Episode I: Finding Tungstan (06/18/05)
(Even though there are plenty of adventures available for download at the Star Wars D20 website, I decided to do something different. For the first adventure, I adapted the old D&D adventure The Burning Plague and ran it as the first adventure. )

Nethos is a desert world of vast salt flats bordered by sheer plateaus and mountain ridges that rise up from the plains and soar many miles into the sky. Nethos has little to offer the galaxy except for its rich veins of precious metals and gemstones, and aside from a single orbital platform housing refining factories and the administrative offices of various mining companies with claims on the planet below, there is little in the way of formal government. There is a military garrison in Nethos City, the largest community planetside, and each community supports a small local militia. Aside from that, the miners are left to govern themselves — a task they sometimes do harshly. Nethos is home to small, primitive reptilian creatures nicknamed "kobolds" by the residents of the many mining colonies that dot the planet's surface.

Former Jedi Knight Arda Chondo and the two padawans, Sam and Kan-narina, had been in hiding for weeks in Nethos City from the forces of the new Empire. The two padawans watched with curiosity as, week after week, Arda would leave for places unknown only to return late at night. Other times, strangers would visit her in the small apartment the three of them shared. Arda refused to discuss these mysterious meetings with them, and out of respect for her they never pressed to hard for details.

One evening, however, while one of Arda's strange visitors was leaving, Kan-narina noticed something unusual about him: he had a lightsaber concealed in a boot. Her curiosity piqued now beyond her control, she approached Arda to discuss what she had seen. Kan-narina tried not to seem as if she was prying, and started by asking how many Jedi were left in the galaxy, and what their strength was. Arda, not in the mood for adolescent games, asked her bluntly, "Why don't you just tell me what you saw?"

Kan-narina did so, and Arda was evasive in her answer. She suddenly changed the subject by telling the young padawan that she they were ready for her trust, and she had an important task she needed them to fulfill. She handed the two young padawans a credit chip and told them that they were to go to the estate of Mormo the Hutt, a "business administrator" who dealt with many of the mining and shipping companies that operated in a region called the Serpentcoil Mountains. She explained that Mormo was a rare thing in the galaxy — a likeable and trustworthy Hutt! She cautioned them that he was still a Hutt, despite his demeanor, and that in their dealings with him they should remain on their guard. She instructed them to take the credit chip to Mormo and tell him that Arda was ready to seal the deal they had made. They were then to pick up a crate from him and deliver it back to her.

Eager to set out, the youngsters rented a cargo skiff and made their way to Mormo's estate several hours away. Sam made the journey on his personal speeder bike. They were met at the front steps of the castle-like structure by the Veeta, Mormo's Rodian butler, translator, and confidante, and two of his henchmen — the Human Buck Godot and the Rodian Greelat. Veeta welcomed the two Jedi warmly, and bid them welcome to Mormo's estate. He led them through the castle, explaining on the way that Mormo had been waiting for them and was eager to meet the young friends of his close ally Arda Chondo.

In Mormo's audience chamber, Kan-narina presented the Hutt with the credit chip, and delivered the message that Arda was ready to seal the deal. Veeta checked the authenticity of the chip, and verified to Mormo that it was legitimate and all of the promised funds where there. Mormo smiled — inasmuch as a Hutt can smile, and invited the two padawans to make themselves comfortable. When they inquired as to why, the Hutt's smile faded.

The promised crate, he explained, had never been delivered. It was a day overdue and Mormo had found himself in the unenviable position of delaying delivery to Arda until he could find out what had happened. Mormo is, after all, an honest Hutt (relatively speaking, that is), and had made an honest deal with Arda Chondo that he did not want to break. To that end, Mormo told the two padawans that he was sending two of his men, Buck Godot and Greelat, to a mining community called Duvik's Pass to locate the shipment. A mine administrator and shipping coordinator in Duvik's Pass, Jacen Tungstan, had been responsible for securing the crate and having it shipped to Mormo's with other crates of ore to be sent to the orbital processing plant. While Buck and Greelat were away, Mormo said with a smile, Sam and Kan-narina could remain with him as his honored guests.

Buck and Greelat, having been given their orders, took one of Mormo's cargo skiffs to the town of Duvik's Pass, a rough mining community in the Serpencoil Mountains built on a huge mesa rich in precious ores. Duvik's Pass was constructed on a semicircular artificial platform built two kilometers above the plains directly on the side of the sheer cliff face. It was held in place against the cliff side by massive support beams driven deep into the rock. Suspended there like a shelf high on a wall, Duvik's Pass was home to honest miners as well as thieves, outlaws, and other disreputable types.

The two henchmen spent a few hours around town asking about Tungstan, and they discovered that Jacen Tungstan had been gone for a week or so, and no one though anything of it. It was not uncommon for miners to venture up into the mines and stay there for weeks at a time following good veins of ore, only coming back to town for supplies or when their cargo skiffs were fully loaded. Although the miners and cantina patrons were unconcerned about Tungstan's absence, Buck was. Tungstan had a job to do for Mormo, and therefore didn't have the luxury of camping out in the mountains looking for ore. A quick check of the town's resident directory database (the Star Wars equivalent of the phone book) provided the two with Jacen Tungstan's address.

