Wanted By The Empire

Name: Tar Waylan
Species: Human
Sex: Male
Homeworld: Unknown
Known Associates: None
Bounty: 20,000 credits
Classification: Regional (Outer Rim Territories)
Application Conditions: Alive and intact, without serious injury
Bonus: None
Determent: None
Crimes: gambling, theft, fraud, smuggling
Originator: Gran Orel, Corellia
Receiver: Any Imperial garrison station or processing facility
Brief: Tar Waylan is a notorious gambler, thief and swindler. He is known to frequent questionable establishments where he may carry out his crimes and to prey upon honest citizens in order to cheat and steal from them.

Introduction

The characters are bounty hunters hired to track down a troublesome gambler; their employer is one of the many victims he has cheated. Trouble is the gambler, one Tar Waylan, is hiding out at a place called The Odds, a private, exclusive combination nightclub, cantina, gambling hall and pleasure dome owned and controlled by the gangster Trigash Nor, who happens to have a personal interest in Waylan. The Empire is looking to put Trigash Nor’s operation out of business, but has had trouble tracking down the exact location of his asteroid base. When the characters come along, they offer the Imperial commander an opportunity too good to pass up.

Scene One: Imperial Entanglements

Reading the following out loud to the players:

You have recently acquired the contract on a gambler named Tar Waylan, wanted for numerous counts of swindling and theft throughout the sector. Your present employer is a wealthy man with a weakness for gambling, one that Tar Waylan was apparently happy to take advantage of in a couple of rigged sabbac games. There is a price being offered by him for Waylan’s capture, and you plan to collect on it.

The problem is, that Waylan has all but disappeared. He is obviously aware of the bounty out on him, because he has not shown up at his usual hangouts or been in touch with any of his regular contacts in the sector. That will make finding him troublesome, but if the job were an easy one, you wouldn’t be as interested.

The characters can get involved in the hunt for Tar Waylan in a variety of ways. They might be employed (as described above) by someone the gambler cheated or the family or friends of such a person, they might be contacted by planetary authorities who are looking into complaints of Waylan’s activities or they simply might see the brief while looking through the available bounties posted by the Empire and take an interest in the case.

Finding the gambler is going to be the characters’ first challenge. Tar Waylan does indeed know that there is a price on his head and he has chosen to take refuge with his patron, Trigash Nor, in the gangster’s hidden pleasure asteroid. The bounty hunters will first have to track down where it is that Waylan has disappeared to before the can attempt to capture him.

The gamemaster can take the search for Waylan’s whereabouts in a number of directions. Listed here are some possible scenes that could be played out as the bounty hunters search for clues:

• The characters will need to speak with people who know Tar Waylan in hopes that he might have dropped some hint about where he was going. This leads the characters into a number of “hives of scum and villainy” where they can speak with some of the unsavory underworld types that Waylan associates with and perhaps get into a brawl or two.
• Other powerful criminal figures and gangsters that the characters might be acquainted with can have some information about Waylan’s known association with Trigash Nor. They might be able to point the characters towards the Noad System and The Odds with the right persuasion, again leading the characters into some difficult negotiations or violent conflict.
• Some of Waylan’s victims might recall some comment that is meaningless to them but which provides a valuable clue to the characters about the gambler’s whereabouts. Some comment about “always relying on The Odds for protection” or something similar could lead the characters to investigate the hidden casino.
• One or more characters might even know or have worked for Trigash Nor in the past. That character may have even been to The Odds before and could connect up some of the other clues that the characters uncover. This is a rather heavy-handed approach to getting the characters to The Odds and should only be used if the investigation is bogging down and hitting a lot of dead ends.

After discovering that Tar Waylan is hiding out at The Odds, the characters learn that security on the station is provided by all visitors having to know a password, which changes on a regular basis. A Difficult con, persuasion or streetwise roll allows a character to obtain the current password, which is “heavy bet.” The source that gives the character the password tells them that they are not absolutely certain that it is current, but it is as good as they can get.

Once the characters are on their way to The Odds, read the following out loud:

You have set course for the location of Trigash Nor’s hidden asteroid palace. It is located in the Noad system, an isolated and desolate place with fairly few visitors. You come out of lightspeed just outside the system and you can see the broad expanse of the Noad Asteroid Field stretching out before you as far as the eye can see in either direction.

The asteroid field is made up of thousands upon thousands of floating rocks, some as small as a man’s head and others that would qualify as small moons or planetoids, more than large enough to smash a ship like yours into spacedust. Navigating an asteroid field is a difficult task; Trigash Nor must definitely value his privacy to go to such lengths.

A perimeter alarm sounds only moments after you come out of lightspeed near the asteroid field. It’s an Imperial Star Destroyer, close by and closing fast. A crackle sounds over your comm system as the Star Destroyer hails you.

“Unidentified ship, this is the Imperial Star Destroyer Thunder, identify yourself and prepared to be boarded.”

Once the characters have acquired the location of The Odds (or an approximation of it) they can make their way to the Noad system to investigate. As they approach the system and come out of lightspeed they are confronted by an Imperial Star Destroyer and ordered to stand to and prepared to be boarded “for routine investigation.” The characters can either decide to try and escape or surrender and hope the Imperials will go easy on them.

If the characters want to fight, it is unlikely they can prevail against an Imperial Star Destroyer.

If they decide to make a break for it, there is a chase scene with some TIE fighters into the asteroid belt as the Imperials attempt to intercept the bounty hunters.

