Star Wars D20 - Dawn of Defiance

We got into the next adventure - we go to some backwater moon to find some information on the Sarlacc project. We tangle with the locals and then start struggling to find information.

Follow up:

June 13, 2010
Housekeeping: time to lean is time to clean.
Joel revises the rules for Destiny points – you get ‘em when he says, not as the book says.
For Lorcan and Braktor, when they enter the next phase of adventure they will advance along their destiny and get a Destiny point (for destroying the comm. Center and finding the message of Draco and Varth). The 24-hour Destiny bonus will start at the next init (all allies will gain +2 damage for 1 day)
Bert: Rescue destiny; gain 1 destiny point and Destiny bonus (all allies will gain +2 damage for 1 day).
Morten: some other destiny. No points yet.
Joel gives us some Notes on Special Pieces of Paper…we can apparently turn these in once in a while, and are his alternative to Pep’s. He has nine of them.
Scott: 2, Brian: 2. Everyone else gets 1.
After a few days, we come out of hyperspace and arrive. We are introduced to Adrian Verana, some bearded dude. He informs us that we all have quarters on the Resurgence and the ship’s facilities are available to us. We also have our agreed-upon credits (2k) in our accounts; then he says he has to debrief Admiral Varth (who was led away by security agents). Verana tells us that Sen. Organa appreciates this very much, and BTW we’re likely fugitives. They will offer us permanent quarters for helping them if we like. Organa may have more immediate need for clandestine agents, so we should forget we even know the guy.
Soma has to fix a datapad before selling it. No problem.
We recount the tales of the Felucian jungle and their recently-transmitted message to Verana. Mentioning Draco, Verana looks gravely concerned. He says that this is more than an Imperial traitor. An inquisitor is very important to any force-user (Jedi, etc.) – their job is to kill force sensitives. He does not know why the Inquisitor wants to see Varth, but they will have to investigate further.
Discovery destiny: Brenna and Soma just get another Destiny Point.
And a cut scene: Episode II: a wretched hive.
Varth provides information, and the rebellion starts trying to reveal the Empire’s misdeeds to the galaxy.
It is the next day, and we get a message on our computer terminals – we are to be in the briefing room at 0900. We can get any non-restricted supplies desired here…but cannot *sell* restricted materials. We can’t sell things either.
Thinking about Varth, we realize he was surprised to see us…he may have been waiting to be rescued by Organa, or at least suspected the Senator. In the briefing room, we find Varth waiting for us dressed as an Alderaanian ship’s office. He has a computer droid with him. We take a seat and watch the holoprojector – we see a Hutt. Varth begins to speak and tells us that he was involved with “the sarlacc project” – the details are unknown, but he transferred a lot of resources to the project. It must be important, and it is probably killing thousands of people based on casualty reports. He doesn’t know much more, but the Imperial Navy was hiding the project by re-routing resources. One secondary source was a Hutt Darga. He’s a slimy gangster, like all Hutts. They traded some unknown things with Darga…Verana wants to know more about the Sarlacc project, so we have to go to Cato Nemoidia and find Darga – and uncover what’s going on with the Sarlacc project.
Varth speaks in the way only an old military man could speak. He’ll pay us, of course (3500 credits)…and this may be a chance to find some interesting information.
Cato Nemoidia: colony world during the Clone Wars; well-developed; cities are built on arches that span gorges. During the Clone Wars, it was heavily damaged and it has not rapidly recovered. It’s off the beaten path, so it’s perfect for criminals. There are also lots of Nemoidan Trade Federation members there. Virtually no Imperial presence there. Darga’s location is not known but he’s been seen in Zaara; someone probably knows where he is. We may be best served trying to get into his organization and start looking around. He probably deals in slaves, spice, gambling—the usual. And guys like that always need muscle.
The Banshee and Capt. O’Keefe will take us to Cato Nemoidia.
As an aside, most Stormtroopers are regular guys now. The Clone Troopers are getting pretty rare (most of them have been killed off) but they’re most likely tough.
