Star Wars RPG - Episode II - Shots in the Dark

Following the relief of Kalin, Jedi Knights Mavis Palifax, a Miralukan, and Jedidah, a Wookiee, have returned to Coruscant. With them have also come their Muun prisoners managers - and - and Director Toon Gleen.

Briefing

Captured director Toon Gleen and two Muun managers

Commodore Grathpus and the unknown dark jedi Ithorian escaped

Rotinga Hutt, a son of Jabba’s, has arrived in Coruscant with an ultimatum for the release of the three Muun prisoners, Jabba must have a large amount of money invested in these particular managers’ folders. He is demanding their release within the hour and is ready to offer… more persuasive arguments if we deny his request.

Currently all the information we have been able to extract from them is the name of the rogue Ithorian, Grancar Noss, and a vague outline of the separatist forces involved in the attack on Kalin.

Mas Amedda, Rotinga Hutt, the Ithorian Senator, and the Bothan Senator are available for you to speak to at anytime, aswell as Jedi Knight Shark Jenks, your contact with the Jedi council 

The jedi are in charge of investigating the dark jedi from kalin

The Jedi are given 5 minutes before Rotinga arrives

They interrogate the Muuns, they find out the identity of Grancar Noss

Rotinga arrives, he threatens them to release the Muuns or he will block ports to the republic

Mas Amedda says he is unlikely to do so, they refuse, Rotinga threatens further action, they want to ignore him, but Amedda is concerned, so they decide to take a few more minutes to interrogate the Muuns and then release them to Rotinga.

They find out from Toon Gleen that Grancar Noss is headed to Beth Kantor.

then they decide to release the Muuns, but just then the Muun directors are shot

they take shelter and some of the senate guard fire back and a few more are shot, but they manage to protect Gleen.

Rotinga looks a bit put out - the Jedi order his detention under suspicion of murder -

 Amedda warns them of the consequences that will follow this, and says they can only detain him for one hour

The jedi take 10 senate commandos on a search of the nearby area.

they decide to split up to scour the area

Jedidah runs into an Ubese with a sniper rifle and force blasts him into a Togorian who kills the ubese with his force pike.

Jedidah fights the Togorian and kills him, another Togorian attacks him and the nearby Senate commandos take him prisoner

elsewhere three senate commandos come across an assassin droid with Bothan writing on him, who throws a grenade at them, killing two before the other shoots him.

elsewhere three senate commandos come across a Togorian, attempt to arrest him and are all killed

they make their way to a nearby night club full of death strickers. there they see a Bothan assassin, an Ubese and a bounty hunter droid, along with a couple of Togorians.

the assassin droid attacks them and they kill him.

but as the crowd rush for the door Jedidah has to decide whether to apprehend the Bothan assassin or the other Ubese assassin. He chooses the Ubese.

They take their prioners back for questioning, while the commandos bring all the bodies for assessment

One of the droids has bothan lettering on him, the other ithorian.
Using a jedi mind trick the Ubese assassin says he was hired to silence the Muuns before delicate information was revealed. He claims he was hired by a Skakoan in Rotinga's court.
The Togorian is more immune to mind tricks but tells them he is a bodyguard working to protect a Bothan spy operating in the vicinity. He claims his master was sent to stop the Ubese.
The jedi go to interrogate Rotinga's Skakoan translator - Mas Amedda is very worried at keeping him so long
Despite a jedi mind trick, the Skakoan denies hiring ubese assassins
the jedi return to their priosners to find the Ubese has been shot. The Togorian is released
The Bothan senator denies any Bothan spynet operations in the vicinity

Instructions from the Jedi council will come.

The Ithorian senator has been appointed ambassador for his people to the Hutts, and will be travelling back with Rotinga Hutt to Hutt space, via Beth Kantor.

He is very worried that there is a threat on his life, and so wants the protection of the Republic and the Hutts while in neutral space. The Republic and Hutts have agreed that he will be protected by Jedi until Beth Kantor, and the Hutts following.
Perhaps this would be a good opportunity to investigate on Beth Kantor.
You may take whatever extra support you think is necessary. A unit of ARC troopers is at your disposal, however these may gather suspicion and may also be unwelcome to the Hutts. Senate Commandos are also available and may be more appropriate to a diplomatic mission of this nature. Support may be useful if things turn nasty in Beth Kantor, though they may attract attention. The final decision is up to your discretion

Shark Jenks promises reinforcements within an hour

The Jedi decide to take 10 senate guardsmen in ceremonial dress as escort for the ambassador
landing on Beth Kantor, Rotinga heads to the nearby bar with the Skakoan, The jedi send their astromech droids to keep watch over Rotinga
They decide to use the ithorian ambassador as bait for his assassin, to draw attention to themselves they take him on a parade with all the guardsmen down the nearest street
Down the first street, they see a grenade fly out the window towards them. Mavis forces it back through the window it came out of and it detonates in the building.
The jedi go to investigate, sending the senate guardsmen and the ambassador to the bar
inside the blown out building they find the burnt remains of an assassin droid.
They decide to split up
bumping into a Chevin Jedidah ask him whats going on and get directions to the night club, however, he misunderstand his directions and end up in the pharmacy over the road.
The astromech reported that the Skakoan had disappeared from the bar, so Mavis went to investigate
Jedidah bumps into a dark robed female and they hit it off badly almost fighting, until he lets her go.
Mavis finds the Skakoan  and overhears him talking to a Whippid telling him to come and kill the Ithorian
Mavis follows the Skakoan back towards the bar - she tells the Senate guards to remove the Ithorian and tell Rotinga that he is going to the pharmacy building. (he is instead ordered back to the ship)
heading back to the nighclub, Mavis runs into the robed female. there is a stand off, after Mavis had heard Jedidahs report, and the two draw lightsabres, but the woman's is blue. They stand down, Mavis finds out she is called Theosidia and is working with the Bothan spynet on this planet, and investigating them for the supreme chancellor. they depart
In the nightclub Jedidah observes lots of Togorians, a couple of Bothans, several assassin droids, the Skokoan and another whippid
Mavis joins him on the nightclub roof.
Seeing some figures enter the pharmacy, Jedidah jumps in and attacks, crushing an assassin droid and fighting the Whipid. A grenade suddenly detonates inside the pharmacy, jedidah jumps out of the way just in time
the nighclubbers pour out of the club into the burnt out street outside the pharmacy, several Togorians together with a Bothan start driving the crowd down a side alley
Jedidah fights and kills a Togorian, the Bothans take the two jedi prisoner (they take the jedis lightsabres)
however they are rescued by Theosidia, Jedidah jumps up on the nightclub roof
suddenly five shapes emrge from the darkness at the top of the street

Five bodyguard droids suddenly attack, Theosidia kills one, while the Bothan spy kills another, mavis and Theosidia take out the others. In the chaos the Bothans and Togorians all slip away. Theosidia also slips away.
The Jedi receive word form their astromechs that Rotinga has left the bar. they return to the space port.

