Log:Explorer's Guild: Snowy Ruins

A Rescue team finds Mankas in the pass

OOC Date: December 04, 2020
Location: Droalder Pass, New Alderaan
Participants: Explorer's Guild, Corr Waldin, Chani Tahn, Nerys Greystorm, Aryn Cole

Droalder pass was high up in the mountain range that boardered the bay. Autumn for New Alderaan had since passed, and winter ensured the land was decorated with the white of snow. From this altitude high up in the mountains, the task force could see Bastion city through the snowy haze of snow; its city lights were distinct at night, though the sounds of the whipping winds prevented any other detail about the city from being heard. The blizzard had since passed, and the skies were predicted to stay overcast, leaving only a hint of lunar light, and the light the team had on their person, for use in negotiating the terrain.

The pass was not treacherous, at least the land was not. Rumor had it that Mankas roamed here and it was their presence that danger was derived. The destination for their mission lay ahead; a tall obsidian shaded structure of ancient origins was built into the side of one mountain. Its tall spires barely looked manmade, yet its imposing stature and shadows casted gave it a rather imposing appearance. A ship has been parked just outside this structure, and the ship is covered with snow meaning it's been there for awhile.

Aryn brings up the rear of the group, hiking in tall boots and an Alderaanian tunic, with a fur collared cloak and heavy cape mantled over her narrow shoulders Despite the passing storms that have left the mountain tops capped with snow (along with the rest of the valley), the snow is not all that thick or deep. It is enough that each step they make creates the telltale crunch of snow beneath their soles.

"Everyone holding up alright?" Aryn asks, her voice just loud enough to disrupt the reverent ambience of a cold mountain pass.

As small a figure as the Princess of Alderaan, Chani Tahn stays near the noble woman as they trudge through the snow. She's wearing the utilitarian jumpsuit and armor plates of a popular armor brand, but over that is a thick coat with fur-lined hood pulled up and over her head to help conceal her against the biting, bitter cold that yanks and forces the free strands of her hair to whip around her face. Her breath mists with every exhale, and it's clear from the frequency of them that she's chilled despite the layers. Heat suffuses through her exposed cheeks, indicative of the rough caress of the air dragging over them. The synchronous, rhythmic steps of the group don't quite deafen her to Aryn's question, but it does make it more difficult to hear.

"I'm alright." Chani sounds unconvinced.

Nerys, who was, in the end, one of the explorers in the group, was in her element as she made her way towards their final destination. She had ended up partly in the front, using her sharp eyes and knowledge of difficult terrain to attempt to plot a course that was as close as possible to a clear shot from their point of departure to their final destination. Her head swiveled in al directions, front, sides, up, down, behind her when she stopped to look behind, trying as best she could to keep the group moving together and at best speed. "I'm alright," she offered to the call from Aryn. "We're in range, but it won't do to get cocky. It's just too quiet. We should at least be hearing small winter game moving around us."

"My Princess, I am steadfast and ready to aid - need you only point or say the word and I am to task." Bors, in full armor and with his carbine shoulder slung walks. Visor up and monocle in place, the blue eyed lord is beaming as he surveys the area. "Perhaps I might even get a split to my lip if we stir up the prey and the beasts seek larger meals or perhaps something just as intriguing, yes?" he's humming once he silences, eyes tracing the passage of his breath as it floats away from him.

The call had gone out to the Explorer's Guild, that aprestigious institution, and the Guild had answered; or at least, two of them had. Corr Waldin, the Guild's leader and second responder, crunches along in Aryn's wake, clad in a fairly typical huntsuit that is suited to these sorts of expeditions. He shrugs at the question, thumbs hooking under the straps of his pack. "Doin' fine, thanks. Not that bad up here, weatherwise," he remarks, squinting into the gloaming beyond their lights, brows knit together with concern. "Don't seem that bad at all. Not really a good sign, if they still haven't come out of there yet now that things have settled down."

Aryn seems contented to know that everyone is okay, or at least sounded off. The pass at night was an eerie and open place. Tall peaks of the ridge stretch skyward and tall like sharp teeth. When the wind blows, snow peppers over the edge creating small whirlwinds they see the silhouette of. The open space between the peaks is wide and expansive, making the manmade structure and the ship they see ahead seem insignificant in comparison.

