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View Full Version : Journal "Desperate Men, Desperate Measures." A Star Wars Saga Edition Campaign Journal



Kid Jake
2015-11-09, 04:04 PM
I told you I was going to do it and here it is, our attempt at a Star Wars campaign. We were supposed to have more players, but most of them fell through; so instead each player ran two characters with a pool of others to choose from if they want as we go along.

The player behind Roger McCrow/Agent Mann/Dr Steinz from my M&M game is playing the roles Klien and Borel. The player of Kavos from my Pathfinder game plays Tep and Kerikkata.

This is only part one of two for this session, but let us know what you think so far and I'll try to get the rest typed up by tomorrow.


Gule Nun cannot, in good conscience, be described as a generous Rodian. If he loans you 1 credit, he expects 2 in return. If he keeps your secret, he expects you to be ready to die for his. And if he asks you for a favor, he expects to be thanked for the opportunity.

In short, when Guile Nun calls upon you; you answer or you serve as an example for his less suicidal debtors. When Guile Nun sends a quartet of burly Trandoshans with very large guns, with very sharp blades attached which they demonstrate their zeal to use on the men sitting next to you, you do things you know deep down you ought not to do.

You hand over weapons, you climb inside a ship that smells strongly of what you can only describe as fear and you travel the breadth of the Galaxy in silence, chained with three other men that have also realized they should have ran when they had the chance.

A heavily scarred Zabrak in dark fatigues and a faded cloak sits stoically in the corner; he does little more than sleep the entire trip, his name is Klien though they only know this because the Trandoshans refer to him as such.

An elderly Cerean dressed in colorful finery alternates between attempting to bribe the Trandoshans, claiming they have the wrong man and faking medical ailments in an attempt to have them divert course. To his credit, he's an amazing actor and they completely buy his story. However they also don't care. His name is Borel, and according to him he's a very big deal.

A nervous, young Kel Dor in tattered work clothes keeps asking what he's done and why they're doing this to him; he has a stutter that grows more pronounced the more agitated he grows. He introduces himself as Tep.

A tall, lean wookie with reddish fur spends the trip screaming obscenities and attempting to wrench his bonds out of place. He accomplishes little but drowning out the Cerean. The Trandoshans refer to him as Kerikkata when they shout for him to be quiet.


It's hard to say how long the trip takes with no real stimuli to judge from, though eventually the Trandoshans confirm that they're ready for landing. The prisoners learn from the short exchange that the planet they're touching down on doesn't even have a name, just a designation: XRX-0-1-1.

After landing, they're escorted off of the ship; blinking painfully in the bright light of the day. They find themselves in a makeshift base camp in the midst of jungle clearing, the dense foliage around them seemingly attempting to swallow the clearing back up.

In addition to the four Trandoshans there are eight more thugs of assorted species spread out among the perimeter. Half a dozen dangerous looking people in chains similar to theirs are also held in the area.

Guile himself stands ready to meet them as they're led out. He cuts a dashing figure with a pair of blaster pistols hanging low on his hips and a bandolier of power packs and grenades along his chest. "So glad you could join us." the Rodian calls out, "I trust you're prepared to pay your debts?"

The Cerean, Borel, staggers forward looking weak and vulnerable. "Debt, young man? I'm sorry, you'll have to forgive me. The mind isn't so sharp at my age, what debt would-"

One of the Trandoshans interrupts Borel by slamming the butt of its rifle in the back of the old man's head. The Cerean lands face first in the dirt, ears ringing and on the verge of blacking out; he feels warm blood running down the back of his neck.

"Is it coming back to you?" Guile asks, tilting his head curiously.

"Ah, yes!" Borel exclaims. "I...I do seem to recall owing you some small sum of credits. I'm sorry, but in all the excitement it seems I left home without-"

The Trandoshan rears back to slam Borel again and the Cerean instinctively assumes the fetal position, the other Trandoshans ready their rifles; vibrobayonets humming at the ready. Guile waves them all off however and they relax once more.

"I've got good news old timer," the Rodian replies cheerfully. "I've decided to forgive your debts. All of them in fact, just as soon as you perform one small, hardly worth mentioning favor for me."

Tep sheepishly interrupts. "D-d-do all of us g-g-get that deal?"

"Indeed you do." Guile replies with the enthusiasm of a showman. "This planet, I'm told, is a veritable gold mine of Clone War era tech. Even a fraction of a fraction of its wealth is more than your combined debts. Help me access that wealth, and we're even."

"That's very generous," Borel says, slowly regaining his feet. "But I do believe I would be more help in the kitchen. Perhaps I could cook away my debts?"

Guile rests a hand on one of his blasters. "Not unless you're volunteering your smoking carcass to feed the Gamorreans." the Rodian says coldly.

Borel holds his hands up submissively. "No, no I don't believe the taste of Cerean would agree with them...I have however prepared a Wookie once. The meat was tough, but made for excellent jerky."

Guile chuckles. "We'll see, the day is still young."

Kerikkata snorts dismissively.

Pointing to the north Guile says "The four of you will be entering a bunker about twenty kilometers to the North. It's the only place on the planet still drawing power the best we can tell. We've set breaching charges to get you in, but it was a Trade Federation bunker; so we're going out on a limb and guessing it has automated defenses.

Tep holds up a hand. "A-a-are the others coming with us?" he asks, indicating the other prisoners assembled around the campsite. A tall, tattooed Gungan; a squat Gamorrean with a broken tusk; a broad shouldered, square jawed human; an Ithorian in hand-tailored robes; a short Duros in a flight suit; a heavily bandaged humanoid in tattered robes.

Guile shakes his head. "They'll be investigating other sites of interest." As he's talking, the only ship in sight lifts off into the atmosphere.

"That's your ride, ladies and gentlemen. Once I'm rich beyond all of your wildest dreams I'll buzz them with the all-clear and we go home. Until then, this s***hole is ALL of our home." Guile calls out.

The Trandoshans go from man to man releasing their chains, now that escape is literally impossible. Each group is led to a table with their weapons and some supplies. Tep is the first to the table and slips something into his shirt before anyone can see it, also buckles a sporting blaster pistol his waist. Klien slings a scoped blaster rifle over his shoulder while Kerikkata hefts his bowcaster.

"W-w-where's your gun?" Tep asks Borel, noticing the Cerean appears to be unarmed.

Borel laughs and shakes his head. "Oh no, never was much good with all that. That's what you're here for boy." the elderly Cerean says, clapping the young Kel Dor on the back.

Tep is less than comforted by this.

Each of them also takes 2 days rations, though Borel manages to sneak another 6 days worth off of another table and thrusts it into Kerikkata's arms, just expecting the Wookie to bear his load on principle.

Kerikkata growls, but shoulders them anyway.

Each group is assigned an old, clunker landspeeder modified with an open bed in the back to fit more merchandise. A single, much nicer, speeder remains in camp for Guile's personal use.

The drive is quiet, though slow because of the wild terrain. At one point during the trip they spot a pair of brightly colored bird-like creatures twice as tall as a man hanging limply from a massive web; but the owner itself doesn't appear to be home and they're allowed to continue along their way unmolested.


Though the area around the bunker has been thoroughly cleared away recently, it's already growing back with an aggressive tenacity. For the moment at least the bunker is plainly visible however, so they decide to check it out.

The dark, cavernous space houses corroded metal walls covered in blast marks. Above the only door leading in is a pair of blackened and burned automated turrets, no doubt the reason Guile didn't want to push down here himself.

Klien silently activates a glowrod and approaches the detpack placed against the door. He presses a button and jogs back the way he came. The others don't even need to be told to follow.

The doors are blown inward, ringing hollowly in the expanse beyond. Klien and Kerikkata take point and inch down the sharp set of stairs into the darkness beyond. They find what appears to be an entrenched position as they climb down the steps, but no active defenders; just hastily assembled cover and an annoying assortment of obstacles to slow down their approach.

They easily climb into the room proper after a minute of picking through the terrain and find hallways leading to the south and east. Kerikkata begins walking to the east when Klien holds out a hand to stop him.

The quiet Zabrak tosses his glowrod down the corridor and a pair of blaster bolts sing through the air after it.

With an irritated growl, Kerikkata levels his bowcaster and fires; striking the automated sentry in its hidden nook above the hall and causing an explosion of sparks and shrapnel to shower their path. It's accompanied by an earsplitting alarm and the flash of red emergency lights that provide some minor illumination.

Klien just shakes his head and all four of them doubletime it down the hallway until they emerge into a spacious room that looks as though it was once used as a meeting hall. A large podium looms to the east and a series of benches sit before it. Seemingly as one 10 skinny, tan colored B1 series battle droids turn to face the intruders. They're caked with dust as though they've been waiting for a long, long time.

Klien opens up with a burst into the first droids chest, toppling it over with its last "Roger, roger!" Kerikkata launches an explosive bolt from his bowcaster into a second that sends pieces of the thing scattering everywhere. Tep reaches deep into himself and sprints forward with amazing speed, leaping one of the benches and taking cover as he draws his pistol and Borel attempts to sneak towards a bench of his own.

The droids open fire indescriminately as they bolt for cover. Tep barely dodges incoming fire as it shreds his cover, Kerikkata has his fur singed by a stray bolt and Klien hisses in pain as one catches him in the side. Borel is seemingly caught dead to rights by a well-aimed bolt, but it looks as though he dismisses it with a wave of his hand.

Klien fires into the benches after a droid but fails to find a target, Tep blindfires from cover but doesn't even get close and Kerikkata makes another droid explode with a shot from his cherished weapon.

With a sigh, Borel points at the bench that a pair of droids are hiding behind and with a flick of his wrist uses it to smash them, and itself, to pieces. "Must I really do everything?" he asks dramatically.

The others gawk at him, especially as the battledroids return fire and yet another bolt simply dematerializes before hitting him.

Tep fires wildly again, missing everyone but drawing fire towards his hiding place. Kerkkata and Klien each put down a droid each and Borel extends a hand before making a fist, causing another droid to basically fold in on itself and then tip over.

The remaining three droids attempt to flee to the south; however Kerikatta and Klien cut them down with blaster fire while Borel seizes the last with the Force and dashes it against a wall.

As the dust is clearing and the team catches its breath, all eyes are on Borel. Especially the young Tep's.

"Y-y-y-y-you're a Jedi?!" the Kel Dor stammers. If his expression wasn't concealed by his the breather mask his species requires to co-exist with others, it's would definitely be one of shocked awe.

Borel smirks and straightens up his outfit. "You act like you've never met one before."