The Star Destroyer will open fire on the characters’ ship if it tries to escape but will not pursue it into the asteroid field. It will dispatch a flight of four TIE fighters to continue the pursuit through the asteroids. They will attempt at first to disable the characters’ ship so they can capture and interrogate them but, failing that, the Imperial Commander will order the ship destroyed.

Imperial Star Destroyer. capital ship piloting 5D+1, starship shields 4D+1, starship sensors 4D, astrogation 4D, capital ship gunnery 4D+2, Hyperdrive Multiplier: x2, Hyperdrive Backup: x8, Maneuverability 1D, Hull 7D, Shields 3D. 60 turbolaser batteries (fire control 4D, damage 5D), 60 ion cannons (fire control 2D+2, damage 3D), 10 tractor beam projectors (fire control 4D, damage 6D)

TIE/In Fighters. starship piloting 4D+1, starship gunnery 4D. Maneuverability 2d, Hull 2D. Two laser cannons (fire control 2D, damage 5D).

If they allow themselves to be boarded, the characters are questioned by the commander of the Star Destroyer, Commander Siy, as to their intentions in the system and their destination. If the characters offer a plausible story (coupled with a Moderate con or persuasion roll), they are allowed to go along their way with a warning to observe all Imperial regulations.

The characters might think that they got off from the Imperials too easy in this case, which would be the truth. Unknown to them, however, the outside of their ship has been “tagged” with a small tracking device that allows the Imperials to follow their movements. Commander Siy is more interested in finding out where the bounty hunters are going than in capturing them at this time. He believes that they might be able to lead him to Trigash Nor’s operation in the Noad system so that it can be shut down for good.

Scene Two: The Odds

When the characters reach The Odds, read the following out loud:

You’ve finally made it to where you think Trigash Nor’s pleasure palace should be, but you’re not sure that you have found the right place. There are a number of larger asteroids with fairly stable orbits deep within the Noad Belt, any one of which could contain an entire city inside of it.

Your comm system indicates you are being hailed and an electronically distorted voice speaks. “Identify yourself and give your authorization code.”

Once the characters make it to the location of The Odds, they are hailed by the operations on board the station and asked to give a password authorization. They characters should have been able to acquire this password during their investigations of Tar Waylan’s whereabouts in Scene One. The gamemaster should try and give the characters every opportunity to learn the password to allow them to get into The Odds safely.

If the bounty hunters failed to learn the password, or the gamemaster wants to make things more difficult for them, the characters will have to make bargain, con orpersuasion rolls to talk their way past station operations and get authorization to land their ship. The Difficulty is based on how much information the characters have about The Odds and how convincing their story is, but shouldn’t be less than Moderate in any case. The gamemaster can also modify the outcome of the character’s roll based on how believable a story is offered by the player.

Once the characters get authorization from station control to land their ship and come on board, a concealed docking bay will appear from behind cleverly camouflaged doors that blend with the surface of the asteroid where The Odds is concealed. The landing bay is more than large enough to accommodate the characters’ ship and the many others that are docked there.

Once the characters are cleared to land at The Odds, read them the following:

A light comes from one of the larger asteroids nearby as massive concealed hangar doors slide back into the rocky surface of the asteroid to reveal a landing bay. It appears that The Odds is built deep within the asteroid itself. You land your ship in the docking bay with no trouble and make your way into The Odds itself.

The entire inside of this asteroid appears to have been hollowed out to build Trigash Nor’s private domain. The interior of the place is a combination hotel, casino, bazaar, cantina and nightclub all rolled into one. The central part of The Odds is a vast, open shaft that has been dug out in the center of the rocky asteroid. The walls of the shaft are ringed with floor upon floor of the various shops, bar, dance halls and other establishments. A long metallic cylinder runs down the center of the shaft, covered with machinery and faintly glowing control panels; the central power core of the asteroid installation.

Banks of elevators along the walls carry people from floor to floor and railed balconies look out from each floor over the open shaft. They are crowded with individuals of all different species and descriptions, talking, laughing and going about their various and sundry business.

This part of the scene allows the gamemaster to include a variety of different alien encounters on board the station. Some suggestions are given below. The bounty hunters at least have to ask around a bit to try and learn if Tar Waylan has been seen on the station and learn the whereabouts of Trigash Nor’s favorite club, the Even-Odds.

In general, the inhabitants of The Odds are suspicious and don’t trust strangers. Most uses of con, persuasion and streetwise should be Difficult or Very Difficult. The characters should have to talk to a lot of people before they get the information they are looking for.

Some possible encounters in The Odds include:

• Running into a large, drunk alien (a Gamorrean or something similar) in a cantina who is looking for a fight. This gives the characters a chance to either get the bruiser to back down from them by a show of Intimidation or an opportunity for a bar brawl. Someone might also come to the characters’ assistance and could show up later in the adventure to help them out or in another adventure. This is a good opportunity for the gamemaster to put someone on the characters’ good side.
• A number of old friends, enemies or rivals who might be hiding out or spending time at The Odds. A rival bounty hunter or two on the station could make the characters’ investigation interesting. The rivals might be looking for Tar Waylan as well or simply looking to settle a grudge with the characters.
• A talkative Twi’lek bartender that the characters might be able to get some information out of with a few Difficult bargain, con or persuasion rolls.
• A drunken, failed mystic drowning his sorrows in one of The Odds’ many bars. He might offer some the characters some cryptic advice or insight into their current job or some other storyline they are involved with, allowing the gamemaster to drop hints about future adventures. The characters should not be able to tell if his insight comes from the Force or whatever it is he is drinking.

