You start to carve your way in, then. It's so easy! These miners can offer you no threatening resistance, and you slice down two with no effort at all...
Nehmen taps Marksman to get some extra dice against Arneth, but it doesn't do him much good. Arneth responds by raising a clenched hand and jerking it back. Nehmen's pistol clatters on the ground, out of reach.
Not wanting to go unarmed, Nehmen draws his combat knife.
----
Nehmen (C 6): 31
Arneth: 10
Miners x13: 0
Rianna (LS 12): 3/3/29 [OGu PS CL] [FrGu RI]
----
As Vera-Kin rushes down the street, she watches spiderwebbed lines start to quietly form across the walls of the tower of Fort Ine. It is tremoring violently now, dust shaking from the structure. You sense panic and fright from those within, stronger even than the sheer hatred that is bringing it down.
Rand stands at the base, arms outstretched. He is not fired upon, for Vash Bloodcarver races about the top of the wall, lightsaber lit and flashing through soldiers with ease.
You must hack down one more miner that stands in your way before you are able to squeeze into the circle, which you do... but Arneth gets initiative. When Nehmen tries to cut him with the knife, Arneth simply lops the weapon from his hand, leaving the soldier defenseless.
Then you push in. Arneth turns to face you, smiling widely.
"Here you come to save the day!" Arneth shouts. "Ain't that just peachy."
He shifts his grip on his lightsaber so that he holds it toward you at an angle in one hand. He has something in the other hand.
"Oh, you're looking at this?" Arneth asks through the filter of his acquired gas mask. He tosses the object in air and catches it again without much care. When it falls back into his hand, he presses the trigger, and the thermal detonator is set to go off. "You think you're going to end it right now for me, don't you? Let me tell you, missy... you'll get your chance. Just not yet."
The miners see the explosive device and immediately back off, leaving only you, Nehmen, and Arneth standing in the gas.
Vera-Kin's eyes go wide as she realizes what is going on. She keeps up her rapid pace toward the Dark Jedi as he slowly destroys the Fort with the Force. Intending to take his life as soon as she arrives, Vera-Kin pulls an arm out to one side and uses the Force to bring her lightsaber to her hand. With a flick of the switch, the lightsaber snaps to life and she is ready to fight the villains now that they have revealed themselves.
If the soldiers are keeping pace with her, she tells them to target Vash on the wall.
Rianna- when you start running, Arneth waits to see what direction you are heading in and uses the Force to give greater distance to his throw. The detonator thuds into the ground a bit in front of you... but it is on a timer. Even so, if you go that way, you won't escape the blast.
"CLEAR OUT!" Nehmen yells to his squads as they blast down miners. "DETONATOR! MOVE!"
They do not need him to say it a second time. They immediately drop their riot shields and start running. So do the miners.
-
Vash sees you coming. Having cleared his opponents from the wall, he slides down the steep slope of the wall and plants his feet in the ground.
"Master!" he shouts.
The spiderweb cracks along the length of the tower intensify in this last moment, and Rand brings his hands closer together, then slams them downward into a fist. Fort Ine, which has stood for more than a thousand years... collapses inward on itself with a deafening roar of grinding stone and rending metal. Rand then falls to one knee, having exerted himself to the brink of his capabilities.
You arrive just as he is starting to get back on his feet, and his lightsaber hisses amidst the sounds of destruction.
Everyone scatters to avoid the explosion of the detonator.
When it finally explodes, you are far enough away to not be caught in the incinerating blast that engulfs the area, tossing bricks and bodies alike into the air as if they were nothing. The concussive wave that rolls away from it shatters windows and picks Rianna and Nehmen up into the air, hurling them a short ways before landing heavily on the cobblestone street.
You are out for merely a few seconds, Rianna, but when you come out of your shell-shocked haze you realize that your lightsaber has flown out of your grip and ended up just out of your grasp.
-
Despite his exertion, Rand was expecting no quarter from his old Master and sidesteps your attempted blow. You are promptly met with a large chunk of stone flying in your direction as Rand Bombards you with it. Three successes is 8 damage as it knocks you out of the air.
Vash rushes to engage your soldiers. In a brilliant display, he performs an elegant Twirl that leaves four of your soldiers dismembered. Two more are reduced to piles of ash by disruptor beams; the pair of assassin probes lower down from the wall where they had been assisting Vash. The last soldier tries to shoot Rand out of panic; this fails miserably. Rand bats the shot back and kills him.