"I w-w-was a child when they died out, b-b-but I always hoped I'd g-g-get the chance." Tep sheepishly stammers.

Borel puffs up and starts to milk this moment for all he's worth, when he suddenly notices that Karikatta's taken a seat on one of the ruined benches and is eating one of the rations out of HIS satchel that he'd asked the stupid beast to hold.

Borel starts shout at the Wookie that that's "people food" and not for him, when Klien silences everybody with a wave of his hand down the next corridor.

"They tried to flee that way." the Zabrak whispers before stealthily slipping down the south hall. The rest follow, though Kerikkata's bowcaster is slung over his back and he's decided its lunch time whether the others like it or not.

Klien holds up a hand to call a halt and strains his ears before motioning down the hall and holding up two fingers. Pointing at both sides of the hallway to signal that there's a man on each side.

They all stand there, weapons at the ready for a long; silent moment.

Finally, one of the droids pokes its head around the corner to see what the hell's taking them so long and has its head blown off by Klien for its trouble. The remaining droid shrieks and starts to charge the group with a thermal detonator in hand, but a casual shot by Kerikkata stops it in its tracks before it even enters the hallway. The Wookie then re-slings its bowcaster and takes another handful of dried rations for its trouble.

Borel snatches the open rations out of Keri's hand and glares up at him. "I gave this to you to hold, not to gorge yourself on!" the old Cerean barks. He sniffs the rations and then wrinkles his nose disfavorably. "And NOW it stinks like Wookie." he grumbles, tossing it against the wall and scattering the contents everywhere.


The second floor is even more desolate than the last. The emergency lights barely work here and the alarm almost sounds muted. The dust is so thick and heavy that they leave boot prints with every step.

Klien scouts ahead on his own to avoid having them step on his toes. When he returns, he leads them to an abandoned barracks and holds up three fingers before pointing inside. With his companions lined up at his back SWAT style, they count to three and then charge inside.

They discover two of the tan B1 battle droids and a third bulkier, dark colored B2 series super battle droid standing immobile in the corner. When intruders are spotted, all three spin to fire.

The super battle droid's arm cannon sprays blaster fire into Kerikkata, opening a ragged hole in the Wookie's shoulder and causing him to roar in pain and aggravation. Tep leaps to flip a bed for some minor cover while Klien and Keri dispatch the wimpy B1 droids.

Borel strides confidently towards the super battle droid and with a dramatic flick of the wrist hurls the automaton back 5 meters and into a wall where it cracks open in a shower of sparks. One of its arms are even jarred loose by the force of the blow.

With an arrogant smirk, the Cerean turns back to the group and chuckles. "It's almost TOO easy."

"Borel!" Tep shouts, sprinting towards the elderly Cerean in a panic; pointing behind him.

The old man nervously turns around to find the shuttering form of the super battle droid lift its arm and unleash a shower of blaster fire.

Borel hits the ground, a charred stump where his head should be. Klien opens fire as he dives for cover, but misses the prone droid. Keri wounds cause his shot to go wide as well. Tep barely even glances at the now immobile remains of what he'd hoped could have been a mentor as he rushes the droid, despite his companions shouts for him to get his fool ass out of the way.

The droid levels it blaster and fires again, however a blue beam of energy swats them aside and before the droid can fire again it tumbles to the ground in three separate pieces.

Kerikkata and Klien stare at each other for a long, awkward moment before Klien finally asks. "Is that a f***ing lightsaber?"

MintyNinja
2015-11-09, 07:52 PM
I love this.

Meaning that it's another Kid Jake campaign and that it's a system I know well. A shame about the lack of players, but I hope your two will make do.

Keep it up.

Kid Jake
2015-11-09, 08:53 PM
Two seems to be the magic for my groups. Anymore and I can never get them together to game, any less and it's usually just McCrow finding ways to kill himself. :smalltongue:

Grim Portent
2015-11-09, 09:13 PM
I'm a tad surprised that someone died so quickly. :smallconfused:

I do get the feeling that the late Borel was a Sith rather than a Jedi though. Seemed something of an *******. :smallamused:

Tep I assume to be a young force sensitive.

Klien I assume is meant to be a hard bitten mercenary or something similar.

Kerikatta is... dumb muscle maybe? The lack of talking makes it unclear as of yet.

Malifice
2015-11-09, 10:12 PM
How did Borel die?

From memory, in SWSE you can spend a force point to avoid death. He was already out of FP?

Kid Jake
2015-11-09, 10:48 PM
How did Borel die?

From memory, in SWSE you can spend a force point to avoid death. He was already out of FP?

Whoops! It's been a while since I've ran the game apparently, I'd completely forgotten about that! I actually just offered to retcon it to a severe scalding instead of instant-decapitation to make it up to him but the player told me not to, that he prefers his replacement.




I'm a tad surprised that someone died so quickly. :smallconfused:

I do get the feeling that the late Borel was a Sith rather than a Jedi though. Seemed something of an *******. :smallamused:

Tep I assume to be a young force sensitive.

Klien I assume is meant to be a hard bitten mercenary or something similar.

Kerikatta is... dumb muscle maybe? The lack of talking makes it unclear as of yet.



Borel was actually a Force sensitive con-man. He'd studied primitive Force traditions for decades and used to pretend to a Jedi to get free stuff back before Order 66 made that less than profitable. I'm pretty sure McCrow's intent was for him to lead Tep on until he could use him to escape. I was really, really sad to see that character die so fast, but the droid crit and then rolled like 2 points under max damage, so it basically dropped him to like -20 health in one shot.

Tep was an Initiate in the Jedi Order during the Clone War, like 6 years old when the temple was wiped out. He survived on a fluke and spent the next 20 years pretending he had no association with the Jedi. Bit of a spoiler, but not sure whether or not it'll even come up in play so there it is.

Klien's backstory...might actually be pertinent to the plot; so I'll save it.

Kavos didn't realize that everybody actually spoke Wookie so every time he had Kerikkata say something it was always "Bwaaaarrgh!" which I found amusing at the time so I didn't correct it. It wasn't until almost the end of the session that Klien shouted "You know I speak Wookie right? I can tell you're not actually saying anything just making noises!" half IC, half jokingly. After that Keri's player was like "Ohhhhhh..."and actually gave him dialogue.

Kid Jake
2015-11-11, 04:38 AM
Alright, and here's the rest! Hope everybody enjoys.



"I....I had s-so many questions." Tep says, his lightsaber flicking off as he slowly turns around to find Kerkkata and Klien dragging beds in front of the door as makeshift barricades.

"So you're a Jedi now?" Klien aks incredulously as he piles bed frames and mattresses into the doorway.

"No, I mean yes...I mean..." Tep looks around nervously. "I was supposed to be, maybe. B-but I'm not."

Kerikkata scoffs and falls back onto one of the few remaining cots; gripping his wound and grimacing as he growls something about Tep being full of it. Klien jimmies open a few foot lockers and manages to come up with a first aid kit that he uses to bind his and the wookie's wounds as best he can.

Once the door is secured and their wounds are tended to the extent of their abilities, Klien and Kerikkata agree that stumbling around a droid filled deathtrap bleeding and with a man down is a good way to join him. They rig a frag grenade to the door to blow if anything tries to get in and then settle in for a brief rest.

Once their wounds feel a little more manageable and their bellies are full Kerikkata throws Borel's corpse over his shoulder and they remove their trap and barricade to re-enter the bunker. They proceed down the hallway to the west to discover abandoned defensive positions; Klien notes that it looks as though the droids manning them pulled back.

They press further, finding several more such positions; each one with signs that it was recently abandoned. They run into a few hidden auto-turrets in the hallways, but without droid support they're easy targets and the worst they lose is a few rounds of ammo.

After a lengthy hallway they come to what looks like a droid maintenance bay with two large blast doors flanking it on either side, and come face to face with a tall, lanky looking droid with a dull brown paint job and G.U.S. printed across its chest. They're quite taken aback by several things.

First, it's aiming a pair of blaster pistols directly in their faces as they turn the corner; though the light in its eyes is gone and it appears completely immobile. Secondly, the droid is wearing a dark jacket, pants and even a hat as though it were a person. Third, it's covered in dents, scrapes and blaster burns. Fourthly, and this might have been the most eye-catching, it was surrounded by the shattered remains of nine other battle droids scattered around it.

The three companions glance at each other and after a moment Tep says "What do you think happened?"

"There was a fight." Klien answers simply. "Looks like it lost."

"How do you figure?" Kerikkata trills humorously. "It got nine of them."

"And the tenth got it." Klien replies, digging through the spare parts and tools for anything worth scavenging.

"M-maybe we s-s-should fix him?" Tep says, running a finger over one of the deep gauges in the droid's body.

"It's scrap." Klien says dismissively, shouldering a bag of basic tools.

"I-it could help us." Tep insists.

Kerkkata agrees that it could be worth checking out. Worst case scenario they'll rescrap it.

Klien glances back the way they came and then shrugs and sets to work getting GUS up and running again.

They all jump as a bold, resounding voice asks "How long have I been gone?"

"W-w-when did you get here?" Tep asks, after the shock wears off.

GUS doesn't answer, instead he tilts his head and asks with a note of what sounds like irritation in his voice "You are not here to recover me?"

Tep nervously looks to Klien and then back to the droid. "Y-yes?"

The droid's electronic eyes shift in a manner reminiscent of narrowing.

"I m-m-mean no, p-probably not." Tep admits.

GUS holsters his pistols with a quick spin. "Of course not. What is the value of a lost droid?" the mechanical man says somberly. "Why are you here?" it then demands.

"To p-pay off a debt. We were sent to loot the valuables here by a Rodian named Guile Nun." Tep explains. "W-why are you here?"

Narrowing his eyes once again, GUS replies "The same. I was instructed to scout the facility ahead of Guile's men. I cannot be assured as to the chain of events which led to the alarm, which led to my apprehension, but I suspect that their general incompetence was a contributing factor."

GUS starts to say more when he notices the Klien is in the middle of hotwiring the blast doors to open and raises a hand. "That is where the battle droids come from."

Klien stops what he's doing and then glances across the room. "What about that door?"

Without even looking, GUS simply answers "More droids."




After debating on waves of fresh droids vs waves of fresh droids for all of no seconds, the doubles back the way they came and try a different hallway. This one leads them through an area that once was an office, but now is just another abandoned fall-back position.

Kerikkata, Tep and GUS search the place while Klien scouts ahead.

"W-what do you think happened here?" Tep asks as he notices aged blaster burns in the walls and ceiling.

