Star Wars (7ABY; FoL, D2 - M06, D1): Clev’s Little Sister
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Ganen, Ness, Garth, Roger, and (Morrigan) / [XP: 9]
Ruth and Robert are both still out; Bevin ran out of fuel a little early.
Festival of Life; Day 2 (Continued)
While most of the other PCs took the time to watch the Regatta pass Atoria Island, Morrigan immediately started analyzing the impeller pods and was eventually joined by Garth. They determined that the devices could travel independently like torpedoes, could attach to each other, and could then do… something. The PCs were at a bit of a loss as to what that something was, but were fairly sure that it probably involved an explosion.
There was eventually a long but civil argument about what to do with the devices. The final agreement was to strip the paint off of them, store them on separate decks of the cargo bay, and hold on to them only until the next time they made a stop on a desolate planet; at which time Garth would be free to open them up for a closer look.
As for the four people they’d just killed; the media reported that the Sunstroke had stopped, that the feed from the nearest cam-droid was lost, and that the boat was gone by the time help arrived. They made no mention of the four dead bodies, so either they didn’t find them or they decided not to spoil the race by announcing it.
The PCs briefly checked in with Commander Maldeen, who reiterated that they could leave any time between then and the end of the Festival of Life. Not in a big hurry to get anywhere, the PCs unanimously decided to stay as long as he was paying.
A quick check of their holonet transceiver revealed that they had a message from Moff Panaka…
We've finally solved the Mystery of the Maroon Stripes! So apparently, there are four different variants of those B1 battle droids that the Hutts are using. They all use the exact same chassis, but different processors. The ones with no stripes have the cheapest processors and are mainly just used for mass combat. The ones with maroon stripes are a security variant that's a little less obtuse. There's also a pilot variant with blue stripes and an officer model with yellow stripes. Anyway, just thought you might like to know. Hope you're doing well.
Festival of Life; Day 3 through Day 5
The PCs spent the next few days just relaxing and enjoying themselves. Ness won big at the casino and shared with the other PCs so that they could enjoy themselves even more, while Morrigan learned to sail and did a little networking.
Jacinta managed to free-dive to the bottom of the Aspre Plunge and also proudly mentioned at one point that she had ‘weaponized’ her breath-holding skills to kill Clev Barrant. “He was strong, but not strong enough to get his head above water with me hanging onto him. All I had to do was wait until I saw the life disappear from his eyes.” She also discovered cinnamon candy and loved it almost as much as soda (“It’s candy, but it burns”).
Month 6; Day 1
Commander Maldeen was ready to go when the PCs checked out in the morning; still seeming very gloomy. The PCs offered to take him someplace besides Coruscant, but he replied that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life on the run. He also pointed out that several people already know that he was traveling with the PCs and didn’t want to endanger them.
The PCs reached Coruscant around 11:00; and after Maldeen spoke to someone on the comm, they were given immediate clearance to land right at the Imperial Palace. “I thought Darkknell had big cities”, Jacinta commented; completely awestruck. As they neared the designated landing bay, however; they were suddenly contacted again and told to land at a different one.
Within moments of landing, a woman in an Imperial Intelligence uniform entered with a squad of stormtroopers wearing the post-reformation-style armor. “We’ll be with your shortly”, she called over the hangar’s PA.
Just a couple of minutes later, an angry man in purple robes stormed in with a dozen CompForce soldiers. He immediately launched into a heated rant at the woman; who was clearly annoyed but retained a professional demeanor.
“That’s Grand Vizier Sate Presage”, Maldeen explained of the man in the robes. “He was Palpatine’s right-hand-man all the way back when he was just a senator. He’s also head of the Select Committee of COMPNOR. I’d have thought he’d been killed along with the Emperor, but apparently not.”
“I don’t recognize the woman, but I’d assume that she’s the present director of Imperial Intelligence. If I had to guess, I’d say that Presage was hoping to keep the contents of Mount Tantiss for himself; but apparently something caught the Ubiqtorate’s attention and they’re not having it.”
Eventually both parties stopped arguing and approached the ship. “It was nice knowing all of you”, Maldeen said as he started for the ramp. “Thank you again”. While Morrigan and Roger remained in the cockpit in case they needed to leave in a hurry, Garth and Ness accompanied Maldeen to the bottom of the ramp.
