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'
Post-Ambush Maintenance
In the midst of their "Werewolf Hunt,"
The crew of the Pretio have just survived
Their first encounter with not one, but an entire
pack of their ferocious beasts.
Desperately rushing to the apparent safety of their
Recently crashed ship, will they be able to
Complete the mission, or have they still
Haven't found what they're looking for?
With the damaged/wounded R2-H8(r) and Sid lying atop of the roof of the Pretio, Duk'k overseeing the fleeing of the werewolves, and Ne'vets, Sqarl, and Cousin Rancor running to the ship, the coms crackled to life with an apologetic Evus.
"Guns work, probably need Sid to see what's going on. Lights blinking, don't know what's going on."
Nev'ets tried to seize the moment, "R2? Sid? What's you're status?"
R2, already in pain, collected his droid self, "Sid's out, I've been in contact with Dr P3PP3R to open up the hatch."
The medical droid proved incredibly nimble in order to climb the ladder and open the hatch, popping it's head out.
"Hello, what seems to be the problem."
R-2 blurted out, "This bleeding carbon unit seems near termination."
The medical droid quickly injected Sid with a Med-Pac to barely save her from death, but its nimbleness proved fleeting, as it dragged her down into the ship and onto the main table in the lounge.
"Oh my, this crew members life vitals are still almost non-existent! Beginning scans."
The trio running finally reached the ship, and found all the normal access ports buried in the sand. They climbed on top of the ship and used the same access port to get inside. Duk'k descended from his sentinel position in the air and climbed down the ladder, manually checking the hatch after he pushed the button to close it.
After quite an encounter, the outside world of Belkain was eerily quiet once again.
With everyone dusting themselves off before going further into the ship, Ne'vets took things in stride, "Well, that didn't go like we had hoped."
Sqarl was more positive, "But there so many things we know now!"
1- Werewolves exist.
2- They won't go into the caves around here.
3- There's a LOT of them.
4- We know they secrete some sort of acid.
Cousin Rancor interjected, "5 - Your medical droid conducts surgeries on your break room table. What the kriff!?!?"
Indeed, turning the corner toward the kitchen/lounge, even the hardiest of the crew stopped for a moment of the body of Sid on the main table. Her body seemed stable, save the horrendous damage to her left leg. If was still attached, but portions of it below the knee had been shred of flesh down to the bone. Her remaining flesh reeked of an acidic burning.
"We might have to get her to proper medical facilities, boss." Duk'k said to Ne'vets.
"Why? Do you think she'll turn?" Ne'vets asked.
Duk'k ,"No, cause her leg's that karked up. Even with Dr P3PP3R here, she still might die. That's not normal wounding there."
Sqarl agreed, "But we still need to check out all those blown-up ones first and do any tests."
"Agreed, I can fly over first before you guys go back out, but I'd scan the area first to be safe."
Duk'k climbed out to the cockpit, gave a worried Evus a confident hand on the shoulder, and scanned the surroundings.
The intercom broadcast Duk'k, "The good news is Evus is still a fantastic shot. Nothing's alive out there."
Back in the lounge, Dr P3PP3R conferred with Ne'vets, "I can begin exploratory surgery to confirm where the leg is beyond proper repair."
"I thought she was stable?"
"Stable yes, but even a full bacta apparatus does not regrow flesh."
Ne'vets concurred and we went to get Cousin Rancor some clothing and supplies. Cousin Rancor was more than content staying in the lounge, watching the surgery and eating the space brownies that had been removed from the space salisbury steak dinners they used to draped H8(r).
Meanwhile, Duk'k went into a ship inspection. The right rear landing gear was detached from the ship during the crash, but everything else that was accessible seemed intact. As he returned to give the general thumbs up, Dr P3PP3R was briefing Ne'vets and Cousin Rancor once again.
"The exploratory surgery was successful. If we proceed with the an amputation, Sid is a perfect candidate for a cybernetic leg. I can proceed with your approval, although in some cultures it is more proper to awaken the patient and ask them. It will not cause further stress to the leg, and we can sedate her back into unconsciousness once she provides an answer. "
"Ask away Doctor."
Dr P3PP3R injected another substance into Sid, and she sat straight up on the table. Outside of a strange bearded man gorging himself on brownies, she was in the familiar confines of the Pretio with the medical droid beside her.
