A Quest of Odd Parameter [open]

[Kella]

Grizzelda could see the way the foliage cleared ahead... it was mere yards, mere minutes until they reached the cave.

And reach it they did. Though, the fungus did not stop abruptly as Grizzelda might have expected. No, the alien growths extended all the way into the caves, dotting its damp floor and walls with strange formations and shadows; all manner of flora. A few of the plants shone with a strange florescence, lighting the cave with an eerie blue-green glow.
Grizzelda, seeming to throw most caution to the wind, though actually quite wary, proceeded directly into the cave. She kept her ears sharp, tried to feel any changing air currents... for the most part, the air of the cave was entirely still, though much of the fungus swayed slightly, as if affected by some internal force...
Grizzelda heard a low growling nearby. Her mind snapped to attention, her muscles staying relaxed and alert... Grizzelda's face suddenly contorted, for she was hit full-on with a most peculiar stench... she knew that reek, and she knew it well...
Grizzelda swore, though her tone was still quite relaxed.
"Anybody in the mood for fried Rancor?"

Suddenly, the beast emerged from the shadows, wet skin glistening in the other-worldly glow. The Rancor opened its maw and growled loudly, putrid stench of rotting flesh washing over the group, its beady eyes glinting with malevolence.

Grizzelda's blaster was already in hand. Though, there was this thing about Rancors... their skin tended to be very, very stubborn when it came to blaster bolts...



(( A bit about Rancors, just in case: "The skin of a rancor was tough enough to deflect blaster bolts, and its bones are strong enough to resist the blade of a lightsaber, making it an efficient killing machine—and an excellent source of leather for expensive vests and boots." ))

[Sinvrick]

Starring into the cave finally Sinvrick had a bad, feeling which of crose meant to him that what would happen next would be quite fun. Sure enough, dormant inside a cave what would the group find, none other than a rancor. Though killing machines. Rumored to be stong enough to withstand a jedi's lightsaber.
Sinvrick smiled.

"ALLRIGHT, THIS IS SOMETHING I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!," In sheer excitment Sinvrick charged the beast full on. Firing his jet pack at the right moment to dodge the brutes arms that swung with the intent of grabbing him. He was now behind the rancor huvering in the air. To defend himself he withdrew his blaster rifle, it wouldn't do much good against the rancor's skin, but maybe the eyes, he thought.

The rancor turned to come again at Sinvirck, which was his plan. With amazing acruacy Sinvrick plucked a blaster rifle shot in the right eye. The racnor screamed in agony as it was now down one eye. Sinvrick was of corse enjoying ever moment of this fight. With the rancor swatting at him with such force and anger driven strikes, Sinvrick was able to dodge and dodge again.

"IF YOU GUY INTEND ON DOING ANYTHING!, NOWS THE TIME!" Sinvrick yelled at the others.

[Mr.Bøbert]

((ooc: Oh dear... ))

Zeth grinned at Strae through his helmet. "That does make it more amusing.... Like I said, I'm Zeth Kor, Mandalorian Special Forces. I c--" Zeth stopped mid-sentence when he heard a roar coming from the now-visible cave up a head as Grizzelda stepped in. He recognized that roar. He had never seen a rancor out in the wild, though. Only in an arena event. Cursing, he pulled his rifle from over his back. He knew that blasters would have almost no effect against these things, and that his lightsaber wouldn't even cut through the bones of it, so he resisted the urge to pull it out.

However, something explosive might do the trick. He loaded a frag grenade into his rifle's grenade launcher, and took aim.....

....Just as Sinvrick somehow got behind it. Zeth could still shoot the rancor, but the explosion from the grenade might kill Sinvrick. He took a few moments to debate with himself if he should still fire the grenade, but decided not to. He pulled out a vibrosword instead, and lunged at the back of the creature, and began hacking away at it, trying to find a weak spot in it's armored back.

[Kella]

Grizzelda pressed back against a cave wall, assessing her options. She cocked a half-smile as she realized she could probably just let Sinvrick get himself killed... one less threat to worry about. And one less ally, more likely, so Grizzelda decided against the notion.
While the Rancor was distracted, both by Sinvrick's flying and Zeth's merciless hacking (really, was that necessary? So messy...) Grizzelda dashed across the floor, rolling to crouch near the Rancor's feet. As she did, she fired a single shot, which ripped through the Rancor's eye socket, blinding it completely. Grizzelda did not loose her momentum, and in the same motion, she rolled again, coming to stand on her feet three yards to the Rancor's right.
It was now effectively blind... but Rancors had many ways of finding their prey, and sight was just the beginning...

