Survival, Rates of...

We begin the night already in combat.

Bar Bar and a dark trooper are inside a slug. Boppa, Zak, and Beaker are on the swoop bike with sidecar at the tunnel intersection. Grarwarr is on the other swoop nearby. Jorrus and Mater Dee are fighting a second slug. The Force illusion created by Boppa is keeping the third slug in a state of confusion a short distance away.

Even though Joruss is disturbed by Mater Dee and his two Dark lightsabers entering melee combat, they continue to harass the slug before them. Beaker swings his swoop bike around and heads up to the slug containing Bar Bar, getting a single ineffective shot against the slug's thick hide on the way. Zak takes several shots too, as Boppa maintains her illusion.

Bar Bar is in trouble inside the slug. The trooper puts his helmet back on, so Bar Bar takes it off again. Or at least he tries, but the trooper resists The Force and keeps his helmet on instead.

Joruss and Mater Dee are still fighting the second slug. Grarwarr takes a few shots at the slug too. Beaker brakes hard on the swoop bike and with a heroic surge, dives into the slug's mouth, taking a shot at the inside on the way toward its gullet, woohoo! Boppa's illusion continues as she moves into the driver's seat of the swoop, and Zak takes another set of shots at the slug's head.

The first slug tries to chew a mouthful of Beaker, but can't get a decent bite in. With incredible dexterity for a slug, Joruss is swallowed by the second one! The trooper near Bar Bar has had enough and blasts Bar Bar, wounding him. Bar Bar is able to remain conscious, but barely. So Bar Bar responds with his last thermal detonator, which hits the trooper hard.

As Joruss slides into the throat of the second slug, he makes short work of it with his lightsaber from the inside. It stops moving with Joruss' legs sticking out of its craw. Beaker pops partly into the stomach of the first slug and pops off a couple shots into the dark trooper. Zak and Boppa argue like an old married couple about who should make an exit hole in their slug. Zak fires his blaster anyway, and Boppa maintains her illusion. Grarwarr uses his bowcaster to strike the slug with Bar Bar and Beaker inside.

The first slug strikes at Zak and Boppa but misses. The trooper inside does not miss Beaker. In fact he gets in a crit. Beaker is barely able to shake off the blast. Bar Bar, being out of his customary thermal detonators, swings at the trooper with his atlatl but misses.

Mater Dee helps pull Joruss out of the slug. Joruss turns and uses The Force to fly over to the third slug. Grarwarr fires a few rounds into that slug as well. Beaker caps the dark trooper, and Zak and Boppa continue to argue as they finish off the first slug. At this point their union is common law. Mater Dee joins Joruss on slug three. Bar Bar loots the body of the dark trooper. He gets the helmet back!

As Boppa and Zak help Beaker and Bar Bar out of the first slug, Joruss is again swallowed by an unusually lucky slug (it may be necessary to secretly curse the DM's dice soon). Grarwarr is attacked from behind! Another dark trooper has emerged from the remains of the second slug.

As Joruss slides into the stomach of the third slug, a dark trooper awaits, and takes several stunning punches at Joruss. Joruss is unimpressed and shrugs off the attempt. Grarwarr is angry! He rages toward the second trooper, calls upon The Force and hacks into him with his vibroblade. The third slug swallows Mater Dee with relative ease.

Grabbing the swoop controls from Zak, Beaker guns the swoop back up the tunnel to the intersection. Zak fires at the final living slug while Boppa ignites her lightsaber and joins Grarwarr on dark trooper two. Mater Dee enters the stomach of the slug, then cuts a hole in the side. The trooper punches Mater Dee, and it's lights out, Mater Dee is stunned. The trooper then turns on Joruss but is ineffective.

Taking a play from Bar Bar's book of dirty fighting, Joruss uses The Force to pull the helmet off the dark trooper and fling it out the hole in the side of the slug. Zak and Beaker fire into the last slug, as Boppa and Grarwarr struggle with the other trooper.

The slug moves toward the swoop in the intersection, then chomps on Zak. This is definitely bad for Zak, and a moment later Boppa is a widow. The trooper on Boppa and Grarwarr fights on, doing more damage but disabling neither party member. The trooper on the inside of the slug rushes out after his helmet, but Joruss takes him down with an opportune strike, removing his head also.

Bar Bar loves helmets, and so is especially pleased when Boppa uses The Force to pull the helmet off trooper two and send it down the tunnel nearby. As Bar Bar prepares to fetch it, dark trooper two tumbles to get it himself, but does so quite poorly. Grarwarr takes a shot, then Boppa, and finally Bar Bar whacks him with his stick and the last dark trooper is down.

Joruss works his lightsaber on the final slug from the inside, and Boppa moves to help from the outside. Beaker moves his swoop into the adjoining tunnel and fires from there. Grarwarr fires at the slug from a distance as well. Bar Bar resorts to a frag grenade (not his first choice), but misses the mouth and gets both the slug and Boppa.

The last slug succumbs to Joruss lightsaber, and Mater Dee regains consciousness. The party rounds up dark trooper loot, and retrieves Zak's body from the dead slug. Some quick healing using The Force and Mater Dee's skills, then the group heads back to the Swag Bag to further recover and reflect.

Everyone is saddened by the loss of Zak, especially Boppa. But another character level and a couple of Force points lightens the load a bit.