Clone Wars Campaign: Recap # 24

This was a solid entry in the story arc, and turned out to be pretty exciting even though only two of the players could make it. I was pretty proud of myself for improvising well, because, first, I had no idea that one of the PCs would end up spending most of the session as a captive in the Separatist base, and second, I had no idea the PCs would end up being split up for the whole session.

The Ssi-Ruuk, taken from the Truce at Bakura novel, worked fairly well as a strange alien menace, although most of their personality and culture didn't come across as the only PC interaction with them turned out to be Krevlax's skirmishing (and neither spoke the other's language).

There were some interesting potential plot threads hidden in the "Special Projects" files, but the PCs didn't manage to penetrate the room where those files where held.

Krevlax came pretty damn close to getting disintegrated trying to make it on to the Core Ship, but the rolls came through for him. I always worry my players don't think I'm willing to kill their characters, because we've never had a death by combat in the long campaign, when in fact I try my hardest to kill them all the time! I just haven't managed to succeed yet because they end up being pretty good at what they do when it counts.

Star Wars Recap # 24


In a remote sector of the Unknown Regions, the crew of the Outcast Tiara has been split into two groups. Aboard the powerless freighter, subsisting on minimal life support, Zero and Natany awaken to find themselves left behind. Meanwhile, Zee, Arresta, and Krevlax have landed on the dangerous jungle planet Zeta-11 in the midst of a war between Separatists and strange invaders known only as the Ssi-Ruuk. With no chance of rescue, can the crew of the Outcast Tiara uncover the Separatist's plans and make good their escape?


As Krevlax makes his way through the thick jungle in the direction of the lifeboat, he hears the distinctive voice of a B-1 battle droid ahead. Krevlax approaches stealthily and overhears the OOM droid commander telling the Neimodian Admiral Binth via holoprojector that the "Ssi-Ruuk dropship" has been surrounded and that they're ready to move in. Krevlax realizes the droids have mistaken the lifepod for an alien landing ship, and tells Arresta via comlink that she's surrounded. Arresta gives Zee a sedative to keep him quiet and opens the back of the lifeboat, intending to drag him to safety in the jungle. Unfortunately, a dwarf spider droid and an assortment of other droid infantry are waiting. Arresta blasts a couple of the droids and dashes for the jungle, but then changes her mind and decides to surrender. Zee and Arresta are manacled and loaded aboard a shuttle bound for the Separatist's mountain-top base: the Core Ship of the Liquidator, used for several years as a top-secret Separatist research facility. After the shuttle lands, Arresta convincingly portrays herself as an innocent and harmless traveler, but the naturally-suspicious Admiral Binth orders Arresta and the still-sedated Zee detained for interrogation.

Meanwhile, Krevlax manages to escape from the droid commander and a Hailfire droid tank by hiding in the dimly-lit jungle. As dawn approaches, he makes his way back to the lifeboat and sees it guarded by a lone dwarf spider droid. Unfortunately, Krevlax steps loudly on a branch and alerts the sentry. It chases Krevlax, but the Anx manages to outrun and outwit it. Unsure of his companions' fate, Krevlax makes his way to the remnants of the Ryn village. In the ruins, he encounters a Bith named Shimmoth. Shimmoth is hoping other survivors of the previous night's attack will return, because she has nowhere else to go. Finding little help in the ruined village, Krevlax decides his only option is to wait for nightfall and trek North toward the "Mechanical Mountain." He makes steady progress.

[AG 254]

Krevlax finds the jungle a dangerous realm to travel through alone. Although he shakes off a strange insect-borne disease, heavy rainfall and the oppressive darkness cause him to walk in circles until he realizes he's hopelessly lost. He decides to rest for the night and get his bearings in the morning.
Arresta's situation is no better. Locked in a tiny cell, she has the presence of mind to resist the chemical manipulations of an interrogation droid but sees no chance of escape. However, she does manage to make contact with a fellow prisoner: a young Ryn named Frazon.

[AG 255]

After another day's rest, Krevlax sets off and eventually sees a mountain looming in the distance. On the mountain's flat top, the Separatist base is partially-obscured by cloud cover. With his eyes on the sky, Krevlax almost stumbles into the middle of a makeshift campsite populated by four large, dinosaur-like humanoids: Ssi-Ruuk commandos, the last survivors of the dropship that the droids had been looking for. Krevlax decides to stay hidden and then to follow them when they break camp and head North.

