As Caizu, 66 and Lang get out of the speeder, Dro-Kar lifts up a worn duffel bag and opens it up. "You go ahead and get us that part," he says to the threesome. "I'm not likely to talk a merchant out of his spare part so I'm useless in there unless you want someone to beat him up. So I'm putting on my armor. When those thugs find us I intend to die in my armored suit. With a blaster in hand and my claws around one of their throats. Just shout if you need me."

The bulky Nikto, who seems rather pessimistic about the chances of escaping from Mos Shuuta, starts getting his gear out of the bag, putting on his armored suit and strapping on the armor plates that cover the most vulnerable areas. He then starts to put on his helmet, custom-made to fit his horned head, but stops when he feels his bruised, swollen head. He opens up a pouch in his utility belt, gets out a stim capsule and injects it into his shoulder, close to the wound. He immediately feels the area going slightly numb, and the kick of adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"Hey, you. Droid," he addresses the medical unit Caizu had persuaded to join them. "My face is all swollen up from the beating that Gammorean gave me. Do you have something to numb the pain and stop the swelling?" As he talks he straps the holster for his blaster pistol to his leg. He then looks at the bloody vibroknife he had used to kill the Gammorean pit fighter, before shrugging and wiping it almost clean on a piece of grease-stained cloth left on the floor of the speeder by a mechanic or someone tasked with cleaning the speeder. He then tucks the knife into his belt behind his back, making a note of the fact that it might help to find a sheath for the weapon if he intends on keeping it.

Dro-Kar uses a single stim to recover 5 wounds. If the medical droid is feeling better it would really help to have it administer first aid. If it is willing, just tell me what dice to roll. With the injuries Dro-Kar has remaining the check will be Easy.

Hey friends! Sorry for the slow response time. We should be back to our regularly scheduled posting cadence next week.

Vex's synthetic voice crackles " Droid? Ah, yes. You must be addressing me given that I am the only inorganic form left in this vehicle. Greeting, gentlebeing. My name is 41-Vex, Cybot Galactica model 41-V general practitioner medical droid. I am proficient in all forms of medical applications from diagnosis to complex surgeries for one hundred and seventy seven different sentient species. And fortunately for you, I am well versed in the xenobiology of all of the Hutt slave races. No offense intended, given your species. " The droid’s sensors pulse a florescent blue as the diagnostic beam scans over the damaged area. “ My diagnostic scan has revealed that the extent of the damage to your flesh is merely superficial. Please hold perfectly still will I use my surgical suture tool to mend this wound. ”

Dro-Kar - Vex has Int of 4 and 2 ranks in Medicine. So YYGG. It is an easy medicine check if you have more than half of your wounds remaining or an average check if you have less than half. Go ahead and roll. Each success recovers one wound, each advantage recovers one strain, and each threat causes one strain.

Caizu leads the way, followed by HM-6T6, then Lang, who shuts the old, battered door after holding it open politely for the Chiss and droid. To the right side of the low-ceilinged hovel, a hunched old human male lurks behind a low counter covered with disassembled droid and machine parts. The man glances up at the group as they enter, then turns to a garbage can-shaped R5 droid standing at his side. He kicks the droid and shrieks “ You’re supposed to tell me when I have customers, you bucket of bolts! Go outside and finish stripping that speeder bike wreck. ” The droid trundles off with a surly “ boooop ” and the man turns to address the group. “ Welcome, customers! As you can see, ” he points at the racks and shelves and enormous buckets full of scrap metal and parts, “ I have anything you could want… for the right price. ” The old man looks between the Caizu and Lang, attempting to discern which of the two may be the end decision maker or the one with the credits. He looks the scantily clad Chiss up and down. " Not from around here, are you? "

Lang / Caizu - feel free to post, ask questions, etc. and propose which skill you want to attempt to use. I'll let you know the difficulty of the opposed checks.

I have a plan, and it's gonna involve Deception. I'll post the actual pose after I roll so that I can reflect the results properly—what's the difficulty?

Lying will require an opposed check to Vorn's Discipline (one red and one purple). Additionally, you receive a setback die due to having HM-6T6 with you (Vorn is a droid hater). Depending on the lie, you will receive additional setback / boost die based on Vorn's personality.

