Mad Mario's
STAR WARS RPG SCENARIOS
If you want to check out the special Halloween / All Sith game click HERE!
The entries are made in chronological order to when they were played (from February 2002 to February 2003). We still play, but the group has been split in two and to tell ya the truth, to keep up writing notes and playing at the same time is a real pain in the tuckass! So Mario, Leslie and I have documented a year’s worth of games to wet your Star Wars fan fiction appitie.
Keep in mind that the adventures take place in the Pre-Empire, "Classic Period" (Episodes I - III)
Now get yourself a beer, maybe some pop-corn, some candy and maybe even some chips and dip, sit back, relax and read on.
Now, without further edui (SP?...I'm not frellin' French!!)........TAKE IT AWAY, MARIO................
Hi,
In an effort to document the crazy and sometimes overtly violent situations that happens upon my humble gaming table. I have decided to generate a synopsis of: The Story so far.
For your enjoyment here is a sample of the nuttiness and sometimes highly successful, and sophisticated, plans that can happen at games. One of the most fantastic games, universes and set of players I have ever ran with. Can't wait for the next time.
Enjoy folks!
Mario
The Cast:
Gamemaster Mario - all-around fantastic storyteller, the man of a thousand voices and, according to his players, GM extraordinaire! [Mario wrote that. I didn't, but I would have to still agree!! - Zangz]
Captain Mereel (Leslie) - Mandalorian commando (gender still a mystery) turned bounty hunter/mercenary with a deadly ship called the Nighthawk, killer of Dark Jedi, owner of Ranger - an exceptional astromech.
Lar Gant (Dave) - Human Padawan who is struggling with the loss of a loved one but is still determined to become a Jedi; and who is learning to use non-violence rather than his lightsaber.
Scoobalumpa (Bruce) - Wookiee pilot whose ship is called the Naughty Vixen, loves loud floral patterned shirts and is best buddies with Jodz.
Jodz Burdoz (Zangz) - Human Fringer/Scoundrel with the gift of the gab and the proud owner of the Sith Infiltrator class ship called the “Screaming Whore”, currently in storage and out of the eyes of the Sith.
Fatma (Hope) - A beautiful, Force adept, female Fargul (Cat-like species) who works as Jodz’s and Scoob’s ship technition.
BLU - IG-1138 Prototype Droid (Chris) - A prototype droid that packs a wallop! Works as an assassin for Shada the Hutt as well as assisting Captian Mereel.
Tyra (Hope’s currently deceased first character) - A female Padawan in love with Lar and brandishing an alarming temper played by my (Mario’s) wife.
Cal Turan (Hope recently retired character) - Human Male Replica Droid, who escaped his most recent owner and is currently the bodyguard and special investigator for Republican Senator Karass, acquaintance of Capt Mereel from years ago.
SHIPS:
-The Naughty Vixen: The Wookie's freighter.
-The Night Hawk: A Skipray gunboat owned by Captain Mereel.
-The Screaming Whore: A Sith Infiltrator stolen from a dead Dark Jedi by Jodz Burdoz.
-Lar Gant’s Jedi Starfighter: As seen in SW, Ep.II.
Cue up your copy of the Star Wars theme it's gonna get bumpy kids! [Actually, I have a Midi of it playing right now, Mar - Zangz]
Game #1
"IT'S ALL IN THE DEAL"
As told through the eyes of Capt. Mereel (Leslie).
Played on 2-3-02
The notorious former Mandalorian Commando Capt Mereel is contacted by "The Dragon" to come to Dagobah because he has a job for him. Hano Ji, criminal/smuggler, has stolen 2 valuable items from the Jedi Council: a datacard and a cannister. Mereel is told to go to Tattooine and find him, retrieve items; more credits if he brings in Ji and his gang but killing them is also an option. When the goods are retrieved Mereel is to contact Senator Tyre on Coruscant and deliver the items to him. Mereel's commission is 50% of the amount The Dragon has negotiated with the Senator. Ji is a tall, good-looking dark haired human and he has a gang of 4 humans and 1 Rodian named Veedo. The Dragon has also contracted a Wookiee freighter pilot, Scoobalumpa, to transport Mereel and his ship, the Nighthawk, to Mos Eisley on Tattooine in secret.
They arrive at Mos Eisley without incident and Mereel separates his ship from the Naughty Vixen (Scooby's freighter) and parks it in a separate hangar. He contacts Ji and acts as if he is looking for work (which the GM totally did not expect). Ji agrees to test Mereel by having him fight his goons. In a "Gunfight at the OK Corral" fashion, Mereel kills 2 and wounds a third. Later Mereel taunts the 4th goon by telling him his buddies fought like Jawas and kills him in a knife fight. Ji, deciding that Mereel is better than his 4 previous goons combined, shows him the cannister and tells him it must be protected at all costs (Mereel believes Ji has the datacard on him). Mereel and Ji sit comfortably together to discuss their new alliance when suddenly Mereel pulls his blaster to stun Ji but?.misses! Mereel, the brilliant former commando, quickly tells Ji that someone was outside the window and he tried to shoot them. Mereel fires again, stunning Ji, takes the datacard off of his body and retrieves the cannister. Mereel comms his astromech, Ranger, and orders him to bring the ship to his location.
Meanwhile, Scooby accepts work from Jodz Burdoz [smuggler, scoundrel, loudmouth, egotistical fringer... how original - Zangz.] who was hired by Jabba the Hutt to find Veedo and retrieve a datacard the Rodian had stolen from him. Two padawans arrive, named Lar Gant and Tayira, who have been sent to Tattooine as a test to see how well they have learned their lessons. Their test is to find and retrieve the stolen items. They join up with Scooby and Jodz because, not knowing what life outside the Jedi Academy is like, they are totally unprepared to deal with the riffraff of such desolate places and need local aid. Jodz agrees to take them to Ji's and just as they arrive, Capt Mereel is high-tailing it out of the place and towards his ship which has landed nearby. Mereel, however, does not see the padawans or the Wookiee but expertly dodges Jodz who has quickly run to the bottom of the ramp of Mereel's ship in an effort to stop the fleeing Mandalorian. Disappointed, the padawans ask Scooby to take them back to Coruscant. Jodz goes along because he knows Jabba will want him dead for failing to find Veedo. The padawans are then sent on to Naire to assist the Chancellor in preventing a civil war.
