Hi Weedles, there are two points to note and one thing I'd like you to do here:

1 - Roll a 4 purple difficulty Knowledge: Lore check against Baran-Do Sages, as based on what I can see of the information around them, even a lot of Kel-Dor didn't know much of the mystical order within their people - leaving it difficult to imagine any current person (or droid) immediately linking those things together.

2 - And yes, the door to the bay is closed, leaving you unable to see inside at this stage.

Hi Weedles, there are two points to note and one thing I'd like you to do here:

1 - Roll a 4 purple difficulty Knowledge: Lore check against Baran-Do Sages, as based on what I can see of the information around them, even a lot of Kel-Dor didn't know much of the mystical order within their people - leaving it difficult to imagine any current person (or droid) immediately linking those things together.

2 - And yes, the door to the bay is closed, leaving you unable to see inside at this stage.

Done and done. Some threat exists but it seems Embeetoo's databases are up to date.

Sorry, yesterday was really busy and today as well, I'll try to get an IC post up later today.

The B2 battle droid walked up to the docking bay and Torin tensed.

"He's not heavily armed, he's already been modified and retrofitted after the war, and there's little chance it will recognize you," Torin told himself. Rational thought often did little to calm reactions reinforced by battle and survival.

"Alright, trust in the Force." Torin tried to convince himself. "The Force has not proved to be a reliable ally to the Jedi, or perhaps we misunderstood it's will. Or maybe the Sith are cunning and deceiving and we were simply not prepared."

What rational discipline could not accomplish a meandering mind of a sage did, distracted by his philosophical considerations Torin eased up and turned to face the droid.

"Hello there." Torin introduced himself. "I don't mean to startle you, but you are just the droid I was looking for. I have a unique opportunity to offer you, one I hope you will find interesting..." Torin paused to give the B2 time to show some response, they could be touchy and he wanted to proceed on the right foot.

In that short pause Torin wondered why the Force had lead him here and if the violence would start soon and he instinctively wrapped his robes around him and folded his arms, his left hand near his lightsaber.

...you are just the droid I was looking for.

Well done

You guys are doing wonderfully. Bear in mind I don't set up "event" characters to be pushovers, they should be something you aspire to overcome with great RP and lucky dice. You're certainly not lacking on the RP, the dice just don't want anything to happen yet, it seems. Which is good in a way, it gives Embeetoo and Torin time to arrive.

Which check do you want Ramani to do? Charming the party?

Not bothered at all by the difficulty, the rolls could just as easily all have gone my way. But apparently the check I sent the Orokos-people didn't clear...

Not sure what you're asking, regarding a Charm check. The dialogue from Ramani was me portraying his (failed...) Deception check, trying to sow division among the Devaronian and his thugs. The plan was to get him to order one Trando (or the Clone) to shoot the other, at which point Ramani (and, hopefully the rest of the group) would have opened up on the Devaronian and anyone else before trying to get the rifles into the ship and flying off in a stolen ship. That was Ramani's plan, but I didn't put on the best spiel I could think of in light of the fail on the Deception check.

I apologize if this is rude, Jedi Ronin, but could you maybe use italics instead of quotation marks to indicate thoughts? I keep having to go back to see if something is thought or speech. It's no big deal, but it would make your posts easier for me to read.

No problem. I put thoughts in italics and spoken words in bold.

Next post going up shortly!

EDIT: Actually - Torin and Embeetoo, can you please interact a little more first, thank you!

Suspicious…did the alien know he would come to this place before even he did? There was a strong chance this one was a Sage after all. If so, he believed he had nothing to fear from a being who would squander such power just to locate a lone droid. No matter what he was, he was between Embeetoo and his quarry. Still, his curiosity was peaked to be sure.

The durasteel soldier briefly stood before the mysterious man, before beginning to march around him. “Kel-Dor male….” he paused as he whipped around the stranger, gazing at his robe before continuing, “Whatever you must say, say so quickly for I have little time to spare”. Actually, he didn’t know how much time he had left, or if he had any. When would the girl leave the hanger? Did she even plan on leaving…of course she did, if not he would hear the hums of engines and the creaking of bay doors. He planted himself horribly close to the locked entryway, pivoting halfway between the former and the Kel-Dor.

