Kayle Skolaris
Lord Protector
Registered: Feb 2000
Posts: 1289
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STATS: Beast from the Gray Marshes
The hunter sweated nervously in the steaming dampness of the Dagobah night. Fingering the trigger of his heavy hunting blaster, he rested against one of the immense sykress trees that filled the never-ending swamps of Dagobah. In the distance some unseen creature screamed in agony as it died at the claws, teeth, tentacles, or venom of an equally unseen predator. Farras uttered a silent prayer that he would not join the unfortunate beast in the gullet of some alien horror tonight. Across from him the big Gamorrean, Torguk, crouched in tense wariness.
The hunting party had began two weeks previously with ten members. At first everything had gone as planned. A number of good kills had been made those first few days. Then Lise disappeared. The willowy Wroonian had gone off to scout a series of rocky caverns jutting out of the water-logged landscape of Dagobah. All that was found of her the next day was a bloody piece of her Corellian Huntsuit's breastplate and a broken vibroblade. Whatever had occurred, the sly huntress had not gone without a fight. After that no one went anywhere alone. Dagobah was a dangerous world and the hunters accepted the risks of hunting dangerous game, but no one had expected one of their number to fall in such a manner. It was almost blasphemous to them that a hunter become the hunted. The transport they'd hired to take them to Dagobah wasn't due back for a week and a half, so there was little point in panicking. The hunters simply resolved to be more alert and carried on.
Ressic the Gotal and Travis Charton disappeared next. Ressic had been a SpecForce Wilderness Fighter with the Rebel Alliance during the Civil War and was known by all to be nearly impossible to surprise. Travis had fought on the other side during the Civil War. He was a retired Storm Commando and one of the toughest humans Farras had ever met. Nothing was ever found of either of them.
Two days later the beast attacked Chrassacca the Wookiee and Durbal the Barabel. Old friends from before the Civil War, the two had been known to drink an entire platoon under the table and then take on the rest of the brigade in a barroom brawl afterwards. They gave a good accounting of themselves before they died. This time there was plenty of racket and the rest of the hunting party raced to their side hoping to take down whatever it was that had killed three of their number already. By the time they arrived it was too late. Chrassacca had been literally torn in half and his upper body used as a bludgeon against Durbal. The scaly Barabel was barely alive when they found him, his chest smashed and his spine shattered. He lived long enough to tell them that whatever it was that hunted them was humanoid. Humanoid and very, very, tough. He said he'd shot it twice with the big railgun he carried and still it came at him. Blood in the area not matching Wookiee or Barabel biology confirmed his story. Even with lungs punctured in two dozen places and a broken back, it was the next day before Durbal finally died.
It was at this point that hunting forays ceased altogether. The main goal now was to survive until the transport came for them. It did them no good. The beast came for them one by one. Even now, a week after Durbal's death Farras had not gotten a clear view of the thing. The transport would arrive in three days, but it was only Farras and Torguk left. A hundred hunting expeditions had come to Dagobah since the end of the Civil War. Luke Skywalker's tales of finding the last Jedi Master alive and well here had made the world semi-famous. A hundred hunting expeditions had come here and not once had anything like this occurred. Farras could only speculate what was going on. Maybe Yoda had kept some Dark Side monstrosity in check here while was alive. Maybe one of the other expeditions had secretly or accidentally released something not native to Dagobah. Maybe, Farras thought bitterly, the Force simply was not with him.
A startled squeal from Torguk jarred Farras from his reverie. His eyes darted over to the Gamorrean and his jaw dropped. Torguk seemed to be hovering a meter off the ground, his legs pumping as though he were in a marathon, his thick arms grasping at his throat. The sickening crunch of bone made Farras' stomach lurch. Torguk's arms went slack, his neck broken, and revealed massive fingers wrapped around what passed for the Gamorrean's neck. With a flick of an immense wrist Torguk's lifeless corpse was tossed a dozen meters away, the sound of splintered bone echoing as the Gamorrean's skull shattered against a sykress tree.
Slowly the apparition revealed itself. Somehow, despite the scanners Farras and Torguk has set up, the thing had crept up behind the tree Torguk had crouched beside. It had walked right through their defenses just as it was walking out from behind the huge sykress tree. The thing was smaller than Farras had expected, no more than 3 meters tall. It stood before him, confident in its ability to handle this last item on its menu. The beast was heavily scaled with thick armor plates covering its body. Huge claws glimmered in the light of Dagobah's moon. The evil glint of intelligence shone in the things eyes. 'It knew!', Farras' mind screamed. The thing knew it was hunting sentient prey! It was aware and intelligent! The beast crept closer, its mouth opening to reveal wicked fangs. The creature's lower jaw dislocated itself and gaped open obscenely, the maw stretching to over a meter's width. Farras knew he was going to die, but it would not be without a fight. He brought his heavy Exotac Predator hunting rifle around and fired. The roar of the big blaster filled the night air as a blaster bolt impacted right between the beast's eyes...
And bounced off! Farras had seen his rifle punch half-meter hole in a bantha's skull before and the beast before him had ignored the shot! Firing frantically, Farras screamed helplessly as the creature launched itself at him. Dodging its first attack, Farras grabbed at a sack that had fallen from Torguk's body. He scrambled over a tangle of tree roots and ran blindly into the night, the beast hot on his heels. Farras lept over a knotted mass of vines and fell headlong down an embankment. Stunned for a moment, stars invaded Farras' vision. Farras shook his head furiously to clear his eyes and felt for the sack. Finding it, he breathed a silent prayer of thanks which was quickly cut off by the hunting call of the beast... behind him!
