin. Several minutes later, as you are edging ever upwards, you hear a startled scream from below. If you glance down, you can see that one of the guards has disappeared, and two of the remaining three are firing their blasters madly into the cavernous tunnel. The final guard is struggling haplessly to drag the large cannon around to face into the tunnel. Before he is able to succeed, however, a thin tentacle extends from the tunnel, grabs him, and drags him to his doom. Over the next several seconds, more tentacles reach out and snag the remaining guards. Before long, a large group of men begin rushing from the small camp, to attempt to lend aid to their comrades. Several men glance up at the cliff face while running, spotting the group of you. With a shout of 'Intruders!' a half dozen of the two dozen men snap off a quick couple of shots at you. The shots all hit the cliff harmlessly above your heads, sending small showers of pebbles down on you. Before they fire more, a second shout of 'Get them later!' they all then focus their fire on the tunnel mouth. You are able to finish the ascent just after they kill the thing in the cave, just in time to see several men break off from the larger group, and begin an ascent via the same path you just came up on. You are around half an hour ahead of these first pursuers. At the top of the cliff, a wide, rough path winds its way into the hills to the north, leading more or less to the city of Sobrik.
Night falls, and the guard around the tunnel changes. The day guard of 7 leaves, and a smaller group of 4 replaces them. The day guard heads to a small camp a small distance east of the tunnel entrance. As you carefully make your way towards the cliff face, you can see that there is no longer anyone operating the turret, and the guards are spending just as much time watching the inside of the tunnel, as the approach. When you arrive at the path, you can see that it is very treacherous indeed, being barely half a meter wide, and ascending for the first 15 meters at a slope of around 60 degrees off the ground.
Climb checks will be required, until you reach the more level area 15+ meters up, DC15 climb checks will be required to climb the slippery slope. Once 15 meters is reached, you will be able to take 20 on your climb checks. I will require one check per 5 meters of the 60 degree slope. If you fail by less than 5, you manage to cling on, though you will not get higher. If you fail by more than 5, you fall, taking 1d6 points of damage for each 5 meters of height. This means for the first interval of 5 meters, no damage, second interval, 1d6, and so on. Once 15 meters is reached, the climb becomes easier, and you will not fall.
Tarros sees a group of figures clustered around the tunnel mouth. He counts 6 figures, all armed, with a 7th manning a small assault cannon. They are likely members of one of the multiple raider gangs that frequent the area. While scanning the area, he also sees what might be a route up the cliff face, though it is little more than a goat path, and would be perilous to climb, however, under the cover of night, reaching it would be an easy possibility, though scaling it at night carries its own set of risks.
The afternoon wears on as you travel towards the ruins. Just as night begins to fall, you arrive at the base of the mountains. Luckily, Tarros finds what looks like an ancient tunnel hewn into the rock, traveling in the direction of the city ruins. Starting from several miles off, there are the remains of ancient rails, used for transporting large quantities of material to the city for droid production. Around a mile from the tunnel, which is quite large and can be seen from several miles away, Vyr spots movement around the tunnel mouth, and brings the party to a temporary halt.
Stuff Happens:1d12 ⇒ 7 Multiple of 3? No, stuff doesn't happen.
Sel aims the freighter at a small clearing a dozen kilometers south of the city ruins. She expertly brings it to a hover a meter above the ground, and lowers the boarding ramp. She passes Vyr a scrap of flimsi, on it is written the frequency to contact via comlink when you need pickup. With a 'K'oyacyi!' she waves you out of the ship, and flies off, to complete her own mission.
The clearing is barren ground with some small boulders littering the ground. There is a crashed speeder in the center of the clearing, and now on the ground, you can see there is a small mountain range to the north, which will need to be traversed to enter the city. It looks like it will take a fair bit longer than your estimated half day to reach the ruins.
Arrival at Balmorra: The freighter drops out of hyperspace, replacing the hypnotic blue whorls of hyperspace with inky black, studded with stars and, directly in front of the ship, a large, rocky planet, with several large bodies of water surrounded by a planetary continent. Having been a droid producing factory world for millenia, the planet has several large cities visible from orbit, and lifeless, brown wastes consuming the bulk of the planet.
