Log:Defiance Guild: Screw this Hole
Defiance Guild: Screw this Hole
OOC Date: July 28, 2017
Location: Gurn
Participants: Defiance: Tarion Tavers as GM, Jehni'va Cihn, Sapphira Solari, Kasia Ashkuri, and Stavros
Welcome to the undiscovered world of Gurn, a small planet with a breathable (for humans and the like) atmosphere and a desolate, uninhabited landscape of scrub grass and the occasional palmetto. The sky is a grey-blue with a surprisingly thick layer of clouds wrapping the globe of the planet like a fleecy blanket.
It's not really clear why people still agree to go along with Tarion on his adventures, but it's not really important either.
What is important is that they do, whether bribed, tricked, or just stupid, and now the temporary crew of the Parallax have found themselves rocketing in to land on the surface of Gurn, a small world either undiscovered or ignored until now, for reasons Tarion couldn't be bothered to look up and no one else knew the destination to check. As the ship turns horizontal relative to the planet's surface, a change that the artificial gravity makes mostly cosmetic to those inside, the pilot of the craft kicks on the automatic landing sequence and hops over the edge of the table/bed-like seat to join the others down below.
"Okay, so one of my old roommates, the Bothan ones, let me know that there is a good chance that we'll find some old Rebellion-era gear down here. Armor, guns, maybe even a droid," he beams happily, the self-satisified glow of a young child about to steal from the cookie jar. "It should be near here," the hunter continues, glancing at a nearby nav computer and clicking it over to local scanning radius, pointing out a waypoint with his finger. "Right there is where he said we'd find at least the trail." The point is over a short range of hills. "Five minutes walk, tops." Before anyone can argue and make him waste more expensive fuel trying to get a closer parking spot, he's already opening the exit ramp and tromping down onto the thin dirt.
You can just go right ahead and pencil Jehn in under the 'just stupid' category. The pilot is cheery enough, wearing flight goggles despite the complete lack of need for them, and her usual gray jumpsuit. It's... Kind of clean? Clean enough, anyway. It's Star Wars, everybody is always covered in dirt, grime, and oil, okay? "I like walking." She shrugs, hopping after Tarion and stuffing her hands lazily into her pockets as she falls into step behind the bounty hunter. "Nice place."
Well at least there seems to be an atmosphere. That's a plus. Sapphira is dressed for a little adventure, wearing leggings, boots, a tank top and her grey knitted poncho that hangs low, covering the weapon she wears at her hip. Her hair is pulled back in some newly-favored dual flat buns behind each ear. She pulls on a pair of gloves, and slings a large, empty back over her back. Her steps follow shortly after Tarion makes his way down. "I feel like we should do more scavenging," she observes to the group. "It seems like a fun little adventure, and who knows what neat little toys we might find?"
Nyla Forr is bored. Or, at least, appearing so. Because she stubbornly doesn't want Tarion Tavers to know she might, just might, be having fun. "How," she begins as the door and ramp open. "Do these Bothans know stuff is here without having... already taken it?" Nyla shrugs off the straps she had insisted on wearing (because of TT flying) and stands. "I mean. If I suspect there is treasure somewhere I'm gonna just go take it, right?" Suspiciously she tosses a look to Jehn in front of her before scooting towards the ramp.
Kasia is here because she's trying to make sure that not everyone gets killed for being stupid, or willing to go along with what Tarion says. Which means she's wearing pants, both literally, and possibly in a figurative sense should things start to go bad. She's also got a blaster on her hip, and some techy looking gloves on her hands, just in case. "I hate walking," she voices, just to add a counter point to Jehn's willingness to walk. It's not that she actually hates it, it's just that she hates doing so while in nature, city walking is more acceptable. There are fewer bugs involved. Unless Hex is there, in which case there might be just as many bugs, but he's probably eating them.
"Many Bothans died to bring us this information," Tarion replies to Nyla, holding up a recalcitrant finger as he strides through the dusty haze ahead, a rifle slung over his shoulder and a jet pack strapped onto his back despite the fact that none of them have ever seen it before. "Or at least, the fleas he had died. They always had fleas in that place." In no way does this answer her question.
As he heads down over the first rise, the grass, previously scrub, abruptly thickens at the bottom of the tiny valley. "That's weird, I thought the whole thing was desert. There's no running water on the surface." Weird. His brow furrows slightly, but then he waves it off. "It's just over that hill."
