With the official program of the seventh Swap Meet ending, the attendees are starting to pack up their stalls and purchases, commencing the mass exodus off Malastare. Although many sentients choose to remain behind as long as possible to extend their revelry and take advantage of the infrastructure erected for the event, the skies overhead are beginning to unclog from the masses of metal vessels (and at least one wooden vessel) that arrived for the festivities.
The following is a quick recap of the major events from the swap meet:
- At its peak, over 130 exhibits, vendors and displays were noted along the main concourse.
- The heat of Malastare took its toll on many individuals, despite multiple force users setting up “refreshment” areas to reinvigorate the crowd.
- There were rampant claims early in the meet of sightings of a mythical creature called a porg-icorn by some, or a porg-whal by others. However, these claims were quickly derided as mere fantasy. It is believed that these were the result of hallucinations due to dehydration and likely enhanced by powerful illict substance use. An investigator’s sketch artist rendition of these sightings appears below:
- There was one reported death at the Swap Meet. Elias Pollux, an Anzati and member of Veilhal Nomads, is deceased. A note left at the scene indicated that it was an assisted suicide at the hands of Darin Byrch, but our sources say that local detectives are unable to rule out murder, due to an oddly vague set of laws in place.
- There were some rumors that Gyra Fallon had died, following her quixotic attempt to quaff an entire bourbon barrel aboard Carl Watrington's ship. However, Carl has provided ship security logs and video evidence indicating that his draigon, Norbert, has adopted Gyra and continues to attempt to nurse her back to health in his nest.
- A pair of notable scoundrels, Jax Starblade, and Tomas O’Cuinn, were both captured for a short time during the meet. However, both were released unharmed with minimal fuss.
- The Death Hunt made a successful return, with Raidan Spike capturing the crown, by completing the list of 58 required kills within four standard days of hunting.
- The racing scene blazed into life, with Dac Kain capturing the subspace speed trials and Felix Hawx capturing the sandcrawler race. The Jawa pre-race favorite in the sandcrawler race, Ini Kedi, blew a tread in the home stretch of the race, sinking to a 4th place finish, failing to make the podium. His failure is bringing shame and dishonor upon his entire clan.
- In gaming circles, Seth Haze emerged from the smoky gambling halls with a victory in the blackjack tournament, while the holochess tournament saw some length matches, and is still ongoing as of the time of this story.
Now that the meet is officially over, the cleanup and restoration efforts begin. Environmentalists claim that, despite the massive crowd, the previous meets have provided great insight on how to best protect the planet during the event. They estimate the natural reversion to normal planetary function to take around 2 standard months.
The date and time for the Eight Memorial Uli-ah Gafsa Swap Meet has been set. The meet will return to its traditional late year site, Nimban in Hutt Space. The Meet will take place between Days 290 and 299. We hope to see an even larger crowd then! Until that time, this is Shili Free Press hoping you all stay safe out there.
