Star Wars (7ABY; M04, D30 - M05, D01): The Ghosts of Endor
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Garth, Sekar, Ganen, Roger, Mon, and (Morrigan) / [XP: 8]
Deb was out on maternity leave and Bevin had to work early the next morning.
Month 4; Day 30 (Continued)
Morrigan and Mon had been searching independently of the other PC’s via the Chiss’ swoop. After being contact with the location provided by the Jawas, they caught up with the others just as Kiratta was being placed into the back of Garth’s speeder. All six PC’s then started north in the direction of the drag trail.
The trail led to a sort of path which wound up behind a pair of small mesas and then crossed a manmade suspension bridge (composed of scrap metal) which ran along near the front of a very wide cave mouth. The PC’s could also see what appeared to be a pourstone building which had been constructed inside the cave.
The PC’s ascended the narrow path behind the mesa; pausing before moving onto the bridge (at which point they’d be within line of sight of anyone in the cave). The PC’s could now see that the bridge ran parallel to the cave mouth and terminated at a nearby mesa, and a second bridge (perpendicular to the first) ran from the mesa to the cave. They could also see that, in addition to the small pourstone house, there was a derelict speeder in the cave.
While the other PC’s remained in the cover of the crevice, Ganen cautiously stepped out onto the first bridge. When he got about half-way across, two slugthrower shots rang out from behind a line of rubble along the mouth of the cave; one missing him and one glancing off of his armor. As Mon and Morrigan hit the deck, the other PC’s ran out onto the bridge to reinforce Ganen; who rocketed over to the cave and landed behind his attackers (who, as Garth had speculated, were in fact Sand People).
Two more Tuskens emerged from the pourstone house while another pair ran in from a tunnel at the back of the cave, and a rather chaotic skirmish ensued. Mon and Morrigan managed to dissuade reinforcements from coming up the path behind them by saturating the bend with random blaster fire, while the remaining PC’s killed three of the attacking Raiders and prompted the other three to flee.
Quite strangely, Garth at one point decided to try to tackle one of the larger and stronger Sand People rather than just shooting. Even more strangely, he managed to pull it off!
At the other end of the tunnel was a sort of rock basin which was open to the sky above it. There the PC’s found Gavin Xelric, alive but unconscious, shackled to a pair of poles on either side of him and facing towards the large image of a face which had been carved into one of the walls. The whole scene left the PC’s with the impression that the man had been about to be ‘sacrificed’ before they arrived and interrupted the proceedings.
The face was a bit imposing, with large eyes and a mouth shaped like a triangle with about half a dozen vertical lines imbedded in it. Mon was convinced that it had something to do with the bug-like aliens intruding from the Mego Arm, but Roger unmistakably knew it to be the visage of an allegedly-deceased Sith Lord known as Darth Vader (whose star destroyer he’d served on just prior to the battle of Yavin). Apparently, this tribe had encountered the Dark Lord at some time in the past.
The final cave in the complex was the Tusken tribe’s main encampment, but its occupants had fled and there was nothing left of value or interest to the PC’s. Garth and Sekar each kept a Gaffi Stick, and then the PC’s began carrying Gavin back to the speeders.
[Bevin went to bed at this time.]
The PC’s returned to Arnthout just before midnight, got the Xelrics back to their people, got the Giaspis squared away, and got paid. They received the 2000 which they were originally promised plus another 2000 for helping find the Xelrics.
As the PC’s were about to head out, the ship was approached by a Mandalorian in grey and black armor who’d been lurking nearby. “I was hired by Moff Quarsh Panaka of the Chommell Sector to deliver something to you”, she said; not even flinching when Ganen leveled his carbine on her when she reached for something. “He said to make it clear that this was highly sensitive information; do not let it fall into anyone else’s hands.” She then handed Ganen a data card which was sealed in a plastic envelope with the Moff’s signature on it. The PC’s didn’t get her name before she departed.
The PC’s took the data card inside and found that it contained two files: a very small text document and a significantly larger spreadsheet. The text document was a message from Moff Panaka, repeating the emphasis to keep the spreadsheet secure. It also contained a holonet code why which he could be reached; along with a promise that, should they ever acquire their own illegal transceiver, they would not get busted for it by anyone under his command.
