Ask The Padawans, the Witch and the Warband

[Kalam Mekhar]

Having been caught by surprise by the weight of the backpack, Kal had dropped it the first time, but looking the at little elf girl he realized there was no way she would be able to carry it, with how small and scrawny she was. Shaking his head, he would ignore whatever protests she might put up and just pick up the pack. If she tried to stop him he would just hold the bag high up, keeping her from getting at it. Only when any and all protests died out would he gesture after the others and start walking, backpack slung over his back.

As they hiked their way through the swamp, Kal fending off any attempts from Clove to reclaim her bag, he started reaching the point where even he started feeling the weight of the thing, making him wonder if she had just packed it with rocks and he was at the receiving end of some elaborate prank. He was tempted to hand the bag back to her, only to notice that she seemed even more winded than him. Somehow pleased by that, he smiled and reached for his own carry bag, indenting to pull out the water bottle he had packed. Only to remember that he didn't have it.

"See," he said instead through strained breaths, taking out his frustration by pulling her leg, "shouldn't have tired yourself out jumping around like that." He tried to chuckle, but by now he was breathing pretty hard, and all he managed was a weird sounding wheeze.

That was when they heard the weird sounds, and a moment later a caravan came crashing at the group of padawans. Kal moved on instinct, or at least he tried to. He was so tired that a step was all he could take before his body gave up on him. He toppled forwards, and faceplanted himself in the muddy path they had been following. Somehow that worked in his favor, as the caravan went rolling past, the padawan's body lying flat in the center of its path and somehow avoiding any contact with it as it flews over him.

The backpack though, still on his back, wasn't so lucky, and it got tugged along by the caravan as it went over him. The straps somehow held, and instead of breaking they flipped Kal over backwards and he went flying through the air and landed on his back, or rather the backpack, groaning painfully.

"I'm okay," he said, to no one in particular, trying to get to his feet but lacking the strength to maneuver himself to his feet, and flailing about on his back like a tortoise flipped onto his back.

@LilyNion
Dice Roll for exhaustion: 9/100
Dice Roll for dodge: (18/20) -3 for previous roll fail = 15/20

 

[Elidan]

Issyl's presence, Clove's words and Zana's hug helped Elidan calm himself. Even if he had blushed a bit with the Twi’lek’s hug, tears were still rolling through his cheeks. With his Datapad at his hand, the boy typed a message to the girls. "I'm sorry for what happened. Master Traylessend shouldn't have let me be responsible for piloting the ship. I'm useless." They were probably going to hate him for being an idiot that could have killed all of them.

"I was trying to use the speakers to send a message with the instructions of the trip for all of you, but the sound of my Datapad wasn't loud enough for everyone to hear. I typed in the wrong place. I never learned how to use this type of ship before. I'm so sorry." he explained, while tears still rolled from his eyes. From all the things that Elidan studied and read on his holobooks, piloting wasn't one of them. Due to his stupidity, he would accept any punishment that they give to him.

When Severus said that they should split, Elidan thought that it was the most stupid thing that he ever heard. They were on an unknown planet, if they split there was a great chance that they would never find each other ever again. If they decided to split, the half-Sephi would go with Zana or Clove.

Zana and Thelian were right, the city was their best option for finding a way out of this planet. While he picked his bag, Elidan certified if his lightsaber was inside it. What he found made him wide his eyes, in the place of his lightsaber was a sword. He wondered what happened. Was it one of Gwen’s pranks? Probably he would only discover it after they returned to Yavin IV. If they returned.

Following the others, Elidan walked through the swamp. It was arduous, he constantly tripped over branches and rocks that were hidden in the mud. At some point he ended up being mired in it, needing some effort to free himself. After what seemed to be hours walking in this place, they reached what seemed to be a road. By this point, the half-Sephi was covered in mud and very tired.

Even with him being in this state, Elidan’s half-Sephi hearing was still working. He heard a voice and the sound of heavy footsteps approaching the group. Soon he saw a caravan being pulled by two bantha-like creatures approaching them. The boy wanted to warn the others, but there would be no time for sign language or for using his Datapad. Were due to moments like that he hated his selective mutism.

Doing what he could, Elidan jumped out of the road and back to the mud of the roadside. After he was safe and the caravan had stopped, the half-Sephi turned back to see what happened with the other padawans. Most seemed to be fine, but others like Severus and Issyl were injured.

Before he could do anything to help those that were injured, Elidan saw the reaction of the man that was driving the caravan. The boy wondered what was coming, due to the man's reaction it was probably nothing good. Then he saw a group of some type of creature coming toward them. Immediately the half-Sephi pulled his sword from his bag. If it was really a prank of Gwen, at least she had put a true one, rather than a fake.

Rather than charging in an attack against the creature, Elidan had decided to stay where he was with his sword at his hand. He was too tired from the march through the swamp to attack. If he did it, the half-Sephi was certain that he would fall on the floor before he even reached the monster.