Moments after exiting hyperspace, a message is received over the holonet addressed to you. It informs you that the complex you are searching for was located under a mountain near the ancient Sith capital city of Sobrik, 3700 years ago. The city is now in ruins, and inhabited by the planet's lower class, and is often assaulted by the various raiders and scavenger gangs located around the area. Some areas still have ancient droids functioning, patrolling the hallways and perimeters of long-lost fortresses and factories.
Sel scans the area around Sobrik from orbit, and finds a small area a half days journey from the city that she would be able to land at and let you off, however, it would be a hazardous journey to attempt on foot, as there are no small vehicles in the area, or aboard the ship. She also gives you the option of being dropped off at Bin Prime, the capital city, where there would be any number of shops to purchase supplies, or rent a landspeeder to get you to Sobrik. From Bin Prime, it would be impossible to travel to Sobrik on foot, though it would be a two and a half day journey via speeder. She gives you a small amount of credits, in the amount of 1500 credits.
I need to know where you want to be dropped off. Sobrik is not hostile, though the lands around it are. Any journey, on foot or speeder, have risks.
Tryyk pilots the speeder to the spaceport, where you are invited aboard his personal ship, a modified light freighter named the 'Wua ga ma uma ahuma ooma.' Tryyk explains his choice of ship name for you, in Shyriiwook, and bursts into a fit of Wookiee laughter at the end. Sel explains when he finishes, translating the name into Basic, and telling you 'He thinks it's funny, just let him be.' The name, translated means: 'I think my arm has been pulled out of the socket.'
Once aboard the ship you can settle into the basic quarters that have been assigned to you, as it will be a 2 day journey in hyperspace to reach Balmorra. The ship has all the basic needs covered, including a workbench where Anders may employ the use of his Tech Specialist? feat.
Koth replies to Vyr: 'I gave you the planet, right? Go talk to wierd-beard over there,' he points towards Grovan, 'he will get you outfitted and prepared to go. By the time you arrive, I should have finished with the rest of the translation, and will have sent it to you. That should help with the location.'
Moving over to speak to Grovan, he leads you to a large room in the basement of the house, a room that you have not been allowed into as of yet. He orders you to wait outside the door, and he enters, and spends several minutes inside.
DC 15 Perception:
This successful check allows you to see for a couple seconds inside the room, before Grovan closes the door. Inside you see several armor stands, as well as several weapons racks.
He emerges after several minutes, holding a crate in his hands. He leads you to a large table set up outside the barn. 'Now, we are sending you on your first mission for the clan. We are not being paid by Koth to proceed on his quest, but this is an important quest. We have a chance through this to earn much honor and glory for not only Clan Revik, but the Mandalorian people as a whole. We have brought this quest to the attention of the Mand'alor, Boba Fett, and he has arranged for generous compensation to be awarded the clan if we succeed. For this first mission, you will not be paid. Not in credits. You will earn your place in the clan if you are successful.' He pauses for several seconds to let that sink in, then continues. 'Sel and Tryyk have missions of their own to accomplish around the Balmorra system, and have agreed to provide you passage to the planet. Now though, we can't send you out into the dangerous galaxy, representing Mandalorians, in the shape you are in, you need proper gear.' He opens the crate, and pulls out numerous weapons and other gear.
He pulls out four sets of armored flight suits, and tosses one to each of you. He then picks up a couple weapons from the crate, he gives each of you a BlasTech DH-23 blaster pistol, and an Assault Blaster rifle. He then hands Vyr and Tarros each a Survival Knife, and to both Axel and Anders, he gives a War Sword.
'Now go! Sel and Tryyk are waiting at the speeder!'
Gear stats:
Armored Flight Suit:+5 to Reflex, +2 equipment bonus to Fort, +3 max dex, 10kg
Blastech DH-23: size - small, ROF-S, damage-3d6, type-E, stun-yes, 1kg
Assault Blaster Rifle: size-large, ROF-S,A, damage-3d8, type-E, stun-yes, 5kg
Survival Knife: size-small, damage-1d6, type-S, 1.4kg
War Sword: size-medium, damage-1d8, type-S/P, 2kg
The weapons and armor have no mods, you get enough blaster charge packs so that you don't need to worry about running out of ammo.
