Podrace Serolonis Riot Racing 5000

[Salon Loghain]

The acrid tang of exhaust fumes and the roar of a thousand bloodthirsty fans choked the air above the Safa Toma Speedway, a notorious track carved into the heart of Serolonis a known criminal haven beneath the notice of the galactic powers such as the Sith Order or the recently emerged Galactic Empire.

This wasn't your run-of-the-mill podrace with rules and regulations, no this was Riot Racing, a brutal contest of speed and treachery where victory demanded not just unparalleled piloting skill but a cunning mind for sabotage. Racers didn't merely navigate through the perilous, obstacle ridden tunnels they outmaneuvered, outsmarted, and outright destroyed their competition.

As the tension reached a fever pitch, a single, piercing blaster shot from the viewing stand signaled the start, fired by none other than the Vigo of Ruusan Salon Loghain himself, with a single opening line.

"Under the authority of the Underlord of the Black Sun, I pronounce the Serolonis Riot Racing 5000 officially open!" He hardly had sufficient time for the words to escape his mouth, as the thunderous roar of engines and frantic maneuvers overwhelmed his distinctly upper Corsucanti accent, as the podracers zoomed to the first section of the race.

A gentle smile appeared on his lips as he reclined back into his private booth, preparing himself for some well-deserved entertainment.

Section 1: The Grinder's Gullet

Collapsing Support Beams: Sections of the tunnel roof are unstable. Pilots must navigate around or blast through falling debris that rains down unpredictably. Hitting a large piece can damage engines or even cause an immediate explosion.

Junk Piles: Randomly scattered heaps of scrap metal, old droid parts, and discarded machinery litter the track, creating narrow chokepoints and forcing tight maneuvers. Some piles might even conceal explosive charges planted by the track's creators or rival teams.

The Riot Race will follow the Hoth Rules as seen below:

Spoiler

Spoiler: Racer Information

CONFIRMED PAIRINGS

Team 1: Damien Dooku with mechanic Morrow

Team 2: Tansu Treicolt with Talin Treicolt

Team 3: Braze and Zee Caromed

Team 4: Davik Haize and Kyric

Team 5: Koda Fett with secret support of Razmir Tezhyn

RACERS

Koda Fett
Nala
Klar
Dani Stellaris
Braze
Ronhar Tane
Hilal Vizsla
Damien Dooku
Davik Haize
Tansu Treicolt

SUPPORTS

• Zee Caromed
• Morrow
  Talsin Lota
• Kyric
• Talin Treicolt

SPONSORS

• Salon Loghain
• Razmir Tezhyn

PRIZE SPONSORS

• Salon Loghain - Providing 100,000 UCs through a Trade Federation Account and Black Crown.
• Kyric - Providing 50,000 Credits and a force imbued blade in any style.
• Razmir Tezhyn - providing an additional 250,000 " credits to the prize pool. Further, the winner will be granted one favour from Razmir as a Black Sun Vigo to be called in shortly after the race's conclusion.

 

[Davik Haize]

No one goes to Serolonis of their own volition. You just end up there. One way or the other. And in Davik Haize's case, it was in pursuit of a pirate crew terrorizing a quadrant of the Western Reaches, leaving half a dozen worlds without food, water, medicine - everything they needed to survive. The crew had likely sniffed him out and made quick work of grounding the Duchess indefinitely on this arid, wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Without enough credits or spare parts to patch up his ship, Davik was forced to fall back on an old craft: podracing.

And so here he was - under the scorching heat of a ruthless sun, sandwiched in between a pair of blazing, salvaged turbine engines, boiling in his own sweat. Blue eyes stared ahead into the dark maw of the tunnel of section one, burning with pure resentment for his surroundings filled with scum.

The crack of the blaster shot was deafened by the loud sound of his engines, but its red bolt was as clear as the skies above. He yanked a lever in the blink of an eye and the sudden release of built-up thrust catapulted him forward.

The coolness of the tunnel, shielding him from the brutal rays outside, was a welcome reprieve. But it came with a price. As he deftly maneuvered through discarded machinery and scattered scrap from who-knows-what era, a section of the tunnel collapsed just before Davik could guide his podracer into the perfect apex for the turn, forcing him to decelerate and overshoot it as other podracers shot past him with a mocking laughter.

—​

Round 1 roll:

((Posting it for posterity - will be rerolled by my sentinel mr. Kyric ))​

 

[Braze]

★ Serolonis Riot Racing 5000 ★​

---

Braze didn't go to the junkyard with the intention of buying a podracer.

He went for the auction, the spectacle, and—let's be perfectly honest—the free drinks didn't hurt either. It was all part of a casual side mission: look hot, and maybe score a discount on a performance-built Z-95 Headhunter hot-rod that could get him off-world in style. But somewhere between the third cocktail and a dare to 'sweet-talk the old guy with the oil stains,' things took a turn.

The old guy, Retu, was a retired mechanic who hadn't been sober since the last Maw War. He was immediately charmed by the snowy-haired half-Echani, or perhaps just deluded.