Elidan's datapad: 70%

@Sreeya @LilyNion @Altaria

Dice Roll for exhaustion: 18/100
Dice Roll for dodge: (20/20) -3 for previous roll fail = 17/20

 

[Clove Vanhoop]

---

Zana had made the decision to travel to the city, and the majority of the people, including Thelian and Elidan, appeared to agree. Even if they didn't agree, the Twi'lek was already walking away, so they couldn't help but follow her. Clove wasn't sure she trusted a strange city, but they were with eleven people, so what could possibly go wrong?

A tall boy with dark red hair approached Clove and swung her large backpack, decorated with pastel pins and embroidered patches, over his own shoulder before the half-Sephi had a chance to follow Zana. Despite its size, Kalam would notice that the weight was fairly evenly distributed across the shoulders, making it somewhat less painful to carry. If he knew anything about traveling, it would've also told him that the bag was made of durable and somewhat expensive materials. "I'm not going to fall back. Don't worry, I'll be fine. However, I appreciate it!" Regardless, he refused to return her backpack and instead began following the others.

"Excuse me, but... That's my bag!" She sped up to catch up with him. Then disaster struck: her heel became stuck behind a bulging root, propelling her forward into the damp ground. Her poncho and white shoes were no longer dark blue and white, despite the fact that she caught the majority of the fall with her hands.

She looked down at her previously pearl white shoes with a pout. It was obvious that it could be washed and turned white again, but it was still a bummer.

Oh well.

She jerked herself out of the disappointment of her shoes and trailed the dark red-haired Jedi Padawan before leaping for the backpack. "Come on, give it back!" This went on for a few minutes before she became irritated with herself and mostly gave up because she sounded like a broken commlink player. Every now and then, she'd try to reclaim the backpack, but she was never successful.

Clove had underestimated how grueling the track would be. It was putting a strain on every part of her body, to the point where it was a struggle just to keep her feet moving forward and avoid falling into the mud. She wasn't the only one struggling, judging by the expressions of the other Jedi Padawans. Almost everyone appeared to be exhausted, one more so than the other. After a while of walking in silence, Kalam turned his attention back to the half-Sephi. He wasn't entirely wrong; there's a good chance she wouldn't have gotten her fifth blister if she hadn't jumped for the bag. She struggled fixing her gaze on him, unable to concentrate on anything, let alone one person. But, for the sake of a conversation, she'd try.

"Ha—"

A massive wooden beast appeared out of nowhere and slammed into her, dragging her down beneath it. And like a magic trick, she disappeared from view for a short while. Two wheels slammed into her, one striking her in the face and causing her nose to snap, and the other rolling over her left hand. A symphony of snapping bones danced through the air, accompanied by the cart coming to a screeching halt and a wheel breaking as a result.

Clove lay in the middle of the path, stunned by the impact and the wheels that sent her tumbling over the ground. She felt warm blood rush down her nose and over her cheek as stars danced in front of her eyes. The throbbing pain in her fingers—fingers that no longer stood straight—should have hurt a lot more, but adrenaline was dangerous. It sends a burst of energy and numbs the pain long enough for the body to get back into action and protect itself. And as it did, a little voice whined in the back of her mind.

“You should’ve knocked the shit out of him for that.”

That was irritating enough to get some movement back in her body.

Clove grunted and used her good hand to try to push herself up. She couldn't be the weakest link again. She needed to show Thelian that she could do more than just lie in the dirt. She had to get back up and fight, especially now that she could hear monsters murmur and Padawans fight.

But her arm gave way under her weight, and she fell back onto the path.

---

Dice Roll for Heels: 8/20
Dice Roll for Exhaustion: 6/100
Dice Roll for dodge: 3/100 + -3 from previous fail = 0/100

Tag @Sreeya @Connor Tavarin @Clayton @LouJoVi @Altaris @Charles @Wit @Altaria ​

 

[Zana Ari]

Zana kept walking, actually surprised to see Thelian fall into step near her. She didn’t have to look to know he was his moody and snappy self. The two still hadn’t spoken since the beach incident and both were clearly too proud and stubborn to do anything about it. Zana took a couple steps to the left to give him a wider berth as she walked, her arms now folded across her chest with chin jutted proudly up.

Her confident stride fell apart the further they ventured through the swamp. Zana almost gagged as her boots squelched through the gunk. She glanced back every now and then, concerned by the ridiculous amounts of noise they were all making as a group. On top of that, they had an actual child in the group. She reached for her dataphone and hit it a few times, still not catching any bars as she extended it out towards the sky.

As they walked, she could hear some bickering in the background between Clove and some other boy about her backpack. Zana rolled her eyes before casting Thelian a dirty look. Shouldn’t it be his responsibility to help carry his crush’s bag? Instead, he was marching around here as if looking for the next woodland creature to punt.

Zana’s internal musings cost her as she was taken by surprise with the sudden appearance of the caravan. She whirled around to look, eyes widening, “Wha-” She barely managed before the side of it collided with her, sending her to the ground. Zana yelped in pain, looking down to see a large gash up the side of her arm. She had no time to inspect how deep the cut was, only that it hurt like hell.

When the strange swamp beasts emerged, Zana scrambled backwards in the grass, looking up, “WHY DOES THAT THING NEED SO MANY EYES!” She screeched before she looked back at the wagon. It was too late to rush away from it and the innocent man in the wagon was in danger. Zana gritted her teeth, ignoring the pain in her arm to plod towards the wagon, “SOMEONE WATCH CLOVE AND SEV! WE CAN PUT THEM ON THE WAGON ONCE IT’S FIXED!”

