[ Your relationship with main storyline character Padmé Amidala has sharply fallen. Your relationship is now Hostile (0/5.000). ]
[ Your relationship with main storyline character... Hostile (100/5.000). ]
[ ...Hostile (400/5.000). ]
[ Warning: Your relationship with main storyline character Padmé Amidala is about to fall to Nemesis. Main storyline character Padmé Amidala and allies are likely to attack you on sight. ]
'Oh fuck.'
"You can keep your hyperdrive! My ship will never be sullied by scum like you!"
She even used the possessive 'my ship'. She was really pissed.
"Master Jedi, let's go! And you! If this were Naboo, I would have you-"
She was revealing quite a bit of information in her fury. But thankfully her rant was interrupted before she could actually tell Qui-Gon Jinn to slice him into 9 pieces.
"No! You can't hurt Mister Rumor!"
Interrupted by none other than Alena, who jumped in front of Rumor despite her mother's best efforts to hold her back.
Padmé stared at the child who kept her arms spread out protectively in front of the much bigger tester.
"Little girl..."
"No! I won't listen to you! You want to hurt Mister Rumor!"
Shala was in shock. She had never seen her daughter speak loudly, much less shout like this.
And Rumor was even more surprised. This girl... all he had done was serve his own interests and bring them along the way. Did he really deserve all this?
"No, I didn't mean to- I just wanted- Little one, I just want to help you. Nobody should own another sentient being. If the Republic extended here-"
Padmé was fumbling. She couldn't understand why a slave would protect their master so fiercely. But she got interrupted again, this time by the older of the pair.
"The Republic has no power here, only the Hutts. And... you seem to have misunderstood something, miss. Rumor isn't our master. He freed us."
Shala finally managed to pull back Alena, who clung to her leg, and was now staring down Padmé without an ounce of fear.
Rumor, Qui-Gon Jinn, Jar Jar Binks, and R2-D2 seemed to have become mere spectators meanwhile. In fact, the Jedi was even smiling slightly as he watched Padmé struggle.
"Freed you? Wait, but I thought- So, he isn't your owner?"
Her face blushed scarlet and her voice grew quieter and quieter under the combined glares of Shala and Alena.
"No! Rumor is our savior! We were slaves to a Tusken tribe until a few days ago. He risked his own life to take us away from there!"
Now Padmé looked like she wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it. She looked at Rumor, who avoided her gaze.
This was awkward.
"I- I didn't know. I thought- I'm so sorry!"
She bowed to him, and Rumor had to admit that felt good. Even at the young age of 14, Padmé had the royal demeanor down pat, and having such a powerful and-- Wait, what the hell was he thinking?!
"Ah, it's no problem. You were coming from a good place."
"No, I still have to apologize."
[ Main storyline character Padmé Amidala is embarrassed by her rashness and impressed by your selfless act. Relationship greatly increases to Liked (0/5.000). ]
Rumor hadn't expected that. So relationships could also swing wildly like this?
The Mind really was a contradictory place. In some aspects, it felt so much like a game, where you had to grind for every point. On others, it felt very much real, down to the most minute details.
Although he was slightly disappointed raising his relationship with a main storyline character to Liked for the first time didn't net him a hidden achievement, Rumor was still satisfied with the overall result. Especially because some relationship points from Qui-Gon Jinn and Jar Jar also trickled in at the same time.
"No harm done, no harm done. Alena, please apologize to the lady too. She was just worried I might be treating you like the Tusken did."
Alena peeked at Padmé from behind her mother with distrustful eyes. Children often relied on first impressions, and Padmé's hadn't been good.
"Go on, dear."
With her mother's prompting, Alena pouted but did apologize. Padmé's heart melted at the sight. She even roped in Jar Jar to entertain the young girl with his antics.
Meanwhile, Rumor turned to Qui-Gon Jinn.
"You knew I wasn't their master from the beginning, didn't you?
"They had no collars."
"Why didn't you say anything them?"
Qui-Gon Jinn smiled.
"Sometimes young people need to hit a wall headfirst to learn a lesson."
"Ha! A truly Jedi-like statement. Either you really are one, or you are one hell of an actor."
"Maybe, or maybe not. Now, should we go?"
