("You must gather your party before venturing forth". Allowing those joining in to post first before deciding on approach, if that's alright)

It had been tempting to try to sleep in this morning, but there were more important things to be done. Being the "senior" Mandalorian along with Dredgen, it meant she had some level of responsibilities. Or at least so she felt.

The cloak kept the heat from getting to hear, but Raven still felt it was damned hot in her beskar'gam.



----------

Current kit:
Armor
GALAAR carbine
Blaster pistol
Explorer's Knife
Vibrosword
Vibroknife
Stimpacks (5)
Thermal Cloak
Ascension Pistol
Load-Bearing Gear+Utility Belt+Backpack

Varina wasn't going to keep her entire life on her back if all they were doing was scouting the place out. Light on her foot, the Varina way?

She too drew the cloak into herself and let out a sigh. "It'll be good to know exactly what we need to get around here for next time. Unless we just charge on in there... hopefully I won't miss the backpack."

---

Current Kit:
Heavy Clothing
Vibro-Rapier
Heavy blaster pistol
Explorer's Knife
Sap Gloves
Thermal Cloak/Respirator/Scanner Goggles/Water Bottle!
Comlink
Stimpacks (2) in Military Belt Pouch
Load-Bearing Gear+Utility Belt

Soleene was here as well and willing to lend a hand! Admittedly, she wasn't good at this spotting or stealth thing. She was really just here in case things went south. More bodies that shot and got shot often made a difference in the right, right? She slapped on some cool patches for good measure and that should at least make the day a tiny bit more bearable. However, she still was left wishing that the next gig would have them go somewhere cold. Maybe not cold but temperate.

She was a light packer, all she really needed was her fists and foul language.

Stuff:
Laminate Armour
Blaster Pistol
Brass Knuckles
Truncheon
Commlink (hand-held)
Stim (x2)
Utility Belt

Claymore came with the rest of the 'gang'. He is good being in the shadows, but this place will be hard to do that. Hopefully his tracker's googles will help. And, he hopes to not be an problem on the mission.

C-10 Dragoneye Reaper Heavy Blaster Pistol
'Snowflake' Shield
Padded Armor,
Handheld Comlink
Eatra Reload Clip
Slicer Gear
Military Pack
Tracker's Goggles
5 Stimpacks

Dredgen accompanied the group, seeing nothing better to be doing with himself and his time here. Wearing his own thermal cloak, hanging from around his shoulders, he gave a walk along those who were here and measured them up to make sure everyone was well suited for things to go awry.

As he took a few moments and walked up to Raven without a word, his approval seems to have been met.

Soleene didn't expect to see Dredgen here too. She thought he was going to stay in the ship and put his feet up. Now that they were five, this was becoming a party. She would give a nod in return when she was inspected.

Raven nodded to Dredgen, accepting the approval of the more senior brother present.

She from before that Varina had better skill than her with a stealthy approach, so she put a hand on the younger woman's shoulder. It would perhaps also let her prove herself more in the eyes of the others. "Varina, take point. I'll have your back. Clay and Soleene, behind me."


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OOC: Stealthy approach with a cooperative roll (Varina as the leader), which most likely means 1 Boost from the group to Varina's pool.

"We're only here to scout, not ambush anyone," Varina said with a shrug. "That makes it easier." Despite that grandstanding, she eyed the group with a bit of wariness. Having all of them right behind her made an escape plan harder.

Before getting started, she demonstrated a few hand gestures. They weren't exactly nuanced. A fist in the air to stop, opening and closing her hand if combat was imminent, simple pointing for directions, beckoning to continue onward. If there was any room for confusion, well, Varina was by no means going to explain anything more.

Climbing was also not a great way to stay concealed. But sometimes these things needed to be done...

And so she did. She made her way towards the closest piece of cover she could find and patted her body for any sort of binoculars. Why didn't she buy any before? Right, because she was too poor.

---

D2 MM Stealth at Daunting with Two Upgrades, Boost from Stalker/Assist, Setbacks from Baseline/Harsh Lands,Player Destiny: 2eP+1eA+2eB+2eD+2eC+3eS 1 success, 3 threat

"Understand." Claymore says. He looks out at the crater and turns his googles on. He quietly says, "Going dark..." with the tone that its obvious he's grinning under his helmet. Then he cautiously climbs down.

Soleene did her thing and hung back as Varina led the group ahead. She supposed all of this help might end up burdening the operation but she had hoped that the group saw eye to eye when it came to planning for the worst. After what happened, they couldn't be too careful. She found herself look around at the sky when Claymore mentioned the bit about going dark. It was a saying, of course, but she supposed that she found herself wishing the dammed sun wasn't up at the moment.