Presage opened his mouth as though to speak, but the Director cut him off. “You”, she said pointing a finger at Maldeen, “do not speak!”. She then scanned the PCs and shifted her gaze and finger to Garth. “You… who is this man, where did you find him, and under what circumstances?”
“Wayland?”, Garth blurted out; kinda taken aback. Though he missed her other two questions completely, a smug smile crossed her face as she took out a comlink and repeated the planet’s name to someone. Presage meanwhile glared daggers at Garth; barely containing his rage.
“Thank you”, the director replied, “you’re free to go.” Despite how awkward his situation appeared to be to the PCs, Maldeen actually looked far less worried as he departed with both parties.
The PCs were just about to lift off when a man in an Imperial Intelligence uniform came running into the hangar waving for them to stop. Morrigan was tempted to just lift off anyway, but decided against it. When Roger met him at the ramp, the man was nearly out of breath.
“Agent Garber; Intelligence Bureau; Sedition Branch”, he began. “I didn’t get a chance to meet any of you, but I was actually at that party on Scarif; and I just wanted to say thank you”. After he and Rodger exchanged holonet codes, he apologized for delaying them and cleared them to depart.
The PCs had previously discussed investigating Clev Barrant’s little sister; but as they headed to orbit, they realized that they had no clue where to start looking. Garth then hazily recalled that Clev had mentioned that she worked for the Nubian Design Collective as a materials engineer.
A little under four hours later, they reached Nubia; which was just a short hop up the Corellian Run. And it was only after they landed in the head-spinningly colorful city of Rordis that the PCs decided to have a discussion on whether or not they should investigate Clev Barrant’s little sister.
The main argument against it was that, while her brother’s intended target would have included countless civilians, her intended targets (Imperial Star Destroyers) were purely military. After a great deal of debate (during which Morrigan disappeared), they finally decided that it wouldn’t hurt either way to find out a little more about her.
[Bevin departed at this time.]
Accessing a public information terminal, they discovered a ‘Clu Barrant’ who was indeed a materials engineer for the NDC. They were able to get her work address (in the Eureka Complex on the NDC campus) and her home address (in the Moshe Building on the north side of the same}.
On their way in from Coruscant, Morrigan had taken the time to fix the damage she’d done to Garth’s airspeeder. The PCs pilled in, flew over the campus, and set down in a public lot on the south side. Looking more than a little out of place, Ganen went on his own to get some coffee; hoping to draw local police attention away from the other PCs while they visited Clu’s apartment building.
Back on Taris, Dr. Kerrek had mentioned that Shal Zaphos’ fatal crash had occurred while he was testing an experimental droid socket with a new ‘BB unit’. As the PCs crossed the quad to the north side of the campus, they saw one of the adorable little droids being shown off by a representative of Industrial Automaton.
Just like the ships produced by the Nubian Design Collective, many of the buildings in Rordis were intended to be works of art as well as functional. This very much included the Moshe Building, which had a very confounding and precarious-looking structure. It took a little time, but the PCs finally managed to locate Clu’s apartment near the top.
Pinned to the door was a hastily-scrawled note reading “PLEASE CALL ME ASAP… MOXIE”. After knocking and getting no answer, Garth began to bypass the lock; but when he was about half-way done, Roger suddenly heard someone running up the stairs towards them; and he quickly stopped and stepped away from the door.
It was a frantic, middle-aged woman who was clearly both distraught and exhausted. “Are you Clu’s friends?”, she asked; practically pleading. “Do you know where my children are?”
The PCs would soon learn that her name was Moxie Freemaker; mother of 16-year-old Zander (apparently already a skilled mechanic), 14-year-old Kordi (a bit of a tomboy with an interest in art), and 12-year-old Rowan (a dreamer who’d yet to find his calling and had a rather unique perspective on things). She was a close friend and coworker of Clu, who had also been like a big sister / auxiliary mother to her kids for many years.
