>>820396

“Do you see people dying here? No. Because we all live with the belief of our ancestors that someone cannot harm you if you can hurt them worse, now we have relative peace compared to our past.” She leans back into her chair across the living space, “The CIS always seemed to be just as greedy as the Republic, so fight for yourself, like we do.”

A small, common service droid glides over the stone-like floors and a glass of alcohol appears, which Shav eagerly grabs.

“So, CISboy, until we hear back from my people, I'm stuck with you. Where are we going after you get cleaned up?” She scowls at your inevitable attempt to protest being followed by her, stopping it before the words could come out. “You owe me a lot of money, and if you die I get no money. Not your choice.”

> Go salvaging and wait for a sign from the savages, revealing their existence to her
> Go salvaging, but avoid revealing the savages' existence
> Refuse harder, claim Corius is backup enough
> Other (write-in)

>>820398
> Go salvaging, but avoid revealing the savages' existence


Just to be safe

>>820398
>Go salvaging, but avoid revealing the savages' existence

>>820418
This.

>>820442
>>820434
>>820418
Post inc.

>>820398
> Go salvaging, but avoid revealing the savages' existence

>>820481
>>820478

“Salvaging it is then,” you say, standing and walking to the bathroom to clean yourself up. In the span of several minutes of quick washing, the dried blood and soot is all gone, revealing your actual skin from underneath all of the ash.

The sound of a knock fills the room, “There's new clothes for you outside the door.” Shav calls out from the living area. Quickly you open the door and grab the bundle, quickly shutting it before Shav can walk by. In your hands you hold a slightly worn pair of pants and shirt, though like most things on this planet, the soft fabric seemed fir for combat considering the leather and rough padding in some of the areas where your vital organs would be. You pull on the outfit, keeping your combat boots from the CIS, and quickly exit the room.

Shav follows you and Corius as you unlock the bolt from the door and head out to the proper area of the shop, she shows you a side door behind the counter, and you find yourself back in the plaza. Your trio is silent, Shav wearing her helmet/mask again, Corius being a droid, and you not knowing what to talk to a bounty hunter about. The silence carries you through the crowds, back through the dusky lobbies of the docks, and up to your loyal Vulture Droid NG4-HM.

You hear muffled laughter, “You're kidding me, you stole one of these mean bastards too? You must've been some engineer...” she tilts her head as Corius opens the hatch to the small cargohold, a muffled laugh is let out, “And you're riding in the cargo hold? I take it all back, shoulda stolen something with a cockpit.” The commentary continues as you climb in behind her, pulling up Corius in his folded-up form to save space in the cramped hold.

=====

ROLL 1d100 – First 5 are Counted

DICE CHECK: 60

This roll will determine the quality of wreckage you find, based off the ration of successes/failures from the 5 rolls like so -

5 Wins / 0 Failures – Excellent Loot
4 W / 1 F – Good Loot
3 W / 2F – Common findings
2 W / 3F – Simple Electronics Salvage
1 W / 4 F – Simple Metal Salvage
0 W / 5 F – Nothing of Value

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>820575

Rolled 49 (1d100)

>>820575
Rawhide

Rolled 85 (1d100)

>>820575

Rolled 59 (1d100)

>>820575

Rolled 34 (1d100)

>>820575

>>820575
>>820582
>>820584
>>820597
>>820601
>>820615
Well, it's better than nothing.

>>820615
>>820601
>>820597
>>820584
>>820582
> (2W/3F) - Simple ELectronic Salvage

Ignoring the taunts of the bounty hunter crammed in next to you, you set to work at scanning for the encrypted signals of crashed CIS technology. Several small locations begin pinging, but seem so weak or so far beneath the desert that it would be a waste to even dig it up.

A larger, while darker in color pinpoint appeared on the virtual map, drawing NH4 to what seemed to be a large crater-esque geological structure that was filled almost entirely with sand. The ship drops out of the atmosphere, coming to rest next to several large hunks of ship partially buried in the sands.

Corius drops out of the hatch to investigate, and Shav scoots to fill in the space he left behind. "This is far more boring that I was hoping, no surprise there," she groans out of the mask, "I'd much rather be beating a would-be burglar senseless right now...." You ignore her and watch as Corius wades through the sandstorm to begin excavating the wreck.

"Comander, it seems to be a fallen scouter probe, it seems like it has already been picked clean of the more valuable pieces. I'm detecting no droid brain, but part of a broken distress beacon is still communicating a signal." The voice of the droid vibrated the small hold through the speakers in NH4, knocking Shav back to attention and out of her complaints.

"Let's bring it back anyways, datapad seems to be saying that the hardware is somewhat in tact, worth something atleast." You throw an obvious glance to Shav who shrugs.

"No way'a knowin till we bring it back to the shop." The smug Mandalorian sits back again, head rested in a manner that suggested she was bored. You really didn't understand her kind, and while she contented herself with watching something on a screen in her helmet, you watched Corius' cameras as he dug out, cleaned lightly, and disassembled the large beacon.

