The team is currently aboard a stock freighter hauling an inoccuous cargo. The crew of the vessel are that most rare of currency among the Rebels: skilled people with no suspicious background. All three of them have clean records dating back to birth, so that no investigation will turn up any suspicion or forgery. The ship is likewise legally owned, with no connection to smuggling or Rebel activity.

By direct order from Princess Leia, the crew is to keep their noses clean at all costs. She believes that the long-term value of their spotless reputation far outweighs the value they might contribute as soldiers. The crew have different opinions on this.

"I just want to get out there and mix it up with the Empire!" grumbles Petray, a late-teens human who serves as the navigator.

The ship's mechanic is a rodian named Nimeek. He spent several hours explaining that, while his clan was at war with another clan, his family line was connected and distanced in such a way as to render him a neutral party. He buzzes absently at Petray's words, having heard variations on them many times before.

The Captain-owner is an older human named Milekka Fields. She smiles, a mix of indulgence and wryness.

"When we touch down on Tatooine, you'll have to wait in the ship's smuggling compartments at first. Once they have done their inspection, if they do one at all, we'll let you out. Then you can enter Mos Eisley unnoticed.

"Your contact is an Ithorian, code-named Hammerhead. Apparently he's the only one on the planet, so he shouldn't be hard to find, but he frequents a cantina called Chalmun's. That's all I know." She nods and heads to the cockpit.

You have been given a flimsy, which you are supposed to destroy, listing the mission objectives:

Primary Objective:
 Sabotage: Destroy Jabba the Hutt's operation at the Shayed moisture farm.

Secondary Objectives:
 Combat Victory: Defeat Jabba's enforcer.
 Counter-Intelligence: Plant false trail against Rebel involvement.
 Intelligence: Determine what the operation is
 Personnel: Avoid injuries requiring downtime
 Political Support: Keep the majority of the farm's infrastructure intact.
 Recruiting: Capture a High-Value Target for interrogation.
 Resource Acquisition: Confiscate any readily-usable materials.
 Support: Accomplish as many objectives as possible.

Jess felt the gentle tremble of the ship through the soles of her field boots. She chose a blousey shirt and slacks to mitigate the effects a planet noted for dry heat and two suns. She felt a prickle in her palms at the thought of confronting another hutt.

Drac locks eyes with the young man, the Selonians black beads penetrating the human's wide and colorful marbles. "I'm sure you'll get your chance soon enough, little one," he says in a tone too somber to be truly patronizing. Whether his seriousness comes from a sense of loss or resolve is hard to discern. What is unmistakeable is that Drac speaks from experience, especially as he stows his well-worn light repeater in the smuggling compartment.

Sometime during the flight, he reaches into his vest and pulls out a much smaller blaster. Turning to the ship's mechanic, he inquires, "This keeps catching when I attempt to draw it, and it sticks out too much. Can you address that?"

F3-3T is back in the wilds of space where his circuits feel more free than when sucked by a planets limiting gravity. F3-3T prefers the false gravity created by machines, it is more akin to his chassis, he reaches out and attaches a loose wire tightening up with loving care as the rebel pilots hurl the team toward the Hutts.

F3-3T overhears this Dracmother having issues with his repeating blaster. Most likely his greasy fur has caught in the mechanism and it is now protruding out far too much. The astromech rolls over to the Selonian and beeps out. "I may be of assistance with your fire arm as it should be in good order when we terminate those aligned with the Huttesse. I will take a look at it.." F3-3T extends his armature out toward the large beast halfway. "That is of course if you agree upon something first?".

The beeps and whirls become demanding in tone. "I will fix it Dracmother but you must agree as a Gentlemen that you will not be a scoundrel and try to engage in romantic relations with either Seku Bondara or medical droid, XLT-DD of the Nebulon Frigate "Light Runner"... IF you agree to these terms I will repair your weapon."

Dracmothor looks quizzically at the little droid. Even after leaving his homeworld, he still has little experience and understanding of these artificial life forms. Still, a machine fixing a machine seemed to make sense. He wasn't sure what F3-3T was on about with the Twi'lek and another droid, but he caught enough to say, "I have no intentions of romance. See what you can do." He then hands over his HL-27 light pistol to F3-3T, though he also whispers to the Rodian, "See if he needs any help.

The binary stars in the system give off blinding light even from astronomical units away. The yellow-and-red dot of Tatooine is as unassuming in its own system as it is to the people of the Galaxy. It is surely the best place for a criminal gangster to hide their illicit activites.

System traffic is light, and the approach is easy. You follow the directions of a bored-sounding voice to land in Mos Eisley. "Docking bay 86. Welcome to Tatooine," the controller says curtly before switching off.

"Dull, just the way we like it," Milekka says. She glances over at Petray, who is sitting at the cockpit gunner's station. He gives her a long-suffering look. "Most of us, anyway."

At Nimeek's direction, you slide yourselves into the smuggler's compartments of the ship. These scanner-shielded sections are barely big enough for a person, let alone one with weapons and gear, but he thoughtfully provides you with some snacks. "Use refresher before entering," he warns you. "Not good to get out while inspector here, and uncomfortable to hold for hour." Basic is not his first language, but his meaning is clear.

After the ship lands, you wait in quiet darkness. The air is warm and stuffy, and it's hard to be patient when you don't know how long it will be. Distantly, you can hear words and footsteps on the other side of the shielded panels. It might be inspectors searching for you, soldiers coming for you, or just the crew walking around.

Eventually, after two Standard hours and nineteen minutes, the panels crack open again. Nimeek pulls them aside and lets you out into the fresh air. He offers you some water. "Remember: Water on Tatooine expensive," he warns. "Drink now, while here in ship. Dry and heat not good together."

After recovering a bit, you collect your gear and step out onto the sandy surface of Tatooine. Docking Bay 86 is a round, open-air structure that keeps the wind off you and shields some of the sunlight. Just outside, you can hear the bustle of Mos Eisley.

"Remember, you have seven Standard days before we are scheduled to leave," warns Milekka. "You'll have to balance speed with subterfuge. Good luck, and may the Force be with you."

The time hiding F3-3T was able to finish the finer touches on the Selonian's blaster. It was quite an appealing aesthetic about the fire-arm that he had previously discounted as banal objects, maybe the female species found them attractive. F3-3T mentioned this to the Rodian youngling mechanic who was of little help in that department but offered up the last coiled spring to make the blaster work even finer.


"It should not stick any longer." was all the Rodain whispered as a reply to the question of females drawn romantically to large hand guns and blasters. F3-3T shook his head unit in dismay again he had learned nothing from another male of a species, maybe it was a question that loomed larger than even inter-species relations could fathom.

He offered it up to the furred aquatic mammal with both armatures. "Here your weapon has been modified, although take heed we will not be able to swim or frolic submerged very much if at all on this planet. Do take time to preen yourself if it is needed now before your muscular mouth organ dries out." With that F3-3T set his timer 10,080 standard minutes and counting not a second to lose.


O.O.C: 10:40, Today: F3-3T rolled 3 successes, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1A 3P 1D 1C 1B.  Modify Blaster. Not sure what to do with advantage on modify result, a one die re-roll per session for accuracy?

Jess veiled her face in the same loose fabric that made up her blouse. She donned a soft brown cloak and drew up its hood. "Let's find this Boho and get out to anchorhead." 

During the trip, Seku talks at length with Petray about why he wanted to see more action and why he had joined the rebellion. She tells him a little about growing up on Ryloth during the occupation and about getting shot on the last mission. Neither seems to do much to dampen the kid's enthusiasm. She listens attentively to the plan that Captain Fields lays out, but she does look a little uncomfortable about the idea of being stuck in the smuggling compartments. She rolls her eyes at the codename for the Ithorian contact. Someone would have to talk to Alliance intelligence about getting more creative.

As the freighter arrives at Tattooine, Seku changes from her heavier space travel outfit into a light tan sleeveless top and a pair of very airy pants. Her boots are still quite sturdy in case they ended up having to hike anywhere and she wraps a long strip of linen loosely around her neck that she could use to cover her head in if she needed too.

She looks somewhat dubiously at the smuggler compartment before somewhat begrudgingly stuffing herself into one. When the team is finally released, she breathes a sigh of relief and takes a long drink from the water Nimeek offers. "You don't have to tell me twice. I remember how it goes." She heads down the ramp of the ship and into the heat of the planet.

"From here on, we're spacers looking for a break from the black." To Jess she says: "I think we need to start by finding this Chalmun's cantina and our Ithorian friend."

F3-3T makes a feeble attempt to steal and conceal water in his chassis as he worries endlessly about the seemingly endless possible ways to die of thirst for his more fleshy comrades. He rolls out into the blasting heat storing a quart of dirty oil in his chassis, believing it to be 100 credits worth of H2O with a mocking string of beeps. "Stupid Spacers....".

The he rolls quickly behind Dracmo, the information he has gathered is that the natives and nomadic peoples of this dusty forsaken rock are so thirsty they will strip down any moving automoton in hopes of salvaging enough wire and drive parts to keep them either highly inebriated and dehydrated or from dying of thirst before they die of hunger.

Either way for once F3-3T aims to keep quiet as possible for one of the first times since being activated by his maker and the Maker.

17:01, Today: F3-3T rolled 1 failure using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1A 1P 3D.  F3-3T attempts to steal water.

Stepping out of the docking bay, Jess glanced about as she got a feel for the place. The bustle of foot traffic and numerous languages besides basic would make blending in easy enough. She looked to her companions. "I'm going to see if I can get some information."

Approaching a vendor's stall, she began with a few pleasantries before asking for directions to Chalmun's cantina.