Barker's shotgun roars at Vash but his Perfect Strike tap keeps him safe.
The snipers set up behind a low well on the edge of the roundabout that surrounds the now-fallen tower.
The proton torpedo launcher sets off from a short distance away, the projectile ripping across the roundabout towards Rand. The Dark Jedi grins mischievously and raises a hand... altering the course of the rocket toward yourself!
Myraline's lightsaber starts to roll toward you... then stops. It sits still for a moment as you try to exert more influence on the object, but it reverses direction and your hold is broken. It flies into Arneth's hand.
"Take her down," Arneth says, before walking after a stumbling, shell-shocked Nehmen.
"With pleasure," responds Dalt, flanked by two miners with pick-axes.
----
Rianna (C 9): 1/1/29 [ ] [MA FB LA FT SS DW]
Dalt: 0
Miners x2 (C 6): 0
----
Your Combat schticks, please...
Rianna will use Martial Artist, Sidestep, and Feint.
She can't help but feel a flash of anger as Arneth pulls her lightsaber away from her - that's two sabers she's lost to Rand's little gang now - and she quickly gets up off the ground. She turns to face Dalt and his two miners, lashing out at one of the miners with a fist.
Vera-Kin is horrified to see how quickly her soldiers are obliterated, and knows that if Barker and the snipers and the rocket launcher stay here, they too will be destroyed, and then she will be taking on Rand AND Vash AND these assassin probes that have come out of nowhere...
"Get back!" Vera-Kin tells Barker and the heavy weapons guy as she moves back toward the wall where the snipers are set up. "Fall back to cover! Snipers, the probes, bring them down!"
I imagine that the assassin probes require Charge to hit freely with a saber...
Initiative to Rianna and Vera.
Rianna intercepts an incoming pick-axe by wrapping her hand around the shaft of the tool and twisting it, opening up her target. She snaps the side of her hand into his throat and he gargles and falls.
The other miner swings too high and Rianna ducks under his pick-axe, but she is unlucky to find herself in Dalt's sights. A volley of bolts explode at her feet as he tries to make her 'dance' and she takes some damage.
-
Vera-Kin falls back, giving Vash and Rand free range as the rocket explodes between the Jedi and Dark Jedi. Nobody feels its effects. The Jedi Master's words are heeded and everyone else falls back with her, Barker and the rocket man moving into light cover. The snipers give something the probes to think about, but they are more minded to drive you away from Rand, it would seem.
The disruptor beams neatly singe Vera's robes for 8 more damage.
And yes, Charge would be required.
----
Rioting in Mining Quarter
Rianna (C 13): 4 (CC only)/36 [MA SS FT] [FB LA DW] (2FP)
Dalt: 0
Miner x1 (C 6): 0
Ruins of Fort Ine
Vera-Kin (LS 8): 3(1P)/16 [OGu BL CL] [BGu] (7FP)
Probe A: 4
Probe B: 6
Barker (G 7): 1/0 (Cover 1)
Snipers x2 (G 6): 0 (Cover 1)
Rocket Launcher x1 (HW 6): 0 (Cover 1)
----
Things carry on with Rianna, whilst Rand and Vash are buggering off as quickly as they can.
Remember, swaps are now at the start of the turn.
Rianna pops a pair of punches into the miner's side and he crumples when she hits a nerve. She rounds on Dalt, who is still hindered by the gas slightly. Even so, a bolt grazes Rianna's side for 5 damage. Things are not looking good...
-
The snipers split their fire on the probes again, and with assistance from Barker and the heavy weapons specialist, they manage to rack up a bit of damage on those things.
Vera-Kin stays clear with three points of Parry.
----
Rioting in Mining Quarter
Rianna (C 13): 2/41 [MA DW FT] [FB LA SS] (2FP)
Dalt: 0
Ruins of Fort Ine
Vera-Kin (LS 7): 1(1P)/16 [OGu BL CL] [BGu] (7FP)
Probe A: 16
Probe B: 15
Barker (G 7): 1/0 (Cover 1)
Snipers x2 (G 6): 0 (Cover 1)
Rocket Launcher x1 (HW 6): 0 (Cover 1)
----