The first column of the spreadsheet appeared to list every sector in the Empire, while the second column identified the Moff of that sector. Every cell in the third column had one of three entries: “Palpatine / New Order”, “Teta / First Order”, or “Neutral / Unknown”. One by one, the PC’s jaws dropped as the magnitude of the document hit them. Panaka had trusted them enough to let them know about the schism within the Empire; now he’d handed them details!
Hoke agreed to memorize the spreadsheet, and Mon stayed up late to chat with him as he scrolled down the document for him. The data was not copied to the ship’s computer, and the original data card was stored in the same hidden compartment as Hoke’s holocron.
The PC’s placed a call to Badger; and after catching up on this and then, they told him that they were ready to check out Obana. “That’s going to have to wait, actually”, he replied. “My peer out in the Anoat Sector has need of some skilled and competent people for a high-credit job, and he says it’s time sensitive.”
“He’s offering 2000 up front and another 5000 if you come through”, Badger continued. “He didn’t want to transmit any other particulars over the holonet, but he did say that it involves the planet Endor; so if any of you lost people there or are otherwise averse to visiting the site of one of the most horrible mass deaths in galactic history, now’s the time to speak up.”
Everyone just kinda shrugged, and Mon was actually quite excited at the prospect of visiting the place where the galactic civil war changed forever. “All right, then”, Badger replied with a smile. “His name is Armor Omada and he lives on Bespin; I’ll let him know you’ll be there in a few days. I’m going to give you his holonet code also. Send him a message when you come out of hyperspace and he’ll let you know where to land.”
“Oh, and one more thing…”, Badger said before he hung up. “I should warn you… he’s kind of a jackass, but you have my word that he’s solid.”
Month 4; Day 33
The PC’s reached Bespin around 17:00 in the afternoon; and after sending a message to Armor, they received instructions to land at one of the nicer facilities up in the Plaza (and an indication that the platform was already paid for). By the time they landed, there was a group of seven people waiting for them at the edge of the platform; most of whom were carrying sidearms. The only one armed with anything heavier (specifically a blaster carbine) was a woman near the front of the group who had that kind of countenance which made you wonder if she’d ever smiled in her entire life.
The man at the front of the group was in his latter 30’s with short dirty blonde hair and a face which was handsome but in need of a shave. He wore a black outfit which was functional but nice, and a pair of boots which appeared to have been made from some sort of exotic animal skin. Through the smoke from his cigarette, he scrutinized the PC’s as they came down the ramp.
“You Badger’s people?”, the man at the front of the group asked. When the PC’s verified that they were; the man let his guard down a bit, introduced himself as Armor Omada, and asked if they could talk inside. Only the woman with the carbine accompanied him on board; the rest remaining on the platform.
“So, I’ve got a prospective client who’s trying to get his hands on the remains of something that was destroyed on Endor”, Armor explained. “Specifically, the core brain module of an astro-droid; serial number ending in ‘X1138D2’.”
He then handed the PC’s their up-front 2000 credits along with a data card. “That’s the approximate area where he thinks it should be; it’s right around where the big surface battle happened. I don’t see how something like that could have survived intact, but he seems to think it might have. Fact is, though; I don’t give a fuck if it’s intact or not. As long as it has the right serial number on it, I get paid; and that means you get paid.”
“So, here’s your advance”, he continued. “I’m gonna get you fueled up; that’ll take about four hours; so you can sit on your butts or enjoy the city for a bit. Though unless you’re so utterly narcissistic that you can’t stand not being watched every second of every day, I’d suggest ditching the carbines and the armor.”
Ganen and Rodger did in fact ditch the carbines, but not the armor. After the PC’s scattered for an hour to do this and that, everyone except for Mon went on a two hour sunset tour. Everyone thought they got their 30 credits’ worth except for Sekar, who didn’t see what the big deal was about a bunch of clouds (though she was at least a little impressed by the beldon heard that they passed).
By 21:00; the sun had gone down and the ship was fueled up and ready to go. Without further ado, they set a course for Endor and jumped back into hyperspace.
Month 5; Day 1
At the very moment that the Seventh Moon dropped out of hyperspace at around 12:00 in the afternoon, Sekar was suddenly hit by a wave of both exhilaration and nausea. She’d suspected that the Force probably ran dark around the moon, but she had no idea that it would be so bad. When other PC’s noticed, she claimed that she’d just eaten too much.
