"The Long Arm of the Hutt - Rugged Road to the Ryl Mines"
When we last left the party, Kell was interrogating Temmo's captive spy for hire, Thrweek, a Kubaz infiltrator. Kell found out that Thrweek was responsible for not only framing his father, Tarkus, but ruining his family's name, all the way up to his 3rd cousin, former Chancellor Finis Valorum. Thrweek's smugness and lack of remorse for what he has done to Kell and his family was just too much to handle - Kell pulled his blaster pistol and fire a shot between the Kubaz' eyes, then stormed out of the tent...
Kell stormed out of the ramshackle tent with his blaster pistol still smoking in his hands. Raarwa, the once Togorian Jedi youngling and now hopeful Jedi, rushed out to pursue Kell for answers to what just transpired in the tent. The rest of the party was visiting with the Twi'leks and off loading the speeder when they see the heated exchange between the human and the hulking Togorian...
Raarwa reaches out with one of her paws and abruptly turns the human around, "What do you think you are doing? You have just endangered all of the lives of these people here!" Kell looked at the open files of evidence on his datapad and threw it on the group at Raawa's feet in disgust and then turned away again to cool off. Raawa picked up the datapad, looked at the trail of files showing deceit and contempt that Teemo's infiltrator has wrecked upon Kell's family- she understood why he would be angry. Raarwa caught up with Kell again and said, "I can't support your need for revenge, but I can understand your pain and your loss.". Kell knew he had to get the Kubaz' corpse out of the camp and rushed back to the tent...
Meanwhile, "Doc" Blaylock had stabilized the Gand prisoner and was quickly cleaning up the aftermath of Kell's rage. "Doc" remembered, with some of his past dealings with "not-so-savory" individuals, that these henchman could have tracking devices on them or implanted inside of them. Sure enough, a skillful scan found that the Kubaz and the Gand had small tracking devices embedded in their upper backs, just above the scapula. "Doc" started removing the devices when Kell, Raawra, and the rest of the surprised party went back in the tent to investigate the commotion. "Give me the tracking devices, "Doc", and I'll get the Kubaz out of here." Kell said, heatedly. "If you are all going to check out the dig site south of town or meet with the Twi'lek leaders, I will be back in about 1 1/2 hours to meet back up with you." Kell throw the limp body of the Kubaz over his shoulder, grabbed the tracking devices, and then sped off on one of the captured swoop bikes.
Raarwa knew that she had to alert B'ura B'aan and the other Twi'lek leaders of the events that just transpired. Raawra enlists the aid of the Twi'lek Mechanic/Outlaw Tech, Myn, to help translate the details to the local leaders. She and Myn head over to the council tent. Cannar worked with Rendor, the Chiss silcer/mechanic/Teras Kasi practitioner, and tried to get the team ready to go explore the dig site south of New Meen.
Suddenly, the sound of a large speeder breaks through the noise in the camp- Nyn, one of the Twi'lek resistance leaders, sent in a courier, along with two returning members to the team- the bounty hunter, Bennis, and Halas, a human pilot/heavy weapons specialist. The courier rushes over to the Durosean archeologist, Vinar, and quietly gives his ominous news- Vinar's aunt is very ill and may succumb to her condition soon. Vinar speeds off with the driver to head back to Duro. Cannar, noted Durosean scholar and archeologist and fellow academy associate, bids his friend goodbye and wishes him well on his journey back to be with his family.
Raarwa and Myn knock on the door to town leader's tent. Two Twi'lek guards open the tent flap and ask what they want. "We have important news to share with B'ura that is time sensitive", Myn communicated with a deft flash of her lekku in the Twi'lek's somatic language. B'ura waves the two inside the tent. "What may we do for you ladies?" B'ura states politely. "We have distressing news", Raarwa begns, as Myn translates Raarwa's words into the lekku communication for the other Twi'leks to understand. "One of Temmo's inflitrators was just shot during interrogation, but we are making means to get him out of camp. He and the Gand bounty hunter both had tracking devices on them, but Kell just left camp to create a diversion, which should buy us ample time." B'ura nods and speaks, "We will need to get the strike teams together quickly and look to hit Angu's men at nightfall. Myn, we would like you to help lead one of the team's into battle, since your heart is with your people here..." Myn agrees and Raarwa is thanked for her information and led out of the tent...
Meanwhile, Keel is about 15 minutes outside of camp, near the lylek cave to dispose of Thrweek's body. He formulates a plan and decides to take an unexpected trophy from the Kubaz, before he angrily tosses his corpse into the cave. " I think Thrweek and Borgas are about to go on a little trip.", he thinks to himself, formulating a devious plan to try to agitate and through off Teemo the Hutt. Kell jumps back on his swoop bike and heads into town with the tracking devices and "a little parting gift" from Thrweek...
Raarwa rejoins Cannar, Bennis, Hallas, Rendo, and Rendor's R2 astromech droid to head out to the dig site. After about 10-15 minutes of uneventful travel, they arrive at the groundbreaking site for the proposed "resort & casino". All they find is a powered down power lifter droid, scattered tools, and tilled up dirt- not much progress for 2 months of work. Halas, Bennis, and Raarwa all assumed guard positions around the site, while Rendor and Cannar checked out the dig site in more detail. While checking the soil near the mountain wall face, Cannar and Rendor suddenly found themselves sucked into a sink hole and disappeared into the tilled up dirt and sand. Raarwa quickly grabbed a grabbling line from her utility belt and tied it off to the large power droid to secure it. Halas and Bennis dove into the sink hole, grabbing the cable line on the way down. Rendor's R2 unit used its personal boosters to lower itself down into the hole, with Raarwa not far behind...