Aryn takes into account what the others have said about their situation and finds that she agrees with their assessments. "Something is amiss. The ship belongs to the rangers. They were sent up here to seek out the excavation crew.." Aryn does not speculate what their current absence means.

"The answers we seek are ahead." Aryn stays close to Chani and continues the trek forward, pausing periodically to breath hard and look to the others. The air felt thinner up here.

As they got closer, more details became apparent. The ship's ramp was open and the inside of the ship dark and dead. It was a tall shuttle, and long too, intended to carry a lot of people. There were no tracks in the snow, and the inside had been coated with with winter, like the winds had blow into the ship and dusted it with a layer of snow. Aryn breaks off slightly to rub a gloved hand along the outside of the ship's hull looking for evidence of violence or any indication why it might sit here derelict. "Have a look around.. maybe there are clues.." She guides, uncertain of what may lurk inside the big vessel.

Passing through the peaked edges of the mountains, the wind has the tendency to howl, and it does so even through the thick lining of her hood. The darkness doesn't help, and the vague shifting of things in the gloom threaten to provide her with hallucinations of whatever there is in the dark to fear. Rather than let her imagination overact, Chani attempts to concentrate on what's ahead. She's surrounded by people, and some of those people are carrying weapons. There's comfort in that. She herself doesn't seem to be armed. What her purpose in the group is, exactly, has not been defined. She simply arrived with the Princess and follows at her side. Until they get to the ship, anyway. Aryn suggests they search, and Chani does just that.

Her boots thunk against the ramp leading into the shuttle, casting loose silicate particles and sediment chunks from the bottom of them. The extended tongue leading into the belly of the craft is already covered with snow from being exposed to the elements. She almost makes it up into the ship when her downcast gaze spots something not far from the landing strut itself. Rather than continue up, she trudges back down with scooted little steps that try to prevent her from slipping. Walking over to what looks like a glove, Chani's garments rustle and a soft grunt emanates as she leans forward to pick it up. The glove she pulls up is no discarded glove. There's a hand in it, and the jagged edge of flesh and exposed bone reveal it's been gnawed off whatever it was attached to.

"AH!" Actually screaming loud enough to hurt her vocal chords, she half flings the glove back down to the snow and recoils back, stumbling in the snow and ending up in a seated position with a hard grunt. She narrowly avoids painting the snow with the contents of her stomach. "It's a hand!"

Nerys, who moved with caution as she approached the vehicle, reached up to tap the edge of the droid body that was maglocked to her backpack. Bitty immediately unlatched herself, reaching into the side compartment of Nerys' backpack where she kept her blaster. She approached the access ramp of the vessel with caution, holding up a hand as she and Bitty separated, the small woman standing still as a stone as she did a bit of heavy looking on. She was just about to caution the hooded figure with Aryn away, when the woman wandered off on her own, "The ship is not empty. I see three mankas, forward, pushed back towards the cockpit of the ship. They appear to be feeding. And watching us." Nerys reached back herself, pulling her pack around to remove her weapon from the front pocket. She was not moving, either out of sheer brazen cheek or because it was better that the things inside focus on her than the rest of the group. "Bitty, I may need to try to try find a way to seal this ship." The droid chirped a response, but did not lower her weapon.

Veering off from the ship to inspect the perimeter, something crunches under Corr's boot, something crunchier than the crunchy snow, and the explorer stoops to pick down under the crust and into the powder. Fishing fingers bring forth a spent blaster charge pack, the standard Blastech variety used by the majority of blasters on the market. "Looks like someone did some shooting," he mutters, tucking the object away in a cargo pocket. It's bad to litter, okay.

Faded blue eyes skim along the surface of the snow, and he pushes off his knee to walk a few feet away to a shallow dimple in the white blanket where he roots again and pulls up another one. Chani screams, and his head whips around sharply towards the belly of the ship, popping something in the process. "You good?" he questions with a wince, cold glovetips pressing ruefully into the tendon running up his neck to the base of his skull, but he doesn't wait for an answer.

Next on his curiosity list, Corr takes a two-footed hop into a suspicious dip of the snow where the white blushes blue, and finds his boots carried down a full foot into the powder. With big sasquatch stomps, he marks out the impression, a sizeable furrow that takes him a fair few paces to delineate. The snow swallows up the sound, and he doesn't hear Nerys's warnings, focused instead on the next thing he's toed out of the white; leads, crusted with frost, inflexible from the damp cold. A thumb works the latch on one, and his brows furrow again at the easy speed it opens with. "Someone wanted to get you loose /quick,/" he murmurs, tossing the thing down. Evidently there's a limit to his policing of trash.

