EPISODE I: ESCAPE FROM MOS SHUUTA

It is a period of unrest and opportunity in the

galaxy. The Galactic Empire struggles to maintain

control in the midst of civil war. Meanwhile, fringers

of all types scrape out a hard living on the edges

of galactic civilization.

On the desert world of TATOOINE, a few such fringers

have run afoul of a local crime boss, TEEMO

THE HUTT. Trapped in the tiny spaceport of Mos

Shuuta, the fringers have no choice but to steal

A starship and flee Teemo’s forces.

Fortunately, a suitable starship has recently docked at the

landing bay; a freighter called the QUEEN OF SCEPTERS,

captained by a Trandoshan slaver named Trex. These

fringers, held captive in Teemo’s palace, must execute

their plan to escape the Hutt gangster’s clutches…

"Ladies and gentlebeings," Malto, the toydarian announcer bellowed in Basic from the center of the 'entertainment pits' as they are known among the regulars at the palace. The crowd, already drunk and rowdy from the evening’s festivities, returned the toydarian’s enthusiasm with hoots and cheers. "Now, for the MAIN… EVENT… of the EVENING!" The toydarian drew out each word, each pause longer than the last in an attempt to build suspense. Malto had a legitimate job on the amateur pod racing circuit before falling in with the wrong crowd which led him deeply indebted. Malto self-consciously adjusted his foppish jacket before continuing, "our most gracious patron, the powerful and wise Teemo the Hutt, may his skin stay supple under the Tatooinian suns for a thousand lifetimes, has graciously treated us with a delightful spectacle. I present to you, the TREEKA BUN KEETHA! The ancient tradition of honor combat. Two lives joined as one, pitted against another pair, to the DEATH!”

The toydarian announcer’s voice carried well throughout the tiered throne room, not that Trok was paying attention to the exhibition. The dug had arranged himself in one of the lower alcoves, near the aisle. His role in the escape plan was clear; Trok is to hot wire a cargo skiff and drive them out in a hurry. Trok’s particular set of skills made him the perfect sentient for the job.

"Now… introducing... the CHALLENGERS!" The doors to the gladiatorial pits slides open, allowing an odd-looking pair to emerge. Dro-kar , the broad, green-skinned Nikto with an expressionless face and Lang , a grizzled Mirialan who looks as if he’s seen the wrong side of enough fights and insides of enough bottles for any two men, make their way into the entertainment pits. Tight fitting, durasteel collars are fitted snuggly to the necks of each of the aliens, coupled with a thick durasteel chain, about four feet in length, that binds the pair together. While weight of the collar system is burdensome, the awkwardness of the apparatus seems to be the real encumbrance. The crowd reacts to the entrance of ‘the challengers,’ meeting the pair with boos and hisses. Shouts rain down from the crowd, "look forward to watching you die, scum!" "Dabross is going to tear your arms off, sleemos!"

Rija, a twi’lek dressed in simple brown robes, stood at the base of the Hutt’s dais on the highest tier of the throne room. "Meeka su bostra cheeka shaddaa," Teemo began in his deep, guttural native tongue, his large golden eyes focused on the Chiss. The twi’lek mouthpiece leaned in towards Caizu , close enough for his breath to be felt against her cheek as he translated, “the illustrious Teemo, his tail ever agile and vigilant against his enemies, wishes to inform you that he has blessed you with a great honor!” The twi’leks queasy expression betrayed his words as he continued, “he has chosen for you to be his… guest… for dinner this evening. You are, well, it’s difficult to fine the exact translation from Huttese, but the literal meaning is that the great Teemo wishes you to know that you are the finest jewel in his collection, and he looks forward to… polishing… you this evening." The Hutt gangster’s eyes glitter intently as he watches the conversation. Caizu’s deftly surveyed Rija without drawing notice. For the carefully planned escape to work, she’d have to find a way to separate the twi’lek from his code cylinder to get access to the landing pad.