"You got that reckless glint lad," Retu muttered, eyeing him sideways. "You ever kick a twin-core thruster into drift mode without flipping the whole rig?" His gaze was hazy and hungry, searching for someone who got it, someone who still had the guts to burn hot and stupid.

Braze grinned. "Only every time I want to show off."

Retu let out a wheezing laugh that turned into a coughing fit. He slapped Braze on the back like they were old war buddies. "Knew it. You're one of the real ones. Not like these starport poseurs flying with stabilizers." He leaned in, voice dropping to a gravelly whisper.

"Tell you what, pretty-boy. I've got a real rig stashed out back. A machine with bite. Built for speed, danger, and glory."

Braze arched an eyebrow. "You talking about a speeder, or…?"

"You'll see," Retu grinned. "She ain't for the faint of heart."

Minutes later, Braze found himself in front of a tarp-covered monstrosity in the back lot. The auctioneer was already rattling off bids on nearby scrap. Retu whom was fueled by moonshine emboldened nostalgia was waving his arms like a madman.

"Opening bid! Right here! For this fine piece of racing history!"

Braze, having thought it was all just junkyard theater, raised his hand to play along. Unfortunately, no one else bid. And even more unfortunately, the auctioneer mistook Braze's smug shrug as a confirmed offer.

"Sold to the pretty-boy in the half-shirt!"

The tarp came off, revealing baked-on glitter, faded flower decals, scorch marks, and a pair of mismatched engines that looked like they'd been duct-taped into cooperation.

Braze blinked. "Wait. That's what I just-?"

Before he could finish the thought, Retu triumphantly slapped the rusted podracer frame with a proud, "She's got one more run in her!" declaration. "Built her back in the good ol' days. Named her Cherry Vengeance."

Braze tried to back out, but Retu, however, wrapped him in a teary bear hug, sobbing something incoherent about 'legacy' and 'the spirit of the track,' before shoving a box of parts into his arms. Most were mismatched. Several were labeled 'experimental.' All of them were sticky, and the box smelled like a tragic mixture of glitter glue and warm Spotchka.

Desperate, Braze roped in Zee Caromed to help stabilize the glitter-coated deathtrap before the cockpit canopy gave out to a slightly too strong sneeze...

Signing up for the Serolonis Riot Racing 5000 felt like the only logical next step, because what else do you do after accidentally acquiring a thruster-powered death wish from a drunk mechanic with abandonment issues? He had to recoup the losses somehow before Okuma Milogen killed him.

At least Zee was on board and assisted him in doing the best they could with cobbled together parts from the odd junk yard here and there.

The monstrosity once known as Cherry Vengeance had been cobbled together from a collection of barely-functional, and highly-questionable parts; and it showed. Slathered in uneven black paint, she now sported haphazard splatters of violet, neon pink, and electric blue flames across the sides in a last-ditch effort to 'gussy her up' and make her look less like a scrapyard tragedy and more like a rebellious statement piece of a rat-rod.


Section 1: The Grinder's Gullet
Having appropriately re-christened the glitter-coated deathtrap as The Hot Mess Express, Braze climbed into the cockpit, gave the dash a reassuring pat, and fired up the engines with a grin that said he absolutely wasn't thinking about how recently it had caught fire in the work shop. He was ready for the opening shot...more or less.

The initial launch off the line was... promising...for all of thirty feet. Then the engines sputtered, coughed, and whined like dying banthas before the whole podracer shuddered to a humiliating stop.

Braze slammed the ignition, jiggled a few toggles, and flicked the side lights on and off as if that might encourage it. For a moment, the cockpit lights just blinked in protest.

Then, with a sudden roar and a backfire loud enough to scare a womp rat into early retirement, the engines kicked back to life, this time properly.

The moment Hot Mess Express screamed into The Grinder's Gullet, Braze regretted everything.

The tunnel screeched like a beast from the sounds of engines of better conditioned pod racers up ahead, swallowing light and replacing it with flickering shadows and the screech of stressed metal. The podracer rattled violently as the unstable terrain bounced the entire cockpit as if it sat on an industrial concrete vibrator. The left engine dipped low with a sickening clunk, clipping a jutting stone, and something in the back made a noise that sounded like a coughing sputter as it putted along, back firing loud enough to echo throughout the caverns.

Then the ceiling started coming down from all the commotion!

"Force! I never though this is how I'd die!"

The first support beam crashed ahead of him bringing down crumbling ceiling with it. Braze yelped, just a little surprised by the jarring auditory hell, as he yanked hard on the throttle, scraping through the narrowest gap with a spray of sparks and a shower of dust. The canopy cracked open just a head of his chosen path as a few flakes of never ending glitter shook loose from the top panel and floated back trailing behind the podracer.

Another beam groaned overhead but Braze didn't have time to dodge this one!

"Sorry, old girl!" he shouted, slamming the auxiliary vent line open and blasting the crumbling slab into powdered rubble sputtered away from him with a surge of hot exhaust. The move had miraculously worked, but the maneuver destabilized the right engine, which let out a WHOMPF and began trailing thick plumes of blackened smoke.

