Otajayr: Return to Resol'nare

[Progflaw99]

Otajayr : Return to Resol'nare​

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Location: In Orbit of the Planet Felucia aboard a small vessel called "The Genesis".
Objective: Hunt the Legendary Jungle Rancor


A low hum reverberated throughout the ship, the gentle thrumming of the engines the only indication they were actually moving. They'd been travelling since the morning and were now likely to arrive within the hour, somewhere near Felucia, for that is where their quest had taken them. The planet lie on the outskirts of what was now Silver Sanctum Space though it was unlikely that their foray would garner any unwanted attention. As the ship continued on it's way the pilot, a grizzly looking man who looked like he'd stepped out of one of those spaghetti western holotapes, keyed in a few commands into the console. As he did so, the speaker in the rear lounge cackled to life, a brief surge of static before his voice came over the comm.

"Thought you all should know, just about at our stop. Give or take about forty five minutes to get dropped out of hyperspace and down to the surface." Another burst of static passed through the speakers before they went dead.

Their pilot had been contracted through a message board at one of the space stations Buruk had been selling hides at, the advert beating out a lot of the commercial transport services by hundreds of credits. Buruk had yet to formally introduce himself to his fellow hunt pack, having only communicated electronically to this point. [member="[member="Denn Ralto"]"] had been the one to greet them as they boarded, explaining that the hunt organizer "Burke" was finalizing a few of the last bits of their strategy and would greet them later. He'd been the perfect host, offering them the full run of his limited supply of whiskey and refreshments in the lounge of his small courier vessel, a refitted YG-4210.

Now, Buruk was in the ship's guest quarters, poring over an enlarged map displaying a topographical layout of a several square kilometer grid. A few prominent features were marked such as danger zones and creature nests to avoid. In addition a small uncovered outcropping was marked as a landing zone. The man stood 6' 2'', his piercing gray-blue eyes searching the map one final time before he rose to full height. Reaching down, he gathered up the map, folding it neatly into a small pouch. It was time. He'd heard the alert as well, and he wanted to go over the plan with the others before they arrived. He'd mapped out what he thought the best plan of attack was, but he wanted to run it past them, it was always good to have a second opinion. Buruk had gotten responses from at least two others who were in for the hunt. He was hoping to have at least one or two more, but they'd make do. Besides, others could show up yet. Reaching up, he ran his fingers along his scalp as he inhaled deeply. Time to make the introductions.

With a small hydraulic hiss the door to the secondary quarters opened and Buruk took an elongated step directly out into the lounge. The lounge was set up as you might expect for a small ship, not overly roomy but quite comfortable all things considered. Buruk faced the lounge, his eyes moving slowly from one man to the next as he scanned right to left. [member="[member="Gray Raxis"]"] and [member="[member="Rylan Thatcher"]"] had been invited to join him on the "Genesis" for the flight, though he'd also made it clear that if they wanted to have their ships on standby, that would also be acceptable. He smiled at the two as he cleared his throat before beginning.


"Vod An" he lowered his head in a slow nod towards Gray. "Good to have you here brother." Looking at the other man, he greeted him slightly differently.

"Welcome aboard. You may call me Burke, if it suits you. I trust the amenities are to your satisfaction?" He turned towards them both clasping the map pouch as he spoke.

"My name is Buruk, or Burke Sur'haai, and I'm very glad you could make it. I apologize for my late introduction as there were a few details I had to iron out regarding our plans." He paused, somewhat dramatically. "I genuinely hope you are as excited as I am to partake int his hunt, it shall be a challenging one, of that I have no doubt."

Reaching out to a small panel on the wall, he pressed a button and a table began to rise out of the deck plating. As it locked in place, he stood at the end of the table, excitedly unfolding the map as he continued speaking.

"Are there any questions up front that either of you have? I trust you received the coordinates I sent you both in case you'd like to have your ships nearby in case of any emergencies?"

He waited for their responses. They all knew what their end goal was, now they just needed to hash out a few of the final details and then the hunt was on. The surface of Felucia held many dangers, not only the Rancor after which they seek, but Acklays and other deadly creatures. It would be no walk in the park and he hoped the men had prepared. For this voyage, they'd been able to stow some of their gear in the cockpit but the larger equipment had to be placed in exterior storage compartments they'd be able to access once they landed.

