The Horde Invasion

The Horde Invasion reached a breath-taking startling climax this week in what turned out to be the funnest most cinematic session of gaming yet!

Last week, we left our heroes, Dag Baxil (Human Captain of the Corellian Queen), Quarllen (Chadra-Fan Gambler and First Mate of the Corellian Queen), Neo (Rogue Infiltration Android and Droid Technician on the Corellian Queen), Ahram Dhayn(Elani Bad-Boy Jedi on the Edge), Alexar Feleman (Human Goody-Goody Jedi), and Zsa-Zsa Binks (Gungan Mystic), as they were leaving the planet Raghav after retrieving the mysterious "Eye of the Beast" from the Temple of the Stars. They were returning to the planetoid prison of Kaschei Bessmertni, the immortal fallen Jedi who had defeated Paegana 1,500 years ago and was subsequently banished for his trouble.

The first thing they noticed was that the gem caused great weakness to anyone who gave it up. Quarllen gave it to Zsa-Zsa, and he fell faint. Zsa-Zsa gave it to Ahram, and she became ill (In game terms, they were taking wounds. I thought about taking away character points, but I wasn't that mean. I had already drained all their character points last adventure).

The returned to the planetoid and Ahram, Zsa-Zsa, and Alexar brought the "Eye", an oblong red gem nearly 5 inches from end to end, to Bessmertni like he asked. Excited, he reached for it, but was kept at bay. He tried to persuade them to let him hold the gem so he could instruct them on it's use. They weren't falling for it.

Ahram entered Kascheij's mind, delving to learn the gem's secrets. Kascheij resisted, but faltered. Ahram learned that Kascheij truly could teach him to use the gem, and that Kascheij could also drain the life force of other beings to increase his own. A by-product of using the gem.

However, Ahram suggested a bargain. If Kascheij showed them how it was used, they would take them to another world, on one condition: Kascheij would not attempt to drain the life of anyone. Kasheij, of course, obsequiously agreed. Ahram then used Telekinesis to help Kascheij exit the innards of the planetoid and board the ship.

On board, the crew kept Kascheij in the airlock of the boarding ramp, ready to eject him if necessary. Kaschiej sat on a chair and leaned on his gnarled cane. The team plotted a course for the return to Coruscant and entered Hyperspace.

En route, the team continued the interrogation of Kascheij. Ahram learned the secret of how to drain life. He also learned, telepathically, how to project Force Lightning. In addition, he learned the secrets of how to use the "Eye".

Game Notes: The "Eye" allows the user to use as many Force Powers simultaneously without penalty as their Force Skill die codes. Multiple-Skill Powers follow the normal restrictions. For example, a character with 3D Control, 3D Sense, and 1D Alter may use 3 Control, 3 Sense, and 1 Alter Power simultaneously, or 1 Control, 1 Sense, and 1 Control+Sense+Alter Power.

At one point during the journey, Kascheij broke his work and attempted to drain Quarllen of life. This was stopped only with the intervention of Ahram. Also, on two seperate occasions, Kascheij attempted to use Telekinesis to force Neo to free him. They threatened to space him, but the Jedi warned against it out of fear of what Kascheij's power would do if released into Hyperspace.

The last portion of the three day journey was spent forcibly erasing Kascheij's memory in an attempt to take away his power to Drain Life, but were interrupted when the ship emerged from Hyperspace and entered Coruscant space. They were soon beset by a swarm of Paegana's Nightmares. Fifty attached themselves to the ship and began to phase right through the hull. Dag put the ship into a sharp atmospheric entry, hoping to burn them off. He succeeded, only Five managed to enter the ship: one in the cockpit, two in the common area, and two in the cargo hold. Dag began battling with the one the cockpit, putting the ship into a steep dive towards the surface. Alexar, Neo, and Zsa Zsa battled the two in the common area, and Ahram quickly dispatched the two in the Cargo Hold while Quarllen rushed to the cockpit from the gun well. Soon, all the Nightmares were destroyed and Dag pulled the Queen out of the dive in time.

Coruscant had fallen. The cities were burning, the sky brown with death. Nightmares swarmed over the city like ants. People were driven before them. Millions were dying. They flew over the Jedi Temple and saw the thousands of Jedi who had maintained the shield had fallen and were being dragged away by Nightmares to unspeakable fates.

At that moment, Ahram, who had been holding the gem, suddenly felt faint. The gem had drained his life force and he needed to replenish it. He resisted, and fell against the wall of the cockpit, spasming and tensed. Dag helped Neo take the gem away. They pried it out of his clenched fist, and upon doing so, were immediately beset by Peagana's draining power. Dag, weakened but conscious, managed to get the ship back up into orbit. Once again, they were attacked by swarms of Nightmares, five more entered the ship, and Neo and Dag battled them in a corridor.

