Simple Tricks VII

Simple Tricks and Nonsense
Episode VII
November 12, 2016

From Leritor to Lameredd

The showdown on Leritor continues. The slaver's transport spins around, knocking both remaining fighters off the ledge, one with Rook inside. It then turns back and trains its guns on the ship Dex is sitting in. Before it can fire though, the Painted S'kytri, with Doc Aidn and Xetsu, recently retrieved from the Settler hub, comes to the rescue. The transport blasts off and disappears in the night sky, unable to follow due to lack of ace pilots on board, the S'kytri sets down and the Doc and Xetsu get to work rounding up the wounded, helping free the slaves and take the slavers prisoner. The seriously injured Varko was taken back aboard the ship and given immediate care by the Doctor.

It was determined that the pilot of the transport, who was known as some sort of archeologist and only addressed as "The Professor" was in charge of the operation and the guards only knew that they were to keep the slaves digging in specific areas and patterns. Whatever they were trying to dig out was old and improper digging techniques could result in disaster.

Uninterested in "being careful," the Crew appropriated some explosives from a supply shed and set them near what looked to be some sort of access port into the old vehicle/machine/building that was only partially unearthed.

After the explosion, Lofchiir leads a small group into the structure, which turns out to be some sort of ancient spacecruiser apparently crashed and buried on the side of this mountain. The interior of the craft is badly damaged and quite dangerous. Several passageway collapses, multiple falling items and a couple feet through floor panels convinced the team to head back out.

Inside the buried spacecraft

Once outside, the excavation was blasted with the remaining, but damaged starfighter and a considerable amount of the mountain above was caved in on it. Anyone wanting to dig out whatever was in there would have a little extra to do now.

It was decided that the freed prisoners would be returned to their respective people and the slavers were ejected out of the airlock while flying at high speeds. Both the Sauvax and the Human settlers were happy to have their own returned and thanked the crew greatly. The peace was kept between the two peaceful groups and the S'kytri exited the system with a full load of food, and some weapons and excavating equipment salvaged from the slavers.

The waterworld of Lamaredd

The trip to the Lamero system would take just over two weeks time as it was actually out past the Outer Rim, located on the edges of Wild Space. Varko made a full recovery at the hands of the doctor and everyone else was doing just fine. Upon arrival at the Lamero system, Xetsu had to help Dex navigate past a handful of nav-beacons deployed to lead ships in through the Reef, a dangerous dust cloud inhabiting nearby space.

Once the ship was cleared for landing in the hollowed out engine compartment of an ancient, decommissioned Trade Federation capital ship, the Crew had to deal with pushy yet efficient ORO spaceport customs crew. Arrangements were made for the unloading of the ship and the Crew was steered toward lodgings and other amenities in the center of the seaside town named Bartyn's Landing, or just The Landing to most locals.

Bartyn's Landing

On the way to the center of The Landing, a short, hooded Human abrputly pushed past the crew and challenged one, then all of them, to a duel. Not wanting to get involved in a shootout immediately upon arrival to a new town, the Crew tired to back down and negotiate but before they even knew what was happening, the old man had whipped out a slugthrower and began firing away, hitting several of the Crew. Everyone quickly scrambled, trying to draw weapons, talk their way out of it or engage him at close quarters and disarm him.

Shoot-out with an old-timer

The old hooded man turned out to be much more formidable than initially believed. He fired off round after round and managed to drop several crew members and avoid multiple attacks before being stunned by a close range blaster shot. First aid was applied to several of the Crew, some of which had actual life-threatening wounds and the old man was disarmed. When he came through, he began yelling and screaming incoherently, though he did mention someone named "Lidell" and claimed that this person "owed him a death!" Much confusion was present, the old man began laughing and crying and finally the local sheriff showed up, an older Mon Cal by the name of Mix Lidell. He seems surprised at the identity of the mysterious lunatic and asks the Crew to come back to "the station" with him so he can clear it all up.