15:23, Today: Jess (Jessica) Swanhill rolled 1 success using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1a 1p 1d.  streetwise.

Nimeek watches F3-3T plug a little hose into the ship's water supply and fill his chassis storage with it. "Good for drinking and fire suppression, yes?" the rodian comments. He produces a cloth and gives F3-3T's dome a quick scrub.

The team steps out into the streets of Mos Eisley. The suns are bright and the day is warm. There is a strong scent of garbage that the heat isn't helping, but a breeze keeps both from being too intolerable. The buildings here are low to the ground, with translucent windows. The streets are covered in sand, making it difficult to tell what areas are designated for pedestrians or vehicles. Nothing here uses wheels; everything is either repulsorlift-mobile, or beast-drawn. A variety of beasts of burden seem popular, from large lizard-creatures to furry banthas.

The people here are as broad a variety of different species as you have ever seen in one place. Humans and jawas, the little robed humanoids, are the most common. However, they are merely the largest minorities. Klatoonians, gamorreans, sullustians, and of course duros are plentiful. You spot a shistavanen, a devaronian, a talz, and a ranat. A dozen languages are spoken, or shouted.

There are Imperial Stormtroopers here, too. Although you have been assured that the Imperial presence here is light, they patrol in tight white-armoured knots. They are mostly patrolling just to patrol, paying little mind to anyone who gets out of their way. You are a little concerned that they will stop someone heavily armed, so you take a few side-streets.

Jess asks around and finds Chalmun's cantina. It is a sunken building, the recession into the earth doubtless keeping it cool inside. There is only one entrace that you can see, forcing you to walk into a dark room and be silhouetted by the light. Surely intentional; anyone inside will be able to get a good look at you while your eyes are still adjusting.

"Not the swankiest place I've ever worked," Jess murmured as the door slid open with a hiss. Stepping into the dim, she moved to one side and allowed her eyes to grow accustomed to the low light and her nose to the variety of scents. "The brochure boasted it was a wretched hive of scum and villainy, I guess we're about to find out-but be careful, this place could be a little rough."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:33, Fri 08 Feb 2019.

F3-3T understands where he is at, he scans the perimeter before passing through electronic purview machines, and stops abruptly spinning toward Jess. "Let it be known I can not enter this establishment." He places a closed com-link port into her had before they go any further.

"Please do not mention my cowardly appearance to Seku, or the rest of the team. I will patrol the perimeter and be listening to your convo with our agent and give my intel to the com-link button you can place in your ear." With that F3-3T rolls out of the seedy den of iniquity and back into the blast furnace environs of the Port.

Rolling Outside F3-3T beeps into Jess's ear +++ZIPPOPCRINKLEZINGDONGCRRRRTZZZZZ[Private to Jess (Jessica) Swanhill: This may work to our advantage you now have a private line to my data storage and we can possibly find out more about our handler or any spacer looking to pull a fast one on us as they say, our code for positive is not Rodger but "Wizard Baby." And Negative reads "Utini". Copy? ]++++"

O.O.C.: 22:32, Today: F3-3T rolled 3 successes using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3P 1A 3D.  Modify Comlink for Eaves Dropping Audio Codecs and Outer Rim Telephony.

Seku pats F3 on the head as she walks past him into the cantina. "Keep an eye out for Imperials F3. Let us know if anyone interesting is about to come in." Rather than stand in the doorway attracting stares, Seku makes her way towards the bar which she can make out from the back-lighting. After she reaches it, barely managing to avoid bumping into a couple patrons as her eyes adjusted, she leans forward and waits for the bartender to ask for her order.

Jess lingered a moment, listening over the murmur of barroom chatter and murmurs. She looked to discover if she recognized anyone or if anyone had recognized them.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCGPt3XFxJk

13:05, Today: Jess (Jessica) Swanhill rolled no successes, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1a 1p 1d.  perception check.
13:03, Today: Jess (Jessica) Swanhill rolled 1 success, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1a 1p 1d.  knowledge underworld.

10:49, Today: Jess (Jessica) Swanhill rolled no successes using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1a 1p 1d.  streetwise.

Realizing that his big boom stick might not be welcome, even in such a lawless establishment, Drac decides to keep F3 company outside, taking up a sentry position in the shade of a neighboring building.

That decided, the team splits off. Drac and F3-3T stay outside, keeping an eye on the street, while the rest go inside to find...

Your eyes adjust to the dim light. The air is smoky and warm, although it is the warmth of bodies in a close space rather than the beating heat of a sun. Although it is midday on the planet, the cantina is crowded with patrons. There are very few humans, and no more than two of any other species. The clothing is more uniform than the patrons. About half to two-thirds are in spacers' wear, from coveralls to flight suits to, in the case of an ammonia-breathing Gand, a sealed environment suit.

The bartender is a surly-looking human male who makes your drinks with the aid of the ugliest droid you have ever seen. It looks like an astromech that was haphazardly 'upgraded' with random pieces from a junkyard by someone trying to recreate a nightmare. At least the drinks are tasty.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/C2-R4

Seated in one of the booths at the side of the cantina is an Ithorian and a human male. If there really is only one on the planet, this must be your contact. The dark-skinned, dark-haired man looks very much like the holo you have seen of Boho Shayed. They are both poring over something on the table.

Jess flicked a glance at Seku before carefully moving through the crowd. As she drew closer to the table and their contacts, she tugged the veil down below her chin and provided them with a crooked smile. "All this heat parches a girl's throat, perhaps one of you gentleman could recommend a drink and provide some conversation?"

22:16, Today: Jess (Jessica) Swanhill rolled 2 successes, 2 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3a 1p.  charm.

Seku passes a cred stick over to the bartender and takes the drink that he presents in return without a word. She turns around in time to meet Jess' eyes for a brief moment and then watches the other woman approach the contact. Seku surveys the cantina for dangers or anyone who appears too interested in Jess.

Seku Bondara rolled 1 success, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3A 2D. Perception.

Looking for any threats in the room or anyone, other than the Ithorian, who's watching Jess. I'll spend the advantage to avoid any interruption at the bar.

The patrons of the cantina are almost all dangerous types. Most of them are armed, and most of them look like they've lived through a few fights. However, no one seems terribly belligerent right now. Everyone is keeping their noses in their own business. The only one that really sets Seku's skin crawling is, perhaps, the most unassuming one there. A human, or at least a human-looking male, is seated near the bar. He is not drinking, but taking long, luxurious pulls from a hookah. He doesn't look armed, and seems engrossed in his own smoke clouds. Seku finds herself tensing and clenching her teeth.

Jess approaches the table where Boho and 'Hammerhead' are chatting. As she approaches, she sees that the table is covered in documents and maps. Boho quickly covers the pile with a messenger bag.

"Not here to make friends," mutters Boho in a low, gravelly voice. He doesn't look up at her. Hammerhead holds a gentle hand in front of Boho, as if to restrain him.

"Let us be polite, my friend," he says. An Ithorians' mouth doesn't look anything like a humans', but he speaks Basic well. His voice is sonorous and elegant, the product of his four tandem throats. He raises his voice slightly, to be heard over the hubbub of the bar. "Wuhur, a pitcher of juri juice for my table, please."

The bartender nods without looking up. Hard to ignore a voice that clear, especially delivered in tones that are polite but commanding. It puts you in mind of a professor addressing a classroom.

Boho reluctantly slides over, allowing Jess a spot to sit down. He carefully piles his papers and puts them in his bag without showing them. Up close, Boho's features are more clear. He is in his late thirties, well into adulthood for a human but still in his prime. His dark skin resists suntan but he still looks weathered, as if years of wind and sun have taken their toll. His short black hair has some grey in it. He looks like he would prefer to be doing something productive instead of sitting here talking to strangers.

Outside, F3-3T and Drac stand vigil. They are probably the worst choices to remain outside. Drac's outer coat has natural oils that resist water, dirt, and insects. It seems positively magnetic to sand, though, and he is sweltering in the dry heat. F3-3T is cycling coolant at an accelerated rate, and he is finding that sand is getting caught in his wheels as he ambulates. The two find a nearby awning for some shade and shelter where they can still keep an eye on the cantina. The awnings owner, a shopkeeper who sells desert clothing, takes their presents as interest in his Wares.

"Thank you." Jess slid into a seat. "It's quite dry on this planet, I imagine it needs all the moisture farmers it can get." She gave human a penetrating look with her doe-like eyes.
"I'm called Jess," she said in low tones. "I understand there's a slug problem near Anchorhead."

Boho's expression turns from stern to quizzicle, and then understanding dawns. When he looks up at you, into your eyes for the first time, he looks much less grouchy. There is still an undercurrent of grumpiness that you suspect is permanent, but you sense that he is grateful you are here. He reaches out to take your hand and shake it. "Boho Shayed," he introduces himself.

"Now that you are acquainted, I will take my leave," drawls Hammerhead as he stands up. "I would be little aid in this sort of business and it is better if we avoid a visible connection. I will return to my home outside the town. You are welcome to visit, but please be discreet when you arrive."

With that, the ithorian rises from his seat. The hideous droid is arriving with your beverages, and begins using its tentacles to serve Jess and Boho. Hammerhead places a stack of credits on its tray and takes his leave.

Once Hammerhead is gone, Boho looks at Jess and then around the room. "Is it just you? Aren't there any others?"

"There are more Mr. Shayed," she said quietly, "but I think we would be better talking where there are fewer eyes and ears." She poured herself a drink, taking advantage of the opportunity to hydrate.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:58, Mon 11 Feb 2019.

Boho narrows his eyes and looks at her, then sighs. "Fine. Let's start. How much do you know about the situation?"

