Even as the Gamorrean collapses, a man dressed in Mandalorian armor appears at the top of the stairs, followed by a Rodian male and a Twi'lek female.

"Who is this karker?" he growls, putting out a hand to stop the Devaronian who is halfway through pulling out a frag grenade, "You want to bring this whole building down?" he barks before cursing as a blast from Fennec whizzes a few inches past his head.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:07, Wed 09 Mar 2022.

At that moment, a much more sinister shot is fired, which strikes the frag grenade partly pulled out by the Deveronian. There is a split second and an ominous beep, followed by a deafening explosion.

The man in the Mandalorian armor has barely time to curse as the pair behind him both give cries as they are engulfed in an explosion of fire and shrapnel. There is a loud rumble as dust and rock showers down from above them as part of the roof above caves in. An ominous crack forms its way down the roof of the stair case to where Fennec and Xizran stand, sending a small cloud of dust down on them as it comes to a halt above them. The dust clears to reveal that half the corridor has collapsed, with the man in the Mandalorian armor's boots and the Devaronian's arm both protruding from beneath the rubble on unnatural angles.

Fennec coughs as the cloud of dust passes them, wincing as she clutches her side, leaning back against the wall behind her for support. Then she grins before beginning to laugh despite the pain in her side.

"And that's why you don't mess with the Exchange," she says, panting as she still clutches her side.

Xizran snorts, before tossing her the medpac he appropriated from Lendon. (He fails to spare any attention for the fallen Twi'lek.)

"Indeed. So..." Xizran looks at the collapsed tunnel, then at Fennec expectantly. "How are we getting to Stro'to?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:07, Thu 10 Mar 2022.

Fennec catches the medpac with her free hand, skillfully opening it and injecting it into the scorched hole in her side. She seems to recover slightly, tossing away the depleted medpac as she pushes herself off the wall and ascends the stairs to examine the collapsed rock.

"Well we aren't squeezing through that," she asserts, glancing at the rubble reaching almost to the roof, "We'll need to find a way to clear it. Where's Lendon when you need him?"

OOC: Fennec Kang rolled 17 using 1d20+6. Treat Injury.
Fennec Kang healed 2 wound points.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:17, Wed 09 Mar 2022.

"Where he usually is, which is, of course, nowhere to be found."

Xizran looks at the rubble a bit before wandering over to the protruding arms to see if anyone was carrying any energy shields that are salvageable. (Or heavy blasters with extra energy cells.)

"I don't suppose that twi'lek lived through her heroics? If she didn't, will her lightsaber get through this rubble anyway?" Xizran nudges the rubble with a boot as he speaks, testing how solidly it's collapsed.

"She's also the one who claims to know where Stro'to is hiding," Fennec adds, turning her attention to Layla's dust and blood covered body sprawled on the stairs. Moving over to the Twi'lek's body she crouches down to examine her.

"She's alive, barely," Fennec asserts at length, "She's lost a lot of blood. What do you want to do with her?"

She wrinkles her nose as Xizran's boot dislodges the rubble, causing several more pebbles to shower down with a fresh cloud of dust.

"Who builds with pebbles instead of durosteel these days?" Xizran says critically, retreating safely from the rubble.

He glances at the twi'lek at Fennec's words. "I don't know. Do we really need to do anything? She didn't agree to take my credits, so she's not my minion. We don't owe it to her to look after her. She's also not likely to wake up anytime within the next 8 hours with those wounds, and when she does, her intel will be useless since Stro'to will have fled. She's worthless as a slave herself, nobody's going to buy a twi'lek with a vibro-axe scar across their chest. That basically leaves turning her in for the jedi bounty. Is the effort worth it is the real question." Xizran's tone strongly implies he feels it isn't.

Fennec seems to agree with the logic of these words, scooping up the Jedi's lightsaber as she rises. She approaches the rubble to examine it.

"We're more likely to bring more rubble down if we try to move this. We might have more luck cutting our way through the roof," she says, glancing appraisingly at the stonework above her as she speaks, "We could then climb across and cut our way back in over his audience chamber."