A text-alert appears on the screen from Corius, odd seeing as speech was still fully functional according to the datapad, it read:

"Commander,

I am receiving an unknown communication attempt, I have traced it back to the location of the bunker.

I believe they wish for you to come back, the coding is too much of a mess to understand if there's a message in the signal, over 10x10^58 lines of random characters from nearly 35 languages or more.

The signal keeps pulsing, and it is getting faster Commander, recommend quick response, unsure of Mandalorian's presence affecting things."



Your teeth grit, you had no idea the savages would respond so quickly, and if they locked on to Corius so soon after leaving the shell of the city, they must have been waiting for him to go back into the desert.
You'll keep the salvage with you until you return to port.

> Explain the situation to Shav, and return to the original salvage site
> Don't explain the situation to Shav, but return to the site anyways
> Ignore the signal,

>>820707
>Explain and ask that if they look way too nervous or aggressive towards her that she stay with the ship

>>820707
Forgot the write-in option, still there though

>>820707
>Explain the situation to Shav, and return to the original salvage site

>>820707
> Shank Shav, go to the salvage site, go back and sell off Shav's inventory

>>820707
>explain it to the mando and tell her to keep slient on it

>>820779
>>820746
>>820726
>>820724

"Look," you begin, deciding the potential gains of honoring your bargain with the savages was worth the risk of including Shav at the meeting, worst case scenario a hired gun couldn't hurt, "Last time I was out, and I grabbed that trifighter you bought, I met these... Men." Shav is starng at you, emotionless with the aid of the mask, "They seem to collect droid brains, and live in a bunker, for some reason they won't explain to me."

The sarcastic head-tilt begins again, "People living in the wastelands? Why the fuck would they?" Her head rights itself, "Wait, droid brains? They collect droid brains? That's money right there, and they have it waiting for us.

Why haven't you raided the place yet?"


> "They're innocent, what right do I have to break into their home?"
> "That's honestly not a bad idea, they were insistent that they collect droid brains"
>" I didn't have the firepower at the time."
> Other

>>820830
>" I didn't have the firepower at the time."

>>820830
> Other

I'm new at this and not used to being a total bastard to everyone I meet.

We made a deal.

>>820845
This.

>>820830
>There innocent what right do I have. Now either you behave when we go there or I'm dropping you off here. You have your guy, i have my..homeless guys.

>>820830
>>" I didn't have the firepower at the time."
Also
>Figured it wouldn't hurt to have some favors

>>820867
>>820861
>>820858
>>820854
>>820845

You mull it over for a second, it was never your intention to raid the savages, but the Mandalorian was right in saying that a cache of Droid Brains would net a rather tidy sum of credits should they still be operational or at least repairable. "I didn't have enough firepower at the time, Corius and I were both unarmed before we came to you."

She nods, "Lack of preparation is a rookie mistake, even for a rebel fleeing the government." She quips back to you, grabbing the handle of her gun to emphasize the point.

You do your best to ignore the jab, "To be fair, making a deal with presumably decent scavengers to get a few favors isn't a bad idea. I'm new at this whole thing, not use to just being a bastard to anyone I meet for money." The response came out a little more stinging than you planned, but you'd dealt with enough of the Mandalorian hospitality on the receiving end enough to not care about insulting their customs.

"Morals get you killed on this planet McAllister," she fully uncovers her blaster, "Violence gets you rich-" she's cut off as NG4 receives the command to fly to the coordinates where you had originally met the savages. Despite the slight outrage at the total lack of empathy from Shav, part of your gut felt the pull to take the brains and have a lot more cash to work with, not to mention getting the dockmaster's debt off your shoulders.

"Look, what right do I have to barge in there, probably killing some, and steal from their home? So behave yourself while we're there or I'll drop you out of the hatch."

Her masked laughter fills the air at your demands, "Alright then, guess you don't need any money then, all for some savages in the desert."

"Hey, you have your guy, I have my... homeless guys." You retort with a roll of your eyes in the dim light given off by the holopad.


(cont.)

>>821062
---

With a whine of the droid's atmospheric engines, you watch the landscape blur beneath you, indistinguishable mountains and valleys of dust as always. You can't help but get bored by the sight, pretty at first, but endlessly repetitive after a couple of minutes with nearly complete vertigo.

You're brought back to reality when you feel the ship descending, a slow fall back to the surface before a light bounce as it strikes the sand. The datapad alerts you to four humanoid heat signatures waiting about 20 meters from the ship, two familiar signatures from the two hunters you had originally met, and two very, very large people that hulked over the already large hunters.

You wrap a thick scarf attached to the shirt around your mouth and around the borders of your eyes to protect you as much as possible from the sandy winds. Corius drops out of the hold first, followed by you, and ending with Shav's armored boots sinking into the sands.

You hold the datapad close to your mouth, speaking on the wavelength that Corius and Shav are on, "Looks like we have two big bastards to deal with this time, weapons down unless they attack first, understood?"

Corius responded with his roger, while Shav opted for silence.