Jess sipped her drink and remained hunched over to keep her remark difficult to hear beyond the table. "I've been told you're a hard working moisture farmer that has created a profitable business that was attacked by a hutt crime lord. You don't know what he wants but he has forced you off your farm and you want it back. Does that sum it up?"

Boho shakes his head. "Not quite. First, I didn't build the business, my father and grandmother did. Not really important but let's give Nana the credit she deserves. And, as it happens, I have half an idea of what the Hutt wants.

"You see, I'm not just a regular moisture farmer, and my farm isn't a regular moisture farm. I use the water my vaporators produce to create sterile water and saline solution. People hear 'water' and think about drinking it or feeding plants. They don't think about fluid rescusitation for medical patients." Boho is beginning to look proud of himself.

"At first, I thought Jabba wanted to take my farm because I'm the only producer of this product in the region, and he wanted to take it over for himself. However, since he took my farm, my customers have stopped getting their orders. The farm hasn't been shipping out any product. My business is worth thousands of credits a month, just from local clinics. They're having to buy imported saline at five times the price.

"I know it's still operating, so they must be producing. Now, here's the strangest part. Jabba has actually been bringing supplies onto the farm. Much more parts and personnel than I needed to run it as it was. He's bringing in people and building more buildings and who knows what else to expand operations. As for what it's all for?" Boho shrugs. "That's the half I don't know."

"I have a lot of intel on the farm. I even went around there a week ago. Not close enough to attract attention, but just to look through the macrobinoculars and get a few holos. Where do you want to start?"

"Hm, spice or some other drug?" she speculated softly. she glanced around. "Do you have a place that is quieter?"

"I don't live around here. I'm only in Mos Eisley because Momaw invited me to stay with him while we waited for you to arrive. We could go to his place. As long as we don't attract attention while we go, I don't think he'll mind."

F3-3T has been tuned into the conversation and is relaying the transmission to Dracmo's comlink as well. Something doesn't add up in the droids head, maybe its the dust in his motor compartments itching his sequences but he would like to make sure this "source" is on level. The Hutt's being known for layers and layers upon their spy networks, even double agents working with double agents. It is a fine line between genius and paranoid delusions out in the Rim.

F3-3T transmits to Jess's ear. "Move the next meeting's location. At least to where you want to have it instead of him. Dracmothor and myself can secure a place at a cheap hotel under your name, this will let us survey the meeting even allowing us to track the "source" from his route from this meeting to the next. Copy? Advise us on the next move as you believe most effective. Wizard?".

The droid beeps out at Dracmo wondering if the aquatic mammal has any spin on the next move...

F3-3T uses his little knowledge of Mos Eisley and passes on his meet-up spot to Jess. An antiquated sleezy hotel on the fringes of the city, placed in his memory banks by his creator. A once favorite place for his to bring all sorts of illegal deals and worse, a bad place even locals don't dare go at night. "The Bald Bantha."


14:46, Today: F3-3T rolled 3 successes, 5 threats using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 4A 3D 1S.  Locate Proper Secret Meeting Place Mos Eisley.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:49, Mon 11 Feb 2019.

Seku has also been listening to the conversation from her place at the bar. She leans deep into her drink before weighing in. "It's a good idea. F3, Drac go scope the place out while Jess gets the farmer to agree. Jess when you're ready, go ahead and accompany him there. I'll wait to see if anyone follows you. Victor, you keep an eye on me when I leave. Just in case." She continues to check in on the human who sets her on edge, but doesn't let him dominate her attention and instead lets her gaze wander around the cantina.

F3-3T beeps out at the muscle of the team to follow him closely as they head toward the outskirts of town and the "Bald Bantha", a nefarious run-down barracks turned hourly hotel in the worse part of town. Luckily this should keep them out of Imperial contact but most likely in the heart of Hutt territory if not worse.

The astromech finds in his internal mapping system that on foot this could take too long for them to take advantage of the jump of the contact and that they may have to pay for a hover taxi. F3-3T beeps out commands via Seku's message, "Dracmo. Seku and Jess wish for us to secure lodgings at an establishment know as the Bald Bantha, for the next meeting with our contact. I do not believe they will allow a droid to do business with them or a taxi service to get there as soon as possible. You may have to hail a service for us as well as pay for the room....".

The droid beeps out a bit later. ".... And this is in no way an invitation of mine for us to become intimate on any level other than in our mission." F3-3T didn't want the aquatic mammal to get his hopes up and lead the Selonian on in any fashion. Strictly business, F3-3T had been known to break hearts before at least that is what his corrupted memory banks processed as he pushed on into the dust and dirt.

Jess listened to the conversation in her ear and without missing a beat smiled encouragingly at Boho. "I know a place, if I can only remember how to get there." She giggled. "Do you know the city well?"

About an hour later...

The team has acquired two rooms at a local motel known for discretion and insects. They have to put down a deposit for any water used in their rooms before the deal is made.

The Rebels and Boho Shayed are in one of the rooms. You are reasonably confident that you were not followed here. In the centre of the room, a small table is barely big enough for a sheet of flimsiplast. It is serving as the meeting table, and currently holds a map.

The map is hand-drawn, with care. "This is my farm. It's about twenty-five kilometers north-west of Anchorhead, just on the edge of the Jundland Wastes. Read the list I've prepared and you'll see what all the buildings are."

Boho places a list on the bed for you to see. The labelled points are explained here.

 1. Main House
 2. Servant's Quarters
 3. Garage
 4. Hermetic Facility
 5. Solar Power Facility (2)
 6. Pre-fabricated building
 7. Storage

"I also wanted to bring to your attention a few assets I have available to me. My own speeder is here in Mos Eisley. My skyhopper is in Anchorhead, at a friends' lot. I have had to spend most of my available capital, but I have about 2 000 credits for expenses. I have a few... well, they're not friends exactly, but the people and moisture farmers around Anchorhead stick together. I don't think anyone is happy about having Jabba's thugs around."

Boho folds his arms, staring at his map.

Group 4 Map updated

Drac takes a moment from his pacing and checking windows/doorways to scan the map. He points to the cliffs to the West and the high mesas dotting the landscape. "These highlands could be good for scouting, get enemy numbers and patrol times/routes. Or picking off easy targets." He glances at the human sharpshooter and briefly grins at his fellow weapons expert.

F3-3T is still highly paranoid about the entire operation and has been monitoring the area for signs of illegal activity, being followed or watched or Imperial tracks of any kind.

So far nothing has turned up, he has been accosted by the local vagrants and now being alone outside the hotel room is beginning to fear for his operational status, as he has just begun enjoying his sentient life he does not wish it to be cut short on this Outer-Rim wasteland with no hope of redeeming himself to the Rebellion. Having no real street smarts of any kind, not this is truly possible for an astromech save on orbital mining colonies and space stations he is hopelessly lost and recognizes the fact that he must stick close to the team or be terminated quickly.

Beeping out a blessing to the Maker of Makers he whistles his way back inside the hotel room, hoping as well the team does not blast him mistaking him for the enemy. F3-3T enters the room as they scan the map. Giving a toot that "All is clear."

When in fact F3-3T actually knows nothing of what is happening outside save it is very loud disturbing and filled with moans of either pleasure, or torture. Possibly a mixture of both. He is terrified and his motor servers are rattling and his tiny fans are whirling a cough or two of spacer grit and dust.


14:44, Today: F3-3T rolled 2 failures using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2A 1D 1C 1S.  Streetwise Mos Eisley. (Establish) Street Cred Test. .

Feeling more confident now that they aren't in public any longer and that they weren't followed, Seku is leaning over the map as Boho goes over the features. She gestures at the fenced areas. "What's inside the fences? Also is there any chance that your sky-hopper is armed? If not, it might be useful for recon of the area, but I wouldn't put me behind the stick. It also sounds like we ought to chat up some of the locals, but I think we ought to establish a cover story first. It'll be harder to deny affiliation if we ride into town with you on your airspeeder."

She pauses to think then lays out her plan. "Alright, here's my idea: we hitch our own ride into Anchorhead and let slip that we're working for a hutt other than Jabba. It can be either Bulppa, Giltak, or Kaltho." Here she looks at Jess for input. "We make a big show of throwing our weight around and use that as an excuse to talk to some of Boho's acquaintances to see what kind of help they're willing to offer. At the same time, we scope out the farm to get a lay of the land and try to figure out what they're up to. We'll decide on our next move once we have more information, hopefully some allies, and there's been enough time for word to get back to Jabba's cronies that a rival hutt has sent people to scope out his operation."

"The fences are around my solar collectors. There's a few dozen in each of those fields. The north one powers my home, that's this part right here, while the south one powers the hermetic facility. That's where my water becomes medical supplies. The fences are electrified, but it's just to keep varmints out of the solar fields."

"The skyhopper doesn't have any weapons on it. I just use it to get to Mos Eisley. I took the landspeeder here this time because I thought I might have to bring someone back with me, and the 'hopper doesn't have any passenger seats."

"The thugs at the farm go into Anchorhead sometimes. I don't know what they're there for, or how they'll react to talk about other Hutts. I don't know anything about gangsters."
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:42, Wed 13 Feb 2019.

Standing near the temperature moderator and enjoying its cool breeze, Jess spoke up. "I'd rather not involve any Hutt name dropping. Hutts expend other species without a second thought, we'd become fodder in a gang war that we created. I think drawing one or two of Jabba's minions out and either interrogating them, or getting them so drunk and pliable that they will spill their reasons for being there might involve a lot less bloodshed. Once we know what we're looking for, we might have a better chance of grabbing it and getting out before they know it's gone."

