USH'S STAR WARS GAME- CAMPAIGN II EPISODE IV (RENEGADES)- Battlefield

It’s finally here, the fourth Episodes of the Second Campaign of my Prequel Trilogy Star Wars game! Almost three years after the previous cliffhanger endings makes this a simulation closer to the films than I had originally planned but, hey, that’s drama for you! Three years is a long time of course, a gap necessitated by the need to create new story as off-line play became less and less. In that time, the player group has changed both in composition and attitude, and my idea of some plot points has altered as well. Hence there might be some slight discontinuities, which I ask you to suspend your disbeliefs for.

We are also using a new system! Veterans of my Matrix game have already tested out the base mechanic so they will be fine and in general it is not bad to get used to so we can get to the bottom of that pretty quickly once we need to.

More importantly, try and have fun whilst playing, and if new, follow the lead of the veteran players, they know what it is all about. Welcome back to everyone, and I hope it goes well!

This storyline is noted as a ‘Renegade’ one but it is as much as Jedi plotline as well, in much the same way that Renegades normally have their own big parts in the Jedi plotlines. It forms the very final end of the Battle Droid/Trade Federation/Techno Union plotline that has been going on since Xeth was looking for Battle Droids on Damagran with Shareth the Hutt. The mystery of the missing Battle Droids ended some time back giving way to the bigger mystery of the Federation/Union conspiracy. This story will take that plotline as far as we can go before we’ve done all we can with it- after all, we know the Conspiracy bears fruit in forming the armies of the Confederacy for the Clone Wars, so I cannot have you shutting down the whole thing. But there are still very important victories to be won in this episode which, there is no getting away from, is extremely action heavy, and although it is the culmination of a lot of back story, the story itself is actually pretty simple which makes it a great starting point for the new guys.

In the last episode, the Jedi and Renegades had been investigating the vicious attacks of the Cult of Charaeus, with their mysterious new weapon system. He Jedi were mostly interested in stopping the Cult whilst the Renegades were determined to find their suspected link with the Techno Union. As the Episode ended, the Jedi took care of events on Charaeus, only to find there was little left there other than evidence that Battle Droids had been used to take control of the Cult. But whilst Xeth and his Renegades got closer to the truth, they paid for it, as this new weapons system ambushed and defeated them all on an obscure world that no-one knows they have gone to…

Six months after the Battle of Lanzar

The Last Laugh swopped into an easy landing at the star port, perhaps a little more flashily than it needed to be. The ship had done a lot of ‘quiet’ work in its day, as its two man crew operated on certain ‘liberal’ theories of galactic economics. Now, for once looking quite shiny after being rebuilt from its exertions on Lanzar, it was smuggling just one person. One person away from the watchful eyes of Coruscant, past the patrols, avoiding all classes of Imperial vessel. Once you got far enough out, no-one looked for you any more. Rumour has it there was once an extensive system built far out for tracking ‘undesirable’ vessels, but if that had ever existed, it must have been smashed to pieces during the Clone Wars. And now they were here, outside the borders of the Empire. Safety.

“You know,” says Kyle, “this place doesn’t look so bad. A guy could make quite a life here.”

His giant insectoid companion Eerin clicked in a way that would have been unintelligible to many. The Empire would get here eventually.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” The ram of the Last Laugh was already lowered, and its guest was getting off. “You think the Nobog know about this place?” asked Kyle. Eerin shrugged, which was quite an interesting thing to watch. “Great,” said Kyle, resting his feet on the control console. “Always watching our backs. Nothing ever changes.”

Down below, the guest was met by an armed patrol of men led by a man in impressive military uniform.

“Marshall,” said the guest, bowing his head in respect.

“The men are just a precaution, in case you were followed,” said the Marshall. “It’s an honour. We’ve never been visited by a member of the Imperial Senate before.”

“It’s not in that capacity that I come today,” said the Senator. “And no-one is ever able to follow the ship I came in.”

“Of course. If you would care to come this way, we can talk business.”

“This ship is a light freighter, we can only carry some samples,” said the Senator, heading outside with the Marshall and his men. “Nor can we offer much money.”

“We only ask for expenses. We consider this a… wise investment.”

“You understand that the agents of the Empire will no doubt eventually trace this deal? You would make an enemy of the Empire.” The Marshall shrugged.

“We’re not within the Empire, which makes us its enemy anyway. Besides. Even today, they are long way away.”

“We are grateful. There are certain other planets like yours that do not have such a… forward-thinking view.”

“So might we have been, had it not been for everything that happened.”

