Campaign The Collectors #1 - Riches For Guys and Galls

[Okkeus Dainlei]

Gallinore

He touched down on the planet less than an hour ago. The X-Wing was already cooled down, helped from the calm breeze blowing through the valley.

Gallinore was a place he hadn’t even heard of tell a few days ago. Turns out, not many people had heard of it either. But something very interesting, and expensive, was on this planet. Something that appeared nowhere else in the entire galaxy: Rainbow Gems.

The group had gathered here today to test their luck. An abandoned mine from many centuries ago was left for them to journey through. If they could make it through and find one of these gems, they could be set for life credits-wise. Or those that chose could wield a very rare rainbow-blades lightsaber.

In the sky, the sun was slowly starting to make its way towards the horizon. Hopefully they could be in and out before sunset. He wasn’t sure what came out at night here in Gallinore, but he didn’t really want to find out.

After waiting for a few more minutes, and with no more ships landed, he decided to start the journey.

“Alright y’all, from what I’ve heard, there is a patch of these Rainbow Gems deep within this mine. Enough for all of us to have one, and maybe a few spares. Let’s try to stick together. Don’t need anyone getting lost.”

With that out of the way, he started to lead the group into the mineshaft. His lightsaber flicked on, giving off some light. By the end of this, they could all be having a very good day.

Spoiler: Tags

Morgayne Muirgheal
A ARS VAMI
Yula Perl
CETCOM
Linny Rennis
Zinn Zinn Bink'sa
Silas Sunfyre
Korum Krov
Rose Ann Lovely
Aaran Tafo
Leea Pandac

 

[Korum Krov]

Korum Had arrived a little over a half hour before hand, landing far enough away to enjoy a walk. Gallinore was new to him but, he wasn't admiring his surroundings like he normally would. He kept his focus dead ahead toward the old mine. He'd heard about this... opportunity through rumors and hearsay. A gem so valuable a single stone could be worth a cruiser. It sounded almost too good to be true but, he figured that it would be worth the risk to find out.

Approaching the old mineshaft Korum saw a group of people gathered around. He stayed in the back of the crowd and kept quiet. He paid special attention to the young mans information, and waited till most others had entered the cave before following them himself. Walking in the dark, he dragged his fingers along the rock wall, following the faint glow from the man's lightsaber down the tunnel.

 

[Morgayne Muirgheal]

Morgayne followed Okkeus Dainlei and the others, using the light on her helmet to help light the way. She had heard of Gallinore's rainbow gems and their rarity. If she remembered correctly, they were actually animals of some sort. So far, the Alor had no plans for that she would do with her gem. Perhaps she would embed it in the beskar trident she had, strapped over the repulsor pack the Melodie wore that kept her thirty or so centimeters above the ground. Or maybe it would go elsewhere. Perhaps in her beskar'gam? Whatever she decided, it would be passed down through the generations after her. Until she decided, it would remain safe in her ship.

 

[Leea Pandac]

It seemed there was always another world that would surprise her. The young Mirialan had known in her head that there would be worlds she had never seen the likes of before, but oftentimes she was nonetheless surprised when she discovered a planet that was foreign to her experience. Gallinore was such a planet, the environment was not too different, but the mines and apparently not a small number of research facilities were something she was unaccustomed to. Who hadn't heard of mining in this galaxy, but Leea had never been down a mine before, today appeared to be a time of new experiences.

"What would you do with that kind of money?" She asked herself while travelling to the meet point. It seemed a fair question, given that these gems were so valuable.

Quiet for a while, Leea finally answered thoughtfully, "Maybe I'll keep the gem. I mean, the money is nice and all. But it has its limits..."

Having arrived before some but after others, Leea took her place and listened to the brief. The description Okkeus offered reminded her of the Jedi crystal trials. Leea wondered how they would find the gems, but then she was certain that they would be pretty obvious so long as they weren't to well hidden in the rocks. As in many cases in the past, she decided the best way to proceed was to trust in her abilities, and perhaps call upon the Force if that would help at all. "This will definitely be a learning experience."

