Quote

Div's got plenty of Encumbrance threshold to spare, so she can scoop up the carbine if you want to avoid weighing yourself down. Sounds good, though.

Quote

How about I toss my Slugthrower to Ella and take her carbine. That way Div & Tycho each have one, and Ella is still armed. I'm beginning to realize that hauling around a full toolkit without a backpack may not have been the best idea, particularly when Todak has one as well. Todak, maybe you work on the comm. You'll probably be better at getting it out than I am.

@Aurin Does that all work? If so, does moving the bodies or removing the coms take a check? Once we get moving, is there an obvious route toward speeders or ships?

Quote

Yup, Todak will happily work on the comm. Are we gonna go back to in character narration though?

I think this conversation should take place IC. Ella is most interested in getting out of there before the other two troopers arrive. I think having her with a blaster rifle makes more sense since she has plenty of free encumbrance and doesn't have the best agility in the group, making the slugthrower sub-optimal.

Quote

Ok. Are we waiting for Aurin to post so we know how to proceed? Or should we just assume the encounter is over and go for it? I don't want to narrate it and then find out we were supposed to wait because maybe the other troopers are coming around the corner or something, but I'm also totally game to get on the move if we feel like it is relatively clear.

I think it makes sense for us to wait for a post from Aurin. For all we know, the other two Stormtroopers could be arriving at this moment

Quote

Sorry for the delay folks. Sick infant means no free time for me Yes, the stormie is down, so back to unstructured time. We should aim to have as much of the dialogue / actions happening in narrative play as possible, so go ahead and run through your actions. @Squirrelsan - go ahead and roll an average mechanics check (with one setback due to the lack of tools) to get the comm link out of the stormie's helmet. @aclarkbr90 and anyone else who is going to hide the bodies, go ahead and make an easy skulduggery check (and can assist if two of you are doing it). There are two vibroknives and two E-11 blaster carbines, depending on how much looting you guys are doing. Go ahead and make those moves. About a minute later :

The smell of ozone and scorched laminate competes with the garbage smell of the alley. The pair of Imperial Stormtroopers are down, but it will not be long before the other half of the squad double back to check on their companions and the alley will be the first place that they will look. Veerstown in general seems like a bad place to be.

Tycho hears a gruff, familiar voices calls out in a loud whisper, “Tycho!” the voice says. “Come here quickly! We need to find a way out of town and you can hide in here while we figure it out.” The Sullustan pilot immediately recalls the voice. It belongs to Gruddik, the proprietor of the local cantina, “the Garage,” who in addition to serving drinks, keeps the machines owned by the residents of Veerstown running. Tycho regularly does business with the Ugnaught and even occasionally helps out around the store in exchange for some spare parts. This alleyway must happen to back up into the rear of Gruddik’s bar, one of the sturdier buildings in the shantytown. The small sentient cracks the backdoor to the Garage open a bit further as he says, “Come on come on, before those soldiers come back and finish what they started!”

Quote

I might make the roll for hiding the bodies, if that's cool; my Skulduggery roll is better. I assume Tycho will assist? If not, just knock off the blue die from the roll I guess. I'll grab a blaster carbine too, can't hurt to be a bit better armed.

Rolling to hide bodies : 2eA+1eP+1eB+1eD 2 successes, 2 advantage

Easy. Might spend the advantage to quickly straighten things up around the alley and make it look less like there's been a struggle, unless anyone has any better suggestions?

Breathing deep for a second to snap herself out of fight or flight mode, Div quickly surveys the scene, chewing at her lip nervously. "Tycho. Help me lug the bucketheads into a dumpster or something, can't hurt to cover our tracks." Taking a moment to hang the E-11 from a loop on the back of her belt, Div squats down and hauls up the Stormtrooper with a groan, dragging him over to a nearby dumpster and tossing him in with the Sullustan's assistance. The other follows, and she quickly tries to get things in the alley looking a little less suspect, shoving the debris from her failed ascension under some garbage bags and kicking some dirt over the stray scorch marks the blasters left on the alley floor. Once the quick cover-up job is done with, she heads towards the door to the cantina, nodding to Gruddik, flashing him the best grin she can manage given the circumstances. "Really hoping that's an open invitation." She takes a moment to tuck the holdout blaster back into her work clothes, making sure the impression it leaves isn't too obvious. Can't hurt to have a backup.