"Totally fine!" Braze lied, mostly to himself as he hands worked in junction to all the small warning sirens of self-preservation instinct screamed at him to bail out.

He suppressed the fear and rode the anxiety of the adrenaline high enthusiastically taking to the next set of obstacles up a head coughing and sputtering as he tried to regain sight rubbing his goggles against his fur collar to try and clean off some of the soot from the smoke that blew back in to his face.

The track narrowed fast, walls closing in like jaws poised to snap shut around him. Scrap littered the path in broken towers of rubble and he weaved by junk piles. Braze wove between jagged mounds of old droid parts and discarded starfighter panels, dodging with all the grace of someone who had no business still being alive. The podracer clipped a bent repulsorlift plate and lurched sideways, but Braze yanked the stabilizer fins back in line just before the Hot Mess Express could do a full pirouette into a pile of mystery wire.

One of the heaps just ahead glowed faintly.

He shifted gears, gunned the throttle, and jumped the glowing mound, landing with a bone-rattling slam that dislodged the glove compartment door and made every warning light on the dash flicker red. The navcomp began screaming in binary as sounds chirped to life.

Somehow, impossibly, he burst out of the tunnel on the other side, one engine coughing, both hands sweaty but clamped on the wheel, and his hair covered in glitter, dust, and carbon soot.

 

[Ronhar Tane]

A great starting roll!

Spoiler: Roll log

Rolled once on July 30th, got a very lucky 17 to start.

The hum of Ronhar's TIE Podracer drowned out any other noise around him, as he settled in for the beginning of the race. Though Mahporeem had been an Imperial controlled world for centuries, any attempts to squash enthusiasm for podracing had only had the opposite effect on the planet's population. As such, the Mahporeem Imperial Remnant had decided to take the unusual step of legalizing podracing, despite the major reservations that they held about the sport.

However, their decision to do so would pay dividends later on, as the Imperial Government began raking in credits from both spectators and gamblers alike. It quickly became apparent that their was a small fortune to be made in the sport, and so the Imperial Remnant began looking into the creation of their own, unique podracing designs.

The resulting TIE Podracer, piloted by Captain Ronhar Tane , was one the most advanced and powerful podracers ever constructed. It was hoped that the vehicle's design, and the pilot's skill, would allow the Remnant to win huge sums of credits in competitions across the galaxy.

Today, that theory would be put to the test as the TIE Podracer made its debut.

Ronhar waited for the staring blaster, and upon hearing it, shot off ahead. He immediately activated the vehicle's booster system, as he wanted to get as much of a head start as possible. His gamble seemed to pay off, at least initially, as the TIE Podracer began pulling ahead of his competitors.

Of course, for how long he would maintain his lead would have to be seen. Nonetheless, Ronhar forged ahead, priming his vehicle's many weapons for eventual use against his opponents. At least for now, the various piles of junk that had been scattered across the track were not really slowing him down. After all, growing up on a planet like Mahporeem gave Ronhar unique insight into the obstacles blocking his way, and even at a distance, he was able to easily figure out how much space he would need to avoid whatever was in his path..

​

 

[Klar]

✦ Serolonis Riot 5000 ✦

Being on the road for a few weeks had taught Klar a few things about how the world worked outside of the established frameworks she'd live in. She'd been a Jedi, she'd been a slave, she'd been a child - she'd never had to buy her own groceries. Learning that the galaxy couldn't care less about you unless you gave it a reason to had been a little harrowing. It had not tampered her idealism, though. It'd tempered it.

That said, she DID need to buy groceries, aside from 'historical trivia' and 'hit things with a lightsaber', Klar's only other marketable skill was 'going fast on things'. It was a talent she'd only begun developing on Tython on swoops and speeders, and she hadn't had much time to explore it before Coruscant had come under Empire control. Even so, this background was enough to get her in the (garage) door of a man who owed a considerable debt to a threatening man. A large sum of money was his only chance at winning back the son they'd taken for collateral. His son had been the one who knew how to pilot a podracer, and finding a substitute pilot who could both pilot a racer designed for an Ardennian and wouldn't begrudge the old man his ransom money was seemingly impossible.

It'd just been a happy coincidence that Klar had walked through the door with four arms and a need for speed. And a grocery bill. And a repair bill for the ship she and Xuko Pagoi were living off of. She really wanted to win that pot.

---

The old podracer - tentatively named Goon Squad for the detached satellite engines controlled by the four separate control sticks - fired up quickly enough but stalled once Klar made it to the engine line. Klar pushed her goggles up and gave her old Adrennian 'sponsor' a dubious look. He made a kicking motion from the pit. Klar nodded, then slammed one of her boots against the core engine. Like a tired old lawn mower, Goon Squad fired right up, sputtering and belching out a small cloud of noxious black fumes.

Luckily, Klar didn't need to worry too long about idling in that cloud. Goon Squad jumped out of the gate like a squid fleeing a cloud of ink, the four engines giving throaty growls of complaint. Klar leaned into the first pair of turns, her seat swinging wildly behind the four engine pods pulling it forward like a team of dogs hauling a sleigh.

