Episode VIII - The Rebels of Callonia (Part II)
Introduction:
The Long Shot campaign continues with the second instalment of The Rebels of Chayloon adventure written by Padre as published on the Rancor Pit. If you would like to run this adventure, please follow this link to the Rancor Pit. As usual, I own none of the images - hand drawn maps all belong to Padre who has kindly granted permission for their use (and for me to report on the running of the adventure) in these posts - the remainder were sourced from google images. Please note that this is an advert free, not for profit blog.
Additionally, please visit The Rancor Pit. The support shown to me by fellow GMs and players continues to inspire me in recording the campaign in these posts - thanks again to all of you who have offered me encouraging words!
Mayhem in the Mine:
Music Cue: The Mine Car Chase (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
Having been given the order by Captain Hannah to hit the Minarac mine, bounty hunter Bots springs out from his hiding place and, dual wielding heavy blaster pistols, blasts the two guards at the mine entrance! Wasting no time, Bots rushes inside, but runs into three more guards! He wounds two of them, but a bolt from the returning fire tears a nasty burn in his left leg!
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| Weequay bounty hunter Bots Vridak |
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| Vridak blasts the guards at the main mine entrance, while Kaleban and Tala sneak in the back door |
While the Weequay is battling with the Minarac guards, Tala and Kaleban have snuck in a side entrance and have a group of three more Minarac guards in their sights! Having not been spotted, they coordinate to drop two guards in the blink of an eye! The last guard takes cover behind a rocky outcrop and a firefight ensues...however, the Mah-Ta slaves have spotted their opportunity - and attack the guard from behind! Screaming, the man crumples to the floor as the slaves turn their tools - pick axes - into vicious weapons against him! Kaleban retrieves keys from one of the dead guards and unshackles the closest Mah-Ta slave to him, before handing him the keys to release the others!
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| Kaleban Maars |
Rushing on board the Yindao, Captain Hannah suddenly remembers his promise to allow the Mah-Ta to participate in the battle.
Hannah: C4-S0, tell the Mah-Ta that unfortunately our scouts have been spotted and have engaged the enemy! Tell them they may join the attack!
C4-S0: No, I won't tell them! I've had just about enough of you!
Hannah: Are you disobeying a direct order?
C4-S0: Indeed I am!
Hannah: This insubordination cannot continue. Perhaps you'd prefer to be broken down for spare parts?
C4-S0: I'd like to see you try! You don't have the authority!
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| C4-S0 |
Hannah: Just do it!
Still grumbling, C4-S0 gives in and explains the situation to the Mah-Ta warriors. They scream in rage and rush forward, knocking the protocol droid into the mud in their wake! Hannah orders Corr to take the Yindao in close to the front of the mine, but they cannot see into the darkness to provide air support.
As Bots is pinned down, Kaleban joins the attack, shooting at the remaining Minarac guards from a flanking position - but they still don't go down! With blaster bolts blowing chunks of shrapnel from the rocky walls around him, the bounty hunter is in peril!
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| Bots is the token marked as wounded (in red with 1) closest to the mine entrance |
Fortunately, the Mah-Ta charge inside and the Minarac guards fall under their blades. The battle seems to be over - but Corr has picked up readings of an AT-AT making its way up the valley - and is surrounded by an entourage of speeder discs! Full of fury that his new warriors were not in the frontline for the mine attack, Ta-Kiazee tells the Green Vipers that the AT-AT must be stopped before it discovers one of their sacred 'Holy Places' further up the valley.
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| The AT-AT lumbering up the river! |
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| Speeder Disc and Stormtrooper |
Hannah: Perhaps this would be an opportune moment for your warriors to prove themselves in battle?
Ta-Kiazee: Fighting Shouting Ones is one thing...fighting stone servants is another. We cannot defy this foe. It is beyond all of us.
Hannah: We will help you. Move into position further down the valley and when we strike from the rear, you will attack.
Music Cue: Battle in the Snow
Ta-Kiazee bows and leaves with the other Mah-Ta, while Hannah discusses tactics with his team. Kaleban cracks open a medpac and successfully tends to Bots' wound. They pile into the Yindao and Corr plots a circuitous route to engage the AT-AT. Hannah takes a seat in the lower gunnery chair while Bots, Tala and Kaleban move into position around the upper hatch as the plan is to drop them off on the AT-AT! Aided by C4-S0, Corr brings the Yindao in behind the walker! Hannah blasts as the AT-AT from the gunnery chair, but the ship's guns are unable to penetrate the walker's thick armour!