“To start, exactly how did you know where I was going? Contacts, no, I only realized my destination a moment ago. Tracker? Doubtful…I would like to think I could spot such a device on my own chassis. Or…did you find me by….” A glint was found in his sensor as he trailed off, glowing brighter but not viciously so…sort of muddled and deep in color. An eye of curiosity.”

Cutting the question off the droid began once more. “Second, Kel-Dor” he began again in a lighter, less grating tone, “What ‘opportunity’ do you speak of? What would one such as yourself desire from a machine like I? “His left hand began to curl continuously, his body lightly humming in anticipation, and for some odd reason his nullicane dispenser let out a slight whistle, as he waited for a response alert and ready.

The B2 battle droid seemed...nervous? Torin took a moment to enjoy the irony of this moment. A hiding Jedi trying to negotiate with a B2 battle droid. The Force was, apparently, not without a sense of humor.

"I am only an intermediary, for one who has taken an interest in your unique programming and hardware loadout. One who would like to learn from you and perhaps improve upon you and offer you something in return...but you seem anxious, perhaps once you've attended to your immediate tasks we can discuss this in more detail?"

Nervous? To his surprise, Embeetoo was actually a bit impressed. It took a great deal of skill (well, in his mind) to figure out the emotions of a stoic droid like himself. That settled it, Baran-Do it was...but that did not matter as much as what he revealed next. Could there actually be a mechanic skilled enough, and willing to fix his "problem", in exchange for a quick peak inside his systems?

It he end, he planned on giving this knowledge to the one who broke his shackles anyway. What need would he have for them, what point was there to deny progress? As long as HE was free. But exactly who was this sentient the "Baran-Do" spoke of?

"Before you continue, Sage" he put quite the bit of emphasis on that last word, thinking himself oh so clever, "Who is it you speak of? Is the being in question local or distant?" What luck, he may not even need the Clone after all. "Explain your employer and perhaps my "immediate task" will be put off for another time."

"He is a local named Aril Nunb. He is a Sullistan shop keeper who works with droids."

Embeetoo took the oil and began to spot his joints. He had too much vital equipment on to be dipped into an oil bath. Besides, the nearest “decent” droid repair shop was two hours out on foot. He was never going back to that little Sullustan’s place around the corner, the fool. Trying to take apart his blaster while he bathes? No, not going to happen. And HE got mad when Embeetoo’s self-defense protocol kicked in while the wrinkly thing tried to take it out of his wrist? He should just be glad all the warning shot destroyed was an old GNK droid and count his losses!

Yeah...Don't think he's going back there willingly...

Immediately, whatever semblance of interest jammed inside his core dissipated and in its place grew renewed annoyance. His clenching and whistling ceased, his sensor became the blood red he used earlier on the kaf owner, deep and piercing. Embeetoo slowly walked closer to the Kel-Dor before leering at him eye to sensor, wishing to get his point across.

“Did your “employer” mention anything about our last encounter? Of how he intended to rob me of my blaster? I would have thought for sure after one of his droids burst into flames he would have gotten the message”. The aforementioned blaster was now silently clicking, his defense protocols now on standby much to his relief. “Kel-Dor Male, I have no interest in going back to that slimy excuse for a shop, that den of thieves. The rat is nowhere near skilled enough to retrieve my inner workings, nor to fix my delicate situation anyway.”

His tone returned to his normal deep and tinny pitch, backing away from the former Padawan while still locked upon his eyes. “There is no reason for me to let you intervene on his sake. All that would do is waste my time as well as yours so I ask you to drop the subject and go your way.” He started to turn again to the door before stopping himself, emitting a moderate gritting noise as he did so, “If, however, you believe your actions to be what you organics consider “altruistic” then by all means name a more skilled and willing mechanic and I shall let him take a look.”

