USH'S STAR WARS GAME- CAMPAIGN II EPISODE II (DARK SIDE)- In the Coils of the Serpent

"The plan will be all yours," says Doon. "I'll get you in, you guys take it from there, I'll see you at the rendezvous. All the preparation you need, I will do my best to sort for you. Other than that, this ball game is all yours.

"Your main opponents will be the Lantarnas family, of course. Siva's descendants still rule the Citadel and the Serpent; Vigo Lantarnas has an iron grip on all around him, and four sons and a daughter, none of whom are to be underestimated."

"Serpent members?" Galder says, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"They sound an awfully lot like us...like Dark Jedi."

"But...I do not deem it completely insane. I have performed worse tasks than storming some damned fool's collection in an organization named after a snake!"

"And frankly, nearly anything could be an improvement over fighting droves of Osokans. At least this time, we'll be on the offensive instead of constantly on the run." Rianna says, looking around at the others.

Rand shakes himself from the self-induced trance from staring at the tablet.

"I will get to see that later, Takuan," Rand says, trying to be non-threatening, but obviously failing.

"Do not underestimate the Golden Serpent, however," Rand tells them. "They were able to pull one over on the Sith, and they have the nerve to stalk Jedi. It is disturbing, at most. I was followed by Serpent members for years. YEARS. Nearly a decade. They do not let up. Unless we can disappear- again- they'll stalk us more than the Bureau will."

Galder shakes off his amusement at Rand being drawn to the tablet.

"We can fend for ourselves, Rand. And they obviously didn't kill you!"

"Ah, but I was supported by hundreds of Knights..."

we need to have a nice chat and figure out an effective plan.
once we know everything there is to this mission

After looking thoughtfull for a few minutes Rah pipes up "Well first off we're gonna need plans of the citadel, the location of the tablet..." He thinks for a moment "also it might be a good idea if we knew what there armaments are like, do we need to take out their arms cache first to restrict the amount of fire power they can use against us." He looks at everyone "We're good but one thing the Osokans taught us is that we're not indestructable!"

"Ah," aays Doon. "Fact is, the Ghost Citadel is a bit of an unknown. You have to understand, the Citadel is a legend. The Serpent has millions of members througout the Galaxy, maybe a billion, and that is not counting the countless smaller groups that pay up to them. Only mere thousands ever get to see the Citadel; it is accounted an extreme privilege to do so.

"So you have to understand, it's a minor miracle that I can even tell you where the Citadel IS. In fact, that is why Kuylen contacted me in the first place; I am the man in the know. That was to be my entire contribution at first; only when the Bureau showed up did I become more involved, before meeting you guys.

"I can get you in there... but I don't have the slightest clue what it is like on the inside.

"As for their guns... the Serpent are rescourceful, they might have some sophisitcated firepower in there, but on the whole, you will most likely just meet grunts with blasters. The Lantarnans will be the ones that are tooled up, if you are worried about it."

"ok..where is it? and how do you get us in there?"

"With that ship I am giving you; the rest is up to you.

"The Ghost Citadel on the first moon of the gas giant Fernau. Unfotunately that leads to some complications... which I had better run through with you, actually."

Takuan waits paciently

"Well, the point is... the 'Ghost' Citadel... that's not actually just a fancy name..."

"it's not easy to find, i take it. the fact that it's on a gas giant isn't random, no?"

Tanic, on hearing of the Golden serpent, quietly contemplates revenge against them. Maybe now he is powerful enough to kill it. Lop off the head, and the tail can be his.

"It doesn't sound so hard if we actually put some thought into it. I must ask though, Doon, if the members of the Serpent... The tail? If they are willing to die for their cause?"

(he will answer that in a moment, Tanic)

"Heh! It's not actually ON the gas giant," says Doon. "It's on one of the moons, like those old Sith temples on Yavin. Unfortunately, the biosphere provided by that gas giant is... unhelpful.

"Basically, the moons of Fernau are barely habitable. In fact, to most sentient lifeforms, they are totally inhabitable. The atmopshere is highly poisonous and kills anyone pretty quickly.

"But there is some native life to the first moon- plant life, mainly. They have evolved with an immunity to the poison, and luckily this can be made use of. The extract of the root of the Yaran plant from the moon can be taken to give you immunity to the poison yourself. So you will all have to be supplied with that, else your life expectancy will be pretty short.

"Trouble is... the Yaran plant is a hallucinogenic... a pretty powerful one. You can build up a tolerance over time, though they say the effect never fully goes away. But for at least a month after you start taking it, you get affected by all sorts of weird crap. People see things that aren't there... the ghosts, of the Ghost Citadel.

"Of course, I am pretty sure, and I know Kuylen was pretty sure as well, that you guys won't have a problem with that." He taps the side of his head to make his point. "What with your gnarly magic senses, you will be able to tell what is real and what is not, yeah?"

"Yes... Gnarly. That's probably the best description I've heard of the Force in a while. Would make that bastard Windu scream," Tanic says, a cold smile touching his lips, "Have they exported the drug?"

"Not widely, but I have a supply for you," says Doon. "As for the serpent members themselves... they are very dedicated, yes. If it comes to a fight, they'll all die before letting you take the tablet out of there."

"Alright then. So, Doon, is that the general way of things? Should we get down to specific tasks? Have you got any ideas on who should do what, to start?" Tanic asks, still aware he needs to talk to Doon alone at some point or another.

Has Doon kept giving Tanic those looks?

"Well, don't wear your brains out. We have a few days here to recover, and plan, and for you to talk to anyone you think might provide useful info to you."