03-20-2021, 01:23 AM
I found an old Star Wars game I ran when first trying out RPGSolo. I used Lady Blackbird rules (well Jedi Blackbird variant to be precise). It's great for a one shot or mini campaign of three or so adventures. Hope you like it.
Kadeon Haskyll, a charming, cocky, impetuous Jedi teenager apprentice fears nothing. Gee who does THAT sound like?
Thule
He's in a ship orbiting Thule.
Rescue the agent from the Taris.
Pirate frigate
Who else is with Kadeon?
Insightful and scheming journeyman who is slightly weaker than you and whose motivation is to indulge propaganda and is focused on your allies.
His friend... female?
(50/50 | 9[d10]) Yes
Gisell is her name.
What is she good at?
Seamstress/tailor
Espionage
Bountyhunting
Bountyhunting
Agriculture
Anyone else with him?
(50/50 | 1[d10]) No, and...
------
Starting Scene: In Orbit around Thule
------
"So we really going to do this?" Giselle asks sitting down next to him in the cockpit her feet up on the dash. Twin blaster pistols hung at her waist. She put her hands behind her head and stared out the cockpit.
They had "borrowed" the small transport ship from the Jedi Council. Kadeon had picked up Gisell en-route since her...special skills would prove useful. She's small--short but agile. She keeps her dusty blonde hair in a pony tail revealing an intelligent perceptive tanned face. She's two years younger than Kadeon and is pretty in a just-discovering-womanhood kind of way. She can pass for a boy with the right clothes and disguise kit. Her clothes, made at her own specification, are of fine make, functional, loose, comfortable with a myriad of hidden pockets.
"Of course," Kadeon shoves her feet off the dash and leans over the sensors.
"Three days in Hyperspace and we're at a dead planet"
"It's not dead. The air is breathable. It's a semi-arid planet and--"
"Well, it looks dead with that constant storm."
"You didn't have to come along."
"Well, you asked so nicely, and I was bored and you said there would be credits involved and how can a girl say no?"
They're at Thule. They need to get something down on the surface that will aid in the rescue of the agent. What is it?
MAG: (Sunburst, person with energies around him, a shield, a minotaur, a mouth eating a blade, a magnifying glace, a bat, a hand of fire, another shield)
I'm going with person surrounded by energies.
Who is it. His master?
(50/50 | 1[d10]) No, and...
We'll circle back to the pirate frigate. It's Bodann, the leader of the pirates. It's rumored he may be force sensitive.
Is the agent they're rescuing a human male?
(50/50 | 8[d10]) Yes +Twist: Item / Ends the scene
The holoprojector flares up showing the scans of the pirate vessel on the ground. "Bodann sold him to slavery on Taris. He knows where... plus he needs to pay."
"Ah so it's revenge."
"It's justice. Justice and the coordinates for the sale. That's all we need."
"That's it huh? On a storm planet bathed in lightning."
"Relax. What could go wrong?" Kadeon gives her a wry grin and jets forward, pressing them back against their seats as the shuttle dives down into the upper layer of the atmosphere.
----
New Scene - Among the Lightning
----
Bolts of lightning flashed about them and alarms started to blare.
"What could go wrong?" she grips the handles on her seat.
"Quiet, I'm trying to concentrate!" Kadeon says, still smiling but more tersely. Between two layers of clouds, huge twisting columns of cloud shone with blue and purple lightning. Every once in a while, energy would build up and a bolt would lash out.
Piloting - Difficult to avoid getting hit
Okay, in Lady Blackbird (Jedi Blackbird) system they use a die-pool. To overcome interesting obstacles, you need to use your pool. You get 1 die for trying, 1 die for a relevant trait (he has vehicles), and 1 die for each tag or tags within that trait that you're using. A 4-6 is a success and you need 2 for Easy, 3 for Difficult, 4 for Challenging, 5 for Extreme etc...
He's quite skilled at vehicles. He'll use these tags: Stunts, Rocket Pack, The Force is My Copilot that gives him a total of 6 dice. I'm using https://rolz.org/ to roll pool dice. Here we go.
Oh one thing to note. You also have your personal pool of 7 dice starting out. You can add as many of these into the skill as you like. If you succeed, you lose the personal pool dice. If you fail you get them back plus one more added to your personal pool. You can get pool dice back through a Refresh scene (downtime scene that reveals something about your character). He'll add 3 dice bringing the total to 9 dice.
The shuttle twists corkscrewing downward around columns of energy. Kadeon closes his eyes, feels the Force, it's subtle tug guiding his hands, reacting to lightning before it hits. He tries to--
"What are you doing, don't shut your eyes!" she hisses grabbing his arm.
"Hey! I'm trying to concentrate. I--"
"Fly with your eyes open, idiot!" she says.
"Gissell, I'm fine I need to--"
"Well I'm not, and your flying is making me sick--"
He pulls into a tight twisting turn, and feels the g forces against him, avoiding another bolt that lashed out towards them. She closes her eyes now, gritting her teeth as he twisted around another cloud column and dove down beneath the cloud layer where rain spattered on their cockpit.
(He got 4 successes out of his 9 nice so his personal pool is down to 4).
"See... nothing to worry about," he says. They were through the worst of it now, and passing out the other end of the storm system. The rain soon turned to mere sprinkling as the shuttle shot out of the clouds and over a low rolling hills covered in rich savannas.
She quickly unbuckled herself and dashed out to wretch out her lunch.
He grinned as he brought up the 3D holo map of the local terrain.
---
Refresh Scene - In the Cockpit
---
"Feeling okay?" he asks when she comes back in.
"I had to puke out my guts, but yes, thanks."
He smiled at her.
"Do you always do that?"
"What? Smile?"
"Well, you do do that too much. But No. Show off, I meant. Do you always have to pull some stunt?"
"Hey you know me," he grinned again.
"Yeah," she sighed, rubbing her temples. "You were always a bit reckless."
"Nah. I just like...speed. The motion. The action. It makes me feel...I don't know...alive I guess. You know?" he still smiles at her.
"I wish I didn't, but yes, I do. It just terrifies me."
"Remember that time we outran the droid authorities on Coruscant. We dove our speeder bikes through--what was it? Five or six lanes of traffic?"
"I thought you would die when you clipped that hauler and spun out of control, but you somehow always...managed to land on your feet," she gives a grudging smile. "Just try to be a little more careful okay."
"Hey... it's me," he smiles again.
End Scene - Refresher scene brings his dice pool up to 7.
They jut over the landscape.
Does he feel any disturbance in the force? (According to Wookepedia Thule is the location of a hidden Sith stronghold...)
(50/50 | 2[d10]) No
He'll proceed to the location of the pirate frigate using the natural curves in the terrain to mask their approach.
What is the frigate doing here?
Meaningfully / Strong
I'll say they were in a battle with authorities, they jumped to hyperspace and now they've landed on Thule to conduct some emergency repairs to make their ship and shields meaningfully strong (ie combat worthy). They were venting atmo before and their portside took considerable damaged to hull and gun batteries on that side.
---
New Scene - On the Savannah
---
A receding storm front behind him and late afternoon sun slanting through misty clouds, creates a beautiful scene of sunlight on green grasslands glistening with rain drops. The two of them wriggle through the wet grass cresting the hill and scan the area with their macros.
Do they see the repair crew at work?
(Likely | 7[d10]) Yes
Men scramble over the hull of the ship and large contingent of pirates are actively welding together structural beams on the port side.
Is Bodann out and about?
(50/50 | 1[d10]) No, and...
He's not in the ship at all. They overhear from his men that he ordered them to continue repairs on the ship. He took a land speeder further south to check out some ruins.
Does Kadeon see any prisoners under guard out and about while he's scoping out the frigate.
(Unlikely | 2[d10]) No
Are their scouts out and about watching for infiltrators?
(50/50 | 2[d10]) No
The two infiltrators silently back down the hill and return to the shuttle. Kadeon guesses that the enemy frigate still has a good two days of work on it before it's space worthy on the portside.
"Come on," he says. "We have a chance to get at Bodann without his pirate army around him."
Boarding the shuttle they take off in low power mode and fly low away from the shuttle. Kadeon taps a spot on his holo map south of the frigate's position and starts to move in a wide circuit in an intercept course.
