STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- The White Tower of Halloy

Six years ago

The room that the tall, grizzled man entered was a dark one, the only light being provided by the glow of a projected map. Holograms of stars float about idly through the air, all the Galaxy contained in one room. At its center, just beneath the swirling glow of the Galaxy’s Core, sat the Man in Black.

“It is done, sire,” the grizzled man said.

“Very good!” the Man in Black chortled without turning around. “Very good indeed! Did the Master gargle and scream when you shot her?”

“Er, I suppose she did...”

“Did she or did she not?!” the Man in Black suddenly spat.

“She did, yeah!” The man was never quite comfortable with his Lord’s questions. As an assassin, the man had trained himself to be cold and calculating... but the Man in Black pulsed with an inner fire, something ghastly and obscene. “The Padawan cried, too. Big bantha tears.”

“And what was his fate?” the Man in Black asked, knowingly.

The man sighed. “My position was compromised after my kill-shot on Master Ichinne. I had to go. The Padawan must’ve got a glimpse at me, but there’s no way he wasn’t emotionally messed up at that point. We’re clear.”

“So you don’t think the Padawan will become a Knight and pick up where his Master left off?” the Man in Black snarled. “Is that your professional opinion as an assassin?”

“I just don’t think we’ll...”

“I don’t PAY you to think! I PAY you to KILL!” The Man in Black rose through the projected glow of the Galaxy’s Core, seeming to rise through the clouds as if he were some angry god, his fist clenched. The man choked and gasped. After a tense moment, the Man in Black released his prey. “It is too late to kill the Padawan now. Denzral Vassisk will come for us, some day. Until then, we prepare.”

Beneath his hood, the Man in Black grinned.

“Rally the Cult. It is time to act.”

-

Welcome to "The White Tower of Halloy," an episode of the Retrospection games. As an episode of this series, "White Tower" will be a very personal plotline, exploring events involving the players' characters. Going off of Ushgarak's Star Wars role-playing game, these mini-episodes occur in game-play's past. In this case, our subject and protagonist is Denzral Vassisk, a well-traveled and experienced Jedi Knight with a slightly troubled past.

Denzral’s training as a Padawan under the wise Jedi Master Kanna Ichinne was very standard. His teacher imparted upon him the ways of the Jedi and the skills he would need to thrive and grow into the boots of a Knight. Denzral took this to heart and sought to prepare himself in all possible ways, becoming widely skilled. However, during a mission to uncover the operations of a slave syndicate known as the Cult of Necros, Master Ichinne was shockingly assassinated. The Council promoted Denzral to the rank of Jedi Knight and asked that he put his Master’s death behind him; vengeance is not the way of the Jedi. But sometimes the Force acts in mysterious ways; whereas Denzral has moved on and become quite successful in his career thanks to his Master’s teachings, events are unfolding that will bring him back to those troubled times.

The time period is set in 30 BBY- two years after the events of the Battle of Naboo and The Phantom Menace. Denzral Vassisk has been tailing a group of marauders that has been foolish enough to attempt raids on Republic worlds, bringing them under the jurisdiction of the Jedi as invaders and breakers of the peace. He has finally determined their next target, based on their simple movements along the Republic border, and now prepares to meet them in person. However, there may be more to the band of criminals than is readily apparent...

--

At this point, I need to know which, if any, predictive power the players will be using before the game starts. Once the plotline is in motion, you can’t make use of these abilities. As a reminder, your available predictive powers that you may have taken are:

Dreams. Using this gives you a small chance that the Force will have given you vague but truthful insight into what is to come in the upcoming story, giving you a chance to better react and deal with these events.

Foresight. This is better than Dreams- it represents you actually spending time to navigate the future to deliberately try and get warning of upcoming events. It can give far more clear and comprehensive visions than Dreams.

Dreams can come free, in which case you roll a single d6 die to see the outcome, the power triggering if you roll a 5 or 6. Alternatively, if you spend a Force point, you get a free Dream. With Foresight (which costs a Force point), if you get a result of 3, 4, or 5, you receive a Minor Revelation that provides clues, whereas a 6 gets you a Major Revelation, which gives you foreknowledge of an upcoming event.

The power Insight ensures that you receive at least a minor vision with Foresight, while it increases your odds of getting one with Dreams. If the plot is extremely personal to the character, they will receive a bonus to their Premonition roll.

Dartta

You’ve finally done it, Denzral. You have determined successfully where the band of marauders is heading, and now they are heading straight to you! Little do they know they have a Jedi on their tail. You almost caught up with them the last time they made a hit- they burned a town on Pilsebak II after pillaging it for supplies and valuables- but they got out of there just before you could make it to the scene. But now, you’re going to be prepared.

