Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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First Reply One Man's Trash

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Location: Dagobah Swamps, near ruined Jedi Temple
Objective: Battlefield Salvage
Equipment: Cobalt's Shotgun, Cobalt's WSS, Radiation Detector, Vibroknife

Cobalt trudged through the swamp, deftly avoiding deep pockets of water. Occasionally, he'd climb a tree, balancing over long branches to travel through areas he didn't like the look of. There was more than just mud to watch out for here. A titanic battle between Helix Solutions' droids and the Trade League's clone forces had scoured countless square miles of swampland. Toxic chemical weapons had been used, and large parts of the area were still sizzling with rads.

He could tolerate radiation better than most, but the concentrations here would still cook him like an egg if he wandered into them. It wasn't hard to tell where they were, either. His radiation detector clicked wildly when he got near one, but even without it, he'd know. Jungles were living things, and no area stayed clear long. Vines spread to reclaim areas, new trees popped up, and in a few years time it was hard to tell a clearing had ever been there. Anyplace that was still ash after all this time was not a place to be. Not unless one wanted to spend their last moments hacking up their own lungs.

Rads were bad enough. His people lived with them, grew up with them. Some even considered them sacred. They were dangerous, but they were familiar. That couldn't be said about everything here.

He'd already passed hundreds, if not thousands of skeletonized human corpses, clad in a white armor that anyone in the galaxy knew by sight. They weren't alone. Droids were here too, dead in numbers even greater. Both were scattered about in mounds, amidst seemingly endless dunes of ash that now bordered the swamps. He'd tried to pass through, but the rad concentrations were such that they'd be fatal in seconds, even to him. Most life forms would get their ticket punched the instant they even got close. The ash dunes stood like an impassable wall between him and his target: what was left of the Jedi Temple.

Word had it that the Trade League hadn't been all that died in this fateful place. The Sith forces had sacked and destroyed a Jedi Temple that had once been here. The forces of Darth Carnifex had ruined the place so thoroughly that there would be little left... at least to most eyes. He had a keener eye for value than most, and there was always at least something in even the most ruined of places. The Hutts might pay well for anything there. Criminals liked their trinkets and trophies, especially ones like the Hutts who could casually purchase planets.

He'd been circling the borders of the ash dunes for a while now, trying to find a path through that wouldn't fry him the second he set foot on it. So far, he'd had no luck. He'd passed a few dead scavs who had the same idea, but much less experience. From the looks of it, they'd dropped a few seconds after touching the dunes. He was confident he'd find the way through, but it wouldn't be easy.

Finally; he found a promising spot. A narrow strip of greenery that ran onward in the right direction. He checked his counter. Still high rads, but surviveable to a Scab, or anyone smart enough to wear protection. He pulled his shotgun from its holster, steeled himself, and moved on. With any luck at all, this would at least get him close to the Temple's ruins.

 
CURRENT MISSION - Tomb Raiding
Immediate Goals -
1: Pick apart salvage...

FRIEND(s) - Hopefully many!

FOE(s) - Hopefully none

TARGETING ACTION(S) - "Cobalt" "Cobalt" || OPEN

Ruined temples spoke of opportunities, ruined Jedi ones were especially high risk. Well treated beskar'gam barely endured the radiation, the gift of the Force to guide her, and the ever resilient and adaptable Vanquo's Dragon juvenile as her ever faithful companion, this invisible enemy was the Lasat's greatest foe.

There would be many invisible enemies, she was certain of it, as the foot-long pale drakeling shivered under the clumps of radiation in the distance, the Mandalorian's senses were on edge. Under the looming shadow of the Black-Iron Tyrant, the hated scourger of her people's homeworld, had savaged this temple of the Jettii, and while she had never met one in person - she felt at least a distant respect towards the ancient Knights of the Republic.

Another person, moving deftly through the narrow strips of overgrown greenery to their shared destination. It would be prudent for her to remain in their peripheral, scavengers tended to get testy over their "marks"...
 
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Location: Dagobah, nearing the Jedi Temple
Objective: Play it safe
Equipment: Unchanged
Tags: Kebii'kara Solus Kebii'kara Solus

Cobalt swatted a large, bloodsucking insect from the air with a quiet growl of annoyance. The good news was that the rads were dropping steadily as he moved on. The bad news was that this meant the insects were able to get close to him. Most seemed to lose interest quickly: Scab blood wasn't the healthiest of meals. Some, however, were a little more determined. These, he crushed with the barrel of his shotgun or his bare hands.

