STAR WARS: RETROSPECTON- Song of Remembrance

A small dingy apartment is being ransacked by a group of men in smart gray or black uniforms. They use equipment to scan for energy signatures and DNA or just ruffle through discarded trash or rags. In their midst stands a man similarly dressed though colored bars on his uniform denote that he has a higher rank. Agent Sri S’Nar looks displeased.

He is joined by a squat porcine creature. This ugly monster is cleaning a knife as he approaches the Bureau Agent.

“The apartment manager wouldn’t talk,” the Osokan Captain snarls in his guttural piggish way. “Must’ve been tampered with.”

“Do you have his scent?” S’Nar asks.

“The manager? Why do we...”

“No, no, the Dark Sider.”

“Oh. Yes.” The Osokan takes a deep breath through his nose and savors it before releasing. “It is strong here. I heard he was capable of throwing us off of his scent, though. This could be related. We are being made to think that he was hear when he really never was.”

“No,” S’Nar says. “I know he was here.”

“One of your hunches,” the Captain says. S’Nar is cut off by an excited shout from one of the men.

“Sir, I’ve found something!” the underling announces, holding a crinkled poster. S’Nar takes it. It colorfully depicts a lesser known rock band that is slowly gaining popularity. S’Nar smiles.

“Find me the next location and time that the Stardashers will be performing a show. This is how we will find him.”

-

Welcome to “Song of Remembrance,” an episode of the Retrospection games. As an episode of this series, “Song” will be a very personal plotline, exploring events involving the player’s character. Going off of Ushgarak’s ever-popular Star Wars roleplaying game, these mini-episodes occur in game-play’s past. In this case, we will find out what happened to Toolok Rah after when went mildly insane getting out of the coils of the Golden Serpent.

For now, Toolok Rah does not even know who he truly is. Something has happened to his mind that has caused him to believe that his name is Alek, and that he is the frontman for a small-time galactic touring band called the Stardashers. He leads a content life- fame and music, drugs and women... but his life of rock n’ roll contentment is about to change again, as events start rolling out the red carpet for the return of Toolok Rah when an old friend comes looking for him. Unfortunately, that old friend is not alone in doing so.

The time period is set in 28 BBY- four years after The Phantom Menace and the Battle of Naboo, the same year that the Dark Jedi of Epireus tackle the dangers of Gonderkorro and find a dying man stranded in the Desert of Stones. The Stardashers have arrived on Karkarvos for extended touring...

Karkarvos

The area of Karkarvos that the Stardashers is touring is much quieter than what they are used to. Instead of the bright lights and excitement of Coruscant, or the seedy nightclub sensation of Nar Shaddaa, you are greeted with the sleepy suburbs of a sophisticated world that exports salt mined and exotic shellfish from its seas. Despite Karkarvos being a relaxed world where nothing really happens, the Stardashers do have a following here.

Alek, you have just come off the stage after an incredible set. People have told you that your singing is entrancing, but this is just what the sleepy youth of Karkarvos needed! And now they want an encore; the nightclub that you are performing at is raucous with the sound of applauding and shouts.

“They want us back out there,” Faro says- your guitarist, a drug-addled Corellian. “Tarinda, get the spark-bass ready. Bee, get some extra sticks, you know the Geonosian drums like breaking those things.”

Tarinda Gell, your Twi’lek bassist, goes to ready the flashy display known as the spark-bass, while B’kleap Bk the four-armed drummer prepares to do battle with the electro-sonic drums from Geonosis. Faro pulls on his synth-guitar.

“I wanna do one of your songs, you down?” Faro says to you.

-

SPECIAL RULE

For plot reasons that will become clear as the game goes on, Rah is unaware of his ability to use the Force OR his Lightsaber. Therefore, Force Powers and Blade Schticks are unavailable for the time being.

"Ha, those kids are gonna cause a riot if we don't!"
High off the adrenaline rush from the gig he grins "Lets give them something special..."

He steps towards the stage, takes a deep breath in and then lets out a full volume "Aaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyoooooo....." with the double harmonies that only his triple vocal cords can produce.

He struts on to the stage and sings

"Do you want some more of this stuff
Can't let you go till yooou've had enough..."

He grins and starts clapping in time as the others strike up their instruments

"Time to give it just one moooore shot
Then we're f**king off" He speaks "cuz you've had your lot!

This is a song about being young and foolish... WILD N YOUNG!

Running free and running hard
We gotta play by the sabacc cards
Dealing in and dealing out
Sometimes you lose, no need ta shout

It's how it is, it's how we play
Wild and young is how we'll stay
Livin' it up until we're dead
Wild and young is what I said

Take it away Faro let me hear you go

Racing pods in the outer rim
You could lose arm, which is kinda grim
The speeds we go, is the real thrill
Ending up on some Dugs pod grill

It's how it is, it's how we play
Wild and young is how we'll stay
Livin' it up until we're dead
Wild and young is what I said!

It's how it is, it's how we play
Wild and young is how we'll stay
Livin' it up until we're dead
Wild and young is what Eiiiiiiieieieieieiei saaaaaaid...