They find Rotinga on heading to his ship, with the Whippid and assassin droid. Mavis approaches him, but is suddenly surrounded by battle droids.
Rotinga tells her his plans
He orders her to surrender the Ithorian ambassador, and to tell her men to get off the ship and let her on. She refuses.
Three doridekas are released on the ship. Two of the senate guardsmen are killed, but they bravely hold the ship.
Mavis suddenly attacks the battle droids, killing four security droids, the Skokoan and the whippid, using his force spear to hold Rotinga hostage and force the doridekas to back down.
She then orders the senate guardsmen to leave with the ambassador
Rotinga is furious

Jedidah, Mavis and their droids disappear into the town and call Shark Jenks for help
They are surrounded by Bodyguard droids and captured by Grancar Noss, who finds out they are here because of Rotinga and the ambassador. He leaves promising to kill them later.
They are rescued by the Bothans.
Shark Jenks arrives with his single star destroyer, promising more. The jedi ask him to land all his ground forces in pods and gunships while he engages the large separatist fleet with all his air power so as to protect their landing.
The Bothans take them to another part of the town as the separatist forces are beginning to occupy it.
the bothans give them their lightsabres back, they go searching for Grancar Noss
They find Grancar Noss interrogating Rotinga Hutt. Grancar Noss kills him and disappears.
In another part of town they find Theosidia again, she and they go hunting for Grancar Noss
Returning to the Bothan base, they find all the Bothans and Togorians killed by lightsabres - they don't know by whom
the jedi continue their search

Shark Jenks is taking heavy casualties in space
The clone forces arrive safely, tanks and UTATs and ATSTs and Galactic Marines, to attack the Seperatist positions from the snowy planet
two squads of ARC troopers are dropped behind lines

the Seperatist forces entrench themselves in the edge of the town, 4 octuptarra magna tri-droids, 4 AATs, 8 hailfire droids and a host of battle droids and super battle droids

 The republic clone forces spearhead for the right flank, firing at the big Octuptarras

The tanks barrelled into the roads to try and break through the enemy positions. They proved very able to clear the roads, but were soon after taken out by the concentrated fire of Octuptarra  and AAT missiles. However the right road was opened to the ATSTs and the marines for assault.
To the rear of the right road the Arc troopers landed in an attempt to blow up the Octuptarras. They landed a few heavy blows, however an attack by Hailfire droids wiped out the first squad, but was stopped by the heavy trooper of the second. The sniper continued to fire upon the Octuptarras but caused only minor damage.

 The UTATs managed to blow both up and the galactic marines pushed along the road
however a host of super battle droids had arrived to attack the Arc troopers

But just then the Jedi appeared, carving and forcing their way through the super battle droids

 The Jedi and Arc troopers took on and took out the last AAT
the UTATs took down the last Octuptarra.
With more star destroyers appearing to destroy the separatist fleet and land forces, the day was won for the republic

Racing quickly to the space port, Jedidah and Mavis came face to face with Grancar Noss again. They duelled to a stand still, Noss wounding Jedidah, but Mavis found it impossible to beat him
As he beat her back again, he again turned tail and fled, taking a ship from the space port.

Grancar Noss had fled. But the Ithorian ambassador was safe and Beth Kantor had been secured against the Seperatists, to stop them using it as a base to attack Coruscant
Rotinga and the Bothan spies were all dead, and Theosidia had disappeared.
The search for Grancar Noss contineud

Star Wars RPG - Episode I - Relieving the Fort (Battle of Kalin, relieving the siege of Mount Timbor)

Briefing: "Planet: Kalin, Objective: relieve the besieged Republican fortress of mount Timbor. Republican forces have been besieged on the outer rim world of Kalin for over two months now by the droid forces of the separatist Intergalactic Banking Clan, commanded by Muun director Toon Gleen. The garrison seemed to be holding up, but recentxly all communications from the garrison had stopped. However Republican observers have identified that fighting is still going on on the planet, so your taskforce has been sent to evaluate the situation, reopen communications and ultimately break the siege of mount Timbor.

Under the command of Jedi Master Dubreton, a human from Naboo, a Republican fleet and clone taskforce have been dispatched. You are to execute this mission while Dubreton and the fleet secure the sector around.

 

Kalin is a tropical world with great northern and southern oceans - there is a main belt of land around the centre with hundreds of islands along the fringes

Your republican clone forces are far superior to the separatist droid armies however they are much smaller, while your star fleet is beaten in both size and quality by that of the seperatists

Kalin is strategically important, as a small world near the outer rim, as it keeps the banking clans home world of Malastare cut off from the other pockets of seperatists worlds and also serves as a Republican supply post for Jedi General Ki Adi Mundi's forces besieging Malastare."

 

So came the briefing to the two Jedi Generals, Mavis Palifax, a female Miralukan, and Jedidah, a male Wookiee. They were to set out with their taskforce of four star destroyers and 20 battalions of clones, some 14,000 clone troopers. The separatist intergalactic banking clan forces were unknown, however they were quickly found out.

The Republican fleet engaged that of the seperatists, launching their entire compliment of arc 170 squadrons as the sepeartists launched their first droid fighters. Around the planet of Kalin a dumbbell like supply sheet came into view.

The battle in space raged on, but the seperatists seemed to be having the best of it. the hard fighting on the republican right left both sides battered, with all the arc 170s gunned down, yet with the two opposing light craft immobile against which the star destroyer had launched its partatrooper border party, while on the left one of the star destroyers had broken through, raked a light craft and also launched their paratroopers towards the great battleship.
Having flown out to join in the fight against the droid Starfighters, the Jedi in their Starfighters darted through to also land in the battleship's hanger.

They landed their starships in the hanger and got out to have a look. After dispatching the customary security droids they were able to hack the battleship's database. Worryingly it appeared that, though it had despatched waves of vulture droids, the battleship had only used a sixth of its capacity. It also appeared that the droid army which it had originally been carrying had been landed on Kalin. It was thus pretty much deserted, and the Jedi resolved to get to the bridgehead and deactivate the battleship's droids before they could be unleashed on their fleet. They got back in their Starfighters and flew through the hanger till they reached the entrance to the bridge. Meanwhile however the Paratroopers flying over to aid them had been surrounded and captured by vulture droids. It was now even more important to quickly deactivate the droids.

 Fighting along the corridor to the bridge, Jedidah became trapped in a ray shield, just as two destroyer droids appeared. Together with some security droids they called on Jedidah to surrender, however Jedidah's astromech I-AN, who they had left at the terminal at the mouth of the hanger, quickly deactivated the shield and Jedidah flung himself at the droids. However he was overcome by their fire and, stunned, fell into their hands. Mavis meanwhile had been too occupied fighting off security droids to come to his rescue! But as they advanced along the corridor I-AN trapped Jedidah and his droid guards in another ray shield, and in the confusion Jedidah destroyed all the droids.

Dashing along the corridor the two jedi, with Mavis' Astromech, reached the bridgehead. Entering they quickly despatched several battle droids and security droids and at last cornered the two Muun commanders. The terrified Muuns quickly agreed to deactivate the vulture droids, though they no longer had control of any of the ship's other droids, switch off the engines and leave the ship.
B, Mavis and their two prisoners returned to the hanger entrance where they handed their Muun prisoners over to the paratroopers.

