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... and with the rise of Supreme Leader Snoke and the First Order, many within the New Republic became increasingly desperate to regain the strength of the Jedi at their side and be capable of protecting the fragile cosmic balance created by Anakin Skywalker's sacrifice. The failure of Luke Skywalker's attempt to re-found the Order sent some of these people into a frenzy of research designed to discover if there was even the slightest possibility that any other Jedi had survived the dark times but had for some reason not revealed themselves.

Several tried to solve the mystery of the aftermath of the Battle of Kiraly V, the so-called 'Last battle of the Clone Wars'- a name more ironic than literal, in that the battle took place eight days after the broadcast of Order 66. Kiraly V was the centre of the legacy of Cirus Cannes, a powerful Techno-Union functionary who, despite dying several years before the Clone Wars started, still affected it greatly. He initiated a number of major research projects into deadly weapons that troubled the Republic throughout the Clone Wars. In the closing months of the war, a giant campaign was launched against this sector, consisting of clone battalions, supporting forces from militarised Republic worlds and a contingent of Jedi who had previous associations with both the Republic forces and their enemies.

In the course of the fighting, the Confederate forces unleashed all manner of technological terrors, and as a result the entire sector became sealed off from the galaxy at large; neither ships nor transmissions were able to leave or enter. Hence, the Clone Forces did not receive Order 66 at the time of the rest of the galaxy and for over a week the Clones, Jedi and other forces fought on, blissfully unaware of the sudden end of the war, the establishment of the Empire and the massacre of the rest of the Jedi.

The Republic forces- fighting for a cause that no longer existed- won their battle at Kiraly and disabled the Confederate technologies, re-opening the sector to the rest of the galaxy. Before they had even been able to transmit news of their victory, the Clones received Order 66 and turned on their Jedi masters. Yet the events that followed were exceptionally confused and no fully accurate record existed. What is known for sure is that the Empire put the Jedi contingent on the death list for the Inquisitors, indicating that the Jedi were not swiftly dispatched at Kiraly.

These Jedi were high-profile targets for the Empire. Their road to Kiraly had begun many years before with the actions of the fallen Jedi Larios Kuylen; the pursuit of Kuylen and his legacy had led to a sizeable Jedi task force roaming over all parts of the galaxy trying to protect the Republic from deadly threat. Somewhat ironically for those famous for fighting the 'last' battle of the Clone Wars, they missed the very first at Geonosis- a battle the Jedi Council badly wanted them to be at, but which they could not attend as they struggled against one particular aspect of Kuylen's legacy, the Syphar n Kalar (a topic too complicated to go into detail here). Some years previously, in pursuit of this threat, it was these Jedi who had been at the head at the largest grouping of Jedi gathered in the century before the Clone Wars began.

Seeking clues about the mysterious Syphar n Kalar, the Jedi were in pursuit of the equally mysterious Lady Adelmo, a powerful Force User from the planet Thalos, a world dominated by a matriarchal force-using culture. Adelmo, a one-time compatriot of Kuylen,, had been tearing apart ancient sites throughout the Republic in order tto gather knowledge about the Syphar n Kalar, causing great collateral damage in her wake, for her methods were merciless. Appalled at Adelmo's destructive ways- and sensing great calamity should her quest succeed- the Jedi Council had sent these Jedi to track her down. They had finally found a lead. Aliq Saar, a foirce-using associate of Kuylen's who knew Adelmo from a brief period of time when she worked with Kuylen, had revealed to them that Adelmo needed both halves of the Scrolls of Bandomino, an ancient record of Sith victories, to finish her hunt for the Syphar n Kalar. In possession of one half, she knew the other was on the planet Manu, far from Republic civilization. Here she had been frustrated; the planet Manu is uninhabitable to virtually all known forms of life for most of the years of each decade due to an unstable star that commonly douses it in lethal stellar radiation. Her previous attempt to retrieve the scrolls had been upset by discord amongst the people she worked with; she had had to wait ten years for another attempt. When the Jedi learned of this, they finally knew where Adelmo would be, and rushed to intercept her before she reached the scrolls.

As ever, the situation was not simple. Manu was home to 'The White Fortress', a mis-mash of a thousand generations of pirates, aliens and wanderers who had tried to establish a permanent base on Manu during its habitable periods. Each eventually failed, and each new base was built on the ruins of the one before, creating a vast and random fortress of ruins that gleamed whitely in the piercing sun. The Scrolls were within- but the White Fortress was inhabited once more.

The Council had sensed great evil on Manu; this combined with the power of Adelmo herself meant they made as great an effort as they could on short notice to provide this already considerable Jedi team with heavy Jedi back-up. They hid on a nearby moon as the Jedi team made their insertion to Manu to discover what was going on there.

Expecting opposition from Adelmo, the Jedi were astonished to discover that what they faced at the Fortress was an army of Dark Side force users, pledging allegiance to their great general Larios Kuylen. Unknown to the Jedi, the planet had also just seen the arrival of another group of Dark Siders well known to these particular Jedi who had been personally acquainted with Kuylen in the past and would be a considerable part of the Jedi's work in the future as well, not least in regards to what ultimately happened on Manu. Still, before any of that was relevant, the Jedi had to ensure they weren't set upon by the entire army at the moment of arrival- a possibility that became very real very soon after landing...

