Goblin Skulls & Shackles, Session 4 – Crabbin’ & Grapplin’

With the Wormwood secure after the storm, the ship sailed onward, toward the Slithering Coast. After a few more days of shipboard life and daily duties of drudgery, the waters became shallow as the ship approached a reef. Mister Plugg pulled the Licktoads from their duties, along with Rosie Cusswell. He explained that the Captain fancied crab for dinner. He gave them four crabpots and directed them to the reef ahead.

Unfortunately, Rosie could not swim, so she was stuck treading water and trying to spot crabs through the clear water of the reef. Spack Jarrow, Garagornne, Sean Dook Lasard, and Brodo Faggins easily filled two of the pots. As they prepared to embark upon their third dive to capture crabs, two odd creatures shot out of the reef toward them. The creatures looked like an aberrant cross between a lobster and an eel and aggressively snapped at the goblins with tooth-filled maws and cruelly barbed claws.

A reefclaw

With Ent Cleastwood’s help, they defeated the reefclaws. The claws from the crabby beasts filled the other two pots. Despite themselves, the officers were impressed and gifted the Licktoads with a Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds for their troubles, then ordered them back to work.

The next day, the Licktoads were relieved of their duties and assigned to boarding training with the Wormwood‘s Gunnery Master, Riaris Krine. She took the Licktoads out into the Wormwood‘s Jolly Boat with a couple of grappling hooks. The Licktoads were instructed to throw the hook to the Wormwood, then shimmy across the rope to the ship, as they would if they were engaged in combat with another vessel. To make things interesting, and in the interests of providing a realistic experience, four crewmembers would throw things to repel the boarders. Several crewmembers were all too eager to throw things at the Licktoad goblins without fear of reprisals.

Spack Jarrow and Garagornne quickly shimmied across the rope and back to the Wormwood, avoiding nearly all the debris thrown at them. Sean Dook Lasard took several hits, but made it back on his first try also. Brodo Faggins was not so lucky and lost his grip after being pelted several times, falling into the water. He failed again on his second try and gave up on climbing for his third try, simply using his skill at acrobatics to walk across the rope, dodging the objects thrown by the other sailors. Ent Cleastwood was not so lucky. Between being pelted and having an attack of the clumsies, he failed so frequently that Riaris Krine gave up on him and ordered him back into the Jolly Boat. She took him back to the Wormwood and brought Rosie Cusswell, Sandara Quinn and the rest of the new “recruits” back out for their practice.

The Wormwood sailed on. Scuttlebutt was with the new crew now trained, they were looking for prey upon the high seas of Golarion….

Sean Dook Lasard’s player asked for permission to re-build his character to better fit with the group & campaign, so he changed him from a Cleric of Asmodeus to a Storm Druid (I think). A sixth player will be joining the Licktoads soon, another one of the press-ganged goblins coming into his own.

This session was a little more action-packed than last session. I ended it a little early because things are starting to ramp up, and I thought if I continued on last night, it would be at least 2 more hours of play instead of another 30 minutes.

Goblin Skull & Shackles, Session 3 – Savin’ Friends, Framin’ Enemies

The Licktoads were awakened by the morning bells and, with the rest of the day crew, ordered to get to work. They went about their assigned duties until around mid-day when Mister Plugg called them together on the main deck. Near him, young Jack Scrimshaw was nursing a nasty leg wound. Mister Plugg ordered the goblins to go do the sort of thing they were brought on board for: go down into the bilge and kill the giant rats that attacked Jack Scrimshaw. Brodo Faggins was eager for the opportunity to acquire more free food and the rest followed. They were joined by another Licktoad Goblin, Sean Dook Lasard. The bilge was tight and partially flooded with foul, brackish water. Half-a-dozen dog-sized, vicious rats swam and moved in to attack once the goblins splashed down into the bilge. They made short work of the dire rats, though a few of them gave Ent Cleastwood some nasty bites. Once all the rats were dead, they scrounged through the filthy water and found several long-forgotten weapons. They were allowed to keep what they found and Mister Plugg was surprised by their success and told them to get back to work once they emerged from the bilge.

