After a few hours, Heigren activates his comms.  "Hey guys, met up with some of the locals here and they haven't heard anything about our two missing. . .friends.  They've checked with their friends in the local tourist attractions but they haven't seen them.  They also haven't heard about any large party buses coming to town either but they say they don't have a lot of people hanging around the bus stops."

There wasn't much to do and doing a lot would draw too much attention anyway as the place they were in seemed to be the only restaurant on the station. Nevertheless, Dohr decided to ask what was going on in the system from the barkeep. The Doc limped to the counter with the help of his trusty cane and ordered a second round of drinks for everyone. "So, how is life on this side of the Galaxy? Our hold is empty and we could use a well paying gig or something. You hear of anything? Or is the Empire's presence driving everyone away?"

He didn't like lying, but techinally he wasn't. They we're looking for "something" after all and were in need of more credits.

20:42, Today: Dohr Veen rolled 20 using 1d20+11. Diplomacy roll.

Back at the table:

"... they made us give back the speeder, an' we managed to stay outta jail by payin' for all the stuff that got broke. Good times..."
Devon leaned back and finished his beer - Kyvarrs glass was already empty and Dohr had gone to order more - not that Devon was trying to keep up with the Cathar when it came to drinking; he'd heard what had happened with the wookie at the party.

His story finished, he tried to force himself to consider more serious matters.
"Anyhow, it looks like Dohrs trying his luck with the bar tender"  the shipjacker paused and frowned,  "That came out wrong...  You know what I meant.  So what else can we hit?  I wonder if theres any mercs or bounty hunters round here?  Maybe you could pass as one and see what they know?  if there's prisoners being sold off or ransomed, they might have heard.  Not sure what I could do... engineers and pilots gossip?  Or back you up?"

Kyvarr shrugged.  "With all due respect sir, I'm not really sure.  Give me a platoon of troops or a squad of tanks or walkers and an objective and I'll make it happen.  How to find a missing fleet and two people is more Fiarr's game.  Personally I doubt asking bounty hunters or mercs will help.  Slaves and merc work is always booming.  But I'll ask around if you wish it."

"Your engineer or pilots' gossip might work better.  We're looking for a large fleet.  Surely spacers might have noticed or heard something sir?"

The bartender cringed for a second and looked around carefully when Dohr spoke ill of the empire.  It was a purely reflexive action and not uncommon amongst Imperial citizens.  One never knew when a stormtrooper or ISB agent was around.  He seemed to recovered quickly and spoke in a friendly tone.

"We're mostly quiet here.  Not a lot of business to be done here.  We're just a waypoint, there's some trade in produce and lumber but that's about it.  Most of the work is importing.  Lots of work hauling ore to Fest or medical supplies to Devon.  I hear some smuggling weapons to Mantooine occurs.  This sector doesn't produce a lot."

Mika frowns.  It was going pretty badly.  She'd never met such a bunch of tight-lipped bunch of dock workers in all her life.  Even when she'd sidled up to a bunch and unobtrusively listen, nothing.  And now they seemed to be getting down right suspicious of her.

Well, maybe it was time to cut her losses.  If she keeps pushing, she's just gonna start drawing some unwelcome attention.  She looks around for a good place to get a meal and see what sort of activities there was for a swoop punk in the neighborhood.

Sheila muttered into the comm to Heigren. "Ok". She peered at her padd, then took another sip.

Location: Fedje

In the restaurant, Kyvarr and Devon continued to try and agree on a plan while the bartender provided Dohr with advice on cargo transport.


Location: Fest

Sheila continued to enjoy her drink.  Her 'friend' had not moved from his seat.

Mika meanwhile had found a small cafe that did a passable meal with an only slightly better fizz pop.  The eatery itself did not offer any ideas on what the mechanic's next move should be.  In typical Imperial fashion it was sombre and functional.  People didn't seem to linger.  They came in, ordered, ate and left.

Heigren did not receive an answer to his comm call except a quick mutter from Sheila and was left to his own devices.

Fiarr meanwhile failed to answer her comm at all.  Either she'd switched it off or was unwilling or unable to answer.

---

OOC:  Need some plans guys.  Several of you are sitting around eating.  A few of you have plans in action, the rest need to let me know what you're doing.

Heigren was surprised nobody else apart from Sheila hadn't answered him.  Still it didn't bother him.  He'd done what he'd been asked to do.  Now he had another project he wanted to work on.

"Hey guys, gonna hang with my new friends a while, help them with a few issues they have.  Shout out if you need me.  I'll keep an ear open for any more party news."

By your leave sir. I'll go see what I can find out. Perhaps you could have Dohr ask the barman about mercs when they stop for a moment.  She stood and walked out of the eatery. She had no real plan other than to walk around and see if anyone struck her as particularly mercenary or military. Such people tended to have a mannerism she could identify. It was a long shot but it was all she could do.

Sheila mumbled 'ok"in her comm, like she was talking to the padd.  She finally got up and headed out, having paid and left a tip.  first thing was to make sure whether or not she was being followed. Then she could scout the edges, from a distance, of the imperial presence.She had no intention of crossing any barriers, or getting any closer than visual distance, but just to walk around, and then back to the spaceport.

Sheila stopped for a moment at a window to look at a shabbily made very expensive dress.  "Vyn, So your friends here havent seen our friends or their bus and it sounds unlikely that they got here.  Dang, last time I make an date with them. Any point with me looking out here for them, you think? or should I just go back, my tail is tired and wants to go home".  Slight emphasis on the word tail.  She stretched at the window, carefully so as not to actually hit anyone passing by and yawned.

Dohr sipped his drink and nodded to the bartender. ”Darn. Just as I thought. We are looking for… should I say, more profitable opportunities, but smuggling weapons to me would sound like a fairly dangerous enterprise so close to heavy imperial presence. Or that is what I have heard? An Imperial base in the Fest system?”

