STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Descent

You drop your pistol and go for your lightsaber just as the Malik's Guard reaches you. He begins raining blows down on you from the start, rolling four 6s to trigger Focused Blow's bonus. You parry his attacks until one of the shock batons smashes into your arm with an excruciating jolt. You take 8 damage and are Stunned.

Being Stunned halves your Lightsaber pool; Flurry halves it again. You may wish to reconsider your action.

----

SYNDICATE SHOOTOUT, Start of Turn 14

Ship

The Malik (G10): 3(C)/0 [MK GS CG] (1F)

Lift

Syndicate Guard (C11): 3/0 [TW PA FB] (1F)

Con (LS10): 3(1A)/25 [OGu BL ES] [CH CC] (7F) (Stunned) (one turn behind)

----

Yeah lets do a normal attack. How long to be unstunned?

One round.

Despite being jolted by the Guard's weapons, Con is able to retaliate... albeit, not as he had planned. Instead of a flurry of attacks, he makes a feeble slash to push the Guard back. You roll two dice... both show successes! He takes 8 damage as your lightsaber clashes against his shock baton and knocks it out of position. He pulls back to adjust his defense.

----

SYNDICATE SHOOTOUT, Start of Turn 14

Ship

The Malik (G10): 3(C)/0 [MK GS CG] (1F)

Lift

Syndicate Guard (C11): 3/8 [TW PA FB] (1F)

Con (LS10): 3(1A)/25 [OGu BL ES] [CH CC] (7F)

----

I'll swap in charge, use flurry and tap OGu.

Con SMASH! This time you have the Force on your side, Con. You come at the Guard with a series of powerful slashes, pushing him back and narrowly missing. Flurry halves your Lightsaber pool to 6, which is then reduced to 3 dice by the Guard's Defense. Still, you pull it off again; 2, 4, and 2 are all successes with the Orthodox Guard tap. He takes 18 damage.

He rolls five successes back at you, Parried to three for 8 damage. He hits very hard, Con; he nearly takes you off your feet when he jabs a baton into your ribs. You are Stunned again.

----

SYNDICATE SHOOTOUT, Start of Turn 15

Ship

The Malik (G10): 3(C)/0 [MK GS CG] (1F)

Lift

Syndicate Guard (C11): 3/26 [TW PA FB] (1F)

Con (LS9): 2/33 [OGu BL CH] [CH CC] (6F) (Stunned)

----

Put in Eye of the Storm for OGu. Tap charge for 6 extra dice, use evade. Attack.

😊

Con fights through the pain and catches the Guard out with a Jedi flip over him and a slash at his exposed flank. Five dice yields three successes as you singe the Guard's clothing, putting 9 damage to him.

The Malik's Guard did not like that one bit, but you are ready for his retaliation. You blur to one side as he attacks, meaning he only nicks you with the shock baton. Still, that's 6 damage. Those things hurt! It doesn't help that he brings the second one around and cracks you with it for another 6 damage. But doing so leaves him exposed...

----

SYNDICATE SHOOTOUT, Start of Turn 16

Ship

The Malik (G10): 3(C)/0 [MK GS CG] (1F)

Lift

Syndicate Guard (C11): 1/35 [TW PA FB] (1F)

Con (LS9): 2/45 [ES BL CH] [OGu CC DW] (5F)

----

Well, I'll use flurry and combat push again and attack and evade if I don't get initiative or he's not dead after my attack. Use lucky if the combat push fails.

It's a Refresh turn! Pick two schticks to untap.

Con is going all out here. He loses initiative to the Guard but blurs a few steps back, just out of his reach. The Guard's attack (a Power Attack tap, nasty!) goes nowhere, and as he tries to close the distance, Con taps into the Force and sends a concentrated Push at the Guard's footing. He stumbles and falls, leaving Con clear to rain Lightsaber blows down on him. On 8 dice you show 5 successes, one more than needed to max out Flurry. He takes 24 damage as you rake deep cauterized slashe across his back!

He spends his only Fortune point to revive Twin Weapons and get his Defense back as he rolls away from you.

----

SYNDICATE SHOOTOUT, Start of Turn 17

Ship

The Malik (G10): 3(C)/0 [MK GS CG] (1F)

Lift

Syndicate Guard (C11): 3/59 [TW PA FB] (0F)

Con (LS9): 2/45 [ES BL CH] [OGu CC DW] (2F)

----

I'll refresh Offensive Guard and Dodge and Weave. Swap in DaW f for Charge, tap it, and knock him in the face with the hilt of my sabre.

Initiative is his. He slams his electrified weapons into your lightsaber, causing a shower of sparks to emanate from the contact point. Energy arcs out and zaps you for 1 damage. He presses your lightsaber back on you...

... and then you twist free and smash him in the face as planned. There is a sickening thud as you crack his skull, and he collapses to the ground, defeated.

Now nothing stands between you and the Malik- the man ultimately responsible for every misfortune you have had in the past three years. It was on his orders that the Twins stole the Votive and maimed your Master. It was in trying to chase him that you found yourself committing treacherous acts and slipping in your morals. Luon entire suffers because of this man. It's people like him that make you sick to your stomach.

The Malik has his pistol pointed at the Votive as you approach.

"You are stronger than I thought, boy," the Malik says.

I'll use grip (Lucky if it fail)

"Thanks. Perhaps you should surrender."

It is down to an initiative roll here, and it is Con that uses the Force faster than the Malik can pull the trigger. The Malik gags as you start to strangle his windpipe.

"No... stop!" he gasps. "I will... have... power!"

"No, Malik, you'll never have power again"

Can I knock him out or handcuff him? I definitely want to get the blaster away from him.

And what then? The Malik is a menace to everyone on Luon, and the odds of the Republic courts successfully convicting him are against you.

Stealing the blaster from him would break your fccus.

The Malik struggles against your Grip but does not succeed; he takes 5 damage.

Clarion and Joon seem confident. I don't know, I don't think Con can strike him down, Master Raskae wouldn't want that....and his anger has been focussed on the twins. He got the votive back, his mission is accomplished, though admittedly all with a very bitter aftertaste.

They cannot know for sure how the court would take the Malik's hearing. Much of what the Syndicate does cannot be traced back to him; there is a reason everyone operates independently, with only short messages to go on.

The Twins are merely the Malik's pawns as well. Your anger can be traced back to the Malik.

It is ultimately down to Con... though the longer you wait, the more time the Malik has to try escaping from your Grip.

Con can't do it

He'll look at the Malik wincing in pain, very much enjoying every second of feeling his grip on the Malik's throat, then he'll look him in the eyes and say "You deserve much worse, but I won't be the one doing it...not today" and knock him unconscious. Then he'll sit back next to the Votive and just review the last years silently, haven't been particularly good years for him.

You release your Grip on the Malik and try to clock him the same way you did his Guard... but he taps Close Quarters Gunman to completely evade you.

He then turns the gun on the Votive and fires. The bolt strikes the ancient votive with a bright flash and the thing crumbles into dust. The Malik drops his pistol and basks in the smoke of the destroyed relic, laughing with his arms stretched out to his sides.

"You weak FOOL!" he cackles. "Now I too have the power of the Force!"

"You are a fool. The votive is nothing but an old artifact. You don't understand the force and you'll never know it's power".

Con will pull the dropped blaster to him with the force.

"It's a pity."