Scene Three: Trigash Nor

When the characters go to the Even-Odds, read the following out loud:

From what you have learned, Trigash Nor can be found in an establishment called the Even-Odds, his favorite club at the station. It is located high up the central core, on one of the top rings.

The first thing that strikes you about the place when you walk in is the noise and the light. The club features a sunken floor several steps down from the entrance that is cloaked in shadows made by the collection of dim, pulsing colored lights on the walls and ceiling. There is a long bar that runs along the back wall with several bartenders shuttling back and forth to take care of the crowd of customers there.

The central part of the club has a raised stage split into three lobes, each with an exotic alien dancer moving to the loud music. Several patrons give you disinterested glances as you enter and then quickly look away. This looks like a place where people do their best to mind their own business.

It is also a trap. Tar Waylan is working for Trigash Nor. The crime lord does a brisk business in selling supplies and information to the Rebel Alliance as well as his other black market customers. Tar Waylan is often able to provide Nor with information he needs from the various high rollers throughout the Empire. The crime lord is not pleased that Waylan took a little too much initiative and angered the wrong people, but he considers that a matter for him to deal with.

Trigash Nor. Dexterity 2D+2, brawling parry 3D+2, dodge 3D, melee combat 4D, melee parry 3D+2, Knowledge 3D, alien species 3D+1, bureaucracy 3D, business 5D, intimidation 4D, law enforcement 3D+2, streetwise 7D, value 5D+1, willpower 4D, Mechanical 2D+2, Perception 3D, bargain 5D, command 4D+1, persuasion 3D+2, Strength 5D, brawling 6D, Technical 3D. Move: 10. Tough hide (adds 1D to Strength rolls against damage). Force Points: 2, Character Points: 10.

The characters can generally find Trigash Nor at a private table in the back of the establishment near one the of dance stages, allowing Nor to watch the show going on both on stage and in the club. He is attended by a pair of large near-human bodyguards and usually one or two of the dancers while they are not on stage performing.

Nor will be brisk and businesslike with the bounty hunters. He will tell them at first that he has no idea who Tar Waylan is or where he can be found. Characters who make a Difficult Perception roll get the feeling the crime boss is not telling them all he knows. If the characters press the issue, Trigash Nor will warn them against trying his patience too much and tell them to get off his station.

Tar Waylan is hidden in one of the back rooms of the establishment. He is unable to resist getting a look at the bounty hunters, so the character have a chance to spot him watching them from behind a curtain to the back rooms of the Even-Odds (a Very Difficult search or Perception roll).

If the bounty hunters do not cooperate with Trigash Nor, or if they start a violent confrontation in the Even-Odds, the crime boss will order his people to subdue the characters. This presents an opportunity for a good brawl. Trigash Nor will be escorted to safety by his bodyguards immediately if a fight breaks out. More and more of the crime lord’s soldiers will come against the characters until they are overwhelmed and forced to surrender.

If the characters leave the Even-Odds but don’t move immediately to leave the station, Trigash Nor has them ambushed so they can be disposed of in the next scene. Again, enough of the crime lord’s minions will jump the characters so they have a reasonable chance of taking them. If the characters repel one attack, reinforcements will arrive and surround them.

Scene Four: Unexpected Help

When the characters are taken away by Trigash Nor’s guards, read the following:

The crime lord’s guards escort you into an elevator and down into the lower levels of the station. They take you to what looks like a maintenance area off of the lower docking area and bring you to a large hatch placed flush against the silvery metal of the bulkhead wall. One of the guards touches a panel alongside the hatch and it slides open to reveal a small room just beyond it, with another sliding hatch door. The small window set into the door looks out into the starry blackness of the Noad asteroid belt.

This place is starting to look an awful lot like an airlock.

Once they are captured by Trigash Nor’s men, the characters are taken to an airlock on the lower level where they are to be jettisoned into space. Moments after the airlock door is opened and the characters are about to be herded inside by the crime lord’s goons, The Odds shudders from some kind of massive explosion, knocking the guards off balance and allowing the characters a chance to act. Several more blasts quickly follow the first, one of them blowing a power conduit in the nearby wall and sending sparks and debris flying all along the corridor.

The characters have their chance to get free from their captors and make a break for it. The first blast gives them a chance to get the jump of the guards if they act immediately. The successive blasts require a Moderate Strength roll for the characters to avoid being knocked down.

If the characters attempt to escape from the guards before reaching the airlock, the gamemaster needs to consider the effectiveness of any plan they propose. Keep in mind that the guards have weapons closely trained on the characters at all times and are alert for any tricks from them. If the characters do manage to escape early, the guards can pin them down in a fire fight or otherwise corner them and the first blast gives the characters a chance to make a break for it.

Some suggestions for choreographing the fight near the airlock:

• Several of the guards should be knocked off balance by the explosions, giving the characters a chance to make a decent fight of it. One or more of the guards’ weapons might also be knocked out of their hands if they fall.
• The half-open airlock offers an opportunity for someone to throw an opponent into it and hit the activation sequence. A misfired blast bolt might also hit the controls or rupture the outer door, causing a decompression in the corridor. The characters will have to make Difficult Strength rolls to grab on to something and avoid being blow out into space.
• The cascading energy from the ruptured power conduit makes a useful makeshift weapon if a character can push an opponent into it with a successful opposedStrength roll. The arcing energy does 6D damage to any character that touches it.
• As additional blasts strike the station the fight could be complicated by falling debris from the ceiling, more explosions or damage to the outer airlock door.

Once the characters have handled the guards at the airlock, they have to make their way through the station and get back to their ship. They may also want to go after Tar Waylan and any equipment that was taken from them by Trigash Nor or his men in the previous scene.

