USH'S STAR WARS GAME- CAMPAIGN II EPISODE III (DARK SIDE)- The Way Back

A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away…

Music- Star Wars Main Theme

EPISODE III- THE WAY BACK

It is four years since the Battle of Naboo and the election of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Under his wise and popular guidance, the Republic is thriving and many see a new era of peace and prosperity ahead

But for those who oppose the Republic, times are hard. Under the watchful eye of the Bureau of Immigration and Undesirables, the influence of Dark Side Force users has receded. Dark Siders are finding it difficult to work within the Republic, and one group has been forced to stay working on non-aligned worlds near their secret base at EPIREUS

Here they work on maintaining their existence with what materials they can find, awaiting their chance to return to power and start influencing Galactic events once more…

-

Welcome to Episode III of the second campaign. This is the start of a new storyline, after the prequel storyline that was the first two Episodes, and this storyline is… pretty big. As the start of a new storyline, it is a good place for new players to join, but the Dark Side is never an easy oath to follow, so be warned! And make sure you listen to the vets; they’ve learned a few lessons.

As the game opens, the players find themselves on their hidden base on Epireus, which they ‘acquired’ at the end of the last storyline. The importance of Epireus cannot be overstated- it represents a safe haven, secure form the elements, defensible, with the supplies you need to survive, and no-one else knows where it is. This puts you guys in a better position than you have been for bloody ages! Epireus is the central foundation for your entire storyline, so be careful with it!

After faking your deaths and killing the man hunting for you in the last story, the Galaxy has kind of forgotten about you during these last two years. They were far more concerned about Kuylen anyway. This gives you more or less a blank slate to work with. At this point, your ships- with their long-ago faked transponders- are clean, and no-one has wanted posters up about you anywhere. You guys have the power to change that… and probably best that you don’t!

Your cardinal rule is- never enter the Republic, The Bureau only has any power in there. Whilst you are outside the Republic you are safe. As soon as you step foot inside it, you are vulnerable. That’s easy to exaggerate. The Bureau don’t have ‘immediately sense anyone’ devices implanted in their heads. But why take the risk? One moment of carelessness could ruin everything; you have never had cause to take that risk yet.

Much of your time has been spent simply trying to preserve what you have. Whilst you have enough to survive- and some raw materials are available on Epireus, along with the slave labour needed to retrieve it- self-sufficiency is a rather horrible goal for people with your ambitions. Biggest problem of all is money. The economy is non-existent out here even if you had enough to sell, which you don’t. Without money, and without hi-tech parts, your situation is precarious. Already you have deconstructed Doon’s old ship and much of the orbital defence systems (which were knackered anyway) to keep your own ships, and the base, going. But you can’t go on like this forever, or even for much longer. SOMETHING has to come along.

And indeed something is. Sadly, it’s going to make your lives worse, not better. Meanwhile, you await your Destiny…

This coming mission is an extension of what was originally a prologue. Hence, it is pretty straight forward- a good chance to practice your skills again, and perfect your team play in a leaderless environment.

At this point, I need to ask everyone what, if any, predictive power they wish to use before the game starts. I’ll need to know it pretty quickly because once the plot gets underway you are forbidden from using them. As a reminder, the predictive powers you may have taken are:

Dreams. Using this gives you a small chance that the Force will have given you 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.

Manifest Destiny. Basically a Dark Side twist on Foresight. Whilst not literally better than Foresight, if you have it you will probably find it more useful. Manifest Destiny means that your future predictions become subjective rather than objective, and show you how you personally can increase your power, and become better than you are. It is how Palpatine creates his labyrinthine plans. A successful use of Manifest Destiny will give you information on what you should do to become more powerful. Normally this will, of course, be of relevance in the coming story- though Foresight talks more directly about story events. Manifest Destiny is very much focussed on you alone.

Instincts. The power of the Living Force gives you no warning about the future at all, but makes you more likely to do things right once you get there. A successful use of Instincts will give you a certain amount of re-rolls to use during the story, which you can use whenever a die roll goes badly to get a better result.

So, if you have Foresight, don’t use Dreams, Foresight is simply better. So if you have a choice, chose between either Cosmic Force prediction in advance, or Living Force sense at the time. And if you have Manifest Destiny, you have a choice between broad help from Foresight, or personal help from Destiny.

If you wish, you may reduce your force rating by one for the story to get +1 on your prediction roll. The Force power Augury also gives a bonus to these rolls. If the upcoming storyline is drastically relevant to you, you get +4 to the roll, but I will not tell you that in advance.

Choose one; I shall make the roll and tell you the result. Bear in mind that the rolls are not easy and if you get a result you have been lucky.

