Session VIII: A Crisis on Cloud City

(A few of the players were going to be late, so we did some training.)

Aboard Another Chance, still orbiting Ord Mantell:

Luke showed Hal how to parry blaster shots. Han showed Grundle and Jeegn how to dodge.

Vero and Hal grappled a bit, and he attempted to use the force to get out of a headlock. He ended up levitating them both and then passing out. Luke was able to catch them with his own telekinesis.

Just then Grundle noticed that the Tantive III had taken off from Ord Mantell. Grundle, Jeegn, Hal and Vero ran to the bridge. They told Cecil, who was sitting in the command chair. Cecil ordered them to fire torpedoes. They each took a shot. Several were off the mark, but one of Vero’s exploded just as the Tantive III entered lightspeed... in a direction it didn’t want to go.

Intermission (the rest of the players showed up.)

Turk, Vero, D’wook and Golden wheels repelled down some ropes into the Flutterplume nest.  Jeegn, Grundle, L1 and Hal were holding the ropes. 

L1 lost his grip on the rope holding Turk. Turk fell on his face. 

The four in the nest walked over to one of the eggs and determined they could probably get it into the cargo loader platform if the four of them were to lift it together. 

They did. The loader platform raised back into the Falcon and the four in the ship lifted it and put it safely in the cargo hold. 

The loader platform went down again and the nest team was able to lift the next egg, which caused two more to roll onto the platform. 

The loader rose back into the Falcon and the ship team moved those around, cracking them a bit but still managing to put them in the proper place. 

AI art doesn't quite get it right, but close enough.

Just then D’wook smelled a dreadful scent. A pack of apex predator types was nearby and heading their way.. they smelled … hungry. 

The loader platform moved down again and the nest team loaded a fifth egg. 

The loader went back up and the ship team unloaded the fifth egg. 

Just then a pack of 25 wolf-like creatures howled. The ship team could see them running toward the nest, estimating they would be there in the next 30 seconds. Grundle shouted down to the nest team that they better move quickly or else.

The egg in the nest cracked.  

Vero jumped on the loader. It began to rise. 

The first wolf jumped into the nest and began charging forward toward the egg. 

Turk and D’wook ran to the loader. Turk jumped and held on and D’wook used him as a ladder and then helped him up. 

Golden wheels decided he would try to help out the hatchling, pondering which hand to stick into the egg. Which would be less threatening? He decided on the hand that wasn’t holding the gun. 

The hatchling bit his arm. By now the loader was too far away for him to get away… with or without his new friend. His fate was sealed unless there was a miracle… 

Nobody did anything. 

A… space wizard miracle…

Nobody did anything. 

The voice of Schala Zeal: Come on! Use the force, Hal…

Hal, having learned from Luke that he could lift heavy things if he would concentrate first, decided not to concentrate and instead used telekinesis to throw the lead wolf over the side. 

The remaining 24 wolves were still running toward Golden Wheels and the hatchling. Schala again chimed in. 

Schala: “Dude, concentrate!”

Hal was terrified of the oncoming hoard and was not able to concentrate. He managed to levitate golden wheels back onto the ship, but separating him from his arm. 

The wolves devoured the hatchling, who was many times their size. 

D’wook tossed down a thermal detonator and kaboom…. They all died in a fiery explosion. 

Schala: Hal, you idiot, I told you to concentrate. Concentrate then use telekinesis to get Golden Wheels AND the hatchling back into the ship.

The loader went back into the Falcon. Turk noticed a piece of paneling that had “Gonner Wuz Here!” etched into it, indicating that Solo had been using pieces of the Silverlight as spare parts for the Falcon.

Solo called back to the cargo bay… “Did we get all the eggs?”

Turk: “No!”

Grundle: we got 5. 

Solo: 5 outta 6 ain’t bad. Let’s go! The princess is waiting. 

Session VIII: A Crisis on Cloud City

Two weeks after Another Chance arrived at the Hoth System, the unsung HEROES OF YAVIN were given their first assignment in more than two years. 

Walex Blissex, a scientist who has designed many ships in the Rebel Fleet, has received an urgent call from his friend and colleague Issan Len on Bespin, who claims he has made a huge breakthrough in droid research that will revolutionize the industry. 

