STAR WARS - Dawn of Defiance

[Nebulous]

Adventure #1: The Traitor’s Gambit

PART 1: Zel Nonn Station

INTRODUCTION

We have five characters in this campaign: Tomla the Ithorian Jedi; Nahee the Duros Scout; Thanatos the Chiss Soldier; Nep'tuk the Sulustan Scoundrel; and A'ath a Zabrak Scoundrel. We gave the Chiss human stats / feats and it worked out fine.

The setting is 10 years after Revenge of the Sith, and the Jedi have been mostly eradicated from the galaxy. The Ithorian Tomla was a padawan on Coruscant during the Scourge of Palpatine, but he was able to escape. Since then, he traveled on an Ithorian herd ship for a number of years before settling on the peaceful world of Brentaal. There, Tomla continued his lightsaber training in secrecy, but was recently spotted by Imperial sympathizers.

Afraid of being captured and executed, Tomla and some of his friends left the surface aboard a shuttle to go hide on Zel Nonn station, hopefully to find passage to another part of the galaxy, and a safe place where Imperial intelligence does not pry. But it seems that Imperial patrols have increased on the space station, and there is a garrison of armed soldiers here at all times now. They are not chasing Tomla (he doesn't think so anyway), so they must be here for another reason.

And from there, we had to establish some background character details.

On Zel Nonn station, the Zabrak Scoundrel A'ath is a permanent resident. He has been involved with the shady underside of the outpost, although he avoids the gangs. He has survived by working in various cargo bays and by gambling. He had made acquaintances with Tomla the Jedi and his Chiss companion, the soldier Thanatos, and together all of them have agreed to leave Zel Nonn and the Empire far behind them.

Somehow.

As for Thanatos the Chiss, he hails from a distant part of another galaxy. He is a very rare alien in the Core Worlds (or the Outer Rim for that matter). With deep blue skin and haunting red eyes, he draws uncomfortable stares from humans who view him as "demonic.” Thanatos initially left his home searching for a missing sister, but has met with failure at so many turns that he has all but given up. Instead, his grief has been replaced with smoldering hatred, and this ire has been silently directed toward the growing military machine of the Empire whose human-centric policies are becoming increasingly anti-alien.

The Sulustan Scoundrel and the Duros Scout have also thrown in their chips with the Jedi, and this group realizes that they will attract nothing but trouble the longer they linger near Imperial outposts. The planetary security force on Zel Nonn Station doesn’t mind them, but Imperial officers always sneer when they walk by.

Fortunately, not long ago a stranger approached A'ath, the Zabrak scoundrel who lives on the station. (This was not roleplayed, but was described as happening within a few short hours).

The stranger was a tall, red-haired human who introduced herself as "Maya." She spoke only to A'ath, but indicated that she could use help acquiring some sensitive cargo, and since A'ath was already a dockworker, perhaps he could assist her, but it needed to be done quietly and discreetly. This woman Maya said that it would be worth money to whomever helped, and she might even be able to get them off the space station, if they so desired, free of charge. Maya did not offer much more information than that, and actually seemed cryptic and rushed. Nevertheless, A'ath agreed to meet her at Gundark's Cantina with his friends, and from there she would explain how to acquire the cargo.

...and that's where the adventure actually started: in GUNDARK'S CANTINA.

[GM Note: I played the Opening Crawl that someone on wizards.com had posted before segueing into the first encounter.]

Bith musicians fill the cantina with their customary brand of entertainment. Gundark's Cantina is an alien-friendly bar, located adjacent to a droid shop and several other small franchises. It is also located above the Promenade, a place the heroes have already learned is NOT alien-friendly. Patrols are known to harass non-humans passing through here, so most aliens take alternate side passages to Gundark's Cantina. The Promenade is a wide, open mezzanine with four spurting water fountains, imported trees from various worlds, and a few gift shops. The ceiling is domed and offers a clear view of space, although Brentaal is not visible from here.

The PC's have been waiting for this woman Maya to arrive, but she is late. Nep'tuk the Sullustan and Nahee the Duros sit at the bay window looking down over the Promenade, sipping their drinks. Thanatos, Tomla, and A'ath are seated at the bar, being served by a cantankerous Wookie who sloshes beverages all over the counter and growls menacingly at anyone who complains about it.

Someone bumps into Thanantos the Chiss, and he turns around to see a gawking white-haired alien behind him.

"Pla-shuke-too-loo," it says.

Another alien (a different species) at his side translates: "He says he doesn't like you. And neither do I..."

The Chiss soldier sizes these guys up. They look like thugs out to cause trouble, maybe just drunk and itching for a brawl. But that's the last thing he wants right now. Thanatos turns around and ignores them. Chuckling, the pair leaves and finds a table, pointing and laughing at the Chiss soldier, which angers him more than he wants to admit.

At the bay window, Nahee and Nep'tuk have been watching people cross the Promenade, but they both notice two humans in civilian clothes who have been loitering here for nearly half and hour. Occasionally, they speak into comlinks at their collar. It is obvious that they are looking for someone; they haven't stopped scanning yet, but they aren't paying attention to anyone in the cantina (which is not only far away, but also on a higher level)

About fifteen minutes later than when she was supposed to arrive, the human woman Maya stumbles into the Promenade. She falls to her knees, clutching her abdomen, but the two humans in civilian clothes instantly move toward her, hold-out blaster pistols appearing in their hands.

"Hey, that's her!" says A'ath, who also sees Maya enter the Promenade.

Both humans instantly open fire on her, a blaster shot catching Maya in the shoulder. She spins and falls, but simultaneously pulls out her own gun and returns shots. The heroes run for the door, except for Tomla, who uses his Force sense to tell if aiding this woman is beneficial. He senses a definite "Yes."

Maya drops one of her attackers, but she is severely wounded, and can only manage to crawl forward. The other human civilian pops off a few more shots, but they all fail to connect. He leaps for cover behind a tree. Everyone is outside of the cantina by now and has rushed to the glass railing. Wide steps on either side wrap down twenty feet to the floor below. They are all reluctant to just start shooting for no reason. They don't have much incentive to help this woman Maya except that she's their meal ticket, and has offered them a way off Zel Nonn Station. At this point they don't even know what her "cargo" is.

Tomla uses the Force to slam a flower vase into the back of the human's head. He staggers from the impact, but is alive--until Nep-tuk rips through his chest with blaster bolts and flings him into a wall. Maya has crawled behind a tree, barely able to move, and everyone else in the Promenade ran away once the shooting started. She is alone down there. Thanatos jumps the railing, lands on a statue, and hops to the floor, racing up to help her. The Jedi runs down a set of stairs, A'ath flanks on the other side, while Nep'tuk the Sullustan scoundrel and Nahee the Duros scout stay on the top level.

But Thanatos has no sooner reached Maya and given her a dose from a medkit ("V-14," she mumbles. "Find...Sw...Switch...") when the blast doors hiss open and three stormtroopers surge into the Promenade.

"Halt! Stay away from the woman. She's under arrest in the name of the Empire!"

“Set blasters on full!” says another.

