USH'S STAR WARS GAME- Episode II (Light and Dark) Post-Script

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Ushgarak
Well, there ends the first storyline of the new Campaign. As previously mentioned, that this Campaign has seperate storylines is nothing new- the opening storyline about the Damagran Confederacy in the first campaign didn't wrap up until the end of its Episode II (when, for some neat GL style 'rhyming', we first met Balek).

However, clearly, as evidenced by the big time gaps before storylines, this Campaign is a lot more staccato, and there is no single thread that really runs from start to finish. You can see it as a set of mini-campaigns linked themetically if you prefer; most likely how it really pans out as a Campaign will make a whole lot more sense when it is finished, assuming we haven't died of old age by then.

With the first storyline concluded we have proper endings for everyone, which should leave people feeling happier than last time. That I planned for these stories to finish in November last year- six months after we started- just goes to show how variable these things are. All in all, though, I am happy for the extension- it gives more time for stories to be written, and they synched up rather nicely. It made the Dark Side plot work a lot better- time gave it more credibility for the final reveal to have power- and it looks like I probably could never have used the Droben plot as a proper prequel, as it took a month in of itself.

Both storylines have given closure. Kuylen is dead, Balek is dead, Xeth's original investigation is over; the remnants of the old Campaign have been swept away, as Tarkin might say. All we have left is 100% pure newness.

What enemies are left, then? Will they all be new? For sure, new enemies are coming, and in fact I think two of the greatest ever will be coming in the new storyline- which will last two Episodes, much as this one has- and frankly, all of it looks pretty good.

The long term enemies for each side represent a neat inversion- the Jedi pair off against the Techno-Union, who represent a plot to destroy the Republic from the outside, whilst the Dark Siders have to lock horns with the Bureau, who represent the plot to destroy it from within. And as yet, neither side knows these true motives. I think you can be very confident you will see them again.

Other presented enemies- Strine's pirates, the Drobenite wars, the Serpent- are disposable. They still exist, the Serpent makes for some nice background detail, but they were designed to be used in the stories they were in and no more.

Inevitably, then, I now must turn to re-caping the storylines and joining the dots for those who lost some focus along the way, which is normally everyone, including me. With the Dark Side especially, this wll involve some re-evaluation of what happened LAST episode.

Ushgarak
On the Light Side, we had a straight continuation of their story. At the end of Episode I their disparate investigations all rolled into one as they identified Carlan Ryamore of the Techno-Union, a Vice-President and Director of Outer Region sales, as the instigator of the many wroingdoings of that Episode, which you can check on in its own post-script thread.

Totally lacking in anything appraoching evidence, the Jedi convince Palpatine (who of course was simply waiting to be convinced, this all being part of a Sith plot) to hold off the political flak they will take from investigating the Union, and arrange a meeting with Ryamore on Poenae, where the Union is currently holding a large technology demonstration.

When the Jedi get there, they are met instead by another Vice-President, Sirus Cannes, head of Technological Development for the Union. That he headed Techbological Development in the Techno-Union was something of a hint, and whilst he professed to just be a non-political functionary, Cannes is in fact the number two man in the Union, and totally in on the whole Conspiracy plot, up to having met Dooku himself. It is Cannes who is talking with another senior Union member in the conversation at the sdtart of the episode, revealing how blase he is about the Jedi coming- because it has all been accounted for.

Cannes- with a half cybernised brain and freaky artifical eyes with their distinctive 'click' noise when they blink- has fun showing the Jedi around the demonstration, which quickly turns out to be an enormous arms demonstration, evidence of the titular 'Arms Race' of the Episode. Two things are of note:

1. The prototypes of the new Mark II ('Super') Battle Droids, which leads back to Xeth and Roan looking for the missing scentist, where the new droids were first deployed

2. The prototype Hailfire droids- the Wheeled missile firers seen in AOTC- totally missing their test targets, due to problems with their targetting calibration.

After some wrangling and a long talk with a Cannes who wanted to give htem just enough information to move on, but not enough to incriminate himself or anyone else (which juding by the thread worked just fine) the Jedi sussed both links- that as the largest Sales Director, Ryamore had a sample shipment of tjhe Mark II droids, which he used to capture the missing scientist Nesere, and that furthermore Nesere was working on a fast-tracking targetting system himself, and obviously has been kidnapped for that very knowledge after he refused to give it up voluntarily (even for a large amount of money).