Nice and steady. No risks. She needed to feel out the controls, figure out what Goon Squad could do before she started getting brave. Klar gave a whoop and cranked the throttle, watching her dials and indicators rise.



Rolled a 10!

◈ Total Speed: 10 ◈ Position: Starting ◈

 

[Kyric]

Drawn to Serolonis by rumors of a one of the Black Sun Syndicate's Vigos operating planetside, Kyric sat in the stands with an eye turned toward the display screens.

Pods exploded into motion following the single-shot fired by none-other-than Rathmar Praji and the race began in earnest. The screen displayed dozens of risks in the form of debris, collapsing tunnels, and of course, the other races. Sentients throughout the stands shouted excitedly. Bookies took bets and moved credits about by the handful as the planet's denizens offered up what little they had for an opportunity at something more.

His attention shifted from the screen to Praji's private booth, taking in the Vigo's security with a measured breath. Kyric suspected more hidden around the outside facility. Only a fool would organize such an event without proper assurances, and no one who climbed their way through the underworld to such a rank could be called a fool.

Kyric stood from his seat and trailed up the duracrete steps to the uppermost level of his section of seats. It still wasn't quite high enough to get a full view of Praji's booth, but it provided the Jedi Knight a much better view of the race in the form of a nearby screen.

The racers arced around a wide bend and shot into the collapsing tunnels.

One of them—a man with the hardened expression of a down-on-his luck spacer—rocketed toward fallen debris and decelerated to avoid an explosive end to the first leg. The pod shot around the debris and accelerated back to top-speed as the blue-eyed pilot wove through falling stone.

The screen shifted to a point further up the track where a pair of Syndicate lackeys buried a sparking IED. They yelped at the sound of approaching pods and hurried into a nearby switchback, out of range of both danger and the racers.

With a faint smile, Kyric focused on Davik and projected the image to him through the Force. It revealed not only the hidden explosive, but the mouth of the tunnel which housed it. With such information, Kyric hoped Haize would avoid the trap altogether and make up ground.

The kiffar paused at that, unsure why he interjected on the race at all. His mission was capturing the Vigo.

Meh.

Kyric had a good feeling about the guy, and that was as good a reason as any.

---

Tags: Davik Haize | Salon Loghain
Reroll Result: 6 -> 11 for Round 1

Spoiler

 

[Koda Fett]

Fett was hardly a racer, and hardly seemed to do much of what one could consider to be 'fun'.

Low on credits, maybe. Someone that expended as much ammunition, fuel, and paid for information was doubtless forced to spend their share of them. But worth more than credits, the Mandalorian needed a Black Crown - in the ever-expanding shade of the Black Sun, a small token of immunity was what one needed most. He chafed against rules and restrictions, and Fett knew there would no doubt come a time when he needed to make good on a score that required a certain level of being untouchable.

Just a shame that he needed to jump through hoops to get one.

Sat on the podracer that seemed more akin to an advanced swoop, he blasted off from the beginning albeit not fast enough. He seemed to be lacking behind.

Razmir Tezhyn

Roll: 6

 

[Maera Dren]

Location: Seralonis

Tags: Everyone

The blaster cracked, and Nala slammed her foot down. Nothing happened.

Her racer, an unnamed horror cobbled together, let out a pathetic wheeze. It certainly wasn't a roar, or even a cough, just a weak gasp, like an old man surprised to still be alive. Her face remained blank. She reached under the console, twisted two frayed wires together with a practiced flick, then jammed the ignition paddle with her elbow.

WHOOMPH!

The left thruster ignited so violently the entire frame jolted sideways, slamming her head against the cockpit wall. The right one sputtered to life a moment later, dragging her forward into the Grinder's Gullet, well behind the rest of the pack.

"This was a mistake," Zee's voice crackled in her earpiece.

"Not now," Nala snapped back.

The tunnel ahead yawned wide like the mouth of some dying machine god. Darkness swallowed the pod as she veered hard left, dodging a twisted girder. It dropped from above with all the subtlety of a meteor strike, slamming into the track just behind her and sending a shockwave that rattled every rusted bolt in her rig. She adjusted quickly, hands moving in smooth, instinctual arcs. Nala remained unshaken, even as another section of ceiling crumbled ahead.

A pile of junk rose from the dark like a wave of metal. She skimmed the edge, but the podracer's right thruster clipped a jutting speeder carcass, sending her into a wild fishtail. The tail of her cockpit slammed into a stack of old battle droid torsos, which exploded in a spray of limbs and ancient oil. The cockpit bucked. Sparks filled the air.

"Just hold together," she growled through clenched teeth.

She rerouted power from the stabilizers to the rear thruster, the nose of her racer dipping dangerously low. Above, another support beam groaned ominously and then gave way. There was no time to dodge. Nala slammed the auxiliary thruster override, venting a column of pure flame from the rear ports. The sudden blast shoved her podracer under the falling beam just as it crashed down, catching the very edge of her frame and ripping off a chunk of the side panel.

