Originally posted by Tptmanno1
Me and New Beginning go after Free Flyer as we have the lowest maneuverabilities, so by teaming up we can get more chances.
BETRAYAL! Oh woe is me, it's a setup. 😖
😛 But seriously, looks like a sound plan if you ask me. Hopefully we can take down at least one of them, though I do wonder the consequences for the characters if we do.
And so back to normal here, as you guys head to the planet Robine to see what the heck it was the Dark Siders were up to.
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We don't often see what happens next when the Dark Siders move on from one of their places of carnage, so this becomes your privilege.
The city around the Golden Tower is in chaos. Emergency vehicles are floating around all over, some ferrying casualties, others trying to put out the fires. Proton torpedo strikes are not pretty in urbanised area, though luckily many of the strikes were not aimed at residential areas- it seems they were mostly trying to knock out the defensive guns around the Tower (often more for show than for use, to deter aggressive Hutt clients who might be upset about losing money- as it turns out, though, the weren't enough).
The fire in the tower itself seems to have stopped, though smoke is still flowing from it. The whole area is shrouded in the mist of smoke and dust and other particles.
This you all see when you land at the starport. It's not much of a journey to the Tower itself and there will be much to do when you are inside. The local authorities are in a certain amount of chaos themselves right now, and if there were ever going to be objections to the Jedi spontaneously poking their noses into a dodgy gambling operation, the carnage plus the sudden arrival and size of your group silences them- besides which, reports of lightsabres being used in the assault makes a lot of people glad to see you.
One particular gaggle of security around the outside attracts your attention though. What you have here- though you have to take security's word for it- is the remnants of Galen Merek himself, the owner of the Golden Tower. Seems he fell from a long way up.
Jelena winces at the thought of dropping from that height. He probably died on impact, but still, very terrifying.
"I think that confirms that Merek was their target," Jelena says.
Jelena wants to get in touch with the head of Merek's security (if he still lives) and with whichever Bureau representative is leading the investigation here, if possible. Otherwise, she will continue on to the tower with her colleagues.
She also wants to offer the assistance of her Padawan and the others in the relief effort for clearing out the wounded, if they can be of help.
What do we know about Galen Merek already? Vera-Kin will muse about her years of galactic knowledge to see if she knows anything about the wealthy gambler and his organization, aside from the basics.
"Why would they go after him?" Vera-Kin says. "I can't imagine they would've attacked Merek and his security forces if it was over money. They could've just gambled and cheated and left, if that was it."
Andro surveys the damage and the chaos around him, dismayed, "Wish we were here when all this started. The battle would have gone very differently, I think."
"Gallagher, I'm not much for talking. Let's leave that to the others. With our lightsabers and the Force, let's go help clear debris; search for survivors. And maybe see what else we can find amongst the rubble that the Darkies might not want us seeing."
After helping very little during the orbital chase, Gallagher is just as eager as Andro to use his supernatural talents to help those in need after the bombardment that these Dark Side terrorists led against the Golden Tower and its surrounding areas.
"I feel our answers will be in the Tower itself," Gallagher says, "but I'm certainly eager to help. I can sense death and dying here... so much of it..."
Gallagher visibly shivers when he reaches out with the Force.
"What could they have been after?" Gallagher echoes Vera-Kin's sentiments.
Looking around Roan's detective senses click on. He feels, almost at home, but thats not right, he feels destiny; if he weren't a Jedi, he'd be doing this every day as a member of CorSec but now he's doing it because he is a Jedi.
Looking around, at the crowd, and the carnage he say "They had to be after him, Merek. Look, there are no other bodies around. If this was random you'd expect more direct carnage, other around here. But he was dropped, or thrown and only him. He was a target."
Local security will give you a run down of the situation as they understand it:
The intruders posed as gamblers (well, 'posed'. They actually were gambling). They made a bunch of money on the lower levels- the open casino. This gave them enough credits to make a stake at the upper level, the high rollers' floor, minimum stake a million credits. Merek himself lived on the executive offices at the very top of the tower. Getting to the high roller casino got the intruders closer to Merek. There is no violence at all on any of the lower levels.
But no-one's sure what happened when they got up top. Some sort of chaotic fight broke out and that's when the upper level got trashed- a lot of civilian casualties- and the ships began their ground strike. No casino staff got out the top level alive; any bystanders that did seem to have fled. Presumably the intruders got further up and found their target; it seems they escaped on the ships though no-one is quite sure how they managed that as there's no landing point for a starship up there.
No-one has any idea about how the Bureau got caught up in this.
Picking around outside doesn't show anything particularly suspicious- it seems the only interaction the Dark Siders had at ground level was firing warheads into it. The answers must indeed be in the Tower.
But this does seem a heck of a lot of effort to kill one gambler. What was he to them? Vera- Merek's famously rich, of course, and he straddles the line between legitimate and shady, but you could name half a dozen Hutts who you would call bigger threats as gamblers than this guy. Merek didn't run fleets to chase down people who owed him money. Nor did he have families tortured like the Golden Serpent would. In the end, this is a Republic world, and Merek probably had all sorts of hidden criminal activities, but you can't imagine him tied up in something that would bring this kind of attention.
Nor is there any sign that they stole any money.
"What I'm hearing is that the Bureau might know what they were up to better than casino security," Xeth says. "Did any of their people survive the encounter?"
Xeth also wants to know if casino security will allow them to inspect the scene of the fight and Merek's quarters, to see if that sheds light on his assassination.
"And they have no interest in the goodness of individuals. They wouldn't go after someone because they bad and had people tortured. They go after someone because they want something. Or want to get rid of something. Could they have stolen something other than money?"
Can we go up to Merek's penthouse?
Indeed the Tower is ready for investigation!
As noted, there is nothing in the lower levels so you really have two areas to look at. First, you have the high rollers' casino, the upper floor casino where the 'incident' began and is the main war zone. The second is the floors above that which is where Merek lived and all the technical parts of the Tower were (like security systems).
Literally speaking, of course, you all have to walk through the battle scene, but for convenience I'd like you to split up and choose where you want to look, and you can't make any rolls on the scene you don't go to. Time is still a factor so you may wish to consider appropriate skillsets.
Vera-Kin will join Gallagher, and asks that Andro and Rast join them in inspecting the high-roller's casino and the carnage within.
"You're both very observant," Vera-Kin explains. "While Gallagher may trust the Force, you might help with your eyes."
(Both of you have high Observation scores)
As she stops in the area of the main fight, she speaks to the others.
"Those with technical skills should direct their investigation to Merek's quarters," Vera-Kin says. "The security system, the communications system, the workings of the casino... everything you can."
(Roan and Jelena both have high Fix-It, and maybe Xeth can have brought his R3 unit to help with that too)