"That is our destiny now."

The great hologram of Larios Kuylen, projected large enough to be seen for miles, flickers off.

So- a stand off. Before you stands a group of about a dozen men and women with their sabres ignited. Xeth is picking himself up, having been forced to drop is big gun lest it be sliced in two by a thrown sabre. Jelena and Vera are locked in force struggles with counterparts on the other side. Gallagher has found himself outmatched by two targets at once; Wentar is a few steps short of the same situation, pondering if he can take one of them down quickly enough to fight be fighting one-on-two.

The two leaders are the two wearing all-over body armour, one set looking well-maintained, the other looking patchy and worn, though its wearer bears himself like a warrior. He seems to do all the talking.

"Still," he says, "I guess this means you won't be quite as easy to slaughter as you first looked. Is it worth me losing a few men to take what is yours? Well, those are some nice ships..."

"There will be death enough for all, soon," says his more cleanly presented companion.

"True enough. We shouldn't all be in a hurry to kill each other. But there's also security to consider. So why don't you cut out all the nonsense and tell me why you are really there...

-

And so we begin!

Don't make my written-decades-later history above there a giant paradox by getting yourselves killed here trying to take on the whole Fortress at once. You have a series of challenges ahead of you to make your way to the command spire of the Fortress and find the secrets you seek- this test is your first. Choose your words carefully.

Roan will try to take control of the situation using Leadership.

To the Jedi:
"Alright, calm down everyone. No need for this to turn ugly."

To the other people: (Lets see if I can remedy the boldness of needing a name from the end of the last game.)
"We are looking for someone. A woman named Adelmo. We don't want to cause you any trouble."

Woo! Let's get to it!

I'll take my newly acquired Dreams as my predictive power if I can!

-

Wentar holds his ground, keeping a firm grip on his activated lightsaber and warily glancing between his three opponents, understanding how dangerous their situation is.

He lets Roan do the talking for now, not wanting to make things any worse by somehow contradicting what the Jedi leader has in mind.

Jelena will spend on Foresight.

-

Jelena stumbles backward, having tried to knock her target down with the Force and instead receiving the same treatment from multiple assailants. She picks herself up quickly, but pauses before reaching for her lightsaber. She sees the opportunity to talk their way through.

She hopes that what Roan says will help and defers to his leadership.

Despite Roan's bold statement, Gallagher keeps his lightsaber raised, crossed with the Dark Jedi he engaged unintentionally. His blue blade crackles against his opponent's saber, and his eyes flit from Roan to his two opponents to the body-armored leaders of these defenders.

Andro, and his Padawan Argo, for once having not automatically charged into battle, stand ready with their sabers lit, waiting to see whether Roan can talk them out of this situation.

"Might've saved everyone a lot of trouble if you'd just said that to start with," says the man. "But I don't know anything about Adelmo wanting visitors. And she's the sort to be very clear on what she does and doesn't want."

Jelena decides to take Roan's lead on boldness.

"She's not expecting us. Alik Saar sent us to find her."

He has no idea who that is.

"An old associate of your General. Is Adelmo here, then?"

"She might be. She comes and goes as she pleases. It's not any of your business.

"Where do you all come from?"

Vera-Kin finds herself not particularly pleased with what they've found at the White Fortress, both in the way of a mass greeting of Dark Jedi and hearing that Adelmo comes and goes as she pleases, indicating a revived relationship with Kuylen and probable access to the other half of the Scrolls of Bandomino.

And yet brandishing their lightsabers and displaying use of the Force has given them a reprieve. Vera quickly puts together what they saw on Robine and what Kuylen just gave a speech on and hopes it will help them.

"Outer Rim," Vera-Kin says, deliberately vague. "No place in particular now. It's not safe in the Republic for the likes of us. But I think you all know that from personal experience yourselves."

Having thrown himself prone to avoid the thrown lightsaber, Xeth picks himself up and lets his bulky grenade launcher fall in the dust. He quickly snaps his lightsaber into his hands, but does nothing aggressive while the others try to talk things down.

He hopes that the rough-and-tumble look of his Renegades adds to Vera's claim that the Jedi are rollicking around the Outer Rim.

Hmm, I don't like that line. Hard for me to keep that up. I don't have lying and don't really like pretending to be dark jedi or whatever.

Trying to change the conversation and get some more information Roan will ask about Kuylen, "What was that all about?" Pointing to where the hologram was.

Unfortunately I think we're gonna have to play the part of Dark Jedi if we're gonna get anywhere here. Fortunately me and Vera are pretty decent liars so we can pitch in when needed. That being said it may be better to own up about some of us being from the Republic sooner rather than later.

Maybe let Vera and the Renegades take the lead, at least for dealing with these people. For now.

Indeed- there's absolutely no way in here without trying to fit in, so playing the part is how it ha to be.

"Didn't used to be safe," the lead man says. "Now we're safe and it's our enemies that are in trouble. And that was the boss- you don't have to worry about him."

"I'm sure he's quite busy," Xeth says, looking up at the space where Kuylen's towering hologram glimmered only moments before. "He said something about a rebellion. Doesn't sound so safe here to me. What's going on?"