Aryn reacts calmly to the scream by turning about to look for its source. She seeks out Chani, offering a gloved hand to help her rise again. "Hey," She says in a lower tone. "..it is never easy, but you have found proof of true danger. Stay close, okay?" With a freehand, Aryn brushes aside her cloak and reveals her blaster and lightsaber. She tucks the cloak behind the lightsaber and keeps it there.

When Nerys mentions Mankas, Aryn turns her head. "Inside, you say?" She calls out. "Is there power still with the ship? Can the ramp be shut?" Dealing with Manka was dangerous and drawing them out seemed like a bad idea. However, the Rangers had to get the ship back and they would have to contend with the Mankas then. A decision had to be made and if they couldn't seal the ship it meant violence.

"Corr!.. Nerys found Mankas. Have you found anything?" Aryn is walking toward the back of the ship, uncertain of what was to follow.

'ROW-ROWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!' hissed one Manka, then two others answered it. Large, predatory things stalking forward and watching Nerys. It seems they have dropped their meal in favor of a fresher, warmer one. They begin to move toward Nerys!!

She may have kept her stomach under control, but the look on her face makes it apparent that she is not okay after her find. The grip she seizes Aryn's hand with is like a clamp, and rising from the snow, she takes further steps back away from the dismembered piece of someone's body. "Okay." She swallows harder and the increased rate of her breathing means she's panting through parted lips that expose the hints of her teeth. The hot, misting clouds of her breath dance and curl upwards, vanishing into the grey darkness that is the sky. Her fingers clench and relax, and despite being asked if she's okay by the man who goes on to stopm through the snow, Chani decides she's made enough noise and lapses into silence. Vocal silence, at least. Her boots crunch noisily in the snow while she rushes to keep up. Not so close that the noble is crowded, but certainly within arm's length. That changes once the hackle-raising howl of one of the predators sends a completely different kind of chill through her.

Nerys, who had not moved from her spot, called, instead, "Clear the ship! They are coming. I will attempt to keep them from getting out!" Bitty, smol droid that she was, was already zooming, looking for a power conduit she could tap into. Whether she managed to make it before the manka exploded out of the ship and tried to make her mistress lunch, well, may the odds be ever in Nerys Greystorm's favour. But the droid did not concern herself with that eventuality. She simply freed her 'hands' by clamping the pistol in her 'toes' and got to work. The system was sluggish, frozen, low powered, but the creak of metal was loud in the relative stillness as the ramp began to power closed.

"There better be a nice mug of warm spotchka waiting at the end of this," Corr sighs to himself as straightens up, not bothering to dust the snow from his knees before he hurries towards the ship's ramp where the others are concentrated or at least nearby. "Somebody parked a little skiff or something over there, let something offa bunch of leashes," he informs the group, before the pronouncement of mankas and the subsequent howling as they change their attention to Nerys leads to the obvious elaboration, "Like mankas."

The ramp jolts and grates as the cold metal parts move over each other, and he takes a few quick steps away from it, wary eyes trying to look past from the corner to see what's going on inside. "And there was shooting. A lot of it."

The growing growls were indicative of running creatures, and their claws made a loud and dangerous rythym from inside as the ramp began to rise. Aryn stepped back from the ramp as it began to seal itself. One Manka landed on the ramp, clawing upward at the odd angle and latching before launching itself upward to make it through the crack remaining. It only made it half way through before becoming trapped between the threshold and the ramp. Mechanical groans were drowned out by the loud --ROW--ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!-- sound it made, clearly in pain as the ship's ramp /tried/ to crush it but lacked the power. Its roar was echoing in the pass.

Then, something answered it.

'ROWROWROWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWLLLL!' then another like it, and another, and another. From the ruins came a small den of Manka, five in total and bounding to answer the pained cries from their kin. They bounded quickly over the snow closing the distance with intent to harm and kill those responsible! Or.. who they instinctively thought were responsible! Mankas were intelligent afterall!

"Oh no.. more Mankas! We found out why they were shooting. Defend yourselves!" Aryn moved in front of Chani to protect her.