We pile onto the Banshee and depart. Hyperspace is uneventful and we drop into Cato N. On approach, we notice very little space traffic (no Dreadnoughts thankfully). The planet is covered in clouds, trees, mountains. The city was very ornate but was turned into a smoking ruin – buildings are largely destroyed. The beacon sends us to a clear landing pad; as we approach, we can spot the sky below some of the road.
We are greeted by the tower – Welcome to Cato N; purseworld of the trade federation!
People are living in tents and wreckage…we can’t feel the city sway, but we know it does – and the horizon ends in sky. A robed figure (the spaceport admin) comes down to meet us to get her money (200 credits). She welcomes us again to Zara.
We find a local diner run by Krett. It’s called the Federation’s Folly (combo restaurant and cantina). We order some food. Krett was once a commander in the Separatists’s Army but “retired” to Cato N after the Clone Wars. As we prepare to head out to find lodging, a group of swoopbikers pulls up.
The gangsters pull out and encircle us. The leader, a human woman with spiky black hair, urges the bikers on.
K: You there! Welcome to Cato Nemoidia! You have failed to pay your landing permit fee (revs engine). If you wish to have unfettered access to the city, you need to pay out 1000 credits each!
Bertalan attempts to Mind Trick K – some other guy already collected for you.
K: Which one of you rabble collected on my behalf? (to us): We seem to have lost track of your payment, so it looks like you’ll have to pay again, doesn’t it?
Morten: If we could find some work here, maybe we could pay your fees…
K: You won’t find any work at all if you don’t pay. But we *could* sell you into slavery.
We notice that none of these swoopbikes have any weapons on them. They just have personal weapons, probably.
The street has just emptied out because no one wants to see what’s about to happen…Brenna Force Slams 8 and starts walking to K. 8 flies off his bike and lands with his feet dangling over the hole. Init!
This is clearly someone trying to rough us up. And FYI, these bikers can be targeted – as civilian bikes, they aren’t armored.
K slashes Brenna with a vibroblade and hits. C does a drive-by attack on Bertalan. She calls, “Take ‘em down a notch!”
Soma draws and moves between G and H’s bikes. A attacks Lorcan and keeps driving. G stands up and remounts his bike. Braktor drills F.
K says, “surrender now or we’ll destroy you!”
Morten draws and fires; H’s ready action goes and misses. Bertalan finishes off F. F spends a Force Point to not die.
C: Aah, they killed Freddie! Kill ‘em all!
A and G both attack Soma; one of them hits. Braktor shoots A and finishes him off. D, B, and E fire on Braktor. He gets critted. K shoots Soma. We recognize that K is actually using a Heavy blaster. H tries to pull Brenna off his bike and fails. Lorcan drills D with a wicked shot. Brenna fires up the bike.
We start shooting the bikers as they ride by and wreck their days. K calls out, “You’ve made enemies of the Viper Swoop gang – let’s get out of here!”
Lorcan can’t help himself, so he takes a shot at K’s bike and crits it. She continues riding with the bike trailing flame and smoke and he calls out, “And don’t come back!”
Bertalan fixes up F and apologizes for shooting him; F comes to and leaves. A and D are the only two left. We leave them disarmed and take their bikes, but make sure they aren’t going to die.
Kessra is in charge; she gives them money and takes care of them. She can be found at any of these ramshackle warehouses around here – former palaces, now reduced to rubble. Kessra hangs out by the docks looking for recruits or targets.
Where could a guy handy with a gun find a job around here?
Either run a business, live on the streets, or work for one of the crime syndicates. There’s nothing much else on this backwater hole of a planet.
There’s a Hutt in town that pulls all the strings. We can probably find out if we ask around. Kessra keeps the streets in her control and that’s all he knows. Soma keeps the dude off his bike, and he limps away. So we pick up a few miscellaneous weapons and three swoopbikes.
Morten: Ice that!
Dinner: burritos
Dan: nothing
Eric: #4 combo, chicken
Brian: sarape burrito, shredded beef, salsa ranchera
Joel: sarape burrito, pork, chile de arbol AND chile relleno
Scott: sarape burrito, shredded beef, chile de arbol
Aaron: sarape burrito, shredded chicken, chile de arbol, side of guacamole
Joe: nothing
Eric proclaims the orange sauce (presumably the salsa de arbol) as the best. Orange, red, green in terms of heat.

