Log:JEDI ORDER: Solving BlueIce's Tentacle Issue

Solving BlueIce's Tentacle Issue

OOC Date: June 3, 2019
Location: Tridek System, Refueling Station
Participants: Zandra naMuriel, Rey, Angouri Dros, Syrus, Yuun, Aryn Cole

The speeder has landed, and it affords about the only protection that is to be had here. The location - Tridek System, Refueling Station. Sector Blue 21. Or maybe 22. It's hard to tell. They have a large speeder that holds them all, so they don't have to walk. But Zan sets it down on the pod track a good hundred feet before the damage starts. The damage to the pod racing track, which appears to be topsy turvy with rocks, crushed pod racers and large scale holes. So large in fact, that one can see down (up?) to the edge of the refueling station, where the protective field might be the only thing there keeping air in. And some bits of debris - don't look too closely. There is a blue strip - where it hasn't been destroyed, visible on what remains of the walls. There may have once been a grandstand for people to watch the races, but it's sideways and in pieces. Industrial area meets - well, who knows what?

It's eerily quiet out here, even the hum of the life support systems seems to be muted, and there are no other sounds. Just an ominous silence waiting.

Hungry and waiting.

Zan eyes the group, glances at Aryn. "You want to fly this thing, in case we need to run for it?" she asks. She flew it this far, but she's worried she might need to go with the others to help. Her gaze goes to Aryn, and then over to the messed up track and she takes a deep breath. "This does not look fun."

"Sure, I hope I'm up to it. I've never flown under pressure before." Aryn tucks loose strands of blonde behind an ear and shifts, preparing to take the helm and control the craft once she has the freedom to. She stays quiet for now, unnerved by the overwhelming silence that surrounds them. It makes her feel meek, and insignificant.

Rey isn't the only one with a scavenger's start, and the smallest Jedi's eyes light up at the carnage. "Now, least some'a this is still salvageable." Angouri drawls quietly from the speeder, straining to see over the sides without removing the safety restraints. "I'm tryin' t'rig a flamethrower simple 'nuff t'be affixed to an MSE. Stealth an' all that. Couple'a propulsion units, servomotors, take apart a couple thrusters..." At a certain point, the amaran is simply listing vehicle components in an attempt to keep the oppressive silence at bay. "...'Course th'oil could right muck up those little dudes, anythin' hauled off a speeder needs t'be stripped well fer droids -" and on and on it goes.

"What lies beneath the surface," Syrus muses to himself, looking out over the disrepaired racetrack. "Hrmm." His eyes turn to fall on the other members of the order, his hands resting on his hips.

Yuun is enjoying the ride over here but once they land, he notices all of the debris around this area. "Whoa." is all he says as he looks around. Looking ahead as Aryn gets ready to take the helm. "Oh this is going to be fun." he grins.

Rey is near the back of the entourage with her street clothes still on, a dark body suit covered over with a hooded cloak of steel blue. Her mask is pulled down beneath her chin now so that her face is showing and she's flicking her gaze from one of her companions to the other. She's being quiet for now though, listening to them and feeling with the Force, she'd seen a flash of this 'thing' on the monitor that had been broken in the Kingpin's office though, so to Syrus she speaks out. "I believe its... a Rathtar." She says. "But I only got a glance, it could be something similar. I'm not entirely positive. Just... if you engage it, keep your stun or lightsaber ready, they should make the creature's appendages recoil and leave you free."

The silence doesn't seem to break, except for Angouri's monologue, and the sound of steps as the group leaves the speeder. That silence almost seems to pause, and then there's a rock coming flying towards the speeder. It clangs against the side of it, splitting into a couple pieces as the speeder rocks, and each fist sized rock careens off, one in Syrus's direction, one towards Rey, and one towards Yuun. For those following the rock's trajectory, they might see a grey tentacle slithering back into a hole.

Zan sidesteps and ducks as the rock comes flying, even if it's not a solid rock, crumbling into pieces and going flying every which way. "Oh, great, something knows we're here." Gulp.

There is suddenly a bit of a shudder, the track starting to move out there, as if it's being pummelled from underneath, and then a slobbery monster- large, tentacled, and ugly surfaces, over about midway to the horizon. Then a couple tentacles pop up, waving threateningly.

