Last Tuesday, we kicked off a brand new campaign via Google Hangouts. We had intended to do Hangouts On Air, but were unable to get it working in time.
The players, PK Sullivan, Morgan Ellis, and Matt Leveque, all showed up with characters ready to go. Shorradik, the Wookiee bodyguard, Arhul, the Human scoundrel, and Inid, the Duro driver were ready to kick off the campaign. I began, of course, with an opening crawl.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
Star Wars: Diplomatic Impunity
Episode I: Final Censure
It is a time of conflict. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. A young senator, Arys Kel of Fresia, has returned to Coruscant after meeting with the Rebellion’s leadership. She has pledged Incom’s resources to the cause.
The Emperor, at the suggestion of Grand Moff Tarkin, has decided to deal with the Rebel sympathizers in the Senate with impunity. Sending his best agent to Tower Seven in the Senatorial District, Stormtroopers converge on the senator’s location…
Rather than just tell you about it though, I’m going to let my players do that. They each wrote up something from their perspective for you to read. In exchange, they’re getting some extra XP. Enjoy.
Morgan, Playing as Arhul, Human Scoundrel
Had dinner with Arys tonight. Shorradik and Inid were also there and it was a good thing too, as the Empire decided to crash the party with a squad of Stormtroopers and a mysterious red haired woman. We barely managed to escape with Arys thanks to some well placed bowcaster and blaster shots, Inid’s fantastic flying, and my own modest contributions.
Fleeing to the lower levels of Coruscant and to a quick meeting with Bossk an old contact of mine to get us smuggled off planet. Now we’re headed to Fresia where Arys can hopefully make contact with the Rebellion. It’s our only hope, for now with the Senate disbanded the last true vestiges of the Republic are gone.
PK, Playing as Inid Vid, Duro Pilot
To: Gen. DravenSubject: Inid Vid
Status: Potential Recruit, Light Contact Estblished
Report by: [redacted]
Background
Inid Vid is a Duros born and raised on the planet Malastare. His parents are merchants who settled there after a successful career as independent traders. Their second career as trade brokers was more sedate, as befitting their growing family. Gilit and Adi Vid had children late in life and are now both of significantly advanced age.
While a gifted pilot, unlike many Duros, Inid is more interested in planetary vessels – speeders and the like – than with spacefaring craft. [redacted] says that Vid often says, “I like flying speeders because you really have to pay attention. Space is too empty, too boring. Give me something I have to dodge.” Despite this thrill-seeking behavior, it is not believed that Vid would be a fitting recruit for starfighter service. Despite showing aptitude with blasters at the recreational range, Inid has no history of violence. Nothing so much as a schoolyard fight has shown up in background search.
Psychological Profile
Subject has expressed unease at the rising pro-human stance of the Empire and has attended a number of rallies protestig injustice against non-humans. Thus far the subject has avoided direct action. It is believed that it would only take a small push for the subject to become disenfranchised with the Empire and join the Alliance.
Suggested Assignment
Inid Vid is an ideal candidate for materiel acquisition and extraction. His skills as a speeder pilot would be best suited to planetary missions requiring high speed extraction. [Redacted] strongly suggests primarily non-combat missions for initial deployment.
Matt, playing as Shorradik, Wookiee Bodyguard
In the cargo hold of the Hound’s Tooth, Shorradik the Wookiee, bodyguard to Senator Arys Kel of Fresia taps furiously on a datapad. The electronic device looks impossibly small in his massive furry paws. Occasionally he makes small grunts and interrogatives in his native tongue, under his breath, while sharp climbing claws tick away with revisions and edits.
TRANDOSHANS AND THINGS I HATE ABOUT THEM
1. Smell
5. Use their claws in a fight (see #2)
6. Probably have terrible cuisine.
7. Dead, beady little eyes.
8. Taking pelts as trophies (see #2)
9. I mean who does that (serial killers?)
10. SLAVERS (this point is underlined, not in the text editor, but by the swipe of a claw scratched into the screen, gouging the Wookiee’s point home)
11. Putting Senator Kel’s life in the hands of one…
Oh, yeah, so the Imperial Senate has been disbanded at the order of the Emperor. Senator Kel, along with the Duros driver and a mewling sycophant who apparently has a history with the stink lizard piloting us have all fled from an Imperial patrol that tried to arrest Senator Kel. They were led by a small female with fire-colored fur, and a mighty blow from Shorradik’s fist sent her flying back at them when they arrived like I was playing a game of 10-pins. In fact, there were 10 Stormtroopers… I should have kept score! That would have been a record, I’m sure. I know of no other Wookiees as accomplished as I am at human bowling.
Shorradik chuffed to himself in a most satisfied manner, before continuing to commit his thoughts to the datapad.
Had I known her pursuit would lead us to this scaly, smelly, slave-mongering purveyor of stink and stupid, I’d have snapped the fire-colored female’s neck and taken my chances with the Stormtroopers. Instead, we fled via speeder and had a glorious running blaster fight in the skylanes of Coruscant where Driver Vid showed the cunning of a wily hunter in tricking the fire-colored woman with a flying maneuver, the Senator acquitted herself well in combat, and the other human managed to keep us in the air by sacrificing his ostentatious and expensive back covering. For my part, of course, Shorradik’s Bowcaster rang true, as usual, with a concussive blast that ended our pursuit and allowed us to seek shelter and meet this Bossk – who seems dumb, even for one of his kind, and that’s saying a lot. He lacks even the basic comprehension to understand the language of the Trees. On the plus side, though, that means all of my insults fly right over his lumpy, misshapen head.
Shorradik chuckled now, before looking around to see if anyone noticed his moment of mirth.
We’re now on our way to Fresia, where Senator Kel has friends and resources to help keep her safe – as if the protection of Shorradik wasn’t enough! Still, even I have to sleep and many paws make light work, so I’ll be thankful to meet the Senator’s allies… assuming they can be properly vetted.
With that, Shorradik tapped save on his datapad, adding to the latest entry in a long-running file entitled “The Epic of Shorradik: a Wookiee of Fame”, and, satisfied with his work, tucked the datapad away in a pouch on his bandolier to rest his eyes for a few minutes.
