Star Wars: Isolation’s Price Sessions 1 & 2

A couple of weeks back, my new Star Wars campaign kicked off. During character creation the week before, we ended up with some really interesting characters. The first couple sessions have been very dynamic, with the players finding themselves stumbling upon an ancient and forgotten civilization.

I ran an opening crawl for the players to establish their location at the beginning of the campaign.

The scene opened with a Resurgent-Class Star Destroyer overhead, firing on the group’s small Wayfarer-Class freighter.

“Attention Wayfarer-Class freighter, this is Zela Ren of the Star Destroyer Oppressor. Stand down, or you will be destroyed.” The ship continued to barrel through space. The Knight of Ren turned to his executive officer. “Deploy your men.”

A complement of small pods, not unlike escape pods, fired from the large First Order ship. The players scattered throughout the ship, manning the guns, shield and comm systems. One of the Jedi attempted to fire up the hyperdrive with the assistance of the R2 unit the ship had on board.

A few of the pods were destroyed, but not before some attached to the surface of the ship. They began burning their way through the hull, sending groups of First Order stormtroopers into the ship. One Jedi, thinking quickly, opened the cargo bay door and force-pushed one of the stormtroopers out into the void of space. That Jedi was quickly gunned down by other Stormtroopers.

Other troopers, armed with flamethrowers, dropped in through the ceiling near the bridge, lighting up one of the Jedi, while another Jedi leaped in and split the flametrooper in two. The ship was in chaos, with Jedi and Stormtroopers falling. The ship was close to being able to jump. One more turn…

Then a critical hit from the Star Destroyer sent the ship into a spin just as it cycled up its hyperdrive. Too late, it jumped, well off course. The damage was extensive. They couldn’t shut down the hyperdrive without the forces of hyperspace ripping the ship apart. They were barreling through space without knowing if they would hit a mass shadow and explode, and they were two Jedi down.

One Jedi worked quickly to stabilize the injured, others began working on repairing the hyperdrive, or at least reassembling it into a condition in which it could be shut down. After nine hours, they managed to jury-rig the drive. A mass shadow alert sounded through the ship just as they dropped back into real space, finding themselves hovering in far orbit over a large blue and green planet. Studying the star-charts, they couldn’t make out where they were, other than realizing they weren’t in any mapped system.

The ship’s bridge grew dark as a shadow fell over it. Looking up, a massive wing-laced ship floated overhead. They tried hailing it, but received no response. They could, however, hear whispering in the backs of their minds. Finally, a voice spoke to them, though not through the comms. “Who are you?” it asked. “Where are you from?”

One of the Jedi spoke up. “We are Jedi, fleeing from the treacherous First Order. Our hyperdrive has been damaged.”

One of the other players said, “If we’re out in the middle of nowhere, they’re not going to know what a Jedi is.”

“Jedi?” the voice spoke in their minds. “There’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time. A long time…”

And that ended the first session!

Session two, one week later, began with a quick recap before moving back into the story.

They responded to the voice, who asked if they could bring the Wayfarer aboard their own ship. Pulling into the hangar bay, the Jedi stepped out of the ship to find a ceremonially armored phalanx of human soldiers, all armed with large staves which had cords attached to large packs on their belts. The leader stepped forward, introducing himself as Seeker Kan. Taking the injured Jedi to the medical bay, he took the other Jedi to a conference room to speak to them.

The injured Jedi discovered the powerful healing abilities of these strange Force-users, healing them with a simple touch.

The group in the conference room were treated to a history lesson, for which they had many questions. This group was founded by a cadre of Jedi who left the order to explore the Unknown Regions 15,000 years ago. They discovered this system, which they call Spara, but their hyperdrive was damaged. They had no means of repairing it, and so set about establishing a society built on honor and martial prowess. Though they have no actual enemies to speak of, their warriors train to the peak of perfection. The society is ruled over by a council of elders and the Grand General. “We would like to speak to this grand general,” Jek, the Nautolan Soresu Defender said.

“I’m afraid that’s quite impossible,” Kan told them. “The Grand General is slumbering.”

The Jedi spoke among themselves. “Is he meditating?” they wondered. “How long has be been slumbering?” they asked.

“It has been 80 years now,” Kan replied. The players were taken aback in wonder.

“We would like to speak to the Elders, then,” they said.

Seeker Kan informed them that on Leonidea, the battle world for training the warriors, the Great Game had begun. He could take them there, where they could show their prowess and how combat styles had evolved. They would then meet the Elders. They could feel the ship shift as it made its way toward the moon of Leonidea, but heard no rumbling of engines. Instead, the rumbling came from within their minds.

“Is this ship being propelled through the Force?” one of the Jedi, Krem the Iktochi, asked incredulously.

“All Sparans have their place,” Kan replied, explaining that each Sparan, from birth, is trained in the Force. Those who aren’t Force-sensitive are placed among the Helots, the lower-class. The more Force-sensitive you are, the more focus and training you receive. Some are trained to propel ships through space, others act as a ship’s weapon system. Some are Sensers, who detect rumblings in the Force. The Helots act as repair crews, construction workers and other menial tasks too unimportant for the Sparan citizens to perform.

Upon arrival on Leonidea, they found a moon-spanning city made up of arenas, training facilities and barracks. Among the buildings were the slums of the Helots. After landing, they stepped off the ship and began to make their way toward the Grand Arena, a couple of the Jedi noticed a Helot attach something to the bottom of the ship. Turning and running, the ship exploded on the launch-pad.

“Terrorists,” Kan muttered. “Pay them no mind. Our Sensers will find him.”

Badeu, the Zabrak Shien Expert, ignored that, followed closely by Shoto, the Gank Shadow Sentinel. They perused the Helot through the streets until they found a tenement building he had fled into. They followed him within, with the Zabrak stretching out with her senses to find him. They found the apartment he slipped into, and called out to him, telling him he had 10 seconds to come out. Instead, he detonated himself, blowing a hole in the side of the apartment building.

As they limped back to the group, Seeker Kan shook his head. “We have those in our society who don’t appreciate what we’ve built here. They are the minority, I assure you.”

He led them to the Grand Arena, where they were prepared for battle. Destiny, the Twi’lek Artisan closed her eyes and focused on the future, seeing a vision of battle and thousands upon thousands of Sparan warriors in long rows as far as the eye could see.

The Jedi marched into the arena, where five Sparan warriors stood, armed with lightstaves and energy shields. Before Seeker Kan withdrew, Jek turned to him. “Is this to the death?” he asked.

“Only the strong survive, Jedi,” Kan said ominously…

End of Session 2.

That’s how far we’ve gotten so far! Thursday marks session 3, where the Jedi will battle the Sparan warriors, and who knows where that will lead!