Rast keeps his hands raised. He is not too thrilled about finding a lightsaber at his throat. He suppresses his instincts to draw his own and fight the Dark Side in its lair. He knows he would lose.

If the others talking eases tensions, he decides to step back and away from the guy holding him at saberpoint, back to where his friends stand.

"Why don't we have to worry about your boss?"

"Because he's too important for the likes of you," he says. "And you'll hear the plan when the bosses say so, if they ever think you are worth bothering about."

Rast just grunts at the response about this Kuylen character.

"Who would we hear the plan from? You or someone else? You bunch seem organized enough. I'm assuming there's a command structure if you've got a big boss and other bosses."

I guess the Renegades are gonna take the lead on this one.
Maybe we should just try to see whats going on. Need to take down the scanner so that we can call in the cavalry if we need to.

Indeed there is a structure- he describes how he is one of five enforcers who has been picked by one of the five commanders from the upper, more intact parts of the fortress; those five in turn were personally picked by the General, who is at the command structure at the top.

Indeed, there is much planning to do!

Just a clarification, are there 5 enforcers or 25? Or does each of the 5 commanders get to pick 5 personal underlings, or do they collectively pick 5 total.

OK, goals so far:
1) Kuylen is on the base. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. Roan is freaking out inside, but is trying to stay calm as to not tip anybody off. We need to figure out what he's up to, and what he knows. (also, you know, capture him and all that)
2) Adelmo is on the base. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. This is bad. At minimum it means that they have been talking, if not working together for an extended period of time, (or Kuylen guessed that Adelmo is gonna need to come back here.) either way. Not good. (we need to figure out how close she is to the SnK and capture her and all that)
3) We need to find a way to drop the jammer.
4) We need to find a way into the underbelly so WE can find the SnK.

All of our investigations require us to be able to move about the base relatively freely. So we our first priority is figuring out how to make that happen.

The way I see it the only way they'll let us stick around is if we 'join' them, there's no other way here. We offer to join them, under the guise of "We need a safe place, you want our ships, we team up. Win/win!" (I'm happy to have Wentar drop the line, maybe imply that our ships are rigged so that only we can fly them without consequence to prevent too much theft/usage of them without us being around.)

Then we find out how this place is run. It sounds a bit like a military colony or compound so I wonder if there's some kind of training/initiation and then we get 'assigned' roles or jobs around the facility best suited out skills. Or we could offer to do certain tasks like patrolling the base(letting us explore the base), maintenance (scope out security and the generator), etc.

I agree. "Join" them, give them use of our ships or give them the ships altogether. We're not leaving this place without their permission or a fight no matter what and we can steal them back later if we have to. Let's play renegades and get on their good side.

Rast, used to a life of violence as a man who tracks down dangerous criminals, will ask how the armored speaker got selected as one of the enforcers under a commander under their leader.

Jelena is fully against the idea of letting them have or make use of our ships. We should hold on to them to show that we're "useful" and defend them if anyone tries to take them.

Gallagher shuts down his lightsaber only when certain that the imminent danger has subsided. He very much wants to get away from this group that welcomed the in so they can decide how to proceed.

"Where can we go from here?" Gallagher asks the group.

-

Gallagher will use Foresight (don't forget to ask for visions, team).

As for his xp spendings... 6xp to Master Tranquility, 4xp to buy the skill Lying.

No way is Xeth okay with letting anyone even look at his ship.

Xeth will propose that they avoid Kuylen and Adelmo at all cost until they're ready to call in their cavalry, or this mission will get much shorter.

Oh! I wasn't suggesting giving them our ships. I meant more 'Hey if you let us in, not only will you get a bunch of force users, but force users with their own ships to boot! Pretty sweet deal, eh?'

Lets face it, our ships are basically in their control right now anyway. They've got the men and the guns needed to take them by force or destroy them, and us, if we wind up being too unreasonable. The only way they'll really start to trust* us (thus giving us more access to search the base) is if we play ball to a certain extent.

*as much as a dark sider can actaully trust someone else.

Vera-Kin will use Foresight too.

Having the starships gives us some great leverage, since we already know they value them. Hopefully this doesn't turn into us squabbling over the ships for too long. Vera-Kin wants to start exploring how they can sneak in or talk our way in.

I will use Dreams and see what happens.

I'll get the Force powers done, but you only get anything if you didn't get one last episode- these two are closely linked (predictions then help with this story too).

Well, you certainly need to make some pitch to mvoe on out of this one. Then you need to get going! The outer area of the fortress is not precisely defined- a lot of informal gatherings in all kinds of improvised buildings- so you can request to find whatever sort of gathering you like.

What you need to do, one way or another, is to get past the giant walls that separate you from the upper levels. You;re willing to bet they are pretty secure.

Once the group is away from the welcoming party, Vera-Kin proposes that they find an empty shelter near the ships and discuss the strategy.

"It's clear we'll need to pretend to belong," Vera-Kin says, gravely. "This may prove more dangerous than the actual battles to come. In any case, I vote we should mingle with those also outside the walls, like ourselves, who may have some idea or plan to get further up. The more we know before we try to move in, the better."

Guys, I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves, pretty sure we still need to convince these guys that we're suppose to be here.