The lights of the throne room dim further, with two spotlights directing attention to the second set of gladiators enter the pits, chained together by the neck similarly to the first pair. “The REIGNING… DEFENDING… CHAMPIONS!” A rotund Gammorean enters the arena, a giant when compared to others of his species. Standing close to seven feet tall, the porcine humanoid is broad shouldered and heavily muscled. “Dabross! The MUTILATOR!” Cheers fill the throne room, an obvious crowd favorite. Dabross raises a fist in the air to acknowledge the crowd, inciting more ovation. With his free hand, he grabs a length of durasteel chain, giving it a hard yank, dragging his partner closer to him. Attached to the Gammorean is a spindly Weequay. “Nirok the Assassin!” Nirok moves with dexterity, obviously accustomed to the chain binding him to the Gammorean giant.

One of Malto’s assistants moves to the center of the pits, setting a pair of shock gloves and a vibro knife on a set of pedestals. Both weapons are roughly equidistant from the two pairs of contestants. The toydarian flutters to his place in the first row of the stands, out of the way of the impending danger. "Let the fight... BEGIN!"

Alright folks, excited to finally get going! I’ve assumed that the four of you know each other, and you’ve come up with a plan to escape that’s basically (i) steal the code cylinder from the twi’lek Rija to get access to the workshop / cargo receiving, (ii) survive the fight to the death in the entertainment pits, (iii) then hot wire the skiff, and (iv) escape out the landing pad to the starport.

Feel free to propose any actions and appropriate rolls. Note for actions relating to Dro-Kar and Lang – the chains make it harder to do any physical activities, adding a setback die to all combat related checks. Any movement requires a coordination check or suffer two strain. Lastly, you cannot be more than short range away from each other at any given time.

Lastly, let's keep making progress on the Session Zero thread as well but didn't want to hold off getting started any longer!

Caizu just keeps grinning. She's always grinning; either it disarms people, or it makes them nervous. Better yet, it hides her disgust. She runs a hand through her hair, letting it fall across her shoulders. "An honor indeed," she says, her mouth going on automatic while her pupilless red eyes search frantically for any hint of the code cylinder. "Luck has certainly been with me, to win the great Teemo's favor."

And luck better be on my side tonight, she thinks, lest I end up learning far too much about Hutt anatomy. I only wish the plan included knifing His Slugness on the way out. She even has her blade-breaker with her, stowed safely in one shiny black boot. The rest of her is, unfortunately, far too exposed for her taste—rather than something resembling clothing, she's ended up in a glittering red holographic bikini. She even has her ring in her other boot, rather than risk its confiscation.

Man, it feels really weird to RP in past tense. I keep falling into present tense without realizing it.

Let me know if you need a Deception check, Perception check, or both. Other than that, I'm going to see what the others do before jumping into action.

Edit: Actually, some of the initial post does seem to be in present tense. Could you clarify which we should be using?

Edit redux: Shifted post to present tense.

The smell of the pit is foul. It reeks of blood and sweat, mixed with spice and the various beverages being consumed by the aliens, mixed with the stench emanating from the glistening skin of Teemo the Hutt. All Hutts Dro-Kar had met, and admittingly that wasn’t a very large number, had stunk, but Teemo’s personal odor was very powerful.

The green-skinned alien watches the Toydarian impassively as he announces the fighters. “I do not die here today,” the large Nikto says to Lang. If the Miralan thinks this is going to be an inspiring speech from the brutish-looking alien, he soon realizes his error. “I don’t know about you though,” Dro-Kar says, giving the Mirialan an appraising look which in no way indicates any mirth in his words. “You might not make it.”

When the opponents and weapons are reveled, Dro-Kar grits his teeth. “The knife is deadly, but in the right hands the stunners can put you down fast.” He shows Lang his large hands and the sharp claws at the end. “The gloves won’t fit me. I’ll do better with these.”

He indicates the Gammorean. “The fat one will want to make a sport of it. His overconfidence is his weakness. He will go for the shock gloves. You should go for the knife. I’ll rip the bastards to shreds with my bare hands.”

