Adventures 11 & 12

The time finally arrived to attack Freedom Station when the Empire took the Hydian Way and opened up an avenue of attack on either Mandalore or Yavin. With Freedom Station being more dangerous, they decided to leave the Mandalorians alone to strike the so-called “Death Star” and its heavy orbital defenses. The attack was planned and executed by Grand Admiral Thrawn, using the full might of the Imperial Navy in an all-or-nothing gambit: if the fleet was destroyed, the Empire would be unable to defend half the galaxy. They would launch simultaneous assaults on three of the eight orbital platforms and shut down their shield generators to give the fleet an opening for fighters to assault Freedom Station itself. The 25 Star Destroyers would engage the platforms and Rebel fleet itself to provide the opening once the shields were down: an extra squadron of fighters would exit hyperspace in a highly unorthodox move at great risk to itself and both fleets, utilizing the opportunity to strike a blow and then re-enter hyperspace.

The party, along with Kyle Katarn, Pakron Ajanos, and a hundred other Kinsei and thousands of Imperial Marines, were chosen to storm the central orbital defense platform. Katarn and Ajanos were to escort R2-D2 into the central core of the station and shut down its computers. In the assault on the platform, the party successfully fight off dozens of Rebels and destroy several vehicles and ships.

Along with Katarn and Ajanos, plus several Imperial Marines, they move into the central core. IG-203 successfully prevents a number of proximity mines from activating. The pair of Kinsei Honor Guards stopped to confront a pair of Jedi Masters who appear to stop them, commanding the party to finish the mission while they hold off the Jedi. They made it with R2-D2 to the central computer of the platform and shut its shields down, holding off any Rebel soldiers who arrived.

However, just as they made it out to look for their commanders, they felt the entire station move beneath them. Someone was using the Force to pull it down to the surface of the moon. The surviving Kinsei resisted the pull together, slowing its descent to a survivable fall. However, the strain of the drop and crash knocked almost the entirety of the survivors unconscious.

IG-203 rebooted a while later to find a pair of cloaked men dragging away the Prodigy and Maliss; when they attacked it with red lightsabers, it responded with its guns and fists and killed both of the cultists. When it awakened the two Kinsei, they discovered that all the other Kinsei are missing from the wreckage. Reaching out to find them through the Force, they were nearly overwhelmed by the dark energy of a temple a few kilometers out into the jungle. When they reached out further to find Katarn specifically, they discovered his presence in that same direction. After administering first aid to the other still-unconscious survivors of the crash, they moved out to investigate.

Trekking towards it, they noticed that the foliage and animals disappeared as they get closer. When they arrived, they first searched for an outer door, but were forced to climb to the top, where they discovered a terrifying scene. Forty surviving Kinsei were held along the ledges of the temple’s top, while nine were on an altar, surrounded by eight cultists; a ninth and final cultist leaned over Pakron Ajanos in the center of the circular altar. None seemed to be able to move or resist, although they seemed conscious and aware.

After a brief, hushed discussion, Maliss attacked first, trying to take out the nearest cultist; however, the ninth cultist spun and caught him with the Force, revealing himself to be Diospholos. He easily deflected the launched rocket of IG-203 and the Force thrust of the Prodigy, knocking the droid back off the temple. As he did so, he said, "Inferior beings won't be allowed here!" As the Prodigy circled around, he asked the Rebel what was going on. "Wait and find out. You can't stop it," he said. He moved the Dashade, who was frothing with rage, next to the Prodigy on the other side of the temple.

Darkness fell across the temple when Freedom Station moved overhead to block the sun, causing Diospholos to conduct his ritual. With blasts of Force lightning, he killed six of the eight Kinsei other than Pakron Ajanos; Kyle Katarn and a Jawa Kinsei were spared when the Prodigy threw a light side amulet crafted by the Jedi Army of Light that Emperor Skywalker had given him. It lit up brightly and absorbed the lightning, but Diospholos had gained enough energy.

He drained the Force out of the dead Kinsei and into Pakron Ajanos, who howled in terrible pain. His life force was snuffed out as the spirit of Exar Kun, trapped in the temple for thousands of years, was transferred into Ajanos'. As Kun, now in the body of their commander's partner, sat up, Diospholos brought out a double-bladed lightsaber and gave it to him. "I am Darth Sidious," he said, "and I dub you Darth Draconis. The Sith are reborn with the sacrifice of these imposters. Arise, my new apprentice, and test this new vessel."

It was two Sith Lords and eight Sith cultists against two Kinsei and a droid. With the power of the ritual finished, the Dashade could move again. He scrambled to kill Draconis, who had destroyed his homeworld many thousands of years ago. With a shout, he swore that he would eat his heart in revenge for his people and rushed to the reborn Sith Lord. The Prodigy picked up one of the cultists with the Force and threw it at Kun, who simply cut the cultist in half with his lightsaber, deflecting it, while simultaneously deflecting the enraged attacks of the Dashade.

Meanwhile, the droid reappeared on the side of the temple. It fired a rocket at Palpatine's new vessel, which Sidious again caught with the Force. "Idiot," he sneered. "Don't you ever -" He was cut off when the rocket exploded a meter from him, burning his face badly. The droid had jury-rigged the rocket to explode on a timer instead of normal impact. Shouting in pain, Darth Sidious leapt towards the droid in a rage, launching terrible amounts of Force Lightning at it.

On the other side of the temple, Maliss was overwhelmed by cultists, who he tore into pieces with his lightsaber. Darth Draconis engaged the Prodigy with his lightsaber, making a long horizontal strike at his neck. When the young Kinsei brought up his lightsaber to block it with a downward parry, the Sith moved the lightsaber ever-so-slightly. The result was devastating for the Prodigy: it not only cleanly destroyed his lightsaber, the edge of Kun's blade slashed him across the eyes, blinding him instantly. He collapsed to the floor.

The droid, with Darth Sidious delivering Force lightning into it, decided to make a final quip. "The problem with you organics is that you only get the one body. Learn to back up," it said as it brought the Sith Lord's hands closer to its internal compartment and the contained 50 kilograms of detonite. The explosion nearly destroyed half the temple, incinerating any trace of the droid except for the Mandalorian helmet it wore. Just as the droid sacrificed itself, Freedom Station exploded overhead. The threat of the Death Star was no more.

When the smoke cleared, both Sith were gone. 18 Kinsei of that group had survived the day. In the following days, the Sith Lords reappeared, declaring that the Third Sith Empire had begun; the Empire and the other part of the Rebellion quickly made peace and allied against the Sith.

The party, including the droid’s new body and programming, were honored in a ceremony at the Imperial Palace for saving the lives of over a dozen Kinsei. In addition, the pilot who fired the deadly shot against Freedom Station was honored: Han Solo.

Adventure 10

All three of the party members were given orders to report to the Imperial Palace after recovering from their last mission. The most serious of these injuries was Maliss being hit by a large shard of shrapnel in his chest, but a trip to the bacta tank was enough to quickly make him whole. The party assembled the closest thing they could find to dress uniforms; the droid even shined his armor.

Upon arrival at the Imperial Palace, they were ushered in by C-3PO, who they had briefly met during their recovery of the droids on Tatooine. The golden droid brought them to Emperor Skywalker's quarters and exited, leaving them in front of the heavy doors. With a nudge from the Force, the doors opened in front of the players, giving them a view of Skywalker's extraordinary office. It had floor-to-ceiling windows that gave him a complete view of Coruscant at night; the Emperor stood at the window looking out at the horizon.

He began talking to the three, first addressing the pair of Kinsei. Turning to face them, he expressed his disappointment that their antics at the bar a few nights prior had been publicized enough for him to find out. To deliver his point, he picked both Kinsei up with the Force and threw them at the window, which he parted using the Force. Dangling them above the streets of Coruscant, he shouted that they were to act as heroes of the Empire, not fodder for the holo-tabloids.

Both the Kinsei expressed their contrition, with Maliss never having felt prouder. The Emperor had noticed him, was watching him, and demonstrated his dominance via a show of the Force. This appealed to the Dashade. The Prodigy, while thankful that he hadn't been dropped to his death, admired and respected the Emperor and pledged not to disappoint him again. With this said, the Emperor pulled them back into his office and reset the window, re-fusing the glass together.

He next turned his attention to the droid. The Emperor told the party that he was about to introduce some controversial legislation outlawing memory wipes on any droid that made it to three years without one. To facilitate this, he couldn't have IG-203 running about as a counter-argument, so he asked that the droid act like the poster-droid for the legislation.

With his point so dramatically made, he ushered them out. As he was doing this, a man suddenly appeared in the corner of the office, saying, "Anakin, we need to talk." This shocked the pair of Kinsei, but the droid was unable to perceive the figure. The Emperor introduced the figure to the Kinsei as Qui-gon Jinn, an old friend of his who often gave sage advice. The spirit of the Jedi gave an anachronistic bow, which they tried to mimic. Seeing that this was a personal meeting, the party members excused themselves. The droid, being unable to see the spirit, thought all the organics had gone insane.

