•With half the party out of commission because of the crash, the party struggles for direction.
•Gobmush returns, looking for an old enemy.
•Marina proves capable of handling herself, but takes offense at being treated like an NPC.
•Lyta speaks with an old mentor who surprisingly respects her independence.
•The party reaches the nearby settlement of Deeja Peak, only to find it's under new management.
•Yvegeny finds his past to be an asset.
Upon assessing the crash of the Raraza, Lyta, Oro, Marina and Yvegeny find that Ras Patul and Kelif Binks-Fett were injured in the rough landing and must undergo medical attention. Lyta dopes them up and provides treatment. With the two people who are most invested in coming to Naboo in the first place down for the count, however, Lyta and Yvegeny are unsure of what to do now — neither one of them really had any interest in the planet in the first place.
Meanwhile, a few weeks ago on Coruscant, Gobmush ran into an old friend, Pedric Graff, with whom he used to work while working security for Czerka. Gobmush related his experiences with Eutix on Myzil V, and Graff enlisted him to help with Czerka security again. Seeing as how on Coruscant most of the security is corporate-owned, having a lot of different corporations with heavily armed personnel has given a new meaning to "corporate espionage." While raiding a Eutix office on Coruscant, Gobmush learned that Eutix had something big going on on Naboo. Graff put together a group of security personnel and scientists, including Gobmush, to find and raid the Eutix facility on Naboo, but Mandalorian gunships shot down their ship, and Gobmush and Chuckles were the only survivors. Coincidentally, their crash site is only a half-hour walk from where the Raraza lands, and Gobmush sets out on foot to find his old friends. On the way, he spots humanoid footprints leading in the same direction.
Gobmush reunites with the party, and instantly recognizes Yvegeny as Kazbich, though because he speaks Gamorrese, nobody can understand his exclamation of surprise. Yvegeny and Marina have been trying to get the ship working again, but find that they need new parts to get airborne again. Gobmush suggests that they may be able to scavenge parts from the crashed Czerka ship, and so Lyta, Oro and Yvegeny join him to head out in the Republic landspeeder that Kazbich had taken from Myzil V and stowed aboard the ship.
While driving through the woods (which is difficult, because there's not a clear path), the speeder suddenly comes under fire as Mandalorian gunslingers decloak. Oro is nearly mortally wounded, while Yvegeny sustains grievous wounds and Gobmush is saved by his armor. As Yvegeny outshoots one Mandalorian and Gobmush dispatches two with his mighty arg'garok, Lyta and Oro use the speeder as cover and bolster their allies from inside. One Mandalorian tries to cloak using his stealth field generator and make an escape, but Yvegeny unloads with his autofire weapon, causing the Mandalorian to reveal himself just in time to connect with Gobmush's axe.
Yvegeny puts on the helmet of one of the Mandalorians in order to see if they can find some information, and the helmet crackles to life, as someone is trying to contact Rancor 1, asking for his status. Yvegeny bluffs his way through it, claiming that they killed the Raraza crew and plan to rendezvous with Sarlacc Squad, a group of Mandalorians that is apparently stripping Gobmush's Czerka ship. He also learns about Bantha Squad, a group that is converging on the Raraza. Yvegeny orders them to pull back from the ship, claiming he's got orders from Mandalore the Divider himself. Bantha 1 says they should rendezvous and attack the ship together, and it occurs to Yvegeny that Bantha 1 really plans to kill him instead.
On the way back to the Raraza, the party debates what to do at first, but Gobmush decides to just charge in and kill the Mandalorians; Lyta and Yvegeny, wearing armor stolen from the gunslingers, can either kill the soldiers or stun Gobmush, claiming to be true Mandalorians. Gobmush tragically drops his arg'garok mid-charge, and the Mandalorians draw two vibroblades apiece and begin slicing and dicing. Yvegeny and Lyta are unsure what to do, and Lyta, using a stealth field generator, tries to maneuver around the melee to get to the ship, but is spotted, so she loudly claims that Gobmush "won't get away this time," pretending to be a Mandalorian. Yvegeny then shoots Gobmush on stun, causing the Gamorrean to drop down and "pass out," but their ruse is compromised when Marina emerges from the Raraza with a blaster rifle in tow and opens fire. Lyta intimidates Marina into surrender, however, though Marina recognizes the Selkath under the armor. The Mandalorians immediately binder-cuff Marina to the landing ramp and cuff Gobmush, then head into the ship.