The Nikto thinks for a moment. This is not really something he has done before, but he has watched enough of those fights to know what to do, and what to avoid. “Once the fluttering coward starts the fight we need to get the knife first. We need to move as one, so as we rush the pedestal, hold my hand so that the chain won’t slow us down. You grab the knife; I’ll hold them off. Then we concentrate on taking Nirok out of the fight as quickly as we can. Once he’s down he will slow Dabross down, allowing us to overwhelm him once he starts to tire.”

The large Nikto spits into his palms and grabs a handful of dirt from the floor, rubbing it between his hands. He looks again at Lang. “You look like you’ve been in a fight before. That’s good. Know this: I will win this fight. Just make sure you live long enough to see it.”

Deep down inside, Dro-Kar is not as confident as he lets on, but if it’s one thing he’s good at it’s not showing weakness. If they are to die for the entertainment of Teemo’s entourage, he is determined to take at least take one of his opponents with him.

This looks like it will be very tough for Dro-Kar and Lang to win. Now I really regret not doubling down on Brawling at character generation!

Quick question, do we have any of our gear (armor for example), and do we know where the rest of it is stored? Not that I’m hoping we might be able to make a run for our blasters during the fight, but just for future reference if we survive this.

I hope using present tense is OK, it feels much more natural when describing something the character is doing right now…

Apologies for not covering some of these things (showing my newb-ness right off the bat!):

Tense: Yes - it does appear that I was drifting between the tenses... let's go present tense if people prefer and I'll try not to wander back to past tense.

Initiative: And for those of you in the pit (or those of you who may want to interact with those in the pit), why don’t we go into structured time after everyone’s had a chance to respond.

@Shy Ion – why don’t we go with an average perception check to narrow down the location of the code cylinder?

@Kymrel – I purposefully left the plan vague. Assume that the gear is locked up in some holding area in the Gladiator cells or the cargo bay. I’d also allow using destiny points to retroactively provide more details around the precautions that you took with the plan (such as to put the gear in a more opportune location - maybe Trok moved it to the skiff already?)

@All – speaking of which, how about we roll up the destiny pool?

OK, assuming we have any light side points I might be flipping one for the gear being in the speeder. Let's see... So is that a no on the armor then?

Here we have the initiative:

Vigilance for initiative : 2eA+1eP 2 successes, 2 advantage, 1 Triumph

Nice! I'm liking that start. Could we perhaps use the Triumph to secure a little head start on our opponents to grab the knife?

And the destiny pool:

Destiny pool : 1eF 1 Dark Side

The cheers are a background noise, a white wall of haze that does not break through to Lang's focus. The movements of the roaring crowd as they leap up and shake their fists at the announcements are simply the motions of the world, a wave of color that is not important now. Clear, piercing and angry blue eyes shine out from a mop of messy hair, staring straight at the large, bloated form of the Hutt, Teemo. Chained next to him, chained to him, the hulking green Nikto speaks with a clipped manner, his voice a razor's edge, full of danger and the readiness to kill.

"I can handle myself," the Mirialan replies, his voice a low rumble with an Outer Rim twang. He still does not take his eyes off Teemo. "It's a good plan though, count on me to move with you. If you want to move your way, tug the chain once before going," Lang demonstrates, giving the chain a small pull with his hand, "Otherwise I'll likely get dragged off balance; or break my neck. It's gonna be hard not to trip over one another." Finally breaking off his stare, Lang looks at Dro-Kar. "You know, you're the reason I'm down here, right? Shoulda kept my mouth shut, but seeing people get taken advantage of... Well, here we are. And I will get that knife, because I plan to put it in that fat slug's eye before we leave the palace ." He spits the last word out with derision, clear in his disdain for the hive of scum and villainy.

He kicks at the dirt under his boots, gauging the grip it will give as they move around the arena. "Also been thinkin', maybe we could appeal to the audience for a little help. Figure they'll want to see something spectacular, and the weapons in here are hardly grand. Maybe someone will be kind enough to toss in a blaster?" He flashes a mirthless, off kilter grin at Dro-Kar. "Oh, and if I do buy the farm, feel free to bludgeon them to death with my corpse. Figure it's the last thing I can do to help you."