Boho's landspeeder is a SoroSuub V-35 Courier, not terribly roomy but protected against the wind and sand. At this point you are willing to put 'air conditioning' beside 'hyperdrive' on a list of great inventions across the galaxy.

Boho pilots his vehicle across the dunes, sticking to established routes and keeping his speed low. It is a few hours before you get to Anchorhead, although the day is still bright.

The speeder crests a rise and you can see Anchorhead. It is a small community of buildings ringed by tall, thin fences. These fences manage to block the worst of the wind, and possibly provide some protection in the event of a raid. There are only a few dozen buildings along the main street. From here it looks like there were two archetectural styles that make up the buildings. Along the main concourse, the buildings were square, made of white material that has borne up pretty well against the wind. These buildings tend to be two stories tall, and are clustered together. All around them are dun-covered buildings, nearly blending into the sand. These ones are quite different in shape, being round and sloping and rarely above a single story. You get the impression that they must have sublevels too.

"There's Anchorhead," Boho says as he brings the landspeeder to a stop on the hill. "Did you want me to just drive in, or was there some other way you wanted to approach?"

Along the way, Drac asks Boho about the airspeeder: "Are those common around here? Anything that would make it obvious its yours and not just another random hopper?"

Jess looked over at Boho from the passenger seat. "Where do Jabba's thugs congregate when the go to town? We could start by listening on anything they've got to say and cozy up to them, ply them with drinks and if necessary, pluck one of them up for a more detailed discussion."

Boho waves his hand dismissively. "Not uncommon, no. A few people have them for short hops or scouting. Some people have kids that like to use them for joyriding. What's-his-name... Luke. Lars' kid. He used to flit around the canyons all the time. He set off my perimeter sensors once, and Lars made him apologize. Haven't seen him around in awhile, since they died. I hope he's alright."

"There's a cantina in Anchorhead where Jabba's thugs like to be when they're not working, and I expect we could find some at the holotheatre during a show. Beyond that, they usually have a few people at the docking bay. We might run into them anywhere; it's not a big town."

"We need to catch them off-guard and ready to brag about their activities, to perhaps, impress someone." She gave her compatriots a penetrating look.

Drac nods at Jess, briefly flexing his arms subconsciously. "If one is alone, I can help ensure... what's the word... cooperation." His straight face shows no enthusiasm, his tone only expressing assurance in results.

F3-3T takes awhile to understand what the furry aquatic mammal is speaking about, co-operating was the last thing on his circuit board. Then it struck him, violence. Of course the astromech was in on this priming his mini blow torch giving a maniac series of beeps to let everyone know he was in on the torture/beating if needed.\

The tiny droid spent the speeder ride in sleep mode while his circuits processed possible uses of saline by the Empire beyond medical supplies. Either that or it looked like the Empire was getting ready to prime its own violence and needed enough bags of saline to piece back together blasted soldiers.

F3-3T continued to work on the physical science mystery which was not his strong suit. Trig felt more real than the workings on finicky physical compounds and their constant slurry of liquids and juices....

10:43, Today: F3-3T rolled 1 success, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 4A 3D ((1(A), 1(A), 7(A), 7(A), 6(D), 1(D), 2(D))). Uses for Saline by Empire. NaCI Mystery???

"Well, in that case I'll drop you off down the street from the Cantina." Boho drives the landspeeder into town.

Anchorhead is made up mostly of humans. There are a few other humanoid species, but all of them have the look of desert-dwellers hard-bitten by the climate. You see a fair number of jawas, the diminuative robed humanoids, running about. The locals keep an eye on them, but mostly ignore them.

Boho drops the team off on a street parallel to the main street. He points to an alleyway. "Easy to get to the main road from there. I'll be in the Droid shop. You have my comm signal, right?" He confirms.

Boho drives his speeder off. Now that he is alone, he is not likely to attract any attention. As a resident of the area in his own speeder, Boho will not turn any heads. The ecletic band of Rebels might, however. Jess and Victor are humans, but are not dressed like locals. Seku's tattooed lekku might stand out as well. Selonians aren't common outside the Corell system, and no-one off their home planet has ever seen a male selonian. The only 'normal' one is F3-3T; R-series droids are a common sight.

F3-3T ponders the uses of sterile saline. It is useful for a variety of medical purposes, and required during nearly every surgery. Depending on the concentration of sodium chloride, it can be used on a variety of sentient species. It's hard to think of a less dangerous compound, or one that is easier to obtain; hoarding sterile saline is like hoarding hand sanitizer.

"Could you hand me my case please?" Jess waited for it to be passed up. For several moments she touched up her hair then her makeup, it was showtime. Jess frowned, she had the right colours for clothes but not quite the exact match of the robes they favoured here. She noted they didn't tuck their slacks into their boots, she pulled her own pair free, and pulled the cuffs down to the ankles. They didn't wear veils to make the air easier to breath, the veil became a scarf. Drawing up the hood of her brown robe against the suns, she stepped out of the speeder. "Let's find out who's who around here," she murmured to the others. "And unless any of your are musicians we'd better split up because we are not a band."
She started up the street.  "Let's see who's at the cantina."

On the trip, Seku pushes back against Jess' aversion to involving the Hutts. "I think starting a gang war sounds like the ideal outcome. We just need to get off planet before it heats up. Interrogating a goon or two is a good idea though." She eyes Drac as he alludes to his preferred method of interrogation. "We need to make sure whoever it is goes missing in a way that has a reasonable explanation. I think Jess can take care of that using her approach."

Seku steps out of the speeder after Jess. As the other woman begins to head to the cantina, Seku turns to Victor and Drac. "Why don't you two keep an eye on the exits. While Jess chats up the goons and tries to lure one away, F3 and I will see if we can get a lead on some place private that we can hole up. We'll give Jess a few minutes lead."

14:42, Today: The Force rolled 2 successes, 2 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3a 1b 1c 1d 1b.  streetwise re: finding a place to hole up.
Seku Streetwise + F3-3T helping

A short way down the street, Seku and F3-3T find an office building. It is two stories tall, but the upper floor seems unoccupied. The windows are boarded up with some kind of wood-resemblant plastic slats. It is dark inside, but the slats are wide enough apart that you can see out into the street. From here, Seku can see across the street and two doors down to the cantina's front door, while being hidden from sight. F3-3T is too short to see through the window, unless he extends his periscope or balances on the tips of his runners.

Drac and Victor are currently on the street out in front of the cantina. There is an alley that runs back behind it which they have not yet looked into.

Jess approaches the cantina from the front. The long days of the planet mean that certain social expectations, such as drinking alcohol after sunset, have to be relaxed a bit. Still, it seems somewhat odd to hear such a raucous atmosphere with such bright sunlight blazing down.

The cantina itself is aboveground, unlike Chalman's in Mos Eisley. The building is constructed of the sturdy white material. There are two wide windows of brightly-coloured glassteel. They are translucent and cannot be seen through, except for a narrow band near the top. Jess can just barely see inside if she stands on her toes. From here, she can see a few human males standing around the room. They are laughing, talking, and drinking.

F3-3T is puttering around the unoccupied building, cursing the Maker of Makers for sending them to this blight of a planet orbiting a vacuum of Hutt mass. He believes the odds of dying from exposure have taken over at 3:1 and dying by Hutt enforcers has fallen to 72:1.

That said he voices his string of concerns more politely with Seku Bondara in hopes the team can move beyond squatting and get itself closer to its goals of destroying Jabba or at least crippling his Empire. "Seku it seems without a specific cover for operation for we will not last up under Hutt scrutiny. Truth tends to be the best cover or at least half truths, we could all try to acquire jobs around Anchorhead or even around the farm. It would give us a legitimate reason to be here. We could most likely work at the Cantina? Well not myself but the group or simply as hired hands? There has to be something we could all do to earn enough to live by or at least starve more slowly???".

F3-3T's beeps and whirls fade off into the fading twin stars the astromech keeps in view making up astrogation routes off their binary spinning just to keep the rust off his circuits.

Seku keeps an eye on the front of the cantina. Before she responds to F3, she hit the comms and updates the rest of the team. "F3 and I found a place that we can use for the time being: abandoned office building down the street. It looks like there's an alley behind the cantina if someone wants to check that out. Jess, we'll give you a couple minutes to settle in, then come in after you. Just start clicking your comm if you need help."

That done, she turns to F3. "You know, that's not a bad idea, but I think you've got it backwards. You're the most likely to go unnoticed. If we could get you hired on at the farm, you could give us intel from the inside." She continues watching Jess through the boards as she talks. "I could pretend to sell you to Jabba's goons for drinking money. What do you think?"

F3-3T calculates the chances the Hutt's would suspect him are slim to none. Although he replies it would be imperative the Hutt splicers did not mind wipe him or he would be quite useless to the cause and may even be reprogrammed to destroy the group, although those chances were less than .002 percent. Still.

He explains he would need to be sold to someone aligned with the Hutt that may need the intel he had and that a mind wipe would restore him to quite useless default settings of a simple astrolabe with runners. Maybe he could figure out how to repair himself a dangerous technical operation akin to preforming brain surgery on oneself, so that he could not be over-ridden to lose his memory. Especially of Seku he mentioned, that would be heart circuit splicing/breaking.

He was up to task if the rest of the team was onboard. The idea of infiltrating was seductive in its dangerous allure and that Seku asked him to do it. "If you think you can all manage without me Seku. I will do my damndest to come through for yo- us, zerk bong. I mean the uprising against the Emp-. You know what I mean."

With that F3-3T rolled into the growing din of the Tatooine night.