Let's see if Kadeon can pilot his craft in such a way that it's not noticed? He gets 1 for trying, 1 for Vehicles trait, and he's using 3 additional tags: Navigation, Fly Casual, and The Force Is My Copilot. 5 dice. It's not particularly difficult if he uses terrain masking. He'll need 2 successes. He'll opt to not use any additional pool dice.
And he gets two successes to avoid any sensor activity from the pirate frigate. Frigate needs a name -- I've dubbed it "The Ravage".
----
New Scene - Outer Ruins
----
After giving the Ravage a wide berth, Kadeon sees some ruins in the distance. Huge rocks like some half buried corpse jut oddly out from the savanna as beams of setting sun play across their surface. The rocks are blackened and scoured by centuries of constant lighting blasts.
Is the land speeder visible?
(50/50 | 4[d10]) No
The ruins are large, perhaps the size of a large town or small city. It's as if the ruins have sunk into the earth with each progressive year. Grasses, creepers, hanging vines, and green lichen cover everything. A speeder could easily hide in this mess. A stiff wind sweeps across the prairie drying the verdant grasslands from went to damp. Kadeon sets the shuttle down just among the first row of fallen and half sunken rocks. Buildings seems to stare at them as night-black doorways and windows long since dead to the ravages of time watch them.
"I don't like this place," Gisell says drawing closer to Kadeon. She has her pistol out and Kadeon notices his own hand has been resting on his lightsaber.
Do they hear voices?
(50/50 | 8[d10]) Yes
The pirates?
(Likely | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
"Shhh," Kadeon waves her down and they take up defensive positions behind a half crumbled tower. The sun is now setting into the receding storm-front, a majestic display of oranges, reds, purples mixes with the night-blue of oncoming night. The ruins take on an orangish tint in the fading light.
AND it's a lot of voices and they're coming toward them.
"How many are there?" she whispers
"More than just a land speeder..." he says and ducks back behind the a stone block. "I'm beginning to think he took a skiff out here. Not a simple landspeeder."
She nodded. The frigate was large enough to hold another large vehicle or two in its hangar bay.
They'll try to hide. It's an Easy task, needing 2 successes. Gisell will take the lead on this one. She gets 1 for trying, has Hunter of Hunters trait, and uses the tags Silent Step and Ambush. (for 3 more). That's 4 dice total. Kadeon will assist by lending her a die. So that's 5 dice. She'll spend one from her personal dice pool, making 6 dice total.
And they get four successes, easily enough for them to avoid the squad of ruffians and pirate scum who drift past them.
Because they succeeded, she loses her die from her personal pool and Kadeon loses the one he gave to assist in the task.
The voices recede as the sun sinks lower into the clouds.
----
New Scene - Deeper Among the Ruins
----
Do they spot the skiff now?
(Somewhat Likely | 1[d10]) No, and...
I'll ask more about that "No, and" later...
The sun has departed, and a strange eerie blue-green glow has started to emanate from the rocks. Gisell scrapes some onto her knife edge and studies it. "It's plant matter... bioluminecent. Interesting..."
"Yeah..." Kadeon says his voice distant.
"You okay?"
(50/50 | 4[d10]) No
"No," he shivers and pulls his cloak closer against him as a wind starts to keen among the rocks. "There's... something in that wind."
Is it the darkside he's feeling?
(Likely | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
And... something is actively probing his mind.
It felt like something cold and slimy had crawled into his brain to lodge there. He wanted to scream. He fell back against a wall and then to his knees.
He'll try to resist it... throw up a force barrier against it. He gets 1 for trying. 1 for Strong in the Force trait. 1 for Do or Do Not. I'll say it's a difficult attack. He'll need three successes. He has 3 so far. Probably not very likely with that.
"What is it? How can I help?"
"I...don't...can't..."
She'll grab his hands and give him emotional support. (she'll donate a dice from her pool).
That gives him 4 dice.
He'll use 4 from his pool. That'll give him 8 dice total.
"No!" he sags against a stone plinth holding her hands. He focuses on her hands. Warm hands. Hands of a friend. A light forms between their hands and grows to a soft nimbus of warmth and protection. He wills it outwards in a bubble and the dark attack recedes, crawling back into whatever hole it came from.
He got exactly 3 successes. Nice.
"What are you doing?" she asks in awe.
"I don't know... But... you helped."
"Me? I can't do what you're doing."
"No, not that. You being here. With me. Helping me."
She didn't know what to say and when he looked down at her with his attractive face and bold eyes, she didn't know what to do.
"Thank you," he whispered and held her.
Oooo romance is in the air. Maybe... if it doesn't get too awkward. They were just friends right? RIGHT?
(Her die pool is now 5 -- because they succeeded, she loses it. His die pool is now 2...)
She nods and pulls away. "Yeah...umm sure. Anytime."
Then she turns and stares into the darkness. With the light nimbus around her she didn't feel afraid of the darkness of the night or the strange ruins. Maybe she should, but she felt more afraid of something inside of her. She saw in herself something quite different. Her own darkness. Her first hunt. Her first kill. The blood on her hands. True, the man had it coming to him hadn't he? He had stolen from their family, beaten her, beaten her mother and father to death's door. And he had stolen her younger sister. She was only 3 years old. A little girl and that monster took her. Took her and...and sold her. And when she caught him, he wouldn't talk. He wouldn't tell her where he'd taken Mardwynn. Even with a pistol to his head he wouldn't talk. She wanted to make him talk. Was he just crazy? Insane? Was he--
"What is it?" he asks touching her shoulder.
"Nothing," she jumps and hunches her shoulders pulling inward. "You wouldn't understand."
"I'm right here. You can talk to me."
Does she tell him?
(50/50 | 3[d10]) No
She shakes her head and shoves her trembling hands into her pockets. "Not yet Kade. Maybe later." Her voice sounds small and far away.
"Okay Gis," it was his nick name for her. What he used to call her.
She scrunches her eyes against it.
"Yeah...Umm. Whenever you want to talk, I'm here." He shrugs and moves past her.
But she could read people and she saw the hurt on his face.
"Let's keep moving then..."
(I'll say this counts as a refreshment scene for both of them. The rules state "In between dice rolls, chars can have refreshment scenes with each other. [These] are a good way for the characters to show their personalities and develop their relationships with one another." -- I think we just saw that for both.
They keep moving. What happens next?
Divide / Jealously
Sounds like the pirates are divided?
(50/50 | 6[d10]) Yes, but...
Do the characters see this?
(Somewhat Likely | 6[d10]) Yes
---
New Scene - Some time later.
---
I need to ask a question from an earlier prompt. The Skiff this group took had a No And. Is it broken down, damaged, or destroyed?
(50/50 | 9[d10]) Yes
Destroyed?
(Somewhat Unlikely | 4[d10]) No +Twist: Item / Ends the scene
They hear voices. "We ain't gonna go in," a trembling voice .
Bodann stands with 2d4+1 others.
"You'll go where I tell you."
"It's death to go in there sir."
"It's death to disobey your captain." Bodann says.
Bodann whips out his pistol and points it at the man."
7 = 2[d4]+4[d4]+1
There are seven men total.
"Please sir, I--"
Bodann pulls the trigger and the man crashes backwards a blaster hole burned through his chest.
(The but from before is... but they're not divided for long.)
Now there are six others besides Bodann.
"Does anyone else want to question his captain's orders? No? Good--"
"Harvy, you take point."
"Sir!" And they all slipped into a narrow entrance way of a rectangular building.
Kadeon and Giselle wait a few moments before following after. They see a huge monolithic collapsed statue lay in three pieces nearby.
Is the statue of sith design?
(Likely | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
And Kadeon recognizes it... A Sith Master and Dark Lord named Itahos (non-canon).
What's some history of Itahos that Kadeon knows from his time among the Jedi?
Release / Energy
Kadeon thought about what he knew about this Itahos. Under the lure of the darkside, he sabatoged an ancient republic starship causing a massive weapons malfunction that blew apart several decks causing many deaths.
Release / Prison
He released some sith disciples the Jedi Council had imprisoned and who they were hoping to bring back to the light.
Gratify / Opulence
He descended into gratifying the lusts of the flesh and amassing wealth and opulence.
