Session IV: BACTA THE FUTURE

That's Turk.... honest.

Opening crawl

After narrowly escaping a deadly shootout on the streets of Mos Eisley, the group of badly wounded rebels board the Ithorian herd ship Bazaar with a new lease on life.

Much has changed in the galaxy during the two years they spent in the belly of the hellish sarlaac monster, including Hal Brunchkiller, who now thinks he’s some kind of Jedi knight. 

The massive herd rumbles as it prepares to enter hyperspace and leave Tatooine and its twin suns far, far behind...

For good...

For real...

Honest... we really aren’t going back there again...

What? You want to go back?... but there is an ENTIRE FREAKING GALAXY!!! WHY DO WE HAVE TO SPEND SO MUCH TIME ON TATOOINE?

It's like the galactic equivalent of South Dakota... No offense to South Dakotans. 

Oh, who am I kidding? There are no South Dakotans that will ever read this, but that’s my point! Tatooine is the freakin’ sticks! There's New York! There's LA! DC!!!! No, you wanna go back to Bismarck?

Okay, Bismarck is actually North Dakota, but did YOU know that? Did you?

Okay fine, we'll go back to Tatooine eventually. Just not right now. We've got more important things to do. Like find that medical center, and then try to reestablish contact with the Rebel Alliance....

---

Alright so the party arrived on the herd ship Bazaar and the immigration officer asked them what their business was on the ship, looking very suspiciously at them because they were all wearing partially digested imperial gear. 

He addressed Grundle, a fellow Ithorian. Grundle explained that sometimes it was just like that. The immigration officer noticed his uncanny resemblance to Grundle Chanken, as well as the Rodian’s resemblance to Jeegn Ztungels.

Grundle made up a lie about a wild party in an imperial facility that led to them being stranded in the middle of the desert. Then after a few beeps and boops from L1-NK, he remembered he was supposed to give Shal’s name.

The immigration officer waved them through

The entire ship rumbled and began zooming to hyperspace. “Next stop Alderaan System” could be seen on one of the various monitors.

The group discussed with each other what they could possibly want to go to the remains of Alderaan for, but couldn’t think of any obvious reasons.  

Regardless, their priority was finding medical care. They asked the immigration officer where they might get some medical care, and he replied that there is a huge hospital in the upper level of the ship, deep in the jungle. There are also smaller facilities in each village.

They boarded the turbolift for the top level, and ahead of them was a path that forked. They didn’t know which way to go. Grundle looked around and realized there was a sign that had become overgrown with vegetation. He walked over and pulled away at one of the vines to reveal an arrow pointing right and the words “3km”  Everyone else joined in trying to pull vines away and were able to uncover “Isttu village 3km.” But that wasn’t the whole sign. Eventually Hal whipped out his lightsaber and used the force to cut the remaining vines away. The rest of the sign read that the hospital was 5km to the left.

After discussing a bit, they realized that even if they went to the hospital, they would need money to pay for treatment, since they were all broke. They decided that they should probably go to the village and try to take out money from their bank accounts, or if that doesn’t work, they could look for jobs.

They also ditched all their imperial clothing, those in stormtrooper gear wearing simply the inner body glove.

They took the fork to the right...

After walking a bit, a man jumped out of the jungle and ran across the path. A single blaster bolt cut through his body and he grunted in pain, but got up and kept running into the woods. An imperial assassin droid then hovered onto the path from the way he came.

Not exactly what happened, but leaving here for atmosphere.

The party shot at it to try to disable it, while Vero, D’wook and Jeegn went to go check on the wounded man.

After a few hits on the droid it let out an alarm, and Turk told the others it would self-destruct and potentially injure everyone.

He ran one way and everyone else ran the other way and boom, a huge explosion left the path charred, with droid debris everywhere. 

A little bit deeper in the woods Vero and co found the man collapsed on the ground. He was wearing asteroid miner’s clothes. He had been critically wounded and appeared to be dying. Vero attempted to do some rudimentary first aid, but the man protested, saying his time was coming.

“Princess... they found it deep in the asteroids... Kamiroz... find Kamiroz!” he said.

They decided to loot the corpse, Jeegn wore the miner’s outfit, Vero took the wallet and ID and about 250 credits and D’Wook grabbed a flashlight. They joined the rest of the group except Turk.

