STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Family

Oh my, that seems unwise at this stage, and leaving Jung behind was only a tertiary thought, really. So, I guess we're making a break for it together. If schticks need to be called, I'll start with Balanced Guard, Bodyguard on Jung, and Charge.

Summary: Run past droids. 😛

Schticks: BGu, BG, CH

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"I was only considering our options, officer," Aurel remarks to Jung's opinion of remaining behind. He deactivates his saber, but keeps it in hand, and watches the patrols to time the moment of their run.

The patrols are evenly spread, so essentially it will be a matter of deciding where to charge through- dramatically through the center or in the darker edges of the chamber? They are equal in number of droids.

Additionally, since Jung cannot leap from walkway to walkway like the Force-powered Tarzan that Aurel is, you will need to choose stairwells where they can be found.

Curses, almost another month gone. Still, ever I shamble on, eternal RP zombie. 😆

Right, they say fortune favors the bold, and I've had more than enough experience with failed stealth checks recently, so I'm going to say we make a the closest thing to a beeline as we can, and I'll be guarding Jung along the way.

Summary: Run past droids dramatically!

Schticks: BGu, BG, CH
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"The faster we get past them, the better," Aurel says to Jung as his lightsaber hums back to life, "Let's go, officer. I'll cover you."

You descend from the catwalk you dropped in on, and from there estimate how long it will take you to take the stairs and walkways down. It takes ten move actions to reach the bottom of this level.

The first level you start on is a broad viewing deck. I roll to see how many droids are patrolling this area, and fortune favors you; there is only a pair of droids.

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AMBUSH IN THE FACTORIES, Start of Turn 10

Entrance - Top of Machinery

Clear

Level 10 - Viewing Deck

Aurel (LS11): 1(2A)/12 [BGu BG CL] [OGu CH] (3F)

Jung (G10): 1(1PR)/3 [GS ES DW] [WS] (1F)

Droids (G5) x2

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Lucky indeed. Either you read my mind, or you have a typo. Either way, it works as I intend to swap out Charge for Cleave to try and end these droids quickly.

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With the duo finally on the move, Aurel feels some slight relief. It lasts only a moment, though, as he spots two droids after their descent. Wasting no time, he rushes forward in an attempt to neutralize the threat.

4-5 gives initiative to the droids! One opens fire on you (and misses) while the other raises the alarm on its comlink. The loud whooping alarm you heard earlier resumes...

You promptly charge the droids down and cut them both in half with one wide swing.

I roll to see how many droids patrol Level 9, which is a series of spread out maintenance walkways to survey the upper sections of these giant machines.

You have three teams of droids in the immediate area.

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AMBUSH IN THE FACTORIES, Start of Turn 11

Entrance - Top of Machinery

Clear

Level 10 - Viewing Deck

Aurel (LS11): 1(2A)/12 [BGu BG CL] [OGu CH] (3F)

Jung (G10): 1(1PR)/3 [GS ES DW] [WS] (1F)

Level 9 - Upper Machinery Maintenance

Droids (G5) x2

Droids (G5) x2

Droids (G5) x2

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Blast! I was hoping to take them down before the alarm. Guess I'll try and make it work from here. I'll keep moving forward with Jung, taking advantage of Cleave to clear out the teams as quickly as possible.

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"They'll be on us soon," Aurel says as the alarm blares again, "let's move."

4-4, Evens... I haven't kept track of the last time an Evens was rolled for Initiative, so I'll give it to you!

Meaning you leap down into the midst of the droids on Level 9. I imagine Aurel's style to be one alternating between powerful sweeping blows and mincing acrobatic feats. In this case, one broad swing takes down two droids with six successes.

Jung must take the stairs, leaving him out of your Bodyguard protection. He descends and shoots down a droid with four successes.

The droids fire back! You take 4 damage from two droids as you parry the burst fire, while Jung ducks clear of a shot that explodes on the stairwell.

