Clone Wars Campaign: Recap # 13

This was a pretty gory sesssion, what with the death of one of the Blood Brothers, the flesh-eating grubs and ear crawlers, tubes full of skeletons, and the agonizing death of the Sentinel. I think I often did a better job with horror elements here than I did in my Buffy/Angel campaign. And in case you're wondering, yes, the self-mutilated warriors were indeed Yuzhan Vong.


EPISODE 2.3 "Into the Abyss"

SESSION # 13

Deep inside the anomaly, a group of Republic operatives have fallen in battle and are now in the hands of their most dangerous, pitiless enemies yet. Kept alive & even healed, they will soon discover what purpose their captors have in mind for them, with just a few scant moments to make a decision between life and death. But even if they do survive, they will soon realize that what lies ahead is far, far worse than what they'll leave behind.

After a lengthy period of darkness and strange, tempting dreams, Marpa, Arresta, and Tarn awaken in the clutches of their inhuman attackers. Bound hand and foot, they realize that the entire crew of the Sun Runner has been captured as well. One of their captors--a ritually scarred and mutilated priest of some kind--has used strange flesh-eating grubs to heal everyone's wounds and has placed long, thin worms into everyone's throat and ears to act as a translating device. The priest asks each captive a question, one by one, "Will you bear the ka'roth'ri and seek the seer?" One of the Blood Brothers refuses and is immediately slain, but the others agree and suffer the agonizing pain of a small crab-like organism burrowing into their upper backs and closing around their spinal columns. The captives are then set free and pointed in the direction to go.

After traversing a long span of empty corridor, the group come upon a vast chasm spanned only by a narrow, razor-thick bridge. Tarn and Jocasta fall to their knees and have visions of a group of nine robed figures constructing the bridge through the flesh of some of their slaves called the Massassi. In front of the bridge, the party's gear has been carelessly dumped, along with 8P-MD-4 who is reactivated when the slug is placed on his back. Jocasta argues stridently that both groups should return together and kill their inhuman attackers, but is refused. The Sun Runners end up going back alone, while Tarn, Arresta, Marpa, and 8P-MD-4 venture forth across the bridge.

They soon find themselves being stalked by a creature crawling along underneath the bridge. Suddenly, the creature's barbed, poisonous tail lashes out and pierces Tarn's side, knocking the young Jedi unconscious and perilously close to the edge. The party tries to run, but the creature follows and eventually crawls to the top of the bridge. Marpa and 8P-MD-4 wrestle over the power-generating slug, but Marpa ends up winning and uses it to activate his heavy blaster pistol. With a few quick shots, a smoking, burning hole is blown into the creature's carapace and it plummets into the dark chasm below. With a reactivated 8P-MD-4's help, Tarn regains unconscious and the group continues on.

Eventually the group notices a pair of twinkling lights far over their heads. Tarn looks distracted and then says excitedly that he's had visions of a powerful weapon needed to defeat "the Sentinel, the Beguiler, and the Seducer," and that he has to jump from the bridge. Although the others try to restrain him, he leaps over the side and begins to fall into the darkness; yet his descent slows and then he begins to rise higher and higher, above the bridge and towards the lights high above. Following his example, Arresta does the same thing. Meanwhile, Marpa has removed the slug from 8P-MD-4 and uses it to active his ascension gun. He fires it overhead but it doesn't catch on anything. Marpa then wraps one end of the cable around 8P-MD-4 and proceeds to push him over the side of the bridge. Unfortunately, 8P-MD-4 doesn't rise like the others and Marpa isn't strong enough to hold him up; the droid, the ascension gun, and the slug plummet into the darkness below. Marpa decides to take the plunge and rises into the air like Tarn & Arresta.

The three find themselves pulled through an iris-shaped opening and in front of a mold-covered corridor. Marpa explains that another giant scorpion-like creature attacked and knocked the droid over the side of the bridge. Moments later, 8P-MD-4 is pulled through the iris, with the slug having miraculously climbed down the ascension gun cord and reactivated him. The foursome make their way through a series of mold-covered passages and find the purpose behind Tarn's unusual actions: a skeletal hand is clutching an ignited lightsaber. Tarn grabs the hilt and the party continues through the mold-covered passages, coming upon some rooms filled with shattered, skeleton-filled tubes. After reaching another iris shaped opening, the party argues over what they should do next and a split develops: Marpa, Arresta, and 8P-MD-4 decid to return to the main hallway, while Tarn jumps through the iris and falls into the darkness below.

Tarn finds himself falling slowly and landing softly back on the obsidian bridge. He moves forward, past a grotesque display of smashed bodies, until he sees the bridge's Sentinel: a powerful, muscular woman wearing spiked black armor and swinging a wicked looking chain over her head. She shouts warnings, but Tarn advances. Her hatred seethes across the bridge, but Tarn mostly manages to avoid the lethal chain & tumbles past her and into safety.

After by-passing another collector tendril, Marpa, Arresta, and 8P-MD-4 reach the area where they were previously held captive. They find that Jocasta's crew is celebrating after successfully killing their former captors, suffering surprising--and perhaps suspiciously--few wounds in the process.

With Tarn having disappeared, Jocasta assumes leadership and they move forward along the bridge. The Sentinel calls upon the Dark Side to lash out at all who try to pass. Arresta barely makes it past her and limps away into the distance, but Marpa is not so lucky and falls in battle. 8P-MD-4 pulls him to safety, as Jocasta and the sole remaining Blood Brother manage to finally bring the bridge's guardian to her knees. Panting and covered in blood, Jocasta looks around and smiles.

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