The next morning, Maliss and the Prodigy went to their favorite training ground, a fairly deserted section of the old Jedi Temple that hadn't been integrated into the Kinsei Headquarters. As they were training with lightsabers, Kyle Katarn appeared to update them on the interrogation of Tellis Krath, who was unable to offer much information. While they discussed this, Katarn and Maliss sparred with their lightsabers. The match was surprisingly even until Katarn attempted a mind trick, which Maliss rebuked back on him. As per Maliss's suggestion, Katarn left the training area.

Looking to find more information about the cloning process of the Dashades, the party went down to the science area of the Headquarters. When they arrived, they discovered that Fix'kz't, the Verpine R&D Specialist who helped them on Tatooine and Freedom Station, had been assigned to command of the project. The insectoid excitedly told them of all the data they had collected and said they might have reached a breakthrough.

Katarn then notified them by comlink that they needed to come in for an emergency briefing. Upon arrival, he told them that the Corporate Sector had developed a dangerous biotoxin, which was being shipped over the Hydian Way hyperspace lane without adequate supervision. The party's assignment was to intercept the ship and confiscate the biotoxin before a Rebel ship could.

He then sent them over to Sergeant Gelkis, the quartermaster. Gelkis, who still disliked the pair of Kinsei, would only give them the bare necessities for their mission: spacesuits and rebreathers. Nos Maliss asked for a medkit, but all Gelkis gave to him was a roll of duct tape and some old bandages. As they did this, the droid rushed to retrieve his detonite from its hiding place in the party ball. Mara Jade intercepted the pair of Kinsei, asking for a moment alone with the Prodigy. The redhead asked him to steal a vial of the toxin for the Emperor's Hands.

They launched out less than 10 minutes after their briefing, and the trip was quite short. They arrived at the rendezvous point to find the ship was depowered and floating adrift, with a Rebel ship already attached to it. The Imperial pilot landed her ship to board the transport; the three party members went aboard. There were no lights nor gravity, causing them to use their glowrods to light the way.

As soon as their glowrods lit up, they came under fire from the Rebels, who retreated deeper into the ship. As the party pursued, they found a torn-up Corporate Sector shiphand. As they investigated the floating corpse, finding a ship manifest, a feral beast leapt out of the darkness at them. Maliss slashed it with his lightsaber while the Prodigy hurled it into the corridor walls with the Force. After it was dead, they looked at the manifest to discover that the transport had also been carrying a shipment of exotic and dangerous animals. The beast that attacked them was normally docile, suggesting that it may have been infected with the biotoxin.

They arrived at the biotoxin's holding area to discover that it was removed. A seemingly-mad human leapt at them from the darkness, foaming and spitting at them, but he was swiftly put out of his misery. In the next hallway, they were attacked by another dangerous animal, which was quickly killed. Before its death, it managed to puncture Maliss's suit with a bite, which he repaired with the duct tape.

Pursuing the Rebels, they found themselves trading shots from down a long corridor. The three Rebel space agents had powerful shoulder-mounted blaster cannons, keeping the party down until Maliss bounced off a wall to charge into their number. The hovercase that held the biotoxin was held by one of them, who dropped it when Maliss slammed into him. The other two began to support him when a rancor appeared in a nearby corridor and charged at them. Now flanked by dangerous enemies on both sides, the party fought desperately to survive the rancor, kill the Rebels, and recover the case. The Force was with them, as they finished off the Rebel agents and turned their attention on the rancor, who had taken the Prodigy in his claws at one point. Maliss had to distract it with a powerful blow from his lightsaber, forcing it to drop the Prodigy. A few more sustained attacks from all three members of the party was enough to kill it.

Meanwhile, their pilot had been dogfighting with Rebel ships outside the transport. She asked them over the comlink to hurry, so they took the case, set explosives on the doomed ship, and exited. At the dramatically appropriate moment, they hit hyperspace just as the transport exploded.

Back on Coruscant, the Prodigy had surreptitiously taken two vials of the biotoxin, giving one of them to Mara Jade. Nos Maliss, on the other hand, had a new trophy: a soon-to-be-stuffed rancor head,

Adventure 9

At the Kinsei headquarters, Kyle Katarn was quite busy interrogating the imprisoned Dashade, Tellis Krath, who had been brought back by the party from Corulag. In addition, he had to sort through all the collected trophies of the party before returning them. Nos Maliss continually insisted that the research and interrogation of his brethren be reported to him, but no significant progress was made. Meanwhile, the droid made friends with Sergeant Gelkis, the ornery quartermaster who had taken a disliking to the two Kinsei. Gelkis offered to upgrade its arm, and gave it a very glitchy one while doing so.

The party enjoyed that night off, but took their partying a tad too far when they began a barfight in an effort to avoid the Mon Calamari Admiral who had taken a liking to the Prodigy. They also found their way to a rather secret club owned by the Rodian "entrepreneur" Freego. While they were there, they ran into their superior officer, Pakron Ajanos. Ajanos (a very competitive individual) challenged the Dashade to a drinking contest, but lost. During the remainder of the night, they carried his unconscious body around and used him as the butt of many, many jokes.

In the morning, the two Kinsei made appointments with Luke and Leia Skywalker in order to find out more about the Sith cult that they had heard about on Corulag. The Prodigy spoke to Luke while Maliss met with Leia. Neither meeting went particularly well, possibly because of the horrific hangovers they had, or perhaps because of their bad habit of empathically communicating with each other. Maliss had been kept waiting because Leia was meeting with Captain Han Solo, who Maliss greeting with anger in the antechamber. In Luke's meeting space, his next appointment after the Prodigy was Mara Jade, who didn't let on that the two of them were both members of the Emperors Hands. Neither were able to get much information from either of the twins, probably because there was no new information to learn.

The next day, the party received its orders from a less-than-thrilled Ajanos. (His spirits slightly returned when the droid returned his hat.) They were to disrupt the Black Sun by assassinating a Vigo who would be traveling through the streets of Coruscant that evening with his motorcade. They hoped that it would slow the Black Sun disruptions of the project to restore the Dashade race. In order to clear the street of civilians, the party was given a large holoprojector that would create holograms of a crowd of civilians.

They prepared by clearing the streets and setting up explosives from the droid's near-limitless supply of detonite, which it had taken to hiding in a "party ball" in its quarters. The pair of Kinsei slipped into the holographic crowd while the droid took a position in the second floor of a nearby building. The motorcade eventually arrived in the form of four speeders and two hovertanks. Despite being unprepared for a challenge quite this large, the trio moved as surreptitiously as possible into an advantageous position. However, the hulking Dashade was spotted as out of place by some of the speeders, who fired on him without much hesitation. He took several direct shots before getting his lightsaber out to deflect them.

With their cover blown, the party moved against the speeders first. The Prodigy used the Force to lift the riders off the speeders and throw them at each other, while the droid launched a barrage of missiles from its shiny new missile-launcher arm. The tanks laid down dangerous and devastating return fire, nearly destroying the building the droid was in. IG-203, seeing the building come down around it, used its jetpack to launch out of the building while firing another shot at one of the tanks and landing prone atop the other. Maliss, hurt but still moving, leapt over the tank that the droid had hit and stabbed his lightsaber through one of the speeder pilots on the other side.

The tanks concentrated their fire on the Kinsei, but the pair was able to withstand the energy barrages. When the tanks moved to shrapnel-based attacks, they began to see more success. However, the party had destroyed or disabled all the speeders at that point, and moved on to the tanks. Maliss, gripped by the Dark Side, harnessed his rage to deliver three terrifying blows to the tank nearest him, nearly outright destroying it. The other tank, which had set off the placed explosives while trying to leave the area, smoked from the inside as the droid cut a hole in the top of it with a lightsaber thrown by the Prodigy and dropped three grenades in. Damaged, it exploded as the party scrambled for cover. With the success of their mission, they made their way to Kinsei Headquarters to recover.

You think 4 CL 4 speeders and 2 CL 8 tanks would be enough to kill a party of 3 level 5 characters, but Lance rolls 20s. Lots of 20s. Also, Kelsey wasn't able to make it, but she's a flaky one. I don't know if she'll return on any regular basis. Anyhow, we weren't able to play last week, as Rob's also got issues. We're only 2-3 adventures away from the final showdown to this volume!