Groups of droids are clambering into position on the next level before.

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AMBUSH IN THE FACTORIES, Start of Turn 12

Entrance - Top of Machinery

Clear

Level 10 - Viewing Deck

Clear

Level 9 - Upper Machinery Maintenance

Aurel (LS11): 1(2A)/16 [BGu BG CL] [OGu CH] (3F)

Jung (G10): 1(1PR)/3 [GS ES DW] [WS] (1F)

Droids (G5) x1

Droids (G5) x2

Level 8 - Connecting Stairs

Droids (G5) x2

Droids (G5) x2

Droids (G5) x2

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His style will change with his schticks, naturally, but it's not a bad assumption. 😛 Not much else to say, just keep pressing on. I'll swap out Balanced Guard for Orthodox Guard.

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Aurel swoops down on the next pair of droids, then flicks his saber up as he goes on the defensive somewhat; just long enough to find the opening he needs to press his attack.

Do you mean to clear out this level before proceeding or jump down to the next level?

Clear out this level. Again, thought I'd responded to this much sooner. My apologies.

It happens! I try not to bug the players into posting. It becomes a chore if you're being bothered.

3-6, the Initiative goes with the droids! That could be messy for you, so let's break it down.

You are granted some cover by the walkways, so the droids below do not have clear shots at you. Cover always grants you +1 Parry against a Ranged attack. A Parry cancels out a rolled success.

Swapping to the Guard with the higher Defense rating, then, was a good call on your part. Aurel has six droids shooting at him, but between a Defense of 3 and Parry of 1, the droids need to roll two successes to hit you.

As it turns out, none of them do!

Four droids shoot at Jung. He has a Parry of 2, between his cover and Eye of the Storm. Naturally, he only as a Defense of 1. Still, the droids have to roll 3 successes on four dice. Jung stays clear.

Your turn!

It is laughably easy for you to destroy these droids, Aurel. Your blade crashes through two droids in another wide power swing, with seven successes. The danger lies in the droids (or any another mass of low level soldier) grouping up against you, as you may be seeing in Missing Links.

Jung blows his target's robotic head clean off with seven successes.

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AMBUSH IN THE FACTORIES, Start of Turn 13

Entrance - Top of Machinery

Droids (G5) x2

Level 10 - Viewing Deck

Clear

Level 9 - Upper Machinery Maintenance

Aurel (LS11): 1(2A)/16 [OGu BG CL] [BGu CH] (3F)

Jung (G10): 1(1PR)/3 [GS ES DW] [WS] (1F)

Level 8 - Connecting Stairs

Droids (G5) x2

Droids (G5) x2

Droids (G5) x2

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Something to think about- this is a highly mobile fight, where you need to keep moving to engage the droids. Charge helps with that; you can attack then move, rather than move and attack. It gives you options to disengage or engage out of the normal order of things.

Also... droids are starting to come in from above. They do not have an issue with getting a clear shot from the high ground.

Well, I can't say I wasn't expecting that last little wrinkle. It just means we have to work even harder at pushing through. Hopefully moving down to the staircase can offer some protection, once it's been cleared that is. I think then, with that in mind, I'll activate another Twirl attempt as we move into the next area. Even with Cleave, I'd only be able to take out two droids at a time; Twirl will give me a chance to clear the space and put more room between us and the ones up top. I'll swap out Bodyguard for Charge while I'm at it.

Summary: Swap BG for CH, Move to Level 8 - Connecting Stairs, Twirl

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As he clears the way for himself and the officer, Aurel glances up on a feeling. He frowns as he sees the droids finally making their way from the upper levels. There was no time to waste, and so he dashes over to the connecting stair way and leaps into action, silver light dazzling as it weaves through the air at the mechanical menaces in their path.

Evens again, meaning the droids fire before you charge in. Four attacks each on Aurel and Jung, then. The droids firing from below face the cover penalty and so nothing lands on Aurel. Jung takes a hit for 3 damage as a bolt bursts through part of the stairs.