“Ah yes…” said the Senator. He emerged from the high-rise hangar bar and was rewarded with a magnificent view of the industrial city- the buildings, the ships, the flying cars… and the great statues. "Even today their legacy holds.”

“Did you know any of them? You were a Senator at the time as well, were you not?”

“My son knew some of them,” said Galahad. “It is how we knew to come to this place. It all seems such a long time ago. Do forgive an ageing man his ways, Marshall, but I’ve never heard the full story, especially from your view. What actually did happen?”

TWENTY THREE YEARS EARLIER

Rekiarius

Did you dream of death, Xeth? You’ve never been one to delve into the deep mysteries of the Force, which seemed a trivial issue to you compared to the very real distress of so many in the Galaxy around you. They needed your personal protection, and for the Force to make you strong and fast- that is what they needed. Your sleep is deep but for once not entirely dreamless; you see great wars, great heroes… and a forgotten jungle world with ancient temples, where a desperate group of fighters rise up to attack an enormous foe that threatens the whole world itself. Random dreams; you cannot discern their meaning.

To return to the real world means pain- but there you must go. The agonising pain comes from your leg.

Click-click

“Awake at last, Xeth?” says Cannes. “Just in time to see the show as well.”

Those veteran Renegades playing on from last time- you are each imprisoned inside a bacta tube. There is some sort of large worm/scorpion thing wrapped around Xeth’s severed leg. You do not have your weapons. The room you are in is large and black but there is a heck of a lot in it- a giant bank of monitors on the far side, which you can all see, built on the exact same model as the bank that was at the control room on Arminium. Blue-striped battle droids operate control consoles all around, and three other things of interest are here. Cirus Cannes himself, wearing a smart suit rather than the desert clothing you saw him in before. He is accompanied by a blue skinned alien you have not seen before. And finally hovering just by them with two slimline red eyes is the floating ‘object’ that attacked you on the side of the glacier. Small but lethal, vase shaped, wide on top, thin down the bottom, sleek and black, making the faint noise of a repulsorlift.

Repulsorlifts! You remember now. The parts that the Cult of Charaeus was stealing. The parts needed to complete a full droid army from the bits the Union ‘accidentally’ lost in this area, to power the STAPs and tanks. To turn a security force of infantry to a full invasion army. You came here, the forward base you knew the Chareans had to be using, to find out what they planned to do with it, but... what you found was too much for you. All you remember was being enveloped in snow…

---

Alzarius, the starport

They’ve cleared this place up now, Vlad. There was a bit of hassle here you understand, after you left. Xeth and the others were ‘forceful’ in getting the information they needed. But now they are gone, which is another gap in your knowledge. You pace up and down nervously.

Charaeus was a bust, the main cult army wasn’t there, this ‘Thrael’ wasn’t there, none of the answers were there. Marcus has stayed to bring the planet under the rule of law and see if any other evidence can be found. Comms facilities there were poor; communication with the Council difficult. You returned to Alzarius to inform the Council of the situation.

When you got here, you found Xeth had left. Asking around, you discovered that he was looking into some sort of smuggling ring that was going on, but people are hazy as to why. In any case, he was looking for a forward base- he determined the Cult cannot have attacked the starliner from Charaeus, they didn’t have the fuel range. He and his friends upped and left in all their ships and no-one has seen them since.

Ah! At last, your backup is here. Arriving now are the Jedi Jovan and Denzral, coming over from some recent diplomatic mission, and another Jedi who was on leave in this area- much like the missing Jedi from the starliner was. His name is Lance, and you think you have met him before. Certainly some of those nutty Jedi you were working with when you were protecting the Viceroy knew him.

You take a step forward on the arrivals lounge to greet them, when suddenly a loud noise comes to your right. One of the local security guys is heading over with an oddball mix of beings bearing lightsabres. Oh great.

“Look,” the security guy is saying, “I don’t know anything about no bug guy with a laser sword. Hey!” he calls to you, Vlad. “You the Jedi? Yeah. I’m passing this bunch of people onto you. Some friend of theirs is missing or something.” These new arrivals are the new player character Renegades…

Looks like this one is going to take some time to work out!

Now, at this point, in the time where the game is still gearing up, you need to tell me if you are going to use any of your predictive powers. There are two such powers you may have- ‘Dreams’ if you have Master Intuition, and ‘Foresight’ if you have Master Insight. Dreams is free to use, though you can make it more likely to work if you spend a Force point on it. Foresight always works, but always costs a Force point! Remember, these Force points have to last you for the entire story…

‘Dreams’ means you receive an unconscious set of images about events that are to come- obscure meanings and metaphors that you must decipher to find clues in.