“Draw the things away from the wagon! I’ll try to get the wheel fixed!” Zana crouched down next to the wagon, rapidly attempting to work on fixing the wheel. While she hadn’t worked on a wagon before, her engineering background made her better suited for the task than most others here. However, she would rely very heavily on her fellow padawans to have her back and fight the monsters to keep them off her.

Rolled 67/100 for exhaustion
Rolled 10/20 for caravan dodge

@Logan

 

[Thelian Lsai]

Despite the frigid, perpetually pissed-off expression on his face, Thelian was actually having a much easier time trekking it through the wilds than some of his peers. The Echani was athletic by his nature, and the fact that he carried practically zero supplies – unlike Clove – meant that he didn’t spend much of his energy on hauling some heavy bag. Of course, his lack of supplies were bound to bite him in the ass later down the line.

But for the moment, he was trying his damnedest to simply glaze over that fact.

Thelian kept his eyes fixated on the path ahead rather than glancing at any of his peers, walking near the head of the group. He had no desire to be within any close vicinity of Severus after his earlier comments, and was purposefully trying to keep his distance from Clove and her bottomless backpack – mostly out of fear that the half-Sephi would eventually collapse from exhaustion and that he’d get stuck carrying the damn thing.

He did, however, slow his gait a bit at one point or another – staring down enviously at Maura’s J’s. The Echani really couldn’t fathom how the demon-child had snagged such a nice pair, but the way she listlessly stomped through the mud sent a shiver down his spine. The Echani was exceptionally thankful that he purposefully wore an older pair of shoes for this little trip, rather than his expensive sneakers.

Thelian very briefly glanced in Zana’s direction, his expression softening ever-so-slightly. Nevertheless, he consciously averted his gaze after only few seconds - likely before she caught him staring. The twi’lek was still largely giving him the silent treatment after the beach-day on Chandrila, and her words from that day still lingered on his mind – regardless of how much he tried to put it all behind him.

Much to the dismay of Varyn’s starving ass, by now, Thelian had pulled the couple-month-old granola bar out of his gym bag, munching on it a bit louder than necessary as they trekked through the swampy terrain. Despite the expiration indicating to the contrary, the granola bar tasted fine and sated his hunger well enough. Only time would tell if the little snack would come back to haunt him later.

Thelian was loudly crumpling up his granola bar wrapper, prepared to throw it on the ground behind him, when his attention was drawn by the sound of the rapidly approaching caravan, causing him to freeze in place. Silver eyes went exceptionally wide when the wooden behemoth suddenly appeared from around a corner, barreling right towards him.

After a split second of gawking like an idiot, Thelian finally gathered his senses and darted to the left – dodging the incoming caravan – narrowly avoiding making a faceplant into the mud. In the process, however, the Echani dropped his gym bag to be struck by the incoming vehicle. The lightly-packed bag burst open and was knocked through the air, sending miscellaneous items flying out in opposite directions.

A pair of worn boxing gloves tumbled off one way, while the Echani’s beloved boxing wraps unfurled and were sent hurtling the other way – flying through the air like streamers, before eventually sinking below the surface of a marshy puddle. The single pair of old, spare boxers listlessly flitted through the air, eventually floating down to land somewhere near where Clove had eaten shit, yet again.

“MY BOXING WRAPS!” Thelian screeched, watching as the fabric vanished beneath the water. Only after a moment of horrified staring did the Echani flick his attention to his comrades – a brief expression of concern flashing across his usually frigid expression the moment he saw Clove and Zana get hit.

Before he could say or do anything, however, Thelian’s attention was drawn towards the rapidly approaching swarm monster – the wet, squishing sounds they made when they moved causing his skin to crawl.

“Oh what the FUCK.” He groaned.

Once more, Thelian reached for his lightsaber, and once more was bitterly reminded that he’d forgotten the damn thing. The Echani briefly considered going hand-to-hand with the beasts, but was thoroughly unsettled by the crotch mouths on the creatures.

Instead, Thelian flicked his gaze down towards the ground and spotted a sizable stone sticking up out of the mud. Without a second thought, the Echani yanked it free from the mud and hurled it with all his might towards one of the creatures – aiming to hit it right in one of its many eyes. “Nyegh!"

@Logan
Rolled 75/100 for exhaustion.
Rolled 12/20.
Roll 14/20 for attack.

 

[The Storyteller]

Spoiler: Required Rolls

¹. Roll a d20 to dodge. Success on 13 or higher.
². Roll d20 to dodge. -2 for being fucked up. Success on 13 or higher.
³. Roll a d20 for perception. Success on 12 or higher.
⁴. Roll a d100. 1-25 acid blood misses. 26-40 he gets acid blood somewhere below the waist. 41-80 somewhere on the torso. 81-99 on face. 100 he gets hit in the eye.
⁵. Roll d20 to dodge. Success on 12 or higher.
⁶. Roll d20 to continue working on the repair. Natural 1 breaks the wheel even more than it is now. 2-16, one more round of repairs required. 17-20 wheel is repaired enough to get moving.