Aurel then dives down! Charge helps you here, as the droids would have been too spaced out for a Twirl. Instead, Aurel lands on the first connecting stairway, then flips over to another. With a dice conversion from Orthodox Guard (a rolled 1 becomes a 6), he scores 4 successes on five dice. Keep in mind that Twirl halves your pool and can decrease your chances of getting kills!

In this case, Aurel gets all four in his flippy twirling maneuver.

Jung, on the other hand, decides to shoot at the droids dropping in from the hole in the ceiling. He rolls 4 successes with a Gunslinger conversion, one of which is negated by the walkway cover (it works both ways). He still gets his droid, but it is immediately replaced with two more.

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AMBUSH IN THE FACTORIES, Start of Turn 14

Entrance - Top of Machinery

Droids (G5) x3

Level 10 - Viewing Deck

Clear

Level 9 - Upper Machinery Maintenance

Clear

Level 8 - Connecting Stairs

Droids (G5) x2

Aurel (LS11): 3/16 [OGu CH CL] [BGu BG] (2F)

Jung (G10): 1(1PR)/6 [GS ES DW] [WS] (1F)

Level 7 - Operator Station

Droids (G5) x2

Droids (G5) x2

Droids (G5) x2

Operator droids x5

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The next section below you is a platform with numerous computer banks. In addition to the droids crowding in to greet you, there are other robots working at the machines. You can't tell what their working on from here.

Those evens are really a double edged sword, aren't they? At least Twirl worked like I'd hoped. Next I'll tap Cleave while clearing out the last two droids on that level, then use Charge to drop down again. I assume attacking means I won't be able to use Coordination this turn, am I right?

Sadly so! You have to forego attacking to use it.

If you are concerned about incoming damage, the strength of the Swordsman is that he has so many things he can tap. Tapping Orthodox Guard goes great with Cleave as well, since it converts most of your dice into successes. In addition to providing +2 Parry for the turn, as well.

That's a good point! I'm getting too attached to a certain layout. I think I might have to brush up on the schticks now that I'm back in active play. Well, right now it's important to get this place clear, so I'll tap Orthodox Guard and Cleave, then jump down to give the droids a more tempting target. Hopefully the bonus will keep me safe.

Summary: Tap CL and OGu, attack remaining droids, and drop down to next level.
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With a sweeping upper slash, Aurel clears four of the droids after landing, bringing his saber back into attack formation to wipe out the remaining two.

6-3 for Initiative.

Aurel continues his flipping about on the maintenance stairways. With twelve dice behind his next swing, Aurel gets eight successes and easily tears apart the next pair of droids.

He then drops down into the midst of the droids.

Jung gets another four successes on his shot and kills a droid from above.

Aurel's bull-charge into the operator station certainly draws the attention of the droids- all six are going to fire at him, leaving two on Jung.

Thankfully, the Guard tap does the trick; Aurel immediately rises and intercepts all incoming blasts with measured movements of his blade.

Jung takes two hits for 6 damage.

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AMBUSH IN THE FACTORIES, Start of Turn 15

Entrance - Top of Machinery

Droids (G5) x2

Level 10 - Viewing Deck

Droids (G5) x2

Level 9 - Upper Machinery Maintenance

Clear

Level 8 - Connecting Stairs

Jung (G10): 1(1PR)/12 [GS ES DW] [WS] (1F)

Level 7 - Operator Station

Aurel (LS11): 3/16 [OGu CL8 CH] [BGu BG] (2F)

Droids (G5) x2

Droids (G5) x2

Droids (G5) x2

Operator droids x5

Level 6 - Cable Clusters

Droids (G5) x2

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The droids above are starting to descend to keep you in range, and you're surrounded!

There is only a pair of droids on the floor below.

How thick are the cable clusters on the next level down?

Very thick. They are big industrial pieces. You would need a closer look and a Fix-It roll to know exactly what they do.