Clearly frustrated, though not yet flustered, I sense the fight reaching its end and begin to defend myself much more thoroughly. The offensive attacks have mostly failed, and I'm looking to get whatever strikes in that I can, and hope for a few lucky breaks.
Tilulla gets initiative! She goes after Xeth, who was anticipating trouble and tapped Close Quarters Gunman. On five dice she gets just one success- 4 damage to Xeth.
Xeth has D&W tapped against him in return, but CQG boosts his pool up to 15 dice, reduced to 9 by Ti's tapped defense. She can scoff as he hits for 6 damage to end the match, but it then gets reduced to 1.
"The Techno Union," Navir says. "I was a hired gun for escorting sales to the outer regions. I did my job well, never had any trouble." His face becomes tense. "At least not until Respite. I don't know WHY they sent us THERE. That place is a warzone!"
-
Initiative roll... is a tie! As it is player vs. player, that normally means it goes to the Light Side, but you both are! Instead, I re-roll... and it goes Tilulla! The Force is strong with this one...
Tilulla swipes at Xeth with one of her swords and gets a glancing hit with one success... but she gets to re-roll with her Assault tap. Six successes total instead! Xeth takes 9 damage. Then, Tilulla retreats with a Whirling Strike tap! She is drawing this one out.
Ti throws her arms out in a seemingly random series of motions, intended to confuse and disorient Xeth. Her momentum forward, the maneuver works and she smacks Xeth across the side, then again in the chest. Still reeling, Xeth hesitates and allows Ti to jump backwards and avoid direct attack.
I smile, but it is a labored smile. I'm tired, and hurting. I beckon Xeth forward with my sword and prepare to meet him.
Xeth kicks himself mentally for allowing Tilulla her respite (haha) with his hesitation. Instead of going after her barehanded, he uses the Force to pull his electro-staff to him once more. Then, he closes the gap with her, intending to bring the fight to a close.
__________________
THIS IS WHAT WE'VE WAITED FOR
THIS IS IT, BOYS, THIS IS WAR!
Xeth re-arms once Tilulla backs off and then approaches! Tilulla gets initiative yet again and attacks once he is in range. She can be pleased with the three successes she got all being 6s for 6 damage to Xeth, and he is Stunned.
He attacks back with five dice (having tapped Power Attack for extra dice). He only needs one success to seal the deal, and having tapped Feint, he gets three. Xeth can describe how he finishes the sparring match with him as the victor!
Not bad for a newcomer, Digi. Tilulla being a Freelancer makes you quite the fighter.
-
Respite is just outside of Republic space- in fact, used to be represented in the Senate. It formerly provided a relaxing vacation experience to Republic soldiers traumatized in wars. Now it is a war-torn wasteland thanks to the escalation of skirmishes over medical supplies to full-scale combat between petty crimelords.
The situation there is so bad that surrounding worlds actually worked together to strip Respite of its space travel capabilities and keep the crimelords contained.
"We were to meet with a 'potential customer' on Respite," Navir says. "Turned out to be one of the war-mongerers. We were ambushed and they stole the entire shipment. They killed everyone!"
Stunning does not prevent an attack from happening. What it does is cuts your opponent's dice pool in half for one turn. Sometimes that can be crippling.
Ti grunts as she hits the ground and her weapon falls loose. She turns, stands up quickly, and growls as she walks off into the next room. Once inside, she takes a slow, deep breath, punches a nearby wall as hard as possible, and walks back into the training room.
"Good fight. We'll have to do it again sometime." She isn't smiling, but there's no venom in her voice.
---
Should I be writing in the first person, or third? It's been bothering me since we started, and I can't seem to find solace in either one. And the English teacher in me is screaming at switching back and forth like I've been doing.
It's what I have been doing myself. I swap from "Denzral smiled" to "Denzral smiles" and more often "I smile". It really does depend on my mood, and the kind of situation. Sometimes it is easier in first person, sometimes more appropriate in third. It really does depend on your preferred method.
__________________
A long time have I waited for this, my little green friend!
Xeth finally brings Tilulla down with a nonlethal jolt to her leg. She tumbles and drops her weapons and he stands over her in triumph, but immediately withdraws. He lets her vent for a moment before returning, and he has put away his staff already.
"We will," Xeth says. "Always good to keep each other on our toes! You're an impressive fighter, and it is not often that you will go into melee against someone so skilled as ourselves, not to mention that you're more likely to have your lightsaber out in such a confrontration."
Xeth calls his lightsaber and blaster to him with the Force- one of the few tricks he is decent with besides his acrobatics- and then also his grenade launcher and holster set-up. He straps his weapons into the holster pack.
"We should rest up before we retrieve Master Vera-Kin from Taloraan," Xeth says. "She is investigating a lead on the mission I've recruited you for."
__________________
THIS IS WHAT WE'VE WAITED FOR
THIS IS IT, BOYS, THIS IS WAR!
All damage from this fight was superficial. Consider yourselves fully healed! For future reference (mostly for Digi's benefit), after combat you usually get a healing period, where you apply your Medicine score to remove damage. There are certain ways to get multipliers for them that can be found in the Main Rules under 'Treatment.'
It is generally assumed that your character carries weapons relevant to their skills, i.e. your lightsaber. You can choose to use those twin swords whenever, and a blaster.
The weapon charts are also in the Main Rules. All have their own perks.