Log:The Perfect High pt 5

The Perfect High pt 5

OOC Date: December 2, 2019
Location: Corulag
Participants: Hopp Nooram, Sumi Kora, Zee'roh Kora, Mak the Hutt, Ca'tra Sinbri, Usha, Sajin, and Mydas Gryph

CORULAAAAAAAAG

"Corulaaaaag," Hopp drawls as the transport pulls away from the city, a one-droid deal that chugs along at significantly under what would be considered a safe speed. "You- you know, kids, I- I always dreamed of coming here," the old man tells the others, holding his iconic T-shaped helmet between his knees. "I mean, since I read about it a few months ago on the holonet, I mean. Always. So- so this is- you know, this is- did you- we're going down in some caves, alright, it's gonna be an easy job."

The urban sprawl of the city has fallen away, and now the transport is chugging through stands of bamboo, the tall woody shoots shot through with streaks of blue and yellow from the alien environment. The faint wind whips through Hopp's frizzy grey hair while he pulls out a cig and lights it up with his homemade lighter. "We're here for the lumni spice, okay, which is- it's- lumni spice is one of the rarest and uh, it's real good spice, let's just- I can get into it if you want but- but- you're just here to get paid. And maybe high. Some of you are- are here to get high. I- I can respect that," he rambles, tapping ash into the bamboo forest as they pass through.

The cave looms ahead, a short stack of tumbled rocks that doesn't look very much like a cave at all, but the droid is angling them toward it and slowing to a stop. "Ah, that's- this is us."

Sumi slides off the speeder and lands on both booted feet, grunting a bit and testing her legs. Adjusting the sling and bandolier around her torso, Sumi carries an A280 CFE variant casually, one hand cupped over the pistol grip while the other supported the rifle beneath its receiver. She takes only a moment to secure a custom optics to the top rail, using gloved fingers to pry the lens caps up. <"It's good to be around a familiar old face, Dr. Nooram."> Sumi offers before glancing back at her companions to ensure they were following too.

Zee'Roh is sitting with the rest of her squad, a seeker droid doodling about near her left shoulder with an interface attached to the side of her helmet, updating her on information related to the Corulag. Her eyes dance across the display window on the inside of her Visors HUD.. moving rapidly across the constant feed while absently craddling her fist around the loading rail of a Scatter Gun. The stock rests up against he armored thigh until the speeder comes to a halt.

The mando'a drops down with a little hop to land a few steps behind Sumi, sling of her shotgun tossed up over her right shoulder, carrying the weapon with the barrel pointed down at the dirt. The little seeker droid: Zero buzzes off with indication from the quiet Kora's chin jutting upwards. <"Overwatch and comms boost."> Weapon laid over to check the cartridges with a chuk chink of the slide.

The transport lurches as it is coming to a stop; Ca'tra slides off of it before it has stopped right behind Sumi, walking quickly to keep up. The Glie-44 is out of its holster and the safety off without a pause. Impassive under the glittering T-shape visor of her helmet, the woman lifts a shoulder in a shrug then nods to Sumi. <"Ready to roll."> She pats the strap of the bag that carries her med kit and readjusts the black, tan and red square tied around her neck.

Sajin checks the seal on his Flight Suit's helmet before putting his hands on his hips in a sort of awkward way. He's forgone his powerarmor seeing as they'd be doing some spelunking and more times than not the monstrosity of a suit ended up hampering more than helping in that kind of environment. Just his DL-44 at his side and his trusty old vibrodaggger. Perhaps some metal knuckles hidden away in a pocket . He lifts one hand up and gives Sumi and he Mando's a rapid wave before his hand ends up back on his hip, dreamy hazel eyes looking back to Hopp.

"Lumni spice. I've had it before. Wild stuff," the magenta Zeltron that is Usha murmurs. Her pupils are as wide as the moon as she stares absent mindedly at the greenery of the bamboo forest through the windows of the transport. "I got it from a very rich, and /very/ old former Senator who shall remain nameless. We were dating at the time - I use dating as loose term. He smelled awful and couldn't stay awake worth a damn, but man could he get his hands on the good stuff. Real pure." Her hands are shaky, her nails have been chewed to oblivion. She recalls her memories of Lumni spice in a fond reverie, as if she were speaking of an old lover. Or she's just high as a kite. Why not both?

