April 3 and April 13 recaps

•Yev returns the stolen money to the Medons, and discovers the source of Ladow Medon's backing.

•The Republic finds itself in a losing battle over Chommell Prime and begins a tactical retreat.

•The party boards the Sith command ship Devastator in hopes of buying the Republic time.

•While Yvegeny disables ship power, Bao and Ras face off against Bao's former apprentice.

•Devo helps rescue Aluni and Plutara.

•While the Capanata escapes Chommell Prime, Bao stays behind to confront the Sith.

As the party heads back to the Republic fleet, Yvegeny uses his computer skills to try to track where the credits Ladow Medon stole from the other Medons went. Using the help of the entire party to help sift through the coding, Yev returns all the money to the Medons who lost it, and also found out that Ladow Medon had received money from Riga the Hutt to help finance his cure for the Gen'Dai mental instability — which he used to secure their loyalty — which was being concocted by Eutix Research Laboratories. The money in Ladow's account goes to Chu'un, for being a nice guy, and Tarn, who lost his estate.

The Republic blockade runner arrives at the battle; the Republic fleet is holding its own against the Sith ships, though they're taking a beating. The ship makes a quick boarding onto the Honor of Coruscant, as a Sith transmission is broadcast to the fleet — any ship that surrenders will be spared and shown amnesty, and the Sith encourage mutiny to get the job done. The party meets up with Jedi Masters Kavar, Jenica Vigil, and Geis Choi, where they're told that most of the defensive line (which was taking the biggest pounding) has surrendered to the Sith. The hyperdrive is offline, but Republic techs are working on fixing it; Kavar orders a tactical withdrawal after more than half of the Republic ships surrender.

The party decides to board the Devastator (Talvon Esan's command ship) to slow it down enough for the Republic ships to escape... except Devo, who is really more concerned with his employer, Aluni Medon, and getting her to safety, as well as his Jedi friend Plutara. He appropriates a shuttle to pick them up and get them to safety. Before he leaves, he calls Aluni and tells her to leave; she says she's got a ship that can get her to safety. He also calls Plutara, who is quite surprised to hear from him (not even knowing he was on Chommell Prime) but glad to hear from him.

Yvegeny syncs up the Capanata with a Sith boarding ship's transponder signal, and Aig flies casually towards the Devastator, telling the ship they're back for repairs. They successfully dock, and then the party splits up.

Yvegeny

Yev heads for the power generators to disable the ship's power. The weapons batteries are on their own systems, so he won't be able to touch those, but main power and auxiliary power are fair game.

At the primary power core, there's a few Sith soldiers guarding the control station; Yev lobs a grenade and runs to a spot to pick them off, but only two of the troopers fall for his ruse; the other two notice him. One opens fire while the other activates an alarm; Yev clears through them and quickly sets his explosives (blowing up the power core) just as reinforcements arrive: a Dark Jedi and more troopers. Yev quickly dispatches with the soldiers, but is blasted by the Dark Jedi's Force lightning. He quickly shoots the Dark Jedi dead and books it toward the auxiliary power generator — making sure to steal the Sith robes and mask to disguise himself.

On his way there, Yev realizes that the doors are closing behind him — someone is on to him and luring him into an ambush. Realizing he has no real choice but to walk into a trap, Yev proceeds anyway, and enters the engineering section, run by droids. He bluffs his way past administrator A3-C9 to the auxiliary core, only for the door to seal behind him and A3 and the lights to go out. When Yev lights a glow rod, it is shot out of his hand, leaving him in darkness.

A voice taunts Yev in the darkness; when Yev tries to force the voice's hand by holding the droid hostage, the voice says to just shoot the droid, he doesn't care, so Yev does. They talk about the Republic, the Sith, Blackwater – the voice admits it works for the Sith and used to work for Blackwater. Yev says that he works for the Genoharadan, which the voice scoffs at, and Yev offers to do the "secret Genoharadan handshake." The voice is suckered in by this deception, and as soon as he gets his hands on Yvegeny, Yev plugs him at point blank range with his blaster. The voice howls in pain and staggers back, and Yev lobs a grenade, which luckily hits him and sends him flying. Yev stands over him with a glowrod — revealing a Nagai gunslinger — and gets the controls to turn the lights back on. He sets his explosives, destroys the auxiliary power generator, and leaves.

Bao, Ras, Drallon, and Haesh

Using stealth field generators, Bao, Ras, and their Padawans sneak toward the command bridge, to take on Talvon Esan (The Butcher) and force a confrontation. Unfortunately, not far from the docking bay, Drallon accidentally stumbles and blows their cover; a Sith adept notices, and Ras tries to use the Force to distract her, only for a melee to begin. They quickly take out the adept and a few troopers, but Drallon is shot and badly wounded in the assault. Ras quickly patches him up and stuffs him, unconscious, in an out-of-the-way closet where he won't be noticed, so he doesn't slow the party down.

The group proceeds up a turbolift toward the command bridge, but must first get off and transfer near the officers' quarters. When they arrive, they are greeted by two Sith officers; Bao trips one of them with the Force, but they seem nonplussed until Ras announces that they're there to kill their Dark Jedi commanders. It seems that the officers are used to any Force-user who comes along and abuses them being a Sith, so one officer pushes an alarm — only to find that the power there is out (thanks, Yev!). He then gets on his comlink to radio ahead, which Ras promptly drains the energy of; he then gets his friend's comlink, which Ras explodes in his hands. He screams out about the metal shards in his hand now, and Bao gives him a medpac to treat his wound. The officers point the way to the bridge and Bao, Ras and Haesh continue on their way.

On their way to the bridge, they are stopped by a mysterious human figure wearing a spacer's outfit — not the traditional Sith robes or facial tattoos — whom Bao quickly recognizes as Shan Tamlen, his first apprentice, who joined with Revan in the Mandalorian Wars. Shan tells them he's there to stop them — he works for Talvon Esan, who "they don't send for the little stuff." Shan agrees to let Haesh go without a fight, and Bao offers himself as a prisoner if he lets Ras pass. Shan agrees and hurls Bao into a wall with the Force, saying they'll need to "bloody him up first," then tries to Force grip Ras to keep her from leaving either.

A fight breaks out — Ras using her lightsaber, Bao relying on his blaster (after finding that his mind shards can't break through Shan's formidable mental defenses), and Shan not using (or carrying) a lightsaber, just relying on pure telekinetic power. After a few good shots from Bao and hits from Ras, Shan breaks off the fight and silently takes his leave. Still, Ras and Bao are badly hurt from the fight, and they debate whether continuing to go after the Butcher at this point would merely be a suicide mission.

Devo

Mr. Morden comes in for a landing on the Expanse; he can see many ships taking off to evacuate the Expanse, although there are still many people walking the streets who don't have a way offworld. As soon as he lands, he finds Plutara is not there to meet him and he can't seem to contact her. He locks down his ship and waits around for her.

A Neimoidian shopkeeper approaches Devo and asks if his ship has enough room to take him with it. Devo insists that it's strictly for the Jedi, and the increasingly desperate Neimoidian offers credits for a seat on his ship. Devo gets angry and points out his big gun, and the Neimoidian backs off.

After searching through the Expanse for a while, Devo finally finds Plutara, and they head back to the shuttle. They're approached by a Pau'an who introduces himself as Turvon Medon, an administrator on the Expanse, who asks for passage offworld. Plutara doesn't mind, so Devo agrees to take him on as well.

Three mercenaries see this and approach Devo and his group as well for a ride off of the Expanse; Devo tries to lie and say there's a Neimoidian who has a ship, but they don't buy it. Devo grabs his weapon, and the mercs grab theirs; before the mercenaries can act, Devo lays waste to them in a burst of autofire, and Devo, Plutara, and Turvon board their shuttle and take off.

Endgame

Aig radios Yvegeny, saying the Capanata has attracted some attention from the Sith and they need to think about getting out of there. Yev books it to the ship rather than try and disrupt the Devastator further, and Ras realizes she should pick up Drallon and get off the ship before they can't escape. Bao, however, decides to stay, saying he should still try and reach the Butcher because they might never get another chance.

Ras picks up Drallon and they hustle to the Capanata, just as Yvegeny leaves a bomb behind for anybody who might be following. Haesh asks where his master is, and Ras informs him that Bao decided to stay behind. After a brief skirmish with Sith interceptors, the Capanata jumps to hyperspace. Devo's shuttle docks with the Honor of Coruscant before it takes off, and together they head to hyperspace as well.

DM's Notes:

• Totally intended for the ending to be a tense space battle of holding off Sith interceptors (and staying away from the capital ships' tractor beams) long enough for the Capanata to jump to hyperspace, but cut it for time, sadly.

March 21 recap

•Aluni warns of Sabinus' plot to kill Tarn Medon.

•The party makes the acquaintance of Atherton, a Ryn who sticks to the shadows.

•The Medons fall from power as most of their number is killed in a surprise attack by one of their own.

Having just recovered the carbonite-frozen Aluni Medon from two of Sabinus' Gen'Dais, the party goes to Aluni's estate. Yvegeny decides to send a message to Sabinus, vis-a-vis his PR people, saying Yev's the guy who gets things done. Ras decides to go for a more direct message and has the corpse of the Gen'Dai they killed shipped to Sabinus.

A house doctor thaws out Aluni Medon, who is disoriented by the experience. Aluni says that Sabinus called her to a private meeting, looking to work with the Republic, but she was knocked unconscious. She says Tarn Medon has called a meeting at his estate this evening to rally support for the Republic; Sabinus told her he plans to attend the meeting and kill Tarn to bring the Medons to join the Sith. As she's still coming out of hibernation sickness, she advises the party to go as her representatives and protect Tarn.

Yev calls Aig to get 45 good men to help him arrest Sabinus, but Aig is unsure he'll be able to find any and sets to find some. Instead, to take advantage of his security credentials and be able to get his weapons in, Yvegeny goes as the personal bodyguard of Chuun Medon, a rather awkward, unimportant cousin. Chuun is quite happy to get some attention for once, glad he's "important enough to kill." Evidently the guy does not get out much.

The party travels to Tarn's floating estate — which, as previously established, is quite ornate — and heads to the ballroom, where Medons are mingling. The party sees Aya Lim and Lokksnek, the Trandoshan Republic diplomat, and discusses the situation. Atherton, a Ryn infiltrator working for Norbu Medon, yet another family member, surreptitiously eavesdrops on the conversation, but Lokksnek notices him and calls him over, where he is introduced to the group.