Meanwhile, back at Mormo's estate, Sam was basking in the cool dusk air by his speeder bike, and Kan-narina was trying to enjoy the festivities in the audience chamber. It was a smoky, dim room filled with unsavory characters, and it made her nervous. She found a quiet booth away from the chatter and prying eyes and ears (and other sensory organs) to contact Arda. She explained the delay to Arda, who was very upset over the bad news. Hearing that Mormo had dispatched two of his men to a place called Duvik's Pass, Arda told Kan-narina to fetch Sam and travel there at once. One of the guards at Mormo's estate had taken a liking to Kan-narina, and decided to chat with her as he followed her out to where Sam was waiting. She was uncomfortable with his attention, and with a worried face made Sam aware of her discomfort. He stepped up, and with a wave of his hand suggested to the guard that he wanted to return to the party. The guard agreed, and with a smile told Kan-narina that he would see her again. (Hooray! The first use of a Force skill.)

While the two padawans were traveling to Duvik's Pass, Buck and Greelat had broken in to Jacen Tungstan's apartment. They found little of importance in the cluttered rooms, but eventually Greelat found a datapad hidden behind some boxes of food in the kitchen. After a few moments of fiddling with the datapad, the Rodian scoundrel finally managed to break into Jacen's personal journal. There, they discovered that Jacen had been informed of a rich new vein found in one of the exploratory mines, and, excited about his prospects, he had left to join the expeditionary mining crew. He thought that he would be able to get in some meaningful prospecting in plenty of time to return to Duvik's Pass to carry out the arrangements with Mormo. That entry was dated several days ago. With the coordinates of the mine Tungstan had gone to, Buck and Greelat made their way back to their cargo skiff.

By now, the two padawans had made their way to Duvik's Pass as well, and found his apartment in the same manner as Buck and Greelat had. They had parked their skiff and speeder bike in an alley beside Tungstan's apartment and were waiting to see if he would return home. Greelat remained behind to call Veeta and update him about what they had found, while Buck went down to make sure the alley was clear. To his surprise, he encountered the two padawans waiting for him. Veeta told Greelat that he knew the two young Humans had snuck away from the party, and to keep them in his sights at all times. With a sinister air to his voice, he said that Mormo had plans for the two of them. Greelat whispered to Buck that Mormo wanted them to baby-sit, and the Human fringer begrudgingly invited the two along with them to the mine.

They found their way to the mine easily enough, but what they found waiting for them was unexpected. There was no sign of life at the mine — no sound of machinery, no labor droids, no people. It was as if the mine had been abandoned. There was a cargo hauler parked near the entrance to the mine, but it was unoccupied. Buck disabled the hauler to prevent any inconvenient rapid escapes, and the party moved slowly into the mines to investigate. Sam's connection to the Force must have been stronger that day, because he felt an eerie chill as they crossed the threshold. Kan-narina didn't notice anything. Put on alert by his inexplicable anxiety, Sam told the others he had a bad feeling about this place. (Hooray! The first Star Wars cliché!))

They entered the mine, and noticed that rough craters had seemingly been blasted out of the mine walls. Buck was able to identify them as blaster shots. Cautiously now, they moved further in. Every now and again, they would pass some dark side passage that their glow sticks illuminated to the left and the right. These were apparently just exploratory shafts that the miners excavated in the search for ore but abandoned when they didn't produce. Eventually, they came to a large room containing a scene of carnage. Two ore hover carts were upturned on the floor, and from under one of them protruded a Human body.

Sam lifted the cart using Move Object but making it look as if he was moving it physically in order to conceal his powers. Suddenly a concussive blast ripped through the room as a stun grenade went off that had been set to detonate when the cart was moved. Greelat was knocked unconscious by the blast, but everyone else was merely stunned for a moment. As they were shaking off the effects of the stun, an ear-piercing alarm started sounding through the cave. Worried now that hoards of enemies were about to descent on them, they fled back to the mouth of the mine, dragging the unconscious Greelat with them like a rag doll. They took up positions at the mine entrance, ready for anything.

But nothing came.

They waited for several minutes, and when no enemies appeared from the mine, they ventured back in. This time, they went in without the glow rods, hoping to be able to use the darkness to conceal their movements. (Unknown to the characters, the kobolds investigated the alarms and, in the total darkness of the mine, had followed them out and taken up positions in the side-tunnels.). Just as they were about to enter the room again, Greelat heard the distinct sound of breathing coming from one of the side shafts. Kan-narina heard it, too. The party turned and snapped on their glow rods just as five kobolds burst into view behind them and opened fire with their slugthrowers. The party flattened against the opposite mine walls and returned fire with their blasters. Sam ripped the gun from one kobold's hands with Move Object, while the others were content to continue the firefight with blasters alone.