After a suitable pause, Cannes admits that they can't find Ryamore. Cannes always knew Ryamore hadn't turned up, having been ordered by Wat Tambor (Techno-Union president)to his hideout to await developments, but Cannes needed to make it all look convincing. Having dropped a hint that all droid armies- like the one Ryamore has- are fitted with locator beacons, the players ask Cannes to locate Ryamore for them, which he does. The players then proceed to Arminium to settle the issue.

Ryamore now has only two orders left- oppose the Jedi, and then 'tidy up'. Ryamore in fact shoots himself as oon as the army is activated- his work is done. Always a problem when ultimately working for the Sith, that. No-one stays alive. Ryamore's last words about the New Order echo the words Gundark heard form the Zeraphrain assassin in Episode I, and had the story not de-synched would have come at about the same time the Dark Siders could (and as it was, did) kill Helkin, for a given link between the two episodes.

All that was left for the Jedi then- after avoiding the initial trap, which Foresight had outright told them to avoid, but they all forgot, so luckily Gallagher's highly tuned instincs saved them- was to fight through and de-activate the droid army. No point re-capping the battle here bit it was absolutely huge and actually took less time than I thought, as players become more sophisticated. Good stuff. That was a Clone Wars test battle, and demonstrated the problem Jedi have- they are lethal, they will kill dozens... but they WILL wear down, eventually.

After victory, the Jedi get their first real "DAMN!" ending, which the Dark Siders get all the time, whyen they realise Ryamore is dead and, absically, they fought that battle for nothing. However, they do manage to rescue Nesere... but he thinks he had broken already.

And indeed he had. Ryamore transmitted Nesere's secrets to Cannes before the Jedi got there, and the episode ends with Cannes perfecting the problems on the Hailfire droid.

There was also something else Ryamore transmitted, and anyone who can work it out might hav a cle as to a plot point next episode.

-

In an interlude originally planned as a prequel for Episode III (which was callwd Episode II at the time), the Light Siders have their final reckoning with Balek, living on war-torn world Droben having retired after Count Dooku paid him millions to do his work in Episode I. Because he a. was wanted for several murders, b. attacked a Jedi, and c. was the only person from Episode I who might have known anything about what was going on who wasn't dead, mainly because he was the one that killed most of them...

(and also secret reason d. which is that players REALLY wanted to take down Balek)

... the Council orders a hardcore mission to get Balek, despite the secure nature of his surroundings. Hence we get this hardcore Jedi team sneaking into his fortress on Droben and taking the whole scene out in another, highly intense fight, ending with Marcus finally killing Balek atop the base. This was by no means certain, Balek could have escaped agaun, but I jhad set up the situation so there was a fair crack of killing him and I was sure that so long as one of the more experienced players tried it they would win- Balek has never improved since we first saw him; this is often how enemies work. He could beat you then but not forever.

As noted above, Balek's death cuts off the Jedi from their past. But whatever secrets he had- most notably about Dooku's involvement- died with him.

Ushgarak
An oddly downbeat Light Side game- though frankly, their games will grow darker in tone as things only get worse from here.

This concluded the "This time you were working for Dooku instead of directly for Sidious" plotline. That's not fair because it is not literal, but you have concluded Dooku's plan. Everything that could possibly have been pinned on the Techno-Union is now pinned on the dead Ryamore instea,d and the only person who could have contradicted that, you were forced to kill as well, two years later.

Ah well, no matter. The Drobenite mission was in fact very successful- and the rolls were absolutely genuine, right down to Marcus' disappointing final roll which only just hit, which I didn't actually print., Balek would most likely have survived that death check, but the importance of having Strike to Subdue if you want to take people alive has to be emphasised. An alive Balek would have led to a different game (though for sure you would never have gotten Dooku's involvement out of him else I'd de-rail the film plot), but we need not worry about that now.

Now, the Light Side might be thinking- is there ANY game where we don't end up doing what the Sith want at the end of it? And indeed, that now stops. This was all part of the process of disassociating from the first campaign, You have tired to find the Sith link and been unable to. That card has been played now. Because we know the lnik won't be made until the Clone Wars start, it would obviously be entirely pointless having you try that every damn story; leave it to Obi-Wan. The next story has nothing to do with the Sith at all, unless you count the Techno-Union, who are really enemies in their own right.