Days later, Capt Mereel meets Senator Tyre (tall, slim man about 40, short cropped black hair and mustache) at Corellia rather than Coruscant. Tyre transfers 40,000 credits into Mereel's account for the retrieved items and Mereel then heads to Dagobah where The Dragon tells him the full 40K is his share of the payment and would Mereel be interested in another job?
The Dragon tells Capt Mereel to go to Naire to watch over a couple of padawans (which, unbeknownst to the Mandalorian, were also looking for the same items which he found first and took to Senator Tyre). Once on Naire, Mereel is also to contact Prefect Fong who is hoping to create a civil war on Naire and take control. The Dragon wants Mereel to infiltrate Fong's organization, discover if there are other people working with Fong and try to prevent the war ? killing Fong is an option. Mereel agrees to do this as a favor with zero pay but tells The Dragon that he may be asked for a favor in the future...to which The Dragon agrees.
Mereel arrives on Naire and contacts Fong who wants him to locate an "object". He gives the captain the info as to it's location and Mereel soon finds the object which had crash landed earlier outside of the city. The object looks just like the cannister he had given to Senator Tyre but it's cracked and leaking a non-toxic plasma. Ranger detects a Trade Federation cruiser approaching and Fong confirms this as well. Mereel books and gets back to the Nighthawk just as the padawans, Scooby and Jodz arrive. Another cannister crashes to the ground and the padawans take this one with them since it's intact.
Mereel returns to Naire City and sees Fong. The Trade Federation has arrived which surprises Fong. There's more going on here than either he was told or The Dragon knows so Mereel decides to stake out the Chancellor's office. During his stakeout, a strange black ship (Sith Infiltrator) lands nearby and a black robed figure emerges. She?s a rogue Jedi named Xiang Fong [picture Asian actress Xiang Xee, from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"], daughter of the Prefect Fong, who has come back for revenge against the people of Naire who had sent her to the Jedi when her force powers became apparent. She goes into the Chancellor's building and returns with the Chancellor as hostage. Mereel, hidden in a balcony of a nearby hotel, fires his blaster rifle and wounds her; the Chancellor escapes back into the building. Xiang Fong gets back into her ship and blasts away at the Chancellor's building and Mereel hightails it out of the hotel just as she starts unloading her blasters when he had just been a few seconds before. Finished, the ominous black ship leaves. The padawans, Scooby and Jodz arrive. Scooby recognizes Capt Mereel as his passenger to Tattooine but Mereel brushes him off and leaves.
Mereel goes back to Fong who tells him his plans have backfired and he wants passage off planet. Mereel agrees and takes him to his ship where he is locked into a cell. Meanwhile, the padawans, Scooby and Jodz go to the hospital to talk to the Chancellor where he has been taken due to injuries sustained when Xiang Fong blastered his Chancellory. He tells them that the military commander has staged a coup.
Mereel decides to go see the Chancellor. In the meantime a member of the Trade Federation is being held prisoner by the padawans at the hospital (he designed the original cannister ? which is holding the twin lightsabers of Xiang Fong ? and is now in the possession of Senator Tyre). The Neimodian was testing new cannisters (which can be opened without the datacard by a specific atmospheric pressure against it's skin) and had come to take the Chancellor away. His plan was foiled by Jodz and Scooby who destroyed his 2 battle droids and were, at that very moment, in a firefight with a couple of Naire soldiers under the command of the military commander who staged the coup. As Mereel comes off the elevator he shoots the soldiers in the back and then offers assistance to the padawans. He leads them to the roof of the hospital with both the Chancellor and the Neimodian. Ranger arrives with the Nighthawk and he delivers the group to Scooby?s ship.
We all return to Coruscant together and Capt Mereel negotiates a price with the Jedi Council for Fong ? after all, he has an expensive ship and droid to keep in perfect working order. The padawans report that they have seen a Sith ship and asl the Council about Mereel ? is he a real Mandalorian or just wearing the armor of those infamous commandos? They are also wondering what will become of them since they failed in both missions. Scooby and Jodz seem to be forming a partnership which will benefit both of them.
The Jedi Council tells Lar and Tayira that Mereel is only wearing the armor of a Mandalorian...little do they really know.
The end of "IT'S ALL IN THE DEAL"
Game #2
"DEADLY RUN"
Written by Mario
Played on 3-2-02
Starting out on the Wookiee home world of Kashyykk, our friend Scooby and his buddy Jodz noticed a small set of newly designed fighters leaving a heavily wooded area near the tree city of Nonj. They decided to go and investigate, by following these fighters out into space. So upon reaching the calculated entry point the fighter blasted off into hyperspace and when the delightful duo decided to let their Hyperdrive rip, it failed. Both Jodz and Scooby failed their astronavigation rolls. Imagine the sound the Falcon makes when it whines down, and the lights go out. Imagine, then, the sound of an unhappy Wookie.
Deciding to head back to the planet surface, once they rebooted the drive, their sensors picked up a large heat signal and visually saw smoke billowing from a large tree dwelling owned by the renowned Kana clan. Landing and decided to search for any survivors our heroes encounter two trandoshan mercenaries playing a friendly game of: "kick-the-wookie-kid" with the only remaining member of the clan left behind after the assault.
A universal: "AWWWWWWWWWW man, that's mean!" erupted from the group and Jodz decided that these boys needed a lesson. A few rounds of exchanged blaster fire unfortunately resulted in both our heroes being knocked out. Stunned to be more specific and the wounded trandosians noticed the freighter and soon came up with a great idea.
Meanwhile across the galaxy on the planet of Courscant the two young Padawans are given an opportunity to improve their skills by order of Chancellor Valoren. A senator from the Trandosian world of Dosha is suspected of masterminding a smuggling ring. This ring involves specifically slaves and the issue stems from a violent rivalry between the lizard men and the wookiees. Although there are relations between the races that do NOT result in bloodshed there are those on either side of the fence who would love to settle this conflict with violence and bloodshed.