Adversity / Stalemate
Eventually after he had captured several planets, the Jedi Order located him and attacked. They killed several of his followers but lost many of their own while Itahos fled. It wasn't known where he fled to. Perhaps here on Thule.
Kadeon recounts the history to Giselle as his fingers trace the blocky runes at the base of the inscription. "No one knew where he went... and we just happened to find these ruins."
"You're saying the council doesn't know about this place?" Giselle asks.
"If they did, it in the library."
"So what is this then, some kind of tomb, a place where this...Itahos came to die?"
"Tomb or temple or something else, I don't know."
They study the statue a few more minutes. "One thing I know about the sith is that they'll stop at nothing to gain power, control, and dominion over others. They'll destroy anything or anyone who stands in their way. That means we have to stop Bodann. He still has info we need to rescue Chaddam, and he needs to answer for his sins, but now there's another more dangerous reason to stop him. This..." he waves at the squat blocky building in front of him.
"A building?"
"Something dark is here. I felt it...out there in there. I don't know. But it needs to be stopped too."
"Not to rain on your parade, Kade, but you're just a apprentice, right? Not even a full Jedi yet and this Itahos was a full master?"
"Do you see anyone else around here who's going to stop him?"
"I don't want you to die doing something stupid Kade."
"If I'm going to die, its because it's something that needs to be done."
"Kade... this place. It's wrong. Maybe we should just wait for him to return."
He shakes his head and paces back and forth. "This isn't the time for this Gis. What if he finds something in there that gives him more power? What if he might become something unstoppable."
"Don't go," she says touching his arm. "Please."
"This is something that must be done. I'm going. With or without you."
(Cue the U2 music
)
He turns and leaves her in the doorway.
(He gets 1 xp for turning the "Key of Ambition" -- Basically if he does anything solo to prove that he's more than just an apprentice he'll get an xp)
---
New Scene - Inside the dark passageway
---
Kadeon pulls out a small pen light and listens. The darkness that surrounds him is more than just the absence of light. Even with the light he feels the darkness. He grits his teeth thinking about Giselle. Bodann had to be stopped. If he wasn't, a lot more people would suffer, and he wasn't going to stand for that. Not when he had a chance to do something about it. He pressed further into the dark passageway.
Were there like traps or something that the dark sith dude setup to stop interlopers?
(Likely | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
And he sees evidence in their handiwork as two bodies lay headless in the passageway in pools of blood. (Bodann is down to 4 others now).
Are there any traps left for him?
(50/50 | 3[d10]) No
He grits his teeth expecting something to spring out at him, but there's nothing.
Does he gain on the others (I'll say likely since the traps would have slowed them down)
(Likely | 9[d10]) Yes
He extinguishes his light as he rounds a bend hearing voices and he cautiously follows behind Bodann and the others.
I'll say he needs an Easy success to not get noticed. Easy because they're not expecting anyone and they're focused on what's ahead not behind.
Unfortunately, action, not stealth, is his forte. He doesn't really have skills in this area. He'll try to use the force to will them to not look behind, he'll use the force to move a rock that's further down beyond them and then drop it, causing a rock to fall, against a far wall to keep them looking in that direction.
He'll use "Strong in the Force" trait and "Do or Do Not" tag and "Lift Things" tag. With the 1 for trying, that's 4. He'll add 2 from his personal pool for a total of six. Not the best odds, but you never know.
"What was that?" Someone says.
"I don't know. Stay on the lookout though," Bodann says and they move onward with Kadeon able to follow closely behind.
Wow. Five successes! He nailed it. It works exactly as expected, and the snapping sound of rock on rock keeps their attention riveted.
He's able to follow them without them noticing as they leave the passageway. The rectangular building goes into the hillside and the passage opens up into a large rectangular room with a hexagon pedestal in the center.
Do lights come on in the building?
(50/50 | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
There's a flash of blinding red light as one of the men nears the pedestal.
Does the light harm the man?
(Somewhat Likely | 3[d10]) No +Event: Release / Disruption
Who or what does the event involve?
NPC Action
Good
Take
What was released? I'll use the MAG.
(a wheel, three figures, a snowflake in a circle, a rose, a sickle, two crossed bones, a helmeted head, a hand with a star symbol on it, a lantern lighting up someone)
The red light was a hologram coming to life. The hologram is made of blood-red light. Inside it a figure stands in black robes, head bowed. The head raises but the face remains cowled in shadow. It laughs, and the room is cast in the eerie luminescence of the red holo... Ancient gears and wheels shove plates aside and three armored figures bearing whirling blades raise up out of the ground.
Hmm... are they undead imbued by dark force energies?
(SL given the bones in the mag)
(Somewhat Likely | 2[d10]) No
k. I'll say they're droids then.
Ancient droids scuttle forward, dark blades spinning.
Do they attack?
(Likely | 5[d10]) Yes, but...
Age has tempered them somewhat.
Kadeon waits and watches as the droids attack.
Have any of the droids noticed him?
(50/50 | 3[d10]) No
The three droids attack Bodann and his four comrades.
Do the droids wipe out all of Bodann's comrades? U
(Unlikely | 6[d10]) No, but...
The battle was brief. The droids rush forward with a whir of gears and blades. They use ancient melee weapon styles that Bodann's men aren't prepared for and two of them quickly fall. (Kadeon, who has studied sword play, (albiet with a light saber) recognizes the forms.). The other two with Bodann blast them with blaster shots until the droids are destroyed or incapacitated. They lie in heaps of spinning gears and the blood of the dying pool about the pedastal.
"Excellent..." the form says. "You have proven yourself capable..."
"What are you?" Bodann asks.
"A projection." The figure replies.
"Are you alive?"
The hologram pauses as if considering. "In a sense. My body is dead, but that is but a shell, a desiccated husk that became food for worms. My spirit is bound to this place. But should you free me, I can offer you power and wealth beyond your dreams."
"What's the catch?" Bodann asks.
Does the force spirit know that Kadeon is there? I'll say likely since it was what probably attacked him before.
(Likely | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
"There is no catch. Free me and all shall be made manifest."
"How do I do that?" Bodann asks.
"Take this crystal..." a slot opens on the pedestal and a red figure appears at the feet of the translucent recording. "It will help you. I cannot directly affect the world without my body. But it will give you the power you need to defeat the boy."
"What boy?"
The hologram figure raised a hand and a gloved finger pointed at Kadeon's hiding position.
"You've been followed by a light-side pup. He's not worthy of the power I'm offering you. Finish him then take the crystal and bear my name."
Does he take the crystal?
(Likely | 9[d10]) Yes
He reaches out to take it. "No!" Kadeon shouts and rushes forward his lightsaber igniting.
Blaster shots splash against the pillar he'd been hiding behind. They had all turned toward him so they weren't surprised when he rushed them. It'll be Difficult to block all the attacks. It'll be challenging to block all their attacks and cut down Bodann's cut-throats at the same time.
Kadeon rushes towards them and he uses "Secret of the Lucky Break". Secrets are special abilities the character can use usually only once per session. This one allows him to keep all his pool dice when he succeeds at something. So he can use all his pool dice. He'll do that now.
So, he gets 1 for trying, 1 for "Jedi Combat Art" trait, plus 1 each for these tags: "Lightsaber", "Parrying", "Running" = 5 dice, plus the 8 pools dice.
I'll say if he gets Extreme (5 successes), he can also damage either the pedestal or Bodann as well.
So 13 dice total.
It's over in a matter of heart beats. Kadeon dashes forward at a preternatural speed, deflecting the red blaster bolts to either side as he runs. Then he's among them. The pirates keep shooting but he blocks every bolt and then his blue saber cutting the two of them down. Bodann had snatched the crystal when Kadeon had darted forward. He now leaps off of the raised dais his pistol raised as he shoots attempting to drop the boy. The hologram is still there but the red crystal begins to glow and a glow starts to travel up Bodann's arm.
The veins in his flesh turn red as he backs away from Kadeon his gun raised.
Is Bodann nervous about what's happening to him?
(50/50 | 8[d10]) Yes
"Drop it!" Kadeon shouts. He doesn't want to kill Bodann. He needs him alive.
