Myrkr Hunts, The Force forbidden land (Open)

[Corruck Kazen]

Location: Myrkr​

Purpose: Collect Ysalamiri for a hunting contract​

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Beginning character: Corruck Kazen, open to all with IC reason to be on Myrkr​

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What a lovely planet. The weather was temperate with large jungles. If not for the dangers of the planet Corruck would have been quite content to have a home on planet. He probably would get one in the future. However that was not why he was here now. His purpose was to collect a large quantity of Ysalamiri for a contractor from the Beast Hunter's Guild. He had taken a long break from those guys after the Kessel Energy Spider run. That had been an interesting hunt. It had ended very different from what he had expected, but he had gotten the spiders. Now he had a small production of glitterstim back at his base headquarter. He was getting off subject...

Now here he was, outside the Recalcitrant looking at a holomap of the region, figuring the best area to collect both the creatures and some of the olbio trees. He wondered how he was going to accomplish the Olbio tree transfer, because from his readings he had found that the trees rarely survived leaving the planet. From those same readings, he had learned how to safely acquire Ysalamiri without killing them, taking them off of the trees normally killed them.

He turned to Karneth, who appeared to be meditating quietly. "I'm surprised, the Force is supposed to be cut off from use within the Ysalamiri's range."

Karneth didn't smile, only replied, "That is why I am not meditating on the Force, but on the lack of control within it. It is relaxing to not have its overbearing presence. Now how many do we need to collect again?"

Corruck did some quick math, "We need to get 90 Ysalamiri and at least five Olbio saplings."

Sheera, who had been looking through a pair of macrobinoculars, spoke up, "I thought the number of Ysalamiri was supposed to be 85."

Corruck's smile grew a little devious, "Just because the Guild needs 85 doesn't mean we can't collect some. That reminds me, we want six saplings."

Karneth's eyes flew open, "You don't intend on keeping some for ourselves do you?"

"I thought you didn't mind lacking the Force."

"I said that it was relaxing, not that I wanted it permanent."

"It's alright, I wasn't intending on keeping them in the ship. I plan to have them at base. Imagine having the facility completely safe from generic Force attacks."

Karneth looked away and said, "Fine, let us get this over with. Where to?"

"Sheera?"

"Got a large forest at two-o-clock and another one at ten-o-clock."

"Good. Now I'll take Karneth and go to the two-o-clock forest, remember to bring those stun rifles. Vornskr would also be quite useful guard dogs."

Karneth sighed and followed Corruck with two of the Guild's stun rifles. There was a long day ahead of them.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Half an hour later, Corruck and Karneth were traveling into the forest. They had been enjoying relative peace, except for a few minutes ago, where they had been attacked by a single Vornskr. It had been an easy fight, Karneth had thrown a rifle to Corruck, who had then taken down the dog like animal with relative ease. The creature had given its position away too early to get the full effects of a surprise attack. They expected to meet more of those creatures, thanks to that one giving off a howl before being hit.

"You still got rear guard?" Corruck asked, keeping his rifle aimed and facing forward, only splitting his attention long enough to make furtive glances to either side.

"Still guarding the rear." Karneth replied calmly, he was in a similar position, except facing back the way they had come.

Corruck watched forward until he thought he saw something move. Something in the tree above had moved, which meant it was more than likely not a Vornskr. All the same he pulled up his rifle and let out a single command, "Halt."

Karneth stopped moving immediately, not taking his eyes off the path. He was fairly certain that Corruck would let him know if he needed help.

Corruck watched as a tail fell off of the top of a tree branch up on the tree, then it slowly pulled itself back up. Corruck looked around, keeping his eyes upward now, he found that they were surrounded by the Ysalamiri and the Olbio trees. "Found the target."

Karneth took his eye off the path and let the rifle slowly lower as he looked around. Wonder appeared on his face when he looked at the interesting creatures. "So these are the Ysalamiri, the creatures most devastating to the Force users."

Corruck walked over to the closest tree and began climbing it, he figured he would be fairly safe higher up in the trees. He found a Ysalamir on the first large branch, he cautiously walked out near it until it began to move. Not a full movement of the body, just its head bent around slightly so that it appeared to be looking at him. Corruck stood still, letting his hand feel for the rifle that had been slung over his back. Before he had any ideas of attacking the creature though, its head turned back and snapped at some leaves gobbling them up.

"Karneth, did you get all of those nutrient frames set up when I asked you to?"

Karneth's voice sank from somewhere above and forward of him. Obviously Karneth had also decided to climb the trees to get a better look at the creatures that so intrigued him. "Yep, Nothy and I were able to finish them before we even landed."