Turk made his way back to the path and waved his hands in the air shouting at the rest of the group to get their attention. He walked through the scorched ground and found a large piece of assassin droid. As he was walking past it he decided to shoot it, but ended up getting a piece of shrapnel stuck in his leg.

D’wook walked back again and dragged him through the debris, cursing in Ewokese, and getting ash all over Turk’s body glove.

L1-NK produced a medpack from inside his body and Vero treated Turk’s injury allowing him to walk, but with a slight limp.

They decided they should probably get off the main path and make their way to the village by going through the jungle. As they walked they could hear sirens coming from the direction of the path.

As they approached Isttu village an announcement could be heard. “Attention all passengers. Attention. Due to a police investigation, the turbolifts will be temporarily unavailable. Once again, due to a police investigation, the turbolifts will be temporarily unavailable.”

They stepped back onto the path and entered the village. They decided their first order of business would be to go to the bank to make withdrawals.

Turk, Jeegn, Grundle, D’wook and L1 went in, while Vero and Hal waited outside.

Grundle asked to make a withdrawal, but the bank staff told him and his ... “entourage” to leave, holding up his nose in disgust at the way they were so shabbily dressed.

He claimed to be the famous musician Grundle Chanken. The banker looked him up and down, then looked at Jeegn, and said, “Yes, well the resemblance is striking but there’s no way you could possibly be them. Especially because they were supposed to be on tour right now, and aren’t due to play Bazaar for another three months.

Grundle then asked Jeegn to prove it by singing. 

Jeegn stood there for a bit lost in his own thoughts. Oblivious to the situation around him.

“Jeegn?  Jeegn?”

“Oh... what? I want to make a withdrawal.”

“Yes, Jeegn, that’s what we’re trying to do. But they don’t believe we are who we say we are, so can you please sing?”

Jeegn busted out in the most soulful rendition of Sweet Droid O’ Mine, that caused everyone in the bank to turn their head and watch intently.

At the end of the song everyone in the bank stood up and clapped voraciously.

The bank teller looked at Jeegn and Grundle again and said “What the hell,” and asked them to stick their thumbs on the thumb pad, because if they weren’t who they say they were, the system would not allow them to make a withdrawal.

Jeegn went first and saw he had a balance of more than 50,000 credits. He took out 2,000. 

Grundle touched the pad and saw he had a balance of slightly less than 50,000 credits and he took out 2,000. But he also saw the account history and noticed that he had somehow made a withdrawal only a few days ago in a system that he did not recognize.

Turk touched the pad and saw he had a balance of 20,000 credits but also that his account had been suspended due to lack of activity over the past two years.

Just then, the whole bank began shaking as laser bolts began raining down from the roof. The blasts made a hole and six armed thugs descended through the hole on repelling lines.

“You idiot, we were supposed to descend into the safe!” one said.

“Um... this is a stick up! Everyone put your hands in the air and no one will get hurt,” another said.

The thugs waved their weapons around and customers put their hands up, as did Grundle.

Turk immediately fell to the floor and began to clutch at his injured ankle pretending to have been hurt when the robbers were shooting the hole in the ceiling.

Hal, who heard the commotion ignited his lightsaber and ran in through the front door with Vero.

L1 moved over to the thugs, who paid him no mind because he was a droid. L1 punched one of them silly with his boxing glove, knocking him out. Two of the thugs trained their blasters at L1.

D’wook took that as his cue to spring into action. He jumped at one of the thugs, grabbed his head and spun around twice, twisting it off of his body. He held up the head and caught the stream of blood in his mouth.

Grundle tried to whip out his holdout blaster but accidentally pulled the trigger, firing a shot at Hal.

Hal deflected the shot with the lightsaber, but unfortunately not in the direction he intended. It hit D’wook in the arm causing him to fall to the ground, clutching it in pain.

Vero rushed over to D’wook to make sure he was okay. 

Hal used the force to push one of the robbers into another knocking them both out. Bank customers oohed and aahed.

The remaining two bank robbers looked at their decapitated compatriot's head roll by, looked at Hal and his lightsaber, and began firing their weapons randomly as they made a break for the door.
Grundle shot at one from behind, hitting him in the leg and causing him to fall to the ground.

