In the Ship Graveyard under the Krayt Dragon Gang's control, Rumor stood over the corpse of a Trandoshan gang member, ignoring the pooling blood that stained his boots.
He had just had a very enlightening conversation with the thug - at knife-point. Now he was a little clearer on what the Krayt Dragon Gang's current foothold in the criminal underworld of Mos Espa was - and where he stood in relation to it.
Not too long ago, the Krayt Dragon Gang was one of the three most powerful factions in Mos Espa - alongside the Makeh Syndicate, who controlled the spice trade, and the Agellum Gang, who was in charge of the slave markets.
And those three groups all answered to the Hutt Cartel in the form of their local representative, a female Hutt called Grippa.
And it was to Grippa that the Krayt Dragon Gang's recent fall from grace was attributed to.
The leader of the gang, the so-called Valemerin - aka The Scourge - had gotten greedy and tried to undercut the Hutt in their scheduled tribute.
That hadn't gone down well. The Hutt Cartel had eventually pardoned the Krayt Dragon Gang due to their 'past contributions', but not before a large part of their manpower had either been killed, poached away, or defected.
It explained why Valemerin had set such a huge price as 60.000 wupiupis on Rumor's head despite him only killing one mid-level enforcer and two dozen low-level thugs. It was because the Krayt Dragon Gang simply didn't have the available manpower to hunt him down - especially after he proved that just sending weaklings wouldn't cut it - so they had to outsource to bounty hunters.
Well, didn't that suck for them? Especially now that Rumor not only had received the goodwill of the Hutts for killing some Tusken Raiders, but also had a reputation of Familiar with the local slugs.
In his mind, Rumor's objective became crystal clear. He had already secured a way out of Tatooine, and most likely all the way to Coruscant once Qui-Gon Jinn had the chance to spend time with Alena and discover her talent with the Force.
So, in regards with main mission completion, there was little more Rumor could do. That left only three options for how to spend the rest of his time in Tatooine: work towards raising the scenario exploration rate, complete achievements, and obtain more items he could take with him when the incursion was done.
And luckily, all three could be folded into one. Completing achievements would likely already add to the scenario exploration. And the achievement he was closer to finishing right now was none other than [ Extreme Xenophobia ].
He still needed to kill 4 more sentient humanoid alien species. And guess who had plenty of different aliens amongst their number, and also dropped a great many items when Rumor killed them?
Yeah, the next 3 days weren't going to be good ones for the Krayt Dragon Gang.
Rumor had already decided what his magnum opus in Tatooine would be: the complete destruction of the Krayt Dragon Gang.
[ Side Mission triggered: The Wheel of Hate ]
[ Side Mission description: Your actions already caused an irreparable rift between you and the Krayt Dragon Gang. Now, only one can exist in Mos Espa. Ensure the fall of your enemies. ]
[ Side Mission time limit: 3 days. ]
[ Warning: For the Side Mission to be considered complete, you must fulfill 2 of the following conditions:
[ 1 - Death of 'The Scourge' Valemerin. ]
[ 2 - Get the local Hutt Cartel representative to publicly announce they are severing ties with the Krayt Dragon Gang. ]
[ 3 - Cause the Krayt Dragon Gang to be forcefully disbanded by reducing their members by 70% or more. ]
Rumor read the prompts and blinked. Then he rubbed his eyes and read it again to be sure he wasn't hallucinating.
'That easy? Should I just have announced everything I was going to do to trigger a bunch of side missions?'
He waited a beat.
"Well? What can you tell me about Side Missions, Mind?"
[ Side Missions are smaller assignments that can be triggered by testers in a number of ways. Please explore further on your own. ]
That had to be the most useless answer The Mind had given him yet.
"What did I do to trigger this one? And why now and not any of the other times it could have been?"
In other words, why weren't any of the other trials he had been through since this incursion started enough to trigger a side mission? Being hunted through the Dune Sea by Krayt Dragon Gang members, freeing slaves from the Abu'Arem Tribe, even meeting so many storyline characters at once.
[ Prestige insufficient. Re-analyzing the inquiry... Match with inquiries of other first incursion testers. Devising acceptable answer... ]
[ This is the first time in this incursion that tester Rumor has made a choice with a high enough difficulty rating to trigger a Side Mission. ]
"So what you are saying is this is because I decided to confront the Krayt Dragon Gang head-on?"