Now the characters are really in a quandary; do they open fire in active defiance of the Empire, or let them take Maya prisoner? Maya grabs the soldier's shirt: "Save me!" she hisses. It would be a short adventure if they let the troopers capture Maya, so they embrace the former option. A chain-reaction of readied-shots explodes across the battle board as two troopers attempt to stun Thanatos. Blaster shots warble across the room in a crossfire of red heat. The Ithorian Jedi force chokes the nearest stormtrooper and tosses his corpse into a fountain. Thantatos brings his carbine blaster up and rattles off a few shots at the trooper nearest to him, and within a few rounds, the stormtroopers are all dead with little damage done to the heroes.

[GM Note: This encounter took a surprisingly long time while we tried to figure out all the new rules, so the above is a highly condensed summary].

"We must leave," says Maya. "They'll send reinforcements. Come, follow me."

They grab a couple blaster carbines from the stormtroopers, and everyone runs back up the steps, past the cantina where curious patrons have pressed themselves to the bay window to watch the battle below. The aliens who harassed Thanatos earlier are quick to look the other way when the soldier trots by. "Yeah, and I don't like you either!" Thanatos shouts at them, and they don't argue back. The group of six quickly heads to a sublevel of the space station and lock themselves into a machine room. Maya is still wounded and needs medical attention, but her deal remains the same: help her find the cargo and she’ll make sure they get paid.

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #1: The Traitor's Gambit

PART 2: Gangstas

The "cargo" is actually for Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan, a man who is known to be vocally opposed to the Empire. Maya doesn't know what or where the cargo is, but she knows who does: a protocol droid located in cargo bay V-14. His name is Switch. Switch arranged for this cargo to arrive on Zel Nonn Station. They need to find Switch, find out where the cargo is, retrieve it, and then contact Maya on her comlink. From there, she'll arrange transport to get them all off the space station. She knows a pilot that she can call, but all she can tell them is that his name is “Arno.”

Naturally, they all want to know what the "cargo" is, how much, how heavy, how valuable, but Maya doesn't have the answers. But she can promise them is that Senator Organa will reward them if they can get the cargo to Alderaan. And she warns them that this action will place them directly in the path of the Empire. This cargo is something that they don't want to leave the station, and Maya is afraid they'll find it before the heroes do.

A'ath, the Zabrak scoundrel, who lives on Zel Nonn, knows where V-14 is. He also knows that this part of the station is dilapidated and underused, and maintenance crews haven't been there in over a year. It is also rumored to house a criminal organization that utilizes Gamorrean guards. There is a thermal conduit that runs through the whole station at this level, which is highly radioactive at the bottom of the shaft. Maya wishes them good luck and tells them to contact her as soon as they have obtained the cargo. A'ath leads the way deeper into the sublevels of the station, and they soon find themselves winding across ruined areas of floor. Coolant leaks from pipes and trickles into puddles, and steam hisses from ruptured vents. Blaster bolts have scored the walls in many places as if violent gunfights recently erupted here.

Before long, they turn a corner labeled with a sign "V-14" and see at the end of a long corridor two Gamorrean guards wielding vibro-axes. They snort and snuffle, and say something in their native tongue. Only the Duros scout Nahee speaks a few words of their language: "What you want?" it said.

A'ath and Tomla step forward while the others hang back, just in case the guards are hostile. A'ath simply asks if they can see Switch, and convinces the guards to open the door. They stand aside, the blast door hisses open, and they wave everyone inside. They instantly see a large cargo area beyond, and hear the faint humming of electricity. Their footsteps echo in this large chamber. A blue glow emanates from the back of the room where power couplings jut up from a deep pit, but in front of this pit is an exquisitely crafted table. Standing behind the table is a protocol droid with red photoreceptors. At his side is an R-4 droid.

"GREETINGS! MY NAME IS SWITCH. HOW MAY I BE OF SERVICE?"

A’ath acts as spokesman, and tells Switch that they are here at the behest of a human woman named Maya, and that they are to pick up some cargo.

“AH, MAYA. YES. FIRST, WOULD YOU CARE FOR BOTHAN ALE? I HEAR IT IS QUITE EXQUISITE.”

A’ath agrees, and a chilled bottle of ale rises from the dome of the servo-droid. Switch goes on to tell them that, yes, he has the cargo, or more exactly, he knows where the cargo can be obtained. However, in exchange for the information, he requires the small fee of 1000 credits.

Well, the PC’s don’t really have that much money, and are dismayed that he wants payment for something that is not even his. That’s a gangster for you. Furthermore, they see several cronies lurking in the shadows, obviously some of Switch’s muscle. Switch quickly surmises that they cannot afford his finder’s fee, and makes another offer: if one or more of them agree to be informants, he will lower the price by 200 credits a piece. In exchange, he wants information trickled to him from wherever they find out across the galaxy. After some haggling, and trading in the blaster carbines taken from the troopers, they are able to negotiate a reasonable price.

A’ath and Nep’tuk are willing to be Switch’s informants; if they hear any tantalizing or valuable information, they’ll relate it back to him, but Nep’tuk is pretty much set on reneging on that deal. What’s Switch going to do, chase him across the galaxy?

Switch says that the cargo can be found in the Imperial Docking Bay, located off of the Blue Deck, which is reserved solely for officers and loyalists. The cargo specifically is a human frozen in carbonite.

That doesn’t sound too good to the PC’s.

For another 100 credits, Switch offers to tell them more about this “mysterious” cargo. They haggle the price down to 50 credits, which are swiped off a credit stick by Switch’s droid. The person frozen in carbonite has been sent from the Deep Core after spying on Imperial activity. All trade lanes to the core have been shut off except for specialized personnel and wealthy nobles. This agent, who works for Senator Bail Organa, has obtained some information that the Empire wants kept secret.

Mulling this information over, the PC’s think they have just about everything they need from Switch, although they don’t trust him by a long shot. And if this droid is a gangster worth his salt, he probably doesn’t trust these guys either.

Suddenly, blaster shots are heard, followed by the squeal of dying Gamorrean guards. The door opens, and a large Chevin charges in, a handful of armed thugs at his side, including a large Yuzzem, and the alien from the cantina who didn’t like Thanatos.

“NOT GOOD,” says Switch. “GANGA-LOR, WHAT DO YOU WANT?”

“Switch!” bellows the Chevin in Basic. “You’ve been tromping on my turf long enough, and I’m sick of it! Boys, turn him into scrap heap! His friends too!”

The PC’s don’t really like getting lumped in as “friends” of Switch, but they don’t like blasters fired at them either. Switch ducks behind the table, A’ath finds cover behind a column, but Tomla the Jedi powers up his Damage Reduction and leaps toward the enemies! He hasn’t revealed his lightsaber yet, and doesn’t want Switch knowing that a Jedi is on the space station. Five thugs fire blaster pistols at Tomla, but he is able to shrug away most of the damage. Getting close enough, he unleashes a Force Slam that crushes three of them into the wall, killing them. The Yuzzem is stunned and knocked down, but alive. Ganga-Lor dives for cover in an adjacent room, popping out for shots.

“Muster 1-2-3!” the Chevin shouts. “Muster! Muster!”

And then Switch’s bodyguards turn the tables, and start firing on their boss! A ruffian raises his blaster to A’ath’s head, but A’ath smacks the muzzle away, deflecting the beam to the ceiling. Energy bolts crackle across the room, ripping holes in walls and paneling. A’ath has a bad streak of luck and misses most of his shots, but for what it’s worth, the thugs don’t shoot so well either. Nep’tuk the Sullustan dives behind the table with Switch and his droid and demands a renegotiation by saying:

“Well, I got some new information, Switch – you’re about to die! I’m cutting us a new deal!”

