Ruby’s Perch [Arcona Journeymen]

You’ve been with the Shadow Clan for a short while now, having passed courses at the Academy and been assigned to Arcona, a place filled with new faces and opportunity. The strange, hairy little man that had been your first point of contact, the Rollmaster Kordath Bleu, collected you earlier in the day for something. He wasn’t very clear about it, simply telling you to ‘come along now’ and expecting you to follow.

He took you through the strange internal structure that is Port Ol’val, the shadowport on the edge of Arconan space. Within you’ve found yourself being ushered into a surprisingly clean looking tavern with a sign declaring it the ‘Ruby’s Perch’, a vaguely recognizable Kaleesh working behind the bar. Your escort, the Ryn, gives the barkeep a knowing nod and a wink which is received with a roll of the eyes behind the hulking man’s Huk mask. Kordath chuckles about something and points you towards a round table set not far from the bar itself.

Around the table you see several other figures, an eclectic group, some of which you saw around the Academy as well.

“Aye, new blood, just like you,” speaks Bleu, grinning and toasting a drink in their direction. When had he even had time to get that? Various glasses and bottles cover the table, as well as foods. “Tonight is on the house, as it were. Won a few too many card games in here, did nae want ta take tha place from me mate over there, but he did offer ta let you lot have an evening to entertain yourselves!”

He shoves you towards the table with another grin. “Go! Meet your fellows! Ya can trust them more than you’ll ever be able to trust we old farts!”

Our starting players:

Tali
Juliane
Zul
Shawnathan
Kelviin
Amilan
Lilutha
Koliss
Maxine

Koliss stumbled from the shove, he slowly turned back with a flabbergasted look as if to say something to the rather personable Ryn. His tongue seemed to catch and he simply grunted before he looked back to the table covered in refreshments and surrounded by a group of beings that he could happily call a rabble.

“Well, ‘on the house’ is certainly my favorite price tag.” Koliss took the closest seat, sitting back roughly and kicking up his feet on another nearby chair. He quickly snatched the closest bottle, and recoiled slightly from the immediate smell emanating from its forcibly open bottleneck. He shrugged, and threw the bottle back to drink and let whatever poison inside run down his throat.

“Aahhh… SO, my fellow respondent pupils, what rousing activity shall we go through first?” He punctuated his speech with animated gesturing with his chosen bottle. “A deep-delving of personal secrets, hair-raising tales of adventures gone by, a delightful party favorite of Never have I?” He stopped to give his new bottle friend a pensive look, “Or perhaps we should just fall back on finding out which of us can’t hold their liquor?!” Koliss chuckled a bit while he looked around at the assembled group, a smarmy smirk played across his tired looking face.

Kelviin missed the explanation of what was happening. He was too busy wondering what was happening. Despite living here for some time already, he had much to learn about the galaxy outside of Kashyyyk.

This Koliss fellow seemed to know what the “deal” was; perhaps Kelviin could imitate and continue his actions. Picking up a bottle as well, Kelviin leaned against the bar and casually drawled “WRRRGHHGHGH.” He then clarified his meaning with the text-to-speech function of his datapad.

~“KELVIIN CAN HOLD LIQUOR”~ He held up the bottle to demonstrate that he was, in fact, holding his liquor.

A quick glance around revealed a mixture of confusion and expectant smiles. Was there a second part to this ritual? This was probably an introduction through music. Kelviin knew how humans were with their music. The grayscaled Wookiee discarded the unnecessary liquid inside the bottle and began to blow across the opening to create sound, introducing himself through the song of his people.

Inching her way to the side ever so slightly as the boisterous human crashed next to her, Tali was about to suggest they’d enjoy the food, but realized it probably wasn’t the most sociable thing to say. Even if it had been the most truthful thing for her to say. Before she could come up with an alternative comment, a whining growl came from the walking carpet over at the bar as it tried its best to fit in. At over two meters tall and weighing as much as some speeder bikes, fitting in was not exactly a thing she would count among the Wookie’s fortes.