"I like Bothans." Jehn offers uselessly, hanging back a step to fall in line with Nyla - but she doesn't have any better answer for her than that. Optimistic, but perhaps not as bright-eyed as she used to be, the pilot beams at Kasia's back. Walking is fun, see? Nature! "Crona woulda loved this." She stops short behind Tarion, following his gaze with the oblivious shrug of someone who should /know/ that this isn't going to be as easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy-ok ka as it is always promised, yet still inexplicably is convinced it will be. It's an adventure! She's outside! She's with friends! Nyla is here! How could her day get any better?! She obediently starts the march towards 'that hill'.
"Are you sure this is the right planet? Or spot on this planet?" Sapphira asks her ex-husband as they tromp through the shrubberies. "If the place you were thinking of has no water..." she begins, as if trying to lead him to the natural possibility that maybe, just maybe, he should've stopped for directions somewhere.
Nyla Forr rolls her eyes at Tarion and scoops up her pack on her way out, slinging it over her shoulder as she marches behind the taller woman. "It's true," Nyla announces through a yawn. "I'd bet a'hundred credits that she wishes I was a Bothan." She doesn't snort a laugh after this because.... it's probably true. Her eyes swivel with a glance at Sapphira to Tarion. "You figure someone's been terraforming?" Her nose wrinkles as she eyes the shrubs suspiciously.
Kasia has a bag slung over her shoulder with important items, likely some bacta patches, or injectors, a few other items that might be necessary for survival. In other words, she has learned to be prepared when going on missions, because one too many times she's been assured it'll be easy, and learned otherwise. When Tarion stops, she stops too, glancing up at the man. "If that information was bad, are we sure that the rest of it isn't?"
Bringing up the rear (no jokes, please!) is Stavros, with a rifle leaned against his shoulder where it is absolutely useless and a pistol at his side where it, also, cannot be snap-fired. Like Kasia, he expects the worst as a matter of course, and so is decked out in heavy, vintage Rebel Yell armor with all the survivability you can shake a stick at. And _this_ time, he will remember that he can close the visor against gas! He will! "Good information is as dangerous as bad, really- if everyone else knows it, too." With that cheery observation, he finally catches up.
"I'm sure it's fine," Tarion assures Kasia and Sapphira and really everyone else, since they're all inclined to doubt his judgment, before he keeps walking up the hill.
Except that as soon as he takes another step, there's a massive rumbling and the ground opens up beneath them as a sinkhole the size of his ship drops the bottom of the little gully and the whole side of the hill out from under them. Everyone tries to jump, except for Kasia, who hates nature so much she's probably just been waiting for this to happen, for the ground itself to try to kill her.
The fearless crew plummet, Tarion clinging to his rifle and forgetting all about his new jetpack, into the darkness, splashing down into deep water.
"I do not." Jehn protests, leaning over to nudge at her shorter girlfriend. "I don't need more hair in my teeth, Crona fur already gets in everything." Ew. "But maybe we should recheck the coordinAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--" Down, down, down they go, and Jehn waves long arms in an attempt to grab a hold of anything or anyone as they all plummet to their deaths. Or just plummet to the depths - she flails to the surface, sputtering and coughing. "Guys?!" She's winded and her voice comes out as a harsh, ragged gasp, panic rapidly grasping at her in the dark. "Nyla? Guys?" Her voice echoes. This sucks. She was just starting to like this planet, too.
Sapphira offers no words as the planet crumbles beneath her feet. She feels it, just a moment before it happens, and manages to get one foot up off the ground before she's falling. A heavy, throat gasp escapes her just before she disappears, leaning slightly back in her fall so she hits the water ass-first, disappearing underneath...at least initially.
As the ground opens up, Nyla manages to snag on some sort of tuber root that is suddenly exposed to the elements. She scrambles, grunting and kicking her feet for purchase as the root groans and cracks. "No no no no no," the short human chatters unhappily as the root breaks and sends her spilling down with a screech that sounds strangely like 'fuck you Tarion'. SPLOOSH.
Kasia has been expecting for nature to kill her basically since she met Hex, and he became determined to convince her of how great it is. More than a year later, still unconvinced, and the fact that the very ground betrays her will not help this effort. She lets out a startled sound as the ground begins to give way and tries to scramble for solid ground, but no such luck! Down, down, swallowed into the ground she goes, flailing and then hitting the water hard. SPLOOSH. She too vanishes beneath the churning surface of the water.