[Sinvrick]

The creature ow completely blind still swinging mercilessly at Sinvrick, wilst Zeth hacked away at it back. Sinvrick placed his rifle away whiling dodging another swing from the Rancor. He was becoming annoyed. It was time to pull his favourite weapon out. He held out his right arm and aimed his flame througher at the beasts head. With it's eyes already singing in pain, this could could bring the creature to its knees possibly. He torched the creatures head. Lightsabers and blasters weren't effective, but extreme heat was a different story.

The creatures skin began to blister, and the creature became mroe rampid flailing it's arms like maces around hitting the cave walls occaionally. Sinvrick continued to torch it's head. Sinvrick stopped once the creature had screamed in agony, the flames were gone, and just when the creatures face couldn't get anymore uglyer, most of the skin had melted off. Its lower jaw had become slightly visible.

"ANYONE ELSE HAVE SOME BRIGHT IDEAS?" Sinvrick yelled wih shock and amazement that the creature still stood.

[Mr.Bøbert]

Zeth was still hammering away at the Rancor's back with his vibrosword, but to no avail. The creature was unharmed by it. Suddenly, flames erupted from in front of it, nearly hitting Zeth. Not that it would damage his armor, but he had recently re-painted it... Sinvrick asked for bright ideas. Zeth had one. He knew that the lightsaber would be ineffective against the creature's bones, but it might still hurt it enough for.... well, something. Zeth hadn't had enough time to finish his plan. He pulled the lightsaber hilt out from a pocket, and ignited it, The green blade coming to life with a snap-hiss. Zeth angled it downwards, and buried it in the creature's side, until it stopped, most likely hitting a bone. The beast shrieked in agony, and Zeth tried to reposition the blade to go around the bone.

But before he could do so, a massive arm came flying at him, hitting him, sending him flying into one of the cave walls. He slid down it, landing on the ground with a thud. His armor had protected him from the blow, although he thought he had a broken rib and he knew his jetpack would need repairs after slamming into the wall like that. He groaned, then got back up. So much for that idea... he thought to himself.

[Kella]

(( *Pushes Pause Button* Awesome, guys. ;D For the sake of Strae and crew, I'm going to call a pause until Deceit posts. After that, feel free to keep going. Especially with a climax like this, it really stinks to be left in the dust. X) Thanks guys!))

[Deceit *Drinker of Jawa-Juice*]

( Sorry it took me two days... )

The moment the Rancor made itself apparent, Strae, Will, and Tal were gone. Dispersing into the foliage and darkness without another word. Strae's group did nothing but observe for a moment. As the battle continued Strae herself began to realize that perhaps the beast would best the other three. For a moment she considered the benefits, then frowned and decided against it.

Will took a crouching position far from the creature, his rifle in hand and firing off bolts from a safe distance. Blasters weren't much effect, but they weren't entirely useless. Tal had the same idea, only he climbed up a tree, and got on a high perch.

Seeing the skin melting and sizzling away, Tal, from his angle, fired upon the weakened flesh on the skull accurately and quickly, annoying the creature if nothing else. As the battle progressed, Tal looked down and pulled out two deadly vibro-blades, almost the length of his arm. He wasn't doing much with his tactic. He shouted to the others, See if you can't pull him in closer!"

Strae had circled around and was now closer to the beast than the other three, but still out of sight. She kept one blaster out, ready to jump in the fray if someone seemed endangered. Suddenly, Zeth was smashed and thrown into the cave. She looked over with a bit of concern. It looked painful, but she shook it off her mind; his armor had probably taken the brunt of the attack. Slowly, she sifted through her weapon inventory.

She still had two extra blaster pistols, a vibro-dagger, one thermal detonator, and a flash bang. The flash bang was useless with it blind, and most of everything would have little effect; even the thermal detonator. An idea came to her. If she popped it in the Rancor's mouth, it could cause some serious damage. But how to get close enough to the thing for a good lob, and how to not get hit while doing so, she didn't quite know.