Apparently, Moxie had woken up the previous morning to find that all three of her kids were gone. She hadn’t seen them since, nor was she able to find or get in touch with Clu. The police were already looking for her children, but a grown woman who didn’t show up for work at the end of a holiday was not cause for an APB. She had checked all of the places that all four of them were known to frequent, and nobody had seen any of them.
Blinded with grief and desperate for any kind of answer, she let the PCs into Clu’s apartment; never really questioning who they were or what their interest in Clu was.
Just inside the door, Moxie was greeted by a friendly cat named Sandtracker. Roger immediately checked the kitchen and found very large quantities of food and water in big bowls on the floor; along with a toddler-sized plastic wading pool that was filled with sand. Best as he could guess, Clu hadn’t been gone for less than two days; but she clearly was planning to be gone for many more.
Near her computer was an electronic picture frame cycling through a variety images of Clu (who was in fact the woman in the picture on Barrant and Jaskar’s boat) with a number of other people including Clev, Moxie, the three kids, some unidentified people, and The Engineer. With regard to the Engineer, they certainly seemed to be close; but none of the pictures really confirmed or denied Clev’s claim that Clu was romantically interested in him.
While Ness distracted Moxie, Garth was able to access her computer; but he didn’t find much other than a submail exchange between Clu and someone on Corellia. Clu had last written “I’m sorry, but no; I decided that I need to get out of the Core”. The unknown person had then replied “Ok, but I think there may still be some health qualification issues for you. : (”
Once the PCs were done, they suggested to Moxie that she return to her apartment in case someone tried to contact her. She agreed, but also shooed the PCs out of Clu’s apartment and locked the door.
While the other PCs had been getting a friendly and welcoming vibe from everyone in the city, Ganen had been getting nothing but cold shoulders and glares of contempt. Even at the coffee shop, the staff was palpably curt and rude. After wondering if Mandalorians had sacked Nubia at some point in the distant past, he finally decided to find out. “Is the color of my armor out of season or something?”, he asked a waitress.
“No”, the woman coldly answered. “This is a peaceful planet, and you are clearly not a peaceful person. We don’t like to talk to people with guns because people who need guns have nothing worthwhile to say. If you need something as a customer, ask; otherwise, shut up and drink your coffee.”
Ganen, Ness, Garth, Roger, and (Morrigan) / [XP: 9]
Ruth and Robert are both still out; Bevin ran out of fuel a little early.
Festival of Life; Day 2 (Continued)
While most of the other PCs took the time to watch the Regatta pass Atoria Island, Morrigan immediately started analyzing the impeller pods and was eventually joined by Garth. They determined that the devices could travel independently like torpedoes, could attach to each other, and could then do… something. The PCs were at a bit of a loss as to what that something was, but were fairly sure that it probably involved an explosion.
There was eventually a long but civil argument about what to do with the devices. The final agreement was to strip the paint off of them, store them on separate decks of the cargo bay, and hold on to them only until the next time they made a stop on a desolate planet; at which time Garth would be free to open them up for a closer look.
As for the four people they’d just killed; the media reported that the Sunstroke had stopped, that the feed from the nearest cam-droid was lost, and that the boat was gone by the time help arrived. They made no mention of the four dead bodies, so either they didn’t find them or they decided not to spoil the race by announcing it.
The PCs briefly checked in with Commander Maldeen, who reiterated that they could leave any time between then and the end of the Festival of Life. Not in a big hurry to get anywhere, the PCs unanimously decided to stay as long as he was paying.
A quick check of their holonet transceiver revealed that they had a message from Moff Panaka…
We've finally solved the Mystery of the Maroon Stripes! So apparently, there are four different variants of those B1 battle droids that the Hutts are using. They all use the exact same chassis, but different processors. The ones with no stripes have the cheapest processors and are mainly just used for mass combat. The ones with maroon stripes are a security variant that's a little less obtuse. There's also a pilot variant with blue stripes and an officer model with yellow stripes. Anyway, just thought you might like to know. Hope you're doing well.
Festival of Life; Day 3 through Day 5
The PCs spent the next few days just relaxing and enjoying themselves. Ness won big at the casino and shared with the other PCs so that they could enjoy themselves even more, while Morrigan learned to sail and did a little networking.
