Category Archives: Genesys

Marlowe's Menagerie

Session 3 – The Pendulum Heist

Celestiah researches and finds out more about the Star’s Return Blades. The master who made them was Lyra Stellarum. He collaborated with an astromancer from the Etherian Academy. The noble who commissioned them was Lord Deverus. This was meant to protect his daughter from the Shadowtech Consortium. They were trying to recruit her for her natural talents in celestial magic. Lyra forged the blades under a meteor shower. The astromancer then built the blades under 3 different celestial events so they are bound to the cycles of the stars.

Lupin greases some palms and finds out some information from Xavier Copperhand, a halfling. He says that the security is extremely tight. At the Rusty Nail Tavern, after the fourth ale he says that the wards flicker momentarily when the sound changes. Prof. Helena Vale carries the key to the wards. The champaign toast at 8:30 is a good time to strike; most of the guards will be in the main hall during this time. The exhibit runs until 11pm.

Gordon goes to the Dwarves’ Guild and talks with his people. Unfortunately he doesn’t find anything.

Felric goes to the city archives and finds the building’s blueprints. The 7 main areas are the Grand Foyer, the Central Atrium (with glass dome), East Wing (pendulum is here), West Wing (manuscripts archive), North Gallery, South Gallery, and Staff Corridors. There doesn’t seem to be any sort of a second exit but we could look into the sewer layout. He tries to look into the main city’s drainage system but is not successful.

Korgrath snatches a servant and finds out that the servants will be freshening the flowers at 5:30. The shift changes every 30 minutes.

We aren’t sure that we have a plan, but we will try our best. We head to the event right on time. There are many academics here in fashionable attire, and aspiring students.

Lupin recognizes Orla Brightgear, she has a shop with precious instruments. He chats her up and she says she’s interested in the device but doesn’t know much about it. She says that the hostess was here earlier but she hasn’t seen her in a bit.

When we go by the pendulum, it creates a sense of calm here. We notice that we are feeling others’ emotions and also their thoughts. Celestiah assenses the item and the wards. She thinks that she would be able to remove them with her abilities. She sets up an illusion that makes the room look like everything is normal at the threshold of the door. She then removes the ward from around the main pedestal, and then puts a sack over the device.

Korgrath and Gordon start a brawl and draw the attention of the four guards. One of them runs out to get more help. Felric tries to stop him but fails. The dwarf and ork try to leave through the servant’s wing.

Celestiah and Lupin hoof it out of there.

Marlowe's Menagerie

Session 2 – The Harmonic Pendulum

Lupin purchases a sword cane for defense.

Felric purchases a set of knives called “The Stars Return Blades.” These were made by a weaponsmith who worked with an astromancer to create the weapons. I’ve heard rumors that the blades dissolve into light after thrown and then rematerialize in their case. Felric negotiates and brings the price down to 60 from the original 70.

Gordon the Dwarf looks for a handaxe that will help him as a healer. He considers a couple of options and settles on the Life Mender’s Hatchet, which leeches the life force from a downed foe and captures the energy as a healing spell for later. Gordon negotiates as well and pays 110 gold.

We head back to the Menagerie and speak the password “teapot” again. Celestiah shows Marlowe the item and he is able to see through the illusion. He inspects it and is extremely pleased. Celestiah asks Marlowe what he intends to do with it, and he says that it is one of the most powerful and useful magical items in existence, and that he would never sell it; it will be kept here so it is safe and can be used for our adventures.

Marlowe goes to the register and gets us the rest of our money — 600 gold each!

We see several more curious things in the room. One is a “temporal stabilizer”. There is also a clockwork songbird, musical mechanical flowers, focusing lenses, and a consciousness vessel. We see some blueprints that say “experimental device” and it looks like he was working on something to do with memory capture. He explains that the sphere it’s a consciousness vessel that can hold parts of personality for preservation. He shows us a crystal that can capture more of a mind and preserve it.

Felric asks him why this is important to him. He says it’s his life work. He gets more serious and asks if we’ve ever lost someone. Lupin says yes. He says that he lost his sister Evelyn, and it’s her song that is playing on one of the other devices. He wants to bring her consciousness back, as a final end goal.

He goes to a spider-looking device with a crystal on it. He activates it a holographic map appears. The Thaumaturgical Society event tonight is hosting an item called the “Harmonic Pendulum” that can help to hold consciousness patterns. He says that he has tickets for us, and our job is to retrieve this item. The pendulum will be in the east wing under moderate guard. He gives us a small bag of mechanical scarabs that could provide a distraction for us.