Once all have gotten out of the vehicle, Aryn is moving it to a safe distance, where rocks are no longer threatening to pummel it with her inside!--

Finn slides out onto the ground and lifts his jacket to pull out a F-11D blaster rifle. He's a bit unnerved seeing the tentacles, because his first thought takes him back to the Eravana, running from those Rathtars. He extends the buttstock to fire, but misses because he has to jump/dive away. "WOAH.. Don't let it grab you!" Finn is already trying to find an advantageous place to shoot from. He looks over the group, his dark gaze finding Rey for a moment. Finn's face is pretty discernable, he's not a fan of this situation!

"Th'wild blue frost-lickin zoldragger is a Rathtar?" Angouri asks as the group walks, turning as she does to squint at Rey, walking backwards. It's because of this that she has an unabated view of the rock slam into their speeder, and her eyes widen at the mass of incomprehensible tentacles that burst out ahead of them. "Oh." She blinks, the answer to her own question apparently rather clear. Swallowing, the young vulpine reaches into the folds of her robes and pulls her stunsaber free. "I don't like rathtars." She decides in a small, squeaky voice, raising the weapon uncertainly ahead of her, both paws clenched at the hilt. She's not great with this thing, and as a tentacle flips her way, she swings wildly - doing nothing.

Syrus Volo depresses the button on his cylindrical lightsaber hilt and with an electric snap-hiss a brilliant green energy beam bursts from the hilt!

There's a moment of prescience that flickers inside of Sy's mind before he jerks his head out of the way, leaving one of it's sharp edges to dig a cut into his face. He lifts a hand to dab at the scarlet-colored Kiffar blood pooling there before his eyes fall on the gross, slithering tentacle. "Angouri, /do/ practice caution," he offers down to the diminutive fox. His hand moves to flip his lightsaber from his back, but it's not yet activated. They're supposed to be discreet, after all. But then Angouri's drawing her stunsaber. That's fair.

Whipping the hilt around in front of him, the green blade ignites and Syrus hunkers down. Then he's rushing toward one of the tentacles and slinging the blade through the air, lopping it in half, sending it to writhe around on the floor.

Having seen the tentacles coming at them all, one of them tries to hit him and Yuun rolls under the tentacle and he begins racing towards the main body of the creature. "Cover one another, attack the same target before moving on!" he calls out to the others. Using his speed to race towards the creature jumping and rolling as he moves. His hand raises and his lightsaber unclips from his belt and lands solidly into his hand and the snap-hiss of his lightsaber ignites and a blue gleaming blade erupts from the hilt.

Leaping into the air bringing him close to the monster, his swings his lightsaber in a downward arc missing the creature. Yuun is moving trying to keep out of the way of the tentacles.

Rey side steps out of the way of the incoming rocks and then ducks down beneath more as they hammer the speeder. She runs to catch up with Finn and she grimaces at him as he looks to her. "Don't worry." She says to her oldest friend. "I won't let them get you this time." She flashes him a quick grin before she sees her other companions flashing sabers and chopping at limbs. "These things are terribly fast!" She calls out. "Keep your wits about you!"

When a grasping and slithering arm lashes out at her she raises her knife and lets it stab itself onto the old dagger that she'd made on Jakku to keep her safe from would-be attackers. When it sinks into the creature's arm, the force of its reaction pulls the knife right out of her hand while it recoils in pain!

Rey exhales, having lost the knife now... apparently.

The tentacles flail about threateningly, wildly. It's almost as if they can't see that there's anything really to attack. But for the one that Syrus sends into pieces, two more show up. The large critter is moving in towards the group, even while Yuun tries to take it out. It finally breaks its silence with a yowl of rage, that echoes across the metallic station, sending normal folks scuttling to cover.

"I hope that Lord BlueIce didn't fix his camera screen yet," Zan murmurs. One of those flailing tentacles comes way too near to her, and she wobbles back a step, her lightsaber igniting and swinging back out at it, missing.