As soon as the transport stops, Usha follows the others out of vehicle eagerly looking to be reunited. "Oh Hopp, darling," she bites her lip anxiously. "Is it true. Will it be an easy job? Will you let us have a taste?"

"I'm a-comin', I'm a-comin'!"

Bringing up the rear, the very very distant rear, Lord Zlurbo Qwig Makooja continues to propel himself forward on his magnificent Stomach Foot. Undulating coils of muscle and fat glisten beneath the sheen of sweat in the the soft light as he pushes himself as quickly as he can. The sweat is, uh... pretty prodigious.

"I'm a-comin', I'm a-comin'!" The Hutt removes his broad-brimmed hat, and begins fanning himself in an attempt to cool down his greasy, sweat-covered face. Heavy breathing can be heard from many meters away, as he continues to propel himself forward like an oversized turd through an undersized anus.

The transport left quite some time ago...

When he finally gets to the spot where the transport was SUPPOSED to be, Mak does his best to cover his disappointment.

"Oh well... bet they won't find any lumni spice anyways." He reaches into his bandolier, and produces a large pouch of especially foul-smelling chewing t'bacc, and puts an enormous fistful of it in his mouth.

And there he sits, sweating profusely and drooling t'bacc juice down his chest. A rugged space cowboy, tired from his arduous journey of nearly fifty meters.

• /aaaaah......eh.......ahaaaaaah....ehhhhhh.../*

Mydas' crimson-painted, t-visored, durasteel mask still had a thin tube with an oxygen tank attached to it, but the tank was now inside of Mydas's backpack. Secured between the backpack and the rear of Mydas's armor were his two latest trophies: a Tusken Skirmisher's gaffi stick and a Tusken General's gaffi stick.

Leaning against the broadside of the Hunter Ice, a Dunelizard fighter, Mydas looks out among the folk gathering, but doesn't bother to greet them yet. As he watches Mak streak by, he can only watch as his employer, the man he was here to protect, runs faster than he believed was possible for a Hutt as he boards his shuttle and departs.

Mydas shrugs to himself and walks towards the gathering of people, again not even giving any of them of a greeting with the exception of Hopp, whom he acknowledges as the leader with a sharp upwards nod.

"Good to see you too, there, Kora, you- you callous killer. You- you- you- corruptor of the youth, dragging these- just- CAN IT, PINKIE," Hopp abruptly snaps, his bony hands flying skyward with exasperation. "You'll get what's coming to you, alright!"

The cave, the unsuspecting pile of rocks with a gap just wide enough to slip through, for they are one and the same, may not be very imposing, but Hopp stilts up to it with a cautious stride. If there's any animosity detected from Mydas, it doesn't register on the old coot's face, but he does give the young man a squint out of the corner of his eye. "You might want to be on better behavior with present company, there, kid," he grumbles in a low rasp as he clips his helmet onto his belt and steps towards the entrance. "These- these girls are as likely to- to- you don't wanna piss 'em off, alright."

An electric torch in his hand flickers to life, illuminating the low stone ceiling and the immediate drop away down a very steep pile of rubble, a good twenty feet from where he stands to where the going levels out again. "Kark on a stick." The smoke from his cig begins to fill the mouth of the cave with an acrid, unpleasant, cloying, cough-inducing aroma. "Alright, uh, you kids go first and uh, I'll hold the light, for safety reasons, see? I- I'll be right behind you, here, it'll be fine."

Sumi nods when Hopp prompts them to move ahead. She takes point, shouldering her rifle and lifting it to a mid-ready. Her HUD washes out with reflective silver as internal optics filter through a view that she can see, thanks to Hopp's ambient light. A glance is paid up above, then left and right, before she trudges forward with cautious steps.

A silver T-visor turns in Mydas' direction when he almost overtly ignores them, but is busy checking her other weapons and doesn't seem to mind it much. The Scatter gun rests against her chest on a tac-sling, one, then the other, blaster pistol removed to check charges while Hopp directs them towards the cave. <"Roger that.">

Business time.