Indeed they should. After explaining to Shala and Alena that they would hitch a ride with this group, and that Rumor had already arranged everything, Qui-Gon Jinn escorted them to the outskirts of Mos Espa before leaving them in the capable hands of R2-D2.
Watching Qui-Gon Jinn, Padmé, and Jar Jar disappear back into the city, Rumor looked down at the waist-height droid.
He couldn't understand one of the whistles and high-pitched noises R2 made.
Luckily, it was pretty easy to understand that they had to follow when R2 started rolling towards the desert and waving a mechanical pincer.
...
"I can see it!"
Somewhere along the way, Alena had climbed onto Rumor's back. Shala apologized profusely and tried to pluck her off, but the tester waved her away.
Alena's determination in defending him earlier had warmed his heart. You rarely saw things like that in The Quarter.
The Naboo ship was quite the sight. Although dusty and full of scratches from their escape from Naboo, it was still the most beautiful and well-designed spaceship he had seen.
Plus, it would be the first ship that wasn't a hunk of junk waiting to be dismantled that he would get to enter.
Waiting for them at the ramp was a young human, looking serenely at them. He had a very characteristic cropped haircut with a single braid.
[ Obi-Wan Kenobi ]
[ Titles: None ]
[ Species: Human ]
[ Strength: ?? ]
[ Dexterity: ?? ]
[ Vitality: 12 ]
[ Temperance: ?? ]
[ Spirit: ?? ]
[ Appeal: ?? ]
[ Skills: Exceptional Padawan lvl 8, ???, ???, ???... ]
[ Special Skills: ???, ???, ??? ]
[ Description: Qui-Gon Jinn's Palawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi is destined for great things. His fate is unfailingly tied to the Chosen Ones of the Star Wars universe. ]
Yup, everything as expected.
"Hello. You must be the ones master contacted me about. I welcome you to our vessel."
Rumor returned the greeting. Then he waved his hand and took the [ T-14 Hyperdrive Engine ] out of his storage. Everyone acted like a giant spaceship part appearing out of thin air was normal.
"Here's what you need. Now, I'm trusting the word of your master. Keep those two safe."
In the movies, despite being in the middle of the desert with just a padawan and a handful of royal guards to protect it, the ship never came under attack. Shala and Alena would be safe here.
"Where are you going, Rumor?"
"Aren't you staying with us, Mister Rumor?"
The tester crouched next to Alena and rubbed her head.
"I still have something I need to do back in the city. But I'll be back in three days, and then we are going to fly far, far away."
Alena was reluctant to let him go, but eventually nodded. Her trembling bottom lip was just too cute!
Rumor shook his head with a smile, and turned to Obi-Wan again, who was watching the interaction.
"I mean it. Keep them safe. I don't care if you and your masters are Jedi or whatnot, I'll hunt you down if they have a scratch on them when I get back."
Obi-Wan seemed taken aback, but then smiled.
"Don't worry. No child will be harmed under my care."
Oh, what a poor, deluded soul. But then again, he didn't know the future like Rumor. The tester turned around and started the trek back to Mos Espa.
Means of escape - check. Main Mission - half completed.
Now, Rumor had 3 whole days to waste away in Mos Espa.
Or, he could use them to do something useful. Like completing more achievements. Or showing the Krayt Dragon Gang why they should have left him well enough alone.
Yeah. The second one sounded good.
...
Evidently, Qui-Gon Jinn had still made the bet with Watto, probably putting the ship as collateral. Which meant they would be at the pod-race in three days' time, and Rumor wanted to be there, if only because he thought he could make a killing by betting on the underdog Anakin Skywalker.
In other words, he had today and tomorrow to to take whatever actions he was going to take against the Krayt Dragon Gang.
Already, Rumor had a course of action outlined. And everything went back to where it first started.
The Ship Graveyard was even more heavily protected now than the first time he came here. Other than the 4 elite guards, there were also 6 normal gang members.
Rumor turned back right away. No way in hell he was going to go through the front door.
Especially when they left such a perfect hole in the fence for him. Really, they should have invested in better security after he broke in the first time.
Today, Rumor had a very clear objective: cause chaos.
"Go, boy. Find someone."