Chief Mix Lidell

A bit apprehensive to go with the local law enforcement, he convinces them that they are not in trouble at all but just doesn't want to discuss it out in the street. The Crew agrees, though Lofchiir continues to log his complaints. Back at the "station," Chief Lidell offers medical attention from a hovering MD droid and explains that this old man is known as "The Padawan," a very old adversary of his, returned after several decades.

The Crew listens as he tells the tale of "The Padawan" and his gang of bandits and how they were captured and brought to justice. The Padawan then escaped and disappeared. The old man then wakes up and yells at Lidell, calling him a coward and telling another story of how he was captured by the Menuhaan, the original inhabitants of this world thought to be long extinct. He laughs and goes back into unconsciousness.

The sheriff asks the Crew if they will help him with this and some other issues that have been plaguing the town as he is understaffed and cannot keep up with it all. The Crew politely declines and heads to their hotel, ready to complete their cargo transfer and be done with this backwater world.

Session Notes

The whole crew was finally back together for tonight's session! It would also turn out to be the LAST Star Wars GURPS session. In fact, it will be my final night as GM for some time. The group is going to try out some 7th Seas hosted by +Jodi H once the new year comes around (we have a special guest GM coming in for our December game night.) While I will miss the GURPS gaming, I am ok with trying a new game (sailing, pirates, undead and magic!) and letting someone else take the wheel for a while. I've been busy and have not had the time I would like for my monthly tabletop sessions. Looking forward to some piracy in 2017!

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

Simple Tricks VI

Simple Tricks and Nonsense
Episode VI
August 13, 2016

Standoff On Leritor

The Painted S'kytri has made it's way to Leritor, an out of the way planet in the Mid Rim. The mission is to deliver vital agricultural/ industrial parts and pick up a cargo load of grain and other foodstuffs harvested on the farm planet. Nothing dangerous or exciting at all.

The peaceful planet Leritor

When the Crew arrives at the pre-determined meeting point, the transaction goes smoothly. The settlers are happy to see off-worlders and ready to receive their parts. News of the greater galaxy is exchanged for a few drinks in the lounge area of the giant combine/reaper/mobile residence of the settlers. While the cargo is being transferred, Xetsu is approached by some of the locals with advice on how to do some advanced repairs on some of the reaper's more sophisticated systems. Happy to be of service, the Twi'lek goes off to help.

Suddenly, the long-range communicators start pinging with a distress call from another combine/reaper, the Gevion. They have been surrounded by the native species of the planet, the crab-like Sauvax. After a quick negotiation regarding payment for assistance, the Crew (minus Xetsu, who is still busy on his new project) blasts off to the Gevion's coordinates.

The Gevion is surrounded by Sauvax

A Sauvax native

Upon arrival, they see that the enormous vehicle has been surrounded by close to a thousand of the red crustacean beings. The S'kytri lands on the top of the Gevion and the Crew is greeted by it's residents and the situation is explained. They are not sure why the Sauvax have surrounded the Gevion and they swear that they have not breached the Settlement Pact with the natives regarding the 100km buffer zone between the harvestable inland areas and the coastline where the Sauvax reside. The leader of the settlers is also concerned that the Sauvax might be responsible for the disappearance of the Nellist, another combine/reaper that was know to harvest in the area.

The Crew agrees to go down and parlay with the Sauvax, which is the only possible way to communicate, as the earlier attempts by the settlers to call down from the lower observation deck were only met with some thrown rocks and demands that they come down to the surface.

The seemingly primitive Sauvax are friendly enough and immediately accuse the Crew of violating the Settlement Pact and destroying a Sauvax village to the north. After some trading of objects and intense negotiations, the Sauvax and the Crew come to an agreement. The Sauvax will let the Gevion go if the Crew will look into the recent attack and figure out who did it. The Crew borrows a speeder truck from the Gevion so they can travel to the coastal Sauvax village and be as minimally disruptive to the Settlement Pact as they can.

On the way to the village, the Crew comes upon the remains of the Nellist. It has been badly damaged and looks as if it had recently caught fire. There are many Sauvax spears and other trinkets around, but the damage on the huge vehicle was more than likely caused by blasters. Further investigation reveals a nearby area that looks as if it was the landing area of one or two small flying transports. Numerous footprints lead to the area.