So the past is done. You have an out and out successful mission under your belt, with the Droben business done. That has worked gfar better as an interlude than the 'rescuing Han at the start of ROTJ' style prequel it was originally planned as, as it allowed it to be expanded a bit and act as a very good intro for new players to see if they liked the vibe. Now Episode III can start 'clean' as it were. All previous storyline effectively junked, and now going forward with what as been established in his campaign alone.

So basically... now be prepared for anything!

Meanwhile, your Dark Side cousins were having a shitty time, so why do they seem so much happier now? Let's see.

Ushgarak
Oh man, the Dark Side story... THERE was a story. Imagine me, getting the plot outline in April 2004, and having to wait 13 months before springing the damn thing!

Now. As you have been told many times, this whole story- hence Episodes I and II- were never orignally played off-line; the Episode was especially written for you guys as a prequel.

When the Dark Siders here started what you will call Episode III, they were told this.

"You guys have been living on a hidden base on a planet named Epireus. It used to belong to a Smuggler you worked with for a while, but then you had some trouble with him and had to kill him."

Little did I know when I heard these words quite how much was really contained in that statement...

---

So. Doon. What was his deal then?

Doon had a huge backstory. He had been a long time setting this up. He had the support of the rebellious Serpent cells- and in fact this made up far more power than the Lantarnans had.

Doon, as the Serpent man who worked with that kind of stuff, used to sell ancient stuff to Kuylen whilst he was searching for Avalar. Kuylen used to bring Saar with him to meet Doon with, because Saar could double-check the authenticity.

At first, this was meant to be all off-screen, to give Doon enough credibility to pass off his lies. I in fact put some of this 'on-screen' with Galder, first because as the longest serving character Galder always deserves more back continuity, and secondly because it was hysterically funny to further build Doon's believability like that (and yes, it was VERY funny running this game- but then you guys come out as the winners). Kuylen needed Doon, and whilst he didn't dislike him, Kuylen never really LIKED anyone at all, and he and Saar made sure Doon was kept at a distance.

Meanwhile, in a very quiet parallel with Ascar on Courscant (as this was all happening at the same time, remember), Doon has acquired copy of Gundark's report on Zeiton, which obviously he shouldn't have, but Doon excels at that kind of thing. He now knows everything that happened to the Dark Siders last campaign- or at least enough to do everything he did.

Via AK, who he works closely with, Doon acquires Kuylen's crashed ship. He identifies everything on it pretty darn quick, and soon his plan, as discussed near the end of the DS thread, comes together,

Ok, so what really happened in Episode I? Well, refer to the Episode I post-script to make this work.

Doon plants Kuylen's transponder under the floorboards of the silo on Demarus. He then activates it, moves clear, and waits for you guys to arrive.

Of course, Doon needs you guys in crisis, so he is going to use the Republic's new weapon against you- The Bureau. Sadly, the Bureau is only just getting started and even Kuylen's powerful signal is not going to be picked up by them, as Deamrus is so far out.

Not a problem- Doon tips off the Bureau as to the presence of the mysterious signal., The officer on duty? Agent Rado Helkin- have a look at the start of Episode I. Helkin gets Doon's tip off.

And he doesn't believe it, Of course not! As if he would believe that all of sudeen they would just be given the location of the Bureau's number one wanted man!

But Doon knew what Helkin had- access to the same report of Gundark's, which included the analysis of Kuylen's ships and his transponder device, performed by Gundark in Episode IV of the first campaign. When Helkin makes that confirmation, he knows the signal is genuine.

(A damn year before I could explain that start!)

And so, Episode one starts, the players get to Demarus... and Doon's plan goes wrong immediately! The expected the players to walk into the trap prepared for Kuylen, and to fight their way otu, and be under pressure when Helkin could give them the way to shake the Bureau at the Graveyard at Voka. Doon totally failed to predict quite how many Osokans Helkin would have with him.

Why is this? Well, Doon might know a lot, but he doesn't know the Sith have returned, that they control the Bureau- and quite HOW much the Sith want Kuylen dead!

You guys are totalled almost immediately, and skedaddle before Doon can make contact! What he said happened after that is genuine- he did indeed follow the Bureau in order to find you on Cynelline. Of course, never having met you before, he is froced to wonder around Cynelline trying to find where the hell you are, before he finally spots Galder at the wrong side of the river at the cafe... just before the Bureau attacked again.

