Star Wars D20 - Dawn of Defiance

Maya explained what she's doing, kind of. We need to get a package to Alderaan, and just pick it up from some droid. Of course, there's trouble around that droid.

Follow up:

May 2, 2010
We’re on Brental.
Joel revises the timeline and says that the game is between 8 and 10 BBY. Jedi will be very rare – many of those who escaped were deep in hiding. The Empire is well-established…but people are starting to be more discontent.
Eric was here last week, just shot ineffectively.
To set the tone, Joel mentions that video surveillance is in use in high-security areas but not everywhere. He doesn’t see places like space stations as being covered in cameras…some places will be, but not everywhere. It pretty much wrecks the game if you’re always on film. Obvious places (military facilities, prisons, tightly-controlled Core Worlds, etc.) mean you’re watched, but in general we don’t need to worry about the Eye in the Sky raining death from above if we spit on the sidewalk.
--
We follow Maya down a couple of corridors to someplace safe before the reinforcements show up. She swipes open a door and stumbles inside, then thanks Morten for helping to save her. She medpacks herself, then begins to speak.
“I’m sorry for pulling you into this – I can only tell you that I’m on the side of good. I was attacked when boarding a ship here; the Imperials here have gotten treacherous in the past few weeks. Unfortunately I’m trouble, and I’ve dragged you in and now I need help. I am a member of the Alderaanian security force, one of Sen. Organa’s detail. You know he’s one of the Senators not in favor of the Empire, right? (looking at the aliens). Not everyone in the Empire believes it’s right or good, and some wish to change that.”
I’m here to get cargo important to Sen. Organa, and he’ll pay you if you can help me recover it. Unfortunately, you’ll need to keep a low profile if you will help me. This may help save the lives of many innocent beings.
She doesn’t say what these people need saving from.
Bay V14; she’ll meet a contact there and be given her cargo (or negotiate for it). She’ s been here for an hour; the cargo should be safe. She says she’s known as one of the Senator’s aides, and must have been attacked as a result. She isn’t in any condition to complete this mission, but if we can get the package, she can get us off the station.
V14 is a storage area; we should be able to find it. She was looking for a map (easy to get from a terminal, one of which is present). If we contact her, we can rendezvous and get off the station—we have her personal comms. She doesn’t know exactly what this cargo is or what Senator Organa needs it for, but several of the party members want the cash and others have already been guests of the Imperials, so that’s enough reason. (1000 credits each).
Switch is her contact in V14…he’s a minor crime lord. He will probably identify himself; he’s a droid. The cargo is from the Deep Core – very few people are allowed in or out; Palpatine has regulated the trade there. She was advised to use a repulsor for the cargo; the droid should have one.
Braktor (our scoundrel) pulls up a map of the station. We find Deep Storage Bay V14 (lower level); that whole area has been quarantined for at least a year. That area seems to be in the middle of an exhaust conduit for some reason; we will not get spaced, thankfully. The logs show a lot of traffic in and out of that zone despite the quarantine; it’s not Imperial or Human, but mostly aliens. Braktor knows that there is some organized crime in the area—thankfully, the Imperials are leaving it alone. (two security forces – Imperials who cause trouble, and planet-side security that leaves the aliens alone).
Joel makes a House Rule: You can Second Wind out of combat every five minutes when you’re out of combat – but not above half of your HP’s. He also says that you can use Vital Transfer on yourself, which essentially means one or more Force users can relatively quickly insta-heal a whole party. Second Wind provides your Con score *or* ¼ your HP’s, whichever is greater.
We had a ruling on Vital Transfer on yourself from last time: January 11, 2009. That House Rule is a lot more restrictive; we are going to run with the comment here.
Force Treatment: make a Use the Force check instead of Treat Injury. (Denso relied on this all the time last time out).
Bertalan Second Winds, then VT’s himself back to health.
Food notes:
Joel: Chicken fajita salad *and* de sayuno special (6 + 7) This eggs and steak thing was apparently good but didn’t have the arbol sauce *and* was a huge pain in the neck to order.