Tycho leaps out of the dumpster and rushes to the second Stormtrooper as he collapses. He spins to see if anyone else has noticed the commotion. Happily, Gruddik seems to be the only onlooker. He takes a moment to assist Div with heaving the bodies of the Stormtroopers into the dumpster behind him. The first body hits with more of a splash than a thud. Just as they are about to heave the second body, Tycho hears a quiet comm chatter coming from inside the dead Trooper's helmet.

"Hold on Div," he says, removing the helmet. "I think there's a comm in here." He tosses the helmet to Todak. "Any chance you can get comm access, Todak? It might be nice to be able to listen in."

Tycho looks back at the dead Stormtrooper's face. He had not expected to see a dead man before him. He had been there when his uncle had died, sick in bed, but this was entirely different. They had killed this man. He didn't have to die. A moment later, Tycho shook off the feeling. He lifted the man's arms and hoisted him over the side of the dumpster.

A moment later, they are in Gruddik's. Tycho is pleased to see a friend for what, he anticipates, might be the last time.

Quote

Cool to reduce Strain : 1eA+1eP 2 successes, 1 advantage

Quote

Oh right, totally forgot about that mechanic.

Cool to recover strain : 1eA+1eP 2 successes, 1 advantage

"Gruddik, glad you are safe," says Tycho, reaching out a hand to greet the Ugnaught bartender. "We need to get out of Veerstown. The place is crawling with Imperial Troopers, and that is always a bad sign. We need a speeder, shuttle, or maybe even just a tunnel system to get out of here. Any idea?"

Tycho leaned over the bar to see what was still on tap at the cantina. His gaze fell on a sixpack of Hypermatter X , an energy drink typically marketed to Spacers who like to party well into the night. Even though adrenaline was pumping through his veins, Tycho figured that an extra shot of the stuff would keep him amped up, if necessary. "You still charging people, Gruddik? Or has the present situation changed your business plan?"

Todak wasn't really paying attention to where they were now, some kind of bar it seemed. Since catching the helmet he had been intent upon the task at hand, namely extracting the commlink from the Stormtrooper helmet without breaking any wires or scrambling the decoder. With a few minutes work he had completed the extraction, and proudly held forth a pocket sized commlink that was a mess of wires and beer mats for rigidity.

"I'm done with this plastoid helm Tycho, if you have further use for it. Oh, hmm, I should warn you those drinks contain a superfluous quantity of calories, you would be better off..." Todak trailed off as everyone turned to stare at him.

Quote

So Todak does have a tool kit, so I'm assuming I can ignore that black die on the mechanics check.

Mechanics to recover commlink : 2eA+2eP+2eD 1 success, 3 advantage

Could the advantages be that Todak overhears something useful to the group whilst working on it, i.e. a possible route out or something that will aid us in escaping?

Quote

Roll to recover strain : 2eA 2 successes

"Better not be seen with that helmet, Todak. Here, stow it in the dishwasher. The troopers hopefully won't try to tidy up the place too much."

Ella follows the other, still numb with shock after shooting the Stormtrooper. She manages to find the safety on the rifle and follows the others into the canteena. "They won't stop searching for us now, we've killed two of their own," she says as Todak works on the helmet.

She paces nervously up and down as Tycho speaks to the owner of the run-down place. "Anything you can do to help us would be appreciated. If you want to leave with us we'll help you get away as well," she adds, but as she says the words she realizes just how hollow they sound. How would they ever be able to help someone else when they can't even help themselves?

