Clone Wars Campaign: Recap # 32

I was quite proud of how this session turned out. It continued expanding the campaign's main storyline in an exciting and (I think) interesting way, and I was also happy with the atmosphere I created when describing the sudden desert sandstorms, decomposing monstrosities, etc.

Every year, for Christmas, I give each of the players a red poker chip. They can use the red chip to accomplish or avoid something in the campaign--whatever they can think of that seems within the realm of possibility to me. In this session, which was soon after Christmas, the players for Daal and A'tel used up their red chips for the year to avoid falling off the staircase, a somewhat undramatic though perhaps worthwhile use. The person playing Doxen used his to kill the Necromonger--an NPC I thought was pretty cool, though he didn't actually get to do much violence.

Daal's rushing out among hundreds of plague-dead zombies continues his legendary habit of launching into dangerous situations saying he "has a plan" but demonstrating no such thing.

Updated (July 23, 2012):  Added in previously secret information about A'tel's communication with Veris Saak, the Jedi whose spirit was trapped in the strange lightsaber.

SESSION # 32

A storm is brewing on the planet Endregaad. The skies darken; sand storms block out the sky, the temperature cools and strange electricity seems to hang in the air. In the city of Tel Bollin, victims of the recent pandemic huddle in shelters that seem helpless to resist the wind, while soldiers of the Corporate Sector Alliance call off the search for a Jedi spy and his accomplice. And, as the storm gathers even more strength and begins to head towards the desert, twilight falls on the City of Sand.

In the center of the ancient ruins, time suddenly seems to stand still for Jedi Knight Atel Por'Ten.  A figure wearing a long brown coat with an arm made of strange gleaming crystal emerges from the stairway.  His face is lined, his eyes are piercing, and he says in a throaty rasp "Your journey here has made you stronger, perhaps enough to survive what lies below.  Yet you travel under a strange banner.  Creen uses you for his own ends.  Your allies mistrust and will betray you.  But if you heed my word and stay silent, I will see you through.  When the shadows come, cold steel will suffice.  Should you survive, I'll help you through the Necromonger."  The figure promptly disappears, and everything around Atel returns to normal.

At the remains of his crashed ship, standing amidst even further destruction, Mika the Hutt thanks Daal for his part in saving him from a gang of marauding swoop bikers. Mika informs the Duros that he was suitably impressed – enough that he will refrain from complaining to his father about Daal’s friends delaying their departure for what he presumes is a grave-robbing expedition. In return, Mika asks that Daal keep to himself anything strange he might have noticed about the spice that Mika is shipping. Daal agrees, but does obtain some “free samples.” With the storm picking up in fury, Daal takes one of the remaining swoops and heads into the desert in search of the abandoned landspeeder. Despite the punishing wind and sand, Daal soon locates the landspeeder and switches to a safer means of transport for his journey into the center of the ruins.

Meanwhile, Princess Arresta Cassadine hesitates on the steps down into the ruins. She turns to her companions, the Jedi Knight Atel and the sniper Doxen and asks whether they still wish to continue on this dangerous path. Both assure her that they have no plans to turn back. But before they can continue, Doxen peers into the night and realizes a strange storm is moving towards them quickly. Swirling gray clouds obscure the sky, while fierce winds begin to hurl sand and loose rock everywhere. Seconds later, rumbling comes from below and then a writhing black swarm of beetles floods out of the mouth of the staircase and over the startled travellers, chewing at their flesh. The swarm soon passes into the darkness around them, but the punishing storm continues, filling the air with a crackling electricity. The group decide to head down the steps just far enough to seek shelter and await their companion Daal.

Flying through the shifting sands, Daal comes across a seemingly abandoned mining trawler. He makes note of it, but decides it would be too dangerous to stop. Continuing on, Daal sees that the desert has now revealed a strange archway covered in unknown symbols. He pauses just long enough to record an image of this strange sight and then continues on. Doxen uses his lantern to provide a beacon for Daal, and the Duros soon arrives at the stairway. Despite his friends' pleas, Daal insists on braving the stinging sand long enough to transport several pieces of equipment from the landspeeder into the ruins.