Having now broken through the separatist lines the Star Destroyers were causing great devestation, though they were getting bogged down. 1 on the far left had broken through and silenced one side of the nearby light craft's guns, 2 was on course to land on Kalin, practically unscathed, 3 meanwhile had succumbed to great numbers of trifighters, vulture droids and buzz droids, losing its engines and bridge along with most of its guns, however together with 2 it managed to issue a devastating broadside on both sides of one of the separatist frigates, essentially putting the frigate out of action. The clones of 3 quickly evacuated ship, the clones taking to the escape pods, while the arc troopers and scuba troopers jumped in the gunships.
4 also was in trouble. It had taken out the engines of two light craft, but was now quickly being surrounded by droid fighters targeting its engines, bridgehead and guns. It quickly made contact with the nearby separatist battleship and began boarding, its clone battalions rushing into the hangers of the separatist ship.
Star destroyer 3 and the separatist frigate were now plummeting for Kalin! A dark figure on the frigate quickly rushed for the escape pods...
Star destroyer 4 had now also begun to fall towards Kalin, though its clones had all disembarked on the separatist battleship. 3's clone battalion at last landed in their escape pods just outside the fortifications surrounding the coastal landing strip to the south of the planet. There they made an attack on the landing strip, hoping to secure it for their own fleet, but they met stiff opposition from the droid forces.
Star Destroyer 1, finding its engines taken out by droids, decided to make a crash landing near mount Timbor and so, turning off the stabilisers, it dropped. The clones, save for the Captain and crew, evacuated in drop pods after entering the atmosphere. It landed badly and nearly everyone but the Captain and a handful of crewmen was killed. However another four battalions were thus landed on the planet, just north of Mount Timbor.
Meanwhile 4's company of paratroopers had been captured by droids and were taken to the other frigate as prisoners. Jedidah and Mavis, along with the 2's company of Galactic marines in their gunships flew out to board this last frigate.

Fighting their way through the hanger, Jedidah and Mavis and the marines split up, only to converge on the opposite hanger where the paratroopers were being guarded by a large number of battle droids, super battle droids and destroyer droids. The ensuing battle saw heavy casualties on the part of the marines, but the paratroopers were swiftly rescued. With the elevator in action the two jedi decided to head up to the bridge with two marines.

Emerging from the lift shaft they were hit by a hail of shots, however they deflected them all and managed to floor the entire force with a dual force blast. However more droid forces quickly appeared. The marines were both killed, Mavis was surrounded and Jedidah, again wounded, fled back down the elevator with a couple of newly arrived marines. As destroyer droids with force fields arrived, Mavis was forced to give herself up.

Mavis was thus marched by a guard of destroyer droids and super battle droids to the bridgehead, where she was presented to the Muun commander of the ship. The Muun, Commodore Grathpus, declared that the Republic's puny ground forces would be swiftly overwhelmed and bade Mavis watch the destruction of her fleet. Just then however the door to the bridgehead was blown off and Jedidah with the paratroopers and remaining Marines burst in. Mavis quickly grabbed her lightsabre and began laying about her at the droids. Together her and Jedidah quickly reduced the droid force, though on advancing the clones were all gunned down by the superior droid forces.
Grathpus, seeing the situation worsening quickly began to talk on his command chair's telecomm, calling to his 'brother' for help. The astromech's quickly shut the door of the bridgehead from the outside. Grathpus quickly dashed over to one of the elevators and began calling the lift as two security droids covered him.

Mavis and Jedidah attempted to call their astromech's to block the lift, but they received no response. Just then the doors opened to reveal a wall of super battle droids!

Mavis engaged the super battle droids, despatching a couple, while Jedidah rushed over, struck down the two security droids guarding Grathpus and slashed the elevator control panel, putting it out of action. Suddenly the super battle droids were knocked aside and a Muun in a jacket and brandishing a blaster entered with two bodyguard droids! 'Jedi!' he snarled, 'where is my brother!" The two bodyguard droids engaged Mavis, while the new arrival shot, together with his four super battle droids and destroyer droid shot at Jedidah.
Jedidah was wounded by the shot and Grathpus quickly dashed to the elevator on the other side of the bridgehead, disappearing. Mavis finally cut down the first magna guard droid, but was now very badly wounded from the blows which had got through. Jedidah was also subdued, surrounded by the Muun and his droids. He attempted to struggle through the doors but failed to lift himself up. They now seemed trapped.
In desperation Mavis hurled her lightsabre at the glass screen, breaking it, and pulling back her lightsabre. She and Jedidah grabbed the sides of the door, while the super battle droids and destroyer droid, along with most of the bodies and dismembered droids were sucked out into space. However the Muun and bodyguard droid held on.
At last the windshield came up and the fighting resumed. Mavis despatched the last bodyguard droid and now the Muun was trapped! He tried calling for help on the telecomm but there were no nearby ships to answer. He made a run for the elevator, not realising it was broken. When he reached it he cursed and dashed for the other, but Mavis was laying in wait for him. She bounced him and accidentally stuck her lightsabre through the elevator control panel, before deflecting his desperate shot and capturing him.
They found out that he was Director Toon Gleen, who they later remembered was the commander of the intergalactic banking clan around Kalin. They forced Toon Gleen to deactivate the frigate's droids, but he would not pilot the ship for them. He also reiterated that their forces would easily be destroyed by their massed droids on Kalin. They took him back to the hanger, where there was no sign of Grathpus, and flew down with star destroyer 2 and the captured separatist battleship to the landing strip just north of mount timbor.

The situation on Kalin by now then was thus. Star Destroyer 3 and 4 and a separatist frigate had come down in the woods on the right, while star destroyer 1 had crash landed on the landing strip north of mount timbor and 2 had also landed there with Mavis and Jedidah. The clones from 3 had landed just outside the fortified landing strip in the south and engaged the droids, while the clones from 4 with the arctroopers and scuba troopers from 3 had landed on the island landing strip in the captured separatist battleship and opened up communications with Jedi Admiral Dubreton who promised them assistance in fleet engagement.

The Scubatroopers set off from the island to aid the attack on the southern landing strip, supported by two companies of arc troopers in their gunships, however the cove seemed better heavily defended than they had expected, while the nine clone battalions and two arc companies deployed under Mavis and Jedidah in the north.

Swimming up the estuary and river, Mavis and Jedidah infiltrated the fortress of mount Timbor alone, climbing up the pipes to the river spring at the very heart of the mountain. Climbing from the canal they quickly took out some droid sentries, but Jedidah had to swim back down the river to stop their parts from floating down and alerting anyone of their presence.

Meanwhile, beyond Kalin, Master Dubreton, a human from Naboo, and his padawan Shark Jenks, an Iktochi, arrived in their Starfighters with twenty squadrons of arc 170s and engaged the separatist fleet.