The pendulum is encased in a hexagonal crystal display. It is brass and silver alloy and emits a humming sound that changes pitch every 3 minutes. The exhibit will close tomorrow, so this is time sensitive. He gives us 250 gold each as a down payment, and says that we can choose an “uncommon” item from his collection once the pendulum has been collected.

We decide to go to Lupin’s haberdasher, Madame Lillian’s Emporium. Marlowe says that he has arranged for reasonable pricing for us. After we get fancy clothing that would fit in during the event, we head back to our homes and get to sleep for the night.

Marlowe's Menagerie

Session 1 – The Chronologist

We sit down, and suddenly Gordon knocks over a small item. It crashes to the floor and a strange liquid splashes everywhere. In an instant, we are outside and about to knock on the door again. All of us remember being inside, but it appears that time has rewound somehow. Celestiah probes the magic with her senses and it seems that this was a charm that was imbued with magical power and made us believe through an illusion that we were actually inside.

Felric, instead of knocking, speaks the password “teapot” as we were previously instructed. The door slides open of its own accord. Inside it’s dark and noticeably more sparse than what we just saw. Venturing inside, we hear someone shuffling down the stairs. It is the same man, but he looks older and less glamorous.

He says “Let’s have tea for real this time.” We do introductions and he offers us 4500 gold with 1500 up front (300 apiece) for retrieval of the first magical item that he wants us to find. Then, a percentage of the sale price of the items.

We need to seek out the Chronologist to find the item. He has an item called a Chronometric Resonator that could help us. He is in the Shadow District, in the Shifting Market part of the city. The way we find him is using an item that the man hands us. It looks like a pocket watch with 3 hands, gold, silver and copper. They all spin at different speeds, but when we’re close to the Chronologist, they will all come together and point toward him. The marketplace randomly appears in one of the districts of the city, during the 3 nights of the New Moon. Day 1 is actually today, and it will be in the Shadow District.

The item we’re looking for is a compass, but rather than pointing north, it points toward important things. This will help us to find other items that have magical potential.

He gives us all contracts to sign. We look them over and find that there are several binding runes and hidden sections that can only be seen if the paper is held up at an angle. One says that we are bound by the agreement across timelines. Celestiah negotiates with him about several of the items. He takes a moment but then he agrees, and the contracts are magically changed. We sign and take a moment to enjoy drinks before we leave.

It is about a 30 minute walk to the market from here. When we arrive, the street doesn’t look any different than normal, but as we enter we see that the market is made up of many spheres — cobblestones, or sand, or grass. Each of them is from a different area of the world and each is easily accessible to us. The market is very active with many people buying and selling.

We ask some of the merchants where the Chronologist may be, but they seem to either not hear us or get distracted with another customer rather than answering us. Celestiah uses her “Star Sight” to find out where we will need to be to find them. Apparently in 17 minutes, when a star aligns with the spire of a building, the Chronologist will be revealed.

We wait for the appointed time, and the nearby clocks all align as reality seems to twist. The compass hands all point toward the door. Passersby go around this space and don’t seem to know it exists. A door appears. Celestiah checks it magically to see if it is dangerous. She gets a bad headache but apparently it’s not a threat. We go in and see a strange room with impossible geometry and shelves lined with many items. We see on a throne a young boy with white hair and clock faces in his teeth.

Felric helps Celestiah up and walks her into the room. He feels a strange catlike kinship as he gets near to her. Peering into her magical amulet, he sees an avatar of a cat.

The boy remarks “Ah, Marlowe’s associates. And on time, this time!” Maximillian asks him if he can help us. He responds cryptically saying that we need to help him deal with Helena Vale first. Suddenly a woman comes into the room. She has jet black hair with a streak of copper in it. She is nearly 6 feet tall and in her early 40s. She has a stiff posture and looks almost militaristic. We see others who dressed like her come in as well, in total there are 2 men and 2 women.

Lupin introduces himself to the woman. She responds with her name and says that she is with the Thaumaturgical Society. He says that we are here looking for a “Time Turner” that will allow a person to go back and fix one mistake. She finds this interesting, but will not reveal what her group is looking for at first. He charms her a bit and she mentions that they are trying to find a compass.

Celestiah looks around the room for the compass and, using her magical ability, she’s able to find a small box. The Chronomancer looks up with surprise and mutters “An astromancer with star-sight, fascinating.” He gestures and the box floats over to the counter. He calls it the Chronometric Compass, crafted by Captain Elias Timewell during the convergence of the spheres when the barriers between universes were at their thinnest. It has rings on the outside with a shining crystal inside. It has runes that shift when not observed.