You two are doing great! I am enjoying the very cautious conversation, but... Be prepared to hate me, everyone, because we're kicking off the story proper.

DESTINY POOL: 0 Light Side / 8 Dark Side.

Eya:

Grrowv gives a very small shake of her head, at the same time Solan nods with the barest tilt of his chin. "Wait," the Togorian whispers, keeping her hands loosely at her sides, "I think Solan has a plan..." She looks tremendously unsure, however. The smuggler pair lock eyes with one another, a strained, silent conversation rapidly being exchanged as they appear as calm as possible. It is very clear to Eya that they are both tensed for action.

- - - - - - - - - -

Ramani:

Chak throws back his head as he laughs, a long, loud and very derisive sound. It echoes around the bay, a chorus of amusement that does not subside for some time. Wiping tears of mirth from his hooded eyes, the Devaronian smiles broadly at Ramani, still chuckling a little. "Oh dear me, that's the hardest I have laughed in a long time, thank you. I don't know which I appreciate more, your dedication to your lies, your survival instinct or your sheer tenacity. All admirable traits, but you're not dealing with some two bit underling, kid. I've been around the galaxy a few times. I've done things to get ahead, things that have made me aware of the lengths I am willing to go in order to win out here. Things I actually hope you've never have to do, honestly, I want to spare you those dark days. But the issue is, you've trusted the wrong people, you let some Corellian win you over with promises of money, and you thought it would be an easy job. Imperials? Ha! Those bureaucratic imbeciles. They only thing they'll know is who was foolish enough to walk into an arms deal without some serious backup."

His eyes roam across the other three, lingering on Eya again, before his voice drops from an amused lilt to a deadly serious monotone, "Mistakes get you dead, kid. You and your pretty, scarred companion. Luck runs out, and the dice you rolled just came up snake eyes." He turns away from the group in the center of the landing bay, giving a small wave of his hand towards the parked ship. The Trandoshans click the safeties off their weapons, and a laser cannon turret rattles out from the belly of the ship.

Chak T'Vont sighs, before uttering two words with a voice colder than ice.

" Kill them ."

- - - - - - - - - -

CR-0216:

Everything happens at once. The Trandoshans raise their guns in unison, the turret lowers from the ship, the words "Kill them," ring out across the bay, and then there is a sudden rush of noise and wind which sweeps through the bay from above. The roaring of a large, triangular shuttle-craft's engine drowns out the yell between the Corellian man and the Togorian woman, as both dive aside, Solan taking Eya and Grrowv, Ramani. They all hit the ground as the guns start to fire, a hail of red blaster traces scattering around the loading bay.

From where Crow stands, he can see the taut cables of rappelling lines drop from the bright white shuttle above, before four equally opaline armored figured appear from the side of the craft, attaching themselves to the ropes before leaping down towards the ground. As they near landing, they slow their pace with hand grips, halving the speed at which they descend.

- - - - - - - - - -

Embeetoo and Torin:

Outside Docking Bay Fifty-Four, the droid and the Kel-Dor hear cries of fight and angry yelling. A moment later a squad of eight, white armored Stormtroopers come jogging into view, led by a blonde human woman. Her hair is tied back in a neat ponytail, and her plain gray clothing is a strangely stark contrast even compared to the pure plasteel plating of the military unit. The Stormtroopers roughly push aside anyone who doesn't move out the way quickly enough, and swiftly approach the landing bay entrance, coming right up to where Embeetoo and Torin stand.

"Please vacate the area immediately, citizen ," the blonde woman says in a curt tone, the last word dripping with venom, her racism towards non-humans already clear. She indicates to one of her Stormtroopers to open the large bay door, "We are here to eliminate criminal activity, and your safety is compromised by being in the vicinity. Take your..." she pauses for a moment, thrown by the chassis Embeetoo has, "Ahem, your droid, and leave the port with haste. You will not be told again." The soldiers take up positions around the door, raising their guns in preparation. The blonde woman stands stiffly, her hands clasped behind her back as she waits for the doors to open. She pays no more heed to the droid and the Kel-Dor.