The rest of the evening, and night pass. The next day Grovan informs you that Koth has awoken, and has started decrypting the pages. Later that same afternoon, you are summoned to his chamber, where he informs you that he has determined the planet to which you must go, Balmorra.
'Ah kriff. The galaxy forgot. The Outlander was a great warrior who fought against the Immortal Emperor and his son, Arcann. I was part of his crew. A Jedi Knight, denied ascension to the rank of Jedi Master after his supposed defeat of the Emperor on Dromuund Kaas, due to the darkness contained in his soul, gathered there from years of combating the Empire's darkness. The Infinite Empire rose up, and this Jedi took on the mantle of the Outlander, prophesied hero who would bring this, both new and ancient, empire to it's knees. This hero took on this task in order to redeem himself, and to cleanse the darkness from his soul. We were not able to fulfill his destiny at the time, and were decimated by the Infinite Empire's forces. Only the Outlander, Senya, 51, 55, Lana and I escaped, though at the cost of the Tombstone, a legendary ship capable of laying utter waste to the Empire's fleets. We went into hiding, I, here on Mandalore, and the others on other planets, to seal ourselves in Stasis until a new group of heroes rises up to help complete our work. You must find the Outlander, and work alongside him to fufill his destiny, or if he is dead, to take on the burden of the Outlander, and fulfill your own destinies. I only have the location of one of the others, 55, and I will need time to decode that information.' He pulls a single page from his vest, it looks to be torn out of a book, and is the same material as the pages in the tome you recovered.
'I will need my book to decipher the location. I suppose you defeated 51 on your way into my chamber, is he still in repairable condition? He was a friend, and I would much enjoy the chance to repair him to working condition. Is it possible for his parts to be recovered? My name is Koth, by the way.' With that said, he collapses back into the bed. Tryyk quickly examines him, and tells you that he is merely asleep (through a translator if nobody understands Shyriiwook).
'Ur-Kaa Grotthu! Haa, neyo la yud masur kee, tah uhnah kahru lur shu.' He speaks several phrases in a gruff language unknown to all of you, though Trask, who has been standing just outside the door, flinches at hearing these menacing sounding words spoken out loud.
'I would be wary, young one, saying such things to someone you know nothing about, least of all a veteran of the Great Sith War, one of few to face the immortal Sith Emperor and survive.' He growls these words to Anders, while seeming to gain some strength, sitting higher up in the bed after mentioning his accomplishments.
'Now, you say you know nothing of my work. How is this? Were you not sent to test yourself, and find if you are worthy to take on my work? Were you not educated about the Outlander? Please, tell me you didn't stumble upon my resting place accidentally.' The last sentence is spoken in a annoyed, disappointed tone.
Once everyone is piled upon the speeder, Trask takes off in the direction of the farm.
When you arrive back at the farm, Tryyk comes out to take charge of the unconscious man. The bring him into the house, and Gren gives you some mundane chores to do. Trask goes over to Xin and Yarbe, and speaks to them for several minutes, which prompts them to enter their homes, and exit several minutes later, outfitted in full armor and weaponry. They mount several swoop bikes, and roar off back in the direction you came from.
........ A short while later ...........
Serena approaches the group from the house, addressing you as a group. 'He's awake. He wishes to speak with the people who woke him. Follow.' She leads you to the house, and into a room, where the ancient man sits in a bed, being tended to by Tryyk.
The ladder seems to be sturdy, being made of a highly durable metal that has not eroded or weakened while it has been here. Looking up, Tarros can see that there is a hatch at the top, with several holes rotted through that allow slivers of light to enter the shaft. A quick climb to the top reveals the exit to the complex, through a bush. A look around shows you that you are on the opposite side of the hill you were on, and a short distance to the south, you can see where you began the hunt. It looks to be about 2 kilometers away.
.................................................
Meanwhile, back in the room, a close examination of the man shows that he has no physical injuries to speak of, and that he is simply a very old man who passed out from exhaustion, and the effects of the stasis revival. There is no reason to expend medpacks on him, it will just be a matter of waiting for him to wake up.
