There's Many a Slip Betwixt Cup and Lip

"There's Many a Slip Betwixt Cup and Lip" is an adventure for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, 2nd ed. It was written by Floyd Wesel and published as part of the boxed set Mos Eisley Adventure Set in 1997.

Plot summary
A group of spacers is contacted by the Devaronian Labria. At the Mos Eisley Cantina, he informs the spacers of a cargo of espionage matrices that belong to an incarcerated smuggler. He explains that if the cargo can be stolen before the smuggler is released, he and the spacers can share in the profits. During the meeting, a Rodian named Voushon arrives and drags Labria away. Upon investigating the altercation, the spacers discover that the smuggler who is under arrest is Big Bunji, and the cargo is in Docking Bay 86.

The spacers break into the docking bay, as instructed. They break into the YT-1300 freighter they find there, but it is empty of any cargo. Voushon and his helpers arrive and discover the spacers would-be burglary, but rather than fight them, he offers them a deal: if they help spring Bunji from jail, Bunji's organization will give them ten of the matrixes, provided they promise to sell them offworld. The spacers agree.

The spacers have three tasks: to find the arrival time of the Imperial prison shuttle, to arrange for a get-away landspeeder, and to secure passage for everyone offworld. In the process of performing these tasks, the spacers meet Labria again. He claims to now know the true location of the matrices and proposes a split of the profits for stealing it. Unbeknownst the spacers, Labria had teamed up with the Kubaz spy Garindan to use them to find the cargo. Although the spacers refuse his offer, he manages to plant a comlink on one of them to transmit back to Garindan. The spacers pay someone to tell them the arrival time of the shuttle, information to be delivered upon discovery by comlink. Then they head to Jawa Traders, a shop, to find a speeder on the assurance of the Jawa thug Wrex, who claims to know the owner, Aguilae. There, they haggle with Aguilae's partner, a Squib named Mace Windu. The negotiations are interrupted by thugs hired by Jabba the Hutt to get protection money from the Squib, but the gathered forces of the group scare them away. As a show of thanks, Windu agrees to loan them a landspeeder. Finally, the group heads to the cantina to meet with Advosczec smuggler Bom Vimdin, whom they hire to take them offworld once the caper is finished.

The next day, the spacers learn of the arrival time of the prison shuttle: 1000 hours. The spacers then set up an ambush. When the hover-truck appears, ten sandtroopers disembark from it. In addition, 24 security officers block off the exits&mdash;both the doing of Garindan, who has informed Prefect Eugene Talmont. As a firefight breaks out, dozens of droids enter the scene and cause chaos, just enough for the spacers to slip out of the trap. They spot Mace Windu and Aguilae nearby; the droids were apparently their repayment for the help with the thugs the other day.

A comlink messages tips the spacers off that Bunji is actually being transported to Docking Bay 87. There, they find Bunji under light guard of stormtroopers and Mos Eisley Spaceport Security guards. They free Bunji and escape into the streets of Mos Eisley. Thankful for the rescue, Big Bunji agrees to uphold the terms of the deal negotiated with Voushon. Bunji leads them into Mos Eisley's subterranean caverns through an antique shop. There, they find the cargo. They next head to Docking Bay 65, where Bom Vimdin spirits Bunji away on the Blood Freeze.

Behind the scenes
The adventure splits paths in a few locations. For example, if Voushon and his henchbeings hear the characters mention their deal with Labria, he tries to cut them a deal, bypassing the search of the freighter. The characters may carry out their errands for Voushon in any order; the sequence above follows the order they are printed in the adventure. The characters may detect the comlink planted on them by Labria, but as this plays into the plot later, the events presented above assume that they do not. Discovering the arrival time of the prison shuttle may be done either by visiting the Dim-U Monastery and speaking to Abbot Drayk or by visiting the Spaceport Control Tower and talking to Beeyon Nace. Depending on whom they contact for the arrival time of the shuttle, the characters may receive extra help with their ambush: Drayk gives them Ccalras Corporation IDs to plant at the scene to cast the blame on that organization. The adventure also offers the possibility that acquiring the cargo from the Mos Eisley catacombs requires fighint off Ranats, scurriers, womp rats, thugs, droids, etc.