# Star Wars:  Chasing the Stars! (Updated: 6/30/05)



## The Shadow (May 5, 2005)

Hello, all.  This is a two-player Star Wars d20 game set in the Old Republic, about 200 years after the close of the Sith Wars.  (That is, about 5000 years prior to the Battle of Yavin in the movies.)  The game is played roughly once a week over the phone, unless life intervenes (as it often does).

In this time period, the Jedi "Order" isn't very orderly;  there is no standing Jedi Council, just periodic consultation between Jedi Masters, who recruit and train their own Padawan apprentices however they see fit.  Many other Force-using traditions are in flux during this time;  the Sith Wars destroyed a lot of people's innocence about the uses of the Force.

Please note that my own familiarity with the Star Wars universe is almost entirely from the movies and a little bit of the SW d20 books.  I am not familiar with the Expanded Universe, and (aside from playing KOTOR 1 and 2) neither is the other player (my brother).  The GM has therefore felt free to steal interesting characters from various Star Wars novels and use them in the campaign, even though strictly speaking they belong to a much later time.  (You'll hear about one of them in the very first session:  Pluvo Two-for-one, who owns part of the mortgage on the group's ship.)  I hope this doesn't jar the reader too much.

Some of you may know me as the writer of another Story Hour, The Shadow Knows! and as the creator of The World of Terrima.  If not, feel free to go look!

The GM goes by SuentisPo online, so I usually refer to him as SP.  My brother (the other player) often goes by "DudeRose", so I will call him DR.  Now without further ado:

------------------------------------

*Our Intrepid Heroes*

Jonas fingered the pendant of polished intarzi-wood that he always wore about his neck as he scoped the nearby star.  "It's Yitak system, right enough."  Vanni snorted.  "Can't you just trust my plotting for once?"  But he chimed in with Jonas' inevitable words, "Better safe than sorry," good-naturedly enough.

Davik watched them impassively, hands folded over his robes in classic Jedi formality.  "We are headed for the fourth planet."  Jonas and Vanni exchanged a near-telepathic glance.  Vanni had made some unkind comments about ramrods in the young man's regard, and even Jonas admitted he'd met NCO's less dour and taciturn.  How different from his Master, Insharr!  Advanced Jedi training must include special exercises to unbend.

"We hadn't forgotten," Jonas said cheerfully as he flipped switches that rerouted power to the _Song_'s system drive.  Vanni added mock-seriously, "Yitak IV, coming up.  Home of darkest jungles and mysterious temples at the outermost rim of known space.  All in a day's work for our intrepid heroes."  His hands danced over the controls as he spoke.

"That seems unlikely," Davik observed.  Vanni looked over his shoulder.  "Hm?"  "'Jungles', certainly.  _A_ temple, yes.  'Mysterious' is hoped for.  'Intrepid heroes' remains to be seen.  I have not sensed any disturbances in the Force recently."  Vanni flushed, but Jonas cut him off with a chuckle.  "Why Padawan, I do believe that was an attempt at humor."  Davik bowed precisely.  "Your skills of observation do you credit."  Yes, there was a smile threatening to form there.  "I did not say it was a _good_ attempt, but it's a start!"  A faint shadow of annoyance crossed Davik's face before he smoothed it away.  "As you say."

Jonas chuckled again to himself.  These Jedi and their fear of emotion!  Together, he and Vanni brought the _Song_ into orbit, then darted into the atmosphere toward the proper coordinates.  Jonas scoped the area out.  "There's a rock outcropping that looks artificial.  Probably your temple.  There's no clearing large enough to land the ship nearby, though.  Our best bet is about ten clicks away."  "Could we not burn a suitable landing space with the drive?"  Vanni smothered a laugh at Jonas' expression as he deliberately calmed down before replying, "In theory, yes.  In practice, though, I won't do it.  There's no reason to destroy perfectly good jungle when there's no need, and the walk won't kill us.  I'd apologize, except, you see, I'm not sorry."  Davik looked faintly puzzled at this reaction, but contented himself with an "Ah," in response.

Soon they had landed.  Jonas unsealed the arms locker and expertly checked out his blast rifle before settling it comfortably into position.  Vanni shook his head to himself, but didn't say anything as he grabbed his pistol and other weapons.  "Let's go."

Jonas took point, leading them readily through the jungle.  "Look at these trees - designed to bend with the wind.  And the leaves are shaped to shed rain.  I saw a number of big storms going on in the scope, too... I suspect we'll be glad of our rain gear before we leave."  After an uneventful day's march, the vine-choked Jedi temple loomed before them. "Hard to tell after two hundred years of overgrowth, but the Sith don't seem to have done too much damage," Jonas noted.  "That remains to be seen," Davik replied.