Jess figured the one way to get the rest of the town to forget about her companions was to have them all focused on her. Tucking her blouse into her slacks that it became taut and tossing her hair so that it was full to the point of distraction, she pushed in the cantina's door and strutted towards the barman. Smiling like the tender was the most interesting person she had ever met, she leaned on the bar and said hello in a voice so sultry that the heat in the room rose a few degrees.

14:16, Today: Jess (Jessica) Swanhill rolled 5 successes, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3a 1 p 1d.  charm .
This message was last edited by the player at 19:27, Sat 16 Feb 2019.

Jess walks in and the conversation largely dies. Very few of the locals want to enter the cantina while the thugs are here, so they are used to having the place to themselves. The bartender, a human male, watches Jess approach. He has a sort of hunted look on his face, and flushed when she greeted him. He murmured something that might be a greeting, then poured her a glass of water. He turned and busied himself with the taps, as if he could not bear to look at her any further.

Jess got a look at the gang members in the bar. There were five human males, between 18 and 30 Standard years if she was any judge. They wore clothing covered in decorative patches and randomly reinforced with pieces of ceramic armour, such as a shoulder plate or pair of gauntlets. Each was armed with a slugthrower pistol and a vibroblade.

Jess also saw someone else that wasn't visible through the window. He was seated against the wall closest to the door, concealed by the coloured window from outside. He dark green scales and a wide, reptillian mouth that looked like it was permanently snarling. Had he stood up from his seated position, he would probably have towered over her by a foot or more. Instead he sat on a bench at the wall, a large mug of beer in his claw and a lidded pitcher on the table. He watched Jess at the bar without moving, except to take another drink from his mug.

1D Xenology. Rolled for you: you don't know what he is.

Jess enjoyed the cool beverage, the heat of the place and the outdoors made it all that more refreshing. She controlled her breathing, like holding a note, or stirring up her courage before a performance-especially in the places she'd been forced to work.
Her eyes glittered as she examined the other occupants of the cantina. It seemed to her that Jabba had hired a swoop gang to intimidate the locals, the other one, either wasn't one of them or was their superior and didn't enjoy their company.
"Hello boys, how's the water?" She asked in a voice that husky and lowered an octave.

Drac hears their leaders direction and goes to investigate. He tries to keep to the limited shadows, but the blinding light of the double suns impairs the vision of one who grew up in tunnels. As he nears the back, he not only misses anything hiding, but he stumbles over some old crates stacked next to the building, causing a bit of a commotion. He quickly looks around to see if anyone jumped at the din--reactions to such sudden noises can make it easy to tell who's on edge.

Net nothing on Perception, 3fails 2adv on Stealth.

F3-3T is startled by the commotion and tries to spin his head unit around in an orbit to notice anything amiss all he ends up doing is reversing his runners until he has little if no view of what is going on.

He beeps at Seku. "Not an optimal start for our team. Do not fear I shall protect your chassis diligently Lady Seku." The astromech beeps out to Bondara although he can not actually aid in her in any way at this time save act as armor.

09:46, Today: F3-3T rolled no successes, 1 threat  using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2A 2D ((1(A), 5(A), 5(D), 4(D))). Took a strain for the roll and reset strain at beginning of mission. will tally in game as well 1/13 STRAIN.

Seku watches Drac until he is out of sight and then perks up at the commotion from the alley where he disappeared. "Check in Drac. Are you ok?" She reaches into the hidden pocket of her jacket and puts her hand on her blaster, but motions for F3 to stay put as she waits for a response.

The human thugs glance at each other, like dire-cats watching a marsh pig wander into their den and roll over for a nap. One of them approaches Jess, slicking back his hair and giving a toothy smile.

"Hey, there, pretty lady," he tries, "You into bad boys?" The rest of the thugs nod and grunt, affirming their status as bad boys.

There are a few clangs and crunches around the back of the building, faintly audible through the walls. A few of the thugs glance up, but quickly return to their perusal of Jess. The lizard-man doesn't jump, but he does slowly look at the back door. He loses interest in Jess, instead glancing at the bartender.

The muttonchop-wearing, apron-clad man catches the lizard-man's eyes, and reluctantly goes to the back door.

Drac watches the door open, unable to find a hiding place in time. The bartender opens the door and sees the selonian among the debris. They stare at each other for a moment.

"Just some jawas," the bartender calls back in. "Shoo. Shoo, you runts!" He makes a flapping gesture towards Drac. He shakes his head and puts his hands on his hips, as if exasperated.

The lizard-man sips his beer, watching the bartender as he comes back in and begins cleaning glasses.

Drac freezes for a moment as he and the bartender size each other up. Drac cocks his head slightly at being called a Jawa, but it seems for the moment that the barkeep is an unexpected ally, to cover for him like that. He plays along with the command to shoo, quickly falling back into the measely shadows available under the hot twin suns. He comms in quietly, "Situation stable. Barkeep is a friendly, over."

Jess's eyes flashed, she leaned back against the bar. "Only the baddest. Now which one of you would that be?"

23:41, Today: Jess (Jessica) Swanhill rolled 1 success, 4 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3a 1p 1d 1s.

Seku replies to Drac over the comm. "Got it. Hopefully that means that the thugs aren't too jumpy since they didn't check it out themselves." With no word from Jess, Seku can only assume things are going well enough inside.

F3-3T overhears Seku speaking with Drac, there no indication of exactly what is taking place inside the dusty watering hole. F3-3T uses the time to brush up with his team mate in the abandoned building. Beeping slowly and using his own programming of "charm".

"Zeep Bing Hotcha Wooot?""Should I start a fire to keep us warm? Or are you worried we would attract unwanted attention. F3-3T places seductive warbles on the word attract..If you know what I mean....]

He raises his chassis by four inches and rolls nearby Seku's leg.

19:36, Today: F3-3T rolled 2 failures, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2A 2D 1C 1S.  Feeble Programmed Cheesy Droid Seducation V.S. Tw'lek Willpower..

The setback Challenge and Setbacks of finding love for a droid and humanoid are socially crippling in this archaic society. The Old Republic was far more advanced, Battle Droids got plenty of action in their day......

The thugs in the cantina immediately begin regaling Jess with exaggerated stories of their nefarious deeds. They all struggle to be heard over one another, and soon they are shouting. Then the lizard-man in the corner slams his mug down on the table, hard enough to crack it and spill his pitcher.

"Your squabbling over a female infuriates this one! If you are going to compete for her attention, at least do it with some dignity!"

The scaly beast rises up. His men quail as he approaches. He begins shoving them out into the street. He places a firm hand on Jess' shoulder and propels her out as well.

All the human thugs are out on the dusty street now. Their leader, a male barabel, arranges them in a rough circle.

"Enough of this loud-noises talking. Now you will fight for the female, like civilized males. Once she has chosen the strongest of you, the rest can be quiet and stop annoying this one."

The barabel turns to Jess. "Choose your favourite to begin. Then one of the others will challenge him."

anyone can roll 1d 1b xenology to learn more about barabels that might be relevant.

10:51, Today: Jess (Jessica) Swanhill rolled 1 success using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2a 1d 1b.  xenobiology .

Jess is fairly sure this barabel is at least a little drunk. Usually this manifests in aggressive behaviour and high energy.

Jess rubbed her shoulder, the reptilian's strength certainly matched his size. Her long lashes fluttered as she considered the motley band. She didn't want someone who was too big and hard to control or too small that would make her look like a ninny. Sizing up one that looked reasonably fit and looked like he had won more fights than he had lost. She pointed at him. "You," she said simply.

Seku puts a restraining hand on F3's chassis as she tries to she what's happening out on the street. "Hang on F3, something is happening." As the thugs pile out onto the street she gets a good look at the one who appears to be ordering them around and recognizes him as a barabel at once.

Seku Bondara rolled 3 successes, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2a 1p 1b 1d.  Xenology.

An ignorant observer might imagine that the barabel is trying to recreate mating rituals of his own people right now. With greater wisdom, Seku realizes that this is nothing like barabel mating and this one is just being weird. She notes that this barabel has many scars and missing scales. He must be a veteran of many close-quarters fights.

On the comms, Seku informs the others. "So, I'm not an expert on barabels or anything, but I'm about 90% sure that this isn't a thing they do. I think this guy is just karking around. Still might be fun though. He looks like he'll probably end up winning this fight if he gets involved so watch for that Jess."

Unable to answer, Jess gave a slight nod and stepped back. She eyed her chosen champion, wondering if he was going to accept the mantle or concede before the first blow was struck.

F3-3T rolls over to the opposite corner of the abandoned building where he finds the sharpshooter Victor. He beeps quietly to him wondering if he can make out a shot through his periscope or at least if things go wrong he could take out a mark.

The little astromech offers to let Zakharo stand on him if it helps him shoot over the crumbling wall on the North-East end of the building or maybe they could make their way to the roof with stealth.

Jess' chosen champion glances around at his fellows uncertain what he has gotten himself into. There is some disquiet murmuring among the others. Eventually the barabel gets frustrated and shoves one forward.

The second man bumps into the first, who assumes he is being attacked and throws a punch. The two are soon embroiled in a grappling drag-out. The barabel laughs. The others, relieved to be let off the hook, begin shouting encouragement.

A landspeeder is trying to drive down the road. It is forced to stop twenty meters back, as the scrum is in the middle of the street and blocking the way.

Inclined to shoot the lot of them, Jess glances up the road to the speeder instead.

Seku keeps her attention trained on the barabel. Uncertain of his motivations, she doesn't want to miss any clue as to what's really going on.

Seku Bondara rolled 1 success using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3a 2d. Streetwise.

The speeder is being driven by a human male, and a human female is in the passenger seat. The man looks frustrated and the woman looks frightened. They are wearing desert clothes. The landspeeder is packed with containers which probably contain water. They must be moisture farmers, here to deliver their stock for sale.