The Doc took another sip and nodded to his own words. ”You know what I heard an imperial officer say a little while back? It seems that no other than Lord Vader himself is in the Fest area too or at least his personal Star Destroyer has been seen heading that way. I wonder what the hell is going on to be important enough for Empire’s number two man to be around? Whatever it is, I really would not feel comfortable moving around cargo they might be interested in… Just a sec.”

Dohr carried the drinks to Devon and Kyvarr. ”I need to ask him another question, but it seems there is not much going on around these parts of the galaxy.” The Kel Dor gave his friends a few seconds to say something before heading back to the counter.

”Could I have another whiskey, please? I am not a specialist in them, so give me the one you consider the best.” When the drink arrived, Dohr gave it a taste and nodded in approval. ”Nice! Say, you mentioned a lot of medical supplies being hauled to Devon. Any ideas why? There is not a war going on in there, is they?”

"Be my guest." Devon told Kyvarr.  He nodded when Dohr came back to the table.

"Looks like you're doing good work here, so I'm gonna go see what I can find out.  Talk to some ship crews, get the spacer gossip hopefully."

Standing, Devon looked round the bar to try and find a likely target.  If he couldnt find anyone here in the cantina, he'd have to caste his net further afield...

Mika picks at the food.  She wasn't usually such a picky eater, but it really wasn't that great and she wasn't really liking the atmosphere of the place.  She quickly eats a few more bits, sips on the not so appealing drink and dumps it all in the trash bin.

She'd been listening to the comm traffic, grimacing slightly.  It had all the makings of a 3rd rate tri-dee who-done-it story.  Of course, Mika wasn't any better at sharing clandestine information than they were.  But they were using encrypted comms, so it must be more of an issue of who was listening to the speakers, not who's trying to decrypt their signals.

With a sigh, she adds to the byplay.  "Nothing interesting around here.  I'm gonna call it a night and  Catch up on what's showing."

PM

Sheila will glance up, say "Okayyy" quietly,  then walk off with the man who'd come up to her.

Location: Fedje

Dohr returned to the bartender and asked his question about the Devon system needing medical supplies.  He chuckled when the Kel Dor mentioned a war.

"No, not a war.  Republic blockaded them during the Clone Wars and a nasty virus broke out.  Killed over half the planet.  Republic wouldn't let medical convoys through so I hear.  Nasty business.  Well the Empire doesn't help 'em much but at least they let people take them supplies now if they want to."

Meanwhile Kyvarr and Devon had left the restaurant on their own search.  Kyvarr was looking for mercenary types and Devon for spacers.  Their searches led Devon down to the sole bar on board.

The Cathar sat at the bar and began looking around.  Devon set his sight on the largest group in the room, a table of six Weequay's and walked over.  The shipjacker couldn't remember what words had left his mouth, it had been an off hand comment, something involving the smell and mothers.  Whatever it had been, it had lead to one of the Weequay's throwing him across the room and smashing into a table and all six rising to come for him.  Devon was not expert on Weequay body language but he didn't think these guys looked happy.


OOC:  What is it with Gather Info roll crit fails?  First Mika now Devon!  Dohr, you're not here so won't know about this unless someone tells you.  Kyvarr you can see this from the bar.

On a side note, I'm trialling an awesome online RPG tool called Roll20.  I use it in my tabletop game and now I'm wondering if it might help with battle maps (since it's often hard to picture things in a forum game.

So I've made a map of the emerging bar fight involving Devon.  Anyone can come for a look.  Just need to make a free account.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:36, Sun 28 June 2015.

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15:45, Today: Sheila Masters rolled 20 using 1d20+2. sense motive.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:46, Sun 28 June 2015.

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Kyvarr stood and cautiously began moving around the bar towards Devon and the Weequay (or is it Weequays?).  She took her time as she wanted to ensure nobody else was taking an interest in the fight.  Plus she had to admit she wasn't sure if this was part of Devon's plan and he hadn't given her orders to engage yet.

She spoke quietly into her commlink.  "Seven, Five.  Permission to engage sir.  Eight get down to the bar.  We may need your services soon."


OOC:  Looking at the map, Kyvarr will move south, as if towards the exit this round.  Once she gets past the bar she'll stop and watch, ready to wade in.

There was a couple of moments of flailing as Devon hauled himself out from behind the table and struggled to his feet, keeping the table between himself and the angry mob.
_{"What I do?  What I say?"} he muttered as he sized up the opposition.  Clearly he'd hit some sore spot of Weequay culture that he didnt know about.

Looking around as he tried to figure his way out of this without having to suffer a major beat-down, Devon spotted Kyvarr lurking behind the  mass of disgruntled opposition.
"Hell no, stay clear unless you get something that look like provocation." he quickly muttered into his comm-link.  This could end in arrests if they weren't careful - Devon had a fairly solid fake ID that should stand up to scrutiny, Kyvarr had no such thing.  If she waded in without any apparant provocation, there could be even more trouble.

Ok - barfight.  You've been in these before.  You've even had to take on a Weequay before.  Devon told himself.  Six of them at once?  More of a problem.  Probably time for quick exit.  Unfortunately, he was in a booth with his new friends between him and the door.  Only way out was going to be straight through...
Or over he realized with sudden inspiration.  Wait for them to close; then one foot there, one foot here and vault.  Might get me out of this corner.

"Come on, guys" he told the advancing Weequay.  "Lets not do this... ahh, crap."
He trailed off as he realized they weren't even listening.  As they continued to close in, Devon grabbed one of the chairs and heaved it straight at his attackers to get them ducking before vaulting the table - trusting his momentum and added height to carry him clear enough.

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