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STAR WARS - Dawn of Defiance
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<blockquote data-quote="Nebulous" data-source="post: 4441540" data-attributes="member: 31465"><p><span style="font-size: 15px">Adventure #4: The Rescue</span></p><p></p><p><strong>Part 2: Mutations</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>The heroes scamper into the ventilation shaft one at a time, replacing the grate behind them. Tomla listens carefully, hears nothing, and finally cuts away the last grate and looks down, using his long neck to swivel his gaze around like a reverse periscope. </p><p></p><p>The hallway is quiet and empty, all dark gray somber metal. After a short discussion among themselves, they try to jump down ten feet to the floor. The Jedi isn’t so quiet though, and bangs his knee to the floor, grunting in pain. Vazus is the last down, and they all assess their environment. A long corridor stretches ahead, and A’ath the zabrak spots what looks like a turbolift at one end. Around the corner next to them is another L-junction. They proceed toward the small turbo-lift and find that it is locked down with a code cylinder. </p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/prison3.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p><span style="color: red"></span></p><p><span style="color: red">[GM Note: The sublevel floor tiles are from the DOOM boardgame, supplemented by SW Galaxy Tiles; I like the former even better, actually. They lock together too].</span></p><p></p><p>Nep’Tuk considers hacking into the network to stop anyone from using the turbolift, but realizes that failure will activate the alarms, and he doesn’t trust himself messing around with hostile Imperial AI. Not yet anyway. Nep’Tuck thinks back, remembering the layout of the surface structure, and their path so far. It is a reasonable assumption that the E-Web blaster and the front of the facility are above them, which also houses the command center.</p><p></p><p>They see a door ahead, and after some careful scouting, A’ath finds a wide room with a big turbolift, two doors, and a passage leading out. They have several options now. There is another control panel for this lift, but once again, it needs a code-cylinder to operate. They are surrounded by a deep, throbbing thrum, as if there were some kind of mechanical machinery humming behind the walls. They decide to investigate the nearest door, and see from the green function light that the entrance is unlocked. They stand two to each side, armed, and A’ath waves his hand over the panel. The door SWISSHES open, and peeking in, he immediately sees two peculiar droids standing in front of a shimmering blue force field. </p><p></p><p>Their heads instantly rise, regarding them with singular flashing red photoreceptors. </p><p></p><p>“STATE YOUR BUSINESS! STATE YOUR BUSINESS!” they drone in unison.</p><p></p><p>“Who’s there?” says a human voice from around a corner. </p><p></p><p>The group answers with a hail of blaster fire, but they only manage to nick the robots. The Warden Droids launch into motion, arms raised that sputter blue sparks from the tips. Both droids pour out of the entryway and attack Tomla and A’ath, trying to stun them. A guard positions himself inside the room, and aiming past the Warden Droid, rips a blaster bolt into Vazus Mandrake for a bad critical hit. The Commander staggers, is knocked down the Condition Track, but stays on his feet. </p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/fight1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>The battle is fast and heated, but soon the trooper is down, and one of the warden droids explodes into a hot pile of twisted slag. But a second human guard is the chamber, and Tomla bodily tosses the remaining Warden Droid into him with the Force. Both slam into the wall, but it doesn’t do significant damage, and soon the warden droid is back in the fight while the guard closes the door. But the closed door can’t keep them out for long, and soon enough Tomla has clear line of sight to the wounded guard, and takes him down with a Force-Thrown chunk of dismembered Warden Droid. The last guard crumples, and A’ath sprints to the force field. </p><p></p><p>Just beyond are four humans who have come to see the commotion, one of whom is dressed in tattered Imperial officer clothes: Admiral Varth! They’ve seen an older holovid pic of him, and he is the same man, although his face is swollen with cuts and bruises now, and his clothing ripped. </p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/varth.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/varth2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>“Who are you?” Varth asks through the force field, his voice muffled. A’ath disengages the field and steps through.</p><p></p><p>“We’re to save you.”</p><p></p><p>“From…from…Organa?” he whispers, looking around. “He…sent you?”</p><p></p><p>“No time for this,” says Nep’Tuk, and they pull Varth and the other prisoners along with them. The group quickly discusses their options. No alarms are sounding yet, and the exterior hall is still quiet. The doors are thick and have masked their battle. </p><p></p><p>“We have allies up top,” they tell Varth. They show Varth and the other three political prisoners how to climb through the shaft, and radio ahead to Crash telling him that the target is coming up. They’ll need to wait in the underbrush until they return or contact them. Varth thanks them sincerely, clamping a hand on Tomla’s shoulder, and with a stern nod, he crawls up into the shaft and wriggles away into darkness. </p><p></p><p>There is more of the sublevel to explore, so they return to the large turbolift room and the second door. They still can’t access the command center without a code cylinder, and no one in the prison area carried one. Using the same tactic as last time, they gather around the door, armed and ready, and A’ath swipes his hand over the motion sensor. The door swishes open.