This past Friday, September 30, was Force Friday, the day all the new Star Wars goodies were released. Many of them were for the upcoming Rogue One movie, a return to the classic SW Rebellion Era. So, I present an outline of an AoR scenario I created and ran for my Friday Nite Skype friends. Part 1 included the NPCs, GM’s outline, and Episodes 1 (Briefing aboard Star Raker) and 2 (Fishy Business). Again, I hope you and your players enjoy this extraction op. Thanks to Empty Bacta Tank for technical editing on the module.
Ep. 3: Jailbreak. If at any point during the Episode, the PCs are outnumbered and defeated (probably the result of being reported in Ep. 2 or botching the infiltration early on) go ahead and have them captured and taken to the same Detention Center cellblock as the Rebel prisoners. Then go to Ep. 4, with the additional complication of freeing themselves, before or after being confined in cells. Otherwise, as long as the PCs don’t opt to fight their way in rather than use deception and avoid patrols, there’s no need to add more combat before they reach the Detention Center. The encounter assumes the party is using a ruse of impersonating a routine delivery–but go with whatever your players decide.
Describe the sight and sound of Biker Scout patrols and/or walkers as the PCs near the Garrison, to heighten the tension. At the Garrison gates, the PCs will be questioned by the sentries, 4 Stormtroopers, before being directed to the the loading bay to deliver the goods. With AVERAGE Knowledge: Warfare checks, the party will realize that the perimeter has been pushed out and the number of sentries is doubled.
As long as the PCs “fly casual,” they will have no problems here, although the Stormtroopers will act very intimidating. However, if the PCs don’t follow instructions to the letter, insult or argue with the sentries, or otherwise arouse suspicions, the sentries will call in reinforcements to arrest them.
The Quartermaster will receive the goods. There will be a contingent of 4 Army Troopers, but they will stay in the background while the Quartermaster does their job, unless there is trouble.
An AVERAGE Negotiation, Charm, Deception or other social check is called for, with a Setback for unfamiliar faces; upgrade the check at least once if Coercion is used, or a PC acts out of character or causes trouble. A Despair or 3+ Threat will result in the Troopers searching the vehicle.
Whether there is a search or not, the party will have to subdue all the Imperials to penetrate further. Code cylinders on these NPCs will enable PCs to get inside the Garrison proper and move around in low security areas (any but Detention Center, Command and Control, Armory/Magazine, or Generator Rooms). Forcing one of the Imperials to help is another possibility as is faking a vehicle malfunction to gain time.
Once inside successfully, the party should proceed as quickly and quietly as possible to the Detention Center. If it occurs to the party to stage a distraction, let them. Go in rounds, with appropriate skill checks.
- 2 Threat: Routine Patrol of 4 Army Troopers or (if Garrison is already high alert due to player actions) Stormtroopers
- 3 Threat/Despair: Discovery of the restrained/dead Imperials in the loading bay, resulting in Garrison going on high alert
- Despair: 3 Additional Stormtroopers posted inside Detention Center and 2 outside.
(Routine patrols and loading bay discovery may also be handled on a timed-event basis: 10 rounds to discover the bodies, patrols every 3 rounds.)
No matter how good the infiltration so far, using a ruse to enter the Detention is not going to be easy due to the high-value prisoner Jade Morningfire.
If there are Stormtroopers posted outside and they are not neutralized in 1 round, the Detention staff will be alerted by them to lock down the control consoles. Deception checks to convince the guards, inside or out, to allow the team in are HARD, and should be upgraded if the PCs have triggered earlier alerts. Add Boost dice for using Imperial uniforms/armor or a very plausible story.
Additional Opposed social checks may be called for if the PCs interact with the guards inside. When a check fails or if weapons are drawn, one of the Detention guards will move to lock down their consoles, if not already done.
Once the PCs have dealt with the Detention Center Imperials, go to Episode 4.
Ep. 4: A Traitor in the Midst. Unlocking the cells, once the guards are neutralized, is a HARD Computers check; upgraded once, if guards were able to lock out the system before being taken out. Add 1 Boost if a PC uses a Detention code cylinder. Mechanics (HARD) or simply blasting the mechanisms (HARD Ranged [light] or Ranged [Heavy]) will also work. Slicing rules from Special Modifications (pp. 86-90) may be used in Episodes 4-6.