Making their way to the control centre at the top of Mount Timbor, Mavis and Jedidah found Captain Nebo and his few surviving ARC troopers Nebo was incredibly relieved to see them, and especially keen to know what was happening outside the citadel.
The Jedi explained to Nebo that the droid army was being powered by the two big supply ships above the planet, but that these two ships were protected by force shields powered from the ground. They had lost all their Star destroyers while the enemy still had four ships remaining, but that Dubreton and Jenks' fleet had arrived and needed those shields down in order to defeat the droid forces, as the Clone troops on the planet were limited. On the citadel's tactical hologram map, Nebo showed them the two sites of the shield generator bunkers.
They now made to break out of the centre of the citadel with Nebo and his troopers, taking out several more droids, before suddenly being faced with an AAT tank. They managed, however, to quickly combat and take over the tank.
Escaping the citadel, the Jedi and clones met up with the other Clone forces beginning their assault on the citadel. There they gathered their forces, and called three gunships each. Nebo would take out the mountain supply shield, while the Jedi would take out the shield in the woods on the further side of the planet.

The Jedi's gunship raced from the citadel and along the edge of the marshes, while on the horizon, as the sun began to set, a Seperatist light craft, taken out by Dubreton's fleet above, fell nose first into the marsh, disintegrating as it touched the ground. Jedidah and Mavis held on tight, ARC troopers surrounding them. They sensed something dark through the woods ahead.

Up above the planet's atmosphere, Nebo having taken out the shield on the mountainside, Dubreton and Jenks fell upon the first supply ship and destroyed it! The droids in the citadel deactivated and there was a great cheer from the clones attacking the fortifications, however, they were celebrating too soon, as the droids quickly restarted. The second supply ship had taken over the first's control duties.

With their gunships landing outside the woodland bunker, Jedidah and Mavis raced out with their ARC Troopers, who quickly blew the doors, allowing them to race inside. The Jedi and clones quickly dealt with a host of super battle droids, before four droidekas arrived which the Jedi also took care of. Finally as they advanced along the corridor, they were faced by four bodyguard droids. In a bitter combat all four were at last dealt with, though by this time, both were suffering from many burns and wounds. Entering the main reactor chamber, they felt the darkness of the force grow, and at there, they saw it. A hooded, stooped figure, emerging from behind the reactor. He clicked as he moved forward, his cane tapping against the floor.
"Jedi!" he said bitterly, "I have been expecting you!" He threw his cloak back, revealing himself as an Ithorian, and lifted his cane. With a twist of his wrist, he detached the silver knob of hi cane and held it out. Suddenly a red lightsabre beam jumped from the end!
Jedidah and Mavis both powered their lightsabres up, the Ithorian threw his stick to the ground and the two sides clashed.
He deftly duelled them both, beating them back and lashing out against them, but suddenly they seemed to be getting the better of them. Beating of their attacks, he bent over and let off the Ithorian's famed sonic bellow, knocking them and the clones off their feet. Then he disappeared into the darkness.
They would have pursued, but with Dubreton desperately calling down the coms link, they turned their attention to detonating the generator.
With the last shield down the fleet above fell upon the last ship, destroying it.
All across the planet the droids deactivated, while above the planet, the remaining Seperatist ships, seeing there was no more they could do, jumped into hyperspace.
When the Jedi at last came to search for the dark Ithorian jedi, he was nowhere to be found.
Kalin was secured, and with the arrival of a new garrison, the Jedi and their taskforce, together with their three Muun prisoners returned to Coruscant.

 

Star Wars RPG - beginnings - engagement beyond Mygeeto

Having had some very good RPG experience of late, I had decided to try and create one in the Star Wars universe, with the players taking the roles of Jedi. I tried to combine a normal questing party style RPG with a more tactical game, the players fighting on the ground, but also commanding fleets and armies. We have a big game planned, but as we could not assemble the whole party today, we decided to test out the game.

 

The Clone Wars have been raging for nearly two years, and the Republic's clone forces are again on the offensive. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine has declared the triad of evil, three planets key to Separatist operations which the Republican forces are to focus on capturing. One of these, the outer rim world of Mygeeto, a place of crystals and storms, has been put to siege and blockade by the Republic.
Since the fall of Muunilist, their homeworld, in the early stages of the Galactic civil war, the Intergalactic Banking Clan, key members of the Separatist league, has taken up residence on one of their colony world, Mygeeto.
On the ground General Ki-Adi-Mundi, a Cerean Jedi Master, is leading the Galactic marines in an assault on Mygeeto's fortress cities, while beyond the atmosphere, Admiral Dubreton, a human Jedi Master of the Naboo, commands the tight blockade of the world.

Seeing the approach of a fleet of separatist blockade runners, he has dispatched two of the Jedi knights under his command, General B, a Wookiee knight, and General A, a Nautolan knight, with three venator class star destroyers to investigate and engage.
Their mission: to destroy the Lucrehulk class battle ship, which is doubtless carrying a large droid army, by shutting down its droid brain, and gathering information.

Both fleets approached, B taking the left flank, A the right. Towards them came each a Banking clan frigate with two light craft. As they came near the frigates launched their compliments of droid fighters, vulture droids and trifighters. In response A and B exited their star destroyers in their Starfighters with half of their ships' Arc170 fighter squadrons.

Both fleets engaged. The fighters engaged in a grand dogfight, with the rest of all the star destroyers' Arc170 squadrons exiting to join the fight. Having suffered broadsides from two sides one of the Banking clan light craft exploded when A strafed it's engines, blowing the entire thing up and sending his fighter spinning through space.
On the otherside of the action B, diving through two swarms of trifighters managed to land his Starfighter in the hanger of the nearest Banking Clan frigate.

He exited his fighter and, supported by his faithful astromech droid I-AN, fought his way deep inside the frigate. But after fighting his way through a host of battle droids he was surrounded by Super Battle droids and Security battle droids, shot in the foot, then shot in the hand and forced to drop his lightsabre. A droid picked it up and he was covered by their blasters before he could get it back. The droids marched him, captured, to the bridgehead.

Meanwhile A had crashed his smoking fighter into the hanger of the other Banking Clan frigate, right as the central star destroyer had moved to board it, and the ship's clones were fighting their way on board. A blasted all the security droids surrounding him into the barrels of fuel nearby, while his astromech droid, N1-M8, used his jets to ignite the oil and destroy all the droids in a ball of fire. Fighting off the newly arrived super battle droids, A ran through to the hanger where the clones were boarding. Once they had despatched all the battle droids, only 4 clones remained, as the frigate had managed to stop any more boarders by putting up its hanger shields.

On the otherside of the battle B was now in the bridgehead surrounded by droids. He was brought before a tall robed Muun, clearly commanding operations from the bridgehead.
"Ah Jedi!" sneered the Muun, "Watch your fleet fall!" there seemed no way out for B
However just then the nearby star destroyer opened fire with its gun turrets, hitting the frigate just below the bridgehead. The frigate shook, and in the bridgehead the droids were thrown across the room, giving B the perfect opportunity to recover his lightsabre. With his weapon back in his uninjured hand B leaped across the bundled droids and grabbed the startled Muun up. Dashing back to the door with him before the droids could stop him, the wookiee hurled his lightsabre at the glass window of the bridgehead, while I-AN started to close the door. B tried to pull his lightsabre back with the force, but the vacuum, pulling all the droids from the room, dragged his lightsabre out as well. Lightsabreless, but still with his astromech droid and now his prisoner, B dashed back towards the hanger.