Switch needs help if he’s going to live through this attack, and the droid can see the logic behind the offer. Switch agrees to pay them a sum back if they can repel Ganga-Lor and his gang. That’s what Nep’tuk wanted to hear, and he pops up, rattling off a hail of blaster shots that drops one of Switch’s former allies.

Within six rounds of the surprise attack, all of the enemies are dead except Ganga-Lor. The Chevin is not injured at all, but the Jedi is creeping up on him. Ganga-Lor finally surrenders, and throws his gun away. He is cuffed and handed over to Switch, and Switch promises everyone that he will find a good home for Ganga-Lor in the spice mines of Kessel. His droid electronically credits everyone the sum agreed to for helping save Switch, and the protocol droid reminds A’ath and Nep’tuk that they are still on his payroll. If they find any juicy, possibly profitable information, they need to contact him on a discreet channel. In fact, Switch wants to hire them all as his new personal bodyguards, but they kindly decline the offer.

This information is uploaded to their datapad, and with that they bid goodbye to the gangster. All in all, things went very well, and the PC’s were hardly hurt at all.

Their next goal: find a way to (and through?) the Imperial-controlled Blue Deck to the docking bay, where an agent of Senator Bail Organa is frozen in carbonite, with secrets worth dying for frozen with him…

[GM Note: we could have kept going, but this felt like a pretty good stopping point].

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #2: Escape from Zel Nonn Station

After dealing with the gangster droid Switch and defeating Ganga Lor and his goons, the PCs next objective is clean cut: cross the Imperial Deck and acquire the Alderaanian agent frozen in carbonite. But this isn’t easy to do. For one thing, the group consists of all aliens, and they will have to pass through the Blue Deck to reach the docking bay. Secondly, they think they might be wanted suspects from the firefight in the Promenade that dropped a handful of Imperial soldiers.

This problem instigates a lengthy discussion as they try to determine the best way to infiltrate the area without getting caught. The scoundrel sullustan Nep’tuk tries to hack into the computer network, but accessing coded Imperial information is too difficult, and carries the penalty of setting off an alarm. He does manage to download schematics of the area though. They even manage to bring up employee registers and job offers, thinking that maybe they can sneak into the Blue Deck as kitchen personnel or maintenance crews, but to their dismay, the Imperial deck hires only humans at this point in time (in the future, they will bend the rules allowing for non-humans in their service once the Rebellion reaches full swing).

The plan they finally agree on is to let the zabrak A’ath disguise himself as a human as well as he can (a big floppy hat helps from a distance). He alone accesses the Blue Deck, easily bypassing a stormtrooper guard, and scouts the interior. The Blue Deck is immaculate, clean, and buzzing with activity, filled by predominately human officers and human nobles, although a few alien species are seen quickly flitting across the lounge areas.

A’ath spots a greasy man he recognizes from somewhere, but just can’t place the face.

A’ath sits down next to him at a bar, studying the guy from the corner of his eye while the other sips a tall burbling blue drink. Eventually, the man gets up and leaves. A’ath also watches the two turbo-lifts to the Docking Bay, but does not see anyone access them. Bolstering his courage, A’ath takes a gamble and steps onto the lift and hits the “UP” button.

Seconds later the door hisses open and he catches a quick glimpse of a large cargo bay, and hears the whining repulsors on a bulky repuslor sled; but a stormtrooper immediately outside the door says, “HEY! You’re not authorized here!”

Apologizing profusely, A’ath steps back into the lift, mumbling something about looking for the restroom, and plunges back down to the Blue Deck.

In the meantime, Thanatos, Nahee, Tomla and Nep’tuk wait on a lower deck for A’ath to return. They’re on their way back to their quarters when they spot a squad of six stormtroopers rapidly trotting down the hall. This seems unusual that they would be in such a hurry, so they follow them, keeping back as far as they can. The troopers are conducting a door to door search, and the PCs suspect that they are searching for the agent Maya, and possibly even the party themselves after the violent Promenade shootout with nearly a dozen witnesses.

Worried now, they contact Maya on her private com-channel and give her an update. She says that yes, they are probably looking for her, so she will be hiding just outside the station with her contact, Captain Arno, aboard his Baudo-class yacht, the Banshee. She says it’s a fast ship, and if the PCs can access the Docking Bay, find the carbonite agent, then she and the Banshee will swoop into the bay and pick them all up.

Signing off, they agree not to make contact with her again until the last minute, afraid that the com-channels might be monitored by Imperials. Unlikely, but a risk they don’t want to take. A’ath returns with his surveillance and tells them the Docking Bay had several cranes, a Lambda-class shuttle, at least one stormtrooper and a repulsor sled.

The shuttle interests the Duros pilot, Nahee. He can drive it, and they think that stealing the shuttle and jetting away to Alderaan on their own, without Maya or the Banshee, might be the best bet. They can deliver the cargo to Senator Bail Organa without her. They keep this plan in mind while they figure out exactly how to access the Docking Bay without crossing the Blue Deck. Nahee knows that the shuttle has a hyperdrive, but the Banshee has a faster hyperdrive and a weapons array for defense. Maybe a combined escape strategy would work, with the larger vessel covering their backs.

Nep’tuk pulls up more station schematics on the computer and pores over them. Aha! A ventilation system worms through the station and accesses the Docking Bay. It will be a tight squeeze, and pop them out twenty feet off the floor, but they’ll be able to sneak in. Nahee, Tomla and Nep’tuk decide to shimmy through the cold ventilation shaft while Thanatos and A’ath disguise themselves as humans and cross the Blue Deck. For everyone else, the thought of walking across the Imperial Deck as a group is just begging for trouble.

They set their plan into motion, and an hour later three of them are crammed into the shaft, while Thanatos and A’ath hover at the bottom of the turbolift in the Blue Deck, waiting for the word to move. In the shaft, the grate is locked, but the Jedi Tomla uses the Force to unscrew the bolts and gently move the grid out into the air. Nahee is first up, and he sees two stormtroopers guarding a personnel turbolift and a cargo lift, two troopers flanking an Imperial shuttle, a black-clad officer giving orders from behind a computer terminal, and a bulky turbosled maneuvering inside a storage room. All of their attention seems to be on the opposite side of the room from where the PCs are hiding, and then they see what the sled is dragging out:

A frozen block of carbonite! The Imperials are doing all the hard work for the PCs it seems.

Nahee attaches a grappling hook to the edge of the shaft and drops a rope. Shimmying down, he is quiet enough to be undetected by the nearby guards. He finds cover behind the shuttle. Tomla drops down next, but he makes too much noise, and the head of the nearest stormtrooper jerks around.

“HEY! You! Set blasters on full!”

Initiative rolls, and Nep’tuk the Sullustan is still crammed in the ventilation shaft up top. He immediately contacts Thanatos and A’ath waiting down below. “Come up! NOW!”

Blaster fire rips toward Nahee and Tomla, and they exchange shots, dropping one of the troopers. But then the sled engages them and drops a net over Tomla. The Jedi struggles to throw it off while Nahee retreats to the back of the shuttle again, popping off shots at the troopers by the turbolift. A last minute decision by the Jedi to NOT activate his Damage Reduction proves to be a mistake. Two of the troopers advance, painfully nailing Tomla with blaster bolts past his Threshold level and drop him to the floor. A Force Point keeps him alive, but unconscious.