The outdated image in the ship’s databank still depicted the moon as lush and green, but what appeared beyond the cockpit windows was just a dingy grey ball of ash and dust. Thousands and thousands of pieces of metal debris ranging from the size of a grain of sand to the size of a star cruiser were still orbiting the moon at high velocity at every angle, but Garth managed to guide the ship into low orbit without getting hit by anything larger than a pebble.
As the ship descended through the layer of ash in the upper atmosphere, another holonet message came in from Mr. Omada. “If Endor is a bust, one of my guys just told me that there’s some kind of Endor museum on Ovise III in a settlement called Kovalto. They supposedly have some genuine articles from the battle, and it’s practically right on your way back.”
Below the ‘cloud layer’, ash was still gently fluttering from the overcast sky down to the ground like snow. From high altitude, one could easily discern where the big pieces of debris hit the ground. There were big craters at the impact points which were surrounded by circular fields of ash where all the trees had burned completely to the ground. Beyond that were bands where the trees had been charred but were still standing; and while the trees well beyond that were not even singed, they were nonetheless all dead because they’d had no sunlight in three years.
There was a bit of space by the back door of the shield generator bunker, but it was so full of debris that there was no way that the PC’s were going to be able to land there. Fortunately, the next-nearest suitable clearing was less than half a mile to the south-west.
The dust had settled enough that the air was once again breathable, and the temperature was a little chilly but not uncomfortably cold. Even to those who were not Force sensitive, the whole place was a little unsettling (and certainly very dreary). Breaking out the scanners, the PC’s headed north-east and began their search.
After about half an hour, Garth’s scanner picked up an inactive droid; but it wasn’t an astromech of any kind. It was a KPR-series perimeter droid, and someone had smashed its primary sensor bulb to bits.
Lying face-down right next to it was the corpse of a man who’d been killed by a blow to the back of the head by something on the ilk of a flanged mace. Garth’s best guess was that he’d been dead for less than a year, and the general consensus was that he’d been hunting for relics from the battle just like they were.
It appeared as though the man had been digging into the ash at the time of his death, so the PC’s set about deepening the hole he’d begun. What they found was a heavily-modified BlasTech DL-44 heavy blaster pistol. Ganen looked it over and quickly ascertained that it would never shoot again; the heat from the firestorm had essentially fused all of the internal parts together. Listing through all of the modification which had been made to it, he described it in conclusion as a ‘murder gun’.
As the PC’s pondered the unanswered question as to who had killed the scavenger, Garth suddenly realized that he’d been scanning for droids to the exclusion of anything else. Resetting his sensor to look for life readings, he immediately picked up somebody standing less than 30 yards through the trees.
The PC’s cautiously approached and found the individual to be a human girl of around 11 years of age. Her skin, hair, and scant primitive clothing were all caked in what appeared to be a mixture of mud and ash; and she was holding a crude, machete-like blade. Her eyes alertly darted from PC to PC as they approached, but she otherwise stood still as a statue.
Several of the PC’s attempted to talk to the girl (Garth with the aid of a sock puppet and a silly voice); but queries as to who she was, why she was there, where her parents were, if she needed a ride off-world, and so on were answered with utter silence. It was only when Garth told Ganen to get behind her that she finally reacted; tensing up and adjusting her grip on her machete. Her head turned right towards Roger as he clicked his carbine to stun, and then she turned and dashed off through the trees like she had the hounds of hell on her heels.
Since the girl hadn’t run in the direction of the ship; they decided to just leave her be, keep an eye out for her, and continue their search. But after two hours of combing the entire area and finding nothing resembling another droid, they decided to give up and pay a visit to Ovise III; which was only a few hours away.
As the PC’s neared the Seventh Moon, Garth detected eight individuals standing in the same clearing. With weapons at the ready but not raised in a threatening manner, the PC’s slowly emerged from the treeline.
The eight individuals were standing shoulder-to-shoulder; facing in the direction that the PC’s approached from. The little girl was not among them, but they were all dressed in similar clothing and similarly caked from head to toe in mud and ash.
Each was armed with a different type of melee weapon from a wide variety of places across the galaxy. Among other things; one had a Wookiee Ryyk blade, a woman near the middle of the line had a Tusken Gaffi Stick, and (of particular noteworthiness to Ganen) the big man standing next to her had a Mandalorian Beskad!
