STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Trials

The trip mine detonates, tossing you into the room with the shockwave it sends out. Pieces of red-hot shrapnel pierce your skin, but it only leaves you with four damage. Cheeky bastard.

That is when the door slides shut and seals itself, locking you in the room.

Next, you hear a very faint hissing noise... and a red-pink gas starts filtering into the room from vents set in the floor. Rather quickly, too.

Xavier ingites his saber and begins to try and cut the door, holding his breath.

Holding your breath keeps the poisonous fumes from searing your lungs, but your skin is not so lucky. Even as you place your lightsaber through the door, your exposed skin- your arms and face, mostly- begin to blister. It takes all your effort to resist shouting in agony as the blisters develop and burst, leaving blood-dripping holes in your skin.

You have taken ten damage by the time you cut through the door and stumble out of Friste's quarters.

Xavier takes a moment to catch his breath. The pain is coursing through his body.

One last place to check. He heads to the lift to inspect it.

You would head to the lift, Xavier, but you just noticed that everything is completely dark. On top of that, your heart is pounding at an increasing rate and you are sweating profusely, a cold sweat which is causing the blisters and welts to sting relentlessly.

Xavier tries to take a deep breath and slow his bodies natural response to the poison.

But his mind is fuzzy, racing with all kinds of thoughts.

Breath Xavier Breath.

Strange, Xavier. You are not sure that this is poison at work, other than the blisters on your skin. Your eyes do not sting; this is not an inflicted blindness.

"Xavier?" someone says. Out of primal fear, you bring your lightsaber up and slash wildly. "Hey, take it easy with that thing!"

It is Prassk. You can hear and sense him, but your sight is dim.

"Prassk I am having a hard time focusing my sight. What is happening?"

"Trax is readying the slaves to take the hangars," Prassk says. "I can see just fine, what the hell is wrong with you?"

Your instincts are telling you to get the hell away from him or get rid of him.

"Get away from me now, Prassk. Where is Hoondan?" Xavier begins to back away from him.

You can sense confusion in Prassk.

"With the others, why?" Prassk says. "Come on, out with it, what's happening to you?"

Too close... he's too close... claustrophobia, Xavier. You have never had any distinct phobias before, but now you can very plainly feel it. This area is too small. Prassk is crowding you. Too close...

It feels as if the the walls are collapsing around Xavier as Prassk closes in on him.

He takes deep breathes this isn't right. This is just his mind trying to fool him. He can overcome this. He can plow through it.

Xavier will use his Willpower.

Willpower check!

...

Oh boy. You rolled a 5.

"Hey, Jedi, talk to..." Prassk starts to say, but he is cut off as you suddenly swing your lightsaber in a wide arc. He is not expecting the retaliation against his existence and does not dodge, but luckily for him, you miss! By one point.

Another Willpower check... this time a 3. Eek.

This time Prassk dodges, but your lightsaber connects. He screams in anguish; being temporarily blind, you are not sure where you hit him. But you can sense his fear, rising to meet your own, feeding your own...

Another Willpower check... a 15. Phew!

Dropping your lightsaber, you collapse to the ground, resisting the urge to strike Prassk again. Using a meditative method that Cabas had tried to teach you, you are able to partially clear your mind. Your vision returns...

Prassk is lying on the ground near you, clutching his stomach. He has one of his pistols pointed at your head, unsure what to do next.

Xavier clutches his head, "Prassk I did not mean to strike at you I was ....confused. How badly are you injured?"

"Karking hell you didn't!" Prassk snarls, pulling himself away from you. "You're insane, you know that?" He kicks your lightsaber away, down the corridor towards your rebellious group of slaves.

You can see his stomach more clearly now. It has a bad burn across it, but it is just a flesh wound. You dealt him 14 damage and hit nothing vital.

"You are alive and not in any danger of dieing." Xavier takes a moment to register the rest of Prassk's words. He has been wondering what is going on inside his head. Yet once again there is no time to dwell on it.

"Prassk you have killed many Pirates. What my mental state is, is nothing compared what the mental state of Frost is. He will torture you. I still offer your only logical way out of here. You can not do it on your own. For all intents and purposes I am the best weapon you have."

Xavier waits a few seconds to let this sink in then extends a hand, "Come with me if you want to live."

Prassk takes a moment to think. Having appealed to the coward in him needing the best tool for ensuring his own survival, he nods.

"Just don't hit me again with the laser sword," Prassk says, moving back to join the others.

It must have been something in the gas, Xavier.

Xavier picks up his lightsaber. He looks at the door. Yes it must have been the gas.

"Where did you say Trax was?"

Xavier asks and begins to walk over to the lift.

Trax and the slaves are exactly where you left them, though Trax was preparing them to move out in case you ended up not coming back.

"What happened?" Trax asks, looking you over and glacing at the wincing Prassk.

"Nothing," Prassk replies.

"Chemtrox," Hoondan asserts, examining your blisters from a distance. "Painful?"

Xavier speaks in a calm voice, "Very Painful but I am still standing. I have one last thing to check then we move."

Xavier will go examine the Lift.