Log:Defiance Guild: The Undercity

The Undercity

OOC Date: November 6, 2015 (Optional)
Location: Nar Shaddaa, Duros Sector
Participants: Defiance: Kathia Athkuri, Tarion Taverth, Mami (Rheitha Dirleel), Hekth as GM, and special guest star Thugg

The short story: A shady deal in the Undercity goes awry when a hostile creature swarm goes on the hunt for easy prey. Kasia and Hex bicker; Rheisa gets some new material; Tarion solves a problem; Sugg is a problem.

The long story:

"It's a simple mission, ok ka?"

So much trouble has started with those words, it really has. Hex is currently climbing down into the hot mess that is the Duros Sector, cheerful, with a gaggle of Defiance losers. This part of Nar Shaddaa is a wreckage, twisted metal and durasteel making a "ladder"/slope that leads down, down, down. Hex seems pretty stoked on this project, but Hex eats live rodents and slime mold and tries to get people to fight him for fun, so, there's that. "We just go on a nice little hike through the under city to the proper location, we pay money, we get stuff, it's like a walk in the park. We might not be the only buyers though, so don't freak out if you see other people. Oh, watch out, there's a waterfall of filth coming down over there... that's probably toxic. I hope you guys brought lights. And medpacks."

Those are never words you want to hear coming out of Hex's mouth. It's simple. Or, "Hike?" Kasia repeats that dreaded word, though at least it's not out in nature. Sort of not. Ugh. This place is as gross as nature. "Just for this you have to take me to a nice dinner. And dancing." A pause. "But not at the club. Somewhere with music we don't both hate." At least this time she knew where they were going so she could put on pants, and boots. And gloves. She doesn't want to touch anything. She does have a pack slung over her shoulder, and it's from that bag that she produces a light.

"Easy mission, ok ka," Tarion parrots quietly behind Hex, lugging his- oh crap, it's his carbine, the fancy death-gun is in the shop. At least he's got his omnipresent armor on. When Kasia makes her conditions on rewards for coming along, he perks up a little. "Yeah! This place is gross, Hex, look at it. We deserve extra compensation for coming along. Double bonus danger pay with a pro-rate for disgusting Duros-slime." Pause, pause, think. Remember that Duros guy. "...nobody likes Duroses. Duri? Durosans." Geez. Maybe he was in Kasia's cookies earlier.

All methods of descending into the dark sublevels of Nar Shaddaa are tight, years of construction upon pre-existing architecture can't always leave gentle ramps to slide down, but some methods are bigger than others, because the whine of engines down in the darkness reveal that a swoop is somewhere out there in the darkness.

Empty streets that twist and turn through buildings and complete darkness are a perfect place to hone ones riding skills, and that is exactly what Sugg has in mind. The brightly colored Rodian is leaned close to his swoop, leaning his entire body as he slices around corners and zooms along dark avenues. Large goggles are slid over his already large eyes, magnifying them greatly until they simply appear huge, and his small mouth trumpets out an exhilarated yell as he rockets along.

"Do not need light." The resident feral, who sometimes makes Hex look sophisticated while being a worse influence on his undesirable urges, climbs down last, granting Tarion a good view of just where he can stick his daily dose of snide remarks. For all those complaining of 'gross', imagine feeling your way through this with bare feet! Mmmm. Just another walk in the part for this hunter, though. Hell, she's probably already been down here at some point. A bag is also slung over her chest, but it's not full of weapons, or anything for that matter. Yet.

"Ohhhhh stop whining," Hex brightly replies to Tarion and Kasia, all perky lekku'd like this is the best place, ever. He has a cigarette and a rifle, and a force pike strapped to his back. "The humans need lights, Rheisa, don't be a snot," he replies to the Togruta, tone still cheerful, and he reaches up to break a growth of some kind off a low hanging pipe. He regards it curiously, then sticks it in his mouth. Then spits it out. "Tchaaaa! Witchtits. I thought that was fungus." He seems to know where he's going, but the cavern-like mess of decaying infrastructure is getting deeper and darker and more slippery as they travel. Hmm... a Rodian on a bike. "Don't shoot him unless he hassles us." That might be for Tarion.