The Wookiee ambassador, in view of the Republic's refusal to intervene on the behalf of the Wookiees, has stormed out of the council amphitheater refusing to aid them in the sensitive negotiations with the growing Trade Federation.
The council needs him and Valoren has decided to set two Padawans on the case to see if they, and their associates, can shed any light on the matter. They have been given a large sum of credits to be allocated for transportation and an initiative for the paid talent they will need to employ. Through their initial stages of investigation the young jedi have learned that the ambassador was NOT involved, but rather their evidence points to his female assistant Grexx.
Grexx is romantically involved with Croc and is seeking to put him back on Dosha as a replacement for his too liberal father. Manipulating the family funds Grexx has managed to supply Croc with a base on the ice world of Hoth, a workable freighter, weapons, and fighters to help him in his business proposals.
Interviewing Grexx confirms their suspicions and their next move was to contact their friend Scooby for a ride. But they were a little startled when they discovered Scooby was no longer in control of the Naughty Vixen. So they decided to call the private dealer known as: "The Dragon" in hopes of reaching Captain Mereel the last of the Mandalorians and his ship the Nighthawk.
Meanwhile on Kashyykk the heroes are arrested mistakenly for the assault on the Kana family home. They manage to clear their names and learn that the Naughty Vixen is in orbit around the planet and not going anywhere fast. Apparently they thought they could pilot the freighter and failed in their attempts. Although it was suggested to the freighter pilot that they could be transported to the Vixen and a be prepped to board their ship in a very "Wookiee like" manner, another more efficient solution presented itself.
Before they could decide what to do Captain Mereel, Lar and Tyra arrived. Suggesting that they remotely de-activate the life support system onboard the Vixen, Captain Mereel had his astro-tech droid, Ranger guide the vixen back down and the Trandosians were consequently arrested.
Putting the lizard men in their cell the Padawans later come up with the idea of interrogating the prisoners. Using the force they manage to convince the Wookiee, Captain Tyre, to let them in. Having a discussion with the slimy Latino sounding cutthroats they confirm that Croc is the one behind this. That he has 18 trandosians eight of which are pilots with newly constructed interceptors ready to defend their base at a moments notice. But more to the point they learn that Croc has involved himself in a dangerous deal.
A Sith named Xiang Fong, whom the players know all too well, has signed a deal with Croc. For his procurement of the Kana family, the dark jedi will assassinate the Wookiee Ambassador sending the conservative party of his home world into a predictable frenzy. The liberal and patient politics of the old Trandoshan Senator will be ignored as the conflict between the races heats up. The cry will be for the much more savage and warlike banished son to return to Dosha and a new era of bloodshed will begin.
But Fong is not concerned with that. She must appease her master, guess who, and that means the death of the jedi master Growool. Using his family as bait the young Sith seeks to draw him out on the ice planet and kill him outright paving the way for the first blow of the new Jedi/Sith war.
Attempting to take the prisoners with them fail as the Wookiees of Kashyykk soon learn of the kidnapping and are out for the prisoners' blood. While deciding their next action, Captain Mereel took it upon himself to interrogate the prisoners and also learned that the planet; is guarded by a sensor web made up of simple satellites, which alert the base of any approaching ships. With this new information the players decided to try and fool the system when they entered the planet atmosphere by sending an image of the sector they will enter minus their ship of course.
No such luck.
So the trandoshan fighters were dispatched to deal with the invaders. However Captain Mereel decided to try something unconventional. He opened the channel and offered his services as a man at arms. Mereel also informs the highly confused trandosians that he has captured a Wookiee and he was interested in making a sale. Initially Croc doesn't trust it. So he offers Mereel an opportunity. Put the Wookiee in a space suit; jettison it so that his men can use it for target practice.
Har-Har-Har!
Mereel will not be put off. He wants to make some cash on the deal and informs the slaver that if he doesn't want him, he'll take the Wookiee somewhere else.
Intrigued at the cold hearted Mandalorian's response; Croc bites the bait, pardon the pun. They land and put poor Scooby in a holding cell. Satisfied that he may have an experienced commando on his team Croc invites Mereel to dinner later and so the commando and his smuggler friend Jodz head back to their respected ships for a much-needed rest. Later, Croc offers Mereel a job. Here Croc reveals his deal with the dark jedi and offers Mereel a hefty sum of 25,000 credits if he will kill the Sith when she arrives.
Always a hard businessman, woman, or whatever Mereel offers to take the job with 50% down now. Croc agrees.
Meanwhile, sneaking out of the freighter after having an interesting romp in the dark, our young passionate Padawans decide to do a little sight seeing. Remember folks, the bad guys don't know they're here on Hoth! Walking towards the holding cells they encounter a lone trandoshan who failed his intelligence roll, which seemed the norm for these guys, and decided to be friendly to the newcomers. He shows them where they're holding the drugged Wookiee family, a group of Twi'leks, a group of humans, a bantha, and the newly acquired Wookiee. Teasing the lone Wookiee, and ignoring Lar's casual move of de-activating the holding cell force field, our highly idiotic guard is easily subdued, beaten, and violently thrown into the holding cell by the much displeased Wookiee freighter pilot.
Freeing the captives our young force users are a little taken aback by the mentally driven voice emanating from the Bantha. His name is Bol and he is in fact, a jedi master. Used as a personal recruiter in the outer territories Bol finds force sensitive children and directs many of the council to their locations. So, he and his fellow would be slaves make into the hold of the Naughty Vixen and await their exodus to freedom.
Meanwhile Lar makes his way to the central computer room. There he downloads the hard drive to be later used, if he can unravel the codes, against Grexx and any other criminal connected to this ring. Making it back safely to the landing bay Lar spies the fighters and decides to perform a little bit of vandalism. He pokes holes in the canopies with is lightsaber and consequently makes them useless for space travel.
A few moments later the group spies, via their ships cameras, a pair of Trandosians making their way towards the fighters are scratching their heads in confusion.
Tricking these two was not all that difficult and soon they're taken, stunned, and thrown in a secure hold. Croc arrives later with a few more of his cronies after he discovers them missing. Enraged, croc believes the Mandalorian is after his cargo and calls him out.