"What's happening to me?" Bodann says as his veins start to turn red, infused with the strange light.
"What we've always wanted..." the force spirit says from the hologram.
"We? I don't know--"
"I can sense it in you. Power and freedom. You've granted me freedom. For that boon, I now grant you power. Search your feelings. You can feel the Darkness inside of you. It is yours for the taking. Channel the anger within you at this mere pup of a boy disrupting your plans. And finish him."
Does he do it?
(Somewhat Likely | 9[d10]) Yes +Event: Dispute / Attention
"Good. Let me guide you..."
His eyes roll up inside his head and in a yell of anger, Bodann raises his fist holding the crystal and shouts shoving with his other hand towards Kadeon.
This is an end scenario kind of fight. Kadeon will need an Easy success to avoid getting hurt from the force push. He's trained against his masters. Then he'll need an extreme success to defeat Bodann. He wants to save his dice to finish Bodann so he'll not use any pool dice to block the force push. He'll use "Strong in the Force" and "Do Or Do Not" to counter the assault, with his +1 dice for trying that's 3 dice.
Nope. Only 1 success. Ouch...
Kaden tries to push the weave of force away, but it's much stronger than he expected. The wave of invisible energy slams into Kaden, and he flies off of the dais and smashes into a pillar. Dazed and seeing stars, he shakes away the blackness and finds it painful to breathe. A cracked rib? (He takes the condition injured.)
"Good... good!" cackling from the hologram. "Open yourself to me and you'll see the true nature of the Dark Side. Let your passions and hatred fuel the fire. Let desire burn away inhibition. Finish him!"
Kadeon groggily gets to his feet, somehow he managed to hold onto his saber. He stumbles over one of the droid piles and then he limps to face Bodann.
Bodann's form is now wreathed in light and his eyes are closed in seeming ectasy.
"Now... finish the boy! Kill him!"
"No!" a female voice screams and there Giselle crouched behind a crumbled block of stone shoots at Bodann. Kadeon rushes at Bodann at the same time (this will count as an aid to her attack). She'll need only five successes since she's not injured. She gets 1 for trying, and uses "Hunter of Hunters" trait. Under that she uses these tags: Silent Step, Ambush, Pistols, and Quick. That's 5 dice + 1 for trying, plus +1 from Kadeon. 7 dice. She'll use a once-per-session secret of her own "Secret of your past life" where she remembers her father teaching her to shoot--breathe, aim, squeeze--- (this once per session allows her to add 3 dice to any one task. She now has 10 dice. She'll add all 7 from her pool. 17 dice. She needs five successes.
(Her arrival is the Dispute / Attention event from before)
Bodann spins to face this new threat but is distracted at Kaden's sudden charge. The energy that had been building up in the fist with the crystal lances out and slams into Kaden sending him backward again, electricity coursing and arcing through the boy as he slumps to the floor of the dais. But it was a critical distraction Giselle needed.
Gisell's blaster shots are near rapid fire, but they're sustained and even though he deflects one by some unseen power, the others slam into Bodann, two score his chest, two turn his head into a charred mess, and one blasts the hand holding the crystal. The crystal rolls out of his dead form. She keeps shooting as she advances, laying down a stream of withering fire. She advances pocketing her right pistol and sliding in another power back into her left pistol. She sends more shots and smoke rises from numerous holes in Bodann's form. Other shots slam into the pedastle behind Bodann and it erupts in a blue sparking mess of flame and ruined electronics. The red light blinks out and the acrid smell of burning wire fills the air as she rushes to Kadeon's side.
(Gisell has zero pool dice. Kadeon still has four but he's injured.)
(btw, she got 9 successes to defeat Bodann!)
---
Morning - Back at the Shuttle
---
Kadeon's eyes blink open. He's on a bed. The shuttle has a single room with two bunks on it. Enough for four people should the need arise. It's plenty of room for the two of them.
"What--? Where? How?" He managed.
"We're on the shuttle," Giselle says, sitting on the neighboring bunk. "We're safe. For now, and we're away from that place. We're in orbit."
"You came for me," he says. "Thank you. I--"
Giselle gives him a flat stare and an even flatter voice. "You left me. Friends don't do that Kade. You understand?"
(She had used her Key of True Friendship - and gets an xp for going after him into danger)
"Look, I had to go. There wasn't time. I had to stop him before it was too late."
"And what would have happened had I not shown up?"
He remembered laying dazed at the foot of the pillar. Bodann's attack had been so powerful. He tried to say something witty to deflect her hurt and angry look, instead he winced and looked away for a long moment. "I'm... sorry."
She gave a curt nod and then stood turning to leave. "Rest up, I'll be in the cockpit."
"Wait? What about Bodann?"
"He's dead," she says looking over her shoulder at him.
"What?!" his own anger surges. "We needed him alive."
"Some monsters you don't keep alive," she responds.
Did Bodann have a personal datapad on him with the information they needed to rescue Chaddam on Taris?
(50/50 | 6[d10]) Yes, but...
But it's encrypted.
"But he had his personal data pad on him," she says. "There's bound to be something on that. If we can crack it."
"Fine... I guess it's something," he sighs and leans back on the bunk closing his eyes. Then the meds kicked in and his eyes drifted closed.
---
Final Scene - In the cockpit
---
Giselle, has her feet up on the dash again. They're hurtling through hyper-space towards Taris. Kadeon still sleeps, the bacta and bandages she'd him in would heal his wounds in a few hours. That electrical attack had done a number on him. But Kade was young and resilient. He would mend quickly. Her mind flits back of its own accord to Bodann's form smoking with holes in his torso, rolling over. She thinks of her own quiet rage. Thinks of the voice of the robed figure in red calling to her anger.
She thinks of the red crystal that rolled from Bodann's hand.
With a satisfied smirk, she reaches into her pocket and uncurls her fingers revealing a soft red luminescence that emits from the very same crystal she now holds in her hand. She rubs it between two fingers and gives a satisfied nod. "It just might be worth something to the right buyer..."
The End
Final XP count is:
Kadeon = 6: 1 for bettering the world by getting rid of some pirates +2 for going into danger, and 1 for acting on his own +2 for going into danger
Gisell = 5: 1 for sacrificing herself to help a friend +2 for going into danger, and 1 for hiding the crystal from Kadeon.
(With every 5 XP you can improve your char)
Characters and Such by the end:
Kadeon Haskyll (die pool 7) - XP 2
Gisell - Insightful and scheming journeyman who is slightly weaker than you and whose motivation is to indulge propaganda and is focused on your allies. (die pool 7)
She grew up as a farmer (+1) and later worked in the city in a clothing shop (+1). But now, she's a skilled spy (+1) and bounty hunter (+2). Small and agile (+1). Intelligent (+1) Perceptive (+1).
Hunter of Hunters:
Silent Step, Ambush, Pistols, Tracking, Infiltration, Quick, Dodge, Knives [Security Systems], [Disguise Master], [Recon], [Poisons],
Smarter Than Most: Clothing Change, Perceptive, Spycraft, Computers, Negotiation, [Acting],[Forgery]
Bounty Hunter:
Sniper, Agile, Run, Small, Small Ship Piloting, Sensors, [Aim] [Gunnery] [Droid Craft]
Born of the Earth:
Plants n Such, Hardworker, Toned and Tanned, Pretty, Large vehicles, [Healing Arts], [United we Stand]
Key of the Hunt - You are the hunter not the hunted. Hit this key when you eliminate a significant threat or collect a significant bounty. BUYOFF:
Key of Hidden Truths - Knowledge is your currency. Hit this key when you find out an inconvenient truth about someone and you use it against them to your advantage or the advantage of your team; or Hit this key when you work against your team to hide an inconvenient truth
Key of True Friendship - You are a loyal to a fault to another character. Hit this key when you sacrifice something that benefits them but harms you. BUYOFF: Betray the friend.
Secret of your Past Life - Once per session, you can call in a favor from someone if it makes sense for them to be there. Alternately, if they aren't there, you can add three dice to any one skill check because of something you knew or a relationship you remembered.
Secret of Reflexes - Once per refresh, you can re-roll a failure when doing anything involving grace, dexterity, or quick reflexes.
Chaddam - The agent they're trying to rescue.
Bodann - Force sensitive pirate.