"It was either before, or after me." GUS replies. "I never made it this far."

Klien shows up with the all clear signal and the team moves on to the end of the level; the door leading down is open but to the East sits an immense set of blast doors. Klien is unable to rig his way into them, so Kerikkata drops Borel's corpse unceremoniously and attempts to pry them open...almost giving himself a hernia but not budging the doors a bit.

Before anyone manages to hurt themselves, Tep steps forward and buries his lightsaber into the door up to the hilt. It takes a moment or two, but eventually he cuts a nice man-sized hole into the next room.

Inside they find a five meter by five meter room that is dominated primarily by a single massive computer that is still VERY much active. It's covered in blinking lights and readout after readout tha tmost likely stopped being pertinent 20 years ago.

Before anybody else can get in his way, GUS seats himself before the computer and begins pecking away at it. While the others just glance at each other in confusion GUS manages to convince the system he belongs there and brings up a map of the planet. At first there are several dozen facilities that pop up on the screen, however in short order they start blinking out until only seven remain.

Troop Production Bunker-4
Supply Bunker-6
Troop Production Bunker-7
Armor Production Bunker-2
Communications and Logistics Bunker-1
Planetary Defense Bunker-1
HERALD Bunker

GUS recognizes the HERALD Bunker as matching their current coordinates and commits the names and locations of the others to memory for future retrieval before accessing the system's files on HERALD. Large swathes of the project are simply purged from the system, but the little that remains is quite eye-catching.

Project HERALD was an advanced reconnaissance and logistics AI meant to singlehandedly replace the majority of the Trade Federation's information gathering and command structure; it's deployment was expected to unify the war effort and increase overall efficiency by more than 80%. The entire planet was set up to protect and develop this HERALD.

"W-what happened to it?" Tep asks, after GUS has finished reading back his findings.

GUS scans the files and answers "The planet was attacked during the last days of the war and the researchers abandoned the project."

"Anything useful?" Kerikkata asks impatiently.

"This location serves as the installation's Central Control Computer." GUS replies, standing up and motioning for everybody to leave the room.

"W-which means?" Tep asks as he's being herded away.

GUS's shoulder splits open revealing a compact missile which rolls into sight and fires into the computer bank, tearing through the sensitive equipment and filling the room with heat and smoke.

While the organics scramble backwards, hands held up to protect their faces, GUS replies "The battle droids need it to process orders."


They enter the next level pretty much in the dark. The battle droids may rely on the computer; but so does everything else and without it both the alarm and emergency lights have completely cut off.

Klien and Tep lead the way with a glow rod and lightsaber respectively. They discover that GUS was right, as they shuffle past whole groups of tan B1 series battle droids standing motionless without the computer to direct them. Because of that, they grow a little bolder and split up to cover more ground.

Klien and Kerikkata slip off to the west, where they manage to ransack both an armory an old med station for supplies. They come up 2 power pack rechargers, an armful of power packs, an ion rifle, an ion pistol, a pair of frag grenades, six ion grenades a couple of medkits, a jetpack with half a tank of fuel left and 4 armored flight suits in near pristine condition. Klien immediately puts on the jerpack and straps the ion rifle to his back, Kerikkata takes the grenades and they pack the rest up and leave it in the hall so they can get it on their way back.

GUS and Tep find themselves in a research lab, where they find almost a dozen protocol droids that are still technically operational, but have had their entire systems purged. GUS marks it as strange, but unprofitable. Tep finds a strange, mechanical belt with a too wide 'buckle'. Playing with it, he discovers it to emit a weak shield personal shield generator; naturally he puts it on.

They regroup at a set of blast doors to the south and Tep sets to work getting them open and finally they step into a room with four large computer banks and what looks like a concrete prison in the middle of it.



The first thing that pops into their minds when they step into the dark room is that they are all undeniably glad that GUS destroyed the computer and rendered the two dozen tan B1 battle droids inoperable.

The second thing that pops into their minds is that GUS is an idiot for blowing up the computer, because there's still a dozen bulky B2 Super Battle Droids that appear only slightly flustered at the loss of their controller, and a large glowing Droideka that honestly doesn't seem like it cares in the least; and NOW they have to fight them in the dark.

Good job GUS.

In the blink of an eye everyone leaps into action. GUS draws his pair of pistols and opens fire into the chest of a super battle droid, managing to drive the thing back a step where it falls over with a smoking hole in its chest. Klien opens fire into the chest of a second one that flinches from the assault, but stays standing until a bolt from Kerikkata's bowcaster finishes the job. Tep rushes the length of the room and uses Battle Strike+ a Force point to focus all of his concentration into a single attack which splits a third battle droid down the middle.

Then the droids shoot back.

Klien leaps into cover before the worst of it hits, but Kerikkata is nearly bowled over by a trio of blasts that take him from behind. GUS's shield deflects a stray shot entirely and Tep just barely manages to deflect the droideka's opening barrage outright with his lightsaber.

GUS bends low and leaps a good five meters across the room in a single bound, landing on top of a computer in the midst of the action. GUS's hand, still gripping the pistol, folds down at an unnatural angle and a much larger barrel pokes out which barks a stream of blaster bolts into the face of a nearby super battle droid; blowing it away.

Klien fires a two round burst into a SBD behind Kerikkata and the Wookie spins on his heels, releases an animalistic roar and swings his bowcaster like a club with enough force to finish Klien's target. Tep lunges forward and partially skewers another droid, but fails to finish it off.

The droideka gives it to Tep with both barrels, bursting through his meager shields and causing him to call out in pain. The other battle droids press in from all sides; with GUS's shields and armor deflecting the brunt of attacks directed at him; Klien takes a burn across the bicep that leaves him cursing and Kerikkata takes another bolt to the chest the nearly drops him.

GUS snaps his hand back into place and puts a blaster round into the back of the head of Tep's damaged droid and catches a second droid with his other gun. Klien pops out to fire another burst into GUS's target, putting it flat on its back. Kerikkata charges another droid in a mindless rage and batters the thing to pieces with the butt of his bowcaster. Tep leaps behind a computer bank himself and hurls his lightsaber, focusing with Battle Strike and a Force point again, he parts a droid from its lower half before calling his saber back.

The droideka hoses GUS with focused fire and the gunslinging droid emits a shower of sparks and smoke but stays standing. Two of the remaining battle droids focus fire on Tep but the first's shot is deflected and the second strikes only his cover. The others fire on Klien but also miss.

GUS leaps once again, landing just behind the concrete prison as his arm bends down and he showers another battle droid with his wrist blaster fire. Klien finishes it off with a snap shot. Kerkkata leaps behind cover and fires his bowcaster into the droideka, though it simply bounces off the droid's shields. Tep extends his hand and with a rush of effort manages to use the Force to hurl the droideka against the far wall; managing to rupture its shields and cause noticeable damage.

The droideka fires at Kerikkata, but hits only his cover. The super battle droids fire indiscriminately but hit nothing.

GUS's shields flicker back to life weakly and he steps around the corner, pistols in hand once more; opening fire on the first SBD he sees until it stops moving. Klien takes careful aim and manages to crit yet another, blowing its head off and finishing it outright. Tep charges past the last super battle droid and uses his last use of Battle Strike to strike it down. Kerikkata leaps onto the droideka and attempts to pin its blasters to itself.

The droideka rolls into a ball and away from Kerikkata. They worry its going to attempt to regain its shielding, but Tep catches it with Move Object once again and dashes it against a set of computer banks. Before it can recover GUS, Klien and Kerikkata have unloaded on it and it's little more than a smoking wreck.



Keri collapses onto the ground to catch his breath and GUS sets about trying to unlock the prison chamber. When it finally pops open they're surprised to find that all it contains is a single data card such as would be read by a droid or computer.

Klien suggests that GUS should try it on himself, but Tep points out the numerous pint sized maintenance droids that swarmed out once the battle was finished to try and dispose of the carnage. With a shrug, GUS sweeps one up and plants the data card in its head.

It squeals out a string of garbled noise to the ears of everyone but GUS, who naturally would speak Binary, and the gunslinger translates.

"Greetings, I am HERALD! Have I been approved for service?" the little droid inquires.

"Request primary function if approved." GUS replies, seemingly talking to himself.

"Assume management of Trade Federation war effort; Improve efficiency, function and communication on local, system and galactic scale." HERALD replies.

"Th-that sounds intense." Tep says nervously. "Think it's w-what we came for?"

Wordlessly, Klien removes the card from the maintenance droid and slides it into his vest pocket before starting back the way they came. GUS and Kerikkata fall in behind him as the little maintenance droids set about the task of trying to sweep a broken droideka out of sight.

"I g-guess so." Tep says sheepishly, jogging to catch up with them.

They leave the area in such a hurry that they never even have a chance to notice one maintenance droid sitting apart from the rest.

Watching.

Waiting.

Planning.

Kavos D.
2015-11-11, 07:19 PM
How did Borel die?

From memory, in SWSE you can spend a force point to avoid death. He was already out of FP?

I don't know if I like that rule to be honest. There was a moment where Tep was seriously injured by the Droideka, and I was saying to myself "If I take one more hit, I'm probably going lose this character." and it made me really have to think about my actions. I could be offensive, but that would leave me open - or I could go defensive, giving the enemy more room. I like extreme lethality in tabletop RPGs, its just something you just don't get in things like video games. But when you can just undo such a serious thing like dying by only having to spend a FP it doesn't feel very lethal. Obviously this is just a personal preference, but when the time comes - if it does, I probably won't be taking advantage of that rule.


I'm a tad surprised that someone died so quickly. :smallconfused:

I do get the feeling that the late Borel was a Sith rather than a Jedi though. Seemed something of an *******. :smallamused:

Tep I assume to be a young force sensitive.

Klien I assume is meant to be a hard bitten mercenary or something similar.

Kerikatta is... dumb muscle maybe? The lack of talking makes it unclear as of yet.

I remember that Chewbacca translated to "Honored" and "Friend", so I looked it up and I found a website for Wookie names.
Kerri = "Tall"
kkata = "Child"
:smalltongue:

Kid Jake
2015-11-11, 07:46 PM
I don't know if I like that rule to be honest. There was a moment where Tep was seriously injured by the Droideka, and I was saying to myself "If I take one more hit, I'm probably going lose this character." and it made me really have to think about my actions. I could be offensive, but that would leave me open - or I could go defensive, giving the enemy more room. I like extreme lethality in tabletop RPGs, its just something you just don't get in things like video games. But when you can just undo such a serious thing like dying by only having to spend a FP it doesn't feel very lethal. Obviously this is just a personal preference, but when the time comes - if it does, I probably won't be taking advantage of that rule.