Ultimately, the heroes were the victors, and the last poor kobold dropped his weapons and turned and ran. (Interesting behind-the-screen point here: none of the players made the connection that, although the mine entrance was scored with blaster shots, the kobolds were using slugthrowers. There is a deeper mystery there that they didn't investigate.) They caught up with him at the mouth of the cave and tied him up using the cable from Kan-narina's cable launcher. They tried to interrogate him, but to no avail. No one spoke his language, and apparently he did not understand Basic. They left him bound and gagged in the back of the cargo hauler as they once more ventured into the mine. Back at the room with the body, they removed the cargo hauler and examined the body. It was Jacen Tungstan, riddled with slugthrower rounds. No blood was under the body, and Buck theorized that it meant he was not killed here, but placed here after he had died. Sam, and now Kan-narina too, were feeling uneasy about the mine, getting some vague sense of danger and despair coming from deeper into the mine. They elected not to explore the mines any further, as Buck and Greelat had searched Tungstan's body and found a key card that was registered at a self-storage warehouse in Duvik's Pass. If the crate was anywhere in Jacen Tungstan's possession, it might be there.

(By not exploring the mine any further, they didn't finish the Burning Plague adventure. That's ok, though, since they did find what they had actually come there for — information as to the possible whereabouts of the missing cargo crate. I was just using the mine map and background story as part of the plot I had come up with myself, so it didn't bother me that they chose not to explore the mines. The mine wasn't important to the plot, but the key card was. And of course there is nothing stopping me now from re-using the mine map later on since the players know nothing about it. It's win-win even though things didn't go as I had planned. Besides, just as the two padawans sensed a disturbance in the Force in the mine, the cause for that chilling disturbance felt them as well, and his curiosity was aroused! [Evil GM gin])

The party loosened the kobold's bonds but didn't free him, and left him on the side of the road a few kilometers from the mine entrance. He could free himself in time — Kan-narina insisted on this. He was no longer a threat to them and she saw no need to kill him or abandon him still tied up and unable to defend himself. They finally made their way back to Duvik's Pass and located the warehouse that — they hoped — held the crate they were looking for. It was there, and soon the four of them were cruising back to Mormo's estate to deliver it.

Veeta met them at the back entrance to the estate, and with much relief had several of Mormo's men unload the crate and take it inside. He bade the two youngsters to follow him, as he had special business to take care of with them. As he passed Buck and Greelat, he whispered, "Watch the door behind us and do not let those two escape." Not sure what Veeta was up to, Buck agreed. Inside Mormo's now empty audience hall, Veeta stood on Mormo's throne and cleared his throat. To Sam's dismay, he noticed that there were four guards around Veeta, and one at each exit. "Mormo is away on other business now but he has left me in his stead to carry out his affairs," explained Veeta. "And I can't help but think that if Arda Chondo is willing to pay so much for a crate of busty armor, how much would she pay for the return of the two of you?" With that, he gestured to the guards, who raised their weapons ominously.

"You do not want to hurt us," said Sam, stepping forward bravely.

(Veeta succeeded on his Will save and resisted Sam's mind trick.) "But, dear boy, I had no intention of hurting you at all!" he said with a sneer.

With that, the guards opened fire with their blasters set on stun. Sam was taken down and fell unconscious on the floor. Kan-narina managed to stay on her feet, although wobbly and numb. The two guards in front of Mormo's dais quickly moved in and started removing her weapons. One found her lightsaber, and started examining it curiously trying to figure out what it was. Another guard moved away from the door to search Sam.

All of this enraged Buck and Greelat. They were loyal employees of Mormo, and they knew that Veeta was acting on his own by attacking the two adolescents. Mormo had made an honest deal with an honest woman, and he would never have authorized ransoming Arda's friends off for extra cash. This was a raw deal, and Buck wouldn't stand for it. He opened fire on Veeta, shattering the large vista window behind the Rodian as he ducked for cover. Greelat was taken down by a stunning blast from one of the other guards, and was knocked out. (Actually, his player had to leave several minutes earlier, so I just had him get harmlessly stunned to get his character out of the fight.).

Meanwhile, as Buck ran past her shouting, "They are betraying the Hutt!" and various curses and insults, Kan-narina used her Friendship Force skill to befriend the guard who had taken her lightsaber. She asked kindly for it back, and she shrugged with a smile and surrendered it to her. "Just a fancy glow rod," he muttered. Sam woke up before the guard that was searching him was able to find his lightsaber, and knocked him away with a quick application of Force Strike. The two Jedi were up and had their lightsabers activated. They waded into combat with the surprised guards, who backed away as quickly as they could and switched their blasters off stun. Sam took a solid shot from one of the guards, but shrugged it off and cut him down soon after.

(This I thought was interesting: against the kobolds, who were using deadly force, the Jedis didn't touch their lightsabers and actually did little to fight them. Against Mormo's guards, who were not using deadly force and were trying to capture them without hurting them, they whipped out the lightsabers. I think this has a lot to do with player mentality ... I guess somehow it is more threatening to be captured by the bad guys than to just be attacked.)

Buck was engaged in a running firefight with Veeta and one of the other guards. "How could you betray the Hutt?" he demanded to know. "Veeta pays better!" was the guard's answer just as the door to the motor pool garage slid shut and locked. Frustrated at their escape, Buck turned to see the two young padawan's mop up the remaining guards. None of them were actually killed, and the two youths had them backed up against the wall at lightsaber point. Buck continued out into the motor pool, and finally managed to kill Veeta and take the last guard captive.

