The Current Crew of the Pretio
Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise, majority owner in the Pretio.
Evus - Twi'lek free mercenary, Ne'vets' armed muscle with a keen eye and a tendency to shoot first.Tarrie - Human pilot "under contract" to fly the Pretio, and drive the Piscopo. Brother of potential terrorist, rebel Latorna Savvn. Edging a dangerous lifestyle of drugs, booze, and loose women
Frokazza - Wookie co-pilot, mechanic, and unarmed muscle. Very distrustful, and that anxiety gives him skin issues.
Duk'k - Sipsk'ud Bounty Hunter, recently rescued by the crew. Offering his services in order to get off this barely existing hunk of mud. His warning shots are dead center mass kill shots.
Kafla Thingvellir - Billionaire entrepreneur turned zoological enthusiast, in search of the Translucent Chromatic Trapper.
The Safari Continues
With less than forty days to go
Until the Imperial Zoological Symposium and Exhibition,
The crew of the Pretio is still without the
Elusive Translucent Trapper, the prize catch for
Entrepreneur, and businessman, Kalfla Thingviller
With the current region near the west shore of the
Great Sea nearly complete, the crew turns north and east to discover
This rare arachnid, if it exists at all.
The crew huddled the lounge area, staring intently at a rough holomap projection of the unnamed planet they were on.
"You know, I'm just some random blaster waiting for you guys to get off planet, and I don't have any information on this Trapper thing, but I don't think we're going to find what Kafla's looking for, here, "Duk'k declared, his seven eyes intently staring at the patron of this expedition.
Nev'ets tried to diffuse the situation with executive authority, "Duk'k's right." Then staring a bit at the holo-map, he pointed, "We need to cover the deep shoreline along the Great Sea that's just east of us, then move north into those hills. If the climate's too cold for the Trappers, we can quickly move south. Problem solved."
"What about all the samples in storage," Frokazza cried, "Are we just jettisoning that stuff?"
Ne'vets gave a death glance to the Wookie, "Not at this time..."
"Well can we at least review what little intel we have on the creatures. We're flying blind on rumors and hunches."
A dejected Kafla sighed, "We can try to tune to sensors to the life form size we're looking for, but it only seems to pick up smaller creatures. But we can try again."
Sensors failed to pick up at the old site, so they moved onto the site along the western shore of the Great Seas.
Two days later, beyond the picturesque seaside view, and a few small-mammal-eating carnivorous plants, there was still little to justify a further search.
Not all was in vain, however, as the downtown along the beach was a perfect opportunity for Frokazza to convince Duk'k to train him in hand-to-hand combat befitting a bounty hunter.
There were two problems with this training arrangement. (1) Frokazza was already superior in most fighting techniques than Duk'k, and (2) Sipsk'ud Martial Arts is a mixture of arm flapping, headbutts, kicks, and a lot of running, chasing the frightened opponent in any direction imaginable. Watching the Wookie galivant across the beach like an angry space mallard was much enjoyable to the other crew members.
To avoid laughing too much, Tarrie humored Evus' desire to be more responsible with the maintenance of the Pretio. For an equal numbers of nights, Tarrie spent time in a lounge chair, barking instructions to the Twi'lek, performing all the routine maintenance on the ship that Tarrie and Frokazza had neglected.
35 days until the Imperial Zoological Society Symposium and Exhibition. Still no sign of the Trapper.
Packing up the equipment, the Pretio flew off to its next location, the northern hills. The region was a bit rockier than other spots on the planet, and its latitude meant for temperate afternoons and chilly evenings.
The crew's stories, and Kafla's indifference to his own financed project, concerned Duk'k. So much so, that he looked for quiet time, in between search locations, and moseyed into the cargo hold where the entrepreneur set up his makeshift quarters. A hammock was strung up between two supports, with a few rucksacks hanging off of pegs.
The search did not need to be as thorough or clandestine as Duk'k had prepared for. The personal datapad used no encryption, and was filled with Kafla's meandering thoughts. There was no big revelation in the notes, no reason why it simply HAD TO BE the Translucent Trapper. But after success in business, this new path of zoological discovery and accolades seemed to be the only thing motivating the man who allegedly made billions with his empire. The Wookie might have skin coniditions, and the stories of Imperial connections still seemed sketchy, but the hole-filled story of Kafla and the crew seemed to be on the level.
No matter how much tweaking was done, the various sensors were still not picking up life forms consistently. Travel inside the Piscopo was continued until some blip popped up that was larger than a few centimeters.
Between the scans of the planet and visual lookouts, it was still a surprise that the crew uncovered the base for an ancient road. Everything was overgrown, and portions have eroded, but at some point some civilized folk had a five-meter wide road built through the hills. It was deemed appropriate to follow the road further north.
There were no other landmarks along this ancient roadbed, so it was a big surprise when the path suddenly terminated, into a large rockslide, measuring at least ten meters high.
In the back seat, Ne'vets could have hear his friend Abel chiming in the back of his head, "Ya don't want repulsors... get wheels. Repulsors are overated in safaris!"
"Should we go get the ship?" Tarrie asked.
"Any option where I don't walk is a good option," Ne'vets answered.
With their path blocked, Duk'k jumped into action. Opening the side door on the Piscopo, he jumped out and ignited his jetpack.