While Yev gets Chuun laid by a non-family member, Devo spots Sabinus and his wife in the crowd and goes over to him. Sabinus is less than pleased to see Devo, referring to him as "Aluni's whelp," and dodges any responsibility for what happened to Aluni. Bao and Ras begin searching the room quietly, looking for any way Sabinus might sabotage the proceedings (though Devo does notice Sabinus carrying a sheathed rapier at his side).

It suddenly occurs to Bao that there are not many Gen'Dai in the room, despite the fact that most of the Medons would have brought them along as security. He tells Tarn Medon, who also finds it odd and relays the message to his security chief to begin investigating. The party splits up to tail Sabinus and stick close to Tarn, just as the power suddenly goes out.

Ladow Medon, the Medon with whom the party first met when they arrived at Chommell Prime (who had also invited the Sith to their meeting), broadcasts a message over the estate: He's sickened that the great Medon family, which has stood independent for millennia, is actually considering allying with the Republic or the Sith; they should stand only for themselves. He's procured a cure for the Gen'Dais' racial mental instability as they age, and so the Gen'Dai gladly provided him with their masters' access codes. Ladow is taking their money and making a run for it (as he says the Medons don't deserve what they have if they're willing to stoop so low), but not before using some cloaked ships of his own to fire on the Republic and Sith, ending the peace and triggering an all-out war between the two enemies.

As the Medons scramble about to figure out what to do, an explosion is heard at the repulsor engines of the estate, as Tarn's estate shudders and begin a freefall into the planet core. Yvegeny quickly calls Nasha Luk to get her ship over and pick them up, and she heads over post haste. Ras grabs Sabinus, Devo grabs Tarn, Yev grabs Chuun and his date, and everybody begins running for the docking bay in time. Bao tries to lead people to safety, but is unable to communicate with the panicking crowd well enough for them to catch up with him, and he's forced to run it alone.

When the party arrives at the docking bay, most of the ships are gone — stolen, presumably, by the Gen'Dai — as Nasha's ship comes in. Bao spots a Medon on the ground nearby, not moving — it's Ladow, surprisingly, and he's been killed by electrocution. He hauls the corpse aboard the ship as the party and about 20 survivors board. As Nasha's ship pulls away, Ras uses the Force to hold up the falling estate as long as she can so that more ships can get away (and about three or four do so).

Nasha starts flying her ship toward the Honor of Coruscant, but while comming the flagship, Ras is told by Plutara that the fighting has already begun, and they won't be able to receive the transport for docking in the middle of battle. The party decides to go to Aluni's estate, instead, to regroup and plan their next move. They turn in Sabinus to Aluni's custody — she has a room she can keep him in. Plutara says she can send a blockade runner to pick up the party shortly.

Bao uses his psychometric powers on Ladow's blaster and sees that he was walking towards his ship when he was electrocuted from behind — he didn't get to see his attacker, though he saw someone walk past him as he died. Bao recognizes the shoe as belonging to Aya Lim, and the party realizes that Aya probably killed Ladow with dark side lightning and stole his ship to escape, putting the question of her redemption in doubt.

As the party waits for the blockade runner to arrive, Devo and another member of Aluni's security staff interrogate Sabinus, who is crestfallen over having lost everything — his fortune, his wife, and his Gen'Dai servants. He says he had no knowledge of Ladow's plan — he'd simply planned to challenge Tarn to an honor duel in the ballroom. When pressed, he admits he helped shelter the Sith at a hidden shipyard (which the party has already been to), and gives up the names of his Sith contacts — Undawai and Stragos — but Devo is unimpressed.

DM's Notes:

• I had originally intended for Ladow Medon to get away in the end, and then the party would find him again later. But I kinda thought it would be silly to have him as some sort of recurring villain, because I didn't really see him as some sort of megalomaniac raising an army or anything, and his whole goal was to not join the Republic or Sith. So I thought it'd be more interesting to have him be killed right after he carries out his big plan, and raise the whole question of "Is Aya Lim light or dark? Did she kill Ladow Medon, and if so, why?" I didn't want the party walking away from Chommell Prime thinking, "Well, everything's going to be super-OK with Aya from now on," because I think she's an interesting character and I'd like to keep her around as long as possible.
• My original intent was to have the skill challenge be whether Aluni and/or Tarn lived. Aluni not going to the "Landsmeet," as it were, and each party member trying something different changed those plans. Too bad Bao Koon left those people to die.
• The whole Sabinus/Ladow thing was a bit of a red herring on my part. I'd always intended that while Sabinus was the most open ally of the Sith, he was inadvertently drawing attention away from the more radical elements (i.e. Ladow). I do wish I'd done a little more with Ladow, but everything proceeded as I had foreseen.

March 6 recap

•The party goes to meet with Aluni, only to find she's been kidnapped.

•An interrogation of a Gen'Dai reveals that Sabinus is taking his revenge on the party for finding his Sith allies.

Having just left the hidden Sith drydock, the party returns to the Honor of Coruscant, with 40+ Jedi Padawans in tow and Undawai and Stragos both unconscious. Drallon and Haesh both help get the Padawans settled while Undawai and Stragos are led to special holding cells that dampen their Force abilities (similar to the mechanisms that kept Plutara held by the Anti-Jedi Alliance). Yvegeny quietly slips Undawai Jazz's business card, saying he knows a good lawyer if she needs one.

Bao Koon and Yvegeny meet with Undawai and Stragos, looking for information. When Yvegeny taunts Stragos asking for stock information (as he's a "financial advisor" and all), Stragos only grunts in return. Bao tries a friendly approach with Undawai, who under pressure admits that there's a Sith fleet hidden in a nearby nebula that will serve as reinforcements in case the negotiations go south. Further, Talvon Esan, the armored Sith who led the attack on the Jedi Temple, is with the hidden fleet. Bao runs off to inform the Jedi Masters about this news.

Left alone with the prisoners, Yev grabs a stun implement and proceeds to ask Stragos for more financial advice, giving him mild shocks. He then taunts Undawai for a while, but she is able to summon the focus to use the Force to choke Yvegeny — who promptly stops laughing. She tells him to open the containment device and free her, and herds him near the controls with her Force grip. He bluffs that he's too disoriented by the pain to work the control panel properly, and she releases her grip. Yev takes the opportunity to run the heck away. He runs into Bao in the hallway, who's sensed that something is wrong. Finger marks clearly visible on his throat, Yev says to stay away from Undawai, but Bao suspects Yev is up to something and merely walks away.

Yvegeny receives medical care from a doctor on the ship and spends the rest of the day watching "All My Jedi." Devo files a report with Tarn Medon about what they found — the Sith shipyard, which was only lightly guarded — and makes sure to make the party sound good. Bao confers with Masters Kavar, Vigil, and Choi. Ras goes to speak with Undawai and Stragos — when she enters the room, they're chuckling about Undawai's having choked Yvegeny. Ras asks why they joined the Sith, to which Undawai argues that the Sith are more individualistic — you can take whatever you want and be in charge of your own destiny, instead of being a slave to the Jedi Council or the Republic. Ras is uninterested and leaves.

The next day, Aluni Medon leaves a message for Devo, saying she has proprietary information for him that she needs to deliver in person. She provides an address on the Expanse, a carbon-freezing facility mostly manned by droids, where irolunn gas is processed and frozen for transportation. The party assembles to meet up with Aluni and goes to the Expanse. Deep inside the carbon-freezing facility, they find two Gen'Dai at the carbon-freezing chamber, who assure them that Aluni is on her way.

Devo thinks it's odd that neither of them recognize him, seeing as how he's Aluni's chief of security. Yvegeny pretends to be a mechanic, and Bao chats up the Gen'Dai, who talk about being on security detail. Devo draws his rifle sneakily, and asks what the Gen'Dai do for Aluni. They're nervous enough with their answers (and terrible enough liars) that the entire party realizes it's a trap. As Yev gets up to leave, claiming to have fixed the steam vent, one of the Gen'Dai tries, and fails, to knock him into the carbonite freezing pit.

Guns are drawn and a fight breaks out. The Gen'Dai enjoy the early benefit of surprise, surprising the party with the strength of their Echani fighting technique. Devo is knocked into the pit early on, and knocked again when he tries to get up. Yvegeny tries to access the freezing controls, but only succeeds in venting more steam. Ras and Bao take turns using their psychic powers to eventually knock one of the Gen'Dai unconscious, and when the other one sees his companion go down, he makes a run for it — only for Devo to blast him in the back of the head, killing him (no easy feat). The party decides the best way to transport their Gen'Dai prisoner is to freeze him in carbonite. They test it out on the dead one first, then freeze the unconscious one. A few labor droids help haul the frozen Gen'Dai to the party's shuttle.

Devo decides the best course of action is to go to Aluni's estate to find out what happened. When they get there, Aluni's greeter droid tells Devo that Aluni was summoned to meet with Sabinus Medon at the carbonite chamber about an hour before she called the party. Devo realizes that Aluni probably was forced to message him under duress. He gathers the rest of her security team and has them scour the rest of the estate for any signs of tampering. After determining the facility is secure, he hauls the frozen Gen'Dai prisoner to the docking bay for interrogation, with the party and two security guards behind. They comm A9G, who says that Gen'Dai care how their bodies are handled after death because they don't have a homeworld proper, and hiding the body where it can't ever be found is a grave offense to them. Devo plans to threaten the prisoner with shoving his body down into the gas giant, where it can't ever be found.

They thaw out the prisoner, but he's blind and disoriented. Devo reveals that he already knows Sabinus had them take out Aluni and wants to know where she is, but the Gen'Dai isn't much talking. Ras uses the Force to get the truth out of him — that Sabinus sent them to kidnap Aluni, confirming what Devo knows. The Gen'Dai further reveals that Sabinus is acting against Aluni now because he knows that she's been seeing the Jedi, and those same Jedi (Ras and Bao) exposed his Sith allies and found his hidden drydock — it's revenge he's after. On further prodding, he also says Aluni is being held at one of Sabinus's warehouses on the Expanse, but he doesn't know how well guarded she is.

Yvegeny asks about throwing the dead one into the heart of Chommell Prime, prompting the prisoner to panic and ask for a lawyer. Yev picks up the dead Gen'Dai's comlink and comms the last number, letting the prisoner say he's being held captive before Yev rambles that if Sabinus Medon wants him back, they'd better hurry because he'll be missing a head, and that Yev's coming for them. When the confused person on the other end asks who it is, Yev simply says "K" and hangs up. Yev leaves with the dead frozen Gen'Dai, taking him to the Capanata, docked with the Honor of Coruscant, to decorate his room. The Gen'Dai prisoner says that Yev probably contacted his pharmacist.

