STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Respite

I want to look for anyone who may have been eavesdropping. Observation 2, Perception 3.

Also, I'm not interested in talking them out of their illegal activities. It might just be another way to pressure them besides through brute force. I take, though, it that it would be possible given the right resources to get in contact with a lawyer or firm associated with the Union?

...

"Alright thanks, sounds good." I get up to leave, provided I haven't spotted anyone eavesdropping, in which case my tactics will change.

"What did they want?" Vera-Kin asks, glad to be catching up on Xeth's history with the Union. She has yet to become involved in that struggle and so is eager to do so.

Observation 2 + Perception 3 gives Rynn a pool of five d6 dice to roll. She only rolls a single success. In this situation, at least, it is enough to tell that nobody seems to care much about your business. If you had rolled better, you would have noticed people giving you a bit of space; Xeth is known around here and he just put his lightsaber up on the bar. Not to be trifled with.

In regards to applying legal pressure to the Union... unfortunately, you need evidence. The Investigation Force so far has none.

Xeth seems to want to leave, and Ti is going with him. Where are they headed, Xeth?

-

"An advanced targeting system that Nesere had devised," Gralus says. "From what Xeth was able to tell us, they used it to provide their Hailfire artillery droids with accurate targeting computers. Troublesome, in the long run."

This corridor curves as you follow Gralus down it. A cloud car with a blue color scheme zooms lazily by outside.

"The Anzat Corsair project was linked to a man named Carlan Ryamore, the Vice President and Director of Outer Region sales. Nesere had been captured on Anzat by Mark II battle droids, a new line of combat prototypes tested last year by, of course, Ryamore. Unfortunately, Ryamore was tracked to a little known world called Arminium, where it was discovered that he had taken his own life to avoid arrest by the Jedi. Their arrival led to quite a battle."

Argh. Ok. But I can still look them up, yeah? Evidence or not, I'd like to have them on file.

Sorry to waste time on the roll. I'm just trying to test my options while I figure stuff out. I follow Xeth out of the bar.

It is not a waste of time at all. It is actually smart to ask for rolls when you think they may be helpful or relevant. I'm sure Xeth (the paranoid bug) would agree, someone COULD have been listening...

Oh, definitely.

Xeth is going to head to the Investigation Force's headquarters, wanting to show Ti around and also having other things in mind for when they get there.

"Now, Ti, I have no doubts in your ability with a lightsaber," Xeth says. "From what I hear, you're pretty handy with it, and that's good enough for me. However, I think it'd be good to gage your other combat talents. They say there is no better way to get to know someone than by fighting them. Don't you agree?"

-

I want to give you a non-hostile, simple chance to learn the combat system! It'll hep you greatly in the long run.

Lol, I feel like I'm in the introductory level of a video game, the one where they give you 10 seconds to hit the 'X' button to duck or some nonsense. Thanks though, it's appreciated.

-

"Absolutely, I'd love to," Ti intones. "It's been a while since I've had a real challenge in combat." I step into the combat arena. "We using lightsabers, or some safer alternative? Or just Force Powers and unarmed? I'm down for whatever."

Haha, kind of! Better this than a harsh, dangerous situation, right?

-

Xeth tosses his robe and his lightsaber onto a table when he gets into the central office of the Investigation Force. Downstairs is a wide open area that Xeth uses for practicing duelling and combat with his comrades, to keep everyone at the top of their game.

"Do you prefer unarmed or non-Lightsaber melee?" Xeth asks. He reaches over with the Force and summons a vibro-pike to himself, a preferred melee weapon amongst his people for its range.

"Unfortunate. So where does that leave the investigation? Sounds like you've been in search of another lead, if not a better one."

"I prefer weapons," I reply. I grab a....vibro-sword? Do those exist? Anyway, something smaller than a pike that still has blade-like qualities, if possible.

-

So, clerical issue, can I use Blade Schticks with the pike/sword thingies?

No. Blade Schticks only apply to the use of a Lightsaber.

But yes, vibro-swords exist. You may even want to consider the use of two, as you have Twin Weapons as one of your schticks!

Now, to start things off, I want to know which Combat schticks you want to use for the fight. You can pick three to actively use at the same time, out of however many you have.

Additionally, I am going to say that any Force points spent in this fight will be replenished at the end of it, for the sake of the learning curve.

-

"Xeth asked us to keep looking for potential Union testing beds, places or groups that would serve to experiment with new technologies. We weren't sure about it, but finally, we found something."