Kasia will definitely not imagine doing this with bare feet. As it is, she's considering whether these boots will need to go into the incinerator after they go topside again. She makes a face at Hex as she's told to stop whining. "We're still doing it," she informs Hex. She shines the light in her hand in her husbands direction just in time to see him pop something in his mouth. "What-- Hex-- I, no..." Ugh. Someone might not ever get kissed again. Her complaining on that subject ceases, however, and she sweeps the light around. "Anyone else hear that?"

A Rodian on a bike. Tarion glances up after staring at Rheisa's descending hindquarters for a few moments longer than is probably appropriate, looking for the swooper. He's orange. "Dammit, I know that son of a bitch," the bounty hunter hisses as Sugg hurtles through their range of vision, his hand starting to reach for his carbine (just in case!) before Hex admonishes not to shoot (yet). "Alright, fine," he agrees, bowing to the instruction. And besides, underneath the roar of the swoop bike, there's a disturbing sort of skittering that's taking him right back to the first time he bumped into Rheisa Dirleel in an unwelcomely familiar wave of deja vu. "...something's down here."

As the swoop's running lights pass over the group, there is a sudden roar of brake plates snap out and groan in the pressure of conflicting air, the engine whine dropping low. If the machine had tires they would no doubt be squealing, but it does not and we are left with only a badass sliding of the swoop sideways and a rush of exhaust heat to blast the group in their faces. The swoop rider turns magnified eyes on Tarion and there is a slow blink, as well as a fiercely glowing orange light from the cig held between that weirdly pouched mouth thing. "Well, well, well," he begins, eyeing the group like a Rodian James Dean. "If it ithn't Tarion Taverth..." the Rodian's lisping grasp of Basic unmissable.

Disturbing to some is music to others' ears. Or montrals, in this case. "Tch," Rheisa gets the scold wrong, but handsign right as she bops a grimy palm against the nearest noisy mouth. Sorry, Tarion. Safe to assume she's heard it, as those black pupils grow blacker still, dilating to span most the width of her predatory lil eyeballs. Briefly. Then they're squeezing shut against fumes and heatwave as the uber noisy bike belches one last obscenity before its rider dismounts to add to the pollutant party. Aliens and their cigs, man. Sheesh. Her head begins to oscillate to and fro while sparing the Rodian an annoyed look, nice and easy, mapping out the every changing 'visual' in this maze of tunnels, hunting for that /particular/ source of movement. Pinpoint directionality. The 'gruta quietly slinks between them, flapping her right hand at Kasia's sweeping light. Her left is busy sliiiiding the reed-like weapon off her back and fingering some darts out of the case on her belt.

She's gonna need a bigger bag.

"Of course there's things alive down here. It's the only ecosystem Nar's got," Hex's good mood just cannot be dampened by skittering somethings. "I hear it too... no big deal, ka, it's probably just 'crete rats." Weeeelll, then there's another smoker roaring up, and the Twi'lek's lekku twitch in displeasure at the wave of heat that washes over the group from Sugg's mode of transport. "This is Hodai Rokoa's territory, ai'jou," he greets, mildly. "Step cautious, we don't want trouble." A pause. "Well, flashin your vents like that, of course we want trouble, but not when it's going to mess up my deals with Hodai's agents." There's a meaningful look to Tarion, there, a DON'T MESS THIS UP look. He continues to Sugg, "If you're going to see Blackspot too, I can't stop you heading the same way, but don't be an ass." With that, he turns to continue the way he was headed before. Rheisa's prey eludes her in an incredibly frustrating way, like it just vanished! How could it just vanish?

Kasia isn't a hunter, or a warrior, or anything like that, so she's making no concerted effort to find the thing. The flapping hand from Rheisa makes the beam of light go still, and instead she just edges closer to Hex. One hand reaches for his arm, trusting him to shoot things that might try to eat her. Instead her focus goes on Sugg, or it does until he does his badass drift over to them so the vents let out in their direction and she closes her eyes, face scrunching up. "You brought friends?" she asks when it's safe to open her eyes again, glancing back at the bounty hunter.

