STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- The Cursed Swarm

"Someone from your crew needs to remain in the ship and monitor pirate activity, warning us if they approach the planet in force. The rest can rendez vous with us here, bringing whatever weapons you can. Those flamethrowers we built were useful."

"You've got my first mate and the hunter with you," Kart says. "I don't see my medic and mechanic being much use in a fight. And I'm flying the damn thing."

You still have some molotov cocktails left.

'Both could prove useful in non combat roles' replies Iffa.

Kart is listening. He wants to be sure that they will be protected.

"They will be protected. We shall attempt to keep them out of front line action."

"I'll see if I can convince 'em," Kart says. "They won't be too keen. I'm sure you know that. I'd prefer to keep my mechanic to help me with the ship."

'Well see what he says,' responds Iffa, ' if not perhaps we could call on him if needed.'

Kart thinks that might be best. As it is, getting either the mechanic or the medic to you will require him to take off, which will reveal his position to the pirates. He is going to risk it.

About this time, Seth informs you that Dar has gone to rally the Bollans, and that they will meet you at the Temple.

Which leaves two Jedi, a bounty hunter, a smuggler, and a horde of angry lizards at your disposal for now! Not bad.

Is there anything Iffa wishes to do before the Temple is reached?

Sorry it's been a while - been busy! Iffa is happy to head on to the Temple.

The trek to the Temple is uneventful and features many scenic 'the party climbing over hills' panoramic shots. You wonder if this is what the Jedi of old felt like, leading armies to deal with some great evil.

Eventually, you reach the Temple. It is a series of tightly clustered black stone pillars that reach astounding heights compared to everything else on this simplistic world. The earth around it has been turned up, evidence of the burrowing swarm.

-

As a side note, Aurel's player may be joining you! He has returned to play since your last post, and may be willing to jump in.

Great! The more help the better!

"What are the pillars made of?" Iffa asks Dar.

" Are they sacred, or is this temple simply a relic?"

Hello! Posting to confirm REXXX's statement at the moment, I'm looking quite forward to a bit of collaboration. I'll have to read back a bit, though, but I'll definitely be around to aid in the finale! I look forward to playing with you. 🙂

Dar went to go rally the Bollans, Iffa; the Hsrik is happy to answer that question. The outter Temple is considered sacred ground; the inner Temple is a blight upon Boll-Gar, filled with the poisonous heart of the Swarm!

The Temple really just acted as a barrier keeping the Swarm in.

Aurel- Iffa has rallied the Bollans (the pygmy-esque warrior people, who are very intelligent but chose a simple lifestyle) and the Garans (the huge angry lizard people) to fight the awful insect Swarm, which you think may be some sort of ancient Sith concoction.

You are marching on the Temple to kill the Swarm Queen. Trapping the Queen contained the Swarm before. The locals are certain killing her would take out the Swarm.

Iffa is being hailed as a hero for getting this organized; the Bollans and the Garans have not worked together in eons.

Also, there are pirates of the Burning Fist clan that supplied the Garans with weapons, and accidentally released the Swarm by stealing the shield generators that trapped them in the Temple.

And that's all you need to know!

Fair enough! Then Aurel's saber is ready to aid in the cleansing of this foul scourge!

Ok we'll wait for Dar and the Bollans to return, so we have maximum strength!

You may not have the time, Iffa. You and Aurel both can sense that ground stirring between your vantage point on the valley's edge and the Temple in its center...

"Prepare for combat!" Shouts Iffa, "light the flame throwers!"

You have molotov cocktails; the only person with an actual flamethrower and the ability to use it is your hunter, Harvik. The Garans have lots o' big guns.

In any case, your call to arms is heard and very timely as the ground starts to turn up before you and thousands of the Swarm's tiny flesh-eating bugs emerge! Larger captains that coordinate the swarming menaces appear also and start emitting their shrieking noise.

You prepared for that, but your Garans didn't. They are down a dice pool for this fight.

"We need to get to the Temple!" Seth shouts over the piercing noise. "We need to clear a path and keep moving!"

"FORWARD!" shouts Iffa over the noise.

If the Garans can keep the swarm busy, the Jedis and freightermen need to get to the temple as quickly as possible.

Once more into the fray. Since priority is getting to temple, focusing on what's ahead should probably take priority. Mithlond, is there any particular ideas you on strategic placement of the Jedi, or are we all just kind of surging forward?