The Crew of the Pretio in This Week's Episode
Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise, majority owner in the Pretio.
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.
Sqarl - Quarren ex-whaladon hunter, recently hired onto the crew.
Evus - Twi'lek male, former slave, then former associate of Ne'vets, who has found his way back to the Pretio but caught back up in the nonsense of the Pretio. Former lover and boy-toy to the feared Rebel terrorist (and former Pretio crewmember), Latorna Savvn.
"Sid" - A peculiar woman who has shown to be a better pilot than the previous one. Possible Imperial ties, but a far better shot.
R2-H8(r) - "H8R" Astromech with a confusing history, and harsh attitude towards most of the crew.
"Cousin Rancor" - Social media guru, famous for foolish holo-vids across the galaxy. Lone survivor of last failed expedition to obtain a 'werewolf'
One Droid Left
In pursuit of a strange individual
Interrupting their "Werewolf Hunt,"
The crew of the Pretio have left themselves in
Two compromising positions.
First, they appear to be pinned underneath a series of boulders,
Surrounded by what appears to be a pack
Of the Werewolf-creatures, with limited coms.
Second, in their haste to apprehend this intruder,
A holovid celebrity named, "Cousin Rancor," who
Had been lured to the planet by the same
Amber Kincaid that hired the crew,
Ne'vets, Sqarl, and Duk'k left the
Astromech droid R2-H8(r) and their pilot Sid,
Back at the ambush site, and garnering
The full attention of the horde of creatures.
Hiding in a crawl space beneath a giant boulder, Ne'vets, Sqarl, and Duk'k all released they were missing their two compatriots, R2-H8(r) and Sid, and desperately tried to contact them via the personal coms.
H8(r) was using his mini-repulsors to lift him three meters in the hair, a difficult feat for an astromech mech, but far more difficult with a small female holding onto the droid for dear life.
"Sid? R2? Check-in!"
"Can't talk now, trying not to die. "Why didn't I follow, why didn't I follow???"
Panning back to the scene of the ambush, H8(r) was using his mini-repulsors to lift himself three meters in the air, a difficult feat for any astromech droid, but far more difficult with a small female holding onto the droid for dear life. Beneath them were two dozen violently raging beast, who luckily did not have a tremendous vertical leap.
Sid fumbled her com down her jacket and perilously reached for her holdout blaster, unloading a full clip into the swarm. The shots definitely hit, including a point-blank shot into one of the creatures mouths, but little damage could be seen amongst the swarming throng.
H8R began maneuvering towards his thrusters in the direction of the Pretio.
"We're heading towards the ship... slowly"
A few of the taller beasts managed to scrape the base of the droids legs, but none could get a grasp of either crew member.
 |
| Despite the general popularity of R2 units, a hardy C1 unit would have more thrust and stamina in a scenario like this.... |
Back in the small cave, the four confused men were completely awares of the deathly chaos across the open field.
Duk'k gave "Cousin Rancor" another once-over and asked Ne'vets, "We taken him with us, boss?"
"Um, yes?"
"In that case, I'm going to arm him, but I have a terrible plan as well. Would you like to hear it."
"Oh boy, would I!"
While Duk'k pulled out a extra blaster for Cousin Rancor, Sqarl looked around the entrance to the cave. One of the werewolf creatures had reached into the space and sliced his hood, before scurrying off. The pieces of the hood were no longer there, as if they had simply vanished.
Duk'k pulled everyone closer, "I have armor, a jetpack, and a flashbang. If I can get out of this cave, I can flashbang the creatures, fly up, and distract them with blaster fire long enough for you guys to get out of here."
Ne'vets found a potential flaw in the plan, "What if these things fly?"
"If they do, they must be hovering over us, because I don't see any of them outside the hole," an inquisitive Sqarl peered out into the very quiet darkness.
On the other side of the field, H8R kept his altitude, and Sid unloaded another blaster clip to little effect, all the while kicking at any creature big enough.
The coms crackled open with Sqarl's voice, "Hey, if you've got a flashbang, drop it!"
Sid put her blaster between her teeth and fumbled with the grenades on her belt. One of them dropped to the ground, pin pulled. A yellowish-green glow of a tangler grenade could be seen from behind them. Sid and H8R could not see the success of the wrong grenade, as they proceeded to the
Pretio."Cousin Rancor"
The crew still under a rock were tentatively peeked out to see no creatures, but on the H8R's com, a blood curdling scream could be heard. Something had happened to Sid.
Duk'k led the group out, they navigated around the boulders to see the werewolf horde almost toying with a hovering R2 struggling to hold a motionless Sid dangling off the side.
The frantic droid rambling on the coms were quickly deafened by the roar of starship engines, and a new go voice coming over the coms.
"I'm coming guys, oh kriff, oh kriff, oh kriff, oh kriff."
The Pretio emerged over the ridge, no, correction, the Pretio emerged going through the top of sandy ridge, running through two meters of the powdery sand. It slid across the ground for only another hundred meters before coming to a stop.
The ship was still quite a distance for H8R, but the surprising voice of the ship's medical droid, Dr P3PP3R, came over the coms, "I don't think you can operate both, Sir, without risking harm to...."
*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*
Both turrets from the Pretio erupted with starship-grade blasters with pinpoint accuracy, hitting creatures a mere one-meter below the R2 unit and Sid.
Duk'k ignited his jump pack and flew up in the air. Any targets that the Pretio's limited firing arc weren't hitting, were taking shots from the Sipsk'ud's two blasters. The monsters were finally falling from both starship and personal weapons!
The blaster fire sending the creatures fleeing, H8R barely made it to the aft of the Pretio, sparks flying from his thrusters as he dropped Sid of the hull, before clumsily landing.
Duk'k's elevated position and hi-tech helmet allowed him to stay safe and watch the surviving creature flee into the darkness. None of them appeared to be flanking, at least within Duk'k's scanning range.
"Sorry guys, I got here as fast as I can," Evus apologized. "H8R, how are you?"
"I karking hurt!!!"
GM Notes: Sid had left early the previous session, and in the drama of the ionized R2 and the tri-directional chase of the mystery character, everyone (including myself) completely abandoned Sid and the droid. It also took me a half a session to realize that some portion of a five-foot tall woman would occasionally dangle below H8R's legs, thus the late hit by the creatures.
Evus could have saved everyone with a basic pass, but with only a 1d+2 piloting roll, and a "1" I ruled he barely got the ship off the ground, damaged the landing gear, and may lodged the ship into the ground. Thank goodness he was the original ship's gunner before Duk'k took over. We'll find out next week how bad it is. We'll also see how bad Sid's injuries are, but they might rhyme with "General Grievous."
Next: #96 - Multiple Procedures
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