"Sugg," Tarion mutters darkly, glaring back at the Rodian. They used to be buddies, they used to be pals, back before the bounty hunter got his arm shot off and the swooper tried to help Wodi deliver him to the slug. At least that's how Tarion interpreted those events, being a paranoid sociopath and everything. And /being/ a paranoid sociopath, he's still not convinced there isn't more to that damned skittering than Hex is letting on, his eyes peering through the darkness. For once, his neurosis is rewarded by the sight of a large, mange-ridden, spike-backed /thing/ slipping off into the darkness. He blinks. He looks back at Sugg. "...you never thanked me for administering that life-saving first aid at the execution." He poured sunscreen all over Sugg's wounds. "I haven't forgotten that." -Where did that come from? The young man turns to Hex, and says rather matter-of-factly, "There's a demon scurrying around down here with us, and I suspect it's come for your soul, because I sold mine a long time ago."

Sugg blinks at Hex, his head turning to the side and after a brief moment the spines atop his head flutter in similar fashion as if the Rodian had shuddered. "Thith moon is the territory of Eebua Gnuda," Sugg offers back with a high pitched giggle, perhaps making it unclear if he is laughing at the Hutt or not. He slips from his swoop, boots thudding into the mucky muck. He lifts a hand and jabs a thick padded thumb into his chest before he introduces, "Name ith Thugg." As he tilts his gaze back toward Tarion, "I didn't think friendth had to thank friendth for being friendth."

The vibrations are everywhere, bouncing off pipes and infrastructure then back again, before changing course - she thinks - and sending another round in a different direction. It's blinding. Headachingly so, with the dying roar of the bike still echoing through. Rheisa's haunches sink lower to the floor and body becomes motionless while she concentrates. Not so unlike Umak when he considers taking a dump elsewhere than the one, cold fresher seat across the whole big room. Fortunately, Rheisa is housetrained, and just trying to sift through the static so to speak.

Then Tarion says something sort of useful and she snaps her vacant stare over to him where it becomes not so vacant. "Yut?" She points in one direction, "e'there?" and then another.

"Ka, and if you don't think Hodai is kissing Eebua's ass about as hard as you can, you would be mistaken," Hex remarks. "That is the impression he wants to cultivate, anyway... down where it's lawless, where my man Eebs's dais doesn't fit, when his big ol' goggly eyes are turned with lust to other districts... the hierarchy's more direct. Anyway. Who cares. Come or don't, Swoopboots. I'm not here to talk street politics, I just want to buy some shit I'm not supposed to have. I'm also not here to hunt demons!" he complains at Tarion and Rheisa, giving Kasia's arm a comforting pat. See bby, no demons, just illegal weapons. "If you see something you want to kill, you can kill it on the way, but we're not taking side trips. You take a side trip, I'm leaving your dumb ass behind in the undercity."

Low ceilings, broken floors, everything, /everything/ mucky and wet with sludge from the rain and pollution above, this place is horrible. Nothing that lives down here could be very nice, and it's not clear what it would live /on/. Pipes and conduit hiss overhead, relics of some long-forgotten industry, and where they are broken, toxic-smelling mist seeps out. "Steer clear of that," Hex advises. "That looks awful."

Kasia doesn't have anything to say about the Hutts, or Hodai, or any of it. Not while they're here, anyway. Her hand gets a pat, but she doesn't let go of Hex's arm yet, because it helps her to keep her balance, and not slip on muck, or trip over things. "You pick the worst places to go," she informs Hex in a voice that isn't too much above a whisper, but loud enough to carry to the others, because this is important information they all totally need to know. "I think there's more than one of those things," whatever they are. Demons, monsters, carnivorous undercity dwellers. She has no idea. She doesn't WANT to have any idea, because that means getting closer to whatever it is lurking out there in the dark.

They're DEMONS, Kasia. Tarion knows it to be true. He's so distracted by the noises they're making, because he knows there are two, there's /always/ more than one terrible thing when he's out with Hex, that he doesn't even bother to throw some shade back Sugg's way. He's too busy clawing the carbine from his back, pointing it in the direction of the sounds. "/There,/" he hisses to Rheisa, "And use your words!" It's not even like she has her own language or something, she's just /grunting/ like some kind of animal.