Seku looks at the barabel closely. He has the hungry look of a fighter as he watches the fistfight. She can see him tensing his claws, as if ready to strike, and hissing with every blow landed. He has many scars and missing scales, suggesting that he has engaged in many fights, possibly in prize-bouts or pit fights. He ignores the civilian speeder behind him, although whether it is because he hasn't noticed or doesn't care is hard to know.

Jess turned her face as if in distress at the scene and keyed her comlink. "Someone tell that speeder to take another route," she instructed softly.
Turning back towards the fight she genuinely cringed at the drubbing that the two were giving each other.

With F3 and Victor providing cover for Jess, Seku decides to check out the speeder and she lets her teammates know as much over the comms. "I'm going to go have a chat with the speeder. Drac, do you want to go have a chat with your bartender friend? Maybe he can give us some info." Seku doesn't want to leave through the front door so she instead heads for the back of the building with the intent of circling around to where the speeder was from another direction.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:07, Fri 01 Mar 2019.

F3-3T relishes his opportunity to unload his slug thrower from his chassis, it cranks out with a creaking "thunk", hardly used. F3-3T scans the perimeter for any thing suspicious that he would have to fire at.

Little does the astromech realizes his gun is not well attached to his armature and it falls of the end of its hinges and rolls to the bottom of the building pile of rubble that he had scaled to view Seku on the street. Luckily it didn't go off, F3-3T bleeps out. "Damn General for not attaching a rocket to F3-3T, we will never win this war without rockets on droids!". All the way down the pile leaving Seku on her own.


14:41, Today: F3-3T rolled no successes, 3 threats using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2A 2D 1S ((1(A), 7(A), 8(D), 7(D), 5(S)) Perceive Danger and Scope out Baddies Setback for Building).

Drac hears Seku's instruction from his position beside the cantina's exterior wall, repeater ready for incoming enemies. Socialization might not be his strong suit, but the Twi'lek had a point, and with no action spilling down the alley, he made his way to the rear entrance and entered quietly, his eyes quickly adjusting to his more-accustomed lack of glaring light.

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.

Drac has now been out of contact for several minutes. The rest of the team is beginning to wonder if he is remaining comm-silent for a good reason, or a scary one.

The jawas ignore F3-3T's explitives and agitation. They seem to have come to a conclusion about him. One goes to the door to look out onto the street. The other rustles in his robes, then pulls out a restraining bolt on the end of a pair of attachment forceps.

Seku's eyes flit from the bartender to where the thugs are talking conspiratorially amongst themselves. She seems to come to a conclusion and stands up from the bar. In a voice loud enough to be easily overheard by the thugs, she excuses herself to the bartender. "Of course, don't mean to be trouble. I've got places to be anyway." She turns away from the thugs, throws him a wink and makes her way out of the cantina.

Back outside in the sun, Seku addresses the team on the comms again. "Sounds like Drac may be in trouble. F3, meet me at the front of the cantina now. Jess, make a point about how you didn't know me so the thugs won't think we're together. When you've made excuses, meet us near the spaceport." She moves to the corner of the building to look for F3.

Jess watched the other woman leave. "Well now that the competition is gone-I'm a much better dancer than any Twi-lek. We can talk about a show. Now I want 30% of the bar's take for the time I perform-but you'll get four times as many credits from all the business."

22:15, Today: Jess (Jessica) Swanhill rolled 3 successes, 2 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 4a 1b 1d 1c.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:16, Thu 11 Apr 2019.

The bartender hisses through his teeth, as though considering a weighty problem. He shakes his head ruefully. "Well, okay, I guess we can give it a try. We'll have to settle up your share after the night is over. Oh, and no... lewd dancing, please. This is a family-friendly establishment, and I don't want my wife to think I'm doing this for the wrong reasons."

He offers his hand for a shake. "Come back around supper, about eighteen hundred hours. I'll see if I can get Merle Tosche to make a comm ad, to get the word out. You should go to the holotheatre and hand out flyers."

****

Out on the street, Seku and the rest of the team have located Drac. He is standing in the street not far away from Anchorhead's docking bay. He is carefully watching the barabel gang enforcer stalk around him in circles. Gunlodd Beyrocco, the enforcer, is hissing insults in a mix of languages. He is taunting Drac with talk of cowardice and offers to call his maternal parent on his behalf.

Gunlodd takes out his commlink and switches it on. Drac looks around, as if searching for guidance.

Victor, did you want to be following Drac? If so, you can spend a maneuver this round to get into a sniper's position.

Not liking the team's odds against such a large group of thugs, Seku decides to try and defuse the situation. "Hey, listen bud, we're from the cartel and they just sent us to tell you that they expect their cut of Jabba's little operation here. If you start something we're just going to have to come back with more people." As she spoke, she approached Gunlodd.

Seku Bondara rolled no successes, 3 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1a 2p 2d. Deception.

I want to use the advantages to get close to him without starting a fight.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:59, Sun 14 Apr 2019.

The enforcer snorts, then looks over Seku. "'The cartel,' you say. Oh, well, let this one just contact the boss and report the demand." He waggled his commlink, then opened the channel. Meanwhile, Seku had closed to within a few meters of Gunlodd. If he was at all bothered by her proximity, he did not show it.

F3-3T whirls around the dusty streets for seemingly an eternity trying not to be captured by the jawas and seem aloof of the danger to his space crush with luscious lekku, but it is all for not. He bleeps out on the com-link to save his hide or metal as soon as possible before he is turned into a crushed ice dispenser or simply crushed.

"Zeepo Neee Bwweeorop Zaaaa!!!!". The little astromech tries to pull some tricky moves to dodge his would be captors. But all it seems to have done is to draw the ire of a couple of street roughs as he slightly scratches their speeder as he blares past. One of the brutes who is highly intoxicated screams out that he will immolate the droid before the jawas have a chance to scavenge his parts. A chase ensues.


O.O.C.: 17:06, Today: F3-3T rolled no successes, 2 threats using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1a 2d ((4(A), 8(D), 8(D))).

Taking full advantage of her apparently nonthreatening appearance, Seku saunters up next to Gunlodd. As she does, she reaches into a pouch on her belt and grasps one of the injectors that contains the NC-17 compound.

She makes her next comment in her best sultry tone. "I have another idea."

She pulls out the injector, but by this point is close enough to the enforcer that she can hold it behind his back as she slides in beside him.

"Why don't I teach your replacement a lesson about how to properly respect me?" With a rapid motion she jabs the injector directly into Gunlodd's neck and depresses the syringe.

Seku Bondara rolled 4 successes, 1 threat using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3a 1b 2d. Skulduggery.

Threat can be that this action is obvious to everyone else.

Jess gives the bartender a smirk of disbelief. "Lewd dancing? Darling, you couldn't afford me. I'll have to get my stage clothing and holoband set up."

F3-3T now is being pursued by a gang of foamy mouthed jawas and two foul mouth space gangers for scratching their newly painted speeder.

The droid kicks it into high gear moving at his maximum speed of just above slow and pacing. He turns his head unit around his chassis to survey his assailants and to yell into the com that he is about to be terminated whilst bleeping out obscenities about the jawas mothers girth and the gangers olfactory defects caused by the extreme temperature of the backward planet.

Just in time to hit a spare compressor and other debris sending F3-3T blindly crashing in the middle of a somewhat busy street. He spends his last bit of strength to eject his slug thrower from his chassis and whirl it blindly in public hoping to cause enough trouble that his pursuers just give up and watch him eventually be run over.... He bleeps to himself and Seku on the com. "Strangely, contrary to most of my high risk plans... I DIDN'T have a bad feeling about any of this until just now."

16:24, Today: F3-3T rolled 2 failures, 1 threat  using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1A 2d ((1(A), 2(D), 8(D))).
Spending one point of STRESS to ready slug thrower after falling. Crashing Damage (1) ?

The dread enforcer's pupils widen as Seku moves. He raises his arm to block, but Seku's hand is already in motion. The autoinjector penetrates Gunlodds' scales, and gives a hiss as it delivers its lethal payload.

The barabel hisses and strikes at Seku. The back of his hand catches her against the lowest rib, causing a painful bruise. He snarls and raises his clawed hands in a predatory stance. His commlink, dropped on the sandy ground, begins beeping.

22:16, Today: The Force rolled 4 successes using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2p 2a 2D.  Brawl.
8 net damage.

The jawas see that their prey has attracted too much attention for their taste. They melt away into the alley as the gang of youths thunder after F3-3T. They are shouting and cursing as they run. This attracts the attention of the thuggish men still in the cantina. These men, increasingly wary and frustrated by their poor understanding of the events going on around them, stand as one and go outside. When they see a bunch of teenagers chasing a droid, they briefly confer and decide that they would like to be involved in this. They join the chase.

The teenagers see the gangsters, whooping and waving their weapons, chasing them. The youths' tone changes from vengeful to terrified, as they assume they are being pursued by the ruffians. When F3-3T falls over, they run right past him. One jumps over his barrel-chassis on the way.

The thugs rapidly stomp over to the droid and begin kicking it. They pause as they see, just down the road, their erstwhile leader in a confrontation with the twi'lek woman they saw earlier, as well as a fur-clad humanoid they have no knowledge of. They draw their weapons and prepare to join in.

Seku and Drac note that more actors have taken the stage. Gunlodd's comm call has summoned the thugs who were guarding the nearby docking bay. They emerge into the bright sunlight, and see the brewing conflict as well. They draw their weapons.

Jess is at the cantina, and is at long range away from the conflict. F3-3T and Victor are at Medium range away from the conflict. F3-3T is Engaged with a group of thugs. Seku, Drac, and Gunlodd are Engaged. The group of thugs is at Short range from them.