He summoned his Massiff, feeling very grateful he had accepted the trade from that Tusken Raider. Although not that strong in combat, the creature was proving to be invaluable in everything else.
It smelled the air, then barked quietly before stalking into a seemingly random direction. Rumor followed it, keeping his body hidden behind the wreckages.
It wasn't long before his Massiff - he really needed to give the creature a name - stopped and growled lowly.
Rumor peeked over a pile of junk. Lazily laying on the ground ahead of him was a furry alien, sucking on a blue stick with their eyes closed.
The alien seemed completely out of it. Rumor walked right up to them, kicking their blaster away in the process, and they didn't react at all.
"Hey."
"Huh?"
Rumor kicked the gangster lightly with the tip of his foot, and they slowly blinked their eyes open.
"W're'u?"
Rumor supposed the alien was asking who he was. It was hard to say, their voice was low and guttural, and definitely stoned.
"Hey!"
The alien tried and failed to grab Rumor's arm when he plucked the blue stick from their mouth. Swatting the furry hand away, the tester curiously analyzed the item.
[ Deathstick ]
[ Rarity: 1-Star ]
[ Effect: Reduce spirit and temperance by 90% and all other attributes by 50% when ingested. Induces drowsiness, parcial paralysis, and euphoria. ]
[ Description: A potent drug with extreme side effects and potentially lethal if consumed in large quantities over time. Despite its effectiveness, it requires oral consumption to work. ]
[ Observation: Can not be brought out of this world. ]
[ Warning: It may result in permanent loss of attributes if used by a tester. ]
Rumor's eyebrows rose all the way to his hairline. He could see why the [ Deathstick ] was categorized as only 1-Star. The effects alone were crippling, much less the long-term damage.
It also couldn't be taken out of this incursion, which severely limited its uses. But still, his plans may need some slight adjustments.
Glancing disdainfully at the drugged out alien, Rumor covered their mouth just in case before slicing their throat.
[ You acquired: 66 wupiupis, Deathstick (x2), Thermal Detonator. ]
[ Extreme Xenophobia (11/15) - Trandoshan, Miraluka, Rodian... ]
Rumor blinked. He hadn't realized he had already killed so many different sentient humanoid species. But it made sense. Tatooine attracted the rejects of all corners of the galaxy because of the influence of the Hutt Cartel.
Anyways, being one step closer to completing another achievement could only be a good thing.
Plus, he had gotten not only 2 [ Deathsticks ], but also a [ Thermal Detonator ]. He vaguely remembered those being like grenades from the movies. And he hadn't even broken a sweat.
Although, hopefully the next Krayt Dragon Gang member he came across wouldn't be stoned out of their minds. He had actually been hoping to ask them some questions.
"Find another."
He still had about 40 minutes left on his [ 1-Star Summoning Contract (Massiff) ] before it entered the 8 hours cooldown period. Best make the most of it.
The Graveyard wasn't as big as Rumor first thought, maybe about the size of two football fields. But because of all the wreckages, there was never a straight line to anywhere.
In this case, that worked to his favor. The gangsters - who weren't the most disciplined group to begin with - took advantage of the fact they couldn't be easily seen by their superiors to slack off in their patrols.
The next Krayt Dragon Gang thug Rumor's Massiff led him too may not have been using any drugs - at the moment anyway - but they certainly weren't putting their full effort on doing their job.
After all the practice he had the last couple days, Rumor found it almost laughably easy to sneak up on the criminal - a Trandoshan.
Sure, maybe it was cowardly to always be sneak attacking his enemies, and using traps and tricks and whatnot. After all, despite having killed over 30 people since arriving in this world, Rumor could count on one hand how many times he faced them head-on.
The vast majority of his battles had started and ended without the enemy even realizing how they died. Slit throats and stabbed hearts, throwing rocks from above, assassinating them while they slept, Rumor had done it all.
But, so what? Some would call it cowardly. Others would rebuke by saying it was strategy.
Rumor just called it survival. As in, his survival over theirs.
All that was to say, when he pressed his [ Standard Ottegan Army Blade ] against the Trandoshan's neck from behind, he didn't feel an ounce of guilt.
"How about we have a talk?"