As Dark Siders, you get an additional option- if you wish, you may receive your Prediction, if any, in secret, by PM. Bear in mind that I will tell everyone the results of the rolls, so if you do choose to get it in secret, everyone will know that. Well, anything to increase paranoia, eh?

At this point you mal also choose to use powers like Domination or Corruption. Please inform me by PM.

Good luck folks; the next post I make will be the starting situation.

Epireus base, Epireus

Music- Approaching the Death Star

(I don’t have to seriously tell you that you aren’t on the Death Star, I hope. As I have told the others, try and find the music for its thematic significance)

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzpftz

If this is Destiny, you don’t want anything to do with it.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzpftz

Stupid pile of junk…

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzpftz

Life on a secret base in a leaderless environment is… trying. It must be said, Dark Siders are not ideal democrats. Each of you is a hardened and elite operative. The mundanities of day-to-day life do not interest you. With such grand destinies you always assumed someone else would taker care of that sort of thing.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzpftz

Useless buggering heap of arse…

To whit, there is quite a domestic requirement to running a base. Like all life forms you consume some stuff and… give out other stuff. Doon might have had a touch of personal comfort in mind when he built this place, but his automation was very practically minded- mostly based around the defences and the hangar bay, built as it is into a mountain. Everything else has to run by hand.

Which is to say, people need to cook, clean, do the washing up and- worst of all- take out the garbage to the outside incinerator. And sometimes clean the incinerator. The idea of a fair, impartial rota was the very first thing you thought of, and lasted almost two weeks. After two years, the domestic situation has reached the verge of al-out nuclear war, and comments such as “But it was my turn last week!” have led to brooding resentments and grudge matches that last months.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzpftz

This was meant to have been fixed last week!

Droids would be one option. Trouble is, this part of the Galaxy has barely discovered fire. Pirates and smugglers don’t have time for that sort of luxury- and no dealer will leave the Republic to work with you. For a little while you tried using the Epireans to do the chores. This was the worst idea you ever had. Epireans are undoubtedly great for many things, especially when it comes to scaring others. For cleaning up around house, they are useless- inelegant, clumsy, sloppy, and given to breaking anything they go near. Pretty soon it became a contest of who was going to snap first out of Galder and Rianna and kill the servant, and that had to stop because your hold over the Epireans is that you will kill them if they don’t serve you. If you kill them when they DO serve you as well, they lose their incentive, and would likely rebel on the pretext that they would die anyway. So ‘Domestic service’ had to be crossed off the list of things they could do for you.

Two other problems plague you. First, boredom. There is just nothing to DO! Nothing worthwhile, anyway. The more scholarly amongst you are better off; Rand and Gallador look at the tablet every so often, finding more intricacies each time. They also enjoy playing politics with the nearby Epireans. Not enough to last you two years, but enough to keep you sane.

Some new people may have arrived. If they did, it is because you found them- you have been trying to scoop up and Dark Sider you can fund that has escaped the Republic, and bring them into your fold. All of them has been chased by other Bureau, even if they didn’t get around to actually fighting Osokans, and are aware of the need for survival by joining with you. They’ve not been here as long, so they are not as bored.

Takuan deals with the Epireans sometimes, but still has an issue of awkwardness in crowds. The mountain solitude suits him, and he has been trying to gain insight from the Force. Of all of you, he is the most comfortable in waiting things out. Still, enough is enough- lifespans are only finite.

Tanic has been trying to get some exploitation of his old criminal comrades, but that fizzled out quite fast- favours re-paid and so on. Now he is not quite sure where he is or what he wants to do.

Worst affected are Rianna and Galder, both very twitchy people. They often engage in games involving killing Epireans. Aware that doing it randomly was counter-productive, they have started a game by which they have to trump each other in a ‘finding the best way to frame Epireans and have to execute them for opposing us’ contest. Still, their patience went a long time a go. Rianna is just naturally lacking in that department and has become sullen, grouchy and exceptionally touchy.

But the real problem is Galder. Galder is degenerating. For so long he was on the up- young, talented, deadly. Working for Kuylen gave him everything he ever needed. Then, his focus switched to finding Kuylen. And now… he has no purpose. Doon’s last few words really got to Galder. For weeks at a time, Galder sometimes disappears into the forests and hunts Epireans anonymously, using non-sabre close combat weaponry. It doesn’t satisfy him any more. The scale isn’t enough. In short, Galder is becoming dangerously like Chion. He’s bearable… for now. But all in all, he just doesn’t see the point.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzpftz

Arrrrrrrrrrrrgghh!

The other problem is more rational- technological upkeep. A base like this doesn’t run itself. As noted above, you have already cannibalised all that you can. But for the last six months, system failures have had to be simply ignored. The base is breaking down. You tried to enter into a deal with some pirates to get them to nick some gear for you, and the idiots got themselves shot down by security out from the planet of Newhaven, the closest bastion of Republican civilisation t your position, which has grown more powerful of late.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzpftz

This sound is the sound of the person whose great pleasure it is to be on watch, trying to get the door to the scanner room to open.