Portrait 2: Kyle Katarn and Pakron Ajanos

Pakron Ajanos – CL 10 (Left)
Medium Human Jedi 5 / Scout 2 / Gunslinger 3
Destiny: 2, Force 9, Dark Side: 3
Initiative: +14 Perception: +13
Languages: Basic

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Defenses Ref 28 Fort 24 Will 25
HP 98;
Condition Track 98-68 / 67-39 / 38-19 / 18-9 / 8-1
Second Wind 24
Threshold 24
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Speed 6 squares
Melee lightsaber +10 (2d8+6)
Ranged heavy blaster pistol +13 (3d8+6)
Ranged heavy blaster pistols +13/+13 (3d8+6) [DWM}
Ranged heavy blaster pistols +12/+12 (3d8+6) [DA]
Ranged heavy blaster pistols +10/+10/+10 (3d8+6) [DWM & DA]
Base Attack +9; Grapple: +13
Attack Options Double Strike, Dual Weapon Mastery
Special Actions Block, Deflect, Redirect Shot, Quick Draw
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Force Powers battle strike, surge, force thrust, negate energy
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Abilities Str 12 Dex 18 Con 16 Int 13 Wis 16 Cha 16
Talents Block, Deflect, Redirect Shot, Evasion, Multiattack Proficiency (2)
Abilities Trusty Sidearm +1
Feats Force Sensitivity, Weapon Proficiency (lightsabers, simple, pistols), Force Training, Quick Draw, Point Blank Shot, Dual Weapon Mastery I, Dual Weapon Mastery II, Double Attack, Exotic Weapon Proficiency: (deflection bracers)*, Precise Shot
Skills Use the Force +13, Initiative +14, Perception +13
Possessions blue lightsaber, clothing, heavy blaster pistol (2), power packs (4)
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Notes: He uses a pair of SSK-7 heavy blaster pistols. He uses bracers to successfully keep attacks off him, although his training in the Force has largely been limited to gun-related applications. He is tall and lean with dark brown hair and brown eyes. At 24, he is among the oldest of “first generation” Kinsei. His gun specialization was an experiment to see if other types of protectors could be successful. Along with his partner, Kyle Katarn, Ajanos is considered one of the more powerful members of the Corps, as well as one of the most unorthodox in a tradition that embraces unorthodoxy.

Deflection Bracers Exotic Weapon If you are proficient with Deflection Bracers, you may use the block, deflect, and redirect talents as if you had a lightsaber active.

Kyle Katarn – CL 10 (Right)
Medium Human Jedi 7/Kinsei Honor Guard 3
Destiny 2, Force 9, Dark Side 4
Initiative: +12 Perception: +13
Languages: Basic, Huttese
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Defenses Ref 24 Fort 25 Will 25
HP 114
Condition Track 114-79 / 78-45 / 44-22 / 21-11 / 10-1
Second Wind 28
Threshold 25
----------------------------
Speed 6 squares
Melee lightsaber +14 (2d8+11)
Melee lightsaber +9/+9 (2d8+11)
Ranged lightsaber +13 (2d8+8)
Base Attack +10; Grapple: +13
Attack Options Powerful Charge, Lightsaber Throw, Double Attack
Special Actions Call to Balance
----------------------------
Force Powers move object (2), Force thrust, Force horror, mind trick, flash of light, Force valor, dark rage, Force grip, Force lightning, Force slam, surge
Force Techniques Force Power Mastery (move object)
----------------------------
Abilities Str 17 Dex 14 Con 17 Int 13 Wis 16 Cha 16
Talents Block, Deflect, Lightsaber Throw, Harness the Dark Side, Focused Control, Call to Balance
Feats Force Sensitivity, Weapon Proficiency (lightsabers, simple), Weapon Focus (lightsaber), Skill Focus (Use the Force), Powerful Charge, Power Attack, Force Training (3), Double Attack
Skills Use the Force +18, Initiative +12, Perception +13
Possessions blue lightsaber, clothing
----------------------
Notes: Katarn is the son of Morgan Katarn, a senior advisor to Emperor Skywalker. At 22, he has risen quickly to a position of authority; he commands 10 pairs of Kinsei stationed on Coruscant. He spent his initial years assigned to his homeworld of Sulon along with his partner, Pakron Ajanos. He is rather belligerent at times, but very competent and loyal. He tends to rely on slow but powerful attacks, as well as the Force.

Adventure 8

We got a new player for this adventure: my BFF Kelsey (although this BFF-itude only holds true in the contiguous 48 states.) She is new to D20 and the Star Wars system, but I invited her after I noticed that her cell phone plays the Imperial March when someone calls. She is playing a Kinsei named Sia. She has a last name, but it's in my book, which was stolen by Kelsey. Anyhow, she is a gun-based Kinsei, which gives the party another ranged character and a 4th member.

Five days passed after the Battle of Coruscant, allowing the battered citizens of the city-planet to recover from the daring Rebel attack. Rumors of Mandalorians hidden in the populace had been causing no small amount of uproar and paranoia in the citizenry. In the midst of all this, the Empire's protectors sought to try new tactics to counter the increasingly emboldened Rebellion.

IG-203, the Prodigy, and Nos Maliss were called into Kyle Katarn's briefing room to go over their next assignment. Their commander was impatient and still wounded from the battle (as well as an overzealous night). He first introduced them to another Kinsei by name of Sia whose partner had been killed by the Mandalorians. Sia walked in and joined the briefing, taking little time for introductions. She looked of Asian descent and had teal hair. Instead of using her lightsaber to block attacks, she used a pair of specialized bracers. This freed her hands to allow her to shoot freely with a pair of blaster pistols.

Their mission was to follow up on another report of Jedi terrorism on the planet Corulag. They departed immediately after receiving their mission briefing. On the way to their destination, Sia mulled over her dead partner. Trying to cheer her up, Maliss (possibly trying to stir up a romance to bring his dead race back to life) engaged in a shooting/deflecting session with her. He deflected most of the shots, but she caught him successfully with one and left.

Once on the planet, they sent a message to Zabbaba the Hutt, who had helped them on the last of their missions against the Sentinels. He used his underworld knowledge to point them in the direction of one of his competitors, a Twi'lek named Maan Tay'aa, who was known to sell to those elements. They easily followed the clues to his office, busted down the door, killed the receptionist as he leapt for a blaster, and entered his main office. There, he tried unsuccessfully to escape. The Kinsei team interrogated him, then executed him. With the information he had given them, they found themselves at a large warehouse.

Through the garage doors, the Prodigy reached out with the Force and felt the presence three Force-sensitives. The droid opened the doors and they prepared for battle. However, it was not the Jedi they had been seeking. Instead, it was a trio of human males who seemed happy to see them. Their leader knelt before the Kinsei, greeting them as "heralds." At their look of confusion, he cited a prophecy: "A generation after his fall, the last son and the one wise beyond his years will herald the rebirth of the True Emperor, and they will bring about the fall of the False Empire." The Kinsei realized that they were dealing with a Sith cult.

As the leader of the cult (which called themselves the "Disciples of the True Emperor") mentioned that they would be tested by the Apostles of the True Emperor, a pair of Jedi Sentinels arrived. They sought to find who had been posing as them, bringing them to the warehouse. Upon seeing the Kinsei and the Sith apparently in conversation, they ignited their yellow blades and attacked both groups. The Kinsei began fighting both groups as well, resulting in a three-way melee.

After only a few moments of battle, a fourth group joined the fray: Tellis Krath, who had been tracking the other Dashade who had severed his arm. He was joined by a trio of near-mindless Dashade clones, and had apparently replaced his arm with a robotic one. Arriving on a speeder and joining the fight by usage of indiscriminate missiles, Krath leapt off to engage Nos Maliss while the Dashade clones activated their vibroaxes and simply joined the fray.

The four-way battle resulted in injuries and death on all sides. Of the party, most of the members were injured: the droid from a stray explosive and a lightsaber slash from one of the Sith, Sia from being wedged between a Jedi and a charging Dashade clone, and Maliss from Krath simply wrestling and beating him with his great strength. The Jedi and Sith fell until only one of each remained; the Sith ran while the Jedi committed suicide rather than be taken prisoner. The party disabled the remaining Dashade clones through the Force and blaster shots. (The tough race was historically resistant to both, and the clones proved to have this as well. However, they had almost non-existent intelligence and willpower.) In the meantime, the fight between Maliss and Krath looked poorly for Maliss, who could not escape the more powerful Dashade nor use his lightsaber. As Krath choked the life out of him, the party came to his aid, blasting away at him with their remaining strength. Finally, weakened by the barrage of fire, Krath slipped his hold and Maliss was able to escape, knocking him unconscious with a final slash of his now-available lightsaber.

This was so hard to adjucate. Fortunately, I didn't roll much or even keep stats on paper unless it directly affected the party.

Portrait

Enjoy a picture of the party until I post our latest adventure. Hopefully I'll get it posted later today. (The teal-haired character is played by Kelsey, who is a new player.)


[Pictures produced with City of Heroes character creator, MS Paint, and way too much time.)

Adventure 7

We took a week off so that people could get acclimated to school. We came back to a crowded apartment. At some point or another, Jared, John, Kelly, John, and Tarah were watching us play. Things got a little disorganized and distracted. It's why I don't run 7-player games anymore.