Thanatos and A’ath have meanwhile reached the top of the elevator and engage the officer and troopers. The repulsorsled wields nasty firepower though, and starts riddling their position with autofire, scoring hot streaks across the metal. They try firing back and aiming for just the driver (they want to keep that vehicle in one piece!). The officer is finally shot down, and the sled whines toward them at top speed, negating all cover bonuses they had, and fires point blank into the lift! Low rolls save them, and both Thanatos and A’ath leap onto the sides of the vehicle and unload both barrels into the driver, killing him.

For the entire combat, Nep’tuk the Sullustan has been up in the vent, popping off shots with the intention of killing someone, but unfortunately missing every time. Soon, the enemies are all dead, but a klaxon alarm has started ringing, filling the entire station with its ominous warning. Reinforcements will arrive within minutes.

They quickly push the carbonite block out into the open and call for Maya to arrive. She says that Captain Arno and the Banshee will be there in just two minutes, so hang on. They anxiously wait, wondering if the turbolifts can be jammed somehow, and sure enough, just as the Banshee swings through the atmosphere shield, the orange indicator lights on the lifts are flashing. Company is on the way.

“GET ABOARD!” blares a voice over a intercom system. The Banshee sets down, a door opens and a ramp extends, and a scraggly bearded human runs down the ramp, a blaster pistol in his hand. “Get on now, fellas! Hurry! We got trouble coming!”

The turbolifts hiss open and a squad of troopers enter, a hail of red blaster bolts raining down on them. A’ath drives the turbosled up the ramp to the Banshee, and within seconds everyone is safe onboard. The Banshee rises up and swooshes out of the docking bay, leaving the stormtroopers rushing up behind, but to no avail. They can’t fire through the atmosphere shield any easier than the Banshee can fire back at them. Rather than worry about pursuit or further revenge, the Banshee engages the hyperdrive coordinates already prepared, and they blast into the swirling cone of star-stretched hyperspace.

Their rescuer introduces himself as Captain Arno Silvermine, smuggler and businessman, and no friend of the Empire, that’s for sure. He also introduces them to "CRASH" his droid co-pilot.

"Oh...who have you picked up NOW, Arno?" the voice drones. "This will be bad, i just KNOW it..."

[GM Note: the droid was modeled after Marvin from the Hitchhikers Guide movie]

Maya thanks them for helping so much, and reassures them that once they arrive at Alderaan, Senator Organa will reimburse them for their efforts. Meanwhile, during the 1-day it will take to arrive, Captain Arno invites them to all rest and make themselves at home.

They do so, and not long afterward, while A’ath is inspecting the kitchen area, he is shocked to find a clawed bulbous thing launch at him from the shadows! It clambers up his body toward his head.

“Oh, don’t worry about her,” says Arno. “That’s just Luci. Picked her up on a fringe world a while back. Don’t worry, she don’t bite, I had her defanged. She might gum you a bit, though.” He picks her off A’ath’s head, and the zabrak isn’t sorry to see the thing go.

By the next day they swoop down into the beautiful vistas of Alderaan, and planetary defenses accept their landing code. They set down and are quickly taken to meet the Senator. Maya has already insisted that they should leave the agent frozen in carbonite and let Organa’s people deal with thawing him out.

A short while later they find themselves in a luxurious waiting area. The door opens and the well known Senator strides in. He thanks them for their assistance on Zel Nonn station, says that his agent Maya vouches wholeheartedly for them. If interested, he would like to interest them in another matter, one where many innocent lives are potentially at stake.

Unable to ignore the threatening Plot Hook, they hear out his offer.

Apparently, an Imperial Officer named Varth has decided to defect from the Empire, and for some months now has been feeding Senator Organa highly prized information regarding secret projects. Recently, Varth disappeared, but Organa has found out his location: the jungle mushroom world of Felucia, where there is a small Imperial outpost. He has been taken here, but dead for alive, he doesn’t know. Organa offers to pay the group 2000 credits apiece if they can find and rescue Varth, or at least find out if he is dead. Organa will also supply them with basic medical needs and survival supplies, and Captain Arno will once again act as their pilot aboard the Banshee, and co-piloted by the pessimistic droid Crash.

The group agrees to the offer, and begin making their plans at once, wondering just how difficult it will be to breach this supposedly “small” outpost on a distant world…

GAME TIME: About 2 ½ hours

GM Note: Readers of the Masks of Nyarlathotep story hour might recognize Arnold Silvermine...he died in Cairo at the hands of some unpleasant ghouls...

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #3: Arrival at Felucia

Part 1: Mandrake


Senator Bail Organa has given the heroes a new mission, and after their exemplary deeds on the space station, he feels they are suitable for the task.

Admiral Varth is an Imperial officer who has been feeding Organa highly sensitive information, and now that he has disappeared, Organa fears it is only a matter of time before his execution. Varth has been taken to a jungle world called Felucia, a place thriving with life-forms of all sizes and varieties. There is a small Imperial prison facility here, which is the equivalent of a small town cell, not a maximum security prison. So Organa has been told, anyway. Once again, Captain Arno Silvermine and The Banshee will act as their transport.

A’ath the Zabrak asks Organa if they can tell Varth anything specific that will convince Varth that they (the PC’s) are genuinely from the Senator. Organa ponders this for a moment, and then says, “Yes, ask him about Project Crusher. See what he says.”

But for Varth, anyone offering to rescue him is going to be an unexpected surprise, and he’s unlikely to refuse the offer! Still, they don’t even know if he is alive, but Organa says he will pay them regardless.

They also ask Organa if they can have a protocol droid to help them with translations, and Captain Arno speaks up: “Well, I got Crash my co-pilot right here. He’d make a great translator!”

Crash sighs. “Ohhh. I KNEW this would happen.” He sullenly hangs his head.

With their plans made, they’re soon aboard the Banshee and spiraling through hyperspace. They eventually drop down through the clouds and behold a massive world covered by thick, lush jungles of exotic flora and fauna. Mushrooms tower hundreds of feet into the sky and cover the ground under perpetual twilight.

“They got long range radar,” says Arno as he gently maneuvers the Baudo-class yacht through the atmosphere. “I’ll have to drop you outside, and let you hike in. Estimated six-hour walk in this terrain. Watch yourselves down there. And don’t play with the animals!”

Blast doors hiss open and the group steps into the warm, humid Felucian jungle. Insects buzz around them, and everywhere they hear the croak and rustle of living things, their cries echoing eerily through the shadowed canopy. The coordinates have been fed into their datapad, so they set off on a generally westward direction.

Nahee the Duros has the best Survival skill, so with Thanatos the Chiss helping him, they try to make multiple checks to navigate the group safely the terrain. Most checks are passed…but some aren’t, and they stumble across a few of Felucia’s natural hazards. Thanatos slips into a pool of weak acid, his boots hissing, and soon after he bumps into a mushroom that blows a cloud of poisonous spores into his face. But the hazards are minimal, and they eventually find themselves crossing a flat area of marshland. A thick haze hangs over the area, and small islands of drier material jut up from the water. They try to slosh toward them.

