Log:Explorer's Guild: Little Trip to Little Bimm

Explorer's Guild: Little Trip to Little Bimm

OOC Date: October 15, 2017
Location: Ko Hentota: The Undercity
Participants: Explorer's Guild: Corr Waldin, Netep Muri, Sugg

"It's called 'Little Bimmisaari' for a reason," Corr is saying as he leads the way through the mean streets of the Undercity, which are more like walkways where the rubble has been pushed to the sides or trampled flat. "High percentage of Bimms there, almost nothin' else, and our next trip is gonna be in Bimm space, so I thought it'd be wise to go get a taste of the culture and maybe procure a few strategic gifts, that sorta thing." He's big subscriber to the gift approach to securing safe passage, apparently. A rebreather hangs around his neck in case they come on a pocket of toxic gas, but for now he's just got his rifle slung over his shoulder casually and his pistol strapped to his thigh. "I don't anticipate any kinda trouble, but, this bein' Nar, I wouldn't be surprised, neither." It's nothing they both don't know already. "Should be right up here another block down."

"Saari Ha..." Netep's scuffing along after, eyeing the crumbling walls of rubble that funnel them along. "I'll bet this version's still a colorful place. You may do well to purchase some of what their artists have managed to create, down here. Far cry from the wind-rushed plains of Bimmisaari. Makes one a little sad to imagine why they stay."

Sugg is strolling along behind Corr, his suction cup capped thumbs stuck into the blaster belt slung around his waist like some sort of wild west gun fighter. His is a confident swagger, a strut that drips with the self confidence that seems to fuel and drive the Rodian onward. His eyes turn about, left to right, as the group walks before finally turning one bug-like eye on Netep and patting the DL-44 at his hip. "Don't you worry, mami... if we find any trouble, ole Thugg will protect you."

"Well, for one, I imagine the air is cleaner," Corr remarks, perhaps misinterpreting Muri's meaning and identifying the wrong group of Bimms to explain their motives. "I know I never much liked living on citified worlds, but it is what it is." Something in the air quiets him, and he slows briefly to a stop, holding up a hand. "I hear somethin'. Don't like the sound of it."

Netep's face screws into a 'huh' expression that's originally intended for Sugg's chivalrous assurance, but passed soon after to Corr. She's on the verge of correcting him, but then that hand goes up and she halts in her tracks, silent. "How bad a sound are we talkin?" she whispers and slips a hand inside her vest to finger the pistol concealed there.

Sugg's hand has already wrapped around the grip of his blaster pistol and slid the weapon free of its holster, his eyes going upward as he nods his head and says, "Yeah, Thugg heard it too..." He trails away for a moment, the little umbrella like antennae swiveling about atop his head as he attempts to hone in on the sound. "Flap... flappy.. flap flap flap... Thomething ith flying thith way," he says.

After the incident with the flying reptilians and their giant stinger tails, Corr isn't much inclined to wait around to see what this particular large flying thing that's approaching is. "Get to cover," he announces, turning towards Muri and pointing out the nearest pile of rubble that looks like it could conceal them.

Meanwhile, in the near distance, a hideous bearded four-legged harvap is cruising, flapping its leathery wings often to keep its sizeable body aloft, hunting for some grub. Suddenly, it's head snaps round toward the three humanoids hurrying to hide.

Only Corr sees it. "Shit, it's looking right at us! Get in there!" His rifle swings around into his hands, ready to open fire if the creature gets too close. And it does seem to be heading this way, letting out a screech as it swings behind a crumbling building to approach out of the line of sight.

If this flapping is anything like the Both flapping, Netep's pretty sure she's not keen on encountering the buzzard, so when Waldin makes his suggestion, she's already scrambling low to crawl 'behind' (which of course is relative to the Harvap's position!) the rubble pile, trying to scrape out smaller chunks with the hope of squeezing at least half her slim frame inside. It's hard.

Sugg runs for cover along with the other two, his eyes turned over his shoulder, looking wildly for whatever 'it' is as Corr announces that IT IS LOOKING RIGHT AT HIM. So focused is he on finding his new enemy, and not seeing it, he doesn't notice Netep laid out trying to crawl into the pile of rocks either. He trips over her legs, flying out with a squeak of, "Oh thit!"

Run Sugg Run! Everyone tries to run and get to cover and conceal themselves while the approaching creature draws closer, but even Corr is unsuccessful. The rubble here is just no good for it, scattering and crumbling with no support. It's basically like scrabbling at a pile of trash, and as the man turns back towards the approaching beast, he raises his rifle, standing atop a small mound of crud.

The beast itself looks like some kind of gnarly, bearded and hairy gryphon, coming in fast on leathery wings, batlike but larger, much larger, and with four clawed feet and one toothy mouth, sharklike in its anticipatory grin as it swoops in towards them.

"Shoot it!"

Netep's got about a quarter of self wedged up under a precarious ledge that for sure weighs more than she does and is questionably stable atop a shifting pyramid of trash rock. Her head, right shoulder, and the way she's curled, ALMOST a hip was secure, until her 'hero' Sugg knocks her bottom bit loose when he trips over her ankles. She's not keen on poking her head out to get a bead on the beastie, but does draw the pistol in her left to guard her exposed side and slooooowly peeps half her face skyward to get some sense of 'how high' she ought aim when it comes gliding in to say hi.

