Star Wars: Legacy RPG

Recap the Fifth

7 March 2013

Recap of the previous adventure.

The Kessel Run

Captain Roberts only had one real piece of advice for the Kessel Run: don't do it. There have been many would-be smugglers tempted by the black-market price of glitterspice who have wound up dead, crippled, or worse trying to go through the run. The Kessel system was heavily patroled by not only internal security forces, but by Sith Imperial Star Destroyers which took a dim view of the spice trade in general, illegal or not.

Nevertheless, the party wanted to clear their name with the Black Sun - it was the only way to get any kind of cargo run, legitimate or otherwise. Seeing that the crew of the Alora Bell was determined, Roberts advised them as best he could.

As a side note, Roberts mentioned that not only had he confessed on their behalf to the Astrogation Guild about causing the supernova, but now he was working for the Guild as payment through "services rendered." One particularly troubling case he and his crew of newly-minted privateers were on was a series of sightings of a giant worm or snake. The beast was several hundred miles long, and though it had only been seen in hyperspace, many had claimed to have been on the verge of attack before their ships emerged into realspace. He asked the party to contact him immediately if they sighted the creature.

On the way to Kessel, Shagaar obtained some dark robes to assist his guise as a Sith Lord. He hoped that this would allow him to board the spice vessel, commandeer it, and direct the entire shipment to Tatooine.

The plan did not go as he hoped. While he was able to successfully board the ship, it turned out that the Galactic Alliance already had a strike team onboard for completely different reasons, lead by an Imperial Knight named Corwen. She was not happy to see an agent of the Sith force his way aboard, and they very nearly came to blows.

As Shagaar and Corwen traded insults, threats, and demands, Issh silenced them both by offering his mind to Corwen. Using the Force, Corwen was able to review all of Issh's memories, and thus be assured that the party was unaligned with any of the political factions fighting for control over the galaxy.

In the spirit of open communication and cooperation, Corwen revealed that the glitterspice on this trading vessel had been poisoned by her team. As this spice was earmarked for Coruscant, the Galactic Empire had surmised that it was for use by new Sith acolytes to aid in their use of the Force. Glitterspice temporarily boosted the user's precognition, telepathy, and telekinesis, so it could be used as a shortcut until the trainee gained confidence in their own abilities. By poisoning the shipment, the Galactic Empire hoped to take out an entire segment of the Sith reserves in one blow.

The party was unsettled by this. Their contact had been very specific about intercepting this specific shipment; that was one clear concern as to the security of Corwen's operation. Secondly, there was a very real possibility of an immense amount of collateral damage - thirty tons of spice was a lot of spice, and likely some of the tainted product would find its way to the general population on the black market. Those users would not exactly be innocents, but they would be unintended targets.

After a lot of deliberation, it was agreed to allow the Galactic Empire to continue with its operation. It meant that their reputation with the Black Sun would become virtually irredeemable, but sometimes that was the price paid when waging war.

The crew of the Alora Bell was now at an impass. With no trading options open to them, a sizeable bounty on their heads, and no allegiances to speak of, they had nothing to do. With no better options, they headed to Chazwa to follow up on a lead given to them by Corwen.

Just before they dropped out of hyperspace, they saw an enormous maw that seemed poised to take a bite out of their ship ... and then they emerged into realspace. The rumors of the giant wyrm were true! They called up Captain Roberts immediately. Comparing notes, they realized that the creature had only been sighted in systems where they had been. Was it possible it had been stalking them?

Roberts arranged to rendevouz with the Bell in a couple days. In the meantime, they could explore Chazwa at their leisure.

It had been a long time since Issh, Zeka, and Shagaar had been to Chazwa. The icy world had previously been a minor focal point during the Jedi Civil War four thousand years ago, and it was there that the trio, along with the Gungan mercenary Breaker and Jedi Knight Alora, had liberated the world from Sith occupation.

As it turned out, their efforts had not been forgotten. In front of the capitol city, just outside the dome, was a statue of Issh striking down a fearsome snake - the fire snake they had freed during their last visit. But according to local legend, it had been Issh and his loyal strike team that defeated the snake, fought off the Sith, and helped rebuild the city.

Shagaar could barely stomach the way the legend had grown around his Wookie friend. As the variations of the tales were told, and his companions tittered in amazement at how certain elements of the adventure had been exaggerated, Shagaar found refuge in drink.

Issh discovered that, because of his actions before and after he joined with Shagaar, the world of Chazwa had become the unofficial home-away-from-home for many Wookies. With Kashyyyk under blockade by the Sith Empire, Chazwa was the place Wookies could come and go as they pleased, living and working alongside others of their own kind. Ever since the end of the Jedi Civil War, when Kashyyyk had been freed from Czerka Corporation's control, free Wookies from all over the galaxy came to Chazwa to start a life free of the harsh memories of slavery. Even Issh's family, who he had unfortunately left behind by coming to this era, had made it to Chazwa and prospered.

With the time he had available, Issh contacted and interviwed several of his family's decendants, piecing together the lives they had led, struggles overcome, and successes earned. Though he had not asked for legendary status, the effects of his actions had been felt - and were still being felt - for thousands of years.

Once Issh concluded his affairs, it was time for the party to meet up with Roberts' crew. For lack of a better destination, they headed toward Nar Shaddaa. It wasn't long into the trip before the gigantic creature approached the ship as it flew through hyperspace. As it circled the vessel, Balen reached out with the Force in an attempt to communicate.

The effort nearly floored him, and almost for naught. The beast was sentient, but the language it used was unknown to him. By pronouncing the words he heard in his mind to Issh's vox, and then using his translated responses from the vox to the beast, they managed to slowly communicate.

The snake was very old - it remembered a time before stars. It had been trapped inside one of the stars for a long time. But then Alexis and the others used the Gate orbiting the star as a temporal bridge, and the energy it drew from the star was enough to destabilize the snake's prison. He was able to break free. For this, it was grateful; as a sign of its thankfulness, it would grant the party one boon. Anything within its power, it would grant.

Underneath all of this, Balen sensed one powerful feeling: hunger. The snake had not eaten since it had been imprisoned billions of years ago. It would need to feed soon. Not knowing what to ask of such an ancient creature, Balen directed it to Hoth, where it could consume what it liked with little risk to any known civilizations.

During all of this, Robert's crew took readings, recording everything they could about the creature, its conversation with Balen, and its physiology. As soon as the Bell dropped out of hyperspace, they transmitted all their data to the Astrogation Guild for analysis.

Robert's crew disembarked at Nar Shaddaa. Since they were there, the party decided to meet up with their contact with the Galactic Alliance, to see if there were any missions they could undertake.

The nameless contact was not alone; he was accompanied by a little girl named Stephanie. Stephanie soon demonstrated that she was no normal child; she was immensely powerful in the Force, and was the contact's Jedi master. She was actually a sixty year-old woman projecting her conciousness through the child, using her to keep the Jedi tradition alive.

As it turned out, Stephanie did have something that the party could help with. By their actions, or inaction, they had severely altered the destinies of others in the galaxy. Cade Skywalker would die attempting to defeat the Sith Emperor Krayt. Without him, the galaxy would entirely fall into Sith hands, and then become divided in civil war once Krayt died as his successors fought over his throne. Billions would die in the conflict, all because they had failed to procure the Golden Blade.

Shagaar suggested that the Golden Blade could be retrieved, but Stephanie waved off that idea. It was in Krayt's throne room; any attempt to take it at this juncture would be suicide. But if the party would accept the simple sacrifice of one man, even a Skywalker, then other options could also lead to the liberation of the galaxy.

The Adventure Continues ...