'Best left to the fighters.' She thought.

Suddenly she stepped out of the foliage, taking care to keep away from the Rancor, "Sinvrick, I have an idea!" She shouted, "Catch it and find a way to pop it into his mouth!" She tossed the grenade over to him, but the damn rancor roared, and her ear-piece was turned to him. The noise was excruciating, she winced in mid throw and the grenade dropped short. ( Don't worry it isn't activated. -_- )

Ripping the damn thing off her head, Strae fell toward the foliage, disoriented and unable to hear for the time being.

[Kella]

(( No worries. ;D Just hate to see someone get left in the dust. ))


Grizzelda knew her blaster would be of little use now; it would never penetrate the Rancor's incredibly tough skin... Though, she had something else up her sleeve. Literally. She holstered her blaster.
The next moment, Grizzelda's vibro-dagger was in her hand, the familiar weight comforting. She flipped the switch and felt the weapon humm to life, causing her hand to tingle lightly. She entered that other plane of awareness... every detail, every subtle change made itself widely apparent. The heat and frantic nature of the battle faded. Grizzelda felt as if she could see things coming almost before they happened... Her heart calmed and her breathing slowed. Her vision seemed to clear, and she noticed the odd way in which the Fungus's light illuminated everything...
She had only four chances to get this right... Grizzelda doubted she'd need four though. Just one.
The Rancor bucked and swayed, and Grizzelda furrowed her brow in concentration. She just needed one predictable movement... there! The Rancor began to stumble.
Grizzelda did not process the angle, she did not judge the distance. She did not track the Rancor, she did not over-think. She let that instinct, brought about by that other plane of awareness, take hold. Grizzelda bent her arm back then whipped it forward, wrist flicking as she released the blade. It spun as it flew, moving flat like a disk. Grizzelda didn't breath as she watched it fly through the air...
Ha!
The blade hit the Rancor's neck, just where she'd anticipated. The blade struck its flesh, spinning through the rough skin like a not knife through butter. Though, it suddenly stopped, caught on a tougher piece of tissue; probably a ligament in the neck... Grizzelda looked dissatisfied. She couldn't have asked for a better hit; putrid blood was already beginning to trickle from the wound. However, the dagger served to plug it somewhat, and it didn't bleed nearly as much as it might have... No, that wasn't going to solve the problem; it would take too long for the Rancor to bleed out. Even if she managed to catch it with her dagger again, it wouldn't do her much good...
Grizzelda's mind raced to the next course of action as she saw Strae attempt to toss a Grenade to Sinvrick. Despite the chaos, she still noticed the exaggerated effect the Rancor's roar had on Strae. There was only one reason for that, which she would realize later.
Earwig.
Though, the battle at hand was quick to steal Grizzelda's mind away again. She dove across the ground, rolling, and snatched up the grenade. She could toss it in from the ground... Grizzelda knew she could. Throwing things was her specialty; it's what she excelled at. Now, all she needed was an opportunity...
"Change in plans! Somebody get me a shot at this thing's gullet."
Grizzelda added lowly under her breath; 'And then I would definitely suggest ducking...'

[Mr.Bøbert]

Zeth saw what Grizzelda had done, but he had no idea how she had done it. The knife had hit the rancor right in a weak spot in it's neck, and it was bleeding. However, the knife was also helping to clog the wound, slowing the bleeding. At the same time, Strae tossed a thermal detonator-- not yet activated, of course-- to Sinvrick, however, the rancor had roared, and her sound-amplifier must have picked it up, as she tossed the earpiece to the ground, the detonator fell short. Zeth saw Grizzelda grab it, and then ask for a shot for it's gullet. Zeth had yet another bright idea. The rancor was currently facing the entrance to the cave, blindly flailing its arms about, trying to hit Sinvrick.

Zeth re-ignited his lightsaber, then limped up to the beasts' back. Apparently, he had also somehow sprained his ankle. He stabbed at the armored back, doing little damage, but it got the rancor's attention. Still blindly flailing its arms about, it turned towards Zeth, who's back was to Grizzelda. "NOW!" he yelled, and dove away as the thing roared. Only then did he remember Sinvrick was still behind it...