Lupin introduces the woman to Felric and says that he is an expert who may be able to help her find the compass. Felric bluffs and starts helping her, though in truth he has no idea what he’s talking about.

Celestiah asks the Chronomancer what he would trade for something like this. He says that he deals in memories. She suggests a memory of when she was much younger living in the forest, gazing at the stars with her best friend. He accepts the trade. After the purchase, Celestiah enchants the box so anyone looking at it will see a sextant rather than a compass.

We exit the building and as we do, the place ceases to exist. No time has passed since we entered.

Lupin looks for a magical cane for himself.

Marlowe's Menagerie

Session 0 – The Curious Case of Marlowe’s Menagerie

(aka Women’s Linens)

A peculiar invitation arrives, penned in flowing script that occasionally sparkles with traces of arcane residue:

Dearest Potential Associates,

Perhaps you’ve noticed the recent changes at 73 Silversmith’s Row in the Merchant’s Quarter—the old Blackhaven Trading Post has shed its decades of dust and cobwebs. The creaking sign that once announced “CLOSED INDEFINITELY” has been replaced with a gleaming brass placard reading “Marlowe’s Menagerie: Curios, Curiosities, & Commodities Most Peculiar.”

I, Thaddeus Marlowe, formerly of the Collegiate Arcanum’s Department of Paranatural Procurement (and yes, that rather dramatic departure involving the Dean’s prized singing crystal was greatly exaggerated), have invested my life’s savings in this establishment. The previous owner, poor old Maurice Blackhaven, disappeared under rather mysterious circumstances involving a cursed music box and what witnesses describe as “an unfortunate incident with time itself.” The Merchant’s Guild assured me that after seven years, the property rights default to new ownership, and any temporal anomalies are strictly the previous owner’s responsibility.

But I digress! The shop itself is a marvel—three stories of aged oak and weathered stone, with windows that seem to peek into impossible angles and a cellar that, I’m quite certain, occasionally rearranges itself. The previous inventory is… well, let’s call it “eclectic.” Thus far I’ve catalogued:

  • Seventeen empty bottles labeled “Bottled Starlight (DO NOT OPEN INDOORS)”
  • One seemingly ordinary sock that keeps trying to hop back to its original owner
  • A collection of maps to places that may or may not exist yet
  • And a rather insistent cheese wheel that whispers stock market advice

While fascinating, these curiosities alone won’t sustain a proper business. This is where you come in, my enterprising friends. I require individuals of particular talent and discretion who can help me acquire inventory of a more… specialized nature. The Merchant’s Quarter is experiencing unprecedented growth, and the nobility’s appetite for the exotic and arcane has never been greater.

I offer generous commission rates, access to my network of collectors, and the protection of my various licenses and permits (most of which are even legitimate). More importantly, I offer adventure—the chance to seek out the extraordinary and bring it back to eager customers who possess more gold than common sense.

If interested, please present yourself at the shop’s rear entrance tomorrow at sunset. Knock thrice, wait for the door to finish its riddle (the answer is always “teapot,” regardless of the question), and enter prepared for a discussion of terms. Do mind the umbrella stand—it’s not actually an umbrella stand, and we’re still not entirely sure what it is.

With Anticipation,
Thaddeus Marlowe
Proprietor, Procurer, & Occasional Problem-Solver

P.S. If you happen to encounter a sock hopping down Guild Street, do be a dear and catch it. Its original owner has been quite persistent about a reunion.

—

Local rumors whispered in taverns and alleyways:

“That Marlowe fellow? Odd sort, but honest enough. Saw him talk down an angry ghost with nothing but a tea service and some compliments about its hat.”

“The shop’s got a reputation. Old Blackhaven was collecting things that shouldn’t exist. Some say the whole building’s like a puzzle box, with rooms that only appear on certain days of the week.”

“My cousin’s friend swears she saw Marlowe haggling with a dragon over the price of its shed scales. Used a pie chart and everything. The dragon apparently found his accounting methods quite persuasive.”

The strange note is received by the five of us. We are:

  • Celestiah Elunthiel, a High Elf Wizard
  • Korgrath, an Ork Fighter
  • Felric Ashfur, a Catfolk Scholar
  • Maximillian Lupin, a Human Thief
  • Gordon, a Dwarvish Healer

After receiving our cryptic invitations, which were addressed to each of us personally, we all gather at the appointed time at Marlowe’s shop.