After the rest of their daily duties were discharged, Brodo Faggins took their bilge booty to bargain with Cut-Throat Grok. Brodo Faggins wished to procure Rosie’s fiddle. To Cut-Throat Grok’s surprise, the locker containing the fiddle (along with all the other items procured from the new deckhands) was empty! The Wormwood officers called all hands on deck while they searched the crews’ duffles. The stolen goods were discovered just where they were planted and the crewmember “responsible” for the theft was hauled before the Captain and thrown into the sweatbox, much to the disappointment of the Licktoad goblins, who hoped he would be keel hauled.

The next couple of days were filled with mundane activities. The Wormwood sailed on. One night, Mister Plugg called everyone on deck. Standing there, was Owlbear Hartshorn. Mister Plugg offered 100 gp to the crew member who could beat the Owlbear in an unarmed fight. The crew seemed reluctant to engage, but Spack Jarrow was not deterred. He launched himself at the big human, fighting with tooth and nail. Though Owlbear got in a hit or two and Mister Plugg “helped” the human by tossing him a club, the fight was decidedly one-sided with Spack Jarrow emerging victorious and claiming the 100 gp for himself, along with a healthy dose of respect from most of the rest of the crew. Mister Plugg still hates you, though.

Especially YOU.

More time. More sailing. More ship board duties. The weather took a turn for the worse. Then, a storm.

The crew struggled to keep the ship together as the ship was tossed by gale-force winds and waves. One wave washed Sandara Quinn overboard, but she was quickly rescued by a well-aimed rope thrown by Brodo Faggins. When the storm passed, everyone was put back to work repairing the rigging and sails.

The Wormwood sailed on, her destination known only to the officers who weren’t talking to the Licktoad goblins.

The 3rd Pathfinder game went pretty well. I was surprised how easily a 1st-level monkey goblin cleric was able to beat a 2nd-level human fighting in unarmed combat, though the goblin’s bite attack probably helped a bit, not to mention Spack Jarrow’s player rolled really well and I rolled poorly. There wasn’t much going on in this session, plot-wise though. There’s a total of 21 days on the ship before something major happens. It might seem boring, but I understand why it is like that: the PCs have to have time to form alliances on the ship. Otherwise, they’ll stand alone when the climax of the adventure comes and that would make for a short adventure path.

Goblin Skull & Shackles, Session 2 – Press-Ganged!

During a night of drunken revelry in celebration of their recovery of the fireworks for the tribe, the goblins decided they needed more booze. Fortunately, a human was driving a cart through their swamp and was good enough to flee when they attacked. The booze flowed freely before they returned to their village.

When the Licktoad goblins awoke, their heads pounded and the room swayed. Cruel mans kicked them out of beds and the goblins finally realized they were not back in their village after all. They were brought up onto the deck of a ship far away from any land they could see. Several others joined them on deck amidst the working sailors; apparently, the goblins were not the only ones press-ganged onto this ship. A large brute of a man stood on the poop deck and addressed the crew. He was Captain Barnabas Harrigan of the Wormwood and they were all now part of his crew. He explained the only rule they needed to remember: Don’t talk to him, and instructed his First Mate Mr. Plugg and the bosun Mr. Scourge to put everybody to work.

Garagornne “volunteered” to be the Cook’s Mate by acknowledging that she could cook, while Spack Jarrow impressed them with his ability to navigate the rigging and was assigned to be a rigger. Ent Cleastwood and Brodo Faggins were assigned as deckswabs. Curiously, a  priestess of Besmara, Sandara Quinn, also “volunteered” to be part of the Wormwood’s crew and befriended fellow Bemaran Spack Jarrow.

The first day’s activities were capped with the keel hauling of Jakes Magpie, who was caught stealing from the Quartermaster, Cut-Throat Grok. When the keel hauling was finished, Jakes Magpie was dumped overboard for the sharks. The pirates had their dinner, their rum ration and retired for the evening.