F3-3T, no need to take strain to ready weapon. No crashing damage either.

Everyone roll initiative, and first combat turn.

Seku is sent sprawling by the barabel's blow, but she knows that she's done the hard part. She scrambles away from the brawler in the hopes of creating some space and finding some cover while the chemicals do their work.

Seku Bondara rolled 4 successes, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 4a. Cool for initiative.

Spend maneuver to disengage. Spend action for an additional maneuver to move to medium range.

16:00, Today: Jess (Jessica) Swanhill rolled 1 success, 3 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2a.  vigilance :P.

O.O.C.:
15:23, Today: F3-3T rolled 1 success using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1A 1s.  Int. Setback for falling .

"Damn;" Jess muttered at the dust up that was escalating in the street. She touched her blaster's handle but released it. This was not going to be quickly solved with a huge firefight. The droid was in trouble, she had to find him. Thankfully Anchorhead wasn't particularly big...

Initiative Order:

Seku
Jess
F3-3T
Gunlodd the Barabel Enforcer
Group of thugs in the street (#1)
Group of thugs near the docking bay (#2)

Using the every second available to her, Seku continues to rush away from the thugs before they manage to think up the novel idea of shooting her. She sees a low wall ahead of her and dives behind it before peeking out for a look at what is happening behind her.

Maneuver: move another range band away.
Action: Take cover.

Jess ducked around the side of the cantina and toggled her comlink. "F3 where are you?"

F3-3T has tumbled over in the middle of a speeder-section during heavy traffic for anchor head, enough passing lighters to make his day more than interesting. The chances of being run over are well over 88.54372 percent and rising quickly. The little astromech sends out a distress signal to Jess and Seku hoping they can locate him, as he procures his slug thrower from his chassis and attempts to aim between traffic and by standers at the two oncoming thugs.

"F3-3T believes if you can not find his signal it would be best to listen for the soon to be loud noises in the area. Follow the booming sound and subsequent screaming. That is all." With that the little droid fires off a few rounds lying on his side.

Four shots ring out all of them so far from target they hit nothing, not even oncoming speeders. F3-3T had shut his optics whilst pulling trigger and has no idea where they went. It was enough noise and fire to slow down a large beat up speeder which has now blocked off the enemy for a brief moment.

The elderly Rodian driver of the speeder is now screaming like mad thinking the droid was trying to kill him for no good reason, just another Hutt speeder jacking and now wouldn't you know even the droids are getting in on his illegal action. Surely a sign of dark times for the galaxy….

O.O.C.:
21:59, Today: F3-3T rolled 4 failures, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1P 2d 2s ((11(P), 8(D), 3(D), 2(S), 4(S))). Two setbacks for prone and traffic.

Seku takes cover behind a collection of plasteel rubbish bins which she reckons will stop a blaster bolt. Jess stays well away, in cover and on her commlink.

F3-3T fires his slugthrower, narrowly missing the thugs giving him a kicking. They had been chasing him out of cruel sport, believing him to be an easy victim. They now see he is armed. They are torn between helping their boss and dealing with this new threat. They look at each other, weapons in hand, searching for guidance. Their boss is occupied with his own battle and does not direct them. They decide that the best course is to ignore the prone astromech and help Gunlodd. They move closer and fire their slughthrowers at Drac.

The bullets strike all around Drac, and one strikes him in the tail. This is painful for him, and he howls. Then he strikes at Gunlodd, who is clearly delighted that he has a fight on his claws. The two tear each other up a bit, seeking the upper hand. They turn and turn in the street until an anxious driver tries to speed by them. Gunlodd is clipped by the speeder and falls over hard.

Gunlodd begins spasming and retching. He wraps his arms around his chest, gouging his own scales with his claws. His left pupil expands wide, while his right eye is pinched closed.

The thugs near the dock fire their guns at Seku. The slugs bounce off her cover and don't come close to hitting her.

Deciding that her current cover is good enough for the time being, Seku hunkers down behind the trash bins. With her quick peek out, she sees Gunlodd fall over and begin spasming and takes a moment to formulate her next move. After taking a breath, she calls to the goons. "Your current boss is taking his last breaths. The cartel doesn't really care about any of you. We can work something out where you all walk away without earning bounties. Let's put the guns away and talk this out."

From her hiding place, she can see the traffic snarl and hear the shots of F3's weapon. Once she says her peace, she gets on the comlink to the team. "Ok, I think I see you F3. Assuming that's you causing all that commotion. I've got to get these thugs to stop shooting so try to hold out."

Seku Bondara rolled no successes, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3a 1p 3d 1s. Negotiation.

Use the advantage to give them a setback on their next attempt to shoot me because they're still a little nervous though not fully convinced.

"F3!" Jess barked into the comlink. She began to look around the backstreet for the errant droid.

F3 is plainly visible on the street. He is partly blocking speeder traffic and surrounded by brutal thugs.

F3-3T cusses in binary at the mess he has run himself into fires yet again at what seems to be the lead thug or the nastiest looking brute. Amazingly he somehow hits his target although speeder traffic has left him now exposed and in much greater likely hood of being run over by an oncoming cargo transport bearing down yet still very far away F3-3T has yet to notice it speeding in his direction.

O.o.c.: 09:06, Today: F3-3T rolled 1 success, 1 threat using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1A 2D.  Shooting. .

Jess ran into the midst of the droid's fray.  "Oh! You found my droid! Thank you ever so much! Are you coming to the show tonight at the cantina? I'll dedicate a song to you. What are your names?" She looked from one thug to the next with an air of expectancy.

Gunlodd vomits ineffectively, unable to get all the emetus out of his mouth. He twitches and spasms on the sandy road. The thugs nearest to him rush over to his side. Three of them attempt chest compressions. The other two fire their slugthrowers at Seku.

The bullets all miss, either striking the dirt or bouncing off the rubbish bin. They are also hesitating slightly, their morale shaken. Miraculously, they do seem to get a positive result with their leader. The one trying to blow into Gunlodd's mouth withdraws screaming as he is headbutted. Gunlodd sits up, his eyes wild and confused.

12:35, Today: The Force rolled 1 failure, 1 triumph using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2p 2a 2S 3D.  Docking bay thugs RL.

The thugs that Jess confronts have a poor opinion of her after being forced to fight for her amusement. They look at her savagely. "This is your droid?" One says, and aims his gun at her. Then F3-3T fires his pistol into one of their legs, causing him to scream. They whirl and fire at F3-3T, who currently looks about as threatening as an R2-unit ever will.

The droid dodges, spins, and weaves to narrowly avoid the hail of fire. Puffs of sand pop up next to his wheels as he desperately evades the shots. His vector-probability calculations are tied up in predicting where the next shot will be, preventing him from aiming properly.

13:34, Today: The Force rolled 1 failure, 4 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2p 2a 2S 2D.  street thugs RL.
Impose 2S on F3-3T's next attack action

When Gunlodd sits up, Seku curses under her breath. "Kriff... won't you just die already?"

Since talking the thugs into giving up doesn't appear to be working, Seku decides to take a different approach. She raises her voice again so that she can be heard from cover. "Yeah, that's what I said. I want you to drive that big speeder with the blaster turret on the back straight up to the spaceport and waste everyone you see who looks like one of Jabba's goons."

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

I'd like to have the advantages be that some of them panic.

Jess jerked her pistol free of its holster, leveled the barrel at the one who pointed his gun at her and squeezed the trigger.

19:55, Today: Jess (Jessica) Swanhill rolled 4 successes using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2a 1p.  shoot.

F3-3T rolls away quickly B-Lining it straight toward an old pre-clone war sedan speeder with huge tail-fins and an sleek low profile, beat up but a classic. Hoping to use the chaos of the fire-fight and thug death as a distraction and his advantage.

The astromech does not see anyone in it and proceeds to prepare to steal it first by lifting his optic unit up to get a better look at the inside, which he believed to be empty. By the time he can re-act he realizes the Jawas four of them are already hard at work hot-wiring the speeder. "Whoooooop" Declares F3-3T hoping they didm't recognize him as the droid they were looking for. Quickly beginning to run away for the third time today…


14:46, Today: F3-3T rolled 1 failure, 4 threats using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1a 1p 3d 1s ((6(A), 2(P), 7(D), 7(D), 3(D), 6(S))).  Used a setback but could be an advantage from the distractions? Probably not….

The thugs nearest Seku, the ones who were patrolling the docking bay, hear her stage-whisper. They hurriedly rush back into the docking bay, away from the battle. Gunlodd has just regained his senses enough to curse them for cowardice. He coughs and places his claw on his chest, then looks down at it.

The thugs farther away cannot hear Seku, due to the distance and the sound of gunfire. Now flanked by Jess and F3-3T, they begin searching for cover. The street provides little, unfortunately. Nearby motorists have zoomed away, and five of them cannot fit behind one garbage bin. When Jess shoots one of them dead, they rush her.

They raise their vibroblades and scream ferociously. They try to surround her and throw wild, slicing strikes. One catches her across the arm as she raises it defensively. The blade creates a cut under her forearm, which blossoms in pain and begins to bleed profusely. Still, better than the neck. She is able to keep ahead of them briefly, and has a moment to act.

10 Damage pre-soak.
+1 maneuver next round.

F3-3T can't tell if these are the same jawas or not. They look similar, but it's hard to tell in their robes. They attempt to shoo him away with flapping guestures. One brandishes a hydrospanner in a manner possibly intended to be threatening. Suddenly the speeder lurches to life. The jawas appear surprised, shouting 'untinii!' and 'waheeee!' The speeder's oscillation knocks F3-3T on his back.