I still say telling them that we're interested in joining and that by doing so they get excellent pilots at their disposal with their own ships without any useless loss of property and personnel.

Oh I thought they were done talking to us since Ush moved us toward planning. If they're not, we can try to ask them what people do around here to move up the ranks, so to speak.

Indeed, you need to talk your way out of step 1 first!

-

Well, the leader tells you that you can forget about seeing Adelmo- that's not a process that works that way around; you are brought to her when she asks.

They want to be clear on how you knew this placed existed.

"We were told about it," Wentar says, finally speaking up since the stand off began. He eases his guard a little but keeps his lightsaber active, not wishing to leave himself open while surrounded by three Dark Siders.

"Not too long ago we ran into someone like us. Said we might find what we were looking for here, as well as a safe haven. We liked the sound of what he was telling us and thought to check it out. He didn't go into too many specifics though, obviously, or else we would have been more upfront on our approach."

-

Edited: Ho man, with Ush mentioning some of the predictions from last episode carry over into this one I just realized the Wolf in Roan's vision must be Kuylen! It makes sense, if Roan is spotted by him it'll end very badly considering they've met before. Same for Xeth I think. Something to keep in mind while planning how we go about finding the Scrolls and shutting this place down.

Yea, then the advice from the dream is, don't go after Kuylen.
Which seems like good advice. Don't go after Kuylen on his own turf when he's surrounded by dark jedi mercenaries.

Hmm, must be said, Roan- the Force may be obscure,m but it normally tells you something beyond the bleeding obvious...

-

Wentar's explanation will do! They'll let you wander around the outside zone on that basis.

Go Wentar! Let's start a-roaming. The social among us could try chatting up some bored looking souls to see what they can learn. Thinking about the ships, I wonder if we should've take extra steps to secure them. If one of these people sneaks aboard and snoops the computer they could figure out where we've been and who we are. Not to mention outright theft would be a problem as well. Might Andro and his high fixit be able to at least encode our ships' computers and lock out their systems?

I mean, you never know!

I think us Regular Jedi should pair up with, or stick around with the Renegades. That way we stick out maybe less that a gigantic Lawful Good thumb.
Also I'm gonna assume that when infiltrating a pirate base I'm not wearing jedi robes. Maybe something more Han-solo ish.

So Roan and Sunda will stick with Xeth.

Locking out the computer systems might be a good idea. It won't look overly suspicious since we're in the midst of a bunch of overprotective suspicious individuals anyway. It probably means we couldn't fly out of here quickly... but we're probably not doing that any time soon.

Roan, how many groups do you want to break down to? Only some of us have the ability to lie, renegade status or no.

Maybe we won't be under so much scrutiny now that the welcoming committee has decided we're alright?

Rast will Dream also and see if the Force tells him anything. He rarely does this but decides to give it a try since the other Jedi with him want to. Plus, this is a very dangerous environment and they can use every edge they can get.

Originally posted by Vera21
Locking out the computer systems might be a good idea. It won't look overly suspicious since we're in the midst of a bunch of overprotective suspicious individuals anyway. It probably means we couldn't fly out of here quickly... but we're probably not doing that any time soon.

Roan, how many groups do you want to break down to? Only some of us have the ability to lie, renegade status or no.
Yea, we should stick to whoever has the ability to lie.
I do think there are a few things that we need to do. We should check out the security of moving to upper levels. The way I see it, we could probably either try to sneak, hack or work/lie our way up. But we need to see how that works first.

My initial thought is to try to surreptitiously hang out near the transfer point (guard post or whatever) and see how they ID people that can move from the lower level up to the higher ones.

If we find a computer terminal nobody's paying much attention to, I can see what I can find out.

I wouldn't mind mingling with some more social groups. Try and learn more about Adelmo and Kuylen's relationship here and find out more about what people know about the facility and how everything is run. There must be a recruitment process involved to get us a legitimate in.

I'm all for mingling as well.

Ok, so we've got team Mingle, Team Tech, and Team Observe.
I think Andro should go to Team Observe with his observation of 3. So maybe Andro and Xeth, as Xeth has intrusion and might be able to ID weak spots.

Team Mingle has to have someone with lying.
So Craft or Vera.

Team Tech should be someone with Fix-it, so I can be on Team Tech, along with anyone else who wants to. (Provided we can find a terminal to try to get into)

I'm down to do recon work. We need to know what we're up against if it comes to sneaking in or breaking in.

Master Vera-Kin would feel best used in Team Mingle. So whomever wants to come with.

Wentar could go with Team Tech, maybe?

Wentar is happy going with the Team Tech. My Fix-It isn't very high but my Lying will be handy if people get suspicious.

Also we shouldn't discount the Padawan's skill set. They might be good to act as lookouts or something for the Observe and Tech teams.

So far...

Team Observe
Andro
Xeth

Team Mingle
Gallagher
Vera-Kin

Team Tech
Wentar
Roan


I'd assumed our Padawans would stay with their Masters but if D'an feels his talents would be better in a different group, Gallagher trusts him.

It's probably better they stick with their Masters while we're here. I just meant more giving them something to do for the teams that their Masters are a part of.

Rats, I guess I never hit post on my reply yesterday.