Devo knows that those who break the law on Chommell Prime are turned over to a quorum of the Medons, so he decides to hold their prisoner on Aluni's estate until he can be bound for trial. The party will need to consider its full allies — the Republic, the Jedi, Tarn Medon, Aya Lim — if it wants to take on Sabinus Medon, but first they need to rescue Aluni. Yev calls up Shodu, the Rodian assassin from the Genoharadan (which no one else knows about), to help out for 4,000 credits. The party is confused by his repeated helping the party for credits, but accepts it anyway.

They arrive at the warehouse where Aluni is being held; Devo and Bao decide to go around back to cut off any escape. Shodu kicks the door open, but his gun jams, giving the Gen'Dai time to rush the party. Devo breaks the door off its hinges and sneaks around back through some crates with Bao, where they spot the carbon-frozen body of Aluni Medon. (Hey, if you've got a captive you need to transfer easily, don't want to feed, and don't want to hear whine, carbon-freezing is the way to go.) Yvegeny kills one of the Gen'Dai with a devastating shot, prompting the other one to run off — and see Devo and Bao cutting off his escape. He charges at Devo, but is promptly knocked unconscious.

The warehouse is secure; one Gen'Dai is dead, the other unconscious; and the carbon-frozen Aluni Medon has been located.

DM's Notes:

• Fun fact: Jedi imprisonment devices do not completely inhibit Force-users; they just give them a big penalty to their checks, as Yvegeny was unfortunate enough to find out.
• Since so little is known about the Gen'Dai, I'm feeling free to expound on their culture however I feel. I figure an extremely long-lived species like them with no known homeworld cares where their bodies end up when they finally die.

February 18 recap

•The party finally meets with possible Republic ally Tarn Medon.

•Another Luk relative helps find the shipyard hiding the Sith.

•A dangerous mission leads to the rescue of several Jedi Padawans and the capture of two Sith.

The party wakes up the next day to a message left by Aluni Medon. When Devo contacts her, she provides the list of more than 20 Medons who have given their support to the Sith, and also has good news: She's arranged a meeting between the party and her more influential brother, Tarn Medon. Yvegeny, who's volunteered to take the fall for using Tarn's name to get access to Klorr and the Anti-Jedi Alliance, says he'll hang back from the meeting, and instead works on altering the security clearance card he got from Endus Piett, Sabinus Medon's security guy, in the previous session. He tests it out by going to a local business, who buys it hook, line, and sinker.

Bao asks Haesh how he got him out of jail, to which Haesh admitted that he knows Bao's banking passwords. Bao says that Haesh owes him back the money he spent, though Haesh points out that the money is a stipend from the Jedi Order and that Bao shouldn't be attached to his possessions anyway; regardless, he spent the money to get Bao out of jail, a mission expense that shouldn't have been incurred in the first place. Nevertheless, Bao is adamant. Meanwhile, Ras tells Drallon that this mission may become very dangerous, and Drallon agrees to (finally) pick up his lightsaber again.

Snivvian pilot Prinzen flies the party to Tarn Medon's floating estate, which is three times larger than Ladow Medon's and is the height of luxury. The party is met by Gen'Dai servitors, who lead them to Tarn's study. Tarn is an older Pau'an gentleman, and when he meets them, he is wearing a luxurious robe and carrying a snifter of thousand-year-old Alderaanian wine. He introduces himself to the party and offers them wine. The party introduces themselves, then explains that Yvegeny is not present because he is taking the blame for using Tarn's name falsely. Tarn explains that his name is very important to him, as it opens many doors, and it can't be used by just anyone. He's also more than amused at the situation and smirks about having "four Jedi begging for forgiveness," though he does say he's glad they arrived to apologize in person — it shows they have strong character.

Tarn says he has stayed neutral thus far because he wants to see what both sides have to offer — discretion is the better part of valor. He says he'll support the Republic if the party finds the hidden Sith fleet — thus removing their advantage in the negotiations, namely that the Medons can't rat them out to the Republic. (This is fortunate, as the party recently learned from Keane that there's a mercenary ship on the station that has been to the hidden Sith drydock.) Ras asks to borrow a Gen'Dai for the mission, but Tarn says no; if anyone spots one of his Gen'Dai with the party, they'll know he was involved and there could be repercussions. However, he does volunteer the use of one of his scouting ships — complete with cloaking device — and a pilot to fly them.

Yvegeny decides to use his security card to check out the mercenary ship, the Relevant, that Keane told the party had seen the Sith drydock — Yev suspects that it's flying supplies back and forth to the Sith. Visiting the docking bay, he finds the ship is a Citadel-class cruiser run by a female Duros. He claims to be a customs inspector from Sabinus Medon, and after quizzing him on his homeworld and birthdate, she reluctantly goes along with his inspection. She shows that she's transporting food and sundries, but she resists allowing Yev to look through her computers; she'll say where she's been (most recently Duro, Taris, and Corellia), but she's loathe to let someone go through her computer system. Yev promises to come back with an order from the dock master, then. He points out that she reminds him of another Duros he knew, Rek Luk, and checks out the Relevant's engine before heading to the dock office. There, he files for a search with Dock Master Chester, who is obviously too fat and lazy to care; Yev leaves a bribe to be able to get to it soon.

The party meets up again on the Expanse, and waits for Chester to file the search request so they can check out the Relevant. After about an hour, Yvegeny gets the call to see the ship. When the party visits the ship, the female Duros is quite suspicious, pointing out it doesn't take six people (Yev, Devo, Ras, Drallon, Bao, and Haesh) to inspect one ship — so what's really going on? Everybody decides to come clean; the party says they're looking for the Sith drydock and the Duros introduces herself as Nasha Luk. Ras points out that they used to fly a ship belonging to Rek Luk, and she says Rek's her younger brother. She's got no love for the Sith — she's been flying around on behalf of Luk Shipping to scout out a good spot to harvest irolunn gas when she happened to spot the Sith Centurion-class battlecruisers there. She'd be more than willing to show them where the Sith fleet is hidden.

The party plus Nasha goes to the ship provided by Tarn Medon — a luxurious scout ship called the Lockheed, piloted by Til the Zabrak and equipped with a cloaking device. It's a several-hours-long flight to the hidden drydock, during which Nasha points out to Yvegeny that she didn't really believe he was a customs inspector, though the forgery is otherwise pretty good.

As they get near the hidden facility, Til turns on the cloaking device so they can better approach the drydock: a large facility housing five Centurion-class battlecruisers (which look damaged, though they're slowly being repaired), and as they get in closer, they can see several captured Republic ships, which were probably tractor-beamed during the attack on Coruscant. Bao tries to pinpoint their location so they can alert the Republic where they are, but can't quite track them accurately, due both to cloud interference and Sith jamming, leaving them with no way to call in the reinforcements.

The party debates what to do: sneak aboard? Call for Republic aid? Try to blow up the station? The ship, still cloaked, docks with an emergency hatch, and Bao senses through the Force that the station and ships contain many dark Jedi, Undawai and Stragos, as well as about 40 Jedi Padawans who are being held captive. (The plan to destroy the facility goes out the window then.) This changes everything, as now they feel obligated to rescue the Padawans.

Yvegeny splits off from the rest of the party to fulfill his mission. As Ras, Bao, their Padawans, Devo, and Nasha head off to rescue the Padawans, Yev dons his stealth field generator and effortlessly sneaks past plenty of Sith troopers to get to the main power generator, setting explosive charges there. On his way to the jammer, he detonates the generator, which causes the entire station to rumble and the hallways to go to emergency lighting. Many of the Sith run for their ships while the maintenance droids scurry around.

On his way to the jamming station, however, Yvegeny is caught by a red-armored Sith commando; Yev bluffs that he's a technician, but the commando orders him to report to the Devastator (Talvon Esan's ship). On the way there, Yev fakes a heart problem and collapses, distracting the commando long enough for Yev to draw his blaster and shoot him dead. Yev continues to head for the jammer controls, but when he tries to hack through the system, he gets locked out, and the blast doors close around him, trapping him in the control room.

The rest of the party soon arrives at the holding area, where they find energy-walled cells guarded by Sith troopers. When the Sith approach to ask who they are, Ras uses the Force to make them run away in fear. Bao hacks the controls and opens the cells, freeing the 40+ Padawans. Ras senses that Yvegeny is in trouble, however, and they may be too late if they escort the Padawans back to the ship themselves. Ras hands off her spare lightsaber to one of the older Padawans, and Drallon and Haesh agree to lead them back to Tarn's ship. Ras, Bao, Devo, and Nasha head to rescue Yvegeny, but not before Ras stops by the backup generator and uses the Force to drain its power, which knocks out some of the emergency lighting and also should keep anyone from opening Yev's blast doors. (Incidentally, this also knocks out the jammer, though fortunately, it does not knock out the repulsorlifts keeping the facility afloat.)

Yvegeny finds himself standing alone in the dim light; frustrated, he shoots the computer panel, but nothing happens. After a few minutes of sitting with his glow rod, he notices a red lightsaber starting to cut through one of the blast doors. When the Sith realize who's in there, they stop using their lightsabers and instead blow the door down with explosives, revealing Undawai (now in white medical armor), Stragos, and a group of Sith troopers.

Not at all pleased to see him, Undawai begins strangling Yvegeny through the Force. Yev grabs a grenade to drop — just like he did when grabbed at the Temple attack on Coruscant — but Stragos appears ready to hurl the grenade away as soon as it hits the floor. It is at this moment that (fortunately) the rest of the party arrives — Devo sneaks up and prompts shoots Undawai, disrupting her concentration enough to drop Yev. Yev lobs his grenade at the Sith troopers while Ras uses the Force to hurl them away. Stragos ignites two lightsabers and engages Devo in melee, but is slowly weakened and eventually knocked unconscious. Ras faces Undawai, lightsaber to lightsaber, and finally achieves the perfect balance of her new lightsaber form. Despite Undawai's attempts to heal herself, Ras knocks her unconscious as well. Cuffing their two prisoners, the party heads back to their ship and flies away — standing room only, as they're carting 40+ Jedi Padawans — then comms the Republic, telling them they've found the shipyard.

DM's Notes:

•Between the Relevant and Dock Master Chester, I need to have more NPC names available at the ready.