The characters find the station in chaos, with people rushing around and overloading the elevators. They characters may wish to use the emergency ladders that lead from one level to another rather than fighting their way through the crowds. Occasional blasts rock the station, punctuated by explosions from damaged power conduits. An EasyTechnical roll will tell a character that if the damage to the station continues it is only a matter of time before the main power core feeds back and explodes, pulverizing the entire asteroid.

The characters can find Waylan leaving the Even-Odds and making his way to the docking bay to reach his ship and escape. He will try to escape from the bounty hunters and may even fire a few blaster shots in their direction to deter them. This can lead to a chase through the elevators and ladders of the stations and possibly a struggle with Waylan along one of the perilously high railings as the station’s energy core begins to crackle and glow dangerously.

Scene Five: Getting Out

When the characters reach their ship and are ready to get away from The Odds, read the following:

Metal, dust and debris fall from the ceiling of the hangar bay as another blast rocks the station. You can see the bay doors stand open, the secondary magnetic field holding in the atmosphere. Through the floating asteroids outside you can see the vast bulk of an Imperial Star Destroyer slowly closing on the station, its massive laser batteries vaporizing small asteroids in its path. A pair of TIE fighters screams in towards The Odds, blasts from their lasers sending another shock wave through the asteroid.

It’s definitely time to get out of here.

It turns out that The Odds is being assaulted by TIE fighters and that the Imperial Star Destroyer Thunder is slowly making its way closer, disintegrating small asteroids in its path. The ship followed the characters here, either through their homing device or from the final reports of the TIE fighters the characters evaded in the asteroid belt, and now Commander Siy intends to deal with Trigash Nor’s smuggling base once and for all.

The characters will have no trouble getting their ship out of the hangar bay. Once they are clear of The Odds, they will have to evade the TIE fighters long enough to get clear of the asteroids and go to lightspeed.

The TIE fighters are under orders to destroy or disable any ships attempting to leave The Odds. At least two or them will break off their attack on the asteroid to pursue the characters’ ship through the asteroids. Once they clear the asteroid field, they will have to avoid the fighters long enough for their nav computer to give them the necessary information to allow them to make the jump to lightspeed.

Shortly after the characters’ ship is clear of The Odds, the asteroid shudders violently and gouts of flames and sparks shoot from the open hangar bays as well as from fissures and cracks that form in the rocky surface. The main power core has detonated. A secondary explosion fragments the asteroid and sends a shockwave through the field, scattering many of the asteroids in random directions (and calling for a Difficult space transports or appropriate piloting roll to avoid them) as well as possibly causing some damage to ship systems if a Complication is rolled.

Some suggestions for choreographing the final chase scene through the asteroids:

• The ship’s pilot will have to make Very Difficult space transports rolls to fly around the asteroids. Sudden changes in course may be required to dodge some of the faster moving chunks of rock.
• Difficult starship shields rolls might be required to ward off some of the smaller chunks of rock as they pelt and batter the ship, not to mention the usual starship shields rolls to protect the ship from incoming laser fire.
• Some suitable complications for the chase could include damage to the characters’ ship during their escape that forces them to repair the damage while evading the Imperial forces. Good systems to go out include sensors, weapons and, of course, the hyperdrive.
• Close-in flying near some of the larger asteroids could be used to evade the TIE fighters if the pilot is especially daring. This would call for some Very Difficult or even Heroic space transports rolls.

Once they achieve lightspeed, the characters are home free. There will be no other pursuit and they can finish this job.

Closing Scene

The characters are able to turn Tar Waylan over for the bounty (if they caught him) or begin investigating if Waylan survived the destruction of The Odds (if they didn’t).

Trigash Nor survives the destruction of The Odds and is not pleased when he learned that the characters survived as well. He suspects them of being Imperial agents involved in the destruction of his pleasure palace and may try and take revenge on the characters at a later date.

Commander Siy from the Thunder may likewise be interested in tracking down the characters at some point, or perhaps even hiring them. Considering how helpful they were in dealing with The Odds.

Adventure Awards

If the characters managed to get Tar Waylan and escape from The Odds with him, they should each get five Character Points. The gamemaster can award an additional two or three Character Points to characters that played especially well during the adventure. The characters also receive the promised bounty for Waylan when they turn him over to the authorities.

If the characters failed to capture Waylan, they earn only three Character Points, plus any bonuses for good roleplaying. Waylan escapes the destruction of The Odds, and the characters may wish to continue hunting him, allowing the gamemaster to create more adventures where they work to track the notorious gambler down.

Major Characters

Tar Waylan

DEXTERITY 3D+2
Blaster 4D+2, dodge 4D+2, melee parry 4D+1
KNOWLEDGE 3D
Business 4D+1, streetwise 5D, value 5D
MECHANICAL 2D+1
Repulsorlift operation 3D
PERCEPTION 4D
Bargain 5D, con 5D+2, forgery 4D+2, gambling 6D, persuasion 4D+2
STRENGTH 2D+2
Brawling 3D
TECHNICAL 2D+1

Force Points: 1
Character Points: 5
Move: 10

Equipment: Expensive clothes, lucky deck of sabbac cards (marked), datapad, 500 credits, blaster pistol (4D)

Capsule: Tar Waylan has made his career by outsmarting other people, swindling and cheating them at different games of chance, whether at the gambling table or in negotiations over goods and services. He has been a gambler, swindler, smuggler and spy on many different occasions.

Waylan is loyal to nobody but himself and his own needs. Most of the people he works with are aware of this and no one trusts the charming gambler very much. Waylan knows very well how to use and manipulate people to his advantage and play both sides against the middle and come out ahead.