The shotgun comes up, stock into her shoulder, as the move towards this small sliver opening. Sliding, not expertly, but safely, down the slop into the cave.

"Oh Ushes..." Sajin starts to the Zeltron with his nickname for her. "I'll buy you some drugs later if this ends up being a bust." Maybe he feels bad for her? OR he's just stupid. He's probably just stupid. The Handsome Hapan follows along behind Sumi and Zee'roh who have gone ahead of him. He looks down to where they're climbing, studying it a moment, before he himself goes to use a similar route down as that's what would be the safest to do. His steps and hand holds are careful and slow. Patience.

<"The Zeltron looks a little worse for the wear,"> the doctor announces over the three bounty hunter's private channel. <"Weather eye on her,"> She follows Sumi into the cave, low light reading boosted by her helmet. An easy slide to the bottom leaves a trail of dust in the air.

"Oh you beautiful, sweet perfectly bred thirst trap," Usha tuts gratefully at Sajin, "Where I come from, that's an offer of marriage. But I know you're a committed man so I promise to only stop by on the weekends and when I get the shakes from not eating for a few days." Ca'tra's description is not inaccurate. The Zeltron does indeed look worse for the wear, but she climbs down with the ease and grace of a well-practiced debutante on the night of her coming out ball. That's what happens when you stick a diamond carrot in front of a junkie gold digger. Heck, she's tempted to almost surpass the group, but she is a polite young thing and says to the Mandalorians, "Yes, yes. Please keep an eye on me. If there's anyone who can get us to the Lumni its you fine folk."

As he follows the crowd in this case and remains near the back of the line, Mydas says nothing until the grizzled Mandalorian addresses him. He doesn't immediately respond, instead he draws in a deep breath from his mask as he follows the light.

"They get the same respect they show. So do you, so do I," Mydas says, and when Hopp stops them over the cliff, Mydas waits for everyone else to descend before he approaches the edge. He turns and attempts to scale--but when he doesn't draw in enough air from his tank, his motor control falters, and he makes a 'standing skid' down the rocks until he hits the ground feet-first, but the force of the fall still forces him to one knee.

"'I'm twenty and this is deep,'" Hopp rasps back at Mydas, rolling his beady eyes towards the cave ceiling so far that the black shine ebbing up from his soul actually disappears for a moment. While he's still in the throes of cringing, he throws an unfettered foot forward, his boot stretching out into thin air and then coming down for purchase. But nothing is bought, it's all sold out, and down he goes.

He's a tall man, even with the exaggerated curve in his compressed old spine, and when he falls, it's in a jumble of flailing limbs, trailing smoke like an ancient jalopy, kicking up dust and sending rocks skittering down the slope towards the others. He bowls clear down to the bottom, a gutter ball that misses the others, and lies in a tangled heap of armor parts and bones.

For a moment, it is questionable if the old man is dead. Then the cursing begins. "KARK on a STICK, this- this- WORST cave I've ever been in," he badgers as the limbs untwist and rearrange, a spring-bound puppet regaining its tension. "I'm- when we get that spice I'm gonna- we're blowing this kriffing rockheap /flat/, alright."

Spitting and fuming, he finally rears to his feet, sporting a large, diffuse bruise/blood blister on his forehead above a bushy eyebrow. "Let's keep moving. I'm- are any of you doctors?" He stomps along, deeper into the cave, which widens up ahead, rows of flowstone layering the rock with their ridged coating, a giant's barglasses shoved down from the cave roof by the perennial moisture. "We're looking for fungus, okay, any type because I don't expect many of you are mycologists, or uh, -ologists of any kind. Mixologists, maybe, that's- it's what the kids are into these days. Wasting your lives."

However, the journey forward meets a momentary barricade; a large gap in the cave floor, with some unknown substance flowing along the bottom at a snail's pace. It's unclear exactly what the liquid is, but it's thick, almost gelatinous, and an iridescent shine gleams on the surface.

