One evening while emptying the sand out of my boots, just outside my tiny habitation pod, I suddenly hear a startling amount of commotion from some of the locals. The guy whose pod is closest to mine comes running by with two more fellas and shouts at me.
“Giant sand spiders just outside the south wall! Grab your weapon!”
I hastily throw my boots back on, filling them with more sand than I had actually emptied, shoulder my laser rifle, and join them as we rush across to the area in front of the South Gate of the outpost. Following them up the stairs to the top of the watchtower, I look out over the vast, barren landscape out beyond the wall.
The light is starting to get a little dim, but it’s still bright enough to allow me a good view of the handful of huge desert dwelling arachnids that are about a hundred feet past the barrier. I can even see the gobs of venom, or mucous, or whatever it is that’s dripping from their jaws, glinting in the low sun behind me.
“Looks like they’re just foraging right now, but I’d say they’re definitely a little too close for comfort. Those things come over the wall and we’ve got some real trouble,” I say.
“We can’t risk it,” my neighbor says. “We gotta destroy ’em before that happens.”
“Then I will do what I can to help you protect our community,” I say as I swear the vow with my iron pendant in my hand that’s been passed down to me through generations. It was crafted from pieces of the immense starship that carried my great great grandfather and his family to their new home in the forge two centuries ago.
[Swear an Iron Vow – Weak Hit]
“….but given the size of those things, I’m not sure of the best way to proceed. I’ve never seen these creatures before; do any of you know if they have any special vulnerabilities?”
One of the guys says, “I know they can shoot their poison a long way. So, we don’t want to get too close.”
My neighbor asks me, “you got any long range weapons or explosives?”
Wracking my brain to try and remember what gear I have in my hut, (it’s been awhile since I’ve needed anything other than a rifle), I answer,
“I just have a blaster rifle, no explosives. And my laser pistol.”
“It’ll be better’n nothing,“ he answers.
“What if we try and draw ‘em away with hover bikes or some other vehicle?” I ask.
“Worth a try,” my neighbor says. “Let’s go!”
Descending from the watchtower, the four of us run to the west gate, where a number of bikes are parked, including mine. I suddenly get an idea. I jump in and lay out my plan.
“Two to a bike, one drives, one shoots. We draw them east, through that big boulder field out there. I’ll lead.”
We mount up, don our helmets and fire up our engines, and then I give a quick nod to everyone. When we all signal that we’re ready, one of the other settlement guys pulls the lever and opens the gate.
“HOLD ON!” I yell, before gunning the throttle, which causes the hover bike to lurch forward. The other three bikes follow and fan out as we turn right and head along the perimeter towards the south side of the settlement.
As soon as we turn the corner, we find ourselves face to face with the four giant sand spiders, which look a whole lot bigger and considerably more terrifying up close from ground level. The biggest one is twenty feet tall, and I suddenly get a feeling that this was a really bad idea.
[Enter the Fray]
[Miss: 1 + 1 + 0 = 2 vs 3 | 8]
“Oh Fuck…!”
I can’t help but wonder what’s going through my gunner’s mind.. or his pants for that matter, as I slam the throttle and race forward. I get a little disoriented at first and almost lose track of the other three bikes, but then we manage to hold a line as we speed over the sand towards the boulder field up ahead.
Glancing at the rear view screen, I can see the huge arachnids scurrying right behind us at surprising speed on their long, clawed, jointed legs. My plan is working OK… maybe a bit too well, though. I know that the gunners are taking shots, but at this speed, I’m sure it’s really hard for them to aim.
The high pitched whine of the four bikes racing side by side is almost deafening, but it’s not like I’m paying any attention to sound. All of my focus is trained on the maze of rocks that’s getting closer by the second.
It’s pure chaos when we hit the field, and it takes every bit of control as we weave and bob, hoping to gain some ground.
[React Under Fire]
[Weak Hit: 2 + 3 + 0 = 5 vs 7 | 4]
Unfortunately, the rocky terrain is way trickier to navigate than we anticipated, and our hopes for any kind of advantage are quickly thrown back in our faces. The bikes bash and scrape against the boulders, slowing our momentum and almost knocking off our gunners who are holding on for dear life.
As it turns out, the spiders are more maneuverable in here than we are, and as that wasn’t bad enough, that’s when they start spitting.
[Clash]
[Weak Hit: 3 + 3 + 0 = 6 vs 4 | 10]
It’s everything we can do to try and dodge the deadly, poisonous mucous globs that shoot forth from the spiders’ maws. At this point, I’m feeling like a fool for getting us all into this situation, which is not going nearly as well as I would have hoped.
And I’m totally rusty… like I’m not firing on all power cores. I steer hard and make a series of quick, evasive slalom turns to avoid getting hit… Hopefully my gunner will hang on, although he’s got a direct view of what’s going on back there, so I have to trust him.