“Umh…” She began, finally mustering enough courage to break the deadly silence that had fallen into the bar as everyone was staring at the Wookie after he’d ended his little song and dance routine. “Perhaps ve could introduse ourselves? I am Tali Zorah. Retiredt, eh, dancer…” She stated, realizing towards the end precisely how bad a first impression she’d made. Couldn’t she have come up with a better lie, for once? Instinctively reaching for a glass of whatever happened to be at hand, the purple hued Twi’lek swiftly grabbed the slender shot glass and down the liquid in one go, the burning sensation down her throat soon followed by a familiar buzz. It was going to be a long night…

As Koliss observed the rather large Wookiee finish up his tune, with a look of mild surprise, he could not help but wonder if he had made a mistake in coming here. The last time he had meet a Wookiee, he had to suppress a shudder. On the other hand, free was free and that meant good in his book. He had just turned around in his seat when he barely heard someone speaking up, and turned to see the Twi’lek woman. She did not seem all too imposing, outside of the pleasantness of her features that he had seen before in Twi’leks, he wondered what her place in this venture was, although being a retired dancer did not strike him as a profession that could easily lead to cloak and dagger business like they had found themselves in.

‘You know better than that.’ he admonished himself, ‘Best keep yourself low-key’

Koliss pulled what he hoped was a rather striking grin across his face, “Tali Zorah, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Doctor Koliss R. Welcott, medical practitioner extraordinaire, at your medical service.”

Koliss turned in his seat " I say there! My… musically inclined Wookiee friend, please join us, so that we may not have to shout to express our camaraderie." He turned back to Tali Zorah, raising his bottle once more. “Let us make some proper toasts here, to our future partnerships and collective well being!” He sighed within his own mind, he really hoped he hadn’t made a mistake in coming here.

Tali took a quick glance around the table, noting the presence of the grim-faced human, an Echani woman and the red-skinned girl whom she might have mistaken for a human were it not for her piercing violet eyes. It seemed none of them were particularly jovial at the moment and casting a glance at the Ryn who had by now went on his own business by the bar, she figured getting hammered might not actually be such a bad idea.

If these folks were to become her ‘team’ or at least assist her in whatever foolhardy and suicidal missions awaited them, they might as well break the ice well and properly. Picking up her empty glass and filling it from a pitcher of sweet scented cocktail, Tali smiled at Koliss and glanced around to encourage the others to do the same.

“Here-here! To future partnerships and well-being!” She cheered, though a faint crack in her voice betrayed just how forced this jubilant exclamation truly was. Hearing some murmurs to the same end around her, Tali raised the glass to her lips and downed most of it in one go. She had a feeling this was going to be a looong night…

Juliane sat at the far end of the table, a rather lopsided grin etching itself prominently onto her pale features as she stared down into the drink before her. She hardly took notice of the growing collection of, rather eccentric, individuals that had come to be seated with her. Their attempts at socialization a mere background noise as the young woman focused on much more important matters.

The Acolyte had been rather disgruntled and more than a little embarrassed earlier that day. The small rat-like creature that called itself Kordath had interrupted her from quite a pleasant afternoon nap. Concerned she might have found herself in a spot of trouble for snoring when she was expected to be training and studying, and silently cursing herself for being dumb enough to get caught in the first place, the agitated Journeyman obediently - albeit reluctantly - followed the creature at its request.

She had found herself more than a bit curious as to what new madness had been cooked up for her, when she was led not to any training halls, lecture rooms, command centers or offices, but instead to what was admittedly a rather nice looking tavern.

To her very pleasant surprise, she had found that the odd little rodent had no training, lectures or missions in mind, and at the words “free drinks” the young Echani had giddily retreated into her mind, thoughts buzzing with all manner of untold possibilities. The noise and chatter of those who had come to surround her were a distant echo as the eager Marauder mulled over the most efficient method of getting the maximum quantity, of the highest quality liquor inside her, within the span of the single night she had been given.

Being pulled out of her indulgent reverie by the increasing commotion around her, she glanced over the rabble that had coalesced about the table. Juliane grinned to herself as she recalled the Ryn having mentioned something about other new recruits. A chance to get to know her new peers over some inhibition dousing beverages.

Well, this ought to be fun.

Chuckling, she raised her own glass in imitation of those around her, a manic glimmer forming in her eyes.

“To a long and fortuitous partnership between us all! I’m sure we’ll all become fast friends.”

She quickly downed her beverage, relishing the burn as it trailed fire down her throat and warmed her from the inside out.

“Now let’s see how much we can drink before it’s no longer free, eh?”

Kelviin opened his eyes, realizing he has much to learn about humans. Hopefully today would be quieter, so he could sit down with one of the friendlier creatures and hear some explanations for their behavior last night.

