What is the difficulty/opposing dice for the roll?

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@gm_ordon Average check (2P).

The elderly Twi’lek male presses attempts to stand, but the cramped nature of the tracked cells in the make-shift brig restricts the alien to a low crouch. “ My name is B’ura B’an. ” B’ura’s voice is hoarse from lack of use and, likely, dehydration. He clears his throat before continuing. “ Thank you for ridding me of my captor. That Trandoshan, Trex, I believe his name was. ”

“Will y ou please let me out of this cage? Unshackle me? ” The elderly Twi’lek uses the bars of the cage for support, his frail legs shuddering under the strain. “ The story of my imprisonment is a long one, but I will try to keep it short. For some time now, the rulers of Ryloth have been, in my opinion, remiss about who they allow in on the planet’s Ryll mining industry, which you must understand is only barely legitimate these days of Imperial dominance. For some time, bands of Aqualish thugs terrorized mining communities on the planet’s surface, forcing Twi’leks to work for scant reward and extorting all sorts of favors and resources from the mines that might have otherwise prospered. I banded together with some associates in order to protect New Meen, our most profitable mine, from the thugs. For a while, we held them off. ”

B'ura B’an’s remaining lekku twitches with anger as he reflects on his saga just as Caizu joins her crewmates outside of the Twi’lek’s holding cell. “Then, they simply disappeared. We were relieved at first, but soon learned that they had been killed in the process of some underworld takeover. Shortly after that, bands of outsiders began to purchase land near the mines. They claimed that they were developing it, though we could tell that they were there merely to spy on us and make life difficult. A short while later, during a journey to Nabat, I was attacked by a band of rogues, including the Trandoshan who maimed and branded me before sealing me up in this cell.”

The overbearing klaxon dies out and, after another few moments, so does the porcine squealing, leaving the Queen of Scepters surprisingly quiet for the first time since the fringers took control of the vessel. Trok interrupts the much-needed silence with an announcement over the ship’s comm system. “Well, we’ve got some good news and some bad news. Seems like that scale-brain was fond of Gamorrean opera. I managed to shut that off. I was able to override the warning alarm too. The bad news is that alarm was signalling that we’re dangerously-kriffing-low on fuel. Hutt-bait, I’m going to need you up here to set a course to get us out of here, unless you’d rather just float idly through space until we all starve to death. Or suffocate, not sure which would happen first.”

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@The Shy Ion @gm_ordon @Kymrel @Richardbuxton - and we're now back in action!

"Oh yes," Caizu grumbles, "right when I was about to rescue these two from the horrors of socialization. You know, my actual area of expertise?" She flashes a grin towards the other three. "Find out what our new friend's good at and something for him to do, okay? I'd do that myself, but apparently I'm a little too in-demand."

She makes her way back up to the bridge as quickly as she can manage and starts working at the astrogation console, wincing a little bit as the motion disturbs her burn. "Let's see, let's see..." Her fingers start tapping rapidly on the console as she charts out a course. She looks at the estimated fuel usage, frowns, and adjusts. "By the way, Captain," she purrs, not looking up from the console, "call me Hutt-bait again and I'll set your cabin's thermostat to 'Csillan Winter.'"

Difficulty?

Dro-Kar listens to the Twi’lek in silence, but as he finishes speaking, the bulky Nikto walks up to the cage and opens the doors. “Seems Trex did you wrong. Well, it’s not his ship anymore. And you are no longer a prisoner,” he tells B’ura B’an. “I’m not sure where we’re headed. But once we get there, you are free to go if you want. We might have some bad people after us. I don’t want you to get caught up in that. I imagine you’ll want to get back home. If it’s not too far off from wherever we end up going, perhaps we can drop you off.”

When Trok finally manages to turn off the klaxon and the animal noises, and explains what they were, Dro-Kar grunts. “Gamorrean opera. I was convinced this ship had a cargo of unruly animals. Trex should be shot just for his taste in music.” None of those present have a good idea if he’s joking or not.

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“Seems Trex did you wrong. Well, it’s not his ship anymore. And you are no longer a prisoner,” he tells B’ura B’an. “I’m not sure where we’re headed. But once we get there, you are free to go if you want. We might have some bad people after us. I don’t want you to get caught up in that. I imagine you’ll want to get back home. If it’s not too far off from wherever we end up going, perhaps we can drop you off.”