Jacinta managed to free-dive to the bottom of the Aspre Plunge and also proudly mentioned at one point that she had ‘weaponized’ her breath-holding skills to kill Clev Barrant. “He was strong, but not strong enough to get his head above water with me hanging onto him. All I had to do was wait until I saw the life disappear from his eyes.” She also discovered cinnamon candy and loved it almost as much as soda (“It’s candy, but it burns”).
Month 6; Day 1
Commander Maldeen was ready to go when the PCs checked out in the morning; still seeming very gloomy. The PCs offered to take him someplace besides Coruscant, but he replied that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life on the run. He also pointed out that several people already know that he was traveling with the PCs and didn’t want to endanger them.
The PCs reached Coruscant around 11:00; and after Maldeen spoke to someone on the comm, they were given immediate clearance to land right at the Imperial Palace. “I thought Darkknell had big cities”, Jacinta commented; completely awestruck. As they neared the designated landing bay, however; they were suddenly contacted again and told to land at a different one.
Within moments of landing, a woman in an Imperial Intelligence uniform entered with a squad of stormtroopers wearing the post-reformation-style armor. “We’ll be with your shortly”, she called over the hangar’s PA.
Just a couple of minutes later, an angry man in purple robes stormed in with a dozen CompForce soldiers. He immediately launched into a heated rant at the woman; who was clearly annoyed but retained a professional demeanor.
“That’s Grand Vizier Sate Presage”, Maldeen explained of the man in the robes. “He was Palpatine’s right-hand-man all the way back when he was just a senator. He’s also head of the Select Committee of COMPNOR. I’d have thought he’d been killed along with the Emperor, but apparently not.”
“I don’t recognize the woman, but I’d assume that she’s the present director of Imperial Intelligence. If I had to guess, I’d say that Presage was hoping to keep the contents of Mount Tantiss for himself; but apparently something caught the Ubiqtorate’s attention and they’re not having it.”
Eventually both parties stopped arguing and approached the ship. “It was nice knowing all of you”, Maldeen said as he started for the ramp. “Thank you again”. While Morrigan and Roger remained in the cockpit in case they needed to leave in a hurry, Garth and Ness accompanied Maldeen to the bottom of the ramp.
Presage opened his mouth as though to speak, but the Director cut him off. “You”, she said pointing a finger at Maldeen, “do not speak!”. She then scanned the PCs and shifted her gaze and finger to Garth. “You… who is this man, where did you find him, and under what circumstances?”
“Wayland?”, Garth blurted out; kinda taken aback. Though he missed her other two questions completely, a smug smile crossed her face as she took out a comlink and repeated the planet’s name to someone. Presage meanwhile glared daggers at Garth; barely containing his rage.
“Thank you”, the director replied, “you’re free to go.” Despite how awkward his situation appeared to be to the PCs, Maldeen actually looked far less worried as he departed with both parties.
The PCs were just about to lift off when a man in an Imperial Intelligence uniform came running into the hangar waving for them to stop. Morrigan was tempted to just lift off anyway, but decided against it. When Roger met him at the ramp, the man was nearly out of breath.
“Agent Garber; Intelligence Bureau; Sedition Branch”, he began. “I didn’t get a chance to meet any of you, but I was actually at that party on Scarif; and I just wanted to say thank you”. After he and Rodger exchanged holonet codes, he apologized for delaying them and cleared them to depart.
The PCs had previously discussed investigating Clev Barrant’s little sister; but as they headed to orbit, they realized that they had no clue where to start looking. Garth then hazily recalled that Clev had mentioned that she worked for the Nubian Design Collective as a materials engineer.
A little under four hours later, they reached Nubia; which was just a short hop up the Corellian Run. And it was only after they landed in the head-spinningly colorful city of Rordis that the PCs decided to have a discussion on whether or not they should investigate Clev Barrant’s little sister.
The main argument against it was that, while her brother’s intended target would have included countless civilians, her intended targets (Imperial Star Destroyers) were purely military. After a great deal of debate (during which Morrigan disappeared), they finally decided that it wouldn’t hurt either way to find out a little more about her.
[Bevin departed at this time.]
