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.
