Monday, December 19, 2011

Clone Wars Campaign: Bel Sekand, Dashing Crimelord

Bel Sekand was a fun NPC originally created by The Wife and later run as a PC by the player who normally ran A'tel. Sekand was a charming, somewhat foppish crimelord on the planet Ansion, serving as a Black Sun Vigo over that remote region of the galaxy. In his first appearance, Sekand was responsible for the kidnapping of Arresta and her designation as the "grand prize" in a public competition. After Arresta's rescue, the campaign moved on from Ansion and Sekand wasn't seen for quite some time. As a special gift, Stefan Cassadine set up an opportunity for Arresta to murder Sekand, but the couple settled for humiliating him instead. However, Sekand returned with aplomb as the new beau to Arresta's sister, Corrinne, in what quickly became apparent was revenge on Stefan for these earlier slights.

As a PC during the "Return to Mongui" story arc, Bel Sekand was excellently role-played and became quite a memorable character. He went down in a blaze of glory trying to outwit a Purity First capital ship in his yacht: a critical hit by a full broadside of the larger ship's turbolaser batteries provided the dramatic ending to Sekand's roguish life.

Though odd rumors persist that he somehow survived . . .

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Bel Sekand
Male Human Noble 7/Crimelord 3

Str +0, Dex +2, Con +0, Int +3, Wis +2, Cha +4

Hit Points: 48, Damage Threshold: 20

Defenses (add 10 if not using house rules): Fort +11, Ref +15, Will +17

Base Attack: 7

Skills: Acrobatics +7, Climb +5, Deception +14, Endurance +7, Gather Info +14, Initiative +12, Jump +5, Knowledge: Criminal +13, Mechanics +8, Perception +12, Persuasion +14, Pilot +12, Ride +12, Stealth +7, Survival +7, Swim +5, Treat Injury +7, Use Computer +13

Languages: Basic, Huttese, Mando'a, Ryl, Lekku

Talents: Connections, Wealth, Educated, Spontaneous Skill, Dastardly Strike, Disruptive, Attract Minion

Feats: Linguist, WP: Simple, WP: Pistol, Weapon Finesse, Exotic Weapon Prof (amphistaff), Melee Defense, Improved Defenses, Knack

Background/Bio
You were born on the mid-rim planet on Ansion. A planet of wide plains dotted with cities and villages, Ansion is considered an out-of-the-way, backwater world. It has remained loyal to the Republic during the Clone War, and experienced a brief period of military importance when a strange “anomaly” kept prevented ships from leaving the system and stopped all communication. That anomaly has since vanished.
You were educated off-planet and returned to Ansion to find yourself too big a fish for this small pond. The type of student who achieved decent grade without having to study, you spent your time amassing an extensive social network and beginning the various entrepreneurial activities that would form the foundation of your criminal enterprise.
There are few crimes you have never dabbled in, but your tastes run to those activities that are colourful, flashy – attention-getting. You have lived life for so long with multiple out-standing warrants – as well as an outstanding contract on your head from the Assassin’s Guild – that it has now become a source of pride.
Unknown to most, you are the Black Sun Vigo for that sector of the galaxy. You make your homeworld on remote Ansion for both safety and cover, but you have contacts on several key planets—for example, on Coruscant your interests are represented by a Bith barrister named Hyek Laruse.
The Tournament
Several years ago you were spending some time on Ansion, avoiding several outstanding “legal” issues on other worlds. You were amusing yourself with an “entertainment” business. You ran a series of life and death tournaments, offering real life and death for the amusement of the holovid masses. For those involved, the risk was off-set with handsome rewards – including piles of credits and captured slave girls.
Just in time for the tournament’s main event, your “talent scouts” picked up a blonde human woman that a quick check revealed to be a Princess from some tiny world called Mongui. Although she was beautiful, your intuition said that there was more going on there than a pretty face, as she killed two guards and it took four more to subdue her. She was clearly a handful – perfect for the type of adventurers your tournaments attract. You advertised her as the main prize.
The winners, who really ran away with the tournament, were an unusual trio – a Duro, a droid and a young Jedi Padawan who were obviously no strangers to the Princess. It was odd to see a Padawan wandering around with no Master – and stranger to still to see a member of the famously chaste Jedi Order looking at the Princess the way any young man would look at a girl he desired. Your curiosity was piqued.
Leverage
You realized the young Jedi who had helped rescue the Princess could be a useful tool in fulfilling some of your business obligations. A quick check revealed that Tarn Tamarand’s sister was in heavy debt with a Hutt. You promised Tamarand to help extricate her from that situation, in exchange for his help with a future task and he agreed.
When Tamarand and his friends made it back to Coruscant, he was called on to capture the Rodian Assassin Greesh Leedo. He botched the first attempt, but did eventually manage to bring him in. After Tarn turned over information to you about the existence and his experiences inside the anomaly, you arranged for his sister’s debt to be cancelled. You kept an eye on the situation and your sources informed you that Tarn and Arresta had begun an affair, one that received much tabloid attention….
New Connections
Some months later, you were surprised to learn that your former captive was now the wife of Stefan Cassadine – a “business rival” you have had several run-ins with in the past. But, that isn’t what makes the news you hear is so delicious – Stefan’s bride had disappeared, along with a certain Jedi Padawan, and her husband went on a rampage to find her. Over the next two years, you are amused to see Cassadine continue searching for his wife – and doing violence to anyone who implies she left him for another, younger man. His wife (and her presumed lover) are clearly Stefan’s Achilles heal…one that requires only the right opportunity to be taken advantage of.
Just a few months ago, your sources inform you that Arresta Cassadine has returned and that she and Stefan have welcomed a baby girl. Interestingly enough, Jedi Tarn Tamarand also returned to the Jedi temple, at least for a short time. As yet, Stefan Cassadine has no idea that you have any knowledge or influence with his hated romantic rival…..
Recently, you had a run-in with Arresta and Stefan Cassadine on a pleasure cruise that ended with your arrest. After easily arranging for the subsequent charges against you to be dropped, you decided to have a little fun (and a little revenge) by tracking down Stefan’s sister-in-law, Corinne D’avilos, former ruler of Mongui. You arranged to “bump into” Corinne at a resort and quickly seduced her. Although now Corinne realizes you’re not exactly who you said she was, you expertly played the two sisters against one another to the point that Corinne is more devoted to you than ever. You even went so far as to inquire from Kordo Desillich, Hutt slavemaster, whether you could buy Corinne’s true love, Miklos and have him killed. Kordo, through his majordomo, replied that another buyer is interested in Miklos and suggests you come personally to bid in the auction.
In addition to toying with Stefan and his family, you’ve become interested recently in tracking down more information about this anomaly that Tarn Tamarand told you about—it could be the source of very valuable information you could sell throughout the galaxy. Althoughs several of your inside sources have mysteriously disappeared, all signs point to a major undertaking (the purchase of a fleet of freighters, the purchase of a slave crew of Republic technicians, some sort of biological and physical research program) launched by a woman named Jocasta (whom you know to have some sort of relationship with Stefan Cassadine), centered around the planet Etti IV in the Corporate Sector. You’re considering paying the Etti IV facility a visit (with a cadre of your best armed men, just in case) in order to see the looks on their faces when they realize you know about their “secret” project.
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1 comment:

The Wife said...

Heh. Bel turned out to be alot of fun as a character. When he was a PC he gained even more depth and was as famous for his "close calls" as he was for his apparent fiery death.