STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- The Cursed Swarm

Boll-Gar

It is a time of great tragedy. The curse that was oft mentioned in the days of old has returned to blight the natural ways of life, threatening to consume everything and bring upon the planet the End of Days.

The village of Barum has fallen. First, the Sharers mounted their assault, using new technology gifted to them from the Wanderers- weapons that launched concentrated beams that cause death. The brave warriors managed to repel them, however; despite the Sharers being hardy beings and possessing new weapons of terror, their intelligence is low. Then, the Wanderers caused fire to fall from the sky, raining down upon the village Barum in bursts that destroyed their places of gathering. Finally... the Swarm returned, called into action by these Wanderers who then lost control.

"What will we do, Vaka?" asked Barum's bravest warrior to the Vaka, or priest. He speaks not in Basic, but in the primitive dialect of his people.

Vaka Tu'ral opened one clouded eye to peer upon the warrior. He says nothing.

"Have you foreseen the End of Days?" Dar pressed.

"No," the Vaka spoke. "I have not. There is a great darkness about us, but not so great as to bring a close to all things."

"What, then, have you seen?" Dark asked.

The Vaka closed his eye again and concentrated.

"You know that, as the Vaka, I have access to the stars. These Wanderers are not the only being from the void. I had called upon a friendly man to help us with our plight, to bring us medicine after the Garans attacked. There will be a man with them... he is called Iffa, and what weapons he wields will be greater than any the Sharers or the Wanderers can produce. He shall be our savoir."

The Vaka opened his eyes.

"You will bring him to us," the Vaka said to Dar.

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Welcome to "The Cursed Swarm," an episode of the Retrospection games. As an episode of this series, "The Cursed Swarm" 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, the Renegade Jedi Seth Ketra has decided to tag along with one of his smuggler buddies to see if he can end a costly conflict.

Being new character to the mythos of our games, not a great deal is known about Seth Ketra (mostly as his player, Liberator, has not submitted a background). However, much can be construed from Merits alone, and there we see that Seth has Ties to a group of smugglers. Perhaps Seth left the Jedi Order recently, in light of the failures of the Mandragos Committee to stop famine from spreading through the Galaxy, taking up with smugglers to get goods where they need to go? Or maybe Seth has made it his business helping smugglers run blockades or escape patrols for good causes? Whatever the reason, Seth has gotten himself involved with the age-old system of trade, most likely working as muscle due to the fact that Seth's focal points as a Freelancer lie within the handling of the elegant Jedi Lightsaber.

The time period is set in 28 BBY- four years after the events of The Phantom Menace. Seth Ketra has been contacted by one of his old smuggler contacts, a good man named Kart, Captain of the prized smuggler ship Dawntreader. He has been contracted by the simple Bollans of Boll-Gar to bring them supplies after a disastrous conflict with the reptilian Garans and their pirate supporters. Kart needs security in making this run, and Seth sees this as an opportunity to help those in need. But more is happening than they know on Boll-Gar... the Swarm has returned.

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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.

Space, aboard the Dawntreader

The Dawntreader is putting along through hyperspace, carrying its cargo toward Boll-Gar to deliver it unto the primitive Bollan people. You do not know a great deal about Boll-Gar or its inhabitants, Seth, but you understand that the highly irksome Burning Fist pirate clan has seen it fitting to mess around with the natives. You cannot think of anything more annoying than that! You've decided to help out Captain Kart in order to get a chance at kicking pirate butt and getting things back to normal on Boll-Gar, whatever normal is for them.

The Dawntreader is also carrying a handy crew. Captain Kart himself is the spitting image of an old sailor, with a bushy white beard, a wood-carved pipe always hanging out of one side of his mouth, and a cybernetic eye to replace the one he lost to the space squid that tried to take his precious cargo... and it is the Captain now that calls you up to the cockpit.

"Laddy, we'll be upon Boll-Gar soon now," he says. "I expect these dastardly pirate-types to have that spinning rock blockaded, so I do. Hence why the Bollans needed a smuggler instead of a cargo-man!"

I'll take Foresight along with me for this one over Dreams.

Seth will make an attempt to try and dissuade a space shoot-out.
"Do you think it will be possible to avoid conflict? Maybe it'll be better to try and slip past them rather than go in guns blazing. These supplies are important, you can bet yourself these pirates would love to get their filthy hands all over them."

I'm afraid you'll have to take Dreams for this, Lib- Seth can take it for free, but he doesn't have the powers necessary to use Foresight. Oh well! This being a personal plotline by nature, he is guaranteed a vision.

"If we can outrun 'em then sure, but Dawntreader ain't the fastest or most agile of vessels. I think we'll get caught up. But that's why I have three turrets on this thing. Think you'll be able to handle one? I'll put Trawley and Harvik on the others as I steer this bucket through their lines."