•Nasha Luk is based on discussions Jake and I had months ago when we were planning a spin-off Star Wars game called "The Rek Luk Chronicles." We got to talking about whether Rek had any siblings, and Jake decided he had an older sister who was also involved in Luk Shipping. "The Rek Luk Chronicles" never panned out — it would've been a much more episodic, much less continuity-heavy campaign where the players are criminals working for the Exchange — but it did give me some ideas.

•I'm amused by the fact that I keep writing adventures that are unintentionally very similar to other story elements either within the campaign or the Star Wars saga in general. Aside from Undawai being a lot like an evil Lyta, the entire "going onto the space facility to rescue the prisoners" is very much like Luke and Han's trip to the Death Star in A New Hope.

February 16 recap

•Ras and Yvegeny find Aya Lim is trying to turn her life around.

•A business meeting turns into a chase, where Ras and Yev learn about a Medon who supports the Sith.

Ras goes to meet with Aya Lim at the behest of her Gand friend, and comms Yvegeny to help her out. They meet at a middle-end restaurant, the Dewdrop Inn & Tavern, where they find the Gand sitting at the table nervously perusing the menu. He waves them over and says hello, then comms Aya to come in — she was concerned that perhaps Ras was there to arrest her with a contingent of guards.

Aya comes in, sits down, and begins talking to Ras, Drallon and Yvegeny. She explains that she hasn't worked with the Sith in a long time, and after her encounter with Ras, Logger, and Kelif on Myzil V, she wandered the galaxy looking for direction before meeting up with her new Gand friend. She's taken up with the Jal Shey — she wants to bring her Force abilities under control, and the Jal Shey's scholarly, intellectual approach to the Force appeals to her — and the Gand is her advisor. She thanks Ras for turning her on the path to redemption, and she admits that she has some way to go yet, but she is learning to keep her emotions in check. As for what she was doing on Coruscant, she explains that she's been using her medical expertise to try to help out the poor on Coruscant.

She says she's on Chommell Prime to try to help the Republic, having heard about their considerable presence on the planet now. She and the Gand are going to meet with a Devaronian businessman, Krek Urghey, who owns a large stake in a starship fuel facility that he is considering selling to the Republic, and Aya asks if Ras and Yvegeny would like to help. They agree. Yvegeny does a little research and finds out Krek has been courted pretty hard by Czerka Corporation, but he was once on a ship that was saved from pirates by a Jedi.

On the way to the Foie Gras restaurant to meet Krek, Aya asks after the rest of the party. Ras explains that Logger found his people and went home, On-Warr was last seen taking him back to his homeworld, Kazbich is "in jail," and Kelif is helping rebuild Naboo (Aya does not remember Kelif fondly). At the restaurant, Ras inquires to Krek about the mine — the Peragus Mining Facility, in fact — and Krek says the problem is that the fuel is highly explosive, and there have been many accidents already on the facility. Ras raises the possibility that Czerka is staging accidents to pressure Krek to sell to them, to which Krek notes that they have offered him a hefty sum for his stake.

Suddenly, during the conversation, Krek is shot in the back from across the street, and Aya quickly spots the shooter, a human man who runs off. Ras, Yvegeny, and Drallon hustle after the shooter through the city streets, using their acrobatic skills to slip through crowds without getting slowed down. After a brief sprint, they catch up to the shooter, who draws his rifle and shoots; after a brief melee, Yvegeny knocks the shooter to the ground while Ras disarms him and Drallon tries to convince him to talk. The attack has drawn a crowd, though, and rather than deal with the approaching Gen'Dai guards, they drag him into an alley.

The shooter insists it was "just a job" and admits he works for Sabinus Medon — a name with which Ras and Yvegeny are not familiar. Yvegeny takes his rifle and ID — a high-security clearance card similar to the one Devo Morden has, identifying him as Endus Piett. The party lets Piett go, and he runs off.

Back at the Foie Gras, a medical team is tending to Krek, and Aya says she's stabilized him — he should survive. She seems upset that she wasn't able to act in time, but Yvegeny convinces her that it's okay and she's not all-powerful. Aya excuses herself and comms someone — both Ras and Yvegeny overhear her explaining the situation to Lokksnek, the Trandoshan diplomatic envoy from the Republic, with whom she seems to be working.

Yvegeny does a little research on Sabinus Medon — he's one of the older Medons, and pretty influential. He's a big proponent of the Medons staying important in the galaxy, and he's also a vocal proponent of joining the Sith.

February 5 recap

•The party combines its skills to disrupt the Anti-Jedi Alliance rally and free the captive Jedi Plutara.

•Yvegeny waxes poetic with an unlikely ally.

•Bao makes an unfortunate mistake.

•Ras turns up leads on Aya Lim and the Sith.

En route to the docking bay where Plutara is being held, Yvegeny is concerned about his lack of ammo (given that he could only sneak the hold-out blaster aboard the Expanse) and buys a new energy cell, modifying it for his hold-out blaster. Bao returns from his fact-finding mission with Haesh, having learned that there's a Jedi (a Miraluka named Plutara) being held by the Anti-Jedi Alliance, and that their key speaker, a Gotal named Klorr, was the target of an attack by a "pro-Jedi assassin." The party meets up again, where Bao, Haesh, and Devo are introduced. Having surmised that the party was behind the "assassination attempt" (re: Gobmush plan) on Klorr, Haesh gets video of Ras diving out of the hotel with Klorr and grabbing onto a window washer droid and shares it with the group. Ras uses it as a teaching example to show Drallon how there are other ways to deal with problems than using a lightsaber.

When the party arrives at the transport's docking bay, it's guarded by a few idle human mercenaries who shoo them off, giving them directions to the demonstration. So the party goes down to an empty docking bay where the anti-Jedi demonstration is being held, where a crowd of about 150 is gathered. The mood is between supportive and ambivalent, and the party splits up to see what they can see. Ras, Drallon, Bao, and Haesh do their best to blend in, while Devo pushes his way near the front — a stage where some human mercenaries are keeping the crowd back — and Yvegeny runs into another observer, the Arkanian offshoot Sith doctor, Undawai. Undawai admits to being curious about the demonstration (even as she knows that the Anti-Jedi Alliance is just as militantly opposed to the Sith) and begins asking Yvegeny what he's doing there, probing about their mission; Yvegeny, wisely, doesn't reveal anything about what he's doing and Undawai eventually wanders off into the crowd.

Eventually the demonstration starts, with a speeder truck pulling up and a Twi'lek man taking the stage. More mercenaries bring up to the stage an unconscious and roughed up Plutara in an energy cage, and the Twi'lek begins his long, fanatical speech decrying the Jedi for their wars and how they have brought death and sorrow to the galaxy. He points to Plutara and waves around her lightsaber, saying they're not so tough and they're vulnerable just like anybody else. Yvegeny heckles the Twi'lek, and the crowd forces him on stage, where the Twi'lek denounces him as a Jedi supporter.

Devo talks to the mercenary leader, convincing him that having a kidnapped person (even a Jedi) on stage will not look good in the eyes of the Expanse's security, and telling them they should leave before security arrives. Just then, Yvegeny draws a hold-out blaster, prompting the Twi'lek to dare him to shoot him in front of the crowd and prove his arguments correct. Ras comms Yvegeny and feeds him some lines; Yvegeny says in front of the crowd that "they're not paying him enough" and shoots near the Twi'lek's feet. The crowd is suddenly disenchanted with the demonstration — as Yvegeny has convinced some of them that this is all staged — and then Ras uses the Force to make a wide swath of the crowd run away in fear at the shot. The Twi'lek runs for cover, screaming for help. The demonstration successfully disrupted, Devo takes the truck with Plutara aboard and rushes her to a hospital. Undawai still stands in the crowd, gives a golf clap to the party's efforts, and leaves.

The party splits up: Ras and Drallon go to the restaurant where they met Aluni Medon, Yvegeny goes to the lower levels to lay low for a while; Bao remembers giving a Duros smuggler the name of a docking bay he was (fictitiously) staying at, and goes there with Haesh to see if the Duros ever arrived. The docking bay is empty; Bao uses his technometry to access the docking bay's computers, and finds that the Duros was there for a while with two companions, but did not have any weapons. He uses the computer to see if someone (such as the Duros) is tracking him, but turns up no results.

Devo thinks about his past connection to Plutara and decides he doesn't want to be there when she wakes up, to avoid an awkward moment. He calls Ras, saying she should be with her people when she wakes up, and arranges for the Jedi to be there when she's up. Ras contacts Jedi Council member Kavar on the Honor of Coruscant and informs him of Plutara's condition. Kavar says they hadn't known she'd been captured; she was on the station to help oversee the transfer of irolunn gas from the Medons to the Republic fleet. He says he saw the holos of the rally and is glad they were able to end it nonviolently, though he is wary of Ras' companion Yvegeny, who seems like a loose cannon. Ras asks that her image be taken out of the holos, to hide that she was there. Ras then contacts Bao to let him know, and ends up talking to Haesh for a while about the Yarkora language. Haesh agrees to eventually teach Ras' translator droid the language, though it'll take a long time for him to program the droid to understand all the syntax.

While laying low, Yvegeny hides out in a dingy bar and is found by his old nemesis, Kelly. Yev is, as always, on his guard, but Kelly tells him he did good work for the Genoharadan. Kelly buys a round of drinks and they commiserate on their work as "agents of stability," as Kelly calls it. Kelly asks about Yev's having met Darth Malak and points out that if the Sith win the war, the Darths could become their new employers; the Genoharadan is not beholden to any government, merely interested in averting unnecessary bloodshed and keeping the galaxy from devolving into chaos. Yvegeny expresses that he's a believer in the Mandalorian philosophy of "the strongest survive," but Kelly points out that he's glad the Mandalorians lost their war — while they're great warriors, they'd make terrible governors. Before he leaves, Kelly buys another round and tells Yvegeny that word has reached Tarn Medon that someone used his name in the attack on Klorr, and he's not happy. They express their mutual animosity once again — both promising to kill the other — before Kelly departs.

As the party (minus Yvegeny) meets up at the hospital, Ras asks Devo about his past with Plutara, noticing that he's visibly troubled by having run into her again, but he doesn't comment. Yvegeny comms Ras, saying he's heard that Tarn Medon is unhappy about being misrepresented, but he'll take the blame and lay low for a while. Haesh recommends to Bao that there's something else at work behind all this and they should make a big move soon, perhaps try to get Tarn on their side. Bao tries to set up an appointment with Tarn but is repeatedly rebuffed, even after using his Jedi credentials.