Soooo... Are our talkative pair going to give this a go?

Yes, but I had to talk to the GM in private a little. Apologies. Post should be up today, after school ends and I get a chance to type it out.

Caizu laughs and leans against the counter. "I get that a lot—but you're right. Just came in on the Queen of Scepters. " She drops the smile for a moment and flicks a strand of hair out of her face. "As the mechanic, not the merchandise, so don't go getting any ideas."

She chuckles again. "Anyway, we're here to pick up Trex's order. Just hand it to Sixty-Six there, and then I'll get back to complaining at Cap'n Stingy for letting it get this bad in the first place." She's met enough engineers to know their reputation for surliness, and she lets a good dose of that creep into her voice as she laments Trex's imagined credit-pinching. She snorts and adds, "Captain or no, he wouldn't know an incipient malfunction if it bit him on his scaly little nose."

Fast-talk time! : 1eA+2eP+1eD+1eC+1eS 1 success, 1 advantage

As for the advantage... I'm not sure. Any suggestions?

perhaps the Advantage is that the hyper mater reactor igniter is on the counter saving us time on this interaction

The old man introduces himself as Vorn, the owner of this junk shop. He seemingly softens a bit at Caizu’s easy demeanor. “ Ah, you came in on the Queen , huh? That boat is a fine ship and seems to get the job done, if you can keep her running. Trex doesn’t like to work with others – and I surely would have remembered if he had mentioned someone like… you. ” The shopkeep takes a long pause as he mulls over the situation before finally continuing, “ I’m surprised that he’s taken on crew. ” His eyes turn to a squint as he flashes a scowl towards HM-6T6. “ Hopefully your rust bucket over there has more sense than the useless one’s I’ve got. ”

“ Here, this is what Captain Trex had asked for. ” Vorn lifts an oily rag on the counter top to reveal a worn, but apparently operational hypermatter reactor igniter. “ So now I’ve shown you the igniter, I’m now going to need to see the credits. ” Vorn’s hand rests protectively on top of the replacement part; the shopkeep has seen more than one thief try to make off with his goods before paying in full.

"No offence taken," Dro-Kar replies, remaining perfectly still while the droid injects him with something and uses sticky white foam to mend a small wound on his face. "Very nice, doc," Dro-Kar says as the pain begins to fade further. "I owe you one, yet again," he says as he slides his helmet onto his head and activates the HUD.

The large Nikto scans the surrounding area, looking for anyone watching him or the vehicle. He keeps his pistol holstered, but his hand is never far from the weapon as he expects trouble sooner, rather than later. "What's taking them so long?" he growls at nobody in particular as he waits for his allies to get out of the scrap shop, hopefully with the spare part needed.

Vex's medicine check for Dro-Kar : 2eA+2eP+1eD 3 successes, 1 Triumph

Lovely. This takes care of the 2 wounds Dro-Kar had remaining. I wonder what to do with the Triumph. Can I use it to recover some of the strain suffered?

Do... do we actually have any credits?

of course we do... rolls deception check. They are being transferred over right now... from Trex... do you need a medical Droid?

Roll for pocket change? You have any unused credits that you haven't spent already during character creation. You can make an average Knowledge (education) check or a hard mechanics or streetwise to get a range of potential prices for the part if helpful.

I'll flip a DP if they're available to try the Mechanics check, is there any chance of boost due to 66 already knowing the part and possibly hearing discussion of price earlier in the day? Otherwise someone else can have a crack at it

Go ahead and flip the DP. Back to 5 DS 0 LS. I'll award a boost die because the ship in question is manufactured by CEC.

How much should that hmri be? : 2eP+1eA+1eB+3eD 2 successes, 1 advantage

So it's cheaper than we thought? I'll IC post when you have some results for me

HM knows that this part typically retails for 400 or so credits brand new, but who knows how much one would charge given the lack of other options thisfar out onto the Rim.

66 moves carefully around the cramped room filled with all manner of second hand parts. Buckets of bolts sit on the floor, wiring looms form a hundred different manufacturers hang from walls, in one corner sits a refresher off a YT-2200. Then the proprietor reveals from behind his desk a small delicate device that the old maintenance droid recognises well.