The Crew arrives at the seaside village and finds it completely destroyed. Some small bits of technology and numerous blaster scorch marks indicate that this was performed by a group with a good deal of firepower. They see a lone surviving Sauvax but the being hurries off before anyone can get close enough to speak to it.

The Sauvax village is destroyed

On the way back to the Gevion, the Crew observes what looks like two small flying craft doing a strafing run along a distant river at the base of the northern mountains before flying back north into the mountains. Approaching stealthily to get a better idea of what is going on, the Crew discovers a small campsite that looks to have been the home of 3-4 primitive campers. Nearby, where the strafing run was see, the bodies of several Humans are found completely scorched by vehicle blasters. Another nearby encampment is found that shows a more advanced set up and landing area for several aircraft.

The Crew follows a narrow trail up into the mountains and finds what appears to be some sort of secured area around an excavation site. It appears that both Human and Sauvax are being forced to dig something big and metal out of the ground inside a high fenced area. Numerous armed guards   patrol the area. Several small spacefighters and a larger transport sit near the edge of the encampment.

the slave camp and excavation

The Crew quickly formulates a plan to take out the generator, take control of the starfighters and release the prisoners. Lofchiir moves in and destroys the generator while Varko, Rook and Dex clime the steep hillside that leads up to the spacecraft. Alita uses her stealth to move into position to begin sniping at the guards once things start blowing up.

The plan starts off brilliantly, the generator blows, triggering emergency lighting. The guards are all running around in utter confusion. Dex makes it into one of the starfighters, though Varko takes a serious wound and goes down. Rook gets pinned down next to another craft. Alita begins running through the camp, trying to take out the guards in the raised guard towers while Lofchiir begins lobbing grenades at the transport ship in an attempt to disable it.

As Dex begins laying down suppression fire with his starfighter, the transport takes off. He fires on the transport but its shields absorb the damage. Then a female voice crackles over the comm, in a calm voice telling Dex to set his ship down and power off.

Strangely, he obeys this command and lands the ship in the middle of the camp.

Session Notes

Only 1 player out tonight, feels good getting (most of) the group back together!

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

Simple Tricks V

Simple Tricks and Nonsense
Episode V
May 14, 2016

A Rock and a Cold Place

the frozen canyon

The Crew of the Painted S'kytri find themselves in a not so perfect situation. In their attempts to track down the missing Ree Bolanka they ended up in a frozen canyon during a snowstorm with natives trying to kill them. Varko is down and out, unconscious in the snow halfway down the canyon after being blasted during a charge. Xet carefully moves up to administer much needed medical attention.

Ree Bolanka

After a few more moments of blaster-fighting, the Tallids are subdued by Rook, Dex and Lofchiir. Xet and Varko approach Ree but are quickly turned on by the young Nemoidian. Ree seems considrably confused when told they had been sent by his parents to find him as he says he does not have any parents. He curses the Crew for possibly leading others to his location. With a sudden fear, Ree gathers up his belongings, hops in his speeder and takes off out of the other end of the valley, leaving the Crew alone.

armed speeder

As they regroup and decide upon their next course of action, the sound of approaching vehicles can be heard from the direction they originally came from. Not wanting to be mistaken for foes, the Crew takes up hidden positions. As the speeders get closer, they hear blaster fire and an explosion from the direction of their parked/crashed loaner speeder.

Several fast, armed speeders fly through the canyon at high speed and exit out the other end, in the direction that Ree headed. After a short while, the Crew comes out of their hiding spots and goes to check on their speeder, only to find their suspicions confirmed. It had been destroyed. With no way back to Elesa, the Crew begins a search of the valley to see if they could possibly find anything useful and pinpoint what Ree had been searching for.