I have a baaad feeling about this...

Destiny Roll : 1eF 1 Light Side

Well, maybe not as bad as I thought. Going to go with Cool for Initiative, as we've got a moment to collect ourselves before the fight begins.

Initiative for the Gladiatorial Match : 1eP+2eA 1 success, 3 advantage

Blast, no Triumph for me.

Perception check - where's the code cylinder? : 3eA+1eB+2eD 4 successes, 1 threat

Caizu is perceptive today! Well, perceptive with threat.

Destiny roll : 1eF 2 Dark Side

Oh dear—again?

I am happy with that posting speed, and should be ok to commit to it. Also, I would be happy to move the PC slot up so we can both get moving to that pedestal and claim the weapons asap. What say you, Kymrel?

Sounds like a plan. EDIT: So it's one maneuver to get to one of the pedestals? Can one of us grab the knife as an incidental since it is on top of the pedestal or will that cost a second maneuver?

I'd imagine it will still have to cost that second maneuver. The options seem to be A - go first and get weapons, then get attacked with fists / B - go second, miss out on weapons and have to attack with fists. I prefer A!

Trok regards the Balosar crossly for a moment, then redirects his gaze to the fight. If those two meatheads didn't win, he knew he'd be in deep; he was betting far more than credits on those two. "Y'know, why not? How about, instead, 500 on the underdogs. Let's say they win the match. Yeah, I'm serious. And if they beat them in the first minute, you throw in an extra ten percent? And if they lose, I'll owe you a personal favor, yeah?"

1eF : 1 Light Side [1eF=LS]

One clarification: Can we get one weapon each, or is our chain not long enough to allow that? If so, it would make sense for Lang to grab the gauntlets and Dro-Kar to get the knife. Simply because he probably can't use the gauntlets due to his claws.

Destiny pool: so it looks like our destiny pool is 2 light side, 3 dark side (before anything has been flipped to move the pit fighters' gear to the skiff.

Initiative: New order is now PC, PC, NPC, NPC

Combat: Wayward has the right of it. It will cost a maneuver to pick up the weapon, so one maneuver to get to the center of the pit, and a second to grab a weapon. The chain is long enough that you two can move together and each take one (the pedestals are clustered close together). The shock gloves are made for a human, so let's say that Dro-Kar can use them but would suffer one setback die to his attacks due to his claws. Alternatively, if you guys choose to go second, you can use the chain itself as an improvised weapon.

Don't forget that all combat checks suffer from a setback die due to the chain. Moving requires an average coordination check or inflict two strain damage.

"Careful, or you'll end up down there yourself," Caizu mentally translates. Smile and nod, Caizu, smile and nod. She makes a mental note of the code cylinder's location and lets her gaze wander again. Best not to grab for it until she's decided on her escape route. She's learned that lesson, oh yes.

Of course, if she did get noticed—maybe she wants to end up in the arena. There's a gate down there, after all. If she could get the lock open fast enough, she might be able to get away in the confusion. And, best of all, the crowd might think it was part of the show—for those first few crucial seconds, at least. It's one of those rules that's served her well: if you can be subtle, be subtle. If you can't, be bold enough that no one can believe their eyes.

Still. Best to try subtle first. Fewer hostile people with weapons, that way.

There's a distinct possibility that I'm just misreading the map. I hope this is an accurate assessment of the layout—if not, I'll edit the post.

Also, in anticipation of possibly ending up down there, here's Caizu's initiative:

Initiative (Cool) : 1eA+2eP 3 successes, 3 advantage

Dro-Kar realizes that if they move quickly they can probably get both weapons. “New plan,” he whispers. “I get the knife. You get the stunners. We kill the Weequay first.”

“Let the fight…” the Toydarian shouts, as he is about to start the fight. Never one to wait for an invitation, Dro-Kar’s clawed hand locks on to Lang’s forearm and he yanks the smaller Miralan forward, practically slinging him towards one of the pedestals while he moves closer to the other.