[Sinvrick]

Sinvrick still dodging all the swings from the rancor. He noticed Strea try to through him a thermal grenade with little success due to the rancor's scream. He couldn't do much now except dodge the arms swing at him.

Zeth had managed to get up after a massive blow from the beast, what strength Sinvrick thought. He then saw the blade slash it's way through the neck of the beast, which came from Grizzelda. Little effect however. She then picked up the grenade at which point the Beast had turned to try and find Zeth slashing again it its back. Which was Grizzelda's cue.

Sinvrick figured that it wouldn't be a good idea now to be in the air, so he flew right at the beast drawing his blade and digging his way into the back of the skull. Once the blade hit bone it was a solid stop for him. That wasn't his plan however. While an attack came from below on Grizzelda's part, Sinvrick planned to cause another impact from above. From the back of the skull is where the connection to the spine is which was Sinvrick's favorite spot to attack. A bigger target only offered him more satisfaction.

Sinvrick began hacking away at the back of the creature tearing skin off like wrapping paper. This was to distract the creature while Grizzelda prepared her move. "ANYTIME NOW!" Sinvrick yelled.

[Kella]

Grizzelda's opportunity was golden. It did not matter that Sinvrick would probably get caught in the blast, it did not matter that Zeth was probably to close. No, now was not the time for hesitating. They'd had their opportunity to get out of the way; Zeth, at least, had been wise in ducking.
Grizzelda had tested the weight of the detonator while she was waiting for her opportunity... and now she was ready.
Without a second's hesitation, Grizzelda twisted the parts of the detonator, activating it. It began to blink and whine, growing steadily faster...
Grizzelda launched the detonator into the air, arm arcing sideways, not quite overhand, not quite underhand. She'd thrown it quick, thrown it straight, and with a low splurtch lodged itself in the back of the Rancor's throat.
As soon as she knew she'd hit her mark, Grizzelda dashed away. She did not want to be around when that thing exploded. Grizzelda ducked behind a nearby cluster of fungus, and counted lowly under her breath, the Rancor roaring and bellowing unperturbed behind her.
'3...2...1...'
Grizzelda watched a fine mist of blood spray around the entire interior of the cave as the Thermal detonator exploded. Some hung in the air, a crimson rain.... Grizzelda grimaced.
She cautiously rose to her feet, and peered around the edge of the fungus, second Vibroblade drawn... all was silent...
It was now that Grizzelda realized she probably should have shouted out a warning about the explosion. Then again, any Fringer worth his weight in fuel knew when to duck.
The first thing she noticed was the mangled body of the Rancor, lying on the ground. it upper half was completely severed from the lower; except for the spinal column. It had ended up swallowing the detonator. Bits of broken flesh littered the ground, and blood was plentiful... Grizzelda silently wondered if Sinvrick had been successful in helping the explosion, or if he too had been caught in the blast.
"Now that is disgusting..." Grizzelda nudged a chunk of fat with the toe of her boot, then looked around, attempting to locate the others and assess the situation...

[Mr.Bøbert]

With his helmet's 360 degree vision, Zeth saw the thermal detonator soar from Grizzelda's hand and right into the Rancor's roaring mouth. The rancor actually swallowed the thing, but a few seconds later, it exploded from the inside out. Zeth instinctively shielded his face with his arms, but there was no need. He had dove far enough away that the blast would only scorch his armor, and his helmet dimmed his vision during the blast as to not blind him.

Once the fireball was gone, his vision returned, and he saw a bloody heap that had once been the rancor. He rested his head on the ground and laughed. He continued laughing for a moment, then shakily stood back up, and saw Grizzelda examining the remains of the creature. He limped over and kicked what had been the arm of the rancor. "Well... that was fun," he said, his voice a bit shaky. "Shame it's head was destroyed... It'd make a nice trophy." He bent down, pulled out a knife, and cut off one of the rancor's claws, which had miraculously been unharmed by the blast, and pocketed it. "Souvenir," he said, grinning underneath his helmet.

Then he remembered his lightsaber. He looked around, trying not to appear frantic, searching for his lightsaber. He saw a glint coming from a bush, and limped over to it. He reached for it, and found the lightsaber, also miraculously unharmed. He pocketed it as well, and headed back towards the cave entrance, wondering if anybody had even noticed him using the weapon at all. It would probably be best if everybody hadn't.