This is the city of Vale’s End. It is a huge city, and we are in the bustling merchant’s corner, on Silversmith Row. There is a rich artifact trade here. It is twilight and the lanterns are glowing. There are strong scents of ozone, coffee and embers.

In the past there were 3 magical disasters here, so magic is restricted. The most recent one was the Brass Plague, which nearly destroyed the infrastructure of the city.

The future party members pleasantly exchange names. Most are just here for a job, but Celestiah and Felric seem to be here for arcane knowledge of some kind. Maximillian says that he wishes to employ his “particular skills” with this job. We are left to guess what that may mean.

Marlowe’s building is made of wood and stone, and the windows are in odd places. Felric notices that they shift when not observed. There is a humming sound within and frequent dlashes of light. There are enchantments and barriers throughout, which Celestiah senses keenly. We know nothing of the owner except what he related in his letter.

The door opens and a man with a false eye answers. The eye is mechanical and it quickly scans us all. He breaks into a friendly smile and welcomes us in.

There is tea set out for us. We sit down and partake, ready to hear what our potential employer has to say.

Star Wars EOE

Session 4 – The Wheel

As Kuma, Zach and Quentin get back to the ship, they consult with Ten and decide that the three will go and meet up with the Twi’lek to make sure that the droid is transferred to our ship safely.

They head through the corridors of the Wheel and suddenly see ahead of them some dead mercenaries and behind them a group of Rodians who have the droid we were expecting on a grav sled and are speeding away with it through the center of the space station and through crowds of people.

Zach takes shots with both of his pistols and takes out the driver of the sled, and it grinds to a halt, seemingly broken. The Rodians grab the droid and try to drag it away. Kuma sees the leader and yells at him to stop, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect.

The Rodians fire back and disable Zach’s arm, and then Quentin’s leg. We grab the droid and bring it back to the ship. Over the loudspeakers we hear MasterCom, the station security, telling everyone to stop and surrender themselves. The Rodians do no such thing and neither do we.

In the meantime, Ten Je has found a strange device interfering with the ship’s long-range sensors. He is in the process of removing it when the others come back. Kuma yells to him asking why he is doing that now, but doesn’t elaborate on their situation.

The droid is stowed in the hold along with Zach, then Kuma coms Ten Je and lets him know that they were caught in a firefight and that we need to leave. He lets Kuma know about the strange device and it’s agreed that we get it off the ship before we go.

Kuma goes to the cockpit and mans the sensors, and Quentin goes down to the engine room. At that time we realize that Zach did in fact murder someone, so station security will be their way. Before we can take any action, the security arrives and demand that we come with them.

Kuma gives an impassioned speech about how they work for IsoTech and the Yiyar clan had stolen our property and shot our employees, but they seem unmoved. They ask us to come with them. Kuma coms Ten Je and lets him know what is happening. Ten Je preps to take the ship out of the station so he can defend it better.

The rest of us contemplate how we can get out of this, perhaps by contacting Reom and getting IsoTech (or a third party) to help.

Star Wars EOE

Session 3 – The Wheel

We come out of hyperspace and see the Wheel. It is a large spoked space station. It is considered a neutral space station, and there is no Imperial presence which makes it attractive to people who want to do business and not be tracked. It also has several popular casinos.

We get a docking berth for our larger ship and pack up to begin boarding. Viddako and Zach stay with the ship, and the rest of us go onto the station to have a meeting with the cybertech firm. A dock manager greets us and asks if we need any repairs, we don’t have any cash right now so we say that we’ll contact them later. The docking fee is 150 credits which we’ll also have to figure out how to pay.

We make our way to IsoTech which is on the cargo ring. A protocol droid named CZ-13 asks us to give our identities. The doors lock and Kuma is a bit spooked. After about 10 minutes a Twi-lek man comes out and addresses us. He says he is the president of IsoTech and his name is Reome. We follow him and see all of the projects they are working on in their shop. He takes us to a conference room with chairs. Ten says that he wants the payment in hard currency and to include docking fees and fuel costs. The man agrees.

He offers us future jobs if this one goes well, especially for salvaging operations. We speak for a few minutes. The droid comes in and gives us the payment. There are some Imperial credits and some are from CorSec, and some from Hutt currency. It is 5300 credits total.

They work in replacement limbs, eyes and other things to replace human parts. They also do droid parts but doesn’t say much about that. Quentin asks about medical supplies and he points us to the place that he normally uses.

We comm the ship and let them know they will be picking up the delivery. They do the transfer and Zach goes along with them. Quentin goes to look around for the med supplies and also tries to find a buyer for the gundark pups.