The party was given some time after the debriefing from their last mission before receiving a new assignment. Maliss interrogated the scientist in charge of rebuilding the Black Sun research, but only found that the project was not going as well as hoped. In addition to having difficulty cracking the ciphers, there had been some sabotage on the project. The Dashade, with his hopes of seeing his race return dimming, threatened the rather oblivious lead scientist. The prodigy spent his time buried in work and research while the droid indulged in some modifications.

Suddenly, while everyone was busy doing something, they heard a loud explosion. The droid recognized it as an impact rather than an explosion. A moment passed, then they received their calls to duty. Arriving at Kinsei Headquarters, they headed to their briefing room. Kyle Katarn and his partner, Pakron Ajanos, briefed them and about 20 others that the Mandalorians had bypassed the defenses and were making an attack on Coruscant, probably to wreak as much havoc as possible on the Imperial capital. The First Battle of Coruscant had begun.

The party was assigned by Katarn to defend a chokepoint in the Imperial Palace, which the Mandalorians were moving towards. As they flew over the world-city on a transport to the Palace, they saw the smoke plumes of where the Mandalorians had landed with Manticore War Droids. The average Mandalorian fighter was more than a match for a dozen Imperial soldiers, but not the Kinsei.

They took up their position in a large circular marble hall, hiding behind the cover afforded by statues in the chokepoint. The Mandalorians would have to pass through the coverless hall to get to them, allowing for maximum time under fire. IG-203 also set up explosive traps using a very small portion of the detonite that it took from the previous mission.

Once the Mandalorians arrived at their post, they beat back two waves of Mandalorians intent on breaking their position. They used the explosives and automatic fire from rifles to pin them down and wear them down. The tide nearly turned when a Manticore arrived to bring its powerful explosives and blaster cannons to bear, but they managed to disable it by wearing its shields down. After their encounter with the Manticore, no more Mandalorians arrived.

In the following days, details of the battle came out. The Empire had inevitably won, but that was not the point of the attack. Hundreds of Mandalorians were killed in battle, but not all of them had been accounted for. Civilian casualties numbered in the thousands, along with standard Imperial military. 14 Kinsei were killed, including 3 members of the Honor Guard and 1 Master. Boba Fett and Diospholos released a joint statement, saying that the Rebellion could strike at the very heart of corruption. (Diospholos, previously thought dead by the party, stated that an attack on his life by Imperial agents had killed a decoy bodyguard of his.)

In addition, a HoloNet reporter had managed to record a small, grainy holo of the Emperor himself taking on nearly a dozen Mandalorians and a trio of Manticores at the steps of the Kinsei Headquarters. Unfortunately, the video was not good enough to tell what color lightsaber he was using.

It was a relatively quick engagement that took a while to adjucate because of the distractions. Next week: possibly a new member!

Adventure 6

I haven't had a chance to write up what happened in Adventure 6 yet with school starting. Hopefully I'll have some free time to do so. Justin returned to play, so I was challenged to keeping all 3 players in the game despite their characters being spread across the galaxy. Lance's was floating in space, mourning his long-dead race; Rob's was running around Coruscant, enjoying some R&R; and Justin's was attached to Thrawn's Navy at the Battle of Dantooine. Eventually, they met up, but it was a good lesson switching between the three solo adventures.

The pair of Kinsei landed on the Coruscant surface, trying to evade Black Sun agents until they could be extracted. They hid out in a pawn shop owned by an elderly Rodian named Freego, who recognized them as Kinsei and allowed them to hide in his "special" section. Princess Leia Skywalker lead the extraction team, using mind trick to distract the agents. The Dashade, still seething over what he had done on the skyhook, was sullen and withdrawn.

Skywalker arranged for him to gain a Kinsei ship and gave both Kinsei a 3 week R&R pass. Maliss immediately took the ship and flew to the former location of his home planet to meditate and mourn. The Prodigy, on the other hand, tried to do some work and research. Kyle Katarn, his superior officer, insisted that he go out and have some fun; he jokingly threatened to dismember the youth if he didn't leave the premises. He arranged a penthouse suite of a local hotel for him to stay, and went out with him (and a disguised Luke Skywalker) to a few bars.

The Prodigy ended up sleeping with a beautiful, dark-haired woman named Shira, who wasn't present in the morning. However, she had left a card with the address of a nearby warehouse and a time. He went to the factory, where he met an organization calling themselves the Emperor's Hands. As explained by their leader, Mara Jade, they were a number of Kinsei willing to accept morally difficult tasks so that the Emperor would not have to. He (and the Imperial family) was unaware of the organization, but they were nevertheless devoted to him. She suggested that it was them who had caused the destruction of Alderaan. The Prodigy, despite any personal misgivings and the opposition of a few of the Emperor's Hands, joined the organization.

IG-203 was meanwhile busy at the Battle of Dantooine. Acting on a very unorthodox plan by Captain Han Solo, the droid rode on the outside of a TIE-X flown by Captain Soontir Fel. The Rebel fighters were still a mystery to the Empire, as they had been unable to capture any. However, IG-203 magnetically latched onto a SoroSuub YB-3, destroyed the astromech droid, killed the pilot, and flew it back to the Imperial fleet despite being exposed to vacuum. The overall battle was a resounding Imperial success: Thrawn had caught a Rebel fleet in transit from Dantooine to their next base and destroyed a dozen frigates, plus several dozen transport ships. Unfortunately, Vice Admiral Tarkin simultaneously bungled the Battle of Yavin, losing 3 Star Destroyers and failing to destroy Freedom Station.

Nos Maliss had been in the former orbit of his planet for a few days when he heard the taunting voice of Diospholos, who he had killed on Freedom Station a few weeks prior. He taunted the Dashade about dooming his planet, but Maliss was not swayed from his decision. They argued for a while until Diospholos went silent.

After the three weeks were over, the Kinsei both returned to Headquarters, where they were joined by IG-203. The droid had been assigned to join them on their mission. Katarn explained to them that they were to pursue a radical Jedi sect called the Sentinels. They had been sighted on the planet Anaxes; the trio was assigned to investigate the rumors.

On Anaxes, they discovered a terrorist plot to destroy a nuclear plant. A Hutt crime lord gave them the information because the Jedi had bought detonite from a competitor. The Sentinels, along with some local mercenaries, had killed the guards and were rigging up the explosives when the Kinsei team arrived. The pair of Kinsei engaged a pair of Sentinels while the droid began taking out the mercenaries. One dying mercenary fell on the detonator, starting the timer. Both Jedi and the mercenaries began to flee, but one Sentinel was caught by the Kinsei teamwork.

The droid disabled the explosives and collected the detonite. While back in transit to Coruscant, each tried to gain as much information as possible from the Jedi. They discovered that the Sentinel cells were independent, but still received orders from a hierarchy.

Adventure 5

It appears that Parker has left the campaign completely in favor of LARPs and a few other games. Justin didn't show up today, but presumably he hasn't left yet. Lance, Rob, and I had an interesting adventure with just the 2 of them as PCs. I dislike DMPCs, so I just gave them an adventure without skill-based challenges. (This is not to say that it was a combat fest.)

A few days passed with the party recovering from their wounds on Freedom Station. News reports flooded the galaxy about the destruction of Alderaan: the Rebels claimed that Luke Skywalker had infiltrated the station and destroyed Alderaan at the order of his father, while the Empire denied anything to do with it and renounced the usage of superweapons. Supporters on both sides polarized about the conflict, resulting in several systems seceding from the Empire. Corellia was one of these systems, along with Mon Calamari and Sullust, giving the Rebels a much larger military base. The Rebellion had become a full-fledged Galactic Civil War with the destruction of Alderaan. Additionally, the Ithor, Cerea, and Bothawui systems all declared neutrality, while the Hutts cut diplomatic ties with the Empire. The traditional allies of the Hapes Consortium, Chiss Ascendancy, and Corporate Sector all pledged their loyalty to the Empire.

Nos Maliss saw a doctor about the ear that had been damaged on Freedom Station, who told him that it was irreversibly damaged and would need cybernetic replacement. Knowing that this would dampen his connection to the Force, he consulted with Leia Skywalker about potential Force-based healing, but she was unable to help him find an answer beyond years of meditation and trances. He did not decide immediately whether or not to take the surgery. During their meeting, she gave him and his partner an official invitation to a formal party of the Imperial Court, to be held the next night.

IG-208 and Ensign Nor'ein returned to Thrawn's fleet, which had returned to orbit around Coruscant, for their orders.

The Kinsei reported to Kinsei Station in the morning, the headquarters that were built around the Jedi Temple. They scheduled a meeting with their immediate superior, Kinsei-Captain Kyle Katarn. He informed them that he could not give them an assignment, as they had been tapped for a special assignment the following day. In the meantime, they would be able to prepare for the party.

