SotB XXIV: A Day at the Beach

*On a recommendation from Borga the Hutt, the Broker’s agents take a breather on Zegema Beach, the largest artificial water resort in the Galaxy. However, breaking news on a relentless foe puts the crew on edge...*

## Agents

* Balken Oppen
* Durin Boge
* Erdogan Cael
* Gristle
* Hawk
* Kii'Vera
* Nin'pei
* R0C-K4
* Saber Scintel

## Mission Report

*Summary by Ben*

On their way to Zegema Beach, the crew intercepts a broadcast of Captain COMPNOR’s star, Barrett Travik, announcing a hiatus from his acting career. Given the curious timing, the agents are understandably on edge as they sink down toward the spaceborne resort. As they set down and unload, they’re warned that weapons and drugs aren’t allowed on-station. Right off the bat, R0C-K4 heads off to the oil baths to relax. Erdo manages to sneak in his cortosis gauntlets, while Nin’pei gets a throwing knife in with his cybernetic cavity. Kii tried to sneak a pistol into his bag, but was found out and made to return it.

The resort is currently in the middle of the Many Moons Festival, and part of the team heads off to explore it while the others head to the beach. Gristle, Erdo, Balken and Saber are at the beach, lounging and swimming in the sun. Saber finds a large rock to meditate on while Erdo swims and Balken lays out in the sun. Gristle decides to hang out at a beach bar, drinking and observing passers-by when Chimchim heads over and ushers the group toward a tug-of-war match in progress. A beefy human strides past as the group observes, kicking some sand Balken’s way. Nearby, Saber force-projects a gust of sand into the man’s eyes, dissuading him. Taking up the rope, Gristle decides to referee while Saber and Balken decide to take on Chimchim and Erdo. After a struggle, Saber and Balken are victorious, pulling their opponents into the sand pit.

Meanwhile, the others at the festival play games and enter contests. Kii comes into contact with a pair of bounty hunters, Biff and Boff, who seem to know about his past. The pair enter contests to oppose the agents at every turn, winning prizes and making nuisances of themselves.

Saber heads off to the festival while the others return to their places. Erdo dives back into the water and discovers a coin in the sand. He identifies, with Balken’s help, that it is a coin dating back to the Old Republic era. Meanwhile, Gristle strikes up a conversation with a sullustan at the bar, discovering that he’s a mechanic from Kuat Driveyards on a solo vacation for the week. Gristle offers to wingman for him, introducing him to a pair of women sunbathing on the beach. Heading over to one of the volleyball nets, Gristle starts building a crowd, dropping some credits on a massive cooler of booze and a ton of barbeque for the grill. Growing exponentially, the party starts to take a life of its own, but the muscular dude from earlier seems to have returned to continue his rudeness. Gristle and Erdo call him out, and while he attempts to intimidate Erdo into backing down, the archaeologist is unfazed. Gristle, with the sullustan’s help, dumps a cooler of ice over the rude dude’s head, thoroughly embarrassing him while the crowd laughs. Thoroughly charmed, the two women the sullustan had put his sights on come back over, the twi’lek taking his arm while the togruta follows after Gristle.

With the party in full, autonomous swing, the team catches word of a food tasting at the festival and heads on over. Erdo, Balken, Gristle and Nin’pei head to a guessing contest, where they must guess the number of berries in a bag. After selecting their guesses, they move on to make their bets for the windsurfing race that will occur later in the evening. The racers are a Dug, Duros, Mon Calamari, Human and one of the bounty hunters, Biff.

From there, Gristle heads back to find Kii engaged in an eating contest with Biff and does his best to swing the crowd in Kii’s favor. The food in question is seafood, some of which has traces of poison. Kii manages to navigate the contest unpoisoned while Biff ends up retching on the floor. At the same time, Erdo orders some food and finds himself poisoned as well, though Gristle manages to mitigate some of the symptoms. Soon after, the others return and the team of agents goes together to observe the contest results and race.

The berry competition results are announced, revealing that the bag had been filled with hundreds of pebbles and just one berry. The twin bounty hunters had guessed just one, and thus won the competition and the prize: a vacation on Corfai.

Next, the windsurfing race begins. Biff, having succumbed to poison from the eel he’d eaten, attempts to let his brother take his place. Playing with Biff’s pride, however, Nin’pei convinces Biff to stay in the race. The races starts and Biff’s sail quickly malfunctions, causing him to crash. In the end, the Duros wins, netting Gristle and Nin’pei some healthy betting money.

As the evening drags on, the agents form around a campfire on the beach and tell ghost stories. In the end, nothing bad happened. Who would’ve thought?