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| Ta-Kiazee and the Mah-Ta lie in wait while the Yindao outmanoeuvres the AT-AT! |
Much to C4-S0's displeasure, Corr flips the Yindao upside down and brings it down low over the AT-AT - and Bots, Tala, Kaleban leap down from the top hatch! Kaleban almost loses his footing but Tala catches him, her claws drain blood as they grip his forearm tightly, preventing from him plunging to his doom!
Tala: Got any jokes to share about yarn now, Kaleban?
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| Tala Nor |
Kaleban has no quips as he pulls himself to safety, grimacing gratefully to Tala. Bots and Tala use their jump pack and claws respectively to make their way to the hatch on the side of the walker. On arrival, both bicker about the best way to override the security panel to gain access!
Meanwhile, the speeder discs hammer the Yindao from below, but their guns are too weak to penetrate the freighter's shields! Confronted by the sight of open sky as Corr has flipped the YT-1300, Hannah rushes from this gunnery chair. Throwing himself into the other gunnery chair, he readies himself to fire - but as soon as he arrives, Corr reorientates the ship, and once again Hannah is presented with a view of open sky! Silently cursing his pilot, he clambers back to his original position, just as Bots springs the AT-AT hatch open to reveal four Stormtroopers with their blasters primed! There is a rapid exchange of fire and once again Bots is wounded in the left leg! Kaleban, who hangs over the open doorway from the roof wounds one of the Stormtroopers, but Bots is in real danger of being cut down by the others! Tala's claws screech as she digs them into the metal hull and pulls the bounty hunter away from the doorway. Kaleban's eyes widen as he sees Hannah wave to him from the gunnery chair in the Yindao - realising his Captain's intent, he rolls away from the hatch back on to the walker's roof. Hannah opens fire on the Stormtroopers inside, vaporising three of them, while one last narrowly leaps to safety!
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| Captain Hannah |
Bots and Tala hurry inside and attack the fallen Stormtrooper, eliminating him while Kaleban swings acrobatically from the roof inside the cabin. The hatch to the walker's head suddenly slides open and an AT-AT operator opens fire with his blaster! It hits Tala with force and she stumbles backwards before crashing down in the still-smoking rear of the walker where she falls unconscious!
Bots rushes forward and cuts the AT-AT operator down with his blaster pistols and wounds the remaining pilot in the cockpit. Both he and Kaleban take control of the walker and rig it to self destruct before they are picked up and taken on board the Yindao.
Concerned his word will be broken a second time, Hannah picks up the Mah-Ta who were stranded on the opposite side of the river, while Corr guns the ship after the fleeing speeder discs. The sublight engines spray up water in the Yindao's wake as it skims close to the surface of the river, bringing it alongside the speeder discs. Mah-Ta climb down the entry ramp and, one by one, leap on to the speeder discs until the Stormtroopers are finally defeated.
Two Mah-Ta warriors die in the battle, while Ta-Kiazee and the unharmed warriors and freed slaves tend to the wounded survivors. Once they touch down, Corr aids Kaleban in reviving and healing Tala. The blaster burn has scorched away the fur on her leg and the flesh is blackened - but she is recovering fast! Ta-Kiazee nods gratefully to Captain Hannah for enabling the blooding of his warriors in battle.
Ta-Kiazee: You are Mah-Ta at heart. You are not like the Shouting Ones or the Shelled Ones. You have my trust. There are others you must meet.
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| Ta-Kiazee |
Music Cue: The Temple of Doom (from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
Ta-Kiazee leads the Vipers high into the mountains before they arrive at the mouth of a cave. Inside they hear music; rhythmic chants and strange howls. Ta-Kiazee leads them in to a vast cavern which is adorned with etchings of the Mah-Ta and Groh-Ta. Ta-Kiazee brings them to a ceremony - the source of the chanting - which is being performed by Mah-Ta and Groh-Ta within several concentric circles of stones placed out on the floor. As the chanting continues, the stones rise off the floor and begin to dance. Once again, Corr senses the presence of the force, but, despite his fears of the Dark Side at work on Callonia, he places his trust in the Mah-Ta that they are not about the work of evil. Through crevices in the cavern ceiling, he notices the glimmering flashes of light that signify a meteor shower. Once the ritual comes to an end, Corr approaches one of the priests and, using C4-S0 to translate, questions them.
