Chapter 4: Red Blades

After Order 66, few Jedi dare to venture outside the shadows—rumors of the dark and terrible Darth Vader haunting even their waking moments. Yet, some Jedi find this life of fear unbearable. The Empire is always watching, and Vader himself is eager to confront any Jedi that might bring him closer to the whereabouts of his betrayer, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
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Shurijo
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Chapter 4: Red Blades

Post by Shurijo » Thu May 13, 2021 5:31 pm

A few Mustafarians approach the craft as it lands. One of them appears to be the leader or supply chief carrying a datapad. As he approaches the group, he speaks in their native language and then switches to Basic when it doesn't appear anyone understand.

"You're new. What happened to the last crew? Anyways, let's get this done." The Mustafarian chief waves his hands to the others who instruct their lifter droids to began the unloading.

Shoshannah replies, "Here's the invoice. There's 23.5 metric tons of the rocks." She recites as instructed as she holds out her datapad to transfer the document to the Mustafarian chief and receive his sign off on receipt. From her initial encounter, it doesn't appear the Mustafarians are either concerned or suspicious of the delivery or the new transport crew.

As they were briefed by the transport company, it'll take the Mustafarians a few hours to unload and weight the rocks to confirm the invoice details. So far, it appears everything is going as well as it could.
Perception checks
skill vs 2 diff

Shoshannah = 1 success, 1 triumph, 2 threats
Uri = 1 success, 3 threats
Janos = 1 success, 1 adv
Granite = 1 threat

Shoshannah = +boost to future perception checks here
Looking around the platform, they see other Mustafarians and droids doing what appears to be normal manual labor jobs. However, Shoshannah, Janos, and Uri all spot three smaller craft on the platform opposite of their platform. These smaller ships are ones with a small crew, one or two pilots, and designed more for ship-to-ship combat and transport.

Additionally, Shoshannah was able to glance at the layout of the facility as she talked with the supply chief. During which, she noticed several rooms and layouts that didn't make sense with miners or processing of the rocks. In fact, there were no visible machines or mining equipment nearby. However, she did notice crates and cargo containers stamped with Techno Union logos. With one of the crates tops unsealed, she is able to spot what appears to be some sort of handheld device. Based on the size, there could be hundreds or thousands of these devices in the nearby containers.

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RorytheRomulan
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Chapter 4: Red Blades

Post by RorytheRomulan » Fri May 14, 2021 11:15 am

Uri whispers, "I thought the war was over. Why are these starfighters docked in the hangar of a mining outpost?"

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Chapter 4: Red Blades

Post by Muskrat » Fri May 14, 2021 7:22 pm

Shoshannah tries to see if she can get any information out of the foreman. "I don't know what happened to the old crew. They don't tell me things like that." She looks around. "Quite an operation you have here. How busy does this keep you? Looks like you have a lot of irons in the fire."
Presence 3/ Charm 2

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Chapter 4: Red Blades

Post by Shurijo » Mon May 17, 2021 1:00 pm

The Mustafarian foreman looks disinterested in idle banter with Shoshannah. While it's hard for her to read his facial expressions, she gets a sense that he's busy and doesn't care much for friendly chatter. "Yeah, yeah. Give us two hours and we'll have the cargo off loaded. There's a cantina in town about a kilometer thata way."

As he points towards the distant town, the group spots a transport ship arriving on the opposite landing pad with a fireteam of four armored soldiers exiting. The soldiers' armor look very similar to Clone Trooper armor, but are plain white with no unit or personal markings. Alongside the soldiers two figures wearing gray light armor leads them into the nearby building.

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Chapter 4: Red Blades

Post by Muskrat » Mon May 17, 2021 5:05 pm

"Thanks," says Shoshannah to the foreman. "Maybe we'll check it out."

She returns to the others and says softly, as as not to be overheard. "There's a cantina in town. We could head there and try to gather more information. Or we could pretend to head there and actually check out that suspicious-looking transport that just landed. We'd need to either sneak aboard--or maybe we could intercept the comm chatter from outside? This is all a bit outside my bailiwick as an agronomist."
Anyone have the skills to intercept comm chatter?

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Chapter 4: Red Blades

Post by Othniel » Mon May 17, 2021 11:39 pm

"I could maybe do it," Janos says dubiously. "Not sure I have the gear, but I've been practicing."
I have 2Y1G for Computers, which I thiiiink that falls under. But what tools are required?

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Chapter 4: Red Blades

Post by RorytheRomulan » Tue May 18, 2021 1:44 pm

"If that fails, I can sneak on, but I'll need backup."

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Chapter 4: Red Blades

Post by Shurijo » Tue May 18, 2021 5:50 pm

You'd need more than a datapad to hacking secure comm transmissions. However, if you could "plug in" to a data port, then I'd allow it with some difficulties (2 purple + 1 red). It would be Computers Skill and it would be a good chance to do a "skilled assist" here.


* Janos Computers (Int 3 + 2 ranks) = 2y 1g
* Granite Computers (Int 3 + 2 ranks) = 2y 1g
* Uri Computers (Int 3 + 0 ranks) = 2g
* Shoshannah (Int 4 + 0 ranks) = 4g

Best combos would be:
* Janos + Shoshannah = (int 4 + 2 ranks) = 2y 2g
* Granite + Shoshannah = (int 4 + 2 ranks) = 2y 2g

Shoshannah has highest Int, so for any Int checks she is best to assist. Granite has 4 in Brawn, so he's best to assist with for Brawn checks. Everyone else's stats are 2s and 3s.

A non-skilled assist simply adds 1 boost (which only has advantages, no successes, so +1 green adds better chance of successes).
As the group discusses their next move, the watch as one of the droid lifters begin to smoke and then make a large popping sound as it's hydraulics give out. The foreman throws his arms up in either despair, anger, or frustration--it's difficult to interpret the Mustafarians' facial expressions and the lack of understanding their native language doesn't help either.

On the opposite landing pad, they see the group walk into the facility. Glancing around, they then notice two of the white armored troopers standing guard at the doorway and overlooking the landing pad.

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Chapter 4: Red Blades

Post by Muskrat » Tue May 18, 2021 9:24 pm

Shoshannah says, "I'd rather try hacking before I try sneaking aboard, though I'm willing to do the latter if need be."
I'm happy to make any assists that are necessary.

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Chapter 4: Red Blades

Post by ManWithDoor » Fri May 21, 2021 12:58 am

The big engineer abruptly veers away from the group and directly towards the smoking droid lifter. "Hey! We've got a schedule to keep, what's going on with that lifter?!?" He pulls out his standard toolkit, looking for the problem.
I don't have any significant social skills or stealth abilities (sorry, front-line fighter type guy), so I'm better as a loud distraction at the moment.

Planning on going over there to loudly get involved. Maybe to help repair it, or perhaps subtly sabotage to buy us more time. Regardless, drawing attention to myself and away from the rest of the group.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."

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