It's that substance that Sumi ultimately lands in after trying to use her rekking jetpack. Mother's will, it would still be broken after her run in with the Knight of Ren. Sumi collides with the rocky top ceiling and plummets comically into the gelatine, promptly... /promptly/ setting it ablaze.

<"Well, that's just great."> She groans, dropping her rifle in the muck, content to know it's on a sling, and she reveals her wrist, aiming across the way in preparation of firing her harpoon. A wary glance to the flames around her!

<"Oh good. Circular logic that ultimately translate to: I'm a kriffin' ass... Top tier, smart guy. You're winning friends everytime you open your budget'gar helmeted mouth."> Zee says a few steps away from Mydas where he's kneeling after his little tussle with gravity and rocks. She moves cautiously beside and slightly back from, Sumi until they reach the gap with the pretty glowing goop.

<"Mmm.. That looks like it smells next level disgusting..."> Glancing up, watching Sumi try to rocket across, and then follows after with a couple steps that send her sailing out, but not over, the gap. Straight down into the glowing, slow moving sludge.... what is now on fire.

<"Awesome."> The shotgun is let hang on the sling, moving to scale the wall.. at least to try anyways, and get the hell out of the fiery green goop.

Helmet lamp lit, Ca'tra turns in place examining the cave. One turn completed she is looking up slope when the old man comes tumbling down. She skips out of the way backwards tripping over a loose stone, nearly taking down Zee with her. Getting back up she claps dust from her gloves adding to the cloud obscuring the way. A great start to what is going to be an epic journey.

"I can take care of that now or later, Hopp," she proposes to the wounded man.

The infrared on her HUD flares nearly blinding her as she comes to the ledge of the precipice to look down. "Laaaaava," she pronounces sententiously, the word turning into a wail as Sumi goes over the edge. "You good down there?

Taking a few steps back she jumps across the gap trying not to look down at the crowd that have already taken the leap, landing heavily on one knee she pivots in place to give a hand to anyone needing it coming over the edge.

Sajin just watches Hopp fall down, his head following the old man until he comes to a stop. "A little Harsh, don't you think? You alright, old man?" In respsonce to flattening the planet and his rough tumble. A glances over to Usha a moment to make sure she's made it alright. He glances back towards the Mandalorian's and Mydas, looking between them curiously. "Ya'll just don't like each other huh?" He reaches back to scratch his head but his helmets on. "Drats..." So he drops his arms to his side and pats his hips a few times awkwardly. As the others take the leap of the chasim, or othwise jetpack, the King of Drik jumps with trained ease over to the other side. He turns around, hoping to see the others there with him... but no. A few of them are down in the doop. "Oh bother... you guys okay down there? You need a hand?" Not that he could do much. He looks around, "Uh... I don't think I brought any rope with me." He pulls his fanny pack around and unzips it, feeling around inside.

Despite wearing thick durasteel kneepads, the shock of the sudden landing was already causing Mydas to limp.

'As though I need another haar injury,' Mydas thought to himself as he staggered ahead, but played it off quite well. Seeing the crevasse ahead and the other side of it, Mydas groans, and then takes a deep breath and a running leap over the edge--and doesn't come close.

Mydas plummets to the goo below and is soaked within it but cannot inhale it given his artifical air supply.

"Oh indeed! Help the man!" Usha pleads as she climbs safely to the ground. If Hopp is injured, how will they know how if they've found the spice! But it seems that their fearless leader is on toward the next part of the cave, and the Zeltron seems so intent on finding some sort of fungal species that she hardly notices the liquid river in the vague light.

PLOP! The magenta alien falls straight into the gelatin with all the grace used up in her climb. She resurfaces covered in the goop, gasping for air as she says, "We're underneath a bamboo forest aren't we? Why is there a canal of /oil/?" Just says this just as it catches aflame and a high pitched AAAAHHHHHHH comes from Usha. "Sajin, hurry up and help me out of here!" She fights her way through the muck to get to the Hapan. She isn't ready for hell just yet!