The startled party found themselves in a natural cave, with some signs of tool marks from over a decade ago. They party took caution and headed into the dark cave, now lit with the light of a glow rod or two. Cannar suddenly noticed some elaboration cave paintings of some battle scenes, showing Twi'leks and other allies fighting off Separatist forces in a large scale struggle. As they proceeded further into the cavern, Rendor noticed a power emanation into an alcove off to his left (Chiss can see into the infrared spectrum and he could detect the heat signature easily). As the party rounded the corner, they are met by an amazing sight- a detail cave painting fresco of Cei Vookto, Durosean Jedi Master, his human padawan Dama, and Jedi Master Aayla Secura, a Twi'lek of proud ancestry here on Ryloth, leading allied forces against a large army of Separatists. On a small dais below, a small, black box with a glowing symbol of the old Galactic Republic (pre-Clone Wars). Rendor made an attempt to slice into and pick the lock, but a bolt of energy surged out and disabled his hand briefly. Cannar took the box and the party made their way out of the cave. On the way back to camp, Cannar intently examined the box on the way back to camp. He found old Durosean text inscribed on the bottom- "Property of Cei Vookto". Cannar is met with sudden excitement and curiosity at his find and hopes to be able to learn more about this box, and its contents, soon...
The rest of the party, including Kell, returned to camp right around dusk. With definite ambush plans in place, B'ura and the rest of the war band are intent in surprising and hopefully overwhelming their oppressors. Night finds Angu's thugs doing the same thing they always do- two guards each guarding the casino/bar and the barracks/storage facilities, while the other off-duty guards huddled around a camp fire, drinking cheap Twi'lek wine and Gamorean grog. The guards comprised a mix of humans, aqualish, and weequay. Angu and four of the other guards were not visible around the camp area.
According to plan, B'ura stormed into the camp with a speeder with Kell, one of the Twi'lek leaders and a small group of Twi'lek miners, all armed and ready. While the others lay in wait in the darkness, B'ura's diversion tactic worked- the guards near the fire were completely caught off guard. Bennis leveled his E11S sniper rifle against a rock and took aim- a guard stationed near the casino suddenly had a energy bolt rip through his skull, into the bloodied wall behind him, as he crumpled to the ground. Halas let off a grenade from his launcher and struck right into the heart of the campfire- burning wood and debris sent the guards reeling and clamoring from the explosion. Myn let off a deadly bolt from her disruptor and bore a large hole into the abdomen of the other casino guard, forcing him to evacuate his bowels and fall into a bloody mess on the ground. B'ura and Kell leaped from the speeder, while the other Twi'leks stumbled from the craft and lost their balance in the excitement. B'ura wounded one of the guards with a blaster bolt, but took a return, non-fatal shot himself in the abdomen. Kell took advantage of one of the startled guard and his vibroknife found a soft point in the guards eye socket, ending the guard's life almost immediately.
Off from the main fight, Raarwa, Cannar, and Rendor went after the guards near the barracks/storage building. Rendor closed on one of the guards, performing a Striking Wampa Teras Kasi move- a deft strike under the chin with a double chop down on the next of the opponent. Chin bones crack and vertebrae break, as the startled guard drops to the ground, deceased. Raarwa leaps at the guard and was able to wound him, but the skilled thug avoided what could have been a worse fate. Cannar aimed for Raarwa's opponent, but rather than hit him, he struck the door panel to the building, dropping the main door and disabling the panel is an array of sparks.
Suddenly, a booming voice came out of the casino, "STOP!! Stop this mess please!" Blaster fire rings out in defiance and mows down three of the Twi'lek miners near the casino door. Angu Drombb, Teemo's "business negotiator", and four of his hired henchmen come out with tier hands up and weapons on the ground. The party quickly disarms the other guards and puts them all in the extra binders they picked up from the bounty hunters they defeated on the way to New Meen. Kell and the others interrogate a scared and shaken Angu privately to get answers. Angu reveals that he was sent here under duress by Teemo, because of a debt he owed the Hutt. Teemo had his wife killed to show how serious he was and to force him to be his contact here to wrest away the Ryl mining operations from the Twi'leks here, so that Teemo could start Glitterstim spice sales soon. Angu said that Teemo was holding his son and daughter as collateral, until he finished the job here. B'ura, in noble fashion, forgave Angu and would allow him to leave with the party, never to return to Ryloth, as long as he cooperated and helped them set a ruse for Teemo....Angu gladly agreed.
Myn and Rendor were able to bypass the damaged door panel on the barracks/storage building and enter. Myn was able to find much needed supplies and a locked cash box. Rendor sat down at a small computer station and began to slice into the system, to uncover its hidden secrets. Rendor was able to recover two emails that mentioned two Geonosian leaders, Duke Piddock and Dimmock, in relation to a Geonosian droid technician named "Sivor". Apparently, Trex, the Trandoshian bounty hunter that stole the party's ship and forced them to take his broken down "Kryat Fang" ship instead, had kidnapped and killed Sivor and is somewhere on Genosis now. The party knows that their nemesis Trex holds the key to a lot of secrets and they will want to try and find them to get some answers...
The next morning, the team works to prepared a ruse to make it appear that the Gand, Borgas, is performing his regular report with Angu in attendance. Angu lies to Teemo and shows him a falsified contract that supposedly B'ura and his people signed over to Teemo. Teemo is ecstatic about the transaction and requests that Angu report back to Mos Shuuta on Tatooine to discuss "further business and restitution".
Later that same day, as the party wraps up business on Ryloth and they prepare to apparently head to Genosis to hunt down Trex, a small envelope with the signed mining contract and a small, anonymous package arrives in Teemo's palace, in the shaky hands of a Rodian courier...
End of ACT I - ACT II starts "Geonosian Negotiations" this Sunday...