Once the Nightmares were dispatched, Dag could punch in the previously preprogrammed coordinates to Corellia, where he had hoped to return a hero. Their mission had failed. All on board, except for Neo, Dag, and Zsa Zsa, were sapped of strength and resolve.

They found Corellia choked with refugees. It would be days before traffic control would get to them. Things seemed hopeless.

From the airlock came a bemused laugh. Angry and frustrated, Dag went and told him to shut up. Kasheij responded cryptically, "Stupid Mortals, the secret is within your grasp. You hold the key to Paegana's defeat, and you know not what todo with it." He made a deal with Dag. He told Dag the only people who could save his friends were on the Jedi Academy at Ossus. If Dag took him to Ossus and turned him over to the Jedi there, he would tell him the secret. Dag reluctantly agreed and set coordinates for Ossus.

On Ossus, all of the senior Jedi were gone, having been sent to Coruscant days ago. Pa'Toth, the Head Instructor there, was eager for news from Coruscant and saw to the rehabilitation of the stricken teammembers. He also saw to the incarceration of Kascheij in a Force Cage (from Dark Empire). In exchange, Kasheij told Dag, "As the Eye can grant great power, so too can it take it away."

The recuperation and rehabilitation was peaceful and serene, as Jedi Students (not quite Padawans) gathered to infuse the weakened crew members with the Force and life energy. Dag began flirting with the young blonde, and nearly 15 years his junior, Jedi, Corintha, who was helping him.

The next day, Ahram, Alexar, and Zsa Zsa met with Pa'Toth about what to do. Pa'Toth agreed to send a transport with some senior Students. Ahram asked for one extra Jedi to be assigned to their team, and Pa'Toth assigned Corintha. They went to get her.

At Corintha's room, she responded nervously, followed by bumps, crashes, shuffles, and flumps. Suddenly, the door opened to reveal Dag, shirt half-undone and carrying his vest. "Oh, uh, she was healing a wound I had on my chest."

Zsa Zsa snidely replied, without missing a beat, "How far down does your chest go?"

Corintha, embarrassed, joined the team.

After take-off, Alexar chewed Corintha out for conduct unbecoming of a student at the Jedi Academy. She fled to her quarters in tears. Dag confronted Alexar while Zsa Zsa went to console Corintha.

The journey back consisted of much argument and debate and division amongs the team as they tried to figure out what to do. They felt helpless, daunted, and broken. Zsa Zsa looked into the future to divine the result of giving Corintha the Eye. Paegana would be defeated, but Corintha would be easily corrupted. Similarly, if Quarllen were given the Eye, Paegana would win, and Quarllen would whither and become immortal. After much bickering and argument, Kascheij's message was finally understood. The Eye could enhance the Force, but it could also negate it.

It was decided, Zsa Zsa would be the bearer of the Eye of the Beast. She would use it to negate the powers of Paegana, and their own as well.

Emerging from Hyperspace, Dag this time used the sensors to detect the swarm of Nightmares. He put all shields on front, and plowed right through them at top speed. Zsa Zsa wielded the gem and negated all Force Power. Paegana's asteroid became visible before them. Dag flew straight at it at top speed. Quarllen blew open a hangar door and they landed.

They donned vaccuum suits and made a dash for the inner airlock door. They were met by ten Nightmares that phased through the rock at the far end of the hangar. Quarllen took out several, Dag reached the door and began to program it to open (closing inner doors first, making an impromptu airlock), but Neo was the star. Neo took out at least four Nightmares with his bare hands. Unfortunately, he also managed to shoot Zsa Zsa accidentally, and the Force negation ended. This was a good thing for also in that battle, Alexar was mortally wounded by a Nightmare, and had to use his Force Powers to keep himself alive. Zsa Zsa was helped back up and the eye was returned to her. They resumed the assault.

Once inside the asteroid, Neo took control of the internal computer system, locking all doors and opening a path to the Great Hall. They heard coming around the corner a clamour and shouting rushing towards them. The team tensed and prepared for battle. A Nightmare emerged, but was quickly blown to bits by the rushing mob. It was the slaves, freed from Paegana's mind control, they were revolting! The team, for the first time in a while, felt enheartened!

They led the revolting slaves to the Great Hall, where they immediately began to raid the kitchens and destroy the left-over artifacts of the Horde. Neo programmed a course to Paegana's chambers in her tower. Corintha decided to stay and help the sick and wounded slaves. The team charged up the long spiral stairs.

At the top of the stairs, they burst into Paegana's chambers, spread out, and began searching. Alexar spun around to catch her sneaking up on him with a long knife. She backed against the wall and hissed. Everyone gathered around and Alexar demanded she drop her knife. She reluctantly did so, and gave herself up.