Just then, when partway across this marsh, Tomla and Nahee spot an immobile humanoid figure through the hazy mist. It seems to be raised off the ground. They have a hard time actually seeing what it is, but Tomla uses his Force Sense to gaze through the mist—

It is an Imperial scout trooper crucified on a pole, but he can’t tell if it’s just an effigy or a real man. Using the Force again, Tomla discerns that there is Danger associated with this scout trooper. He is able to rip the pole from the ground from a distance, and slowly maneuver it toward him, but the body on the pole is dislodged and splashes into the marsh.

A few seconds later and after multiple failed Perception checks, A’ath feels pressure behind his eyes that erupts into sudden, agonizing pain! He staggers, clutching his head, and then Tomla, Thanatos and Nahee also feel the pressure, but it does not cause damage. They see movement in the mist, so Tomla flings the pole he was levitating, but it fails to connect with anything. They then hear footsteps splashing through the water, and a strange figure leaps at them through the mist!

It is manlike, but seemingly made from wet vines. It carries a spear, and it makes a beeline for the Jedi. Tomla powers up his Damage Reduction and advances, but Thanatos blasts a hole through the attacker’s chest. But there are more coming, and soon Tomla is flanked by two more of the vine-men, but their spears fail to penetrate his protection.

Red blaster bolts light up the hazy air, dropping more attackers, and just as Thanatos is bracing for another kill, they all hear something slapping through the water toward them at high speed, and then a man’s voice says:

“SHTOP! SHTOP! There’s been a terrible mishtake!”

A man who looks and sounds exactly like Sean Connery from the beginning of The Rock rushes up on the back of a two-legged steed that appears to be a hybrid ostridge/lizard.

[GM Note: i had a mini of a drow clawfoot rider to use, but couldn't find the damn thing]

He begs both sides of the conflict to stop fighting, but the PCs are not willing to holster their guns so easily. The old man approaches the vine people, and speaking to them fluently in their native tongue, he convinces them to lower their spears.

He introduces himself as Commander Vazus Mandrake, an old Separatist soldier from the Clone Wars. His unit on Felucia was completely wiped out, and the only survivors besides him were the kybucks that they were transporting here. The original ostridge / lizards were each named after the dead members of his platoon.

Mandrake is very curious as to what they’re doing on Felucia. He can tell at glance that they are well armed, and relatively uninjured, so they didn’t crash land. A’ath keeps the story short but simple and explains that they’re looking for a friend captured by the Imperials. This news interests Mandrake enormously.

They ask him how long has he been on Felucia, but he’s not exactly sure. It has been at least ten years, and now he calls this world home and has no desire to leave. He lives with the native Felucians in their village. Repeatedly, Mandrake apologizes for the rash behavior of the young warriors. There is an Imperial outpost nearby he says, and there have been several violent conflicts between them. They didn’t know who the strangers were and should not have attacked.

Tomla asks about the pressure they felt right before the attack, and Mandrake explains that some, if not all of the Felucians are sensitive to the Force. It was a Force power.

As they walk through the jungle, Mandrake continues talking more and more excitedly. He knows of the prison facility the PCs are looking for, and in the past he actually wanted to destroy it himself. But that was long ago, and in the intervening years his passions have cooled. He leads a simple life here now and prefers it that way. A’ath asks if there is any message he would like delivered off-world, but he says no, everyone thinks he is dead, and he prefers it to stay that way. They should tell no one they saw him.

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #3: Arrival at Felucia

Part 2: The Chase

Some time later they arrive at the outskirts of the Felucian village. It consists of crude huts nestled among giant mushrooms. Small campfires dot the ground, and soon dozens and dozens of curious felucians have surrounded the newcomers. Mandrake begins speaking to the natives, explaining who the guests are, and soon everyone is seated around a fire. Mandrake would like to help them retrieve their friend from the prison facility. He suspects that that are at least a dozen storm troopers there, maybe some a few officers, and he knows that they even have heavy support from an AT-ST.

The prison facility is known locally as “The Vanishing Place.” Some felucians who go near it never return, although Mandrake says that one prisoner did manage to escape once through a small vent. He thinks that perhaps the group can sneak back inside via the same route. This sounds good to the party because they were thinking about a frontal assault, maybe using the felucians as a distraction, but the felucians don’t really want to get involved any more than necessary. If they interfere too much, the Empire might just send more reinforcements to completely annihilate them.

But Mandrake has another trick up his sleeve, one the Empire would never suspect to blame on the Felucians. He gets up and returns with a box. “Open it.” They do, and see a cylindrical mechanical device inside. “Know what that is? A bomb. A big bomb. Big enough to bring that whole facility to the ground, if it’s planted in the right place. I planned to use it once myself, but as I’ve said, I’m not the same man I used to be. But YOU can do it. Take it.”

They thank Mandrake for the device and accept it. The crowd parts then, and Mandrake says that the chieftain / shaman of the village will want to meet them. A’ath asks if there are any tips or social niceties to abide by, and Mandrake says to just make it VERY clear that they hate the Empire! An extremely old Felucian appears, his vines scarred and gray. Crash acts as translator for the Chieftain, (“I KNEW I would have to do this eventually,” he moans), who expresses interest in why they are here on this world.

The PCs are honest, and the Chieftain is pleased with their answers. However, Tomla hears strange whispers in his mind when the Chief is near him, and even after he has moved away, Tomla senses something else in a hut nearby. There are creatures in terrible pain inside, and he can feel their anguish through the Force. Using Crash, he asks the Chieftain what is in that hut. His viney features wrinkle up in a grave scowl. The Chieftain points to the hut, and the crowd parts to allow Tomla a clear path.

Inside, he sees a dozen sick and dying Felucian children, their bodies ravaged by some oily black residue. Through Crash, the Chieftain explains that that the Imperials have seeded parts of the jungle with a sickness that they cannot cure. The children sometimes stumble across it, and the effects are almost always fatal. The Imperials are testing foul poisons in the bowels of the facility, and the substances are being deliberately tested on the innocent.

Furthermore, he says that he senses great pain emanating from the facility, felucian pain. Many of those kidnapped are still alive. The PCs promise that they will rescue them if possible, and the Chieftain nods. He opens his mouth to say something else, but Tomla and Nahee hear a sound in the distance that is distinctly unnatural in this simple village. It’s a speeder bike kicking into gear!

“There!” shouts Mandrake. “A scout trooper found us! Get him! He’ll report back!”

Mandrake leaps onto the back of his trusty kybuck, and jabs a finger at the holding pen for the others. “They’re as fast as a speeder, and trained for riders. Get on! We have to catch him!”

Adhering to the age old tenet of “Why Not?” the PCs straddle the big birds, and immediately tear off into the jungle behind Mandrake. As promised, the kybucks are incredibly fast. The jungle blurs by in a whirlwind of green and brown blotches. The kybucks are extremely sure-footed and scamper through the lush undergrowth.

DC 10 Ride checks are rolled every round as they advance from zone to zone. The scout trooper is far ahead, but Thanatos gets close enough to pop off some shots. Nahee has trouble with his mount though and is dislodged into an area of shallow, muddy water. The others bound ahead as well, and Tomla gets close enough to Force push the trooper into a mushroom tree. The bike explodes into a bloom of flame, but even as they all catch up, Thantaos spots a SECOND scout on a bike about twenty yards away! He speeds off, and the chase begins anew.

[GM Note: I completely forgot that Mandrake was leading this little race, so I just said he got thrown off somewhere; yes, even after his many years of riding expertise!]