More than any foe they’d faced, it seemed a a caravan careening through the mud would conquer the padawans gathered on the road. With Severus, Issyl, Kalam and Clove thoroughly whacked, it would be up to the remaining young ones to ward off impending death by crotch mouth.

The smell of fresh outlander meat seemed to pique the interests of the swamp monsters. As the gaggle closed in on the downed caravan, all of them would be foaming at the mouth, chomping at the bit to get their hands on the would-be defenders.

Luckily, there were padawans in the group that managed to pass their dive, duck, dip, dive and dodge classes.

One of the monsters would close in on @Toki Ketra. With a guttural howl it took a swipe at the bunny-man with its massive claws¹. One good swipe would be enough to take a man’s head clean off. Hopefully Toki was as good at dodging claws as he was at dodging caravans.

A second, spotting the bright haired @Maura Starwalk, made b-line towards the tree Felis was in. Seeing an easy meal in @Severus Creed, the monster decided to attack him first before moving onto the child. Charging towards him, the beast would attempt to give Severus a heavy kick right to his face².

Clearly one of the more capable and adept of the group was @Felis Tivor. As she scrambled up the tree and took aim with her bow, her arrows let loose and slammed into their target with ease. The mystical arrow pierced the swamp monster’s large stomach-eye, going straight through and out the other side.

Disgustingly thick and viscous, dark green blood spewed from the wound as the monster roared in pain before keeling over. Should Felis’ eyesight be good enough and if she were paying attention³, she would notice the blood that landed in the dirt boiled and gurgled, almost as if it incredibly caustic.

@Varyn Atrix's attack was successful, his effective if inelegant sword jab slicing deep into the swamp monster’s arm. Unfortunately for him, blood sprayed in his direction, and there wouldn’t have been time for Felis to warn him – if she had noticed – that he needed to be careful⁴. Hopefully it didn’t land in his eye, or he’d end up with what the locals called “spicy swamp rot.” Yikes.

Luckily for them, both @Elidan and @Kalam Mekhar were unaccosted by monsters so far. This would give them ample opportunity to get their bearings and go on the offensive, or to tend to the padawans currently laying face down in the muck: Issyl and Clove.

@Thelian Lsai's attack against the swamp monster wouldn’t result in much. Opening its crotch mouth, a long, thick and sticky… tongue like appendage would shoot out and catch the stone midair. While the swamp monster was still running, its crotch-mouth-tongue would whip the stone back towards Thelian⁵.

All the while, @Zana Ari was going about her business attempting to fix the caravan wheel. Noticing some strong-looking vines on the ground, her engineering background would kick in and she would know that tying them up around the cracked parts might provide enough stability for the caravan to get moving again, at least until it could be prepared properly.

Things were going decently in the repair department, but the young Twi’lek would need just a little bit more time… ⁶

@Altaria @Altaris @Connor Tavarin @Clayton @Charles @LilyNion @lizziie @LouJoVi @Phoenix @Wit @Sreeya

 

[Felis Tivor]

Felis let out a cat-like yowl of excitement and pride as the strange arrow punctured the giant eye and went clean through, sending a gout of blood everywhere. She was so excited, and already scanning the battlefield for new targets, that she completely didn't pay any attention at all to what acidic effect the blood was having on the soil.

The path-turned-battlefield was already getting a bit chaotic. Frog beasts were closing in on her friends, and other padawans were already engaging. Several of them were too close to the frogs for Felis' comfort in shooting at them; she didn't want to accidentally kill one of her fellows. That would probably be bad. The swamp monster that Thelian (@Thelian Lsai ) had thrown his rock at was momentarily busy with catching the rock, so she pivoted, drawing her bow as she did. Once more a mystical arrow shimmered into place on the string. "I got you, Thellykins!" she shouted as the beast began to move at him. The speed was hard to gauge, as was the distance and angle, all she could do was lead the target a little and...with a snap and a hiss the arrow was let loose.11​. Felis just hoped it would find it's target.

 

[Maura Starwalk]

From her hiding place behind the swampy tree trunk, Maura watched as the swamp monster with the crotch-mouth descended upon her tree. She let out a frightened "Eeek!" when the monster grew close, and in a panic, threw out her hands. She concentrated and pulled upon the Force, then threw out a wave of it directed right at the attacking beast. Its target was not upon her, but she didn't even want to give it the chance.

As soon as she sent out the wave, the kid would scramble to throw off her backpack and rummage inside it until she found her lightsaber. The rainbow-haired girl would then yank it out and clamber forward to approach the monster. If the monster was staggered or stumbling she would ignite the saber, pausing only a moment to wonder why the blade was metal, then swing it down upon the creature's leg. If the creature was up she would try to strike at the large eye by its crotch-mouth. Regardless of where or when she struck at it, she would attempt to back up and keep near the tree.

roll to hit 10/20

tags: @Charles

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn's blade found purchase, cutting into the arm of the creature as nasty bubble-blood spilled out onto the ground. That made his appetite go away and any desire he had for Thelian's granola bar earlier was suddenly gone. Or maybe it was just the loads of adrenaline pumping through his system now.