Twisting around he gazed up the other side of the embankment to where the creature stood over him like some demonic warrior. The beast lept down into the embankment with Farras and slowly turned to him, its jaws widening in that sickening manner. Reaching into the sack, Farras pushed a button, twisted a plunger, and hurled the sack, contents and all, into the thing's mouth and ran. A second later the thundering explosion of Torguk's collection of antique grenades filled Farras' ears as his world flashed white then abruptly dimmed to black.
Three days later the transport picked up the hunter who still gibbered mindlessly of scaled horrors and Wookiees torn in half. It would be a year and a half before Farras saw the outside of a mental institution again.
Mandalorian Scalebeast
Dexterity: 5D
Brawling Parry 7D, Dodge 8D
Perception: 4D
Search: Tracking 8D, Sneak 9D
Strength: 9D
Climbing/Jumping 10D, Stamina 12D, Swimming 10D
Special Abilities:
Adaptive Armor: Heavily plated hide is capable of complex color variations and is naturally resistant to sensor scans. Add +3D to all Sneak attempts as well as +3D versus Physical and Energy attacks.
Amphibious: The scalebeast is truly amphibious, being equally at home on land, underwater, swinging from trees, gliding on thermals, and even has limited vacuum-dwelling capabilities.
Claws: Strength+1D damage
Teeth: Strength+3D damage
Special Vulnerability:
Allergic Reaction: Scalebeasts are violently allergic to Mandalorian Iron. This high-density alloy used in Mandalorian armor and hull plating is deadly to scalebeasts and is one of the few things they cannot digest. Scalebeasts instinctively know to avoid eating Mandalorian Iron, but if somehow tricked into doing so, the scalebeast will go into a cataleptic coma and die within three hours of ingesting the iron. Even clawing the iron is dangerous to the creatures, inflicting as much damage on the scalebeast as is inflicted on the iron. Such damage does not recieve the benefits of the scalebeast's armored hide.
Move: 18/27 Swimming or Gliding
Size: 2.5-3 meters tall
Capsule: The Mandalorian Scalebeast is a genetically engineered horror thought extinct in most corners of the galaxy. The Scalebeast begins life as a near-microscopic egg, easily hidden aboard transport ships and the like. Upon hatching, the creatures begin to eat, and they eat nearly anything. From organics to synthetics to radioactive waste, the creatures can survive on almost anything they can chew and swallow. An adult Scalebeast stands between 2.5 and 3 meters tall, with huge teeth and claws, a gliding membrane stretching between arm and foot, and jaws capable of dislocating in order to accomodate chunks of food too tough to chew. Scalebeasts instinctively seek out sentient prey. The Mandalorians would seed enemy worlds with these creatures to act as organic terror weapons. Scalebeasts are fully hermaphroditic and are capable of reproducing on their own. They need to simply ingest enough food to support the creation of a clutch of eggs. A clutch of Scalebeast eggs will have between 2,000 and 2,500 eggs. Due to their instinctive drive to eat, cannibalism is extremely common among scalebeasts. Scalebeasts can survive virtually anywhere, be it a thousand meters down underwater, on the thermals of a gas giant, or in the cold vacuum of space. Scalebeasts can survive hard vacuum conditions for up to a week per die of Stamina. At the end of this time, the Scalebeast must begin rolling against Stamina to continue surviving at a rate of one roll per extra week. The first roll begins with a target difficulty of 5 with each additional roll adding +5 to the target difficulty.
Farras Tully
Type: Big Game Hunter
Species: Human
Dexterity 4D
Blasters 9D, Dodge 8D, Grenade 6D, Running 7D+1, Thrown Weapons 6D+2
Knowledge 3D
Alien Species 5D, Alien Species: Game Animals 7D+2, Bureacracy: Hunting Licenses 6D, Law Enforcement: Hunting Laws 5D+1, Survival 11D
Mechanical 2D
Beast Riding 5D, Ground Vehicle Operation 3D+2, Repulsorlift Operation 4D, Swoop Operation 4D
Perception 3D
Bargain 4D, Hide 6D, Search: Tracking 10D, Sneak 7D+2
Strength 3D
Swimming: 5D
Technical 2D
Blaster Repair 5D, First Aid 6D+2, Repulsorlift Repair 3D+1
Character Points: 25
Force Points: 3
Move: 10
Equipment: Exotac Predator Blaster Rifle (7D, +2D Fire Control), Sporting Blaster Pistol (3D+1), Vibroblade (Str+3D), Syntherope, Water Purification Kit, Macrobinoculars, Medpac, Sirvival Kit, Outdoor Clothing
Capsule: Farras Tully is an ex-Bounty Hunter who decided hunting people wasn't all its cracked up to be. Born on an Outer Rim world, bounty hunting seemed to be a way out of a life of poverty and obscurity. Farras quickly found out that "bounty hunter" means little more than "hired killer" on the Outer Rim. He stayed in the game for nearly six years before the his conscience forced him to give up the life. By then he'd made a small fortune and he was still a good hunter, so it was only natural that he get into game hunting. Chances are he'll give up that profession as well after this particular hunt.
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Suspenders of Disbelief: For When the Harsh Weight of Reality Threatens to Drag the Trousers of Our Imagination Down to the Unforgiving Floor of Mundanity!
Last edited by Kayle Skolaris on 17 August 2001 at 03:34 AM
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