Meanwhile the Arc170 fighters had cleared up all of the droids, while three of the separatists four light craft had also been blown up. However the stardestroyers had taken their own hits, various cannons knocked out, but most critically a swarm of trifighters, with their cannons and buzzdroids, had severely damaged the engines of the central star destroyer and it was at risk of conflagration.

A had found his way up to the bridgehead of the frigate which the clones had boarded, but all but one of the clones had been killed on their way up there. Arriving at the bridgehead, they found super battle droids and security droids exiting it. They destroyed them all and entered the bridgehead, but it was deserted. Looking to take control of the ship and perhaps pilot it into the separatist battleship. However in their search the clone trooper suddenly saw that the windows of the bridgehead were covered in mynocks which would break the glass at any moment. They left the bridgehead just in time as the next moment the glass broke and the room was filled with mynocks and vacuum.
They decided to head for the observation tower, containing the secondary control room. Discovering that two of the frigates escape pods had already been launched, A imagined that the sentient crew must have already left, taking control of the ship would not be too hard then.

Meanwhile the central star destroyer, its clones unable to break through the frigate's hanger shield, broke from the engagement and headed for the battleship.
The other frigate was very badly damaged, having come under fire from both the left flank star destroyer and the separatist light craft (no doubt warned of the commander's fall). With the damage to its steering, armour and bridgehead  making it vulnerable, and a final shot to its engines making it dangerous, B decided to head for the escape pods, rather than back to his fighter in the hanger.

A had now reached the observation tower, and found it surrounded by the usual compliment of battle droids. Hacking his way through them he was greeted by another Muun, perhaps the frigate's commander, but as he hacked and slashed his way through the super battle droids, lobbing a couple of clones' detonators, the Muun, quickly descended via a lift shaft, and soon A saw another escape pod launching. The controls had been damaged by his detonators, but with the help of N1 he was able to turn the frigate in the Battleship's direction.

The central star destroyer, overheating its engines, suddenly found its engines and bridgehead consumed, and then the rest of the ship. It exploded damaging all the surrounding vessels and ripping apart several droid fighters. With one of the frigates in enemy hands, and the other spiralling out of control, and with two star destroyers approaching it, the battleship launched its compliment of droid fighters, swarms of vulture droids and trifighters.
Heading again for the star destroyers two swarms of trifighters succeeded in taking out the left flank one's engines and bridgehead, and then its secondary control room, putting the ship out of action and making it dangerously unstable. B also succeeded in launching an escape pod, himself, his prisoner and astromech droid on board. Just after ejecting the frigate blew up.
Two of the three escape pods from the other frigate had also arrived safely at the battleship. However the third had been blown up by a broadside from the nearby stardestroyer.

The frigate's explosion had a knock on effect, hitting the nearby star destroyer in its engine and sending a conflagration through the ship. Luckily the Clones within had taken the precaution of evacuating the ship just before that, and their cloud of escape pods jetted away from the explosion, which had taken a good deal of droid fighters down, but not before some of them had had the chance to gun down some of the escape pods. The explosion had also damaged the frigate A was in, so rather than continuing piloting it, he sprinted to the escape pods with the surviving clone trooper, ejecting just before the frigate also exploded. These explosions also combined to blow up the last light craft, and so the space through which the last star destroyer approached was filled with debris, wreckage and escape pods.

B landed on the last star destroyer just as it made contact with the battleship, and joined its clone company as they boarded the great droid control ship. Meanwhile the clone escape pods had also landed on the battleship, and the majority of the surviving clones were now making their way through the battleship. With A landing on the other side of the battleship with his clone trooper and astromech, the two Jedi made their way towards the droid brain and bridgehead.
B and his clones found themselves cut off when the door behind them closed and their were fired on by turrets mounted in the ceiling. All but one of the clones were gunned down before B managed to take the turrets out. They journeyed on into the battleship's belly.

Fighting his way through the security droids and super battle droids, A at last met up with B, but in the corridor that they met they were assailed by more super battle droids and security droids and all but A's one long surviving trooper were gunned down before they had cleared the path. The two with their two astromech droids and clone troopers headed up to the bridge

Arriving at the brigde, they looked over the railings to see the droid brain. They dispatched their astromechs to disable to brain.
Suddenly they were greeted with ranks of super battle droids, security battle droids, and a horde of battle droids, who gunned down both the surviving clones. Working together to throw the super battle droids against the security droids and then over each other, they took out the super battle droids, and then B pulled the security droids onto A's lightsabre, while they worked to deflect the many shots, however they were too much, and B was again wounded by a shot.
They systematically destroyed the remaining battle droids, but in the confusion the Muun at their centre dashed for the escape pods. A dashed after him, but B caught him before he could close his pod, knocking him out with one great blow.

With the bridgehead cleared, they tried contacting their astromech droids, but there was no answer, they tried several more times, but then a patrol of super battle droids appeared, confirming that the astromechs had not yet succeeded to deactivating the droid brain.
Spotting a comlink in the Muun's hand, A quickly spoke down it - claiming that the jedi had been taken care of. the super battle droids ahead of them stopped in their tracks. With the super battle droids taken care of, they rushed back to find their astromech droids. Looking over the balustrade, they saw them, surrounded by super battle droids.
They jumped down and fought them, but the super battle droids proved harder than expected, and two managed to wind the jedi before finally being cut down. With the astromech droids released they at last managed to deactivate the droid brain, and thus the droid army, but it took them awhile and by the time they had, the clones later reported, an escape pod had already left the battleship, heading back into space...

to be continued!

RPG Questing 1

(Something a little different - the saga of an RPG game I played recently with some friends. The first part was all planned out by our friend R, but after that he came up with it spontaneously, reacting to our decisions - and it made for one epic story - certainly worthy of writing up!)

 

This is the tale of our quest. There were three of us journeying together, Myself (Prince Vladimir Kugesdorf) and my companions Dr. Villhelm van Burro and Nicola.

 

(My character and his stats - Strength, speed, dexterity, intelligence, willpower and instinct - along with his representative lego model!) 

 

I was an outlaw from my native state, Streslau, in the province of Estavia, but I should have been its ruler. I was once the crown prince of Streslau, but then, when the day of my coronation came, I was put under a trance. When I awoke it was over, and a changeling sorcerer who had assumed my image had been crowned Prince of Streslau. I tried to force my claim, but I was stopped, declared a pretender and an outlaw and forced into exile. After that I wandered the world. I managed to leave with a sword and armour from the royal armoury, and I had since learned to bend metals with magic. By working for the guild I hoped to one day find a way back to my rightful throne.

 

My companion Dr. Villhelm van Burro, the moustached 16 year old, was an expert in explosives and also possessed some power with fire magic, while Nicola was a mage powerful in art of illusionist shadow magic.