The exchange is completed and we get paid. Ten Je wants to take 20% off the top for the ship repairs and upgrades.

The population of the wheel is mostly human. The station is controlled by an AI called MasterCom that controls most of everything.

Quentin does a tour of the promenade and has found a couple of interesting shops, but no one who can deal with the gundarks. He found a clothing shop, a droid repair and sale shop, and the Farlander Outfitters that have general merchandise and they are also a pawn shop. He also saw casinos and Hal’s which does ship parts.

Quentin tries to assess the damage on the shop with Ten Je’s help. It looks like we can fix the ship ourselves with about 4 hours of work.

Ten Je gives each of us 848 credits as our cut. He and Quentin stay with the ship to begin repairs and the others go out to get supplies. We first stop to get a drink at the Blasted Asteroid and talk with the bartender. We also talk with a man from Corellia who may have a lead on where to sell our gundark pups.

We head over to Farlander Outfitters and Viddako buys the medical supplies.

Next we go to the TapCaf and see that they have Alderaanian cuisine. Kuma picks up the tab and sends food over to Quentin and Ten Je. We overhear some people talking about the Sah Dalohar. Kumah remembers that the Sah Dalohar was a fabled treasure supply ship with tons of separatist credits. It was heavily damaged and lost into space. Treasure hunters theorize that it has gone missing in this region of space so many have been looking for it.

Zach purchases his blaster and we head back to the ship. The repairs are complete and we get cleaned up and then go to dinner with Reome.

Reom wastes no time and asks us if we’ve heard of the Sah Dalohar. The pod that we recovered was from the ship and has its last known location in it. He says that he will hire us to find it for him for 10,000 credits. We ask for more and he agrees to do 12,000 with 10% up front. He then gets a menacing look and threatens to hunt us down if we betray him. He has apparently found out interesting things about our pasts and will leak the information to interested parties (meaning the Empire, naturally). He says that a droid will come with us that will allow us to access the ship. Ten bristles and doesn’t want to allow a droid to come on our ship, but Reome says that their people haven’t been able to extract the data from the droid for fear that it would self destruct.

Reom tells us that the existence of the pod has leaked and this is why he has increased security here. There are several other groups that are looking for the ship and we may have opposition. Also the Empire is still looking for it. He gives us a datachip of plans of the ship, data on the captain of the ship and how to find the Raxus Prime facility where we can deliver any cargo that we find. We bid him farewell and head back to the ship.

As we’re leaving a Rodian runs away from the door, obviously having spied on our conversation with Reom. Ten chases him and Kuma calls security, but they are slow to respond. Ten loses him after a while unfortunately.

We head back to the ship and Kuma searches for the insignia on the holonet and finds that it is for Yiyar Clan Salvage, a rival company to IsoTech and in the past they’ve been fighting over salvage sometimes with combat. They are also housed on the Wheel and are mostly Rodians. After the computer search, Kuma heads to the bacta tanks to get his wounds healed.

Ten tries to shop for someone who might want the gundark pups, and doesn’t find anyone, but gets a good contact in a Nautolan ship equipment dealer. He also feels like he is being watched. He finds out that the Yiyar clan is looking to take out one of the IsoTech satellites.

Early in the morning a comm comes through from IsoTech. Reom shows up as a hologram and he is bandaged. He says that the Yiyar clan broke into their offices and found out about the droid. Ten tells him about the satellite attack as an act of good faith.

Quentin goes to the healing center to get Kuma and Zach. They come out of the pods early, and Kuma has only been in for 6 hours and Zach has been in for 8. We stop by the store to pick up more stimpacks.

We get a com from a Twi’lek that says she is Reom’s sister. She has the droid IT3 and will meet us. We await them in the hangar.

Star Wars EOE

Session 2 – Sigmentus

Quentin quickly takes out his medkit and heals Kuma and Zach of their wounds from the gundark fight. While this is going on, Ten goes inside one of the ships and finds the matching grade 6 power coupling that we need to fix our hyperdrive.

We all take another look around for parts and Zach gets a shock from a panel he is looking at. Kuma finds a repulsor sled that could be used to haul some things back. We fix it and it hums to life.

Ten puts together a pen for the gundark pups. Zach cuts up some of the nerf meat for them to eat, using a vibroknife that he conveniently had.

It is getting late, so we are faced with the choice of returning to our ship for several hours and traveling in the dark, or staying here. We decide to stay with the other ships and look for more equipment while we’re here. Kuma finds some old MREs, enough for the whole group, but they are pretty disgusting.