The entry area of the temple was huge - large enough to park the _Starchaser's Song_ several times over, if it could have gotten in the doors.  Vanni whistled in awe, and the echo came back clearly.  "Please do not do that," Davik said, and Jonas nodded.  "No telling what's in here after all this time."  Vanni shot them both a disgusted look, but said nothing.  They studied the three looming corridors leading further into the temple - one on either side, and one main one opposite the entrance.

Davik pointed to the corridor to their left.  "Let's start there."  He took the lead, and Jonas and Vanni spread out to either side of him, giving a clear field of fire.

They'd gone only a dozen meters or so when Jonas shivered.  "I've got a bad feeling about this place, all of a sudden."  Vanni snorted and said, "I've had a bad feeling about this job since Corellia!" but Davik nodded. "You sense it too?  Someone is using the Force further within.  The Dark Side, to be precise."  He ignited his lightsabers, and their deep thrumming sound and its echoes filled the passage with a deadly harmony.  "The Blight," Jonas muttered.  "Shaper Ivek told me about it, but..."  Vanni stared at them.  "You mean there's still Sith in here after all these years?"  He got two shrugs for a response, which clearly didn't comfort him.

Davik moved forward purposefully, but Jonas said, "Hold on, Padawan.  Whatever it is probably knows we're here.  Why march right on toward it?  Are there likely to be any other entrances to the temple?"  Davik considered.  "It is likely, yes.  There is merit in what you say."

They went back outside... only to be pelted by near-horizontal rain at what felt like lightspeed.  "I'm a prophet, I am," Jonas said cheerfully.  Vanni snorted and pulled his rain hood more tightly over his face.  To Davik he said, "Jonas uses the 'Bright Side' of the Force, as you can see."  That got an actual grin for a moment.

After a long and difficult slog in the rain, they found the other entrance at the back of the temple.  Going in, they were soon rewarded by finding their opposite number's camp - a bedroll, tools, a small generator, a grav lift, and so forth.  He (or perhaps she?) had been using a heavy-duty welding torch to cut through a set of blast doors.  Beyond that pair of destroyed doors was a short corridor leading downward to another pair, as yet untouched.  Searching, they found nothing of great value, though there was a locked box they decided to let be for the moment.

"There's a good deal of dust on the floor," Jonas noted.  "I can make out tracks.  I'll take point.  Quietly, everyone!"  He led them confidently through one of the corridors leading away from the anteroom.  They marched on a while in silence, the tension growing as they passed several intersections.  At one point Jonas abruptly came to halt and held a hand up to stop the others.  "Our friend left a little surprise for us..."

The others came closer to see the laser "tripwire" crossing the corridor.  Vanni shone his glowstick up the wall, then to the ceiling, where leads ran to what was evidently a large pack of explosives.  "I HATE surprises," he said bitterly.  Davik nodded sagely.  "Carefully now..."  Gingerly, they stepped over the laser beam, and Jonas led them on once more - a little more slowly and cautiously, this time.

Eventually they arrived in... The entrance chamber to the temple again, through the rightmost corridor.  Jonas sighed.  "Well, that was anticlimactic.  And the floor here doesn't hold tracks at all well.  We can go back and try one of the cross-corridors, or try one of the other main ones here."  Davik considered for a time, or perhaps listened to the Force.  "We know the Dark Side user came this way, and you saw no sign he doubled back?  Then we should try one of the other main corridors.  The middle one, I think."  "You're the boss."

The corridor was just beginning to open up into a room, when a humanoid form in dark clothing rushed past a startled Jonas to close with Davik with a bladed weapon.  Lightsabers ignited, the Jedi met the attack and pressed his own, filling the corridor with whirring noises and sparks.  Meanwhile Jonas whirled and fired his blast rifle at point blank range, while Vanni sought a clear shot.  Jonas hit, and shortly after Vanni did also, though the man dodged with preternatural speed and took little actual damage.  Davik held his own and managed to graze the man with one of his sabers.

Then the dark figure began calling on the Force, an upwelling of darkness and chill that pierced the hearts of the three allies.  Vanni cursed and fired again, scoring a solid hit; Davik's eyes narrowed and he pressed the attack with grim intensity... while Jonas fought down a wave of revulsion at the full revelation of the Blight.  Protest welled up within him, the Lifeblood of the galaxy answering to his outraged will... and spreading outward in a wave of pure, blinding light that filled the corridor with momentary glory.