Once again, the PC’s tried talking first; but the big man [hereto referred to as the ‘alpha male’] responded by raising his Beskad and shouting something in a language which none of the PC’s recognized. The other seven then raised their own weapons and repeated the word in unison, and then they all charged.
Ganen specifically targeted the alpha male; hitting him with a blast bolt as he approached. He then dropped his carbine and engaged the man with only his armored fists. He took a couple of nasty blows, but ultimately managed to whittle the man down; grabbing his Beskad from his hand before it could hit the ground!
Sekar similarly targeted the alpha female [the one with the Gaffi Stick], striking with her own Gaffi Stick which she’d just claimed on Tatooine. The Chiss’ final upward blow sent the alpha woman’s weapon flying through the air.
Though outnumbered two to one, the remaining PC’s managed to handle the remaining hostiles just fine. Mon got to dig deep back into his wrestling days; putting some unexpected moves on the straightforward-thinking attackers. Roger finally got to use the vibro-bayonet which he’d purchased for his carbine some time ago, and Garth discovered the joys of running and shooting at the same time. In the end, four of the adversaries (including the alpha couple) were killed and the remaining four fled for their lives.
While Garth did an improvised ‘end zone dance’ and Ganen started swinging the Beskad around like a kid with a new toy, Sekar scanned the clearing and spotted the little girl from earlier standing at the edge of it. She was holding the alpha woman’s Gaffi Stick, and Sekar knew that there was no way that her blow had sent it flying that far. As Sekar slowly walked towards her; the girl sat down with her back to a tree, laid the weapon across her lap, and gently ran her fingers along one of the blades. Sekar never asked, but she was at least 95% certain that she and Ganen had just orphaned the girl.
“You have a gift, don’t you?”, Sekar asked in a low voice. In reply, the girl looked up and nodded. Sekar then told her that she could stay on Endor or come with her; and that if she chose the latter, she would teach her.
“You’ll make me stronger?”, the girl asked; finally revealing that she could in fact speak. Sekar replied in the affirmative; and after the girl rose to her feet, she took her by the hand and led her towards the ship. As the PC’s were fairly certain at this point that the girl had basically sicced her tribe on them, three eyebrows were raised in incredulity at Sekar’s new friend (Ganen was still enthralled with his new weapon and barely even noticed).
Garth, Sekar, Ganen, Roger, Mon, and (Morrigan) / [XP: 8]
Deb was out on maternity leave and Bevin had to work early the next morning.
Month 4; Day 30 (Continued)
Morrigan and Mon had been searching independently of the other PC’s via the Chiss’ swoop. After being contact with the location provided by the Jawas, they caught up with the others just as Kiratta was being placed into the back of Garth’s speeder. All six PC’s then started north in the direction of the drag trail.
The trail led to a sort of path which wound up behind a pair of small mesas and then crossed a manmade suspension bridge (composed of scrap metal) which ran along near the front of a very wide cave mouth. The PC’s could also see what appeared to be a pourstone building which had been constructed inside the cave.
The PC’s ascended the narrow path behind the mesa; pausing before moving onto the bridge (at which point they’d be within line of sight of anyone in the cave). The PC’s could now see that the bridge ran parallel to the cave mouth and terminated at a nearby mesa, and a second bridge (perpendicular to the first) ran from the mesa to the cave. They could also see that, in addition to the small pourstone house, there was a derelict speeder in the cave.
While the other PC’s remained in the cover of the crevice, Ganen cautiously stepped out onto the first bridge. When he got about half-way across, two slugthrower shots rang out from behind a line of rubble along the mouth of the cave; one missing him and one glancing off of his armor. As Mon and Morrigan hit the deck, the other PC’s ran out onto the bridge to reinforce Ganen; who rocketed over to the cave and landed behind his attackers (who, as Garth had speculated, were in fact Sand People).
Two more Tuskens emerged from the pourstone house while another pair ran in from a tunnel at the back of the cave, and a rather chaotic skirmish ensued. Mon and Morrigan managed to dissuade reinforcements from coming up the path behind them by saturating the bend with random blaster fire, while the remaining PC’s killed three of the attacking Raiders and prompted the other three to flee.
Quite strangely, Garth at one point decided to try to tackle one of the larger and stronger Sand People rather than just shooting. Even more strangely, he managed to pull it off!