Ras and Drallon see Plutara, who recognizes Ras from her days at the Jedi Temple. Plutara recalls that she was working at a Republic docking bay when she was possibly drugged, then woke up a few times in a dark room, but doesn't remember the rally or anything. She asks after her lightsaber, and the party remembers that the Twi'lek at the rally still has it. Plutara asks how they found her, and they point to holos of the rally. She says she'll be fine and is expected to leave the hospital in a day. Devo, outside, tells the party that he worked with Plutara in the past; she was a member of his squad, but he doesn't say much more than that.

Devo contacts Aluni, asking about Tarn Medon's reaction and about the rally. She says she'll talk to Tarn and do some damage control, and points out that both Klorr's attackers and his rescuer used Tarn's name, so it can go either way. She tells Devo he did the right thing at the rally and that she'll have some actionable intelligence for him soon. Devo says he wants to know the reasons Tarn would have for potentially joining the Sith, so he can prepare a counter-argument.

Bao tries to contact Ladow Medon, but he's away from his estate and isn't answering his comm. The party meets up and decides to stay at a hotel and try again tomorrow. On the way to the hotel, they happen to spot Aya Lim talking with a Gand; Ras runs off to buy a surveillance tagger and explains who she is to Devo, while Bao tries to sneakily follow her. Aya spots him immediately and bolts with the Gand in tow. Rather than chase her, Bao decides to use the Force to track her, but soon loses the trail — she's going too fast for him to accurately follow.

After haggling with the Neimoidian working the counter at Yam's Surveillance Equipment, Ras and Devo have a surveillance tagger, but no leads on where Aya Lim is. Bao goes to a Holonet cafe to try to hack into security feeds to track her, but has no luck. He uses his law enforcement credentials to get a computer interface visor (which still works with his Kel Dor goggles) and tries again, only to be caught by security and accosted by a Gen'Dai guard. Bao insists that he's a Jedi working for the Republic, but the Gen'Dai insists that the Medons' rules are law on the Expanse. Bao says he's tracking a fugitive named Aya Lim and gives the Gen'Dai a holo of her, but the Gen'Dai still says he'll spend the night in an energy cage.

The next day, Keane comms Ras (vis-a-vis Aig) to tell her he's got some info. Bao wakes up and telepathically tells Ras he needs help. Ras contacts Master Kavar, who says it looks bad for the Republic that a Jedi was caught trying to sneak into the security feed and that they'll have to call in a few favors to get Bao out. Haesh volunteers to sneak into Bao's accounts to get the 5,000 credits of bail money he'll need, and Bao is released, though the Republic has expended some political capital to keep it hush-hush.

On her way to meet with Keane, Ras is met by the Gand who had been conversing with Aya Lim the previous day. He refers to himself as "this one" (as Gand do not take names until they have accomplished something noteworthy) and asks about Ras' reasons for being on the Expanse. The Gand says Aya Lim is concerned that the Jedi are here to arrest her. Ras suggests a meeting, and the Gand says he'll arrange it.

At the maintenance closet, Keane tells Ras that Aya Lim, the alien he described, is on the station, but now Ras already knows that. He also says that a mercenary ship has been in the lower cloud layers, far away from the corporate gas collection sites. It's possible they've been meeting with the Sith. Keane tells Ras that the ship, the Relevant, is at Docking Bay 34, and they can probably get the coordinates they need from the ship's navicomputer.

DM's Notes:

•I'd originally thought the party would just storm the transport that Plutara was being held on, and statted up some droid guards. Hahaha, shows what I know — and the party's solution worked great anyway.

•Bao first described Aya Lim as a "killer", but it bears repeating (especially for Ras, who has shown interest in Aya Lim's redemption) that she has not killed anybody that you know of.

January 21 recap

•Ubese crime lord Keane agrees to find information for Ras and Yvegeny.

•Yvegeny is hired by the Genoharadan to harass an anti-Jedi protester.

•Ras gains a bodyguard, Devo Morden, from an ally among the Medons.

While Ras and Yvegeny wait for Keane, the Ubese crime lord/janitor, to end his shift, Ras gets a message from a Pau'an named Aluni Medon. She wants to set up a meeting, and Ras agrees. Meanwhile, Yvegeny gets on the comm with Aig and inquires about hazard pay on the contract. Aig makes the mistake of mentioning that the party will be paid more if a member dies, to cover the funeral and bereavement. Getting some ideas, Yvegeny comms Bao Koon, saying he should really push himself to find out about the Sith, but Bao senses that Yev has some ulterior motive and says he'll do things his way, then resumes his fact-finding in private. Yvegeny then gets a comm message from Shodu, the Rodian member of the Genoharadan who helped them apprehend Gaph on Coruscant, telling him to meet later.

After hanging around a bar for a short while, Ras and Yvegeny go to meet Keane at a maintenance closet. Keane lets them inside — the closet is full of maintenance droids and features a droid recharger and a small break area. Keane is concerned that Ras and Yvegeny will draw unwanted attention to him, as his position as the premier crime lord on the Expanse relies on him remaining under the radar, and he is stubbornly against the idea of working with them. However, Ras and Yvegeny offer him credits and promise that his name will never be mentioned, and Keane eventually relents. Ras says they want information on Aya Lim, Talvon Esan, and Esan's ship, the Devastator, and Keane says he'll have information for them in two days. Ras and Yvegeny provide Aig's comlink code for the information once they've got it.

With that set, Ras and Yvegeny go to their respective meetings, which are in moderate restaurants not far from each other. Yvegeny meets up with Shodu, who informs him that the Genoharadan have a new job for him. A citizens group called the Anti-Jedi Alliance is gaining prominence in the galaxy; they were founded by an Ithorian woman who recently gave up her son for Jedi training, then found her son was killed in the Sith bombing of Telos. They've heard about the Republic/Sith negotiations on Chommell Prime, and they're planning a demonstration on the Expanse to rally more support against the Jedi and Sith. Their key speaker is a Gotal named Klorr, a Republic military veteran of the Mandalorian Wars who left after Revan returned as a Sith Lord. The Genoharadan wants to maintain Republic stability, so they want to neuter the demonstration by not having Klorr speak; Yvegeny's job is to keep Klorr from speaking, but to not kill or hurt him, because making him a martyr would only encourage him.

Ras meets up with Aluni Medon, who brings her security chief, a human named Devo Morden. Aluni explains that she wants the Republic to secure Chommell Prime and is willing to help however she can, but she is "middle management" among the Medon family and does not carry much influence. She does, however, have the ear of her brother, Tarn Medon, who is much more influential, and she offers to make inquiries about arranging a meeting. Not only that, but she can provide intelligence about the Medons and find out whose allegiances lie with the Sith or the Republic. To cement her friendship, she offers the services of Morden, who is knowledgeable about Chommell Prime and has good security clearance with most of the Medons. Morden also demonstrates that he is a capable bodyguard, having been a former Republic commando. Ras tests him with a Jedi mind trick, but Morden capably resists it, impressing Ras.

Yvegeny does some research on the Anti-Jedi Alliance, and finds out they've captured a Jedi on the Expanse, a Miraluka named Plutara, for the purpose of showcasing that the Jedi aren't so tough at the demonstration, though Yvegeny can't find where they're keeping her. He comms Ras, who introduces Devo. Yvegeny tells about the Anti-Jedi Alliance and that they've got a Jedi held captive; Devo is troubled that it's Plutara and is immediately interested in rescuing her. Yvegeny finds out the hotel where Klorr, the Gotal ex-soldier, is staying at, and they decide to meet up to figure out how to stop the demonstration.

When they meet up, Yvegeny introduces himself to Devo about having "fought for freedom" himself, not wanting to admit that he fought as a Mandalorian during the war. While formulating their plans, Drallon, Ras' apprentice, admits he didn't bring his lightsaber — as he's still uncomfortable about using it — which is probably for the best, as Klorr probably won't want to think he's being attacked by the Jedi. The plan is to beat him up and intimidate him into not speaking, posing as someone else to throw him off the scent. Yvegeny makes a Molotov cocktail and considers painting the attack as anti-Gotal to make it seem random. He also spreads the rumor that Calo Nord has been seen on the Expanse, and plans to wear his disguising turban, but Ras balks, saying she won't help if Yvegeny wears it.

The party goes to the hotel, and Drallon waits in the lobby as a lookout during the operation. Yvegeny tries to bribe a bellhop droid into telling him Klorr's room number, but the droid refuses. He then talks to a receptionist droid, who agrees to deliver a message to his room — Devo recommends saying they're representatives for Tarn Medon, which would help their chances of getting an audience — but still doesn't disclose the room number. Yvegeny goes across the street to a cafe and uses his computer skills to hack into the hotel system, finding out that Klorr is staying in room 15D. He also places Calo Nord in the hotel registry to further his story.

The party goes up to Klorr's room, bluffs past his bodyguards, and introduces themselves as representatives of Tarn Medon; Ras is the negotiator, while Devo is her bodyguard and Yvegeny is her financier. Klorr is eager to share his work with them and delivers his Powerpoint presentation on how the Jedi have ruined the galaxy, and why the Republic should learn to stand on its own without the Jedi. As the presentation goes on, Yvegeny sneaks behind him in the dark and aims with his hold-out blaster. Devo gets up and locks the door, but Klorr spots him, and Yvegeny shoots Klorr.

A brief melee ensues, ending with Klorr on the floor beaten (and Ras pretending that she has no idea what's going on). Devo asks where Plutara is, but Klorr is defiant and says he's not afraid of the "pro-Jedi assassins" — go ahead and martyr him, it'll prove him right. Yvegeny tries to intimidate him to staying away from the protest, but Klorr is resolute. Devo proceeds to whack him with his rifle as Klorr's bodyguards finally burst through the door. Devo and Yvegeny disengage to attack his guards (who are martial artists to get around the Expanse's rules prohibiting weaponry), and Ras uses the Force to hurl Klorr out of the room and make him think Ras is carrying him to safety. Yvegeny stabs a note into the table and throws his Molotov cocktail, starting a fire in the room (which, in turn, releases a cold gas into the room to stop the fire). By the end of the fight, the two guards are dead.

Klorr smashes his bed's nightstand through a window and begins climbing onto the fire escape. Keeping up her cover of "rescuing him," Ras grabs Klorr and together they leap from the fire escape onto a passing window washer droid. As they hang on for dear life (being 15 stories up), Ras asks Klorr where the Jedi is being held, and Klorr says she's at Docking Bay 42. Eventually, the droid lands, and Klorr runs off. When she rejoins the party, Ras tells them Klorr is dead, and Yvegeny believes her.