Following Varina's direction the group easily managed the task set in front of them, far as they could be certain. However, between two options of ascent there was one that appeared more easily accessible but also more likely to be spotted. Instead, knowing how open of an area it was, Varina knew to suggest moving through the brambles along one shaded incline along the outside of the crater. It wasn't very comfortable, even with armor many of the brambles found their way to puncture through and stab at those making their ascent but it seemed to do the job as no one was on top of them yet.

Dredgen notably was taking up the back, grunting and bristling a little when he had to make his way through the brambles. Hacking away at them with a machete-like blade but it wasn't doing all that much against the dry plant.

On top however, they knew well they hadn't been spotted yet.

Some low rocks were nearby from where they came up over the crest of the crater. Granting enough cover for them to slide up into place and peer down inside the open area. However, from even here the tops of ships could be seen dotting a few areas. From even a quick glance they were able to make out five freighter class vessels and a number of fighter-class ones.

Guess it's not always best to be the biggest one around, she thought with some amusement as she glanced back at their rearguard a few times. Varina got them this far, and Raven placed a hand on the younger Mandalorian's back as a sign of a good job. So far.

Ships meant there was likely to be some activity near them. Or some signs of the ones using those ships. Using the telescopic sight on her carbine for a better look, Raven tried to see what she could spot from their current vantage point.


--------

OOC: Perception or something else? I am assuming a telescopic sight-attachment can work similarly to binoculars in a pinch too?

Perception with Difficulty based on Time Spent:

Daunting: Five minutes of looking.
Hard: 15ish minutes.
Average: 30ish+ minutes.

And yes, sight can work similar to binocs in a pinch!

A shiver ran down Varina's spine when Raven's hand touched her. One of her hands went to her knife but, of course, that was an armored gauntlet. She looked back to the ships and pointed over at them. It wasn't supposed to be a combat operation, though, so hopefully...

---

She's at Cunning 3, Perception 2, no relevant talents I can think of.

This seemed to be Varina's turn to shine, so Raven silently passed her the carbine, indicating its telescopic sight. She took up a position near her, guiding her focus where needed as Raven had a better overall view compared to the focused view of the scope.

"Hm, alright, then," she murmured at the sight before them as she peaked to have a quick look before ducking back then.

Soleene was expecting a few to set up their base here but the fact that they were so comfortable to even park their ships here was something else entirely. This went from a headache to a whole nest of trouble.

Varina blinked and held the carbine in her hands. She'd never held one of these before despite her desire to before. Now, it wasn't something she was particularly fond of. Rather lethal and rather bulky, disallowing her from using her favored melee weapons once she was close enough in the action. I still need to replace this damn rapier...

She drew a T-shape visor on the air in front of her face to have them use their HUDs to look. Let's get out of here, nice and quick...

So hasty that she decided to bail partway through. "We won't see any more from here." Probably not true but...

---

D2 MM Perception at Daunting, Boost from Assist, Player Destiny: 3eP+1eB+4eD 1 failure, 2 advantage

Giving a quick look over the area Varina couldn't make out anything alive down below. Beyond what was alive though she could make out the traces of life in the items that were scattered about. However, none of it gave clear evidence of who was making use of this crater. Weapons and armor were rested up on the occasional rack but the distance and dirt made it impossible to make out any identifying markers on anything. Perhaps from another vantage point they'd have better luck but there wasn't a lot of visibility here.

She was certain, however, that there was folk making active use of this place and it wasn't abandoned. Though much of what was down below was covered in red sand she did notice the scarce few tracks that were around. Which, given the amount of red sand on everything else, meant that the tracks had to be recent.

"We should get going soon," Varina whispered. "See those tracks over there? I'm guessing that's a patrol so we best cover up our tracks too." She was now even more glad that she'd done the lookover quickly. Any way to justify the impatience.

Underneath her helmet, Raven frowned, and grunted in response to Varina at first. They had discovered a decent path to use for further scouting, something they should probably consider doing under the cover of darkness. This time around they had be benefit of the early morning, which probably meant less activity as the night shift was getting ready to turn in, and the next shift wasn't quite awake yet. Or at least, that's what she was imagining.

Feeling impatience nag at her nerves, one her hands clenched tight. No, she had to be calm. Patient. Rushing blind into this nest wasn't going to help at all.

"... Alright," she whispered, tension evident in her tone. It was a dry swallow to try to get rid of it. "We can return better prepared. We have an idea now, like the ships." Jyrvess would probably know more about those ships, she figured. Their weapons, how many each one needed for a crew...

Turning her head in Dredgen's direction, she would see if he had anything to add.