Simple Tricks IV

Simple Tricks and Nonsense
Episode IV
April 16, 2016

The Crawl

The Snow Job

The crew of the Painted S'kytri makes their way to Ando Prime to look for the missing son of some affluent socialites while on the way to deliver agricultural machine parts to far Leritor. Stopping off at the seedy and dangerous Llanic system, the origin of the Llanic Spice Lane, Varko and Rook hope to score some more contacts and possible smuggling jobs. They are able to wrangle up a little business dropping off a few "parcels" on Mon Gaza, the next major system along their current route.

Mon Gaza

On Mon Gaza, the "parcels" are handed off with no problems and the crew uses their ill-gotten gains to purchase some snow gear for their eminent arrival on a snow covered ice-ball of a planet, Ando Prime. They purchase snowsuits for everyone (including an extra large one for Lofchiir), All-Weather cloaks and snow shoes. They even purchase an extra set of everything to keep on the ship "just in case."

They arrive on Ando Prime with no fanfare and quickly make their landing at Elesa, a tiny mining settlement and the last known location of their quarry, Ree. The group splits up and visits the two drinking establishments, the Cliffside and the Icicle. Most of the group heads into the Cliffside, which seems to be the "nicer" of the two establishments while Dex is drawn to the more "hole in the wall" Icicle.

Trecklian Spin 

Dexen spends some time chatting up the bartender, Borl, at the Icicle. They show each other some drinks and have a good time, but he does not come up with any information. Dex learns how to mix a Trecklian Spin, which is very good and he shows Borl how to make a Web of Lies, which Borl does not like at all.

Meanwhile, the other group have a few drinks and find out a little bit more about the town. There is a "mayor" who minds his own business. Most of the inhabitants are miners or folks that run services used by the miners. They talk a bit about the mining operation and the location of the guild hall. They speak about the recent pod-racing events and find out that most locals on Ando Prime are not too keen on sharing out personal information. They are nice enough and share public knowledge freely, but when asked about anything personal, either about themselves or someone else, they clam up and become unfriendly quickly.

The group reunites at the ship and Xetsu and Rook decided to do some research on previous race trends hoping to find some clues about Ree and what is going on. Dex "helps" them but generally just gets off topic and immersed in sporting statistics and performances. The others note that he is quite intoxicated from his "bar-tending clinic" at the Icicle.

Geon Jesic, head of the Mining Guild

Varko and Lofchir head down to the Mining Guild and interrogate Geon Jusic, the head of the local chapter. At first he comes off as gruff and overbearing, but Lofchiir uses some Wookie diplomacy tactics and quickly he is whimpering and spilling his guts. Varko notes that the man is dressed in the latest Core fashions and his office is furnished in all new decor, much nicer than the office of a backwater ice mining operation should be. They get him to tell all he knows about Ree and the pod-racing, which is run by someone names Ungasan and is in direct competition with the Hutts. More importantly he tells them that he had just seen Ree earlier that day and that he knew he was heading to a nearby canyon with some sensor equipment. Jusic also warns them about the locals, the Tallids, a nomadic near-Human people that roam the frozen wastes scavenging for anything valuable.

Varko and Lofchiir convince Jusic to make arrangements for them to use a speeder from the local garage so they can head out to this canyon to look for Ree since the weather has become dangerously windy and snowy and flying the ship would be dangerous. Varko drives the speeder back to the Painted S'kytri and manages to loose control of it, crashing it into the landing skid. He blames it on the icy conditions.
Dex takes the controls and the group heads out over the ice. Alita and Aidn stay back with the ship as backup. The canyon is some distance away and the terrain is rough. Dex pilots the speeder skillfully in the dangerous conditions, but it is clear that he is still somewhat intoxicated. Xetsu complains and berates him for his decision to endanger the rest of the crew with his impaired driving, but Dex calmly explains that even drunk, he is a better driver than the rest of the group.

the rental speeder

As the old, falling apart speeder approaches the canyon, it is fired upon from some unseen shooters. The shooters are using slug-throwers from atop some narrow pillars that front the canyon mouth. Dex veers off to the side and gently crashes it into a ditch near the rocky outcropping that the canyon passes through.

The Crew approaches and is fired upon again by several shooters from atop pillars. They are aware that more fighting is occurring further into the canyon. Varko, Rook and Lofchiir lead the charge and within moments, Varko is taken low by a shot to the groin. He takes cover behind some rocks and tires to bacta patch his tender parts while Rook and Lofchiir advance on the nearest pillar. Lofchiir climbs up but slips and falls to the ground, hurting himself. He climbs back up and attacks the shooter, clearly one of the primitive Tallids. Rook positions herself to take out another of the shooters while Xetsu moves to help Varko. Dex brings up the rear, trying to give his companions some cover fire.

A Talid shooter

Session Notes

Down a player again, but still a fun session. The PCs got to use some of their skills like Smuggling, Streetwise, Freight Handling, Carousing, Bartending, Climbing, Driving, Interrogation. Lots of reaction rolls, lots of Quick Contests. Very fun. And they got to shoot at some "badguys." I got to roll "Groin" for random hit location on Varko. Ouch, that hurt! We had to end halfway through the gun fight. I had intended to get far past this during this session, but there was too much other stuff everyone wanted to do early in the session. Works for me, makes for a wonderful, PC driven session.

Characters Present:

Dexen Halcyon, the cocky pilot from Ord Mantell played by +Daniel Ernst
Jetha "Rook" Rue'kri, the greedy Corellian smuggler played by +Carol Coburn
Varko Prumen, the selfless Mol Calamari scoundrel played by +Ben Lipe
Lofchirr, the charismatic, ex-pirate Wookie played by Don K
Xetsu'ae, the grizzled veteran Twi'lek former slave turned mechanic played by +Jodi H
Alita, the eagle eyed Socorran scout played by +JeCorey Holder

and +Jason Woollard as the GM