As Davik slashed and Vanni fired again (cursing as his blaster did not respond), the man's use of the Force somehow turned inward upon himself in the wake of that furious brilliance.  He cried out and crumpled into a heap at Davik's feet, his blade going flying - hitting no-one, thankfully - and whining furiously against the stone floor.

Davik took in the situation with aplomb and restrained himself to noting, "Force Light is an uncommon gift even among Jedi," while Vanni stared at Jonas, ashen-faced.  "I didn't know you could do that!"  Jonas went over and turned off the vibroblade, clipping it to his own belt with satisfaction before admitting, "I didn't either, Vanni.  You learn something new every day, I suppose."  They turned to study their adversary.

He was human, with an unlined face, utterly nondescript save for his shock of dead white hair;  he had nothing in the way of personal effects on him save for a ring of three keys.  After binding him securely, Davik and Jonas worked together to heal the man with the Force.  His wounds closed, but he did not awaken;  he appeared to have sunk into a deep coma.  "We will have to take him with us," Davik announced.  "Master Insharr will want to see him."  Jonas nodded and slung the man over one shoulder. "I certainly wouldn't have left him to starve, in any case."  Vanni, for his part, just muttered something about being ready, willing, and eager.

"By the way, Vanni, why did your blaster misfire just now?" Jonas asked.  The young man hesitated before admitting sheepishly, "It's out of juice.  I forgot to charge it."  Jonas delivered himself of a short lecture on the importance of maintaining one's equipment, which was received with an ill grace but no overt protest.  Davik, for his part, wisely kept silent.

A careful search of the rest of the temple yielded nothing of interest.  The three turned their attention to their enemy's camp.  One of the keys opened the box, yielding various scattered lightsaber parts that intrigued Davik greatly.  Another activated the grav lift.  "The third probably opens his ship," Vanni pointed out.  "But where is it?"

Davik pulled himself out of the contemplation of his find.  "This suggests a useful division of labor.  I will cut through the blast doors with my lightsabers, while Jonas looks for the ship;  that lift does not have a very long useful range, so it should not be too far.  Vanni, you can help me clear the rubble and keep an eye on our opponent in case he should wake.  Does this sound reasonable?"  Jonas and Vanni both allowed as how it did.

The rest of that day proved uneventful.  Jonas' searching proved unfruitful;  Davik cut several large chunks out of the doors, but not enough to crawl through safely; and Vanni complained about being bored.  The second day proved more interesting.  Davik cut through the last of the blast doors (Vanni moving the red-hot pieces out the way with the Force, a trick he'd picked up from Jonas)... only to find yet another set beyond.

Jonas, for his part, found the ship in a jungle clearing - a sleek small model, carrying at most two men.  He inserted the key, and an artificial voice stated in Basic, "Awaiting password."  Jonas blinked. "Password?"  "Incorrect. Perimeter defenses are being activated."  "Hold on, now!  That won't be necessary!"  (Meanwhile, the ship started humming as various systems came to life.)  "Unauthorized users are to be terminated."  Sure enough, a small turret atop the ship swiveled in his direction.  Sweating, Jonas spun the (not very bright) machine a tale about being a port authority doing a routine check, and pointed out that gunning him down would get its master in a great deal of legal entanglement.

It bought it, or at any rate stood down, warning him not to attempt access again.  Jonas, for his part, relieved that he didn't have to threaten to levy a fine, fled back to the temple. There he announced calmly to the others, "I couldn't get into the ship.  It's password-protected."  Face thereby saved, he listened to Vanni's complaints about boredom with more patience even than usual.

The third day they spent intensively on the blast doors, both Jonas and Vanni helping remove the cut-away pieces of metal.  Though Jonas joked about the old Jedi having space-folding technology that let them set up an infinite line of blast doors in a small space, in fact there was a room beyond this set.

It appeared to have been a storage space, but it had been thoroughly trashed, and the pieces trashed after that.  A very thorough search gathered together a set of mostly-untouched lightsaber parts that sent Davik into restrained raptures.  (With this and the box upstairs, he had enough to build a couple lightsabers of his own, save for the power cells.)

There were also a number of more unusual items... a book with pages made of stamped metal written in a language none of the three men even recognized, much less were able to read.  A crystal rod covered with glyphs apparently in the same language.  An odd garment meant to go about the shoulders like a pectoral.  A bladed weapon not unlike a punch dagger.  Jonas and Davik recognized these last three as being somehow imbued with the Force, and Davik quickly claimed them all, and the book, in the name of the Jedi Order.