After hearing news of the assassination of another scientist on Bespin, Blissex has asked General Rieekan to assign a security detail to join him to retrieve Len before his work falls into the wrong hands…

In the Echo base:

General Rieekan begins briefing the party:

Rieekan: We have reason to believe that the life of Robotics Scientist Dr. Issan Len is in jeopardy. Issan Len set up his lab in Cloud City on Bespin several years ago because his work is of “erhm” questionable legality. Our intelligence indicates that he has created a droid that is rumored to have the ability to control an entire ship or even a battlestation.

You’ll be escorting Len’s colleague Walex Blissex, who has been instrumental in designing warships for the Republic and the Rebellion. 

I’ll turn this over to Dr. Blissex for more details:

Blissex: Dr. Len and his assistant Dr. Vreen were working on the Exo Droid, which not only has the ability to control ships and space stations, it can also instinctually design and repair them. For example, if an Exo Droid had been on the Death Star during the battle of Yavin, it would have figured out a way to close the exhaust port, and then Skywalker, and likely the entire rebellion,  would have failed. 

D’Wook growled, saying that the exhaust port WAS closed. Golden Wheels translated.

Blissex: Please furry one, we have no time for fantasy. We are dealing with reality here.

D’Wook muttered something not translatable under his breath.

Blissex: I’ve received a message from Dr. Len saying that his assistant  Dr. Vreen has gone missing, and now that Dr. Mogra has been killed, we are worried that someone might try to assassinate Len to steal his work on the Exo Droid.

Rieekan: Ztungles and Chanken, we also think your situation could be closely related to this.

Jeegn and Grundle were dozing off...

Rieekan: Special agents Ztungles and Chanken! Wake Up! We think your situation is related to all of this. People matching your descriptions were seen killing Mogra, who was one of two assistants to Len. Your imposters who were touring with your band were arrested for the crime. As you are aware, the Empire has made cloning illegal, and the members of the separatists who have joined the cause of the rebellion have also outlawed it. 

Grundle said they would look into it.

Blissex: Now that you mention it, Mogra had been involved with the clone trooper program back in the days of the Republic. He switched to droids and robotics after it was outlawed. Perhaps he has some kind of connection to this.

Rieekan: Do you have any questions?

Rieekan: Okay, now you are by no means allowed to explain that you have any connection to the rebellion. If you are captured, we will not be able to break you out. Find Dr. Len and escort him back here to Echo Base. Any weapons or equipment or other materials we have here at the base are at your disposal. Mount Up!

Hal made some comments about Waldorf Salad. 

Over in the corner one of those rare Hoth crickets began to chirp.

(Editor’s note: Apparently Bruce Boa, the actor who played General Rieekan was on some British show where he was playing a customer who wanted to eat a Waldorf salad. 

Some of the members of the group had never seen the show so it went way over our heads.)

Wipe to Aboard the Silverlight and approaching Cloud City

(Editor’s note: All West End Games modules start with a script to set the scene. It clearly explains what the objective is, what’s at stake and throws the characters right into the action. I’ve generally not been a fan of this, but during the Pirates of Prexiar adventure from last time, the group spent a good 30 minutes coming up with a plan to get into the pirate compound when the script pretty much spelled out for them how they should do it... with each character given pre-fed lines to say. I really hate that because it takes away their creativity and robs them of time to play as their character. However, I also wanted to give my players a chance to experience this game as written. In fact we could have skipped over the Hoth section completely and just started with this... but the script says nothing about Grundle and Jeegn, so I figured they needed some direction in the Briefing from General Rieekan. So a lot in the script might be kind of redundant.)

Blissex: Remarkable piece of engineering, don’t you think? 

Walex gestures out the viewport of your ship, indicating the majestic and breathtaking Cloud City floating before you. 

Jeegn: It’s nothing compared to what that ExOne Droid prototype is supposed to be capable of. 

Vero: Controlling an entire capital ship or space station? I’ll believe it when I see it. 

Hal: Hey, I’ve heard it can do more than that. Something about being able to actually redesign and rebuild the ship it's piloting. 

Blissex: In theory, that’s what Dr. Len believes it can do, and th at’s why we’re going to meet him. He’d like me to design a ship to specifically house ExOne Droids. But I need only design the basic elements — the ExOne should take it from there, modifying the ship to meet its own specifications. 