The curving corridor that Gralus led you down ends in a doorway. He enters a security code ("Look away, please. Policy."😉 and lets you into the room.

Sitting at a table is a dark-skinned man in civilian clothes.

Hmm.

I will use Duck, Power Attack, and Feint.

Ok, two vibro-blades:

Twin Weapons
Dodge & Weave
Assault

I had hoped to hear from Vera, but let's move along and introduce Tilulla to combat. I suggest reviewing the rules for combat in the Main Rules thread, but I will give a curt briefing.

When big fights occur, they are handled in what is known as 'Combat Time.' Combat Time is taken in turns, with one side fighting the other. You get an action per turn, and who gets their turn first is determined by Initiative, which is determined by rolling a die to see what side has the higher score.

Scoring hits on your opponent or target is very much like the Observation check that we just did. Every success you roll is a point of damage, and added to the base damage of your weapons. As ever, the more dice you have, the better you are at something. Tilulla and Xeth, being combat-oriented templates, are pretty impressive in a fight. Especially with all their schticks!

In regards to schticks, you are able to use three at a time. Be sure to familiarize yourself with what they all do. Whenever you want to make an extra effort in a fight, you can declare that you want to "tap" a schtick. Once a schtick is tapped, its effects stop working and you must swap it out for another, or for nothing. It will be refreshed again when an Ace is drawn (a card is drawn every turn to see when the Refresh happens) or at the end of combat.

You can declare the use of a Force power at any time. Just remember that normally you must make your pool last the entire story. For this fight, feel free to blow it all.

-----

JEDI SPARRING, Start of Turn 1

Practice Room

Xeth (C10): 3/0 [DU PA FT] [DW WS AS] (6F)
Vibro-Pike

Tilulla (C12): 3(1A)/0 [TW AS DW] [WS FB FT] (5F)
Vibro-Swords

----

For reference, here is what everything means:

Name (Dice Pool): Defense(Modifier)/Damage [Active Schticks] [Inactive] (Force Points)
Weapon

For Tilulla, her dice pool is Agility 4 + Combat 4 = 8. Using Twin Weapons gives her +2 and Assault gives her +4, but since schticks don't stack, she gets the +4 and pushes her pool up to 12. Then, she gets +2 Defense from Twin Weapons and +1 Defense and +1 Armor from Dodge & Weave. She takes the higher Defense boost but also gets Armor (which reduces damage)! Nifty.

Her vibro-swords have a base damage of 3*.

Geez, I hope that's not overwhelming. Feel free to ask questions, Digi. I can also give you a break down on Xeth's schticks and the like, if it helps. Otherwise, everything is in the Main Rules thread.

In honor of welcoming a new player, I'll go ahead and give you Initiative. Tilulla attacks before Xeth does.

Xeth waits patiently for Tilulla to make her attack, flourishing his vibro-pike in a salute to kick things off.

"Ready when you are," Xeth says.

Ok, I doubt I have everything straight, but here goes...

If we're tapping Force powers, I'd like to use my Swiftness Mastery for "Evade" when Xeth first strikes.

I attack. Now, you already gave the rundown of my stats after my schticks. Assuming I don't want to tap any of them, I can just say "I attack," right? I don't have to make 1 of the 3 active or anything, since all 3 are already active. However, I'd like to tap Assault this turn.

Assault (Barehanded or Armed)
TAP: Re-roll all your attack dice that failed to socre a success this turn.

SWIFTNESS
MASTERY POWERS:
Evade: Use when being targeted by an enemy. His attack pool is halved (before Defence) this turn

Yep, looks like right to me!

When Tilulla comes at Xeth, he does his best to fend her off with his pike, then tries to snap the sharp point of his weapon across her midriff.

Before I process your moves, I will give Digi a brief moment to look at his.

So no, you do not need to tell me which of the three schticks you have loaded in are active; however, you can choose to have schticks be inactive without swapping them out.

The reason I say this is because when Twin Weapons is active, one of its rules is that you cannot tap anything else you have in. So, you can choose to hold off on tapping Assault... or... you can tell me that you want Twin Weapons inactive for a moment. You lose the Defense it provides, but since you're using a defensive Force power, that might not be too bad!

Also- after this turn, BB and Digi, please declare all Force power uses via PM.

Ah, right, I knew about the TW stipulation but had forgotten. Yes, I'd like it inactive and would like to tap Assault. I was tapping it anyway because it doesn't stack great with TW, so it'll work out this way.