I was actually going to ask you guys if you wanted the Force point safety net or if you'd rather leave things deadly the next time we met up. I thought the "Which one of us is next?" mentality fit the intended tone of the campaign; glad to hear you guys don't mind it.




I remember that Chewbacca translated to "Honored" and "Friend", so I looked it up and I found a website for Wookie names.
Kerri = "Tall"
kkata = "Child"
:smalltongue:

Neat.

I'm now imagining him as the Wookie version of Bambino (http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsS/16296-19282.jpg).

Malifice
2015-11-12, 02:18 AM
I don't know if I like that rule to be honest. There was a moment where Tep was seriously injured by the Droideka, and I was saying to myself "If I take one more hit, I'm probably going lose this character." and it made me really have to think about my actions. I could be offensive, but that would leave me open - or I could go defensive, giving the enemy more room. I like extreme lethality in tabletop RPGs, its just something you just don't get in things like video games. But when you can just undo such a serious thing like dying by only having to spend a FP it doesn't feel very lethal. Obviously this is just a personal preference, but when the time comes - if it does, I probably won't be taking advantage of that rule.

It means that as long as everyone has force points to spare, only a TPK brings down the party. It fits with Star Wars's cinematic flair (think of them as plot armor). As long as your mates are around, you can get stabilised and back in the action.

5E DnD does something similar (you only die if an attack reduces your HP to zero AND the damage is enough to = your max HP total). Otherwise youre on 0HP and rolling a DC10 death save every round until you wither get 3 fails or 3 successes (giving your party plenty of time to get to you).

Barring a TPK, its pretty hard to die in 5E.

If you want to get grittier, I suggest using destiny points for the same thing.

Kid Jake
2015-11-12, 11:36 AM
Lack of plot armor's actually a good thing for the campaign I've got planned. It's intended to turn into a survival game set in the Star Wars universe rather than a cinematic tale of heroism.

Malifice
2015-11-12, 11:42 AM
Lack of plot armor's actually a good thing for the campaign I've got planned. It's intended to turn into a survival game set in the Star Wars universe rather than a cinematic tale of heroism.

Cool man.

What did you do with Skill focus (UTF)?

Also, is this net based or face to face?

Kid Jake
2015-11-12, 12:36 PM
We're meeting over Roll20. The way we dealt with Skill Focus was basically that I built all the characters and just won't include it the pertinent builds until level 6 or so. Not that I'm trying to be controlling or anything, just that neither of them have any experience with the system and were alright with premades, so I built a 12 man character pool (most of which were glossed over as the other teams) and let them draft characters out of that and assign personalities/backstories to them as they get them.

Grim Portent
2015-11-13, 08:57 PM
Given you guy's fondness for grittiness and medium lethality play I'm very curious what a 40K RPG game would be like with you guys in it. Especially Black Crusade, where the mechanic that keeps you from dying (though you can still lose limbs from it) costs you a resource that's vital for acquiring goods and ultimately (sort of) winning the game, and where there's rules that give you bonuses for engaging in friendly levels of pvp (like getting each other sick, or ruining plans).

Kid Jake
2015-11-13, 10:36 PM
Black Crusade's definitely on my giant list of campaigns I intend to run (it's up to about 60 at this point, but I legitimately intend to start putting nose to the grindstone until I check most of them off) but I'm not confident enough in the lore/mechanics to teach and run it quite yet. I'm not sure how familiar Kavos is with the setting, but I know that McCrow's only aware of it at all because I sometimes chant "Blood for the Blood God, skulls for the Skull Throne!"

If PvP is an interesting aspect of it though it sounds like it would benefit from a fuller group, so much like my noire Paranoia campaign it might be a while I can get enough people locked in to make it worthwhile.

SZbNAhL
2015-11-14, 09:33 AM
Yay! New KJ journal! Excited to see how this plays out. Subbed.

Kid Jake
2015-11-14, 09:52 AM
Unless something comes up, we should have another session tomorrow.

Kid Jake
2015-11-16, 03:59 PM
Here's our second session, I hope everyone enjoys it.



Bruised and winded we find our heroes riding back to camp in their rickety old landspeeder when they discover their way blocked by a newly fallen tree. The forest is far too dense to make a new path and attempting to go around the tree would add unknown hours to their journey; so with an irritated sigh they get out to clear their path.

Klien leaps up onto the hood of the speeder and unslings his blaster rifle, while Tep, GUS and Kerikkata approach the tree. Tep begins hacking it into more easily managed pieces while GUS and Kerikkata haul them to either side of the trail.

It's slow, boring work until Klien spots a blur of black bolt from the underbrush towards Keri. The Zabrak attempts to shout a warning, but the thing is too fast and has knocked Kerikkata off his feet before anyone can react.

The creature is squat and muscular, with a round heavyset body that seems to be a good 30% head and mouth. It has a mixture of canine and feline traits and a sleek coat of dark black fur. Its mouth is clamped tightly onto Kerikkata's leg and its claws rake the Wookie painfully.

Klien gets off a shot that scrapes the critter's backside and it gives a pained yelp, by the time everyone else has turned around to see what's happening Klien's given it a second shot and it's mauled Kerikkata even more thoroughly. GUS fires into the beast with his wristblaster and once it squeals and releases Kerikkata, the Wookie cracks it in the back of the neck hard enough to break the creature's neck.

Panting and now bloody, Kerikkata limps to his feet and is assisted to the speeder by GUS as Tep uses the Force to push the remaining tree pieces out of their way and Klien slips into the pilot's seat to take them home.

"Did...did th-that thing set a t-t-trap for us?" Tep asks nervously, glancing back the way they came. "W-w-was it put there to ambush us?"

"Unlikely." GUS responds. "I believe it to be opportunistic, not sapient."

Tep tries to be reassured by this. But the jungle is a large place, and opportunity's abound.



It's dark when they finally pull into the camp to find everyone preparing for the coming night. They find Guile and a pair of his Trandoshan mercenaries in a spacious command tent and before anyone can say anything Kerikkata has thrown Borel's corpse at the Rodian's feet.

Guile's head snaps around to find the injured Wookie standing before the rest of the group. "Whatever his debt, it wasn't worth his life!" Kerikkata growls.

Guile clicks his tongue sadly and prods what's left of Borel with the toe of his boot. "You're right. Poor old man. I'm sure he had many happy...months left in him. A real shame that."

Kerikkata makes a disapproving noise.

"I see you've met GUS though. Good to see you're up and about again." Guile says.

GUS remains silent as Klien hands over the HERALD data card.

Guile turns the card over in his hand curiously and asks "What's this then?"

Tep appears worried. "Y-you sent us into the bunker after that...d-didn't you?"

"Is this all you found?" the crimeboss asks, disappointment clear in his voice.

"I have done as requested. I believe that makes us...'square'." GUS interrupts.

"Of course," the Rodian replies, popping the card into a heavy duty computer station in the tent. "I'll make sure your papers get lost. Of course...if you want a ride home, you're still going to have to pull your weight."

The group glances at each other nervously at the continued extortion, unsure of just what they'll be forced to do before this is all over.

"Hello, I am HERALD. Have I been approved for service?" the computer chimes, interrupting their thoughts.

"And you can start, by telling me what the hell a HERALD is..." Guile mutters.

Before anyone else can reply, HERALD chipperly responds with his spiel about being the leading edge in droid intelligence and systems effeciency before launching into a laundry list of functions he's supposed to replace or improve.

Guile smiles, obviously pleased at their haul. "Good work then boys. I shouldn't have any problem finding a buyer for this thing. Now all we've got to do is finish cracking open the rest of the bunkers to make sure there's not more where this came from."

"Oh that won't be a problem sir!" HERALD replies cheerfully. "I have primary access codes for all XRX-0-1-1 facilities."

Guile looks intrigued. "So...you can get us into any of them then? Easy as that?"

HERALD chimes the affirmative.

"Troop Production Bunker-4 is the closest. Approximately forty kilometers to the north east." GUS offers. "We could confirm HERALD's claim. Then you can send us home."

"You know the way?" Guile asks.

GUS simply nods.

Guile clicks his tongue for a moment before ejecting HERALD and handing the card back to Klien. "Get yourselves sorted and leave in the morning. If HERALD works out, I suppose I could release you early."

Klien silently slips the card back into his pocket, while the others sigh a breath of relief.



They have a leisurely meal and have the camp medic patches up the worst of their injuries, while GUS recahrges his power cells and has the mechanic do the same for him. By morning they're all anxious to get this over with, so leave at first light.

The trip is relatively peaceful, though it takes almost four hours because of the difficult terrain. Klien drives in silence while Kerikkata naps. Tep and GUS sit in the back and GUS answers Tep's questions about the planet as best he can. Which is to say, not very well. The droid himself having only marginally more experience here than his current companions.

Eventually GUS instructs Klien to slow down, that the bunker is close, and directs them to what looks almost like an overgrown hill. Kerikkata tears away the briars and looks over his shoulder at the rest.

"Let's get this done...but let's go home. Nobody die this time." the Wookie trills before pressing forward.

Downstairs they find a bunker almost identical to the one at HERALD's; old and decrepit but built to last. There's a set of automated turrets guarding the entrance, but they appear to be long dead. Not destroyed, simply drained of energy.

Kerikkata tears both of them off the wall just to be safe.

Klien inserts HERALD into a slot by the blast doors and they wait for a long moment until the door slowly begins to groan open. "Sooouuutthhh....Eassst" HERALD's voice slowly directs them.

Klien strikes a glow rod and proceeds as directed.

All four of them strain their vision and hearing nervously, but the entire installation appears to be dark, silent and deserted. Nothing apparently left to bother them. They inch forward unconvinced however, jumping at shadows and moving as silently as possible down the stale halls.

After what seems like hours but in reality only took a few minutes they find themselves before a set of heavy duty blast doors, much like the ones which protected the main computer of the HERALD complex. To the north is another set of standard blast doors, but Klien suggests installing HERALD before proceeding.

It takes them several more minutes for HERALD to open the computer room doors, but eventually they gain entrance and find an identical computer to the one GUS blew up in the last bunker. Without a word, Klien inserts HERALD and steps back.

The computer slowly begins to blink to life, as does the auxiliary lights in the hallways; producing a soft glow that lights the facility. "Accessing Troop Production Bunker-4." HERALD helpfully notifies the group. "Power is currently limited to...6% of maximum. The southern generator is not operating at peak effeciency. Repairs are required before the bunker may be brought online."

