The Plight of the Gray Griffon

[shizukanashi]

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away....

It is a time of great ambition for the Rebel Alliance. Luke Skywalker, the farm boy turned galactic hero has only recently blown up the first dreaded Death Star. The destruction of this nigh ultimate weapon was a crushing blow to the Evil Galactic Empire's moral and a shining beacon of hope that emboldens all those who remember the tragic fate of the planet Alderaan.

With new worlds and independent powers flocking to the Rebel banner, the small band of freedom fighters is quickly becoming a legitimate military power. The Rebel High Command is struggling to keep up with supplies and logistics for the growing needs of the insurgency. More so, Yavin IV, the moon where the primary rebel base was is now known to Palpatine and the Imperials. Mon Mothma the charismatic leader of the Alliance to Restore the Republic has commissioned a large number of scout teams to seek out new worlds and resources to meet these growing needs.

One of these teams, The Grey Griffons, is on loan to Radell Mining Company (RMC). The team is searching the unimaginably gigantic stellar body known only as "the drift" in order to discover and claim for Radell Mining new worlds for RMC's mining opperations. In exchange the corporate sponsor and secret rebel sympathizer has agreed to supply the Rebels with a portion of its raw materials and profits. This assistance is essential in order to keep up the fight and even the technological gap in the ongoing Galactic Civil War....

[shizukanashi]

The Nav computers logs must be a parsec long. You and your crew mates have been searching 'The Drift' for months. The micro hyperspace jumps needed to navigate the potentially dangerous gas cloud are growing tedious as the long days slowly pass into weeks, and then months. Cabin fever has begun to set in and your Nova-drive 3-Z freighter seems considerably smaller than it was when you first left port. The only Brightside is the scenery. It is simply breath-taking to behold, but like everything else about this journey, it never changes.

"Come back around, heading 256-192. I thought I picked up a gravity shadow. Could be a star we may have finally found some potential mining worlds." Your commanding officer is an alien named Parak. You never figured out what his race was, but he is a short bronze skinned, humanoid with three gill slits on his neck and slippery bald head where a ridge of spines begins and continues down his back.

His announcement does little to excite you. Sensors are almost useless and the last seventy-two "gravity shadows" turned out to be either false readings or useless rocks. One was actually a previously undiscovered black hole, at least that was a slightly less boring day. You and your crew are responsible for the discovery of singularity 679k-xz44-97z-B1w4, or as Parak affectionately dubed it "The griffons eye".

[At0m1kSQ]

"Heh, that's what? The 10th one this this week? I'm telling you brass has sent us on a wild batha chase." Veloc shouts from the back of the cabin haphazardly reassembling his BlasTech DL-87 blindfolded.
"Its probably just that damned nebula interfering with our scanners again."

[Severance28]

"Yeah, but even so, it can never hurt to check them out. Heading for 256 - 192 now, maintaining z- level." Lucas punches in some numbers and turned the ship around, engaging the drive for a moment after they were aligned. There was a brief surge of acceleration, and Lucas cut the ignition, letting them drift the rest of the way to the waypoint. He had done this many times before in the couple months, and did so now in a slightly bored, absentminded way

[Thundercracker]

Foor'Na

"C'mon, it's not that bad," the Pho Ph'eahian said, his voice issuing forth from the cracked door to the bathroom, "won't it be a surprise to find out what the color of this one is?"

[At0m1kSQ]

"Ha! 28 Seconds best time so far!" He shouts setting down his fully assembled blaster "Can you see anything out there? Let me guess its big greenish yellowy purple and spans 6,000 parsecs of everywhere... Eh suppose multi-colored skies are better than the mutil-colored goop of Nal Hutta sewers, glad we didn't end up on that assignment."

[shizukanashi]

Your ship The Whisper heads toward the heading Parak ordered and Lucas confirmed.

"That's definantly a star!" Parak elates. "Get the survey tools ready. If there is a planet we can safely land on we will take a closer look."

As you come around a dense cloud of stellar dust you are blinded by the light from a small red star.

