The lightsabers crashed one last time. The younger man pressed his two blades against his opponent’s one, relying on his superior strength and youthful energy to out-duel his elder. The older man bent beneath his strength, allowing himself to sink lower, coiling on his legs like a serpent... before suddenly springing up with a spinning blow that twisted his attacker’s guard away and pushed him back.
The younger man stumbled, but, expecting to need to defend himself, quickly regained his footing and brought himself back into the fight. To surprise, the older man had not capitalized upon his skillful maneuver. Instead, he stood back, eyeing the younger man with no expression. He lifted his lightsaber calmly into a purely defensive stance, preparing for the next strike.
Before the younger man could advance, someone had gripped him by the shoulder and reached around to the front of his neck. In a flash, a lightsaber had been ignited at his throat. With no way to slip out of the hold and now two opponents to contend with, the younger man dropped his lightsabers in surrender.
“You are making a BIG mistake!” Galder furiously shouted.
“Why is that?” the second opponent asked, a young man with tousled hair and his blue lightsaber at Galder’s throat.
“I have some powerful friends who will wonder where I’ve gone...”
“You have friends?” the elderly man asked. “Do they strive to march the Dark Path so profusely as you do?”
“I... what? Yeah, I guess...”
“Very curious.” The elderly man nodded to his accomplice, and the younger man removed his lightsaber from Galder’s throat. “I shall want to meet them, for they are likely to possess a different perspective than you...”
“You’re nuts,“ Galder accused, but was cut off as the younger man punched him rather solidly in the ribcage, causing him to double over.
“I do not believe I am,” the older man offered. “Perhaps it is you that is mad, or at the very least masochistic, for dealing with these unnatural methods that bring nothing but sadness and cruelty. Imprison him in the interrogation chamber, my apprentice. I will want to find out more about this... monster... and perhaps use him as bait.”
“Yes, Master.”
“They’ll find you!” Galder shouted as he marched out of the room, held at saber-point. “They’ll find you and cut you down, as we do all our enemies!”
“We shall see,” the elderly man sighed. He switched off his lightsaber, and followed his captive out of the room.
-
Welcome to “Shepherds,” an episode of the Retrospection games. As an episode of this series, “Shepherds” will be a mostly personal plotline, exploring events involving the players’ characters. Going off of Ushgarak’s ever-popular Star Wars role-playing game, these mini-episodes occur in game-play’s past. In this episode, we will specifically explore the group dynamics of the notorious scourge known as the Psycho Brigade.
Lethal swordsman (and swordswoman) all, the Psycho Brigade is a four-being team of Dark Jedi that have banded together in a tenuous alliance, based off of their like-minded mentality of might through fight. They are Rianna Xi, a psychotic murderous *****; Xavier Kolarn, a schizophrenic stone-cold killer; Dak Kaliero, a crazed reptilian bounty hunter; and Galder Starkiller, an unstable slayer seeking ultimate glory. Together they are a destructive fighting force and a source of much bickering for the Dark Jedi that inhabit the secret mountain base on Epireus. But what happens when one of them goes missing? Do they search him out because they feel they owe it to their fellow Psycho or for another reason?
The time period is set in 28 BBY- just a few months before the Dark Jedi make their raid on Newhaven and four years after the events of The Phantom Menace. The Dark Jedi have been seeking out others who use the Dark Side in order to increase their numbers and strength for their own survival, as seen in the recent recruitment of Xavier. As more Dark Siders flee Republic space to escape the might of the Bureau of Undesirables and Immigration, Rand encourages the Mecrossa Order to find these individuals so that they may be approached with partnership, sending the others to make friends while he recovers from the damage to his nervous system and heart.
Remember, have fun! And Merry Christmas.
-
At this point, players would usually pick their precognitive powers, but as the only predictive power anyone on the Psycho Brigade has is Dreams, I went ahead and rolled for the results. Unfortunately, you all saw nothing helpful.
It is a typical day on the high-gravity world that hides you all from the rest of the Galaxy. The rain is coming down, but it never reaches the higher portion of the mountain. Instead, it fizzles against the shield that is projected over the base. It will serve you well if anyone ever tries to bombard your base from orbit (not that you are expecting anyone to), but it does mean that the mountain stays rather dry and dusty while the rest of the world is refreshed.
At the moment, Rand is communicating with the Mecrossa Order on new potential members of your Dark Sider gang. Relle Novalinda, Con Gordo, Azarl Kaal... these names do not mean anything to you. Not yet. But currently Rand, though no longer in the leadership position, has set the goal of inviting these Dark Siders, fleeing for their lives from the Republic and the Bureau, to join you on Epireus. You are going along with it, for now. It gives you something to do.
The only person not present is Galder. He is out tracking down rumors of another Dark Sider.
For now, you can do whatever you like. The lounge, with its butchered furniture, is always available for a practice duel or target practice, and you have yet to set up any civil arrangements with the Epireans, meaning the hunt is still on. Or you can chat with your fellow Darkies, either within the Brigade or without. With the exception of Galder and Rand, all the Dark Siders are in... Gallador, Takuan, Tanic, Xorn, Rah...
Dak looks around the lounge for the closest comfortable piece of furniture before nonchalantly shoving Rianna off the couch she's on and taking her place.
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WARNING: The above post may contain sarcasm and/or sophisticated satire. Any psychological damage sustained is purely your fault.
"And I'm sitting here now," Dak replies, fixing her with his reptilian gaze. "See how that works?" He grins, reclining to cover as much of the couch as possible.
__________________
WARNING: The above post may contain sarcasm and/or sophisticated satire. Any psychological damage sustained is purely your fault.
Rianna glares back for a moment, before igniting her purple lightsaber. She cleaves it through the couch, which has the effect of separating it into two pieces and dumping Dak onto the floor.
"I cheated? Hardly my fault you allowed yourself to be walked into such an obvious trap," Rianna says, wondering just how far she can push him. "I would, but...really, not worth my time."
"Lizards are things to be afraid of? That's news to me," Rianna says. "I don't recall you ever doing anything vaguely warranting me even being worried at all."
"And Xavier, stop talking to yourself. It's annoying and distracting."
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Dec 19th, 2008 08:54 AM
