Anders continues to pick his way through to the bottom, watching his feet and making sure his grip stays tight to whatever he is using to get down. Once at the bottom he will cover the others as they make their decent.

-

Zeic helps anyone who needs it down and then takes a watchful position until everyone is ready to move on.

The Rebels take hidden positions, waiting for further information.

The movement gets closer, and you can hear voices. Two people, breathless and desperate, are speaking to each other in Basic. Mostly they exhort one another to 'keep moving' and ask if the other has 'seen anything yet.'

Two people, a male human and a male petrusian, force their way through the long grass. They are slogging through the brush, every step an effort in the trackless marsh. They are both wearing bright blue coveralls, though the human has opened his and tied the arms around his waist. They do not notice you, focused instead on looking behind them. They are heading vaguely north, towards the escarpment.

Waiting for instruction Anders places the two humanoids in his sights and waits. He could probably stun one or two in quick succession if he had to, but he had a sneaking suspicion that these two had come from the prison camp.

-

Your Aki-Varshi guide keeps hidden, but glances around at you to watch what you will do. "Those are the prison uniforms. Are you going to intercept them?"

In reply to The Force (msg # 17):

Anders steps out of cover in front of the men and raises his hand in greeting "We mean you no harm and are here to attack the prison. That's where you have come from right ?"

-
This message was last edited by the player at 04:53, Sun 08 July 2018.

To describe their reaction as 'surprised' would understate it by an order of magnitude. Both men fall back, shock evident in their face. One falls over on his behind.

"Who are you?" the human blurts out. He raises his fists defensively.

In reply to The Force (msg # 19):

"rebels, our ship crashed and we are trying to get off this pile. We could use some help."

-

Zeic stays back and lets things play out but tries to also be alert without being provocative.

Forim was about to give Anders orders but the human proactively followed them.  Instead Forim stays hidden and ready to move if the situation evolves poorly

"You need some help?" echoes the man in disbelief. The petrusian climbs up and adjusts his coverall. There's no getting any less wet right now, so he doesn't bother complaining about it.

"You had it right. We're the prisoners. Trying to escape, actually." The man swallows and looks at the escarpment.

"What do you mean when you say you're going to 'attack'? Says the petrusian slowly. "Are there... more of you?" He is looking around, as if expecting to see an army or squadron of snubfighters concealed in the brush.

Cool 2D

As you are figuring out how to respond, you hear a distant crash. The sound repeats itself, and then again. It is a steady pounding, as if something of great weight is crushing the watery underbrush over and over. The noise is getting closer.

The prisoners glance backwards, and then at each other. They rush towards the escarpment as fast as they can wade through the water and plants.

"Well, there is the chicken walker" Forim says looking for a good place to hide so he can sneak up on it.

 Today: Forim Luk rolled 1 failure using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2A 2d.  Rolling Cool.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:09, Thu 12 July 2018.

In reply to Forim Luk (msg # 25):

Anders also looks for a suitable hiding place as the "walker" approaches their position. He watches the prisoners depart knowing letting them go was probably the only way to assure their own survival.

Anders Flown rolled 1 success, 1 threat using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2d 2p.  Cool.


-

Zeic does his best to hide in the brush but isn't handling it well.


21:56, Today: Zeic Plirr rolled no successes using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2a2d.  cool.

Anders considers what the human prisoner said, and how he said it. He didn't sound desperate, or particularly frightened. It hadn't sounded like a lie, but perhaps it wasn't exactly the truth, either.

It doesn't take long for the source of the stomping to become evident. As you predicted, it is the tall, slender AT-ST, the Imperial All-Terrain Scout Walker. A box-shaped cockpit sits atop two six-meter legs, for a total height just over nine meters. It is slightly crouched while walking, but still an intimidating height for a person on foot. You can see several weapons jutting out from the cockpit, including a grenade launcher, a blaster cannon, and the two chin-mounted heavy blaster cannons.

Warfare 2D to recall more information about the AT-ST, including strengths & Weaknesses

The top hatch of the AT-ST is open, with an Imperial Army soldier standing exposed from the waist up. He scans the horizon, and spots the fleeing prisoners. He raises a device to his mouth. His voice, casual and a little irritated, booms out over the vehicle's public address system.

"Alright, Veshra, MacNuggle: I can see you. You've had your exercise, and now it's time to go back home. Now stop running before we have to shoot you."

The Rebels conceal themselves in the tall grass, and the soaking water should interfere with any thermal readings. The Imperials certainly don't seem to notice, even as it passes over several Rebels in position beneath it.

Athletics 1D1C1S to climb the thing.

Zeic tries to recall what he remembers about ATSTs but the situation must be getting to him.  He thinks better of trying to climb the thing.

09:26, Today: Zeic Plirr rolled no successes using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2a1p2d.  Warfare check.

Forim lines up a shot at the exposed trooper ready to cover whoever is in the best position to climb it...

Anders primes a grenade ready to try and lob it into the cockpit of the walker. He waits for others to act first before he tries his shot.

-

The prisoners stop running. They turn back to look at the AT-ST, which has slowed it own movement. The walker is capable of running much faster than they can, and keeping up with a human's running speed, especially hampered by knee-deep water and weeds, is a joke. It is barely moving one step every thirty seconds. At a distance of nearly a kilometer, its guns are still able to target the prisoners easily. They have no chance to escape.

The prisoners put their hands on their heads and begin walking back. This affectation of surrender doesn't last long as they are forced to use their hands to push through the reeds again, but it seems to satisfy the Imperials. They wait patiently for the prisoners to get closer.

The officer raises his microphone again. "Did you think we wouldn't notice you had gone? As soon as you didn't show up for your shift today, we checked the holocams and saw which way you had gone. Now we're going to have to punish you both."

Forim points at Xyklo and Zeik and waives his finger in an "up you go" motion.

With an inward sense of dread you realize the cap wants to take the vehicle in tact for phase two of the plan...

Zeic does as indicated but isn't quite up to it.  Perhaps his small size just doesn't allow him the reach this time.

22:23, Today: Zeic Plirr rolled no successes using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2a1p1D1C1S.  Climb attempt.

Watching his team mates try and make the climb to the top of the walker Anders gets ready with the grenade.

-

The imperial soldier at the top of the AT-ST glances down, then tucks his head into the cockpit. He stands back up again and leans over the side. He sees Zeic trying to climb up the leg.

"There is!" he shouts. "Someone is trying to climb the leg! Who is that?"

Roll Cool or Vigilance, your choice

Ooc waiting for Xyklo to get his try before I react.  Feel free to upgrade it with a light side point