Legends of the Old Republic: The Horde Invasion Episode 5

The Horde campaign reached a major turning point last week and the end is in sight. As we left our team (Dag Baxil, Human Smuggler; Quarllen, Chadri-Fan Gambler; Ahram Dhayn, Elani Jedi; Alex Feleman, Human Jedi; Zsa Zsa Binks, Gungan Jedi; and NEO, infiltration android; along with Natar, the NPC Hutt Jedi), they were on Tattooine with a bunch of Hutt-hired mercenaries conducting forward recon against the Horde, the invading barbarians from beyond the known Galaxy. They had discovered that the Horde forces had split up and were raiding many nearby colonies, that there was dissention among the various clans of the Horde which only the leader Kron could keep together, and that Kron was forced to go out and rein in all these maverick groups. This seperated Kron from the protection of his asteroid base and his mysterious Sith ally. They recognized that this was Kron and the Horde's most vulernable moment, and they couldn't wait the four days required for Republic back-up. If anything was to be done, it was to be done now. The team dressed up as Horde Barbarians using captured Power Gauntlets and equipment and prepared to infiltrate the Horde encampment on the planet Aslanidis to defeat Kron.

They landed their freighter, the Corellian Queen, in the midst of the Horde encampment. So great was the Horde's confidence that the enemy was not near (and they weren't) that they landed unchallenged. Then they pretended to be Horde Pilots from the Clan "Machine Ragers" who were shot down but managed to capture a freighter and some slaves (Quarllen and Natar). Zsa Zsa hid on the ship in case of trouble. With some judicious Jedi Mind Tricks, they were accepted and brought before Lord Kron to report. In Kron's yurt, they also saw Castrati, Captain Belial's War Droid. They surmised the Belial had met an unexpected end after foolishly dealing with the Horde. Kron accepted their story, and for the moment accepted their clan. He then congratulated them on making it back alive, and told them that tomorrow, all the clans will once again be assembled for the final assault on the Republic Capital, Coruscant. With the help of Paegana, the Sith Sorceress, they would sack the Republic capital and return to the Outer Rim. The team was dismissed. Outside, around the large bonfire where the clans were gathered and drinking, the team considered their plans. Neo decided to sneak into Kron's yurt in an attempt to reprogram Castrati. Unfortunately, he was discovered by a guard behind the yurt. Neo quickly acted drunk, and the guard told him to be off. Neo made the mistake of leaning his weight against the guard, whereupon the guard realized the little Neo weighed 150 kg, far more than his small frame allowed. The guard became suspicious, but Neo wouldn't wait, he attacked. The fighting was hard and fruitless. In a last-ditch effort, Neo overloaded his power circuits dumping all his charge into his Shocking Grasp. He took the guard out, but now he was drained as well. Dag, Alexar, Natar, Quarllen, and Ahram came to Neo's aid. Natar and Quarllen took Neo back to the ship and Dag poured alcohol all over the guard to discredit him. Dag and Ahram got an idea. In an attempt to ingratiate themselves with Kron, they'd go report on this guard. Simple idea, but the execution went horribly horribly wrong. They went to Kron's yurt and were stopped by the guards, who informed them that no one enters unbidden. A short Jedi Mind Trick got them through, and when they stood before Kron and his host, Kron was furious. They were unbidden and were not allowed there! At first they attempted to explain themselves, but Kron was still furious. So Ahram tried a Jedi Mind Trick on Kron. Kron stopped, suprised, then responded, "Your Mind Tricks work only on the weak minded, Jedi Fool!" and drew his lightsaber. Dag drew his blaster and fired, but missed. Ahram grabbed Kron in a Telekinetic hold, immobilizing him. Dag took aim at Kron's head and fired. Kron fell over dead. Ahram then used Telekinesis to bring down the yurt on top of everyone, cutting a hole in the top with his lightsaber. Dag and Ahram began to run as shouts and alarms went up around the encampment. Alexar, who was outside in case of "trouble" took flight as well. Ahram stopped and turned to face Castrati, now emerging from the toppled yurt. Ahram drew upon hidden reserves of Force Power to crumple and explode Castrate, shredding him into a million pieces. Next, as the hundreds of Horde Barbarians came running up, he again drew upon vast Force Power to send out a shockwave, toppling them all to the ground. Then he turned and ran to after Dag.

Quarllen powered up the ship and brought to pick up the fleeing team members. Quarllen, however, is not a pilot and drove it into the sand dunes, kicking up a huge pile of sand. Dag cursed as he and Alexar climbed on top of the ship and entered through the dorsal airlock. Quarllen took a gun station as Dag tried to back her out of the sand. Ahram jumped onto the top of the ship and was jumping into the airlock when the Horde opened fire. Ahram was hit 6 times and was wounded as he fell into the ship. Dag managed to get the ship out of it's hole and took off into orbit. Soon they were being chased by 100 Horde Reavers. Quarllen trusted in the Force and managed to take out 5 Reavers. Then the remaining 95 Reavers opened fire. The Corellian Queen was hit 19 times resulting in devastating damage. The shields were blown and it was spinning out of control. The Power Converter was overloading and if it wasn't shut down would destroy the ship. Dag managed to shut down the Power.. ...Just as the ship exploded! To be Continued! No seriously, it's not over yet. This is just a big cliffhanger to get you to come back next week. And a great one too, thanks to my players who came up with the great idea of saving their asses! You'll just have to wait until next week to see how they did it! Post-Game Wrap-up. Mistakes were made. Both by the Players and by myself. But despite our mistakes, we still had a blast and this turned out to be one of the best sessions so far. Mistake #1: I forgot to show Kron meeting a ritual challenge to his authority. This would have given the PC's the idea to challenge him openly and fairly, led to a cool lightsaber duel, and ultimately would kill Kron without resorting to cheap assassination tactics. Mistake #2: They shouldn't have used the JMT to get into Kron's yurt. That was just stupid on their part. Mistake #3: When they attempted to JMT Kron, he should have played it cool, waiting and confronting them later. Instead of making the players panic. My bad. Mistake #4: When Dag spent a Force Point to assassinate Kron, Kron should have spent a Force Point of his own. Again, my bad. Mistake #5: Ahram should get a DSP for using the Force to hold Kron still while Dag shot him. Even though they saved the galaxy, they still resorted to holding him while the other assassinated him. Not a very Jedi or Republic thing to do. Mistake #6: We accidentally doubled the damage rolls when using Force Points, that's a nono.

***SPOILERS BELOW*** ***GM'S ONLY*** ***HIGHLIGHT TO READ*** So here's what's going to happen, I'm going to talk to Ahram's player and give him another DSP, but he won't have to roll against it. He'll probably like having that Dark edge. Also, Kron will likely come back in a later campaign with a cool cyborg face. Next week, the team must begin the task of defeating Paegana, the evil Sith Sorceress. To do so, they'll have to travel to a remote asteroid to enlist the aid of Kascheij Bessmertni, the evil deathless fallen Jedi who holds the secret of how to defeat Paegana. They'll have to make tough choices and flirt with the Dark Side to defeat her evil.