Entry 5: Together or Not at All
Sunday, June 29 2003 – 4:14PM (ScreenShot0037)
That night, while waiting for Zox, I actually stood by the Starport to greet the few people that actually made it to Lok. Every last person who landed was valuable to me. If they took the time to go to Lok, then they were “my kind of people.” Some of them would join my group without even saying “hi.” I’m sure they knew just as well as I did, that if we were going to get anything done, we were getting it done together or not at all. Almost no one tried to go off on their own for the first couple days. We’d get to the Starport, and then /tell everyone we ever knew trying to get enough for a hunting group. Most people couldn’t even afford the price of a ticket…
Tuesday, July 1 2003 – 1:21AM (ScreenShot0057)
Two days later and they practically had to drag me off Lok. But Kastore and our new friend Fuxu were right, there were lots of places in the galaxy to get incapped, not just Lok. So, we made our way to Tatooine, and carefully ran from Bestine to Wayfar. Meeting Jabba was a goal of mine… during the early development of SWG the dev’s were throwing around the idea of having a “Hutt” faction… and I planned on joining it.
I figured meeting Jabba and spending some quality time with the big slug would be the next best thing to working directly for him on a regular basis. Also, and most importantly, I needed to make some more business contacts. Lok had only a few people running around, and I knew them all already. Jabba was pretty much a tourist attraction; there were hundreds of people running between his palace & Wayfar that day.
Tuesday, July 1 2003 – 3:18AM (ScreenShot0060)
And at the end of the night, after our best efforts to get into Jabbas good graces, we’d head to the cantina at Wayfar, or even risk the run back to Bestine for some R&R. Walking through the door was incredible. Musicians and dancers covered the dance floor, and the chairs were full of adventurers who couldn’t get their words out of their mouths fast enough. I of course headed to the floor with slitherhorn in hand, and snuck my way into one of the multiple entertainer groups on the premises.
It was this duplicitous behavior that really struck a chord with people. The guys cheering on the entertainers knew me from leading their hunts on Lok. When they all sat down to relax and tell stories, they’d see me put in the extra effort, and not just enjoy the show, but get directly involved. I really did put a ton of time into SWG, and for some people, wherever they went, they saw Vroflus.
The entertainers took a special interest in me as well. I wouldn’t just show up and be a wall flower. I would jump right in and share the song and dance. I made as many contacts as I could, people really began to trust me, and I started to make a name for myself as a “jack of all trades.” Of course, playing the horn had its advantages while on hunts as well. Everyone loved a guy who could heal mind wounds. On top of that I had medic skills, so I could heal health & action wounds as well.
Thursday, July 3 2003 – 8:15AM (ScreenShot0071)
It was in the foggy cantinas of Tatooine that I met Khan & Rudd. They were two Trandoshan aspiring smugglers who heard it through the grapevine that I could help them get fast XP by hunting Kimos. They made me a proposition I couldn’t refuse: if I lead them to Kimos, they wouldn’t forget me when they were master slicers. I loved the concept of trading services rather than credits, so of course I accepted and caught the next boat back to Lok.
On the way, I dialed up Kharist, a Trandoshan rifleman who was one of the most surprising finds of the time. While most people thought it to be crazy to go off on your own when it came to Lok… Kharist made a name for herself by rolling solo. At times I thought I was seeing a ghost during my hunts. Amid the blaster fire confusion, I kept thinking I saw someone off in the distance, just watching us. I ended up being right.
Kharist contacted me and had me meet her at Nyms Cantina earlier in the week. She knew all about me. She knew I was the one leading hunts around Lok, and she went on to tell me that she knew Lok better then I did. I was impressed with what I heard, but I was more impressed with Kharist’s uncanny knack to retrieve a corpse no matter what was camping above it. So, we made a deal… I wouldn’t lead hunts north of the Starport, and in exchange, Kharist would come to the rescue if anyone in my group couldn’t retrieve their corpse. It was a fair deal, and it lasted about 2 days before Kharist couldn’t resist hanging out with my friends and I.