“BEGIN!” the fluttering fool finishes, fluttering higher faster than he intended to get out of the way as the Nikto and Miralan barrel towards him. Dro-Kar can feel the chain go taut and the collar rip into his skin as he stretches to get the weapon, but feels a lot better once he has the vibroblade in his right hand.

He looks at the Weequay, pointing at him with his weapon. “I kill you first, scum,” he shouts at the skinny being. “Then I beat the fat one to death with your lifeless corpse.”

So. Here is the Average Coordination check for moving:

Coordination check to rush forward : 3eA+1eP+2eD 0 successes, 1 advantage

I see Orokos still has me mistaken for someone who sent them a check that bounced

Dro-Kar takes two strain from the maneuver, but I’ll use the advantage to give Lang a boost on his check, representing Dro-Kar grabbing his arm and propelling him forward (all part of the Triumph!)

So, one maneuver to rush to the pedestal and another (costing 2 more strain) to grab the knife.

I would like to roll a Coercion check as my action, directed at the Weequay, but for that I need the difficulty (his discipline). I’ll edit in the check once I know the difficulty, but I didn’t want to hold up the game with the question.

Nearly torn from his feet and almost losing an arm, Lang springs into action as the gladiator match starts. It is an effort to keep pace with Dro-Kar, but somehow they don't break each other's necks as they run; instead they just choke one another a bit. Sprinting across the arena, and doing his best not to glare holes through Teemo as the Hutt chortles in delight, the Mirialan snatches the shock gloves from the pedestal a moment before their opponents arrive. Sliding them onto his hands, Lang powers them on, pleased that they are working.

Eyeing up the Gammorean and the Weequay, Lang spits, "Well, what're ya waitin' for?" The gloves hum on his hands as he balls them into fists. "I don't have all darn day, let's get to the killin' and dyin' already." It is not anywhere near as intimidating as Dro-Kar's threat, but Lang is sober and angry; and very much ready to beat someone into the floor. Speaking of which... The floor is dusty enough, so the Mirialan has the downright brilliant idea of kicking a whole mouthful of it into the faces of the oncoming pit fighters. Hopefully it will blind them, even if it's only momentarily.

Coordination on the run : 3eA+1eB+2eD 0 successes, 3 advantage

Oh dear... Thank you for the boost anyway, Dro-Kar! I would like to use the Advantage to add an environmental factor to the start of the combat - in the form of dust in the eyes of our foes. I'll leave it to you to decide what this does.

Maneuver One to run forward
Downgrade Action into Maneuver Two to equip Shock Gloves

0/14 Wounds
2/13 Strain (from failing the Coordination check)

Barin gives the Trok a sideways look before breaking into an easy grin. The Balosar had a reputation for being smug – far too smug – but as the local bookmaker, he always had an edge. What did Barin know about the Treeka Bun Keetha that Trok didn’t? “ An extra ten percent huh? How about five? And it needs to be a big favor. ” His attention moves back to the action below as he continues, “ You better be good for the credits. Based on Teemo’s reaction to your last job, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were the next one to be fed to Dabross. ”

Trok: Why don't you roll an average negotiation check here to see where you come out on your haggling with Barin?

In the upper ring of the throne room, Rija, the Hutt’s translator, seems engrossed as Malto introduces the combatants. Crowd noise reverberates through the palace, feeding on itself into a thunderous cacophony. Teemo’s unsettling gaze hangs on the Chiss for a heartbeat longer than it should, carefully inspecting the glittering holographic bikini, though he doesn’t seem to notice as Caizu surveys her potential escape route. There are two potential exits from the throne room. The first is through the main entrance (leading to the grand hallway) to the east. The second is from the entertainment pit itself, through the narrow gate into the gladiatorial cells. Caizu and her new-found friends need to find some way to reach the cargo and receiving bay. First they have to live that long. Hopefully the code cylinder on the twi'lek's belt will get that gate open...