Sugg's antenna spring upright and swivel as he finally catches that skittering noise Tarion is getting on about. His blaster pistol is slid from its holster, the same weapon once used to shoot Cartel Tarion in the ass. A long bowie knife is slid free in his other hand and he holds them both with strong familiarity. His eyes search as he falls into step with Tarion and so focused is he that he runs his head right into a low hanging beam with a thud. "ITH GOT ME!" he screeches, squeezing the trigger if his blaster and sending a red bolt of energy bouncing around in richochet.

Eat. Eateateat. That's the priority that's taken over Rheisa's brain since she heard the worthwhile, heavy-footed skittering. If not eat now, then eat later, but either way, she's got to catch it first, and Hex is ordering them along. The Togruta's complaints are silent and probably not even visible unless someone shines a light on it, but she trails along after the others, ducking her head away from poisonous pipe farts and other jagged debris that's just itching to snag up her clothes or pierce the sole of a foot. It's slow going, though, because not only is her body operating on compromised cylinders, but she's distracted. Majorly so, head jerking this way and that, hand clutching the loaded dart gun the same way that Tarion's got his carbine in hand. Her headtails stiffen, on-edge, and she finally mumbles a cautionary "Hek'sashkuri...I do not think side trip is needed." Because now there's two. And that means that the one wanted a friend, or has competition, and neither of those are good things, as per the lessons that Shili 101 taught. Her free hand draws the knife from her belt and she presses on, about to give Kasia a reassuring arm nudge from the woman's other side, but then there's a sudden, loud bang and red bolt of fire goes zinging past. Too fast and erratic to do much about but freeze and hope it doesn't...oh! Seems it found another body instead.

"Guys! It's just crete rats!" Hex insists regarding the demons, not having caught a glimpse of the Thing, or a good grasp of its probable size from the sounds. "There's probably not even anything else alive down here bigger than that, not until you go lower. What are you even trying to say you saw, rats of unusual size? I don't think they exist." He tromps along happily, holding Kasia's arm... and then has to let go to windmill his own arms when he nearly misses his footing in the sludge, and that zipping blaster bolt all over necessitates dodging. "Sugg, you idol of idiot-worshippers!" the Twi'lek hisses, annoyed, and reaches out to try to whap the Rodian. Not an attack or an attempt to do damage, but irritation for sure. "Stop it! Nothing's gonna get you! We're almost there!"

Kasia is, or rather, was holding onto Hex's arm, but then he slips and said arm pulls from her grasp and begins to flail about, which in turn makes her step back to try and avoid said flailing limb and puts her right into the path of that ricocheting blaster bolt. Oof. It sears through layers of clothing, and one very thin layer of armor designed to protect against things slightly less lethal than blasters. There is a yelp of surprise as she stumbles back, nearly tripping and falling flat on her back. Which, ugh, gross. It's bad enough that she slips on the muck and goes to her knees, securely putting her pants in the 'must be burned' pile, along with just about everything else she's wearing. It takes a moment for the pain to set in, but then there's a hiss of pain as her fingers lift to touch the hole in her jacket, which is pulled back to reveal a painful burn along her side, just above her hip. Painful, but better than it could have been. "Hex?" She's reaching out to him for help back to her feet, grimacing. "I don't think it's just rats, I think it's worse, and I think more of them are coming."

"Hex. Hex Hex Hex." Tarion does not look pleased. He does not look pleased at /all./ His face is settled into a sort of angry, concerned look, lips pursed, cheeks pressed flat, eyes narrowed, brow furrowed, weapon raised and at the ready. "There's more. I hear more. A lot more. Constant scratching. Oh, krif. They're screaming. The demons are screaming." Or there's people screaming as the demon-dog-things attack them, but Tarion finds this more disturbing. "/The demons are screaming,/ Hex." He looks back over his shoulder toward the Twi'lek, eyes wide. "...screaming for your soul." And then his face relaxes into an easy smirk, and he can't resist a chuckle. "You better be paying me so much extra for this," the bounty hunter laughs, so happy at the prospect of a fat bonus for literally fighting off what is ostensibly the forces of hell. He's still the only one who /saw/ the thing, the only one who knows what is making those dreadful sounds. He should probably be more concerned about Kasia, but there's pay to negotiate.