Roan, I'll go with whichever team, but I raised my Fix-it to 4, the team's highest. But my Observation of 3 is also the team highest, so whatever you think is best.

Another suggestion for the Padawans could be to guard our ships.

Ush- could we use the speeder I hijacked from the pirates in that gold heist mini-episode?

Originally posted by Jazzman_78
Rats, I guess I never hit post on my reply yesterday.

Roan, I'll go with whichever team, but I raised my Fix-it to 4, the team's highest. But my Observation of 3 is also the team highest, so whatever you think is best.

Another suggestion for the Padawans could be to guard our ships.
I was going off the reference thread which hasn't been updated for XP spending.
However the drop-off after observation is big. I think the next highest is an Observation of 1, so I think Team Observe is best.

Yep, saw the archives were't updated and just wanted you to have all the info. Ready when Xeth is.

Speeder- only useful for getting around outside on the lower areas.

A group breakdown! That's handy. Ok, give me a final decision on what each group is doing and we'll get going.

Btw, you can't see much tech around here- the fortress at these levels is broken down and mostly ruined. Any tech is what the people here have brought with them.

So it seems doubtful there'd be a terminal to access at all, or if there is it'd be very well guarded due to the value of it.

Either we distribute Team Tech into Observe and Mingle or we come up with a new task for us.

Perhaps instead we look for resources we can use, either from people here trying to offload/sell stuff or looking into potential areas of the wall that could be used to sneak into.

Maybe those are things that Mingle and Observe could do, task-wise?

All things to look at indeed!

If I could have a broad idea of how you might have been thinking to start moving up a level, then I can tell you what you might find that helped with that plan. Different groups can try different things- but as I warned before, once you split up on different methods you might be very split.

Well, first I'm wondering how entrance is monitored. Are there guards, is there a keycode or other electronic security? Also, are there any insignia apparent? Surely there must be a way, with a large population, to indicate relative "rank" so people don't have to memorize every face to know whether that individual belongs in a certain area or not?

Good questions- someone will have to go look.

Though I can answer the rank thing easily enough- nope! This is more by way right now of being an organised gang more than an army in your opinion, certainly at least down here.

I would like to try move up legitimately to be honest. Finding out if they recruit or just take people doing things impressive/useful.

I also wouldn't mind finding out more about this rebellion that happened.

(There is merit for sneaking in too. Could be good to try cover both methods there. Maybe re do teams to Legit and Sneak?)

We could push Team Tech into Team Mingle. And I'd say Jelena is more the mingle sort. We should get Team Observe to go answer some of Andro's questions.

My optimal Team Observe roster:

Xeth (team leader)
Andro
Rast
Gallagher

Objectives we want to hit:

- Scout the perimeter of the White Fortress
- Find the legitimate entrances (gates, doors, etc.)
- Discover possible spots for sneaking in (cracks, tunnels, old ruins, etc.)
- Establish what defenses the Fortress has in case of a fight (shielding, turbolasers, troops, leaders, etc.)

We can use Survival, Observation, and Fix-It to check these things out. In case we get into trouble, Andro and Xeth are some of the best combatants on the team, and Rast can help us out at range. Gallagher can use his superior senses to help us steer clear of danger and talk us out of a situation via Lying.

-

Proposed roster for Team Mingle, pending Roan's approval:

Roan (team leader)
Jelena
Vera-Kin
Wentar
Denzral

Our most social Jedi on the team, plus the most even spread of skills, for general mingling. All are generally capable combatants, with Bodyguards (Roan, Jelena, Wentar) who can defend Vera and Denz if fighting at range becomes necessary. Liars in the form of Vera and Wentar.

Objectives to hit:

- Find out what those on the outside know about Kuylen and Adelmo
- Find out what they know about moving up in the ranks and into the Fortress
- Find out if there are any secret paths into the Fortress
- General info about the Fortress, this planet, and Kuylen's operation

-

Obviously Xeth can't really speak here because he doesn't have a Padawan, but do we want to leave the Padawans (Sunda, D'an, Essallin, and Argo) to protect our ships? They've clearly been marked as valuable, I can't imagine some greedy group wouldn't try. Combat-capable Sunda to watch over the bunch and serve as acting leader.

Thoughts? Otherwise, Padawans stick to their masters to provide moral guidance in this place ruled by the Dark Side.

That works for me. Rast also has a pretty good spread of skills. I have a feeling that blasting people won't be very popular in this episode unless not everyone has a lightsaber. So far, everyone does.

Gallagher would feel pretty safe with those three by his side, particularly Andro! I wouldn't be much use to the group in the way of observing and planning but my senses could come in handy.

Gallagher is torn on the Padawan topic because he wants to understand himself. Does he want D'an to stay with him for moral guidance or is he afraid of losing his Padawan? Decisions, decisions...

My vote is we bring our Padawans with us.
If we do get separated for a long time, I don't want to leave them alone.

Let Andro lock out the ships' controls with Fix-it and hopefully that buys some time if someone tries to steal them. That way we have our Padawans along when the $hit jumps off. My gut says what we don't bring with us now, we lose for the bulk of the episode. And the Padawans aren't learning much from us is they have to play lightsaber-armed valets.

(And seriously; how, after all these years, does the forum spell-checking code still mark lightsaber as an error?