The pod hisses, and a vast amount of dust poofs up into the air when the code is entered. A seam opens along the length of the pod, and it opens, doors swinging up and to the sides. Inside is the rest of the man. After a few moments, his mouth heaves open, as he gasps for breath. A few moments of heavy breathing later, his eyes flutter open. His mouth opens and closes, as if trying to say something, but no sound comes out. His hand fumbles with a control inside the pod, and then collapses back into the pod. His steady breathing indicate that he has passed out. A panel on the back wall whisks open, revealing a small chamber with a ladder ascending skyward.
Upon the table is a pile of hardcopy books and manuscripts, most of which disintegrate upon Vyr's removal of the dust. A single volume survives, an ancient, leather-bound book, emblazoned with a strange crest. A cursory glance through the pages reveals the secret behind the book's survival: the sheets are not made of normal flimsiplast, as were the rest of the table's contents. The pages are instead made of some sort of dried animal skin, which, being quite thick, make this volume seem large, despite only having a couple dozen pages. Many of the pages contain drawings, with words and descriptions written in basic upon them. This book seems to detail the construction and hiding of this complex. The last page has been removed, and the page before is different from the whole of the book. Upon it is written several sentences.
It reads: "I will seal myself inside this chamber, for as long as it takes, until someone who is able to defeat the droid and grenade wall trap finds this place and revives me."
The next several lines are illegible, then continue: "If that empire were to rise again, under his rule, the galaxy is doomed. For those who find me here, the code to open the pod and revive me is MURDOC. I can only hope those who come are able to finish the work of the Outlander."
In the center of the room, Anders is furiously wiping dust from the pod. He reveals the glowing console, a keypad, and a small portal at the top, allowing for a view inside. The transparisteel is thick and grimy, not allowing for much of a view inside. What can be seen is an old man. Extremely old. The man has thin white hair covering the top of his head, and a thin white goatee on his chin. He has no apparent injuries, though the portal does not allow a view of anything but his head and shoulders. Anders is able to estimate the age of the man at what would be around 110 standard years, though his actual age is impossible to determine, without knowing how long the pod has been keeping him in stasis. A close inspection of the pod itself reveals that it is in good shape, and would still be able to revive the man, and a readout on the screen reveals that the man is in healthy condition, and would survive for a while after being revived. The pod clearly is not able to be moved, as it has been cast as a part of the floor of the room. If you decide to revive the man, it must be here.
The entire room is covered in a thick layer of dust, it is clear that you are the first beings, possibly in millenia, based on the dust layer, to be present in this chamber. The pod seems to be the central feature of the room, with it being the center and all, and there is a table or sorts, with stuff piled upon it, placed against the back wall. What the items on the table are is hard to distinguish beneath the thick layer of dust.
As Anders and Axel approach the pod, a square, greenish glow begins to emanate from beneath the dust on the front of the pod. It looks like it is probably a display, though in much better shape than the one in the room before. If Anders and Axel approach to within arms reach of the pod, nothing bad happens. There is no visible exit to this room, except for the door you came in.
As the wall approaches the pillar, the pillar begins to descend, but halts only a third into the ground, and a loud grinding noise fills the air. The wall collides with the pillar, shattering it and continuing past to slam into the far wall with a mighty collision.
The room beyond is brightly lit, or at least used to be. What remains of the lighting is a single glowstrip, faintly illuminating the room, which contains a single ancient pod. A low hum fills the air, as if there is a low amount of power being generated somewhere in the room. The pod contains a humanoid figure.
As Anders and Tarros round the pillar, a leg is visible protruding out the top of the boot, however, the leg is severed above the knee, and the withered and dry flesh looks like it was violently ripped from the body, which is nowhere to be found.
On the other side of the pillar, still at the screen, Axel is madly pressing buttons. When a greenish one is pressed, the screen starts to flash quickly, as if it were a strobe light, and you begin to hear sounds, sounds like the groaning of massive gears, spinning to move something into place.