Teemo laughs gleefully as he watches his slave-gladiators clash, a disgusting sound emanating from the slug. “ Buteeka su meethma! Ho ho ho ho! ” The twi’lek responds to his master in Basic, “ Yes, your Excellence, I will make sure that the Mirialan is executed regardless of the outcome this evening. ”

With all eyes on the entertainment pits below, the Gammorean giant lets out a primal squeal as he charges the unlikely challengers, engaging at the center of the arena. The Weequay, Nirok, lopes slightly behind the porcine humanoid, doing his best to keep up with Dabross. The way the Gammorean moves shows he cares little fore his partner; the durasteel chain attached to the collar around the Weequay’s neck gives him very little room to maneuver. Nirok hisses at Dro-Kar, carefully eyeing the vibroblade in his clawed hand. “ After I take that knife from you, I’ll use it to spill your entrails! ”

Caizu - Let me know what you want to do this initiative order (you can go at the end of this round if you're making any big moves)

Lang - I'll say that the first to act (Dabross) is going to suffer from disorient for this turn as the dust gets him in the eyes as he charges.

Dro-kar - It is an average coercion check (2 dice) on the Weequay. Let's also include a setback because he's the reigning champ (thus less likely to be rattled), and because he's on some spice

Dabross moves (coordination check + boost die for being more accustomed to the chain contraption):

Dabross' coordination roll : 2eA+1eB 2 successes, 2 advantage

Dabross brawls with Lang (with one setback from the chain, one from the disorient - rolled separately because I forgot about it).

Dabross attack : 3eP+1eA+2eD+1eS 3 successes, 1 threat, 1 Triumph

Dabross disoriented : 1eS 1 failure

Youch. That's 7 damage. He'll use the triumph to activate Knockdown. Use the threat however you wish.

Nirok engages with Dro-Kar (coordination check).

Nirok's coordination : 3eA+1eB 3 successes, 2 advantage

He'll spend the advantage to boost his attack.

Nirok attacks Dro-Kar : 2eA+1eB+1eS 0 successes, 3 advantage

The rest of Nirok's roll : 2eD 0 successes, 2 threat

Another newb pbp question - when in combat, who narrates the action? I assumed that would be you guys but let me know if I should approach differently...

Eh, I think you may have forgotten the two difficulty dice for both of the coordination checks, right?

Normally in PbP the person rolling also describes the action.

I'll roll the Coercion check now, to make things easy, but I'll hold off taking a turn until you've described what happens when the baddies do their best to kill us

Coercion check in the pit : 3eA+2eD+1eS 0 successes, 1 advantage

So, no success means he's not rattled by the threat, but might be a little cautious, giving Dro-Kar a boost on his first attack for that advantage

Still getting used to this whole dice roller thing. Appreciate your patience here!

Dabross actually fails his coordination check, suffering two strain.

The other half of Dabross' coordination roll : 2eD 4 failures

Though Nirok still succeeds (barely), but he no longer receives the boost (therefore suffering one strain from the additional threat).

The second half of Nirok's coordination : 2eD 2 failures, 2 threat

So now that my dice blunder is figured out, to recap:

- Dabross failed his coordination check charging forward, suffering two strain. He did, however, connect for 7 points of damage and knockdown result from the triumph. He experienced one net threat, also causing a strain.

- Nirok successfully coordinated his way to engage, but was unable to connect on his attack. He experienced net one threat, causing one strain.

The veins in the muscled Gammorean’s neck pulse at the strain of the collar cutting into his throat as he charges to the center of the entertainment pits, dragging the Weequay behind him, though the chafing does little to slow the oncoming attack. Right as Dabross engages, Lang kicks the loosely packed soil, sending a cloud of grit into the Gammorean’s face, momentarily distracting him. “ Yes, ” the creature growls, “ Let’s get to the dying. You will pay! Dabross will MUTILATE YOU! ” The giant, now up close, seems even taller than before, a green mass of muscle and tusks. Squaring up on Lang, Dabross swings an enormous fist, almost the size of mallet, connecting squarely on the Mirialan’s jaw, the sheer force of impact knocking him to one knee.