At the other end of the tunnel was a sort of rock basin which was open to the sky above it. There the PC’s found Gavin Xelric, alive but unconscious, shackled to a pair of poles on either side of him and facing towards the large image of a face which had been carved into one of the walls. The whole scene left the PC’s with the impression that the man had been about to be ‘sacrificed’ before they arrived and interrupted the proceedings.
The face was a bit imposing, with large eyes and a mouth shaped like a triangle with about half a dozen vertical lines imbedded in it. Mon was convinced that it had something to do with the bug-like aliens intruding from the Mego Arm, but Roger unmistakably knew it to be the visage of an allegedly-deceased Sith Lord known as Darth Vader (whose star destroyer he’d served on just prior to the battle of Yavin). Apparently, this tribe had encountered the Dark Lord at some time in the past.
The final cave in the complex was the Tusken tribe’s main encampment, but its occupants had fled and there was nothing left of value or interest to the PC’s. Garth and Sekar each kept a Gaffi Stick, and then the PC’s began carrying Gavin back to the speeders.
[Bevin went to bed at this time.]
The PC’s returned to Arnthout just before midnight, got the Xelrics back to their people, got the Giaspis squared away, and got paid. They received the 2000 which they were originally promised plus another 2000 for helping find the Xelrics.
As the PC’s were about to head out, the ship was approached by a Mandalorian in grey and black armor who’d been lurking nearby. “I was hired by Moff Quarsh Panaka of the Chommell Sector to deliver something to you”, she said; not even flinching when Ganen leveled his carbine on her when she reached for something. “He said to make it clear that this was highly sensitive information; do not let it fall into anyone else’s hands.” She then handed Ganen a data card which was sealed in a plastic envelope with the Moff’s signature on it. The PC’s didn’t get her name before she departed.
The PC’s took the data card inside and found that it contained two files: a very small text document and a significantly larger spreadsheet. The text document was a message from Moff Panaka, repeating the emphasis to keep the spreadsheet secure. It also contained a holonet code why which he could be reached; along with a promise that, should they ever acquire their own illegal transceiver, they would not get busted for it by anyone under his command.
The first column of the spreadsheet appeared to list every sector in the Empire, while the second column identified the Moff of that sector. Every cell in the third column had one of three entries: “Palpatine / New Order”, “Teta / First Order”, or “Neutral / Unknown”. One by one, the PC’s jaws dropped as the magnitude of the document hit them. Panaka had trusted them enough to let them know about the schism within the Empire; now he’d handed them details!
Hoke agreed to memorize the spreadsheet, and Mon stayed up late to chat with him as he scrolled down the document for him. The data was not copied to the ship’s computer, and the original data card was stored in the same hidden compartment as Hoke’s holocron.
The PC’s placed a call to Badger; and after catching up on this and then, they told him that they were ready to check out Obana. “That’s going to have to wait, actually”, he replied. “My peer out in the Anoat Sector has need of some skilled and competent people for a high-credit job, and he says it’s time sensitive.”
“He’s offering 2000 up front and another 5000 if you come through”, Badger continued. “He didn’t want to transmit any other particulars over the holonet, but he did say that it involves the planet Endor; so if any of you lost people there or are otherwise averse to visiting the site of one of the most horrible mass deaths in galactic history, now’s the time to speak up.”
Everyone just kinda shrugged, and Mon was actually quite excited at the prospect of visiting the place where the galactic civil war changed forever. “All right, then”, Badger replied with a smile. “His name is Armor Omada and he lives on Bespin; I’ll let him know you’ll be there in a few days. I’m going to give you his holonet code also. Send him a message when you come out of hyperspace and he’ll let you know where to land.”
“Oh, and one more thing…”, Badger said before he hung up. “I should warn you… he’s kind of a jackass, but you have my word that he’s solid.”
Month 4; Day 33
The PC’s reached Bespin around 17:00 in the afternoon; and after sending a message to Armor, they received instructions to land at one of the nicer facilities up in the Plaza (and an indication that the platform was already paid for). By the time they landed, there was a group of seven people waiting for them at the edge of the platform; most of whom were carrying sidearms. The only one armed with anything heavier (specifically a blaster carbine) was a woman near the front of the group who had that kind of countenance which made you wonder if she’d ever smiled in her entire life.
The man at the front of the group was in his latter 30’s with short dirty blonde hair and a face which was handsome but in need of a shave. He wore a black outfit which was functional but nice, and a pair of boots which appeared to have been made from some sort of exotic animal skin. Through the smoke from his cigarette, he scrutinized the PC’s as they came down the ramp.