[Deceit *Drinker of Jawa-Juice*]

Strae had collected her earwig and hid away a long time before the explosion. Again, best that the fighters did the fighting. Her specialty was sneaking, not running around wildly trying to damage something...Rather undamagable. She smiled as she walked out of the foliage, Tal and Will coming out beside her, their weapons pointed down. ( Although still ready if need be ) Strae took her hat off and gave a somewhat exagerated bow, "Excellent display!" She said, going so low in her bow that the hat touched the floor. She took care to make sure it wasn't any part of the floor where any gore was.

Standing up straight once more, she scratched her blonde hair and put her hat back on. "Its a shame that my last grenade, really." She told them, "I might have needed it later." Looking up, she stared straight at Zeth, "Beautiful weapon, by the way." She referred to his lightsaber. Her gaze never left him. She subtly reattatched her earwig and moved forward, almost into the cave. After straining to get use to the darkness, she smiled, then frowned, pulling out her blaster and aiming it at Zeth. Tal covered Sinvrick and Will put his aim at Grizzelda. Strae said, "Look I don't want to hurt anybody, but we have an issue to settle here. If we find the root, then there's certainly going to be a conundrum as to who gets it; we can't split the pay between the all of us, and I don't take chances on flipping coins."

[Kella]

Grizzelda felt Will's weapon upon her, but she was relaxed. It was a disconcerting, yet familiar sensation; every nerve buzzing, but completely in control. A decade ago, Grizzelda never would have been able to curb that fight-or-flight reflex, especially right after a battle... and yet, here she was.
"We can confront that problem when we get there. The root may not even be in here... there are more pressing matters at hand. Like where my confounded blade disappeared to..." Grizzelda turned and resumed her scanning of the carnage, looking for the elusive blade. It had still been in the Rancor's neck when it fell...
"Besides," she continued, gesturing loosely and beginning to pick her way across the floor, "There are many ways to get the Slug to pay each of us the promised price." She turned to face Strae again, still making slow steps backwards. She gestured widely with her arms, and a slow smirk spread across her face, as if she was remembering something long past.
"Many, many ways..." Still unperturbed, Grizzelda resumed her search, kicking aside various chunks of meat. 'All Rancors be damned...' she muttered.
A glint of metal.
Grizzelda found her blade. It was stuck in the bell of a large, bulbous fungus, where it had been flung... Luckily, it had stopped vibrating, which was responsible for the fact that it hadn't sliced right through the soft flesh of the fungus. Grizzelda withdrew the blade from the flesh, peeved to see that its blade, usually cleaned and honed to perfection, was covered in thick, green mucus.
I can't decide which is worse, Rancor guts, or... this...
I rueful expression leaning toward disgust, Grizzelda scraped the blade against a tougher leaf, watching as the thick layer of mucous peeled off and fell to the ground, leaving the blade clean and shining. Grizzelda couldn't hold back her look of surprise.
'How interesting...'
Grizzelda walked back toward Strae, still aware of the threat, and began to disassemble the hilt of her blade.
"Splendid idea, yours. Glad somebody was smart enough to snag a detonator." She shot a look of almost-playful contempt at Zeth and Sinvrick.
The reason for the blade's stopped vibrations soon became apparent; the vibrator was broken. Grizzelda could fix it, but she needed two things; Supplies from her ship, and time. She had neither. So, she simply resigned to tuck away the broken blade in her left boot, and put the working blade in her sleeve-sheath.
Grizzelda again found herself in an odd state of awareness; yet she was relaxed, like a lounging cat. She looked up, ready to note whether or not Will's weapon was still trained on her...

[Deceit *Drinker of Jawa-Juice*]

Both Tal and Will were gone when Grizzelda turned around, only Strae remained. She looked right at Grizzelda, lifted her arms up into a shrug, and puffed out a long, drawn out breath as if to act dumbfounded as to where they had gone off. She walked forward, her blaster pistol apprently gone entirely. "Your right." She replied, "Absolutely. Sorry for the stick up, but...well, you know how it is. Never can be too sure." She stopped, and had apparently moved in a manner that effectively placed Grizzelda between her and the other two, in case they weren't going to be quite as forgiving as she. "No hard feelings, Zelda?"

