USH'S STAR WARS GAME- CAMPAIGN II EPISODE V (LIGHT SIDE)- Harmony

Far Away

A skittering noise, as the stones fall across the ground. Two women are nearby, one younger, one older. The older one sits, the younger stands, looking out the side entrance.

“We must go!” the young girl said, anxiously.

“No,” said the older. “Not yet.”

“You don't have time!”

“I am staying. I am still safe here. But if you leave in three minutes, you will find the Yeomen are off the streets.”

“But the Zari...”

“Them as well. You must go straight to Sanctuary. They will not follow you there.”

“Without you?”

“Yes. I must stay. All is lost if I do not.”

“The Consul will kill you!”

“She would not dare!”

“It has gone too far. The others are with her. I'm... so alone. I'm so scared!” The older lady looked up from the ground, and took the hand of the younger.

“You must have courage. In times of trial, we must show strength- and be willing to risk ourselves for a greater cause. The Harmony is more important than any one of us. You must know that.” The younger girl nodded.

“But what can you do on your own? There is no-one else left to help you.”

“No. I will not be alone for long. A change is coming.”

“A change?”

The older lady moved the stones on the ground.

“I see a ship. Several ships..”

“Ships? Strangers?”

“Men.”

“Men?! No man will help us! No man can!”

“Not normal men. They are different. Powerful.”

“All men can have power!”

“You must have faith. We must... look beyond. These men... are Jedi.”

“That's... not possible. The stones tell you that? Why would they come?”

“My mother used to tell me the old stories about the Jedi. I never thought I might meet one.”

“But why?”

“Destiny, child. It is already in motion. And they can help.”

“What makes you think they will help? They will bring nothing but destruction!”

“Not destruction. Like with the prophecy, we confuse the two. Change. Change is always difficult. They will help us because... those who do not want it will make it so.”

“I don't understand.”

“Nor do I. Not yet. You must go.”

“But...”

“Go! Now! I will come. Later.”

On the verge of tears, the younger woman slipped out, to a clear street outside. The older lady talked to herself as she moved the stones around.

“Why do you come? Who are you? What has changed? Ships... several ships... One bears the spirit of the smile of a savage beast.” She turned a stone over.

“The ship is burning. It crashes. Destroyed. No-one will survive.”

And so we come on to Episode V of the Second Campaign. The Jedi and Renegades are reunified at last, as the Light Side can no longer survive if divided- the stakes are growing too large.

The rules system has been in place for some while now, and is here to stay.. Those of you that came from the Renegade storyline have been involved with it quite thoroughly! Those of you from the Jedi plot on Mandragos have had less experience with it... but perhaps more experience with the more subtle of plots.

This game is about mysteries, that you must uncover as the game goes on. To say more would be to defeat the purpose of the game. But perhaps some of you have sensed that it is time you became part of something larger.

As we start, of course, we are coming straight out of the Interlude. The Red Lance pirates have come to Agalania, where they have come to raid the Tomb of Renohan XXXI. Violent and callous, these pirates have torn a path of destruction across the sector. An 18 month investigation has seen the Jedi and Renegade players come together to gather enough information and evidence to shut the pirates down, and now we have come to the crucial point- the pirates' striking force must be destroyed, on the ground and in space.

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! The quality of your Foresight will also vary on your die roll You may only use one power. 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. Minor revelations from Foresight can give you useful clues for story advantage. Major revelations could change the entire plotline in your favour- if used correctly.

This game has deferred visions- although you must declare (and spend for) your predictive powers now, we will wait until after the fight with the pirates before I give you the results!

Let me know, and good luck with the fight!

Agalania

In the normal Star Wars style, we begin with a shot in space, panning down to a sand-coloured planet as a grey-brown freighter, ugly and box like, slides past the screen, shortly followed by another. Then smaller ships come past also- elongated fighters, far longer than wide, with a single large circular engine at the back..

The pirate strike fleet.

Now, other ships emerge from the freighters, deploying fins as they enter the planet's atmosphere- landing craft, a dozen of them, making a slight hum as they move down.

The shot moves around, zooming away from the planet until we can see the fleet as a speckle of small ships in the distance. As it continues to pan out, we come past the grey, lifeless hulk of Agalania's moon- and behind it, an assortment of Scarab-class medium fighters, short and squat, laying in wait. With them are several Jedi fighters. We hear some of the comms chatter

“Let them come,” comes the Scarab leader. “Wait for the signal from the Jedi. Remember, the primary target is the freighters. Disable them and it's over.”

We see the landing craft make planetfall and begin to discharge troops rapidly- no uniforms, instead an assortment of random clothes and styles- and weapons. One particularly impressive man, wearing giant goggles and body armour, stands a half-foot taller than his colleagues, and directs them around, He points towards the stone spires in the distance- great obelisks, that mark to those around in the desert the location of the entrances to the tombs.

Now the camera pans over towards those obelisks. Sand blows in from the desert, obscuring things somewhat, but buildings can be seen- even on the surface, magnificent buildings all around. They are mostly of stone, but the central and largest building is made of marble- the tomb of Renohan XXXI.

And as we pan to the far side of our original viewpoint, we can see the people in hiding. The somewhat short Agalanians look nonetheless impressive in their gleaming golden ceremonial uniforms, even with the dirt of the sand flying around. They are concealed behind the low-lying stone structures all around- and at the Tomb itself, we see a corridor of silver lined with emeralds just inside the entrance, filled with guards- and Jedi.