“You Badger’s people?”, the man at the front of the group asked. When the PC’s verified that they were; the man let his guard down a bit, introduced himself as Armor Omada, and asked if they could talk inside. Only the woman with the carbine accompanied him on board; the rest remaining on the platform.
“So, I’ve got a prospective client who’s trying to get his hands on the remains of something that was destroyed on Endor”, Armor explained. “Specifically, the core brain module of an astro-droid; serial number ending in ‘X1138D2’.”
He then handed the PC’s their up-front 2000 credits along with a data card. “That’s the approximate area where he thinks it should be; it’s right around where the big surface battle happened. I don’t see how something like that could have survived intact, but he seems to think it might have. Fact is, though; I don’t give a fuck if it’s intact or not. As long as it has the right serial number on it, I get paid; and that means you get paid.”
“So, here’s your advance”, he continued. “I’m gonna get you fueled up; that’ll take about four hours; so you can sit on your butts or enjoy the city for a bit. Though unless you’re so utterly narcissistic that you can’t stand not being watched every second of every day, I’d suggest ditching the carbines and the armor.”
Ganen and Rodger did in fact ditch the carbines, but not the armor. After the PC’s scattered for an hour to do this and that, everyone except for Mon went on a two hour sunset tour. Everyone thought they got their 30 credits’ worth except for Sekar, who didn’t see what the big deal was about a bunch of clouds (though she was at least a little impressed by the beldon heard that they passed).
By 21:00; the sun had gone down and the ship was fueled up and ready to go. Without further ado, they set a course for Endor and jumped back into hyperspace.
Month 5; Day 1
At the very moment that the Seventh Moon dropped out of hyperspace at around 12:00 in the afternoon, Sekar was suddenly hit by a wave of both exhilaration and nausea. She’d suspected that the Force probably ran dark around the moon, but she had no idea that it would be so bad. When other PC’s noticed, she claimed that she’d just eaten too much.
The outdated image in the ship’s databank still depicted the moon as lush and green, but what appeared beyond the cockpit windows was just a dingy grey ball of ash and dust. Thousands and thousands of pieces of metal debris ranging from the size of a grain of sand to the size of a star cruiser were still orbiting the moon at high velocity at every angle, but Garth managed to guide the ship into low orbit without getting hit by anything larger than a pebble.
As the ship descended through the layer of ash in the upper atmosphere, another holonet message came in from Mr. Omada. “If Endor is a bust, one of my guys just told me that there’s some kind of Endor museum on Ovise III in a settlement called Kovalto. They supposedly have some genuine articles from the battle, and it’s practically right on your way back.”
Below the ‘cloud layer’, ash was still gently fluttering from the overcast sky down to the ground like snow. From high altitude, one could easily discern where the big pieces of debris hit the ground. There were big craters at the impact points which were surrounded by circular fields of ash where all the trees had burned completely to the ground. Beyond that were bands where the trees had been charred but were still standing; and while the trees well beyond that were not even singed, they were nonetheless all dead because they’d had no sunlight in three years.
There was a bit of space by the back door of the shield generator bunker, but it was so full of debris that there was no way that the PC’s were going to be able to land there. Fortunately, the next-nearest suitable clearing was less than half a mile to the south-west.
The dust had settled enough that the air was once again breathable, and the temperature was a little chilly but not uncomfortably cold. Even to those who were not Force sensitive, the whole place was a little unsettling (and certainly very dreary). Breaking out the scanners, the PC’s headed north-east and began their search.
After about half an hour, Garth’s scanner picked up an inactive droid; but it wasn’t an astromech of any kind. It was a KPR-series perimeter droid, and someone had smashed its primary sensor bulb to bits.
Lying face-down right next to it was the corpse of a man who’d been killed by a blow to the back of the head by something on the ilk of a flanged mace. Garth’s best guess was that he’d been dead for less than a year, and the general consensus was that he’d been hunting for relics from the battle just like they were.
It appeared as though the man had been digging into the ash at the time of his death, so the PC’s set about deepening the hole he’d begun. What they found was a heavily-modified BlasTech DL-44 heavy blaster pistol. Ganen looked it over and quickly ascertained that it would never shoot again; the heat from the firestorm had essentially fused all of the internal parts together. Listing through all of the modification which had been made to it, he described it in conclusion as a ‘murder gun’.