Looks like we're getting organised! Alrighty, either group can say they are off to do objective X, and I'll tell you how it goes!

Looks good to me! One thing I wanna add to Team Mingle though is getting information about the rebellion, could be handy if we want to cause some confusion or dissent in the ranks.

That being said I vote Mingle try do - General info about the Fortress, this planet, and Kuylen's operation.

What we find out might change our game plan early on.

Team Observe should start by scouting the White Fortress's entrances and defenses. So, off to the walls of the Fortress to start!

Gallagher will agree with Roan and Andro that the Padawans should stay with their masters, with some relief. He feels D'an and Argo would be helpful with their scouting mission as it is.

I'm on board with all of this. Team Mingle has a bunch of skills as their disposal between everyone involved, we should be fine. And I believe that the Padawans should stay close to their Masters. They will need the guidance. Especially Sunda, unruly and "I want to fight the Dark Side!" as he can be (no offense, Roan!).

Vera-Kin proposes to Roan (deferring to him as team leader) that they find the nearest encampment on the outskirts of the White Fortress and begin talking to them to find out more about the operation and the rebellion that Kuylen mentioned.

Yep, Xeth wants to start with the walls of the Fortress to see how they're defended. He gathers his team together for a quick briefing, including R3-U9, his astromech unit.

"We're checking out how Kuylen's cronies lock this place up," Xeth says to his audience. "Let's avoid engaging anyone and keep our distance, if we can help it. We're just fact-finding right now."

Xeth wants to bring R3 along for scanning capabilities, and so that nobody gets the bright idea to steal the R3 unit from the ships, either.

"Meet back here?" Xeth asks Roan and his ready-to-mingle Jedi crew.

"Yup, meet back here in "

Yea, lets start with General Info, and see what that gets us!
Go Team Mingle! Bringing on the nightlife! Lets find some bars!

I imagine that consists more of crawling through the rubble like wretched beings than mingling in the White Fortress' nightlife. Unless they've spent time restoring ancient space pirate bars.

In any case, Jelena gladly takes Essallin along, not keen on the idea of leaving the Padawans alone to be preyed upon by roving Dark Jedi or a band such as the one that 'welcomed' them.

"I believe in you, Essallin," Jelena will affirm, "but this place is beyond dangerous for the likes of us, and we must all band together to stay strong, and trust in the guidance of the Force to see us through."

Rast just makes sure his equipment is ready for the mission before following Xeth's lead to investigate the White Fortress's perimeter. He gives a nod to Team Mingle but says little otherwise as he walks off with Team Observe.

He starts to keep an eye out for any miscreants that might give them trouble on the way over, scoped rifle at the ready.

Mingle group - Do we have ideas on what we want to ask to find out general information?

Xeth outlined it pretty well above. We need to know about Kuylen's operation here. That rebellion seems significant, too, but probably not the best thing to ask first.

Maybe we should look for larger gatherings to get the most variety of information? Smaller groups might be suspicious and less likely to talk while with a larger group we're more likely to get some gossip going.

That's true. We want to fit in, not scare everyone off.

What a funny image, us scaring others...

Right! Let's get this back on the road!

Scouty- team- well, technically speaking, you are already within the walls of the White Fortress. So many outer walls have been built and re-built and knocked down and re-assembled, that it doesn't so much have a perimeter as a sort of 'zone' of outer walls of various heights. Some of these provide welcome shade from the bright sun, and a lot of the little settlements that have popped up are in such areas.

Hence the actual security perimeter has been set up at an effectively arbitrary point somewhere within. What you have is this- the fortress builds up in layers and layers, getting narrower as it gets higher, though it is less like a pyramid and more like a crazy termite mound. At a certain point, most open routes up have been sealed off and covered with a bunch of electronic security. The exception is five of these routes. As you have been told, the General has five commanders in the upper level; there is one open ascent to each of these zones. However, these ascents are heavily guarded by the commander's men, both at the top and bottom. That would be a heck of a fight to force through (to the point where I am declaring it a game no-go- you'd render yourselves incapable of finishing the game and all it would get you is one level up and surrounded by more grumpy Dark Siders)

Looking around in detail, several options present themselves, though I am always open to others:

1. You somehow talk your way past the guards. That obviously solves all problems but it needs a stonkingly good pitch. It's not something you could improvise or do with words alone

2. You actually get yourselves permission to go up there officially. This means doing a good job impersonating Dark Siders. Doing this without the Lying skill will be near impossible.

3. You somehow render a crossing point uinguarded and sneak through. Like 1, this solves everything but it's impossible to see how you'd do it.

4. You bypass the security and climb a blocked point. Looks like you aren't the first to think of that though- and a few bodies have been left on display as a reminder.

5. You bypass the security ring entirely. There are dozens- perhaps hundreds- of entrances into the interior of the White Fortress all over the place. In theory, you should be able to enter in and pop out of another one higher up, inside the secure zone. Of course, you'd have no idea where you were going, and your Force senses give you a vague idea that it's not at all safe in there.

Other than the anti-air defences, you can't tell from down here what heavy firepower they have up top. This area is not heavily defended in a military sense.