*At Kote... Oya'karir Busa'ga*

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

Rylan had jumped on the idea of a good hunt, once word of it had come to him. He'd never been hunting for beasts before, but he was more willing to try new things as of late. His host seemed to be a pleasant man, and from the way he interacted with the other man in the room, he assumed both to be Mandalorian in their roots. He'd heard snippets of the language through the years as well, picking up little hints and phrases, some of them he had memorized. One he like in particular was Vod , the term for brother. Though he was not Mandalorian, he had been considered as much from one Jedi, [member="Xander Carrick"], who was one. They had shared a bond, one he was assured was not easily broken. His hand clasped around the tusk on his neck, a gift from Xander. He'd worn it every day since then, right next to the crystal given to him by his fiance. As his mind returned to reality, he listened to Buruk's pleasantries, thanking him and the other for joining on the hunt. Rylan offered a smile in return. "Thank you Buruk, I'm glad to be here." For the occasion, he wore a light leather jacket over a rugged shirt, and padded jeans. Strapped to his side in a leg holster was Absolution , his pistol, and his blackblade rifle slung across his back. His sword was left in his ship, both because he had no intention on getting too close to the rancor, and because he didn't want any situation to come about where he was deduced to being a force user. For all purposes and intent, he wanted that side to remain hidden for the duration of the hunt.

[member="Buruk Surhaai"] [member="Gray Raxis"]

 

[Gray Raxis]

Equipment: Armor, Arc rifle, revolver, halberd, lightsaber Whisper (hidden)

Gray waited aboard the ship with his equipment at hand. He had his Mandalorian styled armor on with his revolver strapped to his right leg, the arc rifle across his back, and his halberd leaning against his left shoulder with his left hand resting on its handle. He looked odd for sure, but that didn't matter so much when it came to heading into battle or the hunt, not that he had hunted too many things before. He had a little experience with it, but not nearly the level that the host of this hunt had. What Gray did have was experience working with others with little to no coordination before hand. So he was just going to have to rely upon that here and hope it paid off for him.

Gray listened to what [member="Buruk Surhaai"] had to say to him and the other guy who had showed up [member="Rylan Thatcher"] for the hunt. It was just niceties right now, which was fine and all, but Gray was more curious about the plan he had come up for the hunt was. He waited a moment for them both to finish speaking then he said with a smile on his face, " Thank you and greeting to you both. I am Gray Raxis." He paused a moment then continued on, " So what is our plan for this hunt? I figured the best weapons would be non-lethal or able to be non-lethal, so we can capture the beasts on the hunt. But with that in mind, how are we going to handle this? I am not the most experienced with hunting creatures, more experience with hunting people. Anything we should know or keep in mind as well? Just trying to make sure we have as much information going into this as possible."

 

[Dezoti]

Well, now this was a reunion.

Krest walked right into the room with [member="Gray Raxis"] , [member="Rylan Thatcher"] , and [member="Buruk Surhaai"] . He had kept his gear on him, namely his sword and gun,, and was dressed in the normal merc gear he had picked up and thrown together and had become his own unique style. "If you're going to hunt a Rancor, especially one that big, non lethal will end up getting you killed. You're gonna have to hurt it, and hurt it good." Rather casually the Templar walked to the table, both hands clasped behind his head. This wasn't the first hunt of a large creature he had been on.

But he had never tried a Rancor. Especially this kind.

"Unless, of course, our host has a plan to capture it."

 

[Progflaw99]

Buruk looked to [member="Gray Raxis"] as he spoke. The man had valid questions, and he was glad that the fellow Mandalorian had asked. Now that the map had been laid out on the table, he pointed to a blue circle outlined on the map. Just as he was about to speak, a hydraulic hiss could be heard, the door to the refresher down the hall opening. He smirked as the man approached. He had forgotten about that one. Another of their vod. This was turning into quite the family gathering. He nodded as the man introduced himself and motioned for the man to take a seat as he turned back to the map.

"Here..." He said, pointing once more to the blue circle. "...is where we land. There's a nice little bluff and it will give us a good line of sight over the surrounding terrain. As you may have noticed, the terrain is rough, and I expect most of this to be covered in dense jungle. Have any of you been to Felucia before?"

He paused. There were many dangers on the surface of Felucia. Not only the Rancor but Acklays, Sarlaccs, and even the native Felucians. The Felucians usually kept to themselves, however they were violently protective of their turf and their creatures. It had been said the entire planet shared a symbiosis, many living beings tied to the same body. It didn't help matters that the native Felucians were innately strong force users.

