Xyklo manages to swing his rifle up and let off a volley of shots at the lizardmen on their level, the others having pelted the incendiary throwers. He grimaces as his aim is a little off.

OOC: 07:44, Today: Xyklo Voozul rolled 3 successes, 1 threat , 1 triumph using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 4P 2D 1B.  Shoot auto to the ones not on the ridge.
2 strain for the extra maneuver.
10 damage
Triumph for crit = 108

Caddy was never meant to be in a fight like this.  It really wasn't her thing, but she wasn't a coward and so while she maintained cover, she took a pot shot at the nearest lizard creature but misses though it does give her time to gather her wits and take stock of the Chaos.

[11:02, Today: Caddanra 'Caddy' Manitu rolled no successes, 4 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2a 1b 1d.  Short Range, 1D, Using Racial 1Strain.

Regain 4 Strain.]

"Order Confirmed" Roger says as he servo motors start tracking backward along his previously travelled route.  He calculates a 95% probability that his team mates will not get in his way as he literally reverses course.

Calculating that the closer threat is the biggest concern to completing his orders successfully, rogers takes aim at the lead spear wielder.  With vicious efficiency his first two shot gets him in each knee sending him to the ground, then finishes him off with a shot to the head.

The ruthless efficiency of the attack gives the spear wielders pause, halting their charge...


13:09, Today: Forim Luk, on behalf of B1-P3 'Roger', rolled 2 successes, 3 advantages, 1 triumph using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2P 1A 1D ((7(P), 12(P), 8(A), 1(D))).

Damage: 8
Spending 3 advantages to activate critical (Slowed Down {0})
Spending Triumph to demoralize the spear wielders from attacking for at least 1 round.  Perhaps he hit their leader.

Kraken danced away from the acidic smoke but catching some of the blast of the gernade, feeling the burn on his leg and shoulder.  Growling in pain, Kraken focused his anger, slashing at another reptile, the smoke throwing off his aim a bit.

"How many are there?" Kraken calls out, looking about trying to count through the smoke.


OOC:
'Kraken' 1 success, 2 advantages.  Fusion Cutter - Melee.
Damage: 6   Breach 1, Burn 3, Sunder & Viscious 3

With cold calculation, the battle droid fires a steady stream of blaster fire into the onrushing reptilians. One is blasted away, and the rest are forced to backpedal, and the momentum of their charge is broken. For a moment, just a moment, they pause. Worried glances are exchanged as they consider a question they should have asked before: have we bitten off more than we can chew?

Nevertheless, the battle is joined. The reptilians might not be as fancifully equipped as their enemies, but stone cudgels and bone knives can be dangerous in close quarters. They attack furiously, hacking at your limbs and heads.

Roger gets the worst of it. His metallic limbs are shaken by the attacks, and one strikes his head. Some of the cable connections in his fragile neck are jarred loose.

The Force rolled 4 successes, 3 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3p 1a 1c 1b.  Melee.
8 damage pre-soak
Head Ringer; Increase difficulty of all Intellect and cunning checks by 1 until end of encounter.

Kraken carves one of the foes' limbs off, leaving it screaming in pain before succumbing to shock.

Xyklo opens up with his rifle, blasting the reptile creatures closest by. Two are blasted away.

Now only three remain Engaged with the Rebels. Forim & Caddy have withdrawn somewhat. The rest are locked in melee combat with their ambushers. Two of the throwers remain above, hurling their explosive missiles.

Caddy fires her blaster, kicking up dust and breaking rocks. Unfortunately the reptiles are concealing themselves a bit better now, wary of their enemy's counterattacks.

Anders picks his shots carefully, trying to spot a leader as he guns down another reptile. He looks for tactics, some sign of cohesion, some orders being given or discipline coerced. He sees no such thing. These rabble are a pack of wild animals, attacking together for the strength of numbers.

The last thrower breaks. It leaves its position above, turning to flee. As it still has a high-ground advantage, you immediately lose sight of it.

Forim & Roger's turns

Forim goes down to one knee and carefully uses his sight to target the enemy combattants to not hit his allies.  His first shot slams into the club of one native causing it to fall to the ground.  With a curse he switches targets and fires again.  This one misses a second native, but passes close enough to its hand that it drops his spear.  Forim curses again, but is not wholey upset with the outcome.  Only one armed target remains...




07:30, Today: Forim Luk rolled no successes, 6 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3P 1A 1C 1B.  Gold Plated Pistol  1 advantage.

Net: 0 successes, 7 advantages...
Action: Shoot
Maneouver: Aim
3 Advantages = one guy drops his weapon
3 Advantages = second guy drops his weapon
1 Advantage = recover strain.

remember to upgrade your attacks on melee people.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Kraken watches as the odd looking reptilians natives.  With no rifle or even a pistol, Kraken turned off his fusion cutter and rolled his shoulders, looking about noticing Roger looked worse for the wear.

"Looks like they took a good crack at you ehh Roger.  I can take a look at your wires and see if I can repair some of the damage done." he offers taking a knee and opening his backpack, drawing out his tool kit.

OOC:
Mechanics 1P 3A.  I can fix up Roger unless someone else more proficient wants to do the job.

The team catches their breath, reloads their weapons, and reorients. After a little patching up, they head on a bit.

The team comes to a somewhat wider canyon than they have found so far in the maze. It is the home of a river that runs roughly southwest. It cuts a path through some rocky hills that must have been worn down by erosion for centuries.

A number of birds lift off from the riverbed and fly away from the approaching Rebels. They settle down a short distance further on. A few small mammals like the burrowers you have seen before scurry off too. On the rocks are small, hand-sized lizards sunning themselves. They crawl lazily away as you approach the waters. You come very close to a larger lizard, about a meter long, before it moves and its camouflage is spoiled. The lizard turns and hisses at you, then slowly stalks away.