Scott: faja burrito chicken ($7)
Aaron: sarape burrito ground beef, chile de arbol ($6)
Dan: taco dinner plate ground beef ($8)
Eric: taco dinner plate, chicken ($8)
Brian: sarape burrito, shredded beefs, salsa ranchera ($6)
Phone # for west side: 857-3584
Switch used to be an admin droid for the Gray-something Syndicate…he’s probably overdue for a memory wipe. There are humans in that area once in a while, but never any Stormtroopers. We split up into two groups – Braktor, Bertalan, and Morten; Soma, Lorcan, and Brenna.
We travel through the bowels of the station towards Bay V14. Many lights are out, visibility is poor. Blaster marks and scorch marks everywhere, and the smell of ozone fills the air. There are pools of coolant everywhere. Approaching V-14, we see a couple of Gammorian guards chatting; Lorcan understands them. We stop before they really notice us. They stop us and snort, “Halt, you may not enter here.”
Braktor: We’re here to see Switch. He’s expecting us.
G: Who are you?
Braktor: We’re here for Maya.
G: You ever hear of Maya? Think we can get some money out of them?
Lorcan: No, you can’t. (hand to blaster)
G: Sorry, no offense. Switch is inside.
They let us pass, and we see a couple of droids inside – a protocol droid and an R2 unit.
The protocol droid says, “Ah, I’ve been expecting you.” Perception checks: Some of us realize (20 or better) there are more individuals in here – more Gammorians (x6) and a Twi-lek (G).
Switch says, “Ah, Miss Nomander. (he knows all our names)” I am happy you were not injured on the Promenade. I am 3D4X, or Switch as they call me. This here (R2) is R5B8. He offers us the contents of the best bar on the station. Bertalan asks for a Corellian Ale, which is apparently a lot more expensive than Wookiepedia would have you believe. Soma gets some Cerean Spice.
Switch: I understand we have some business.
Brenna: Maya asked us to retrieve a package.
Switch: Oh, I have many packages and many associates. I may have something for someone named Maya, but I can’t seem to recall. I’ll make this simple – my services are available for anyone willing to pay…be it Maya or anyone else. For perhaps, 1000 credits, I’d be willing to release that cargo to you for her. If we can’t work that out, we could perhaps do something for him. He *does* need to get a case of Corellian Ale to Alderaan.
We could also trade him some information – about what, perhaps? Anything useful to him. We can even get credit from him. We could always send him information from off-planet. This package is pretty valuable, so it’s worth more. We’ll pay him 500 and do him a favor.
Cargo is on Blue deck, he says…and then we hear gunfire and some oinking, then the doors fly open!
There are many armed thugs outside and a large Chevan – “So you thought you could hide your deal with the off-worlders from me? I’m tired of you, droid!” Init!
One of them aim-aims and hits Switch. Soma dives behind the desk and pulls Switch down (hitting the ground himself). 8 and 9 move up; 9 shoots D, dropping him. 8 shoots B and kills him. A shoots 8 and misses. 1 shoots at Bertalan and hits. Bertalan moves and prepares to Mind Trick H.
6 moves up to Lorcan with his vibroaxe and attacks. Morten moves and shoots 3, killing him. Braktor moves. C moves to shoot H and misses. 7 moves up and shoots Morten, but misses. Lorcan smokes 6.
Switch: You no-good piece of crap Gungalore! Get ‘em boys, we’ll kill him once and for all!
Lorcan: How much you paying?
Switch: 500 credits if you take ‘em all, and I survive this!
4 drops his pistol and moves up to Lorcan, axe drawn. 5 notices Lorcan was negotiating with Switch and tries to shoot him. F shoots at 4. Brenna draws her weapon. Someone finally shoots Lorcan.