After that, things went better for Doon. In rescuing you, although he is irked by the personal danger he found himself in, he only enhanced his credibility. Getting the new transponders becomes a post-script, though by now he has recognised Tanic as the man who wiped out a Serpent cell in his backstory, which Doon witnessed (and ran away from). Doon didn't expect the newbies (Rand and co) either- a concern he pretends is coming from Kuylen when he talks to Galder (which sounds even more convincing!). No matter. they canm all help, and killing off Tanic as well is all the better. Getting the player to Epireus, he is ready for the final part of his plan. His marriage to Jena is already arranged- he just needs to bait the players to go to the Ghost Citadel, and wipe out the entire ruling Lantarnas family on the pretext of escaping with a tablet that Doon pretends is vital, and needed by Kuylen. Doon knows the Lantarnans will die rather than let the tablet go, and then tips off Vigo that someone is going to steal it, so that the players don't just stealth it away (Doon's worst nightmare. Well, second worst; I guess what happened was the worst).

Doon's co-conspirator Jena (unable to get power herself due to the chauvinism of the Serpent, but happy to work with Doon (Jena was in fact plotting to kill Doon. Doon was too easy-going to be ACTIVELY plotting to kill Jena, but had contingencies to both a. survive betrayal from her and b. kill her when she tried... might have been fun to watch)) had already faked her own failure with the Serpent to give her an excuse to leave once the Dark Siders were all in place. She just had to wait and guide them in.

And so, with a 'handily' acquired Serpent vessel given to them by Doon, the players set off to the Golden Serpent's Ghost Citadel! And so the actual story started...

Man, this was a complex one!

Ushgarak
The Golden Serpent, then. Most powerful criminal organisation this side of the Galaxy (other side is the Hutts), renowned for their exceptional viciousness and political manipulation- a phenomenon known as the Coils of the Serpent, which the players were all already caught in, as various Force visions were basically screaming at them saying so.

The players, having set off from Doon's secret base on Epireus that he took them to after Episode I (a safe world outside the Republic where Doon lives atop the mountains) cheerfully walk into the lion's den, the Ghost Citadel, so named after the hallucinations new people sthere suffer from having to consume the Yaran root, only antidote to the poisonous atmosphere of the moons of Fernau where the Citadel is located. Eventually you adjust to the root and don't have the hallucinations any more, but in a twist Doon could not have accounted for, it turns out the Yaran root stimulates the emotional centres of the brain, which is very significant for Dark Siders. Very quickly they are experiencing very powerful hallucinations, linked into their force visions, which are disturbingly solid(the players are in fact subconsciously causing the solidity with their Force powers, from Rand taking injuries to an imaginary Doon stealing cigarettes off people).

The players think they are simply here to steal the tablet for Kuylen. Their cover, provided by a friend of Tanic's, wouldn't have had a chance of success had they not chosen to pitch it to none other than Jena, who then went into overdrive to get the players under her control and hence safe. This opportunity comes fast when Galder blows his froce powers whilst prize fighting as part of a general attempt by the players to get credibility inside the Citadel, to get closer to their target (which is at the top of three effrctive 'levels' of seniority). Jena takes in Galder as hostage to force Rand to work for her, and slices open Takuan's face for good measure to get his blood sample (complete with midi-chlorian count) as her stick to beat the players with- should she reveal that to Vigo, the head of the Serpent, he players will be dead pretty quick.

As some of the players do genuinely get credibility- Rianna by prize fighting, Rah and Tanic by providing entertainment- Jena helps them into position by giving them a key to the top floor- and time enough to make a copy of it- under the cover of needing something stolen from her brother Mika's room, a task Rianna performed- and so the means to get to the room where the tablet is held. Other security information is wheedled out of Yago, the idiot Lantarnas. Jena then leaves on important business connected to the phony object she got Rianna to steal, in order to be well clear when the slaughter takes place.

Getting the cash they need to find their snatch from a gunslinger machine (stolen from Blake's 7), the players have by this point spent several months, real-time, in the Citadel (days game time), and prepare to make the big snatch. Between the machinations of Doon and Jena, they are now surely finished.

