STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Brothers

Melkor is annoyed and really focuses on the next shot...

I will spend Fortune now.

Having rolled a 20, I will allow the Fortune point to go unspent. A direct hit! For 3 damage.

You lack the finesse of aiming that Einar and the Castellan possess with Eagle Eye. The Armor, whether plate or bone, is a real difficulty for you. You can only inflict 3 damage on the best of your shots...

6 frames distant, the Creature meets another volley from your father and the soldiers. The soldiers roll disastrously, though one manages to clip the monster for 2 damage. Your father scores a hit for 4 damage.

5 frames distant... Einar is frustrated by the Creature's evasive efforts, causing him to miss.

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BATTLE WITH THE CREATURE

Archway

Creature: 42/12

Entrance

Melkor: 0/12

Einar: 0/14

Castellan: 0/13

Soldiers x6: 0/13

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The Creature will be on top of you within the next two actions... and you notice that damaged sections of the bone armor are beginning to regrow, forming fresh protection against your shots...

How quick is the creature, can we fall back a bit?

If not Melkor will continue shooting, spending a Fortune if necessary.

Falling back is not an option; only cowards give ground. Unless you don't care much about public opinion, when Einar tells everyone that Melkor retreated in fear of the Creature... but if you retreat, none will follow you. Einar is in command, here.

You fluff your shot, growing agitated as the Creature draws near...

This time the Castellan gives it reason to fear his wrath as well as Einar's. A double-shot strikes home for 10 damage total, followed by a volley of 5 damage from the soldiers.

Einar has holstered his pistol and unsheathed his sword, intending to meet the Creature in close combat...

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BATTLE WITH THE CREATURE

Archway

Creature: 57/15

Entrance

Melkor: 0/15

Einar: 0/16

Castellan: 0/16

Soldiers x6: 0/16

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The Creature is 2 frames distant...

No way I am fighting in close combat! Continue shooting.

An impressive 17 rolled! 3 damage contributed by your pistol, and the Creature is at a -1 penalty. You are hardly the soldier that Einar is, but you know the value of marksmanship in this ever-changing galaxy...

Einar closes with the monster, holding his piercing weapon above his head as he charges. His action keeps the Creature from closing that last frame. As he charges, the Creature unhinges its jaw and allows a virulent fire to boil forth from the depths of its throat. The azure flames
torch your evasive brother, setting part of his uniform alight and dealing him 9 damage.

The Creature clamps its jaw back into position and staggers to one side in an attempt to avoid your father's gunshots, but the bolts tear apart plate armor for 11 damage, followed up by two supreme shots from the soldiers for an additional 10 damage, carrying it to 81 damage and a -3 penalty.

But the Creature is still standing...

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BATTLE WITH THE CREATURE

Archway

Creature: 81/20

Entrance

Melkor: 0/18

Einar: 9/18

Castellan: 0/19

Soldiers x6: 0/19

---

All are acting ahead of the Creature...

Melkor grins and his good shot. But he cannot stop to think that it would be convenient if Einar didn`t make it... this bastard doesn`t deserve power nor glory.

What if if accidentally shot him?

Difficult to say. Many complications on that route. It would not truly be an accident if you intended to shoot him, and there are witnesses to your actions in the soldiers and your father. And you doubt Einar would respond well to be shot at if he survived...

Well, Melkor will botch his next shot on the creature.

Do you intend to hit Einar "accidentally"?

No, just miss, a "compromise" with being subtle.

Unsurprisingly, then, you miss.

The Creature is beset by Einar, who is ignoring the flames that scorch his uniform as he thrusts the sharp rapier into a weak spot in the Creature's armor. It does not dodge, as its armor can easily deflect such attacks. The point jabs into its flesh for 3 damage, doing little more than further aggravating it.

But Einar is not aiming to kill with the thin blade of the rapier. He is merely a distraction, keeping the monster occupied so that it does not go for the soldiers or the Castellan. Or you.

It is your father that finally brings the beast down. His final shots slice through the Creature's skull, frying the circuitry of its implants and the meat of its brain in a spark-scattering flash. The soldiers proceed with overkill, ripping into the Creature with their heavy rifles before it hits the ground.

Einar quickly pats out the unnatural flames on his uniform, then wipes his rapier clean of the sapphire blood of the monster before sheathing it.

No more creatures on sight?

"What a horrible monster!" -Exclaims Melkor. - "How could it get here?"

Not that you can tell.

"I don't know," Einar replies. "Curious that this abomination should be so far south..."

He draws his pistol and places the nozzle at the base of the Creature's skull. He fires several times, preventing the monster from using its regenerative constitution.

Melkor looks at what Einar is doing anxiusly, then looks around.

"We should be wary whether the creature was alone."

"An exile, perhaps," Einar says, replacing his pistol at his hip.

The soldiers report that there is no sign of any more of the Creatures.

"Exile?"- Melkor doesn`t know much of these creatures, and frankly doesn`t want to.

"So I quess we should continue with the ceremony?" -He finally says.

It will be some time before the funeral service can be resumed. All of the guests have fled back down the mountain and will have to perform the march up the treacherous stairs all over again. Not to mention they fetched reinforcements, who will have to be redirected and organized by Einar once they arrive. And the Creature's corpse will have to be cleared away.

"Sometimes the Creatures will exile one of their own," Einar says. "We don't know why, we just know that they do. It's painfully annoying; it is the exiles that we usually slaughter before we move on to take vengeance on other... 'communities' of th emonsters."

"Maybe these Exiles are just the vanguard?" -Speaks Melkor, annoyed that his mother`s funeral was distrupted, and annoyed by Einar`s performance.

"Don't make guesses on something you know nothing about," Einar finally says, annoyed. He takes leave of you to direct the unneeded reinforcements.

The Castellan is standing by his wife's floating coffin, unmoved since its abandonment.

The funeral procession has also returned, gathering up bouquets and whatnot that they had tossed down in panic when the Creature appeared. All are solemn, more so than before. The fact that one of the Creatures of the North had infiltrated the most sacred grounds of the Erengardians is not a light subject.