Paraks grin stretches from gills to gills. "That rock there is burnt to a crisp, and sensors confirm its pretty useless. That one however, looks promising!" He points to a bright blue orb, the second celestial body orbiting the bright red star. "Set a course see if you can find a place to set down." He lays a friendly hand on Lucas's back as he gives his order and points out the view screen.

[Severance28]

Lucas smiles: Setting a course now". Lucas reads the info coming onto the ships computers, trying to find a place to land

[Thundercracker]

Foor'Na

"I've got your multicolored goop right here," Foor'Na said, emerging from the waste vestibule and closing the door tightly, "just in time. I hope nobody has to go before we land."

He sauntered up to the front of the ship to get a look at the red giant and see if he could find the small planet they were streaking towards.

[At0m1kSQ]

"As if I ever needed another reason to jump ship... Parak, Sir permission to jettison self out the airlock?" Veloc spouts his listless retort.

[shizukanashi]

As the whisper breaks through the stratosphere it is obvious it will be harder to find a spot to set down than you may have though. The planet is large and it is covered in a water that is a bright shining blue. The only thing that you can see besides the strange water are small volcanic rocks and a strange purple coral. It takes a few minutes, but eventually you find a rock that is large enough and flat enough for a slightly unstable landing.

Spoiler

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Okay so here is your first lesson. Normally I would not require a roll to land but due to the surface instability I am going to ask for a Very Easy check from Lucas. In the star wars system most tasks are assigned a TN:

Very Easy 1-5
Easy 6-10
Moderate 10-15
Difficult 16-20
Very Difficult 21-25
Heroic....ect.

The target number I am going to assign is a 5. Roll your Space Transports skill or your MECH attribute. Additionally Star Wars D6 uses a "wild die" when rolling with physical dice its easy to do just use a different colored dice than all the others. On these boards we need to separate the dice. For that we use the "rollv" command rather than the "roll" command. The basics of the wild die is if it is a "1" bad things happen but if it is a "6" it explodes ie you roll it again. A typical roll would look like this:

Pilot: [rollv]3d6[/rollv]
Wild Die: [rollv]3d6[/rollv]

and if the first die on the initial roll comes up a 6 I will just add the first result on the "wild die"

[Severance28]

Lucas scans the planet, looking for a place to land.

Spoiler

Show

(3d6+2)[4][4][3](13)
Wild die: (3d6+2)[4][2][4](12)

Why do we roll the same amount of dice for the wild die and not just an extra one?

[shizukanashi]

Spoiler

Show

You don't need to roll the same number of die but sometimes 1 is not enough, I usually roll 2D6. This is because it can continue to explode, if its a 6 you add it and roll again, if that is a 6 you add it a roll again....again...again. 2d6 usually covers your bases, but you may choose to roll 3d6 or 42d6...It just depends on how strong the force is with you.

The Whisper sets down and Parak pulls a handheld scanner from his bag of tricks. "Air looks good to breath." He opens the hatch and you all pile out. "Get me some samples of that water. See if we can dig into this rock and get a core sample." He then proceeds to set up a small weather station and analysis machine.

[At0m1kSQ]

Veloc carries out the survey equipment and begins collecting water samples

[Severance28]

Lucas carries out the post-flight routine and commences basic ship shutdown, and then goes out to help the others with their menial task.

[Thundercracker]

Foor'Na

Foor'Na rummages through his pack and, after considerable muttering, emerges with a tox detector.

"Anyone see any flora or fauna?" he asked, "you see anything at all give a shout. Even if it's just some slime."

He runs the tox detector over the water, looking for anything that might be harmful.

[At0m1kSQ]

Veloc takes a vial of water and sticks it into the scanner

"While that goes I suppose I'll start on getting out a core"

He digs through the equipment and begins to drill out a core from the rock...

[shizukanashi]

The water here is toxic, it is laced with heavy metals and chemicals. Like the other samples however it does look promising as a source of materials for Radell mining. This planet is a gold mine. Even the water can be filtered for valuable metals and natural resources.