The hallucinations are the big difference. In fact, Rah was meant to be central to this plot, as due to his different physiology he was experincing auditory oddness, rather than visual things; his foresight vision was giving clues as how to survive Doon's plan (as well as some odd visions of what the future would be like if Doon succeeded) and the bad headaches and dischordant tones Rah kept hearing in the story were all part of this, the bad tone sounding whnever he stepped closer to Doon (every time he went near Jena, for a start). Sadly, Baylin had to give up play halfway through and that part had to be mostly abandoned.

All these hallucinations are a bit metaphysical, but 'rhyme' with the Sith tests on Avalar from Episode I of the first campaign, a portion of which have stayed within Galder and in an odd way 'infected' those he associates with. Hence they were all being tested for emotional reaction- and the hallucinations (of Doon, Kuylen, Gundark's old Master Scovione, an unidentified Sith, and Agent Helkin, each player getting one) were crossed between the character's memories (and force-given insights) of those people, and a reflection of the character's own emotional state. Hence them always being more arrogant/angry/annoying than they were in real life, and hence them always goading the players. Players gave relevant emotional responses; these were important for the finale. But all of it was a test of their worthiness- it will in fact be sheer 'coincidence' that will save the players, and Rah will only lead them to that coincidence if he ralises the importance of all of it which was only possible, in turn, if the Force favoured the players due to their true Dark Side nature (and boy, I was amused when Rianna tired, on Jedi-player tptmanno's advice, a calm and patient response to her own fears, The Dark Side could not have been more disgusted! Luckily she redeemed herself with pure spaz-tasticness later on).

The final snatch was all very well but the extra alarm Vigo had put in ensured it would never go smoothly. In a humungous fight the players are forced to kill the entire Lantarnas family, minus Jena, and barely escape with their lives.

They flee to Kuoni, where Doon has said Kuylen is dying- he needs a different rendezvous point because his means of taking care of the players is to use the Bureau again, and he doesn't want the Bureau knowing where Epireus is. As an extra lure, he has told the players that Kuylen wants to tell them, before he died, what he saw inside Demnos' tomb on Zeiton. Doon knows that, as with most good lies, this one is so outrageous as to work perfectly.

By invite, Rah reutns for a cameo, his full vision now revealed, to save the players by buggering up their final approach so that they crashland nowhere near the rendezvous. Here they meet famed trading droid AK-74, an ex-protocol droid turned merchant, who is there by coincidence, and thinks the players are all associates of Doon. Talk with the loose-electronic-tongued AK reveals that Doon is an incredibly important Serpent man, not just some associate of Kuylen's, and that he has salvaged Kuylen's ship, including the transponder used in Episode I.

Other details of the full set up of the plot can be found in the big plot reveals made at this point inside the thread; I suggest interested people check them out.

This has gone on for a ling time now., Although the players greatly enjoyed the rest of the story, it really was very easy. The players counter-ambush, forewarned the Bureau presence on Kuoni and kill Helkin. They then go back to Epireus and kill pretty much everything they see, including Doon and Jena.

At the end of it all, they take control of Doon's base on Epireus, which now becomes their permanent safehole. Accompanying them they have a. a frightened native population, that they will use as bodyguars in future, b. the tablet they stol,e which helps them in broad overviews of Sith istory, and c. as bought from AK, Kuylen's final legacy- the schematics of where he has hidden the Archive from the very fiirst game. Minus, maddeningly, the name of the planet it is on.

The prep work in the citadel, the snatch and fight for the tablet, the talking to AK, and the final battles with Helkin and Doon, were all far more complex than looks there. But that's the gist, and that's the end.

Ushgarak
Wowa. On the small sad scraps of paper it is written on, the Dark Side story doesn;t look like the most ambitious, most packed, and most in-depth of all the stories so far, yet that is what it was, due to good player participation adn just about everything going as planned.

Here is its original pitch, delivered 14 months ago:

"Story Six

In which the Dark Side gets ambushed looking for Kuylen, find the Bureau are difficult to shake off, infiltrate the infamous Ghost Citadel of the Golden Serpent, and get set up with the Bureau again until they finally go on a roaring rampage of revenge until all the other named characters are dead."

The 'Roaring Rampage of Revenge' is the titular 'Triple R' of the final Part, which came in three parts, which is why the Kuylen ghost was counting to 3, as the final point of the storyline came to fruition.

(The same notes, btw, describe Demarus as "Iowa on a global scale", and the quote "Whoa, Reba, that guy's a-got one of them there laser swords!"wink

Doon is described thusly:

"Doon works on his nerdy name and image to put people off their guard. He actually has zero scruples, empathy or ethics, is a decent shot, and very lucky. This luck will run out but he shouldn't be a walkover."

