This session is the beginning of the story arc in which the PCs have been accused of war crimes and have to gather evidence to exonerate themselves at a Guantanamo Bay-style military tribunal. It's interesting to speculate how different the campaign would have evolved if Marpa had succeeded in stunning the Clone trooper at the end of the previous session and made a getaway.
Part of the theme of the story arc is to show the slow suspension of civil liberties that accompanies the Clone Wars; later, we'll see the suspension of Holonet access to non-military personnel and new weapons restrictions to further the theme.
This session was also the first for a new player in the campaign, running the Rodian scoundrel named Zero. I think maybe Zero was intended to be a darker anti-hero, but he came across pretty comically and we used to always joke that when he would "talk to his sources on the street" it meant calling his Mom for the latest gossip. The fact that his expensive, multi-function, intricately-designed masterwork blaster blew up in his hand in his very first battle thanks to a critical fumble added to the effect.
The NPC barrister, Doolb Snoil, became another player favorite thanks to my nasal voice inflection. He comes from the novel
The Cestus Deception, in which he gets killed (several months after the events in this story arc).
Finally, this session led to two infamous Tarn Tamarand events. The first is failing his Use the Force check when it came to levitating a pebble. The second was that he told his friends that a mysterious assassin was going to attack the funeral, but only much later did he remember that the assassin was a cybernetic Rodian named Greesh Leedo--info that certainly would have made keeping a lookout easier!
Episode 2.4, "Capital Offenses"A heroic foray into the anomaly has restored hyperspace traffic and communication to the Ansion System, restoring shipments of the xoorzi kelp and saving the lives of thousands of clone troopers. Instead of a parade, however, the heroes of the anomaly adventure sit in a makeshift brig aboard the Broken Diamond
, awaiting transport to Coruscant on charges of murder and war crimes. Now, faced with a challenge more mental than physical, can they clear their names and regain their freedom?
Aboard the
Broken Diamond,
Marpa,
Tarn, and
Arresta are locked in a makeshift brig and stripped of a surprisingly large collection of weapons. The three discuss the long list of potential enemies who could be behind the frame-up and decide the only course of action is to wait until they reach Coruscant to hear the exact nature of the charges levied against them.
[80 AG]
After reaching Coruscant, the three prisoners are transferred to a military brig. They meet a lawyer appointed by the Jedi Council, a Vippit barrister named Doolb Snoil. He explains that under the recent Military Creation Act, crimes against the Republic or the laws of war are tried by a military tribunal with very few safeguards for due process and no right to appeal. In addition, Snoil explains he can only provide pure legal advice and can't appear within the courtroom tomorrow for the arraignment. After leaving Snoil,
Tarn receives a visit from a second attorney and
Marpa is also summoned for another interview.
Tarn meets with Laruse Hyak, a Bith agent for the notorious Black Sun organization. Hyak secretly delivers a message to
Tarn that Bel Sekand is calling in
Tarn's promise that the Jedi would hunt down the cybernetic assassin Greesh Leedo in exchange for Sekand keeping the judicials away from him on Ansion. Hyak explains that Leedo will be targeting Senator Orm Mandell at his father's funeral but that any increase in visible security will scare the technologically-enhanced Rodian away.
[81 AG]
The next morning, the three detainees appear at their arraignment. The prosecutor is a two-headed Troig named Rap-Seri, one head of whom speaks quite quickly while the other adopts a far more solemn, deliberate pace. The judge is a CZ Series Adjudicator droid. Each of the inmates is charged with multiple counts of murder and treason, and
Marpa is additionally charged with resisting arrest. After they all plead not guilty on all the charges, the adjudicator grants bail but under strict conditions: limited access to weapons, injection of subdermal tracking devices, and the company of hovering surveillance droids.
Tarn is ordered to act as
Arresta's bodyguard, since threatening letters have been received. Following the arraignment, Doolb Snoil introduces a hired underworld investigator named
Zero, a youthful Rodian.
Moments after leaving the Judicial Center and entering a large plaza, unseen attackers open fire.
