Yep, Xeth will drag R3-U9 out of the Nexu's Grin to assist with the technical work, if any is needed. The droid will probably beep perturbed responses, but Xeth assures it that nothing will shoot at it this time.
"Let's get to work..." Xeth says, letting his Renegades go where they will. He himself decides to stick with Roan. "Upstairs? I think we'll find more about Merek where he lived."
Wentar is still here! Just been a bit busy.
Unfortunately my skill set isn't fantastic for this kind of work, looks like four of us are going to the high rollers and three are going to Merek's quarters. So Wentar will join Roan, Xeth and Jelena in going there.
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"A man in Merek's position may have had information they were after, he probably spend a lot of time with some very rich and influential people, people who tend to know more than they let on," Wentar says as they ascend the stairs, breaking the silence he had kept since they landed.
Ok so let's give you guys a brief rundown and then you can think about what you want to do.
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At the high-rollers:
This place is a disaster area. There are dead bodies all over the place. A lot of them are security, but a lot of them are also bystanders- there's a horrible crush by the stairs back down (just one set, and narrow) as people tried to escape the fight. A lot of security has been sabred. A lot of the dead bystanders were probably hit in crossfire. You can see evidence of makeshift barricades to asvoid blaster fire.
The room is circular. The nothern half is where the games were. The southern half of the room, more of a cafe/relaxation area, is dominated by its view of the city with what used to be a window that is basically the size of the wall that gives a fantastic view out there. Except the window is not there any more. It was blown to pieces. This is no mere series of blaster shots. It;s not glass- it's an advanced transparent metal (this whole building is expensively constructed). It's been blown apart by serious effort- the ceiling and floor near it is warped and damaged as well.
The whole are is still dusty and smoky and dust and debris is all over the place. One Bureau agent, distinct in his grey tunic, is dead in the north of the room. The other is dead on the far west side by the elevator leading upwards.
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At the higher levels:
You guys had to walk through all that of course. You would like to take the elevator further up, but it seems someone destroyed the elevator car in the fight. A ladder has already been improvised to help people up.
Some signs of fighting on the upper levels but not as many. The internal security systems seem mostly intact. The power supply that powered the tower's forcefield, however, is has been sabred- inexpertly. The assailant just hit it enough until it stopped working. Risky that- it could have blown up; in fact the whole operation lacks subtlety. It's brute force all around.
Galen Marek had a personal escape aircar which is missing, though it would only seat two. The other hotzone is on the other side of the tower where the majority of the dead bodies up here are- but they seem to have been killed by styarfighter fire from outsider (presumably after the shield went down).
Brute Force. The Darkie specialty.
Does the window correspond to Marek's body? Was he thrown out the blown out window? Also does it look like it was blown inward or outward?
But for the upper levels, lets take a look around. I'd like to see if we can find a personal computer or something like that which can help tell us what Marek was into that might bring the darkies crashing in around him.
"The sloppy destruction of the shield generator's power supply tells me this wasn't the plan," Jelena says to Roan, examining the hacked apart components. "But they must've brought down the shield for the starfighters, either for pick-up or for fire support. Not many other reasons come to mind for doing so... but again, probably not what they wanted to do."
Jelena is pleased to hear that the security systems are functioning. She will assist Xeth's R3 with interrogating the computers, to see what that turns up, if anything.
Were there any witnesses or survivors from the upper levels? Or did they leave no survivors?
Up top-
The elevator is hard to diagnose because it fell to the bottom of the shaft and crumpled to little. All its safeties, however, were destroyed first, and bits of it seem to have been cut out. You're finding it quite hard to work out the logic of how all this happened and why.
There are also blaster marks in the shaft- people were firing weapons in here. It's all very strange.
Indeed, Jelena, this all seems very sloppy. They must have known they needed to get the shield down, as they were deploying starships, but this is all over the place. Something didn't go to plan.
There are a number of guards still around on the upper levels (though not by the generator- they're dead). The survivors really don't know very much though- it was all so chaotic. What they can tell you for certain, though, is that Merek never went down to the casino unless there was an issue. He virtually lived up here. Indeed, he was actually meant to be having an important appointment when all this happened- but the guards are not aware of details.
Bad news on the computers- seems they remembered to cover this one. The systems are physically intact but they have been software and hardware spiked. There are no records of what went on.
---
Casino- you have no idea what the Bureau Agents were doing here. It does seem rather out of their normal area of operations.
The window was blown inward. A starfighter could certainly do it, but like Xeth you are having difficulty there assembling the logic of that, especially the timing.
The fight looks absolutely frantic to you. Hard to tell lightsabre technique from dead bodies, but as far as you can see, you don't think Rand killed that many that way. What you do see are a bunch of people slumped against walls, dead of internal injuries, or crushed by parts of the scenery. That's certainly his style.
It's whilst you are checking the bodies that one of them sirs and begins to pick himself up. This clearly makes him not a body, but you could be forgiven for thinking he was as he had a lightsabre wound through his midriff. It's only when he picks himself up that your brain makes the connection (courtesy of your high Savoir-Faire score) of what a few of these bodies are.
Osokans?
The infamous hunters of the planet Lanzar, suppressed by the Jedi centuries ago when, even in a galaxy full of hunting types from Wookies to Trandoshans that have caused trouble over time, the Osokan Hunting Guilds of Lanzar took it several orders of magnitude too far over and over again, driving sentient species to the brink of extinction- all done in person, killing one at a time, just for the enjoyment of the kill. Some of the most destructive killing machines nature ever devised- mostly due to the harsh conditions and wildlife in the jungles of Lanzar itself, which the Osokans adapted to fight, including a miracle of regenerative biology.
Not all Osokans are evil, but you know for a fact that they are culturally stunted. They don't understand how society works, and despite the banning of the Hunting Guilds their fundamental nature remains violent and addicted to death.
In a casino? You'd be surprised ever to see one away from Lanzar, let alone somewhere like this. You aren't sure they would understand what a casino was for.
Vera-Kin herself never concentrated much on learning to use the Force for kinetic attacks, and never understood Rand's aggressive desire to learn them himself. She shakes her head sadly at these bludgeoned bodies, despite trying to remain objective on the crime scene.
Rand... next time we meet, you won't escape, she thinks to herself.
When the Osokan pulls itself up, she rushes over to help it. Regenerative biology or no, she can't imagine getting run through with a lightsaber is easy to walk away from.
"Are you okay?" she asks the Osokan. "Let me look at your injuries."
She cautiously gets closer.