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Mingle team- no problem finding oaths into the fortress. Trapdoors, abandoned service lifts, old entrances lying under tons of rubble, and even the odd direct stairway- or, for that matter. doors. It's completely uncharted. But you are told by others that people that headed in there have a habit of not coming back.

With one exception that is- apparently, high-and-mighty Lady Adelmo has been nosing around inside the Fortress.

As for the power structure- down here, it;s not very organised. The five commanders up top run a military operation but down here it is at best an associated militia and at worst a straight out gang. You force your way to the top and get the commander's approval (if you don't get it, he likely eliminates you and it's someone else's turn).

As for the operation- no direct information here, especially as you are newbie casuals. But something big is coming soon, this army is designed to be used, and the pitch is freedom from the clutches of the Republic- more particularly, the Bureau.

Hmm,
My immediate inclination is the underground/inside route.
Its our best bet for being sneaky, and it plays to our strengths. We've got the force as guidance and are pretty damn good at killing things that might try to eat us.
Or at least we are better at that than attempting to lie our way through or impersonating darkies.

Besides, we want to get into the depths anyway, because thats where the Scrolls are.

Yeah, we're not the most brilliant speakers or liars, so I have to agree that sneakiness is our strongest option. Although we have proved shockingly bad a mazes relatively recently, so I'm game for alternatives.

Also, we don't actually HAVE to go up.
We are just looking to go down. The only reason we have to go up, is to disable the field and call in the calvary.
So I guess there are 2 options. Go loud. Aka, sneak in, disable the field call the calvary and wipe the place. Or go sneaky and try to go and find the Scrolls ourselves without the calvary.
The problem with the second option is that we are fully on our own.

I think we need to save the cavalry until we know more about what's inside. If we don't know what the score really is before they come down, we could be responsible for a massacre on our side. Let's get as far as we can, going down. If we're successfully, great if not, then we do still have the cavalry as the nuclear option.

I worry about relying on the Force too much as a guide when navigating the insides of the Fortress, it's clear other Force users have tried and failed in the past. I think if we try that route we need to get more information somehow, like a map or a guide.

We might be thinking too much about trying to get everyone up at once. If a few of us (the sneakers and the liars) can somehow get inside the security perimeter it opens up options to get the rest up. IE, go up legit and vouch for the others later on and/or find a way to temporarily disable a checkpoint to let the others through.

I guess the question for navigating the Fortress's underbelly is whether or not hose who tried were on our level, as far as power and skill (aka Force rating and Lightsaber and other combat skills).

Taking the team up in waves might be a better idea, if someone can get to a higher level and get a feel for ways to get us up from within. But at the same time we should still try every route possible to ensure we get up somehow.

I think it's fair to say that although no-one (of the guys around here) has succeeded in navigating the fortress underworld before, I wouldn''t have put it as an option if it was actively impossible, so yes, you guys are better- but it does involve skillsets and tactics.

Perhaps we can gather intel about the fortress underworld as much as we can before tackling that.

Xeth feels confident he could also attempt option #4 and straight up climb, based on his physique and, in case of emergency, Wall Touch. Doing it alone might be a terrible idea, though.

It's definitely an option if we can get one or two others up there via another route though.

Could be we get a few to sneak up or talk up, try and get some intel on the underground parts of the fortress up there and relay that info to the guys outside to use.

I'm wondering if anything is being delivered from this section to within the wall, like excavations or something. Maybe we could all hide in a bunch of crates.

Those talking their way will absolutely need Lying, so that might work for Wentar. Having just bought the skill, not sure how well it would work for Gallagher. What would our pitch be?

Maybe we could see if they're mining for any artifacts outside the Fortress. Adelmo might be looking for clues to the Scrolls or something. Maybe we could "help" in the operation and get in that way?

Sorry, when I say talk up I meant more go up officially. I have no idea how we'd convincingly talk our way up without knowing more about how things are run.

That's a good idea! We know enough about Adelmo's hunt for the Scrolls to bluff our way through if we can find any sort of operation.

Side note: I totally wouldn't put it past Kuylen to have already found them but hasn't told Adelmo just to keep her here so he can keep an eye on her.

Very conniving, those Dark Jedi.

Jelena wants to explore the options of talking our way up or getting the secure points unguarded. Maybe we could instigate some sort of riot or uprising among the lower levels that forces the upper levels to send a force to quell it? Sounds like they're already having problems with rebellion in the ranks, based on Kuylen's speech.

Otherwise, a journey in the dark might be our best option, but we don't want to injure ourselves too badly before getting into the thick of it.

Originally posted by Craft
It's definitely an option if we can get one or two others up there via another route though.

Could be we get a few to sneak up or talk up, try and get some intel on the underground parts of the fortress up there and relay that info to the guys outside to use.

I think I'd need to know more about the physical needs of that route before asking anyone to come with. Xeth's built for it, though.

I wonder if there'd be any trouble calling back and forth. Comm interference or comm tapping would cause us problems.

I think we are taking our eyes off the prize a bit here.

We have to tread carefully, which means we should have our goals in mind.
As I remember, we have 2 goals.
Primary goal, is to find the Scrolls before Adelmo.
We know now that Adelmo is already poking around in the depths, where we know where the scrolls are.
The second goal is to bring down the thing that prevents us from calling in the calvary, which if I remember correctly is a big shield.
Now we assume that we can turn it off from the top, but as soon as we do that, we are made, and will have to actually call the calvary. So ideally, we want to either have the scrolls or have a very clear path to them by that point.