Arresta dashes inside to help spot the attackers from up high, while
Tarn and
Zero return fire.
Zero's high-tech blaster explodes in his hand and damages his hearing, but
Tarn bullseyes one of the attackers and forces him to flee in an aircar. He almost escapes but
Marpa suddenly sprints out of the Judicial Center and leaps into the vehicle. A vicious knife fight ensues as the aircar narrowly avoids crashing into traffic and then spins out of control. The attacker suddenly jumps from the vehicle, but
Marpa regains control of the aircar and rams his fleeing assailant, who just barely survives the collision. A second attacker is apprehended by clone troopers and both are taken away for questioning.
After the battle,
Zero staggers away to repair his blaster, while
Marpa instructs Snoil to file a motion for relaxed weapons restrictions to be heard the next day and then leaves to obtain lodging.
Arresta and
Tarn head to the Jedi Temple.
Arresta stays in a waiting area while
Tarn runs into General Sarigar and his Padawan,
Lee. Sarigar tells
Tarn to be wary of Horellius Creen and to pull a particular file in the Jedi archives before making any commitments. Meanwhile,
Arresta arranges for a high-class luxury apartment complete with protocol droid, housekeeping droid, and jacuzzi!
Tarn then makes his way to the Council chambers and meets with Master Yoda. Master Yoda tells
Tarn that the youth does not have the makings of a great Jedi Master, but perhaps the potential to become a heroic warrior. However, Master Yoda continues,
Tarn must find himself a teacher and establish the truth of the accusations made against him or prepare to depart the Jedi Order. Afterwards,
Tarn spends some time in the Archives and finds the document General Sarigar told him to look for: it's an investigation report prepared by General Sarigar about Horellius Creen. It seems that Creen's first Padawan is presumed to have perished in a terrorist attack, and that each of Creen's subsequent students have either died violent deaths or been refused further teaching. The Council barred Creen from taking on any further apprentices and placed him under Temple Arrest, but the restriction was lifted at the beginning of the Clone Wars when the Order became desperate for warriors.
Tarn nonetheless seeks out Creen and asks to become his Padawan learner. Creen asks him "Do you understand the ways of the Force?" and
Tarn says that he doesn't. Creen agrees to be
Tarn's teacher and tells the youth to return the next day to begin training.
[82 AG]
Arresta, Tarn, and
Marpa meet early to discuss
Tarn's secretive statement that they need to stop a suspected assassin from attacking Senator Orm Mandell at a funeral service that evening. Because the unknown assassin will be scared away by increased security, they have to infiltrate the service. The group contacts
Zero and everyone agrees to meet at the funeral, but otherwise they split up.
Arresta goes shopping,
Tarn spends his first day as a Padawan arranging dusty old scrolls, and
Marpa finds work fixing droids and buys himself a protocol model, missing the weapons-restriction hearing before the adjudicator judge.
Zero spends the day at a bacta tank (thanks to a 3000 credit loan from
Marpa) and has his hearing restored.
Early that evening, everyone meets at the funeral home. As the first guests begin to trickle in,
Zero tells the lone security guard about the assassination plot and the guard hurries to call for a complete police cordon of the building.
Tarn tries to stop the guard by referencing his status as a Jedi, but the guard demands to see proof.
Tarn fails to levitate a pebble and the guard calls for back-up, which arrives immediately.
The mourners are all seated and waiting patiently when an airhearse arrives outside. The pallbearers bring a repulsor-lift casket towards the building; but the cybernetic assassin Greesh Leedo has spotted the increased security through wirecams from his hiding place inside the casket! He bursts out of the casket, dumping the body of Senator Mandell’s father on the ground, and sprints away into the night before anyone can react.
The pallbearers act quickly to replace the body, but with the increased security the civic official who had planned on giving the service has been turned away.
Tarn is drafted into service, and with the lovely words of
Arresta coming through his comlink, delivers a beautiful and memorable elegy, bringing a tear to many an eye. After the service, Senator Mandell gives his heartfelt thanks to
Zero and
Tarn.
Tarn, however, tells his friends that they may have just provoked the ire of Black Sun.
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