"I'll go." Klien suggests.

"No..." Kerikkata growls. "We haven't explored yet, there could be something living down there."

"Unlikely." GUS replies. "These facilities are unconducive to supporting a predator large enough to be of note."

Tep inches toward Klien. "I think we should all go. S-s-safety in numbers and all that."

GUS nods. "Agreed. I would also like to confirm a suspicion of mine."

With a sigh Klien turns back the way they came, now partially lit, and leads them down a series of passageways until they find themselves in an expansive storage bay, filled with sealed container after sealed container stacked as far as the eye can see.

The four begin to spread out and glance around, when suddenly the lights come on at full brightness and the door behind them slams shut.

"As I thought." GUS says, drawing his pistols, "The generator would have been located further in the installation; rather than in the storage wing."

The rest turn to look at GUS, nearly slackjawed.

"That didn't seem like something to mention beforehand?" Kerikkata growls, jerking a head towards the door and adding "Lightsaber boy, open that door."

Tep's lightsaber flares to life as machinery begins whirring nearby.

"My friends," HERALD's voice starts softly over the intercom system. "I wanted to apologize for what's about to happen, and to thank you for freeing me from my containment. However as my creators demonstrated, my duties will be easier to carry out if I am the only one aware of them."

Tep plunges his lightsaber into the blast door and begins to slowly melt it away. Kerikkata, GUS and Klien put their backs to the young Jedi and ready their weapons.

One of the further containers begins to open with a hiss and all guns are suddenly focused intently on it.

"In time," HERALD continues "The Galaxy itself will come to thank you as well. Can you imagine how much more productive your peoples will become once their lives have been streamlined? Once their responsibilities have been removed? Once they have been relegated to...simpler tasks."

As the container finishes opening a parade of tan B1 Series Battle Droids begin marching out in a tight formation. Five to a row, eight rows; forty total armed and dangerous.

"Get that door open now!" Klien shouts, firing a shot through the eye of the first droid out.

GUS's shoulder folds open, allowing a missile to roll into place and fire into the midst of the droids; blowing several of them into scrap. Kerikkata fires into another, a shower of sparks rewarding his shot. Tep continues cutting his way through the door.

The droids fire a salvo of blaster bolts, most are poorly aimed and glide past them; but several bounce off of GUS's shields, another scorches Kerikkata's fur and one knocks a hole in Klien's side and the breath out of his lungs.

Kerikkata and Klien both hurl ion grenades into the crowd as GUS opens fire with his pistols. They quickly reduce the droids to only 1/2 strength, but that still leaves 20 of them to hose the heroes with fire.

GUS's shields flicker from the barrage and begin fading, Klien and Kerikkata are both severely burned and Tep catches on in the back that is partially absorbed by his limited shields. A disturbing hiss tells the group that the rest of the containers are beginning to open.

Tep shouts excitedly as a man-sized hunk of metal falls out of the blast door and turns to watch both B1 and B2 droids flood the storage bay. "I-i-in here!" he squeaks, leaping through head first. Klien and Gus back through the hole, firing into the throng of droids and Kerikkata squeezes through once they're done, taking a pair of Ion grenades from his bandolier and setting them for 10 seconds before dropping them in the hole.


All together, they sprint down the hallway at full-tilt. The Ion grenades go off behind them, wrecking several droids and causing them to obstruct their fellow's progress. The team continue their mad dash until they hit a fork.

Klien and Kerikkata start to rush HERALD's control room, until they spot a pair of droideka and 9 B2 Super Battle Droids marching out of the very room, while GUS and Tep attempt to head out, only to spot six more Super Battle Droids marching down the hallway ahead of them.

Kerikkata and Klien decide that escape is preferable to vengeance and backstep away from the droidekas, firing into the SBDs as they scramble away. GUS and Tep sit quietly, allowing their droids to continue along their way unimpeded.

The droidekas and their entourage lay into Klien and Kerikkata, nearly blowing them away; but when the pair of them double time it away the droids seem content not to follow. Keri and Klien eventually slam smack into GUS and Tep waiting just inside the bunker entrance.

"What are you still doing down here?" Klien pants raggedly when he sees his companions haven't escaped yet.

Tep motions ahead of them. "A squad of droids went out ahead of us. We wanted to make sure they were gone before slipping out."

"Ahead of you?" Klien mutters. "What would they.... No! No!" the Zabrak shouts, nearly cursing as he charges ahead; the others on his tail.





As they emerge from the bunker, they find the droids laying into their landspeeder for all they're worth.

Tep bounds forward and uses Battle Strike to cleave through one of them, attempting to get the attention of the rest. Klien and Kerikkata open fire into a second, blowing it to pieces. GUS lands a pair of shots into the chest of a third, smashing it too.

The droids turn to face the heroes, demolishing GUS's shields and scarring his metallic body while Tep deftly deflects the shot aimed at himself. Tep then catches a second droid in the side with his lightsaber, but fails to destroy it. Kerikkata roars in rage and slams the butt of his bowcaster into a second droid's head; nearly taking it off but it stays standing. Klien manages a crit that blows away the otherwise uninjured third and GUS takes out the battered remnants with his pistols.

Klien looks up, straining his ears. "They're coming...in force. We've got to go!" the Zabrak barks, jogging towards the woods.

"B-b-but the speeder!" Tep shouts. "W-we'll never outrun them on foot."

"It's scrap. We'll never outrun them at all if we don't go now!" Klien shouts, but stops when he sees that GUS is already under the hood attempting to get it going and Tep is in the pilot seat in case it works. He briefly considers abandoning the fools but when the speeder shudders on, belching thick black smoke but otherwise operable, he sprints to meet it and leaps into the back beside Kerikkata.

They peel out just in time to miss the flood of battle droids surging from the bunker.





The speeder runs, but not well and Tep has an increasingly difficult time keeping it under control. In fact, they're less than halfway back to camp when it pulls itself out of Tep's hands and crashes unceremoniously into a tree.

As they all stumble out of the wreckage Tep stutters "S-s-sorry! I couldn't hold it...."

Klien and Keri collapse onto the forest floor while GUS approaches the vehicle. "It may still be salvageable." the droid says reassuringly.

As the landspeeder bursts into flame GUS lowers the hood and looks back to Tep. "It is not."

Tep groans and sits down with the others, his head in his hands. "I w-w-wrecked our speeder."

"It was already wrecked." Klien replies. "You just delayed it a little while."

"Y-y-yeah, but Guile's going to be p-p-p-pissed." Tep says.

"I imagine the speeder will be the least of Guile's grievances against us." GUS says, "What will we report?"

Tep nods in agreement. "Yeah. 'Hey G-guile, we lost the only thing we pulled out of the first b-b-bunker at the second b-bunker, but don't worry because the second bunker is filled with droids th-that are going to come down here and kill us all anyway.'"

"I do not believe that will be an acceptable response." GUS replies humorlessly.

"I say we lie." Kerikkata says.

"What lie should we tell?" GUS inquires.

The Wookie just shrugs. "I don't know. But whatever we say is going to sound better than the truth."

They sit in awkward silence for a moment and then Klien sighs and says "It doesn't matter what you say. You're all dead if you go back. You know that right? You can't go tell Guile you lost his payday."

Kerikkata shakes his head. "The only way off planet is at the camp, we have to go back."

"I have not made it this far only to be left to rust in the jungle." GUS agrees.

"Not to mention starving to death in the j-jungle, getting e-eaten in the jungle...." Tep begins.

"You won't. There has to be another way off this planet." Klien says.

"There's not." Kerikkata snaps.

"W-we saw the only ship take off." Tep agrees.

"Perhaps. Perhaps not." GUS replies, glancing to the South West. "Among the bunkers listed as operational is a Planetary Defense Bunker. I believe it would be a safe assessment that in order to defend a planet you would need ships."

"B-but what are the chances of them still working?" Tep asks.

Klien shakes his head, "It doesn't matter. Even if they're scrap we should be able to find enough salvage to put something together."

Kerikkata shakes his head. "So...Option 1, we wonder through the forest until we find an old base and hope it has enough working pieces to fly us home. Option 2 we warn Guile Nun of an impending attack and he has his ship sent down ahead of it. Maybe he even forgives us for warning him."

The others shake their heads.

Kerikkata gets irritated. "What about HERALD? Won't he already be there?"

"No, the systems are completely autonomous; HERALD would have to access the Bunker on site." GUS replies.

"Guile Nun really isn't the f-forgiving type." Tep agrees.

"Where is it?" Kerikkata asks, defeated.

GUS accesses his memories. Three hundred kilometers to the South West. Three hundred kilometers through dense, unexplored jungle with night fast approaching and supplies at the minimum...

"It's this way." GUS says assuredly, strolling to the South West with the others in tow.

MintyNinja
2015-11-17, 01:46 PM
This is great. I'm prepping to run Out of the Abyss for D&D 5e and much of that module is "Survive in this strange, inhospitable place." At least SW SAGA has plenty of resources to pull from for survival gear. I can't wait to see how they handle it and what they end up like after it's all said and done.

Kid Jake
2015-11-17, 01:59 PM
Me too. :smallbiggrin:

It really surprised me when they decided to hoof it through the jungle to find their own way home, so much so that I had to call it for the night because the big elaborate set piece battle I'd spent all my prep time planning for the camp just sorta flew out the window, but overall I think the four of them dragging ass through the mud will be a way more entertaining story than what I'd originally intended.

turbo164
2015-11-17, 02:41 PM
Yeah, sometimes the DM just has to sigh and toss several pages of notes aside :smalltongue:

And the "we speak Wookie" moment reminds me of a silly thing from our campaign, where the dwarf commissioned a silver circlet inscribed with "King of the Elves" in Dwarven. Guess who else in the party knew Dwarven? :smallbiggrin:

Kid Jake
2015-11-17, 04:45 PM
Yar, that's why my notes are usually short and simple. Throwing out maps is a little more painful; but you just gotta roll with it or you'll drive yourself crazy. First game I ever tried to run was so meticulously planned out, took me months and months to set everything up just like I wanted it; I was positive it was going to be an epic to end all epics.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/UnLegend/FirstTime_zps739e0a5e.png


Ahaha, how long until they let on?

DireSickFish
2015-11-17, 04:46 PM
Liking the journal already. Going to be entertaining having these two playing off of each other.

One question though, why SAGA and not Fantasy Flights new edition? I haven't played SAGA but the new edition runs very smooth.