Hex's whap catches Sugg full in the kisser and he stumbles back, clanging his head solidly into that metal beam that caused all of this mess. His eyes widen in anger for a beat but that doesn't hold at the memory of the noises haunting the Duros sector. "I don't believe you," Sugg murmurs, before turning eyes on Rheisa, "Don't worry, mami, Thugg will protect you."

While the human saw with his eyes, she 'felt' enough of the thing's dimensions through the disturbances it - now they - cause and has a pretty good idea as to the size. And then there were three. "Is NOT rrrat," she vehemently refutes Hex's claim and gives credit to what the others are saying, and shooting Sugg a very special kind of stink eye, complete with full headtail flare (as full as they can get which PALES in comparison to Hex's lekku bird-flipping) and pigment enhancements. It's the look that's usually followed up by fangs to the jugular, but she's more tame than that. While they stand around to argue and nurse wounds, Rheisa breaks a rule of Shili 101 and separates herself from the pack. Assuming they are going to follow, of course, because why wouldn't they, after hearing that blood-curdling scream? "Bhat!" She uses HER words, now. "D'NEJ!!" and goes tearing off as quickly and cautiously as one can through the hazardous everything in attempts to interupt the pack before it feasts too terrbily. Or she'll deliver their dessert.

Hex might not hear it, but he can tell from the reactions of the others that something is not quite right here, and frowns, picking up the pace, scrambling up into what was once long ago some kind of building - maybe the source of that poison mist, as there are more of those conduits here. There are lights, too, and some hastily slapped up power; a clear meeting place for those who don't want to be found by NSEC (back when that was a thing lol) or maybe the Cartel (which still is a thing). This is where Hex obviously intended to meet 'Blackspot', but when the group gets through the gaping, crumbling lack-of-wall to the "room", it's not looking so good. There is blood everywhere, just everywhere, and a Bothan -- split-face, with black fur on one side and tan on the other -- is dead on the floor, expression still surprised. The skittering sounds are all over, above, below, and an open crate of what was once weapons are all over, mangled, clawed to bits, fouled with blood. A pair of boots is slowly being pulled by something unseen into a dark passageway, kicking twice before the legs still and then vanish. Hex gasps. "Oh no!" he lifts his hands to his goggled head in distress. "My weapons!"

The skittering intensifies, and he sighs, and passes his G8 rifle to Tarion. "Well, shit. Here, take a real rifle." He unfastens his force pike, apparently he's going melee on this one. "Kasia, baby, stick with me and I promise I will let you pick the next date. Rheisa, we're gonna have a barbecue later, ok ka? Sugg, stay safe buddy, cause I'm not risking so much as a hangnail to save you." Skittering intensifies. Hex snaps the force pike on. "Who's hungry?"

Rodent... things... begin to pour out of the passages. They're about dog size, dark skinned, with gross, sparse black hair and spikes down their back, quadruped with secondary pedipalps for the purpose of better holding prey into their dripping, fangy mouths. They have four tiny eyes, but they're so small the things might be using senses over than sight. There are currently seven of them.

When Hex's concern is more of weapons, than wife, Kasia gives him a look that, were it less dark and said look were seen, might make him question just what is currently the most dangerous thing down in this horrible underground place. She struggles to her feet on her own, and backs up a few steps, not diving in to fight... whatever these things are. "You'll be lucky for another date," she mutters, but maybe that's just the pain talking. Maybe. MAYBE.

Tarion knows what kind of special Evil they brought here with them, housed in Kasia's body, so he takes the rifle from Hex and then he's bounding away towards the wall, letting his carbine hang on his back for now, swinging it back there like a rock star's guitar. With the modified G8 in hand, the lethal weapon that is Tarion Tavers sights in on the nearest rat-dog-demon, blowing its leg off and feeling an odd twinge of solidarity with the maimed creature before blasting the face off the next one. He twists and is about to pull the trigger again, and then he /does/ pull the trigger, but the unexpected happens. The rifle fitzes and sputters, but it does not go 'pew'. "Krif."