While they find nothing of value in the canyon itself besides destroyed pod racers, they do find a shallow camouflaged cave with 6 Tantas, cold weather beasts of burden similar to Banthas and Tantuans. There is also a pile of relatively undamaged pod racer components. This cache is believed to belong to the Tallids that the Crew recently vanquished.

pile of salvage

With no other prospects and no way of surviving a several hundred km trek through a snowstorm, the Crew hunkers down for the night in the cave with the Tantas. In the morning, the storm has abated but a new cadre of Tallids have arrived. Through some strained negotiations and trading, the Crew and the Tallids come to an agreement that the Tallids can have all the salvage but one component that Xet things might be what Ree was looking for in exchange for transportation back to Elesa.

The journey back across the snow fields takes 3 difficult days of Tanta riding. Lofchiir proves to NOT be the animal riding type and has trouble nearly the entire time. When the Crew finally make it back to Elesa, they find that some nonsense has occured. Geon Jesic, the head of the Mining Guild has disappeared and his office had been broken into shortly after the Crew visited him. Ree had not been seen since still and a handful of tough, dangerous types had been asking around for the Crew.

Without wasting anymore time, the Crew boards their ship and blasts off, leaving the frozen world of Ando Prime behind.

Session Pics

a little abstract placement for a large-area battle

Session Notes

Down 3 players tonight but we forged on and completed the scenario!

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

the frozen canyon

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

Simple Tricks III

Simple Tricks and Nonsense
Episode III
February 20, 2016

The Crawl

Take Him Home

After collecting their payment for stealing the Imperial Lambda shuttle, the crew of the Painted S'kytri purchase some minor bits of equipment to fill their kits out and head back to Kira Station to discuss what they are going to do with the good Captain's body.

It is decided that he should be buried on Socorro, a decision that Alita is both pleased with and concerned about at the same time. Socorro is the only place Captain Largo ever really seemed at home, besides in the cockpit of the ship. Alita is worried that there may be danger for her and the rest of the crew there in the form of whoever killed her family those many years ago.

Gleeko, the bartender at the Starshine Cantina and their usual deal broker finalizes the details on several upcoming jobs for the crew that work well with their decision to take the Captain to Socorro. They are to stop over on Enarc to pick up some industrial/ agricultural parts and deliver them to Leritor. From Leritor, they are to take on a full cargo of food-stuffs and deliver them to Lamaredd far on the Outer Rim. Gleeko also asks them to pick up a few cases of Socorran raava for the cantina while they are on Socorro. 

Jer Bolanka, worried father

Once on Enarc, they find their contact easily and load the parts, several huge pieces of machinery and numerous crates of smaller parts for the enormous agricultural combines that scour the plains of Leritor. While the cargo is being loaded, the group is approached by an upper class Nemoidian named Jer Bolanka. He explains that he received their contact info from Gleeko and wants to hire them for a side job while on their way to Socorro and Leritor. 

Bolanka offers 5000cr each to locate and hopefully return his son, Ree Bolanka, to him and his wife. He says that his son is a bit of a wild child and has run off to pursue some dangerous pod-racing dream. The last known location of Ree was Socorro, in the company of a low-life Dug named Benkudi. He gives each member of the crew 500cr upfront and a datapad with all the pertinent information regarding his son, Ree, as well as hyperspace coordinates to Socorro and several other nearby systems just in case. He says if Ree refuses to return home, that just a simple bit of contact from him to his mother would suffice. He stresses that he wishes no harm to come to his son and forceful return is not desired, though he is ok with a little bit of coercion if necessary.

The crew agrees to this job since it is easy money and along the way anyway. Varko does some poking around in the Enarc underworld and finds a job smuggling some contraband for Oorrbih Tror, a local Hutt crimelord but he cannot come up with enough starting capital to make the deal work. The crew is then off for Socorro.

Socorran customs agent

On Socorro, the crew navigates the spaceport and its unique local customs and make arrangements to bury the Captain out in the desert at the Judges of the Dead, a sacred locale where honored souls are buried beneath several towering rock formations that are in the shape of tall, hooded beings watching over the dead. Word gets out quick that Captain Minas Largo has been brought home to be buried and many in the Soco-Jarel spaceport are talking about it. 