[Pay the Price]
[Withstand Damage] – Weak Hit
At one point, I’m a little slow to correct my steering when trying to pull a quick turn around a particular large boulder. The back end of the bike slams into the rock, bashing right into the compression intake and causing a huge stream of black smoke to spill out of the side. I can hear the engine start to sputter a bit, but for now it’s holding on. I don’t think I want to chance another hit like that, though.
I steer for a straight shot down a long section that widens out a few hundred feet ahead. I’m not exactly sure where the other three bikes are, but I can’t worry about that right now. I gotta get this thing steady so that my gunner can get a couple of good shots off.
[React Under Fire] – Weak hit, changed to strong hit (Fugitive Asset: 1/4)
My plan works, and as we speed down the straightaway, I hold the bike as steady as I can while the guy on the back does his thing.
[Strike] – Weak hit changed to Strong hit (Fugitive: 2/4)
Glancing down down at the rear view screen for a brief second, I can see that it worked. He gets a good aim and shoots the thing right in the head with his blaster rifle, which has a lot of punch for a handheld weapon. I spin my head around to see the huge creature buckle and slam into the ground, and then I look back and try and spot the others.
Fortunately, all three bikes are still up and running, and it looks like they’ve had the same kind of success… two more of the spiders are down, with just one left.
Gunning the throttle, I veer left to close the distance between me and the fourth spider, as it continues to chase the other bike through this large open gap. It appears to be gaining on the bike, so we’ve got to act fast, because the end of this straightaway is coming to an end up ahead. If we can’t bring this one down before we hit the next boulder field, we could have trouble, because as we’ve discovered, those things are way more maneuverable than we are in the tight rocks.
I try to hold the bike as steady as I can… as do the other two who are spread out behind me, hopping that our gunners can get another good shot.
[Take Decisive Action]
[Progress Roll: Sand spiders :Strong Hit = 9 vs 2 | 1]
With the end of the straightaway coming up quickly and the wind buzzing by my helmet vents, I can hear the blast from my gunner’s rifle right over my head. It’s a direct hit! The other two guys fire as well, and we all watch as they pock the hard exoshell of the last spider with explosive divots, as each laser blast lights up with a bright red burst. The huge arachnid buckles and crashes to the sand, dead.
We speed by the body at a blazingly fast clip, and I have to make a quick bump in my steering to avoid hitting it. I twist my head momentarily to glance at the dead creature as we pass, marveling in a bit of terror how big these things are and just how close we all got to being toast.
Things could have gone so much worse for us, and it would have largely been my fault. I felt totally in over my head for most of this chase, and had that sinking feeling that I’d made a really bad decision that was going to get us all killed.
Fortunately, I didn’t – somehow, I was able to get my wits about me and bring myself under control. The worst of it was a damaged bike, but that can be fixed. I would hate to have been the guy to lose his gunner… or worse.
We all slow down and come to a stop a few hundred feet past the dead spider, kill our engines and dismount. I almost feel sick to my stomach, but I’m able to hold it down.
“Damn… that was close. Good shooting, guys, and damn good driving, everyone!” my neighbor says.
I speak up. “Man, I wasn’t sure we were gonna get out of that one. I thought for sure we’d have the upper hand in the tight rocks, so it’s a good thing we had this wide open basin in front of us.”
Part of me wants to apologize, seeing how this was all my idea, but I hold my tongue. You don’t second guess yourself in times like this, you just run with how it all played out, and in this case, it all ended ok.
My neighbor introduces himself. “We’ve seen each other around a lot, but I don’t think we’ve ever met. I’m Fletcher. Fletcher Arden.”
“Dash,” I say. “Good to meet you, Fletcher.”
I meet the other guys as well, and after a brief rest, we look at my hover bike. It appears to be more damaged that I thought, and may not even be able to make it back.
One of the guys is a mechanic, so he takes a closer look. He thinks it can be fixed here, and that it won’t take very long. Still, it’s getting close to dark, and we don’t necessarily want to get caught out here at nighttime.
I suggest that someone go back and at least report that we’re out here, just in case anything happens, and then come back in case we can’t get it going and need a ride back. Worst that happens, we leave the bike out here and come back tomorrow. Two of the guys get back on their bikes and take off.
Fortunately, it proves to be a relatively quick fix; he’s able to jury rig it with some hose clamps and instasteel epoxy. Just when the guys return, we get my bike started again and return to the outpost.
[Fulfill an Iron Vow] – Strong Hit
I feel good that I was able to do my part and help preventwhat could have been a horrific disaster, if those sand spiders had breached the barricade and made their way into our small outpost.
STARFORGED ADVENTURES 
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