Chani feels like every pore of her skin swells into a goosebump at the horrific sound of pain expressed by the animal that gets caught between the oppressive squeeze of the ramp trying to seal itself against the ship that it belongs to. That sensation intensifies as loud wails cast out through the hazy darkness around them are carried on the wind and amplified by the natural formations rising around them. At this particular moment, she regrets requesting to accompany Aryn in this endeavor, but she stills the panicked voice in the back of her head that's telling her to run. Running off alone is not the answer to this situation. She's not sure what is, though, and does as the Princess previously suggested by staying close and behind her.

Nerys, who trusted, perhaps foolishly, to the ramp to keep the manka on the one hand, trapped there and the others trapped inside, darted around to the far side of the ship, grabbing onto the first panel she could find as she rat scurried her way to the top of the ship, dropping to a knee in the snow drifted there. She aimed, firing at one of the oncoming horde. Bitty, who had moved away from the panel and hovered up to be close to her mistress, was just as eager to thin the herd. She had switched the pistol which was once and again as long as she was, back to her 'hands', holding it as a normal droid might have held a shotgun, tucking up her legs as a brace, as she opened fire on the next Manka in like. Three bolts exploded from the top of the ship. The charged bowcaster bolt impacted one of the manka, driving it back, but not down. The two blaster bolts zipped with droidish efficiency, dropping one of the manka of the group charging their way.

"History repeats itself," Corr breathes as the manka in the ship wriggles and writhes and howls bloody murder, summoning the rest of the pack or another pack, like it really matters. His hand darts down to the blaster strapped to his thigh, and almost as soon as it clears leather, he's firing. He doesn't hit anything, but Corr-blimey he drew fast. The blasts zip out and pock into the snow, vaporizing the fragile flakes away. "We're in a tight spot!" he announces tightly, drifting a few steps towards the ship, which isn't exactly cover but feels better than having his back completely exposed.

The impending danger was palpable for one who could interpret and feel the force, but Aryn didn't need the force to see they were going to get hurt. The blasters going off are loud, echoing in the pass in a way that left Aryn's ears ringing. She watched Nerys climb up and engage, and little Bitty firing with automaton precision, both of them responsible for slowing and killing a Manka respectively. Corr's shots actually blind Aryn, the red lances from his blaster bright enough to prompt Aryn's off hand to rise and shield her eyes.

Just as her sight comes back, a Manka pounces toward her, and she reacts with pre-emptive intent. Her lightsaber activates in a sudden brilliant display of blue and she stabs the pouncing animal through the mouth before withdrawing and tumbling to one side. That Manka crumbled to the ground and slid over the snow stopping shy of touching Chani!! Aryn rose up and found herself pursued by two Mankas. One swiped at her leg, missing and ripping her cape while another pounced and missed because she ducked down. "Ack! They are every where!" Aryn cried out, only having a perspective of her dire situation. She was unaware that the Manka formerly trapped in the ramp has managed to claw its way out and land and join the others in the fray. The ramp finally seals though, leaving 4 total Mankas to deal with!

The ship ramp has yet to close. Chani wonders if the other mankas within will be able to slip out at the cost of the trapped one's pain. The others approaching from behind are beginning to coalesce into existence out of the fog, and as the others of the group begin to fight, Chani tries to avoid shivering for a reason not remotely connected to the cold. It's like her skin is tightening over every inch of her body. Even as shots find their mark, Chani realizes that they're potentially outnumbered. Though it goes against her survival instinct, she refuses to simply cower behind Aryn. If nothing else, she can try to provide some support to the Princess and potentially guard her from behind. She's not going to be much help to anyone if all she can do is hide.

Clenching her teeth so hard together that the shelf of muscle around her jaw expresses itself under the skin, Chani stares down the glinting eyes in the dark as much as she tries to stare down her fear. Two of the creatures leap at the Princess, and naive and stupid it may be, she can't help but feel the instinctual need to actually do something. That's why she extends both hands in a shoving motion that pairs with a shout meant to help her overcome the paralysis that wants to possess her. "Go away!" And while she doesn't remotely succeed in doing anything but kicking up a gust of snow into the air, the clear look of shock on her face expresses she didn't expect even that much to happen.