The jig is up!
Mereel feigns ignorance and allows six of his gang members to board the Wookiee's ship. Worried that things might not go right, the heroes draw up the ramps after the goons make their way into the freighter and become trapped in a cargo hold. The ships book towards the open bay doors. Deciding to seal the slavers' fates Mereel blasts away a few of the downed fighters for good measure.
Deciding how best to deal with the situation, captain Mereel suggests they merely open the cargo bay door just enough to allow the oxygen to deplete and knock the goons unconscious. They succeed and more bodies are added to the bounty.
With the information they've obtained so far the players decide they have a major obstacle. The dark jedi will be here within the hour and they're a little worried on how to deal with her.
Mereel decided to contact her in an attempt to reveal Croc's treachery at hiring the captain to kill Xiang when her usefulness was done. Mereel, ever the shrewd businessperson offers Xiang a price. All he wants is Croc. He's worth 25,000 credits and he's not about to pass up the opportunity!
Xiang agrees but only if Mereel arranges a meeting with the two young, cowardly, Padawans she can sense nearby.
And so, they meet on the snowy surface of Hoth. The deadly Sith infiltrator lands nearby and the Padawans can feel the hatred emanating from the craft. Like a growing headache it spreads further and further engulfing their consciousness.
Here the players learn that the Wookiee ambassador was not killed, but taken prisoner instead and is now bound up in the small cramped hold of the dark Jedi's ship to be used to further her plans of advancement.
Change CD track to Duel of Fates here [Sorry, the midi file is probaly done playing. But you readers can hit "Refresh" and hear it again.]
Two 2nd level jedi guardians against a 6th level dual light saber wielding dark jedi. Hmmmmm, now this could be interesting. Blades flashing and parries almost unsuccessful compliment the whirling moves of the three force users as they slash, hack, and move like dancers upon the freezing snow of Hoth.
A few rounds later it's clear the Padawans are outmatched as their wounds become more and more frequent. They discovered though that if they separate after they make their attacks she'd have to choose one or the other to fight making her vulnerable to the second person's attacks. This tactic worked except that Xiang decided to smash upon Tyra who was already near death to begin with.
Their sabers clashed and the nimble Sith easily avoided Tyra's attacks. Suddenly weakened now from her efforts Tyra let her guard down and with a shriek the Sith impaled her through the middle!
Straddling the unconscious Padawan our villain taunts the emotionally devastated guardian of the force. Is it to late for Tyra? Can Lar defeat this foe? Then, a loud whining sound fills the snow filled air. It's Captain Mereel! Deciding to end this once and for all the good Captain fires the Nighthawk's laser cannons and...... misses!
Drawing upon his teachings Lar knows Xiang will use all of her powers to attack him. Therefore he goes on an all out defense position and manages to parry every single blow she throws at him. Pissed off now that she can't have another easy kill she ignores what is happening nearby.
Mereel calls over the communicator to the Naughty Vixen and suggests, strongly, that Jodz run over to the Sith ship, get inside, release the Wookiee ambassador and help himself to the craft. Jodz scoots over and easily gets inside the ship. Finding the Wookiee ambassador and pointing to the freighter the ambassador nods and books to the ramp. Meanwhile Jodz screams his head off in joy as he now has a very cool ship. Successfully rolling his piloting skills he makes it off the ground and heads to orbit.
The naughty vixen then lifts off and flies towards Lar with her ramp lowered hoping that he can get away from the assaulting Sith. But as he makes his leap for the ramp; Mereel makes a second attempt, this time with a proton torpedo and succeeds in her shot just as Lar makes it on the ramp and it pulls up out of the way into safety.
Needless to say the Sith was toasted.
Now, they have to deal with the rest of the gang. They decided to head back to the base and try to strike up another deal. Croc will not have it! He wants compensation! So, like all warrior like creatures, he challenges Mereel to a duel. Using his spear he plans to impale the Mandalorian to the wall and put everyone else on pikes!
Mereel takes a look at her, or is it his, knife and decides the blaster would be more fitting.
A slash here, a blast there, slash-blast-bang-boom! The combatants whittle themselves down. Suddenly Croc makes one last exhausted and blood soaked lunge and BANG! Mereel rolls a "CRITICAL-HIT" and what remained of Croc falls to the cold floor with a giant, and squishy, THUD!
Croc is gone. The rest of his gang do their favorite Iraqi solider imitations and surrender. They're put into the Cargo hold of the Naughty Vixen for now, rendered unconscious by a release of fuelant into the hold.
Heading back to Coruscant Mereel is a wealthy commando, the smuggler Jodz has a cool ship [I named it "The Screaming Whore"!!! Yes, I am warped!!! - Zangz] , Scooby is made a planetary hero, but all pales in comparison to the cold empty feeling within our Padawans heart.
The End of "DEADLY RUN"
Game #3
"THE WEB OF SHADOWS"
Written by Mario and further embellished by Capt Mereel.
Played on 4/06/02
While on Coruscant, Captain Mereel is contacted by the Republic officer Captain Calvin Zam, who needs a bounty hunter not too well known in the galaxy, but yet highly successful in acquisitions, so he thought himself lucky enough in finding Mereel. What Zam needs is a target named Tiff Tamal, a Drall scientist who is a rogue that has avoided and thwarted the Republic's efforts in both capture and connecting the creature with accused illegal operations. Agreeing to a satisfactory sum, our armored hero discovers the whereabouts of his merchandise and moves to procure it.
Understanding that he will need a highly prized and expensive datacard for access to the tightly secured Tower of Knowledge (a combination think tank/lab where scientists lived and worked), and not happy with the guy he bought the datacard from because of the high cost, our man (woman?) Mereel discovers that the Drall has employed several bodyguards - one of which was a creature called a Herglic: a massive bipedal semi-aquatic bruiser who is given to angry urges revolving around games of chance and the loss of his most recent paycheck.