Thantaos, A’ath and Tomla reach a junction: there is a huge hollow tree, and there is a gap in the foliage. They don’t know which way the trooper went, so they split up. Thanatos bounding through the foliage, and he sees the trooper in the distance weaving back and forth through the undergrowth. The trooper zips across a clearing, but just as Thanatos reaches the middle, the ground erupts into a geyser of dirt, roots and vegetation, raining debris down on top of him!

A HUGE, gnarled hand swipes at the kybuck, but it deftly leaps away, and Thanatos throws back a terrified glance at an enormous rancor crawling out from a concealed pit.

Up ahead, Thanatos spots the speeder bike again, so he starts popping off more shots, but doesn’t manage to destroy it.

Back in the tunnel, Tomla the Jedi hits a low hanging root and is knocked off his mount. Dazed, he rolls around in pain while the kybuck patiently waits. A’ath sprints ahead, jets out of the hollow tree, and nearly has heart attack when the towering rancor swipes at him. He’s nicked, but plunges across the clearing and into the dense foliage.

Nahee finally reaches the junction, but he hears the monstrous roar from the rancor not far away. His kybuck dashes ahead, and bounds in a circle around the floundering rancor, which is an old, slow beast on its last legs.

The speeder bike meanwhile goes down into a shallow valley, but when Thanatos reaches the crest, he pulls up sharply and stops.

There is a communications center nestled at the bottom, a twirling com-array on top. Four stormtroopers guard the facility, and he sees an additional trooper on another scout bike, for a total of two now. Cursing under his breath, Thanatos takes a few shots at the dish, hoping to destroy it before they are able to radio ahead to the prison facility.

The stormtroopers are startled, but the ones on the speeder bikes are quick to engage the party. Blaster bolts hiss toward the group, and they finds themselves ducking out of the way. But a hit from speeder bike inflicts 4d10 damage, and a direct blast sends Nahee spiraling toward death. A Force Point keeps him alive, but he’s unconscious and down the rest of the fight.

The Jedi pulls out the stops, rolls very high for his Force Slam, and DESTROYS the com center! Really, he just wipes the goddamn thing off the map. One trooper is thrown through a circuit board and he bursts into flames. Another is tossed through the dish, shattering it. Another is slammed into a rock wall, and the fourth is killed by a gonk droid projectile at high speed. A mushroom then collapses on top of the smoldering remains of the dish, burying it.

After seeing that, the two scout troopers back off from close range and start pattering the group with laser fire. Thanatos is very, very lucky, and is missed three times in a row, even when the trooper gets brave and closes the distance.

Still on his kybuck, A’ath sprints after one of the troopers, and Tomla Force throws a burning stormtrooper corpse at the speeder bike. It does no damage, but gets lodged on the back. As a last resort, (with his bag of tricks and FP’s nearly depleted) Tomla tricks the trooper into believing that he is on fire! He leaps on the bike and dashes into the woods, with A’ath in hot pursuit.

Tomla tries to start the abandoned bike, but rolls poorly and doesn’t know how to operate it. Thanatos is still having a hard time with the remaining trooper, and finally gets hit. HARD. He’s dropped down to 3 hit points and one step on the Condition Track, but his next shot explodes the speeder bike. A’ath catches up to the fleeing trooper and plants plasma in the back of his helmet, killing him.

[GM Note: This turned out to be a very tough fight that might have ended very poorly if the Jedi hadn’t been there to help].

Nursing their wounds, they pick themselves up and prepare to head back, just as Mandrake arrives on the scene. “Ok! I’m here! What happened?” They decide to return to the Felucian village and recover. They want to rest longer, but are afraid that that the Imperials will find the destroyed Com Center and call for help. They’ll speak with Mandrake and the Chief about what they should do and decide from there.

Next adventure: The Rescue, and the conclusion of the first chapter in Dawn of Defiance. Everyone levels up to 2 before next time.

GAME TIME: About 2 ½ hours.

EDIT: After quite a few more games now, EVERY fight would be bad without the Jedi.

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #4: The Rescue

Part 1: The Prison


[GM Note: We spent some time getting everyone to 2nd level. One player had some concerns about his Jedi being TOO powerful now with Skill Focus: Use the Force, for a +14 bonus. I let him do it anyway, and if it seems broken we’ll deal with it later. For what it’s worth, he does seem like the most dangerous character in the group, and we even joked about letting him handle the rescue alone].

After riding their kybucks back from the destroyed Com-Station, the heroes are greeted at the village by anxious Felucians. They are quickly surrounded, and the weathered and worn chief limps up to them.

Vazus Mandrake explains what happened, how the Imperials were killed before they could send a warning to the prison facility. The Chief nods at this news, and it is quickly decided that the heroes must press the advantage and infiltrate the facility before the Imperials discover the attack.

Vazus explains that certain chemicals in the natural flora hinder communication signals, which can cause at least a minute delay in sending or receiving messages. Any lack of response from the Com-Station will be attributed to this, or a power outage, but eventually they’ll send scouts to investigate. The group needs to act NOW, get inside the prison through the vent, find their “friend” Admiral Varth, plant Mandrake’s bomb in the Command Center, and get the hell out.

In addition, their friend Captain Arno Silvermine of the Banshee can pick them up, but they’ll need time to patch through a transmission, and then wait for him to arrive. Alternatively, maybe the group can flee into the jungle and arrange a pickup elsewhere. It just depends on what happens.

But the Duros pilot Nahee and the Chiss soldier Thanatos are both injured from the battle. Speeder bikes nearly killed them, and they don’t have time to sufficiently rest now to regain their strength. They opt to wait in the village.

[GM Note: We were actually down 2 players this session but pressed on anyway. I usually try not to use characters if the players aren’t there to run them].

To their surprise, Vazus Mandrake hops off his kybuck [I found the mini finally, too late],

cracks his knuckles, and says, “I’m going with you. You’ll need help. You should know that I’ve not touched a weapon in over a decade, and it’s about time. I’ve a shcore to settle with the Empire.” [said with my admittedly poor Connery impersonation]

The group is pleased to hear this, and they really need the extra firepower. Mandrake straps on some battered, blaster-scarred Mandalorian armor which he has not worn since his crash on Felucia. He also has a few spare stun and frag grenades which he offers to share with the group, but they tell Mandrake he probably knows how to use them better.

[GM Note: I pulled Mandrake’s stats from a CL 4 template, taking into account his age, lack of practice, and injuries that never healed properly. I didn’t want him to overshadow the PCs].

The group doesn’t take long to gather their gear and supplies. The felucian chief offers them a guide, a prisoner who escaped from the prison a few years ago. He will show the group the ventilation grid through which he wriggled. A’ath the zabrak carries the bomb in a backpack, and Crash the co-pilot is asked to come along as well, in case they need his assistance somehow.

“Oh, I’m going to die, I just know it,” he wails, and sullenly rolls through the underbrush after them.

An hour later, after trudging through a wet jungle of clinging vines, stagnant water and arching mushrooms, the group hunkers down and peers at the Imperial Prison facility through the foliage.

Two stormtroopers guard an immense blast door. To their left, an opaque window conceals the bulk of an E-Web blaster’s turret, with full field of fire on anyone approaching. Near their hiding spot are several unmanned speeder bikes. Off in the distance, they hear the whine of a repulsor engine fading away, and wonder if a scout has already been dispatched to investigate the Com-Station. Time might be shorter than they hoped.