Thank you and good night"

With that he takes a bow and walks off stage

The crowd is absolutely insane after your encore. They might riot anyway! Your stage Presence is quite effective, so much so that low-key critics have stated that the others could stop playing and nobody would notice so long as frontman Alek was singing.

Your bandmates start to clear off the stage as a Gran announcer walks out to the microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the Stardashers!" he says. He tries to continue but is drowned out by screaming. He goes on when they calm down a bit. "They'll be here a few more days if you didn't get enough. Buy your tickets at the..."

In the midst of the crazy crowd of kids, though, someone catches your attention.

Alek looks over and heads toward the attention seeker

He didn't do anything to catch your attention... or you thought he did... not you aren't sure.

It is an old man in a dark brown cloak, his gray hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, simply standing in the audience. Those around him are jumping up and down ecstatically for you and your band. He seems passive.

After seeing the guy just stood amidst the crowd Alek gets changed from his sweaty gig clothes and packs his stuff and says "see ya" to the guys in the band. For some reason he's curious about the guy, usually people like that are agents for the music companies so he wants to go see what he's all about.

He heads out into the crowd saying hi to all the fans that greet him, but makes polite excuses until he reaches the guy with the pony tail 'Hey, hope you enjoyed the show tonight but something tells me you're not really apart of this "crowd"'

Faro gives you a friendly reminder that the band is heading down to a local pub for drinks.

When you head back out to jump into the crowd, the crowd itself begins to surge around you. Excited fans start asking for your autograph and a few young ladies decide to flash you... but your mystery man appears to have gone.

He looks around and seeing the old guy gone he turns his attention to a lovely red twi'lek girl "heya babes, wanna meet my band?" He then heads for the bar where Faro said they were going.

Alek the seducer!

The bar is not far from the venue, a small place called the Turtle's Shell. It takes you longer than it should to get there because of the flocking crowds following you around or trying to get out of the seedy downtown area in this Karkarvan city.

When you get there, the band is already lined up at the bar.

"Took you long enough, Alek!" Faro says, with his own Twi'lek girl on his arm. "Was wondering if you got lost!"

"hahaha, just busy" He winks then calls to the bar keep "Dark Membrosia please". He scans around the bar looking at all the people, for some reason he can't help but look out for signs of trouble brewing.

The barkeep gets you your order. The Turtle's Back is busy tonight- after-parties to your concert- but you don't pick up any immediate signs of trouble when you scan the tables.

"Yeah, yeah, I bet," Faro says, patting you on the back and beckoning you to sit with him. He and Tarinda are sipping on glasses of Flaming Wookiee while B'kleap has four different brightly-colored drinks, one of them fizzing, another burning. "How do you think the show went?"

Alex takes a sip of his drink, grins and relaxes. Then with his arm around Ral'Rais waist sits down with the others.
"There's always room for improvement..." He playfully nudges Tarinda "apart from your drums B'kleap, they were fickin awesome as always!"
He sips his drink again "Nah, we were good as always, in fact I saw some straight dude in the audience watching us and I wondered if he's a Galactimuse talent scout, he'd gone 'fore I could talk to him though.
Anyway, the night is as young as we are so lets celebrate another triumphant performance" He lifts his glass, then turns his attention to the lovely twi'lek hanging off his arm.

There is a cheer from your bandmates as you lift your glasses and drink.

"Really? A talent scout?!" the Twi'lek girl says giddily. "You guys would be WAY big!"

"Big is not even covering it, sweetheart," Faro says. "I..." He looks over your shoulder and loses the color in his face. "Um, Rah, bathroom with me. Now."

"Yeah that's right, my honey we'd b...... Hey what's up Faro?" He says jumping after the disappearing guitarist, he looks around as he follows hot on the heels of his friend

Faro ducks into the men's room and waits for you to get in. He then peeks out the door, motioning for you to the same.

"See that guy right there?" Faro says. He is pointing to a slim, unhealthy-looking man with pale skin and a dark cloak. He is sitting at a table and looking in your direction. You recognize him as a Nagai- a vampiric warrior people. "That's the enforcer for my dealer, man. How'd he find me here?!"

"Guess you not been payin' what you owe then!" He looks at Faro majorly pissed off, the elation from the night suddenly draining away. "How much do owe and what do you want us to do about it?"

(By the what can Alek do, whilst he can't remember his force training he'd still have raw talent that would naturally come into play when he fights. Also what weapons does he have, I can't imagine even with memory loss that a bad ass like Rah would be willingly totally weaponless!)

Alek carries a concealable pistol for emergencies- even for rock stars, the Galaxy is a tough place- and an equally concealable knife.

"It's gone beyond that, man," Faro says, nervously. "I owe him more than I can ever pay back. We need to lose this guy or... or something, I don't know."

Alek fingers his piece "It's okay mate we'll sort something out..." He grins "...and I was kinda getting bored of this planet, so maybe it's time to work some magic, jump ship, then get you cleaned up!

(How handy are B'Kleap and Tarinda likely to be in a fight?)

B'kleap has been known to fight a brawl or two, and Tarinda has a checkered background as a slave. Faro is useless, though.