 

Hired from all corners of the world and all walks of life, our band had been despatched by the guild to hunt down an outlaw in the Village of Elbion. On arrival things had quickly got a lot darker. We searched the local archive which led us to a suspicious abandoned farm outside the village. While there we found a diary by an occupant named Harrison, who seemed to have had a run in with our original target, a fellow named Aaron, we also found a rather odd crystal. These discoveries led us to another farm which is where Aaron supposedly lived, but on arrival the darkness thickened.

We were immediately attacked by a flock of crows, most of whom we killed but a couple fled, flying for the mountains to the north.

We found a barn filled with mutilated bodies and covered in blood, and on entering the house we found a blood soaked altar in the basement with the words ‘praise Idaion’ scrawled across the walls. We also discovered a wisp floating around the house – proof of the dark goings on.

We decided to head after the crows. This led us into the mountains where we followed a figure into a mountainside tomb. We caught him. He proved to be Harrison, but he was completely out of his mind. We ventured further into the cave and were attacked by a black robed figure, we tried to fight him, but, after taking the crystal from us, he disappeared into thin air.

 

On further questioning it seemed that Harrison had been out of his mind since first finding the crystal, that he, under its influence, must have killed Aaron and his family and scrawled those words in the altar room. We headed back to the house.

We journeyed through the night, but suddenly we found ourselves surrounded by ten wolves. One leapt towards me, but I beat its jaws back with my buckler and took out its stomach with a swipe of my rapier. In the ensuing fight, I slashed my way through five wolves, while Villhelm threw a bomb, killing two, before fleeing up a tree. They snapped at him, but he leapt back down, spade out, killing another. Nicola struck down two others. There was a strange feeling of dark magic about these creatures, but we had killed them all, so we journeyed on through the night.

 

Heading back we felt uneasy, Villhelm began planting a trap bomb in the doorway while Nicola entered the house. On entering she was suddenly bowled over by a great black shadow. Fumbling to finish his bomb, Villhelm suddenly set it off by accident. The explosion hurled him through the air and knocked me off my feet. It had blown a great hole in the side of the building, through which I could see the dark creature reeling from the explosion – I got to my feet and darted after it.

But on my arrival in the hall I could not see it. Suddenly it fell from the ceiling knocking me flat. I managed to throw it off as Nicola staggered back into the hall. I hacked at the creature, but it seemed to do little damage. It leapt at me again, but this time I was ready. I fended it off and lunged again – this time I skewered it. It burst into a cloud of shadow and evaporated.

We left. Villhelm had only just regained consciousness and was terribly burnt with several broken bones, so we carried him back to the town

 

On entering the town there was great commotion. We spotted a strange fellow from Atoria, you don’t see many of them in these parts so he stood out. We approached him and began talking. We revealed what we knew about the crystal, which it turned out this fellow was also searching for – he called it a sky crystal, and told us that the dark creature we had fought in the house was a spirit, in this case the wisp, twisted by dark magic. His name was Avir and he now took us inside the town bar to meet his master. He introduced us to a woman dressed all in white and a short fellow in a conical hat. Both were from Atoria as well. They were called Careko and Rakanas. We talked with them about what we had discovered.

But suddenly the captain of the town guard rushed in. The local town of Marlborough was apparently in flames, the smoke clear from here. We three quickly decided to go with the guards, Avir decided to come along with us. On our way out Villhelm asked Careko to heal him and as she waved her hand we all felt rejuvenated.

 

We rushed out and down the road, together with the town militia. More wolves appeared on our path, but we charged them, quickly brushing them out of our way.

On entering the town we found the whole place in flames, bodies littering the streets. But seemingly no one about. However as we walked closer the bodies began moving, re-animating. Soon we were faced with a town’s worth of zombies! I rushed forwards with the town militia, while Avir stood sword drawn in the middle of the court. Villhelm and Nicola rushed over towards a house on the right. I led the militia in our fight, hacking through corpses, severing spines and splitting bones. Meanwhile Villhelm had started setting up a bomb, ready to detonate. He and Nicola lured the zombies towards it, before diving inside the house behind them, two zombies followed them in as the fuse burned and several other clawed towards the house. The bomb detonated. All the zombies around it were blown apart, while the blast caused the roof and front of the house to collapse. Nicola and Villhelm rose from the rubble, very battered, but with all the zombies around them destroyed.

The militia cut down the last zombie, and we looked about us. All but two of the militiamen had been killed in the fight. We headed for the mysterious feeling chapel. We entered. There were three of the strange dark spirit creatures climbing around the rafters so we advanced cautiously, the militia with their spears upraised. As the creature climbed down to face us Villhelm chucked another bomb. It exploded, blowing apart the back end of the chapel, and seemingly killing the three beasts under a pile of falling rubble. We approached. Suddenly a new creature burst from the rubble. The three had melded into one! We rushed for it!

In the ensuing fight another of Villhelm’s bombs blew it into two creatures one of which I killed, though only after it had struck down the other two militia men, while Nicola took down the other.

With nothing else to see we returned to the town with our news.

 

(Our representative models (Wilhelm is the Tuscan-clown...) fighting the beasts in the blown out chapel)

 

On our return Careko invited us to join her party on this quest and, after sending word to the guild of our findings, we agreed. We journeyed with the three of them, heading north to a ruin they thought may prove a lead. We had to traverse a graveyard on our way. Zombies attack us there, clear sign that we were on the right track, and we saw the fighting prowess of our companions.

We at last reached the ruin. The entrance was sealed with magic, but Careko quickly taught Villhelm a spell to break seals and so Villhelm, Careko and Rakanas held open the entrance, while myself, Nicola and Avir rushed through with our weapons. Coming into a great hall, we were approached by two figure, a male warrior and female spellcaster. I questioned them, they were from the Nightingale guild, but they would not tell me their business, so I threatened them. Having no luck that way, I rushed to the attack. Roots suddenly grabbed me, and a third figure appeared behind us, attacking Nicola with two knives. A fought the warrior, while I fought the roots.

A was struck down and Nicola was having a hard time. I at last broke free from one of the roots, only to be faced with a wolf summoned by the spellcaster. Things looked bad, but at last we got the upper hand, and after another while of bitter fighting, I managed to kill both the warrior and spellcaster, while Nicola struck down the other, and we killed the wolf twice, as the spellcaster, clearly a necromancer, had raised it up again.

By the time the other three had destroyed the seals and come through we had cleared the room. But as we ventured further we saw the caped figure, who had stolen the crystal from us, again! He was standing over a kneeling figure and holding the crystal.

Suddenly the person changed into someone else and he started questioning them. We watched in a state of shock. But then I ran forward, sword raised. He produced a scroll from his robes and disappeared in the blink of an eye and the kneeling figure, now completely transformed turned to fight us.

We tried to kill it, but whatever damage we did just reformed. At last our companions undid the magic, and the original figure dropped to the floor dead. There was no sign of the dark figure. But from their conversation we now had some idea what was going on.

 

So it seemed that the shadowy figure was using the crystal to resurrect people in his search to bring back the great necromancer Idaion who had, several centuries ago, brought the entire world close to destruction with his undead army.

