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.