Our group of
x
players (it changes, ranging from 5-7 on any given night) has just completed the Beginner Box (BB) story and the Long Arm of the Hutt (LAotH), and I thought I would share some of the highlights with you… as a warning, there may be some spoilers, so if you're a player, avert your eyes now! I've combined the sessions into one long narrative / highlight reel.
Enjoy!
Escape from Mos Shuuta
After negotiating with the junkyard owner for the part (“we'll pay a bit more for the part”) and sneaking through town, they are set upon by a group of four Stormtroopers. The fight runs along an alleyway, with the players facing the water-tower and with their backs to the cliffs. One stray shot hits the water-tower and so with some concentrated fire, they wash the Stormtroopers over the edge of the cliff, and one of their own. Two of the troopers fire grappling lines into the buildings, and the player playing Pash rolls enough advantage that he grabs the ankle of a trooper as he falls. There's a bit of a struggle, they get to the top where the trooper is beheaded by a wet Wookiee.
They head straight for the landing bay, rather than to spaceport control, and so have to weedle their way past the controller and convince her to undo the clamps. They manage. They kill Trex, who managed to retreat into the ship and bleed all over it, and get the sublight engines online. As they do so, more stormtroopers pour into the building, a group setting up an E-web blaster cannon. They take off as Oskara blasts the doorway with the
Krayt Fang's
cannons. It was a mess.
The smell from the wookiee pelts in the hold assaults Lowrhick's (there's another
H
in there…) senses and he rages after finding them, mutilating the body of Trex in a frenzy.
Long Arm of the Hutt
After making it safely through TIEs and to Ryloth, they head off to New Meen (getting ambushed and finding 41-VEX in the caves there; they also “just happen” to find some explosives – one of our players has a fetish…) to rescue the Twi'leks. At this point we roll for Obligations using the Beta book, and Oskara gets Criminal and Honour-bound (I think – something like that) and we say that she was sentenced to take a long walk out into the wilderness and didn't, becoming a Bounty Hunter instead. This, amazingly, doesn't seem to come up the entire time they're on Ryloth…
Lowrhick's Obligation is Obsession… he wants to find the person responsible for skinning Wookiees and make them into tiny pieces, preferably with his vibro-axe.
Mathus' Obligation is Addiction, to deathsticks. Keep that in mind…
The fight against Ang Drommb's men goes well, and they capture two of the thugs, tying them up with Oskara's binders. Flipping out, Lowrhick beheads them when no-one is looking.
They head back to Nabat, picking up two new crew members, both Rodian, one a trader and one a bounty hunter. These are two brand new characters from the Beta book, and 41-VEX retires after realising that this party is not one he wants to be a part of. He stays in New Meen to be the local GP.
Mathus' Obligation comes up and he starts getting withdrawl symptoms. In desperation, he pays 200c for 5 deathsticks, not realising that the reason they're so expensive is that they are laced with Neutron Pixie, a loverly dose of hallucinogenic spice. Whilst the others are off learning about their coming trip to Geonosis, he gets high and changes the name of the ship to 'A Bad Why Ions Rum' or something weird like that. (He succeeded his Computers check to change the name of the ship, but rolled a Despair.)
The trip to Geonosis is fine, we play out the party scene (first time ever that this group of players has had a session without combat – it was one of the best ones yet!) and after discovering that Anatta is not who he seems, the party get some more information. Before they can do anything else, though, he works out that they are the folks who killed Trex and stole his ship. The players resolve that they are in danger and that they need to kill Anatta. Mathus trails him, with Oskara and Vakim (the Rodian bounty hunter) setting up an ambush, and then Anatta disappears when Mathus fails his Perception roll.
They are told of the
Lucky Guess
and its trip to Tatooine in the morning, and they've also got a demonstration of the Geonosian blasters to attend, as well as getting a meeting with the other Duke to discuss his work with Teemo. The blaster show goes well, the meeting does not. They simply don't have the information they need to convince the Duke to help them out.
They head for the gantry the
Lucky Guess
is sitting on, and instead of all doing a frontal assault, they opt for buying harnesses and three of them rappelling down from the gantry above. Sasha and Vakim sneak up to the main entrance (separate from the rappellers). As the rappellers drop, Oskara fails her check, ends up dropping to the ground and a gunfight ensues. Lowrhick joins her, the other Rodian, the trader, decides to leg it back to the
Ion's Rum
.
This is not going to end well.
Half way through the fight, which despite the PCs' best efforts is going really well for them, a new NPC butts in – the Gand bounty hunter Vrixx't. He shots at Oskara, who is hunkered down under the
Lucky Guess
and the shot bounces off the ship's shields. She and Lowrhick run into the ship, Vakim and Sasha have ducked down out of sight of the Geonosian drones. They hear something land on the deck, blaster fire and Geonosians dying, and then nothing. They emerge, Vrixx't fires on them and Vakim legs it off the gantry back to the main area (or starts to). Sasha is dropped by Vrixx't amidst crates, trying to gain the roof vantage point. (She gets her leg crippled in the fighting too.)
Meanwhile, Lowrhick (or Lowrider as he's been nicknamed) and Oskara have convinced Wex and Orpa to get them to Tatooine, and have begun trying to disable the docking clamps. The
Ion's Rum
suddenly shows up and offers assistance, taking out two of the three docking clamps, along with the landing gear they are attached to.