The homeworld of the Rodians is a dense Jungle populated by various tribes in a state of constant warfare. As the swarm if chittering beastlies, Sugg's eyes narrow into an expression of cruel bloodlust seemingly summoned with the ease of flipping a switch. Blaster and knife in hand, he follows the only ally here that he knows and as Tarion's gun fizzles, Sugg's does not. The green blast of energy from his blaster pistol torches the beasts head that Tarion had been aiming for when his gun poofed. He is a veritable tasmanian devil as he takes two quick steps and somersaults into the midst of swarming beasties and pops off another shot with his left and makes two nasty slashes with his knife.

Seven. Seven hungry mouths, twenty-eight beady eyes. And a whole lot of pelts! Rheisa scrambles low on two feet and the knife-clutching knuckles over to the beast currently busy gnawing all the flavor off a powercell cartridge that it's pawed successfully from the crate. She issues the challenge/warning to all critters present as the fireworks begin, headtails presently a notably bigger profile and with bolder, maybe hypnotic stripes. Glistening fangs unfurl as her own gnarly hiss adds to the chorus and a low, warbling chortle vibrates her chest. And then?

• THWIP* goes the dart, aimed at the nasty face.

"What are you lookin at me all salty for?" Hex complains at Kasia, because there's no time like mid-rodent combat to have an Ashkuri marital spat. He is blocking her though, protecting her from the onslaught of gross undercity alien monsters. "I hit that guy for you! You want me to kill that guy for you?" He stabs a Thing right through its head with the force pike, and then gestures at Sugg flipping around while he bitches at Kasia, "That's gonna be so complicated!" Then, a gasp! "Tavers! What the shit did you do to my rifle?!" More of the Things pour out of the corridor, six of them, so counting the one that didn't already die, there are now seven again.

"Yes." Sorry Sugg, Kasia's cranky. She's being absolutely no help in this fight, unless hiding behind Hex is considered helpful. In which case, she's being super helpful. "No, but--" but, it's a but Hex will have to hear about later, because he's too busy being horrified over his rifle to pay attention, and knowing his love for his rifle, she doesn't try to get his attention back. Also there's a fight going on, and she's considerate like that. Her position means she can't see the arrival of additional beasties yet.

"Shut up!" Tarion yells at Hex, having just devastated the canine-rodent population of this section of the moon with the fury of his, well, his /fury./ "I can fix it, it's just jammed." The bounty hunter's preferred method of repair is to beat on the side of the receiver until something unjams, and unjam it does, dropping the cartridge out onto the ground. Luckily, these things are pretty universal, and Tarion jams in a new one, at which the G8 comes humming back into life.

With a squeel of rage, Sugg begins a high speed spin, jumping up and down in outrage at being bitten, all the while he is stabbing over his arm with that knife.

Cartridge chomper goes reeling back, initially startled more than pained by the tiny projectile to lodge beneath 'her' eye. There's a spray of saliva, chittering promises of painful mauling, then...it stumbles. Once, twice, down, convulsing just a shortwhile as the paralytic takes hold. Rheisa clambers around the box and thrusts her knife into the base of its skull. While she's doing the humane thing though, another gutter demon charges from her blind side. Which isn't really. The gutter 'gruta whirls in harmony with its leap, narrowing herself as a target and arcing the knife-wielding hand, her left, to slash at it as momentum carries it right on by...

"I'm not killing some combat machine Rodian that I currently need as demon alien rodent bait because your feelings are hurt over not getting your admittedly perfect ass out of the way!" Hex replies to Kasia, not taking a break in arguing while he protects her, and stabs a monster; this one not quite dead yet and squirming on the end of his pike. "You shut up!" he also auto-yells back at Tarion. "Kill them already, what do I even pay you for?" Two of the creatures are dead -- one that was foolish enough to bite Sugg, one that got knifed on the backhand by Rheisa. But five still remain, that's the bad part about a swarm, and they're all over, biting, nipping, seeking a purchase with their nasty claws as two more pour out of the tunnels. No one gets hurt except Hex, who hisses, "MY ASS!" There seems to be no end to these monsters, however, and there's always more to replace the ones that get killed.