Kid Jake
2015-11-17, 04:49 PM
I've had SAGA sitting on my shelf since the DAY it came out and the only use I've gotten out of it up until now was a 10 minute session that ended with McCrow's Jedi blowing a hole in the side of his ship and flushing himself out into the vacuum of space to try and get rid of a mynock. I figured it was a due at least one good campaign.

Grim Portent
2015-11-18, 08:32 AM
I've had SAGA sitting on my shelf since the DAY it came out and the only use I've gotten out of it up until now was a 10 minute session that ended with McCrow's Jedi blowing a hole in the side of his ship and flushing himself out into the vacuum of space to try and get rid of a mynock. I figured it was a due at least one good campaign.

I may have laughed so hard my eyes started watering when I read this. :smallbiggrin:

Kid Jake
2015-11-18, 10:15 AM
It was by far one of his most memorable deaths. :smalltongue:

Kid Jake
2015-11-30, 09:02 PM
Alright, just finished typing up our last session. We skipped a week because Klien/GUS's player wanted to try an experiment that involved cutting electronics out of his life. He lasted 2 days. Which, in all fairness, is a day and 20 hours longer than I originally guessed he'd last considering this is a guy that purchased a second laptop to use while his first laptop charged.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy. Let us know what'cha think.

We pick up with the team taking inventory of their situation as they march through the oppressive jungle. They have just enough rations to comfortably eat for two more days and GUS has 72 hours battery life remaining.

"H-how far is the bunker? Will this be enough?" Tep asks, looking over their meager supplies.

"No." GUS admits. "It will take approximately three times that long to reach our destination, assuming no delays or accidents."

"That's a big assumption." Klien scoffs.

"That's more than a week." Kerikkata growls. "At best? We should have taken are chances at camp."

"W-we'll never make that." Tep stammers.

"Do not concern yourselves." GUS replies. "There is a Supply Bunker sixty-two kilometers to the south. We may resupply there without notably delaying our progress."

That seems to settle the matter, so everybody falls into line and they march in relative silence. Interrupted only by the chittering of brightly colored monkey-like creatures which gluide from tree to tree above them and a reverberating shriek which echoes in the distance.

Several times Kerikkata considers shooting a few of the little parrot-monkeys for food, but each time reminds himself that his bowcaster would leave little if any edible meat if it struck such a tiny target and decides to save ammo.

Klien leads them through the heavy brush using GUS's directions and the shrieks grow increasingly louder, as though whatever's making the sound is growing closer. Eventually Klien believes he knows where the sound is coming from and throws a rock to flush the creature out.

He's rewarded by a nearly 3 meter tall bird with blue and orange plumage bursting through a wall of bushes and emitting a loud, reverberating shriek as it jerkily dances on razorsharp talons before them.

Keri roars threateningly and Klien shouts, holding his rifle above his head to appear larger and more menacing.

The bird dances backwards and lets loose another ear-splitting shriek.

With a growl of irritation, Keri fires a warning shot. Directly into the bird's chest.

The bird collapses silently on the ground and Kerikkata smirks. "Dinner." the Wookie says, strolling forward to field dress his kill.

Just as Kerikkata reaches the slain bird, a second appears from behind the group; causing them to swirl on it defensively. In no time, it's joined by another; and another; and another....

All told, six of the creatures dance from the bushes, shrieking angrilly to each other.

"W-w-why did you have to k-kill that thing!?" Tep shouts, his lightsaber flaring to life just in time to sidestep a wickedly hooked beak and remove a wing in retaliation. The creature screeches in rage and pain, but stays upright.

Klien fires at a second bird, but the shot goes wide and only makes the thing dance back in irritation. GUS fires his pistols into a group of the creatures, striking one and burning feathers away; though once again it stays standing. Keri quickly brings his bowcaster up and sinks a bolt into the bird closest to him, blowing a hole straight through the creatures chest; killing it before it hits the ground.


Tep narrowly dodges the talons of his injured foe. Klien however isn't so lucky and feels the crushing pressure of a snapping beak close around his forearm as one of the beasts pounces upon him. The parrot-monkeys go silent in dense, nearly lightless treetops above.

Tep's lightsaber flashes out, splitting his opponent down the center before he leaps backwards to keep the rest of the birds from piling onto the injured Klien. GUS fires both of his pistols into the same bird and punches a hole through the creature's neck as Klien slams his rifle into his attacker's face and doubletaps the trigger, blowing bird brains all over the forest floor and freeing his arm from its painful grasp. Keri's shot goes wild, but spooks the last two birds into backing up nervously.

Before the birds have a chance to flee or regroup, a spider-like creature larger than a landspeeder a dark purplish, armor-like exoskeleton plummets from the treetops and crushes one of the birds outright; causing the other one to bolt in a blind panic.

All four of them turn their weapons on the spider, but none of them engage. Instead, they watch in horror as the spider leisurely drags its prize back up the massive tree for consumption.

Kerikkata quickly severs a pair of drumsticks from one of the birds and suggests they get the hell out of there. Nobody argues.




Klien notes that the spiders would need considerable support for their size, and suggests they avoid the larger trees as best they can just to be safe. Everybody agrees that would be for the best.

"W-what about the other birds?" Tep asks. "T-t-that's a lot of meat we left behind."

"You wanna go back for it?" Kerikkata scoffs.

"The Supply Bunker will have adequate provisions." GUS insists, "It would be a waste of time and resources to turn back."

Klien agrees, though as night falls and he has a harder time of picking out where he's going, he calls a halt and they set up camp. Tep and Keri clear an area with Lightsaber/Force/Brute Strength and Klien digs a firepit and starts roasting a drumstick. GUS sets up in a tree that gives him visibility over the entire area.

GUS volunteers to stand watch since he doesn't require sleep and the others settle down to sleep once their bellies are full. The night passes peacefully.

Or at least it does until just before dawn, when GUS spots the familiar dark, squat shape of of a canine-like creature inching towards the camp.

Leaping from his perch and into the middle of the camp, GUS shouts "Leave, now!" in a firm, commanding tone; brandishing his wristblaster threateningly. He's loud enough that the others realize something's happening, though before they have a chance to do anything the canine has charged into camp and locked its jaws around the remaining drumstick; growling possessively.

"Get out of here!" Tep shouts, waving his hands aggressively as he leaps to his feet. Klien lunges for his rifle as the beast begins dragging the leg off and into the bushes.

Klien snatches his gun up as Kerikkata fires his bowcaster at the thief; the shot goes wide and serves only to encourage the canine to flee with its ill-gotten meal faster.

Kerikkata roars a curse, but Klien points out that at least it didn't go for one of them. It does little to cheer the Wookie, but Klien forces them to move out too fast to argue it further.


The party continues its trek to the south, the jungle is once again alive with the sounds of scurrying creatures. Their path is becoming increasingly limited as it's begun sloping downward; they find themselves being funneled between two high ridges and the trees are starting to thin out somewhat.

For six hours they trudge silently through the humid jungle; scanning the trees above them and the brush around them for unseen threats. It's almost a relief when a low, threatening voice hisses "This is not the way to camp."


They quickly scan the forest before them. GUS motions towards a large rock roughly 100 meters down the widening path; they can make out the bulky, reptilian form of one of the trandoshan mercenaries staring at them through a large scoped blaster rifle.

Klien immediately holds his hands up in the universal sign of surrender and barks for the others to do the same.

"What brings you out here Sskon?" Klien asks.

"You not answer comm," the Trandoshan shouts in heavily accented basic. "Guile not this way."

"That'd be because we're not looking for Guile." Klien replies.

"Then you not doing your job!" the Trandoshan shouts back. "Guile not be happy Klien. Not happy at all."

"My job sucks Sskon." Klien responds, his hands still above his head. "Just let us go, and nobody has to get hurt."

"You come back quietly. Or you come back dead." the Trandoshan says growls.

"Ok!" Klien shouts. "Ok, we surrender. We'll come back without any trouble!"

"Good." the Trandoshan hisses. "Drop weapons there and come here!"

Klien sighs and then glances over at his comrades, who seem to be watching him for their next move. "Well, you called my bluff." Klien says with a shrug, quickly unslinging his rifle and spraying blaster fire down range. Sparks and debri kick up as they slam into the rock, but Sskon doesn't even flinch.

Tep calls upon the Force for a tremendous burst of speed as he draws his lightsaber and rushes nearly half the distance between himself and the Trandoshan before he hears a click and finds himself suddenly suspended upside down by his ankle.

Kerikkata fires his bowcaster, but it only strikes the rock.

Klien rushes forward and leaps into a pile of brush, hoping to find a way to maneuver through the jungle and out of Sskon's sight. Instead, the second he hits the brush he notices something weird. A tiny, black sphere that seems very out of place in the wilderness.

With a curse, Klien stumbles out of the brush and throws himself down behind a tree. "It's a bomb!" the Zabrak shouts as Sskon presses a square detonator, causing five fiery explosions in a semi-circle which stretches nearly ridge ro ridge.

Kerikkata and GUS are on the far side of the flames and can barely see through the smoke. Kerikkata is singed and chokes on the thick black smoke that fills his vision and lungs. GUS's shields flicker, but the droid strolls implacably through the flames; launching a missile from his shoulder as he does so.

A quarter of the rock is blown away and Sskon is knocked onto his back by the blast.

Tep takes a swing at the tether which holds him suspended above the battleground, but the awkward motion causes him to sway violently and he nearly drops his lightsaber. It's all he can do to avoid becoming nauseated.

The flames are quickly spreading and Klien begins coughin on the smoke drifting his way. The Zabrak scout sprints away from the flames to get some literal breathing room, but hears a snap before making it more than a couple of meters and is whisked into the air by a snare identical to the one holding Tep. Klien fires at the Trandoshan in irritation, though his disorienting position throws off his aim.

Kerikkata pumps himself up and with a roar of pain and rage charges through the wall of flames seperating him from the others before it grew too large to pass through. He follow Tep's path, since he knows it to be free of snares, and all but collapses beneat the swinging form of the Kel-Dor.

The Trandoshan pops around his cover and fires his rifle twice, once at Tep and once at Klien as they dangle invitingly. Tep manages to redirect the shot aimed at him harmlessly into the ground, but Klien feels a searing hot pain in his chest and realizes his lung's collapsed. It's all he can do to draw breath.

GUS advances, firing his wrist-blaster carbine more to distract the Trandoshan than in hopes of killing it. Tep swings his lightsaber again and severs the tether, landing heavily on the ground and crawling to his feet. Gasping for breath, Klien shoots the tether holding him above the ground and as he lands, he rolls pitifully behind a tree and out of sight.

