"This is the Droid We're Looking For?" Pt. 2

       When last we left our heroes they had just stepped out of Jub's Droids and into a stand off. There was the cloaked man with 7 other men with him. Two guys were manning heavy repeaters, two were on the rooftops with hunting rifles and three were standing with the cloaked man armed with blaster pistols.

       "I'm glad I was able to catch up with all you after you ran away" said the cloaked man

       "I believe you were the one that ran away." Silf retorted.

       "Just a tactical retreat was all it was, but now we found you." Cloaky said.

       "And who exactly are you?" asked Blast.

       "We are..." cloaked man paused as he dramatically pulled back his cloak to show an insignia on his shoulder "... Rebels!" Then all his comrades follow suit and reveal their Rebel patches too. "And we have come to take the droid!"

       Before our heroes have a chance to say anything the battle has started. The Rebel troops seem to be bad at shooting when the fight starts. Zamriel runs to engage some troopers in melee, while Silf sends his droid ALRD out to zap some

guys. Blast and EV help by laying down some covering fire and Seruca bolsters their efforts with some inspiring words. As the fight continues Robin takes a few hits and eventually Zamriel takes a few too many shots and falls unconscious. As Silf is standing near the R4 unit a grenade lands right next to them. Silf manages to get out of the way but the droid doesn't so he is caught in the blast and sparks fly out of it and it falls over disabled. Soon one of the rooftop shooters and both heavy blaster troops are taken out. Then the other rooftop shooter is seen using a comlink. The cloaked man is knocked out and it seems the fight is coming to an end, but down the empty street they see more Rebels coming their way. Things are looking bad for the adventurers, but out of nowhere another grenade lands among the Rebels and smoke starts billowing out of it. The heroes can't see past the smoke, but they hear blaster shots and the sounds of a battle taking place.

       "This way!" orders a voice from a doorway near Jub's Droids. 

       The heroes look and see an Imperial Officer with a couple of Sandtroopers. Without hesitation they head through the doorway, Blast carrying Zamriel and Silf dragging the R4 droid. Once they were all in the door was closed behind them and the group was led downstairs into a tunnel.

       "I'm Captain Jolen," says the officer "we came as soon as we could once we heard the fight. It seems some information was compromised, but we still need you to get that droid to Docking Bay 17. If you follow the tunnel you'll come to a crossway, just go to the left and follow it down until you get to the end. There's a hidden door that will go into the sewers. From there, go to the left and follow it down until the first ladder you see and climb up then you'll be at the main port. I'm going back to help capture the Rebels." He looks at Silf, "Can you repair the droid?"

       "Of course I can" answered Silf

       "Then repair him here in the tunnel before you continue. And take this. It's a stimpak that will help you unconscious friend." He hands them the stimpak and he also hands them a glow rod, "You will need that in the sewers." Then he heads back up with the Sandtroopers.     

       Blast used that stimpak on Zamriel and he come to consciousness and felt better. Silf went to work on repairing the R4. He hooked up his datapad and went to work. After a few minutes he had it up and running again. Although everything seemed fine the R4 was complaining about a foreign object within its chassis so Silf reached inside and pulled out a holopad. Then it activated and started projecting an image of designs for a large, round space station followed by names, locations and planets that all seem to harbor Rebels bases. Silf quickly shut it off and looked around at the group.

       "It seems we found some information..." said Silf

       "Valuable information" Blast added with a grin.

       Silf nodded "What do you want to do with it?"

       "I say we make a copy," Blast suggested "use it for leverage if the Empire decides to hold out on our reward, or we can find someone to sell it to. This information will be worth a lot to somebody."

       Everyone agreed with Blast and Silf made a copy of the information on an extra datapad. 

       "We should keep going." Seruca said.

       The group headed down the tunnel and after a few minutes they came to the crossway. So, they went left and followed it to a dead end. Silf pressed on the wall and it opened out into the sewers. The sewer had a walkway on either side and water running down the middle. They turned on their glow rod and followed along the walkway for a bit until they saw a light up ahead and could barely make out some voices. Quickly our heroes switch off theor glow rod.