It was only the fact that he was doing a Shae-pivot that kept the blood from landing all over his legs as he proceeded past the creature.1​ He was bound to have his saber training come in handy at some point, after all.

He reached out with the Force, releasing his saber grip with his left hand and thrusting out his palm, looking to send the creature flying with the Force so that it would slam back into the swamp and maybe become impaled on an uprooted tree or something like that.17​

If his blow was successful in removing the creature at least temporarily from the fight, he would start to shift his attention toward helping any others and regrouping.

 

[Toki Ketra]

Toki squared off against the swamp monster that approached him and did his best to fend off the beast. They exchanged a few clashes, Toki doing his best to deflects strikes away from him as he tried to keep up his determined grit. However, the beast howled and managed to slip through his defenses. Toki's eyes widened as he tried to leap away, but the claws raked across his torso, cutting through his robes and leaving heavy gashes along his body. He didn't scream, but his hands started to shake. He stepped back and his breathing started to quicken. He realized he was starting to spiral. He tried to take a few deep breaths, but the pain from the injuries halted any attempt to calm himself. He couldn't be down for the count already, could he? There's no way. He let everyone down, didn't he? This was the extent of his abilities, wasn't it?

He pressed the remnants of his robes against his injuries and kept backing away. He was afraid. He shouldn't be. A Jedi shouldn't be afraid. They overcame adversity, they didn't succumb to it. He tried at every opportunity to take another stance against the monster, but his vision blurred from his pain and frustration with himself. "I need...I-I need...I should have been...better..." He muttered to himself, hands shaking to the point he almost lost grip on his saber. Fabricated scenarios started to dance along his mind. Even if he survived, he felt he would be met with mockery and scorn. With laughter and jeers for losing it at this critical moment. They would all say he wasn't cut out for this. That he shouldn't have had the nerve to join the order.

He kept backing away, muttering self-deprecating phrases to himself as the beast kept approaching him. He looked behind him and saw he was backing away towards the caravan. He grit his teeth and pivoted to the side despite the protests his body was giving him. He swung haphazardly, mostly to keep the beast's attention away from the caravan so he could keep it further away. This was the least he could do, right?

----

Roll results: 5/20 to dodge.

 

[Kalam Mekhar]

It took him a few tries, probably more than he would feel comfortable admitting if there was every a retelling of these events, but Kal finally managed to swing himself onto his stomach and push himself to his feet. As he did so he spotted a pair of underwear lying inconspicuously on the ground near him, and immediately assumed that they had fallen out of the backpack. Wondering why Clove carried such a dirty pair of underwear in her backpack, and if it was full of more junk like that, he scooped it up and pushed it into the backpack as quickly and discretely as he could. Whatever her habits, he did not want her to feel more shame about it because people spotted her dirty undergarments in the middle of a life and death situation. (@LilyNion @Altaris)

All of that had been an almost instinctive reaction, but thinking about Clove's abysmal cleaning habits made him remember that the little elf girl had been right next to him when the caravan had attacked them, and he started looking around to spot where she was. He found her nearby, seemingly passed out, and looking very much worse for wear. His first instinct was to move to help her, but then he spotted another padawan, the quiet one from earlier, (@LouJoVi) moving towards her and stopped to catch his breath instead. He took that moment to take measure of his surroundings, and spotted a monster bearing down on another padawan, who seemed to be bleeding form gashes to his torso. (@Connor Tavarin).

"Hey you," he shouted as he ran about as slowly as he had ever run towards the creature, "over here! Come and get some you oversized walking crotch infection!" He didn't have any weapons outside of his training staff, which was currently strapped to his back, on top of which he had slung on Clove's backpack. So as he tried to draw it out, while trying to run in his state of near exhaustion, the staff caught on the backpack just as it came free, and he stumbled forward. Instead of taking a swing at the swamp monster he barreled face first towards it, trying at the last moment to raise the staff into a position where it might hit the monster.

@Logan
Dice Roll for attack (at disadvantage): 14/20, 9/20 -3 for exhaustion = 6/20

 

[Severus Creed]

As the beast neared Sev, he grumbled about already having a long day before ducking away from the creature's attack. The crotch mouth still made contact, however, but hit Severus square in the ribs and knocked him back a few feet through the mud. His body was racked with pain that was almost familiar to him, but he didn't let the pain get to him. He would not freeze up and become a liability.

Then, sudden panic flourished it's way to Severus after he realized that Maura was gone. He scanned around for her relentlessly until he found her perched in a tree defending against another one of the crotch mouths. He sighed with relief before very slowly standing up to face his current attacker. He drew his sword and levied it away at his side in his starting position for Makashi.

"You grimy little bastards." He grumbled darkly as he stared down his freakish opponent. "How dare you think yourselves worthy of preying upon my friends." Sharp, almost unbearable, pain shot up his back again as he stood straight, but nothing would stop him from doing his duty as a Jedi- as a Protector and Defender. He wasn't able to make the first move, so he'd have to wait for the monster's attack so he could prepare a quick and decisive counter attack.

Hopefully.

(OOC: Rolled 8/20 to dodge the attack.)