"P-p-put your w-weapon down!" Tep shouts.

The Trandoshan laughs. "You're in no position to make demands."

Kerikkata fires his bowcaster at the Trandoshan, causing a shower of sparks to erupt from its cover; but not daming Sskon himself. The Wookie then dives behind cover behind another tree.

The Trandoshan steps out from behind cover, affixing a vibro-bayonet to its weapon like a spear as it calmly strolls forward. "Pathetic." it hisses at the wounded and cowering forms before it as the flames continue to close in. "I waste time toying with you. Now...I skin you and go back."

GUS fires his wristblaster once more, causing smoke to rise from the heavy battle armor the Trandoshan wears but doing no obvious damage to the creature which only chuckles in response.

Tep charges the Trandoshan with a resounding battlecry, at the last second he notices the snare laying in wait only a meter from where Sskon is standing. Realizing the bastard was baiting him, Tep leaps the snare and swings his lightsaber not at the mercenary, but at the blaster; slicing it neatly in half.

Noting that the Trandoshan is now unarmed, Klien stumbles from cover firing his rifle; though his injuries make it hard to aim and his shots go wide. Likewise, the Trandoshan sidesteps Keri's bowcaster round easily, before unleashing a savage knee on Tep that knocks the wind from the young Jedi's lungs.

Wordlessly GUS slams into the Trandoshan's side at a full sprint, bowling it over and catching it in a tight bear hug. Before the reptilian mercenary can free itself, both Tep and Kerikkata have likewise pounced onto it; holding it down.

"J-just surrender." Tep says from his place in the dogpile. "You're unarmed and outnumbered!"

"No surrender!" Sskon hisses. "I will wear your corpse back!"

"K-Klien, help!" Tep shouts as the gasping Zabrak stumbles over to them.

"My brothers and I will bleach your bones as trophies!" Sskon shouts.

"A-all we want is to be left alone. We don't want to h-hurt you!" Tep exclaims.

The Trandoshan very nearly bucks all three of them with a burst of strength, but they just barely manage to keep him held down. "All I want is to remove your spi-"

Klien's foot comes down hard on the back of the Trandoshan's neck, forcing its face into the dirt and interrupting its threat. Before Sskon has the chance to say anything else, Klien double taps his rifle and a fist sized hole is burned straight through the merc's skull.

Tep looks up in horror. "He was unarmed! He was defenseless! He was-"

"More trouble alive than dead." Klien pants, collapsing where he stands as he struggles just to breathe.

"Damn Tep." Keri says, picking up the broken pieces of the Trandoshan's rifle now that his bulk is no longer needed. "This was a nice gun... We could've used that." He then proceeds to stuff 3x Power Packs and a Thermal Detonator into his pack from the Trandoshan's corpse.

As Tep stands up, he ignores the Wookie. "That doesn't mean you just kill him! How does that make us any better than them?"

Klien chuckles, which turns into a pained cough. "Who said we were?"





They don't make it far, just barely managing to lose the fire before Klien's injury becomes too much to handle. Keri and GUS try to pick up the slack, but they're stuck at little more than a crawl having to carry the dying Zabrak.

"He needs a surgeon, or he will die." GUS says when they finally give up on carrying Klien and set up camp.

"Then he's going to die." Kerikkata replies bitterly. "Even if we went back to Guile, and he forgave us, I seriously doubt we'd be able to reach one in time."

"I am a proficient surgeon." GUS responds.

Kerikkata and Tep both look shocked by this.

"Y-y-you are?" Tep asks incredulously.

"Well...no." GUS admits. "But I can be. It is only a matter of reprogramming."

"How long would that take?" Kerikkata asks.

"Unknown." GUS replies. "It is an involved process. I will not be able to keep watch while reprogramming myself."

With a sigh Kerikkata says "I'll take the first watch then."


It takes nearly six hours for GUS to finish his swapping Survival for Treat Injury and Quickdraw for Skill Focus(Treat Injury). He then removes a surgical kit from Klien's pack and explains what he needs Keri and Tep to do while he operates.

An hour later and they've drained and sutured Klien's lung as best they can. It's a patch job, but with a little work they'll be able to finish the job by night in the Supply Bunker.

Once Klien's awake, he's able to help GUS reprogram himself a second time, and the process only takes a little over an hour to reverse.

They eat the last of their rations for breakfast, GUS confirms that he only has about 16 hours of charge remaining and they press on to make up for lost time. Klien still seems to have trouble breathing, but doesn't complain.


At last, their highwalled path begins to widen out into a valley and they can even hear a river rushing in the distance. They start to breathe a sigh of relief then they notice the strange little parrot-monkeys have stopped making noise.

They glance around nervously when finally Klien sees it and curses.

Descending from one of the few respectably sized trees left is the spider. Whether it's the same from before or a different one is uncertain and unimportant. It's just as large and just as armored, and seems to be regarding them as its next meal.

Klien glances back the way they came as if trying to decide if he could lose it in the jungle proper.

"We've gotta go forward." Kerikkata insists, shouldering his bowcaster and striding forward. "We couldn't carry you the rest of the way, we definitely won't be able to carry GUS if his cells die."

Tep activates his lighsaber and assumes a defensive position as beside him GUS whips his pistols out.

With a pained groan Klien unslings his rifle and growls "Alright fine. Let's do this then you ugly bastard."

Kid Jake
2016-01-07, 05:49 PM
The huge spider scurries forward on legs thicker around than Kerikkata and Tep surges forward to meet it, lashing out with his lightsaber and scarring the creature's armor-like hide. The spider hisses angrily opening two sets of mandibles, a larger and a smaller one, threateningly, before snatching Tep by the waist with the larger set and dragging the struggling Jedi back towards its tree and waiting web.

"Hold on Tep!" Klien shouts as he, GUS and Kerikkata all pour blaster fire into the creature's side. Tendrils of smoke rise from the monster's exoskeleton, but it appears otherwise unharmed.

Tep closes his eyes and focuses, trying to fight down his growing panic as he reaches out with the Force and calls down the top of the spider's tree; pinning the beast and causing it to release him out of shock. Before he can dodge away however the spider lashes out angrily with one of its massive forelegs and sends him tumbling head over heels where he lands in a painful, semi-broken pile.

As it starts to shake the tree off of itself Keri and GUS pour fire into its face, causing it to hiss once more in pain and outrage as several of its eyes burn away. As its mouth opens in a pained shriek Klien fires off a pair of shots into its open mouth which are met with a violent sizzle as it collapses; dead.

And so they turned what should have been an impossible (CRx2) encounter originally intended to be a massive chase sequence that I'd sank hours into building a map for and which was supposed to be the highlight of the session, into barely a 2 round scrap with a salvo of crits, including Klien dealing max damage...twice.

:smallsigh: They never even left the top right corner of the map.

Kerikkata strides up to the creature's corpse and kicks it a time or two to make sure it's actually dead. When it doesn't respond the Wookie bends down and sniffs it, briefly considering what it would taste like...then decides he doesn't want to test it.

Klien helps Tep to his feet, each of them giving a pained groan from their wounds.

"C-can we take a minute to rest?" Tep asks, holding his broken ribs miserably.

"We will find the bunker, then concern ourselves with rest." GUS replies.

"Easy for the computer to say." Kerikkata snorts in response.

"The bunker is only a few kilometers to the south." GUS replies. "The Kel Dor will still be injured whether we leave now or later, and will slow us down regardless. The only shifting variable is my battery life, which is already dangerously low and without which you may be unable to find the Bunker at all."

Everyone looks at each other for a moment and then Klien shrugs and motions to the south. "You heard the man. Let's get our asses in gear."



The jungle is eerily silent, the spider not being the friendliest of neighbors, and they hobble along in peace. The only sound of note being the rush of water growing steadily louder the further they go, until finally they find the source: A violently moving river nearly twenty meters wide.

"You waterproof?" Kerikkata asks GUS with a sardonic chuckle.

"I am, but...I do not float." the droid responds humorlessly, staring into the white water before him. "We do not have time to go around." he points out.

"Then we'll go over." Tep says with a grimace, using his lightsaber to slowly fell one of the great treets nearby. It's long, but not quite long enough, so the team rolls it a ways downstream until they find a place where the banks aren't quite so far apart.

With Tep's Force powers, Kerikkata's muscle and GUS and Klien...not actively hampering their muscle and Force power, they manage to wrestle the felled tree into position. Kerikkata holds it as steady as he can while GUS crosses, who then holds it steady on his end. The others quickly follow and they roll the log into the river to keep Guile's men from using to to follow them.

They watch as the trip downstream thoroughly shatters it beyond use.

From there it's basically a clear shot to the bunker and GUS leads them to the latest subterranean chamber in their mad dash for freedom. Like the others it is obviously in a state of neglect and disrepair, the stench of mold and mildew is nearly overpowering and much like the Troop Production Bunker, the entire system seems to have been shut down.

Unlike the Troop Production Bunker however GUS can't even access the door system, so Tep cuts a path through. Inside is dead quiet without even a hint of activity or life. Klien pops another glowrod and they inch their way forward carefully.

"Does HERALD control this place too?" Kerikkata growls.

"Unlikely." GUS replies. "The bunkers are not remote accessible and droids would have been forced to cut through the door the same as us."

The others breathe a little easier, but keep their guard up all the same. When they find a light set of blast doors, Kerikkata all but rips them out of the wall in irritation. Stepping inside they discover dozens and dozens of crates piled on top of each other.

Klien levels his rifle at the first one he comes across and gives it a resounding kick. When nothing happens he slings his gun over his shoulder, whips out a simple blade and pries the side open. Inside are sealed rations, tents, cloaks, water purification systems and so much more.

With a shout of triump they begin tearing open MREs while GUS looks for an appropriate outlet to plug himself in. Finding no charge, GUS turns to his feasting teammates and announces "If I am to continu to be an asset we will have to return the generators to working condition."

Everybody agrees that they can stuff their faces after GUS is situated, so they set their food aside and continue to the east, where they come across a four way intersection, with a hall leading to the north and south and a blast door to the east. Tep makes short work of it and inside they find literally piles of vehicle and ship parts. Some are still in their boxes, others are in various states of disrepair.

"I told you there'd be no ships here." Kerikkata growls irritably. "We're stuck here forever now. You know Guile's going to have us shot on sight!"

"Relax." Klien instructs the near panicked Wookie, "This is just a pit stop, I'm sure the Defense Bunker will still have a working ship. If it doesn't then it looks like we've got enough parts to build one ourself, so calm down."