As Buck was marching the last guard back into the audience chamber, Mormo and several other of his household guards burst into the room. Mormo demanded to know what was going on, and between the three of them, Buck, Sam, and Kan-narina described to them Veeta's treachery. Mormo apologized deeply to Sam and Kan-narina, and had Buck and Greelat take the turncoat guards "up to the tower room" until he could decide what to do with them. Another of Veeta's lies was exposed as well ... Mormo was not away at all. He and Arda were in an upper room of the house making further deals. Veeta was hoping he would be able to capture the two youths and ransom them without Mormo knowing about it.

The package was finally delivered, and Arda arrived to collect it from Mormo. The Hutt invited the three Jedi to remain with him in his finest guest rooms, and he promised that he would somehow right the wrongs that Veeta had perpetrated upon them. Arda respectfully declined the invitation, however, saying that she had more urgent business back in Nethos City. She and her padawans loaded up the crate, and powered up the cargo skiff for the long ride back home.

Episode II: Rendezvous at Ord-Mantell (07/02/05)
(For this adventure, I am using the freebie adventure Rendezvous at Ord-Mantell, available at the Star Wars d20 website. I tinkered with the hook a little bit. Instead of meeting Renci Tosh by happenstance, the party traveled to Ord-Mantell specifically to find her. Two more players joined, but it remains to be seen if they will be able to return on a regular basis. They played two stock NPCs pulled from the back of the core rulebook, and gave them the names Deago Solo [pilot, no relation to the Corellian Solo family] and Kira Starre [scout]. The player of Greelat didn't show up, sand the player of Buck Godot is the owner of the game store where we play, and he was running and playing in a Blood Bowl tournament that night and was unable to play.)

Several days after the events at Duvik's Pass, Kan-narina found herself sitting alone in the lounge of the boarding house where the three Jedi had been living since they arrived on Nethos. Arda had taken Sam into the desert for some long-delayed training, leaving Kan-narina on her own for a few hours. Arda always trained her two students separately. In this way, she could still maintain something of orthodox training regimen with the two of them. As she sat there staring at a meal she didn't really feel like eating, a strange sensation passed over her: someone strong in the Force was nearby. Before she could turn to look, she heard someone ask, "Is this seat taken?"

Across from her stood a young man in nondescript clothing consisting of blue pants, a white tunic, and a utility vest. Despite is garb, Kan-narina recognized him right away. He was Jakk Torkaw, and she remembered seeing him often in the halls and lift tubes of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant in happier days that now seemed like an eternity ago.

They engaged in small talk, catching up on the events and sharing their own sad tales of that dark day when the Clone Troopers turned on the Jedi. The subject of the conversation then turned to Kan-narina herself. Jakk wanted to know how it was that she came to be on Nethos, and took particular interest in hearing her explain how Arda Chondo had found her and taken her in. He listened, concerned, as she told him that Arda was trying to train her and Sam both.

He shook his head and said that such an unorthodox training method was doomed to failure. "There is a reason why the Jedi Council enforces the one-master, one-padawan relationship," he explained. Arda would be overtaxed. Either both padawans would receive inadequate training, or Sam would receive the most of her attention and Kan-narina would be left vulnerable to the depredations of the Dark Side. "You're holding Sam back, and expecting too much form Master Chondo," he said grimly, "And you know it to be true."

Here Kan-narina felt a tugging at her emotions, like a tiny dark shadow trying to creep in and bury itself deep. (That is, she made her Will save to resist Jakk's Fear Force skill. [House rule]). With Kan-narina almost on the edge of giving in, Jakk told her that he knew of a master that could teach her, one that could be sure that she could get the training she rightly deserved. Before she could ask who or where this master was, Jakk waved a hand before her eyes. "You won't tell anyone about me." Kan-narina echoed his words as Jakk smiled and disappeared into the crowded lounge. (It's always fun when PCs fail those Will saves. [Insert evil GM laughter here.])

Some time later, Arda came to her two padawans with yet another errand for them. Another mysterious friend of hers, Renci Tosh, was supposed to meet Arda on Ord-Mantell, but "something came up" and Arda will not be able to attend the meeting. Instead, she once more must trust in her eager young students to help her out. Renci has information that Arda needs. Despite the questions of her padawans all Arda would say is that it is vital information and she needs it as soon as possible. Sam and Kan-narina were to go to Docking Bay 1138 and sign on to the freighter Radian Dawn as crew. At the ship, a classic YT-1300 freighter, the padawans met an aloof Farghul named Sphynx, Deago Solo the first mate, and Kira Starre. Captain Balek Mallo was up in the cockpit gesturing wildly and pointing at his chronometer.

Deago explained that they had to deliver raw ore just shipped in from Mormo the Hutt to the orbital processing plant, after which time they were to deliver the rest to Ord-Mantell. With the help of the two youths, the crew of the Dawn were able to load up the ore. Soon, the ship was at the orbital facility, unloaded, and was speeding its way out of Nethos' gravity well for the hyperspace jump to Ord-Mantell.

But all was not well up in the cockpit. Captain Mallo was drunk, and had left everything of responsibility to Deago. The young pilot miscalculated the route, and unknowingly brought the Dawn too close to the planet Deenoz. Midway through the trip, alarm klaxons blared through the ship and roused the besotted captain from his bunk. After a harsh chewing-out from Captain Mallo, Deago and Kira repaired the hyperspace motivator and soon the ship was once more on its way to its destination. During the remainder of the trip, Captain Mallo expressed to Deago his displeasure about the two new recruits. Something was odd about them, and it gave him the willies. With a cautious eye, the captain told Kira to keep a watch on them.