</p><p></p><p>“Put your hands up and don’t move!” he shouts.</p><p></p><p>Immediately beyond is a tall, bald man wearing a research gown. Completely shocked, he stands at a computer terminal, a datapad in hand. Behind him are two large percolating pink bacta tanks, a medical droid quietly working beside it. </p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/bacta1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>“Who are you?” he mutters, and then points his hand across the room to an unseen ally. “You! Stop these intruders!”</p><p></p><p>A’ath doesn’t appreciate disobedience, and unloads on the scientist. He is launched into a terminal, screeching, a smoking hole in his chest, and then A’ath obliterates the docile medical droid, sending metal limbs exploding across the room. Tomla jumps inside, lightsaber ignited, and sees two mutated felucians shambling toward him. They looking similar to their friends in the village, but their vines are darker, and one forearm has been hacked away at the elbow, the bones fused into a wicked-looking scythe. The creatures are swinging their arms back and forth, but Tomla Force Throws them into the wall. They’re knocked prone, but back on their feet fast, vaulting over a terminal and about to hack into the party, but Nep’Tuk lays one low with a hole burned through its face. It crumples, dead, and Tomla pulls down one of the pink bacta tanks atop the other, momentarily pinning it. Liquid splashes out, pooling around their feet, but by the time the felucian manages to struggle out, it is at the mercy of their blaster pistols, and soon killed. </p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/prison5.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>In all the commotion no one noticed the third bacta tank on the opposite side of the room, and when they turn around, they collectively gasp.</p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/tank1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/tank2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p><span style="color: red"></span></p><p><span style="color: red">[GM Note: I found the first picture months ago, but last minute built a quickie bacta tank which looked even better, so I used both]. </span></p><p></p><p>A creature floats within the greenish murk, tubes connecting to the machine. It is a felucian of some kind, but much larger. They’re not sure if it is alive, but it does not move. The group quickly searches the room and finds several items of interest: a data pad on the scientists reveals details about experiments being conducted on the felucians. It is hundreds of pages, notes and formulas and control groups, too much to pore over, so they take it for later reference. They also find a cabinet with 10 stimulant injectors, and corresponding instructions as to their use. The experimental stimulant can help them with physical recuperation, but with the side effect of temporary weakness while their body heals. They take all they can find, and leave the rest of the unknown chemicals to burn once they set off the bomb.</p><p></p><p>One passage to go.</p><p></p><p>It turns a corner to an unlocked door, and after the success of their past two barge-n-blasts, they do it again.</p><p></p><p>“Hands up and freeze!” orders A’ath with practiced ease. A stunned Imperial officer is inside what looks like a communications room. Power conduits jut floor to ceiling, and three bewildered techs look up from their consoles. The officer makes a show of surrendering, as do the techs, but it’s just a bluff. His pistol whips out, and plasma blasts [blasma?] rip across the room. The officer is hit, but alive, and Vazus jumps into the room, firing at the techs. One is killed instantly and slumps over his terminal. The second starts madly tapping the keyboard, opening an emergency com-channel, and shouts, “SEND REINFORCEMENTS!” while the third one jumps from his chair and finds cover around the corner, popping off shots at Vazus. </p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/prison6.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Smoke fills the small room, but soon the officer is shot down, clutching his stomach, and collapses. The technician at the terminal is blasted from his chair, and the surviving enemy is ordered to surrender if he knows what’s good for him. He does so, tossing his gun away. The party advances, but that’s when they hear a voice on the com-channel.</p><p></p><p>“What’s happening down there? Report! NOW!”</p><p></p><p>They order the tech to sit and tell them that it was just a false alarm, a prisoner was thought to have escape. No problems, it’s all good. How are you? The tech responds coolly enough, throwing worried glances to the zabrak holding a gun to his head, but the com-channel clicks off.</p><p></p><p>No response. That’s not good. </p><p></p><p>And unfortunately, that’s where we had to stop after a late start. It was actually an action-packed session, not as far as I wanted to get, there’s still a whole encounter left, a bomb, and some other assorted trouble before we finish Chapter 1 off, but we’re almost there.