Mardwynn - Her younger sister who was kidnapped five years ago. Her sister was 3 at the time.
Kadeon Haskyll, a charming, cocky, impetuous Jedi teenager apprentice fears nothing. Gee who does THAT sound like?
Thule
He's in a ship orbiting Thule.
Rescue the agent from the Taris.
Pirate frigate
Who else is with Kadeon?
Insightful and scheming journeyman who is slightly weaker than you and whose motivation is to indulge propaganda and is focused on your allies.
His friend... female?
(50/50 | 9[d10]) Yes
Gisell is her name.
What is she good at?
Seamstress/tailor
Espionage
Bountyhunting
Bountyhunting
Agriculture
Anyone else with him?
(50/50 | 1[d10]) No, and...
------
Starting Scene: In Orbit around Thule
------
"So we really going to do this?" Giselle asks sitting down next to him in the cockpit her feet up on the dash. Twin blaster pistols hung at her waist. She put her hands behind her head and stared out the cockpit.
They had "borrowed" the small transport ship from the Jedi Council. Kadeon had picked up Gisell en-route since her...special skills would prove useful. She's small--short but agile. She keeps her dusty blonde hair in a pony tail revealing an intelligent perceptive tanned face. She's two years younger than Kadeon and is pretty in a just-discovering-womanhood kind of way. She can pass for a boy with the right clothes and disguise kit. Her clothes, made at her own specification, are of fine make, functional, loose, comfortable with a myriad of hidden pockets.
"Of course," Kadeon shoves her feet off the dash and leans over the sensors.
"Three days in Hyperspace and we're at a dead planet"
"It's not dead. The air is breathable. It's a semi-arid planet and--"
"Well, it looks dead with that constant storm."
"You didn't have to come along."
"Well, you asked so nicely, and I was bored and you said there would be credits involved and how can a girl say no?"
They're at Thule. They need to get something down on the surface that will aid in the rescue of the agent. What is it?
MAG: (Sunburst, person with energies around him, a shield, a minotaur, a mouth eating a blade, a magnifying glace, a bat, a hand of fire, another shield)
I'm going with person surrounded by energies.
Who is it. His master?
(50/50 | 1[d10]) No, and...
We'll circle back to the pirate frigate. It's Bodann, the leader of the pirates. It's rumored he may be force sensitive.
Is the agent they're rescuing a human male?
(50/50 | 8[d10]) Yes +Twist: Item / Ends the scene
The holoprojector flares up showing the scans of the pirate vessel on the ground. "Bodann sold him to slavery on Taris. He knows where... plus he needs to pay."
"Ah so it's revenge."
"It's justice. Justice and the coordinates for the sale. That's all we need."
"That's it huh? On a storm planet bathed in lightning."
"Relax. What could go wrong?" Kadeon gives her a wry grin and jets forward, pressing them back against their seats as the shuttle dives down into the upper layer of the atmosphere.
----
New Scene - Among the Lightning
----
Bolts of lightning flashed about them and alarms started to blare.
"What could go wrong?" she grips the handles on her seat.
"Quiet, I'm trying to concentrate!" Kadeon says, still smiling but more tersely. Between two layers of clouds, huge twisting columns of cloud shone with blue and purple lightning. Every once in a while, energy would build up and a bolt would lash out.
Piloting - Difficult to avoid getting hit
Okay, in Lady Blackbird (Jedi Blackbird) system they use a die-pool. To overcome interesting obstacles, you need to use your pool. You get 1 die for trying, 1 die for a relevant trait (he has vehicles), and 1 die for each tag or tags within that trait that you're using. A 4-6 is a success and you need 2 for Easy, 3 for Difficult, 4 for Challenging, 5 for Extreme etc...
He's quite skilled at vehicles. He'll use these tags: Stunts, Rocket Pack, The Force is My Copilot that gives him a total of 6 dice. I'm using https://rolz.org/ to roll pool dice. Here we go.
Oh one thing to note. You also have your personal pool of 7 dice starting out. You can add as many of these into the skill as you like. If you succeed, you lose the personal pool dice. If you fail you get them back plus one more added to your personal pool. You can get pool dice back through a Refresh scene (downtime scene that reveals something about your character). He'll add 3 dice bringing the total to 9 dice.
The shuttle twists corkscrewing downward around columns of energy. Kadeon closes his eyes, feels the Force, it's subtle tug guiding his hands, reacting to lightning before it hits. He tries to--
"What are you doing, don't shut your eyes!" she hisses grabbing his arm.
"Hey! I'm trying to concentrate. I--"
"Fly with your eyes open, idiot!" she says.
"Gissell, I'm fine I need to--"
"Well I'm not, and your flying is making me sick--"
He pulls into a tight twisting turn, and feels the g forces against him, avoiding another bolt that lashed out towards them. She closes her eyes now, gritting her teeth as he twisted around another cloud column and dove down beneath the cloud layer where rain spattered on their cockpit.
(He got 4 successes out of his 9 nice so his personal pool is down to 4).
"See... nothing to worry about," he says. They were through the worst of it now, and passing out the other end of the storm system. The rain soon turned to mere sprinkling as the shuttle shot out of the clouds and over a low rolling hills covered in rich savannas.
She quickly unbuckled herself and dashed out to wretch out her lunch.
He grinned as he brought up the 3D holo map of the local terrain.
---
Refresh Scene - In the Cockpit
---
"Feeling okay?" he asks when she comes back in.
"I had to puke out my guts, but yes, thanks."
He smiled at her.
"Do you always do that?"
"What? Smile?"
"Well, you do do that too much. But No. Show off, I meant. Do you always have to pull some stunt?"
"Hey you know me," he grinned again.
"Yeah," she sighed, rubbing her temples. "You were always a bit reckless."
"Nah. I just like...speed. The motion. The action. It makes me feel...I don't know...alive I guess. You know?" he still smiles at her.
"I wish I didn't, but yes, I do. It just terrifies me."
"Remember that time we outran the droid authorities on Coruscant. We dove our speeder bikes through--what was it? Five or six lanes of traffic?"
"I thought you would die when you clipped that hauler and spun out of control, but you somehow always...managed to land on your feet," she gives a grudging smile. "Just try to be a little more careful okay."
"Hey... it's me," he smiles again.
End Scene - Refresher scene brings his dice pool up to 7.
They jut over the landscape.
Does he feel any disturbance in the force? (According to Wookepedia Thule is the location of a hidden Sith stronghold...)
(50/50 | 2[d10]) No
He'll proceed to the location of the pirate frigate using the natural curves in the terrain to mask their approach.
What is the frigate doing here?
Meaningfully / Strong
I'll say they were in a battle with authorities, they jumped to hyperspace and now they've landed on Thule to conduct some emergency repairs to make their ship and shields meaningfully strong (ie combat worthy). They were venting atmo before and their portside took considerable damaged to hull and gun batteries on that side.
---
New Scene - On the Savannah
---
A receding storm front behind him and late afternoon sun slanting through misty clouds, creates a beautiful scene of sunlight on green grasslands glistening with rain drops. The two of them wriggle through the wet grass cresting the hill and scan the area with their macros.
Do they see the repair crew at work?
(Likely | 7[d10]) Yes
Men scramble over the hull of the ship and large contingent of pirates are actively welding together structural beams on the port side.
Is Bodann out and about?
(50/50 | 1[d10]) No, and...
He's not in the ship at all. They overhear from his men that he ordered them to continue repairs on the ship. He took a land speeder further south to check out some ruins.
Does Kadeon see any prisoners under guard out and about while he's scoping out the frigate.
(Unlikely | 2[d10]) No
Are their scouts out and about watching for infiltrators?
(50/50 | 2[d10]) No
The two infiltrators silently back down the hill and return to the shuttle. Kadeon guesses that the enemy frigate still has a good two days of work on it before it's space worthy on the portside.
"Come on," he says. "We have a chance to get at Bodann without his pirate army around him."
Boarding the shuttle they take off in low power mode and fly low away from the shuttle. Kadeon taps a spot on his holo map south of the frigate's position and starts to move in a wide circuit in an intercept course.