More sparks. Alarms blared.

"Totally fine," she muttered dryly, a deadpan remark for no one but herself.

The racer screamed into the next stretch, coughing smoke and dragging sparks like a comet with arthritis. But Nala didn't flinch.

Spoiler

Section 1 - 3/20

 

[Salon Loghain]

"Is...is this it?" Rathmar leaned closer to the Rodian Majordomo beside him, who simply shrugged in shared confusion with the Vigo.

A quick look at the terminal in front of him confirmed that this grand event had devolved into him watching a wookiee lead their grand-wookiee across the street, only to be nearly run over by a speeder bike... traveling at a mere 5 miles per hour.

Where was the chaos and carnage that Riot Racing was famous for? Instead, all he saw were novice podracers who couldn't even make it past the starting line, let alone reach the finish line at the end of Section Five, the most treacherous part of the race filled with a dozen traps or more.

"My Lord, do you think the teams might be colluding to cheat the Black Sun out of its Black Crown?" the Rodian inquired in his distinctive dialect, which was translated by a special device in their private booth. Such a notion had never crossed Rathmar's mind, as there was nothing in the rules prohibiting teams from collaborating to secure the coveted reward being offered.

"Unlikely...look at the list of racers. None of them exactly seem to shout...willing to get a death mark on them for cheating a Vigo. Besides we have Koda Fett in attendance the number one bounty hunter in the galaxy...though judging by his performance the 88th Number Podracer." He waved dismissively and chuckled lightly.

The racing list was once more examined, scrolling through the profiles even though precise details were limited because of inherent firewalls and overall missing data. His comment about Koda Fett was well deserved, as they lagged behind though the amusing actions of Nala brought a smile to his face.

As for the others, Braze , Ronhar Tane and Klar and Davik Haize they were doing quite well and had some experience in podracing which would make this event a bit more impactful to his reputation.

 

[Damien Dooku]

SEROLONIS RIOT 5000
theme

There was an undeniable allure to pod-racing that kept Damien coming back to the track, even when the odds were out of his favor, or the venue was far too seedy to leave his equipment around unguarded. It'd been a hobby of his since he was a rowdy teenager exploring the lower levels of Coruscant, and had quickly overtaken his growing obsession with Swoop Bikes once he'd gotten behind the sticks of his first repulsorcraft in a race of his own.

Today would be no different, except he was in much need of that hefty credit prize that would be central to covering the fuel costs for him and Morrow to escape far from Black Sun's borders. Plus with a little bit of luck, he'd have the leftover funds to cover the new paint job he'd been cooking up in his notepad as of late. And seeing as he wasn't one to shy away from either danger or a good race when a hundred-thousand credits were involved, he'd roped Morrow into covering his ass on the sidelines while he risked life and limb for that grand 'ole prize.

He quickly cycled through his system checks as their host took to the stage, taking hold of the controls and priming the thrusters as a single red bolt was shot off into the air. His chest pushed back into the cockpit as his thrusters erupted into radiant spheres of plasma, the scoundrel wasting no time in pushing its thrusters as near to the red as he could get without blowing his engines from the start.

Morrow

Spoiler

​

 

[Arris Windrun]

BOUNTY HUNTER'S LICENSE #49
Pursuing an active target: [X] Morrow
Other Mentions: Davik Haize | Damien Dooku | Razmir Tezhyn | Salon Loghain
DM's Open!

Dressed in her new leather jacket and armed with a pair of pistols at her hip, Arris found herself near the pits of Safa Toma Speedway, on Serolonis. She held a datapad in her hand with the HoloNet bulletin advertising the race, and naturally, three familiar names were listed among the teams.

However, only one of them would be her intended target today.

She tucked the datapad into her jacket and leaned over a ledge behind the pit stop, pretending to blend in as a spectator, while scanning the pit for a match. Of course, she saw no sign of them yet.

 

[Tansu Treicolt]

​

"Ah chit," Tan lifted her hands from the yoke and made a face. White and pink paint stains outlined where her palms had been. The girls had taken the liberty of painting horses, like the ones that ran wild 'round their homestead, along the twin engines and pod. And of course little lasso ropes in the shape of hearts on her helmet.

"So much for fast dry.."

And hopefully the stickiness wouldn't be a problem on the track.

No time to fret about it. She'd gone through all the diagnostic routines, Talin too, and now there were only seconds left before the blaster cracked overhead.

CRACK!

Tansu's pod shot forward in a burst of magenta ion fire. Not in the lead, but not far behind.

Less than three meters from the start, the tunnel narrowed fast. Steel supports groaned, and the Grinder's Gullet welcomed them with its first dirty trick: a support beam snapped from the ceiling.

Tansu was too staggered for her to be affected, but she clocked the lead driver forced to slow by overshooting a turn after a beam collapsed right where they'd been.

"Woah, woah!" She gulped in air just in time to hold her breath as she whizzed past a racer's coughing rig. It sparked, but she'd expected smoke and when none plumed out, she exhaled relief.