 

[Elidan]

Thankfully, Elidan had avoided colliding against the caravan. However some of the other Padawans weren't so lucky. Issyl, Severus and Clove were hit by it, with the other half-Sephi being the one that suffered the most with it. She was lying on the road, completely still. The boy feared that she could be dead.

Seeing that the other Padawans were busy fighting the monsters, the half-Sephi decided to help Clove. After putting his sword back on his backpack, the auburn haired boy walked toward her, a part of him afraid that when he reached the girl he would find that she was already dead. When he reached the girl, Elidan kneeled by her side.

Then, being very careful, Elidan slowly turned Clove until he could see her face. What the boy saw made him become pale and his ears flattened. She looked terrible, there was blood in several places on her face. Looking better at her hands, he noticed that all of the girl’s fingers were broken. The half-Sephi became a bit relieved when he noticed that she was still breathing. However, she was probably feeling much pain. He needed to do something to help her.

The only thing that he could do was to use Force healing. Elidan knew that he was already tired and doing it would only make it worse, but he couldn’t let Clove full of pain on the floor. He carefully held the girl’s head and closed his eyes. The boy started to focus on alleviating her pain and closing some of her wounds. Even if he wasn’t doing it tired, the half-Sephi wasn’t strong enough to mend her broken bones.

While he healed her, Elidan was starting to get more and more tired. At some point, he didn’t even have the strength to hold her head anymore. The half-Sephi collapsed on the road, beside Clove. Before he fainted, the boy hoped that he at least had healed the girl enough to make her stop feeling pain.

Elidan's Datapad: 70%


@LilyNion @Logan

Dice Roll for Force healing: 5/20 -3 for exhaustion = 2/20

 

[Clove Vanhoop]

---

Clove wasn't sure if she was awake or not; she couldn't keep her eyes open or move her body, but her hand and face were aching more and more, as if gasoline had been poured over her fingers and set alight. It was minor at first, barely an inconvenience. But then it spread through her vines, hurting her more and more until she wished she could get someone to help her and stop it. There was, however, no sound or movement.

She simply lay there, unmovingly.

The half-Sephi didn't know how long it had taken for her mind to wander, possibly as a distraction. It took her back to one of the many classrooms on Yavin IV, where Master Ephiny Daivand was teaching the Jedi about the history of the Jedi. It was the same as it had always been: Elidan and Zana sat at the front, Zana raising her hand at every question and Elidan scribbling notes quickly. Nobody bothered waking up Thelian, who's sleeping in the back of the class with a frosty aura. Felis had a giggle before answering the question correctly. Varyn and Jacata were sitting next to each other, passing notes, while Ruz tried to take it seriously but somehow got in trouble. And a girl with rainbow hair peering through a window, staring into a class that was far too advanced for her age.

And in the midst of it all was Clove, happily observing the class of Padawans in silence and enjoying the company of each and every one of them. Even those she didn't pay attention to in class were lovely.

She wished she could go back to those times, of doing nothing but classes and feeling carefree.

A wave of warmth washed over her body before she could linger on it. She vaguely recognized the aura; it was familiar, but she couldn't place it. Whatever the person did, it began to relieve the pain in her body. Her breathing became more comfortable, and her hand no longer felt like it was on fire. Even the soreness that had spread throughout the body as a result of the impact became more tolerable.

The half-Sephi wished she could thank them, but she didn't have the strength in her body to move even the tiniest muscle, so she just continued to lay there.

Tag @Sreeya @Connor Tavarin @Clayton @LouJoVi @Altaris @Charles @Wit @Altaria ​

 

[Issyl Damol]

Issyl's head ached as she continued to lay in the muddy water. Her ears rung, but she tried to make out what was happening. She lifted her head up and wiped her eyes, opening them to try and see what was going on. A battle was occurring but she couldn't make much sense of what was happening.

She slowly got up to her feet, holding the side of her head with her left hand. She stood and watched the events unfold but her body was frozen. Both the pain from before and the fear of the strange crotch-mouth monsters overwhelmed her. That is, until she saw two people (@LilyNion @LouJoVi ) laying down as well. She recognized the two, one being the crying boy and the other the elf-eared girl that agreed with Issyl about not splitting up. Issyl was invigorated to help them and she rushed to their side.

Kneeling by the girl, Issyl was surprised to see her awake. She waved her hand in front of the girl to try and see if she actually was awake "Please don't tell me you're dead.." Issyl looked over to where the fighting occurred; no monsters were attacking the three yet, but they were still too close for comfort. She then spotted the wagon, where the Twi'lek girl was at. "Ok I should bring you two farther away from whatever those monsters are." Issyl stood behind and hooked her arms with Cloves, and dragged her toward the Wagon. Upon reaching it Issyl looked at the Twi'lek (@Sreeya )"I know you're busy but please watch over her." Issyl quickly ran back to Elidan, and began to drag him back to the Wagon as well.