"Thanks," Finn says to Rey, though his expression is still somewhat serious. Pulling her back slightly when the tentacle pulled out of her grasp, costing her the knife she was carrying, Finn grimaced and raises his blaster with his other hand. He steps slightly in front of Rey and fires a decisive shot that sinks into the creature's carapace, earning a roar that makes Finn's ears ring. He angles the blaster back casually, orienting the barrel skyward as he searched for a fall back. "IT'S COMING CLOSER, DON'T LET IT GET TOO CLOSE TO YOU!" He is already stepping back, pulling his other hand back to settle under the barrel of his blaster giving him the appearance of taking a ready stance most commonly seen by Stormtroopers.

All of these orders and suggestions are very logical and well-meaning - but they fail to get through to Angouri. "What?" She balks, another reactionary swing going for a tentacle at her side. Her ears are pinned back against her head as all the meditation and lessons go soaring out the window - unfortunately, this isn't the first time. A soft whimper at the back of the teen's throat announces a frantic scramble away from another tentacle, stumbling and scrambling away on all fours as she loses her footing, eyes wide. How are they all so... Calm?! It's coming closer - she can't do this.

Stepping out of the way of a lunging appendage, Syrus lifts his saber once more, holding out in front of himself with one arm in a defensive position. His free hand is tucked into the small of his back.

Moving forward once more, Syrus spins out of the way of another tentacle and swings his blade hard across the body of the ravenous beast.

Yuun notices Syrus moving in to help attack the monster, he himself has continued to bob and weave though he still keeps on the monster not wanting to let the monster get any closer to them and as Syrus attacks, yuan does two timing his strike along with Syrus, his blue blade weaving as is streaks through the air and slashes trough the creature.

Rey ducks out of the way to let Finn wield his rifle and attack the creature next while she reaches beneath the satchel on her hip to pull forth the silvery cylinder of the Skywalker lightsaber, repaired and kept ever-polished to a shining cleanliness as best as she's able to. She doesn't ignite it, she rather stands and raises a hand to try to utilize the Force to telekinetically help her companions from getting harmed by the remaining appendages of the decidedly disgusting creature trying to claim them one by one... She's not fond of hurting creatures, but sadly they're often far too fond to try and harm first.

So this time, Finn gets lucky! Not so Zan who is dodging and avoiding a tentacle, as Yuun and Syrus put on a clinic on how to remove such beasts from existance. As the slobbery monster is killed, it thrashes and causes even more damage to the track, before it drops finally still. Various of our heroes have to deal with tentacles in their face or just in their way, as the thing struggles to try to get through them, without much luck. Yuun and Angouri in particular have more difficulty, for whatever reason. That corpse lies there, and then it slowly tips over, and falls down the hole nearest it. Uh oh. Might there be more? Or is it just how badly damaged the ground is?

Zan rubs at her arm, as she stares at the slowly sinking monster. "Repulsive," she mumbles. And then, "Is it moving still?"

When the creature fell down the hole and someone asked if it was still moving, Finn performed the old survivor check. He cautiously walks over to the hole, then fires down into it several times for good measure. "...and STAY DOWN THERE" ..Down There... down there-- Finn looks back at the others, then back down the hole, then back at them. "Seems okay now." He flashes a thumbs up. "So, what was it we came here to do?"

Angouri Dros lets out a squeak of fear as a tentacle wraps around her, leaving her orange fur streaked with mucus. "Nonono!" She gasps, kicking and flailing at it, her stunsaber deactivating - but this isn't the end for her. Eventually, that grip relaxes as its body goes limp, and she pushes the rubbery mass away from her, scrambling away on her rear before finding her breath and her feet once more. She can certainly agree with Finn's sentiments, but the wide-eyed amaran remains remarkably silent as she stares at the massive, horrifying creature.

"For our sake, I hope not," Syrus answers Zandra, looking over at the girl. He draws in a deep breath and lets his lightsaber deactivate. Clearing his throat, Syrus grins at Finn. His free hand moves to rest on his hip as he turns away from the great opening in the ground. "Is everyone alright?"

Yuun watches as he and Syrus put the killing blows to the creature. He is able to back away from the creature but as it hits him, he isn't rocked back, but he is able to withstand the blow. He looks around at everyone, "Is everyone alright?" he asks.