       "I'll go check it out" Robin said to the group and the Farghul slinks away towards the light. He sneaked up close to the edge of the light and saw three Gamorreans talking with three Rodians (he noticed that they were the Rodians from the cantina incident.) and there are a couple of cases stacked next to the Gamorreans. Robin can't understand what they are saying since he can't speak their language so he makes it back to the group and tells them what's happening. Silf pulls out ALRD and sends it towards the strangers. A minute later ALRD comes back having recorded some of the conversation. Silf plays it back and translates it.

       "It seems that the Gamorreans are selling some weapons to the Rodians. They are saying the price is 3000 credits." Silf tells them.

       Now are heroes need to get past these strangers to get to the ladder to continue their mission, but they know the Gamorreans and Rodians aren't going to like anyone seeing their transaction so Zamriel devises a plan.
       "I'm going to approach the Gamorreans and try and offer them a better deal." Zamriel tells everyone. "Seruca, you will pose as my assistant, EV and Blast will stand in the darkness ready to fire once I give the signal. Robin will sneak around to the other side of these guys and Silf will send ALRD around with him to flank and fire when I give the signal. The signal is when I say 'Mynoths'"
       With that, the gang went to work. Zamriel and Seruca went towards the Gamorreans. They stepped into the light.
       "Who are you?!" asked a startled Rodian. This Rodian seemed to be in charge of buying the supplies.
       "We're here on behalf of our boss. He heard about the goods and he's interested in buying." Zamriel answered, but he directed it towards the Gamorrean leader.
       The Rodian looked agitated and asked, "Who's your boss?"
       "Flurin the Hutt." Zamriel told him after recalling his knowledge of known crime bosses on Tatooine. "He's willing to pay 4000 credits for the supplies you have." The Gamorrean perked up a bit at the prospect of more credits.
       While Zamriel kept talking, Robin took to his part of the plan. His first obstacle was to jump across the waterway to the dark side of the sewer. He leaped, but slipped a bit on some water; he managed to recover in the air but as he landed on the other side his legs splashed in the water.
       "What was that?" grunted the Gamorrean leader when he heard the splash.
       "Probably a womp rat." Zamriel told him, "The Empire really needs to clear up the pests down here." The Gamorrean agreed and they went back to the conversation.
       "I haven't heard of this Flurin!" the Rodian said as he seemed to get angrier.
       "Of course you wouldn't have." assured Zamriel. "He likes to keep a low profile. This makes him a strong ally and a powerful enemy..."
       The Gamorrean leader stepped in. "The credits sound good little man, but this deal was made for our gangs to make us friends. My boss won't be happy if this don't happen."
       Blast and EV were already positioned for the ambush and ALRD had already hovered into his flanking position waiting to hear "Mynoths" that Silf had programmed into it to start shooting. Robin wasn't in place yet. He had already sneaked down the sewer now it was time for him to jump back to the other side and join ALRD in the darkness. Robin leaped, but again he slipped on some water. He tried to recover in the air, unfortunately he still splashed in the water on the other side.
       One of the Rodians and a Gamorrean heard the splash behind them. They both turned to investigate the sound and started walking towards the darkness. Zamriel saw the Rodian pull out another glow rod, but before he turned it on Zamriel went into action.
       "These Mynoths are annoying!" Zamriel yelled as he stepped forward and punched the Rodian leader in the face. As the Rodian stumbled back he took a blaster shot in the back from ALRD and he fell to the ground. Robin took a shot at a Gammorean and hit it.
       Before the Gamorreans could react to the chaos, Seruca yelled convincingly at them, "The Rodians brought reinforcements!"