</p><p></p><p>Next time, Escape from Felucia, if possible, and find out exactly what Admiral Varth knows about the Empire’s secrets in Chapter 2 of Dawn of Defiance…</p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/prison7.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p></p><p>GAME TIME: About 2.5 hours.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nebulous, post: 4441540, member: 31465"] [SIZE=4]Adventure #4: The Rescue[/SIZE] [B]Part 2: Mutations[/B] The heroes scamper into the ventilation shaft one at a time, replacing the grate behind them. Tomla listens carefully, hears nothing, and finally cuts away the last grate and looks down, using his long neck to swivel his gaze around like a reverse periscope. The hallway is quiet and empty, all dark gray somber metal. After a short discussion among themselves, they try to jump down ten feet to the floor. The Jedi isn’t so quiet though, and bangs his knee to the floor, grunting in pain. Vazus is the last down, and they all assess their environment. A long corridor stretches ahead, and A’ath the zabrak spots what looks like a turbolift at one end. Around the corner next to them is another L-junction. They proceed toward the small turbo-lift and find that it is locked down with a code cylinder. [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/prison3.jpg[/img] [color=red] [GM Note: The sublevel floor tiles are from the DOOM boardgame, supplemented by SW Galaxy Tiles; I like the former even better, actually. They lock together too].[/color] Nep’Tuk considers hacking into the network to stop anyone from using the turbolift, but realizes that failure will activate the alarms, and he doesn’t trust himself messing around with hostile Imperial AI. Not yet anyway. Nep’Tuck thinks back, remembering the layout of the surface structure, and their path so far. It is a reasonable assumption that the E-Web blaster and the front of the facility are above them, which also houses the command center. They see a door ahead, and after some careful scouting, A’ath finds a wide room with a big turbolift, two doors, and a passage leading out. They have several options now. There is another control panel for this lift, but once again, it needs a code-cylinder to operate. They are surrounded by a deep, throbbing thrum, as if there were some kind of mechanical machinery humming behind the walls. They decide to investigate the nearest door, and see from the green function light that the entrance is unlocked. They stand two to each side, armed, and A’ath waves his hand over the panel. The door SWISSHES open, and peeking in, he immediately sees two peculiar droids standing in front of a shimmering blue force field. Their heads instantly rise, regarding them with singular flashing red photoreceptors. “STATE YOUR BUSINESS! STATE YOUR BUSINESS!” they drone in unison. “Who’s there?” says a human voice from around a corner. The group answers with a hail of blaster fire, but they only manage to nick the robots. The Warden Droids launch into motion, arms raised that sputter blue sparks from the tips. Both droids pour out of the entryway and attack Tomla and A’ath, trying to stun them. A guard positions himself inside the room, and aiming past the Warden Droid, rips a blaster bolt into Vazus Mandrake for a bad critical hit. The Commander staggers, is knocked down the Condition Track, but stays on his feet. [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/fight1.jpg[/img] The battle is fast and heated, but soon the trooper is down, and one of the warden droids explodes into a hot pile of twisted slag. But a second human guard is the chamber, and Tomla bodily tosses the remaining Warden Droid into him with the Force. Both slam into the wall, but it doesn’t do significant damage, and soon the warden droid is back in the fight while the guard closes the door. But the closed door can’t keep them out for long, and soon enough Tomla has clear line of sight to the wounded guard, and takes him down with a Force-Thrown chunk of dismembered Warden Droid. The last guard crumples, and A’ath sprints to the force field. Just beyond are four humans who have come to see the commotion, one of whom is dressed in tattered Imperial officer clothes: Admiral Varth! They’ve seen an older holovid pic of him, and he is the same man, although his face is swollen with cuts and bruises now, and his clothing ripped. [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/varth.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/varth2.jpg[/img] “Who are you?” Varth asks through the force field, his voice muffled. A’ath disengages the field and steps through. “We’re to save you.” “From…from…Organa?” he whispers, looking around. “He…sent you?” “No time for this,” says Nep’Tuk, and they pull Varth and the other prisoners along with them. The group quickly discusses their options. No alarms are sounding yet, and the exterior hall is still quiet. The doors are thick and have masked their battle. “We have allies up top,” they tell Varth. They show Varth and the other three political prisoners how to climb through the shaft, and radio ahead to Crash telling him that the target is coming up. They’ll need to wait in the underbrush until they return or contact them. Varth thanks them sincerely, clamping a hand on Tomla’s shoulder, and with a stern nod, he