Music Cue; Luke and Leia
Corr: I am a novice in the ways of the force. Clearly it is strong with you. Would you train me?
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| Corr Alden: Force-sensitive Pilot |
One of the Priests - Ta Gurhlak - approaches him and holds his arms out to him. Corr steps forward and the Priest places his hands on Corr's head. Suddenly images fill his head, scenes of terror as Mah-Ta are rounded up by Stormtroopers and Minarac employees, of brutal servitude in the mines, and then to the ritual here in the mine...but suddenly Corr's viewpoint soars into the sky, and then into space; there he sees the asteroids that encircle Callonia. The sound of the chanting rises to a roar in his mind and then, inexplicably, he witnesses several of the asteroids being torn free of the belt and soaring down to the planet's surface. He follows the rocks which leaves plumes of fire and smoke in their wake as they streak through the atmosphere. Below he sees Cohlanga space port, headquarters for the Imperial presence on the planet. It looks as though it will be destroyed, but suddenly, as the meteors seem to about to strike the city, they are vaporised by a domed-shaped flash of light! And then, the Priest removes his hands from Corr's head and the vision is over.
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| Ta-Gurhlak |
Ta-Gurhlak: I have seen visions of your life as you have witnessed mine. We worship the the planet spirit while you follow the force. Perhaps they are one and the same, the planet spirit and the force, but our understanding of it is as alien to you as the force is to us. We cannot teach you.
Corr: I understand. What I saw in your mind...you're trying to draw the asteroids down to destroy the Empire's base? Aren't there innocents in Cohlanga city?
Ta-Gurhlak: Who is innocent when that city is built on the blood and suffering of our peoples? It matters not, though, the Shouting Ones and the Shelled Ones harness a greater power than ours: the ability to destroy star stones! We are a defeated people. We have no future.
Corr: It's a force-field. If we could disable it, you could destroy Cohlanga city!
Ta-Gurhlak: No. It is useless. Many of our Priests were taken by the Shouting Ones. There are not enough of us to harness the power of the star stones...
As the Vipers come to an understanding of the Mah-Ta's plight, they realise that they will have to free the Mah-Ta Priests from Minarac - and then find a way to disable the force field protecting Cohlanga city. As Hannah suggests that they scout Cohlanga city, R3-FU contacts them with information he has picked up from monitoring communications throughout the mission. He plays two transmissions.
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| R3-FU |
A: This is Minarac Patrol 16. No sign of AT-ST and AT-PT squadrons. Wreckage of AT-AT and Speeder Discs located in Whip-Scar Valley. No sign of Rebels.
B: Keep searching. Find them...and wipe them out.
Then-
C: This is Cohlanga Tower to the flight crew of Emperor's Justice. We've received reports of Rebels aiding the indigenous population and of a freighter destroying ground forces. Get the frigate in the air. If that freighter reveals itself again, blast it into oblivion.
R3 has also intercepted data transmissions between Cohlanga Tower and ships coming to and from the city. He provides the team with holographic schematics both of Cohlanga City and of a Minarac Outpost...
Tala: Well done, R3!
C4-S0: R3 thanks you mistress Tala, but asks that I remind you he needs a number of parts. Perhaps he could be of more use to the Vipers if he is restored to full working order?
Tala: Yes, I don't know why he hasn't been given all of the tools he requires. We'll see what we can do.
Hannah: All right team, lets have a look at these schematics...
To be continued...
Closing Reflections:
Another fun session which had a few hairy moments for Bots and Tala in particular! Though wounded, Bots used a Force Point to deal with the last two AT-AT guards. Fortunately, there were no character deaths to report this week! After the action of the past few weeks, I enjoyed the sequence in the Mah-Ta caverns as it finally revealed the mysteries of the storyline. Because of his concerns about the Dark Side of the Force being present on Callonia, I played the human sacrifice music from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom to Corr as he entered the caverns, while the rest of the group were played soothing Brian Eno meditation music! Fortunately, Corr had come to trust that the Mah-Ta were not about the work of evil and even asked them to teach him the ways of the force! It was because he was trusting of them that I improvised the moment where he and Ta-Gurhlak shared visions.It was an interesting device to explain the plot rather than relying solely on Ta-Gurhlak's explanations. It was also inspired by the moment in The Force Awakens where Rey first holds Luke Skywalker's lightsaber.
With the team now clear about the task ahead of them, we're heading into the final stages of the adventure - it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out! More coming soon!