 

[Silas Sunfyre]

Disembarking from his ship, he slipped his arms through the sleeves of his jacket. Fur lined, it quickly became comforting. The warmth it provided an after thought in comparison to the familiarity. Sighing, he gave a look around.

A real break from all of that violence.

To be away from all of that carnage, at least for a while... He could do with the break.

The world Gallinore meant little to him, but the promise of riches and exploration had drawn him here all the same. The possibilities where endless with a single rainbow gem. His own ship, his own place, he could stop living out of a ship. Probably his own apartment block. The dangerous work of Black Ops could be an afterthought. Quit altogether.

Endless.

"The Consortium not gonna mind their gems getting snatched?"

Okkeus Dainlei

 

[Okkeus Dainlei]

The group started to venture off deeper into the mineshaft. It definently showed signs of work, but that had since stopped. From what he had heard, the business was good for people in the beginning. But as soon as they struck what they were looking for, the operations ended. No reason for them to work anymore.

It was nice that some of the others provided sources of light as well, since his lightsaber wasn't doing much by itself. The low hum echoed throughout the cavern. Slowly the sound started to increase. Maybe a dead end soon. Guess they would have to find out.

Before that, he turned around to see who had spoken up. Um...Silas...that was his name, right? He didn't remember. Names were never his strong suit, so he'd be lucky if he got it right.

"Well, the Consortium doesn't have to know about the gems we are taking. Plus, I bet we could all use the credits more than those government higher-ups."

Right as his head turned back around, he was greeted with a large wooden plank blocking the path. Good thing it was there, or the group would have gone tumbling down into the pit below.

Looking across, he knew that he could easily make the jump. But he wasn't sure about everyone else. He couldn't go back on his original rule of splitting up. Some sort of spilt ion had to pop up.

"Any of y'all got an idea on how to cross this?"

Silas Sunfyre | A ARS VAMI | Leea Pandac | Morgayne Muirgheal | Korum Krov

 

[Morgayne Muirgheal]

Morgayne noticed a stalactite in the middle of the cave roof above the pit. "Maybe I could use my grappling hook and swing across, then detach it from my vambrace and send it back to the other side." The Melodie suggested. "Or you could use the Force and toss us over," she added with a shrug.

 

[Korum Krov]

“I have a way across but, Unfortunately It‘ll only accommodate myself.“Korum said gesturing to the broom on his back. He walked up towards the edge of the hole, peering down into the darkness. He kicked a rock down Into the pit to try and hear how deep it was. “If you have all your own way across then perhaps, or perhaps we could build a bridge?“ Looking at the others as he spoke. A few moments later the hollow sound of the rock was heard hitting the bottom chasm.

 

[Leea Pandac]

At first, Leea had been quite irritated by the realization that this might be a government-owned mine. Perhaps she had been naive in assuming that this place was truly abandoned and that it was either free territory or otherwise totally abandoned. She had not planned on breaking the law... at least not here and now. But then she remembered that this place was basically abandoned, based on the lack of equipment and personnel. If the Consortium had really wanted these things for themselves, they would have been sending teams down to secure the mines and get to work. As it was, this place was eerie in its silence, the only sources of noise being the travellers that passed through.

The light of Okkeus' lightsaber, though dim, was comforting in a way. At least in this dark and strange place, there was something she recognized quite clearly, even if she was not a fan of the tool itself. The Mirialan found the sound rather more aggravating, it seemed to bounce and echo rather oddly in these caverns and she didn't know if that was normal or something to do with her in particular. She continued on in relative silence, not wanting to detract from the mood of the moment, or to potentially miss a gem hiding in the walls.

As the group arrived at their first proper hurdle, Leea had already dropped her pack and was rummaging through it as others began to give suggestions. Having been at least mildly prepared for some extra climbing, although she had not really expected to use them underground, the soldier retrieved two devices from the collection of equipment. Producing them, she gave each a cursory once over and activated the disk-like tools. Adhesion disks that had been specifically modified to act as anchors for climbing, but could still be used as solo climbing equipment effectively, if not comfortably. "Anyone have some rope or something to string up durable like? I've got some anchors and we could put em in the walls or floors to keep some structure in place, those that are fit enough can climb across and the rest could be pulled. That's assuming anyone else needs help crossing."