They finally arrived at Ord-Mantell, and made their way to Qexi's, a popular spacer bar near the port owned and operated by a manic Xexto. Deago and Kira mingled with the other patrons there who knew them, while Sphynx remained with the padawans. From across the bar, Kira kept an eye on them as her captain ordered. Sam questioned the server droid about Renci, but it hadn't seen her in some time. Having read Sam's lips as he talked to the droid, Kira, too, started asking about Renci. A grizzled old Twi'lek told her that Tosh was a freighter captain that came to Qexi's from time to time, but that is all he would say other than, "And who wants to know?" Put off by the hostility, Kira didn't bother asking anyone else. They waited for hours as the early evening dinner crowd filtered out and was replaced by the much wilder late evening crowd. Soon sleep started to creep into all of them, so they secured rooms from the server droid and retired to sleep. They decided to try to find Renci tomorrow.

Later that evening, Kan-narina was awakened by her door chime and someone pounding on the door. Sleepily, she answered and standing before her was Renci Tosh — somewhat more battered and bruised than in the holopic Arda Chondo had given the padawans. Hurriedly, Renci explained that she had crashed her ship out in the badlands, and that they needed to get to it as soon as possible. Soon, the others had been awakened and Renci explained the situation. She had been wounded in the crash, and, in a daze, wandered into town without thinking to retrieve the datapad Arda Chondo needed. They had to go back out there to find her ship and retrieve the datapad. Time was of the essence, she insisted, because she owed lots of people lots of money in town, and some goons from the local crime lord had seen her entering Qexi's. It was also important for all of them to get off Ord-Mantell as soon as they could — she heard rumors that the Imperial cruiser Starspear was on the way to interdict the planet. Sam and Kan-narina both looked very concerned over that bit of bad news.

They all filed downstairs to look into renting an airspeeder for the trip, but Renci stopped short. At the door of the bar, five thugs in battered armor were talking to the server droid. The other characters drew up behind her just in time to see the ever-helpful droid point in their direction. The thugs started towards them as Renci darted back up the stairs shouting, "Roof!" The goons moved up the stairs and into the hallway as Deago and Kira opened fire with their blasters set on stun. Renci made it around the corner to a ladder leading to a rooftop access hatch as Sphynx, Sam and Kan-narina stayed near the corner to help the others. The thugs were wielding only stun batons, but when they saw that their quarry were using blasters they returned the favor. Deago and Kira fled down the hall as the hapless Sphynx was stunned by a well-placed shot from their opponents. Deago draped him over a shoulder and followed the others to the access hatch.

Up on the roof Renci dashed towards the edge of the building. Looking over the edge, she looked back to Kira and said, "Jump over, and aim for the dumpster." Kira had no time to ask what she was talking about before Renci leapt over the railing. Kira looked, and, 5 meters down, Renci was picking herself up from the back of a garbage collection droid — basically a floating garbage hopper the size of a truck with two large arms used to pick up dumpsters and garbage bins. With an "Eww" and a sigh, Kira followed suit. Unlike Renci, she missed the droid-like vehicle, but did manage to grab onto the side of it. Renci helped her aboard as Kan-narina landed gently and gracefully beside them — and immediately sunk into the garbage up to her knees.

Back at the rooftop hatch, Sam was waiting impatiently for Deago and Sphynx. Deago had the Farghul flung over his shoulder, and the unfortunate feline was stunned yet again as a blast meant for Deago struck him instead. The two made it to the roof at last and they dogged the hatch closed and ran for the ledge. Sam missed the garbage droid entirely, but managed to roll with the fall and emerge unhurt at street level. Sphynx landed in a heap beside him, but was only lightly injured. Poor Deago, however, wound up hanging from one of the droid's cargo loader arms. He did finally manage to make his way into the garbage hopper with the rest of them, as Kira worked furiously on the droid's brain to get it to leave its programmed route and ferry them to safety. Sam Force-jumped the 5 meters up to the droid to join his companions. Amazed at the young Human's ability with "magic," Sphynx elected to hide until the trouble had passed.

By this time, the droid had realized that it was now carrying unauthorized living cargo. Its two great cargo loader arms plucked Kan-narina and Renci from the garbage and was about to drop them. By this time, both Sam and Deago where helping Kira work on the droid and they were successful in getting the garbage collector to act like a taxi. They told the droid to pick up Sphynx, and they flew off into the Ord-Mantell night as the remainder of the goons appeared at the edge of the building. They took a few potshots at the fleeing characters but hit none of them. (Everyone at the table agreed that was a very "Star Wars" moment — flying off after a desperate chase just as the bad guys appear and open fire.)

They finally ditched the garbage droid and let it return to its scheduled route. They cleaned themselves off as best they could and by the morning had found an airspeeder dealership willing to rent to a bunch of filthy people — although the agent insisted that they buy the enhanced insurance plan.

