Ask Rancor Wranglers

[Kliedden Raxx]

Felucia was not a planet Klied visited often. He remembered why the moment he stepped of the starship that had brought him there. The extreme ultraviolet rays of the sun were practically burning him alive, and the air was so humid he felt like he could drown just by breathing it. Even an Onderonian such as himself was ill suited to such a climate. He'd have to remember to double his fee if he was ever asked to return in the future.

With his clothing already soaked through with sweat and clinging to his body he walked through the small village where he had been dropped off, the Felucian locals paying him little mind. Reaching the hunter's lodge he was unsurprised to find it mostly uninhabited. Upon a quick glance across the mostly open air building he spotted only an angry looking Trandoshan sharpening a knife and an absolutely miserable looking Shistavanen panting over a drink. Klied ignored these two as he went straight to the Felucian minding the counter.

"Had anyone else come through here today?" He asked as he took another look around the shady resting area.

"A few." The Felucian answered. "Could you give me some details?"

"Human," Klied replied. "Tall, blond hair, blue eyes. Young kid, probably looks like this is the last place he wants to be." It was rare that Klied came looking for other people, preferring to do things on his own. But he had come to consider Armand Crossas a reliable friend, and definitely considered this a job more suited to two than one. The Felucian just scoffed.

"None of you offworlders look like you want to be here." He answered in a somewhat amused tone. "Makes me wonder why you bother at all. He might be around, I couldn't say. Why don't you grab a seat and relax while you're waiting for him. You look like you're about to collapse." Klied offered a small smirk in return before turning and walking over to a table to sit down, setting his cycler rifle to the side. He glanced at the Trandoshan who only growled back in a decidedly unfriendly manner. A quick look at the wolfman told him he wasn't looking for conversation either. Klied just sighed and leaned back in his chair, putting his feet up on the table and pulling down the brim of his hat over his eyes as he tried to catch some sleep. The sooner his partner showed up the sooner they could start their mission and the sooner they could get off this rock. Privately he wondered if Armand had decided to skip out on the favor, he couldn't exactly blame him for not wanting to test his luck against a rancor. But he doubted it. The kid thus far had proven he could be relied on to keep his word, and he certainly wasn't short on bravery. He may have gotten lost though...

@Pyrenees

 

[Armand T Crossac]

This was a mistake, a grave mistake. Even sitting inside an air conditioned landspeeder, Armand still felt like the heat was way higher than he would have preferred. He had already changed clothes once after arriving only a couple of hours ago. "This is..." he mumbled before loosing his words as he raised his arm to wipe away a small drip of sweat forming on his forehead. "This day..." he said, once again trailing off as he took a turn to the establishment where they had agreed to meet. "..is gonna stink" he finished, considering whether to turn the vehicle off or not. Finally, he decided to leave it running - there was no sense in letting it get all warm and humid without the air conditioning.

Upon opening the door and taking a quick step out to shut it immediately after, the young scoundrel was hit by what felt like a wall of hot air and frankly; water. It was only a matter of moments until his clothes were soaked too - and now, he wasn't even wearing his blast west on top of the tank top. Awkwardly, he opened the door. It took but a moment to filter out the other patrons before Crossac found his equally soaked friend seated.

An awkward smile appeared on his lips - naturally, it was a pleasure to see his friend again, but the circumstances were far from ideal and he knew that a relatively uncomfortable day would ensue. "Klied" he said happily whilst approaching the man "I'm so glad to see you again" he continued before looking down at his soaked clothes "You'll understand if I keep my distance" he continued jokingly. Standing by the table, he continued "We're taking the speeder today, right? I've got a rental one parked just outside." His words were hopeful as the scoundrel dearly wished to not ride on the back of another beast - although Mena had given him a pretty good impression. "I've got AC and we could bring some extra water" he added in an attempt to convince his friend.

@Reyn

 

[Kliedden Raxx]

As Klied heard the familiar voice he pushed up the brim of his hat to see Armand standing over him. He sat up in his chair and went to offer a handshake but then decided on just giving the scoundrel a thumb's up instead.