Then immediately gasped. Her lungs were having quite the go in the first three to five seconds of this race. A massive support beam fractured and plummeted. She jerked left, scraping concrete, risking a bounce, but levelled out just as her left engine started to threaten yellow bars.

Her recovery and smooth travels were temporary. Suddenly, the tunnel veered into a graveyard of parts. A scrap heap choking the lane, all jagged droid limbs and rusted chassis stacked like a shrine or a tomb.

Tansu tried to bank around the largest pile when a clamp snapped out. One of the busted units had just enough spark in it to grab for her turbine intake like it had some program in it meant just for this course.

"Don't you dare!" she snapped.

She lifted the pod just in time! Juuuust enough for the droid's three-pronged hand to miss the vent by centimetres and crumple under her chassis instead. One finger got sucked into the rear vane and came out the other side in a shower of sparks.

A little freaked, she checked her diagnoses for any power cell ruptures. Thankfully: none.

With her eyes back on the track, there was only one racer ahead of her and, was it..? She craned her neck, wiggled in her seat, and dared to fully rotate her fuel thrusters as part of her attempt to make herself taller and near-stand right outta her seat. The pod lurched forward, turbines belched.

"Well that sure ain't Midnight." She grinned, convinced her assumptions clocked the rascal from Onderon. She remembered the ship fondly, what an atmosphere-breaking flight! And the boy that had let her break lightspeed limits? Also hard to forget.

She dropped back squarely into her seat, not lessening her twist on the thrusters, and leaned into it.

Around the next bend would be section two. And that much closer to cinching the win. She'd be sure to wave at Damien Dooku when she whizzed past him.

Spoiler

____________________________________________________________
TEAMMATE: Talin Treicolt
SPONSOR: Talsin Lota
____________________________________________________________
​

 

[Talsin Lota]

Truth to be told Talsin didn't think he'd be into this, but he had agreed because Tansu Treicolt had been so excited about it. He also thought it would be a nice opportunity to catch up with Talin Treicolt again. He didn't often get a chance to have a chat with her, but for some reason Talin had been dodging him all morning.

It had been weird, but sitting in the audience and getting to experience the hum and drum of excitement all around him quickly evaporated any lingering concerns about that.

Instead he was all in and fixated on the podracer of Tansu. Eating a bit of popcorn, but the first time she had a near-hit and miss with some droid he practically leaped up to his feet. Hands squeezing hard against the railing, before exhaling when she managed to dodge it last second. This was really exciting, got the blood pumping.

Then he jumped for a different reason because she was going so fast and pushing into the lead!

Talsin, usually balanced and steady, didn't really know what got into him as he suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs-

"THAT'S MY GIRL! SHE'S GOT CLASS! NOW EAT HER DUST, YOU PODRACE TRASH!"

The people directly around him cringed slightly, leaning away from him, but Talsin didn't even notice. His eyes gleaming as he watched how fast his girlfriend was going. He really should get a t-shirt or maybe like one of those oversized hand-gloves with the long finger to wave over his head.

Wow, who knew podracing could be so fun?

 

[Morrow]

"Hold on, we might be gonked!" Morrow observed, interrupting their pre-race checks. Thrust sputtered on the right engine. His voice strained to rise over the roar of the pod, unsure if Damien would hear him even with the earpiece. He gestured with his hand, waving warningly. After adjusting a few bolts and tinkering with several components, nothing changed. All of Morrow's experience with wrenching came from working on farming machines on Dantooine; he was nearly clueless working on a racer. Not much knowledge carried from one to the other. Frustrated, he banged one side of his fist into the chassis. Almost immediately, the sputtering stopped, and the thruster roared in harmony with the other.

Morrow blinked, hiding his disbelief with a tentative thumbs up to Damien. He gave the machine an encouraging slap before sprinting off the track onto the sidelines just in time to avoid getting run over by the takeoffs.

"THAT'S MY GIRL! SHE'S GOT CLASS! NOW EAT HER DUST, YOU PODRACE TRASH!"

A grimace turned away from Talsin, Morrow feeling a weird sort of secondhand embarrassment on his behalf. Wiping the engine grease from his hands, he scanned around the sideline, indulging an odd uneasiness that had been creeping in the back of his mind since they'd arrived. Razmir Tezhyn had a lot more influence than the remnants of COMPNOR. The price he'd put on Morrow felt like a completely different game from what had happened back on Denon and Nar Shaddaa. He couldn't help but feel like he had to look over his shoulder.

Moving away from the pit and into the front stands, Morrow swiped Talin's unattended Huttaburger cup. The nearly empty beverage rattled loudly as he drank what was left out of a straw, receiving very little relief from Serolonis's desert heat. Sitting, he watched the race, hoping for the sake of the credits on the line that whatever he did to fix that ignition regulator would hold up.