A door whisks open, on the opposite side of the room, 40-odd feet away. The voice returns, 'Fifteen seconds, Murdoc awaits.' The wall opposite the open door begins to creak and groan, and then move quickly towards the opposite wall, at a pace of around 6 feet per second.
You are halfway through the room, with 40 feet to go to the exit. The wall is moving towards you, and starts around 40 feet from you. The room is 80 feet across.
As you approach the console, when you close to within 2 meters, it suddenly lights up, the screen flickers, with numerous dead spots, most of the screen remains blank. Visible in the dim light from the screen, you can see a booted foot poking out from behind the pillar, presumably connected to a body behind the pillar.
There are several words visible in the lit areas of the screen, at least it can be assumed they are words. Anyone speak ancient Sith? I assume no.
The large room beyond the door is very large indeed, and also very dimly lit. Consider this low-light conditions. Just like in the previous room, the moment the entire party has entered the room, the door whisks closed. There is a single feature to the room, a pillar dead center in the room, with what looks like a screen and control console. Unlike the previous room, there are no corpses in this room, and besides a heavy layer of dust, the room seems undisturbed.
'Incorrect: You have not the look, nor the proper tools for maintenance. Fact: Maintenance has not been performed on this chassis for seven thousand six hundred forty-eight days, seventeen hours, twenty-four minutes and nine seconds. Hypothesis: You are a new group of organics here to challenge the tests set forth by Murdoc, Harbinger of Chaos and Slayer of twenty-three Demons. Fact: You are the first to attempt the challenge in twelve hundred sixty-five days, three hours, ten minutes and fifty-eight seconds. Prepare for your death.'
The cannon arm raises and the trigger is pulled. The unmistakable click of the firing mechanism falling on an empty blaster cartridge is heard.
'Error: Primary weapon unusable, resorting to secondary measures.'
The blade arm rises, but is not able to rise more than several centimeters, before a broken servo in the shoulder causes it to drop back to it's original position.
'Error: secondary weaponry disabled. Fact: Unit is not able to obliterate flesh-beings, this group will move on to the next stage of the challenge.'
With the end of its speech, it tries to turn and shuffle back into its storage area, but is unable to move more than a few steps before the servos in a leg fail completely and cause the droid to fall to the floor, the arm with the blade falling to pieces with the impact. Its photoreceptors flash brightly and die.
The door opposite the one you came in whisks open, revealing a cavernous room beyond.
The timer hits zero, and a hidden door in the wall to the left of where you entered whisks open. A misshapen, battered and damaged droid stumbles out. It looks as if it has taken a lot of abuse over many years. It is a model of droid not easily recognizable. It speaks, it's tinny electronic voice sounding distorted and off.
'Query: Are you the meatsacks my master sent me to terminate?'
It stumbles a step closer to your group, raising a ancient, but wicked looking blaster cannon grafted into its arm, with an accompanying rusted metal blade on the other arm.
As soon as the last party member enters the room, the door slams shut, destroying any and all bones/obstructions used to prop it open, the hydraulics used to open and close the door seem too powerful.
The voice begins emanating from hidden ports again, this time speaking new words. 'Welcome.......... To your death! The first test begins in........... Sixty seconds.'
As you look through the corpses, they all appear to be humanoid, with no clear identifying characteristics showing specific species, rather, they appear to all be from different sub-species of humans. A search through them recovers a number of blaster pistols and blaster rifles, enough for the entire party to have one of each. There are enough charged blaster magazines to supply three for each weapon. A screen appears on the opposite wall, beside the other door, with a countdown, counting down from sixty.
As the party enters the room on the other side of the door, assuming you do, you see that this room is indeed not empty. There are numerous corpses littering the floor, most have deteriorated away into skeletons, they seem to have been here for years. Another door is set into the far wall, again without a handle, or any other visible means of opening it.
As the party groups, once again down in the subterranean room, nothing seems different. The door has closed, and the room is empty besides the party. After a few moments, after your eyes have adjusted to the dark, the door opens once again, spilling light into the room. The same ominous voice from before speaks once again, uttering the same, chilling word, 'Welcome.'
If you feel the need, you may attempt an Intelligence check, for reasons unknown.......