Soma stands up and moves out of the group of targets. 8 and 9 shoot Lorcan and miss. E kills 4. H moves over and attempts to shoot C, but misses. Bertalan moves near H and says, “Stop and talk this out. There’s not enough money here to be worth killing everyone.”
H says, “I think we should talk this over.”
Bertalan: Hold up, this guy wants to talk!
Morten delays. Braktor delays. C looks at Bertalan and asks, “Are you nuts? They’re trying to kill us!” Enemy G calls out, “You idiots, there will be no discussion. Kill them!” 7 keeps firing, I guess. Braktor comes out of delay and shoots 2. Morten hits 7. Lorcan shoots G but can’t drop him yet. Switch calls out, “Kill them all—they won’t leave any of us alive! 10 shoots Lorcan. Brenna drops 10. 1 aim-aim-shoots Bertalan and misses. E misses 7. Bertalan tells H to get behind us and he can work a deal out with Switch, then he draws and flips to stun. Braktor smokes 7. C tells Bertalan, “I don’t know what you did to that guy, but you’re asking our boss’s enemy to go up to our boss. I can’t let you do that.”
G aims and shoots at Lorcan, hitting him. Lorcan drops to the ground. 5 drops his gun pulls his axe, and walks up to Lorcan. Ohai! F misses G. Brenna aims and shoots 5, killing him. Soma shoots 9 and kills him. 1 aims and misses Bertalan. H tries to move through 3 and C’s square, but C won’t let him pass. Bertalan readies to stun 1 or G if they try to walk in.
G: You goons do what I paid you to do! (there are two goons left, one of whom has been mind-tricked)
Morten switches to stun and moves to stun anyone entering the room.
We have a very brief discussion about Aiming – should it eliminate *all* cover or just drop it down one class? Joel doesn’t change it for now.
Braktor notices C lean down and point a gun on Switch. He whispers, “Time for you to die!”
Lorcan shoots at G and misses. Braktor doesn’t fake not noticing C, and G whispers, “Don’t move, or you’re going to die too.”
Switch cries out to C, “You traitor!” F shoots at Soma and hits, knocking him down the track. Brenna shoots C and leaves him with zero, which drops him. Soma swift-swift (recovers) and misses F. A shoots at 2 and hits. E tries to shoot Switch and misses.
What about shooting and hitting cover, like people? H moves back towards Swift and gets right into the fray; Braktor recalls that Bertalan said he wanted to talk. Bertalan doesn’t know what’s going on with switch, but shoots A anyway. He misses. Morton shoots A with Stun.
Braktor (to the guy pointing a gun at him): You realize there are more of us than of you, you idiot?
G misses Lorcan. Lorcan drills G for a crit and knocks him down.
Switch: Thanos, you traitor! How could you?!
He grabs his holdout blaster and shoots G, hitting him. G’s still up. F takes another shot at Soma and hits for 10 points. Brenna shoots G and crits, killing it. Soma Second Winds and runs away. A and E miss. H says, “What do you want to talk about?”
Bertalan drops A. Morten runs up to F, shoots him with a stun shot, and says, “Now would be a good time to surrender.”
Braktor drops E. Lorcan drops F (who was stunned and had an offer of surrender out).
Switch points his blaster at H and calls out, “You idiot!” H is still up. Brenna shoots H and misses. Soma drills H and kills him. Lorcan walks up to Switch, gives him a hand up, and then hands him his credchip: Payment?
Switch gives him a chip that will provide the cash.
Switch: He said it best; you can’t even pay people to take care of you these days.
Bertalan: You know this guy was the best source of information you had.
Switch: He was trying to horn in on my action for years! And that other guy (C) was just taking a bigger payout.
Switch: Look, I think our business here is done.
Us: About the package? Which box is it?
Switch: It’s a carbonite casing of a man.
Bert: How about you bring us to it.
Switch: it’s on the blue deck, which is reserved for Imperial loyalists and off-duty personnel.
Bert: How’d you get it up there, then?
Switch: I paid some people off. I can…do this next week.

BTW Switch is now Friendly.