crawls up into the shaft and wriggles away into darkness. There is more of the sublevel to explore, so they return to the large turbolift room and the second door. They still can’t access the command center without a code cylinder, and no one in the prison area carried one. Using the same tactic as last time, they gather around the door, armed and ready, and A’ath swipes his hand over the motion sensor. The door swishes open. “Put your hands up and don’t move!” he shouts. Immediately beyond is a tall, bald man wearing a research gown. Completely shocked, he stands at a computer terminal, a datapad in hand. Behind him are two large percolating pink bacta tanks, a medical droid quietly working beside it. [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/bacta1.jpg[/img] “Who are you?” he mutters, and then points his hand across the room to an unseen ally. “You! Stop these intruders!” A’ath doesn’t appreciate disobedience, and unloads on the scientist. He is launched into a terminal, screeching, a smoking hole in his chest, and then A’ath obliterates the docile medical droid, sending metal limbs exploding across the room. Tomla jumps inside, lightsaber ignited, and sees two mutated felucians shambling toward him. They looking similar to their friends in the village, but their vines are darker, and one forearm has been hacked away at the elbow, the bones fused into a wicked-looking scythe. The creatures are swinging their arms back and forth, but Tomla Force Throws them into the wall. They’re knocked prone, but back on their feet fast, vaulting over a terminal and about to hack into the party, but Nep’Tuk lays one low with a hole burned through its face. It crumples, dead, and Tomla pulls down one of the pink bacta tanks atop the other, momentarily pinning it. Liquid splashes out, pooling around their feet, but by the time the felucian manages to struggle out, it is at the mercy of their blaster pistols, and soon killed. [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/prison5.jpg[/img] In all the commotion no one noticed the third bacta tank on the opposite side of the room, and when they turn around, they collectively gasp. [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/tank1.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/tank2.jpg[/img] [color=red] [GM Note: I found the first picture months ago, but last minute built a quickie bacta tank which looked even better, so I used both]. [/color] A creature floats within the greenish murk, tubes connecting to the machine. It is a felucian of some kind, but much larger. They’re not sure if it is alive, but it does not move. The group quickly searches the room and finds several items of interest: a data pad on the scientists reveals details about experiments being conducted on the felucians. It is hundreds of pages, notes and formulas and control groups, too much to pore over, so they take it for later reference. They also find a cabinet with 10 stimulant injectors, and corresponding instructions as to their use. The experimental stimulant can help them with physical recuperation, but with the side effect of temporary weakness while their body heals. They take all they can find, and leave the rest of the unknown chemicals to burn once they set off the bomb. One passage to go. It turns a corner to an unlocked door, and after the success of their past two barge-n-blasts, they do it again. “Hands up and freeze!” orders A’ath with practiced ease. A stunned Imperial officer is inside what looks like a communications room. Power conduits jut floor to ceiling, and three bewildered techs look up from their consoles. The officer makes a show of surrendering, as do the techs, but it’s just a bluff. His pistol whips out, and plasma blasts [blasma?] rip across the room. The officer is hit, but alive, and Vazus jumps into the room, firing at the techs. One is killed instantly and slumps over his terminal. The second starts madly tapping the keyboard, opening an emergency com-channel, and shouts, “SEND REINFORCEMENTS!” while the third one jumps from his chair and finds cover around the corner, popping off shots at Vazus. [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/prison6.jpg[/img] Smoke fills the small room, but soon the officer is shot down, clutching his stomach, and collapses. The technician at the terminal is blasted from his chair, and the surviving enemy is ordered to surrender if he knows what’s good for him. He does so, tossing his gun away. The party advances, but that’s when they hear a voice on the com-channel. “What’s happening down there? Report! NOW!” They order the tech to sit and tell them that it was just a false alarm, a prisoner was thought to have escape. No problems, it’s all good. How are you? The tech responds coolly enough, throwing worried glances to the zabrak holding a gun to his head, but the com-channel clicks off. No response. That’s not good. And unfortunately, that’s where we had to stop after a late start. It was actually an action-packed session, not as far as I wanted to get, there’s still a whole encounter left, a bomb, and some other assorted trouble before we finish Chapter 1 off, but we’re almost there. Next time, Escape from Felucia, if possible, and find out exactly what Admiral Varth knows about the Empire’s secrets in Chapter 2 of Dawn of Defiance… [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/DoD/prison7.jpg[/img] GAME TIME: About 2.5 hours. [/QUOTE]
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