It's not long before Sumi's ill-fated attempt to jet across the gap, and as the others try and fail to leap over it, Hopp stands there staring as one after the other they drop down into the goopy liquid below. Then there's a flare of heat as the stuff catches fire, green-tinted flames shooting up towards the ceiling. "Uh. You'll be fine, just, you know, figure it out!" he advises to the others, taking a running start to get himself propelled safely over and leave the others behind.

At least, that's his intention before his last, authoritative step lands two inches out in front of where the rock ends and the gap begins. With a strangled "Hrk!" he goes plunging down into the gelatinous liquid and flames below. "Hot hot ho- oh." Once he plops down into the sticky stuff, the heat is much less; only the vapors atop it are burning, at least for now. "Get out! Get out of my way!" A natural leader, he hunches over as far as he can, trying to stay under the worst of the heat, and plows through the viscous stuff until he bellies out on the other side, the fire clinging to the goop that's stuck to his clothes but rapidly burning itself out, leaving the kludgy grey-green stuff behind, robbed of its rainbow sheen.

"Perfect," he announces, not bothering to wipe the goop away. "Any objections to blowing this thing up when we leave? No? Good."

On the other side, the cavern opens up again, the flowstone formations fading away to be replaced by stalactites and stalagmites hanging and jutting from their respective surfaces. Amongst them, clinging to the walls are tiny blue tendrils that glow with an inner phosphorescence.

CLANK!!

Sumi's wrist line grows tight, the harpoon grappling hook clamped to rock across the way. <"We'll be fine, Ca'tra. No worries."> Sumi pauses a moment to offer Zee her hand, then triggers the grapple to spool them in. Heavy boots thunk upon the otherside and Sumi shakes the grapple loose, calling it back to her wrist. Flames burn out from all over, consuming the substance and burning a portion of her cape. She makes no effort to scrape the goop off. It adds character. With the wrist device deactivated, Sumi draws her rifle back up and looks agead. <"I like the blue here,"> Sumi comments, moving back to point.

Zee hops up at the edge of the wall and pulls herself out of the goop, rolling up onto her back once her feet pull free. One glance down and she knows with little question that she's cleaning this crap out of her armor for years to come. ... and forget about her poncho. Might as well discard it.. Which she does once she's standing, goopy from just below her breast plates down, tugging the cloth free from her shoulder to let it drop back into the pit with little fanfare. <"All is good..."> She does not mean that, even distorded as her voice is, she doesn't even sound like she means that. Checking her scatter gun as she moves forward to take point with Sumi, <"I'm with the ancient biological. This place needs to die.">

Ca'tra waits by the side of the precipice which is not filled with lava but some sort of viscous oily liquid. Lava would have melted through everyone's armor in thrice. Alright, so better dirty than dead.

"No objections on my part, Hopp for blowing this place. Not one."

Once the two other hunters out, the doctor quits hovering but looks back occasionally to see if the others have made it safely over the edge."

DON'T TOUCH THE WALLS is writ large across her consciousness. Instinct tells Ca'tra to not touch them She shrugs at herself, this little dialogue happening over the course of several steps as her headlamps makes the luminous squiggles burn bright.

Sajin grumbles as he can't find any rope in his trusty fanny pack to toss out to the victims of the goop. As Usha is 'swimming' towards him though, he zips the small sack back up and leans over with his hand out to help the Zeltron up. "You're gonna be fine Ushes... I don't know about that old guy or the others, but you're going to be okay." THe others make it out though and the Hapan is slightly relieved he doesn't have to try and swim in the thick goo. At the question about blowing the place up, "Well... alright. Just this once but no more after that. It's for the local's saftey after all." HE really had to convince himself of that one.

Usha grabs Sajin's hand to emerge from the river also covered in a layer of flaming goop. The goop itself providing a very temporary, thin shield between the flames and her skin until it too burns itself out, leaving the green grey-residue against her own skin. "Oh goodness! I need to get this stuff /off/ of me! Who has something I can wipe this stuff off with? A towel, a handkerchief, any-" Her words are cut short by the gleaming glow just across the way. "Wait...we can't torch this place just yet...," Usha says to the others, the blue light reflecting in her wide eyes.