The good captain easily makes his way into the Tower of Knowledge and to the Drall?s apartment. Overriding the security code of the private apartment Mereel makes it in only to find the second of the three bodyguards playing a hologame. Cautiously Mereel makes his way around the apartment successfully avoiding the distracted brute that, unbeknownst to Mereel a few minutes later will decide to take a break from the evil and overly intelligent game system. However, the good captain succeeds in both finding the Drall's private lab and lifting, after not succeeding in downloading the data, the scientist's own personal, and highly portable, datapad.
At this point a noise in the next room alerts Mereel that the brute is not totally engrossed in the hologame anymore and there is no way to sneak past the room so here the good captain decides to confront our monster. The creature, although big, deadly and powerful like most beasts is about as swift as chewing gum on a rug. But the conversation, during which Mereel indicates he's there to meet Bohn, the Herglic bodyguard, begins to go badly when the brute accuses him of being that "Fett guy" and the beasts' slow moving mind begins to pick up on the deception. That's when the brave Captain Mereel is literally smacked up and down by the hideous creature like a rag doll, slammed against the far wall and knocked out.
Meanwhile in the Jedi Council Chamber, our young Padawan Lar is allowed to begin the "trials" of his development to becoming a Jedi. Lar is given the task of rescuing a young Twi'lek operative who had been shot down during her investigation of a ship called the Sian. The woman is believed to have survived the crash on a planet called Dathomir. The Padawan understands that this person was working on a case of some importance connected with the growing Trade Federation and, boarding his new Jedi starfighter, makes his way to the mysterious planet while both the Jedi Council and a mysterious Jedi Master named Kalin watch.
At the same time the now famous Scoobalumpa and his infamous buddy Jodz go looking for an affordable but fun club to hang out in. They discover that a small and strange looking being has been following them so, cutting into a small alley, they manage to nab the little nippah and learn that his name is Tib Balon.
Balon, a Bimm, is a wine merchant whose cargo has been intercepted and confiscated by the Trade Federation when the shipper made the mistake of not registering with that troublesome organization; the loss of this particular shipment could put him out of business. Calling it quits the shipper sold the ship and all of his cargo, some would say illegally, to the Trade Federation rather than pay the fines and possibility go bankrupt. Balon tells them the Trade Federation ship, the Sian, is moored in space near the water planet of Mon Calamari.
The excitable Bimm further tells them that he is in desperate need of the cargo of Falleenian wine chilled in decorative ice cubes from the planet of Orto; he needs the intoxicant within 10 days and is willing to pay the intrepid pair a sizeable sum if they bring it back within the necessary time frame. So off they go and, as soon as they came closer to the Trade Federation ship, the crew of the Naughty Vixen is alerted by the captain of the Sian that they are in violation of Republic law and are ordered to turn about out of the Sian's sensor range. Of course they turn around and decide to try it another way.
Using this recent development to their advantage they manage to alert a Mon Calamari cruiser who decides to see what exactly is going on. Deciding to make up some wild story about a plague and the possibility of infection caused by some cargo on the Trade Federation ship, Jodz is ready to direct the cruiser to a possible medical emergency that should be taken care of as soon as possible. Little does Jodz know how close he is to the truth! [it's true. I didn't have a frellin' clue! - Zangz] Discovering that there is very little the captain of the Mon Calamari ship can do against the Trade Federation, the smugglers decide to head to the Mon Calamari city TelVev and contact the governor.
Meanwhile on Coruscant Senator Karass has been contacted by the senator from Devaron on a matter the Devaronian thought is most urgent. On his planet a crisis has erupted and a subtle investigation needs to be implemented. He wants to use Karass's bodyguard Cal to help in the matter. The senate needs the Devaronian to back up their initiation of various treaties - one of which involved the recent abduction of the Wookiee ambassador Shalan Ka' by the son of the Trandoshan Senator to push the big lizards and Wookiees into a full blown galactic war. Fortunately that particular situation was averted but the feud continues and, if the Republic can vote for a treaty to be established, the more conservative sides will have to face the facts.......but that is another sto... ahem.
So Cal goes in search of answers upon the planet of Devaron and discovers that there is some kind of fear that has many of the wealthier inhabitants alerted. Learning that a grisly murder took place not long ago and that the origins are shrouded in some kind of evil cult, Cal moves upon the trail learning that there is fact one person that he might be able to get some information from.
Meanwhile, a highly battered Mandalorian commando awakens and finds himself left like a discarded action figure on the balcony of the Drall's apartment. The creature that attacked him was a Servip - a particularly savage race gifted with unusual strength and ferocity. Realizing that he is no condition to defend himself against such a creature, our hero calls upon the one person he can always rely upon ? Ranger, his astromech droid, who is his ace in the hole when the situation is dire. Mereel contacts Ranger using his helmet's comlink and instructs him to bring the Nighthawk, homing on his signal, to the ledge upon which he is laying. Ranger immediately hits the thrusters and speeds the Nighthawk through the heavy Coruscant traffic then gently manages to bring the blastboat close enough for our hero to crawl painfully up the wing and tumble inside. The beast hears the action but is too slow and too late - our hero is whisked away to a private clinic and a much needed 15-hour dunk in a Bacta Tank.
On Dathomir our Padawan makes it to the alleged crash site and begins to follow a trail of debris and marks leading off into a deep forest. Reaching the dark leafy interior, our Padawan is suddenly startled by the huge roar of some fantastically huge animal nearby. Unable to see what it is our hero makes it to a small stone tower only to be captured by beautiful, if not violently inclined, barbarian women [Poor Dave. Let's all feel sory for him...NOT!! - Zangz]. They take his lightsaber and throw him in the dungeon. A few hours later, our hero waits patiently for the tender signs of twilight. Banging relentlessly upon the door he awakens a kind-hearted guard who, while brandishing her spear, attempts to work out whether or not to let the outlander go for the safety of the clan or do her duty and await her elder's orders. Noticing that his lightsaber is in the next room, our hero tumbles past our guard and easily snatches his lightsaber from the opposite wall, placing it so deftly upon his belt that the Dathomir guard is impressed. She lets him go and tells him to make it quick. She further tells him the other outlander is on the first floor. Making it to her cell they escape by the Padawan's slicing through the masonry with his trusty lightsaber and out into the open glen. But something near them moved. A shadow detaches itself from the nearby trees and, brandishing a sword, the thing rushes at them. Lar grabs the Twilek woman by the wrist and flees into the forest trying to avoid this new danger.