With the location in hand (Docking Bay 42), the party sets off to rescue Plutara. They rejoin Drallon, who kept an eye on the front door, and Ras has a short talk with Drallon about how she used nonviolence to get what she wanted, by convincing Klorr she was rescuing him. On the way to the docking bay, Yev hacks into the Holonet site for the Anti-Jedi Alliance and sets up trackers to alert him to any news about Klorr or the events of the day.

DM's Notes:

•I do so love creating interesting villains, hence the Anti-Jedi Alliance, a group I can reuse as much as I want. They were partially created to show how public opinion is turning against the Jedi, but I do think they've got a point about whether the Jedi have made the galaxy worse, both through their not policing their own members (Exar Kun, Darth Revan) or their inaction (the Mandalorian Wars).

•This session taught me a little more about running skill challenges — namely, mention at the start the skills that are available, so we don't just use the same skills again and again.

•Major kudos to Jake/Ras for the cinematics of jumping onto the window washer droid. Incredibly dangerous, but really cool, and that's the kind of thing I like to see, given this is an RPG based on an action movie.

•Here's the text of Yvegeny's hate-speech note to Klorr, which he stabbed into the hotel room table with a knife:

"Get the hell out you Godel [sic] scumsuckin' geek! If I wasn't ill I'd kick your ass all the way to Naboo! We don't need your kind here on Chommell Prime! —xoxo the establishment"

January 10 recap

•The party meets up with the Republic fleet on Chommell Prime.

•The negotiation team meets with an influential Medon scion, only to find he also invited the Sith to the talks.

•With the Republic stymied by the ongoing negotiations, the party begins searching for the hidden Sith fleet.

In hyperspace en route to Chommell Prime, Yvegeny leaves the cockpit in the hands of pilot droid A9G-E5 ("Aig") to go to the new Jedi training area in the Capanata and meet the new crew. Upon hearing Yvegeny's bluster about how important he is on the ship and how the Padawans need to keep themselves in line, Drallon, Ras' new apprentice, takes an instant dislike to him, and Haesh, Bao Koon's apprentice, smirks to his master that Yvegeny looks just like a bounty hunter they'd fought before on Ord Mantell. Yvegeny doesn't seem to like any of the new arrivals except for Aig, and given the rough first impression, the feeling seems to be mutual.

Ras and Drallon talk more amongst themselves about the right time to use a lightsaber, and though Drallon is still unwilling to use his lightsaber, Ras' positive reinforcement seems to be having a good effect on him. Bao tells Yvegeny that he's actually been following the crew since Myzil V — a vision through the Force told him their paths would cross in a fateful way — and he's been learning all he can about them from afar, though he didn't follow them to Naboo, so he's curious what happened to Kelif. He also intimates that he knows Yvegeny and Kazbich are the same person, having deduced as much from Yvegeny's mannerisms. Aig also meets the rest of the crew, expressing excitement to be working with the crew and explaining his origins — being an archive droid for the University of Alderaan, and being reprogrammed as a pilot by an adventurous professor who met an unfortunate end, leading to Aig's independence. He states that he considers the Capanata itself his "boss," as he's quite attached to the ship, but Ras amends that to say that he should think of the Republic as his boss now.

The ship soon arrives at Chommell Prime and meets up with the Republic fleet — 10 Hammerhead cruisers and an Inexpugnable battleship called the Honor of Coruscant. Docking with the Honor of Coruscant, the party is greeted by Jedi Master Kavar, a member of the Jedi Council. He introduces himself to Ras and Bao, but Yvegeny starts asking about how they're getting paid for this mission (as he's a "Blackwater specialist" and all) and who can work the contract out. Kavar, somewhat taken aback, replies that he can make sure that whoever on the ship is in charge of contracts can figure it out, and A9G graciously volunteers to take charge of the contract himself and figure out the expenses. After some talks, he tells Yvegeny that he'll be making 5,000 credits for helping the Republic.

Kavar leads the party to a conference room on the ship, where they meet the other two Jedi Masters in charge of the Chommell Prime mission — Jenica Vigil, who they met before on Myzil V, and Geis Choi, a pessimistic Aleena who openly wonders which of them he'll be sending to their deaths. Kavar explains that they know the Sith fleet is hidden on Chommell Prime somewhere — a Cronau scan shows their ships haven't left the system via hyperspace yet. However, they're in a holding pattern; the Medons are unwilling to let them just march right in, as Chommell Prime isn't Republic territory, so they're in ongoing negotiations. It's also known that some members of the Medon family advocate joining the Sith, while others want to follow the Republic. The party will meet up with a member of the Republic Diplomatic Corps at the estate of Ladow Medon, a young, influential scion who is undecided but carries a lot of weight. Ras Patul will take the lead on negotiations, while Bao Koon will search for clues as to the location of the Sith fleet, and Yvegeny will act as bodyguard and observer.

They are flown via Republic shuttle to Ladow Medon's private estate by Prinzen, a Snivvian pilot; Prinzen makes small talk on the way, talking about how he's got a cousin who's a Jedi, but that he's all self-righteous and a bore to be around. They soon arrive at Medon's estate — a transparisteel enclosure with gardens and an extravagant estate inside, as well as Utapau-native varactyls crawling along the inside. They dock in a landing bay on the underside, and soon they're met by Ladow Medon, two of his Gen'Dai servants, and Lokksnek, a Trandoshan member of the Republic Diplomatic Corps.

Ladow is gracious to his guests and is very interested in all the members of the party. He invites them to dinner and gives them a changing room to freshen up. In the changing room, Yvegeny and Bao spot a few recording bugs, but decide to leave them alone — if Ladow were to spot that they've been tampered with, he might think the Republic doesn't trust him. Ladow serves a gourmet meal to his guests, and makes delightful small talk over dinner to his guests, but the party notices 3 spots at the table that are empty.

Eventually, a Gen'Dai approaches Ladow and whispers that the other guests have arrived. Ladow excuses himself, leaving the party alone. They spot more recording bugs, but again decide to leave them alone to keep up appearances, at Lokksnek's advice. Ladow soon returns with his guests in tow — an Arkanian Offshoot woman in a white uniform (introduced as Dr. Undawai), a bulky Cathar man in black robes (named Stragos), and none other than Darth Malak! Ladow says they're the Sith negotiating team, and now the discussion can begin in earnest.

Ras points out that the Sith have committed horrible atrocities in the five months of the war so far, but Undawai (who does most of the talking) points out that the Sith aren't merely bloodthirsty conquerors — they've done good things for the planets that have joined them, and the Republic has failed its people plenty of times since the war's inception. The Sith are prepared to offer a lot to the Medon family; not only protection by the Sith military, but financial advice (Stragos is apparently a proficient seer) and medical care (as Undawai has already cured several diseases on Sith planets).

Ras asks why the Sith even need to take Chommell Prime — can't they just let the planet stay neutral? Darth Malak points out that this is a war and the objective is to deny their enemy (the Jedi) resources. Sith do not share; they take. Undawai points out that the unique fuel chemicals on Chommell Prime would be a valuable asset. Ras advocates maintaining Chommell Prime's neutrality, but Malak is adamant, going so far as to say the Sith will simply take over the planet if the Medons don't join them, and the Republic will be powerless to stop them.

Recognizing the cost of life if the Sith don't get their way, Ras pulls Ladow aside and suggests that he join the Sith simply to keep his people alive, but act as a double agent to funnel information to the Republic. Ladow is skeptical — if he were to be discovered, the Sith's retribution would be terrible — but says he will keep the idea under consideration, as he has not made his decision yet.

The dinner ends, and the delegations return to their respective ships. At a debriefing with the Jedi war council, the party recommends a variety of options. Yvegeny recommends a holding pattern, which will not provoke the Sith and will buy the Medons more time, or says they can simply leave if the Sith are willing to destroy anyone who gets in their way, as the planet is pretty much lost then. Ras says if the Medons join the Sith, the Republic can attempt to blockade the planet anyway to deny the Sith a resource, but they should continue to show trust in Ladow Medon, in hopes of using him as a Republic double agent; if the Republic uses the opportunity to attempt to assassinate Malak, the whole deal could go south. Bao suggests they explore the Expanse to learn more about the situation.

Knowing that Darth Malak, Talvon Esan (the Butcher), and Aya Lim are all on or near Chommell Prime, the party decides to do some investigating to find out where they are, by investigating the underworld on the Expanse. They take their shuttle to the Expanse, hiding their weapons to get past customs (the Gen'Dai are quite insistent about no violence on the station). Using his computer skills, Yvegeny learns a significant amount about the criminals on the Expanse; they hide on the far end of the station, near the repulsorlifts, where security is looser and the businesses a little shadier. The party heads down there and splits up.

Yvegeny and Ras go to the Togorian Tapcafe, a rough joint run by Togorians. Some human mercenaries are willing to talk with them, but they're very rude and they provide no useful information. Bao goes to The Repulsorlift, a dingy place nearby, where he strikes up a conversation with a Duros named Valik who is something of a middleman. Bao claims to be a smuggler, and Valik says he'll send some of his guys to pick up the cargo at Bao's docking bay. Eventually, they hear about Keane, an Ubese who is supposedly the big crime lord on the Expanse — and also a janitor. Yvegeny tries to talk to Keane, but he's rebuffed — Keane thinks Yvegeny will draw too much attention. After repeated inquiries by Yvegeny and Ras, he finally relents and tells them to meet him at Maintenance Closet 2A7.

DM's commentary:

•Part of my goal with this entire campaign has been to bring in some of the characters seen in the KOTOR video games in non-intrusive ways. Jedi Master Kavar, who was in hiding on Onderon in KOTOR 2, has been pretty high on that list; in the game, Canderous mentions the Mandalorians had originally thought Kavar would be leading the Jedi against them in the Mandalorian Wars, which led me to think he was a great military leader and would probably take an active leadership role in the Jedi Civil War. This session also saw the debut of Darth Malak, the main bad guy of KOTOR 1. Not only is he there to show how serious the Sith are about taking Chommell Prime, but given the negotiations there, he's playing the unusual role of "head of state."