The heroes sat bored in the airspeeder as Renci tried to track herself back to where she had crashed her ship. Travel was slow, and Deago fussed and complained about not being able to use the Radian Dawn for the search. He was certain that if her ship was crashed out there somewhere the Dawn's sensors would pick it up. (Actually, the player made those comments, and as GM I almost had to agree with him. The author of the adventure assumed that the characters wouldn't have a starship at their disposal. However, after some thought I ruled that 1) they would have to file flight plans with the local air/space command and that would attract unnecessary attention from the authorities, 2) starships aren't really meant for tooling around in an atmosphere anyway, and 3) Renci's ship was completely shut down so the sensors would have nothing to pick up on. The player wasn't entirely satisfied with the ruling, but he accepted it and we continued.)

Renci followed her own tracks for hours, until night fell and Ord-Mantell's twin moons edged above the horizon. They made camp, and were soon sitting around the warm glow of a portable heater. (Many joking comments were made about having to camp in Star Wars — that was more of a "D&D thing" to the players.) During chit-chat over dinner, Sam's intuition picked up something strange about Renci. After a moment's concentration, he realized that the Force was strong in her. After dinner he took her away from the others to talk, and the confessed that she knew that Arda was a Jedi, and that, given his amazing leap up into the garbage droid, she guessed Sam was as well. She assured him that their secret was safe with her, and that she knew many of their kind still alive out there in the galaxy. (What actually happened was that Sam's player was just curious to know if Renci was Force-Sensitive. At the spur of the moment I thought it would be an interesting plot point and would make for good role-playing if she was. For the sake of storyline, I decided to make Renci Force-Sensitive. This makes things more interesting — because of Sam's player's curiosity, I've been able to add more depth to a "throwaway" NPC in a one-shot adventure and it gives me the potential for a returning NPC. If I ever decide to use her again, I will find some way to make it official that Renci has and has always had the Force-Sensitive feat. I might bump her up a level, and give her that feat as her 3rd level feat.)

Later that night, out in the darkness Sam heard a low growl that the others missed. He stood up, alerted the others, and tossed a glow rod out into the night. It illuminated the scarred hide of an angry, hungry Mantellian savrip! The creature roared and moved toward the camp, but Sphynx was ready for it. The Farghul stood and uttered some strange incantation and gestured at the savrip. (Remember: this character uses the Spirit Adept archetype from the Hero's Guide. He uses the Force as if it were actually magic.) Suddenly, an illusion of a bantha strode into view between the party and the savrip. The hungry savrip investigated the bantha as the remaining heroes quickly packed up camp and threw themselves into the airspeeder. With a sniff and an angry growl, the savrip determined that the bantha was inedible (it had no scent!) and continued its march toward the camp. Sam stepped up with another illusion — a bigger, angrier, hungrier savrip! Not wanting to engage in a dominance fight over something as measly as a Human, the real savrip backed down and slogged off into the night. The heros breathed a sigh of relief and drove off to look for another camp.

(Ok … that tears it … having seen the Illusion Force skill in use, I have decided it needs a good nerfing. It's too easy and too cheap vitality-wise to use. It's more expensive to your vitality to tell someone "these aren't the droids you're looking for" than it is to drop an effectively indiscernible illusion onto the droids to make them look like Humans. If the Illusion skill was so easy to use, we'd have seen it a lot more often in the books and movies. The players agreed with me, probably because they know that the nerfing will apply to villains as well as their characters, so it's a boon to them should they run up against an illusion. Also, as a player and as a GM I really dislike abilities that do not readily allow a saving throw or which give none at all. That is why I house-ruled a saving throw into the Fear skill and it's why I wrote the following house-rule for the Illusion skill: When you use the Illusion skill, all witnesses get a Will save immediately. The Will save DC is determined by skill check as per the normal rules. Targets get a +4 bonus if they significantly interact with the illusion and a +8 bonus if it is obviously false.)

The following day, Renci finally found where her ship went down, but it wasn't there. A quick search led Kira to discover drag marks leading off toward a low mesa on the horizon. Renci kicked at some bantha tracks and muttered, "Salvagers." She looked at the mesa and sighed. "This just got a lot more ugly." (We stopped there for the night. The adventure continues next session!)

Episode III: Assault on Crane Rock (07/16/05)
(First off I need to add in here that Greelat was with the party. His player didn't show up for the last session, and although I hate to just have characters pop in when they weren't originally present, I couldn't in good conscience just tell the guy to go home. So, Greelat was with the party. I 'edited history' and stated that Greelat remained behind to guard the Radian Dawn when the others went to Qexi's to find Renci. They picked him up in their rented airspeeder when they left town to follow Renci's tracks out to her crashed ship.)

They left the airspeeder there, hoping it would be concealed enough from anyone that might see it from the mesa. Instead of just following the road directly towards the mesa, they ventured around it using the many low hills and canyons for cover. Along the way, Sam had a chance to talk to Renci alone. After a few minutes of simple banter, he got right to the point. "Are you a Jedi?"

Renci laughed, and with a strange grin on her face she replied, "I think the Force has better things to do in the galaxy than bother with me. I'm no Jedi, but for what it's worth the few Jedi that I know told me I am strong in the Force." Sam confirmed that she was, and Renci just shrugged. Sam spoke no more of it to her after that.

As they crept along through canyons and dry stream beds, every now and again one or the other of the party would creep to the top of a hill to get their bearings on the mesa. They saw two banthas in towing harnesses grazing at the foot of the mesa, and occasional metallic glints gave away the positions of sentinels hidden amongst the rock outcroppings.