We get one of the ships setup for staying overnight, and Zach puts the gundark pups in an adjacent room. He then takes first watch while the rest of us bed down. Ten takes the second watch, and realizes that the gundarks haven’t eaten any of the food that was cut for them.

Quentin wakes up next and devises a plan to cut up the meat to a smaller size and funnel it into the gundarks’ mouths, just like their mother would have. They stop their mewling finally.

The next morning, Zach grills up some of the nerf meat and he and Kuma eat it. We also feed the pups again.

We see fresh tracks around where the gundark would have been. They are catlike, which may mean that the Nexu has been around. We quickly pack everything up and set off toward our ship. We need to feed the gundarks again and it uses up all of the meat from the nerf.

We make it back to the ship in quick order and Ten starts fixing the hyperdrive. Zach and Kuma decide to go hunting for some nerf meat to feed the gundarks. We find tracks pretty quickly and come upon a herd. Zach climbs a tree to get a better shot and Kuma tries to hide. Kuma remembers that nerfs will tend to stampede if they are distrurbed and realizes that they are looking at him. He takes off through the forest.

Zach shoots one of them but it is still alive and runs further away, outside of his blaster range. He takes another shot and misses but scares the her toward him.

Kuma, running through the forest, feels something in his back and falls down unconscious. He wakes up a while later and realizes that he has fallen into a hole between some rocks. He notices noise above him and sees the great paw of a nexu trying to hit him. It does look smaller than the pawprint we saw before, however. He takes out his holdout blaster and tries to shoot its paw but misses and gets a faceful of dirt on top of him. That being the case, he grabs his comlink and calls the others. He explains about the nexu and says that he is about 100 meters away from Zach.

Zach continues shooting and brings down two of the nerfs. He then runs over to Kuma and takes a shot at the nexu. It turns and attacks him, biting him savagely. Zach shoots it again and Kuma climbs up from the crevice and shoots it from behind. It decides to run away like a shot through the forest. Kuma helps Zach get away from the area and after a moment they meet up with the rest of the crew coming to get us with the repulsor sled. We head over to the fallen nerfs and grab them up. We then return to the ship.

We get ready to leave but Kuma spies a Z-95 circling ahead. The sensors can’t see the bigger ship but it could be out there waiting for us. We take off and leave atmo but we’re still close to the Z-95. It may not be able to see us at the current range, though.

Ten makes the calculations for the jump to hyperspace. As we are moving away we see the corvette off in the distance. During our flight we hit a small asteroid that we didn’t see and it takes out our front shields. Ten finishes the calculations and we jump to lightspeed. He is also able to shorten our trip to the Wheel so we get there sooner.

Star Wars EOE

Session 1 – Sigmentus

We are a group of misfits and malcontents aboard the Corona, a medium freighter vessel that is headed toward the space station The Wheel to deliver a package to a company called IsoTech, are contacts are brother and sister Twi’leks named Riom and Shari. Suddenly we are knocked out of hyperspace.

Ten Je (Paul) is a Cerean pilot who has spoken of having an obligation to an organization which gives him jobs and also multiple families back home. He doesn’t seem to have any love of the Empire.

Vidakko (John) is a female Twi’lek who came from an upper-class family, educated and has some medical and martial arts training. She doesn’t like to be pigeonholed and escaped from her planet to go her own way.

Kuma Vanroh (Jon) is a Bothan former diplomat who has been exiled from the Core Worlds, and has been helping mid- and outer-rim people and worlds against the Empire.

Zach (Bill) is a Corellian gambler who is trying to restore his family’s company from the Empire.

Quentin (Steve) is an unkempt human who tends to keep to himself. He has tech and medical skills and likes to help those in need.

As we come out of hyperspace, Ten Je, Vidakko, Zach and Kuma come to the cockpit and see that we are in an asteroid field. The asteroids are fairly far apart but we are nearing some. Ten Je makes a piloting maneuver to go around them. He runs a sensor scan and sees that there are several small starfighters in medium range to us. He also sees a star and a nearby planet.

Zach runs to man the cannons. Kuma turns on the ship shields, tells Zach to not shoot them yet, and goes over the radios to the ships and tells them to identify themselves. A Zabrak who calls himself Capt. Malice of the Marauder and is wearing pirate clothing comes over the coms and tells us to power down and prepare to be boarded. Kuma tells them that he is a diplomat on a diplomatic mission. They tell him to send his diplomatic credentials.

Ten sees that we are in the Sigmentus system, which has dangerous wildlife. He tries to plot a hyperdrive jump out of here but the drive is not working. Quentin checks the hyperdrive and tells us that the motivator is shot, but he may have some parts. He looks and finds something but it won’t work.