Turk: So a ship with one of these Droids plugged into it might learn from its experiences and actually re-construct the ship to adjust to a new environment? 

Blissex: Precisely. Since crews would be minimal, there should be extra room for “reconstruction” machinery and materials. It should work out quite nicely. 

Golden Wheels: Why did Dr. Len ask for protection? 

Grundle: It’s a very powerful machine. If it should fall into the wrong hands ... 

Jeegn: Yeah, think what might have happened if one of these Droids had been commanding the Death Star when our guys attacked it. 

Turk: It probably would have seen right through our plan and found a way to stop us. 

Golden Wheels: You don’t know that for sure. It’s just a bunch of theories and speculations. 

Jeegn: So was the Death Star at one time. 

Hal: Hey, if the Empire gets its hands on this machine there’s no telling what they might do with it. 

Grundle: That’s right. So keep in mind we’re also supposed to look out for this Vreen character — Dr. Len’s assistant. 

Vero: Does he have Imperial connections? 

Blissex: If he does, we have no record of it. All that Dr. Len told me was that he was “acting suspiciously.” But we can’t afford to take any chances. 

Grundle: Speaking of taking chances, I think we’ve got some company. 

Hal: They look like Cloud Car escorts. Why haven’t they hailed us? 

Golden Wheels: I have a bad feeling about this. 

Turk: If they’re onto us, they must be after Dr. Len, too. 

Vero: Great. A nice relaxing visit on Cloud City...

The two cloud cars pulled up on the Silverlight, with Turk piloting and Golden Wheels on the coms. Vero and Jeegn were sitting in the Silverlight’s gun turrets. Vero noticed that it was protocol droids driving the cloud cars. He relayed the information to the cockpit.

Golden Wheels got on the com: This is the Silverlight.

Com: This is Cloud City command here. Do not deviate from your course. Please state your intentions

Golden Wheels: We’d like to land.

Com: Please await the escort craft.

Turk got on the com

Turk: Escort? Aren’t you the escort?

Com: Negative stay where you are and we’ll assign you to a landing platform. Then if necessary we’ll send out an escort to guide you in.

Turk: What about the cloud cars you’ve sent to us?

Com: Negative, we’ve sent no escort yet.

The cloud cars began shooting at the Silverlight.

Vero fired at one, causing it to spin off course, but it maintained pursuit.

Another flew directly behind the Silverlight and Hal concentrated and used telekenesis to move it just as it was firing. It ended up firing at the other cloud car, causing it to explode into pieces.

Jeegn fired at the other cloud car and missed.

Hal concentrated and used the force again, causing the cloud car to spin out of control. Vero hit it in the right spot and it also exploded.

Turk on the coms: You should probably look for some wreckage. Two of your guys just attacked us.

Com: What? We sent no escort. And ... you want us to dive into the gas giant to look for wreckage.

Turk: Well... um...

Com: Nevermind that now. You are granted permission to land at platform 643. Do not deviate from your approaching flightpath.

This is what it looks like in the movie

Turk put the ship down on platform 643. It looked almost identical to the platform that the Millenium Falcon landed on in the Empire Strikes Back. 

This is what the game provided. It works, but looks a bit silly.

He opened the exit ramp and the party stepped outside the ship along with Blissex. As soon as the last of the crew were off the ship, they were immediately fired on by a security droid that had been waiting for them on a tower opposite the platform. The droid barely missed a killing shot to Blissex’s head.

Analyzing the situation, Vero determined that it would be best to climb down a ladder to platform 566, because Platform 643 and the ship would serve as cover from the droid. 

Hal activated his lightsaber and told everyone to go down the ladder and he would repel and blaster shots from the droid.

D’Wook asked L1 to release his grappling hook so that he could fasten it to something, since L1 would not be able to climb down the ladder.

The droid activated its rocketpack and moved toward platform 643. It attempted to land on Hal to try to crush him to death. Hal moved out of the way as best he could, but it landed on his foot.

D’Wook sprung into action and his vibro spear relieved the droid of the foot that had Hal pinned down.

The droid tossed a grenade down the ladder. L1, who had already repelled to platform 566, attempted to knock it out of the way, but it bounced off his head and upward, between Vero and Grundle, who were clinging to the ladder.