Lowrhick returns for Sasha, picking up some Geonosian blasters on the way, and Vakim finally caps Vrixx't, then runs back to the
Lucky Guess
. They all depart the planet, the party split between two ships, one of which can't land, the other which is stolen and bound to attract unwanted attention.
Barental Station
They slave the hyperdrive of the
Ion's Rum
to the
Lucky Guess
and Wex leads them to a smuggler base set into an asteroid. They are able to make repairs there but it's going to cost them dearly. They also need to get medical care for Sasha, but that's going to cost them too.
The bounty hunters head off to one of the cantinas on the rock, the Unseemly Jawa, and look for work. Sasha is taken to the medical centre. The others go off to sell the blasters, and almost get ripped off. Instead, the Rodian, unbeknownst to the others, takes it upon himself to sell the
Ion's Rum
and eventually does so, to pay for the repairs to the
Lucky Guess.
Sasha loses her Wampa skin rug (so sad), but the party gains 30,000c from the ship, which is distributed “evenly” (with the Rodian taking a certain percentage, of course) amongst the players.
The bounty hunters get 'work' from the guy who seems to be running the place, collecting money from one of the local store owners. It's handed over without a problem (10,000c in a case) and when they return expecting payment, the boss says that next time they might get something. They just worked for free!
They all meet back at the cantina and let Orpa and Wex know they have the money. The repairs are completed and they leave for Tatooine. They don't have time to fix Sasha's leg, though, and she has to make do with a wheelchair.
Back to the Start Again
They make it to the palace and begin their assault from the landing pad. I placed the cannon inside the building and had the Gamorreans pour out, but they succeed in fending them off. Whilst the fight ebbs in the hold, the trader, Chivo, takes it upon himself to give Orpa and Wex an alibi, and stuns Orpa with his blaster. He doesn't finish the job though, so Lowrhick comes into the cockpit to give him a hand, rolls a Despair, and stuns the pilots and the trader unconscious.
Wex's head hits the repulsor lift controls and the ship starts to move. Pash tries to wrestle it back, but isn't very successful. The cannon opens up and bites deeply into the nose of the ship, damaging something critical. Pash gets it under control and Mathus runs down to try and take out the gunner with his shock-gloves. He manages to knock the gunner off the gun, but then is knocked unconscious in retaliation. The Gamorreans are no match for the PCs, although Sasha's wheelchair is ruined by some idiot thug with a cudgel.
Shooting comes from the communications hub, nearly downing Chivo, and then Pash and Oskara have the idea to kill the communications out of the palace by dropping the ship on the array. The ship smashes down, destroying the array and shorting out the power generators. The place is plunged into darkness and the shooter continues his firing. Chivo negotiates with him to let them just kill Teemo and be done with it, and the shooter (Thwheek) backs off, escaping.
Lowrhick and Vakim go after him, a low laugh comes from the throne room echoing around the palace and the ship manages to pull clear of the squashed communications array. Its lower guns are ruined. They try to manouevre the ship to shoot out the roof, but with a Despair, the power cuts out on the ship and it crashes into the roof at the side of the main dome, completely crushing the front end and throwing Wex and Orpa through the cockpit window. Power comes back on in the palace and the nearest door to the throne room slams shut. They heard, in Huttese, “Kill them and you will have your freedom.” The cell doors clank open and then the gladiators are upon them, led by a Wookiee named Nharghree, whom Lowrhick left behind when he escaped and isn't happy.
Chivo convinces the Wookiee to help them before he kills Lowrhick, and is successful. He leads the attack on the remaining thugs, bashing their way into the throne room through the locked door and into the guards.
Oskara and Pash manage to punch a hole through the wall and lob those mining explosives at Teemo, but they skitter away out of sight. They begin shooting the Hutt, not realising that they aren't doing much in the way of damage to him. He starts shooting back. The Gamorrean guards, his cohort, fight the gladiators and Nharghree, but then the tide turns as Teemo convinces the Wookiee to join him instead. Two of the PCs go down, Vakim and Lowrhick. Pash and Oskara embrace as Pash pushes them out into the throne room (from one story up, falling the Athletics check and landing in a heap on the floor at Teemo's feet (figuratively speaking…). They get a shot or two off, and Teemo begins wailing on them with his tail, knocking the wind out of Oskara repeatedly.
Finally, on 3 wounds left, Teemo congratulates them for their prowess and promises them great riches and fame if they will work for him again. They roll against his Charm, and Oskara, with her blindness and other critical injuries, is rolling three red dice… she doesn't succeed. Sasha doesn't succeed. Chivo is sorely tempted and fails as well. Only Pash sees through Teemo's lies, but all he can do is use a stimpack on Oskara. Teemo then uses his imposing bulk to coerce Pash, and succeeds nicely. But in doing so, Pash rolls enough Advantage to grant Chivo two Boost dice, which in turn, although the Rodian's roll is unsuccessful and he can't act against Teemo, Sasha gets enough Boost and thus successes to act against him, injecting Vakim with a stimpack and waking him from unconsciousness.
Vakim in a final effort brings his Geonosian rifle to bear and plugs Teemo right between the eyes (rolling 13 damage, needing 13 to knock out the Hutt!). Ding, dong, the Hutt is unconscious. The blinded Oskara gets up, moves to the Hutt's head, and makes sure he's dead with a barrage of blaster fire.
That's where we ended last night. Phew!
Conclusions
I've gotta say, what an awesome game. What an awesome system. And kudos to my players for their willingness to try something different. It's great!