Low Places

[tomcat]

I moved this bit of our story to a normal thread, Nick... it is easier to do it and allows everyone to read along, but not interact of course. When you are done with your errand, this thread will merge back into Down Time.



Kara walked away from the shipyard and out onto the main road. She had silently backed away from the other two, as Caden had wheeled and dealed. Kara was still amazed at him and thought he would have made a very good Corellian. It might not be wise to sit down to a Sabacc game with the Bestinian.

She cleared her thoughts and put her mind to the job at hand. Kara moved through the different lots and stores, most of which were in the same business as the shipyard, or at least having to do with space vessels. There were tech shops of all types and she perused a few items that might be useful to her new companions. First, she would need to acquire more money.

Kara crossed the street and went into a small cantina that looked like it might harbor what she was looking for. With a few subtle questions, and a credit placed in this palm or that, she finally found herself in front of a gangly young man whose face was pocked with acne. His name was Farris and he was part of one of the local gangs that plagued Salis D'aar's lower south side. The youth looked her up and down, in a very sleazy way, and she felt the need to bring forth her blaster. Kara put her hands on her hips, pushing back her coat, and the silver-plated pistol became visible causing the Farris to shift his eyes nervously about, but to also show a little more respect.

The questions were asked and the boy nodded, "Yea... I may know someone that might be interested in what you have. I want 200 creds, tho."



Okay, first...

to find a source to sell your namana to, you need to give me two rolls:

Persuasion test to loosen any streetwise individuals tongue... die roll result will determine the DC of the Gather Info test needed.

10 - Gather Info (Locate Person) DC 25 and 500 creds in bribe
12 - Gather Info (Locate Person) DC 22 and 500 creds in bribe
15 - Gather Info (Locate Person) DC 22 and 200 creds in bribe
18 - Gather Info (Locate Person) DC 20 and 200 creds in bribe
20 - Gather Info (Locate Person) DC 18 and 200 creds in bribe
22 - Gather Info (Locate Person) DC 16 and 200 creds in bribe
25 - Gather Info (Locate Person) DC 14 and 100 creds in bribe
28 - Gather Info (Locate Person) DC 12 and 100 creds in bribe
30 - Gather Info (Locate Person) DC 10 and 100 creds in bribe

Once you roll the tests, and determine the results we will RP the meeting.

Persuasion: +4 + 15 (d20) + 5 (force point) = 24

Gather Info + 4 +11 (d20) + 1 (force point) = 16 (thank god I used that force point).

And I only have 130 credits, so I was wondering if I can offer my backup blaster pistol (worth 1350 credits with its modifications) as collateral... that is unless we got any credits when we leveled (which I doubt).

No, no credits with the advancement. 

[watanabe]

"Don't have your credits, though I can offer this."  Kara slowly pulled a modifed blaster pistol that she had specially built out of her holster.

[tomcat]

The boy's eyes lit up at the sight of the weapon being presented. His mouth cracked into an ugly grin, "Does it work?"

With a nod from Kara, the boy snatched the blaster and motioned for her to follow. Once more, she weaved through shops, garages and sales stands until they finally came to a unpleasant looking apartment building.

The youth pointed, "Third floor, number 36, tell 'em I sent ya."

With that, Farris turned to leave, all the while patting his new treasure.

[watanabe]

Kara stopped the boy for a moment.

"Treat it well, I made special mods to it myself, its better than any blaster you can buy on the open market."

Kara then proceeded to the third floor, where she removed one vial from inside her jacket, and placed it into her boot.  No need letting them know about both vials... just in case.  Coming to number 36 she paused a moment, and then knocked on the door.

[tomcat]

A voice came from the opposite side of the door, "Yea? Who is it?"

Kara replied, but due to no recognition of name, the door cracked open to reveal a scarred face looking out at her. The man's eyes looked her up and down and then a toothless smile cracked his face, "Niiice... did Dorin send you over?"

It was clear as to what the scoundrel's intentions were by both his remark and the way his eyes looked Kara over. Another voice came, this one deeper and stronger, "Who is at the door?"

The voice's owner also made himself visible, some feet inside the apartment. The two men were dichotomies - the one at the door was pale of skin, had a shadow of growth on an otherwise shaved head, and was missing two front teeth. The man further within the apartment was dark-complected and his body was a mass of muscle. Kara could now easily see the semi-exposed weapons that both wore on their hips. A cold shudder ran down her spine. These men were dangerous, and so was every bit of the dealings she would have with them.

"Whatcha want girlie?" asked the large man, in an all too sinister way.

[watanabe]

"I'm looking to off-load a little bit of product that I accidentally came across.  It's a certain byproduct of a certain fruit, and I'm pretty sure that this could be cut down and diluted into much bigger samples.  I'm not looking for a cut or anything, just a straight up cash for product deal, that'll give me enough credits to get off this damn rock."

[tomcat]

The skinny, bald man looked back over his shoulder towards his companion. To Kara, it was immediately evident as to who was boss. A nod from the one inside, and toothless stepped back for Kara to enter.

[watanabe]

Kara came in past toothless, and gave a slight smile to the boss.  She slowly reached in her pocket and pulled out the vial.  And handed it to the boss.

"Found this, this morning.  Seems like someone must have dropped it accidentally.  It should be worth its weight in credits and much much more."