       The Gamorreans, convinced that more enemies were attacking from behind them, charged towards the direction of the shots and found Robin crouched in the darkness. Within seconds Robin was unconscious having taken a beating from the Gamorreans and their vibro-axes.
       EV and Blast started firing on the Gamorreans from the darkness while Zamriel and ALRD handled the Rodians. Soon all the enemies were knocked out and our heroes were left standing, well all except Robin. They went to work helping Robin. Blast ruthlessly shot all the Rodians and two of the Gamorreans in the head but before he could finish off the Gamorrean leader, Zamriel stopped him.
       "Leave him alive." Zamriel ordered.
       So the group cleared the dead bodies and found 3000 credits on the Rodian Leader. Now it was time to check the supplies. Silf opened the locks on the cases and found a couple of weapon mods in the first one. Then he opened the other case and pulled out a heavy repeater. Seruca appraised the heavy repeater and told everyone it was a custom blaster and worth a lot. They decided to give the new toy to Blast and he accepted it with a grin. Silf, EV, Blast and Robin cleared out the cases and went into the darkness to hide, while Zamriel and Seruca went to wake up the Gamorrean leader.
       "What happened?" the Gamorrean asked.
       "We were ambushed by members of the Rodian's gang. They managed to kill your companions but we saved you. Your supplies were stolen though." Zamriel explained.
       "You didn't stop them?!" yelled the Gamorrean.
       "We were kinda busy saving you life and we were outnumbered!" said Zamriel.
       "Thank you for saving me, little man." the Gamorrean said. "My name is Dung. If you ever need anything I will help." With that, Dung the Gamorrean walked away and went up the ladder out of the sewers.
       The adventurers regrouped and went on with their original mission. They went up the ladder and out onto the streets of Mos Eisley. Docking Bay 17 was nearby so they headed that way.
       "Blast!" They heard a man say as the passed an alleyway. Blast stopped in his tracks and turned to the man.
       Out of the shadows stepped a man in a cloak wearing a breath mask. He was accompanied by a Houk male and a Feeorin male and both were holding blasters.
       "Imagine running into you here, Blast." the man said.
       "Hey buddy, what have you been up to?" asked Blast
       The man chuckled a bit. "Looking for you. Cindul the Elder has been looking for you and he's offered a hefty price for your capture."
       "How much credits are we talking here?" Blast asked hinting towards a pay off.
       "This goes beyond credits you can pay. Cindul wants you alive and we're going to be the ones to bring you in!" The man said.
       "I guess you didn't notice you were outnumbered." Blast said referring to his companions.
       The man looked at them and said with a smirk, "These 'friends' don't look like they want to risk their lives for a scumbag like you."
       "Then what's stopping me from shooting you all right now?" Blast asked as he aimed his new heavy repeater at the three men.
       "Blast away!" The man said and they drew their weapons.
       Blast squeezed the trigger of his new toy, but something felt weird. The trigger caught on something before he pulled all the way but before Blast had time to react, there was a beeping and the gun exploded in his hands. The blast caught all his companions too and they all collapsed to the ground unconscious. As Blast was loosing consciousness he heard the laughing of the other men that were hunting him... 

"This is the Droid We're Looking For?" Pt. 1

*The heroes in this story and the players that created them are described in my previous post "The Comrades"

       This is what I said to the group as I pushed play on my phone and let the Star Wars Theme play to the room. It was our first time meeting to play Star Wars d20 Revised edition. The guys had just put some finishing touches on their characters and were eager to get down to it. 

       "It is a time of desperation for the Empire. It has been a couple of months since they suffered a defeat at the Battle of Yavin against the Rebellion forces. The Empire has starting occupying worlds that were left untouched and tightened their grip on the ones already occupied. The rumors of the rising Rebellion and a destroyed space station have spread through the galaxy.

       On the desert planet Tatooine, that saw an increase in Empire activity, we find six heroes that have nothing to do with the Civil War. These heroes are in Empire custody at Mos Eisley, each for different crimes or disruptions. Little do they know, the Empire has a plan for them..."