292 XP for the fight.

So we’re standing in the streets of Zara. The sign for the Federation Folly glows softly in the night. Vigoro’s Repulsorlift: closed. Zaran Imports/Exports: closed. There’s a place with rooms for rent at the end of the street. We won’t be able to keep our bikes this way…
We do stumble into what must have been a palace – it’s been looted down to the tiles, and is devoid of value. The northeast corner is caved in and there are a few holes in the floor, but we can arrange the rubble to provide cover. We hear some small $creatures in here but it seems otherwise uninhabited. We search the building and in one corner we find a pile of rags, crates, etc. Upon closer inspection, a couple of feet stick out and we hear soft snoring. The odor of humanoid excrement oozes from the pile of rags. Not a big deal; we stay here anyway.
We set watches for the night. On Braktor’s watch, something happens…he spots something moving. Or not. A while later, he hears something behind him – there’s a filthy, grizzled Nemoidian looting our stuff. He says this is his house, and it must be his stuff. He’s the former viceroy of the trade federation.
He demands payment for us staying in his house; a swoopbike will do. He fires one up and half of us wake up; apparently Braktor just bought the place altogether.
In the morning the sun comes up and we can’t help but notice how badly this place was maintained. The only place open at this point is the Galactic Waffle House (Minnie’s). As we enter, there are womp rats in the corner (Morten: Looks like they serve everyone!). While eating, we can make Gather Info checks.
We hear some news: the buzz in the waffle shop is that a bunch of newcomers roughed up the Viper gang…everyone watches us when we walk in. After some awkward silence, the noise starts back up.
We need to unload the repulsors…Vigoro’s a Todarian (wings, elephant snout). He says he doesn’t want to buy the bikes because the Viper gang will be at him.
We go a couple alleys down and prepare to strip down the bike…we see a familiar looking set of feet. We ask where the bike went; the Viper gang kicked his ass because he was riding around on the strip, and took their bike back. His name is Salitt.
Soma starts working and gets 11 $parts. He gets 500 credits for the parts off the first one and 500 for the second one.
Salitt says he’s working for work too…He points out some buildings with different homeless guys. We want to know who owns which blocks…the Vipers set the law. He doesn’t know who they report to. We ask about a Hutt, and we realize immediately he’s lying when he says he doesn’t know any Hutts. He says 100 credits isn’t enough to buy his knowledge about the Hutts.
And, we realize that he doesn’t look like Newt Gungray, the *actual* Viceroy of the Trade Federation.
We bribe him some more, and he says that Raden might know about any Hutts that do or don’t exist around here.
The import/export house may be able to handle weapons and supplies. We head in and a well-dressed female Nemoidian greets us. She’s Shas.
She’s got a pit droid. Morten looks around for unidentified Jedi artifacts (no). Soma slaps a couple of carbines down on the countertop – imperial issue, of course – and she says they’re worth 300 credits each. He wants to swap for the droid. She says she’d think about trading for a *crate* of carbines (3900 credits). He counters: 2 carbines, 2 datapads, 1 vibrodagger. She doesn’t even want the dagger; she wants 1300 credits on top of the other stuff. He finalizes the deal at that price and initializes the droid as his own.
Lorcan has made some kind of arrangement to get his Mandallorrian armor made and shipped. No problem.
Stun grenades – she’s got a case of 10 in stock. She’ll sell for 5k total.
As far as this Raden guy: she lies about not knowing him. We mind trick her to calm her down. She doesn’t want to talk about ruffians and rednecks. Brenna pulls her aside and tells her that we’re looking for Raden – and flashes the cash. She understands that we’re putting her at some risk…Brenna’s Persuasion roll stinks, so it costs 1000 credits. She says that she has to pay the Viper gang for protection.
We get a map and she throws us out. Raden is a Deveronian. We head over that way trying to be subtle. There’s a wrecked warehouse with a half-buried speeder in the rubble. In front of the building are two large earth-moving droids that are looking through some rubble, but not very hard. They are tracking us as we walk up. They’re spider-looking and loaded with weapons. The area around the warehouse is littered with debris (and is all Difficult terrain). The speckly squares are double-move.
We may as well walk up slowly and carefully and say we’re here to see Raden and do business. Most of us notice a couple guys walk out of one of the buildings. These street toughs look like they’ve been through a few fights, and they’re carrying blasters.
Brenna says we’re looking for Raden. They say they don’t know him and we should get along – and there’s no work here, either.
Brenna: What’s it going to cost us to find him?
Dudes: Raden doesn’t want to be found. (they step inside). Init!
We start to take cover, and another C droid shows up. It aims at Morten and misses. Brenna fails to spot something and a blaster bolt comes from cover. It hits her. Droid A rambles up (no problems with the terrain, of course) and moves up to Brenna.
Blaster fire comes off the rooflines…Bert tries to shoot A and misses. B climbs the wall around the crashed speeder and approaches. Soma drills M and knocks him off the roof. C leaps over Morten and Bertalan, landing behind them. A misses Morten. The minions on the roof gang-fire and drill Morten. O shoots Lorcan. Lorcan kills someone off the roof. C misses Bertalan. Raden hides (ducks off the roof) and we spot him. Braktor drills C and drops it. B leaps behind Bertalan, but Lorcan shoots it (can’t kill though). R leaps across the roofline to the building we’re near. Brenna blows B away. Bertalan tags A but can’t kill it. Lorcan drops K. Raden hides and shoots Morten from concealment (which will give him Sneak Attack). A leaps to attack; Morten drills it on its way past. It misses Bertalan. Morten blows away A.
Braktor kills one of the guys on the roof. Lorcan kills another one, and we hear Raden call out, “Stop! Whatever it is, what do you want?”
We tell him, “We’re looking for information you may not want to tell us in public.” He heads down and opens the door for his office, and invites us in.
XP: 595
No game next week for Father’s Day. The week after that is the week before the 4th, which is fine. We are not playing on the 4th.