[ Side Missions can be accepted or not, and posses no stated punishment for failure. Their assignment is heavily influenced by a tester's decisions. Good luck, tester Rumor. ]
Rumor narrowed his eyes. In other words, it was because of his conscious decision to face the Krayt Dragon Gang. If he had chosen to just lay low for the next 3 days, this [ The Wheel of Hate ] mission wouldn't have shown up.
But there was still something fishy about it. To start with, having no consequences for failure or giving up on the mission seemed unusually... tame for The Mind.
On top of that, the timing was weird. The Mind could read his, well, mind, he already knew that. But could it also see in the future and determine what he would do?
Or was it influencing his decisions, maybe even guiding him like a puppeteer?
Neither of the options seemed that far-fetched. This world was created by The Mind, so it stood to reason they knew everything, from the past to the future.
And one of the first things Rumor noticed after arriving in this Star Wars universe was that something within him had changed. None of the fear, the trepidation, the existential horror from being killed, revived, thrown inside a movie and everything that happened thereafter had been present.
The Mind had definitely rewired something inside his head to make him more accepting of everything.
And Rumor was somewhat glad for it. He wasn't sure he would have made it this far if he was having panic attacks every 5 minutes.
But that didn't mean he appreciated the idea of not being 100% in control of his actions.
Those were all things he would have to ponder in length later on. But right now, in the middle of enemy territory, was not the time nor place to do it.
'Accept.'
Rumor quickly chose to take the mission. It aligned with his objectives anyway - or rather, it was born from them.
Still, it wouldn't be an easy one. A high enough difficulty rating indeed. Neither of the conditions put forth by the system were simple.
Killing the Krayt Dragon Gang's leader, Valemerin, was the most straightforward one, but it might also be the hardest. Rumor had yet to even lay eyes on the man, but his experience and deductions led him to believe Valemerin was at least on the level of a support storyline character like Watto. And, unlike the merchant, he would be a combat-focused one.
The second condition, causing a public break-down of the alliance between the Hutt Cartel and the Krayt Dragon Gang might seen easier on the surface, considering the already strenuous relationship those two factions currently had, but it hinged on Rumor being reputable enough to influence the Hutt Cartel's decision, which his Familiar reputation and Neutral relationship definitely weren't.
And the third and final condition was no walk in the park either. Maybe if he had more time, but to eliminate 70% of the Krayt Dragon Gang in 3 days was far too difficult.
He decided to go with the flow and see where he washed up. At the very least, there was no punishment for failing the Side Mission, so at most he would lose out on some rewards.
Well, no stated punishment anyway. The Mind had been quite tricky with that.
Rumor thought he understood the implied warning easy enough. The Mind didn't feel the need to assign a punishment for failing the mission because it was almost sure he would be dead already if he took a shot at the Krayt Dragon Gang and missed.
Deciding to put the Side Mission aside for now, Rumor continued to stalk through the Graveyard. Killing and terrorizing more members of the Krayt Dragon Gang could only work in his favor.
Did Rumor feel bad for targeting the gang so blatantly?
Not really.
He had never claimed to be a good person. He didn't believe he was a monster either - his sudden bout of consciousness in saving and caring for Shala and Alena proved that, he thought.
But the Krayt Dragon Gang was far from being made of saints. So, in Rumor's opinion, they deserved whatever was coming for them.
Straightening his back, Rumor glanced around. The summon time of his Massiff had ended while he was reading through and thinking of the side mission.
He started walking again. This place may be a junkyard, but there had to be some sort of central office or something like that.
It was annoyingly hard to find. Without his contract's keen nose leading him, he walked into a dead-end more than once. And twice he saw groups of workers - because while this place was under the Krayt Dragon Gang's command, they still had to dismantle the ships to turn a profit - and had to go around them.
But eventually he did find it. A container-looking building near the entrance of the Graveyard - which made sense, most people wouldn't sneak through holes in the fence like Rumor.
The positioning wasn't ideal. There were 10 Krayt Dragon Gang members at the entrance, including 4 elite guards, that Rumor wasn't keen on attracting.