Meanwhile, on Mon Calamari, the smugglers Scooby and Jodz reach the beautiful city and gain admission to the governor?s palace. There Jodz spins a tale that gets him into a little trouble [Actually, Jodz was in complete control the whole time...NOT!! - Zangz]. He explains that they are working for the Jedi Council and have been ordered by them to seize some dangerous toxic materials off of the Trade Federation freighter but the deadly duo are told to wait by the governor?s secretary as he contacts the Jedi Council to confirm this. Jodz, confident conman that he is, only feels one bead of sweat roll down his spine as they wait.
Of course the Jedi Council never heard of them but Mace Windu is aware of a crisis brewing and, ordering them to wait [See. He told them to wait! Complete control. - Zangz], he dispatches his contact on Mon Calamari to help them. They are given a chance to board the Sian under the pretext of a safety inspection and if the Trade Federation makes a local complaint, the Mon Calamari authorities will be bureaucratic to give the smugglers some time. So they head out and, unfortunately, do not make their piloting rolls so the jig is up. They are ordered to link their ship at the airlock they originally decided to use and are taken to the Trade Federation envoy Mutah Rek.
Seeing that these bunglers are hardly a threat he mistakenly allows them to keep with their weapons and learns to regret it. Blowing apart one of the battledroids near the Neimodian the Scoob makes a grab for the envoy but Rek is too slippery and runs off through a closing blast door. Roaring in rage, Scooby covers the ground quickly with his long hairy legs and dives through the closing iris of the blast door. Tumbling back upon his large hairy feet Scooby heads off after the Neimodian, roaring like a mad bantha.
Meanwhile, Jodz is holding his own against the battledroids of the Trade Federation by blasting and dodging past consoles and control panels until he manages to clear the room of the remaining battledroids much to the shrieks of the Neimodian technicians who are trapped in the room with him. Scooby manages to grab the Neimodian and just in time, too. A few moments later the deadly destroyer droids roll into the hallway only to be driven back by the Neimodian shield that Scooby has now acquired and is holding in front of him. Ordering them to load the cargo on the Naughty Vixen, Jodz and Scooby roar off into hyperspace and to their client with his shipment of Falleenian wine.
On Devaron Cal makes his way to the home of the old man named Sesk. On his way there he notices 2 small lights in the darkness but shrugs it off as nothing. He manages to get inside to see Sesk and that's when Cal confirms his suspicions. There was a cult of blood drinkers native to this planet called the Tamak Kas or, in Basic, "The Drinkers of Blood". The cultists were inspired to kill by something that is sealed away in the asteroid field of Catro. But, as our hero is learning these details, he is alerted to a presence just outside of the window - a robotic camera watching him retreats into the bush and, when Cal takes a look outside, all he can see is a small object pushing through the underbrush.
Running outside, Cal overtakes it and discovers it's a heavily armed Jawa. This is Xix, the bounty hunter put upon the task of obtaining Cal and bringing him back to his current owner who, in turn, purchased him for his pleasure some years ago. The Jawa pulls out a blaster rifle and Cal easily knocks it out of his hands. Desperate now the sly Jawa pulls out his second weapon, a blaster pistol, which is also whacked out of his hand with ease.
"OTEENIE!" it shrieks as it dodges Cal and heads for the hills. Needing confirmation of his suspicions Cal heads to the Devaronian Senator's home. There he is given a new task - the senator is beside himself with fear. He has learned that something connecting these murders has gone down in Coruscant and he orders Cal back there. Much grumbling is heard but Cal obeys.
On Dathomir the Padawan and Twilek run for their lives and Lar manages to use the force to hide themselves in the deep forest. The enshrouded milky-eyed creature is confused so heads off in another direction. They wait some moments and head back through the underbrush to the fighter only to find it guarded by either another or the very fast but same creature. Lar manages to get her inside and just gets himself in but as he raises the shields the shrieking thing launches a series of razor sharp disks at them from a wrist gun. They roar off into space and head back to Courscant
Eventually all of our heroes meet up, each having been a part of a whole in this story, at the landing pad of the Naughty Vixen. There they learned that others, such as the mysterious Jedi Master Kalin, are involved in this affair. Lar is congratulated by the Jedi Council and, by bringing in the operative Hata Mari, they now have more proof against the Drall Tiff Tamal. But Tiff's bounty was never settled because Mereel, our armored hunter, met with a foe too ferocious to fight on his own. He needs some back up and that's where the smugglers, the Padawan and the Human Replica Bodyguard come into play. Kalin has manipulated things to bring them together and has informed Lar that he now represents the Jedi in this matter. A deal is made between Kalin, the smugglers and the bounty hunter with more information passed their way. They learned that Tiff had been heading towards the Sian, onboard his private space yacht the Koba, knowing that a new and unknown bounty hunter had managed to get inside his apartment but something, most likely the smuggler's intervention onboard the Sian, resulted in him cutting his trip short. He and his three bodyguards the Servip, Bohn the Herglic, and a human martial arts expert named Yin will be returning to Coruscant very soon where they will land at the Koba's semi-private hangar. Mereel, using his Computer skills, manages to get the Nighthawk into the second bay of the same hangar. There our heroes wait for the target.
The Koba arrives and the Servip comes down the ramp first. Seeing it, Mereel conceals himself behind a duracrete pillar so as not to alert the brute to his presence. Jodz and Scooby pretend to be working on the Nighthawk and tell Bohn when he asks who they are. Making their way into the Tower of Knowledge as the Servip takes point for his charge Tamal but the heroes notice the Servip heading for the commissary on the main floor while the rest of the group goes to the Drall's apartment thinking themselves safe.