After allocating the equipment, the team begins a perilous descent into almost pure darkness, following a stairway made of a slippery black stone. They begin to realize they are not alone as strange whispers dance around them in the darkness. Distracted, they are forced to dodge sudden falls of rock, which almost knock Daal and Atel from the stairway and into the unseen depths below. The two just barely manage to hang on and the team continues, eventually coming across a strange sight: the body of the medical droid 8P-MD-4, with his head rejoined to his body, albeit inexpertly. Even more curious, the droid’s unmoving body has two desiccated hands clutching its ankles. Unable to reactivate 8P-MD-4, Daal removes its head and brings it along. Along the way, Doxen employs his scouting skills and locates a strip from a ration pack – a possible sign that their quarry, the missing Padawan Tarn Tamarand, has passed this way.

Eventually, they reach a chasm torn into the stairway by falling rock. With skilful use of an ascension gun, Arresta and Atel swing over together. Before their companions can follow, however, the young Jedi Knight is suddenly swarmed by shadowy, oily tendrils. The Jedi tries to fight back with his dagger, but is soon almost brought to his knees as the tendrils drain the warmth from his body. Ycram's vision has become reality.

The weak and shivering Atel manages to shout that only ‘cold steel’ will harm the shadows. Hearing that, Arresta unsheathes her vibrorapier and manages to wound several of the creatures, spraying oily fluid everywhere. Seconds later, Daal and Doxen make it across the chasm and join the battle. After a long struggle, the shadowy tendrils are vanquished--but not without a cost, as Atel's afflictions fail to respond to medical treatment. Doxen angrily confronts Atel about how he knew what was needed to fight these creatures. Atel claims that the knowledge came to him only recently. Daal and Arresta try to mollify Doxen by explaining to him that during their last visit to the anomaly, Tarn claimed that he heard voices which told him how to survive.

The group continues walking further down into the darkness. Time seems to pass slowly, but after untold hours the staircase finally ends at the base of a room with an arched doorway. Although the room seems to have no other exit, the group notices nine bricks inscribed with various symbols lying in receptacles in the centre of the floor. Quickly realizing that this must be some kind of puzzle, Doxen, Atel and Arresta begin to work on solving it, only to realize seconds later that failure means the ceiling will collapse on everyone! Meanwhile, Daal examines the room and comes up with a possible escape plan involving explosives. Fortunately, the others manage to solve the puzzle using the picture Daal took of the archway on the surface. With the bricks now in the correct formation, a hidden door slowly slides open.

The group now finds itself in a large cavernous room ringed by alcoves containing religious paraphernalia, all in amazingly good condition. The centrepiece of the room however, is a stepped pyramid with a flat top. Surrounding it are four statues which are clearly meant to represent Arresta, the pirate Jocasta, 8P-MD-4 and a Duros that Daal and Arresta both recognize. Below each statue is a set of handprints embedded in the stone, along with undecipherable runic writing. Doxen does a quick comparison and confirms that it appears that the markings below Arresta’s statue appear to match her handprints exactly. He searches the room but can find no sign of Tarn. The group discusses whether a single person can activate the altar, or whether all four will be needed. Daal decides to take the risk and places his hands on the stone. A flickering holographic image, with slightly out-of-sync audio, appears above the altar. It is the face of the Oracle, but as a young girl.

In my mind’s eye, by the time you watch this we will have already met, though such a fate seems to lie so far ahead I begin to doubt even myself. In time, even this city dedicated to the Uncreated will begin to fade and be swallowed by the sand. When such a day comes, this place will be the waiting place, the in-between time separating what lies outside from what lies ahead. Here the Uncreated will return time and time again, until finally even this remnant crumbles into dust. Your presence means such a time is now at hand. Now, prepare yourself. The Sixth of the Nine, the Necromonger, comes to take what is his. Beyond him, lies the Fifth, the Plaguewomb, guarding that which you seek. May we meet again, in this life or another. 

She also has a message for the one called the Stranger.

Stranger, I see you in my dreams, different faces and different names. Always the first to use the Automaton to understand the way of the Uncreated, its danger and its potential undoing at the End of Days.