"There are many dangers here, Acklays, Sarlaccs, and if we run into Felucians... the best policy is to simply avoid detection." He pointed towards the yellow oval on the map. "Here, is where the natives have a small village. It's mostly shaman... so we'll have to avoid them if possible, the goal is not to kill any of the locals, this isn't a combat mission." Taking a small breath to make sure everyone was following still he pointed to first the red rectangle and then the two small black dots. "Here, is where the Rancor den should be located based on the local geography, and these two spots are known sarlacc pits which we should avoid if possible. In addition, this space here..." He pointed to the space directly between the landing zone and the suspected lair location. "...is un-traversable due to a particularly nasty batch of poisonous fauna."

That had covered the main plan of attack at least, he wanted to see where the other men thought they should travel before revealing his particular idea regarding a path of travel. Now onto the weapons. Buruk had done a significant amount of research on the subject and had a number of experiences to pull knowledge from regarding weapons that did and didn't work well for the hunt. It also highly depended on whether your goal was to kill or capture. Of course this was the latter, and he had a plan for that. Acknowledging Gray's question, he spoke again.

"Ah, weapons, one of my favorite topics. You will want to be sure you have a lethal weapon in case we are faced with any of the aforementioned beasts, Acklays can be quite nasty, especially during rutting season. I will tell you now, that if we do indeed come into contact with the natives... you will want to have a good blaster at your side, they are not a foe to be trifled with. As for the non-lethal option, I have a solution."

He grinned, turning around and reaching back inside the doorway to the secondary crew quarters. There inside the room was an object which he retrieved, dramatically turning around and holding it out before him.

"You will each be given two of these, the cost of which will come evenly off the top of our acquisition as they are not cheap."

Buruk went over how to use them, explaining the advantages and disadvantages, as well as the range. He also went into great detail explaining how to best aim and fire for the limbs of the rancor as once they had pinned it down or hampered it they could deliver stunning shocks to knock it unconscious. He went on to explain that once it had been incapacitated, he would send a communication to [member="Denn Ralto"] who in turn would send an encrypted signal to a freighter with a containment cell located in orbit. They would then be able to load up the Rancor and split, their meeting place safe again within Mandalorian owned space. He didn't expect to run into the Silver Sanctum out here but they were in their space afterall.

After going over all of this he once more opened up the floor for questions, looking at each member of their little squad.

[member="Rylan Thatcher"] | [member="Krest"]​

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

Once it seemed like everyone had arrived, their host had begun talking, going over a map of where the hunt would be. At this time, another had joined them, which Rylan tried his hardest not to notice for the moment. It seemed the red man had taken to following him recently. First Dathomir, and now a rancor hunt on Felucia. Or, perhaps the zabrak just enjoyed hunting. Maybe the galaxy was trying to tell him something by pitting the two together; that they had something to do with each other's futures. Rylan waved his hand away physically, as if to swat away the thoughts building up in his head. He needed to keep his mind on the task at hand. Alliances would come later, after they'd bagged this beast up.

As he listened to the Mandalorian, Rylan looked over the map with intensity, memorizing the different colored areas of danger. Mapping out areas of maneuver and escape, should the need arise. He was glad to have at least one thing intact from his Jedi training- his strategizing skills. He'd never been to Felucia before, but he had heard of the many dangers on its surface. They would need a good plan to get around the obstacles set in place if they were to get to their prize, and bring it back. Once the map had been explained over well enough, the man produced several rods, which Rylan had never seen before. Taking one in his hands as it was being explained he saw how they could be of good use to the mission. If anything, he had always been good at learning on the fly. Silently though, he reminded himself of the stash of light darts he'd brought with him, five in total. He was okay with trying to capture the rancor, but if it got out of control, they were going straight into it's heart.

[member="Krest"] [member="Gray Raxis"] [member="Buruk Surhaai"]

 

[Gray Raxis]

Gray nodded to [member="Krest"] as he entered and then turned his attention back to the host of the hunt. The plan laid out by [member="Buruk Surhaai"] was rather simple yet effective. They knew their targets and some places of interest. The main problem he saw though with the whole thing was actually getting to the location of the rancor den. It was on the other side of some very deadly terrain, and unless they had something that could float above the jungle or jet packs to use they were unlikely to get through it reliably. He did see a solution to their problem, but he wasn't so sure if everyone would agree with it or not. The best bet he had though was to share it and find out.

Gray pointed to the map as he said, " So our targeted area is directly north of us and the straight path is no good. There is just too much between us from the looks of it. We can't go to the North East because of the sarlacc pits, which means it is also out of the question. Our best choice from what I see is to head to the North West. The local village might be in that area, but we might be able to convince them to leave us alone or even sneak by them. With just four of us, it is highly possible to do both options. I know it can get dangerous, but what about this hunt isn't?" He smiled to them and then waited for a reply back. His plan did have danger in it, but it was the best solution he could see.