Waylan is a human, slightly on the short side, with dark hair and a short, neatly trimmed beard and mustache. This, combined with his dark and darting eyes gives him the appearance of a handsome rouge or a nervous rodent, depending on who you ask.

Trigash Nor

DEXTERITY 2D+2
Brawling parry 3D+2, dodge 3D, melee combat 4D, melee parry 3D+2
KNOWLEDGE 3D
Alien species 3D+1, bureaucracy 3D, business 5D, intimidation 4D, law enforcement 3D+2, streetwise 7D, value 5D+1, willpower 4D
MECHANICAL 2D+2
PERCEPTION 3D
Bargain 5D, command 4D+1, persuasion 3D+2
STRENGTH 5D
Brawling 6D
TECHNICAL 3D

Special Abilities: Tough Hide : Trigash Nor adds 1D to his Strength rolls against damage.
Force Points: 2
Character Points: 10
Move: 10

Equipment: Generally just expensive clothes and some jewelry, but Nor has access to pretty much any standard equipment that he wants and can get more exotic stuff with a little advance notice.

Capsule: A near-human from a heavy gravity world, Trigash Nor began his criminal career as little more than hired muscle. His employers seriously underestimated the big man’s intelligence, cunning and ambition, much to their later regret. Nor used his knowledge of the organization and his own intimidating strength and appearance to allow him to advance quickly through the ranks.

His ruthlessness eventually made him head of his own organization of pirates and smugglers. He invested much of his ill-gotten gains in the creation of his personal asteroid pleasure palace that served as a haven for the kind of criminal scum Nor associated with. The profits from the gambling and other vice operations on The Odds soon nearly equaled the crime lord’s smuggling operation.

Although Trigash Nor has been in a leadership position for many years, he is still quite formidable personally and is not above crushing an enemy with his own hands. In fact, he rather enjoys it from time to time.

Trigash Nor is a giant of a man, about 2.3 meters tall, with a broad, squat build and barrel chest. His skin is pale gray and hairless, save for his bushy eyebrows. His voice is deep and thunderous.

Commander Tobal Siy

DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 4D, brawling parry 4D, dodge 4D+1
KNOWLEDGE 3D
Bureaucracy 4D, intimidation 4D, law enforcement 4D+1, tactics 4D
MECHANICAL 2D+1
Capitol ship piloting 4D+1
PERCEPTION 3D+2
Command 6D, investigation 4D, search 4D
STRENGTH 2D+1
TECHNICAL 3D

Force Points: 1
Character Points: 5
Move: 10

Equipment: Imperial uniform and sidearm blaster pistol (4D)

Capsule: Commander Siy is a typical Imperial Commander: self-assured to the point of arrogance, and loyal to the Empire and his duty, which he carries out with ruthless efficiency.

The commander’s current duty is to eliminate the smugglers who are funneling supplies to the Rebellion. He has tracked their activities to the Noad system and plans to use the characters to provide him with the “hook and bait” he needs to find Trigash Nor’s hideout and deal with the crime lord’s operation.

Tobal Siy is a bit above average in height. He has thinning dark blond hair swept back from a high forehead, a prominent nose and a receding chin. His eyes are ice blue, with a penetrating gaze.

An adventure for the Star Wars roleplaying game

This adventure is designed for a squad of four to six SpecForces characters. The squad is sent on a mission to the inhospitable world of En Sira. The Empire has a small research station on the planet, conducting archaeological research. According to Tora Kel, a rebel spy, the Imperial researchers have discovered something important, something which could threaten the whole Alliance!

Staging Tips

This adventure could be run with characters other than a SpecForces squad. The Alliance is spread very thin across the galaxy and they don’t have the manpower to investigate everything. Other player characters could be asked to go to En Sira, make contact with Tora and find out what the Empire has discovered there. Even bounty hunters or characters only loosely allied with the Alliance could be asked to do the job, although it is far more likely for the Alliance to send someone trustworthy to En Sira.

One of the player characters should know Tora Kel, either from time spent together in the Alliance or before either of them joined the Rebellion. Perhaps there was a romantic relationship, perhaps just friendship. This gives the player characters a reason to like and trust Tora right for the start, and makes her betrayal later in the adventure all the more surprising.

Since many elements of the adventure are unexpected, the gamemaster should take time to note down each character’s Perception, search and sneak values for making secret rolls the players shouldn’t know about. The gamemaster should be careful not to give away the twists in the plot before they happen; the players should start the adventure thinking it is a simple raid on an isolated Imperial outpost, nothing more.

“Raid on En Sira” Quick-start Outline

• Episode One. The squad is assigned to go to En Sira, the location of an Imperial science station. They land their ship a short distance from the station and travel the rest of the way on foot through the hostile terrain. Along the way, they encounter a hostile native life-from.
• Episode Two. The squad arrives at the science station and meets with their contact, a Rebel spy working on the inside. However, their contact leads them into a trap.
• Episode Three. The squad must figure out how to escape from an Imperial cell and discover what is going on inside the station. The Imperials are not acting normally and appear to be under some kind of outside control.
• Episode Four. The player characters discover the station is under the control of an alien artifact. They must overcome the artifact’s power in order to escape. They also have to prevent the powerful artifact from falling into Imperial hands.
• Episode Five. The characters must escape the En Sira system as Imperial reinforcement arrive.