A short time later our little group follows them to the apartment. Setting it up so that they can blast the first person that opens the door, Mereel (placing himself off to the side of the door) reaches over and rings the doorbell. Yin opens it up, three shots in a "surprise phase" and he's melted butter. The Herglic pulls a blaster rifle and targets the Wookiee first. The bounty hunter, Jodz and Cal take cover and let loose, while the Padawan tumbles into the room right to the side of the highly confused Drall where he assures him with the Force to stay calm and everything will be fine. With the group's combined firepower they manage to wear the Herglic down to seven wounds, which isn't good for the large semi-aquatic, so he collapses to the floor with a muffled thump where Mereel quickly ties him up with fibercord. The Padawan assures Tiff that he will not be harmed but the Drall knows that is not going to be the way it goes down. He seeks asylum from the law and begins to get closer to the Padawan seeking protection.
But Captain Mereel is not about to let this little stinker get the better of the situation. A dispersed blaster bolt from the Captain stuns the Drall, knocking him down and, with a quick move by the Mandalorian, he's trussed up like last year's Thanksgiving bird [Actually Mario, that would be "Lifeday turkey" for anyone who's seen The Star Wars Holiday Special.-Zangz]. Mereel and Lar have a little altercation about Mereel taking Tiff in for a bounty but Lar eventually relents when he discovers it is Republic Security that the bounty hunter is working for. Ranger brings the Nighthawk to the patio ledge and everyone is gone by the time the Servip returns from getting his gaming munchies!
So we end our little scenario with the feeling of accomplishment. The heroes have been given clues to something heinous that is going on. Now that they are faced with more mystery, they've decided to head to the asteroid fields of Catro to see what they can uncover.
At this point the gamemaster takes a much-needed snooze and some Advil to deaden the pain from running 4 individual games within one larger game.
End of "THE WEB OF SHADOWS"
Game #4
"WEB OF SHADOWS, PT.II: DARK BROTHER"
Game conceived by Mario, Rewritten by Leslie
Game played on April 27, 2002
Jodz and Scoobalumpa arrive at the apartment of Cal Turan at the appointed hour. Scooby is too hungry to notice the pieces of Mandalorian armor laying about but Jodz first notices a pair of Mandalorian gloves. He also hears water running - is someone taking a shower? Lar Gant, our young padawan, arrives as well and also notices the assorted pieces of armor lying about. Cal quickly suggests that he and Capt Mereel meet them at a particular restaurant since Capt Mereel would not appreciate it if they saw him unarmored. Of course, these miscreants now wonder about the relationship between Cal and Capt Mereel but little do they know the actual truth.
A short time later, Cal and Capt Mereel arrive at the restaurant and there are eyebrows raised and nudges at the time between 2 of the occupants at the table. Capt Mereel ignores the disgusted looks from Jodz and Lar [They were not disgusted, they were amused. - Zangz]. Scooby doesn't care what humans do as long as they do it between themselves [No, actually he was giggling like a school girl also. - Zangz]. Cal informs the others that we must go to Devaron to the Forbidden Zone where, if they will remember, something terrible happened 30 years ago. We must find the secret within 8 days because the Mon Calamari's and Quarrens will be meeting at that time and it is imperative we find out what is going on regarding this combat drug (see Game #3).
Cal and Lar accompany Scooby and Jodz on the Naughty Vixen since Capt Mereel's ship, the Nighthawk, does not have seating for passengers (only cages for prisoners). They all arrive safely at Devaron and a warning message is received as they near the Forbidden Zone. The message warns of dangerous radiation levels in the area. They fly over the area and see below them a ruined city from which massive energy signature is coming from. There are cowlike animals and one huge beast (Mereel recognizes a Rancor) that is chasing them. Ranger fails his sensor scan so they don't realize the radiation warning is a scam... even though there are animals below...until after they purchase radiation suits in a nearby city.
Ranger scans again and alerts Capt Mereel that the energy field fluctuates and that it encompasses 3 square miles. Inside the energy field is a Falleenean ship. This was the ship that the Falleenean ambassador suspected might be here per Cal.
Scooby lands the Naughty Vixen within the city and, using a skiff recently purchased, the 4 of them arrived at a designated spot where they meet Capt Mereel, who landed his ship outside of the city. They decide to go down into the sewers to find out if the energy field is only on the surface. Large spiders are in the sewers and it takes Mereel's heavy repeating blaster, retrieved from his ship by Scooby, to clear the way. They finally make it under the shield and come up inside of it.
There they find that some Suissi are leaving there (serpent-like beings with a humanoid torso - this race is very meticulous and are excellent engineers and mechanics). Cal befriends the lone Suissi he encounters who is modifying the ship. As Cal keeps the Suissi talking, Jodz and Lar sneak into the ship.
The Suissi receives a call and Capt Mereel's broadband antenna in his helmet picks up the conversation from his hiding place nearby. The voice speaking to the Suissi is very male, very predatorial sounding and informs the Suissi that they will be arriving within a half an hour and that they ship must be prepped and ready to go. Cal lulls the Suissi into a stupor using the ability to raise his own body temperature against it and also steals the remote control for the energy shield.
Lar, meanwhile, checks out the computers and finds that it's current travel log shows many stops at planets with large populations. He also discovers a cloaking device! Ranger comms Capt Mereel that he detects a Sith Infiltrator entering orbit around Devaron. Cal turns off the energy shield and Scooby carries the heavy repeating blaster back to his own ship since there isn't time to return it to the Nighthawk. As Scooby is warming up the Naughty Vixen, Lar downloads all the information he can find from the onboard computer and Cal steals a hard drive found in the hold. They discover a self-destruct on the ship and set it for half an hour and all return to their respective ships.
Suddenly another Sith Infiltrator arrives and as it lands near the Falleenean ship, it is destroyed when the self-destruct goes off. The other Sith ship, the only that had just come into orbit a short time before, suddenly powers up all weapons and shields. Capt Mereel immediately blasts off and leaves the planet with the Naughty Vixen not far behind. We agree to meet at Alderaan.
Arriving at Alderaan, Capt Mereel is confronted by Planetary Security and bluffs his way through, claiming he's after a bounty that he tracked to their planet. As the Naughty Vixen arrives, Jodz is on his ship, the Screaming Whore (remember, this is the Sith Infiltrator Mereel told him to steal in Game #2), when suddenly a message is received into the Sith ship's comm. It is a message for the young padawan, Lar Gant. It reads "You should know the truth. Jedi should seek the truth. Seek it out." With this message comes a family history of Lar Gant. Mereel, listening in on his broadband antenna, downloads all of the information into the Nighthawk's database. The information about Lar's family is that they were servants to another family on Kessel. This is surprising since Lar thought he was from another world - or, at least, that's what he was always told by the Jedi. His family may have been servants but they had money.