[tomcat]

The muscle bound boss took the small vial and held it up, eyeing it. With hands more nimble than their size would belie, he uncorked the nimanna and brought the open vial to his nose. The fragrant oil began to immediately permeate the area between the two and the boss man's eyes opened in a bit of disbelief. "Where did you say you found this?"

All the while, toothless stood next to the door until his leader made a revelation of what Kara came to sell. With the legitimacy of product, the wrangly man pushed closed the door and the room became darker, lit only by the few lights that were on.

Kara could feel the skinny one approaching from her right flank, and knew he still drew his eyes over her. The lispy voice confirmed her disgust, "You sure that's all you came here for? You are stable material... maybe we could put her to work Demps, and make her some real credits."

The boss man, that Kara now knew was Demps, seemed to be deep in thought, and didn't seem to hear his companion. Truth is, he was. Dempsey ran through the credits that could be generated from the one little vial. The street price turn around would be quite big and would make an investment into the nimana oil well worth it, but Demps didn't have the kind of capital to buy even the raw product... that is, unless this girl didn't know what she carried.

The sound of his companion's indescent comments brought him back to the moment, "Huh? What'd ya say?" Ignoring the skinny one, Dempsey turned to Kara. "What are you lookin' for? And who is lookin' for this stuff?"

Dempsey was small time, but he had a very lucrative business on Bakura, dealing in different vices - weapons, women, stolen hardware, and at times, drugs. He stayed alive in both business and life being smart. This was no exception. A woman doesn't just show up with almost half a million in credits of raw nimana oil without some connections. He put on his toughest, most threatening of faces. "So... Corellian? Where is it from?"



Dempsey gets tough
Kara's Will Def 17 Persuasion (Intimidate) +8
----------------------------------
Roll(1d20)+8: 17,+8 Total:25

[watanabe]

  Kara's Will Defense 17, I rolled an 8 = 25... Guess that means I'm intimidated.

IC:

Kara sighed and looked around.  "I'm just wanting credits and insurance that none of your goons will come after me or my friends.  We found a few crates of this stuff, but they are probably going to dump it or destroy it.  I only managed to get the vial in your hand, and one more."  Kara stopped for a moment.  "Not quite sure who the shipment belonged to, but a certain Senator's name seems to be tied to it, we found it at a warehouse, which is why I want off this rock as soon as possible.  Hell, I'd even be happy to take 15,000 credits, and ten death sticks."

[tomcat]

Okay, d20 rules clarification - cause I am not a master of this game suystem - but, when a skill check is made against an opponent's Will defense, the defender includes a d20 die roll added to their defense rating? It is not just against the defense rating that is computed as defined in the book?

Is that the case with Reflex and Fortitude also? So, when a character attacks me, both the attacker and myself roll d20's and add our particular ratings, higher number wins?

Please enlighten me so that I am running the game correctly... thanks! 

[watanabe]

 

Crap, I'm totally wrong, I've been playing other games to the point I forgot that you don't roll the d20 in Saga (but you do in d20 Modern which got my mind twisted).

Either way Kara is intimidated. 

And yes, you are running the game correctly.

[tomcat]

Thanks for keeping my mind straight, Nick. 



Demps could see he had the woman out of sorts and it would be an easy matter of taking the nimana oil and booting her out... or better yet, maybe do like his companion said and stable her. She'd bring in good money in his other business.

But Dempsey was just that, a business man, and you always had to play things smart. The Corellian was definitely not in her element. Yes, she looked like a scoundrel, probably a gambler, but she didn't deal in this kind of stuff. And so, instead of hurting any opportunity for her to bring him more of the drugs for cheap, he could pay her her low demand and maybe have a good supply for a while.

The only scary part was, who was looking for this stuff?

Demps scratched his head, "All right, girl. I'll give you 25,000 creds and ten sticks for the both of them. Can you get the other?"

[watanabe]

Kara pulled the stick from her boot slowly and placed it on the desk.

"There it is." she said nervously looking around.

[tomcat]

Kara exited the apartment building and breathed in the air - it was cleaner out here. She felt her pocket to assure herself that she had escaped with her sticks. The bulge in the coat pocket comforted her.

It was also a comfort that she now twenty-five thousand credits richer. Whether she stayed with these new acquaintances or not, she at last had the means to get off this planet.

She looked around and started to head back in the direction she had come. Kara needed to grab a few things from one of the tech vendors, so she'd could corroborate her story, but that wouldn't take long. With the afternoon sun hanging lower, she hurried on her way.

Little did she know, there were eyes watching her.

From the third floor, toothless watched the Corellian leave the building and make her way down the street. He nodded to the shadowy figure across the street, and the boy Farris stepped out of the alley. Toothless gestured in the direction that Kara had gone, and the gangly youth moved off down the street after her. He would find out whatever he could... he had been a great asset to Dempsey's business.

Toothless than turned towards his boss, "So?"

"So, what?" replied Demps.

"So, who do you think she was, and do we have any plan on trying to move that stuff?"

"She is probably just what she said she was... maybe a little foolish, but I don't think there is anymore to fear from her." Dempsey held up the vial, then sniffed the sweet namana oil. "I am more interested in where this comes from. The gov and church have held priority over this stuff for a long time. So how does a Corellian show up here with two vials of this stuff, and apparently friends with a bunch more? Who made it? Who is looking for it? And what will they pay?"

Toothless stared a minute, not catching his bosses drift, and then a cruel, ugly smile cracked across his face.