•Another goal of mine is to expand the personalities of the Jedi NPCs beyond "stoic defender of peace and justice." As evidenced by their first meeting, Drallon doesn't like Kazbich, and Haesh is nonplussed by his bluster. We've also got Geis Choi, the Aleena Jedi Master in the Republic fleet "war council," who's very grumpy and pessimistic. My concept for him is that he's a brilliant tactician, but even this early in the war, he's seen too many of his friends go to their deaths, and that has a wearying effect on him. Also, although we've never really explored them, Jenica Vigil has some layers herself — she pushes herself to be the best, but she feels like she has the weight of the Republic on her shoulders, and this causes her to push Bastila harder than she probably should. A lot of my conceptualization of Jenica Vigil was trying to figure out what kind of Master would cause Bastila to be as full of herself as she is in KOTOR 1.

•I did not intentionally write Undawai as being Evil Lyta, but I can see a resemblance now.

December 10 recap

•Ras Patul is assigned a Padawan.

•Marina says goodbye.

•Yvegeny takes on a job from the Genoharadan with the help of the ship's new pilot.

•Bao Koon and his apprentice, Haesh, get to know Ras.

Ras and Yvegeny find that they have various messages waiting for them on their comlinks. In the first one, Kelif tells the party he will stay on Naboo with his family. Ras receives a message telling her to meet with the Jedi Council of Reassignment. Yvegeny gets two more messages; one is from Marina, telling him that she's leaving the Raraza to pursue the planet Iego on her own, but she'll send for Yve when she finds it. She does say, however, that in her wheeling and dealing to find the planet, she made a bad deal, and now someone (she doesn't know who) knows that Yvegeny is really Kazbich. She does say, however, that she has hired a new pilot for the ship. The second message for Yvegeny has an unknown sender from the Genoharadan, saying it's time to get to work — they've got a job for him, and it's pro bono to pay them back for loaning out Shodu to capture Gaph.

Upon arriving at the Council of Reassignment, Ras is assigned a Padawan — Drallon, a Quarren teenager who was the apprentice of Master Muz before his untimely death in the Sith attack on the Jedi Temple. Drallon has been badly shaken by his master's death, and while he is a promising lightsaber student, he has refused to use one since Muz's death. As Ras is not only a gifted lightsaber student but also an expert negotiator, it is believed that she will be able to help complete Drallon's training. As such, Drallon will accompany her to Chommell Prime.

Ras also meets a Jedi Knight who will be joining her: a Kel Dor Jedi Investigator named Bao Koon. An expert seer and a formidable Force user, Bao specializes in tracking down and neutralizing darksiders, and he wears civilian clothing to blend in, rather than his Jedi robes. He is joined by his apprentice, a sarcastic Yarkora named Haesh who is following in Bao's footsteps. The Council recommends that Ras Patul, Bao Koon, and their respective apprentices get to know each other before they join the Republic fleet at Chommell Prime.

Yvegeny meets up with a protocol droid in the lower levels of the city, who tells him his assignment — assassinate Geonosian senator Mazzag, who's been trying to form a political coalition and has given his associates gift droids that have been secretly recording information for him, which could drastically tip the balance of power in the Galactic Senate. The droid then wipes its own memory and wanders off. Yvegeny has Crask Luk follow Mazzag around the city to get a sense of the guy's schedule.

At the same time, Ras and Bao decide to renew their search for Wertsnik, but aside from a few scant clues about him being in the Works district, they don't have any good leads. Yvegeny asks Ras to help him take down Mazzag, but Ras refuses — he's a senator, and he's clean; all she's got to go on is Yvegeny's say-so. However, Crask produces some clues — Mazzag stays in the high-class areas near the Senate, but he does frequent a restaurant that specializes in insectoid cuisine.

Yvegeny looks for a good way to poison Mazzag's food, and contacts Oro, but insults him by calling Lyta his "master." However, he does pass the comlink onto Lyta, who doesn't know any insect-specific food poisons. Lyta does give him the complex chemical names for a common "bug bomb" used by exterminators. Yvegeny takes this information to a nearby pharmacist, but the pharmacist becomes concerned when he says he's going to use this to kill a Geonosian. Yvegeny claims there's a building infested by Geonosians "who've gone insane because of the Force," but the pharmacist raises a security force field and advises Yvegeny to leave.

Using Ras' name, Yvegeny then goes to the Jedi Temple, where he meets up with a Bith Jedi Healer in the infirmary. Yvegeny claims he needs medicine for a Geonosian friend and gives him the names of the chemicals Lyta described, but the Bith recognizes this as poison and, confused, provides Yvegeny with actual Geonosian medicine. Having exhausted his options, Yvegeny contacts an exterminator and picks up a few bug bombs.

With the trail for Wertsnik having gone cold, Ras then tells Bao about Aya Lim, the conflicted Jedi apprentice who they encountered on Nar Shaddaa and Myzil V. Using the description, Bao is able to detect Aya Lim in the Force — within 100 kilometers of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, in fact. Bao starts tracking Aya Lim into a middle-class district not far from the Temple.

Yvegeny looks for allies to help him take down Mazzag, and goes to the lower levels to talk to Prello the Hutt. Yvegeny tries to convince him to lend him some muscle, but Prello is reluctant to get involved in an attack on a senator and is paranoid about the trail going back to him if things go south, so he refuses. He does spread the rumor, though, that Calo Nord is on Coruscant and after a bounty.

Yvegeny decides to go back to the landing pad to meet up with the new pilot, who turns out to be archive droid A9G-E5. A9G (who Yvegeny calls "Aig") explains that he comes with very good references — he was an archive droid for the University of Alderaan who was also programmed to be able to pilot ships and chart astrogation courses for university-owned ships. He's since become an independent droid and gone into business on his own as a pilot — and a good one, too, as he knows several advanced flying maneuvers — although he still has a huge store of general knowledge about the galaxy in his system. A9G is unwilling to risk himself killing a senator, but Yvegeny convinces him to be his driver by saying that Senator Mazzag was responsible for the death of his former crewmate, Kelif Binks-Fett. Yvegeny has disguised himself in the turban of Calo Nord to throw off anybody who spots him, but A9G is paranoid and wants to preserve his dignity, so he wears a turban himself.

Bao Koon trails Aya Lim to a flophouse not too far from the Jedi Temple, then follows that trail to a nearby starport. He and Haesh call in Ras and Drallon to rendezvous. They arrive at a starport where civilian freighters are going across the galaxy. Aya Lim is seen from far away boarding one, though she does look back, seemingly sensing she is being followed. Ras checks that ship's registry — it's going to the Outer Rim, but one of its stops is Chommell Prime. Ras senses they will meet again soon, and a crowded civilian spaceport isn't the place for a confrontation. On the way back to the Temple, Drallon and Ras talk — Drallon is reluctant to use a lightsaber now that he has seen them used to kill his friends and former Master, and he is terrified of the notion that he may one day have to take a life himself. Ras reassures him that a Jedi does not take lives needlessly and that a lightsaber is a tool of defense, not aggression.

A9G drives a rented speeder convertible while Yvegeny sits in the backseat, ready to shoot Mazzag. A9G pulls alongside the speeder to see that Mazzag is guarded by two Colicoid infiltrator droids. One jumps across the gap and engages Yvegeny with his vibroblade arms. Yvegeny shoots it a few times, and A9G flips the speeder on its edge, knocking the droid to its destruction while Yvegeny barely hangs on. Yvegeny shoots the remaining droid and Mazzag, sufficiently wounding him that a lobbed bug bomb finishes him off. Mazzag's droid driver panics and takes him to his Senate office while A9G drives away to avoid any pursuers.

At the starport, Ras sees breaking news footage of Senator Mazzag's speeder coming under attack and groans.

November 17 recap

•Kelif Binks-Fett has a strained reunion with his father, and considers staying on Naboo with his family.

•On Coruscant, Ras Patul fulfills her mission to track down and arrest Gaph.

•Yvegeny calls in a favor from the Genoharadan.

On Naboo, during the celebrations after defeating the Mandalorians, Kelif catches up with Gobar. Gobar is glad to see Kelif, but Kelif is much more reserved — he's still touchy about having been exiled from Otoh Bokan years ago. Goban assures Kelif that it was for his own good — the political situation there was unstable and Kelif could've been killed. Kelif offers to duel Gobar, secretly planning to kill him, but Gobar catches on and tries to assuage Kelif's hostile intentions.

Kelif says he wants to use Gobar as a contact between him and the Gungans, while Gobar wants to follow along in the Capanata and see the galaxy. Gobar tells him that his mother and siblings are no longer at Otoh Bokan — they're in a small village nearby, away from the violence. Together, they go there and Kelif is reunited with his family, who is very proud of him and his success as a warrior. They ask him to stay on Naboo and help protect their village, which Kelif is left to consider.

Left with some time for rest and relaxation by the Republic military before they rejoin the fleet at Chommell Prime, Ras and Yvegeny ponder where in the galaxy they can go. Remembering his unfinished business with Gaph, the Ryn crime lord with the Sith artifact grafted to his spine, Ras convinces Yvegeny to go to Coruscant. Marina takes them there in the Capanata, and they're greeted by Crask Luk, the Duros air taxi driver.

Ras and Yvegeny go to the lower levels, where they meet up with Prello the Hutt, who they had earlier met while on Coruscant, and who agreed to help them find Gaph for a nice fee. Yvegeny realizes they might need some help bringing Gaph down and makes a call to his handlers in the Genoharadan. They'll send somebody to help, though Yvegeny will need to pay him, and he'll owe the Genoharadan a favor; Yvegeny agrees to this arrangement. Soon, a Rodian mercenary, Shodu, arrives to help, and upon being briefed on their objective, agrees to help capture Gaph (Yvegeny tells Ras that he's just a mercenary they hired). Prello the Hutt tells them that Gaph has left his former hideout and has relocated — to where, he doesn't know.

Ras goes to the Jedi Temple, where she meets with the Jedi (Asa Ulara is presently away on a mission, but some of the survivors from the Sith attack are there to greet her) and uses the Force to try to locate Gaph. Because of his Sith artifact, he can't be detected through the Force, but Ras knows to look for some of his henchmen. Looking into the future to see where they'll be tomorrow, Ras sees a henchman being eaten by albino cannibals outside an abandoned Industrial Automaton warehouse. After a computer search by Yvegeny to locate the warehouse (and confirm the existence of said albino cannibals, called cthons), Ras calls Coruscant Security to get some help capturing Gaph and his men, but is unable to convince them to lend any aid, as nobody is willing to go that deep into the lower levels. Still, they are able to at least requisition a speeder truck so they can at least get down there with Shodu.