Accessing a public information terminal, they discovered a ‘Clu Barrant’ who was indeed a materials engineer for the NDC. They were able to get her work address (in the Eureka Complex on the NDC campus) and her home address (in the Moshe Building on the north side of the same}.
On their way in from Coruscant, Morrigan had taken the time to fix the damage she’d done to Garth’s airspeeder. The PCs pilled in, flew over the campus, and set down in a public lot on the south side. Looking more than a little out of place, Ganen went on his own to get some coffee; hoping to draw local police attention away from the other PCs while they visited Clu’s apartment building.
Back on Taris, Dr. Kerrek had mentioned that Shal Zaphos’ fatal crash had occurred while he was testing an experimental droid socket with a new ‘BB unit’. As the PCs crossed the quad to the north side of the campus, they saw one of the adorable little droids being shown off by a representative of Industrial Automaton.
Just like the ships produced by the Nubian Design Collective, many of the buildings in Rordis were intended to be works of art as well as functional. This very much included the Moshe Building, which had a very confounding and precarious-looking structure. It took a little time, but the PCs finally managed to locate Clu’s apartment near the top.
Pinned to the door was a hastily-scrawled note reading “PLEASE CALL ME ASAP… MOXIE”. After knocking and getting no answer, Garth began to bypass the lock; but when he was about half-way done, Roger suddenly heard someone running up the stairs towards them; and he quickly stopped and stepped away from the door.
It was a frantic, middle-aged woman who was clearly both distraught and exhausted. “Are you Clu’s friends?”, she asked; practically pleading. “Do you know where my children are?”
The PCs would soon learn that her name was Moxie Freemaker; mother of 16-year-old Zander (apparently already a skilled mechanic), 14-year-old Kordi (a bit of a tomboy with an interest in art), and 12-year-old Rowan (a dreamer who’d yet to find his calling and had a rather unique perspective on things). She was a close friend and coworker of Clu, who had also been like a big sister / auxiliary mother to her kids for many years.
Apparently, Moxie had woken up the previous morning to find that all three of her kids were gone. She hadn’t seen them since, nor was she able to find or get in touch with Clu. The police were already looking for her children, but a grown woman who didn’t show up for work at the end of a holiday was not cause for an APB. She had checked all of the places that all four of them were known to frequent, and nobody had seen any of them.
Blinded with grief and desperate for any kind of answer, she let the PCs into Clu’s apartment; never really questioning who they were or what their interest in Clu was.
Just inside the door, Moxie was greeted by a friendly cat named Sandtracker. Roger immediately checked the kitchen and found very large quantities of food and water in big bowls on the floor; along with a toddler-sized plastic wading pool that was filled with sand. Best as he could guess, Clu hadn’t been gone for less than two days; but she clearly was planning to be gone for many more.
Near her computer was an electronic picture frame cycling through a variety images of Clu (who was in fact the woman in the picture on Barrant and Jaskar’s boat) with a number of other people including Clev, Moxie, the three kids, some unidentified people, and The Engineer. With regard to the Engineer, they certainly seemed to be close; but none of the pictures really confirmed or denied Clev’s claim that Clu was romantically interested in him.
While Ness distracted Moxie, Garth was able to access her computer; but he didn’t find much other than a submail exchange between Clu and someone on Corellia. Clu had last written “I’m sorry, but no; I decided that I need to get out of the Core”. The unknown person had then replied “Ok, but I think there may still be some health qualification issues for you. : (”
Once the PCs were done, they suggested to Moxie that she return to her apartment in case someone tried to contact her. She agreed, but also shooed the PCs out of Clu’s apartment and locked the door.
While the other PCs had been getting a friendly and welcoming vibe from everyone in the city, Ganen had been getting nothing but cold shoulders and glares of contempt. Even at the coffee shop, the staff was palpably curt and rude. After wondering if Mandalorians had sacked Nubia at some point in the distant past, he finally decided to find out. “Is the color of my armor out of season or something?”, he asked a waitress.
“No”, the woman coldly answered. “This is a peaceful planet, and you are clearly not a peaceful person. We don’t like to talk to people with guns because people who need guns have nothing worthwhile to say. If you need something as a customer, ask; otherwise, shut up and drink your coffee.”