They received their formal uniforms from headquarters, then prepared their gifts for the Imperial family, as was custom in the Court. For Emperor Skywalker, they chose the gaffi sticks they had taken from the Sand People; for Luke Skywalker, they chose the torn cloak of Diospholos; for Leia Skywalker, they chose an elaborate bouquet of flowers from all across the galaxy. Their adventures had been widely reported by the Empire, and thus the flower vendor gave them a steep discount.

When evening arrived, they made their way to the Imperial Palace, which was at the center of the Imperial, the cultural center of the Empire. Walking in to the main hall, they were stunned by the marble-and-stone beauty and grandeur of the Palace. As the criers announced the invitees, the pair of Kinsei received a bout of polite applause when they entered. Emperor Skywalker, on a throne on a raised platform with his two children flanking him, called out to them and engaged them in the gift ceremony, titling them as the Guests of Honor.

The Kinsei gave their gifts first, all of which were well-received. Emperor Skywalker praised their defeat of the dangerously lawless Sand People; Luke Skywalker thanked them for their saving his life; Leia Skywalker praised their ability to look after all corners of the galaxy. In turn, they presented two artifacts which had been handed down by the Jedi for thousands of years: to the larger, a lightsaber crafted by the Qel-Droma family during the period between the Great Sith War and the Mandalorian Wars; for the smaller, a talisman once belonging to Jedi Lord Valenthyne Farfalla of the New Sith Wars. Afterwards, Emperor Skywalker presented both with medals, inducting them into the Order of the Central Star.

After the gift ceremony, the party began in earnest. Many admirers came to talk to the pair, offering their congratulations. One such person was Captain Han Solo, who was stationed with Thrawn's fleet like them. Maliss, who had developed a crush on Leia Skywalker, jealously noted him talking to her later. He interrupted them to ask the Princess for a dance, but nervously danced a bit gracelessly. She politely thanked him and returned to her conversation with Solo; they were later spotted sharing the last dance of the evening.

The prodigy, meanwhile, felt a bit out of place because of his young age. At one point, he awkwardly rebuffed the amorous advances of a female Mon Cal. Seeing this, a young and famous fighter pilot, Soontir Fel, introduced himself and let him know that he had just accidentally insulted a Navy Admiral.

The night wore on and the party eventually ended. The two Kinsei returned to their dormitory, awakening the next morning to head to the briefing Katarn had told them of.

When they arrived, they found Emperor Skywalker himself giving their briefing. He informed that that their heroics had warranted a promotion, and he "unofficially" congratulated the Dashade and the prodigy on becoming a Captain and a First Lieutenant, respectively. Skywalker went on to give them their assignment: they were to drop from high altitude on specially-designed jetgliders that would mask their sensor presence onto a skyhook belonging to the Black Sun. A conventional assault would result in too many civilian casualties on the surface of Coruscant, so the two of them would provide a swift and decisive strike, escaping to the planet surface before other Black Sun operatives could arrive. Their main objective was to kill the Black Sun Vigo, Veknos, who was attempting to raise his status by creating some sort of genetically-enhanced super-soldier for use in the Rebellion. Their other objectives were to take the information on the project that he was known to carry on his person and destroy the prototypes that were rumored to exist.

I would like to point out that this has been heavily roleplayed. Until this point, there has been zero combat. Hooray for character development. Also, an awkward teenage prodigy with the Force is an angst-ridden force to be reckoned with.

Midday arrived to find the Kinsei on board a dropship in high atmosphere. Saying "Force be your tool," the pilot opened the bay doors for them to make their drop. They fell for a mile, quickly reaching terminal velocity. Their cumbersome jetgliders masked their sensor signature and inhibited their speed, allowing them to get within approximately a kilometer of the skyhook before being noticed by sensors. They continued to fall at the controlled rate of about 30 meters per second, dodging the anti-air laser fire which began to target them. After about 30 seconds of falling under fire, they landed safely on the Black Sun skyhook. They stripped the cumbersome jetgliders and entered the structure with a hacked keycard.

The duo entered and moved swiftly toward the Vigo's office. They knew that they had anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes to complete their mission before reinforcements arrived from another skyhook or planetside, so time was a limited resource. They ran into a few patrols of guards consisting of droids and mercenaries; the Dashade took violently took care of the droids while the prodigy used the Force to non-lethally take care of the organics, if possible.

Making their way to the office, Maliss stopped in surprise as he passed a wide window. He saw a lab room filled with cloning tubes; inside the tubes were Dashades. The Black Sun was cloning his long-dead race as super-soldiers. While he stared at this possibility, a hulking Dashade warrior arrived in front of them, along with two Black Sun mercenaries. The Dashade, Tellis Krath, was an imposingly large and strong figure, wearing only military pants and boots. He had a belt with a number of tubes leading out into injection points on his body.

He greeted Maliss as a brother, saying that he had seen his exploits in the service of the Empire. He presented the Kinsei with the offer to join him and the Black Sun to watch the Dashade species return to the galaxy, eventually conquering it through their force of arms. Maliss seemed tempted by this, as he had felt great loneliness and alienation without his people. He spoke against being in the service of the Black Sun, which had wasted the potential of the Dashade people for thousands of years, but Krath countered by saying that the Empire was doing exactly that with him. The young prodigy tried to interject in the Dashade language, which had been taught to him by his partner, resulting in a spitting retort by Krath, saying that an inferior such as himself had no right to speak in the tongue of the Dashade. Suddenly, with a flash of speed, he dashed forward and snatched the prodigy with his great strength, holding him in a chokehold, buffeted by the adrenal drugs that made him even stronger. He demanded that the other Dashade strike down his ally and join him as a Dashade brother should.

Nos Maliss found himself at a crossroad in his destiny. He could choose to strike down Krath and perhaps lose his only assured chance at recovering his people, but that would mean betraying the Empire and his friend. He could choose to strike down the prodigy and give in to the temptation that Krath offered him. He hesitated for a moment, unsure of which road to take.

At this point, I gave Lance a Destiny Point to use as he wanted, to decide which destiny he would pursue. It took a while with lots of discussion (OOC) and weighing. Rob wouldn't care if his character got killed, as he would just create a new Black Sun operative, which was nice for making the choice a very real and weighty one. He ended up using the DP to grant an auto-crit and rolled (with Force Powers) a weighty 86 for his damage.

With a cry of anger and anguish, Maliss brought his lightsaber down on his fellow Dashade, who moved to shield himself from the blunt of the powerful blow. His arm was severed at the shoulder, with the force of the blow causing him to let the Kinsei go and went flying back through a wall, where he fell down apparently unconscious or dead. The prodigy, barely able to catch his breath from his bruised neck, reached out with anger and released a withering barrage of Force lightning on the downed Dashade. The pair of mercenaries took a few shots but quickly retreated, clearing down a nearby hallway as quickly as possible. While taking a moment to gather himself, the prodigy noted that the Dashade's life force was quickly fading from the Force.

Now slightly injured, the pair made their way to the Vigo's office to complete the mission. Bursting in and sealing the door open with their lightsabers, the pair of Kinsei demanded the Twi'lek Vigo's surrender. He scorned them and clenched his fists. Prepared for resistance, the Dashade lunged across the Vigo's desk and slammed him into a wall, while his partner used the Force to crush his windpipe. Despite this, they saw that Veknos had a red beacon in his hand, and noticed that a pair of hidden doorways had opened in the office. Out of the doorways were a pair of Destroyer droidekas, known for their powerful laser cannons that could lay down devastating barrages and their shields, which were the strongest available without a stationary generator.

The droidekas unleashed one of these barrages, which the Kinsei deftly deflected. Maliss picked up the crime lord and flung him into the nearest droideka, then the prodigy picked that one up with the Force and brought it down on him, crushing him to death under the massive weight. Meanwhile, the droidekas continued to fire, wearing down the Kinsei's defenses with their laser fire, landing several shots. The prodigy used the Force to absorb the energy of one of the shots, strengthening his own resolve. They likewise began wearing down the powerful shields of the droidekas, eventually destroying one. The second, which had maneuvered into a corner of the office, continued its devastating laser fire against them both. The Dashade charged towards it, cutting a searing hole in its side, but the droideka responded with a point-blank charged shot that surely would have hit him critically and perhaps killed him; he let the Force guide his lightsaber, drawing heavily on its power, and deflected the dangerous shot. A counterattack and another barrage of Force lightning destroyed the droideka. They retrieved the information from the Vigo's corpse, then proceeded back to the lab.

The Dashade placed the grenades in the lab personally, not looking back as he threw the final grenade into the room and destroying the cloned Dashade troops. On their way out, they noticed that Krath's body was gone. They found no more resistance, but a few more minutes would find significant reinforcements to the skyhook. They made their way back to the landing pad, re-donned their jetgliders, and made their way back to the planet surface.