Two Mandalorians go to the med bay to see the doped-up Umbaran and Gungan (as they enter with Yvegeny, the security system is not activated) while the one remaining Mandalorian hauls Gobmush inside with Lyta. The soldiers speak to Yvegeny, trying to determine if he's actually a Mandalorian or a Raraza crew member who stole the armor, but Yvegeny passes their test by correctly remembering the six precepts of Mandalore. At the entrance, a Mandalorian tries to speak with Lyta in Mando'a, but she doesn't speak the language and fakes her helmet being shorted out to avoid communication.
As the party wonders what to do next — especially as the commandos tell Yvegeny that a ship is en route to the Raraza to pick up the prisoners to take them to the nearest settlement, Deeja Peak — everybody (except the un-perceptive Mandalorians) hears Marina escape from her binder cuffs. While the soldier near her fiddles with her helmet to get it working, Lyta tries to help Gobmush escape his binder cuffs, only to realize she doesn't know the code to get them open. Gobmush improvises and headbutts the Mandalorian. A melee ensues, and Yvegeny and the soldiers near him rush to the loading bay to intervene. Gobmush, unfortunately, while trying to headbutt the Mandalorian again, loses his balance and falls prone, and hoping to save face to their "captors," Lyta tackles him. Yvegeny shoots that Mandalorian, claiming it was an accident. The two remaining soldiers almost appear fooled, and attack Marina and Gobmush, before Lyta tries to intimidate them into surrendering, at which point they promptly cloak and beat a retreat.
Frustrated that the two Mandalorians escaped, and that their gig is up (as the soldiers now know that members of the Raraza are attempting to infiltrate using stolen armor), and that there's still a ship on its way to pick up the prisoners (and they don't know how big of a ship), the crew realizes it has no easy choice on what to do next. Gobmush has a good idea of where to find Deeja Peak, the nearest settlement, even though talking to Bantha Squad indicated that it's being held by the Mandalorians. After Lyta performs some quick surgery and Gobmush releases his snoruuk mushrooms and iriaz pups into the wild (except one snoruuk he keeps for himself), the crew leaves behind the Raraza in the care of its security droids. The entire party (unconscious Ras and Kelif included) loads up into the landspeeder, hoping to make the three-day journey to Deeja Peak and find some parts for the Raraza.
After the first day of driving, the party makes camp for the night. Lyta, still awake, hears her name being called, then sees the spirit of her old Jedi Master, Neyeria. Lyta goes off into the woods so nobody thinks she's talking to herself. Neyeria tells Lyta she shouldn't feel guilty about not being able to save her former Master, and Lyta apologizes that Cariaga Sin killed Neyeria looking for her. Neyeria tells Lyta that though she respects that the Selkath does not wish to be a Jedi, she should not turn aside help from others; there are other Force traditions out there that might help her, and even if she would not join them, she should not stubbornly refuse their aid. She also warns that the dark side is more than flashy displays of power; it's also moral rationalizations and quick, easy decisions, pointing out that Lyta has made some questionable calls. Neyeria also says that while Lyta doesn't know why she's on Naboo, parts of her destiny will come into focus while she's there. Lyta is flippant about the advice, to which Neyeria shows some disappointment about "relying on old defense mechanisms" and disappears.
Lyta has trouble sleeping that night and is groggy for the next day of driving, when the speeder finally breaks out of the woods and crosses the plains, heading for a mountain range in the distance. While passing a herd of wild shaaks (giant, fat herd animals), Yvegeny opens fire on them, and after Gobmush field-dresses them, the party discovers the deliciousness that is shaak meat. At the end of the second day, the party makes camp at the base of the mountains. Marina inquires with the party exactly what the plan was back at the ship, and is disgusted that she hadn't been informed of it (and that she almost got killed because of it). She insists on being included in future plans and groans that she was probably better off in her cell back on Myzil V.
On the third day, the party realizes it doesn't know precisely where Deeja Peak is. Yvegeny finds that the Mandalorian armor they've held on to are no longer connected to the Mandalorian computer network, though he is able to access it briefly and locate Deeja Peak before being shut out. The party drives through the mountains to get to the town.