Nep’Tuk the sullustan has a brave idea though – if the Jedi Tomla can distract the guards, Nep’Tuk might be able to disable the three speeder bikes, and hamper any pursuit later on. Tomla positions himself out of sight, and begins tossing small rocks against the compound, around the corner from the troopers. One of them goes to investigate but sees nothing, but Tomla rhythmically continues the pattern, until both guards ready their guns and approach. Nep’Tuk wriggles through the undergrowth immediately and uses his Mechanics skill on the nearest bike, trying to sabotage it, but in such a way that it can be repaired later if needed.

Unfortunately, Nep’Tuk botches his roll and THINKS he disabled it, but in fact did not. He gives the others thumbs up, and moves to the next bike.

Tomla keeps tossing rocks with the Force, being very discreet, and the troopers start to get annoyed. But the ploy works well, and Nep’Tuk manages to disable the third bike. One of the troopers gets dangerously close to him, and by a slim margin, Nep’Tuk wins an opposed Stealth vs. Perception check. Crash is shaking the whole time, his rotomotors whirring with nervousness.

“Nothing, this sector is clear,” says one of troopers, and they resume their positions at the blast door.

[GM Note: I don’t know where I found it, but there were a ton of stormtrooper voice clips online that work really, really well.]

With the speeder bikes disabled, the group circumvents the blast door and turret gun, approaching the grate, but on the way they hear a VERY loud methodical crunching of metal feet and see the top of an AT-ST walker behind the prison facility. The vehicle is moving away, and soon the footsteps fade into the jungle. Their guide whispers to Vazus, who points to the grate. There it is, on the corner. It leads down to the sub-level, where he was imprisoned. You’ll have to get it off somehow.”

Tomla volunteers, trots up to the wall carefully, and peeks around to where the AT-ST exited. It is gone, and there’s no one else behind the facility. He ignites his saber and cuts away the grate. Nep’Tuk runs up to help while the others keep watch. The guards at the front haven’t noticed anything. Tomla squeezes into the grate and finds a cool metal tunnel that drops down almost immediately. He nods to Nep’Tuk, and the ithorian Jedi descends. The walls are cold, and he feels a distinct dark ripple in the force, of old voices in pain and suffering that have impregnated the facility.

Soon, after crawling through painfully tight shafts, he finds another grate leading down into a hallway. He quietly uses his comlink and tells the others. With no vegetation between themselves and the facility, they decide to leave Crash up top hidden with the felucian guide, so that he can warn them if anything catastrophically awful happens in the absence. Crash isn’t sure if this is a good plan or a terrible one.

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #4: The Rescue

Part 2: Mutations


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.

[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].

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.

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.

“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.

“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.

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.

[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].

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.

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…

GAME TIME: About 2.5 hours.

 

[Nebulous]

For anyone keeping up with this thread, we've made it through 9 sessions, which is almost the end of Chapter 2 of Dawn of Defiance. I have sessions planned through the first part of Adventure #3: The Queen of Air and Darkness...

...HOWEVER...

...we lost one player to a move, another is distracted by a "child" of all things (), another is in some sort of ambivalent state of playability...

...so it seems likely that this campaign is going to hit a stopping point soon, or at least a massive delay. I'll still post the next 5 sessions, but i'm not sure how many or how often they'll continue after that.

I've been playing a lot of 4e in the meantime and to be honest i'm enjoying that more than Star Wars. It's been hard switching back and forth between the two systems. They're just barely different enough to confuse us. And you gotta love shifting in combat. Not so in SW.

Anyway, comments are always welcome. I like sharing the nitty gritty details with ye peoples.

Nebulous

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #5: A Parting Gift
Part 1



[GM Note: We had Nahee’s player back this session, so I said he had been waiting outside in the shrubbery with Crash, and decided to slide in the vent to help his companions].

The PCs have captured one of the technicians and forced him to give the “All Clear” to his commander on the upper level, but the trick doesn’t work. The transponder clicks off, but seconds later, they see a flashing red light on the console. It’s an incoming message, decrypted, and the lines of data scroll down the screen. Apparently, someone named INQUISITOR DRACO is coming to retrieve the traitorous Admiral Varth, and the prisoner needs to be readied for transport.

The group tucks that information away and contemplates the best method to reach the command center so they can place the bomb. They have the code cylinder to unlock the turbolifts, so they head to the main area after throwing the technician in the prison cell.

A disembodied, hissing voice warbles over the intercom system: “TO THE INTRUDERS IN THE FACILITY – SURRENDER NOW OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING.”

Crash contacts them on their comlinks, and the droid sounds scared. He says there’s a lot of activity outside, multiple troopers circumventing the facility, and he hears the AT-ST stomping back. The group is very worried that Admiral Varth (who is outside with the other prisoners and the felucian guide and Crash) will be captured again. They order them to start running for the Felucian village, following the guide, but they ask Crash to stay behind to keep them updated.

“Oh, I AM going to die now, I knew it! This is a bad, bad idea!” But Crash does as instructed, hunkering down in the mushroom-trees and watching reinforcements scurry about, probably to bring his inevitable doom.

Meanwhile, Tomla hears a turbolift around the corner, but when he gets close enough to see, he is immediately barraged by an E-Web Blaster! A stormtrooper in shiny jet-black armor mans the turret, which has descended in the lift from the main level. Power cables snake up above him. Tomla ducks away, injured, while Nep’Tuk the Sullustan provides cover fire from an adjacent hallway. The gunner swivels back and forth, hoping to hit anyone he can see. Nep’Tuk attempts to shoot the power cables, but realizes the gun will still hold enough charge to keep shooting for a while. This little problem is ultimately solved by one of Vazus Mandrake’s frag grenades Force Thrown at the trooper, killing him instantly and damaging the gun beyond repair. Nep’Tuk runs up to search the area, but someone on the top level closes the turbo-lift.

[GM Note: This was a change I made from the adventure, adding the smaller secondary turbolift that gives the turret access to the lower level].

Not wanting to get flanked, they decide to use Tomla’s lightsaber and melt the smaller turbolift into the ceiling, making it impossible to be lowered. Whiles he’s doing that, Nep’Tuk scrounges around and creates a bundle of fake grenades to trick the guards up top, while Vazus Mandrake, A’ath, and Nahee find as many metal consoles and junk from the storage area to create a makeshift barrier to hide behind. Lastly, they use the code cylinder to pull up a full schematic of the top level, and see that it is mostly one large room bisected by partial walls. The platform can be unlocked to reach the roof level as well, where a landing pad is located.

The large turbolift is lowered, but when Tomla approaches to peek up, readied actions from multiple stormtroopers spatter down at him. Tomla ends up Force Throwing a real grenade up the hole, killing a trooper, and they all hear the sound of retreating footsteps.

They throw the barricade onto the platform, huddle behind it, guns ready, while Tomla controls the turbolift from a panel on the lower level. They start rising up, fingers twitching with nervousness, and seconds later they come into full view of five stormtroopers!

Both sides have actions readied, so a hail of red blaster bolts explodes between them. Three troopers are dropped at once, while someone around the corner is screaming: “KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!”

And then things get bad.

Two hulking mutated Felucians surge around the corners, right in front of the four heroes clustered on the turbolift. Serrated bone-arms slam down, driving Vazus into the ground, while the others maniacally start firing back. The brutes are tough, and they don’t stop swinging, slamming their arm-scythes into twisted metal and flesh.