We are now seeing six small ships, Z-95 Headhunters, and a corvette that could be holding up to 200 people. We decide to go toward the planet since they aren’t shooting us, but it may be their goal all along. They continue to follow us as we go toward the planet.

As we get closer we see that this is a mostly temperate world with polar caps. It should support life, and gravity is just a bit more than standard. On the night side, there is a storm system near the equator. Ten Je flies straight toward it, and Kuma asks him if he’s actually going to do that. He says yes, and takes us in. Amazingly there are only a few bumps as we go directly into the storm and we come out below and find somewhere to hide.

As we descend and see forest below us, Zach notices an area that might fit the ship. Ten Je lands it perfectly so there is cover. As we were flying, Zach noticed on the sensors that he saw weak power readings coming from the planet.

We think about venturing out in the storm toward one of the power readings, and find that we do have some protective gear but it is dark and we don’t have a way to navigate.

Ten goes down to the engine room to look at the hyperdrive damage and speaks with Quentin. Kuma stays in the cockpit and researches the planet. There appear to be Gundark (vicious four-armed apes) and Nexu (catlike things) as well as some Nerfs here. He also tries to research the pirate captain, but can’t find anything.

Ten attempts to hide the cargo, as it’s quite large. He uses a grav sled to hide it in the smuggling hold.

The next morning the storm has mostly passed and it is daylight. We decide to head out. Quentin and Kuma work together to navigate us to the nearest power source. We think that we are on track but it is taking a long time to get there and the terrain is difficult. The other three keep a lookout for threats. Ten Je hears gundark calls in the distance which are to the right and also behind and to the left.

We keep moving forward but don’t seem to be getting any closer to our goal. However we are moving to potentially evade the gundarks. They don’t seem to see us right now. Zach shimmies up a tree to look around the area but falls and hurts his ankle a bit.

We continue on and see our objective in the distance. Checking through binoculars, we see several crashed ships that look like freighters. Kuma trips and also hurts himself a bit.

The group stealths toward the ships. We see five of them: a Hawk-290, a Zavatar-Class Heavy Transport, a Barlaz Freighter and various Corellian YT models.

Zach notices some mewling sounds coming from one of the Corellian transports, and we decide to stay away from them. Ten, Vidakko and Quentin go inside the Hawk to search out parts. He sees a lot of carbon scoring inside and outside the ship. The doors have all been forced open so it’s easy to get in. In the engineering section Ten sees several deceased Duros. He takes the transponder off the ship.

Outside, Zach hears a rumbling noise of something large approaching. Kuma radios back to the rest of the group and lets them know. Zach and Kuma see a huge gundark approaching. Kuma runs and hides, and Zach moves to engage it. The gundark closes with Zach and slams him with a huge fist, he drops him to the ground and disorients him.

Vidakko tries to shoot but her gun goes dead, and she notices that the gundark is female. We continue to try to fight the gundark but it is undaunted. Ten moves toward the ship that had the sounds coming through it, understanding that it might be her young there. Kuma tries to get toward Ten but the gundark closes and knocks him down, causing a lot of damage.

Quentin and Zach fire on the gundark and kill it. We decide what to do, with a couple of us needing medical attention, the two gundark babies perhaps being something we could take with us to sell, and the nerf meat that the mother gundark had may be useful for food.

We get 20xp.

Chronicles of X

Session 3 – Shopping

Once the crew get’s to Sarris Warehouse’s Varan meets up with another Vanguard and heads off. Chance is not interested in heading out into the crowds. This leaves X on his own.

X hops a train and heads off to meet up with a contact to pick up some armor. When X arrives he makes his way to Robert Sweeny’s establishment. X does not see Robert sitting in his usual chair when he arrives so he make a call to him. After a short conversation Robert invites X into the back.

When X walks into the back he sees at least a dozen armed guards. X asks Robert what is up. He explain that there is a very rare shipment coming in. Eventually a heavily armored transport arrives and off loads a vibrio cage which contains alien creatures. Robert explains that they were found in the outer rim on a ship unlike anyone has ever seen.

X is amazed by what he sees but excuses realizing that Robert is itching to have him leave now. Robert asks what X wanted purchase. X explains that he was looking to buy some armor.  As X is leaving he catches Robert with a concerned look as X is still there when the buyer for the animals show up. The limo that pulls up has Brabit printed on it.

Up front a young lady guides X to the armor and then she gestures to the special products room. X says to her “Are you coming in with me?” She pauses  then slap him. Once in the room X receives the woman’s number.

