Suddenly Britton heard some loud bellowing coming from Betsy's stall.

"Stay here!  I'll go check this out!"

Britton charged towards the stall.

As Britton approached the stall, he could see Betsy inside shuffling around nervously and groaning.  The door to the stall was not latched, and Britton could see there were other figures inside.

Britton unsheathed his sword and stealthily moved to confront the intruders.

OOC Stealth: 11+3=14

OOC: Make an Init check.

OOC 8+7=15

As Britton opened the door to the stall, he saw a figure in desert garb with its head wrapped in strips of cloth atop Betsy.  It was holding a staff with sharp instruments on each end. The other figure was a quadruped creature with a large, toothy maw, big dark eyes and a line of hard spikes along its back.  Apparently Britton hadn't been stealthy enough, because they seemed ready when he came in; but Britton's reaction time was faster than theirs.

OOC: Britton's move.

"Get down.  Now."  Britton said, pointing his sword at the figure and moving well away from the creature.

OOC Readying an action.

The humanoid astride Betsy let out a guttural cry, and the sharp-toothed creature shrieked and charged at Britton.  Fortunately, Britton was ready.

OOC: Make an attack roll.

Britton slashed at the creature with both hands on his sword.

OOC 7+4=11 5+5=10dmg

The creature was able to avoid Britton's blade and raked Britton across the chest with both of its front claws.

Meanwhile the humanoid moved Betsy past you and out of the stall.  As soon as he exited, Britton could hear a blaster shot, presumably from Kelko.  The shot evinced a deep scream from the humanoid that raked Britton's ears like the animal's claws had his chest.

OOC: Britton's turn.

"KELKO!" Britton called, stepping back away from creature.

OOC Britton uses recover.

Britton was able to catch his breath , but the beast leapt at him, trying to pin him to the ground.

OOC: Make a grapple check: 1d20 + BAB + Str mod.

OOC 2+2+1 = failure regardless of the result.

Distracted by his attempt to recover Britton was easily thrown to the ground.

The creature kept his front paws on Britton's shoulders, its claws retracted for now.  It opened its tooth-filled maw slightly, drool slavering onto Britton's face.  It's breath smelled of rotted flesh.  It seemed the beast was going to try and bite Britton's head off, but before it could, there was a sharp whistle from outside and the creature snapped its head up.  It looked confused for a moment, then snarled at Britton before retreating out the door.

OOC: If Britton wants he can take an Attack of Opportunity before the beast gets out of melee range.

A bruised ego compelled Britton to take a swing at the creature as it left.

OOC 13+4=14
Mighty Swing: 3+5+3=11

OOC: Sorry, you can't use Mighty Swing because that requires 2 swifts and then your standard action to attack and an AoO is just a reaction.

Britton's sword caught the beast on the hind quarters.  It only gave pause long enough to turn its head around before continuing its lope.  Britton heard a hasty shot from Kelko's blaster pistol.  The creature yelped.  And then there was a noise at the door...Kelko burst in.  "Britton are you okay?"

"We need to go after them!" Britton said, struggling to get up.

"Not in your condition," Kelko said eying the scratches on Britton's chest.  "And besides we chased them off, I don't see any reason to follow them."

"Did they get away with the Bantha?" Britton gasped, leaning on his friend for support.

"Oh, I guess you wouldn't know, huh," Kelko commented realization starting to dawn on him.  "Not to brag, but that first shot you heard me fire was me nailing that person square in the chest and knocking him off the bantha.  He wasn't dead, but was wounded enough he called for his pet and ran off."  As Kelko led Britton out of the stall, Britton could see Betsy standing calmly now chewing on cud.

Freeg came jogging out from his main house, "What's going on boys?  I was woken by blaster fire."

"Some...thing tried to steal your Bantha," Britton said, still leaning on Kelko for support.  "We drove it off though."

"I knew I was right to hire you boys," Freeg said, his face beaming.  "So, when you say something tried to steal my bantha, what did this something look like?"

"There was one that kinda looked like a human all wrapped up in rags, then his creature.  Some lizard thing.  I think it was his mount."

"A Tusken Raider!?" Freeg exclaimed.  "Well I'll be the son of a Hutt, Neeruk was right.  The only reason a Tusken would try to steal a bantha is if their tribe's banthas were all gone.  But if he had a mount, why would he be trying to steal another one?" Freeg mused.

"I actually don't think the other creature was his mount," Kelko said.  "It was too small to ride.  And it was more mammalian than lizard-like."

"Oh, a massiff maybe." Freeg said.  "Their kind of like guard dogs for the Tuskens.  Well, it's over now.  Let me get Betsy and we'll get you into town to get treated Britton.  Should be daylight by the time we get there."

OOC: Any comments.