The frontier lawman was about to offer to free the prisoner and was pleasantly bewildered at the generosity of the Nikto and his offer of aid. He was definitely full of surprises that one. He spoke up, his voice was a little shaky. "I second that for my leathery friend, we will do what we can but you ought to skiddadle before we get hunted down. I have to go." The story of the Twi'leks was too much for him, drudging up the open wound of what happened to his town of Yverian. He stormed out of the hold, teeth clenched and headed for the galley to find something stiff to drink. He ignored the shipwide comm from the Dug. Just one more problem, his only solution was at the bottom of a bottle.

B'ura B’an’s face noticeably lightens when Dro-Kar tells him that he is no longer a prisoner and he nods solemnly as Lang departs. “ It does sound like you and your companions are in a fair amount of trouble yourselves. I would greatly appreciate it if you could drop me off at the city of Nabat on Ryloth. I have friends there who would be willing to offer a safe place. There are a number of good mechanics in the city, and we could see to it that your ship is repaired for your trouble. Given your turbulent departure from Tatooine, I’m sure that it would be of use to you and your friends. ”

As Lang departs the make-shift brig, he almost runs directly into 41-VEX who is idling in the corridor between the brig and the lounge. “ Oh my, Captain Shinqo, I do apologize for being in your way. I’m not one for starships, as you can see. It appears that HM-6T6 is currently disposing of whatever was causing such a stench. That said, given my state, I was completely unaffected, but it appeared to cause many of you organics some difficulty. ” The droid barely pauses, not giving enough time to get a word in edgewise. “Oh look, here comes HM-6T6 now, ” the droid says just as HM-6T6 clomps by.

The Dug returns her too-cool remark with a smirk. “ You got it. Didn’t know you types were so prim and proper. The droid is the only one with a sense of kriffing humor around here! ”

Caizu slides into the co-pilot’s chair and reengages the VDU. It is apparent that the previous owner of the vessel has not been keeping the navigational computer up to date. The computer is capable of navigating just a couple of stable hyperroutes and has only six destinations programmed into it. These are Tatooine, Christophsis, Geonosis, Ryloth, Trandosha, and Kashyyyk.

Of these destinations,only Ryloth is an immediately viable port of call. It is well known that neither the oligarchs of Chistophsis nor the Geonosians take kindly to uninvited guests, and that would be a risky and expensive business to acquire fuel or credit from either world. Trandosha and Kashyyyk are also dangerous destinations at this time, besides which the Queen of Scepters is so low on fuel that such a journey may leave the ship stranded in hyperspace.

Compared to the Core Worlds, Ryloth is a poor and somewhat lawless planet. Compared to Tattooine, it’s downright civilized. The ship could make the journey easily enough and with fuel to spare, and the planet is home to a number of hardscrabble spaceports at which cheap fuel should be easy enough to purchase.

With the alarm klaxon now off, three winking red icons remain on the navigational computer’s user interface - a small flashing icon in the shape of a crescent moon or a fang, an irritating and intermittent pop-up in Trandoshan script, and a flashing red icon in the form of a simplified cage.

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It's an easy astrogation check to Tatooine, Geonosis, and Ryloth. It's an average check to Christophsis, and a hard check to Trandosha or Kashyyyk. Add one setback die given the poor maintenance of the database. Now that the smell and the sounds are cleared up, you can ignore all penalties to checks.

Additionally, it's an easy computers check to see if the language on the system can be switched from Trandoshan to Basic, depending if you want to push any of the other buttons on the VDU.

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@The Shy Ion @Kymrel @gm_ordon @Richardbuxton

I got Will Nunes to do a bunch of NPCs as well to complement David Kegg's stuff

Dro-Kar leads the injured Twi'lek to the cockpit. "This guy tells us he has friends on Ryloth. Friends who might fix up this piece of bantha poodoo. I think we should head there," he tells the others. He is a bit surprised not to see Lang there. "Lang. Where is he? He should be here for this."

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@The Shy Ion @Kymrel @Richardbuxton @gm_ordon - hello hello hello?

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Was rather hoping someone would comment regarding our destination...

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I'm waiting to hear what I need to roll.

Edit: Oh, lovely, my email decided to pitch a fit again. I did not get notified of your last post.

"Good, because we're going to Ryloth anyway," Caizu says, "since it's the only halfway decent place this computer's got. Unless you like bugs, or overly touchy rich people. I can't say I approve of the former owner's taste in vacation spots..." She finishes setting the course and glances back at the others. "Lang or no Lang, we need to get moving. Unless anyone's discovered a new crisis to deal with first?"