There are 6 Rebel prisoners crowded into one cell–4 Human and 2 Mon Cal. All of them look to have been mistreated to one degree or another: minor to moderate wounds consistent with Imp interrogation techniques; evidence (e.g. arm in sling) that injuries incurred at arrest were given no real treatment, and limited food. One of these, the Human male Iver Garris, is the informant who gave up the cell and Jade to the Imperials. He also told the Imperials she was a Force-sensitive. Garris is being kept with the prisoners in hopes he can get more information from the Rebels outside the interrogation sessions.
The other 5 prisoners are loyal to the Alliance and will assist the PCs (treat them as 1 or 2 minion groups of Alliance Infantry, using Squad rules, if available). When the PCs ask about Jade, the Rebels only know that she was separated as soon as they were all arrested, before transport–because of her youth, they assume–and they haven’t seen her since. Interrogators have hinted she is alive, suggesting that being “fully honest” might mean they don’t have to question “a kid” again.
Garris, however, angrily claims that Jade “must be a traitor” and this is why she was separated so fast. The Imperials feared that if she wasn’t removed on the spot, “we’d figure it out real fast” and “teach her a lesson.” He will list other “suspicious” actions/comments she has made since she arrived on Seskyra. Garris has been feeding these lines to his “fellow” prisoners since the raid–and is now using the same tactic on the PCs, hoping they will believe the lies and scrub that objective, or at least take her back as a prisoner, no longer trusted by the Alliance. So far the real Rebels don’t believe it, but if the PCs buy in, they may as well.
(This Episode is partly a social encounter to discover (or not!) that Iver Garris is an informer, and can be handled as a skill challenge. The PCs should make Discipline checks opposed by Garris’ Deception of 1 Ability and 2 Proficiency dice. A successful AVERAGE Medicine or HARD Perception check will reveal that his wounds are on the minor side, and don’t look quite as expected of interrogation or arrest brutality–which may add Boost to that PC’s Discipline check. A Force-sensitive PC with the Basic Sense power will automatically detect that Garris is lying with a successful Force power check; if s/he has the Control (sense thoughts) upgrade, the nature of the deceit will be clear outright. If they fail, checks can be repeated later as actions warrant, with Advantage/Threat from the initial check/s providing a Boost or Setback, respectively.)
There is still the question of where Jade Morningfire is being held. This is easily answered, now that the party is controlling Detention. An AVERAGE Computers check, now that they are in the system will reveal that she is being held in the Quarantine/Security wing of the Garrison Infirmary, not too far away on this level. A HARD Computers check to tap into Communications will give them a bit of comm traffic indicating she might be there and that ISB is due to arrive “soon–don’t even trust us with a real ETA.”
The Rebels are quite willing to help the party, picking up blaster rifles or pistols from fallen Imperials. If Garris hasn’t been uncovered by this point, he will play along, arming himself and adding to the whispered anti-Imp comments. But, he will be looking for a chance to slip away and send the Stormtroopers to the Infirmary. If he cannot get away, he will deliberately miss shots and otherwise hinder the party and allied NPCs, including “accidentally” shooting at them. Such actions call for new Discipline (upgraded once) vs. Deception checks by the PCs.
Ep.5: Little Girl Found. Unless Iver Garris makes off, and alerts the Stormtroopers, there won’t be additional forces around the medical bay. CO Loros assumes the Rebel infiltrators will leave after liberating the Detention Center inmates. Once inside, the medical personnel will not resist the party and can be restrained, locked in an exam room, etc. The medics are afraid of what the Rebels might do to them if it’s realized they were complicit in drugging Jade, a reprehensible and unethical act, so they want as little interaction with the team as possible. (EASY Coercion check, 3 Threat can result in one of them first managing to call for troops in addition to those below, to arrive in 4 rounds.)
Once the medics are out of the way, read or paraphrase the following:
You proceed down the corridor, deeper into the Infirmary, reaching a cross-corridor. Sounds of a scuffle answer the question of “Which way?” Muffled orders. A man’s harsh angry yelling! A girl’s retort, shrill with both fear and defiance! Heavy boots. Was that a blaster shot?