 

We travelled on with them. On our journey they taught Nicola, and Villhelm spells, while I sparred with their finest swordsman Avir. Rakanas also gave Villhelm some of his transporting knives.

Hearing of increasing rising tensions between the people of Tanlore and Caledor, Careko headed to the peace conference as an intermediary between the two sides. I went with her as her secretary, since I had been trained in the art of state craft in preparation for taking the throne that was rightfully mine. Our other companions accompanied us.  

On arrival we gathered that Tanlore was accusing Caledor of harbouring dark guilds and demanding that they hand over the town of Shala where the guild was supposedly hiding. Caledor accused Tanlore of warmongering and demanded the return of several border towns they had occupied.

I proposed an idea to B of how we might help to resolve this. We three would travel to Shala and search for these dark guilds. If we found anything we would destroy it and if we didn’t then so much the better, either way we would report back that there were no dark guilds in Caledor, and so solve the dispute. Careko thought it a good idea and so we set off.

On our arrival the presence of darkness was obvious. The town was abandoned and still burning in parts we went to the mayors’ office and found his papers. They showed that he had indeed been helping the nightingale guild. I copied down the most important bits in a code of my own invention and then destroyed the originals.

We headed across the town to the chapel. There we found those words – praise Idaion – scrawled across a wall in blood. We decided to rub out all trace of them. But while we were doing this we felt a strong magical force growing closer, but it was not necessarily dark.

We peeped out of the chapel doors as it arrived in the town. A blast of lighting tore the doors off and revealed us. A bright figure stood in the square. He began questioning us.

He turned out to be Caspian, living saint of Caledor, one of the nine living saints, the most powerful light wizards, of which Careko was also one. He was here for a similar reason to us, to find any trace of dark guilds, and he was most displeased to find that we had destroyed all trace of them. Though he was a bit more pleased when I showed him my notes, and even complimented me on my code.

We all four searched the chapel again, and this time we found some papers from the Nightingale guild telling of how they had bewitched the town’s mayor. These could avert war! I thus pocketed them.

 

Caspian said the Caledonian legion was on its way to the border, where it may start hostilities with Tanlore, he thus persuaded us to head for the legion with our evidence. I persuaded him not to show the general our evidence and instead just to try and persuade him as a living saint to put off the general from hostilities.

As we travelled Caspian told us of Idaion and Telimir the two cousins who had reduced the world with their necromancy, and of Paladin, the warrior who had killed them and then disappeared, thus saving the world.

I also asked him of the living saints of Estavia, for I wondered whether these powerful beings might be able to help me defeat the changeling who had stolen my throne. He said there were two, an Ice Wizard named Illara and Sebastian the illusionist. I asked him whether they could divine truth and he said Sebastian probably could, but he was a bad tempered eccentric who had not been seen for many years.

We at last arrived at the camp. The general of the legion was suspicious and argued with us, but was willing to believe Caspian. However we were sent to high command with our evidence. I however, though I would show them my evidence, refused to entrust them with it. After much debate we were sent back to the legion and they promised not to attack Tanlore.

We headed off for the conference with our evidence. I had also thought of a great idea to solve the dispute between Tanlore and Caledor forever! But then a rider appeared on the track, much distressed. He said there was a dark wizard on the track up ahead. We rushed off with Caspian to deal with it, I told the messenger to tell the general of the legion not to advance, for we had this dealt with. He told us he would take his orders from the general.

 

As we advanced we saw that same cloaked figure with the sky crystal, and another figure kneeling before him, both up on a cliff before us. Suddenly the figure again changed – this time into a warrior, wrapped in lion fur, with lacquered armour, a katana and large chain hanging from his belt. I quickly turned the metal of his blade and chain into shackles to bind his hands, but he seemed not to notice. They began talking.

We decided to shout and throw stones at them to try and keep them from talking, but they ignored us and we soon stopped. From their conversation we realised that this new warrior was Telimir, cousin of Idaion.

Having gathered all the information he needed from Telimir, the shadowy figure again drew out a scroll and disappeared. But then we heard and saw them. A whole battalion of Caledonian cavalrymen coming up the path and charging straight for Telimir. As the approached he snapped my bindings and threw himself into their midst. It was slaughter. Telimir ripped through their ranks. We decided to approach. He had finished tearing apart the battalion as Caspian approached to fight him. The two fought, but Caspian was quickly beaten back. I turned the metal bindings into a snake, which Nicola made fly and Villhelm made breath fire, we tried to distract him with this but it didn’t work. So we rushed in to distract Telimir, but he hurled us back and beat Caspian once more. We decided the best thing to do was run.

We began running, but Telimir used magic to tear great boulders the size of houses from mountains around, hurling them down at us with magic. Caspian caught one with magic, but another was flying fast towards us! It would surely all be over. But suddenly Rakanas appeared beside Villhelm! He had used one of the magic knives which he had given Villhelm to transport himself to us. He grabbed hold of all four of us and we vanished, reappearing in the conference room beside Careko.

 

I presented our evidence to Careko and told the assembled delegates about Telimir, but they would not believe us. The entire Caledonian legion had apparently been destroyed and the Caledonian minister would not believe that it had been destroyed by Telimir, claiming that the Tanlore had attacked. Both sides would not listen to my evidence, and though I pleaded they would not step off the war path. I condemned them to their warmongering and gave up, all thoughts of my idea for eternal peace between them gone. With Tanlore and Caledor now at war there would soon be plenty of dead for Telimir and Idaion to create an army from.

 

We headed off with Careko and Rakanas to join the rest of their party in the great city of Paladin. We had no idea about how we were to stop Telimir or the shadowy figure from bringing Idaion back – the world’s destruction seemed certain.

We arrived in the city and met the rest of their party, including their lightning dragon slayer and the young Sage Tel-Marin. We inhabited the bars mostly, myself telling anyone who would listen that I was the rightful prince of Streslau, I even duelled a man who insulted me over it.

We were at a loss when Villhelm suddenly had an idea! We should summon all the nine living saints to a council and they would bring back Paladin! He alone could save us in this hour! Caspian and Careko thought it a great idea and so they set about summoning the other six living saints whose whereabouts were known.

 

There was only Sebastian the illusionist of Estavia whose whereabouts was unknown, and so we three set off to find him. It was my great wish to find Sebastian and plead with him to help me recover the throne of Streslau from the changeling wizard who had stolen it! Thus I saw in this quest, not only the saving of the world, but also the return of my throne!

We headed to my homeland of Estavia. We went to the last town where Sebastian had been seen and asked the rather old and odd inhabitants, who seemed to think Sebastian was rather odd. We realised he must be very mad, but there was no lead. But then Villhelm had another idea, and so they persuaded me to return to Streslau. I was none too keen on the idea, but I went with them. In Streslau we decided to approach the palace and ask the ‘prince’, what a rascal, if he knew where Sebastian was. I entered the palace with my face covered in a great hood – I was an outlaw here.