Unless I'm misremembering something.

That makes a load of sense. Taking out the shield generator will be our endgame for this whole situation; no way they're chalking its failure up to user error.

So I guess we need to find a way to get ahead of Adelmo? Maybe we need to find whatever records are being kept of places they've already looked, otherwise we'll just be chasing Adelmo's tail.

So we need to get further up and then somehow find out more about where Adelmo has and hasn't looked? Maybe even try find out the 'ages' of layers of the Fortress so we know where to look. I imagine where ever they were hidden it would have been considered the top of the fortress at the time.

There's also maybe a 'reverse' plan we could consider unless Ush says it's a no go. Take out the shield first, call in the cavalry and take over the Fortress. THEN we're free to search for the Scrolls at our leisure. Unless taking the Fortress will cause some kind of damage that would cause the Scrolls to be unsalvageable.

Also, just speaking my mind here, we are planning on dealing with this Dark Sider army right? Like we're not going to just get the Scrolls and then try to sneak away.

Getting out ahead of Adelmo sounds like a worthy goal but probably very difficult. She's stronger than most of us and already a few steps ahead.

And definitely not leaving the Dark Side army to just hang out. The shield comes down, the cavalry comes in, and we're wiping the floor with these guys. Our ships will prove helpful there, I'm sure.

The scrolls are the oldest of the old. I don't think there are many records. And Kuylen is not the type to tell people what he is up to. So I doubt that there are records of their explorations. I could be wrong though.
My Instinct is to just go straight for the scrolls, but I've had bad instincts of late, screwing up the investigation at the Casino...

Ok time to get going.

Xeth- the physical act of climbing the walls is extremely dangerous- firstly because they were not designed to be climbed, of course, but also because you reckon they are unstable- they could easily crumble. Still, dangerous climbing is indeed one of your specialities.

But that only seems to be half the problem. The little black dots you can make out on the walls don't look natural- security sensors. Not a good place for you to get caught at.

So, are we putting together a -go in underneath' group?

Yeah, that sounds like something that would need to get shut down from up top. No sense in risking that unless we've got no other option.

Xeth is down to go exploring down below.

Andro and Argo can go with Xeth, then.

Since that entails possibly getting hurt, Gallagher wants to explore the social route. Can Team Mingle establish with those outside the base what kind of reasons people get allowed up on an official basis?

I'm with Gallagher on this one. I'd like to explore alternatives in case going underground is a bust.

If we are going underground, we really need Gallagher to come with us. We are going to be using the force to guide us, and we need the best force user with us.

I am interested in what Kuylen is doing here though. That will be useful because Kuylen scares the crap out of me.

In the interest of moving things along, Gallagher will agree with Roan and put his strongest attribute to work, taking a moment to meditate and attune himself to the Force before they venture into the tunnels and ruins beneath the White Fortress.

"I find it unlikely that Kuylen does not know about the Scrolls being here," Gallagher says. "This might be an effort to stop Adelmo from finding them, having so many Dark Jedi here to fight her."

Xeth- maybe we could find a way to disable the sensors? Rast isn't keen to go crawling around in the dark after the last mission, in the lair with the rebuilding droids.

Fix-It would be the skill but we need a way to get access to them and trick them into not reading us.

Disabling the sensors would obviously be awesome! But the next knot in that problem is disabling them without being noticed...

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Team Underground- you have two choices! Do you try and enter by an abandoned gate, stairway or other such entrance, or will you try and find some broken shaft or similar area where the passage of time has opened up an entrance that was never meant to be there?

All Gallagher knows so far is that both paths are perilous...

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Anyone who is NOT going, let me know and we'll see what happens.

Vera-Kin isn't keen on venturing into the underground. If it's dangerous down there, she isn't built to take a whole lot of damage. She wants to explore other options.

Maybe we could disable the sensors by shooting them out? Or too openly hostile?

It's open to public view; plenty of people could see you if you did something noisy like that.

Andro and Argo are going underground. We prefer the less-established route.

I'm taking that as a decision for you all!

In which case, your entrance is a sheer downward shaft with no light, formed by various overlapping structural collapses. It's not a all safe.

Gallagher ignites his lightsaber to shed some light, peering down into the darkness.

"Somehow, not surprised," Gallagher mutters. "Andro, you and Argo go first. I'll follow you and tell you if anything dangerous is coming."

Gallagher suspects Roan and Jelena (and their Padawans) will follow him to bring up the rear.

Andro takes a useless look down the dark shaft, "I feel like dropping a rock to see how far it goes down. Probably not a good idea, though. Let's get this over with." He carefully starts to put his weight on the first hand and foot holds he can find, and the lack of plummeting bolstering his confidence, begins a careful climb down.

I assume we have some sort of rope-like stuff? Rappell down?

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Anyone who is NOT going, let me know and we'll see what happens. Hopefully this doesn't cause group friction but Wentar would like to remain behind to try and pursue alternative options. Just in case going underground doesn't work out for us.

Vera-Kin will stay with Wentar. Good to have alternatives and we should see what happens. It helps that we both have Lying.