_____________________________________________________

Mentioned:
Damien Dooku | Talin Treicolt | Talsin Lota​

 

[Talin Treicolt]

Her timing sure was convient. Talin reappeared from the refresher just as Morrow stole her previous seat, beside Talsin. Better to put another person between them. The data pad buzzed incessantly in her hand. Talin flicked the screen on, readin' over the numbers, and watching the race from the holofootage in the corner. It had a better look at the track - and Tansu and her had synced up the meld best they could so she could have more than one pair of eyes watchin' out for her.

Thank the force their book didn't have a trashed reputation out here. Bets were rolling in. The software had insisted she favor the odds for Damien, and so did Su - which Talin wholeheartedly protested. Whatever twisted moral compass guided her insisted ya didn't bet against blood - and her twin counted more than Damien, apparently.

That next turn looks nasty. Talin dutifully informed her sister through their meld. Take her nice and steady. You got room.

"Hey!" She exclaimed after pickin' up the now empty cup. A elbow found Morrow's arm. "Come on, man!"

A nervous gaze flickered between the cup and Talsin as she considered gettin' herself a refill, mostly as excuse to leave - but Tansu needin' her kept Talin in place.

Morrow | Tansu Treicolt | Talsin Lota | Damien Dooku​

 

[Sahi]

Riot Racing

"A blue eye is a true eye; Mysterious is a dark one, which flashes like a spark sun! A black eye is the best one"
- William Rounseville Alger -

Gear: In Sig
​

Among the ranks of spectators, where shouts and screams filled the air, Sahi sat watching the race. She never found much fascination in podracing, or even take the controls of a podracer, but she was here hoping to see horrific crashes; that was not the sole reason that drew her to the speedway. Her eyes darted amongst the other spectators as they spoke of favorite racers and watched how bets, and side bets, were being employed; the number of credits being swapped between palms, and the amount of bidding credits always changing on a whim when one racer took the lead or one fell out position. Taking a sip of her drink, she decided to get into the betting war.

"100 credits on that purple, rickety podracer," Sahi announced to a group of men seated in front of her, who in unison turned to look at her, eyeing her up and down. Collectively they began to laugh at the female Vahla, before quickly stopping when they realized how serious she was. "Girl, you must know absolutely nothing about racing, but my friends and I will take that bet. Now if you lose, you owe each of us 100 creds, for a total of 400," came the response from one of the eager gamblers. With a wink, Sahi replied, "I do not need a lesson in mathematics, sir." Unbeknownst to the four gentlemen, one of them was about to have a really bad day. The bounty on his head far exceeded the loss of four hundred credits, and his gambling addiction led to a debt that would undoubtedly cost him his life: but not by her hands. That final judgement, and subsequently the death stroke, belonged to the contractor who placed the bounty.

Chuckling, the men turned back to the race, and her eyes from time to time watched her target, faking interest in both the race and bet. For appearance's sake, Sahi screamed and cheered for her racer, occasionally tossing out curses and unladylike finger and hand gestures. Mentally, Sahi smiled.

 

[Salon Loghain]

Rathmar's gaze was glued to the holographic feed while his fingers tapped rhythmically on the armrest of his luxurious booth.

The race was finally beginning to gain momentum, yet it still felt distant from the blood-drenched spectacle that the Black Sun had been eagerly awaiting. There lingered a concern that the Black Crown might go to someone who could tarnish his standing in the criminal underworld, but perhaps he was just being overly cautious.

They had only just navigated through the first segment of the track, with many more sections left to traverse before a victor could be determined. The Grinder's Gullet had proven true to its name, devouring racers and ejecting them in fragments throughout the sandy confines of the tunnel.

A grin played at the corners of his mouth as he observed Tansu Treicolt narrowly escape calamity as her pod glided by without to much damage. Then Damien Dooku caught his attention as his pod's engines were pushed to the extreme, pulling him far ahead of the pack.

"Certainly skilled. Perhaps to skilled for this kind of sport. Keep an eye out on him." He said with a gesture over to the Rodian Majordomo, "As you wish, Vigo Praji." they said before putting down an alert among the Black Sun's enforcers within the tunnel system.

Though the racers Koda Fett , Nala, Ronhar Tane , Braze , Klar and Davik Haize crossed the end marker that concluded the First Leg of the Race.

Section 2: The Hall of Misfortune

Fan Turbine Gauntlet: Racers must time it just right to pass between massive rotating blades.

Discharge Conduits:Live conduits spark erratically along the walls. Hitting one could short-circuit the controls or fry a stabilizer coil.

Old Security Turrets: Deactivated long ago but now they intermittently power up and target racers with low-power stun bolts or ion bursts.

Reminder: This is a free for all race, so do try and fight people out on the racetrack.

Role 7 Rule: This rule is for sabotage, which means you can possibly sabotage someone else's podracer on the track ala give them a engine malfunction. This is not meant to prevent people from killing each other. ​

Spoiler: Race Place

Damien Dooku - 20 Points

Tansu Treicolt - 19 Points

Ronhar Tane - 17 Points

Davik Haize - 11 Points

Klar - 10 Points

Braze - 8 Points

Koda Fett - 6 Points

Nala - 3 Points

 

[Braze]

​

The sound of thunderous turbines echoed off the cavernous tunnels throughout the track, as flickering hazard lights of the podracer bounced off the environment, lighting everything up in a sickeningly, nauseating display. It was a tight fit, with narrow passages threading through the track, making it hard to focus on passing other racers in these close-quarters conditions, giving an overall suffocating claustrophobic sensation.

