STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Initiation

Somewhere in the Galaxy...

"How does she fair?"

"Well enough. Her wounds were awful... yet treatable. With the help of the droid, I've re-inflated her lung and applied treatment to the blast that collapsed it."

"Very good. Is she conscious?"

"Not yet, Master. She exhausted herself in the fighting. Her body wants for rest and will now be able to get it, since it is not struggling with the wounds."

"Hmm... I do not quite want her revitalized just yet."

"What do you mean?"

"Do enough to prevent any sudden turn in health. Do not grant her back her strength. She will earn it."

-

Welcome to "Initiation," a game from the Retrospection series. These games are meant to provide a fun plot based upon the backgrounds of player characters, while giving players themselves a chance to gain experience- both in points and in practice with the system. Once again, Retrospection visits upon the unhappy past of Rianna Xi, a former Jedi Knight.

Not long before, Rianna experienced a series of betrayals and intrigues upon the planet Bespin, from which her family had been abducted. She did not locate her family; instead, she only managed to confront one of Nume Rand's men. After, when confronted by Jedi Knights for her flight from Coruscant and her crimes since, she slew two of them- her former Master and her mentor's new Padawan.

With the murders on her hands, Rianna flung herself from a catwalk to escape justice at the hands of Jedi Knight Andro Fenris...

?

"Rianna."

You open your eyes. For a moment, the light is blinding. You feel disoriented, as if your heart is in your throat, as if you are falling...

"Rianna."

There is greenery all about you, collected from all parts of the Galaxy. Living vines twitching and crawling, blossoming flowers in a thousand shades, bulbous growths that pulsate lightly, thorny bushes that drip sweet nectar or awful poison.

"Rianna."

You are laying on cold stone.

Rianna will try and sit up, shivering slightly at the cold, and remind herself that she is not falling...

"What?" she asks, looking for whoever is talking to her. Does she recognize the voice?

She's mildly confused by and a bit weirded out by all of the plant life around...she doesn't care for jungles or anything that reminds her of them, for some reason.

You feel unsteady, even as you rise from the stone. The stone beneath you is not rough or unshaped. It has been hewn into blocks for a walking path.

You recognize this place... you are not in a jungle.

Rianna recognizes this place? Where is she, then?

Ah, of course... you are in the gardens of the Jedi Temple. How could have not noticed? You must be feeling really off if you didn't recognize it immediately. Not that you tremendously enjoy the gardens, but it was somewhere you are very familiar with.

You feel dizzy.

Rianna is rather confused, both at the fact that she didn't recognize the gardens, as well as why she'd even be there in the first place...let alone apparently laying on the ground there.

She's going to lean against something until the dizziness goes away, hoping that it does quickly. Is there anyone else there? She wants to know who was calling her, and maybe find out what's going on...

Supporting yourself on a stone plinth does the trick. Only momentarily, you learn when you try to walk again. It is hard to breath here. And very windy, despite being indoors.

"Rianna," the voice calls again, from somewhere in the garden.

Well, Rianna is stubborn and is going to try and find whoever it is that is calling her, though she getting more and more confused by this situation by the moment.

"Where are you? Who are you, for that matter?" she replies. Can she sense anyone else there?

"Rianna."

You walk gingerly into the garden, among the rows of small fruit-bearing trees and aromatic leafy clusters. The stone path is cool against your bare feet, and damp. Even so, your chest burns faintly; you struggle to breath as you walk.

"Rianna."

The voice is coming from deeper in the garden.

Why is Rianna not wearing shoes...?

She presses on, slowing down a bit as she's finding it harder to breathe.

"Come out! I'm losing patience..." she calls out again.

You press into the garden. At its center stands a great tree, a young tree from some alien forest where the trees grow thousands of feet. Sitting beneath it is your mentor, Myraline Kiros.

"Rianna," she says, beckoning with her voice. She does not move; she only looks toward you as you come from the brush.

"Myraline...what are you doing here?" Rianna says, pausing for a moment. "Why did you not answer me?"

"Rianna," Myraline says again.

"I don't have the energy for this..." Rianna mutters, as she approaches the tree and Myraline. "What is it you want?"

Myraline is smiling as you approach.

"Rianna," she says. "My bane. My failure."

You smell scorched flesh.

Rianna stops, hurt by that.

"I am not a failure..." she snaps back. "I did the best I could..."

"Yes," Myraline says. "Yes you did."

The smell becomes overwhelming. There is a glow from Myraline's chest, and a charred hole clear through her; the work of a lightsaber.

"No...this isn't right..." Rianna whispers with horror, stepping back. "I didn't mean to..."

You watch as the glow begins to grow; the charred flesh spreads and Myraline begins to crumble to ash.