‘Foresight’ is more direct and represents you actively navigating the future to find answers. Whilst the way you see the future may still be obscure, Foresight will definitely contain directly useful information somewhere, sometimes about very important things.

In a slight difference to previous games, whilst you must declare- and pay for- a use of such a power now, your vision may not come at the start of the game, but at some appropriate point…

You can only use one!

Let me know, and play on!

(Lance- will convert your character soon)

I'll use a free dream if I can. I don't want to spend a force point so early on 😛

"Great, I figured we'd have to work with someone from the council" Sean sighs, lighting a cigarette-esque object. "Looking for a guy named Xeth, take it you've heard of him"

Xeth, upon seeing Cirus Cannes, strains against his restraints within the bacta, but gives in to the soothing sensation that bacta provides. He knows that it is currently futile to try anything at all. They are in the heart of the base that they had tried to locate, he is sure of that.

"I know what is going on, Cannes," Xeth snarls. "Do you really think the Republic won't find out that you're creating an army? It's too obvious that the Chareans are your henchmen, this time. I have friends that will find me."

(Sorry, Sean, we'll have to wait on others with you!)

"But my dear Xeth, as I always told you, we are law abiding people. We are not in the Republic, so those laws do not apply. And we would not have harmed anyone, but you had to come looking for trouble, didn't you? As for the Cult- we cannot be held accountable for the actions of some of their Renegade members. We have tried to civilise them but it is difficult."

Click-click

"Matter, it does not," the diminutive Master Vera-Kin speaks, remaining the utmost calm. "You seek to wage war with your machines. Such unrest will not be let go by the Senate, whether in the Republic you are, or not."

"If the army was aimed at a Republican world you would be right," says Cannes. "We're not so foolish."

"Then where do you intend to strike?" Vera-Kin asks, trying to sense Cirus' mind.

Oh, almost forgot that Vera-Kin has Foresight! She will use that.

Xeth watches and listens, though he is distracted by the worm/scorpion-like thing that is wrapped around his severed leg. He prevents himself from recoiling in shock as he remembers feeling his leg become separated from his body and sees it now. He tries to sense if this thing is alive or sentient, and see if his leg i reattaching itself.

Is it possible for Vlad to find out the location of the planet Xeth and the renegades went to?

Vlad scans the incoming renegades, and smiles as he realizes they must be part of Xeth's renegade group.

"The name is Jedi Knight Vlad Shafran" said Vlad to the Renegades. "Yes. I know of a Xeth. May I mind asking you who you are?"

Lordy, if you knew that life would be much easier, Vlad!

-

"A strike implies destruction" says Cannes. "We are hoping really for a garrison force. To help 'encourage' industrial production on a planetary scale."

And indeed yes, Xeth, it seems to be re-growing your leg!

Then I guess we will have to use Jedi authority to demand the managers or security of the port to show us exactly where Xeth snooped around. If we stumble on the same clues as they did, we will be bound to find the planet they went to, I guess.

Jedi Knight Denzral Vassisk grinned at Jovan as he spotted Vlad Shafran, then gracefully walked through the spaceport over to the Jedi Knight currently talking to the newly arrived ex-Jedi, a greeting. He remained silent and stayed out of the way till Vlad would find the time to greet them, or until he felt compelled to introduce himself to Vlad by jumping in with a smile. (I don't have master Intuition so I don't think dreams are an option, 😂 )

Vlad- apparently all they did was expose a smuggling operation; apparently some people wrre smuggling technical parts in civilian liners, which provides a motive for the Cult attack you were investigating (you had not actually established a motive as to why they attacked that liner). But there appears to be no information there about planets at all; you cannot make sense of that hit.

Is there anyone who had made contact with Xeth at the time they were in the port? I would like all those people to be rounded up and we will have a talk with them.

(Dream for me)

Lance follows behind the Jedi named Denzral and Jovan as they make their way through the spaceport and to the other group. Once there he makes himself known right away, "Hello, my name is Lance Windu. If you would be so kind as to catch me up to speed. I've not had the time for a briefing."

Denzral turned to Lance, smiling. "I am, Denzral Vassisk, nice to meet you, Lance."

Originally posted by Spidervlad
Is there anyone who had made contact with Xeth at the time they were in the port? I would like all those people to be rounded up and we will have a talk with them.

(Dream for me)

You literally have all the information from that incident that there is to get.