Inside the warehouse are about 40 Ryn warriors wielding blaster rifles, standing in groups around their hastily built shelters, while Gaph is (presumably) in a crude hut in the back of the warehouse. Shodu kicks the door open and lays down the autofire, as Yvegeny draws his slugthrower submachine gun and Ras wields two lightsabers to quickly cut through their enemies. To save a few lives, Ras uses the Force to make some of the Ryn run away in fear — some run out of the warehouse, making Ras' vision of the henchman being eaten by the cthons a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Eventually, once most of the Ryn are dead or gone, Gaph and his guards emerge from his hut. Gaph is surprised to see Ras again, but draws his power hammer and gets to swinging. As Ras engages him in melee, Shodu proceeds to snipe from across the room and Yvegeny's precise aim keeps Gaph off his feet. After battering Gaph for a bit, Ras successfully convinces Gaph to surrender rather than fight to the death. Gaph promises that he will rat out Lyta as an accomplice, but Ras and Yvegeny are not deterred. Yvegeny and Ras split the cost on paying Shodu, who performed admirably, and once they get Gaph to a holding cell, Shodu parts ways with the group.

November 8 recap

•The party helps liberate Keren, and ultimately Naboo, from the Mandalorians.

•The true identity of Mandalore is revealed.

The adventure begins with the party on its way to Keren to liberate the city. After discussing plans with the resistance, the party decided to scout ahead first, using a stolen Mandalorian gunship to avoid attracting attention — the Capanata is left behind at the abandoned Eutix station. Ras enters a meditative trance while Marina and Yvegeny fly the ship (which, they note, has been heavily slave-circuited to only need two pilots instead of the usual eight) and Gobmush works the sensors. As the ship approaches Keren, Gobmush soon detects that the gunship has been hooked up to the local Mandalorian network — all the ships here are connected by a central communications relay. By poking around the network, they find that the city of Keren is guarded by an energy shield protecting it from bombardment (about 30 ships constantly overhead, waiting for the shield to fall or looking for weak spots in the shield), and the Mandalorian force engaged with the city is about 100 Mandalorian troops with 500 sentinel droids, while the city has a colonist militia, light artillery, and guerilla troops. The party finds it odd that the Mandalorian force is composed of mostly droids.

The gunship is hailed by the central relay, asking what they're doing in Keren. Yvegeny claims their ship is the Aay'han and they're an infiltration team trying to get into Keren, getting them permission to land, though there will be a Mandalorian team waiting for them when they land in the woods outside Keren. At the landing, Yvegeny sticks to his story, but when the Mandalorians push to be included, Yvegeny says he'll give a signal when he's ready for the second Mandalorian team to enter.

The party begins the walk to Keren, when they begin to notice that they are being followed. Gobmush decides to fall back from the main group and find out who they are, only to end up surrounded by camouflaged humans — definitely not Mandalorians. He tries to communicate through his vox-box, but has a hard time convincing them he's not a Mandalorian. Finally, he turns on his comlink, and Lyta persuades the guerillas that they're not with the Mandalorians — they just lied to them to get past their ships. The guerillas agree to let the party inside Keren. The Mandalorians radio Yvegeny and let him know they're getting impatient; they want 10-minute status reports, or they'll storm the city themselves.

The party crosses through the forest and across the plains to the walled city of Keren, which sits on a river and near Lake Varum. Inside, the city is mostly undamaged — the colonists got the shield up and running before the Mandalorians could hit too hard. Although most of the citizens are armed, life generally proceeds as normal within the walls of the city. The guerillas lead the party to the central town hall, where they're met by the lieutenant governor, a Trandoshan named Surussk, who explains that the previous governor is dead.

The party explains that they're with the resistance, and begin helping around the city. Yvegeny works on fixing up a comm relay to be able to communicate with the insurgents in Theed and the Eutix labs, while Lyta and Oro set up a triage to help out with medicine in the city; Keren's doctors died in the initial assault, and since then, they've been relying on a med student. Gobmush investigates the possibility of using submarines to evacuate the city if need be, while Kelif meets with the city's anthropologists, who have been studying Gungan culture, and meets with the few Gungans who are living peacefully in the colony. Monad, a shaak shepherd, knows about Gobar Binks in particular, pointing out that most Gungans know who he is — he's now the Gungan-Mandalorian liaison.

Surussk, asking about how the party got to Keren, learns that the party is hooked up to the Mandalorian network. He points out that the ships are connected by the central comm tower — it was initially built for the Republic to coordinate ships, but the Mandalorians seized it in the early attack. If they can capture or destroy the tower, the Mandalorian ships around Keren will be confused and probably regroup at the war forge. Yvegeny plans to lure the Mandalorians outside into Keren, where they can be easily ambushed; meanwhile, Yvegeny, Marina and a Twi'lek from Keren named "Twitchy" will use the gunship to attack and destroy the tower.

Yvegeny detonates some abandoned buildings near the edge of town, then comms the Mandalorians to begin their attack there. When the strike team breaks through the wall, they find Ras, Kelif and Gobmush waiting for them with an army of armed colonists, while Lyta and Oro work the triage. Ras uses the Force to crash a wall on most of the foot soldiers. Gobmush and Ras face a Mandalorian Wookiee who flies into a rage and batters them with his fists, but they figure out how to use his aggressive tendencies against him and bring him down. A black-armored Mandalorian produces a barrage of blaster fire that badly wounds Kelif; he takes cover behind a vehicle before Gobmush charges the Mandalorian, finishing him off. Kelif grabs the black Mandalorian armor and the autofire gun, a prototype interchangeable weapo system (modulating between blaster rifle, sniper rifle, and grenade launcher). Meanwhile, Yvegeny bluffs his way into the relay tower's airspace before blowing it to smithereens. As the tower falls and the ships fly away to regroup, the gunship gets a comm from the wreckage below. He says he's leaving the Mandalorians and he can provide valuable intelligence if they rescue him. The gunship lands and picks up an older Gungan, who introduces himself as Gobar Binks (Kelif's father).

When the party regroups happily in Keren (although Kelif is off helping the colonists), they meet up with Gobar Binks, who's very enthusiastic about helping the Republic beat the Mandalorians, and readily admits that he can be useful — he knows that Mandalore the Divider is at the war forge, and he's pretty sure he can get some of the Gungan tribes together to take down the Mandalorians. The party debates what to do: some want to free Theed, while some want to directly attack the war forge.

Eventually, the party hatches a plan. Gobar Binks gets some of the Gungan tribes to help take back Deeja Peak and Theed, and Sith officer Ordal Naberrie will be in charge of hooking up with the rebels in Theed to help retake that city. Meanwhile, colonist ships will attack the war forge, providing cover while the Capanata enters the war forge to assassinate Mandalore the Divider. Gobmush will travel separately in a Gungan bongo with a guide.

As the battle rages overhead, the Capanata sneaks underwater, dodging falling debris to enter the war forge. Gobmush secretly breaks off from the Capanata and heads off to a different location. Inside, the war forge is on high alert, and the party fights through legions of foot soldiers to reach the inner sanctum, thanks to blueprints that Gobar Binks provided. Along the way, Rek Luk, who reveals he's been following the party and is joined in the battle over the war forge, tells the party he wants the Raraza back.

Ras, Yvegeny, Lyta and Oro cross over the factory in the core of the war forge, past a null gas trap, to find Mandalore the Divider himself, a tall, well-armored soldier, and his minions loading riches into an escape pod. The party quickly wipes out Mandalore's minions, and while Mandalore talks a big game, he doesn't back it up with any strong show of might. Mandalore soon falls, and when the party takes off his helmet, it's just a shrimpy Neimoidian inside, and the vaunted "helmet of Mandalore" (whosoever wears the helmet of Mandalore, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of the Mandalorian clans) is nothing but a clever forgery.

Ras broadcasts to the Mandalorian fleet that Mandalore is dead and the helmet has been destroyed; some soldiers fight to the death, but most of the soldiers — being conscripts — surrender or defect immediately. The party finds some very nice gear in among the treasure for their troubles. Rek Luk picks up the Raraza, and immediately begins petitioning the Naboo provisional government for purchase of the war forge to turn it into a Luk Shipping factory.

Gobmush arrives at his destination: the underwater Eutix lab, near the planet core. He was sent to Naboo in the first place by Czerka to destroy the Eutix facility. The Selkath scientists are cowed by his mighty arg'garok, so he has Chuckles kill the beck-tori. His mission on Naboo is now complete, and he rejoins the party.

The party's mission on Naboo is done. With the help of the Sith navigator, the party learns that the Sith who attacked Coruscant regrouped at the nearby planet Chommell Prime, and the Republic prepares to attack the planet. For all their efforts, however, the Republic first agrees to provide the party with some much-needed R&R before they rejoin the fleet to help attack Chommell Prime. Gobar Binks, eager to leave Naboo for new pastures, joins with the party.

DM's Notes:

• I was originally planning to have the party travel to Otoh Bokan, but I decided it would be more interesting to have the mountain come to Mohammed and bring Kelif's father, Gobar Binks, to the party instead. He's a very different kind of Gungan than we've seen before — he's very social and very ingratiating. He comes across like a used car salesman. (And I wasn't entirely sure what I'd have the rest of the party do if they went there. I'd conceptualized the city as undergoing a bloody political coup, but I didn't really see the party getting involved in Gungan politics.)
• My original concept for the fake Mandalore would be that he was a former Mandalorian who'd ended up being a gladiator-for-hire after the war, and he had the idea to build a new helmet and rally the clans because he earnestly believed in the Mandalorian cause. But I liked the idea that it was just a con artist who was looking to grab his own planet and taking advantage of the lore surrounding the helmet. (In canon, Darth Revan held onto the helmet after the end of the Mandalorian Wars specifically to prevent them from picking a new Mandalore, then gives it to Canderous before heading off to the Unknown Regions before the start of KotOR II.) The idea of a fake Mandalore helmet being used to revive the war effort is one I've had since the campaign began.
• The Naboo war forge survived the Mandalorian Wars simply because it was underwater, and Revan and his troops didn't know about it because it wasn't in a big, obvious place (as war forges usually are). It holds all the Mandalorian ship blueprints, hence there being authentic gunships, fighters, etc. in operation on Naboo.
• While the party believed at some points that these Mandalorians held multiple planets, they only ever held Naboo (I didn't want to correct the party). They would've eventually tried to take a nearby planet if left to their own devices too long, but they only had the manpower to hold Naboo. As for where all the riches came from that Mandalore the Divider was loading into his escape pod before his defeat, those are from his ships raiding nearby planets and ships. Really, not much better than common pirates.