As you follow your ears, you see a teenage girl, wearing only a skimpy hospital smock. She moves almost as if drunk, but somehow barely evades a Stormtrooper’s stun-shot! Even from here you can see the bruises. A heavyset man in a well-tailored Imperial Army uniform with Commander’s insignia rushes at her and she backs off with an odd gesture. “Let me alone, easier–OW!!” The officer grabs her arm and slaps her hard across the face–you can see the bruising handprint already! She falls against the wall before he brutally shoves her towards the 2 nearest Stormtroopers. “Keep hold of the damned witch-minx this time, you fools!!”
There are a total of 4 Stormtroopers, plus CO Loros (the heavyset officer). If you haven’t already rolled Initiatives, do so, or add Jade and Loros to the existing Initiative order. Use Cool for Loros and his Stormtroopers, but use Vigilance for Jade–due to the drugs, she is not thinking and is simply reacting on instinct–or the Force perhaps.
As Jade’s first action, she will run to the PCs and fall into one’s arms, sobbing. This close, they can see the odd, glassy look in her eyes as well as the drugged/drunken way she moves. Jade is at half her normal Wound and Strain and not capable of doing much, other than staying out of the way of combat and keeping up. However, as covered in her statblock (Part 1), with the GM’s okay, players may spend Triumph or flip a Destiny Point for her to briefly rally enough to use a Force power (or otherwise assist). Although the GM should have the final say in what she can do, try to use player suggestions, and don’t feel limited to what is in her stats; a one-time use of Basic Move or an upgrade to an Imperial attack check defined as a warning via the Force are fine. Do not allow this option to be over-used, so as not to over-shadow the PCs.
A PC may wish to calm Jade down. This will require an AVERAGE Charm or Medicine check, with 2 Setback due to the drugs and the trauma of her captivity. A Force-sensitive PC with either Basic Sense or the Control–mind trick Influence upgrade can do so with a successful Force power check.
(Note on Blur: Since her capture, Jade has been given multiple doses of “Blur,” an experimental drug cocktail developed by “alchemists” in The Inquisitorius and provided to a select few high-ranking officers and certain ISB Agents, to “field-test” on suspected/known Force-sensitive prisoners. The testers have been told that it will temporarily block the ability to use the Force and the vague “there are side effects.” They have not been told that its actual effects and how long it lasts are highly variable or that it is intended to make the user more susceptible to psychic manipulation by Inquisitors and possibly more vulnerable to the Dark Side. In Jade’s case, it has mostly made her very physically ill as well as mostly blocking her Force abilities. There is a hypospray filled with Blur on Loros, and Jade knows there are others in the room where she was held.)
Once the PC’s have left the Infirmary, set up the final encounter, Episode 6, along whatever route they have chosen for the exfiltration.
Ep. 6: You Shall Not Pass.
Read and paraphrase:
Your goal is in sight. You have [Jade and surviving liberated prisoners]. You just need to get her to the Star Raker‘s doctor and Jaster Rael, and she should recover, although it may be a long while. Plus CO Loros and his precious Garrison are in utter chaos.
But you get a bad feeling, as you see yet another squad of 6 Stormtroopers between you and egress.
A coldly stern, clean-shaven man in a crimson ISB uniform, chest armor and helmet moves forward and demands arrogantly, “Surrender yourselves and the child-Jedi at once! Morningfire is the only one I care about. I can have you sent to a prison-world, where you’ll have a tiny chance to run and rebel again. But if you fight me–you’ll die. Badly–and for nothing! The girl was lost as soon as she was drugged!”
“No…” Jade whispers desperately as Abyss sidesteps to cover and motions his Stormtroopers to advance. “Not true.” Although she sways with exhaustion, her green eyes glitter with determination.
Once combat begins, Abyss will continue to taunt the PCs (use Improved Scathing Tirade if PCs are in range), hoping to provoke them, or Jade, into something foolish, such as melee with him–which could be deadly for a PC who isn’t nearly his equal with a blade. Feel free to use a PC Despair (or Abyss Triumph) for Jade to succumb to his poisonous silver tongue, requiring a PC to spend a turn to dissuade or restrain her. PC Despair or Imperial Triumph may also be spent to allow Imperial Army Troopers or Stormtroopers from the Garrison complement to arrive.
Once this combat is over, you may either narratively cover their leaving the Garrison and Seskyra or plan an additional action encounter, depending on time constraints and your group’s taste for chase scenes and or vehicle/space combat. End with a description of their arrival back on Star Raker, recognition for the party’s actions, Jade’s reunion with Jaster (clearly a close friend) and her gratitude for their help.
Linda Whitson
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