"Good, do you remember the technique that I taught everyone on how to safely remove these creatures?"

"Absolutely. However unless we bring a small cargo lifter this is going to take a long while."

"Way ahead of you." Corruck called back somewhat smugly.

A clunky sound could be heard as a rather large flat paned lifter floated into the clearing. The sound had been it knocking into trees as it found its way in. Corruck had set it to follow them, but thanks to the interference of the trees the lift had not been able to follow them directly and had had to take its time using waypoints set by Corruck as they moved through the forest.

The two men got to work slowly removing Ysalamiri; it soon became apparent that there would be at least two more trips before they they had enough to fill the quota. However, that was only if Sheera and Rathur found nothing in the other forest. "We'll come back for the saplings later." He told Karneth, who simply nodded as he hefted a somewhat upset looking Ysalamir onto the lift. The creatures seemed to not enjoy being removed from their trees, however there were enough leaves on the lift car that they stayed put without too much complaint.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Three hours into the day would find Corruck and Karneth back at the Recalcitrant, they were both talking with Sheera and Rathur. Apparently the forest that Sheera and Rathur had gone to had had more Ysalamiri in the immediate vicinity of the trails that had been carved through it. It also appeared that they had not had trouble with Vornskr, though neither had Corruck and Karneth. Corruck just hoped that everyone would continue to have such luck.

Sheera counted about 34 Ysalamiri in their hall, while Corruck only counted 27 in his. They set the somewhat upset creatures into their temporary homes within the nutrient frames. The poor beasts had not enjoyed the process, however all survived which was a complement to Corruck's research and the information he had found.

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It was coming close to sun down, yet here they were traveling back into the forest. Corruck hoped to accomplish this task before the third day had passed. This time, Karneth and Corruck rode platform into the forest, it would save time and allow both of them to be aiming for any possible attacks.

As if on que, Corruck heard a Vornskr cry out on the left. The rifle was swerved around, shooting three shots in quick succession towards the enemy sound. He heard Karneth fire three more shots in the opposite direction. There were more inbound.

"Keep them off. I'll grab the last of the Ysalamiri and three saplings." Corruck yelled as he prepared to jump off of the car.

"How about we take turns."

"Wouldn't want you to get bored. Sure." Corruck smiled as he leaped forward, shooting another shot right at another Vornskr. His shot proved off the mark and he forced himself to roll as he hit the ground. As he came up again, two more shots fell right on the beast. Karneth let loose a small laugh as he turned back and continued firing at the incoming pack. Corruck ran to the closest tree, jumped into it and carefully began working on one of the Ysalamiri. The creature let out a plaintive cry as it was pulled off the tree. It did not like how it was being handled, however it was still quiet healthy.

Corruck collected three more and worked his way over the trees to then fall directly onto the car. He patted one of the Ysalamiri on the head before tapping Karneth. Karneth jumped off without a single moment's delay, dropped his gun onto the cart as he rolled smoothly across ground. His movements were completed with an elegance that could only have been completed with great training. He was up in a tree before any of the Vornskr could reach him.

Corruck laughed to himself as he dropped another of the beasts. This one had made it all the way onto the car, meaning that he now had one pet for the future. He took a quick look around, there seemed to be no end to the waves of creatures. He felt for another magazine of rounds for his gun, he knew that they couldn't hold out too much longer. Before he could think much beyond that, Karneth dropped from the trees above with five Ysalamiri on his shoulders. Corruck jumped off, this time heading for a sapling. This would be much more dangerous as he would not be in the trees.

He heard another Vornskr nearby him and tried to roll underneath the creature, but its tail was able to tag Corruck, leaving a long red mark along his back as it cut through his clothes. The creature fell right as it passed over him. Corruck looked at the nearest sapling and ran to it, not looking around.

He reached it without too much trouble, he pulled the tree up by the roots and sprinted over to the car. He touched Karneth lightly on the shoulder and the man was instantly rolling away. This was going to be a long night.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Fifteen minutes into the future and Corruck and Karneth were riding the damaged grav car out of the forest. They had collected three saplings and approximately twenty Ysalamiri. Unfortunately, one Ysalamir had died when Karneth dropped from a tree too high up. Karneth had tried to save it, but it had died and the drop had left Karneth's left leg broken. Corruck had had to collect the remaining number of Ysalamir. Corruck had gotten three more tail scratches and a broken rib from one of the Vornskr landing on top of him.