Rey exhales in relief as she sees the big creature go down, she watches Finn chase after it and unleash several more blaster shots, which makes her avert her gaze left and right to stare about and make sure that they are all out here on their own yet still. Her eyes then return to Finn to answer his inquiry and remind everyone why they're here, really.

"We're to clear this speeder race track, so that the Blueice man may reroute his track away from the Lady Redfire's club." She states, walking toward Angouri to make sure she's okay, though she adds a bit more insight on top of that. "We need the Lady's assistance in this region, she's well connected here and can establish contacts for General Organa, and hopefully more than that." Its left at that then before Rey starts to walk toward where the creature had fallen.

"Lets make sure there's no other threats. If this site is secure, we might very well be done here already..."

The last couple of shots from Finn finalize things. As he looks down, he might see a hungry rat trying to chow down on the rathtar, but alas, it's now a dead rat, as one of his shots took care of that. The regular station vermin are still here, probably glad to no longer be food for the slobbery monster. There are also a couple wrecked speeders down the hole, and it's obvious the creature's been there for a while. Because there are some remains here and there, and it's not the most pleasant of aromas. Falling down is probably not a good idea, even with the main critter dead.

Zan gets back to her feet, sheathing her lightsaber, and inches forward curiously. She gets a whiff of the den, and spies some of the remains, and backs right up, with a near audible gulp. She takes a couple minutes, fighting for composure.

"Well, nothing but dead things down there, Rey." Finn motions behind him, casually walking toward her and the others. "IS THERE ANYONE ELSE HERE?"..Here... here...-- Finn adopts a cold stare for a moment, then starts to look around for other signs of trouble. He keeps his blaster ready, not sure if something else might be hidden and awaiting the perfect moment. "If this place IS clear, should we start to head back?"

Rey is awarded a mumbled "m'fine" from Angouri as the amaran shakes herself out of the panicked reverie into which she'd been thrust. Her robes and fur are coated with slime, and she grimaces down at herself as she presses her paws to the goop. "Wherever we're headin' next, can it smell better?" She holsters her stunsaber once more, scowling at the weapon as she does. The teenage jedi shuffles back - this is not a decision that she feels competent enough to make, but she does offer: "I don't sense anything else."

Yuun looks to the others and at the mention of going through and checking for more. Yuun deactivates his lightsaber and clips it to his belt. Nodding his head, "Do we have anyone who is skilled at sensing lifeforms?" he asks. "If we are going to do this, we can use the speeder to get to each group quickly and try to take these things out."

"Here's hoping," is Syrus's answer to Angouri, reaching to clip his saber onto his belt. Looks to the rest of the group and Sy wanders off to kick at a few pieces of rubble, and will load up and fly away along with the rest of the Jedi hopefuls.

Rey's eyes leave the pit of death things shortly after Finn shouts for anyone else. She raises her left half-gloved hand up to pull the hood off of her head, her hair is tied back into a series of braids that are draping down toward the back of her neck, keeping her hair off of her forehead and out of her eyes.

A nod is shown to Yuun's words. "We should get back in the speeder. The Rathtar seemed to be attracted to the noises that they make, so its possible that if there are more, that they'll come out... if we zip around a bit."

She glances to Finn, then starts to walk back to their ride, smiling to everyone. "A little joyride, anyone?" She asks. "Live a little on the fun side of the Force for a spell?" She pauses, thinking better. "Unless there turn out to be more, then we have to be very serious again." Rey can be mildly silly, when she wants to be!

Zan flashes a grin at Rey's comment, and she gestures to the speeder. "I think Aryn is flying," she says, with a grin. "Unless you want me to do it again?" She's okay either way, for her part.

All that just really means that the group gets to fly aruond the ripped up and destroyed track, like they're swoop racers. But nothing else can be seen other than the usual space station vermin. Which surely Lord BlueIce can deal with. Right? In the end, the group heads back in to discover the shock and worry on everyone's face, as they return without maiming and of course without tentacles, but they obviously went there. And came back. And - Lord BlueIce says, "I'll check it out, and meet you with Lady Redfire in 3 hours. Don't leave the station."