She suddenly realizes that blood is flowing down her arm. At once, the pain comes. She's been hit. She grabs her arm, trying to stop the flow of blood.

Quote

Cool to recover strain : 4eA 3 successes, 1 advantage

Strain track all cleared up!

Tycho pulled out the vibro-blades that they had pulled off the troopers. He flicked the blade on. It started to hum lightly. The blade's vibrations were almost impreceptible to the eye, but the noise made it obvious that it was more than just a sharp edge. He flicked it off again and slid it to the Ugnaught. "Gruddik, if things get tense, you may want something to defend yourself. A good stab with this vibro-blade should rip through a trooper's armor. Given your stature, I'd aim for the back of a knee."

Tycho slipped the second one into one of the large, tool-filled pockets of his jumpsuit.

Following the Ugnaught into the cantina, it is obvious that, in a former life, this place was a garage or machine shop. The seating is mostly scavenged benches from speeders, and other vehicle parts are used either functionally or decoratively throughout the bar. The organic smell of the local brew doesn’t quite mask the tangy smell of industrial coolant and engine lubricants. Gruddik was never the cleanest mechanic and that carries through to his bartending. The power appears to be out, but a fusion lantern chugs dimly in one corner, casting a feeble light and powering a sole flickering monitor.

“ Help yourself to the Hypermatter X , ” Gruddik answers Tycho with a wave of his hand. “ Not likely to have any more customers here. ” A glimpse of Gruddik’s wife and two frightened children can be momentarily seen as he closes a door leading into a back room before addressing the cadre. “ I saw you fight out there. Too few here in Veerstown are willing to stand up to the Empire. Fewer still, I imagine, will feel the same after they destroy our homes. I want to get my family out of here, and I bet that you’d like to escape as well. Perhaps we can help each other out? ”

The small sentient gives a long pause before continuing, answering the string of questions in order. “ The Imperials are likely to begin heavier bombardment now that they have rounded up most of the re-settlers. If we don’t move quickly, we could be in trouble. ” He continues, sounding more downtrodden with each word. “ As you know, other than the damaged speeders around this garage, there are few other speeders in Veerstown. Most anyone who could escape fled Veerstown as soon as the increased Imperial presence arrived. ”

The freed commlink in Todak's possession crackles to life, interrupting their hushed conversation with Gruddik. " Trooper 147, Trooper 148. Please report back to the command blockade at the northwest quadrant. I repeat, Trooper 147 and Trooper 148. Please report back to the command blockade. "

Div strolls around the cantina, admiring the decor. The sight of so many gutted speeders is making her a little nostalgic, but she snaps herself out of it, focusing on the task at hand. "Give me anything with a repulsorlift and a pair of handlebars and I'll get you out of here." Looking over the damaged speeders, she frowns. "Patch jobs I can do, but this might be a little outside my wheelhouse. Any of you tech-heads think you can patch one of these things back together? Otherwise I guess we better figure out how we're gonna hijack an Imperial speeder, don't see any other way out of here."

Tycho eyes the half-broken speeders laying around the workshop. Seeing one to his liking, he turns to his Chadra-Fan companion. "Alright, Mr. Nugi. Looks like we got a rush job in today!" Tycho cracks open the can of Hypermatter X and gulps down nearly half the can in one swig. Egad! That's grosser I remember! He empties his pockets to find a wrench, a pair of bulknuts, and a canister of micro-adhesive and gets to work on one of the speeders.

"Gruddik, ole buddy, wanna give us a hand?"

Quote

Tycho would like to attempt a mechanics check to repair a speeder. If Todak does the same, then Todak should roll it and Tycho will add a boost for helping. Otherwise, Tycho will do it himself. Hopefully Gruddik can apply a boost as well, plus we have more than enough tools between us which should be a boost as well. @Aurin Is there a suitably intact speeder? What would be the difficulty? If necessary, we are of course fine cannibalizing one of the speeders to make another flight-worthy.