[Kella]

Grizzelda cocked a half-smile.
"Holding grudges is a waste of my mental power." She made an open gesture with her hands, then dismissed the subject, simply moving on. For that is what she did. A problem would present itself, either it was decided upon or not, and then she moved on.
Though, there was something... something she never really had left behind. Ages ago, it had been... but you don't become changed like that and quickly forget it; not in a million years. And seeing that lightsaber; she'd know what it was the moment it switched on; had served greatly to stir those memories. And now it was bothering her. So she decided to do something about it.
She picked her way across the floor of the cave, doing her best to avoid the larger chunks of meat, all the while keeping an eye out for Sinvrick, and making her way over to Zeth.
For once there was an almost... hesitant look on her face, as if she couldn't quite decide whether she wanted to go through with whatever she was doing, or not.
"May I see that light-saber of yours?" she asked, stepping up alongside him.

[Sinvrick]

The blast failed to kill Sinvrick, his armor was more than enough to protect against the blast itself. The shock wave however had knocked him far from the Rancor's body, but not before splashing him in the vast amounts of blood. He hit the ground hard. So hard that it damaged his jet pack.

When Sinvrick rose up again he tore off his jet pack only to have a rifle pointed at him. Perplexed once again, his plan had been foiled all he needed was the conundrum to actually happen. "I don't want to hurt anybody," Strea spoke. Sinvrick looked down and began to chuckle shacking his head side to side. He took his helmet off.

"I think we all knew this would happen, its to bad, I'm pretty sure we would of made one big happy family!" Sinvrick spoke. That is when he decided that the others served no more value to him and so came the hand to the pistol at his side. Expecting everyone to notice that he manged to arm his flame thrower before placing his hand on the pistol. Quick enough to almost be a blur. He was ready, ready for a sticky situation that was sure to come.

[Mr.Bøbert]

Zeth had hoped nobody had noticed the lightsaber during the fight. Aparently, they had, as Strae commented on it, and Grizzelda even asked to see it. Zeth hesitated, just as he knew Grizzelda had done before asking him. He knew that if she was going to attack him with it, his beskar armor would protect him, but if she was going to attack the others... Still hesitantly, he pulled out the hilt, and handed it to her. He still wasn't sure why he had done it, but he seemed to be.... well, he didn't quite know how to explain it. He somehow... trusted Grizzelda with the weapon. "Just don't do anything crazy with it..." he said.

At the same time, Sinvrick made some sarcastic comment about them all being one big, happy family, and pulled out his blaster, arming his flamethrower in the process. Zeth wouldn't have noticed it, had he not done the same thing many times. Zeth's hands rested on his holstered pistols, ready to pull them out.

[Kella]

Grizzelda took the saber, holding it gently. She ran her hands up and down its length, examining it. She was no expert, far from it, but building her own saber had given her an understanding of such things that surpassed the average.
'Well crafted...' she muttered.
Grizzelda turned the saber over in her hand once more, then flicked the switch, watching as the saber hummed to life, hissing lowly. The blade was green, but had the slightest tinge; a mark of a harder-to-find crystal. Grizzelda twirled the hilt in her hand. It was disconcerting, at first, as always, because there was no weight beyond the hilt... but this particular one was well-balanced.
It was like riding a speeder-bike, lightsaber wielding... something you never forgot, that always came back to you. Grizzelda quickened the pace of her whirling, let the saber arc around her body. It curved gracefully under her hand... Simply maneuvers, things any Padawan was taught. She tossed it up in the air, watched it twirl end over end, then caught it seamlessly, quite pleased with herself. She gazed at the solid green blade a moment, it purred like a cat, then once more flicked it off. She hoped she hadn't brought too much attention to herself; few could wield a saber if they had not been trained, though this one seemed easier than most. She handed the blade back to Zeth.
"That's a fine saber you have there... well-crafted, well-balanced. Rare crystal. Don't break it." She looked deep in thought as a fleeting smile crossed her face, her voice was almost... motherly. However, her expression soon hardened to its usual smirk, and she turned around to face Sinvrick.
"For the love of all things sane, man, put that thing away." She waved a hand in dismissal, then turned to face the inner parts of the cave, which tapered off into darkness.
Here we go...
And with that, Grizzelda strode off, striking her own beat toward the inner depths of the cave, and hopefully, the root.