Parak is very pleased, however as you are gathering your last few samples the sky changes. Dark clouds roll in faster than any storm you have ever known. The waves begin to crash threatening your perilous perch on the tiny rock. Get back on the ship. We will return to orbit until the storm passes."

[Thundercracker]

Foor'Na

"Don't gotta tell me twice," the alien said, packing up the tox detector and trotting back to the still-extended boarding ramp.

[At0m1kSQ]

Veloc eyes the oncoming storm. Trying to determine its severity and time before impact

Spoiler

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Survival
[rollv]4d6[/rollv]
wild
[rollv]2d6[/rollv]
I cant seem to make my rolls work

"Blast! Do we have time to set down a beacon or a way point back here? We've no idea how much more land we can find on this puddle." He says hurriedly ready to either sprint onboard with what he can carry; if not or unsure, or set up a beacon if safe.

[At0m1kSQ]

Spoiler

Show

Sorry for double post
(4d6)[3][1][3][4](11)
(2d6)[4][4](8)

[Severance28]

Lucas runs back onto the ship and prepares for takeoff as quickly as possible. He then attempts to launch the ship into atmosphere. "Hold on, this could get bumpy"

Spoiler

Show

Mechanical -
(3d6+2)[5][1][6](14)
[rollv]3d6[rollv]
Whoops messed up the bonus dice, but I guess it doesn't matter

[shizukanashi]

The storm that is brewing is so sudden and so severe that it physically startles Veloc. You know that you have never seen such severe weather. There is no question that this storm will level everything in its path, and it is coming now.

Dodging Lightning and gusts of wind Lucas manages to back up his claim of a bumpy ride. It gets hairy for only a few seconds though before you reach orbit. From space the Storm looks even worse. It covers thousands of miles and lightning and twisters scar the surface of the planet.

[Thundercracker]

Foor'Na

Foor'Na looked at the storm, clearly visible even from orbit.

"Glad we didn't get caught in that," Foor'Na said, "how long's it supposed to last, and how did we not see that coming?"

[At0m1kSQ]

"Three tours of duty on every type of backwater planet imaginable and I've never seen anything like that... That cant be natural..." He says sanding in awe at the great torrent forming across the planets surface.

"I'd put money on that there's got to be something causing this."

[shizukanashi]

Parak is busy analysing samples and checking scanners. "Take a look at this." He indicates the scanner screen which is showing atmospheric conditions on the planet "The temperature, the barometer, the chemical make-up of the air...Its unusual, but according to these readings its natural. This planet simply has the condition for severe weather. I would say this probably happens every standard day for a few hours. Its the perfect storm. We have a word for that back home." He smiles before he enters a name for the planet on the separate data entry he is making. "Alluuvia"

He seems unaware but the rest of you who are still looking at the scanners screen notice a blip on the radar.....you are not the only ship leaving the planet.

[At0m1kSQ]

"Parak, Sir the scanner is picking up a blip, looks like a starship leaving the planet. Should we follow it?"

[shizukanashi]

"Affirmative. Follow that blip! We are not the only scouts out here. If IML (Imperial Mining Limited) claims that planet before Radell does, all this time in the drift could be for nothing. Prep for boarding. We might have a fight on our hands."

As the Whisper makes it way around it becomes clear that the ship in question is NOT a scout ship. It looks more like a floating city than a starship, with the mass to match.

[Thundercracker]

Foor'Na

Foor'Na gave a low whistle.

"That's one heck of a blip," he said, "are they Imperial?"

[shizukanashi]

Before you can react the holonet communication device flashes indicating an incoming comm message. Parak presses the appropriate buttons and the vid screen flares to life.

"Greetings. My name is Bodhi-Sattva. I suppose it was only a matter of time before this world was discovered by the greater galaxy. Won't you please come aboard? I will prepare for you a feast. I would very much like to know who it is that heralds the demise of this planet."

The vid screen dies out again. Parak looks confused, unsure of what actions to take next. He turns to you, his crew. "Thoughts?"