As the PC’s pondered the unanswered question as to who had killed the scavenger, Garth suddenly realized that he’d been scanning for droids to the exclusion of anything else. Resetting his sensor to look for life readings, he immediately picked up somebody standing less than 30 yards through the trees.
The PC’s cautiously approached and found the individual to be a human girl of around 11 years of age. Her skin, hair, and scant primitive clothing were all caked in what appeared to be a mixture of mud and ash; and she was holding a crude, machete-like blade. Her eyes alertly darted from PC to PC as they approached, but she otherwise stood still as a statue.
Several of the PC’s attempted to talk to the girl (Garth with the aid of a sock puppet and a silly voice); but queries as to who she was, why she was there, where her parents were, if she needed a ride off-world, and so on were answered with utter silence. It was only when Garth told Ganen to get behind her that she finally reacted; tensing up and adjusting her grip on her machete. Her head turned right towards Roger as he clicked his carbine to stun, and then she turned and dashed off through the trees like she had the hounds of hell on her heels.
Since the girl hadn’t run in the direction of the ship; they decided to just leave her be, keep an eye out for her, and continue their search. But after two hours of combing the entire area and finding nothing resembling another droid, they decided to give up and pay a visit to Ovise III; which was only a few hours away.
As the PC’s neared the Seventh Moon, Garth detected eight individuals standing in the same clearing. With weapons at the ready but not raised in a threatening manner, the PC’s slowly emerged from the treeline.
The eight individuals were standing shoulder-to-shoulder; facing in the direction that the PC’s approached from. The little girl was not among them, but they were all dressed in similar clothing and similarly caked from head to toe in mud and ash.
Each was armed with a different type of melee weapon from a wide variety of places across the galaxy. Among other things; one had a Wookiee Ryyk blade, a woman near the middle of the line had a Tusken Gaffi Stick, and (of particular noteworthiness to Ganen) the big man standing next to her had a Mandalorian Beskad!
Once again, the PC’s tried talking first; but the big man [hereto referred to as the ‘alpha male’] responded by raising his Beskad and shouting something in a language which none of the PC’s recognized. The other seven then raised their own weapons and repeated the word in unison, and then they all charged.
Ganen specifically targeted the alpha male; hitting him with a blast bolt as he approached. He then dropped his carbine and engaged the man with only his armored fists. He took a couple of nasty blows, but ultimately managed to whittle the man down; grabbing his Beskad from his hand before it could hit the ground!
Sekar similarly targeted the alpha female [the one with the Gaffi Stick], striking with her own Gaffi Stick which she’d just claimed on Tatooine. The Chiss’ final upward blow sent the alpha woman’s weapon flying through the air.
Though outnumbered two to one, the remaining PC’s managed to handle the remaining hostiles just fine. Mon got to dig deep back into his wrestling days; putting some unexpected moves on the straightforward-thinking attackers. Roger finally got to use the vibro-bayonet which he’d purchased for his carbine some time ago, and Garth discovered the joys of running and shooting at the same time. In the end, four of the adversaries (including the alpha couple) were killed and the remaining four fled for their lives.
While Garth did an improvised ‘end zone dance’ and Ganen started swinging the Beskad around like a kid with a new toy, Sekar scanned the clearing and spotted the little girl from earlier standing at the edge of it. She was holding the alpha woman’s Gaffi Stick, and Sekar knew that there was no way that her blow had sent it flying that far. As Sekar slowly walked towards her; the girl sat down with her back to a tree, laid the weapon across her lap, and gently ran her fingers along one of the blades. Sekar never asked, but she was at least 95% certain that she and Ganen had just orphaned the girl.
“You have a gift, don’t you?”, Sekar asked in a low voice. In reply, the girl looked up and nodded. Sekar then told her that she could stay on Endor or come with her; and that if she chose the latter, she would teach her.
“You’ll make me stronger?”, the girl asked; finally revealing that she could in fact speak. Sekar replied in the affirmative; and after the girl rose to her feet, she took her by the hand and led her towards the ship. As the PC’s were fairly certain at this point that the girl had basically sicced her tribe on them, three eyebrows were raised in incredulity at Sekar’s new friend (Ganen was still enthralled with his new weapon and barely even noticed).