Captured and subdued, she remained confident and spiteful. The team knew she could not be killed, and so concentrated on restraining her. She revealed the location of her own gem, like the Eye, used to enhance her powers. Neo retrieved it out of a miniature reproduction of the statue in the Temple of the Stars. During further questioning, Neo picked up a sub-audible transmission revealing the asteroid was set to self-destruct in 9 and a half minutes. He quickly calculated, just long enough for the team to reach their ship at full running speed, but only if they abandoned Paegana. He quietly moved to a computer terminal and began work on disabling the system without telling anyone.

The rest of the team took Paegana to the ship, leaving Neo to his work, whatever it was. Ahram, too, stayed behind and continued his search of her chambers. Ahram found a translucent yellow-green dodecahedron (ten-sided die) about 3-inches wide and set with fine gold inlay. He decided to keep it.

Nine minutes later, Neo, blowing ALL of his character points, easily disabled the self-distruct. Paegana, when the time came, looked confused and slumped in resignation.

The team had saved the galaxy. Again.

Paegana and Kascheij were once more exiled to remote planetoids, where their hatred could stew for a few thousand more years.

Dag and Quarllen claimed the asteroid as salvage. The Republic Fleet disagreed, but a settlement was reached whereby the Fleet could have the asteroid for a year, strip it of all offensive technology and artifiacts, and return it to Dag and Quarllen after that time, who plan on converting it to personal use. Also, as a reward, the Corellian Queen is repaired, overhauled, and upgraded with new hyperdrives. Also, their debt is paid off and they are made legal owners of the ship.

Master Imbrium was proud of Ahram for what he'd done, and forgave him of his transgressions. Ahram still has the spark of the Dark Side, however, hidden from the world. Also, he has Paegana's Holocron. Also, Ahram has a final vision from Kasheij, the origin of the "eye". The memory of a star with nine fiery rings, and a small world orbiting it. A world named Kaiburr.

Alexar met with Corintha and apologized, explaining that he has learned that he shouldn't expect others to live by his high moral and social ideals. He expressed an interest in training her as his Padawan when the time came. Overjoyed, Corintha gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek.

Neo tracked down Ensign Locke, the harried and nervous adjutant of the Triumphant, blocked her in a hall, grabbed her, and licked her on the cheek. Apalled and in a state of shock, Locke yelped and dropped her datapad. Neo quickly grabbed it and ran away, leaving Locke standing, weak-kneed, in the hall and in shock. Days later, while gossiping with her bridge crew friends, Ensigh Justy and Ensign Shima, she learns that she has put in a request for all 3 weeks of her accumulated leave, and that she has passage home to Alderaan with luxurious accomodations, and that should she fail to report, she must pay a penalty. She has been forced to relax.

Neo, Dag, and Quarllen take the Queen on a trip to an unnamed, uninhabited star system with no worlds. There they release the two gems on a trajectory into the star. When they impact, a huge solar prominence flares out, and dies away.

After the celebrations, parades, awards, and medals, the team meet for dinner at the fanciest restaurant on Coruscant. They talk and commiserate

and reminisce and joke, finally able to relax and enjoy themselves. Then, they go their seperate ways, Jedis and Freighter crew.

The End.

This was the best session of the Horde Invasion campaign, and the most cinematic. I certainly didn't expect them to take Kascheij WITH them! And I certainly didn't expect the astounding lapse of judgement and memory when they first returned to Coruscant. My original goal was that they would just return and kick ass and get it over with. Unfortunately, they screwed up and got drained again, and had to retreat.

The entire retreat to Ossus was unplanned and had to be ad-libbed. The worst part of the session was the bickering and arguing. I had given them all the pieces of the puzzle, they just didn't put it together. Unfortunately, I had to step in and spell it out twice in order to get them back on track and end the arguments. Having done so, they got back into cooperation.

Highlights:

Neo's kicking-ass of the Nightmares. Neo is a truly skilled brawler and did a lot of damage with just his fists. He also was very cinematic in his actions and helped the flow of the game.

Ahram's flirtation with the Dark Side. I can't stress enough how much more interesting this made Carl's character. His slow descent was excellently role-played and the resolution down the road will be a joy to see.

Dag's fling with Corintha. Again, a quick side-story but it gave Dag great characterization and also provided Alexar great characterization when he chewed her out and later apologized.

Neo's epilogue with Ensign Locke. It was unexpected and gave such great characterization to that little NPC for whom I had great attachment. I secretly wanted to give her more of a role, and Neo's little prank gave me that chance.

Every player got a chance to shine role-playing-wise this adventure. And the resolution was cinematic, Star Warsian, and fun for all.

The campaign itself, despite two or three bumps, went really well too, and matched the pace and action of the films, and provided great characterization and story. I've already got about 3 or 4 ideas of what to do and where to go next, but it will have to wait. I'm burned out on Star Wars now, and I won't be able to game at all for a few weeks due to the holidays.

But someday I really hope to return to the Legends of the Old Republic, and continue the adventures of all these marvelous PC's.