This battle is difficult, and Nahee is dropped yet again to 0 hit points. One stormtrooper attempts to toss his frag grenade into the lift, but botches badly, and it rolls back into the mutated felucians! It explodes, but does not fatally hurt them. The stormtrooper tries the same tactic again by grabbing a grenade off a fallen ally, and this time he rolls a CRIT.

Natural 20, 4d6 damage on everyone in the lift, even Vazus who is unconscious. I let them all spend a Destiny Point to avoid a likely TPK.

“Get us out of here!” A’ath shouts to Tomla, and the Jedi brings the lift back down. One of the mutated Felucians is killed, but the other steps right off the ledge and drops into their midst! The conscious heroes scatter, firing back at the thing, and it soon drops, numerous smoking holes burned through its plant-like body.

Nahee uses a Second Wind and med-pack to get back in the fight, although Mandrake is down for the count, having used up all his resources. The heroes start shooting into the turbolift, and this time they see the Commander, a black-clad Imperial with a look of utter contempt and fury on his face. The two groups exchange blaster fire, a trooper is dropped, and then the group clambers back on the lift returns to the command center.

Tomla ignites his lightsaber and chases down the Commander, and even as the man raises his pistol to shoot the Ithorian, Tomla rolls a crit and beheads him! The officer crumples to the floor, his evil grimace rolling the opposite direction.

 

[Nebulous]

Adventure #5: A Parting Gift

Part 2

No sooner is the fight done than the heroes receive a transmission from Captain Arno Silvermine on the Banshee.

“We got trouble fellaas! I just picked up a transmission. There’s a Victory Class Imperial Star Destroyer in orbit, and it’s coming in fast! Do what you’re going to do, and do it quick. My ETA: Ten minutes!”

The group scrambles to set the bomb, sets the timer at 12 minutes, and then they take the lift all the way to the roof and wait for Arno to arrive. The AT-ST has reached the front of the prison, and they are very careful to stay out of its way. Crash is getting hysterical and has no way to follow them, until Tomla uses the Force to gently pick him up off the ground and bring him to the roof.

Soon, they hear the roar of the Banshee’s engines and the freighter sweeps over the mushroom treetops. The AT-ST starts firing, but blaster bolts ricochet off the deflector shields. Arno lowers the ramp, shouting: “Get aboard! Quick!”

Mandrake is still unconscious and nearly dead, but he’s dragged along, and everyone piles onto the Banshee. It rips out of there, making a beeline to the Felucian village where Admiral Varth has retreated. In the rear screens, they watch as a bright light blooms from the prison facility, and shock waves wash over their vessel.

Mission accomplished. The prison is destroyed.

The Banshee swoops down, unloads Mandrake, and they leave the captured datapad with him after making a copy, the datapad taken from the cruel Imperial scientist that describes the specific poisons exposed to the felucian community. Maybe when Mandrake revives he can work on an antidote.

[Actually, that was a good idea, and I should specifically reward them for that; I don’t use XP in this campaign].

The Banshee jets into the atmosphere, but the Star Destroyer is angling toward them like a steel shark.

It is hailing the Banshee, but their only offer is: “SURRENDER OR DIE.” No thanks. The heroes don’t bother to answer, and Arno Silvermine makes some impressive piloting maneuvers while they hang on for dear life. He skims the underside of the Destroyer, turbobatters pinging against the Banshee’s shields, and then they’re past it and up and away, leaving Felucia behind.

Seconds later the jump to hyperspace is calculated, and the Banshee zips into a spiraling wormhole…

Arno Silvermine leans back, smiles, and then looks very serious. “Hey, now that we’re safe,” he says, “could you tell me what the hell you did to Luci?”

Arno is referring to his pet headcrab, and when he points to an adjacent cockpit, everyone sees that there are now multiple crabheads, four little baby ones about the size of a fist! Arno is insinuating in no unclear terms that he thinks either the ithorian or the sullustan somehow impregnated his pet, but they vehemently deny any such relations. Grumbling, Arno wonders if the thing was pregnant all along, and just had a long gestation period, but he still eyes Nep’Tuk suspiciously.

And they all settle in for the ride while the Chapter Two: A Wretched Hive opening crawl plays on the laptop.

When that’s over, Arno has some new information for the group. They’re not going back to Alderraan and Sentaor Bail Organa. In fact, they shouldn’t mention the Senator’s name at all anymore, now that they’ve made a direct hit on an Imperial facility. Arno has instructions to take them to the Resurgence, a Nebulon-class freighter where they will be offered permanent quarters, medical care, and the promised 2000 credits.

The Resurgence is an impressive piece of technology, and a brand new facility. It will serve as a mobile base for the PCs and a hiding spot for Admiral Varth as he unveils the Empires secrets.

After a few days of rest, the group is brought into a secret meeting. Present is the captain of the ship, Captain Verana, and also present is Admiral Varth, who has removed his Imperial clothing. Lights are dimmed, and a holoprojector displays a flickering, fat, blue face:

“Gentlemen, this is Darga the Hutt.”

Varth has been involved superficially with multiple Imperial projects involving money laundering and other clandestine operations. The most important was an operation called the Sarlaac Project which involved multiple bank accounts and subterfuge across multiple systems and companies. One primary player in this project is Darga the Hutt, a crime lord operating out of the shattered world of Cato Neimoeida.

Captain Verana, a grizzled veteran of many wars, leans in close and asks the PCs if they are willing to continue helping the fight against the Empire. Admiral Varth is going to spearhead this venture and try to unearth the secrets behind the Sarlaac Project. To do that, he’ll need the help of many brave individuals.

Unable to say “No!” to the dangling Plot Hook, the group agrees to help. They’ll go to Cato Neimoeida and root out this Hutt character. Varth says that they don’t want him dead, not yet anyway, not until he spills his secrets. Captain Verana mentions it might be possible to appeal to the Hutt’s criminal element, and the party gets the idea of selling back confiscated Imperial blaster rifles that they have looted off every corpse so far.

It’s not a bad plan.

Taking their shiny new credits, they upgrade their gear, and a few days later they’re jetting across the galaxy again, Captain Arno Silvermine at the wheel. They drop out of hyperspace and spiral down through the atmosphere, and see the craggy surface of Cato Neimoedia rising up beneath them.

Cities are built between massive bridges, most of them ruined and abandoned. They finally reach the spaceport at the capital city of Zarra, and the Banshee lightly sets down at her appointed landing zone.

“I’ll wait here, as long as you need me,” Arno tells them. “I’ll get a short-term docking license if I have to. Be careful out there!” Arno also mentions he’ll work on getting his new baby headcrabs defanged, before they learn how to bite.

The group wanders out into the relatively quiet spaceport, and aren’t sure where to go or who to talk to. The Hutt probably doesn’t want to be found, and their initial Gather Info checks don’t reveal who might be a seller or buyer of illegal merchandise. But it DOES turn up the name Warrick Raden, a scoundrel who is known to dip his fingers into various activities.

[GM Note: I used a simple Skill Challenge for this, rather than the straight check].

They have his name, and where he might be found, so the group departs, even as they hear the approaching whine of multiple swoop bikes in the distance…and getting nearer.

Fast.

GAME TIME: About 2.5 hours.