Xizran's eyes light up at this plan, which he clearly thinks is sound.

"Do it. And with luck, with this exit blocked off, the worm won't have anywhere he can flee."

Fennec ignites the blue hued lightsaber, frowning as she swings it about experimentally.

"How do Jedi use these things?" she complains, before ascending the stairs and bracing herself as she carefully inserts the lightsaber into the roof. She curses a moment later as another chunk of roof caves in, spraying her with dust and chunks of rock. The lightsaber deactivates as it goes clattering back down the stairs, while Fennec is sent crashing backwards, coughing and spluttering as she rubs a gash on her forehead.

"That karking cheapskate of a sleemo," she snarls as she picks herself up, peering up at a ray of sunlight which streams through the newly formed hole in the roof.

OOC: Fennec Kang received 11 vitality damage.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:38, Thu 10 Mar 2022.

“I take it that’s not meant to be how buildings work?” Xizran surmises, in the dubious tone of someone who doesn’t know durosteel from duroplast. “On the plus side, we can see daylight and that is a good thing, yes? Not like Stro’to is likely to have invested in exterior gun turrets and crawling through sunlight beats crawling through air vents.”

"If the entire thing doesn't give way as we are trying to climb through it," Fennec says doubtfully as she glances up at the crumbled hole, "But we're going to need some kind of way to reach it. I think I saw some cannisters in that main hall. I'll see if any of them were empty enough to move."

"Or...?" Xizran holds up Lendon's grappling hook.
This message was last edited by a game editor at 00:58, Fri 11 Mar 2022.

Fennec glances at the grappling hook and then back to the hole in the roof dubiously.

"You think it will hold our weight as we climb?" she says as she takes the proffered device and moves back over to the opening, fitting it to her blaster rifle as she does so. Taking aim, she fires at a piece of rusted looking metal jutting out of the broken stonework.

"All right, here goes nothing," she says as she recoils the cable, lifting off into the air. She gives a curse a moment later as another chunk of stone breaks off sending her crashing back to the floor, the jagged piece of rusted metal to which her cable is attached striking the ground a few centimeters to her right as she does so.

"... So no climbing over the roof, I take it?" Xizran deduces, digesting the damage.

Fennec glances darkly at the roof as she picks herself up, but frowns in surprise a moment later as Layla suddenly gives a cough and her eyes flutter weakly open.

"I guess you aren't dead after all," she says to the Twi'lek dryly.

Layla appears too injured to respond, closing her eyes and breathing heavily as she clutches her bleeding stomach.

Fennec glances at Xizran before moving over to the Twi'lek and withdrawing another medpac.

"Hold still," she says, somewhat unnecessarily as she pulls out a vial of a blue mistlike substance which she sprays along the length of the gash. Layla gives a sharp intake of breath and a wince, which Fennec ignores as she injects the contents of the medpac into Layla's arm.

OOC: Fennec Kang rolled 19 using 1d20+6. Treat Injury.
Layla Secura healed 2 wound points.

Fennec's efforts appear to be successful, as the gash on Layla's stomach closes noticeably and she opens her eyes and props herself up against the wall. She frowns as her gaze moves from the Gamorrean's bulky form to the protruding limbs from beneath the collapses rubble at the top of the stairs above.

"What happened?" she says blankly.

"You failed to dodge an angry pig," Xizran summarizes succinctly. "Are you sure you're a Jedi? I thought Jedi were meant to be competent."
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:43, Sun 13 Mar 2022.

Layla shoots the Falleen an unimpressed look.

"I am not a Jedi, as I told your friend here," she says weakly as she attempts to pull herself up, "I departed the Order a long time ago."

"I see. A 'they didn't fire me, I quit,' situation?" Xizran watches her efforts, making no attempt to help.

Layla shoots him another dirty glance as she successfully manages to stand, one hand resting on the wall beside her.

"The Order and I had ideological differences," she says with all the dignity she can muster, "Now, have you two found Stro'to yet?"