Bugs always seemed to be everywhere. He'd picked salvage from deserts, volcanic hellscapes, toxic junk planets, the works. Barring the cold places, they all had bugs. Cobalt didn't much care for anything with that many eyes and legs (except as food, maybe), and he'd never been given occasion to think that the enmity wasn't mutual. Small bugs bit, large bugs usually liked to hide in the places he salvaged. Occasionally, they were larger than him.

The thought of that made his knuckles whiten around the grip of his shotgun. He didn't want to imagine the things that squirmed and scuttled and crawled in a place like this. He quickened his pace accordingly.

Ahead was a large network of trees, whose upper branches had intertwined in a dizzying nest of wood and vines. Little light filtered down through the mess, and the swamp became gloomier and gloomier as he moved. He caught a lower branch, and began to haul himself up. Taking a seat on a large protruding log, he dug in his pack.

Lowering the respirator he habitually wore, he took a bite of a half-eaten ration bar. There wasn't a lot left. Extremely calorie-dense stuff, but Scabs ate enough for three, as far as most humanoids were concerned. Considering that, he looked around, spotting a large, apparently predatory insect on the trunk of the tree nearby. He deftly seized it, taking a bite as it struggled. Bitter, but juicy. Calories were calories, and he'd eaten worse to stay alive.

The creature got its revenge though, clamping down on one of his fingers with sharp claws. "Ah, frag!" He barked, unable to stop himself. He reflexively dropped the half-eaten corpse, which toppled into the water nearby with a splash.

Cobalt stared down at it ruefully, and briefly considered going down to retrieve it. This ambition was immediately thwarted when the corpse vanished under the water with a second loud splash, taken by some unseen aquatic predator. He shook his head. This commotion might attract attention. Attention was something a scavenger rarely wanted. He stayed still, waiting and listening.

 
CURRENT MISSION - Tomb Raiding
Immediate Goals -
1: Pick apart salvage...

FRIEND(s) - Hopefully many!

FOE(s) - Hopefully none

TARGETING ACTION(S) - "Cobalt" "Cobalt" || OPEN

Ears flattened as the exclamation was heard through Force-sharpened senses. The presence she had sensed was confirmed to at least be sapient, and an ordinary scavver. During her tenure as part mercenary, part knight errant, she had dined and fought alongside the more destitute of the Galaxy's denizens, so she didn't begrudge their presence here - salvage meant credits, and credits made the Galaxy go 'round.

Still, the ripple of aquatic predators, shaking the local ecosystem out of it's pause, as the beskar clad Lasat clambered up a winding gnarl of branches into an exposed area. Her pale drakeling companion was eager to get out of the rancid air... until three painful breaths later, before she came screaming out, eliciting small bursts of fire as she wove around, evading the rather irate smattering of far-too large bugs.

Instinctively, the Lasat used the Force to swat, crush, and generally dissuade from turning her longtime companion into the next snack, but then the rest of the pack warped and coiled in their flight path, before descending upon her. She fought bravely, but she couldn't stick to the side of the walls, before being forced back down onto the ground by cruel gravity and crueler nature.

One crack, two. She was certainly going to feel that in the morning - assuming the buzzing quintet of far-too-large pseudo-insectoids didn't devour her first.
 
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Location: Dagobah, near the Jedi Temple ruins
Objective: Help the stranger
Equipment: Unchanged
Tags: Kebii'kara Solus Kebii'kara Solus


Cobalt's worries were immediately proven to be well-founded. His own commotion was answered by another one, not far off. Already knowing he'd regret it, he succumbed to his species' legendary curiousity. His boots hit the muddy ground with a squelch, and he made for the source of the noise.

It didn't take him long to find the cause. A stranger, along with a curious reptilian animal he was unfamiliar with, were being harassed by the local wildlife. He took in the scene quickly. A Mandalorian? At least, the armor looked like it.

The smart part of him wanted to keep moving while the locals were distracted. The decent part, however, told him it was an ugly way to let someone die, and he had plenty to answer for already when he stood before his ancestors one day.

He sighed, raised his shotgun, and fired.

A large chunk of the central swarm exploded, showering the immediate area in foul-smelling entrails. He worked the lever, and fired again. Another insect burst, and then another.

"Get up, stranger!" He barked. "Plenty for the both of us!"

Tucking the weapon away, he drew a slugthrower sporting a suppressor. Flicking the selector to single-shot, he aimed carefully. One of the buzzing horrors, engaged in harassing the reptile, toppled as it was cut in half. The racket so far would likely draw more, so it was imperative that they dealt with the immediate threat and moved on as quickly as possible.

 

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