@Logan @lizziie @Charles @Altaris @Connor Tavarin @Clayton

 

[Zana Ari]

Zana was completely stressed out and frantically looking around for ways to fix the wheel. She spotted some strong vines and quickly began to wrap that around the cracked areas to fortify them. The twi’lek was used to working under pressure, but this was a whole new level. She tried hard to ignore the sounds of the monsters, feeling the weight of everyone’s lives on her hands. Getting this wagon going was their quickest ticket out of here and the more time they spent, the higher the chances of them dying. Her thoughts were mainly with the little girl that came with them, a sick feeling rising at the pit of her stomach. Zana wanted nothing more than to take the girl to safety, but she knew only she had the skills to fix the wagon.

She looked up briefly when one of the padawans dragged Clove over towards the wagon. However, she looked past her and spotted Elidan on the ground. Zana’s eyes went wide, “ELI?!” She bolted up and almost ran towards him before realizing she couldn’t afford to abandon the wheel. Mortified, she went right back to quickly fixing it, making great progress to finally get them up and moving.

When the other padawan spoke to her, Zana looked up at her, “I CAN’T WATCH OVER ANYONE RIGHT NOW!” She shouted at the girl, clearly tense and stressed. Couldn’t she see Zana was working on the one thing to get their wounded to safety?! With multiple people around, Zana was not the person to be asking to watch over anyone. Especially when Zana herself was vulnerable to attacks since she wasn’t watching her back.

Roll: 7/20 fix wheel. Mid range.

@Altaria @Logan

 

[Thelian Lsai]

It was almost comical how quickly things had gone from bad to worse. First, the wagon had appeared out of the jungle brush appeared and mowed down a good chunk of their party, it was followed by the sudden arrival of those horrific swamp monsters – the Echani thoroughly unsettled by the creature’s crotch-mouths. While internally shitting bricks, Thelian managed to largely keep it all together on the surface – silver eyes narrowed harshly upon the approaching creatures.

Without a proper weapon to engage the monsters, Thelian resorted to throwing whatever he had without a second thought, perhaps a bit overconfident in his ability to bean the creature with that rock. The Echani could do nothing but stare with horror as that sticky.. Appendage, emerged from the crotch-mouth to snatch the rock out of the air.

The Echani hunched over a bit and prepared to dodge, but his attention was abruptly drawn away by the sound of Felis’ voice. He blinked a few times, glancing up towards the trees where the Zygerrian was positioned. “Thellykins?” Thelian blurted out quietly.

This was, of course, at the precise moment that rock was flung back – smacking him square in the forehead.

The slime-covered rock smacked Thelian right between the eyes, eliciting a pained grunt from the Echani and knocking him off balance – his body falling backwards and splashing loudly in the mud. He groaned, a hand immediately rising up to rub the rapidly-swelling bump on his forehead.

Rather than staying on the ground like some people, Thelian quickly forced himself back to his feet – bitterly refusing to become an easy meal for the creatures. As he rose back to his feet, Thelian couldn’t help but stare at the sorry state of their group, growling under his breath as silver eyes flicked between his peers.

Clove was out cold, but that wasn’t really a surprise at this point. Nor was it much of a detriment, to be honest - the girl had all the combat abilities of a Porg. Elidan, though? The Echani couldn’t help but narrow his eyes with irritation when they fixated onto the other sleeping half-Sephi, who had clearly decided to take a beauty nap at quite possibly the worst moment. And what’s worse, Issyl was going out of her way to drag his worthless ass into the carriage.

Exhaling sharply through his nostrils, Thelian flicked his gaze towards the carriage – catching sight of Zana actually being useful by fixing the wheel – before focusing his attention onto the monsters. With no other rocks to throw or weapons on his person, Thelian defaulted upon the thing that had made him famous amongst the Padawans.

Without another word, Thelian pushed off his back foot and sprinted towards the swamp monster – rapidly closing the distance between them. As he moved, the Echani called upon the Force all around him, allowing it to course through his body and flow into his limbs – enhancing his strength beyond natural means.

As soon as he was within reach, Thelian drew his fist back and swung at the swamp creature – attempting to hit the damn thing right in one of its many eyes.

@Logan
Rolled 10/20 for attack.

 

[The Storyteller]

Spoiler: Required Rolls

¹. Roll a d20 to dodge. +1 for being so smol. Success on 12 or higher.
². Toki gains advantage on his next attack. (Roll 2d20 and use the higher roll)
³. Since Kalam is tumbling around, he will have to roll to ditch the backpack (if he chooses to). Success on 10 or higher.

The swamp monsters had never encountered something like the force before and because of that, the beast attacking Severus was pushed back abruptly by the attack from the smallest and bravest of the padawans - @Maura Starwalk.

Maura’s follow up attack would also find purchase. Though, due to her diminutive stature and obvious lack of physical strength, her blade would find itself lodged into the monster’s leg instead of slicing cleanly through it. The monster roared in pain regardless, flailing one of its massive hands towards the tiny Jedi in an attempt to bat her away like a gnat¹.

@Varyn Atrix's force attack would also work with great success. The wave of energy sent the swamp monster flying through the air like an ugly crotch-mouthed huttball before it would land with a sickening sound, like hitting a aquamelon with a hammer, its head impaled by a rather sharp and convenient tree branch that jutted up out of the swamp.