The trembling pink, blue, and purple monstrosity veered off crooked with shaky handling as one of the engines dipped too low and scraped the ground, kicking up debris that flew back into the windshield. Several rocks struck with a sickening crack, causing a nasty shattering fracture to spread across the surface, obscuring his sight.

Up ahead, Braze could see the massive turbine blades churning just over the top of his windshield, in this darkened, dim-lit hellscape of scrap and shrapnel. He seemed to be just barely ahead of the next fan cycle, though it would be cutting it dangerously close.

Carefully, he veered left and drafted behind another racer and moved to slingshot his way through the opening! But it was just slightly mistimed.

Braze hesitated just a second too long, and in that instant, he made a motion to pull a desperate maneuver by trying to speed up to max speed. Right behind the other racer.

The aft end of the podracer got clipped, sending the whole rig veering off into a wild vortex spin-out. It slowed down in the spin then slammed into a wall, coming to a jarring halt as systems screamed warnings. Braze scrambled, flicking through several switches, buttons, and knobs in rapid succession, moving to make a manual administrative override before kicking her back into gear.

The engines sputtered in protest as she lurched forward unevenly, dragging the pod along like a wounded beast. The next section crackled with high voltage, as colorful sparks arced along the walls of exposed discharge conduits. The colorful blue sparks spat violently into the air, tendrils of ionized air and vaporized metal licking at the Hotmess as it limped through the track, falling further back in the ranks, yet still holding on to the race.

The next section crackled with high voltage, as colorful sparks arced along the walls of exposed discharge conduits. Sparks spat violently into the air, tendrils of ionized air and vaporized metal licking at the Hotmess as it limped through, falling further back in the ranks, yet still holding on.

One particularly nasty arc caught Braze on the starboard side, slamming into the stabilizer coil with a blinding flash and a bone-deep thrum. The entire cockpit jolted sideways, alarms shrieking, lights strobing as his gauges went haywire. His hands flew across the controls, swearing under his breath as he fought to keep the wreckage from tipping over.

Braze was too busy fighting for control to realize there were turrets up ahead, the dim, cavernous track and cracked windshield made it nearly impossible to see them in time. His focus was locked entirely on not crashing the mangled podracer into another wall. But the screeching whir of servo motors brought his head up just in time to see a turret powering on, its targeting lens glowing to life.

"Oh, kark me."

The first bolt skimmed the hull with a hiss of static. As the second shot came he wasn't so lucky.

It struck the side of the cockpit dead-on with a sharp crack of ion energy. His body jerked violently from the feedback, muscles seizing, the control yoke trembling in his hands. Lights blurred as his world tilted. Then his arms went slack as Braze slumped forward against the controls, the podracer lurching ahead in an uneven crawl, unmanned as his unconscious form fell still.

Dice Roll Results
• First Roll: 8
• Second Roll: 4

---

Total: 12

 

[Davik Haize]

With a faint smile, Kyric focused on Davik and projected the image to him through the Force. It revealed not only the hidden explosive, but the mouth of the tunnel which housed it. With such information, Kyric hoped Haize would avoid the trap altogether and make up ground.

Haize’s vision fractured; one eye rode the blur of color and noise as he battled the track of the present; the other peered into a pencil-sketched glimpse of the future: hidden explosives, planted within the mouth of the left tunnel, splattering crimson ink across his sight.

He sharply turned into the right tunnel, surprised by the foreign benefactor’s intervention, and spurred the podracer onward with a roar of its engines.

Zipping past a podracer (Nala )coughing smoke and with engines choking, Davik mockingly waved a hand goodbye.

Ahead, the track opened up. Massive reactor blades hung from above and whirred to life, pummeling the Warden’s face with a heavy draught. But with the Force to his side, the obstacles proved a lesser challenge than the labyrinthine tunnels before.

—
Rolls:
Round 1: 11 (rerolled from 6 thanks to Kyric )
Round 2: 17

​

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Excellent sources suggested there were far, far too many Jedi at this event. It made Jerec feel cramped and gave him an itch. Fortunately, he had a solution, a symbolic equivalent of medicated ointment.

He happened to know something both special and applicable, the rarest, most niche little fact. A swamp lizard called the sleen cumulatively and gently cancelled out Light Side energies. In a perfect world, given enough time in a specific area, they could leave Jedi with fewer special powers, less instinctive, uncomfortable, unlucky, generally having a bad time, etc.

At a handful of locations around the arena, several sleen were carted around in cages by strapping Ithorians. These were not particularly active nor aggressive creatures, just kind of lower-leg-sized lizards.

Braze Tansu Treicolt Talsin Lota Talin Treicolt Damien Dooku Morrow Klar