Ne'vets attempted his skill at bedside manner, "Good news, Sid, you qualify for a mechanical leg. What color would you like?'
"What does that mean, Captain?"
"That means... you're going to get stronger...."
"Whatever you feel is best, Sir."
"Don't worry about a thing Sid, I'll sign all the authorizations."
Ne'vets gave the okay for the surgery, and with Dr P3PP3R sedating Sid, Ne'vets grabbed Squarl and Duk'k for a quick conference.
"Is the ship okay?
"Detached gear, but no hull breach they I can see. If we can shake the ship loose, we can reevaluate and pick up the the gear and hopefully find the nearest shop to repair it."
"Alright. Let's get the ship unstuck, then we can recover the gear, and use the Piscopo to investigate the werewolf carcasses. I'm worried that acid's going to cut through most cages and crates we have on board. Any extra info we can get on these things, the better."
Duk'k nodded, and returned to the cockpit to relieve Evus. It took the better part of a half-hour, but the Sipsk'ud was able to rock the ship out of the sand. Once aloft just a few meters, most of the warning lights on the console stopped flashing.
After a few quick adjustments to dump initial sand out of/off of the Pretio, the ship was 10 meters off the ground.
With Duk'k at the helm, he descended the ship so Ne'vets could oversee Sqarl, Evus, and Cousin Rancor moving the landing gear onto the lowered cargo lift.
With the ship part secured, Ne'vets was relieved. "Alright, let's get outta here so we can fix Sid's leg, fix the ship's leg, get Cousin Rancor."
Cousin Rancor nodded, "Appreciated!"
"You're welcome, but there's nothing else you learned about theses werewolves on your forty days on the planet?"
"I mean, acid claws and they can jump straight up like 30 meters!"
Duk'k interjected, "Hey boss, didn't you want to check out the site before we left?"
"Oh yeah, good catch, Duk'k"
"Great, can you drive the Pretio?"
With Ne'vets at the controls, the Pisocopo was lowered onto the surface and drove over the the massacre site. Sqarl and Evus conducted the search. The saffron colored, powdery sand was stained black with whatever was left of the werewolf bodies. Almost everything seemed to have disappeared or dissolved into the surface. Sqarl began digging into the black-stained areas and pulled out a canine skull and partial vertebrae attached. A black ichor or jelly covered the bones, particularly forming a carapace protecting the backbone. Sqarl put the find in a crate and secure it in the Piscopo.
"This is probably going to discolor the container, but it's not eating through the metal. They didn't revert back to their true form like the myths. More like wolf-men with acid claws."
 |
| The alleged werewolves with acid claws. before Evus blew them up. |
Duk'k acknowledged, "R2 plot a course back to the Kwenn Space Station. Leaving atmosphere once the Piscopo is secured."
The jump to Kwenn would take a number of hours, so the crew went about their business. Duk'k helped repair H8R.
"Hey Sqarl, H8R's damage is from werewolf. It definitely ate through droid metal."
Hours later, Sid had been moved back to her room, post-operation. Everything had gone smoothly. Sid had woken up and just stared up at the ceiling, without blinking.
Even later, the crew and Cousin Rancor, got some much needed rest. Dr P3PP3R was back checking their work, satisfied with a still speechless Sid's healing wounds.
R2-H8(r) was moving around the back of the ship, hooking up into a terminal, possibly running diagnostics.
Duk'k was the only one half-awake, trying to nap in the pilot's chair in the cockpit, hypnotically staring at the hyperspace effect.
Then everything went black..... Everything.
GM Notes: While it appears that the crew has no intention of abandoning the mission, I will confide with the reader that this scenario was based off of two articles of Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society (JTAS). The initial Werewolf concept was based off the scenario "Werewolf Disease" from JTAS #5. That scenario didn't have enough edge for an experienced, if undermanned, group such as the Pretio, so throwing in a twist with Creature - Retulican Parasite from JTAS #4 was in order. The Reticulan Parasite was a very by-the-book clinical approach at describing.... the xenomorph from Alien. GDW was notorious for "ripped-from-the-headline (or pop culture), Alien came out in 1979, and the JTAS #4 was released in 1980.
I will point out that Sid was mortally wounded while her player was absent for the session. Her player was present for the Health rolls, and technically failed right as the medical droid arrived on the scene. Letting her live (with a new leg after a few episodes) is a fair trade-off for bad things happening in their absence.
No comments:
Post a Comment