Kasia has managed to avoid being injured by these swarming ROUSes, even if she got smacked by sort-of-but-not-really-friendly-fire, so that's good. Even if the burn hurts in the way that burns do. "You're going to blame ME for getting hit?" she asks, sounding deeply annoyed with Hex. Again. This isn't an uncommon thing, though, so she just rolls on, keeping behind her green meat shield as she angles the light in her hand to some of the flexible pipes overhead. Namely the one that's oozing something that is no doubt both gross and toxic into the air. She doesn't say anything as she steps out from behind the cover of her hubby, and reaches up, grimacing as she tries to dislodge one end of it from the wall. Yank, yank, nope, grunt. Ow. "Someone help me," she asks, not directing this request to anyone specific. "This'll stop them." A pause. "I think. Or slow them down, maybe stop more of them coming in." She hopes. It's basically a gamble, but it's the best idea that she's got to help right now.

"You pay me to save your ass!" Tarion yells, although the literal saving of Hex's ass will fall to someone else. He's noticed what Kasia's up to, and decided it's a smart idea. Kicking the nearest devildog in the face as it nips at his heels, he runs across to where Kasia's trying to pull the pipe from the wall, latching onto it with his cybernetic limb and wrenching it down, hard. "Get back," he advises her, wrangling the suddenly-spewing Pipe O' Noxious Vengeance towards the garish hole these demonic beasts seem to be skittering up out of. "Here's hoping it doesn't make them /stronger,/" he mutters, because that's /exactly/ the kind of thing that happens when you're out with Hex.

'My Ass!'... those yelled words are like a heralding beacon to the warpath Rodian and he whirls, leveling his blaster pistol directly at Hex's ass. A callous squeeze of the trigger sends a green bolt directly for the Twi'lek's caboose, and then Sugg turns to pull the trigger at another rodent beast and misses, sending a rebounding green bolt of energy around the room. Dodging his own blasterfire, Sugg springs forward and stabs two more dead.

Hex's cry of ass anguish brings a hidden smile to Rheisa's face in spite of it all. That's what he gets for being loud and late to the 'believer of ROUS' club. But, no time to gloat, because she's seen what they did to that Bothan. The Togruta scrambles backwards on her own butt and rolls over, dodging a couple chomps and claw swipes before having to drop the knife in favor of taking up the lid of that crate and use it as a riot shield. Which is excellent timing, because a green bolt goes pinging off it, singing critter whiskers in the ricochet, which could have been her boob, otherwise. Angry claws scrape and scrabble at the lid while she leans around to fire that 2nd dart.

"Well everybody else avoided getting hit, I'm just saying!" Hex yells at his wife, while she and Tarion wrestle with the Pipe O' Noxious Vengeance and point it towards the evil hole that keeps producing dog-demon-rat-evil. Sugg shoots the one off Hex and dispatches two more, but not all the Rodian's shots are so lucky, and another stray bolt goes pinging around the immediate vicinity. So then right as Hex is shit talking Kasia's inability to dodge... another stray bolt hits her, and he looks at her in horror, then at Sugg. "We need to hope that these things kill us, actually," he remarks to the Rodian. "That is gonna be a way less painful death." Rheisa's dart fells another beast and Hex takes up position to protect Tarion and Kasia, skewering the creature that tries its luck there. "Baby. Nonna. I am so sorry," he starts trying to cover his ass in a whole new way now, pulling the pike out and spilling gobbets of blood everywhere. "I love you, and you are beautiful, and I will take really really good care of you, and the next place we go will have more sunlight and fewer monsters?" His ass is grass.

The poison gas seems to be working; there is only one injured Thing left, and heaps of dead ones on the ground.