Day two began with a group of four human pirates blocking the way out of the hold, claiming they needed to show the goblins who was in control. Before the fight could start, Ent Cleastwood threw a lantern at the men, shattered it and setting part of the hold on fire. The crew came together to fight the blaze, putting it out before it could cause serious damage. They captured Ent Cleastwood and brought him before Mr. Scourge and the Captain for punishment. It was the word of the goblins against six humans, so they sentenced Ent Cleastwood to a day in the sweatbox because he was new; the next time he would be keel hauled for doing something that stupid. (I actually feel a little guilty for not straight-off keel hauling Ent Cleastwood, after all, several warnings were given out-of-game that fire was the arch-enemy of ships at sea, reprisals for setting the ship on fire would be both swift and terrible, and it was generally a BAD idea. I relented because it was only the second session with these characters and the first on board the ship. The gloves are off on ship-board punishments, now, though).

While Ent Cleastwood was in the sweatbox, the rest of the crew went about their duties and the Lick Toad goblins worked on befriending some of the crew and tried to figure out how to get their possessions back. By the third day, Brodo Faggins learned where their possessions were and who held the key. Despite being impaled by a harpoon that he failed to detect while picking the lock to the armory, they pressed on. After healing from the impalement, Brodo stole the key from the drunken Quartermaster, Cut-Throat Grok, and the goblins took their items. They cleaned out the locker that held their gear and stashed all the other ill-gotten booty in the duffle of the ringleader of the humans who tried to start a fight with them the previous day. It was only a matter of time until the theft was discovered….

The first session of the Adventure Path went well. We didn’t get as far as I thought we would, but it’s difficult to judge how much RP a group can get through; the first 21 days on the ship are very RP-heavy. I mentioned earlier I felt guilty about not keel hauling Ent Cleastwood, but having a PC executed like that (and there was NO WAY a 1st level PC can survive that) just seems cheap, although the other players unanimously said they would have supported me had I executed Ent Cleastwood for setting fire to the ship.

On The Rails – Eberron Game Session 4

After a brief foray to Gamma Terra, we return to Eberron for the continuation of our regularly scheduled D&D game.

When last we left our intrepid…heroes…they were on their way to Sharn, having cured a town of a magical plague despite their best efforts at leaving the townsfolk to their uncertain fates. Master Yorel greeted them with sacks of gold after receiving the Coat of Eyes and bade his  Acquisition Experts to standby for another assignment. A few days later, he presented them with round-trip Lighting Rail passes to Starilaskur. Their new mission was to transport a strongbox from Sharn to a colleague of his at The Broken Forge, Clockwork. In addition to the money he gave them upon bringing him the coat of eyes, he gave them each an additional 250 GP for expenses and sent them on their way.

The first leg of the trip, from Sharn to Wroat, passed uneventfully. What apparently transpired in some of the cabins is best left for certain texts of a more…blue…nature. They stretched their legs at Wroat, and were surprised that no one accosted them or tried to rob them or tried to hire them and boarded the train again. The next day, while on the long leg of the trip between Wroat and Starilaskur, the…debaucheries…were interrupted by armed men demanding money from the passengers. Our intrepid heroes would have none of it and slaughtered them in hallway of their coach. The screams of the passengers in the other cars caught their interest, but they decided to climb to the top of their coach to survey situation. Mounted Gnolls ran alongside the train and more bandits, humans and gnolls advanced upon them. As they fought back the ones on top of the Lightning Rail, the conveyance came to a halt. Once the gnolls on top of the train were dealt with and the mounted ones fled, our heroes questioned the Lighting Rail driver about why they stopped. Someone had stolen enough of the conductor stones guiding the Lighting Rail, that the coaches could not continue without derailing.