Jeegn thought to himself that none of this concerned him so he stepped over to the door and held it open, hoping the robber would simply go away and be someone else’s problem.

The robber tripped and fell right in front of Jeegn, his blaster sliding through the door opening.

Jeegn, an avid fan of professional wrestling, subdued the man by putting him into an octopus hold.

Just then the police rushed in. Subduing all the surviving robbers. The mayor of Isttu village was with the police, and he commended Jeegn for his heroics, subduing the ringleader as he was trying to make his getaway.

“Ladies and gentlemen and others, this man is a hero! He has single handedly prevented a most vile and evil act, and we are in his debt. I am declaring that on this day, we shall have a banquet in honor of him and his friends at the Merchant Council building.”

Grundle heard some of the Ithorian bank customers talking about the group.

“It’s them! See, there’s the girl, the Jedi, the ferocious furry alien.”

“Hmm, I thought the furry alien was supposed to be taller.”

“Well, you know how people exaggerate. If you were beaten by that small furball, you would say he was seven feet tall too.”

“So that other human must be the smuggler.”

Grundle talked the mayor into allowing the party to use the medical facilities to heal up. After all, they were injured when they stopped the robbery. He agreed and told them to be quick about it. The dinner was in six hours.

Across the street was the medical center and the staff told the group that they would be completely healed if they spent the next four hours in bacta tanks.

Four hours passed and most of the party decided to go shopping, but Grundle and L1 decided to go to the merchant council building to try to find more information about current events and to try to see if they could find any information about Kamiroz.

Inside the building L1 connected to one of the terminals.

Grundle asked him to look up information on Jeegn Ztungels and the Ice Pirates.

The entry came up saying that they had been one of the galaxy’s most successful bands but two years ago, they mysteriously had to cancel five or six tour dates.

They finished the tour and began working on their next album.

When it was released, it bombed, with critics saying that Jeegn’s singing, while good, has seemingly decreased in quality. Diehard fans are also saying that Grundle’s harmonica playing has been rather lackluster of late.

Despite this, they still remain a popular live act, especially when they play their “classic” hits.

Grundle asked L1 to look up information on Kamiroz.

L1 pulled up the passenger manifest, which stated Zaz Kamiroz and Hanos Darr had arrived on Bazaar a few days earlier. They both listed their occupations as “asteroid miner” and indicated that they had reservations to stay at the inn on Isttu lake.

L1 also pulled up a police file stating that Hanos Darr was found unclothed and dead in the upper jungle near the debris of an imperial assassin droid.


They also found some tattered imperial officer’s clothes and the outer shell of stormtrooper armor near one of the turbolifts.

The current status of the investigation was that they were searching for humans who might be undercover imperial agents, and were reviewing immigration logs and security camera footage from over the past week.

The rest of the party wanted to go look for places to buy clothes, and as they were passing the Great Mother River Hotel, they thought it might be a good idea to inquire at the concierge desk. 

They entered, and Turk saw an advertisement saying that Jeegn Ztungels and the Ice Pirates were scheduled to play Bazaar in three months. He asked Jeegn about it and Jeegn, lost in thought, said, that these things happen and he wanted to just go get some new duds. Turk again pointed at the sign and Jeegn, not looking at it, simply said he doesn’t really care about any of that right now.

They asked the concierge where they might be able to go get some clothes, but in a snooty Coruscantian accent he told them they could search around the market tents north of the river with all the other rabble, where they could probably find something they can afford. And told them to leave immediately, turning up his nose.

Jeegn whipped out 500 credits and asked again. “Where can me and my friends go to get some new threads?”

“My friends and I,” the snooty concierge said. But took 100 credits and pointed on a map, directing them to “Clothes for Him” and “Clothes for Her” in two of the tents north of the river.

Jeegn got a bit angry, but the rest of the party decided to make their way to the clothing shops. As they crossed the bridge over the river, some in the party noticed a male twilek sitting alone at a table with female servants hand feeding him.

Vero went to Clothes for Her, and came out wearing a pants suit, paying with Hanos Darr’s money.

As the men entered Clothes for Him they heard a customer talking to the clerk, saying. “No, it wasn’t a star destroyer... It was, you know, one of those older ships... from the clone wars... and then suddenly it disappeared.” 