Prone, again.

F3-3T sees Jess take heavy hits as his own cranial unit bashes against the burnt and cracked sand roads of blighted Anchorhead. The little Astromech lets out a dismayed scream. "AAyyeeee", buoyed by his custom scum bravery circuits over-ridding his virus plagued rational software the droid blasts his small void boosters in attempt to stand upright and head toward Jess as fast as he possibly can.

Instead the thrusters only skid him across the dirt road for a meter and he has to lift himself up with lift arm slowly dirt covered and dented rolling toward his comrade.  Dangerously risking his own chassis by cutting through the speeder traffic.

O.O.C: Spending maximum stress (X1) in attempt to get to Jess as quickly as possible. 09:58, Today: F3-3T rolled no successes, 1 threat using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1a 2d.  Rocket Up. GO FASTA!

Seeing Jess surrounded and being attacked, Seku stands up from behind the trash cans and moves closer to the thugs; leveling her blaster at them as she approaches, but in the confused brawl, it's hard to get a clear shot.

Maneuver: Move from Medium to Short range with the thugs around Jess.
Action: Attack does 7 damage to a random  target (GM's choice) due to the despair.

Seku Bondara rolled 1 success, 1 despair using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2a 1c.  Ranged (Light) at Short range upgraded for target being engaged with ally.

Seku's blast catches Drac in the leg as he barrels forward into the melee. He howls in pain and stumbles, though the thugs are startled and spread out.

As one sentient, you hear a noise. It sounds like a siren, and it is getting closer. It seems that the local security force is on its way.

The thugs still on the street scatter. Gunlodd curses and threatens them as they run. He is swaying on his feet.

The police response to a street gunfight in broad daylight turns out to be a single land speeder with two uniformed officers in it. The flashing lights highlight the blue and yellow paint job and official seal. One officer uses the PA system to demand all belligerents immediately surrender, while the other sends the landspeeder into a skewed orbit around the fight.

The Rebels, already more exposed than desirable, beat a hasty retreat into the town's allyways. Gunlodd and Drac are the only ones left. Gunlodd raises a handgun and aims it at the speeder.

The speeder turns out to be armed. A broad-beamed stun blast catches both remaining sentiments and knocks them unconscious. The landspeeder comes in for a landing next to them.

***

Some hours later, the suns are finally setting and the team has reassembled. At the request of your host, you have gathered at the edge of town. It wasn't a long walk, given how small Anchorhead is, but you have felt dangerously exposed.

Eventually Boho Shayed arrives in his landspeeder. He is bringing a trio of people along with him. After he Parks, all four get out.

" these are some reinforcements the Rebel Alliance sent you," he reports.

Seku had stashed her blaster and run off at the first sign of trouble while advising the rest of the team to do the same. For the time being, there wasn't anything to be done about Drac, but at least Gunlod had been captured with him and would hopefully die from the toxins before too long. After regrouping with Jess and F3, Seku breathed a sigh of relief when Boho reached out requesting a meet up.

After carefully checking the area, Seku walked out to meet Boho and the people he had brought with him. She put a hand on her hip and studied the new arrivals. "Reinforcements are appreciated. First day did not go strictly to plan, but we're used to improvising. Nice to meet you all. I'm Seku."

Not so much 'getting out' of the speeder as unfurling his wings and hovering up out of the back seat one of the most unusual creatures in the galaxy stands out as rather unlike everyone else in the already diverse gathering.

Unable to truly fly, neither does he stand on the ground, instead continuing to hover in an upright position several feet off the ground.

Dressed today in a sort of low intensity outlaw leather jacket and durable canvas pants that disguise the dust easily enough as their natural color he accepts the introduction as an excuse to follow suit.

"A pleasure to meet you Seku.  You may call me Zabuunko, as I know most folks like shortened names in the field, we will see what we can do about updating any plans so we don't have to improvise quite so much.  Perhaps you can tell us what didn't work out and we will see if we can get it back in line."

Her wound now covered in synthetic skin, accompanied by a dose of pain killer, Jess was feeling better but it seemed their operation had destructed on the street of Anchorhead. The Hutt's men knew they were around and would likely be waiting for them. After greeting the trio, she resisted the urge to fold her arms across her chest and explained what had happened prior to their arrival. "Plan A and plan B have fallen apart, we'll need to be creative if we're going to get what we came for and get out in one piece." 

F3-3T disgruntled at his failures in the field and display of poor battle skills not to mention being humiliated by Jawas not once but twice hardly acknowledged the new recruits simply let out a string of mumbled profanities in binary while kicking his way into his slot on the speeder.

"Zeet Boot Grankee Clang Zeep Zeep….[Private to group Droidspeak: Try not to get yourself shot rookies.]"

F3-3T turns to the group bleeping the fact they may need a plan C as well or at least some cover story to back up a fire fight in Anchorhead. Might as well become real thieves and try to sell off hot goods to Jabba now is what the droid puts forth as his last bright idea.

A tall, hooded figure clambers out of the landspeeder and surveys the ragged group.  While the figure's face is obscured now that both suns were down, his voice is anything but.  "Probability of success: now greater than zero?" he queries by way of greeting, with just a hint of irony peeking through raspy Basic.

A slight basso chuckle emanates from the hood as his hands come together with steepled fingers, revealing four-fingered hands with heavy, spidery scarring across their bone-like exoskeleton.  "Drelas.  Let's hear the short version of what went wrong."

Seku frowns a little at her companions. She didn't feel quite as discouraged as they did. "In the interest of getting information on Jabba's thugs, Jess chatted them up. It became pretty clear that their leader, Gunlodd, was a brutish type, but maybe not the sharpest hydrospanner." She grinned a little. "We made contact with a friendly local, the bartender, but shortly after that the fourth member of our squad, Drac, got himself spotted and surrounded by the thugs. In the effort to save him, we got into a firefight in the middle of town, but we also managed to poison Gunlodd with a Neurotoxin. Drac and Gunlodd were arrested. No idea what the status of either is unfortunately. We made a pretty big mess, but I think there were a couple positives. We may have managed to plant the idea that we represent the Hutt Cartel in the minds of some of the thugs."

Rather than continue to talk about more detailed aspects of the mission out in the open Zabuunko cuts things short before to many ears have a chance to overhear anything important.

"I think we need to be somewhere more private than the middle of the street to finish this conversation.  Have you at least located a secure base of operations in or near town?"

Boho, still in his speeder, speaks up. "Do you want me to rent you all some rooms at the hostelry? You'll be able to use it for meetings, although I can't guarantee you won't attract attention. Anchorhead is quite a small town, and colourful visitors tend to draw gossip."

"If Jabba is as wealthy as most hutts, he probably owns this planet. Can we even trust the hostel's owner? We might be safest back in Mos Eisely on the ship." Jess gestured with her good hand.

"The Human Infiltrator has a valid point. We could be disposed of quite easily if we huddle in the common rooms of this blighted baked rock...." F3-3T beeps lowly as if to whisper his "Clicks and Whizzes". "We could use it to our teams advantage and use or new recruits as a group and our original team as bait for Jabba and his quarry men."


F3-3T is low on power and spends the rest of the time taking holo-pics of the new members feet, he has never recorded a Givens pedibus. An exciting day all around.

Seku, also concerned about attracting attention, tried to think of alternatives. "There's also the abandoned warehouse where we hid earlier. It won't be comfortable, but we'd be able to keep a lower profile. I don't think Mos Eisley is viable. It's too far and there's no guarantee Jabba won't be watching for us there too. Plus we have to avoiding blowing Captain Fields' cover."

She had one other suggestion now that the reinforcements had arrived. "We could also discuss specifics on our way to scout out the farm. We still haven't had a chance to actually look into the operation."

Drelas nods to Seku's suggestion, slightly disturbed by the droid's apparent foot fetish.  Perhaps it was jealous of his ability to walk up stairs.

"Agreed.  Any details on exactly what you know would be helpful.  It will be difficult to 'disrupt' an operation if you don't know what it is...short of wholesale destruction, that is.  The locals would probably be grateful if we didn't leave a smoking crater in the ground regardless of their feelings on Jabba."

Boho winces at the thought of his farm being destroyed, and especially at talk of smoking craters.

"I could bring you up to the farm's southern outskirts, if you wanted. There are perimeter sensors set up in a ring about two kilometers out, but I set them and I know where the gaps are. Otherwise we'll have to go through the canyon, and there is no way past those alarm sensors."

"Well, why didn't you say so?" Jess' eyes twinkled. "Lead on!"

Seku approaches Boho and puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Boho, I promise we'll do our best to turn your farm back over to you in pristine condition."

Zabuunko lets those with the local knowledge hash out some of the options but seems inclined to agree with, rather than just accepting, the decision they come to.

"Taking time to at least investigate the farm will also take us out of town until the dust settles, such as it ever does on this planet, from the disturbance caused tonight.  We may want to prepare desert survival gear for a few days as well."

None of the locals are willing to part with what few pieces of survival gear they have on the promise of a stranger. Seku, unsure who to trust, doesn't want to spread the group's true identity and thus refrains from appealing to the rebel cause. She is however charming enough to get the group a bit of a discount from a local who is willing to part with some things in exchange for some of Boho's credits.

She convinces him to part with four pairs of protective goggles, one for everyone in the group who will need them, and a pair of very nice electrobinoculars. He also agrees to sell her a wilderness survival kit and a tent.

Total book cost: 1100
I would like to apply the advantages for a 5% discount each to bring the price to 990 credits.

Seku Bondara rolled no successes, 2 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2A 2P 2D. Charm to get desert gear (with spaces).