Track led away from the route, tracks which suggested someone stole the conductor stones deliberately to halt the Lightning Rail. Our heroes followed the trail into the hills, making sure their strongbox was secure and well-guarded…

It seems like nothing happened, but 4E combat takes a lot of time. Plus, we did slip into a lot of tangents. They were entertaining, but tangents, nonetheless. Plus, a few players don’t have DDI accounts, so some of the characters had to be updated prior to the game on my PC and that caused us to get a late start. It’s the biggest downside I’m seeing to this 4E game. I don’t feel right asking everyone to have a DDI subscription, so I may start asking people to e-mail what changes they want made to their characters so I can go ahead and make them and print them before the game starts. Ultimately, I’m finding the reliance on the electronic tools for tracking characters to be more of a hindrance than a boon, though I do like the DM’s tools (particularly the Encounter Builder, even if it isn’t as up-to-date as I’d like).

I’m also starting to get a feel about what will motivate my group, in game, and I’m having to adjust my playstyle accordingly. My attempt at the last session to allow them a chance to play the role of the hero went over like a lead balloon (they wanted to leave the town to its fate and were very reluctant to determine the cause of the plague). Clearly, I should have made more clear my ideas that they would be playing the Heroes in this game. Ah well. These things happen and I’ll just adjust my expectations; it’s no biggie.

Also, I have observed that I feel very RUSTY when running adventures of my own design. When I brought this group together, it was after, essentially, a three year hiatus from GMing. Sure, I ran a few games at conventions in the interim, but those were one shots and mostly Paranoia (which is MUCH easier to run/play than D&D). When I started again, I was running pre-made adventures. Clearly, my skills have atrophied a bit as I am not really comfortable writing my own adventures for D&D anymore. I don’t have a problem with other systems, like Star Wars (d6), or Paranoia, so I wonder if I’m just not feeling the DM vibe anymore. Or maybe, I’m just out of practice. Maybe since D&D 4E isn’t my favorite variation of the game, I’m not as into it as I could be. It could be several things or something I haven’t thought of yet. One thing I may try is to adapt a pre-written adventure to fit into this Eberron campaign and see how that feels. Maybe I’m just feeling the crunch of working, trying to spend time with my family, trying to write books to publishing, AND write stuff to GM. Nevertheless, I’m committed to trying to provide an entertaining game for my friends, so I shall soldier on.

A Detour to Gamma Terra

Since Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving, aka Nov. 23) was a day I knew not everyone would be available for gaming, I planned a different game than our regularly scheduled D&D game. I decided it would be a good chance to try Gamma World. A few folks on Twitter suggested that I set the game in a mall and somehow work in references to Black Friday, so I did. And since I’m hopelessly behind in updating this post, the actual game write-up will be brief…also, some names may have changed since I can’t remember exactly what Gamma Speak I used now…except The Walma. It’s always THE WALMA.

In the world of Gamma Terra, Black Free Day is the day after the Feast of Hallothankwanzamassukah. It is thought to be an orgiastic celebration of looting and consumerism at a mystical place known as The Walma. After finding out the PCs were not hungover or dead from the previous evening’s celebrations, the village elder sent them in search of The Walma.

After a rambling, Simpsons-homage-filled set of directions*, the chosen villagers headed out of the relative safety of ‘Tain Squa and into the wilderness. The directions were surprisingly accurate and they made exceptionally good use of the environment to defeat some mutated horrors which sought to eat them. A battle was raging at The Walma when they arrived between various groups of scavengers including Porkers, Badders, and mutants. They decided not to risk a frontal engagement and circled around looking for other entrances**.

They found a group of dabbers (they’re mutated bipedal raccoons) trying to break into a large overhead door marked UT  ERVI. One extremely intimidating encounter later, the PCs were trying to break into a large overhead door marked UT ERVI while the dabbers were running for the hills. They broke into The Walma, found a few wheeled carts and proceeded to loot the store out from under the battle raging outside…except for the guys in the canned good aisle who were determined to make the PCs pay in BLOOD for their bounty.

While it was a fairly close fight with some friendly fire injuries and a lot of collateral damage, the PCs won the day and returned victorious to ‘Tain Squa with their Hallothankwanzamassukah bounty.