Dex and Lofchiir spend the evening honoring the Captain by drinking copious amounts of alcohol in his name. They end the night at the local brewery, hoping to purchase the raava for Gleeko, but the brewery is not open in the middle of the night, so the two drunken revelers write their names on the wall and stagger back to the ship.

Varko and Rook spend their evening trying to re-establish some good smuggling contacts that the Captain would have been proud of while Alita and Xetsu finalize all the burial ceremony details, including renting a speeder and contacting several of the Captain's old friends. 

It seems like the whole city and half the surrounding countryside shows up to the burial. People line the streets and the road out into the desert where a huge crowd has respectfully gathered. Alita and the crew lead the traditional Socorran ceremony of burying the Captain, with each member leaving him with something personal. These things range from tools, to weapons to alcohol. Xestu recites a poem he had written for the Captain. All listen, teary eyed as he reads the words:

Through walls, through holes,  

Through sentry points. 

Through wires, through rubbleThrough fences. 

Hungry, daring, stubbornI flee, dart like a Cathar 

At noon, at night, in dawning hoursIn blizzards, in heat 

A hundred times I risk my lifeI risk my smuggler's neck 

Through walls, through holes,Through brickwork. 

At night, at dawn, at day. 

Hungry, daring, cunning, Quiet as a shadow I leave. (1)

 As the ceremony wraps up, Alita and Rook both spot something they cannot believe. They see the Captain moving through the back of the crowd. He is wearing a high collared cloak and a wide hat to hide his face, but both are sure as to what they have seen. They try to approach him, but he quickly flees in a speeder. Alita gets the ID tag info as it speeds away across the black sands back toward Vakeyya.

Once back in the city, the crew begins making preperations to leave. Varko goes to track down this Dug, Benkudi in the Southtown area of Vakeyya while Dex, Lofchiir and Rook return to the brewery to purchase the raava for Gleeko. Xet and Alita decide to look into the mysterious Captain look-alike by running the plates.

Benkudi, a slug of a Dug

Varko finds Benkudi easily and rescues him from being shaken down by a bunch of thugs outside a seedy tap-caf. The Dug rolls over easily and spills the info on Ree Bolanka, saying he is a good racer that works for the guy running a new, high stakes pod racing circuit over on Ando Prime. He says they have some scam running to take pod racing business away from the Hutts who have always had a strangle hold on racing, and more importantly, gambling in the region. He says the next race is due to start in less than a week and is sure that Ree is on Ando. Though the Ungasan Overland is held on a different course each time it is run, Benkudi gives the location of the most recent race and suggests that to be the starting point for any search on Ando Prime. 

Across town Dex, Lofchiir and Rook manage to secure the alcohol that Gleeko requested with no problems, though Dex and Lofchiir are scolded for their lewd and inappropriate behavior the previous night on brewery grounds. Meanwhile, Xet and Alita run across an interesting discovery. After tracking the speeder to a local rental place, they eventually cross paths with the mysterious stranger who looks just like the dead Captain. He introduces himself as Ingo Kabri, the Captain's brother. He thanks them for the beautiful service and explains that he, and the Captain, and their many other "brothers" are actually aging Clone Troopers from the Clone Wars so many years ago. He said that they all decided to leave the service of the Republic when they realized that something was not right. He says that there was a good number of Clone troops that did similar, though most were hunted down or died young due to poor life choices. He says he did not want to cause any trouble or stir up any undesirable emotions so he tried to stay in the back of the service and out of sight but he is glad that he got to talk to at least some members of the Captains old crew. He then bids them good day and leaves. 

Ingo Kabri, the Captain's "brother"

(1) adapted from "The Little Smuggler" by Henryka Łazowertówna. Wikipedia link.

Session Notes

What was supposed to be a quick, in-between action, sequence turned into a full blown role playing session. The players really got their characters thinking about how they wanted to honor the deceased Captain. It was very fun to watch them come up with ideas about a dead NPC that was never even really part of the game except to be a reason they were all together. This session really solidified the bond that the crew has for one another. It was also nice to see them break up into little teams and go about doing specific tasks that they were suited to doing. The division of labor in the group seems fairly well defined and everyone seems to understand their role in it. Well played, everyone!

