Tough Medicine - 7/14 session recap (by Charles)

Treb got an idea in his head that really freaked him out. He became convinced that more thugs and assassins were going to come up behind the party and kill them. He found himself constantly looking over his shoulder. And he felt sure somebody was following them.

After making the turn off the main road at the bird rock, the party decided to sleep the night practically invisible in a rock outcropping. Prack suggested that they make a fire out of the dead and dry cactus like things that seemed to be the only vegetation in the area. It turned out to be a heck of an idea. The fire served to keep away predators and the smoke kept away the mosquito-like blood suckers.

Treb announced that he would not be continuing out to the Osbreth farm with the others. He was going to hide out at the new camp and watch the dry water bed path for baddies. The plan Treb outlined to the party was this:

• Treb would watch the dried water bed for trouble from the followers he feared were there
• He'd alert the party if more goons came up from behind to allow the party time to prepare an ambush
• Treb would come up behind and the thugs would be trapped between Treb, the hammer, and the party, the anvil

Prack and Roopa continued on down the path toward the Osbreth farm leading the nerf-horse train behind them through the dried waterbed and rocks. Treb reassured them that the farm was just a straight shot from this point on and that the runner beasts would be no problem.

Both Ruppa and Prack felt misgivings about continuing on without Treb or Mal. They, apparently, were more concerned about problems ahead of them. More than once Ruppa cursed Treb as a paranoid, scruffy-looking nerf herder and Mal as a panty-chasing fool. For leaving them without meat shields on this venture.

Ruppa was heard to grumble, "Malory, that's a fricken girls name, the panzy. Not that there's anything the matter with that." Prack, on the other hand, was endlessly fascinated by the local insect life, sparse fauna and the snakes. He wondered more than once if there was a way to collect any of the snake venom without getting killed.

The sun was hot. The bugs were annoying, the nerf-horse runner beast things were spine-jarring to ride and the day seemed to drag on forever. Until out of the corner of Prack's eye he saw a large, insect-like creature approaching them. Both Prack and Ruppa were able to get off blaster shots at the beast and score hits. Unfazed, the monster snapped in two, two runner beasts in each claw from the back of the train and gulped down a third in a few chomps.

Again, the party fired. Small holes appeared in the creature's chitinous armor and a green ooze squirted out. But the monster didn't even seem to notice. Again, three runner beasts were scooped up and annihilated. The party split. Ruppa moved off to the right and fired a direct hit on the monster while Prack took the remainder of the beasts off ahead at a dead run, bouncing uncomfortably in the saddle and barely hanging on for dear life.

The giant carnivorous bug managed to gulp down three more runner beasts before Prack was able to get out of range of the thing. Finally, irritated to the point of fury by Ruppa's repeated blaster shots to its now holey shell, the monster charged after Ruppa, leaving Prack alone.

Again, Ruppa fired a direct hit on the beast, knocking off a twitching antennae before the thing could reach him. Then Prack sent a rain of blaster fire down on the monster that made it skitter backwards in terror, collecting pieces of slaughtered runner beast and finally disappearing into the rocks.

Glancing back over their shoulders periodically, the party caught only one more glimpse of the stealthy critter collecting carnage and slinking off out of view. With one runner beast still in tow, Prack and Ruppa continued onto the Osbreth farm after checking in with Treb. Treb gave them an all clear and they warned him about large bug things that might like to eat him for dinner.

The party proceeded ahead warily. Perhaps that's why they both noticed a sudden dead quiet in the area around them as they approached a turn in the dried river bed between an outcropping. Just as they felt sure that they should be reaching the farm. Ruppa and Prack backtracked a click, left their mounts and stealthy ascended the rock outcropping and peered over the edge.

There they saw three Stormtroopers with Air Bikes blocking the path. Ruppa's eye's got big. "These guys are dead men," he thought. "I want those bikes."

Two of the bikes were being used like toll gates with Stormtroopers standing ready next to them. A third trooper talked into a com link off to the side a bit, standing next to his own air bike. The bikes were armed with laser rifles and displayed Imperial insignias.

The party backed off and formulated a plan in whispers. Three or four large dust plumes later, using stun grenades and electrical pulse grenades of some kind (I don't remember), the party first disabled the Stormtrooper equipment and then knocked out the stormtroopers before the guys even knew what was going on.

Ruppa and Prack stripped the Stormtroopers of armor and equipment, slit their throats, killed the party's remaining mounts with the stormtrooper rifles and attempted to make the whole thing look like a shoot out. They then proceeded to the Osbreth farm.

The Osbreth's were all in a fury about the Imperial toll setup right outside their farm. They were greatly relieved to see Ruppa and Prack. They were afraid the Imperials would have scared them off.

Ruppa explained the Imperials would no longer be a problem. Taking a great liking to Prack, the Osbreth's volunteered to dump the bodies and equipment of the Troopers out in the "Deep" and make the Troopers disappear

The Osbreths were alarmed to hear that a Berkle was roaming so close to the farm outside of the deep. That's what they called the Acklay-like creature that had eaten almost all the party's runner beasts. They promised to investigate that as well.

The Osbreths helped Ruppa take the air bikes into a shed, remove the rifles and paint them black, blacking out the imperial emblem. Tracking devices were disabled earlier.

The guys found out that the "medicinal herbs" that they were smuggling turned out to really be "medicinal herbs" of amazing potency. Not illegal drugs. The Osbreth's good naturedly harvested Prack a few immature leaves which he stowed in a med pack. Ruppa dissuaded Prack from even considering taking the shipments for their own and accept their place as middlemen on this one. For fear of ending up in the "Deep" themselves.

The party arranged the medicinal cargo amidst food stuffs and other supplies in attempt to camouflage the presence for when they pass through check points at the space port. Then they met up with Treb, gave him a bike and continued toward town with the cargo on repulsor lifts in tow. Treb still had a funny feeling that he just can't seem to shake off.