Everyone seemed to have a really good time with this game. A few players commented that the preferred the simplified system of Gamma World to D&D 4E (Savage Worlds…here we come!). I really liked the wacky amalgamation of the real world and the fantastic, especially since I could throw in post-apoc tropes as well as cram in Borderlands-like weapons (which will see more play in future games) and it all fits because: GAMMA WORLD. The combat encounters weren’t as good as I wanted because I was counting on two hours of prep time that I didn’t get when a guest player showed up two hours early.

And, I got to use the toy cars I bought for my ill-fated Gen Con Atomic Highway/Fallout game, so that’s a plus. I think Gamma World will be my go-to Alt game while we’re playing D&D 4E. Once the Eberron game wraps-up, I may switch to Pathfinder, though, ’cause I really want to run some adventure paths and my Rise of the Runelords Deluxe Collector’s Edition is here (it was my reward to myself for working through my vacation this summer…and getting a bonus for doing so). On the other hand, as a GM, I like rules-light systems more and more these days and Pathfinder is anything but rules-light. I can do rules-heavy as a player, but as a GM, game-prep for rules-heavy systems is more like work than enjoyment, and I get PAID for work. I hope prep for an adventure path won’t be so bad since I won’t have to write up every encounter and plot point myself.

I think I actually enjoy running this genre (or at least a more modern genre) of game to Fantasy. With fantasy, I’m worried about anachronisms when I have to ad lib, and that really makes me have to think too hard when things go off the rails. In a more futuristic or modern setting, I can just go off on a Simpsons/Futurama-inspired ramble and it fits. The comic tangent in the directions just wouldn’t fit in the with the tone I like in my fantasy, but works with Gamma World. Maybe I need to stick with pre-written adventures for Fantasy and when I need to stretch my creative legs play games more modern/sci-fi in tone.

* “Follow Dry Gulch until you find that big, rotten tree. Hopefully, it hasn’t fallen down yet. Turn left and you should see a big elevated road. You know that road use to take you south to the river. Of course, walking, that would take you days. You’d just followed that elevated road all the way until you got to the big river, cross it, then you could keep going south until you practically hit the ocean. Why, I bet that was at least a week away. Maybe more, hell, I don’t know, I never went there. I went down three days, though. It gets hilly and I heard the hills used to be covered in trees what wouldn’t eat you. We’d tie an onion to our belts, ‘cause that was the style of the time, plus, it kept the trees from eating you, at least, my old man always said it would. Of course, he thought you could stick fat people with a pin and they’d pop like a balloon…”

** The area they traveled was based on the area in which we live. So, to prevent meta-gamey cheese, I totally burned Gander Mountain to the ground***. They already had enough guns anyway.

*** For those of you from the U.S. Government who are spying on my blog, I’m talking about a tabletop GAME. I did NOT engage in any domestic terrorism. I have better things to do with my life. I suggest you do the same and go out and catch real criminals and stop spying on the people who pay your salary. Yes, I’m talking about you, George. YOU. The one in Fairfax.  Also, you have a spot on your tie. Sometimes, the dry cleaner can get those out, but usually you have to buy a new tie. Take some pride in your appearance, dude.

Upcoming Game Dates

If you think my updating is sporadic, it’s not really. We do play every two weeks, but sometimes it takes me a few days to write the update.

May 4th – Star Wars: The Old Republic – Galaxy at Peace (’cause it’s May 4th – Star Wars Day – May the Fourth Be With You!)

May 18th – Doctor StrangeRoll D&D Basic featuring a brand new Geek Chic table and birthday cake (the cake is NOT a lie; it’s my birthday)

June 1st – No game; I’ll be on vacation and won’t actually be at my gaming table. My beautiful gaming table. It is…precious to me… [gollum gollum]

June 15th – There will be a game, what it is will be determined by attendance.

June 29th – The game will likely be the one we didn’t play on June 15th.