While the oily flames on her person have been put out, a hungry fire lights within her and the Zeltron junkie practically pushes her way past the Mandalorians over to the azure walls. "This is it! This is the stuff, the Lumni lichen!" She yells and breaks out into a full run toward her goal, her voice echoing against the cave walls at the rest. Her hands are wide open as she's ready to double fist the stuff into a container.

Still near the very rear of the squad's arrangement, when Mydas saw fire ahead, he immediately took several steps backwards. After all, fire and an oxygen tank were not exactly a good combination.

"Blow it all you want long as I'm not fifty-feet around when it happens," Mydas says as he observes the flame consuming the liquid. When the flames clear, Mydas advances forward.

"That's the stuff, alright," Hopp rasps, pointing at the little blue frondrils poking quietly off the walls, their dim blue luminescence making it easy to guess where the name Lumni-Spice came from. "We got it, kids, we- we got the goods. We're gonna be- I'm gonna- the Perfect High! Another step towards the- another long- one step closer to the dream, kids, one- I don't know how many steps there are, Pinkie," he calls to Usha in particular, putting his bony hands around his mouth to amplify his gruff, worn-out voice, "but we're- I'm one step closer, okay, one- one step closer to the- how many steps to the- one step closer to the Perfect High, and- and- and I'm- I'm gonna- smoke it, and- and shoot it, and- and and and- and SNORT-"

"GRAAAAAAAAAWL," rudely interrupts a cave-shaking roar as an iridescent green snake-like head appears at the far end of the chamber, filling the passage completely despite the fact that said hole in the rock is at least ten feet high. The eyes are smaller than a snake's, set on the ends of short, flexible stalks, but the mouth is large enough to swallow a man whole.

"Oh, uh," Hopp mutters quietly, face going slack. "I guess that's a dragon slug. I didn't- they're- I thought they were extinct."

"GRAAAAAAWL"

When Usha rushes by, Sumi has the thought to stop her, but.. instead keeps her pace steady. They've found their objective it seemed, but the sudden rush of a big rekking Dragon slug halts any further advance. <"IF THEY AIN'T EXTINCT, THEN MAKE IT EXTINCT! HAHAHA!"> Sumi takes a kneeling position and hoists her rifle up at the ready. <"OPEN FIRE!">

A bright red lance emits from the end of Sumi's rifle, sinking into its flesh, but blasters aren't going to be enough. They need plasma fire. Something to really encourage the pain!

Sumi straightens to her full height dropping her rifle and freeing the BlasTech 38CT Flamer, flipping the switch to engage its pilot flame. A test breath of flames emerges from its end and she shoulders it. <"COME TO MOMMA!"> Sumi may die here.

That's definitely a thing you don't see every day, but there exactly Zee'Roh's name sake amount of bitch in her blood.

As Sumi charges, into the breach goes her Vod, shotgun up, shotgun fired with a loud blast of slugs that pepper everything /except/ the massive damned creature.

The weapon is left to dangle across her chest in favor of the smaller pistol holstered across her lower abdomen, pulled free as she too makes her way in close. Counting more on Agility and mobility (and Sumi being a far more enticing target) as she closes distance with the soon to be extinct (we hope) dragon slug.

<"Get some drugs they said.. easy credits they said.."> This is smarm, not fear.

Zee lives for killing shit.

Especially endangered biological shit.

"It ISN'T EXTINCT! Drek the man, did he plan for anything?" Ca'tra makes no bones about saying it over open coms as the green open mouthed thing comes rushing down the corridor at them. The colors might be beautiful in another setting were her shots true and not just another pretty color added to the tertiary color wheel of the cave - green, purple and now red.

Sajin's face falls and he looks EXASPERATED. "OH COME ON!" As the slug wiggles it's way in and towards them making that god aweful sound. He doesn't have to be told to draw and fire, he's already on it, squeezing the trigger on his DL-44 in rapid succession. His first shot misses but the other two are on target and slam into the bio-luminescent mollusk. "Okay, Okay... we'll nuke it all from orbit!" He was 100% on board now.