Golden Wheels decided to shoot the grenade.

KABOOM!

Everyone was able to hold on except Vero and Grundle who fell down to the platform below, were motionless, and their red and turquoise blood began mixing into a beautiful shade of almost purple.

Blissex began running for the tower, followed by Turk. Turk called out to Blissex, telling him to “Watch THIS!”

D’Wook, very angrily thrust his vibro spear into the security droid’s other leg, and that caused it to fall over in a strange way so that the spear, as it continued to be thrust in, hit every vital component, including the battery, which was designed so that it would never under any circumstances explode, unless a vibro spear operating at a very specific frequency were to strike it in just the right way. 

KABOOM! The entire security droid exploded!

(Editor’s note: D’Wook’s player exploded 6 or 7 times in damage, totalling 56. Vibrospears do strength +3D. Under normal circumstances, that is 6D total for D’Wook, an average of 21. D’Wook’s player later asked what kind of weapon typically does 56 damage. If we consider 56 to be the average damage, then it means one is rolling 16 damage dice. It’s hard to really imagine what kind of weapon can do 16D of damage unless you consider scale.  In this game, weapons designed to take out big things will do much more damage on smaller things. A speeder weapon will do 2D extra damage on a character scale target. walkers are +4D, starfighters are +6D. It isn’t until we get to capital ship scale that we can approach 16D. A weapon designed to take out a star destroyer that does 4D of damage (perhaps a turbolaser or an ion cannon shot) would do around 16D of damage to something on a character scale.)

Blissex ran into the tower. Turk, not realizing the threat was neutralized, began trying to climb the tower.

(Editor’s note: this one is kind of on me. I didn’t quite describe the tower in detail. Turk’s player had assumed that these were small utilities towers like for electricity or cellular services, and they could be climbed to get a better vantage point. I had used the word tower to mean a large skyscraper like building, like the kind we see in cloud city. I told him he could get to the top of the tower if he took the elevator and waited about 10 minutes.)

Blissex looked at Turk oddly and asked him what he was doing.

Turk: Oh. uh.. I thought this building was a lot smaller that it actually is.

Jeegn attended to Vero and Grundle, using medpacs on both. They stopped bleeding out and regained consciousness a few minutes later... very groggy.

Blissex led the party inside the building and they made their way to Dr. Len’s lab.

Dissolve

The doors to Dr. Len’s lab opened to reveal a waiting room with huge computers lining the walls. The door to the inner lab was closed and Len was talking to the party on a holoprojector in a manner similar to FaceTime

Len: Welcome Walex my friend! Good to see you too Lira... funny you look stronger than I remember.

Blissex: That’s not Lira, it’s Vero, Issan, but it’s great to see you. Anyway I need you to follow us.

Len: (not listening) I see, you’ve met my “assistants.” Funny, I haven’t seen them for about two weeks. Anyway I have to show you something!

Blissex: Issan, we have to get you and the Exo droid off planet.

Len: The Exo droid? I haven’t been working on that for quite some time now. No, this is something else entirely different! I’ve got to show you! This is truly amazing! It’s the breakthrough we’ve always dreamed of! It will only take a few seconds, but this demonstration will blow you away!

Blissex: Well, okay then. But after this is done we need to discuss the Exo droid.

Len: Alright, I’ll start the demonstration. Now... Now where are my droids? I sent them on an errand a few hours ago and they must have gotten lost. Would your two droids be willing to assist me?

Len instructed L1 and Golden Wheels to connect to the computer. D’Wook had his reservations and made it known to the rest of the group that he didn’t trust Len. But Blissex assured him it would be okay.

Len: Alright, now, clone assistants. Step into the pods!

No one moved.

Ithorian clone! Rodian clone! Step into the pods.

Grundle: Oh right.. I guess that’s us. We’re clones?

Jeegn: Are we? How are we sure we aren’t the real deal?

Len: Oh right... you must be finished products. Funny, I wonder why you’re still here then, we should have shipped you out. Anyway I can do this demonstration with the default. It’s just that people know these are obviously clones by now.  Troopers step into the pods!

A child clone and an adolescent clone of Jango Fett stepped through the inner doorway into the waiting room and they got into position.