From the sounds of it, perhaps only one or two might need to work together to cross. That's good. Leea didn't think she could make the jump, but with her little discs she could climb carefully over and based on the length of time for the stone drop, she did not want to fall down there. It wasn't a short drop, that was much was certain.

Okkeus Dainlei

 

[Okkeus Dainlei]

He listened to all of the groups suggestions and ideas. Some of them were good, and others were...well yeah. As he tried to think of a solution, he turned around to see the the young Jedi walking towards the dropoff.

“Hey, stop!”

The young Jedi didn’t listen, and instead just kept walking. He was surprised to see that the boy was walking on thin air, as if there was ground underneath him.

What shocked him was the Jedi’s response. A hidden bridge? Interesting. Definitely something he hadn’t seen yet. But at least that solved their problem.

“Guess we can keep on moving.”

Cautiously walking across the bridge, he made sure to watch as the others crossed, hoping this walkway wouldn’t suddenly give out. Once they were all across, he continued leading them deeper into the mine.

Up ahead he saw a faint glow illuminating the surrounding area. The glow was multicolored, much like a rainbow. This must be it.

Rounding a nearby corner he saw it. One of the most fascinating array of colors he had ever seen. Growing out of the wall was the famous Rainbow Gem. Doing a quick count, it looked like the group could gather at least one, possibly two each.

“Haha, we found them! This is amazing!”

He still couldn’t believe his eyes as he celebrated. Never again would he have to worry about money. This was their ticket to living the good life.

A ARS VAMI | Leea Pandac | Korum Krov | Morgayne Muirgheal | Silas Sunfyre

 

[Korum Krov]

Korum's head tilted watching one of the group begin to walk across the air. He was surprised since they'd seemed unsure of her own abilities, yet was able to walk across what looked to be air effortlessly. When he heard the explanation however, he only had more questions. After the young man that'd led them here had crossed he followed soon after, and when they'd begun to walk again he asked Are you suggesting someone is trying to stop us? gesturing around to the group.

Korum stopped mouth open once they'd rounded a corner. They were amazing, the gems seemed to shift color depending on the location they were looked at. All he could manage to say was "Marvelous"as he scanned the walls for one that'd suit him.

 

[Morgayne Muirgheal]

As A ARS VAMI and Okkeus Dainlei crossed, Morgayne's eyes widened under her helmet. She followed close behind Korum Krov on the bridge. When the Melodie saw the gems, she gasped. They were beautiful. "Whoa," the Alor breathed, looking for a gem that would suit her, perhaps one that went with her clan's colors.

 

[Leea Pandac]

As the others began to make their way across, Leea returned the climbing equipment back to her pack and smiled at the simple solution. Unknown and unprepared for, yet serendipity came through in the end. Sometimes, the Mirialan wondered, sometimes life truly did have strange and unexpected solutions to complexities. Was it a sign of the Force, or merely the chances of life?

Leea didn't dwell on the thoughts long, turning her attention swiftly to continued travels. As they continued to traverse the mines, delving ever deeper into the inky depths. It was at once both an intriguing new experience and a hellish one. Every now and again, a sound would catch her ear, a noise that triggered warnings in her mind. It took her a while to determine they were just echoes, warped by the odd spaces and crannies within the hard stone pathways. It was not until right towards the end that she was able to convince herself to stop paying attention to the sounds she heard, trusting that others might catch what she could not.

Then, rounding the bend after the others, her gaze was captivated by the brilliance of the gems in the wall. Leea had not expected something like this. Beauty had been anticipated, but this was something else. "I didn't know a stone could have so many colours..." She spoke softly as she moved to take a closer look at the gemstones.

Okkeus Dainlei Korum Krov Morgayne Muirgheal A ARS VAMI Silas Sunfyre