The figures approached at a walking pace, soon coming in to view about 5 meters out. The familiar scarred faces of the two hunters, Ulu and Yisyis, were indeed among the group of four, but the two strangers forced your breath to catch deep in your throat - they were horrifying to witness.

The two goliaths were clearly once human, but with massive, cancerous growths, with spots of cybernetics bursting through several areas of the heavily scarred flesh, metal plates accentuating several of the larger tumors. They lacked any clothing, which seemed to make sense considering any piece of flesh a person would try to hide normally was obscured by the hanging mounds of metal and flesh.

> Wait for the hunters to speak first.
> "What in the hell are you?"
> Take the group by surprise, order Corius and Shav to fire (DC: 60)
> Other (Write-in)

>>821081
>Wait for them to speak, raise our hand and wave slightly, signaling friendship

>>821081
>Wait for the hunters to speak first.

>>821081
Backimg this >>821094

>>821094
this is fine, i guess

>>821081
> Wait for the hunters to speak first.

but nod to them upon arrival. The 'sup kind of nod.

>>821081
This >>821094
And ask if you get a selfie with them, the boys back at base would never believe this otherwise

>>821094
>>821098


You raise a gloved hand in greeting to the group; you can hear Shav's voice over the datapad cursing at the nasty sight. The hunters don't seem to acknowledge the gesture, but do slow down their speed as they walk. You give a nod to acknowledge the two smaller hunters as they approach.

The massive giants seem to hang back a few meters as the hunters walk up to speak to Corius as a translator. They start screaming in that rough language of the savages, Corius' translations ringing through the speaker from the datapad.

"They say these are two of their prophets, and that they wish to speak to you about service to their god...." Corius trails off in a small amount of static because of the powerful winds. "The giants wish to speak," he translates again.

"TOYISKA RU TOR TUI-" you almost fall on your ass as the giant on the left, again a hulking mass of flesh, only differential from his companion by a large metal patch covering its right eye. Corius translates to you and Shav, "They say that their lord requires more servants to scavenge the wastes, and you will be rewarded in turn."

"WHAT REWARDS?" you yell over the winds to Corius.

The voice crackles on your communicator, underlying the shaking volume from the prophet's responses, speaking slowly to match the pace of the monster. "We. Serve. Our. God. With. Power. He. Grants. Us. Strength. Through. Making. Us. More. Like. Him." you can only assume the giant is referring to the bioengineering covering the body of the two abominations, "Make. Us. Survive. Deserts. Survive. Wastes. Gives. Us. Strength. In Exchange. For. Power." Corius turns his head anxiously as he finishes the translation, "Bring. Companions. Get. Reward. From. God." The giant gestures with a massive, fleshy hand in the direction of the bunker.

> Follow the hunters back to their bunker, weapons at the ready for anything suspicious
> Ask Corius and Shav for their thoughts|
> Leave Corius with NG4, and take Shav to visit the 'god'
> Refuse to enter the bunker, request the hunters act as a middle man for all communications
>Other (write-in)

>>821237
Correcting that last option, meant to be
> Refuse to enter the bunker, requesting the hunters act as middle men for all communications with 'god'

>>821249
Gonna go for this one, but be polite about it.

>>821237
>Ask Corius and Shav for their thoughts|

>>821237
> Follow the hunters back to their bunker, weapons at the ready for anything suspicious

Its probably a bad idea, but its what we came here to do.

>>821237
>Ask about there thoughts on this

>>821259
Also this.

>>821259
>>821263
>>821265
>>821266
Just to answer their opinions real fast...

------

"Shav, Corius, thoughts on visiting their bunker?"

Corius is the first to respond, "Caution, Commander, Savages seem simple-minded, but unpredictable. Recommend staying on guard at all times, they do not seem armed."

Shav's voice follows on the communicator, "I agree with your droid buddy, but I see this as an opportunity, get inside, use our blasters and a few of my grenades, clear the place out fast. Especially if they're unarmed." Typical bloodthirsty Mandalorian.

>>821282
>Follow the hunters back to their bunker, weapons at the ready for anything suspicious
If that's the case.

>>821282
>>821237
Taking a brief break to make dinner and such, will be back soon

>>821237
I thought we were going to help program up some shit. Our salvage is already spoken for. If that is all they want then there is no point in going with them.

>>821282
Tell Shav this is our show. No starting anything without us saying so, or screaming in pain.

>>821282
>>821237
>follow the hunters back but dont attack

>>821237
> Follow the hunters back to their bunker, weapons at the ready for anything suspicious

>>821307
>salvage is spoken for
And now they're saying their 'god' wants to reward you like everyone else for it

>>821325
>>821319
>>821316
>>821307
I hate to do this to y'all and leave things on a cliff hanger, but I have sudden normie obligations to fufill with people who decided to show up unnanounced.

Sorry to jump ship early again! Will ty scheduling a block of time for a sufficient extended run soon.

>>821547
See you later.

>>821547
All good boss. Fun thread.

What if we just get the layout of the place this time and bring back a few more Mandos with us to clear the place proper? I don't like the idea of raiding an entire base of those hulks with nothing but our Droid and a single Mando for back up.