USH'S STAR WARS GAME- CAMPAIGN II EPISODE II (DARK SIDE)- In the Coils of the Serpent
“I guess you can close this case on this one, Helkin.”
A pause.
“There are no bodies.”
“Well, of course not, in an incident of that nature. Just so much stellar dust by now.”
“I didn’t think it would end that way.”
“Seems a fair operation. You chased them into an impossible position and they killed themselves trying to get out.”
“These ones were different. They aren’t like the others ones I have seen before. They’re a team. They even helped each other to get away.”
“Kuylen’s influence, I suppose. A shame he was not there, but even so. That and Rand; well guarded secret is Rand. Also a useful demonstration, that we can clear up where the Order has failed.”
“You don’t understand. I wasn’t saying it was a tough take down. I was saying… that if they are different, this is not how it would end.”
“I am not sure I understand, dear boy.”
“The Force works in strange ways. People like that… that’s not how they die. That issue has to be put to the ultimate test. They need to be taken down in person.”
“No-one is invulnerable in that sense, Helkin. Anyone can die in a botched hyperspace jump.”
“They wouldn’t have done it, not at that risk. They would have died fighting first. I’ll need a full forensic analysis.”
“That’s a lot of effort on just a hunch of yours.”
“No bodies…”
“But of course no bodies! Just like I said!” A chuckle emerged from Helkin, and he murmured something. “Sorry, what was that?”
“Eaten by a Rancor,” repeated Helkin.
“You do appear to be blathering, dear chap.”
“Kuylen. It’s how he ‘died’ On his mission to Hutt Space. Eaten by a Rancor. No body, you see? And so no questions. A few years later… there he was on Jaglon Beta. The pupils learn from the Master; that is also the way of the Force.”
“Perhaps we’ll never know.”
“The Chancellor will know. He ALWAYS knows.”
“If you’re right… this won’t look good on your career.”
“It will look even less good if I didn’t do anything about it.”
“What can you do about it? You have no trail, no leads, nothing!”
“I don’t need a trail. I know these people. They’ll be back.”
“That would be insane.”
“Exactly my point. Get me that forensic team. I’m holding onto my Hunters for the foreseeable future.”
“That is a heavy resource drain on…”
“Take it up with the Chancellor! I am certain he will agree with me. Get me that team! Helkin out.”
-
Ok folks, welcome to Episode II (Dark Side) of the second Star Wars campaign! This is a direct continuation of the previous story, which was in fact one large Episode which has now been split in two. Therefore, no actual time has passed between games; the events of the last Episode move directly into this one.
As the game opens, the players have just escaped a deadly hunt for them by the new Galactic Organisation, the Bureau of Immigration and Undesirables. This organisation is a cover, with the secret aim of exterminating the Dark Siders from the Galaxy, with as much prejudice as possible. The deadly Osokan hunters they provide with this aim in mind have proven their worth on the field and are to be feared; the Agents that command them- in this case, one Rado Helkin- intelligent and determined.
The players were pounced upon whilst answering the signal of the veteran’s old boss Kuylen, who was calling them together after a long absence. The Bureau intercepted the signal and ambushed the players- Kuylen never showed. The long chase that followed would have ended in certain death for the players, but they were rescued by an associate of Kuylen’s named Melkus Doon, a Free Trader who has a good deal in ancient artefacts- Kuylen’s favourite sort of goods for his Sith archaeology plans- and renowned troubleshooter and crisis management operative. Kuylen- escaped but isolated and in hiding- sent Doon to make sure that the players got out alive, and put them on course for Kuylen’s new plan. With the Bureau now escaped, the players now flee the Republic to Doon’s hideout to recover and prepare for the next stage.
New players are welcome. New Dark Siders are associates of Master Nume Rand, leader of the group at this time, an ex-Jedi who has tried to round up other Dark Siders into his group. Earlier parted from your Master, Doon has managed to get you to rendezvous with his ship Scorpio en route to his hideout, so you can meet Rand again and integrate into the group.
Whatever Kuylen had planned, he knew he couldn’t do it alone. Therefore, what is to come must be dangerous and difficult. Be warned- there are no easy times on the Dark Side. The big difference in this episode though is that before you were always reacting to events. Now, you are on the offensive, as it were. You must plan and execute your own operations without it all being laid out for you- you will have a situation, and objectives, and that is it. A tryout of such a scenario in the Epilogue of the last Episode has proven successful. The team is working- keep that up, and glory and success beckon.
Indeed, power is your aim, and this Episode is one with a substantial reward at the end should a victory be won. It is hard, but worth it. There is all to play for.
As before, there is no prohibition on seeing what the Light Side are doing. Even if you don’t like doing that in general, they are still pursuing their own unconnected plot, so there really is no risk at all.
At this point, I need to ask everyone what, if any, predictive power they wish to use before the game starts. I’ll need to know it pretty quickly because once the plot gets underway you are forbidden from using them. As a reminder, the predictive powers you may have taken are:
Dreams. Using this gives you a small chance that the Force will have given you insight into what is to come in the upcoming story, giving you a chance to better react and deal with these events.
Foresight. This is better than Dreams- it represents you actually spending time to navigate the future to deliberately try and get warning of upcoming events. It can give far more clear and comprehensive visions than Dreams.
Manifest Destiny. Basically a Dark Side twist on Foresight. Whilst not literally better than Foresight, if you have it you will probably find it more useful. Manifest Destiny means that your future predictions become subjective rather than objective, and show you how you personally can increase your power, and become better than you are. It is how Palpatine creates his labyrinthine plans. A successful use of Manifest Destiny will give you information on what you should do to become more powerful. Normally this will, of course, be of relevance in the coming story- though Foresight talks more directly about story events. Manifest Destiny is very much focussed on you alone.
Instincts. The power of the Living Force gives you no warning about the future at all, but makes you more likely to do things right once you get there. A successful use of Instincts will give you a certain amount of re-rolls to use during the story, which you can use whenever a die roll goes badly to get a better result.
So, if you have Foresight, don’t use Dreams, Foresight is simply better. So if you have a choice, chose between either Cosmic Force prediction in advance, or Living Force sense at the time. And if you have Manifest Destiny, you have a choice between broad help from Foresight, or personal help from Destiny.
If you wish, you may reduce your force rating by one for the story to get +1 on your prediction roll. The Force power Augury also gives a bonus to these rolls. If the upcoming storyline is drastically relevant to you, you get +4 to the roll, but I will not tell you that in advance.
Note- Last story, Rah spent a Force point and made a successful prediction, which I never gave him (because it related to later events that were now shifted into this Episode; as a side note, Darth Sidious’ use of Obfuscate meant that Foresight did not warn you about the Osokans- Manifest Destiny would have helped though.)
Actually, I never took that point away from Rah, so he didn’t lose out. Instead, Rah gets no choice of a Predictive power this time; instead, he automatically succeeds a Foresight roll, with no need to spend a Force point.
Choose one; I shall make the roll and tell you the result. Bear in mind that the rolls are not easy and if you get a result you have been lucky.
As Dark Siders, you get an additional option- if you wish, you may receive your Prediction, if any, in secret, by PM. Bear in mind that I will tell everyone the results of the rolls, so if you do choose to get it in secret, everyone will know that. Well, anything to increase paranoia, eh?
Normally at this point you would also choose whether to use powers like Corruption or Domination. Due to the nature of the start of this Episode, however, that option is not available to you this time.
Good luck folks; the next post I make will be the starting situation.