After checking the water with your scanner, you conclude it is safe to drink and rich in minerals. You are filling up your canteens when you hear a noise.

Above you in the sky, a ship flies overhead. It is a Raptor shuttle, slowly cruising through the atmosphere. It seems to be heading northwest.

"I suggest we fill whatever containers we have as it might be the last chance we get." Anders tops off his canteen and spends some time looking around as the other do the same.

When the shuttle flies overhead he tries to find some cover if it looks like they can be spotted in the deep canyon otherwise he will remain still while watching the ship. Anders tries to determine if the vessel is preparing to land, traversing to somewhere else or preparing to enter space. He looks for landing lights or other tell tale signs that they maybe near a settlement or a base. Perhaps they were being looked for so he tried to work out if the shuttle was in a search pattern.

"Is anyone able to check their comms ?


Anders Flown rolled 1 success, 3 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2d 5a.  Piloting - Planetary.


-

The shuttle definitely seems to be on a landing course. The Raptor has a pair of swing-wings that open to allow rapid deployment of its complement. These are being opened as it descends.

Roger thanks Kraken for the repairs, “Those things were faster than I thought”
As they proceed, Roger continues to flank the others, blaster drawn, but trying to be more vigilant this time, scanning the area around them for any more ambushes, or the creatures following them.

While the others are imbibing, he watches the shuttle cruise along, “Looks like they might have found our escape pods…”  Roger holsters his blaster and withdraws his Comlink, “I don’t think I’ll have much success, but, I may as well try.

22:29, Today: B1-P3 'Roger' rolled 1 success, 1 threat  using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2p 3D ((4(P), 7(P), 8(D), 8(D), 1(D))).

Roger pokes at the buttons and twists the dial on his comlink, sweeping through static and noise, but catches a faint signal. “I think I got something!””

There isn't much comm chatter from the shuttle, but one message does go up. After running a rapid decryption, Roger gets the message.

"Raptor 1 on approach to impact site. Visual confirmation: two escape pods. Touching down as ordered."

"Understood, One. Stay in touch."

To have 'won' the day, even against severely inferior opponents, was a small blessing.   Did these creatures have food with them?  Fruit maybe?   She even considered the birds - were they edible?  To sate her hunger she took long, deep drink of the clean clear water (making sure, of course, that it is upstream from the combat!) and is in the process of filling up her own canteen (having taken Anders' advice) when her attention is drawn to the shuttle, "Careful!"  A short call to the others though she isn't quite ready (or response enough?) to dive for cover.   "Did they spot us?"

Roger's confirmation was clear enough, "We'd better get moving or they'll be able to track us back this way quickly enough.   It's not like we were disguising our passage!"

"And when they get their scanners trained on the ground, it wont take them long to track us down.

Any ideas?" Forim asks the group

In reply to B1-P3 'Roger' (msg # 95):

"That is not good, it would seem our little rouse with the ship did not work." He rubs his chin while looking out over the water. "We could mask ourself's with mud to diminish our heat signatures and the deep canyon might mask us from their scanners or at least confuse them, especially with all the bird and animal life. If they begin a hard search though with feet on the ground their is little we can do to disguise our tracks."

-

Xyklo stares back the way they came from.
"We could ambush them, grab their uniforms, then steal the shuttle?" he offers a little too enthusiastically.

Roger puts his comlink away as he tilts his head towards the verpine, "There's only one of us who might fit into an Imperial uniform and slightly blend in, he nods towards Caddy, "and I don't think they'll believe it."  He takes a few steps around the area, looking at the landscape around them, We should hide.  DO you think there might be somewhere good further on, or, wasn't there a cave where those reptilians attacked us?"
His heuristic processors run through several cycles over about 1/3 of a second, "If we were to return and liberate their shuttle from their control, I think it may increase the urgency of their response, and the resources they allocate to removing our presence.  What would we do with the shuttle that would further our mission?  We could use it to get home if we were to abandon the mission..."

"I tend to agree with Roger's assessement.  Lets hide around those creatures that attacked us.  On a life form scanner we should blend in with the locals."  Forim adds

"They might have food and water in the shuttle....    or access codes...   or records of communications..." Xyklo trails off into mumbling. He looks forlornly now in the shuttles durection, accepting the others decision to hide it out.

In reply to Forim Luk (msg # 102):

"I agree hiding is probably best at this point. Those shuttles can hold up to forty troopers and heavy weapons, which might be a tad out of our capacity to handle at the moment."

Caddy listened to the others.  Their situation didn't look good.  "Hmm.   Maybe if we find these creatures' camp, we could pretend to be them when they fly over to scan for us?"

In reply to Caddanra 'Caddy' Manitu (msg # 105):

"It might be time to search that cave entrance we found, being under ground until at least nightfall might even our chances."

Roger draws his blaster, ready to move on as party guard again, "Ready to move when you have rested enough to continue."

Kraken, scowling at his comms equipment frowned, tapping the machine which seemed to have glitched.  Putting it away, he looks around and nods looking about for the cave.  Filling up his water canteens, incase water was scarce.  Following after the others, Kraken keeps scanning for the cave or for critters that might be coming in or out of said cave.

The Rebels return to the site of the ambush, where some dead lizard-men have attracted scavenging bugs and birds. The large bird they saw earlier is perched on the cliff above, busily eating one of the bodies there.

Now that the ambushing creatures have knocked their blockade out of the way, the cave is a little more accessible. It doesn't go very deep; about three meters into the rock.