Eager for any insights contained in her own message, Arresta places her hands on the altar and the Oracle appears:

A Queen reluctant to take her throne, torn by love for two Kings. Love has brought you where you should not go and may prove your undoing. Should you survive to the End of Days a final choice must be made to determine the destiny of that which you protect.

At she listens to the message, the team begins to hear a distant pounding. Suddenly, tremors rock the temple, the floor begins to crack open, and decomposing unlife crawls out of the ground. The abominations break sharp shards of bone from their own ribcages to use as spears and then attack. Doxen tries to hide in an alcove, but the unlife smell his flesh and are undeterred. Daal and Atel join in the gruesome battle, but Arresta remains transfixed on the holographic image and suffers several wounds before the others manage to destroy the unliving attackers.

Once again, time seems to stand still for Atel, as the mysterious figure warns him that the way to defeat the Necromonger is to separate it from its creations.  The figure gives his name as Veris Saak, and says that Atel must learn to trust him if the Jedi intends to survive and escape the in-between place.

The pounding noise continues in the distance. Daal is firmly in favour of retrieving the hands of 8P-MD-4 in order to hear its portion of the message. Daal and Doxen suggest retreating to the puzzle room to wait for him, but Arresta is unwilling to retreat. “Tarn must have gone forward, so that’s where I’m going.” Daal heads back anyway, barely surviving his attempt to retrieve the hands and return to the group. While he is gone, the others set up a defensible position. Atel confronts Doxen about his condescending attitude. Reluctantly, Doxen agrees and further suggesst to Arresta that the team will function better if they work together. Upon Daal’s return they are able to listen to the message intended for 8P-MD-4.

I see the man of metal falling for time unseen, it’s misfortune brought by a sad twist of fate. Yet, through failure you will gain the key to understanding the way of the Uncreated, its danger and its potential undoing at the End of Days.

Finally ready to proceed, the group leaves the altar behind and continues on. In time, they reach yet another stairway descending into the darkness below. The stairway quickly leads them into something out of nightmare. A massive chamber, lit by flickering braziers, is teeming from wall to wall with bloated, pus-filled, decomposing human remains that have somehow been animated into grotesque caricatures of life. At the far end of the chamber, beyond the sea of advancing monstrosities, lie a massive pair of bronze doors. But a single figure dominates the room and draws all eyes in its direction: the Necromonger, the Sixth of the Nine Forgotten Sith Lords, the grotesque and terrifying result of centuries of Sith alchemy and mutation.

The plague-dead unlife slowly advances up the stairway towards the stunned group. Atel tells his companions that he knows that victory over the Necromonger can be won only through separating it from its creations. The others listen skeptically, but soon the time for conversation is over as the Necromonger’s very breath raises plague-dead that surround the weary explorers. Doxen, Atel, and Arresta remain on the stairway to keep from being surrounded, but Daal has a different idea. The Duros rappels down the side of the staircase and tries to run across the chamber towards the Necromonger, insisting that he has a plan. Daal finds himself surrounded by plague-dead, but manages to survive thanks to supporting fire from his allies on the staircase.

Still, the tide is turning. Although the plague-dead are slow, their pus-filled bodies explode at the slightest harm, showering their attackers with virulent toxins. Arresta is struck with illness, Atel is still weak from the shadows, and Daal seems lost in a veritable sea of enemies. Finally, Doxen can stand no more. Letting all of the chaos of the chamber slide away, he peers through the sight of his rifle and reduces the world to just one thing: the head of the Necromonger. The sound of the shot can barely be heard in the din of battle, but the results are clear enough: the Necromonger is thrown backward and collapses through the bronze doors, stone dead from the miraculous shot. The dead abomination’s creations begin to smoke and shrivel into nothingness.

Barely pausing to take in the victory, Daal darts forward and makes his way through the bronze doors. The end of a quest that began on Coruscant weeks ago is almost over, but one obstacle remains. The Plaguewomb, Fifth of the Nine, radiates a sickening glow of power. A shroud the color of vomit adorns her shoulders and her face is drawn like a famine victim. She places her hand on the shoulder of the kneeling Tarn Tamarand and says coldly to the intruder: “You don’t belong here. Tarn Tamarand has pledged himself to me.” Behind them, the entrance to the anomaly beckons.

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