The Star Wars game is going to be a mini-campaign, probably no more than 5 or 6 sessions, I think, depending on how much we avoid conversational tangents, Monty Python references, and talking about Doctor Who instead of gaming. Once the Star Wars game is wrapped up, one of my players has volunteered to run some Doctor Who for us (the new one by Cubicle 7, not the old FASA game), so I’ll play that (though still provide updates on the game) while I prep a post-apocalyptic game for our alternate sessions, probably Gamma World or Atomic Highway (Fallout flavor), depending on what the group prefers. By then, it might be time for me to play test some of the adventures I’ll be running at Gen Con. I won’t post any spoilers about those here, though, just in case anyone who plays in them at the convention reads this blog.

Off Session 2

Sorry for the delay in updating, work has been … stressful.

When we last left our Heroes of the Old Republic, they were hiking up a mountain path to the mine staffed by the occupants of Outpost 3 on Dantooine. They arrived to find the mine seemingly abandoned. Four large insect creatures (laigrek) were milling about the main processing area and moved to attack when our intrepid investigators entered. Despite the Jedi’s lightsaber, the battle seemed to be going poorly until Baccus used some mining explosives. When the dust and bug guts settled, they went about investigating the control room near the processing area.

They found evidence of another bug in the control room (probably fled from the massive explosion that just took place), and a curious thing: the surveillance system had been sabotaged. Something strange was in the air, a discordant musical sound echoing through the mine. They set out to investigate, following the rails deeper into the mine until they found a working shaft lift. As they descended the lift, the musical notes became louder.

At the bottom of the shaft, they found a labyrinth of mining tunnels. However, one was clearly used more than the rest, so the heroes followed the trail to a large chamber full of copper-colored translucent crystals. The chamber contained several examination tables, medical diagnostic equipment, some odd-looking machinery, and many empty cages. One of the cages was not, in fact, empty, and contained a strange creature that looked like a butternut squash on top of banana leaves wearing a mushroom. A Squib was fiddling with the lock on its cage whilst making the musical noises on a strange instrument.

The Squib, whom our heroes had difficult getting a name from (they alternately called him Ikky, Rikki, Tikki, but not Tavi), was a prisoner of a scary-looking Mirulakan, as was the strange, plant-looking alien, who introduced himself as “Bob” (with a strange emphasis on the “b” sounds). Both “Bob” and Padawan Jakar could sense the Force in one another. The heroes freed the aliens, collected some samples of crystals and poked around the makeshift lab. They found a datapad with a slicer’s spike attached to it. Fortunately, the spike was rigged to not work properly, so they were able to see several journal entries entered by Ben-Dara Jobi.

Ben-Dara Jobi Alpha Phase Journal

They concluded that it appeared Ben-Dara Jobi was experimenting with sapients to attempt to infuse them with Force energy in the hopes of repairing his own severed connection with the Force. They searched around the lower levels some more and found the masticated corpses of the missing miners–presumably the people upon whom Ben-Dara Jobi was experimenting. They left the mine and returned their borrowed mining equipment to Outpost 3, told the remaining citizens of the remains of the miners and headed back to Garang. There, they attempted to track down the man who sold the data spike to Ben-Dara Jobi. They found him in an electronics store, but to their dismay, he only SOLD the data spike, he didn’t program it.

Next, our intrepid band went to a cantina to attempt to locate the slavers with whom Ben-Dara Jobi dealt to get offworld. While subtlety wasn’t their strong suit (Baccus just out-and-out asked a seedy-looking fellow where he could buy someone to do work that he didn’t have to pay). Fortunately, no one called the police on their for their suspiciously-specific inquires and they learned that the only people who recently visited Dantooine who might be involved with such nefarious dealings was a Rattataki named Karsta Djannis. The man was reluctant to say more, so he suggested Baccus look around “sunfall.” Baccus suggested to the rest of the group that they wait until dusk to see if he came back to the cantina.

Meanwhile, the others discussed attempting to track down a slicer who programmed the data spike and was apparently jilted by Ben-Dara Jobi. They had the names of the only two slicers of that skill known to operate in Garang: Moki and Dandy Black….

The next game will take place on May 4th. As that is “Star Wars Day” (May the 4th be with you!), we’ll likely continue the Star Wars campaign and pick the Doctor StrangeRoll game back up on May 18th.