Ssccccchhhhhhhhup!

FINALLY!

The only rota you guys do keep up with, due to your survival instinct, is the Watch. Someone has to monitor the banks of scanners and detectors to see if anything comes your way, on ground or on air. Nothing ever really does, unless the Epireans get too close, in which case you go ‘sort that out’ pretty quick.

Meanwhile, the rest of you sleep, eat, argue over the washing up, study, and occasionally play little games.

But one of you is on watch. Who is it?

Gallador is on the watch!

bastard beat me to it!

i'd like my manifest destiny through a PM, if the roll is successful, thanx

well, i can understand the domestic conflicts on cleaning and the like (though i assume a life full of hard experiences doesn't set the cleaning necessities really high) but i assume a vote from all the guyz would DEFINITELY set rianna as the official cook. it's plain female responsibility, right guyz? 😛

But Takuan surely understands that we don`t want Rianna to get angry...

Did she have lessons in cooking as a Jedi?

bleh...her anger's overrated. food is not! and food needs a female touch 😛

I am going offline, Takuan can replace Gallador on watch.

Well, this is just dandy, Takuan. A dozen banks of controls... some of which work.

A yellow light is bleeping incessantly.

( I am online after all)

What does the yellow light mean?

You wouldn't know, you aren't there, having graciously yielded to Dexx.

But I am online, and why to delay the game?

Galder, care for another target shooting game? We'll see who wins. If so, I'd like to start in a room which we've cannabilised as a training room.

That's how it is, Melkor.

Well, by 'cannibalised', you probably mean just turned all the furniture upside down and keep shooting at it.

Yeah. That's what I meant!

Do we have any decent training facilities?

a yellow light...
what does it write under or beneath it?
or a button or something.

Gallador couldn`t sleep, wondering about the path that has brought him here. Surely he was right to leave the Order, avoiding the fate of being brainwashed into a puppet of the Council. Now he he has chosen the path to power and enlightment, of course there was a price.... a heavy price! He felt he lost something, a part of himself, his naive idealism, he was so diffrent now, sometimes he felt his hunger and anger threatening to overwhelm him, consume him! But at last he was not afraid, like those old fools from Council, not afraid to learn about the Force in its entirety, including its Darker side! Instead of running from his darkness, his demons, he will embrace them, conquer them! Only then his understanding of the Force will be complete.

Even in this place forgotten by all, he didn`t abandom his journey for ulitmate power. Epireans were simple beings, their minds were not difficult to twist, entrance, bind to his will! He knew that given enough time and effort, he could make himself the absolute ruler of this place! He could end the wars on this world, just like Jedi could on Galactic scale, they would worship him as their God. But it would take too much time, a nice task when there is nothing else to do, but his ambitions were on much grander scope, if only he could learn more from this tablet...

Then some noise broke his meditation...

'Decent' training- no. You have to improvise.

It's an indicator light, Takuan. Probably another system failure. You lost the east side cameras the other week; turned out a bird had nested in the circuit relays.

It says underneath it...

"CAC-0891"

Damn it. There's a system tracer manual somewhere around here... problem is it reads like stereo instructions.

You manage to dig it out, and blow a ton of dust off of it. It is some 500 pages long full of tiny text; lucky you are tha patient one.

"CAC-0891, main relay indicator for component FAI-7429"

Ah great, this could take ages...

Rand resides in his room, his black armor removed momentarily for some minor maintenance that he could do himself and comfort. During this time, a time which he sets apart from each day for himself, he meditates, listening to the will of the Force and keeping himself in good condition.

Rand would like a Manifest Destiny premonition, with the Augury bonus and a Force point spent.

He unlocked a panel on his chest to check the activity of his artificial heart.

So cold...so painfully cold... Rand thought to himself, bitterly.

The heart was functioning just fine, as it had been for the past two years since AK-74 had implanted it into his dying, twisted body. Satisfied, Rand finished his meditation session by placing the front piece of his black chest armor into position. He snapped closed the magnetic seals, and the armor hummed for a second as it settled against his form.

Rand then rose from his seat in his room, and waved his hand towards an old musical jukebox that he had salvaged from Doon's personal items. It hummed to life, and the soothing sounds of the Skaalite Orchestra filled the room, with a dark, deep string concerto. Rand moved to the tunes, sweeping elegantly through the room.

"If only I could rule the Galaxy," Rand sorrowfully moaned. "This...this is what the Galaxy would hear..."

Ushgarak, I am using Manifest Destiny, spending a Force Point!