As the ground gives way beneath his feet, Stavros is _this close_ to legendary: he pushes off against the dirt and crud beneath him as he slings his rifle back out of his way, hands digging into the sides of their brand new, all-organic swimming pool. Scrambling his legs against the side and reaching up with a hand towards the edge, though, he serves as living evidence that close only counts with thermal detonators as his grip gives way and he falls into the water, visor still open as he goes under. Gravity always wins.
It's dark down in the sinkhole, and wet, and dirty. It's nothing good down there, and the water is moving, because that's how sinkholes are formed, you guys. The hunter comes bobbing up to the surface, somehow, his wet rifle slung around his neck and arm and his jet pack is creating a weird bubbling boiling mass of ice around the thruster as he tries to use it to fly up, but it only releases liquid oxygen into the water. "Jehn?!" He can see her, and maybe Nyla, but no one else. "Not good! Hex will not pay me if- Hell, Kasia /is the one who pays me./" He must save the paycheck- I mean, Kasia. The bounty hunter dives back under, peering in the dark and dirty water, and seeing... is that a person? He swims toward it and grabs on.
Jehn is afloat, but just barely. It's her lot in life. She can see the sodden, familiar form of Nyla and tries to paddle that way - but Tarion disappears! Which, to be fair, there are worse things that could happen. Maybe she'll get his ship if he doesn't resurface - but Kasia! Sapphira! That guy she stole a car with! They matter. She flails beneath the surface, jabbing her legs and long, gangly limbs at anything that might register as humanoid in the depths of their watery prison. While she isn't the strongest swimmer, she still is capable of ducking down and craning to grab at the nearest of those shapes. Or is it a rock?
Sapphira does manage to break her head above water, the red-hair of hers now dark and soaked. She manages to make one strangled gasp, getting a deep swallow of air before she's dragged down beneath again. Knitting. Knitting is going to be the death of her. Why? Because that big knitted poncho, now soaking wet, is dragging her down, tangling around her flailing limbs and dragging her down, down toward the darkness. But she's not quite in it, yet, which means she might be reachable by hands, perhaps even Tarion's, should they grasp.
Nyla Forr bobs to the surface, spluttering and coughing. Swimming is something the Procopia native should be good at but... well, it's Nyla. "Fuuuuck," she whinges as she pushes herself up against the side of their death hole. "This shit burns!" attempting to keep herself afloat, with little to no concern about the others, Nyla attempts to claw the clay like muck out of her eyes.
Kasia, not being a petite woman, is driven pretty far beneath the surface of the water, especially with the addition of the gear, and weapons, and boots. It all makes it harder to swim, and assists in dragging her deeper. The urge to panic is strong, especially when initial attempts to swim toward the surface don't go at all well, but she somehow manages to retain enough calm to get some sense of where the surface *is* and then head toward it. In the slightly less flaily effort to go back up where there is air, she comes into contact with someone else, thudding right into the armored, and sinking Stavros, who she immediately latches onto, dragging them both upward, closer to the surface, closer to where others can help grab hold of armored Zeltron that wants to sink like a rock. When she finally does finally juuuuust break the surface, she sputters and gasps for air, still desperately kicking her legs to keep she and the Zeltron afloat.
It's as much a surprise to Stavros as it is to anyone else when his arm reaches up next to Kasia and grabs onto the edge. His helmet breaches the surface with his visor closed. Somewhere down there, he remembered he didn't need to inhale all that muddy water and watery mud. His other hand finds the edge, and then he swings his leg up onto the edge with all the agility of a drowned possum- then rolling over onto his back, pressing the side of his helmet for the visor to retreat. His face is covered in mud. "Kasia, you have amazing legs."
When Tarion and Sapphira come splashing up from below, the hunter takes a moment to realize who it is he's saved, but the waterlogged poncho and the damp red hair narrow down the options. "'It'll take years before that insurance pays out'," he splutters in a high-pitched immitation of her voice, kicking towards the shelf the others are starting to wash up on, eventually getting close enough to dig the fingers of his cybernetic arm into the squishy, high-clay dirt and half-pull half-shove the petite woman up onto it before clawing his own way out of the water. "Come on, Jehn and Nyla, stop goofing around before you're swept away!" he calls, dragging himself onto his knees and looking around, quickly realizing the Hotbox duo are still in the water.