Let's see if Kadeon can pilot his craft in such a way that it's not noticed? He gets 1 for trying, 1 for Vehicles trait, and he's using 3 additional tags: Navigation, Fly Casual, and The Force Is My Copilot. 5 dice. It's not particularly difficult if he uses terrain masking. He'll need 2 successes. He'll opt to not use any additional pool dice.
And he gets two successes to avoid any sensor activity from the pirate frigate. Frigate needs a name -- I've dubbed it "The Ravage".
----
New Scene - Outer Ruins
----
After giving the Ravage a wide berth, Kadeon sees some ruins in the distance. Huge rocks like some half buried corpse jut oddly out from the savanna as beams of setting sun play across their surface. The rocks are blackened and scoured by centuries of constant lighting blasts.
Is the land speeder visible?
(50/50 | 4[d10]) No
The ruins are large, perhaps the size of a large town or small city. It's as if the ruins have sunk into the earth with each progressive year. Grasses, creepers, hanging vines, and green lichen cover everything. A speeder could easily hide in this mess. A stiff wind sweeps across the prairie drying the verdant grasslands from went to damp. Kadeon sets the shuttle down just among the first row of fallen and half sunken rocks. Buildings seems to stare at them as night-black doorways and windows long since dead to the ravages of time watch them.
"I don't like this place," Gisell says drawing closer to Kadeon. She has her pistol out and Kadeon notices his own hand has been resting on his lightsaber.
Do they hear voices?
(50/50 | 8[d10]) Yes
The pirates?
(Likely | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
"Shhh," Kadeon waves her down and they take up defensive positions behind a half crumbled tower. The sun is now setting into the receding storm-front, a majestic display of oranges, reds, purples mixes with the night-blue of oncoming night. The ruins take on an orangish tint in the fading light.
AND it's a lot of voices and they're coming toward them.
"How many are there?" she whispers
"More than just a land speeder..." he says and ducks back behind the a stone block. "I'm beginning to think he took a skiff out here. Not a simple landspeeder."
She nodded. The frigate was large enough to hold another large vehicle or two in its hangar bay.
They'll try to hide. It's an Easy task, needing 2 successes. Gisell will take the lead on this one. She gets 1 for trying, has Hunter of Hunters trait, and uses the tags Silent Step and Ambush. (for 3 more). That's 4 dice total. Kadeon will assist by lending her a die. So that's 5 dice. She'll spend one from her personal dice pool, making 6 dice total.
And they get four successes, easily enough for them to avoid the squad of ruffians and pirate scum who drift past them.
Because they succeeded, she loses her die from her personal pool and Kadeon loses the one he gave to assist in the task.
The voices recede as the sun sinks lower into the clouds.
----
New Scene - Deeper Among the Ruins
----
Do they spot the skiff now?
(Somewhat Likely | 1[d10]) No, and...
I'll ask more about that "No, and" later...
The sun has departed, and a strange eerie blue-green glow has started to emanate from the rocks. Gisell scrapes some onto her knife edge and studies it. "It's plant matter... bioluminecent. Interesting..."
"Yeah..." Kadeon says his voice distant.
"You okay?"
(50/50 | 4[d10]) No
"No," he shivers and pulls his cloak closer against him as a wind starts to keen among the rocks. "There's... something in that wind."
Is it the darkside he's feeling?
(Likely | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
And... something is actively probing his mind.
It felt like something cold and slimy had crawled into his brain to lodge there. He wanted to scream. He fell back against a wall and then to his knees.
He'll try to resist it... throw up a force barrier against it. He gets 1 for trying. 1 for Strong in the Force trait. 1 for Do or Do Not. I'll say it's a difficult attack. He'll need three successes. He has 3 so far. Probably not very likely with that.
"What is it? How can I help?"
"I...don't...can't..."
She'll grab his hands and give him emotional support. (she'll donate a dice from her pool).
That gives him 4 dice.
He'll use 4 from his pool. That'll give him 8 dice total.
"No!" he sags against a stone plinth holding her hands. He focuses on her hands. Warm hands. Hands of a friend. A light forms between their hands and grows to a soft nimbus of warmth and protection. He wills it outwards in a bubble and the dark attack recedes, crawling back into whatever hole it came from.
He got exactly 3 successes. Nice.
"What are you doing?" she asks in awe.
"I don't know... But... you helped."
"Me? I can't do what you're doing."
"No, not that. You being here. With me. Helping me."
She didn't know what to say and when he looked down at her with his attractive face and bold eyes, she didn't know what to do.
"Thank you," he whispered and held her.
Oooo romance is in the air. Maybe... if it doesn't get too awkward. They were just friends right? RIGHT?
(Her die pool is now 5 -- because they succeeded, she loses it. His die pool is now 2...)
She nods and pulls away. "Yeah...umm sure. Anytime."
Then she turns and stares into the darkness. With the light nimbus around her she didn't feel afraid of the darkness of the night or the strange ruins. Maybe she should, but she felt more afraid of something inside of her. She saw in herself something quite different. Her own darkness. Her first hunt. Her first kill. The blood on her hands. True, the man had it coming to him hadn't he? He had stolen from their family, beaten her, beaten her mother and father to death's door. And he had stolen her younger sister. She was only 3 years old. A little girl and that monster took her. Took her and...and sold her. And when she caught him, he wouldn't talk. He wouldn't tell her where he'd taken Mardwynn. Even with a pistol to his head he wouldn't talk. She wanted to make him talk. Was he just crazy? Insane? Was he--
"What is it?" he asks touching her shoulder.
"Nothing," she jumps and hunches her shoulders pulling inward. "You wouldn't understand."
"I'm right here. You can talk to me."
Does she tell him?
(50/50 | 3[d10]) No
She shakes her head and shoves her trembling hands into her pockets. "Not yet Kade. Maybe later." Her voice sounds small and far away.
"Okay Gis," it was his nick name for her. What he used to call her.
She scrunches her eyes against it.
"Yeah...Umm. Whenever you want to talk, I'm here." He shrugs and moves past her.
But she could read people and she saw the hurt on his face.
"Let's keep moving then..."
(I'll say this counts as a refreshment scene for both of them. The rules state "In between dice rolls, chars can have refreshment scenes with each other. [These] are a good way for the characters to show their personalities and develop their relationships with one another." -- I think we just saw that for both.
They keep moving. What happens next?
Divide / Jealously
Sounds like the pirates are divided?
(50/50 | 6[d10]) Yes, but...
Do the characters see this?
(Somewhat Likely | 6[d10]) Yes
---
New Scene - Some time later.
---
I need to ask a question from an earlier prompt. The Skiff this group took had a No And. Is it broken down, damaged, or destroyed?
(50/50 | 9[d10]) Yes
Destroyed?
(Somewhat Unlikely | 4[d10]) No +Twist: Item / Ends the scene
They hear voices. "We ain't gonna go in," a trembling voice .
Bodann stands with 2d4+1 others.
"You'll go where I tell you."
"It's death to go in there sir."
"It's death to disobey your captain." Bodann says.
Bodann whips out his pistol and points it at the man."
7 = 2[d4]+4[d4]+1
There are seven men total.
"Please sir, I--"
Bodann pulls the trigger and the man crashes backwards a blaster hole burned through his chest.
(The but from before is... but they're not divided for long.)
Now there are six others besides Bodann.
"Does anyone else want to question his captain's orders? No? Good--"
"Harvy, you take point."
"Sir!" And they all slipped into a narrow entrance way of a rectangular building.
Kadeon and Giselle wait a few moments before following after. They see a huge monolithic collapsed statue lay in three pieces nearby.
Is the statue of sith design?
(Likely | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
And Kadeon recognizes it... A Sith Master and Dark Lord named Itahos (non-canon).
What's some history of Itahos that Kadeon knows from his time among the Jedi?
Release / Energy
Kadeon thought about what he knew about this Itahos. Under the lure of the darkside, he sabatoged an ancient republic starship causing a massive weapons malfunction that blew apart several decks causing many deaths.
Release / Prison
He released some sith disciples the Jedi Council had imprisoned and who they were hoping to bring back to the light.
Gratify / Opulence
He descended into gratifying the lusts of the flesh and amassing wealth and opulence.
