An Old Man is Stuck

Naturally, we do not let them out. The guy behind the door says his name is Burabon. Oren’s eyes get wide. “This guy is a hero on Ryloth. He fought for Twi’lek’s to own the mines there.” Even though that means nothing to us, we open the door.

In the cargo bay, it’s clear Burabon’s seen better days. One of his lekku is missing, he’s in a cage, and worst of all, he’s old.

We let him out of his cage, and rather than be thankful, he insists we go to Ryloth. I would usually tell him to buzz off, but MRDR informs me that the nav system on this rust bucket is ancient. It has only five planets, and of those five, only two are within range of our ship, Ryloth, and Christophsis. Christophsians kill strangers, so Ryloth it is!

Ryloth isn’t a welcoming planet. It’s full of vast deserts and volcanos. There is a beautiful forest around the equator, filled with things that eat people like us. Everyone lives underground. Burabon directs us to Nabat, a settlement under the desert.

Nabet is quite something. On the surface, nothing but a desolate wasteland but under it, a bustling city. We land the Fang and are hesitant to leave it since the last person who left it got it stolen. Burabon insists not only will no harm come of it but will be repaired and refueled. Burabon is visibly excited, almost breaking into a jog as he leads us deeper into the city. We take a break to shop around with our newfound wealth that MRDR tried hiding from us. We get some backpacks, stim packs for us, and repair kits for the metal guys.

Burabon takes us to a doorway that’s trying so hard to be inconspicuous that it’s very clearly hiding something. After some secret password exchange with the other side, they let us all in. As we are walking in, Burabon whispers, “Welcome to a secret organization designed to protected the interests of the Twi’lek on Ryloth.” I get a sneaking suspicion that refueling a ship isn’t going to cost us money.

We meet a beautiful blue-skinned woman named Nyn, who is inexplicably happy to see this old man back. It turns out that Burabon likes to run his mouth and has told her that we are having trouble with Temo the hut. Burabon is starting to get to me, so I ask Nyn, what’s the deal with him? Why does everyone like this walking pile of bones? She discusses how he’s a leader and boasts the morale of the troops he works with. I’m sure he is a great leader, but at least I have both my ears.

Nyn tells of the problems she is having with Temo as well. The miners are getting pressure from more thugs than usual, and she suspects Temo is behind it. If we help her out, she will refuel and repair our ship along with appropriate payment. It’s a bad deal, but we know we’ll need to handle Temo at some point, so we might as well get paid. We ask for dinner recommendations to discuss it amongst ourselves.

At the glowing recommendation of Nyn, we go to Palpatinos, a place with something called unlimited pasta. Oren breaks all social norms and goes to the bathroom before we even order. I thought I was helping him out by ordering for him, but I guess he does like calamari. He throws a tantrum, saying I’m insulting his Quarran culture or something, and insists on getting something else. So now we have to wait for him to get his new order while we have all already eaten.

To fill the hours this is turning into, Oren regals us stories of his imperial days. While manufacturing droids for the empire, Oren used to put protocol droids heads on battle droids' bodies by mistake. It’s quite an amusing tale, but MRDR seems to be having none of it. Without any warning, he powers down at the table. We honestly thought he died, or whatever the droid equivalent is, except he was still emitting a low humming sound from time to time. Because there is no way we are carrying a 2-ton hunk of metal, we leave him there before the check comes and head back to the hideout.