The hole lies about twenty feet above them, offset slightly as they've been carried a short stretch away by the current. "...that's probably still our best bet to get out of here," Tarion quietly tells the dripping, maybe glaring, faces around him. "Next time we'll just move the ship."
Jehni'va Cihn , loyal to a fault, is stubbornly circling in a blind doggy paddle. She's from Coruscant, but at least she's spent enough time in 0-G to have some idea of how swimming works. Breaking the surface again, she squints into the darkness - she doesn't regret wearing her stupid pilot goggles now, because she's actually capable of seeing without the grit in her eyes. "There's a ledge! To your left!" She hollers at the mechanic afloat at the edge. Jehn is still trying to find their missing comrades, but mama Kas takes the team. But, as usual, she is waaaaay behind the game. They all found the ledge while she was out trying to find /them/. "Oh." Jehn quips brightly, and hauls herself up to join them, offering a hand out for Nyla.
When Sapphira comes up sputtering, her bright green eyes are wide with terror and seem to lack recognition as she regards the man dragging her around. She just blinks at him through the mud; really, she's all mud, red hair, and green eyes. Nothing else. In response to Tarion's mocking her, she coughs and sputters at him. Coming up with a response is too much for her to deal with immeidately, and instead she focuses on helping Tarion help her out of the water. On mushy ground, she rolls onto her back and blinks up at the sky. Her chest rises and falls in quick, deep successions. "Don't blame me for making a deal at your expense," she finally manages to wheeze at Tarion, and then continues to just lie there. She just ... needs a minute.
Nyla Forr is still blind. She can't see Jehn's hand or the ledge or anything. "This. Shit. /Burns/!" the waterlogged droid mechanic bemoans as she starts to slip under the water. Thankfully, by some miracle, she just sort of pathetically runs into Jehn's hand and uses the sudden anchor to scramble up.
Damn right Kasia has some amazing legs, but they are also tired legs now, so once Stavros is up on the ledge and out of the water, she simply clings to it and holds out a hand for someone to help her. Anyone. She hasn't grappled with the fact that they're going to need to find a way back up and out of this watery hole they were dropped into. This planet is terrible, and she hates it now.
Stavros reaches over to his savior and, between the two of them, they manage to get her beached. "Are we hosed?" he asks. "If there's anyone else here, we just made a ton of noise. Also- some of us are bad climbers."
"Okay," Tarion begins, once everyone seems to be safe on the shelf, looking around in the underground chamber, almost a cavern. It's bigger underneath than the hole they fell down through. "I see that the wall over there isn't entirely smooth, we could potentially climb that even without gear," he offers, while slipping off his jetpack. "Or if someone knows how to flush the water out of this, there's still enough left in it for a jump. I think. And then once one person gets out they can lower this rope." Because he's pulling one out of his utility belt. It's a very thin, synthetic fiber rope, kind of like the one Luke used to swing Leia across that gap on the Death Star. Maybe even the same brand, that would make a great ad. "Any opinions?"
Stavros nods to Tarion. "I like the jetpack idea. But I can't flush it out, fix it, or properly reload it, and I have _no idea_ how to use one." He glances back out to the others. This doesn't involve shooting or hitting things; he's _out_.
Obviously there is only one way to get out of this mess. Jehni'va Cihn, self-proclaimed animal whisperer and woman whom has smoked a few too many plants, will summon their friends of the sky. Jehn cups her hands to her mouth and squawks, hoots, and hollers into the upwards abyss. She gets nothing. "It was worth a try." She defends, lamely, and returns to sit in mortified silence and stare at the jetpack. "I really don't know much about this stuff, but uh..." She leans in and tinkers at the jetpack a moment, treating it more like the thruster of a ship than its own. It sputters and jitters with power, but not OOMF. She casts a helpless look back between Nyla and Sapphira.
Sapphira sits up, taking a moment to smear the mud on her face to try and clean herself. It doesn't help. She flicks the excess off her fingers. "Come here to me with that," she says to Jehni, gesturing to bring the jetpack over toward her. Even if she doesn't, Sapphira manages to roll herself on to her knees and crawl over, dropping into a kneeling position like a tired puppy. Another hand claws across her eyes, swiping away more mud. "There should be a manual exhaust flush back here," she mutters, and turns a dial sharply. The pack makes a VROOM sound and sputters out water and air, enough that the thing almost manages to wriggle free of the girls. But Sapphira releases the exhaust; and it whines quiet again. You can still hear water, inside, but at least now it runs.