Night had fallen and the twin moons of Ord-Mantell gazed down on the intrepid band as they finally rounded the back side of the mesa, which was still several kilometers away. Thanks to Renci's and Kira's scouting abilities, they were able to pick their way through the rugged terrain to near the foot of the mesa. Once there, they found places to hide to assess the difficulty of the climb up the rock wall. While they peered up at the side of the mesa, the infrared capabilities of their electrobinoculars picked up a bright red and yellow blotch at the top — someone was watching them back.

Suddenly a bright beam of light illuminated Kan-narina. "Who are you? What are you doing down there?" came a harsh voice. The light flashed between Kan-narina and Kira, but not the others. Apparently they still remained unseen.

Kan-narina cursed herself for not trusting the Force to conceal her, and stepped out from her hiding place. She also cursed the fact that the mesa was 20 meters tall — well out of range of her arsenal of Force abilities that would help her trick this man's mind. (The player made some muttering about this as well, but I could tell he was enjoying the dilemma. It's always great for a GM when the players get into the situation like that.) She had to fall back on her consular training regarding tact, quick thinking, and out-and-out bluffing. Thinking fast she invented a convoluted tale of going on a speederbike joyride with a friend, an unfortunate crash, and a long, inconvenient trek across the desert on foot. The salvager considered her story for a few moments, and told her he would send a truck around. He figured he had plenty of friends to back him up if things got ugly, and besides, the company of two attractive girls might make life in a salvage yard a little easier for a few hours.

Within minutes the party heard the whine of an airspeeder engine coming around the mesa, and a quick glance up to the ledge with the electrobinoculars told Sam that whoever was up there before was now gone. Renci handed Kan-narina a droid control pad, explaining to her that she had left her droid, R2-G1 with the wreckage of her Z-95. No doubt the salvagers would have shut the droid down when they took the ship away, so R2 had to be somewhere in the mesa. "R2-G1 has a bit of an attitude problem," she explained. "Once you get in there, use this to activate her, and just let her go."

Soon, a heavy cargo speeder pulled up and one man stepped out. Another man remained seated at the controls of the airspeeder. Kan-narina continued her bluff, expanding on the sad tale of two lost girls alone in the desert. This time, however, she was close enough to affect them with her ally, the Force. Using her powers of Friendship to enhance their attitudes towards her, she took the risk of including the others with her in the story. Her new bluff paid off, and the two men agreed to bring them all into the mesa. (I don't remember exactly how Kan-narina's player believably enhanced the Bluff to include the others, but I am sure that once he read this he will let me know if he remembers.) The now-friendly salvager explained that 'the bosses" insisted that the strangers be put in binders, but he only brought two. The others would have to simply be held at blaster-point. True to his orders, he put binders on Kira and Kan-narina, but since he was so friendly he didn't tighten down the binders all the way on Kan-narina. The salvagers, made Friendly by Kan-narina's subtle use of the Force, didn't bother to take the weapons from the others. They were friends in their eyes, after all, and assumed they had nothing to fear.

They drove the party up into the mesa, and they were all startled to find out that it was hollow like a crater! Renci's Z-95 was sitting under a tarp at the base of the crane, and they could make out several buildings, a heap of cargo, and a catwalk tracing the rim of the mesa and criss-crossing over the crater itself. (Yeah, I added a little bit of background scenery to the hollow mesa — the buildings and the catwalk. You can't have Star Wars without a suspended catwalk somewhere!) Two armed men stood on the catwalk, and two others were standing in front of a deactivated R2 unit in front of what was obviously a garage. Kan-narina took careful note of that as they were led out of the van.

The two men up on the catwalk reported back to "the bosses" that two lost girls had suddenly become several armed people, and in moments an order was given to open fire. The battle was joined.

One of the two men standing by the R2 unit dove back into the garage facility after Sphynx ripped his blaster from his hands. Kan-narina stayed on the defensive the entire time, unable to free herself from the binders even though they were not tightened down all the way. (Her player was rolling abysmally bad on those Escape Artist checks!) She was eventually able to activate R2-G1, who, oblivious to the battle raging around her, scooted across the mesa floor towards the Z-95.

Renci and Greelat spent most of the fight slapping each others hands and trying desperately to break the security code on the cockpit window of the Z-95. The scavengers had changed it and neither of them seemed to be able to figure out how to break it. Eventually, the frustrated Renci climbed onto the starfighter and blasted the security lock. "Crude but effective!" she said with a wink at Greelat.

Kan-narina did finally free herself, and she blasted the chain on Kira's binders to free her. Deago and Kira took cover under Renci's Z-95 and opened fire. (Deago and Kira's players didn't show up that night, so they were just 'ghosted' by the others and did very little during the game.) Sam remained in the back of the cargo speeder, ducking out every now and then to trade blaster shots with the scavengers. As stated earlier, Sphynx managed to wrest the blaster from one of the scavengers, then he darted over to the cargo speeder to join Sam.

One of the guards by the garage who had ducked away when the shooting started returned, and all the heroes gulped in fear — he had a heavy repeating blaster! Sphynx barely managed to avoid disaster as the scavenger filled the area between the Z-95 and the cargo speeder with heavy blaster shots. A round later, the scavenger peppered the cargo speeder with his heavy blaster and disabled it.