Episode One

The player characters are training or resting at their home base when they are all ordered to report for a mission briefing. They report to the briefing room where their superior, Colonel Harn, is waiting:

Read aloud:

“We’ve just gotten word from one of our infiltration agents about an Imperial research station on En Sira,” Colonel Harn says as he passes a datapad to you. “She reports that the station, which is conducting archeological research, has found something important. They’ve sent word to the Empire and it’s only a matter of days before Imperial forces arrive to collect whatever they’ve discovered. Our agent was unable to provide much information about the exact nature of the discovery but, if the Empire is in such a hurry to collect it, you can be sure it’s something that isn’t good news for the Alliance.

“Your job is to go to En Sira and make contact with our agent, Tora Kel, at the research station. Find out what this discovery is that the Empire is so interested in. If you can, recover it for the Alliance. If it’s too dangerous or you can’t get it out before the Imperial forces arrive, you’re to destroy the find and as much of the station as possible. A ship is being prepped for you in docking bay three. Any questions?”

Any character who checks the datapad or makes an Easy planetary systems roll learns that En Sira is a dead world with an unbreathable atmosphere and very unpleasant weather. The SpecForces rarely send squads to the garden-spots of the galaxy. Some scientists and scholars speculate En Sira may have been home to an alien civilization that died out thousands of years ago.

The datapad contains a map of the research station and the area around it. (((see datapad illo))) The squad is provided with a BR-23 Courier transport to get them to En Sira. With the local atmospheric conditions, the squad should be able to land fairly close to the research station, perhaps a couple of kilometers, with virtually no change of being picked up by Imperial sensors. From the time they arrive on En Sira, the player characters have eight hours to complete their mission before Imperial reinforcements arrive. They will meet their contact at the east-side entrance of the station. She will give them access.

Outfitting

Each squad-member is provided with the following equipment for this mission (see Rules of Engagement for details):

• An oxidizer mask and thinsuit for protection from En Sira’ hostile atmosphere.
• A survival backpack (two weeks rations, three medpacs, two thermal flares, a single-person di-crome shelter, six meters of syntherope in a dispenser, a utility knife, a blaster power pack, and a small high-power generator)
• Light scout armor (Adds +1 to resist damage, +1D to sneak in natural terrain. Includes equipment harness and helmet with macrobinocular visor.)
• A heavy blaster carbine (5D+1 damage)
• Thermal detonator charges to destroy the research station, if necessary.
• Plus one character has an extra oxidizer mask and thinsuit for Tora Kel.

Episode Two

The player characters take the BR-23 Courier to En Sira. When they come out of hyperspace, they must pilot the ship into the planet’s atmosphere and land safely a few kilometers from the station, requiring a Difficult starship piloting roll. A failed roll results in damage to the ship, which must be repaired before it can lift off again. The characters can set the ship’s maintenance droid to work, and hope the ship is repaired sufficiently by the time they return. A failure with a “1” on the Wild Die results in a crash for 3D damage to all of the members of the squad.

Once they’re on the ground, read aloud:

En Sira is definitely not the nicest spot in the galaxy you’ve ever seen. The world outside your ship is a vista of greenish-colored sand that stretches in rolling dunes and ridges against the pink-orange sky as far as the eye can see. That isn’t very far, since the sand is whipped up by powerful wind-storms, making it hard to see more than a few meters at a time. The roaring wind whistles outside, pelting the hull of the ship with sand. Covering the few kilometers to the Imperial research station is definitely not going to be fun.

The squad must make the trip to the research station on foot. En Sira is Moderate terrain. Since vision is very limited, characters must rely on instruments to guide them through the sandstorms and reach the station on time. Along the way, the squad encounters some of the hazards of desert-travel in a hostile atmosphere, along with an unexpected inhabitant of En Sira.

• Characters must make Moderate repair rolls to check their blasters and other electronic equipment and keep the blowing sand for damaging them. A one on the Wild Die may indicate the failure of a piece of equipment at an inopportune time.
• The characters must make an Easy stamina roll for the forced-march through the hazardous terrain.
• Characters may become lost or disoriented in the sandstorm, requiring a Difficult navigation or survival roll to find their way again.

Part-way to the research station, the squad encounters a dune squid, one of the few native lifeforms of En Sira. Dune squids lie in wait, buried beneath the sand, for prey to pass overhead. They burst out of the sand to crush prey with their tentacles. Unless the squad members can make a Very Difficult Perception roll, they are surprised by the dune squid’s initial attack.

Dune Squid. All stats 1D except: sneak 5D, Strength 6D, brawling 6D+2, Move: 1. Natural armor adds +1D to resist damage.

Fortunately, dune squids are virtually immobile, so the squad can run once they escape the grasp of the squid’s tentacles. During the struggle, the squid might grab one or more pieces of equipment and pull them under the sand (blasters, survival packs, and so on). They can only be recovered if the squid is killed or if the squad waits for the dune squid to spit them out once it discovers they’re inedible, which will take at least half an hour, time the squad can’t afford to waste. The squid’s attack might also damage the oxidizer mask or thinsuit of one of the player characters, forcing them to stop and make repairs before continuing on.

Episode Three

Once the squad reaches the outskirts of the research station, read aloud:

After what seems like an eternity of marching through an endless green sandstorm, you are in sight of the Imperial research station, a low, spidery structure of linked domes hugging the sandy ground. Drifts of sand pile around the edges of the domes, barely visible through the storm around you. Small lights vainly try to penetrate the gloom of the sand clouds. One nearest to you begins the blink as you watch, flashing in an on-and-off pattern, then repeating the pattern again. That’s the signal! Your contact is expecting you at the easternmost hatch, so it’s time to move.