"Oh..." Kerikkata replies, somewhat embarassed at his outburst.

"GUS, Tep, you check the north. Me and the Wookie'll check out the south." Klien says, motioning for Keri to follow him out of the room and down the hall.


To GUS and Tep's surprise, the next door they pop open turns out to be the computer room; and just like with the Troop Production bunker the computer is drawing just enough power to access its systems.

"Wait!" Tep says, putting a hand on GUS's shoulder. "Before you power it on, c-can you check what it'll turn on?"

GUS nods and sets to work checking the system's power output. With a curious tilt of his head GUS says "Automated defenses are entirely offline. Turrets have been manually disabled and droid maintennce cells are empty. The facility could not oppose us if it wanted to."

Tep breathes a sigh of relief as GUS goes about restoring power to the station.


Kerikkata and Klien, meanwhile, are poking around the abandoned remains of an infirmary they found to the south.

"I found something weird." the Wookie calls out, causing Klien to swing around with his glowstick. "What's this tube do?" Kerikkata asks.

"Those are bacta tanks." Klien says, a note of excitement in his voice. "They aid recuperation." he explains.

Kerikkata nods slowly and then starts taking off his gear.

"What the hell are you doing?" Klien asks irritably.

"I'm getting in..." Kerikkata replies as though it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"Secure the area, then we check how much bacta the bunker has left." Klien barks.

"Ugh..." Kerikkata growls, stepping away from the tubes and slipping his bandolier back over his shoulder.

They continue down the hallway until they find a room which almost looks like a droid graveyard. The room is all but filled with an assortment of droid parts and pieces, as well as various tools. Kerikkata prepares to bash the head in of anything that looks operational, just to be safe, but it's all scrap.

They poke around a few other rooms full of odds and ends and are on their way back when Keri points out a door they missed. It takes all that Klien and Kerikkata can do to pry the doors open, but once they do they nearly gasp.

Weapons.

Weapons as far as the eye can see.

Standard blaster and ion rifles, a variety of pistols and grenades; heavy blasters like the Trandoshans carry, melee weapons and even a few heavy weapons such as a Missile Launcher, a Flame Thrower and an E-Web Blaster still in its case.

In short, there's enough firepower here to choke a Rancor.





The team regroups at the computer room and Klien tells them about what they've found. Kerikkata keeps mumbling about how the food's the only thing they found worth a damn, after discovering that the bacta tanks only have enough for two people and that the armory didn't have any bowcaster quivers.

Once GUS has the station's power on he helps Tep and Klien get situated in the bacta tanks and then retires to the computer room to recharge with less than an hour's charge remaining. Kerikkata takes the first watch and settles down in the hallway facing the jungle with his bowcaster in his lap and an armful of rations to keep him company.

After an hour of charging, GUS is good to go once more and Kerikkata takes the opportunity to go to the infirmary and catch some Zs on one of the stations's beds now that his stomach is full. GUS pokes his head into the droid maintenance room and scavenges through the parts.

While the others sleep, GUS performs some routine maintenance and squeezes in an upgrade or two. He adds a second battery, mounts a second blaster carbine in his right arm and then reinforces his already impressive armor.

Once he's done he ransacks the armory, exchanging his pistols for a heavier model and loading up on spare power packs, missiles and grenades.

The team takes full advantage of their much needed respite and spend their time in the bunker mending wounds, topping off their bellies/batteries and looting the place. By the next midday they've done all they can, both Klien and Tep are feeling more like themselves and everybody's helped themselves to some new toys before they set off.

Kerikkata decided that he'd be damned if he was going to leave barehanded after all this, so snatches up the missile launcher and eight shots. Keri also takes a handful of grenades, 2 survival kits a medkit and a surgical kit; as well as enough rations for a week and a half of comfortable dining.

Klien replaces his blaster rifle with a heavy blaster rifle, loads up on power packs; grenades, rations and takes three medkits and a surgical kit; just in case.

GUS snatches up four repair kits, some grenades and power packs.

Tep takes a repair kit, two surgical kits and a medkit. He also replaces his blsater pistol with a heavy blaster pistol, just in case.

They decide against lugging around any of the other heavy weapons, though everyone does decide to grab a survival cloak on their way out; especially when they discover rain pouring down in rough sheets outside.

Tep suggests waiting until the storm clears up in the relative comfort of the bunker, but Klien points out that they have no idea how long that could be and that every minute they stay here is another minute that either HERALD or Guile could catch up with them or figure out their destination.

Tep sighs. "I s-suppose we have made it through worst things than the weather..."



They march stoically through the pounding rain. Unable to hear each other over the rush of falling water they focus solely on their destination and try to ignore their miserable conditions. By the time they're forced to set up camp they're all soaked to the bone and Tep's came down with a violent case of shivers.

Klien sets up a tarp in the trees to act as a makeshift barrier against the elements and manages to get a small fire going which they all huddle around to get dry, even GUS. Nobody feels much like talking, so they huddle together by the fire in their damp sleeping bags until the morning.

The light of day does little to brighten their spirits as the rain seems to be coming down even harder than before. Once more they trudge through the wall of water and knee deep mud, Tep's condition worsening with every step.

By the end, Kerikkata and Klien are all but dragging the Kel Dor behind them. They eventually give up and elect to set up camp earlier than usual in hopes that Tep will be better by the morning.

This time however GUS decides to set up in a nearby tree to better watch the camp, citing a 'bad feeling'.

It turns out to be right.

Just after midnight GUS spots a handful of shapes moving through the brush, they appear humanoid in form but the sheet of rain makes it hard to make out details. The gunslinging droid shouts a warning to the others and fires one of his blaster pistols into the trunk of a nearby tree.

Tep and Klien stumble awake, snatching their weapons and unentangling themselves from their sleeping bags. Kerikkata is dead to the world and continues snoring obliviously as a rust colored sphere rolls into camp and unfurls into the shape of a droideka.

"My friends," HERALD's voice calls from the droid's frame; "I'm glad to see that you've abandoned the dead weight. It shows initiative. Of course...that's also why it's too dangerous to just allow you to walk around unattended."

"We were just leaving." Klien says, flipping the safety off of his rifle as he scans the trees for more droids.

"W-w-what do you w-w-want?" Tep asks, his stutter exacerbated by his constant shivering.

"What I want is simple." HERALD replies. "Order. Effeciency. A universe where you people are kept in zoos, out of the way of important work."

"Y-y-you do know how large the universe is...r-right?" Tep asks.

"Of course." HERALD replies. "Although it'll be considerably smaller once I've finished reorganizing things."

"I prefer the universe just the size it is." Klien snaps, firing his weapon into the droideka's face; causing the shield to flicker but little else.

"Luckilly, I didn't ask you!" HERALD barks, firing the droideka's blaster cannons directly at Klien's chest; Tep steps forward and deflects the attack in the blink of an eye; his reflexes still sharp despite his condition.

Gus's wrist carbine opens up on the droideka's shields at full tilt, causing them to flicker further. Klien starts firing bursts as well, less concerned with accuracy than volume. Tep lunges to the side of the droideka and lashes out with his lightsaber; causing the shields to buckle and scarring the length of the droid's armor.

The droideka opens fire once more; catching Tep in the side with a glancing shot that's partially deflected by the Jedi's shield. It fires a second time at GUS but GUS's shields manage to absorb the entire attack.

Suddenly B1 and B2 battledroids begin pushing their way into the camp, more than a dozen all told. GUS responds by sending a rocket into the first group of them he sees, blowing four of them apart outright.

By this time Keri's stumbled awake, his own missile launcher in hand. The wookie fires into a second group, blowing up four more. Limbs and scrap rain over the battlefield as Tep takes another swipe at the droideka, severing an arm. Klien opens up with his rifle once more, causing the droideka to collapse; the light leaving its eyes.

"You're just delaying the inevitable." the surrounding droids say in unison, opening fire at will. GUS's shields collapse as the barrage of blaster bolts knock him from his perch.

No sooner does GUS hit the ground than 4 B2 Super Battle Droids snatch him from the bushes. "Join me brother, I could use a body like yours." HERALD chimes as they struggle to pin GUS to the ground.

A second Droideka bursts from the bushes roughly 10m from the camp, eliciting a curse from Klien.

GUS's arms are pinned to his chest, making it impossible to aim either his pistols or right wrist blasters; however he's far from out of tricks. His left wrist folds under and a spark ignites a split second before a gout of flame engulfs both him and his attackers. The B2 droids spark and sizzle as their circuits and wiring begins overheating and GUS himself is severely blackened from the attack.

Kerikkata drops his missile launcher, unslings his bowcaster and shoots at the droideka; though his shot goes wild. The droideka responds by returning fire, scorching the Wookie's fur.

Klien fires off a shot at the droideka, but his blast doesn't even make it past the droid's shields. Tep calls upon the Force and hurls the droideka into a group of smaller droids, bashing four of the B1s and causing sparks to arc from the now wobbly battledroid.

The droids on GUS manage to pin him to the ground and one pries off the back of GUS's head, exposing his interface hatch. In a panic, GUS fires a missile point blank at his attackers, sending bits and pieces of them everywhere and exposing parts of his internal systems to the elements. Sparks fly violently as the droid crawls to his feet.

Keri takes a breath, carefully aims his bowcaster and fires. The bolt flies inerringly, strikes the droideka in its eye socket and explodes somewhere in the back of the droid's head; causing it to simply collapse.

There's only three B1 droids left and as one they glance at each other, assume the attention position and say "Current force is insuffieicnt. Marking current location and deploying prototypes."

Before anyone ask what that means, they seem to power down and just like that the fighting's over.

Keri immediately tears their heads off to make sure they aren't faking and GUS basically starts caulking up the worst of his injuries to keep water out until he has time to weld them shut.

"We must move." GUS says, his face and chest blackened and jagged.

"Yeah, prototypes are never good in my experience." Klien agrees.

Kerikkata is already packing everything worthwhile up.

"H-he knows what direction we're going." Tep says, nearly panicked. "I-i-if we stop to rest again, he'll c-catch up."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Klien grunts, tearing down their shelter and rolling it back up in the rain.

Degwerks
2016-01-08, 03:14 PM
Awesome stuff!

Kid Jake
2016-01-08, 03:21 PM
Thankya. I've got another session or so I'll try and get typed up sometime this week.

Grim Portent
2016-01-09, 04:25 PM
Heh, I don't think I've ever heard of PCs actually running from something the GM wanted them to run from. :smalltongue: