Seku moves surreptitiously around behind some buildings and takes an alley to get to the moisture farmers' landspeeder. They see her approaching. The driver backs up the speeder and drives it away before she can get too close.

The bartender starts in surprise as he sees Drac enter through the back of the bar. He glances at the fight going on out in the street, then approaches Drac. "You should get out of here, while you have the chance," he hisses. "If that big lizard guy sees something as big and strange as you, he'll pick a fight with you for sure."

The fistfight going on out on the street is dragging on without much actual blood being drawn. The men are not very skilled at unarmed combat. Their punches keep going wide, especially as they get tired from exerting themselves in the hot sun. They are panting and sweating, their blows increasingly slow and awkward. Their barabel leader flicks his eyes back and forth, hissing in excitement.

Seku raises a hand in a friendly wave when they notice her approaching, but lets it fall as they back up and drive away. "Well... the speeder's gone." Rather than going all the way back to the warehouse, she sticks her head out around the corner to observe the fight from her new vantage point.

Jess looked at the barabel. "You seem to be enjoying this. I'd bet 50 credits all five of them could beat you."

Hmmm what do I roll to goad him into that scenario? :D

F3-3T busies himself quietly rolling down the pile of rubble to replace his fallen firearm to his robotic arm. "Damn. Hutt Parts.... wake me Seku if one of the brutes manages to try and kill us or finally kill themselves or they all die of dehydration...." He beeps sullenly unto himself, emasculated by his lack of battle skills and weakly built astromech chassis. With that the droid powers down to absolute minor status functions.

O.O.C.: Rest to recover strain, sleep mode.

The barabel snorts without looking up. "You seek to goad this one, female human? Your pheromones do not work, so you appeal to pride? You are cunning, no doubts of this. I see now that you seek to cause trouble, to set your enemies against one another." He turns to face Jess, looking at her with his slanted reptillian eyes. Something instinctive in her wants to hold very still in hopes of being ignored by the predator.

"Why do you do this, human? Is it the joy of causing trouble? Or perhaps some other reason?"

The barabel gives a kind of throaty roar-hiss, which causes the human gang to look up from the fistfight. They gather themselves up, looking uncomfortably at their leader.

In reply to The Force (msg # 82):

"He doesn't frighten me." Drac says matter-of-fact. He glances out the cantina window to the group on the street, where the ruffians are still watching their fellows trying to knock each other senseless. He then turns back to the barkeep and cocks his head slightly, clearly curious about this man's kindness. "Why do you want to help me?"

The barkeep sneers, not at Drac but at the gang outside. "Because these thugs have taken over our town. I only serve them because they've scared away my regular customers. I bet you're here to cause trouble for them, right? All I ask is that you keep it out of my cantina, and make sure no-one in Anchorhead gets hurt. Otherwise, you can shoot them into space for all I care."

The bartender reaches under the bar and opens a drawer. Contained within is an electrified stun stick, useful for non-lethal strikes. He looks at Drac and raises an eyebrow. "It's the only weapon in the bar, but if you need to borrow it..."

Acuse the other of which you are guilty. "I think you started the trouble to eliminate the bunch who've been driving the regular customers from your drinking hole away. And it's you who wanted to watch a fight, not I."

14:11, Today: Jess (Jessica) Swanhill rolled no successes, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3a 1p 1d 1c 2S.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:11, Mon 04 Mar 2019.

Seku can only pick out pieces of the conversation from her new vantage point and with F3 powered down and Drac in the cantina, she knows that she's now the only person watching. "I can't quite make out what you're saying Jess, but if you want backup, just click the comlink. She notices the thugs abandon the fight and tenses, reaching for her blaster.

F3-3T in sleep mode plays faint "smmatzo" space jazz as he reroutes energy to needed circuit boards. Not loud enough to make a nuisance but if listening carefully will pass the time like a long lift on Coruscant.

The barabel snorts derisively at Jess' words. "This one has been looking for an excuse to create some entertainment, it is true. You served as that excuse, and for that this one thanks you. Now it is time for you to go. These humans are off-duty and may do as they wish, so if you wish to take one for mating or... Whatever you humans do in your alone time, proceed."

The barabel hisses at the rest of the thugs. Then he gives an order.

"This one is going to the field to check on the rest of you. Do not drink too much, for you have a shift in the morning."

The barabel stalks off north, approximately in the direction of F3-3T, away from Seku and Jess.

In reply to The Force (msg # 88):

"Much appreciated," Drac says as he takes the stun baton from the barkeeps outstretched hand. He glances ousode as he hears the giant lizard shout to his minions, then heads toward the bar door. He pauses a moment, then turns his head back over his shoulder. "Not all Hutts like what Jabba's doing either. You won't regret this." He then walks back out into the backing heat and tries to tail the Barabel. He briefs the others over comms: ++Heading after Scales++
This message was last edited by the player at 20:33, Mon 11 Mar 2019.

Jess looked at the gang of scruffy looking nerfherders and turned up her nose. "Nah," she scoffed curtly and turned on her heel to return to the cantina.

The gang members seem to have lost interest in Jess for the moment. They reenter the cantina and order food and drinks, and sit around a table talking.

Drac follows the barabel for awhile, using alleys and parked speeders for cover. He heads to the east of the town, where the town's sole docking bay stands ready for spaceships. Once there, the barabel meets with a group of five gangsters, cut from the same cloth as the first. They are standing around, bored, giving a once-over to citizens as they pass by.

There is a conversational exchange between the barabel and the thugs. This apparently satisfies the barabel, who turns back and begins to walk back towards Drac.

This puts Drac in a bit of a bind, stealth-wise. He is behind a speeder, which is only good to hide behind from a single direction. It is only moments before the barabel notices him.

Seeing Jess head back inside the cantina and the Barbabel head off to another part of town, Seku decides this is as good a moment as any to make her entrance. She walks out onto the street and makes for the door of the cantina. Over the comms, she acknowledges Drac's move and announces her own. "Understood Drac, I'm heading into the cantina after Jess. Give us a heads up if the leader starts heading our way."

Seku pushes open the door and heads straight for the bar. She gives the table where the thugs are sitting a deliberate stare as she makes her way across the room. At the bar, she gives the owner her most winning smile. "You got something cold back there?"

F3-3T awakes after a few minutes of respite. He scrambles out of sleep mode the one of many viruses stirring in his rusty innards startles the astromech into consciousness with bleating beeps of terror. "Zeep Zeep Blurpy Eeeep!".

Realizing he is now by himself he slowly wanders out into the abandoned buildings doorway searching out where everyone has gone.

O.O.C: I don't think I rested long enough to take off strain but maybe I shook off all the setback dice I have accrued thus far.

F3-3T wanders a few feet from the doorway into the dusty road. "Beep? Bweeeep??".

Okay, moving on a bit.

Jess and Seku enter the bar. The gang thugs are a bit more subdued now. The alcohol they have imbibed mixed with the hot sun and the unexpected exercise to leave them somewhat ill. They briefly glance at Seku as she enters, but other than a few wolf-whistles and harassing comments, they ignore her. They also seem to have decided that Jess is trouble and don't want any further business with her.

The bartender nods without looking directly at Seku. He opens a refrigerator and withdraws a longneck bottle, then a thin, tall glass. He pours the ale into the glass carefully, generating a minimum of foam. Then he slides it to her. "Brewed by a friend. She would value your opinion."

F3-3T finds himself being inspected by a pair of jawas. After rolling into the empty building, he hears a soft chittering and a 'tee-dee!' One of them approaches from behind and begins poking his dome.

Drac has only moments before the barabel gang leader is on him!

Can take 1 action.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:52, Sun 24 Mar 2019.

Seku smiles warmly at the bartender. "Oh lovely, I never never miss the opportunity to try something local. Sometimes it feels like everywhere you go it's nothing but Corellian whiskey as though no one else in the galaxy is capable of making alcohol." She takes an experimental sip of the beverage and her smile widens. "Excellent!" She spends the next several moments drinking and taking in the bar.

Eventually, she turns back to the bartender and addressed him in a low voice. "I do appreciate the help you gave my furry friend earlier. Seems like you might be having a bit of trouble with some rougher than usual customers. Fair?"

Seku Bondara rolled 2 successes, 2 threats using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2a 2p 2d. Charm the bartender.

Threats might be that the thugs can overhear something.

"He was a friend of yours? I thought he might be a friend of..." he gestures towards Jess, then trails off. He was talking a bit loud. One of the thugs has glanced over, irritably, to see what was being said. The thug looks between Seku and Jess, and you can see his brow furrowing as he processes a possible connection between the two. He leans in towards the others and begins murmuring to them. At the moment they are engaged in other conversation and he does not appear to have their full attention.

The bartender lowers his voice and continues. "These guys, they are thugs for the Hutt. Most of them are up at Shayed's place, but they're down here for recreation most days. I get the feeling there's more to it, too. They're rotating watches; they always have someone up at the landing field. I think that's where their leader is heading now. His name is Gunlodd Berocco; some kind of gladiator, if I've heard right."

"Wait, you said the furry thing was your friend? I think he's heading after Gunlodd right now. He might be in trouble."

Seku Bondara rolled 2 successes using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2a 1p 2d 1s.  Xenology.

"So what do you do for entertainment around here? Or are you looking for someone to liven up the place?" Jess asked the barman.

A look of concern crosses Seku's face. "Might be that we're all friends. What kind of trouble? You think that lizard will pick a fight?" She tries to avoid looking concerned, but turns away for a moment to speak into the team comms. "Everyone check in. Are you all alright? It sounds like we need to be on the lookout for more thugs."

"Mostly folk gather to exchange gossip and news, ma'am. Sometimes we crank up the melodium and have a sing-song night," the bartender says, gesturing to the instrument resting in an alcove.

"I'd rather not have any fighting in here," says the bartender carefully. He is eyeing the thugs, who are suddenly much quieter. They are listening to the one who overheard the bartender, who is talking low and hurriedly.

F3-3T has pushed into a higher gear moving down the street around the Cantina as he eyed a bunch of sentient beings which loaded in his browser as Jawas. This sent off a myriad of alarms and whistles as his circuits began to get "sweaty" as beings requiring liquids to maintain bodily functions would say.

He beamed back into his com to Seku not wanting to sound as desperate as he was, "All good here. I am circumventing possible bogeys making a loop around Cantina maintaining security presence. Over."

With the he bleep out a series of expletives toward the dirty glowing eyed race known to covet ran-sacked circuitry.