"What's the matter kid?" He asked with a grin as Armand offered, more like begged them to use a speeder. "Don't you want to experience the lovely atmosphere?" He asked sarcastically before chuckling and gesturing for his friend to take a seat. "We can take the speeder out to the area we'll be searching but once we get there we'll have to hoof it. Obviously the sound would scare off our quarry." His face quickly transformed into a serious expression as he got down to business.

"You ever deal with rancors before? I imagine I don't have to tell you they're not to be taken lightly. And a jungle rancor is a particularly nasty breed. I suggest we set out our plan of attack here and now so we don't get caught off-guard once we're out there. They like to move in packs so we'll need to separate one from the rest. Then there's the matter of finding a way to tranquilize the beast through it's tough outer shell. What do you think?" Klied was interested to hear what Armand's instincts were on the matter. He had promised to teach the scoundrel a few of his beast hunting tricks and wanted to see if the kid had any natural talent for it before proceeding. He remembered his uncle used to do the same thing to him, forcing him to think through a problem himself before telling him whether he was right or wrong and explaining why.

@Pyrenees

 

[Armand T Crossac]

Smirking at his friend's ability to joke about the horrible climate, Crossac was glad to hear that the hunter would agree to take the speeder, at least a bit of the way. "Dibs for the passenger's seat!" he exclaimed, not being to keen at the prospect of driving himself. Noticing Klied turn more serious, the scoundrel quickly sucked in his lips, making his mouth form a thin line as he sat down to listen.

Never having seen a live rancor before, he tried to imagine how hard it would be. He knew of how impressive the beasts were, both from stories told by his friends and from a head which one of his employers had preserved and hung on his office wall. It had to be a most trying experience considering how carefully Klied seemed to be planning their expedition - but then, the two of them had taken out a sandpeople outpost together. The young scoundrel let out a low hum as he thought of the posed question. "I know for a fact that they have large mouths, maybe we could throw something in when it opens to eat us" he said enthusiastically. It wouldn't last for long, however "But if he doesn't swallow, we're in trouble" It was a hard task, thinking of how make such a big beast sleep.

Tapping his fingers on the table, Crossac thought for a few more moments "They've got really thick skin, right? So darts won't do? What if we wound it and exploit the opening by the wound?" he suggested. In truth, he didn't really know how all of this worked, just that he was here to help his friend out. In honesty, the young scoundrel had not expected to be involved in the planning stage of it all. Klied could probably figure it all out on his own and Armand was much better suited for other tasks.

@Reyn

 

[Kliedden Raxx]

Klied smiled when Armand's immediate thought was to have the creature ingest the tranquilizer, smart. He had to chuckle though at the proposed methods of getting it done. "We're the hunters here remember? Using yourself as bait isn't a good idea, far too risky." He explained. "As a matter of fact if this thing catches wind of us coming at all it would be wiser for us to just retreat and try again later. And we don't want to injure it either. Our mission is to capture the rancor alive. If we cause too much harm our employer might decide to cut our pay. No, what we can do is lay a trap for it. We'll put the tranquilizer in an animal carcass and leave it out for the rancor to eat, then wait for it to pass out and secure it to be picked up by our employer's men."

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a map of the region, spreading it out on the table and inspecting it closely. "I've talked with some of the locals. They keep track of the movements of rancors and other predators so as to keep their communities safe and avoid running into them accidentally while in the wild." He pointed to a river and looked up at Armand. "This is a common watering hole for a variety of species, including rancors. It will be here where the pack is the least alert and most spread out, making it easier for us to draw one's attention without the entire pack." He rolled up the map and put it away again, standing up straight. "The catch is there'll be a ton of other predators skulking about too. And you and me aren't exactly high on the food chain around here. This is where I'll need your help the most. You need to watch my back while I lay the trap. And we'll both need to make sure the rancor is kept safe once it's down until our employer shows up to airlift it out of there." He crossed his arms and looked at Armand expectantly. "You think we can manage that?" He wanted to make sure the scoundrel knew exactly what they were getting into, and so he didn't try to make their task sound easy. Felucia was a wild and dangerous planet, and there were any number of horrible monsters that could walk right into the middle of their hunt. He had to make sure Armand felt confident putting himself in that situation before they proceeded.

@Pyrenees