[member="Rylan Thatcher"]

 

[Dezoti]

"It's a solid plan, and I have no objections. As for the natives, I might be able to do something or another. Shamans tend to react to shows after all." It was at this point the blue gaze fell to [member="Rylan Thatcher"] , offering a nod. What the Templar had shown him perhaps a week ago or more would certainly come in handy here. It was then he let his vision reside back on [member="Buruk Surhaai"] , offering another simple nod of his head.

"I assume there will be other Rancor in the area. Are we prepared to deal with them as well? Alive or no?"

[member="Gray Raxis"]

 

[Progflaw99]

Buruk listened intently, eyes moving from right to left but focusing on Gray as he began speaking. The man made valid points and as he continued outlining his idea, Buruk smiled. He knew well the dangers of the native Felucians, but the Sarlaccs were in this case, impassable. The man had spoken his mind and as he watched, the other man chimed in. Buruk narrowed his eyes, nodding as the man mentioned other Rancor. His question also held merit. With a curt nod, he began addressing them once more. They were nearly at their destination by the looks of it, he hoped they could agree on a plan swiftly.

"The natives will be a likely challenge to deal with, but if we are careful and prepared, will will be able to protect ourselves from them. I am with vod Raxis on this one. The logical choice would be to skirt the jungle along the western route and attempt to sneak by the natives. Now, some of you may not know or recall, but these Felucians, they are naturally force sensitive. Some say even more so than Jetii or Darjetii. It is said they are tied to the Force in ways we cannot even know. It is a good thing then that we do know our weapons, and our craft."

He paused here for a moment before continuing.

"We will take the West route, skirt along the Jungle here..." He pointed along the Western line of fauna. "...and then we will continue North to the assumed location of the Den. There will likely be other Rancor, however Rancor by nature are highly territorial. Until rutting season, they usually are spread thin. I have some additional supplies we will unload once we land, and then we shall begin. Are there any other concerns or questions?"

He posed the question but it seemed all were aware of the risks. Soon the ship would begin its descent into the planet's atmosphere, headed for the marked location on the map.

"At oya'karir!"

[member="Gray Raxis"] | [member="Rylan Thatcher"] | [member="Krest"]​

 

[Progflaw99]

The "Genesis" had dropped out of hyperspace dangerously close to Felucia's atmosphere. Whether that was skill or luck, [member="Denn Ralto"] would leave it to the passengers to guess, if they'd noticed at all. The ship drifted towards the surface, slowly entering the atmosphere and dipping in low over the jungle canopy. It's engines disturbing the uppermost layer of fauna as it thundered towards the point they were headed for. As they approached, the ship climbed slightly, engines spooling down as it settled down gently atop a small bluff overlooking the terrain. Before the engines had even fully disengaged, the boarding ramps were deployed, touching down on the rough ground beneath the ship.

The warm hot air of the Felucian jungle came wafting up into the ship, the smell of earth and plants overpowering. They had arrived. Buruk looked at the men before him. If they had any additional questions, he was sure they would ask him on their way. He slowly folded the map once more, putting it back in its satchel and fastening it to his belt. He would have to retrieve his weapons and his armor from his temporary quarters before proceeding. Already, he knew Denn was unloading the three large cargo crates of supplies and gear outside. They contained several more of the Stokhli sticks, enough for each member of the hunt to take two. Additionally there was some cable netting, a few grappling hooks and other assorted hunting equipment. If the men decided to peruse, they would find just about whatever they might need at their disposal.

"You will find additional gear if you require it outside. Take what you need, but be careful not to travel too heavy, we don't want to be detected, by the Rancor or the Felucians until it's too late."

Turning, he headed into the quarters behind him and began donning his Eukgar'gam.

[member="Krest"] | [member="Gray Raxis"] | [member="Rylan Thatcher"]​

 

[Dezoti]

"Take what I need huh?" Well, there wasn't a lot he did need, asides from the gun needed to capture the beast. And so that's what he grabbed, slinging it over his shoulder. [member="Rylan Thatcher"] got a wink from the Templar as the man slung the weapon however. "You ready for this kid?" As always, he teased the younger knight. How could he not? It was pretty odd for the pair to end up on this unique of a hunt.

"We're gonna have to use that fire of yours y'know."

[member="Buruk Surhaai"] [member="Gray Raxis"]