       We find our heroes in restrained to chairs in an Imperial office in Mos Eisley. All were moved here from a jail cell down the hall and none are sure what is happening or who the other ones in the room are (with the exception of Seruca Valt and EV-36 since they are companions). Soon a door opens from the other side of a desk and in walks an Officer. The man introduces himself as Captain Farkel. "We have gathered you all here because it seems you are very skilled individuals and you might be of use to our needs. We have a job offer for all of you." He continues to explain the job. All they need to do is pick up a droid, an R4 unit, from a local droid shop and deliver to Docking Bay 17 to be transported off planet. "A very simple job" Farkel assures them. "If it is such a simple job..." interjects the Ishi Tib, "then why do you need us?"  Farkel looks through his files and says "Mr. Silf, we are understaffed and very busy here in Mos Eisley. I don't have the man power or the time to complete this errand. Now, this job does not come without rewards. Upon completion you will each be given 1,000 credits, your records will be wiped clean and each of you will be granted passage on an Imperial transport to the Core World of your choosing." There seems to be a satisfied silence in the room. "I assume you all agree to take on the job then?" asks Farkel. "You bet I do!" says "Blast" Ripkin and the rest agreed also. They all went through the release process and received their possessions that were confiscated.

       Soon the adventurers found themselves on the crowded streets of Mos Eisley. The first step of the job was to go to the Tuskan Cantina to find out where to find the droid shop. They have to give the password to the owner Dolfe and he will give them the information. Blast started trying to get directions from strangers on the street, but his gruffness just made people hurry past him. Seruca decided to charm some information from a fellow Twi'lek that was selling wares from a stand on the street. "Excuse me, sir," She said seductively "could you tell me how to get to the Tuskan Cantina?". The man looked over and you can tell he was eyeing her up and down. "I would be happy to, but you wouldn't want to go there! I think you would prefer my friend's cantina, the Krayt Place!" he said. Seruca could tell this guy was a little too interested so she decided to bluff through this. "Well, I'm supposed to be meeting a friend at the Tuskan Cantina and she'd be upset if I didn't make it, but maybe you would like to meet us there after you're done working?" This worked and Seruca went back to her companions knowing the way to go.

       After some walking the group arrived at their destination. Silf decided to walk in as the rest of the group decided what to do. He went in and took a spot at the counter and waited for service. Shortly after the Farghul, Robin People danced through the cantina and sat a couple of seats away from Silf. Seruca and EV found a table in the corner and sat down while Blast and Zamriel, the Miraluka, stood among the crowd. Dolfe, the owner and server, made his way towards Silf and the two began making small talk. During their conversation, Silf dropped the password "the Dewback rides at dawn" and Dolfe gave him a knowing look. He walked away for a minute and made his way bcam. He slide a small datapad to Silf and went about his business. The datapad gave the Ishi Tib the information they needed. It instructed him to go to Jub's Droids and tell him "I need a restraining bolt removed" to let him know they were the ones to pick up the droid. Silf looked up and noticed a cloaked man talking to Dolfe across the bar and Dolfe semed to be looking back towards Silf. The cloaked man moved back to a table in the corner and the server made his way back to Silf. "That man in the corner was asking about you. I told him I didn't know anything. Just thought you should know." Silf thanked Dolfe, paid his tab thinking now was a good time to leave and headed for the door. Zamriel and Blast saw their crabby companion leaving and noticed that a cloaked man hurriedly followed behind. Sensing trouble Blast tried to follow silently behind, but Blast, being named Blast, was not used to doing things quietly, so he stumbled and knocked over a table with drinks. The cantina went quit and Blast looked up to find three Rodians standing and staring at him. They started yelling angrily and making gestures at him, but the only one in the group that spoke Rodese was Silf and he was outside. Zamriel stepped up and decide to use the power of Friendship (literally a force power called Friendship) to dissolve the situation. He succeeded in calming the Rodians but they were still upset about their drinks, so Blast was forced to buy them new ones. Once the gang regrouped Silf informed them that he heard the commotion inside and when he turned to look he saw the cloaked man, but the man took off into the crowd and disappeared. Silf filled the group in on the fact that the man was asking about him then led the group to their next destination.
       The adventurers found Jub's Droids in a dead end corner surrounded by seemingly empty buildings. They approached the store, only to find the door locked and the windows barred shut. Silf knocked on the door and it opened slightly revealing a man looking out. "I'm sorry but the store is closed. Please come back tomorrow." the man said in a shaking voice. "I think you can help me;" said Silf "I need a restraining bolt removed." The door opened and the man beckoned them in. "I'm Jub. You're here to pick up the droid, right? Well, I do have it, but there is a problem." he said. "What problem is that?" asked Blast. "The problem is that all my droids have gone crazy! They started attacking me this morning after I opened the shop. One shot me in the leg," and Jub showed his bandaged thigh. "I think someone sabotaged my droids!" he added. "What makes you think it's sabotage?" asked Seruca. "When I came in this morning I found one of my front windows broken open. There was no sign of robbery or anything so I just thought it was some of the neighborhood kids that might have broken it. Also, all my droids wouldn't be going crazy unless someone did something. If you want your droid you'll have to go downstairs and find it. You'll have to disable the droids, but please don't destroy them completely. I will also pay you for your help." The group considered for a moment. "What sort of droids are down there?" Silf asked. "Well there are normal service droids, protocol droids and some other common ones that shouldn't be too much of a problem." then he hesitated "But I do have a couple of Droideka Battledroids down there. They're a project I'm working on and some of their systems aren't fully functional, but they are still dangerous. They are in the very last room, so avoid them if you can." With that they were off through the trap door leading down to the basement. "I'm going to stay behind. Give them a hand EV." Seruca said. "Yes Mistress." EV responded as they went downstairs.