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

Simple Tricks II

Simple Tricks and Nonsense
Episode II
January 9, 2016

The Crawl

The Lambda Heist

The Crew of the Painted S'kytri carefully moves into position behind the remote Scout Trooper Training base on the ion-storm wracked moon of Moorja. Their current job, to steal the Lambda-class shuttle that is currently dropping down through the atmosphere to bring new trainees and supplies to the base. 

The Imperial base on Moorja

The Crew studies the erratic patrol behavior of the sentry droids and attempts to make a stealthy approach toward the main power generator. About halfway down the hill, one of the droids spots them and opens fire. Sirens blare and lights flash throughout the compound. A guard on the tower maneuvers to see what is going on and opens fire.

Dexen moves along the ridge, trying to draw fire and flank the sentry droid, Rook and Alita head for the vehicle shed, hoping to snag a speeder bike or two for support while Varko and Lofchiir head directly toward the droid and power generator. The gruff medic Adin and tech Xetsu remain behind the ridge line for backup and sensor and comm jamming.

The droid is quickly taken out and Dexen joins Varko and Lofchiir, hoping to take out the power generator in hopes that, once spotted, the Imperials cannot call for reinforcements. The carefully planned assault quickly turns into a chaotic free for all with blaster fire everywhere, exploding access panels, rappelling, climbing, jumping and more blaster fire.

Varko, Lofchiif and Dex head over the base toward the ship itself as a squad of troopers come around the corner after them. Using her ascension gun, Alita moves up to the top of the guard tower and neutralizes the guards there, taking up a sniping position. Rook heads into the maintenance garage, intimidates some techs and then steals a speeder bike.

Dex and Lofchiir tangle with some more troopers and do their best to avoid the blast cannon mounted underneath the nose of the shuttle while Varko attempts to unlock and open the loading ramp before the shuttle takes off again. Someone, an officer no doubt, begins taking shots at them from the command center but Alita uses her high vantage point to send a shot right into the gun port. Rook then zooms out of the garage and begins doing high speed laps around the yard, scattering the remaining scout troopers. 

The loading ramp is finally opened and the pilots are "convinced" to abandon ship as Rook wildly pilots the speeder bike right up the ramp and makes a crash landing in the passenger compartment. Dex hops in the pilots seat, swoops past the guard tower to pick up Alita then hops over to the nearby ridge to grab Xetsu and Adin.

They waste no more time getting out of there before any TIE reinforcements can make it to the area. With minimal effort, they manage to escape the system and deliver the stolen ship to Shellar. He pays them and tells them their ship is ready to go. They depart and head back to the Kira Station.

Session Pictures

The planning phase

Lofchiir and Varko engage the probe droid

The reserve troops

Alita approaches the guard tower

The troops and guards aren't quite sure whats going on over on the other side of the base

Varko takes cover while Dex leaps over the covered corridor

Varko is ready to spring into action

Engaging the shuttle guards

Alita takes the high ground

Rook inspects the speeder bikes and scares off a tech

Ben watches Dex and Lofchiir as they take out the troops

Session Notes

This was the first "real" mission for the crew of the Painted S'kytri and it was a blast! Unfortunately we were one player short, but everyone was still able to have a lot of fun. We started the session with the crew already in position on the ridge near the Imperial base, observing the sentry droid's seemingly erratic patrol sweeps but then we back-tracked a bit and I allowed everyone to make some equipment purchases that had happened during some downtime before the mission actually started. Once things got going, as usual, the plan they had carefully concocted went right out the window and everyone began running around and shooting things! But hey, this is Star Wars and that feels right!

Actually, they stuck to the plan fairly well (while running around shooting things!) and everyone seemed to have a specific job that they were able to accomplish. Each character was important and each of them had their moment to shine, either with a skill they were really good with or with a skill they were not proficient at all with. All in all, the Force was the the crew of the Painted S'kytri and their mission was successful!

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