Nyla Forr leans heavily on the shelf wall, rubbing and muttering unhappily as she uses the wet end of her thread thin shirt to clear her vision of the sticky, burning mud. But no dice. Nyla just sinks down on bent knees and attempts to catch her breath. "I need a drink," is all she manages to say.
Kasia is helped out of the water by Stavros, and then flops to the side against him, head tilting back as she gasps for breath. She doesn't pay too much attention to the repairs, because she honestly just doesn't know much about the mechanics, instead she's squinting up at their way out. Her brows furrow, and she glances between Stav and Tarion as the fixing is happening. "If that thing doesn't work out, I think there's an easier way to climb out of here," she states, pointing up at the side of the sinkhole. "See, there, it looks like there's plenty of stuff to grab all along there, all the way up to the top. Provided it doesn't also crumble, it might work if this jetpack doesn't."
It is tempting, very tempting, to use the jetpack, and the desire to do just that is clear as Tarion stares lustfully at the device, but Kasia's gentle reminder that there's an easier way to climb out takes his eyes off the device and toward the side of the wall where she's pointed out an easier route. With a reluctant sigh, he decides to try the climb rather than taking his first jump with the jetpack down here in the dark and scary sink hole.
It seems like the responsible, adult thing to do as he starts up the side, boots braced against the rock while his fingers worm their way into the cracks and crevices, but about ten feet up, something slips and he comes falling back to the ledge, landing hard with a grunt and a wince. "Maybe one of you should try. I'm heavy."
"We'll get one when we get out." Jehn promises a dejected Nyla, joining her in her slump against the wall to watch Tarion go up, up, up... And then down, down, down. Are they ever getting out of here? "I'll give it a shot." The clumsy pilot ventures - and manages to fare a good deal better. "I'll be right back!" She hollers down into the pit from the blessed, blessed surface and takes off at a run for the Parallax. GO, JEHN, GO! Those below are treated to a silence from up top... And then the distant, growing whine of the approaching Parallax. Jehn didn't bring rope, she brought the whole damn ship, and there's about to be a convenient exit for all you out-of-shape, flabby, Defiance failures.
Sapphira finally pushes to her feet, peeling off the soaked knitted poncho, which falls like a mailshirt in a pile at her feet. She jerks her head to one side, and then the other, cracking her neck quietly. Then she takes a deep, calming breath, and exhales through pouted lips. "Alright," she says, mostly to herself. And then she gets a running start up onto the mud climbing wall, behind Jehn. She's slow, but steady in her movements. So much so that when Jehn returns with the ship, Sapphira is still clinging to the wall. She looks up to see the ship, and grunts, waving one hand above her to make sure Jehn sees her, to offer the same exit to her up on the wall.
Stavros climbs to his feet, and checks for his belongings. All seem accounted for, or at least he's certainly not going back in to look. He looks up at the ship and waves, activating his helmet's built-in flashlight so Jehn can be sure not to crash into them, and know where to aim that cargo ramp. When it lowers, he is first aboard, trekking filth across the deck with every step. He holds onto the seat closest- presumably he'll be getting off soon again, right?
Let's be real here, Kasia isn't a climber, or a runner, or a nature walker. Apparently she's a swimmer, but that's probably because she's spent time in nice, clean pools where you can see the bottom, and know that there aren't creatures waiting to eat your toes or something. This water definitely doesn't qualify. Ugh. She doesn't really climb out, not really, she sort of goes up the wall a little, but then there's a ship, and an easier way out, and after today, she's taking the easier way out. But she TOTOALLY COULD CLIMB OUT, even if she is fluffy.
Tarion drags himself into the ship as well, making sure everyone has had a chance to clamber onboard before rapping on the pilot's seat and giving Jehn the all-clear to take them up and out. The Parallax hurtles upward, conveniently great at landing in sinkholes, and rotates enough for them to see out where the 'Rebellion-era gear' is supposed to be.
It's another sinkhole.
"Kriffing... whatever. Take us home, Jehn," Tarion decides dejectedly, smearing a piece of mud away from his face.