About a half hour outside of town, the party decides to park the landspeeder; Lyta, Oro and Chuckles will stay with the still-out Ras and Kelif, while Marina, Yvegeny and Gobmush don Mandalorian helmets, try to blend in with the Mandalorians believed to be occupying the town, and see what they can find out. Deeja Peak is a walled city with surface-to-air turrets around it, and when the trio approaches, they see it's guarded heavily by Mandalorians, including a basilisk war droid. Yvegeny, being the only awake party member who speaks Mando'a, bluffs the guards, claiming they're the sole survivors of one of the gunships that the Raraza destroyed when it first entered the system (and Marina, not knowing the language, is a new recruit). The party gains entrance into the city.
The Deeja Peak colony has been repurposed as a Mandalorian fortress. Most of the Basic signs are rewritten in Mando'a; the stores have been closed and replaced with ration centers; the men and able women have been conscripted into Mandalorian service, while the weak and children are used for labor; Neo-Crusader soldiers, all wearing the familiar blue armor, heavily patrol the streets. Yvegeny inquires where he can get some of the red armor, and learns it belongs to the Rally Masters, essentially sergeants in the Mandalorian army. While wandering the town figuring out their next move, the party is approached by a Rally Master, who inquires about their mission. He tells them that the Republic is believed to have landed on Naboo, "with fifty Jedi Knights if there's only one," and so the base is at peak readiness. He orders them to man the wall, patrolling for signs of attack.
While patrolling the outer wall, Yvegeny strikes up a conversation with a conscript named Ceferi, saying he's a Republic contractor and he'll help free him and his family if he helps them bring down the Mandalorians. Ceferi is skeptical at first, but points out that the party could probably get Rally Master armor from the barracks, and that they should wear the full armor — wearing only the helmets is drawing too much suspicion. Yvegeny is relieved he doesn't turn them in.
Also while on the wall, the party can spot several landing platforms around town; they're all heavily guarded, as the Mandalorians don't want any citizens attempting to escape. Most of them are civilian ships retrofitted with heavy weaponry; there's a useable Neimoidian shuttle and Quartermaster-class supply ship visible from the wall. After stopping by the officer barracks in town and receiving Neo-Crusader armor (but rebuffed the Rally Master armor), the party decides to investigate the Quartermaster ship, which turns out to be a galley ship. A group of soldiers is unloading the ship under the direction of a Rally Master; while exploring the inside of the ship while unloading, they find it's too well-armed to simply steal right away.
While the party helps unload the ship, Yvegeny meets Deck, the ship's assigned pilot, and lures him into a dark alley with Gobmush, who promptly kills him so Yvegeny can steal the pilot insignia. (The party feels guilty for killing Deck, as he was a pretty enthusiastic guy, and didn't really seem like a bad guy despite being a Mandalorian.) The Rally Master wonders where Deck is, and inquires as to who Yvegeny is, as he's never seen him before. Yvegeny truthfully identifies himself as Kazbich, saying he fought with the Mandalorians during the Wars (also true). He says a Gungan named Kelif got him back into the Mandalorian ranks, but the Rally Master doesn't recognize the name. The Rally Master is willing to let Yvegeny fly the ship back to the supply post, but insists on sending his own men aboard as well.
Aboard the mess ship, Gobmush and Marina make quick work of the Mandalorian soldiers, and Yvegeny accesses the Mandalorian network, locating many points of interest on the planet, including a real find — the Mandalorian war forge, the factory where armor and weapons are mass-produced, which is underwater in one of the major lakes. The network reveals that the Raraza was towed there by a larger ship. Marina also reveals that she overheard Yvegeny refer to himself as Kazbich to the Rally Master, and she knows that he's Kazbich, though they'll wait to talk about it until later.
Yvegeny picks up Lyta, Oro, Chuckles, Ras and Kelif outside of Deeja Peak, then the party regroups to plan its next move.
(DM's note: I haven't fleshed out the "points of interest on the planet" yet beyond the war forge, but I plan to cover them in small-group sessions. Points would include Republic colonies, Gungan colonies, and other things the Mandalorians have found on the planet.)
