Hello all!
Infrequent poster here and I wanted to pick the brains of other GMs to see if they have a better solution than any I can come up with for this dilemma that my characters have put the group in...
I'm running an EotE game with a group consisting of 2 BH, a HG and a Tech. One of the players (one of the BH) was away for this session, so we played without them. They're on an Outer Rim planet, but it's still fairly industrialized (the industry is behind the galactic standard) and I've described it numerous times as a sort of boomtown with a growing population, despite its position in the Outer Rim. I did a filler adventure for the three remaining players, and since the HG has been a bit left out for the past couple of session due to focusing on bounty hunting, had one of the player's contacts contact him with what should have been a relatively easy job.
A group of local businessmen have had a problem with some Gamorreans smashing up their businesses, breaking droids working on building projects, etc. The local businessmen were looking for some "trigger pullers" to deal with their problem. I played up that the local businessmen had no idea on merc etiquette and left how the players were to deal with them open-ended. They would have been as fine with the Gamorrean thugs being driven off as they would with a few dead Gamorreans. Either way, the problem would have been dealt with, right?
So, the party splits up, with the BH and the Tech deciding to stake out some of the businesses and construction sites that have been attacked and vandalized. The HG decides to stake out a local Gamorrean hangout (the planet has a large Gamorrean population, but only some of them are the problem apparently). While trying to figure out what is going on inside the Gamorrean hangout (an abandoned warehouse that has been converted to a nightclub, complete with a droid fighting pit), the HG is noticed, but after a truly stellar Deception test (6 successes, one of them a Triumph!) manages to convince the Gamorreans that he is a tech that wants to raid their dumpster after the droid fights for spare parts. The Gamorreans take a liking to him and invite him inside, where I proceed to have great fun describing Gamorrean music, cuisine and lack of manners or respect for personal space). He learns that the Gamorreans who are vandalizing the local businesses are a group of youths who are upset that local businesses are using droid labor where they traditionally relied on Gamorreans for the work ("the droids are taking our jerbs!") While carousing with the Gamorreans, he thinks that maybe he can work out some sort of solution that doesn't involve bloodshed...
A few blocks away, the BH has set up a position to watch one of the construction sites that has been vandalized. He notices a pair of Gamorreans trying to break into the fenced off site and takes a shot at them, using lethal force. They're armed only with melee weapons, so the fight is over before the Tech (who was a few blocks away) can even get there. So far, so good. Sure, it may be a bit over the top with the violence, but the BH doesn't know that this was the equivalent of shooting some rowdy teenagers. Here is where things begin to go off the rails...
The neighborhood they're in is far from the best, so no police response as of yet, so the BH and the Tech...cut the heads off of the Gamorreans and stick them on the fence of the construction sight. "To send a message," is what they say. The HG doesn't arrive until after this has gone down (alerted to the firefight over the commlink) and is trying to decide how to deal with this disaster in the making when they hear the sirens of approaching police speeders. The Tech and HG dart down alleyways and escape before the cops show up, while the BH tries to go into hiding nearby. He is found by the cops and brought in for questioning. He tells them that he was hired to watch the construction site and other sites that were attacked, but wasn't in the area when the Gamorreans were killed. He says he can't tell them the name of the people who hired him, but he does tell them that his "friend" the HG can do so. The cops have nothing to hold him on (no blaster forensics in the SW universe so far as I know and the Tech did the actual decapitations), so they let him go (the IPKC goes a long way) and bring in the HG.
The HG has an ironclad alibi (he was with the Gamorreans at their makeshift nightclub when all this went down after all), but he has other criminal offenses that they dig up (Obligation: Criminal 10). A Sector Ranger they've dealt with in the past uses the threat of those to force the HG to help her set up a powerful lieutenant of a crime boss that they've worked for in the past so she can take him down. The HG has no other choice but to agree, even though this deal sucks and he realizes that the Crime Boss that the guy works for isn't gonna take long to figure it out. Then, to top it all off, the HG goes back to the businessmen when released and says "Job's done. Where's my money?" When they protest that the job isn't even close to done...in fact, things are about to get worse as the Gamorreans are looking to riot and burn down the neighborhood, he threatens the business owners. Being civilized men who realized that they've made a horrible mistake and hired a bunch of dangerous villains, the businessmen cave and pay the HG, afraid that he'll do the same thing to him that they think he did to the Gamorreans.
So, the above I can deal with. It's basically a bunch of players making stupid decisions and I'm gonna slam them with the consequences...
The problem is the BH that wasn't there. He's played his character as a fairly honorable bounty hunter. He may be kind of a jerk sometimes, but he doesn't go over the top with the violence unless forced to. Think more Han Solo as a Bounty Hunter and you'll have a decent idea. Pretty much everything the group did goes against that character's code. I mean, he'd be okay with killing the Gamorreans (he'd probably remind the group that blasters have a stun setting), but the whole "head display" thing goes completely against his credo. Ditto for the extorting patrons for what was essentially a botched job. He's also not gonna be too happy about betraying the crime lieutenant to the Sector Rangers. It sets a bad precedent after all. The best they can hope for is that it looks reeeaaalllly suspicious. The worst that could happen is that the Crime Boss he works for puts a price on their heads.
So, how do I punish the offenders in the group without also punishing the BH who is going to get hit with the fallout? I've told the player what his character would know about what happened (I've left out the details that he wouldn't be privy to) and just that alone has him thinking that he needs to cut ties with the rest of the group. When/If he finds out the rest, I think he'll feel that he has no choice but to turn on the party or play a new character.
Sorry for the long-winded story, but any insight would be appreciated!!
Edited by Ecaza