Cal connects the hard drive to the Naughty Vixen's computer and downloads a list of names, places and dates (looks like routes used by smugglers). A strange symbol is also in the data and we trace it to Catro, the asteroid belt that Cal found out about earlier while on Devaron (Game #3).
We go to Catro but the Naughty Vixen navicomputer malfunctions so they arrive almost 2 days later [Oops - Zangz]. I spend the time surveying the asteroid field and eventually detect an energy signal coming from an asteroid on the edge of the field.
Shortly after the Naughty Vixen arrives, another ship is detected just within sensor range and it immediately cloaks but not before Ranger identifies it as a Sith Infiltrator. I move the Nighthawk into the asteroid field to hide and watch a nearby asteroid open up. Scooby and the rest decide to fly into the opening and land. Lar goes out into the landing bay and decides to use his Force skills to befriend the first person he finds. What he discovers is that this is a research facility for endangered species where they are studying traits of these species to aid in the development and use of the combat drug.
Cal, meanwhile, finds a hidden door and follows it down. There he and Lar discover something disturbing... Lar is apprehensive and finds that his sense of the Force has been muted. They hear animal sounds and find a chamber where long, slim lizardlike creatures, clinging to branches, are in cages. They encounter a scientist who is friendly but worried about them being there.
Mereel decides to fly into the asteroid but lands the Nighthawk behind another ship to hide it. He finds Cal and Lar and knows what he is seeing - Ysalamari! Creatures who radiate a Force-muting bubble around themselves in an effort to hide from the Vorskrs, who hunt by homing in on creatures emitting a Force signature. Mereel, using his great intimidation skill, learns from the scientist that the Ysalamari are here to keep Cerus Mai, a lost Jedi Master who was part of an earlier separatist movement, from escaping her imprisonment in a nearby holding cell. This research base is funded by the Jedi Council, Senator Palpatine of Naboo and Ambassador Taz of Mon Calamari. He takes Mereel to see Cerus Mai who is in a tube-like holding chamber. The Vorskrs are there to hunt her down should she escape and the Ysalamari are there to weaken her Force powers.
Ranger comms Capt Mereel that the Sith ship is laying explosives on a nearby asteroid and that he guesses they will blow that asteroid up, hoping to cause the concussion to push the research facility asteroid out of the belt. It is decided to destroy the Sith ship and detonate the explosives individually. However, time is running out so it is decided that Mereel will disable the Sith ship with his ion cannons. He succeeds and then launches a proton torpedo into it. Just before the ship is destroyed, Lar receives a comm message from it that asks him to save them and, just as the torpedo hits, he hears, "I am your brother!"
Further discoveries tell us that some Sith have betrayed Palpatine and were trying to free Cerus Mai to use against him. However, Palpatine, being the crafty Sith that he is, was hoping we would either destroy the research facility and Cerus Mai in the process, or set her free to kill the betrayers. We decide to contact the Jedi Council to send a security force to protect the facility and return to Coruscant. Mereel takes another route to Coruscant claiming he has some business to attend to first.
When the Naughty Vixen arrives at Coruscant, they decide their next step in trying to unravel this multi-tiered mystery is to locate that Falleenean wine that Scooby and Jodz liberated in Game #3 from the Trade Federation. However, Jodz and Scooby are arrested for kidnapping of a Trade Federation official, trespassing onto a TF ship, destruction of property (the battle droids etc), theft etc etc and hauled away. Lar and Cal convince the authorities to leave Jodz's ship alone since it was not on the arrest warrant and take the Screaming Whore to the Jedi Council who agree to see what they can do about getting the charges dropped. The Naughty Vixen is impounded.
[Here's where things go a tad ary for Scooby and Jodz - Zangz]
Scooby and Jodz, meanwhile, are in a security paddy wagon when Scooby goes into a Wookiee rage and breaks his wristcuffs, sets Jodz free and rips the security door out between their compartment and the drivers. He knocks the policemen out, then tears off the top of the paddy speeder. A TF ffighter approaches the paddy from behind and the Wookie tosses the prisoner benches out and hurles them at the driod ship. Direct hit. The droid ship loses power and heads toward the ground level of the tower planet/city of Corucant. Jodz and Scooby then pilot the speeder down into the bowels of Coruscant.
A short time later, Ranger, who is always scanning the Intergalactic Security Forces Band, alerts Capt Mereel to a bounty of 10,000 credits on Jodz and Scooby for escaping custody. Being a bounty hunter and having an expensive ship to maintain, Mereel decides to forego his other business and get to Coruscant as quickly as he can to collect on that bounty. He docks the Nighthawk at the landing pad of his occasionally used Coruscant apartment and takes his speeder down into the depths. Using his law enforcement skills, he is able to track where Scooby was last seen flying the speeder downwards.
To make a long story short, Scooby and Jodz fend off some scum who want to steal the money they sold the speeder for. [Actually the beat the snot out of some ruffians and stole THEIR money - Zangz]. Mereel tracks them down but Jodz, seeing the armored bounty hunter, alerts Scooby that the Mandalorian is after them! They take off running and, after a long chase, Mereel decides to stun Jodz with his heavy blaster. Scooby picks his buddy up and continues running. Using his whipcord in his left gauntlet, Capt Mereel entangles the Wookiee but before the Wookiee can react, stuns him as well.
After they regain consciousness, Mereel informs him that they were very lucky because he decided not to turn them in for the bounty - at least not this time. He takes them to the Jedi Council for sanctuary in the meantime.
While at the Jedi Council, Jodz, Scooby, Cal and Lar are informed that Capt Mereel is after a bounty of 50,000 credits to find and bring in alive the Mon Calamari ambassador Taz. Jodz and Scooby will do this in exchange for the Jedi Council's aid in getting the charges dropped and the Naughty Vixen out of impoundment.
The End of WEB OF SHADOWS PT. II: DEAD... er...I mean... DARK BROTHER