"It's almost uglier than an Oggdo Boggdo," is the first thing to come out of Mydas's mouth when he sees the monstrous, massive cavern slug, and he immediately draws his M-44 pistol. His accelerated heart-rate and excitement cause something that's never happened before due to his quickened breathing without fully-functioning lungs to support them--his right arm wavers as he holds his weapon, and both of his well-aimed shots are fired wide.

"Banthaspit," Mydas says to himself. He considered for the slightest of moments that given the extent of his injuries, it wasn't even right for him to be out here. A Mandalorian's squad was their greatest weapon, and given the injuries and an inability to fire, could he be the weapon that the squad needed right now?

He could be a weapon, he realized. If not a solid gun, then a torpedo.

He holstered his M-44 and drew his vibrosword, which was still caked with the dried blood of a dozen Tuskens, including a general.

"Dinuir ni aaray, dinuir ni tal, dinuir ni agol, dinuir ni runi--" Mydas draws his vibrosword and hurries forward, twirling the blade as he draws it.

"I planned to GET LIT, alright, kid?" Hopp yells at Ca'tra, pulling his own weapon from its holster and jimmying with the power switch. "I can never- I gotta check my eyes again," he mutters to himself. "Cataracts must need cut out again." He glares up at the slug, drifting into a squint-eyed silence.

"GRAAAAAWL," the dragon slug howls in rage and pain as the blaster bolts light up its underbelly and face area, and hot tongues of FIRE come spitting out along the roof of its mouth to scorch the cave-raiders. *FWOOOOOSH*, the rush and spit of flame, along with globs of that iridescent goo they might recognize from earlier, fed out from two hollow fangs nestled back from the biting set.

<"HUTTSUCKIN.. REKKING DREK!"> Sumi curses down the line as she shakes her arm from being on fire. It takes draping the flame retardent cape over her arm to stop the flames, and even then it's left steaming. So, flamethrower? Bad idea. That's switched off, and she pulls out her DL-44 handcannon. <"HOLD THE LINE! LIGHT THIS REKKER UP.. EVERYTHING YOU GOT!">

At least the blaster bolts aren't bouncing back at them, so that's a small miracle.

Zee is given the business of spouting globs of fire and brushes at her armor while skirting back away from the flash of green goop set ablaze. <"That's a hard copy, boss."> The Mando'a moves at an angle behind Sumi and her Flamer, firing as she runs three quick shots that score.. at least once.. but who really knows with a thing that size? It certainly doesn't look like it feels it, anyways.

Life isn't fair. Not fair at all. Around her red bolts light the green thing, its wounds oozing, scratches on its tough hide to all appearances, while it returns the damage to her colleagues. FIRE scorches around her, licking the floor with its fiery tongues. Ca'tra does a little hop dance dodging flames. She lays one of the largest wounds on it yet, its hide rippling like a Bantha with a fly on it. Negligible in other words.

Sajin's eyes go wide and he dives when the flames burst out. They catch him, ignighting on his armor and carwling up his skin. As he land against a rock wall with a loud and violent thump, there is a loud crack with it. Pain shoots through the Hapan, hazel eyes looking down to see the bottom half of his tight leg going in a direction it's really not supposed to be going. Not to mention... he was still on fire. Pushing through the pain, he falls forwards and starts to roll trying to put out the flames. His leg, the bone sticking through and bloddying the ground, flops around like a loose joint on a broken piece of machinery that's still somehow running. He fires his DL-44 wildly at the slug. If he was going to die, he was going to go down fighting. He just wishes it wasn't some damn slug that did him in.

Mydas takes a step back as a flame wall sprays mere feet away from him, but charges forward when it clears.

"Dinuir ni gar...runi!" he lets out a grunt, pulls back his arm, and hurls his vibrosword at the slug's "head." It sinks in to the hilt, and Mydas is already running towards the beast when the blade is driven in. He yanks the sword back out, and now only a foot away from the monster, he peers at it. It was close to him, his injuries were already severe, and the monster could cleave him even in the best condition, as he realized it. He let out a slight, masculine giggle, raised his blade overhead, and sliced in a downward arc across the beast's insectoid face, as though insulting it.