At the Separatist research base, Admiral Binth is faced with a difficult decision: although her interrogation droid has confirmed Arresta's story that she's an innocent traveler, there's no way Binth can risk the secret of the base's location. Binth decides to dispose of Arresta and simultaneously test out a new model of IG Lancer Droid. Armed with only her vibro-rapier, Arresta is released onto a winding mountain path to defend herself as a half-dozen droids on swoop bikes chase after her. But the former Heir of Mongui is wily and agile, and after several passes the droids don't even get close to striking her. A frustrated Admiral Binth orders Arresta returned to her cell.

Arresta is taken back inside the Core Ship by four B-2 droids. As the contingent nears the detention block, she decides the time is ripe to make her move. She spins quickly and yanks her blade from one of the droids before it can even react, and then she quickly dispatches the guards in a blur of steel and crackling circuitry. She makes her way into a ventilation shaft just as monitoring devices alert Security Central that a prisoner has escaped. Avoiding crab droids sent to find her, Arresta makes her way through the vents until eventually she reaches the hanger level. From her vantage point high in the ceiling, she's unable to tell whether the ships are equipped with hyperdrives and decides instead to make a bid to free Zee from the detention block.

Meanwhile, Krevlax is following the tracks of the Ssi-Ruuk so intently that he grows careless to keep himself moving quietly. One of the Ssi-Ruuk hears him and opens fire with a strange paddle-shaped weapon that debilitates the central nervous system. Krevlax barely manages to escape and hide. Undeterred, however, Krevlax eventually again takes up the tracks of the Ssi-ruuk and continues his pursuit. The commandos' trail leads through destroyed blaster turrets hidden in the jungle, a breached security fence, and finally to an on-going firefight between the surviving Ssi-Ruuk and the Trade Federation AAT tank that guards the base of the mountain. Two of the Ssi-Ruuk survive and manage to make their way past the tank. Krevlax decides to follow them. He leaps aboard the tank to keep it from firing on him, but a B-2 droid shoots him in the back. The Anx manages to stagger away and escape up a winding mountain path just as the Core Ship above begins to fire wildly into the night sky. The Ssi-Ruuk fleet has begun planetary bombardment.

Hours in the ventilation shafts have led Arresta to the control area of the detention block where Zee is being held. She tumbles out of the shaft and manages to destroy the guards but suffers several blaster grazes in the fight. Although she manages to regain her equipment, Arresta can't figure out how to open the main security door to the cell block, nor can she blast through it in the time remaining before reinforcements arrive. She escapes back into the ventilation shafts and decides she needs to kidnap someone with the access codes. After several minutes of observation, she spies a high-ranking Neimodian walking briskly. With the help of the loud battle-station sirens echoing through the corridors, Arresta manages to subdue the Neimodian and drag him into an empty office. She threatens him into showing her a layout of the ship, but he claims that during a security alert only Admiral Binth can release a prisoner from the cellblock. Noticing a reference to "Special Projects" on the ship directory, Arresta forces her captive to reveal that the Core Ship is a research base for several secret projects with names like "Jedi Exsanguination Project", "Construct--Sightings & Prophecies", and "Mobile Orbiting Planetary Bombarder." Arresta stuns her prisoner into unconsciousness and decides to make a last-ditch attempt to rescue Zee by getting the access codes directly from Admiral Binth herself.

Far below, Krevlax uses his ascension gun to climb directly up the side of the mountain. It's a slow, arduous climb but eventually he reaches the mountain-top plateau and takes cover behind a boulder. The Core Ship's automated anti-infantry defence turrets lay down a withering barrage in every direction, but that doesn't stop the one surviving Ssi-Ruuk from sprinting across the open field and blowing open an entry hatch. Although injured and exhausted, Krevlax also decides to take the risk and the Force is with him as he tumbles through the hatch and into an empty corridor.

In a ventilation shaft overlooking the ship's bridge, Arresta sees Admiral Binth giving the order to fire planetary thrusters. Arresta decides the risk of trying to kidnap Binth is too great; instead, she makes her way back to a (temporarily) safe location and contacts Krevlax by comlink. They agree to rendezvous. Seconds later, the damaged Core Ship lifts off from the planet and into the middle of a warzone.

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