But the office itself was almost unguarded. There were two normal thugs at the front door, holding dismantling tools and looking tough, and another at the back.
For a moment, Rumor thought this might be a trap. After all, why else would security be so lax when they knew he was around, and had even posted a bounty on him?
But, after thinking further, Rumor realized that no, there was no reason for the gangsters to put this much effort just to catch him. Or rather, they were still arrogant enough to think that, even after their fall from grace, Rumor would be racing to get as far away from Mos Espa and them as possible.
A sane person would have. In their view, there was absolutely no benefits and only danger in further provoking the Krayt Dragon Gang.
But Rumor was a tester. He got rewarded for doing insane, dangerous stuff. And in his eyes, the gangsters were nothing more than walking packages of money, reputation, and items.
Focusing his gaze on one of the worlers who sometimes came and went from the office, Rumor decided on a quick plan of action.
After finding a good spot, he simply waited for a lone worker to pass by, pulling them into a chokehold and holding it until they lost consciousness.
Quickly divesting the worker of his clothes, Rumlr hid the man on a random cargo compartment of a broken spaceship and donned his clothes.
It even came with a hard hat - and that was pretty much it. It seemed even in a technologically advanced universe like Star Wars, labor laws and safety regulations were still shit.
"Hey!"
Tilting the hat so it covered most of his face, that way nobody could tell he was a human from afar, Rumor called the rear door guard and waved his arms wildly above his head, putting on a display of urgency and panic.
The guard, a shriveled-looking alien whose species Runor had come to known was called Weequay, grumbled and dragged his feet over.
"What's yer problem?"
"There's a guy laying over there! I think he's dead!"
That made the gangster perk up.
"Where?"
Rumor pointed to the spot where he had hidden the unconscious worker - which was perfectly capable of housing two bodies while also just happening to be out of sight from everyone.
It shouldn't have worked as well as it did. But the Weequay followed to where Rumor was pointing, and paused when he saw the mostly naked worker.
"Ugh!"
His groan of pain was muffled by both the hand over his mouth and the knife puncturing his lungs.
"Easy, easy..."
Rumor twisted the blade and held the alien until he stopped struggling. Then he dropped him next to the worker, who would have a nasty headache and an even nastier surprise when he woke up.
[ You acquired: 101 wupiupis. ]
Rumor was fairly center that the more enemies of a certain kind and level he killed, the less rewards he got.
[ Your reputation with the Hutt Cartel (Mos Espa) has grown to Well-Known (400/5.000). ]
[ Your reputation with the Hutt Cartel has grown to Familiar (210/3.000). ]
[ Your reputation in Tatooine has grown to Unknown (55/1.000). ]
The reputation gain, however, remained the same. With the 3 Krayt Dragon Gang members he had killed today, and the 2 bounty hunters from a couple days ago, he had finally hit the Well-Known stage with the local Hutt Cartel.
That would be useful when attempting to complete the [ The Wheel of Hate ] Side Mission. But that was something to think about later.
For now, Rumor made his way to the backdoor of the office. Throwing a quick glance around to make sure nobody was looking, he kneeled and took out his [ Lockpicking Kit ].
Lockpicking was a skill Rumor had mastered in his teenage years back at The Quarter. With the boost from the item, it took less than 10 seconds for the lock to click in place and the door to swing open.
Rumor quickly squeezed inside, closing the door behind him.
The interior of the office building was nothing special. The door Rumor had entered from led to a small corridor. To the left was a bathroom, and to the right a recreational area littered with cans, bottles, and other assorted garbage.
Peeking through the small window in the door, Rumor saw two bored aliens playing some kind of holographic tabletop game.
He let them to their devices for now, and walked further down the corridor, to the last door.
Peeking through that one too, he saw a reception area, although the receptionist's desk was empty save for a smoking cigarette. Further beyond, he saw the front door, and, to the left, a small cubicle which had to be the manager's office.
WHOOSH!
Rumor's head snapped back when the sound of a flushing toilet came from the bathroom down the corridor.
That's where the receptionist had gone.
Thinking fast, Rumor opened the door to the reception area and dove inside just as the bathroom door opened.
Now what?