The swamp monster attacking @Toki Ketra, invigorated by the smell of blood on its hands, would give chase to the Lepi as Toki attempted to back away towards the caravan. Looming over him, it would just begin to raise its arm again to attack when its attention was abruptly drawn to a loud, annoying noise calling at it - @Kalam Mekhar.

Not known as beings who were good at focusing on their goals, the swamp monster turned its head towards Kalam and began to walk towards him, its mouth salivating at the thought of eating him along with the rabbit. Of course, this would leave Toki with the perfect opportunity to take advantage².

When Kalam’s attempt at drawing his weapon went.. mildly awry, he barreled headlong toward the swamp monster. Thrusting its crotch mouth forward, the monster would shoot out its fleshy tongue-like appendage towards Kalam. It would hit the boy’s backpack and stick to it like spacevelcro. The tongue would then start drawing Kalam towards the monster, its intent to swallow him up in the gaping, caustic spittle dripping and almost excessively moist crotch mouth³.

@Felis Tivor's loosed arrow would once again fly through the air and embed itself in a swamp monster. The beast attacking Thelian would enrage as the pain of having an arrow lodged in its chest coursed through its disgusting body.

Felis’ provided distraction would allow @Thelian Lsai's force imbued fisting to hit especially hard. The pale Jedi’s fist would sink into one of the eyes on the monster’s torso, causing it to recoil with the sound of a kicked puppy. Whimpering it would turn to run from Thelian, the arrow in its chest flopping up and down with each stride.

Unfortunately for Thelian, his hand was now covered in dark green, viscous eye-goo. Only a few seconds after pulling his mighty fist from the monster, he would feel the goo starting to burn his skin, sizzling like dumping peroxide directly into a bloody, open wound. For some reason, his burning flesh sort of smelled like citrus. Weird.

Either way, Thelian would need to find a way to get the goo off his hand quickly before he’d be left with nothing but a lemon-scented stump.

@Zana Ari's quick thinking and particularly innovative idea of how to fix the wagon wheel came to fruition just in time. As she finished tightening the vines around the cracked parts, she would find that when given a swift and hard kick, her repairs held quite well.

All the padawans needed to do now was gather their dead – well, not dead. All the padawans needed to do now was gather their useless and get everyone back to the caravan.

With only two swamp monsters left, it seemed the group may just survive their first encounter on Belkadan.. barely. Someone really needed to have a talk with the pointy-eared padawans about when it was appropriate to take a nap in the swamp.

@Altaria @Altaris @Connor Tavarin @Clayton @Charles @LilyNion @lizziie @LouJoVi @Phoenix @Wit @Sreeya

 

[Zana Ari]

Zana kept fiddling with the wheel, wiping off sweat and looking up every now and then. She heard the chaos all around her and thought she heard people hitting the ground. The twi’lek had to focus, recalling Master Oola’s lessons on clearing the mind and focusing. She chanted some of his verses as she rapidly worked, using any makeshift twigs, sticks and vines she could procure to finagle something together.

After a moment, she called the Force to herself and gritted her teeth while applying strength, bringing the spokes closer into the boxing till they clicked into place. Zana’s eyes widened as she blinked as everything stayed together. She jumped to her feet and kicked the spokes a few times, and they held. Her jaw dropped and she began to jump and down.

“YESS! YES YES YES YES!” Zana began to flail her arms and extended her arms out to do a dab before remembering they were in the middle of a crisis.

“WAGONS’ FIXED! LET’S GO GO GO GO! EVERYONE PILE ON!” Zana shouted at the top of her lungs, running over to one of the bantha creatures that were terrified. She focused on the Force, staring into the eyes of the stupid beast to mentally touch its mind to calm it.

“You want to start moving your ass,” She said to the beasts a few times until the things started taking steps forward. Zana bolted around one of the beasts, pausing to give it an enormous slap on the rear to get it to pick up the pace. The twi’lek grabbed a hold of the front of the wagon, hoisting herself up as it began to move. The wagon was slowly on the move and everyone else would need to quickly pile on.

@Logan @Phoenix @Altaris @LilyNion @Connor Tavarin @Charles @lizziie @Wit @Altaria @Clayton @LouJoVi

 

[Severus Creed]

Severus awaited for the beast to attack him, when a blow from the 10-year-old got to the beast first! A sigh of relief escaped him as he dropped his posture to relax- but the victory was a short one and the monster reeled on Maura, violently swinging one of it's grubby clawed hands at the rainbow haired girl.

Severus went purely off of instinct as he closed his eyes and focused on the Nature around him- every leaf attached to every branch attached to every trunk attached to every root. The roots from the tree Maura was once on sprung to life and as Sev raised his hand, large spindly roots erupted from the ground beneath the monster's attacking arm, wrapping around it and constricting the movement of it's attack.

Crushing his hands together in fists as intently as he could, Severus grit his teeth as he tried holding onto the powerful beast. "MAURA!!" He cried to the valiant Padawan who had saved his life. "GET TO THE WAGON! RUN FOR IT!!" Severus was so very happy that his training had finally come into play- but it was straining the hell out of his stamina to hold onto the beast, so Maura needed to be quick, regardless of what her next decision would be. Preferably the wagon!

@lizziie