“We have word from the squadrons,” says one. “The pirates have landed. They will be here any moment.”

-

It is time.

Ground people,your objective is to force the pirates to surrender as soon as possible. The means you take to do that is up to you. Minimising Agalanian casualties and damage to the tombs would be nice. The pirates are mostly carrying rifles but a number of them are carrying more extravagant gear. They use grav platforms to carry their load but we shall assume they are not involved in the fight. Your ground forces are split roughly evenly between those in wait at the tomb, those on the left flank and those on the right. Sunda is at the Tomb, ready to say his piece. Where are the rest of you?

Space people, you are all in Jedi fighters. These P110 Interceptors the Red Lance uses are very fast but steer about as well as a harnessed cow. Your Jedi fighters are fast and manoeuvrable but small and fragile so watch how you handle them. The Scarab fighters are good all rounders, though lacking any payload. That's not a problem though as there is no heavy shielding in this fight- the freighters can be attacked with your lasers as you aim at the engines and power systems to disable. We will generically track the amount of successes you score against the freighters. They will surrender at a certain level. Take too long and they will go away. We will be using the full space combat system now, so we will not be tracking individual fighter numbers. The fight will come down to whether you win or lose a round, based on how many hits each side scores. Every time you win a round, you guys can have a bonus attack on the freighters. Otherwise, any 'Bombing Run' events will also allow freighter attacks. The freighters are not well armed, so any events that say that a capital ship is firing at you will be ignored. Losing a round carries no specific penalty but you are under time pressure.

Gallagher will take Foresight as he is buying it with his xp from the Interlude.

Gallagher has his lightsaber in one hand and his Padawan, D'an's shoulder, in the other. He has his white robes wrapped tightly around him so that they do not flutter in the Agalanian sunlight and tip off the pirates.

"Steady everyone," Gallagher cautions.

Gallagher will be on the right flank. D'an will be with him.

Now that I think about it, would it be wiser if we all come out at once and roll an intimidation or persuasion skill for a chance of them surrendering?

Andro stoops to check the lacings on his boots. A strange habit he has never shaken, borse by an absurd fear of tripping during a fight. He almost instructs his Padawan, Argo Restal, to do likewise but stops short. The boy has enough on his mind, and enough to learn without picking uo his Masters stupid habits. Still, he sneaks a quick glance at Argo's laces...

Andro removes his lightsaber from the clip on his belt. Something he is still getting used to after changing from the gunbelt style holster he used to wear. That was back when he was a different sort of Jedi. He had been working hard in the last year an a half, while working on the investigation that led them to this planter. Working hard to attune himself to other facets of the Force, of being a Jedi, working on Balance. And trying to impart his new wisdom to Argo. Whatever kind of Jedi Andro is remembered as being, he has determined that Argo will NOT follow the path Andro used to walk.
Still, this would be Andro's first fight since Mandragos. And this would be Argo's first fight...
"Listen, Argo. I know you're probably nervous. Relax into the flow of the Force, it will keep you safe. And so will I. Whatever happens, stay by my side unless Xeth or myself order you to do otherwise. Trust in you training and in the Force and together, we will help stop these Pirates once and for all. It is time, wait for the signal and follow me out. May the Force be with you."

(We're on the right flank, with Gallagher.)

I have a 3 on persuasion if it helps... and 5 charisma. Perhaps with Observation I can spot who is not feeling that well about being an evil pirate?

Nah, they all love it. Not that kind of situation.

And if we go out with a big bang and press our charisma & persuasion (and the renegades their intimidation) while yelling they have to surrender... might that make an impact? Can I use intuition to guess the outcome?

Yes- they will fight back.

At least I tried. Best thing to do then (I think but it's up to the Masters) is to get out guns blazing, yelilng them to surrender and at first deflect shots to give them a change to come to their senses.

The Big Guy. Who has a good Stealth score. While Sunda is talking someone should sneak up on the big guy and force him to make them surrender. The sand and Sunda as distraction shouldn't make this too difficult.

"Gold Leader, this is Green Leader. On my signal we go. Try to out maneuver the P110s, Don't get caught going toe to toe with them. Lets get this over with quickly."

There's no chance of stealthing over open ground to that guy.

Lame...
That was my big plan. I guess there is going to be a fight.

Yes, there is going to be a fight.

Dreams for Vlad.

Someone should engage the Big Guy. Taking him out will obviously lower their morale and confidence. A person with a good lightsabre score and the co-ordination force power should be the one. Seems like a job for Andro. I'll support him with my rifle from far away with Carnival of Carnage, shooting at the Big Guy as well as someone nearby to lay the pressure of Andro.

Vlad takes off his Jedi Robes, leaving them folded near a column on the left flank. His leather Jedi clothing beneath was wrapped tight around him for superior mobility. Taking his targeting rifle off the strap that held it to his back, he made sure the weapon was in good condition.

"Let's hope we can convince them to surrender. If not, which seems like the more unfortunate but more probable path, we're going to have to exert some aggressive negotiations. "

Vlad is on left flank.

Should we spent the 4 XP of the interlude now too or will that wait?

You can spend it now.

I need help from the others.

I'm thinking on using my 4XP to take up "law", is it useful?

If not I'm thinking on either taking "intrusion" (for one) or getting "leadership" from 1 to 2.
If we stick together, I take that my leadership isn't that important. Is that correct?

Law is very useful in certain situations....