       The basement was fairly big. It was a hallway with three doors, one to the right, one to the left and one straight ahead. "Let's try the right." Zamriel said. So the group went in and found a few droids. Silf pulled out his recon droid and set it to attack mode then the group made short work of the droids but didn't find the R4 they were looking for. They headed on to the next room hoping they wouldn't have to go to the last room, but it was pretty much the same as the first and still no R4. Finally they went into the last room. There were two Droideka Battledroids. One was missing two legs and the other was missing one. They were other droids in the room too. One of the battledroids shot first, but his gun overloaded and blew up, damaging the droid. The battle went on as the heroes managed to take out the extra droids in the room. The second battledroid fired on the group and Silf fell to the ground unconscious from a shot. Eventually the group won but Zamriel took a lot of damage and Silf needed some treatment. After searching the droids they found a signal scrambler that was causing the droids to malfunction. In the corner they found the R4 droid they were looking for and brought it upstairs since it was deactivated. As the group helped Silf recover, Jub activated the R4. Silf showed Jub the signal scrambler, but Jub had no idea where it came from. He paid the group (except Silf since he refused payment, but Jub gave him some armor plating for his recon droid) and thanked them for their help. So, with Silf healed and after Zamriel meditated, the heroes left the shop. 

       They stepped out into the street only to find the cloaked man standing there with a group of men with blasters aimed at the group...

The Comrades

       If I'm going to be sharing stories of my groups adventures then I guess it's only right to introduce you to the gang. I'll describe a bit on what kind of player each one is and also tell you a bit about the character they are currently playing in our Star Wars campaign. I've been playing all sorts of games with most of the group for a few years now and there's a few newer friends that are playing. They are a bit more than noobs at this point. So let's get down to it!