Ella looks at the speeder parts with apprehension. "Tycho'manin, are you sure you can get one of those things flying before the troopers pay us a visit?" She idly wonders if she should try to bluff the other Imperials through the commlink, but decides that they are unlikely to think that a girl speaking with a thick Twi'lek accent could be one of the missing Stormtroopers.

Feeling rather useless as the others try to gather parts to repair speeders, since she has no experience with ground vehicles, she instead decides to keep a lookout. "I'll watch for Imperials. Work fast," she says, as she tries to find a way to get to the roof to lookout for any incoming Stormtroopers looking for their friends.

Since Ella is all but useless trying to fix speeders, let alone build one out of different parts, she will instead try to the roof and find a hiding place to get some warning when more Stormtroopers come.

"Tycho, pass me that hydrospanner," Todak said as he swings himself underneath the chosen speeder. His voice came muffled from underneath the engine block. "The field generator looks good but the coils are all burned out down the port side. I'm going to need you to start stripping them off the others whilst I remove the broken ones here and start wiring in whatever you can find. We'll have to balance the displacement levels on the fly."

Quote

Yup, happy to make the check, let me know what difficulty.

Tycho grabs the least-busted hydrospanner and passes it under the speeder to Todak before getting to work on the coils. Normally, Tycho was careful and diligent in his work, attempting to learn while he fixed things. But there was no time for that now. His wrench and vibro-knife moved with frightening speed, slicing through the caking on the coils and wiring whatever he could.

The middle-aged Ugnaught offers a sympathetic look as he watches Div and Tycho’s excitement build at the potential hope of escape via one of these broken, display vehicles. “ I’m afraid these speeders are nothing more than junk parts, now. Even if we could get one of those old things running, it would take hours, maybe days, to get something up and operational. There are few speeders in Veerstown. Most anyone who could leave town left as soon as the Imperial forces arrived. If you are going to get yourself out of here, you are going to need to swipe yourselves one of those Imperial troop transports on the northwest side of town. ”

After a brief delay the refurbished Imperial commlink goes live again. “ Command Blockade, this is Imperial Trooper 84. There are no signs of 147 or 148 in their assigned coordinates. Troopers may have been compromised and I recommend we execute protocol and switch encrypted channels. ”

With a sigh, Gruddik peers carefully out of one of the small, frontward-facing windows of his establishment. “ I don’t see those soldiers, but I’m willing to bet they are going to be here in a hurry, and I’m not going to be here when they come looking for you. What’s the plan? ”

Quote

If you'd like to attempt to reassemble a speeder it will take approximately eight hours and a hard mechanics roll (with one setback due to the quality of the parts available). Appropriate tools offer one boost and then you can always assist.

I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have about town. Most of you have lived in the camp for some period of time and would be familiar with the different locations.

Quote

@Aurin Where are we on the map? Did the Troopers come from the Northwest in the first place? Which direction was the first encounter? Are there tunnels that we can access?

I was afraid that repairing the speeders might be a little too hard.

One additional question for @Aurin , are the buildings packed close, and if so, would it be possible to move any real distances using the rooftops? People tend not to look up when searching the streets for fugitives.

Div rolls her shoulders, peering out the window alongside Gruddik. With a quick nod of her head and a crack of her knuckles, she straightens up. "Well, waiting isn't exactly my strong suit. Guess we're adding speeder-jacking to the rap sheet." Div seems pretty drawn to the idea, a wide grin across her face. "Probably one of the stupider things I've done in my life, but definitely not the stupidest. Plus, real good bragging rights."

"Sneaking in's probably our best bet. I'm pretty good at making myself hard to spot." Pacing back and forth across the room, she furrows her brow, thinking. "Distraction might help. Means there'll be less heat on us when we tear out of there in our shiny new speeder. Any ideas?"