Sam tried, unsuccessfully, to use various Force abilities to disable the heavy blaster. (He did do some damage to the blaster, but never enough to disable it. For cinematic effect, I did rule that, if I rolled a 1 or a 2 the blaster failed to work that round. Luckily for the characters, that rule worked in their favor a few times!)

Sam stunned one of the scavengers, and eventually that one woke up and surprised him with a well-placed shot that slammed Sam into the back wall of the cargo speeder and almost killed him. Sphynx, who had earlier dashed over to the cargo speeder, helped Sam eliminate that threat.

R2-G1 finally made it to the Z-95, bleating various insults and invectives at the silly organics in her way. As blaster shots and yelling organics flew all around her, she investigated the starfighter and initiated several diagnostic programs.

The good guys were eventually getting the upper hand against the scavengers, and most of them were now either dead or stunned into unconsciousness. The scavenger bosses finally dashed out of the main building to engage the enemy. Three angry Trandoshans fanned out from the door, taking up defensive positions behind catwalk support beams and cargo crates. One managed to make it to the heavy repeating blaster, now unmanned after a good shot from Deago. With all the heroes taking cover under Renci's Z-95, one of the Trandoshans aimed his blaster at the forward landing gear. The heroes under the starfighter rolled or dashed to other cover to avoid being crushed by the ship.

Deago and Greelat were able to drop one of the three bosses. With now only the three bosses still standing, Sphynx was getting a little weary of fighting. He noticed that the fallen boss had a thermal detonator on a hip clip. With a mischievous flick of his whiskers, he held out his paw and flipped the activator switch on the grenades. The detonator went off with a deafening roar, made even more impressive by the fact that it went off at the bottom of a hollow mesa. Most of the heroes were knocked off their feet in the blast, but when the dust cleared all three of the Trandoshan bosses were dead. Victory was theirs!

They tied up the remaining scavengers that were still alive and stowed them in the battered hulk of the cargo speeder. Renci gave Sam 'the package' — a metallic cylinder about a third of a meter long and 5 centimeters in diameter. Sam secured it in his pack and went to investigate the scavengers' garage for spare parts to help her and R2-G1 repair the starfighter.

Kan-narina and Greelat checked out one of the buildings in the compound, but as they approached it they could hear low growls and the clanking of chains. The decided not to investigate that building and asked the scavengers what was in it. With a sinister grin, one of them explained that the boss, Yarroq, had managed to capture a savrip and was saving up to have it lobotomized and given a cybernetic control module. The heroes (and the players!) shuddered at that suggestion, having seen what a savrip looked like not long ago. One of the other buildings turned out to be a barracks for the scavengers, and from a bed count it was apparent that all the men who lived here were accounted for. Sam, having been badly injured in the fight, breathed a sigh of relief at that.

Sam, Sphynx, Kan-narina, and Greelat all met at the door of the main building and opened it. Something leapt out at them, barely missing Kan-narina with its long claws. The guard-beast was an ugly thing, something of a cross between a rotweiler and a preying-mantis. A scorpion-like tail danced in the air behind it, seeking a target. With many "Icks!" and "Yucks!" and other such comments, the heroes backed away from the ugly thing and stunned it into oblivion. ( I just used the stat block for the massif from the core rulebook and described it as a dog/insect thing. It made such an impression on my players that I intend to design unique stats for it and maybe use it again! This and the captured savrip were more spur-of-the-moment 'upgrades' to the adventure. I tend to do that a lot…)

Within a few hours, Renci, Deago, and R2, with the assistance of two Treadwell maintenance droids Sam had found hiding in the garage, had managed to repair Renci's starfighter. Greelat was monitoring a communications array he had found in the main building, and heard something that made his green blood run cold. The ISC Laserblade, an Imperial star cruiser, was making a sweep of the systems in this area and Ord-Mantell was next!

With an Imperial ship on the way, Renci explained that her scheduled ride out of the sector most likely would not be coming. She never explained who her "ride" was, and the others never asked. She did ask if she could hitch a ride with them back to Nethos, and they agreed to give her and R2 passage. They concealed her Z-95 at the bottom of a nearby lake, and soon Ord-Mantell was shrinking behind them as they raced out of its gravity well to make the jump to hyperspace. (As you can see, I did decide to make more use of Renci. I was having fun running her, and she is developing a personality something like a female Han Solo. She won't accompany the characters on every mission, but I am having fun running her as an NPC so I will continue to do so.) R2 plotted the hyperspace course back to Nethos, and Captain Mallo grunted about what a relief it was to have an astrogator who knew how to plot a course. Deago just scoffed at him, apologizing for the hundredth time over the flubbed course a few days ago.

Another day's travel time saw the intrepid heroes back on Nethos. Greelat returned to Mormo's estate, and Kira, Deago, and Captain Mallo headed for the nearest spacer bar. Renci and R2 disappeared into the crowd of Nethos City with a promise to keep in touch.

The two weary padawans made their way back to their apartment complex to deliver the cylinder to Arda. The door to their residence slid open, and there, in the main living area, stood a clone trooper! The padawans gasped and reached for their weapons as the trooper turned to face them…

(Cliffhangers… gotta love 'em! )