Here is our campaign – now in novel format! (Continuations can be found at http://booyor.inlawfilms.com/Write-Ups/Write-Ups.html)
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Magnus Brand stared into the face of the dead Antarian Ranger before him. Magnus gripped his Senate guard rifle, reviewing the firefight that had just happened. Like the Ranger, Magnus had promised to protect the Jedi. This was his current assignment under Senator Bail Organa and he would follow it even at the cost of his own life. This Ranger’s sacrifice was not the first that Magnus had seen. “Is this what has become of my Republic?” he muttered to himself.
The Rangers had been a part of a communications network that would relay messages, specifically messages intended for Jedis trying to escape Executive Order 66. Jedi Knight Lance Nuget and Jedi Master Don Erudite were those such Jedi. The Rangers had set up a relay station on Renalt to filter messages. Master Erudite had received notice that a message was waiting for him on Renalt. Magnus had accompanied him as well as Erudite’s traveling party. Erudite, sensing a trap, had reached out through the Force to see if he could sense any presence of an Imperial contingent lying in wait. All that he had seen was a Ranger working at a relay station. Magnus did not know exactly how the Force worked, but he did know that others in the Senate trusted the Jedis to wield it as a tool as peacekeepers of the galaxy.
Magnus had been there as the trap was revealed; assassins had massacred the Rangers on planet and had assumed their identities. The Senate guard stood by the side of Erudite and Nuget, as well as The Wanderer, a delusional farmhand from Dantooine. The impostors were defeated quickly atop the towers of the relay station, much to the chagrin of Mashi, the feline servant of Erudite. As he lashed from assassin to assassin, the prey would already be in the throes of death.
The Jedi Master investigated the battle site for clues as well as to rack his knowledge for a profile of the would-be killers. Many had previous scars that were evidence of large-scale battles – burn marks from heavy artillery and such instead of the small blaster wounds and knife scarring characteristic of veterans of the fringe. It was determined that the group of assassins were a part of Transition Company, a military battalion that had served faithfully at the beginning of the Clone Wars but had since turned to mercenary endeavors. Don was also able to discover on the HoloNet that this mercenary band was on exclusive contract. Their employer would need to be found.
The relay station computers held two messages: Benefactor’s Package had been delivered to Dagobah and the Jedi Ylenic needed to speak with Erudite’s group. Magnus braced himself for an encounter with the Caamasi Jedi. Being a native of Alderaan, it would be good for Brand to be home but he did not know if he could handle Ylenic’s pacifist viewpoint. Alderaan had seen the bloody battles of years before and had gradually started a reduction of arms. Magnus wanted a Republic where its citizens could live peacefully without fear, but since the deaths of Lofryyka and Duke Hoodan Qoo, Magnus knew that dream was still over the horizon.
-
The Jedi Knight meditated aboard The Golden Krayt. His meditations were interrupted.
What is it with that guy? How can The Wanderer not believe in the Force when he has such latent power? How did he know I was searching the Force for something? He interrupted my meditations so rudely before. Now the very thought of him disturbs my connection to the Force.
Lance knew that soon he would have a Padawan, even if he had to kidnap one.
-
The Wanderer stared into their maws again. Ooze dripped from their fangs as the worms devoured their feast whole.
“Help me, friend!” shouted one of the victims. It was a voice that had not visited his dreams before. He tried to make out the figure’s details but all that remained was a hand to be sucked down.
The Wanderer awoke with a start.
He sat back against the hull of The Golden Krayt and tried to find solace amidst his whittlings.
-
The crew stepped out of the transport and into the lush grasslands of Alderaan. A lone idyllic house sat quietly in the distance. Mashi and Eli White, a Corellian bodyguard, approached the front door as stealthily as possible. Eli drew out his two blaster pistols.
“What do you think, kitty?” Eli opened the front door. “Ah, sithspit.” He motioned for the rest of the group to join him at the entrance.
Lance covered the room as Don set about his investigation. Lying in the middle of the room was part of Jedi Master Ylenic. Don measured footsteps, looked at angles of wounds, and determined that some were made by a skilled lightsaber duelist. As he examined a wall opposite of the corpse, he noticed a small, silver ball bearing lodged into the wall. No burn marks or signs of firing were upon the ball. He then noticed some of these projectiles lodged in the body of Jedi Master Ylenic.
“Only one thing could get this moving that quickly,” Don said resignedly as he weighed the tiny ball bearing in his hand.
“Look at this!” said The Wanderer. “I’m just guessing, but I think it’s been only a few hours since this happened, based on the blood clotting. I could be wrong, though. I’m not too familiar with Caamasi biology.” The Wanderer noticed a set of numbers on the wall. “Does anyone know what ‘7/5’ means?”
Piecing together the crimescene, Don stood back, aghast. “Ylenic used the Force to move his arm even after it was severed. The Caamasi wrote with his own blood.”
Lance came back from the hallway. “The core memory has been removed from the house’s computer system,” he said as he walked out with a handful of wires and flimsiplast cards. “The communications hardware may still work. We’ll just need to use a datapad to log in.”
“We should make contact with Senator Organa,” replied Magnus.
Was this the dream? thought The Wanderer.
The crew would meet Bail in person. Once everyone gathered outside of the small house, Magnus lit the kindling and created yet another Jedi pyre.