A moment later the muffled sound of blaster fire can be heard from inside the docking bay, a shot slamming into the large door with a resounding impact and lingering hum. The woman sniffs brusquely at this, but otherwise shows no outward emotion.

Welcome to the true beginning of Wayward Stars. As you know, destiny has a heavy hand, and you five are already touched by it.

Ramani and Eya are both prone, and in cover. This means you have increased soak and defence against ranged attacks. It takes one maneuver to stand, unless you have Jump Up, which I don't think you do (yet).

Crow is able to see the whole scene, from the ship and Trandoshans firing to the four Stormtroopers coming down from the Lambda Shuttle above. I am assuming he knows what these are already, out of respect to his military involvement and being drummed out of the new Imperial structure. Let me know if you want any of that changed!

Embee and Torin are left to their own devices, the Imperial woman assuming you'll follow her commands (oh how naive she likely is)! Torin will also have a flashback to the " Rank upon rank of faceless soldiers" part of his earlier vision.

Let's all take a moment to do some OOC posts about what you all want to do. Ask me any questions, suggest things, let's see what you want to go for in the first combat encounter for three of you, and potential involvement for two. My first suggestion is that Eya, Crow and Ramani all do Cool Checks - as combat has started narratively, but everyone will react differently and at different speeds.

​So, it seems as if Wayward tossed us into the fire here...bravo Sir !

I need to point something out though: Embeetoo cannot fire unless A. he was fired on first or the threat of danger is strong enough, or B. If he is commanded to by those he's placed above himself to do so.

That said, what's everyone thinking here?

This... this is beautiful. Stuck between Chak's people and the Imperials. A perfect mess. *applauds*

Could you give us a rundown of the range bands, and things like Adversary and armor defense that we'll have to take into account when making our checks?

Eya's initiative:

Initiative (Cool) : 2eA 2 successes, 1 advantage

As things stand, I think the highest priority is getting the vehicle weapon out of play. If I'm readin things right, I think that Crow is probably in the best position to do that; he'll probably have the easiest time getting onto the ship.

As general tactics go, Eya is pretty much crit-focused. Her slugthrower rifle has a crit rating of 5, but with the weapon being Superior and Eya having the Marked for Death and Essential Kill talents, I think I'll still be able to trigger crits pretty often. And her vibroknife is crit 1, though it doesn't have Superior.

Yes, I can do that for you guys. I have been meaning to get into simple maps, but I am unsure as to the easiest way to do them at the moment - so here's the bands as they stand currently.

If we base our orientation as the door is south, the ship is east, Crow is out west, north is a bunch of boxes and crates.

Eya, Ramani, Grrowv and Solan are at SHORT RANGE from the two Trandoshans, Bhurrk and Larrsk, (one is in front, one is behind the four) and Chak T'Vont.

From there - the ship is as MEDIUM RANGE, off to their right.

Crow is also at MEDIUM RANGE, except off to the left.

The door is at MEDIUM RANGE to Eya and Ramani, and therefore LONG RANGE from Crow and the ship.

The Stormtroopers rappelling into the fight are currently at MEDIUM RANGE from Crow and SHORT RANGE from the Eya and Ramani. The Lambda is LONG RANGE from everyone.

Outside the door, the Stormtroopers are ENGAGED with the door and SHORT RANGE from Embeetoo and Torin. The officer is at SHORT RANGE from them as well, but is also SHORT RANGE from the Stormtroopers.

As for specific rolls towards Adversary and Armor: Stormtroopers are normal ranged or melee difficulty but do add 1 Setback (or black) dice against their checks. The Trandoshans have Adversary 1, with no setback, so upgrade the first Difficulty (or purple) dice into a Challenge (or red). Chak T'Vont has Adversary 2, as well as 1 Setback dice. None of these characters are in any form of cover at the moment.

The Imperial Officer will remain slightly secret, for now at least.

Thank you!

Wow! This is an amazing opening sequence! I was expecting maybe a small gunfight, but you don't do it small huh?