Tora Kel sends the pre-arranged signal to let the squad know it is safe to approach, but she is under the control of the alien artifact discovered by the researchers and is actually baiting a trap for the player characters. Have the players make sneak rolls as the squad approaches the station, but do not tell them the results (they’re irrelevant, since they’re expected). There is a tense period of waiting by the hatch, almost totally exposed, read aloud:

The seconds tick by as the wind howls all around you. The station is silent and you wonder how many Imperial sensors could be sweeping the area right now. Suddenly, a dull “thunk” comes from the door and it slides open to reveal a black figure wearing an insect-like oxidizer mask. She waves you inside quickly and touches the controls on the wall to slide the door closed, cutting off the wind and leaving you standing in silence.

The woman activates the airlock, evacuating the hostile outer atmosphere and replacing it with breathable air. She removes her oxidizer mask, revealing a pleasant face surrounded by a tumble of shoulder-length, dark hair.

“Glad you could make it,” she says, all business. “This way.” She touches another panel and the inner door of the airlock slides open. You step out into a broad room that takes up a third of the dome. The airlock hisses closed behind you.

“You won’t believe what we found,” Tora says. She touches another control and most of the wall slides up with a hiss, revealing about a dozen people training blasters at you. Tora turns back towards you, a grim look on her face.

“And I’m afraid we can’t let you tell anyone about it, not until we’re ready.”

The player characters should be caught off-guard by Tora’s sudden betrayal. The appearance of the other station personnel training blasters on them should definitely give them pause. Since they are outnumbered at least two-to-one, the squad may surrender, or they may try to fight their way out. Remind them that only Tora and the other station personnel know the activation codes for the airlock and it will be difficult for them to blast their way out. Also, if they try to run now, they have little chance of completing their mission before the Imperial forces arrive.

If the characters fight, the station personnel will fight back. Their blasters are set on “stun,” since they want to capture the squad alive. If the fight turns against them, the station personnel will retreat back into the station, sealing off the dome the player characters are in and shutting down the life-support systems, forcing the squad to rely on their oxidizers and other gear. They will have to figure their own way into the research station.

If the characters surrender, they stripped of their equipment and placed in an empty storage room with the door locked and two of the station personnel left outside on guard. The station has no real prison facilities, so the squad should be able to escape. Picking the lock is a Difficult security roll. The player characters can also use trickery to try and get the guards to open the door with a Moderate con roll.

The Artifact

The alien artifact uncovered by the research team looks like an eight-pointed star about a half-meter in diameter and eight centimeters thick in the center, tapering to less than a centimeter thick at the points. It is made of some unknown organic material similar to greenish-gray coral, but much, much stronger. The artifact has no recognizable energy signature, but does contain highly complex genetic patterns. Any Force-user in close proximity to the artifact can sense a malign presence from it with an Easy sense roll.

The artifact is intelligent and aware of its surroundings. It has the ability to control anyone who touches it and fails a Heroic Perception roll. All of the individuals controlled by the artifact become part of a group-consciousness directed by the artifact. Its purpose is to spread its control far enough to protect its existence, then begin the agenda of rebuilding the civilization that once existed on En Sira. The artifact’s “memory” contains all of the information needed to do this, although it will require the excavation of other artifacts and sites on the planet.

In addition to its controlled thralls, the artifact has one other powerful tool. It can project an unknown form of energy that causes great pain to living beings. The energy appears as greenish bolts of lightning that lash out of the artifact. It can also channel the energy through one of its thralls. The lightning bolts affect targets like the Force power inflict pain at 8D. The Force power control pain can be used to ignore the pain with a successful control roll against the total of the artifact’s roll.

The artifact’s “personality” is cold, emotionless, and alien. It has no understanding of or compassion for other beings. It’s only drives are to survive and carry out its programming.

Tora Kel

Tora Kel is a scientist, driven by a search for knowledge and wisdom. Her own strong moral sense drove her to join the Rebel Alliance, and her scientific credentials allowed her access to the Empire’s highest scientific circles. She has worked as a spy for the Alliance for years, funneling tidbits of information to them through covert channels, but nothing spectacular, until now. Tora managed to get assigned to the research team on En Sira because of rumors of a lost alien civilization there. For months, the researchers excavated the sands and turned up only tantalizing hints of a lost civilization, but nothing useful to the Empire. Then an excavation droid uncovered the artifact.

Tora knew the artifact was a remnant of some incredibly advanced alien technology. She immediately sent word to her contact to warn the Alliance. Such powerful and unknown technology could not be allowed to fall into the Empire’s hands. Although she did her best to secretly sabotage their efforts, the other researchers sent a message to a nearby Imperial garrison, requesting additional forces to help explore the planet and search for other artifacts.

Normally brave, insightful and strong-willed, Tora fell under the control of the artifact like the other station personnel. Although she struggles against the alien control, she cannot break it on her own.

Tora Kel. Dexterity 2D+2, dodge 3D, Knowledge 3D+2, alien species 5D+1, cultures 4D, languages 4D+1, survival 4D, Mechanical 3D, communications 3D+1, Perception 3D+1, investigation 4D, persuasion 3D+2, search 4D, Strength 2D, Technical 3D, computer programming/repair 3D+2. Character Points: 6. Move: 8. Special Abilities: project green lightning (as inflict pain 8D) while under the control of the Artifact. Hold-out Blaster (3D).

Episode Four

If the player characters manage to escape, either during the initial confrontation or after being locked up, the Artifact will know about it and want them tracked down. If they wait to see what happens after being locked up, Tora eventually comes to see them, along with some other station personnel as guards. In either case, when Tora confronts the squad, read the following aloud:

Tora looks at you with hard eyes, then her face softens and she smiles a bit.