Pulled to heel by Dabross, Nirok wheels to face Dro-Kar, his attack posture in a low hunch. Nirok lashes out with a swift kick, aiming at the Nikto’s knee, though the Weequay misjudged the distance he could travel, the collar constraining his movement, causing the attack to fall just short of its attended target.

Dro-Kar retreats from the Weequay’s kick, moving in with the knife in front to get his assailant to back off a little. As he does, he sees the Gammorean floor Lang with a well-placed blow. “Dammit Lang, get up,” he curses, making sure not to stray far from his partner to allow him a little slack on the chain to get up. He realizes dimly that if the Miralan is out of the fight he is doomed as well.

The Gammorean barrels forward again, but the Weequay seems to be a little more wary. Unfortunately for him, the massive Dabross is not really worried about the collar and yanks the Weequay forward. “Now you die, little worm,” Dro-Kar spits at the Weequay as Nirok stumbles.

He had been planning to take out the Weequay first and use his unmoving body to tire out the Gammorean, but with Lang down already that plan has just been changed. He will have to take his chances and mostly ignore Nirok for now and try to deal with Dabross. Before he kicks out what life remains in his Miralan friend with those heavy boots.

Seizing the opportunity, Dro-Kar snarls and tries to grab the chain linking the two gladiators, but only manages to hit it heavily on the downswing with his left arm. This is enough to get Nirok even further off balance, allowing the Nikto to step forward. Nirok steps back as he anticipates a swing from the Nikto’s knife, but instead Dro-Kar steps up to the massive Gammorean and jams the vibroknife deep into his fat abdomen.

Dabross roars in pain as the blood gushes from his side, running down his leg and onto the floor. It is clearly a deep cut. It is a blow that would have felled a lesser being, but the Gammorean is still standing. And he looks angry now.

We really need to finish this fight quickly or that Gammorean will pummel us to death. Since he is clearly a much greater threat I think we need to focus on him rather than his friend. That does make more sense game-mechanically speaking, and with Lang down and Nirok ineffective against Dro-Kar that’s reason enough for me to have Dro-Kar change tactics. Besides. No plan ever survives contact with the enemy…

So. To represent all this deception Dro-Kar is using (letting the others think he’s focusing on Nirok) and the fact that Dabross is focusing on Lang, I’ll take two Aim maneuvers (suffering 2 strain again, but adding 2 boost dice to the one I get for the Coercion advantage) and flip a DP on that attack. A good critical hit will go a long way here…

Stabby stabby at the piggy : 2eA+1eP+3eB+2eD+1eS 3 successes, 5 advantage

Nice! Clearly the CEO of Orokos International has received that bottle of malt whiskey I sent him!

So, that will be 7 damage with pierce 2. I’ll use two advantages to activate a Critical Hit. I’ll use one to give Lang a boost on his attack, and the remaining two to give Dro-Kar a boost on his next attack.

The critical roll, with +10 for the Vicious 1 quality:

Critical hit on the piggy : 1d100+10 84

So Dabross is winded and cannot voluntarily suffer strain to activate abilities or gain an additional maneuver. Not a bad result but certainly not the best we could hope for. In fact I would love for him to take as much strain as possible, since all strain he takes equals wounds (unless he's nemesis-level, and if he is we are so very, very humped...).

I'm gonna try for the code cylinder when my initiative comes up. Skulduggery, right? I assume I've still got the Setback, since it's still my turn. Dunno the difficulty, though. If you hand me that, I'll write up my post and have it ready for my turn.

After that, since waiting until the end of the fight obviously isn't an option, Caizu is going to discard the whole "subtlety" thing and jump into the pit— hopefully not taking falling damage, but who knows?

Somewhat off-topic, I just realized—and am highly amused—that Kymrel and I seem to have taken each other's party roles from the Wayward Stars game.

Yeah, Shy, that thought had crossed my mind as well

But there is more to Dro-Kar than brute force, as I suspect there is for Eya. He's just playing up the nasty Green Nikto image to try to intimidate the Weequay.

We should just all be glad that Caizu and Ramani are far, far away from each other.