"Sir, brand new off the production line at CEC that part tallies at 400cr. Please be careful not to drop it..."

Outside the store, Dro-Kar paces back and forth, resisting the temptation to stick to the shade for now. "Come on guys, we're running out of time," he mutters to nobody in particular as he keeps an eye out for any of the thugs he's familiar with from Teemo's court, or anyone else who could be interested in the fugitives.

I'm afraid that I'm off to Arisia and will therefore not be available until Monday.

Vex's medicine check for Dro-Kar : 2eA+2eP+1eD 3 successes, 1 Triumph

Lovely. This takes care of the 2 wounds Dro-Kar had remaining. I wonder what to do with the Triumph. Can I use it to recover some of the strain suffered?

So Aurin, any call on how I can use the Triumph? Anything other than the proposed strain recovery that might be interesting?

I know we've slowed down a bit, and I haven't been part of the solution here! Hopefully we can get back to our normal posting timing starting this week. Shy - hope you enjoyed the con!

“ My work was sufficient to fully mend your wound, though you can probably tell from my pleased tone, ” 41-Vex states in its typical artificial monotone. “ Doc – oh my. It’s been a long time indeed since someone has properly acknowledged my formal programming. It does feel good to utilize my skills on a grateful subject. ”

The dug pats the side of the speeder, his toes nervously thumping the tune to a song on the dented door. He answers the Nikto, even though Dro-Kar’s question was a rhetorical one. “ I don’t know what is holding them up. It can only mean bad things. This is taking too long. I don’t like this one bit. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of Teemo’s goons make It over here faster than we expect. Then we’ll have a firefight on our hands. ”

Dro-Kar - for the triumph you can either get the strain back (as you mentioned) or alternatively we could assume that whatever healing ointment that Vex used was actually a stimulant (something he uses on the other gladiators to keep them going) and Dro can be under the effects of "booster blue" for the next several in-game hours.

Inside the junk shop, Vorn’s mood visibly darkens. The shopkeep tightens his grip around the filament aggregater of the hypermatter reactor igniter in obvious agitation. “ How dare this tin can try to tell me how to price my merchandise? Have you ever heard about supply and demand? ” Vorn asks incredulously. “ Well, you are demandin' and I'm the only supply on this dusty rock. 400 credits is not half of what it's worth. Not here, anyway. ”

Vorn takes a deep breath as the old man calms himself down. “ Listen here, you say you’re with Captain Trex, and I’m inclined to believe you. No other way someone would like you would find yourself in these parts. ” He picks up the igniter and moves it to a shelf behind the counter, too far for even HM-6T6 to reach. “ But parts ain’t free. I told Trex it was 500 cr. But that’s for Trex. For you, it’s 750 cr. ”

You can go ahead and make a negotiation check if you want to haggle price (opposed, RPP), or a charm or deception check if you're going to try a bit more of a con (opposed, RP). Add a setback die for the droid (Vorn hates droids) and a second setback because Vorn doesn't like to be low-balled on price

Hm.... Interesting. I think I'll go with removing strain, since Booster Blue prevents Dro-Kar from recovering strain, and he's already winded...

Adopting his most nonchalant swagger, Lang steps over to the counter, beside his companions, and slowly places both hands down on the scratched metallic surface. Leaning forward slightly, he levels his stern gaze at the merchant, his eyes cold and unrelenting. "First of all, I'd trust a tin can with a computer for a brain over the only supply on the 'dusty rock', as you called it," the Mirialan says in his hoarse, gravelly voice , "And second, I wouldn't accuse no one of bein' demandin'..."

Keeping his gaze locked steadily with Vorn's, the Marshal waits a moment before adding, "Yet."

So this is my practicing the future "Bad Cop" element of Lang. I assume this would be some sort of Coercion check, and now you've got the dialogue I am going to bet I get setbacks for the cheesy line! Hoping I can make him nervous enough to crumple under the charming negotiations that deceive him into selling cheap.

So, where are we on this? I wager everyone that was subscribed to the thread is no longer receiving emails due to the change in the forum. I would really like to keep the pace up in this game, I like the group and the direction we're headed!