STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- The Council of Taneshla

Rianna has decided that she doesn't care about hiding her powers anymore and is going to draw her lightsaber and attack. Swap MA for Cleave.

Initiative goes with the pirates this time. Graf decides to tap Covering Fire, so Rianna can be thankful that she only takes a glancing hit from a turret as the pirates keep down. The hauler proves to be durable as the Contact stays safe behind it, but branches on Graf's tree are starting to ignite in the crossfire. Zazez is safe as his droids are taking most of the heat. Kalvit is still going strong considering he is taking on more shooters than anyone else. His cover frustrates the pirate commander that has appeared.

Nobody is expecting it when you suddenly activate your lightsaber. The purple blade cuts down your unprepared foes with no problem on four successes. Kalvit taps Carnival again but opts not to refresh; four kills for him. Zazez and company clear their area of threats. Graf and the Contact claim a kill each, with Graf sniping a man in the head as he tries to draw bead on her.

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OPERATION OVERTHROW, Start of Turn 6

South of Lift

Kalvit (G12): 1(2A 1P)/9 [CC EE ES] [10B CG] (1F)

West of Lift

Contact (G8): 1(1P)/0 [BB GS ES] (?)

Graf (G12): 1/17 [MK EE CF] (2F) (in tree)

Pirates x3 (G5)

North of Lift

Rianna (LS10): 1/15 [CL DW FT] [MA FB FA DU] (6F)

Turrets x2 (G6) (1A)

East of Lift

Zazez (G8): 2(1P)/0 [ES] (2F)

Battle Droid A (G8): 1(1A)/20 [CC]

Battle Droid B (G8): 1(1A)/15 [CC]

Lift Well

Pirate Captain A (G8): 1(1A)/0 [10B]

Pirates x7 (G5)

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Um, so, are those Fortune or Force points that my allies have? 😛

Anyway, Rianna will replace Feint with Orthodox Guard, and take care of those turrets.

Fortune points. As far as I can tell, they designated the same way.

The turrets are spaced apart so Cleave will not work against them. Still going for it?

Sure.

With initiative on your side and lightsaber in hand, you totally decimate the single turret with nine successes. Feel free to describe it.

Rather surprisingly, Zazez opts to move into close quarters with the pirates at the lift. He uses his spidery robo-legs to leap onto one and stab him repeatedly with the foremost legs while his droids blast down others. Graf climbs down from her burning tree while the Contact stays in solid cover, trying to fire blindly and only scoring a glancing hit. Kalvit goes berserk on the the Captain that fired at him. He hits on his first attack and so goes twice with 10,000 Bolts, rattling the pirate for a total of 14 damage.

Return fire is largely ineffectual. Zazez's droids take hits, while everyone else is secure in cover or without opponents. Your remaining turret is parried neatly.

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OPERATION OVERTHROW, Start of Turn 7

South of Lift

Kalvit (G12): 1(2A 1P)/9 [10B EE ES] [CC CG] (1F)

West of Lift

Contact (G8): 1(1P)/0 [BB GS ES] (?)

Graf (G12): 1/17 [MK EE] [CF] (2F) (in tree)

Pirates x3* (G5)

North of Lift

Rianna (LS12): 3/15 [OGu CL DW] [MA FB FA DU FT] (6F)

Turrets x1 (G6) (1A)

East of Lift

Clear

Lift Well

Zazez (C9): 2/0 [WS ES] (2F)

Battle Droid A (G8): 1(1A)/23 [CC]

Battle Droid B (G8): 1(1A)/18 [CC]

Pirate Captain A (G8): 1(1A)/14 [10B]

Pirates x2 (G5)

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Swap DW for Perfect Strike.

Rianna quickly and easily destroys the turret with a few fast, precision strikes, smirking slightly as it falls to pieces, before slashing at the other with her lightsaber.

Initiative goes to the pirates. Instead of trying to take out Zazez, the pirate captain goes after one of his killing machines. He manages to destroy one by charging it down and blowing out its chest at pointblank. This is just before Kalvit completely vaporizes him and the droid both in a torrent of laserfire.

You vivisect your turret and the others kill the remaining pirates. The clearing is now smoldering quietly.

"Well, that went about as expected..." Rianna comments to herself, deactivating her lightsaber and going to rejoin the others.

Everyone converges on the lift. Nobody on your side was seriously hurt except the thugs that were annihilated at the beginning.

When you walk up, your group is gazing at the lightsaber at your waist.

"Fancy toy," Kalvit says. His triple-minigun is glowing with heat.

"Jedi?" Graf asks simply.

Zazez is more concerned about repairing his remaining robot.

"I was, once," Rianna says in response to Graf.

"Seems there's a lot more pirates than estimated," she comments, looking around the carnage in the clearing.

The Contact is looking at you queerly.

"Why don't you try sensing for more?" he asks.

"Who cares," Kalvit says. "I'll handle them."

So, what does Rianna sense?

Also, she's getting the idea that this is going to be the last time she works with this Contact. And...do they know her name?

"My sense are not that finely tuned. I'm a warrior," she says.

"Try anyway," the Contact says.

You sense... extreme fear from down below, in the mine. But... you think it is only coming from a few people. You cannot be sure. It could mean that only a few pirates are left... or it could mean that only a few are scared.

Rianna shoots him an irritated look, before sharing what she can sense about what's down there.

"I think the former," the Contact says. "The Crimson Queen was influential enough to get this group together... she can't have had many more, though. She's not a demagogue, just a temptress."

"Let's finish," Graf says.

"Let's be cautious, all the same," Rianna says. "I've had poor experiences in underestimating people."

She will lead them down the lift, then, sensing for any danger.

The lift is enormous, meant for lowering those abandoned ore haulers down into the mine. It does not go far before reaching the bottom of the shaft, and there is only one tunnel leading onward. The others have been blocked with debris.

Well, onwards through that tunnel, then, and Rianna will be using Sense the whole way.

You lead the way. It becomes apparent that all other routes into the mine have been blocked up deliberately with rusty mining equipment and forced cave-ins or, in one case, an entire ore hauler was apparently blown up.

There are fortifications made, but they've been abandoned. At the end of the tunnel is a blast door. It looks ancient but still durable.