The group picked out formal clothes for dinner. Turk asked his stylist Hal what he should wear and Hal suggested something with a cumberbund. Turk picked out a powder blue tuxedo with a frilly shirt.

Grundle and L1, having also talked to the rude hotel desk clerk caught up with the rest of the party, bought some clothes, then warned them that they should get rid of the miner’s clothes and all their imperial stuff because they could be charged with killing Hanos Darr.

Turk decided to hide it all in his pants.

As they still had an hour before dinner, they continued shopping for weapons and comlinks and other things.

Hal happened upon an Ithorian craft dealer who sensed the force in him and offered him a lightsaber for 200 credits. Hal lit it up and it was yellow.

At dinner, the mayor introduced the party saying they should be commended for helping Jeegn foil the bank robbery and capturing the group of thugs that they had been searching for for many months.

Jeegn was awarded a medal of honor and he gave a long winded speech talking about all of his compatriots and how they helped him achieve greatness.

Grundle overheard at one table a human male saying to others seated near him, “No, that’s not them, besides even if she were here, she’s not even a real Organa because she was adopted. I’m the last surviving member of the royal household, so by right, it’s all technically mine.”

Grundle approached the man. 

“Okay, so what’s this you’re saying about the princess?”

The man said, “I’m saying she is adopted! She’s not even really from Alderaan. The rest of the royal house died when the planet was destroyed, so that makes me the only living heir.”

Grundle asked who he was, and the man answered that he was Cecil Organa, King of Alderaan.

Grundle said that Alderaan was destroyed, so what could he possibly stand to inherit or claim?

Cecil replied that anything that was in the royal palace is still floating around in the graveyard out there. And legally it’s his.

Turk went to go talk to the rich Twilek trying to impress him somehow by talking about how great he is. D’wook, who was busy being handfed food and petted by pretty female attendees of the banquet sauntered over to Turk and pulled him away.

More conversations could be overheard about Vero being the princess, Hal being the Jedi, D’wook being the furry alien.. And someone said they were not sure about who the smuggler was.

Jeegn quipped. I’m smuggling a third leg in my pants...

D’wook found that to be hilarious.

Dinner ended and the party decided to go look for Kamiroz in the Inn.

They asked the desk staff to call his room, but he didn’t answer.

Several of the party members decided to go check out the room, saying they wanted to write him a note and slip it under the door.

Turk stayed back to make a distraction and try to steal the key.

Vero picked the lock and found the room empty, but there was a blinking light on the room’s comlink, indicating there was a message.

They played the message. It was a spotted Ithorian holding a wrench, saying “Both of your lives are in danger. Come and meet me as soon as you can.”

They returned to the desk just when Turk was about to get the key, and asked about a mechanic with a spotted complexion.

The desk guy said, “Oh, you mean Poliss, yeah the droid repair guy. He was just in here a few weeks ago to fix our maid droids. You can find him north of the river in the droid repair shop.”

The party went to the droid shop and Poliss, thinking Vero was the princess, said “I’m glad you got my message, your highness. Don’t worry, Kamiroz is safe on the lower level of the ship, in the mother jungle. I trust you read all our communications. Kamiroz has all the details, just go find him.

The turbolifts were back online, so they group descended to the lower level and entered the mother jungle. They heard blaster fire and drew closer and saw a femme fatale engaged in mortal combat with another miner. The two were shooting at each other and ducking behind rocks.

After a while the woman jumped up, did a backflip and shot the miner three times in the chest.

Turk, from a distance, shot her in a critical point on her leg, the resulting explosion resulting in an amputation.

The rebels went over to check on the combatants. The woman pulled out two grenades and flicked away the pins with her thumbs.

Hal sliced away her hands with his lightsabers and levitated the grenades with the force repelling them far into the jungle where they exploded.

The woman attempted to shoot a grappling hook attached to her arm at Hal, but missed. D’wook held her arms down. Turk walked by and shot her point blank in the face.

D’wook was very angry.

Vero talked to the wounded man, who said he was Kamiroz. 

“You highness, you’re here! They found the royal palace in the graveyard, and Bail Organa, your father, is still alive! You have to hurry! May the force be with you, and long live the rebellion.”

And with that... Kamiroz breathed his last.