We asked the guards to let us in, and they went to ask the prince. While they were gone we decided to go in anyway. We approached the guards, including the first, on the door of the prince’s hall.  Seeing us they demanded we halt, but we began running. They caught myself and Nicola, but Villhelm got through. Running up to the prince, he bowed. The prince demanded why he had been admitted, but Villhelm continued. He asked the prince if he knew where Sabastian the illusionist, the living saint of Estavia, was. The prince paused awkwardly, before repeating what we had already heard, that Sebastian had disappeared. Villhelm was bundled out by the guards, but we knew enough now.

 

We were locked in the prison, but it was easy work to get out as I turned the metal bars to liquid and we stepped out. The two guards outside started in surprise, one falling backwards off his stool. We darted upstairs before they could stop us. We again ran for the Prince’s chamber. This time Villhelm and Nicola were tackled by the guards, but I got through.

I rushed up to the prince and through back my hood. “Yes it is me,” I shouted, “I know who you are, Sebastian!”

He glared at me. “How clever of you!”

I then asked him for his help in saving the world. He asked why he should want to leave this place, where he was very happy living as a prince. I said he could take a bigger kingdom, he said this one was a comfortable size. I said that when Idaion came back he would destroy everything, even tiny Streslau. He sighed and changed into a white haired old man. I had my throne back.

I commanded the guards to let my friends go. I showed them my ring, telling them that this was the symbol of the Prince now. After re-equipping myself from the palace armoury, the three of us left my kingdom with Sebastian, heading back to the living saints.

 

But as we rested on our journey, Nicola had a dream in which a voice told her that the plan would not work. Paladin could not be brought back, instead there was an Antirian ruin outside Paladin where we would find the key to defeating Idaion. We decided to follow it.

 

We arrived in Paladin and were directed to the pyramid. It was a dark place. We entered and began crossing a great stone bridge over a chasm. Suddenly there were dark spirit creatures pouring up the sides, we rushed forwards to fight them. We hurled them from the sides of the bridge, and stabbed at them, yet more kept coming. Villhelm decided to blow the bridge. He blew the first part, sending several of the creatures falling, but more kept coming. We ran on. Nicola turned herself into one of the creatures to try and blend in. Villhelm blew another part of the bridge. But there were more approaching from the other end. This looked to be the end, and there was a dark shadowy figure approaching us from along the bridge. However he seemed to be sucking up the dark spirits – absorbing them. The rest fled from him.

The figure declared that he was Legion, the head of the Fallen. He was the voice in Nicola’s head he said, and he would defeat Idaion. He did not feel dark or light, instead a perfect balance of the two.

Legion told us that to defeat Idaion we must help him. We must go to the Vampire isles and recover a young vampire girl there called Reign. She was possessed of great power which, to defeat Idaion, Legion must absorb from her. He said that we need only tell her brother that Legion had sent us and he would send her back with us.

 

(the three of us (and Sebastian on the far left) fight off the spirits. Villhelm has blown the bridge and Nicola (top) is disguised as a creature)

 

So we left. Villhelm and Nicola were terribly suspicious of Legion. They did not believe he was good at all, and so we decided that we would go along with his quest, get Reign, but take her to the living saints, rather than to Legion.

 

We made for the coast, and there we charted one of the few ships to the Vampire isles. It was a pirate vessel captained by an old pirate who had lost both his eyes and legs pirating, so we set sail.

But as we were on the sea a ship approached rapidly. It was a vampire pirate vessel and they attacked us. Nicola tried to fly a barrel of gunpowder over to their ship but dropped it. I tried to rip the metal hull apart, but didn’t manage it. We told them who we had come for as they approached, and they promised not to kill us three, but they would kill all the pirates. They attacked. Their leader, Harlock, charged forward and I rushed to attack him, but he threw me back knocking me unconscious, before slaughtering the rest of the ship’s crew.

 

We woke up in a dungeon. The bars were not metal and there seemed no way out. We asked to speak to Reign and she was sent down. She was a young girl, about 9 years old. We tried to flatter and impress her with great bows and gestures, we made my belt buckle into a flying fire breathing snake, which amused her greatly. I then formed this into a rose shaped bracelet on her wrist, and we asked to speak to her brother Antaris.

He came and we told him Legion had sent us. He sighed, but at last we were let out. He said he would travel with us and rain to Legion. I tried to pretend that Legion had said Rain had to travel alone, but there was no fooling him, he had known this day would come and he knew what to do.

 

As we travelled back towards Legion’s pyramid, there seemed no taking Reign to the living saints with Antaris with us. As we rested we talked about killing Antaris and having Nicola pretend to be him to keep Rain in the dark as we took her to the living saints, but Nicola wouldn’t do it. We decided then to tell Antaris everything.

He then revealed to us that he was one of the fallen, and also that he had no intention of handing his sister over to Legion who he did not trust either. He said there was a plot between him and another member of the fallen to destroy Legion, Rain was to be the bait. There seemed little else but to go along with him. But we wrote to Careko and Caspian of what was going on.

 

We headed into Paladin where we found Caspian and Careko hidden and waiting. We also saw the fallen entering the temple, Antaris and Reign went in, and there to our surprise was Rakanas as well.

We waited outside. Suddenly however there was the noise of fighting from inside. We rushed in.

The ceremony was going on – Legion standing over Reign, but the fallen were rushing to fight. Telimir and the shadowy figure had appeared in their midst and were trying to fight their way through to Reign! Careko and Caspian now appeared. I ran with them to attack Telimir, who was fighting off some of the fallen, while Nicola pulled Reign away from Legion and over to her with her mind. Villhelm followed me as Nicola raced out of the chamber.

Telimir as before fought us all off, throwing us back with his great chain, but then one of the fallen, a very strange creature with green gnarled skin, blasted him with magic, hurling him through the wall. We raced after him. On the otherside of the chamber, Rakanas chased the shadowy figure down a corridor.

 

In the Labyrinths confusion ensued. Myself, Careko, Antaris and Caspian raced one way, while Villhelm, having blown up a wall, raced another, straight into Telimir who was fighting hard. Nicola had in the meantime hidden Reign behind a pillar down a passage and shapeshifted into her.  Legion and Telimir were in the midst of a thunderous magical battle, while Rakanas and the shadowy figure were still fighting somewhere else.

Telimir smashed down several walls of the labyrinth as I found Reign and Nicola turned back. Things were getting very chaotic.

Legion seemed to have multiplied himself and the fallen were now fighting us. The shadowy figure and Rakanas had disappeared while Telimir was still hacking three of Legions bodies.

We fought of two more of Legion’s avatars and his Fallen Allies, Villhelm blowing several up, before killing his last opponent with his spade.

 

At last we seemed to have cornered Telimir. The last body of Legion was fighting, while we began blasting him with magic and trying to unseal him. He seemed impervious to our magic, and before we could make much headway Legion had broken off from the fight and fled into the underground maze, Leaving Telimir with us. Suddenly his flashed, leaving a wall of black flames before us and with that he departed. The labyrinth was at last silent. Reign was safe, and there were just us, Me, Villhelm, Nicola, Careko, Caspian and Antaris standing in the silent ruins. Only Rakanas and the hooded man were unaccounted for.

 

And so the quest continued!