“There’s really no need for any of this,” she says. “You came here to find our discovery, and I can show you. We thought this world once held an ancient alien civilization, and we were right.”

She reaches into the shoulder bag she is carrying and withdraws something that she holds up with both hands. It’s an eight-pointed star cut from some kind of greenish-gray stone, about a half meter in diameter.

“See?” Tora says, “How beautiful it is. Do you want to touch it? No? Well, it wants to touch you.”

The Artifact uses its inflict pain power against all of the player characters to disable them. Green lightning seems to shoot out of the center of the star and pour over the squad. Since the Artifact is using its power against all the characters at once, reduce its die code by 1D per character after the first. This gives the player characters a shot at overcoming the pain and acting before Tora can touch any of them with the Artifact (which she attempts to do on her next action). Any player character touched by the Artifact must make a Heroic Perception roll to avoid being taken over by it.

The squad members may be able to defeat Tora and the station personnel with her, but the Artifact still controls everyone else in the station and will try to use them to escape on board the Imperial ship that is coming, where it can spread its control. The squad has little or no chance of destroying the research station while the Artifact still has people under its control. Their only hope is to break its hold over them somehow.

• A Heroic use of con or persuasion allows Tora to muster the will needed to break the Artifact’s hold on her. The resulting backlash knocks all of the other thralls unconscious. The players should be encouraged to use roleplaying to try and talk Tora out of what she’s doing and make her recognize her duty to them and to the Rebellion (decrease the difficulty of the con or persuasion roll if the characters make a good case).
• A well-placed blaster-bolt might be able to “stun” the Artifact long enough to shake the personnel out of its grip. Treat the Artifact as having a Strength of 6D for purposes of damage, but treat all damage results as “Stun.” The squad does not have weapons powerful enough to seriously damage or destroy the Artifact. A “Stun” result creates a backlash that knocks all of the thralls unconscious.

Once the Artifact’s thralls are dealt with, the squad can use their thermal detonators to destroy the research station. The Artifact will oppose them however it can, but since it cannot move on its own, its abilities are limited to striking the characters with bolts of green lightning to stun them and using any remaining thralls against them. The characters will have a difficult time doing anything more than leaving the Artifact where it is; none of them can touch it without risking being taken over, and the Artifact is capable of striking at them from a distance whenever it wishes. The characters may come up with a means to take the Artifact with them but, more likely, they’ll leave it behind and hope it’s destroyed in the explosion.

Episode Five

When the squad deals with the Artifact and completes its mission, read aloud:

You clear out of the research station just before the explosion. The station domes are outlined for a moment in crackling green lightning, then the whole place goes up in a massive fireball with a loud “WHOOM!”. Bits of flaming debris scatter everywhere before the fires are quickly snuffed by the winds and blowing sand.

You make it to your ship and prepare for take-off, when the instruments report a large object coming out of hyperspace very near to the planet. It’s an Imperial Star Destroyer! It looks like you’re about to have unwanted company real soon now.

The Star Destroyer’s sensors cannot penetrate En Sira’ atmosphere sufficiently to determine the status of the research station, but there is no answer to their hails, so they assume the worst. As the characters’ ship leaves the atmosphere, four TIE fighters are sent to intercept them. The fighters will try to disable their ship at first, but will shoot to kill if fired upon.

The player characters (or Tora Kel) might be able to bluff their way past the TIE fighters and keep them from firing long enough to make the calculations to jump to lightspeed (a Very Difficult con roll). Otherwise, they have to hold off the fighters long enough to make the jump and escape. The Star Destroyer will try to get into position to lock onto the escaping ship with a tractor beam, but it will not attack. The characters have three combat rounds to make their jump before the Destroyer attempts to lock onto them.

BR-23 Courier. Starfighter. Maneuverability 1D, space 5, atmosphere 295; 850 kmh, hull 3D+2, shields 1D+2. Weapons: 2 laser cannons (fire control 1D, damage 4D).

TIE Fighters. Starfighter. Maneuverability 2D, space 10, atmosphere 415; 1200 kmh, hull 2D, shields (none). Weapons: 2 laser cannons (fire control 2D, damage 5D)

Imperial Star Destroyer. Capitol ship. Maneuverability 1D, space 6, hull 7D, shields 3D. Weapons: 60 turbolaser batteries (fire control 4D, damage 5D), 60 ion cannon (fire control 2D+2, damage 3D), 10 tractor beam projectors (fire control 4D, damage 6D)

Sequels

The Artifact could survive the destruction of the research lab. If it is discovered by Imperial troops it may take control of them, or simply allow them to take it to a research lab somewhere else with more suitable thralls. The gamemaster could have the Artifact surface again to trouble the player characters, or could run a different adventure with Imperial SpecForces trying to deal with the threat of the Artifact!

The Artifact could turn out to be just one sample of an alien technology the characters might encounter again. Gamemasters could link it to other adventures, such as the “Darkstryder technology” from the Darkstryder Campaign.

Alternate Endings

If the gamemaster wants a real bang-up ending, damage to the Artifact could cause it to explode with enough force to level the research station, forcing the squad to clear out before the blast goes off.

For an additional twist, Tora Kel could be a willing servant of the Artifact, not under its control. Or perhaps the Artifact is not intelligent at all, it is under Tora’s control! The power of the alien technology has corrupted her and she plans to use it to her own benefit.

Character Rewards

Characters should receive one or two Character Points per episode (depending on roleplaying and how well they carried out their mission).