Two more customers filter into the special part of the store. One, a robot, makes his way around the store. After wandering around he makes his way to the bathroom.  The other customer makes his way around the area also.

 

Chronicles of X

Session 2 – Ore Storage

After the previous job, X lets Varan and Chance know that one of the barrels we recovered was full of a rare and expensive ore known as Tyrite. However, he thinks that it would be suspicious if we offloaded it right after the job. Varan says that we should hide it, and X agrees.

We land at a the Bezmer Space Docks, a small outpost on Earth in what used to be South America, and the three of them go to a nearby supply area and buy sturdy sewage waste containers — a larger one for the waste and a second one to put the actual ore in.

Varan disguises himself because this is work that no Vanguard would be doing. X helps him cover his face  and dirty up, and Varan feels for a moment like X has done something to him. He looks but doesn’t see anything. He tells X to keep his hands to himself.

We load up the ore, Varan and Chance doing most of the work because X’s wounds are still healing. It is a tough job and Varan is sweating, not used to manual labor. After a while all of the ore is loaded up and surrounded by sewage in the larger container.

We will need to take the container to the storage area ourselves. We find a place nearby which seems pretty slummy but should work. The woman behind the counter is old and ugly, with a face tattoo and a vape stick. She says “15 credits a day and you can’t sleep in them, 33 a month and you CAN’T sleep in them and 500 for a year AND YOU CAN’T SLEEP IN THEM.” Without doing the math, Varan slides her 500 credits with a disgusted look on his face. She walks away and leaves a cloud of vapor. X nudges Varan and says that he overpaid — the monthly price is better. When she comes back, X asks for 6 months at the monthly rate and she refunds part of the money. She gives us a strange looking security key and leaves again.

We push the ore through a set of doors and to our small storage locker, while we are recorded by several security drones. Chance lifts the crate into the unit and is sure to slop some sewage over the side so no one gets curious. He has feces all over his gloves.

We leave, and as we do Varan notices that the security key has a recording device and GPS on it. X thinks that we should go back and get our stuff, but Varan blurts out “I could probably re-route the signal so it can’t track us, but will need some help with the hacking.” X covers his mouth so he doesn’t say more. He finds some oil and grease and covers the key so we aren’t recorded. He also takes a small audio player and turns it on so the key is recording just the music.

Varan washes up in a local restroom, getting the grime off of himself, then contacts a hacker and has the GPS signal and recordings from the key re-routed to a random server. It costs 5 credits a day to keep it from recording us.

We go back to the ship. Chance uses a blowtorch to clean off his suit and gloves of all the sewage, but the whole ship smells like burnt feces now.

X takes some painkillers to deal with his still un-healed wounds. He downs them with a beer which makes him a bit woozy. Varan notices this.

Before we go, X asks Varan to help him fix a laser rifle. Varan takes a look at it and is able to fix it as it had solid internals, however it fires blue whereas most fire red or orange. X likes the color.

Varan, disgusted with this place, says that they should leave. X suggests that we go to meet a friend of his where we can find parts for the robot and also some “companionship”. Varan asks him to lay in the location and the robot is hooked up to help with navigation, though it doesn’t have any arms or legs.

Varan asks Chance to pilot, but X asks if he’s ever piloted and he says “Once in boot camp.” Varan looks alarmed and says that he will pilot. X assures him that he can fly better than either of them even in his slightly addled state, but Varan says absolutely not and takes the helm. X, resigned, drops into the co-pilot seat. The robot also asks if he should take over since Varan seems less than skilled. Annoyed, Varan says that he will do it.

The robot gets the coordinates set. The team gets permission from ground control to leave, and Varan activates the thrusters. The robot reminds him to turn on the shielding and deactivate the docking plates, which Varan does with a loud curse. However he has bumped the stick and they are off course. X takes over piloting and rights the course. Varan relents and lets him fly.

The robot philosophically says “Remember, he may know how to fly, but he does not own his own ship. Each needs one another.” Varan loudly tells him to shut up. In response, the whole ship turns off. Varan panics but the robot says that we should remember that he is part of the ship now. Varan is spooked and says that maybe we should have left the robot on the ship we found it on. X says that he  is on the robot’s side.

The ship turns back on and we resume traveling to our destination. X has been calling the robot “B” but asks  it what its name is. It says “Norro”. X agrees to call it either that or “B”.

Within minutes we arrive at Sarris Warehouse, a massive warehouse that has been added on for over 200 years to be one of the biggest indoor markets. X says that we should not take any valuables with us when we go into the market.