Fett Clones: Yes sir, General sir! We are in position sir.

Len: (flippantly) Yes, yes, long live the Republic and all that! Now hold onto your butts! 

Len threw the switch and the waiting room went dark and then became illuminated again.

From the droids’ point of view they saw a very bright light. Their vantage point followed that light and they were looking through someone else’s eyes, and they were looking at their droid bodies.

Len: Droids! Step Forward.

CT-12-0315 (Golden Wheels) and CT-16-0215 (L1-NK) stepped forward off the pods. 

(from this point, I’ll refer to the clones as Golden Wheels and L1, rather than their clone serial numbers)

The L1 clone punched the Golden Wheels droid, and the head spun around and around and made a rattling noise.

The Golden Wheels clone punched the L1 droid and his hand hurt... a lot.  

Len: Examine them if you want to. These are YOUR droids, my friends... but with organic brains and bodies! 

Turk wanted to know what happens to the minds of the clones when this occurs.

Len: Minds? What minds. These are Fett clones. Who cares? They are merely programmed to be obedient. 

He explained that the effect is reversible. But this is the breakthrough they have been dreaming of.

Grundle and Jeegn wanted answers, and Len explained that as finished products they should have already been shipped out to the recording studio, so they can continue to tourb 

He said that he and Mogra had been cloning Jeegn and Grundle secretly for cash so that they could fund the Exo droid project.

The group informed him that Mogra was dead, he was killed by Jeegn and Grundle clones on Cloud City and the other set of Jeegn and Grundle clones were arrested for the murder on stage, likely ruining Jeegn and Grundle’s careers.

Len was surprised that Mogra was dead. And he wondered why new clones of Jeegn and Grundle would be made if their concert days were over.. Unless.. They were the genuine article... 

Len: “But I thought you guys were dead. Your company said you’d gone missing for several months, then they approached Dr. Morgan and myself to get replacements.”

Grundle: Well we’re not dead. 

Len: This is concerning. Let me put your droids back in their bodies and then we’ll be on our way.

The clones stepped back on the pod and the waiting room went dark. Two blaster shots could be heard coming from the lab.

The light turned on again and the droids were still in their clone bodies.

Len’s hologram was no longer in the room with them. 

Vero hacked open the lab door. 

The lab was a large open space with tools lining the walls, a large operating table and various computer terminals strewn about. 

Dr. Len was lying face down on the floor. 

Grundle went to check on him. He had blaster wounds and was not breathing and had no pulse. Len was dead. 

The party began looking for any and all exits to find the killer but the way in was the only way out. 

D’wook returned to the waiting room and switched on the droids. They made no sounds but started moving toward the exit. He turned them off. 

Everyone began looking inside closets and under desks, inside vents, cautiously looking for the killer. 

Hal used life detection to try to find anyone who they didn’t come into the room with. 

He found two life forms! They were very close by!

Centered on …. the Fett clones. Still no sign of the killer. 

Vero checked the piles of droid parts and found a a complete protocol droid buried under the largest pile. 

She switched it on. 

Droid: Oh! Hello. I am F-3P0, human cyborg relations. Oh my… who are you people? What is this place?

Vero: We were hoping you could tell us that F-3P0.  What do you remember?

F-3P0: hmm well I was in the reception area at Bioniip Labs. Hmm something doesn’t quite add up. I am having trouble accessing some of my memories. 

Vero took a shot at digging around the memory banks. 

F-3P0: ah yes. I remember now. Oh no. It’s too dreadful! Black tentacles! They’re reaching out to me! Shut me off! Shut me down! Noooooo!

F-3P0’s eyes dimmed. 

Vero tried turning him on again.  

F-3P0: Oh noooooo!

His eyes dimmed again. 

Turk went rummaging though the pile of droid parts again and felt the warm barrel of a blaster. It had been fired recently. 

He picked it up. 

Just then the sound of jackboots could be heard coming from just outside the lab. 

15 blue-clad wing guards stormed in aiming their blasters at everyone and demanding they put their hands up. 

Lobot gave a salute and then Lando waltzed in looking so cool. 

Lando looked at the body of Len, and then at Turk, who was still holding the blaster. 

“I hope you’ve got a very good explanation for this!” he said with a chuckle. 

To be continued.