Trawley is Kart's security officer and First Officer. Harvik Olo is a hired gun.

No worries, thats fine with me, Dreams it is.

"Very well, but remember what we're carrying here Kart, these supplies are vital to Boll-Gar. I don't want to take any unnecessary risks. I've also got a 3-P0 droid on standby, if we can find a use for him I'm sure he'll do his best to help out."

You believe that Monarch will come in handy here, Seth. Neither the Bollans nor the Garans speak Basic! They're both fairly simple species. The Bollans are akin to Pygmies- short humanoids- but have a knack for agriculture and have established a warrior hierarchy. The Garans are hulking lizards who have a penchant for violence but are honestly too dumb to fight the Bollans. It sounds like the pirates have helped them out.

"Aye, I be aware of that, boyo," Kart says. "Don't you worry your little Jedi head. We'll get these supplies down to the Bollans in fair order. I'm not sure I can help ye with yer mission to settle the dispute, I'm afraid. They didn't pay me to smuggle them a solution."

"Don't worry Kart, getting the supplies there in one piece will be more than enough. Now lets see how well you can fly this thing Cap'n, good luck."

I'll head over to the turret now and prepare for any action that may occur.

Just a question, am I within ear shot of the Captain while on the turret or the 'bridge', or is there a form of comm system for communication. I'm hoping to attempt to avoid conflict with the pirates by a means of diplomacy or espionage of some sort.

There is a comm system- all turret-users have headsets with mics. You can have Kart relay any messages you have for the pirates. Your intuition gives you a sense of impending dread that makes you think a dogfight is inevitable, but no harm in attempting to prevent violence!

The Dawntreader drops out of hyperspace when it reaches its destination. Ahead of you is Boll-Gar- a lush, green planet, due to its warm, immense rain forests.

Outlined against the green orb, however, is a light cruiser, dark in color. It bears the emblem of a clenched fist holding a strand of flame- the symbol of the Burning Fist pirates.

"Sensors picking up fighter patrols in orbit near the cruiser," reports Noland, the mechanic and sensors officer. "They have their weapons online and shields up."

"They're being cautious," Kart says. "Seth, am I sending any message?"

"Take her in slow Kart, do you think they realise we're here? Keep her at combat ready just in case, if they try and hail us let me talk to them, we might just be able to avoid a scrap although its highly unlikely. Its your ship Captain I won't force you into anything, I'm just trying to protect these supplies and get them safely to those Bollans."

"Aye, so am I," Kart says. "Say yer piece when they start talkin."

The Dawntreader edges closer to where the pirate cruiser is maintaining its orbit. The village that Kart must get to, Barum, is directly below it.

The pirate cruiser sends a clear warning.

"This is Dunn of the cruiser Scorcher. I suggest you turn around and go back the way you came. Boll-Gar is nothing but trouble."

Will Charisma play into effect in this conversation?

"Captain Dunn, my name is Seth Ketra on board the ship, the Dawntreader. We're but simple pilgrims looking to visit and spread our message to peoples of exotic worlds. We will be fine, I am sure that no harm will come to us but thank you for looking out for us. We will be no trouble to you at all Captain."

Yes, but it depends upon your social skills to be truly effective in a situation like this.

The pitch you are offering this Dunn character is that you are pilgrims, for example. Do you have the skill Lying or the Force power Presence?

I don't have the skill of Lying, but I do have the force power Presence. What can I do?

In most situations, if you lack a skill, you are penalized to the point of making a roll not even worth it. However, I rule that having Presence allows you to attempt. Do note that Ush might rule differently, of course.

Going to tell your lie?

Going to at least give it a shot. Tellin' the lie, let's see how this goes.

Dunn laughs on the other end of the comms, and he sends his hologram through to a display in the turret. He is a tall but not quite as muscular as his voice makes him sound. Rather Dunn is quite lanky and awkward.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Dunn says. "I know you aren't who you've said but I don't really care. The damn planet is a death trap."

"Death trap? How so? Can you give any specifics?"

I turn to Kart and nod letting him know we have a chance of avoiding conflict.

"I couldn't tell you. I lost contact with my men on the surface."

"Very well. We'll have to make do then, thank you Captain." I face Kart again and nod,

"Take her in Captain Kart, but be warned, we have no idea whats going to be waiting for us on the surface. Here goes nothing."

"Aye," Kart says. "Thankee, Jedi."

The Dawntreader sneaks past the loose blockade that the pirates are holding and starts its descent into Boll-Gar's atmosphere! You descend quickly, just in case the pirates change their minds and their fighters sneak up behind you. That doesn't happen.

Boll-Gar's atmosphere is heavily foggy, making it hard to see anything.

Kart picks up on the beacon.

"Coming in on Barum," Kart says. "Keep your eyes peeled."

You can see the primitive village coming out of the fog... something doesn't feel right to you.