Echoes of 'I planned to GET LIT' ring in Hopp's mind as the dragon slug turns its wrath towards him, spraying hot fiyah down upon the old man in a bright orange-green shroud. "GAH!" he shrieks, the frizzy hair on his head scorching away into the ether, a brief, transient halo. There's blisters on his skin, and his cuirass continues to smolder, globs of the wyrm's flammable spit stuck to him.

Then the stream is turned to others, the unburnt, until EVERYONE has gotten a mite bit crispier. "GRAAAAAWL," the thing roars again, rearing back away from the attacks but constrained by the enclosed space of the cave. Stalactites begin to crack worryingly as its body smacks into the ceiling.

Sumi holds her ground, allowing her steaming arm to hang while leveling her blaster wielding hand ahead, and blasting the large slug with three decisive shots. <"KEEP SHOOTING!"> She screams over the sounds of the discharging blasters. Her armor reflects the dull flashes of slower-than-light blaster contrails each time they pass her to hit the creature.

The glow of fire glints off the beskar'gam helmets silver-blue, reflecting in her T-visor, and highlight with lancing red bolts from her barking pistol as she does precisely as her Alor says and holds the line. Firing at the thing with the weapong ripped tight in both hands, feet squared off as it goes for Ca'tra, <"Kriff this thing is touch as hell.."> Enter Mydas going all Drax the Destroyer... <"Okay... a /small/ bit of respect.. Minute. Tiniest bits of respect."> She can admit when she's /maybe/ wrong about a person, /maybe/.

Hold the line she does. A great gout of flame licks across her thigh melting her armor on either side of the plating, smoldering hot. It takes a moment for it to penetrate, she hisses to herself. Dancing for all she is worth, Ca'tra adds her blaster fire to the rest. Multiple shots taking what seems like forever to slow the thing down.

Sajin has managed to put out the fire but his leg is still. Well it's not doing so well. The only thing likely keeping it from ripping off is his flight suit. With a rebel yell fueled by anger and pain he rolls over onto his stomach and into a prone position. Leveling his blaster, he squeezes the trigger three times sending scarlet bolts of death into the dragon slug. "Die!" Shouts the King of Drik, the Ragin' Hapan known as Sajin. Feel his wrath! Hot Laser Death!

As though responding to his 'insult,' the beast slams its entire body weight into Mydas just before the final onslaught which kills the beast begins. Mydas is thrown against the wall with such force that the back of his neck is lacerated against one of the blunted pieces of rock. Blood trickles down upon Mydas's armor as it had done two days prior, and Mydas doesn't even reach up to feel the wound. Consiciousness was hard to hold on up to this point, with breathing through a tube and constant movement. Blood was being spilled again, and he had not much left.

Mydas turned, and dragged the tip of his vibrosword along the cavern floor as blood poured out of his neck wound. He headed for the entry way into the cavern. "Dinuir ni...dinuir ni..." and continued to ramble. Either he would make it back to the Hunter Ice and die, or he'd die somewhere along the way. Death in this case was so simple, it caused Mydas to...giggle.

With a last pained GRAWWWL, the dragon slug rears up one more time before its gargantuan mass rolls out flat on the cavern floor and lays still, a trail of flammable goo dribbling down its lip onto the stone. Same goo they waded through earlier, by the look of it.

Hopp, with considerably less hair on his head than when they came in and smoke coming off of his body rather than out of his mouth, stands there like a singed scarecrow, wrinkled, scalded face peering down at the dead beast before swinging to the fungus that creeps from the cracks in the walls. "Worth it," he croaks, stumbling towards them to gather some up and possibly tripping over a tripping-hard Usha who just couldn't wait to sample the goods. "We- we did it. I never doubted you for like, the last five seconds of that encounter," he praises his assistants, shoving intact samples into storage pods and tucking them into his belt. "Take whatever you want, you- you earned- what do I care, you know? This isn't my cave."

Some time later, the crew are loaded up back on the transport and trucking back through the bamboo forest when a BOOM shakes the canopies, clashing the woody stems against each other like a thousand giant porch chimes.