Sums hm up rather well.

For a game that builds on two simple concepts- explain a. what the Bureau is and b. how the players get the base on Epireus they will use for the main campaign, it panned out into a VERY intricate tale, that worked extremely well,. I can't quite remember how good Zeiton felt to spring but I must say this is deifnitely a contender for most enjoyable experience of the whole game ever, for me.

When my brother wrote it he had something in mind- that the Dark Side had every right to feel shabbily treated at Zeiton, and that furthermore the campaign plot for them was going to be very harsh. This game, then, was a gift. Designed to be totally bitchy- from the impossible to fight, no-fun Bureau, to the incredible aggravation of having to kowtwo to the Lantarnans in the citadel, to the 'bugger me, we've come all this way for nothing AGAIN!' twist of Doon at the end...

... but then added to that was this long-awaited Roaring Rampage of Revenge which does just that. The Dark Siders have their chance to strike back. They get to kill EVERYTHING innsight. Everyone who annoyed them is dead. And they get to WIN! And win big. You now have a home, and that is the basis of everything possibly good that is to follow.

A gift, as I say. A HUGE set-up to provide an ecstatic release of pleasure.

The huge set-up worked REALLY well. The extra length of the game made everything work better. The game could have been longer still- there as more to the Serpent, the whole betting system, the Casino, trying to egt a job in the top level, more dealings with the other Lantarnans (trivia point- Mika, Deva and Bora could all have been mind-tricked. Must have been the only ones you didn't ask about trying it on) and large amounts on Siva Lantarnas, the biggest clue (along with Doon getting the origin of the tablet wrong) that something was up.

(All info about Siva is given in the thread).

I dunno what else to say, Sorry about everything that was harsh about the game- it was all there for good reason. The Bureau is feared... but it doesn't ALWAYS get what it wants. The superioiry of the Force has been re-assessed. You guys have your hoime, and are more experienced and wary as a result. Good stuff.

One final note. Part of this plot was lifted from Blake's 7, when salvager Dorian rescues the stranded 'heroes' from their isolation at the end of series 3, in the first episode of series 4 (on his ship the Scorpio, in fact).

I told Lana how in that story Avon, the leader of th outlaws that are te heroes, immediately pulls a gun on Dorian and hijacks his ship when he rescues them (with the line, when Dorian protests this, "You know what they say, No good deed goes unpunished."wink.

I was thenvery bworried when Bespin Bart started to look up relevant episode info. Luckily he either missed the final link, or didn't think I would use it.

Because although I presented to Lana Avon's actions as an example of how much more nuts they are than you... the thing is that Avon was absolutely right! Dorian really was only there rescuing them because he wanted them all killed in another plan of his. The reason Avon pulls a gun on him is because he's been in this kind of shit too long to think anyone will do him a favour.

(I moitted to tell Lana that bit)

And that's the lesson, which I am sure you all now know. On the Dark Side... NO-ONE does you a favour. Everyone has an angle. Rmemebert that.

But don't let it send you over the edge, like Saar did.

Well, there we go. All done. I hope you enjoyed it.

Um. It gets worse from here.

Ushgarak
Deleted extraneous posts.

To answer a question Melkor asked- Doon didn't use that name with the Serpent. You COULD have found out that there was a single person unifying the rebellious cells though. And Jena had plenty of reasons the Serpent would have been dealing with Doon in his guise as an independant operator to cover any small slips you found- I never explored it, but there was going to be a link where you could find out how he stole a ship off of them, all faked by Doon and Jena.

Lord Melkor
Was Kuylen`s ghost real?

Ushgarak
No. All a representation of Galder's desires.

Lord Melkor
Could you elaborate about circumstances of Kuylen`s death? Why he didn`t call Galder and Takuan to him earlier?

Ushgarak
That's very simple. He didn't want them.

He was never given to sentiment. He used them as part of his grand plan. That came to nothing, and at that point he didn't need them any more- nor, most likely, could his pride face up to talking to them.

The ship was brought down in atmopsheric flight. What he was doing on Prias might have some relevance- of course, if you want to trace Kuylen's movements back to where the Archive is, that will be a future plotline.