The young wookiee sat up in bed, straightened his silvery fur, and tied his poorly-fitting cape to the best of his ability. He reached for his datapad and cargo belt, when he realized his datapad was missing.
“GWRWRHGG?” he called out, hoping he had installed something that recognizes his voice and language. But that might not be how it works.
“WRRRRGHGHGH” he cried despondently, realizing that was his only means of communicating with his new friends. How could he learn any explanations for last night if nobody can understand him?

Kelviin tried to remember which of his friends mentioned they could understand Shyriiwook, when a cute, high-pitched growl shook the room. His eyes lit up, remembering the new pet he found last night!

The first noise to assualt his now over-sensitive senses was that constant and damnable buzzing. Koliss could only guess as to why he heard the buzzing so clearly, but the fact that it combined with a harsh lighting that bothered him even with his eyes closed was not lost on his battered and fatigued mind.

Koliss sat up slowly, groaning under his breath, and trying to take stock of where he was. It looked like one of the lavatories on the station, although thankfully the small metallic room seemed deserted. He could not remember stumbling in here, he could not remember lying face down in one the sinks, but he could certainly remember where it had all started. The problem was that was all he did remember, the start of the heavy drinking and then blank; there was a flash or two of thought, but nothing concrete. Something about melons and his attempt to weaponize one?

He slowly rolled off the counter and stood with a slight wobble before eventually just letting himself lean against the counter. He held his head to block out as much sensory input as he could, wishing away all of the nasty sounds and twitches and sights that made his apparent hangover worse.

“What…did…we-” koliss stopped himself, slowly raising his foot to try and figure out what large clump of grayish hair was doing stuck to the bottom of his boot. His brain went back to the melon, and someone roaring at him? Nothing made sense. That was when he heard another echoing sound.

“-GWRWRHGG…WRRRRGHGHGH”

Koliss felt his pupils dilate, and his still rather addled mind thought of only thing in that moment.

“Cold blasted damnation, it’s happening again!”

A an old hated memory of a wookiee and a hacksaw ran through his immediate thoughts as he stumbled his way towards where he thought the exit was. He had to figure out what was happening and quick.

Darkness. A throbbing headache that slowly spread up her lekku. More darkness. Her back was aching and her arms, also her thighs, and her feet. Groggily, Tali opened her eyes and groaned, trying to shift her position into something less uncomfortable. She failed and the darkness did not recede.

“H-hello?!” She croaked, mouth dry and throat hoarse, a foul taste in it making her feel sick as it added to her misery. Why oh why had she taken that last, nay first shot of Kashyykian moonshine? What had she been trying to prove? That she had no brain? Well, if that had been her goal, the night had not been a total loss.

Rolling onto her stomach, she let out a soft mewl somewhere between a groan and a sob before managing to press her body off the hard stone. Stone? Even in the pitch-black darkness she could feel the cold and slightly damp edges of hard stone and fine powdered rock beneath her, though the cool ambient air had mostly numbed her sense of touch.

Where in karking heck was she?!

With an extreme force of will, she forced herself up to a squat and then stood up, trying to look around but seeing absolutely nothing. “Hello!? Anybody there?” She shouted again, with a slightly clearer voice this time, but to no apparent avail.

Finally remembering the source of light she had on her belt, she unhooked the lightsaber and held it in the Academy-approved stance and froze. Feeling the weapon about in her hands, she turned it around once, then again and one more time before realizing she really wasn’t sure which end was the dangerous one and decided to hold it sideways as she pressed the ignition.

For a fleeting moment, she congratulated herself for her flash of insight, having saved herself from a very embarrassing end as the blade tip emerged from exactly the opposite end of the training hilt than she’d expected before striking the stone wall next to her and flashing off a shower of sparks.

The bright light, flash of sparks and the sound of hissing rock as her weapon bit into the sheer rock face were enough to startle the already unsettled Twi’lek and she jumped up in alarm, hitting her head on the low ceiling and dropping the lightsaber as she collapsed down into a softly sobbing mess, rubbing her injured lekku and weeping softly. By the time she recovered, the weapon was nowhere to be found within arm’s reach and after what seemed like an hour’s futile searching, she simply halted, sat down on a rocky outcrop, buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

This was not one of her best mornings, though shockingly, not one of her worst either…