Do Rodian's bounce? That surely has to be the question as Sugg flies ass over tea kettle after tripping over Netep's legs. He is back on his feet in a rather graceful looking forward roll and as Corr yells for the team to shoot the beast, Sugg looks toward Netep and yells, "I'll thave you mami!" He runs forward, leaping up atop one of the pieces of rubble and leaps high into the air as the flapping monster flaps by. His vibrodagger is held in one hand, DL-44 in the other and he stabs out with the blade, seeking to use it as leverage to gain a grip on the back of the bird-thing's leathery hide, his blaster firing twice.

Sugg goes flying past Corr and his rifle, landing astride the Harvap and riding it like a rodeo nerf. The Director just stares, raising his rifle back to his eye and peering down the sight, trying to get a clear shot, but unable to due to the Rodian perched on the creature's back. "Don't hit Thugg," he calls back to Netep, just in case she decides to start blasting at it.

Meanwhile, the Harvap itself is very annoyed and doesn't seem to share any of Corr's concern for Sugg's wellbeing. The flying creature veers wildly, lashing out at Corr on its way past, shrieking in wordless pain as the Rodian madman starts to cut into its back and neck. It twists and spins, trying to throw its rider off, but is unable.

Netep unfolds a bit more from her hiding place, neck craned back to watch the show while she keeps the blaster on standby. "Well, that's a new sight," she comments a bit breathlessly, staring after the scaly duo with a mixture of awe and concern. "So...how much altitude do you fancy it's capable of gaining, between now and the time your orange friend incapacitates it?" She's crawled all the way out now, unsteadily mounting her former shelter to get a better look at the show.

Sugg holds tight to the beast with his knees, gripping and leaning back so that he can keep both hands free. As the beast lashes and snaps at him, he bobs left to right, and those below may even be able to hear the Rodian cackling away up above them as the monster flaps. He fires off two shots that miss, but his vibrodagger surely doesn't as it pierces flesh and rends a deep gash across the beast's hide. He stalls as the beast ceases it's flapping and soon begins to quickly lose altitude, sheathing his weapons and placing his hands on the back of the beasties head. He hops up, putting both feet on the thing's back and holding until just before it crashes into the ground. Just before impact, Sugg leaps free of the monster, spinning in a tight corkscrew somersault and then landing on his feet and rolling gracefully away.

The Harvap gives one last guttural croak that drags on and on as it starts to lose speed, flaps dying as it dies and plummets toward the ground. The sound is cut off by the abrupt collision of corpse and ground, substituted by the crunch of bones as Sugg rolls safely away. Corr just watches all this in silent fascination, hardly able to believe either that Sugg had the stones to pull it off or that it actually worked. "Everyone alright?" he asks, looking between the two of them.

"I may have strained my wrist," Netep finally takes her eyes off the incredible Sugg and examines her tiny scrapes. "And broken ... three fingernails." WILL SHE LIVE? "I 'spect I'll be all right." She numbly stuffs the crummy Czerka back into her vest and climb/skid/stumbles her way off the debris pile to intercept Sugg's return with a pat aimed for the Rodian's arm. "Well done. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but perhaps we ought to hurry along before the other scavengers come out to claim the remains and what-or who-ever else is too slow to get out of the way?"

Sugg looks at the fallen Harvap, still chuckling to himself and then letting out a wild and high pitched YAAAHOOO skyward as he blows off the excess adrenaline. His attention turns back toward Corr as the EG director makes sure they are all okay, feet turning to saunter over toward them with a pronounced cocky swagger. He pauses long enough to run his hands through the spines atop his head, left hand moving down across his face to smooth out an invisible mustache that is not there at all before the nods his head, blinking toward Netep and saying, "Thugg told you he'd protect you mami. Don't worry... he doethen't tharge for that. But if you want to give him thome thugar, he wouldn't turn it away."

"No, you're dead right," Corr agrees with Muri, nodding towards the direction of Little Bimm. "And we still need those gifts. Come on, let's head that way." Sugg gets a side-eye glance with his offers of sugar and spice, but the Director isn't intervening as long as they're just offers, despite the fact that Sugg smells vaguely like blood and shit. All that musk, oh yeah. So hot. He steps off, circling around towards the main path again. Little Bimm was close, after all, before they got distracted.

Netep laughs, hearty vocals echoing off their somewhat desolate, hollow surroundings. "I wager I could find you more than sugar, down here, Sugg. All /sorts/ of spices." Is she kidding, or did his advance fly high over her head? Another arm pat, then she's trudging on ahead with a livened bounce to her step. It'd seem the adrenaline rush was contagious and now she's ready to get her shopping ON! Kalif'll be needing another 'bday' something sent his way in a few days, anyhow, so this trip serves dual purposes, for her.

Thugg watches as the two start off away from him, mouth slightly ajar as his hint toward Netep apparently goes over the girl's head. He lifts his arms to sniff at himself clearly trying to figure out what went wrong. He falls into step behind the other two, mumbling under his breath, "Oh thank you Thugg for thaving uth. Oh, what a hero Thugg. What can I ever do to repay you? You'll haunt my fantathieth forever.."

It doesn't take long to arrive in Little Bimm, that dim, corroded echo of the culture on Bimmisaari. The settlement here is decidedly quaint, as the Bimms, both the furred natives and the immigrated near-humans, are shorter than the average sentient. Still, it exists in the Undercity, and many of the inhabitants have an odd grit to them that doesn't seem to exactly jive with the short stature and famous reputation for law and order on the home planet. That may explain why so many of them are gathered here together.

"Try not t'be insensitive about their height," Corr recommends quietly to Sugg as they enter through heavily guarded outskirts of the settlement, rubble piled high into sentry posts and built up with assorted refuse to form barriers for defenders to rally behind. "Muri, you take the lead on negotiations," he advises, as the scene fades to black.