Oh! Of course. One other thing. Takuan's tablet that was a 'gift' from Kuylen- actually found by Doon on his ship. I said it described a ritual of some kind; Takuan seemed blown to lose it.

It was bugger all- the ritual that opened the door to Demnos' tomb. This was, of course, the only tablet Kuylen actually had with on on Zeiton, and subsequently.

Tptmanno1
wee!
Sounds cool...
All I can say is MAN the talks with AK were funny to watch...

Lord Melkor
Since it was necessary to establish Bureau.... How many Darkside users with skill on par with Jedi you would say are in Galaxy? Over 100?

Tptmanno1
You guys and the Sith....

Ushgarak
Hazy. All these Dark Siders are the biggest difference between this game and the plot of the films. Keep it in the vague area of 'hundreds'.

Lord Melkor
Originally posted by Tptmanno1
You guys and the Sith....

And thousands of Jedi can`t deal with them! Incompetent fools!

Ushgarak
They have specific orders not to.

Lord Melkor
I assume many rogue force users come from shamans and the like in primitive cultures?

Ushgarak
Most don't really count. It is very rare they develop without training.

Lana
Originally posted by Tptmanno1
wee!
Sounds cool...
All I can say is MAN the talks with AK were funny to watch...

stick out tongue hey, at least give me some credit, I was able to get the info out of the droid....

That episode, other than all the "oh shit we're dead" moments and the fact that the hallucinations started to get very annoying after a while, was actually a lot of fun...

Captain REX
Ush, I truely did enjoy Triple R. All's well that ends well. big grin

Kill kill kill, kill kill kill,
That's how we get it done
We blow up everything in site!
In the dreadfully land of dark
*repeat several thousand times to the tune of the cleaning/rejuvinating song from Wizard of Oz*

Ushgarak
A couple of other notes...

The reflected emotional responses given by Dark Side players towards their hallucinations reflected what bonus emotion they got during the final fight... whether they wanted it or not. Most players got what I expected- Rand, worried about leadership issues and being outshone by Doon, got Rivalry, Takuan, contemptuous of the abilities of the others and only confident in himself got Hubris, ever-worried Tanic got Fear, insane Galder got Anger, and well role-played 'stuff hater' Gallador got Hatred, also based on contempt. Only Rianna differed; her continual worries about Osokan pursuit led to her getting Helkin on a fear vibe, but she chose to go for Anger instead. Rand's emotional response conflicted with his actual buying of emotion, which was meant to demonstate a kind of issue where an Emotion isn't something you choose just for the numbers- it is really nice if it reflects your personality. Gallador got the bonus, reflecting the one he chose, and so he was getting +4 emotion bonuses during that fight for two force points a-piece, which was a ludicrously strong combo with Strength from Pain, hence him doing really well there.

You guys get to keep the Yaran root but it is likely it will be as harmful to keep using as helpful.


Meanwhile, one missed plot point was abandoned because it was thought of too late to go in. This involved the sixth Lantarnan sibling, and would have involved Doon not telling you all about them in advance.

The trick would have been that you guys would have been interacting with the extra one all the time- only to find out near the end that Vigo had had that one killed (by bricking him up inside a wall of the Citadel) six months ago, and that all the time you had been interacting with his ghost (made possible by your force insights).

It wasn't important for the game at all... it just would have been amusing.

Lord Melkor
Wow, very interesting!

Dexx
yup

Lord Melkor
Originally posted by Captain REX
Ush, I truely did enjoy Triple R. All's well that ends well. big grin

Kill kill kill, kill kill kill,
That's how we get it done
We blow up everything in site!
In the dreadfully land of dark
*repeat several thousand times to the tune of the cleaning/rejuvinating song from Wizard of Oz*

This is why Galder will never be a true leader or Master. Though I like the spirit! But killing can get boring after a time, is Galder never tired of it?

Trickster
"Ever-worried Tanic got fear"

What was Tanic's hallucination. Just the goddamn tapping?!

Man, that confused me. Must say though, I did enjoy the convulted plot. And I think Tanic is probably the most likely candidate to turn into Saar. wink

Ushgarak
Yes, the tapping, the symptom of the Puppet Master's mind control, based on the idea that with a name like that, you never saw him, only his puppets.

Trickster
Cool. Well, it confused hell out of me at the time!

Thanks for the game, Ush.

Lana
Trust me to be the one that does the opposite of what you think's going to happen....

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