The Council has ordered that you arrest as many as you can, but ultimately they must be stopped and they are a violent bunch. Responding with force is the only way to do this.

Dartta, their next target, is a dusty agricultural world on the very rim of Republic space, far out enough for the infrastructure to have broken down significantly. Aside from their declaration of allegiance and the goods they export to other Republic worlds, they have little in common in the Republic and are largely independent of its doings. Though that makes it a good target for marauders, you really don’t see what they could possibly want with a sleepy backwater world like this one. Even so, they are coming here. You can sense it.

Master Ichinne would be proud.

A member of the Darttan militia approaches you. You are in the largest and wealthiest town of Haab, where most of the Darttan produce is shipped out via freighter.

“Sir, I have twenty men at the ready,” he reports. “Our sensors have detected a small freighter dropping out of hyperspace just beyond our gravity well. If they are coming here, we estimate it to be about ten minutes before their arrival.”

(DREAMS)

"Very well, monitor them and as soon as you know their expected landing location we shall go and intercept them." Denzral said, turning to the man. "We will have to move quickly."

The militiaman responds that he thinks it would be better to let them come to you. Their fear is that if you go out to fight them, there is risk of the crops burning. Additionally, there is no cover beyond the town; the militia would prefer to have some.

"If that's alright with you, Master Jedi," he says.

"Then we will greet them here, if this is indeed where they are heading." Denzral says with a smile. He wasn't a Master, but he felt no need to correct the man. Denzral looks at the buildings, so what does the city look like, how tall are the buildings and so on? Where are the civillians?

'Master Jedi' is more of a formal term.

The city of Haab, despite the largest city, is not very large at all. It has the look of an old Western town, squat wooden buildings with high fronts, many places for the militiamen (and yourself, with your newly purchased Intrusion skill!) to conceal themselves.

That is the idea I guess, does this militia-man have a name? "Get your men ready for an ambush but don't move until I have confronted them and it looks like they are going to shoot me out of their way."

What I'll do is hide along with the militia men and then step out onto the street for a showdown, as you said, gunslinger style.

He can be called Sherman.

The militiamen set themselves up along the main street. Though they are not well-trained soldiers, they are armed with powerful targeting rifles that have a point of Mook Killing Power- it will only take them two successes to kill a target.

You hide in an alleyway, and wait for your dramatic entrance...

In the distance, you hear speeder engines.

If I have a comlink to the militia men. "Steady guys."

The speeder engines get louder as they slowly but surely come closer to the city across the plains. For a moment, all you see is a cloud of dust gathering on the horizon. Then, the pair of speeders, with men sitting on the hull so as to allow for a quick approach.

They are not quite close enough to engage yet.

Ok, I'll wait until they are closer and then Step out and confront them.

Are you just going to step out into the middle of the street?

Pretty much, yeah.

It is not long before the speeders have reached the city. As the speeders slow down, some of the raiders start popping off shots randomly about themselves, at buildings or into the air. They carry down the street until they reach where the militiamen have staked out, and you as well.

"Okay, here we go." I walk out into the middle of the street long enough for them to see me and stop if they want. I activate my lightsabre. "Stop!"

You stride out into the middle of the street and stand solidly in its center as you activate your lightsaber. That certainly gets their attention!

The speeders come to a halt, and the raiders riding on it dismount, with the exception of the drivers and the gunners (for the speeders have massive repeaters mounted on the rear).

One raider- a burly man who pulls out a pair of ridiculously-sized pistols- steps to the fore.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" he demands to know.

Denzral looked at the man solidly. "I am a Jedi. And I am here to stop you. Lay down your weapons and come with me." He took two steps forward. "I would prefer not to have to fight you all. However if I must I will."

(Persuade: 3) Just going to try this.

The raiders look at each other nervously, then to their leader, who is laughing uproariously.

"Bwahahaha," he roars. "There's only one of you and fifty of us! What makes you think we're going to come quietly?"

He levels his blaster pistols at you and begins charging them. The rest of the raiders follow their leader's example.

"If you really want us to come with, you'll have to try a bit harder than that."

"Okay, have it your way." If his blaster is charging, can I make it over charge with the Force and have it explode in his hand? And how many FP's do I have?

You have seven Force points. Normally these must last you the entire game... but, as there will be a time gap between this scene and the next, any points you spend will be replenished. Have at it!

Causing a blaster to explode in someone's hand is beyond your power, though. You would need a higher Force rating for something so impressive.

Also, what schticks are you starting with? Seems you have gone for your lightsaber first.