Aside from that everyone was alright... not that they were in a great condition. There were about five stunned Vornskr about the car. The Ysalamiri were all complaining to come extent or another. Corruck was incredibly tired and Karneth was moaning a little. Corruck had administered a small bacta bandage to Karneth's leg, though it didn't really alleviate the pain. He would still need more medical attention from one of the medical bays on the Recalcitrant.

As the grav car made its painfully slow way towards the ship off in the distance, Corruck could see the lights from the ship in. Nothy had obviously kept them running so that she would know if any creatures or people came within reach of it. Corruck looked over at the slumped forms of the animals around him. It all seemed quiet now, only the slight sound of breathing showed any sign of life from the forms.

Ten minutes later they were close enough that Corruck could see that Sheera and Rathur had returned from their side of the expedition. Apparently they had not had the same trouble that Karneth and he had come across. Sheera and Rathur came running as soon as they noticed that there was no one walking around the outside of the car. Their assumption had been that Corruck and Karneth would walk it back in just in case. Rathur picked up Corruck and carried him inside the Recalcitrant while Sheera did the same for Karneth. They were taken to the ship's med room where Nothy had already pulled out the basic medical supplies. The ancient looking medical droid lumbered in, and began treating Corruck and Karneth. Corruck was soon free to leave, unlike Karneth who needed to be kept an eye on because the broken leg had opened a wound that might have been infected.

Corruck found that the cars had been loaded onto the ship, the Ysalamiri had been set into their frames, the Vornskr had been put into a cage, and six saplings were arrayed along a wall in the main cargo compartment. Corruck found Sheera and Rathur talking inside the cargo hold, apparently talking about the trees and Ysalamiri. When Corruck came in they both turned to him and asked if he was alright. Corruck replied with a grunt, they had some questions.

"Corruck, these saplings. I think they will need to be kept in the planet's soil if they are to survive the trip."

Corruck had not thought of that before, he had known that getting the trees off planet had been a problem for many an explorer who attempted it. This may be the answer, though it may just end in the plants dying.

"Very good. Tomorrow we'll get to digging out a lot of soil. We will also be going to collect what branches and leaves we can."

"Very good. Now you should go get a rest." Rathur was obviously thinking of continuing his talk with Sheera. This was going to be quiet night for Corruck, unless the med droid decided to keep him under surveillance to make sure the rib healed properly.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

The night had been restful, no droid waking him, no worrying about having to move quickly the next morning to collect Ysalamiri. He awoke ten minutes after sun rise, feeling much better. Of course his rib was not fully healed, however it was sufficiently healed to allow him to help a little in the work outside the ship. He found that Sheer and Rathur were already working at collecting soil. They had about half a ton of the dirt on ship. Corruck had assumed that the trees would require more dirt as it grew. He had guessed that there was something in the soil that was unique to the planet and that that something was what the trees needed to survive. Because of this, Corruck had suggested that they collect one half-ton of top soil and one half-ton of deep soil for every tree.

Karneth was still under sedation, with a bacta patch securely wrapped around his leg. Corruck asked the droid doctor how his condition was, the droid replied that Rathur was alright and near the final stages of recovery. The fracture had been more severe than originally anticipated however it would not be permanent granted that the bacta patch stayed on.

With that taken care of, Corruck took the fully functional grav car, that Sheera and Rathur had been using the previous evening, and made his way to the forest that Sheer and Rathur had gone to last night. He found that this forest was considerably more bright than the one he had gone to with Karneth. The forest was littered with branches, leaves, and miscellaneous plant parts.

Corruck spent the next hour and a half alternating between carrying large handfuls of those plant parts to the grav car and using the car to transport the loads back to the Recalcitrant. He found two or three Vornskr during his collecting, however they seemed more timid during the day and did not attack. By the evening of that day the Recalcitrant had lifted off of the planet and had began preparations for the jump to lightspeed.

Corruck was surprised, he had expected trouble on this first run to the planet. The ship's cargo bays were practically full, 87 Ysalamiri, five saplings, six and a half tons of soil (both top soil and deep soil), and one ton of flora from the forests. One of the trees had not survived the exit of the planet, so Corruck had the other five immediately transplanted into large pots and filled with extra soil. He hoped that this would solve the problem of transportation. He ordered Nothy to move one of the trees back into a different hold. He intended on keeping one, the healthiest by the end of the journey, and have it planted at his base. This was worth a cracked rib and a day or so of torment.

The hunt was at an end and now Corruck would turn in the captured creatures and the plants. He would keep the extra for himself. What a prize, they were expecting plant parts, one that had died, and now they were going to get much more...