Let's astrogate this thing! : 3eA+1eD+1eS 1 success

Dro-Kar emits a low growl as he looks at the information in the computer as Caizu programs the jump. "Trax will know we only have limited options. He and other bounty hunters will be after us fast. Teemo won't take the insult of our escape well," he says. "But we have no choice. So let's do this. And where the **** is Lang anyway?"

Okay, so it's probably ironic I'm the one to suggest this... but we should probably keep going without him for the moment, it's been a couple months.

OOC: I didn't think anyone was waiting on me.. Lang is in the Galley getting blitzed, so not really part of the converstation. He isn't comfortable taking on leader, especially since he blames himself for not stopping the massacre on the outpost he was supposed to protect. So, don't wait for him to post. If you need me to make that an IC post, I can scrabble together something about him drinking and singing some ol' west type tune that makes little sense..

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@gm_ordon @Richardbuxton @Kymrel @The Shy Ion @waywardgm

*Aurin emerges from a cave with a long, scraggly beard* so it looks like we dropped the ball here for the last couple of months! I was excited to see when I logged on that there were some new posts over the last two weeks. Is there interest in kicking this thing back into gear? If so, I'm definitely down to continue.

Additionally, some art that I had commissioned from Tony Foti is finally in draft form for me to share. I'd love any feedback so he can put some final touches before completing the piece. In general I think it is wonderful, but I think that Lang needs to be more green than yellow, and I'm not sure if I love the shock glove. Anyone else have a view?

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I'm still here and would love to continue the game if there is interest.

Also, lovely lovely picture, agree on the yellow though.

I am still here. Yes, more green skin and longer sideburns for Lang. The shock glove looks like a Hulk hand, disproportionately large.. the rest is well done. I would do the glove dark grey with sparks running along the fist.

Great - I'm traveling this week but we'll get moving again next week on our normal timing. Looking forward to it!

Hope your travel goes well.

I'll be glad to get back to things!

While Caizu sets the course though hyperspace, Trok, the Dug pilot, continues to fiddle with the various controls of their newly acquired vessel, the Queen of Scepters. “ If no one else is up for it, I may as well work through some these alerts. Up next, the flashing cage icon, ” Trok grumbles to himself. After navigating a few menus, a note in Basic displays at his console. “ ATTENTION! ATTENTION! Captive militant B’URA B’AN still on board. RECOMMENDED RESPONSE: Return to Mos Shuuta and collect bounty immediately. LAST FED: 6 hours ago. LAST REFRESHED: 8 hours ago. ” Trok glances over his shoulder to Dro-Kar. “ Looks like this is some sort of standard bounty hunting program. Now we know who the Twi’lek deliver was for. ”

“ Great, all set, Trok. Punch it. ” Caizu says as she puts the finishing touches on her astrogational plan.

“ You got it, Blue. ” The Dug grips the shifter, pushing the ship into hyperspace. The view from the cockpit fills with brilliant, striking white lines. The route to Ryloth from Tatooine is fairly straightforward, even through Trex hasn’t been diligent in keeping his navigational computer updated. As such, the journey through hyperspace takes six hours and is entirely uneventful.

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... AND, we're finally back! Can we get a quick raise of hands to see if everyone is still around? I'd love to get going again, with a few changes. (1) I'd like to do shorter, more frequent posts, to keep people engaged. It brings down the barrier to just getting something out, even if it is only a couple of lines, every few days. (2) I want to keep the action moving! I felt like we were stalling out a bit sometimes, so if things are stagnating, or if we are waiting on someone for a bit too long, I'm just going to move us forward. (3) I'm going to try to be more prescriptive with potential dice rolls, to minimize the back and forth of deciding what to roll, so I will try to provide options to streamline things. Sound good? Any other advice that I should take into account as we get things going again? I'm VERY excited!

Here I am! Glad to see you're back. :)

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@Richardbuxton @Kymrel @The Shy Ion @gm_ordon

Hey folks! See the post above! Hope to see you all back here very soon. You've got six hours to kill on the trip to Ryloth. You can use this time to rest and recuperate or explore the Queen of Scepters. Potential places to explore (1) cockpit - figuring out the last two alerts (hard computers check), #2 Hold (unexplored so far), Main Cargo Hold (explored - this was where the smell was coming from), galley (Lang just disappeared to here), Crew Quarters (unexplored), Engineering (explored, this is where HM-6T6 was during the fight with the TIE Fighters), #3 Hold (explored, this is the makeshift brig where you liberated B'ura B'an). I'll give everyone 1-2 posts and then move us to the next scene!