Flying over the rockslide, Duk'k went into a valley which quickly turned into a canyon. Looking for any clues, he dove between the canyon walls.
There was radio silence for a few minutes as Duk'k scouted the unknown territory ahead. As the crew began to get antsy, a quick message came over the coms:
"I'm stuck."
The cinematic campaign camera pans up from the canyon floor. First the orange feet of Duk'k appear, 20 meters up off the floor. Rising further, his jetpack, armor, and helmet all appeared to be attached to these narrow cable, stretching across the canyon.
"It looks like a huge web. At least from what I can see, my helmet's stuck on it."
"Waitwaitwait, this can be good," an excited Ne'vets jumped on the coms. "Do you see the Trapper? What color is it?"
"Trapper? I can't see crap!"
Pan up and over the webbing, a space arachnid slowly moves in the shadows, exact size and location, unknown.
Back in the Piscopo, Kafla was excited, "A web? There's a chance!", but there was discussion as to specifics for the rescue mission.
"What if it's not the Trapper we're looking for, do we leave him there?" Frokazza mused.
"Perhaps we should turn off the mics and finish this discussion," Ne'vets interjected.
"Thanks guys," was all Duk'k could respond with.
Tarrie and Frokazza volunteered to traverse the rock slide and hunt for their missing associate. Grabbing survival gear out of the back of the Piscopo, the duo climbed over the rockslide, helping each other along the way. A few minutes later, they reached the bounty hunter.
The web he was attached to was 10 meters high, with the web stretching out another 20 meters to the top of the canyon.
Tarrie had a plan, "You stay here with your bowcaster. I'll use you Wookie skin cream to avoid getting stuff stuck to the web. I'll climb up the side, and work across the web to try and free him."
Arguments in the Piscopo abounded, specifically if the Trapper needed to be taken dead or alive. It was assumed alive was much preferred if people wanted to get paid.
A shirtless Tarrie, all salved-up, scaled the canyon wall and worked across the web. The salve allowed him not to get caught by the thousands of tiny pin-pricks on the webbing.
Tarrie used more Wookie salve to help free the helmet and an arm for the bounty hunter. With a free hand, Duk'k could reach for his knife and slowly, and methodically, cut away at the rest of the webbing. Tarrie's machete also helped, although it's action might have alerted other lifeforms.
Fifteen seconds after cutting was started, the entire canyon was flooded with a kaleidoscope of vibrant colors. As the trio in the canyon looked around, they worked their way up canyone wall. Atop the web was a gigantic, eight-legged creature, with an enormous wingspan. Its wings caught the sunlight, sending a dazzling color spray.
 |
| Scary enough, now picture it weighing 400 kilos. |
Frokazza grabbed his bowcaster and fired straight up at the creature. The blast hit the creature, and it let out a terrible scream.
The shot and scream could be heard out of the canyon, back at the Piscopo Evus grabbed his carbine and ran over the rockslide. Ne'vets grabbed all satchels of grenades in Piscopo, and tried to follow Evus, with Kafla taking up the rear.
As the creature descended the web, it shot webbing like a projectile towards Frokazza. The Wookie dodged, the still forming strand, but its impact on the ground cracked a rock.
Trying to get line of sight on the creature, the trio could only hear Ne'vets, huffing and puffing into the coms.
"What color is it?"
"Like a rainbow... with translucent wings."
"Of course it is, keep it alive!"
Still precariously balancing on web, Tarrie grabbed a sleep grenade, and chucked it up towards the creature. The grenade stuck to a web just below the descending creature and detonated. The translucent creature of rainbows detatched from the web and fell to the ground. Duk'k barely had himself free, so he grabbed Tarrie by the waist and ignited his jetpack. The pair flew up to the top of the canyon wall and to safety.
Frokazza dove into a crevasse on the canyon wall to narrowly avoid getting crushed by the creature.
Evus arrived shortly thereafter, seeing Frokazza kick the carcass of the Trapper, broadcast over the coms, "Frokazza killed it!"
Tarrie was not amused.
Finally, Kafla arrived on site, and spotting the creature, produced a quizzical smile, and asked only one question:
"Why is it so big???"
Within hours, the Pretio landed nearby and the unconscious Translucent Trapper was placed in a cage, odd quantities of sedatives given to it, and the crew released a cheer as the ship flew out of the planet's orbit, hopefully for last time.
Kafla and Ne'vets debated the many flaws of the safari for the hours before Frokazza could program the coordinates. Before they could make the jump a much calmer Kafla made an offer.
"How about I pay you guys an extra 5,000 credits to just fly me straight to Alderaan. We've got time."
With immediate approval, Kafla turned around and paid out 6,000 credits to everyone (4k +2k bonus). Duk'k got 2k, even though he was largely rescued from the planet.
33 days until the Imperial Zoological Society Symposium and Exhibition
GM Notes: Fun story, Frokazza insisted he should get Duk'k to improve his Brawling. The descriptions were elaborate and the research Hoyce put into Terran Duck fighting styles and how to apply them to a Wookie were so thorough and completely hillarious that I allowed a lesser skilled person "teaching the teacher" and Frokazza earned an extra pip, even if it should become a specialization, "Duk'k Fu."
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