The game was very unusual. I was rolling unnaturally well while Lance and Rob were rolling extraordinarily poorly. Lance, who usually rolls in the average range of 14-17, rolled below 5 more often than not. I rolled 15 to 18 almost exclusively, forcing them to use their deflections and Force Points to survive the encounter. All in all, it was a really enjoyable encounter, as combat only took up the last hour or so of the session. At one point, Lance rolled 6 below the requirement to block a critical hit from the droideka guns; we convinced him to try a Force point to deflect the shot, and his dice finally gave him the love when he rolled a 6. Lance is going to try to get his dice to love him again this week, so he can get back to rolling 20s. Also, I cannot remember Rob's character's name, so I'm going to start calling him "The Prodigy" as a title.

Adventure 4

Parker didn't show up again, and Bruce had moved to Florida, so it was just the few of us. I began to work some music into the game, although Lance took issue with me occasionally using tracks from World of Warcraft.

The trash compacter was utterly disgusting, covering them with filth and grime. The group managed to pull their injured out, rushing to get back into the cleaner (although more deadly) Freedom Station halls. Brushing themselves off, they cleared as best they could and made their way to the power control center to shut off the tractor beam, open the hangar bay, and escape. The Verpine carried Calrissian, who was unable to walk, while Nor’ein carried Skywalker. The pair of Kinsei took the lead while the IG-208 took the rear to protect the group.

A pair of unfortunate Rebel troopers rounded a corner just as the Imperials came to the intersection. Maliss cut one down with a lightsaber swing while his partner flung the other into the opposite wall with bone-crushing intensity. IG-208 shot another Rebel who ran out to investigate the cries as the rest ran down the corridor.

When they reached the control center, they were staggered by its size. It stretched as a void vertically as far as they could see in both directions, with a central power cable connecting computer consoles that extended from alternating catwalks. The Verpine stated that it would only require a minute to take the necessary steps and walked forward, only to be shot with a blaster by a waiting Mandalorian commando. It dropped to the ground as the party reacted, pulling it back and spotting both the Mandalorian who had made the shot as well as his partner. They were prone on the upper catwalk, which was 15 meters above them, on the other side of the cavernous room. A second shot rang out from the original gunman, striking the IG-208 squarely in its chest, sending it sparking to the floor. Making matters worse, the door behind them abruptly closed, sealing them in with the soldiers.

Suddenly with 4 members of the group out of commission, only the Kinsei and the brash Ensign remained. The Dashade was at a disadvantage against the ranged attackers, but the prodigy simply grabbed one with the Force, throwing him into the bottomless pit. The Mandalorian caught himself on the side, but a second tug with the Force threw him to his death. The second Mandalorian shot a grenade at the pair, cutting both with shrapnel, then rolled out of sight.

Skittishly, Nor’ein moved towards the console, the only one available to complete the computer objectives. Maliss, his blaster pulled out, watched the upper level warily while moving towards the turbolift to confront the Mandalorian directly. Just as he was to enter the turbolift, he sensed a trap with the Force, sending the thought telepathically to his partner. The younger Kinsei, seeing an opportunity as the Mandalorian came into view briefly, stunned him with the Force.

At that point, with Nor’ein beginning to start the work on the console, IG-208 began to reboot its damaged systems, while the Kinsei tried to figure a way to circumvent the traps on the turbolifts to get to the next level. At the suggestion of the prodigy, the Dashade ran and jumped up towards the next level. With the help of his partner moving him with the Force, he reached out and grabbed the bottom of the next level, having successfully leapt almost 15 meters in the air, and dragged himself up. Simultaneously, the droid swiftly sprinted across the catwalk, leapt in the air, and attached his magnetic feet to the wall, dragging itself upward against the station’s artificial gravity.

The Dashade stood, ran again, and tried to leap across to the Mandalorian, who had been unsuccessfully blasting him, but fell short, catching himself just in front of the soldier. The small Kinsei then gripped the neck of the mercenary with the Force, giving his partner a chance to climb up, ignite his lightsaber, and thrust it into the helmet of the enemy. IG-208 arrived next to him and gleefully began stripping the valuable Mandalorian armor, while the Kinsei took the opportunity to find out the details of the traps on the turbolifts. (They were some sort of gas designed to activate when the lift was activated.)

Just as Nor’ein finished his work at the console, shutting down the tractor beam, opening the hangar bay doors and the door they had entered through, 4 more Mandalorians arrived on the second level. Their leader was a fearsome Wookiee whose bowcaster bolt was barely deflected by the Dashade. With a fearsome shout in Shyriiwook, the Wookiee prepared to take a second shot at the Kinsei from across the catwalks. The hulking Kinsei dove down onto the first level, landing in a painful crouch. The IG-208 ran to the nearest turbolift, holding his prized armor, and entered, setting off the poisonous gas trap. Fortunately for him, he had no nervous system to shut down, and emerged a moment later on the first level, green gas pouring around him.

One of the Mandalorians chose that time to latch his magnetic grappling hook on the floor, swinging over the side. He tried to pull out his vibroblade at the same time, but the prodigy thrust him backwards with the Force, buying an extra moment to prepare. He gathered his anger, controlling it as a burst of Force lightning that coursed through the Mandalorian. The Mandalorian blademaster then brought out his weapon, feinted a charge but rolled next to the Kinsei, slashing his left hip when he came out of the roll. The extra moment of preparation allowed the Dashade to catch him with his lightsaber just after, cutting deeply through the armor of his shoulder. Flanked on both sides, the Mandalorian was very open to the younger Kinsei’s suggestion of terror, and fled without protecting himself, allowing the Dashade to cut him off at the knees, killing him.

As Ensign Nor’ein sprinted from the console to the door where his allies waited, the other Mandalorians swung down on their grappling hooks. The IG-208 slowed them down with cover fire, while the Kinsei threw a smoke grenade to mask their withdrawal. Dragging their wounded with them, the party activated the door’s control, closing it on their pursuers. The human prodigy allowed for another burst of lightning as the Wookiee howled in rage, denting the door as it closed in front of him. The group continued to return to the Falcon as quickly as possible, throwing down smoke grenades in their wake.

Upon arriving at the hangar bay, they were exhausted, wounded, covered in grime and blood. Calrissian and Fi’kz’ta were conscious, although barely able to walk on their own, but Skywalker was still drugged and out. Nor’ein was given the task of aiding them and carrying Skywalker while the rest provided protection. The last thing they needed was another fight, but it had found them anyway.

Greeting them was the sight of a handsome man wearing armored robes and carrying no weapons, flanked by two similarly dressed men. IG-208 was the first to respond, throwing his only remaining grenade, a stun grenade, at them. Despite being prepared for something, the leader was only able to move it slightly with the Force, still being caught in its blast. A little off-balance, he still gave them the order to give the Prince over, which the Imperials refused. They launched into a desperate barrage against the newcomers, with the small Kinsei knocking the two others prone, IG-208 blasting down some cover fire, and the Dashade charging forward and burying his lightsaber deep in the chest of the leader.

Looking a bit shocked by the sudden turn of events, the handsome man leaned forward and whispered into Maliss’s right ear, “Strike me down here, and I will not die, not by your hand, you inferior.” He then cracked his hand on that ear, bursting the eardrum. Enraged by these words and the damaging blow, the Dashade gave in to his anger, switched his lightsaber off. He gripped the hole in the other man’s chest with his claws and tore him open with a howl of rage, dropping the destroyed shell onto the floor. Shocked, the other two jumped to their feet and fled as quickly as possible.

The group limped into the Millennium Falcon, but they were not out of danger yet. Calrissian stumbled to the pilot’s seat and began takeoff while the Kinsei ran to the turrets to ward of the starfighters that would pursue them. They blasted a few Rebel ships with the Falcon’s relatively powerful guns, but a few stray shots rocked the ship. A few more moments of tense fighting took place and the Falcon hit hyperspace.

A moment of reflection allowed them to remember who the man was: one of the Rebel leaders, Diospholos, leader of the Sun Guard. This act would not be without its ramifications. It was something to dwell on as they made the short trip from the ruins of Alderaan to Coruscant.

Everyone survived, despite my promise to Bruce that he would die on the Death Star. We got some glimpses of recurring enemies, especially Chewbacca. Everyone leveled to 4 (except the absent Parker.) Justin's droid also now have some Mandalorian armor with those sweet grappling hooks. I expect great things.

Adventure 3

I hope it isn't stereotyping anyone but Lando when I portray him as drinking malt liquor yet smooth with the ladies. I also refuse to RP C-3PO for more than a few seconds, so I just kept him offline.