There were still manka all around, but the priority was clearly, for Nerys and Bitty at least, to keep the rest of the team alive. Being higher and in relative safety, unless the manka decided to jump, they could see the creatures diving, trying to run down their prey, and both turned their weapons to bear on the Alderaanian princess. Nerys's bolt hit one, though it was not down and out. Bitty, had less but in her way equal success. One of her shots hit the snow, the other impacting the other manka trying to make rare steak of Aryn. They would have to deal with the newly freed manka after. There were only so many bolts to go around.

Rather than seeking better cover, Corr stands his ground with his back against the ship, apparently intending to make a last stand here. The pistol in his hand barks twice, one shot actually connecting, while the other again narrowly squeaks past one of the viscous beasts. "I'll take one over none," Corr grunts, bracing more firmly against the hull, focused on the task.

Blaster bolts come in from all angles, the majority of which hit their marks prompting each Manka to cry out in response, or anger in this case. Aryn doubles back, putting her back to the Mankas to cross the distance back to Chani. She sweeps her lightsaber stride, turning back suddenly to cut another Manka down with a graceful and dismissive swing that's announced by a WMMMPH sound. Then continues to move toward Chani.

Meanwhile the other Mankas, now all injured, start looking for ways to hurt the others. Two claw and try to climb up the side of the ship to get at Nerys, another pounces toward Corr Waldin ROW-ROWWWWWWWING at him while furiously swiping toward his frame with a big clawed paw!

Reinvigorated, or maybe just less frightened because something she's done resulted in something--nothing, in the grand scheme--, Chani revisits the feeling from before. Narrowing her brows closer together and trying to get some semblance of control over the rapid fluctuations of thoughts running through her head, Chani tries again, breath exhaling and frosted cloud misting heavily as the humid heat from her lungs mixes with the frigid air in front of her mouth. She grunts and tries to exert with something that's not even there, and this time there's barely a stirring of snow at all. Effectively, she's making exaggerated shooing motions at the vicious predators attempting to have them for dinner, but at least she's not shrieking like she did with the hand.

Down but not out. And their place on the top of the ship was no longer secure. Or, at least, it was not entirely safe. Nerys, rising from her knee, feet planted hard on the snow coating the hull, moved to try to pick off one, Bitty the other. And if that failed, well, one of them would jump and the other would hovering away cackling a smol droid cackle. But luck was with them, and perhaps they would not be the sacrifice of the day, as Nerys' bolt hit one of the manka like a hammer, the impact sending the creature back to the snow where it did not rise. Bitty, perhaps taking a page from HiBall's book, fired at the second of the cats, her single eye blazing red. She seemed to not even wait to see its body drop from the ship as she spun around to fire a second shot towards the third of the wounded creatures. Three cheers for the technical support. Their droid in Havan--wrong universe. Sorry.

Pinned against the ship seems like much worse of a place to be than it did a moment before when one of the mankas slips in past Corr's blind spot to lunge at him. With nowhere to go, he throws an arm up to shield himself and receives the business end of claws and teeth for his troubles. The ablative plating and padding built into the sleeve mitigate some of the damage, but there's still a spray of bright red across the pristine snowtop.

Throwing the thing off, he levels his blaster on the manka just as it's blown away by the extreme firepower of a fifteen inch pistol being held by a droid about the same size! The weapon drops to his side, and he pushes himself off of the ship, holstering it reluctantly and giving the woman up above a salute before picking carefully at his new injury, trying to get an idea of how bad it is under the mangled sleeve.

With the last of the Mankas gunned down, they rescue task force was left with ringing silence, well.. until Aryn recalled the lightsaber's blade. Then it was just the wind and the crunching snow. Aryn looked to Chani, searching her for injuries before asking, "Are you okay?" The lightsaber is hooked to Aryn's belt, and she brushes her tattered cape to conceal it.

After addressing wounds and the state of the team, they turn their attention to the ruins. Moving into the courtyard of the structure, they find a camp that has been trampled and left to decay in the cold. The excavation team was there, or rather, their remains were. There was no one to rescue; not from the rangers or the explorers.

It seemed like foul play. Corr probably noticed that the dead Mankas all wore collars. It added to his theory that they were released. Were the explorers searching the ruins attacked by a third party? Were the Rangers murdered by the same? Was it treasure hunters looking for a quick cred? There were too many questions and not enough answers to solve this mystery. The Duke would be displeased.