 

Off Session 1

This past Friday night was the second meeting of the group, but our first off session. When I started Doctor StrangeRoll, I always intend to play an alternate RPG on the days when several members of the D&D couldn’t make the game, and we were down to 50% attendance Friday night (only one of which was unexpected).

So, I broke out the West End Games Star Wars Roleplaying Game. That’s the D6 version that went out of print in the 90s for those of you keeping score at home. It’s nice and rule-light and easy to run, so it makes an excellent alternate game to play when we’re down enough players that picking up the D&D game where we left off would be a problem.

Two of my players showed up with characters already made, so we had to wait while the third made his character (not unexpected). My game prep was pretty lacking because I really only knew ahead of time what one character would be (I knew about the second about 2 days before game day). I find it hard to prep if I don’t know what kind of characters there are going to be. For example, it’s not really appropriate to create an adventure around a Jedi Master sending his apprentice out on tasks if the entire group is made of smugglers, bounty hunters, and other fringe characters, nor it is appropriate to have them indebted to a hutt if most of the characters are closely affiliated with the Jedi. I can usually ad-lib Star Wars pretty well (probably because it’s been part of my life & imagination for 34 years), but I did have a little trouble Friday night getting into things; I suspect it was a result of fatigue. It was a very taxing week.

 

Anyway, our Star Warsian odyssey starts with Padawan Jakar, a mon calamari and former Sith apprentice of Darth Ul being tasked by his new master on Tython, Jedi Master Shayl Bey’lya, to go to Dantooine and investigate reports trouble near a mining town, thought to be caused by a fallen Jedi, thought to be dead. Jakar is accompanied by a togorian Bounty Hunter, Khalendri. They received the name of their target: Ben-Dara Jobi and the knowledge that he was once a Jedi. Ben-Dara Jobi fell to the Dark Side during the Cold War and was severed from the Force, rather than being killed. Some time, near the end of the Cold War, he was presumed dead. The two impulsive, would-be heroes rushed off to find transportation off Tython.

While in the Spaceport, they ran across a human pirate, Baccus, who was also looking for transportation. A Republic Captain crossed their path, barking orders at his command crew, and with the help of another Jedi, S’oona Onos, they convinced Captain Damatos to grant them passage on the Republic Cruiser Crimson Hammer (Jedi stick together, and Dantooine wasn’t too much of a delay from the cruiser’s regular destination). Baccus attempted to break into the cruiser’s armory, but when he discovered it was guarded by two battle droids and a couple of armored turrets, decided the potential gains weren’t worth the risks, particular when one takes into account the fact that there’s no where to run when you’re on a cruiser in hyperspace.

The Crimson Hammer dropped our intrepid crew off in Garang, the capital of Dantooine. From there, they headed to the nearby Jedi Enclave to see if they could find more information about Ben-Dara Jobi, such as his description, possible location, and other important details for which they neglected to ask Master Bey’lya. The Archivist at the Jedi Enclave, Dorak wondered why the Council didn’t contact them about Ben-Dara Jobi’s possible resurfacing, but was more than happy to assist Padawan Jakar and his friends. They learned that Ben-Dara Jobi was a miralukan, a species born blind who “see” through the Force. Severing Ben-Dara Jobi from the Force would have robbed him of his most important sense.

Armed with knowledge of Ben-Dara Jobi’s background, they rented a speeder from a shift rodian and traveled to the mining town, Outpost 3. They learned that the mine at which most of the townsfolk earn their living recently suffered a collapse and they’ve been unable to determine a cause or get help. Also, laigreks indigenous to the area have become unusually aggressive since the collapse of the mine. Baccus suggested they acquire some equipment to help them explore the mine and they convinced the shop keeper to supply them with the mining corporation’s equipment free of charge since no one was using it anyway right now. Equipped with detonator packs, syntherope, mining lasers and one breathing mask (the masks available would fit neither a togorian nor a mon calamari and Baccus’s attempts to modify them met with catastrophic failure), they set off toward the mine….

You can read more about the setting and background on the “A Galaxy at Peace” campaign page.