The trip would take a few days to get them to Alderaan. They repaired the droids and tended to the wounds of the living, getting everyone to more-or-less health. In the meantime, R2-D2 identified himself and told the Imperials of his mission. It and C-3PO had been tasked by Emperor Skywalker himself to infiltrate the Rebel Alliance and find any classified information he could. To facilitate this, they were given alternate personalities and partial memory wipes. It had gotten them assigned to the Tantive IV, knowing that a diplomatic ship would likely see more information pass through it than most. During the Battle of Tatooine, C-3PO had suggested that the Freedom Station plans be entrusted to R2. The Rebel captain agreed and gave the plans to the Imperial spy.

C-3PO had also been brought online, but kept repeating, “I am fluent in over 6,000,000 forms of communication!” At Calrissian’s request, the droid was shut off. To pass the time, R2 displayed the relatively unclassified sections of Freedom Station, allowing the group time to memorize as much as possible about the layout.

A few days into their trip, less than 24 hours out from their destination, both the Kinsei felt a powerful pain in the Force, as if millions of voices had cried out in horror and were suddenly silenced. For the Dashade, this was the second time he had felt the deathcry of a planet. Knowing that something was wrong, the group tried to access the HoloNet, but it had been shut off from civilian access. Their codes weren’t adequate to immediately circumvent the blackout, and the slicing of the Verpine and Ensign Nor’ein were not enough to get much more information than that a state of emergency had been declared. The Kinsei sent a message back to the Corps headquarters, but only a cryptic response came back the next day: “Emergency. Stand by.”

The night passed. The Falcon was due to arrive at Alderaan in less than 5 minutes, which had everyone on edge. Suddenly, the ship rocked and slipped out of hyperspace. The group flooded the cockpit to see what had dragged them out of transit. What they saw shocked them: the Imperial fleet jumping away, leaving behind a number of smaller ships and damaged Rebel ships. In addition, there was a large and imposing space station, along with a rather suspect bunching of asteroids. Alderaan had been the source of the deathcry. (Of course, this brought an interesting question to mind: why would a Rebel space station destroy a Rebel planet that was under siege by the Imperial Navy?)

Freedom Station loomed before them, catching them in a tractor beam before Calrissian could react. As it dragged them closer, they made a plan that might see them through this. The droids would all hide in the smuggling compartments while the rest pretended to be crewmembers or passengers. A few minutes later, the ship entered the one of the space station’s hangar bays. A Rebel team was soon out to investigate, apologetically explaining that all ships were being detained following the catastrophe at Alderaan. They gave few details, except that the Empire was at fault. The Imperials successfully warded off the suspicions of the Rebels, who left them with the warning not to disembark and wait until they were cleared to leave.

Destiny, again, intervened. The Verpine picked up a number of transmissions from the nearby posts, listening in on the chatter. He gleaned that the Rebels had custody of Prince Skywalker, who was scheduled for execution within the day. Knowing the cost that would have on the Empire, the soldiers began scheming on how to rescue him. Ensign Nor’ein took the initiative (without telling anyone his plan), walked outside, and dropped a grenade on a computer console. Within moments, a team entered and arrested them while he ranted about how they had kidnapped him and implanted chips in his brain. The Rebels moved to place them under arrest until they could sort out what was going on. The short Kinsei, having earlier given a cover identity as a noble heir, demanded that they be given special treatment as nobility.

They granted this request. The team of 10 Rebels took them to a nearby prison area. As the Rebels prepared to lock them up, the group struck swiftly. Despite most of them still being manacled, the advantage of surprise, the Dashade’s strength and propensity for hitting people with other people, and the small Kinsei’s near-exclusive usage of the Force as a weapon, they managed to drive back their captors in a brief fight, killing several of them, although Calrissian was badly wounded in the firefight. Looking in the door of one of the cells, they spotted an unconscious Luke Skywalker, pulled him out, and dived into a nearby trash compacter, hoping to make it out before they could be arrested again.

Seeing as they would be leveling inside a trash compacter, I didn't let them level yet. 3 is the level where I become comfortable with not letting one adventure mean leveling, but it is generally 2 adventures per level until about 6 or 7. Fortunately for me, I'm at the point where I can put some more serious foes up against them; as another bonus, they've got a few wounded, which is going to slow them down next adventure and place a limitation on their options.

Adventure 2

I had to find a reason to incapacitate Rob, Justin, and Parker, as they weren't going to show up, even though it was Bruce's second-to-last time with us before moving. Rob came halfway through, but didn't see any combat. We also got started nearly an hour late when Lance finally showed up.

Rushing to the escape pods, they launched to the pre-programmed coordinates to pursue the droids, who they were only minutes behind. An errant blast rocked the escape pod, knocking it off-course and jarring the beings inside. When the escape pod slammed into the desert planet, all its inhabitants were unconscious or disabled. A few hours passed and the hardy Dashade awoke. He checked the others, finding that only the Verpine regained consciousness. They left to undertake the mission, leaving a note on one of Fi’kz’ta’s datapads, and shielding the pod as best they could from the unmerciful heat of Tatooine’s twin suns.

The unlikely duo trekked towards the nearest settlement, guided by the Verpine’s ability to catch radio waves. The Dashade also came into telepathic contact with the human Kinsei, who woke up not too long after them and followed their course. After a few hours in the heat, they crossed a natural rock settlement to see a Jawa sandcrawler. Unfortunately for the Jawas, it had been blown off its treads and was overrun by marauding Tuskens, who had killed the Jawas and were scavenging what interested them from the sandcrawler. The pair noticed a gleam and saw their objective: an R2 droid and a C-3PO unit, which had taken a nasty beating and had been torn in several pieces. The R2 was held down by an electric net which was continually forcing it to boot down and up again.

The droids hadn’t garnered the attention of the Tuskens yet, but it was only a matter of time until one of them came over and smashed them, destroying the information that the Empire needed. Unfortunately for the pair, a few dozen Tuskens milled the area between the rock formation and the Sandcrawler, with even more inside and in the surrounding area. An open attack against a hundred angry Sandpeople wasn’t going to turn out well for them, so they turned to more subtle methods. Also unfortunate for the pair was that such subtlety was not the strong suit of the very strong Dashade.

Seeing the occasional brawl break out between the violent Tuskens, they devised a plan. The Dashade, trying his best to hide his hulking frame in the rocks, threw a few pebbles at an unwary Tusken with the Force. Believing it to be an attack from another Tusken, he lashed at the nearest and gave the pair enough of a distraction to snatch and subdue two Tuskens who had wandered near. Donning the garb of the Sandpeople, they snuck towards the droids, trying to avoid direct scrutiny.

Once they were at the entrance to the Sandcrawler where the droids were, the plan took on a role the Dashade was far more comfortable with: violence. He seized the Tusken about to begin dismantling the droids and began a tussle similar to that which had distracted the raiders earlier. As he did this, Fi’kz’ta began to get the net off the R2 unit, allowing it to boot up correctly. The distraction fight lasted a few more seconds until the powerful Dashade gathered his rage and snapped the Tusken’s neck with a powerful blow. He then caught the Tusken and began to shake him as if their tussle was continuing, which bought him and the Verpine about half a minute more as the Sandpeople began to notice that the other Tusken wasn’t really fighting back.

With a few Sandpeople moving towards them, they dragged the droids to the nearby loading bay of the Sandcrawler. It was at this point that the R2 surprised the Verpine by beeping in Binary that it was coming with them, then wheeling to a nearby landspeeder and powering it up. The Kinsei, who had carried the dead Tusken with him, charged the Tusken who remained in the loading bay and flung the corpse at him, slamming him against the metal wall of the Sandcrawler. He fell to the ground, broken. They leapt in, throwing the droids in the back, and sped out of the Sandcrawler, with Fi’kz’ta piloting the speeder.

In case you're curious, a Tusken raider does d6 damage when used as an improvised weapon. They're unwieldy.

The Kinsei had torn off the Tusken helmet and brought out his lightsaber, still gripped by the dark rage that had given him the strength to kill the Tusken earlier. He leaned out of the speeder, lashing at any Tusken who it went near. The Tuskens shot at the speeder with their slugthrowers, hitting the enraged Kinsei twice. Fi’kz’ta managed to evade the majority of their fire by using a Bantha as cover, while the Dashade cut both it and its rider down. The Verpine managed to slide the landspeeder through a pair of columns of rock, and piloted them to escape.

With their objective attained, they sped back to their escape pod to pick up the others, getting the diminutive Kinsei on the way. After loading everyone up, they made their way back to the nearest habitation, which was the spaceport of Mos Eisley. While they were there, they managed to sell the speeder for 3,000 credits, which they bartered (in addition to the Verpine helping with some modifications) for a ride to Alderaan. Their pilot was a charming and gracious rogue with a heart of gold by name of Lando Calrissian, owner of the Millennium Falcon.

There were only about 5 rounds of combat in this entire adventure, but they were really entertaining. Lance, who had been doing some HackMaster earlier that day, was presented with a challenge that wasn't kick-down-the-door, and he and Bruce came up with some pretty strange plans to complete the objective. Most of this was made up on the spot, as I had planned for a full party of 5, not 2 people who bothered to come this week. Fortunately, they were rewarded with one of the more entertaining sessions in a while and got to level up, where the other two didn't.