Adversity / Stalemate
Eventually after he had captured several planets, the Jedi Order located him and attacked. They killed several of his followers but lost many of their own while Itahos fled. It wasn't known where he fled to. Perhaps here on Thule.
Kadeon recounts the history to Giselle as his fingers trace the blocky runes at the base of the inscription. "No one knew where he went... and we just happened to find these ruins."
"You're saying the council doesn't know about this place?" Giselle asks.
"If they did, it in the library."
"So what is this then, some kind of tomb, a place where this...Itahos came to die?"
"Tomb or temple or something else, I don't know."
They study the statue a few more minutes. "One thing I know about the sith is that they'll stop at nothing to gain power, control, and dominion over others. They'll destroy anything or anyone who stands in their way. That means we have to stop Bodann. He still has info we need to rescue Chaddam, and he needs to answer for his sins, but now there's another more dangerous reason to stop him. This..." he waves at the squat blocky building in front of him.
"A building?"
"Something dark is here. I felt it...out there in there. I don't know. But it needs to be stopped too."
"Not to rain on your parade, Kade, but you're just a apprentice, right? Not even a full Jedi yet and this Itahos was a full master?"
"Do you see anyone else around here who's going to stop him?"
"I don't want you to die doing something stupid Kade."
"If I'm going to die, its because it's something that needs to be done."
"Kade... this place. It's wrong. Maybe we should just wait for him to return."
He shakes his head and paces back and forth. "This isn't the time for this Gis. What if he finds something in there that gives him more power? What if he might become something unstoppable."
"Don't go," she says touching his arm. "Please."
"This is something that must be done. I'm going. With or without you."
(Cue the U2 music
)He turns and leaves her in the doorway.
(He gets 1 xp for turning the "Key of Ambition" -- Basically if he does anything solo to prove that he's more than just an apprentice he'll get an xp)
---
New Scene - Inside the dark passageway
---
Kadeon pulls out a small pen light and listens. The darkness that surrounds him is more than just the absence of light. Even with the light he feels the darkness. He grits his teeth thinking about Giselle. Bodann had to be stopped. If he wasn't, a lot more people would suffer, and he wasn't going to stand for that. Not when he had a chance to do something about it. He pressed further into the dark passageway.
Were there like traps or something that the dark sith dude setup to stop interlopers?
(Likely | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
And he sees evidence in their handiwork as two bodies lay headless in the passageway in pools of blood. (Bodann is down to 4 others now).
Are there any traps left for him?
(50/50 | 3[d10]) No
He grits his teeth expecting something to spring out at him, but there's nothing.
Does he gain on the others (I'll say likely since the traps would have slowed them down)
(Likely | 9[d10]) Yes
He extinguishes his light as he rounds a bend hearing voices and he cautiously follows behind Bodann and the others.
I'll say he needs an Easy success to not get noticed. Easy because they're not expecting anyone and they're focused on what's ahead not behind.
Unfortunately, action, not stealth, is his forte. He doesn't really have skills in this area. He'll try to use the force to will them to not look behind, he'll use the force to move a rock that's further down beyond them and then drop it, causing a rock to fall, against a far wall to keep them looking in that direction.
He'll use "Strong in the Force" trait and "Do or Do Not" tag and "Lift Things" tag. With the 1 for trying, that's 4. He'll add 2 from his personal pool for a total of six. Not the best odds, but you never know.
"What was that?" Someone says.
"I don't know. Stay on the lookout though," Bodann says and they move onward with Kadeon able to follow closely behind.
Wow. Five successes! He nailed it. It works exactly as expected, and the snapping sound of rock on rock keeps their attention riveted.
He's able to follow them without them noticing as they leave the passageway. The rectangular building goes into the hillside and the passage opens up into a large rectangular room with a hexagon pedestal in the center.
Do lights come on in the building?
(50/50 | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
There's a flash of blinding red light as one of the men nears the pedestal.
Does the light harm the man?
(Somewhat Likely | 3[d10]) No +Event: Release / Disruption
Who or what does the event involve?
NPC Action
Good
Take
What was released? I'll use the MAG.
(a wheel, three figures, a snowflake in a circle, a rose, a sickle, two crossed bones, a helmeted head, a hand with a star symbol on it, a lantern lighting up someone)
The red light was a hologram coming to life. The hologram is made of blood-red light. Inside it a figure stands in black robes, head bowed. The head raises but the face remains cowled in shadow. It laughs, and the room is cast in the eerie luminescence of the red holo... Ancient gears and wheels shove plates aside and three armored figures bearing whirling blades raise up out of the ground.
Hmm... are they undead imbued by dark force energies?
(SL given the bones in the mag)
(Somewhat Likely | 2[d10]) No
k. I'll say they're droids then.
Ancient droids scuttle forward, dark blades spinning.
Do they attack?
(Likely | 5[d10]) Yes, but...
Age has tempered them somewhat.
Kadeon waits and watches as the droids attack.
Have any of the droids noticed him?
(50/50 | 3[d10]) No
The three droids attack Bodann and his four comrades.
Do the droids wipe out all of Bodann's comrades? U
(Unlikely | 6[d10]) No, but...
The battle was brief. The droids rush forward with a whir of gears and blades. They use ancient melee weapon styles that Bodann's men aren't prepared for and two of them quickly fall. (Kadeon, who has studied sword play, (albiet with a light saber) recognizes the forms.). The other two with Bodann blast them with blaster shots until the droids are destroyed or incapacitated. They lie in heaps of spinning gears and the blood of the dying pool about the pedastal.
"Excellent..." the form says. "You have proven yourself capable..."
"What are you?" Bodann asks.
"A projection." The figure replies.
"Are you alive?"
The hologram pauses as if considering. "In a sense. My body is dead, but that is but a shell, a desiccated husk that became food for worms. My spirit is bound to this place. But should you free me, I can offer you power and wealth beyond your dreams."
"What's the catch?" Bodann asks.
Does the force spirit know that Kadeon is there? I'll say likely since it was what probably attacked him before.
(Likely | 10[d10]) Yes, and...
"There is no catch. Free me and all shall be made manifest."
"How do I do that?" Bodann asks.
"Take this crystal..." a slot opens on the pedestal and a red figure appears at the feet of the translucent recording. "It will help you. I cannot directly affect the world without my body. But it will give you the power you need to defeat the boy."
"What boy?"
The hologram figure raised a hand and a gloved finger pointed at Kadeon's hiding position.
"You've been followed by a light-side pup. He's not worthy of the power I'm offering you. Finish him then take the crystal and bear my name."
Does he take the crystal?
(Likely | 9[d10]) Yes
He reaches out to take it. "No!" Kadeon shouts and rushes forward his lightsaber igniting.
Blaster shots splash against the pillar he'd been hiding behind. They had all turned toward him so they weren't surprised when he rushed them. It'll be Difficult to block all the attacks. It'll be challenging to block all their attacks and cut down Bodann's cut-throats at the same time.
Kadeon rushes towards them and he uses "Secret of the Lucky Break". Secrets are special abilities the character can use usually only once per session. This one allows him to keep all his pool dice when he succeeds at something. So he can use all his pool dice. He'll do that now.
So, he gets 1 for trying, 1 for "Jedi Combat Art" trait, plus 1 each for these tags: "Lightsaber", "Parrying", "Running" = 5 dice, plus the 8 pools dice.
I'll say if he gets Extreme (5 successes), he can also damage either the pedestal or Bodann as well.
So 13 dice total.
It's over in a matter of heart beats. Kadeon dashes forward at a preternatural speed, deflecting the red blaster bolts to either side as he runs. Then he's among them. The pirates keep shooting but he blocks every bolt and then his blue saber cutting the two of them down. Bodann had snatched the crystal when Kadeon had darted forward. He now leaps off of the raised dais his pistol raised as he shoots attempting to drop the boy. The hologram is still there but the red crystal begins to glow and a glow starts to travel up Bodann's arm.
The veins in his flesh turn red as he backs away from Kadeon his gun raised.
Is Bodann nervous about what's happening to him?
(50/50 | 8[d10]) Yes
"Drop it!" Kadeon shouts. He doesn't want to kill Bodann. He needs him alive.
"What's happening to me?" Bodann says as his veins start to turn red, infused with the strange light.
"What we've always wanted..." the force spirit says from the hologram.
