Star Wars: Legacy RPG

Recap the Third

5 March 2013

Recap of the previous adventure.

Knighthunter and Prey

On their way to Nar Shaddaa, Alexis briefed Shagaar, Zeka, and Issh on the latest changes in galactic politics in the previous four thousand years. She was assisted by one of the holocrons they had acquired from Captain Roberts, which included a detailed (and only slightly incorrect) history of the new Jedi order. In short, there was a three-way fight for control over the galaxy: the Sith Empire, ruled by Darth Krayt, which comprised of most of the galaxy; the Galactic Alliance, reduced to a single fleet and a few isolated worlds; and the Galactic Empire, with the Emperor-in-Exile Fel and his loyal guards the Imperial Knights. Darth Krayt had a clear upper hand, and it was generally expected that it would only be a matter of time before the other two factions were completely eliminated.

Darth Krayt was able to seize power by two rather bold initiatives. The first was the training of Knighthunters - elite soldiers in lightsaber-resistant heavy armor, conditioned and focused on the single objective of eliminating Jedi and Imperial Knights alike. Once the numbers of both were whittle down sufficiently, Krayt took advantage of their weakness and forcefully lay claim to the throne of the Galactic Empire. Most of the systems were easily swayed to change their allegiance, though there were rumors of several that would equally welcome an additional change in leadership.

It was all a little much to take in, and Shagaar wanted some time to process the information. Once on Nar Shaddaa, the team contacted an experienced hacker to take a look at their blocked bank account. The hacker agreed to recover their funds, minus a twenty percent comission. As they were in a tough spot, the group was only able to talk him down a few percentage points before they had to agree to his price.

With their funds secured, it was time for a modest shopping trip to acquire some much-needed modifications to the brand-new Alora Bell. New smuggler compartments, faster sublight engines, ion cannons, deck guns, AI upgrade ... it wasn't long before they realized that it was all immensely complicated, and would take ages to apply themselves. They would need to hire some technicians to help.

At first, finding technicians was no problem. They were able to sign up a team to come in every day, and significant progress was made the first couple of days. But soon, some of the technicians weren't showing up for work. Their teammates said that they had found another job with better pay, though they couldn't say where. It wasn't long before the lure of better pay stole away all but a few workers, and rumors started circulating about some great work off-world, assuming you could keep your mouth shut. And for the prices they were offering, what was a little silence?

Balen was suspicious - well, they all were, but he was the most paranoid. It sounded like an enormous project, to steal away practically every technician worth their salt on this little moon. What could require so many workers? The team dug deeper into the rumors, and emerged with the location of a contact, in a seedy little bar in one corner of the planetoid.

Before they all went to investigate, Shagaar insisted on one minor piece of business. He managed to contact someone who controlled access to a geologic compressor, which was exactly the kind of hardware he needed to fabricate his own lightsaber crystal. Pressed for time and materials, he made do - but quality crystals are never rushed. He ended up with two ruby-red, which he declared good enough as he installed them into his favorite weapon. Better to be mistaken for a Sith in this time period, he reckoned, than to be caught without a saber or with a Jedi blade.

Just after Shagaar's return, a representative from the Astrogation Guild showed up at the Alora Bell, asking questions about a star that had recently gone supernova. As the star hadn't been expected to go critical for another two billion years, this was obviously a matter of some concern to the Guild, especially as such an event required the remapping of an entire sector of space. Though he did not say so directly, he did imply that there was some fear that another terrible superweapon had just been tested against a star in an out-of-the-way system. Such an test, without the notification of the proper authorities, carried a significant fine for the guilty party. But even with several direct questions to the group, he left unsatisfied.

Just before he left, however, he mentioned that he had been in contact with a woman named Alora Jast, who had a message for the crew of the Bell: she expected a return on her investment. The group was puzzled - the last Alora Jast they knew had died four thousand years ago. Could it have been an imposter? The Guild rep could only tell them that she was on assignment on Coruscant.

Afterward the Guild rep left, while Ish and Zeka continued to work on installing the last of the modifications, Shagaar, Alexis, and Balen went to meet with the contact who had been hiring away all the technicians. He wasn't quite what they expected - he was a Human, middle-aged, playing a strange game of cards all alone in a corner of the bar. He barely raised his head to look at the group as they approached, his attention mostly on his card game. He was playing at Life, he said, and losing quite badly.

He responded quite frankly to the team's questions, though he refused to offer his name. He represented the Galactic Alliance, which was currently at the very edge of the solar system. The technicians hired served two purposes - the Alliance fleet needed repairs, and he wanted to get the party's attention.

Before he could elaborate further, a large man in heavy armor approached the table. He was showing everyone in the bar a fuzzy holo-recording and asking for any additional information. Alexis was able to sneak close enough to recognize the recording as a shot of Balen, wielding a lightsaber in their battle at the bank on Rishi. The man was using a brute-force approach to investigation: ask everyone possible. And he was about to get the clue of his life.

The man was, in fact, a Wookie named Porindrrl. He was a Knighthunter by trade, and thought himself a good fighter in a pinch. He and three other Knighthunters had come to Nar Shaddaa following up on a Jedi sighting. His master had been very clear that he would accept no failure and so, with few leads and fewer options, he began accosting bar patrons.

He hadn't quite expected the very person he was waiting for to be looking up at him from a booth.

The arrest seemed to go smoothly, at first. He escorted the suspect outside, called for pickup, and prepared to slap the cuffs on him. And then someone - a girl, he thought, but it was hard to tell - threw a smoke bomb right at his feet. It took a couple seconds for his helmet systems to switch to infra-red, but he didin't need to see to flip on his personal deflector shield. And then he was hit by a ... red lightsaber?

The suspect took the opportunity to attack with his own lightsaber, blue this time. That clinched it. Porindrrl radioed his master for help, and fended off the two criminals. Though they managed to land a couple good hits, and even forced him off the edge of the sidewalk, he was easily holding his own.

But they had called for backup as well. A YT-series freighter (they still make those?) swooped in, deck guns blazing. While they couldn't do much damage against his shields or armor, it was enough to let the two criminals leap aboard and fly away.

Porindrrl attempted to pursue, but the ship was simply too fast for his jetpack to keep up. His remotely-called airspeeder, however, was able to do significantly better. Especially when the ship came to a dead stop. And opened fire with its newly-installed ion cannons.

Power armor (and airspeeders) are highly suceptible to weaponized ionization. Heavy armor, as it turns out, increases the acceleration of a fall. Gravity was not kind to Porindrrl.

Shagaar and Balen were licking their wounds. A single Knighthunter was a more serious threat than they had feared. And here Alexis was saying that they usually traveled in packs? Lead by a Sith?

Regardless, Shagaar insisted on returning to the Alliance contact at the bar. It took some serious convincing, but Zeka finally agreed to two minutes before they broke orbit, with or without the Cathar.

And two minutes was more than enough. The Alliance rep was apologetic, but there was simply no way he could authorize continued relations so long as there was a Knighthunter involved. Perhaps if they managed to make it a full week without being visibly pursued, they could talk.

The Adventure Continues ...