Adventure 1

This being the first adventure and all, it was mostly filled with the earlier exposition from the last post. You'll find that I tend to condense the battle sequences that usually take a while to conclude, especially against nameless mooks. If they don't deserve names, they don't deserve descriptions.

After their ship connected with the Tantive IV, Prince Skywalker took half the boarding force to investigate the vessel. The group, along with a few others, was left to guard the retreat. However, after a few minutes, destiny intervened. Skywalker sent them a message to shut down the ship’s communications array, then to meet him in the bridge on the second level. The group met an inexperienced resistance in the corridors of the ship, then proceeded to fight their way through the mess hall as swiftly as they could, killing several Rebels in the process. Ensign Nor’ein and IG-207 were wounded by blaster fire, but not fatally.

Upon entering the communications array, the group herded the terrified technicians into the medical ward and destroyed the door, then shut the array down despite the protestations of the Verpine, who was trying to speed up an information download that would take hours. Hurrying to the bridge, they arrived to find only Skywalker and the ship’s captain alive after what appeared to be a frenzied melee. He informed them that he had interrogated the officer with the Force, and the captain had admitted entrusting the plans to what he called “Freedom Station” to a pair of droids and launched them to Tatooine when the boarding party arrived. Skywalker was about to take the party to the surface when a trio of Mandalorians appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Skywalker ignited his blue lightsaber and confronted them, ordering the group to carry on the mission and recover the plans, then get them to Thrawn, who would surely return to the siege at Alderaan.

That's right. The Rebels have the Death Star, except they picked an even worse name. I leveled the party up, even though I usually don't like characters to level unless they have time to look back on their actions and grow as individuals or something. However, I don't like playing with level 1 characters who I can't throw a good grenade or competent opponent at.

Party Description

Grand Admiral Thrawn arrived at Tatooine at Emperor Skywalker’s orders, only to find his fleet outnumbered by a surprise Rebel fleet. However, despite the surprise and the numbers, Thrawn managed to use his tactical superiority to hold the Rebels at bay. In the midst of the fight, he noticed a small diplomatic ship in the Rebel fleet; curious as to why such a small ship would be in the middle of a space battle, he sent a boarding party to it, led by Crown Prince Luke Skywalker.

Skywalker was accompanied by 4 Kinsei and about 20 Navy officers. Amongst this group were 2 Kinsei, a R&D specialist, a petty officer, and one of the few independent droids to be accepting into the Imperial Academy. Despite their junior status on the boarding party, this group would affect the fate of the galaxy in completely unexpected ways. Perhaps it was destiny or the Force intervening to place them in the situation that would provide the catalyst.

The first one noticed in the group was the hulking Dashade, Nos Maliss, imposing at best and terrifying at worst. While he was not particularly gifted with the finer aspects of the Force, his powerful strength and convictions made him an excellent Kinsei. After the destruction of his home planet in the Sith War of Exar Kun, he and 39 other survivors were placed in cryogenic stasis by the Black Sun; his chamber was lost tumbling through space until found by Imperial forces 2 years hence. Returning to a galaxy where the Republic was no more and his brethren had been wasted (as he saw it) by the Black Sun, he gladly took up the Kinsei offer when they sensed his Force sensitivity.

No less dangerous was the relatively diminutive Kinsei next to him. Despite his small stature and youth, the human used the Force as his weapon (usually his only weapon), training as extensively as he could. Considered a prodigy by many, he had completed his training by 15 and was one of the youngest active Kinsai in the Corps.

Next amongst the group was Fi’kz’ta, the Verpine Research and Development specialist that had been tasked onto the Imperial naval detachment by his superiors. Its main purpose was to find out more about the Rebel fleet, as to better design a suitable and efficient counter. Bright and inquisitive, it had spent most of its life to this point in studies and learning, but the rigors of the military worked well for its insectoid mindset. However, while the rest of his military crew was drawn to the weapons of the armory, he often collected empty datapads to later fill with data.

A quiet enigma to the group was the young petty officer, Ensign Altar Nor’ein, whose roguish ways made it a constant question how exactly he had passed the Imperial Academy. As it was, his father was an Admiral who longed for a son to succeed him, but saw nothing but disappointment in the son that he had. He had forced his son into the Academy at the end of his rebellious childhood, but the military had done little to temper him. He remained impulsive, tempestuous, and a little prone to kleptomania.

The final of the group was the most unusual: an independent droid known as IG-207. Droids rarely gained enough independence to be accepted as anything more than foot soldiers and cannon fodders, but this droid had succeeded in doing just that. It had developed a somewhat violent and pragmatic personality, often seeking efficient solutions to problems. A descendant model of the MagnaGuard IG-100 droids that accompanied General Grievous in the Clone Wars, it was swift and quick to shoot.

Some NPC Outlines

Emperor Anakin Skywalker: Jedi 7/Jedi Knight 5/ace pilot 2/Sith apprentice 1/Master Kinsei 5 – CL 20

Jedi Master Shaak Ti: Jedi 7/Jedi Knight 5/Jedi Master 5 – CL 17

Grand Admiral Thrawn: Noble 6/Soldier 1/Officer 9 – CL 16

Boba Fett, Mandalore: Soldier 3/Noble 5/Officer 6 – CL 14

Prince Xizor: Noble 4/Scoundrel 3/Crime Lord 6 – CL 13

Jedi Master Ferus Olin: Jedi 6/Soldier 1/Jedi Knight 5/Jedi Master 1 – CL 13

Crown Prince Luke Skywalker: Jedi 7/Kinsei Honor Guard 3 – CL 10

Princess Leia Skywalker: Jedi 4/Noble 3/Kinsei Honor Guard 2 – CL 9

Captain Han Solo: Soldier 6/Noble 1/Elite Trooper 2 – CL 9

Chewbacca Ordo, Mandalorian Commando: Scout 5/Soldier 2/Gunslinger 1 – CL 8

Colonel Soontir Fel: Soldier 7/Ace Pilot 1 – CL 8

New Consumables

- Adrenal Alacrity
A shot of this enhancer provides a temporary boost in the dexterity of the
user. The effect wears off after a short time, and side effects are considered
minimal. Stim bonuses that affect the same statistic do not stack.
Primary Effect +2 Dexterity for 10 rounds Secondary Effect -1 step on the condition track when the primary effect wears off
Weight .5 kg Cost 250 credits

- Adrenal Stamina
A shot of this enhancer provides a temporary boost in the constitution of the user. The effect wears off after a short time, and side effects are considered minimal. Stim bonuses that affect the same statistic do not stack.
Primary Effect +2 Constitution for 10 rounds Secondary Effect -1 step on the condition track when the primary effect wears off
Weight .5 kg Cost 250 credits

- Adrenal Strength
A shot of this enhancer provides a temporary boost in the strength of the user. The effect wears off after a short time, and side effects are considered minimal. Stim bonuses that affect the same statistic do not stack.
Primary Effect +2 Strength for 10 rounds Secondary Effect -1 step on the condition track when the primary effect wears off
Weight .5 kg Cost 250 credits

- Advanced Medpac
An advanced medpac contains an improved array of equipment for the treatment of wounds.
Effect provides a +5 bonus on Treat Injury rolls and allows one reroll
Weight 1 kg Cost 250 credits

- Antidote Kit
This kit contains wide-spectrum antidote hypospray injectors designed to neutralize all known poisons.
Effect provides a +5 bonus on Treat Injury rolls to remove a persistent condition caused by poison.
Weight .5 kg Cost 50 credits


- Hyper-Adrenal Alacrity
This model of alacrity stim uses a very powerful mixture of chemicals to produce an incredible increase in the dexterity of the user. Stim bonuses that affect the same statistic do not stack.
Primary Effect +4 Dexterity for 10 rounds Secondary Effect -1 persistent step on the condition track when the primary effect wears off
Weight .5 kg Cost 500 credits

- Hyper-Adrenal Stamina
Steeling the user against pain, this stim provides a very large boost in constitution. Stim bonuses that affect the same statistic do not stack.
Primary Effect +4 Stamina for 10 rounds Secondary Effect -1 persistent step on the condition track when the primary effect wears off
Weight .5 kg Cost 500 credits

- Hyper-Adrenal Strength
More effective than the basic model, this stim uses a risky cocktail of chemicals to boost the strength of the user. Stim bonuses that affect the same statistic do not stack.
Primary Effect +4 Strength for 10 rounds Secondary Effect -1 persistent step on the condition track when the primary effect wears off
Weight .5 kg Cost 500 credits

Life Support Pack
A life support pack contains dermal regenerators and other equipment for the treatment of wounds.
Effect provides a +5 bonus on Treat Injury rolls and allows two rerolls
Weight 1 kg Cost 500 credits