       I guess it's appropriate to start off by talking about the friend who was responsible for getting me back into RPGs lately. My good friend Andy is the one in our group that owns all the Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition books, so needless to say I learned a lot about 4th edition when I got back into the game. Andy loves to read all the books, not just to learn the rules, you see he loves the flavor and fluff behind the rules. He knows a lot about the creatures, planes, races and classes because he knows how they work and interact in the game world. This trait also reflects strongly in his character creation. He makes characters chock-full of flavor! Andy will choose options for his characters based on if it fits with the story and theme of the character where some players may just choose the strongest powers. This doesn't mean he makes weak characters though, he's actually made a lot of strong characters. He role plays his guys well too! It's entertaining to see his characters in play and watch them interact with the world I create as the DM and it's also fun to play alongside his characters. Currently he's playing an Ishi Tib Tech Specialist named Silf in our Star Wars game. He took the Prestige class Chief Engineer to boost his crafting skills. His overall plan is to scavenge materials and build droids. He has a small recon droid that follows him around and provides a bit of damage in combat. Silf is also very handy with a lot of tech based skills and gives a big hand when needed.
       The next guy to meet in the group would have to be Cameron. He began playing Dungeon and Dragons with me and Andy when we started with 4th edition. One thing that should be known about Cameron is the fact that he almost always plays a Human in RPGs. He has played as other races, but he's been a human most times. He'll play vanilla characters, but that isn't a bad thing. He tends to go with consistent characters that are strong with whatever they need to do. There have been a few exceptions to the rule and he has made some crazy characters before. Whether it's a Fighter that can hit hard with a weapon or a Warlord skilled in sharing tactics with his allies, Cameron is sure to not disappoint. Cameron took to playing a Human Soldier for Star Wars. His name is "Blast" Ripkin and he likes to, well, blast his enemies. Blast loves guns and prefers to load himself up with weapons to make sure the blasting never ends. He's a great guy to have in combat especially if it's against Rodians (which he hates). He is also having some trouble with a crime boss so he's trying to lie low... As low as you can if your name is Blast!
       Jacob is definitely the power gamer of the group. He's been playing RPGs a while before we all started playing together. I don't think I've ever seen him play a character that was just a single class because he is always making multi-classed or hybrid characters. Any thing available for him to use to add to his character options he'll take. This may be annoying for some DMs to deal with but I enjoy it. It's always giving me a challenge and most times I don't worry about making enemies that are too strong for him to handle. It is also very entertaining to watch his turns in combat since he seems to have a lot at his disposal. He's also made some pretty ridiculous characters that have led to interesting and hilarious things happening. His Star Wars character is a Miraluka that's a Force Adept/Soldier/Scoundrel (see what I mean...). His name is Zamriel and not much is known about this mysterious man... (also I kinda forgot his back story...).
       Now it's time to talk about the newer players. We became friends with this guys over a year ago and we managed to get them interested in playing RPGs. They've only played a little bit of Dungeons and Dragons (both 3.5 and 4th edition) and a bit of the Star Wars we've done lately.
          

       Johnny is one of these new guys. He seems to like playing sneaky fellows and swindlers, but it's also fairly early to say that he has a preference since he hasn't played a lot of different classes. His characters are actually fun to have in games, especially since every once in a while he'll get a bad roll on an important check which generally results in unfortunate hilarity. He always keeps a sense of humor around his characters too! His current Star Wars character is Robin People, a Farghul Scout that likes bad jokes, swindling, conning and pickpocketing. He also got into some trouble with local authorities after running a rigged gambling game on the streets of Mos Eisley. Not much else is known about Robin to his fellow adventurers.

       Albert is one of the other newer players in our group and he's actually caught on quite well to role playing characters. So far he's played a variety of different characters like an Elvish Sorcerer and a Dwarven Samurai. He also provides some humor to the adventures with his characters and actual gives me a lot to work with as a DM. Right now he's a Twilek Noble named Seruca Valt (any Willy Wonka fans out there?). Seruca is the daughter of a very wealthy trader and she's travelling the galaxy in search of adventure.      

       The last member of the fellowship, but certainly not the least, is Snappy. He's also had a variety of experience with classes in previous adventures by playing as a pascifist Monk and a Dragonborn Fighter. He's makes some pretty interesting characters, but I think his current one is my favorite so far. Snappy is playing a droid, specifically a droid owned by Seruca Valt (Albert's character). He's an EV-series droid that is a soldier. All EV wants to do is serve his master and torture unfortunate enemies. He also enjoys shooting the knees of his foes. He also has the Droid quirk Amenable, which means he can't help but be friendly and social with organics and droids alike! So he's EV the friendly torture droid!

       Well, that's the run down of the group I play with and also some information of their Star Wars characters. That will be useful information on a few future posts that will have to do with our Star Wars adventures and hopefully it'll give you some insight on the players so it'll be easier to follow along with stories. Until next time adventureres! Keep those dice rolling!