The plan works! Success. Except that Kasia doesn't really get a chance to be happy, or smug, or any of it, because she's too busy being shot. Again. This one comes from a different angle, and rips through both her jacket, and the back of her pants, leaving behind a literal searing pain in her ass. There's a cry of pain, and a stumble, as she reaches out to try and grab hold of Tarion to keep herself on her feet. "What," she's confused at first, and the it really starts to hurt. "WHY? YOU HUTT LOVING PIECE OF UNDERWORLD TRASH I AM GOING TO-" SOMETHING, OKAY. She's going to something, but it hurts, like a lot, and she's blinking back tears, and choking back fury, and she just wants to be at home away this horrible place. She hates everything and everyone here right now.

There's only one left, and Tarion raises the G8 almost casually to blast it in the face. He's successfully ingratiated himself to Kasia while simultaneously observing Hex provoke her wrath. This is a win-win if ever there was one. She's literally leaning on him for support, now, and this leaves Tarion standing there like a total badass with a beautiful woman clinging on one arm and smoking gun in the other while he rests one foot on the corpse of a giant demon dog. "So," he says, looking over at poor, poor Hex. "About that bonus."

Sugg glances left to right quickly, and once all enemies have been dispatched, he lifts his knife skyward and trumpets out a tribal sounding victory cry. As the cry echoes into silence, his eyes find Kasia writhing in fury/pain, he blinks slowly before sheathing his knife and reaching a hand into his pocket. Pulling it back free, holding a circular object almost certainly a grenade, he offers Kasia a wink and says, "Maybe next time, thmlimo." Flipping a switch on the orb he rolls it toward the center of the room where it begins emitting a thick and completely stinky smoke, and promptly runs for the exit/his swoop.

Whew. This is getting hard. Rheisa sags back beneath the weight of the flopping demon and for a moment, it's a Rheisa sandwich while she tries to catch her breath. *Sputter*Hack*Spit* The headache is returning, but this one may be more related to hypoxia than the sensory overload. Nnnngh, she bench-presses the lid/thing off enough to slide out from under it, then lets it drop with a meaty thud. So tired. Too tired to spare the Rodian's whoop a glance. Sluggish fingers scrape over the ground to grab up the knife and she ambles around on knees to straddle the spiky 'not rat' and drive the blade deeper than her teeth will go, through those big vertebrae. A lazy draw across the throat opens it wide then, letting the life force puddle out while she ... hey. A *clink* draws her attention around to stare and witness Sugg saucily toss that offensive stank grenade. As it begins to foul the room and fill their already abused lungs with who knows what else, she bellows a little 'roar' of ingratitude and fumbles with loading a third dart before puffing her cheeks extra wide with this draw, then....POOF. Launches it at his disappearing backside.

Kasia's face is red, and there's a red stripe across her side, and her butt too. She's red all over the place. She's probably not the ideal image of beauty for this manly picture that Tarion is trying to paint, but she's lovely in her own way. Angry, but lovely, you know, if rage is your thing. She curses, it's in Ryl, it's an insult about Sugg's mother, then she basically dives at the grenade, snatches it up off the ground, and lobs it back at Sugg as hard as she possibly can.

It's Ashkuri... Ass-kuri... injury day today as Hex has had the seat of his pants attacked by demon things, and Kasia's been shot by stray blaster fire. Hex's lekku press guiltily against his back, between his shoulder blades, and he kneels down to start unceremoniously going through the pockets of the dead Bothan. One, two, three credit chips of high denomination are retrieved, but the rest of the pockets turn up nothing. One is tossed to Rheisa, one to Tarion, he keeps one, and then pauses, staring in horror at the grenade that just landed in front of him. Not to worry though, damsel Hex, Kasia bby is here to save you! Rheisa's dart has missed, but Kasia's return-throw doesn't, and the grenade can be heard exploding in the general direction of Sugg, BOOM. Not enough to damage him (alas), but the message is clear. Woe unto those who incur the wrath of Kasia Ashkuri.

The toxic mist is filling the "room" they're in, and Hex coughs, as everyone else probably will be soon as well. "Ryma'at," he coughs, "Let's get the hell out of here." And that they do, that rag-tag bunch of miscreants, fleeing to safety and the surface. As they go, Rheisa has time to harvest demon-thing parts, Tarion has money, and Hex is regarding his furious wife with both affection and fear. All is as it should be.