I'm fine with Crow knowing what the Imp stuff is. It totally makes sense for him, so no worries! So to clarify, is the ship at long range from where I am standing at the moment? If so, I can make the shot with the rifle, and if I target the gun would I be able to at least disable it? Or do we want to leave it firing at the Stormtroopers as well? I also love that Chak ran his mouth about the Imps being idiots, then they came in from above (and are about to breach this door by the looks of it).

Also amazed no one shot at Crow first! I have the somewhat unique position of being able to enter the fight on a "side" as it were. Don't worry, it'll be to protect Eya at the very least! Just trying to work out how to do it.

How Cool is Crow? : 2eP 1 success, 2 advantage

Blast, was banking on a Triumph to get a free maneuver. Ah well! What's the plan ladies and gents?

The extra-large chunk of Bantha-poodoo has really hit the Imperial-made, industrial-size fan...

First of all, here is the cool-check for Ramani:

Are you cool? I'm cool... : 3eA+1eP 3 successes

Meh, was hoping for a slightly better check, but 3 successes are nice.

As for what to do, Ramani is expecting the Imperials to have covered all the exits, so his chances of escaping the hangar without some of them going down are minimal. His idea for getting out of there involves either fleeing or surrendering to whoever wins the fight and hope for mercy. Or, as a last-ditch desperate measure, shoot somebody who looks like he's focusing on someone other than the less-than-heroic Balosar.

Ramani feels a little responsible for getting Eya into this mess, but he's furious at the two smugglers so he cares little for them at the moment. This means that if he has a chance to help the teenage girl without putting himself at great risk he will try to do so. She's an innocent victim in this game, as far as he's concerned.

In practice, this means he is likely to try to get into the ship at a flat-out run once the opposite forces have started shooting each other. Once there he will attempt to neutralize the gunner by surprising him and either stunning him or threatening him (if he finds out the gunner is a droid he'll likely use lethal force rather than risk offering a droid the chance to surrender...).

I therefore think shooting the ship's gun is a bit of a waste. Besides, there are plenty of Stormtroopers to shoot, both for the ship's gunner and the rest of you. They look more important than a few lightly-armed smugglers. I think the priority should be to reduce the number of Stormtroopers, and then gank the d a m n Devaronian, who Ramani is now convinced never intended to deal fairly with us. In fact, if Ramani ever has the slick bastard's back he might just shoot him just to get that over with.

I'm fine with acting late or last in the round. I think Ramani will mostly just get up and look around, possibly he'll try pulling a little trick on the slick Devaronian but it's better if the rest of you shoot first.

Great kick off.

I may not have much time today.

Torin would feel like the Force brought him here but he's not certain how to get involved or if he'd be welcome - especially if he reveals himself as a Jedi Knight.

He may observe for a bit before jumping in. Of course if the Imperials don't like him observing and take action against him that would do it too.

Torn will also chat Embeetoo up about the B2 missing battle and if he's going to leave or stay

Alright, looking like everyone has a rough idea of what they want to do? Any fine tuning needed? I'll post the Initiative Order once everyone is happy.

I'm good. Ramani will play things by ear anyway. He's not a great combat monster by any means...

The Fight at Docking Bay 54

Initiative Order:

PC

PC

NPC ally - Solan

NPC - Chak T'Vont

NPC - Larrsk

PC

NPC ally - Grrowv

NPC - Bhurrk

NPC - Unidentified entity (Crow knows it to be a droid) inside the ship

NPC - Stormtrooper Group descending from Lambda

It will take the Imperial Group outside the Docking Bay THREE TURNS of combat to breach the door and get inside.

Remember PC slots are interchangeable, and just because you rolled the most successes doesn't mean you have to go first out of the group. You also don't all have to lock yourselves into one slot and remain there each turn.

This may be one heck of a starting fight! Remember, think creatively, use your surroundings, the terrain, the different aspects of the fight - or just point and shoot, it's up to you! Fights can be either the most narrative parts of Star Wars, or the least. Let's aim for the former!

Oops! Forgot to mention - Embee and Torin are welcome to enter the fight at any time, if they so desire.