"We? I don't know--"
"I can sense it in you. Power and freedom. You've granted me freedom. For that boon, I now grant you power. Search your feelings. You can feel the Darkness inside of you. It is yours for the taking. Channel the anger within you at this mere pup of a boy disrupting your plans. And finish him."
Does he do it?
(Somewhat Likely | 9[d10]) Yes +Event: Dispute / Attention
"Good. Let me guide you..."
His eyes roll up inside his head and in a yell of anger, Bodann raises his fist holding the crystal and shouts shoving with his other hand towards Kadeon.
This is an end scenario kind of fight. Kadeon will need an Easy success to avoid getting hurt from the force push. He's trained against his masters. Then he'll need an extreme success to defeat Bodann. He wants to save his dice to finish Bodann so he'll not use any pool dice to block the force push. He'll use "Strong in the Force" and "Do Or Do Not" to counter the assault, with his +1 dice for trying that's 3 dice.
Nope. Only 1 success. Ouch...
Kaden tries to push the weave of force away, but it's much stronger than he expected. The wave of invisible energy slams into Kaden, and he flies off of the dais and smashes into a pillar. Dazed and seeing stars, he shakes away the blackness and finds it painful to breathe. A cracked rib? (He takes the condition injured.)
"Good... good!" cackling from the hologram. "Open yourself to me and you'll see the true nature of the Dark Side. Let your passions and hatred fuel the fire. Let desire burn away inhibition. Finish him!"
Kadeon groggily gets to his feet, somehow he managed to hold onto his saber. He stumbles over one of the droid piles and then he limps to face Bodann.
Bodann's form is now wreathed in light and his eyes are closed in seeming ectasy.
"Now... finish the boy! Kill him!"
"No!" a female voice screams and there Giselle crouched behind a crumbled block of stone shoots at Bodann. Kadeon rushes at Bodann at the same time (this will count as an aid to her attack). She'll need only five successes since she's not injured. She gets 1 for trying, and uses "Hunter of Hunters" trait. Under that she uses these tags: Silent Step, Ambush, Pistols, and Quick. That's 5 dice + 1 for trying, plus +1 from Kadeon. 7 dice. She'll use a once-per-session secret of her own "Secret of your past life" where she remembers her father teaching her to shoot--breathe, aim, squeeze--- (this once per session allows her to add 3 dice to any one task. She now has 10 dice. She'll add all 7 from her pool. 17 dice. She needs five successes.
(Her arrival is the Dispute / Attention event from before)
Bodann spins to face this new threat but is distracted at Kaden's sudden charge. The energy that had been building up in the fist with the crystal lances out and slams into Kaden sending him backward again, electricity coursing and arcing through the boy as he slumps to the floor of the dais. But it was a critical distraction Giselle needed.
Gisell's blaster shots are near rapid fire, but they're sustained and even though he deflects one by some unseen power, the others slam into Bodann, two score his chest, two turn his head into a charred mess, and one blasts the hand holding the crystal. The crystal rolls out of his dead form. She keeps shooting as she advances, laying down a stream of withering fire. She advances pocketing her right pistol and sliding in another power back into her left pistol. She sends more shots and smoke rises from numerous holes in Bodann's form. Other shots slam into the pedastle behind Bodann and it erupts in a blue sparking mess of flame and ruined electronics. The red light blinks out and the acrid smell of burning wire fills the air as she rushes to Kadeon's side.
(Gisell has zero pool dice. Kadeon still has four but he's injured.)
(btw, she got 9 successes to defeat Bodann!)
---
Morning - Back at the Shuttle
---
Kadeon's eyes blink open. He's on a bed. The shuttle has a single room with two bunks on it. Enough for four people should the need arise. It's plenty of room for the two of them.
"What--? Where? How?" He managed.
"We're on the shuttle," Giselle says, sitting on the neighboring bunk. "We're safe. For now, and we're away from that place. We're in orbit."
"You came for me," he says. "Thank you. I--"
Giselle gives him a flat stare and an even flatter voice. "You left me. Friends don't do that Kade. You understand?"
(She had used her Key of True Friendship - and gets an xp for going after him into danger)
"Look, I had to go. There wasn't time. I had to stop him before it was too late."
"And what would have happened had I not shown up?"
He remembered laying dazed at the foot of the pillar. Bodann's attack had been so powerful. He tried to say something witty to deflect her hurt and angry look, instead he winced and looked away for a long moment. "I'm... sorry."
She gave a curt nod and then stood turning to leave. "Rest up, I'll be in the cockpit."
"Wait? What about Bodann?"
"He's dead," she says looking over her shoulder at him.
"What?!" his own anger surges. "We needed him alive."
"Some monsters you don't keep alive," she responds.
Did Bodann have a personal datapad on him with the information they needed to rescue Chaddam on Taris?
(50/50 | 6[d10]) Yes, but...
But it's encrypted.
"But he had his personal data pad on him," she says. "There's bound to be something on that. If we can crack it."
"Fine... I guess it's something," he sighs and leans back on the bunk closing his eyes. Then the meds kicked in and his eyes drifted closed.
---
Final Scene - In the cockpit
---
Giselle, has her feet up on the dash again. They're hurtling through hyper-space towards Taris. Kadeon still sleeps, the bacta and bandages she'd him in would heal his wounds in a few hours. That electrical attack had done a number on him. But Kade was young and resilient. He would mend quickly. Her mind flits back of its own accord to Bodann's form smoking with holes in his torso, rolling over. She thinks of her own quiet rage. Thinks of the voice of the robed figure in red calling to her anger.
She thinks of the red crystal that rolled from Bodann's hand.
With a satisfied smirk, she reaches into her pocket and uncurls her fingers revealing a soft red luminescence that emits from the very same crystal she now holds in her hand. She rubs it between two fingers and gives a satisfied nod. "It just might be worth something to the right buyer..."
The End
Final XP count is:
Kadeon = 6: 1 for bettering the world by getting rid of some pirates +2 for going into danger, and 1 for acting on his own +2 for going into danger
Gisell = 5: 1 for sacrificing herself to help a friend +2 for going into danger, and 1 for hiding the crystal from Kadeon.
(With every 5 XP you can improve your char)
Characters and Such by the end:
Kadeon Haskyll (die pool 7) - XP 2
Gisell - Insightful and scheming journeyman who is slightly weaker than you and whose motivation is to indulge propaganda and is focused on your allies. (die pool 7)
She grew up as a farmer (+1) and later worked in the city in a clothing shop (+1). But now, she's a skilled spy (+1) and bounty hunter (+2). Small and agile (+1). Intelligent (+1) Perceptive (+1).
Hunter of Hunters:
Silent Step, Ambush, Pistols, Tracking, Infiltration, Quick, Dodge, Knives [Security Systems], [Disguise Master], [Recon], [Poisons],
Smarter Than Most: Clothing Change, Perceptive, Spycraft, Computers, Negotiation, [Acting],[Forgery]
Bounty Hunter:
Sniper, Agile, Run, Small, Small Ship Piloting, Sensors, [Aim] [Gunnery] [Droid Craft]
Born of the Earth:
Plants n Such, Hardworker, Toned and Tanned, Pretty, Large vehicles, [Healing Arts], [United we Stand]
Key of the Hunt - You are the hunter not the hunted. Hit this key when you eliminate a significant threat or collect a significant bounty. BUYOFF:
Key of Hidden Truths - Knowledge is your currency. Hit this key when you find out an inconvenient truth about someone and you use it against them to your advantage or the advantage of your team; or Hit this key when you work against your team to hide an inconvenient truth
Key of True Friendship - You are a loyal to a fault to another character. Hit this key when you sacrifice something that benefits them but harms you. BUYOFF: Betray the friend.
Secret of your Past Life - Once per session, you can call in a favor from someone if it makes sense for them to be there. Alternately, if they aren't there, you can add three dice to any one skill check because of something you knew or a relationship you remembered.
Secret of Reflexes - Once per refresh, you can re-roll a failure when doing anything involving grace, dexterity, or quick reflexes.
Chaddam - The agent they're trying to rescue.
Bodann - Force sensitive pirate.
Mardwynn - Her younger sister who was kidnapped five years ago. Her sister was 3 at the time.