There was also a small set of personal effects - rings, other jewelry, and so on.  Davik offered these to his comrades, but Jonas looked uncomfortable.  "I don't like the idea of taking things from the dead."  But Vanni noted practically, "They aren't using it any more!" and Davik for his part didn't seem to care.  In the end, the pressure of Pluvo's payment deadlines forced Jonas' hand.

The next room down the corridor looked to have been the temple's archives.  It had been, if anything, more severely trashed than the storage room.  Memory crystals were scattered over the floor, many in pieces, and the readers were likewise vandalized.  The three started gathering up undamaged memory chips when Vanni asked, "Um, Jonas?"  "Yes, Vanni?"  "This other stuff on the floor isn't what I think it is, is it?"  Jonas came over to have a look at the little fragment and nodded soberly.  "I'm afraid so.  Bone with a bit of flesh still attached. Too, uh, small, to tell what species."  They found many such fragments as they searched.  A great many.  There was no way to tell how many people they had belonged to, but at least several.  Vanni gagged several times, and even Jonas, hardened to combat, had trouble keeping his composure.  Davik dipped now and then into meditation.

Finally Vanni burst out, "What in the worlds DID this to them?!"  As if in reply, a faint roaring came to their ears.  "Oh, SURE!" Vanni groused.  "Ask a stupid question..."  Just then a towering sickly-green translucent figure manifested in the center of the room, lashing out at the three of them with writhing tentacles.  The power of the Dark Side in its touch was overwhelming;  the three were momentarily staggered.

But then Davik ignited his sabers and leaped to the attack.  The thing howled at the touch of the blades' furious energy.  Jonas and Vanni fired simultaneously;  their bolts passed right through the thing, doing no apparent harm.  Jonas dropped his rifle at once and drew his newly-acquired vibroblade.

The thing lashed out at them again, but they were somewhat inured to its touch this time, though it still hurt.  Davik slashed at the thing in a whirling frenzy of light and sound, his face touched with calm at the eye of the storm.  Jonas found that his vibroblade was as useless as his blaster rifle.  Vanni drew upon the Force and fired again, seeming to actually hurt the thing somehow.

Jonas dropped the vibroblade in disgust and tried to find that calm center of light within himself again.  He faltered at first, straining his mind, but then the light poured forth with abandon from his uplifted hands, flickering a few times before shining with steady incandescence, while Vanni kept shooting and Davik methodically slashed.

The thing keened like the damned and redoubled its attack.  This time, Vanni cried out and went down.  "Vanni!" Jonas shouted.  His light flickered out at once and he rushed to the young man's side, heedless of the writhing tentacles barring the way.  He knelt at Vanni's side, laying on hands to heal, but a snapping tentacle laid him low as well, falling over Vanni's motionless form.

Davik fought on, the thing howling in earsplitting clashing notes as his lightsabers claimed their due from its ghostly flesh.  At length it guttered out like a candle with a final wail, leaving only a faint stench behind.  The Padawan deactivated his sabers and stood tall, savoring the moment.  Then he went and healed Jonas, who came around groaning and shaken.  "What did that thing DO to me?!"  "You have been touched by the Dark Side," Davik informed him.  "You will recover."  Together they then healed Vanni, who was likewise pale and shivering.

Jonas and Vanni both felt ill and exhausted, so the group retreated upstairs to the camp and bedded down for the night, Davik keeping watch.  Unfortunately, neither of the two afflicted were able to sleep well, being plagued with nightmares.  Jonas gave up in the wee hours and sat up to meditate.  After several hours light flickered and flared from him once more, giving him a start on burning away the Dark Side influence from his system.  But it took hours more, well into the day, before he felt able to sleep again.

The next morning he was good as new, though Vanni, never much of one for meditating upon the Force, still looked awful.  Jonas insisted on giving him more time to recover, and Davik concurred.  They spent the day in quiet pursuits while Vanni tossed, turned, and shivered... Thankfully, with the help of healing from the other two, he also was well when morning came.

The three entered the room beyond the archives with great caution, armed to the teeth.  Almost disappointingly, it proved to be unoccupied and intact, shielding its treasures from the world.  And treasures they were, though it wasn't clear what they forebode...

It was like the workshop of a mad wizard who'd taken up sculpting.  There was a striking white statue of a human woman, her face peaceful and serene, hands folded over her chest.  She was surrounded by something abstractly wispy enough that it was unclear whether it was intended to be mist, or a swirl of fine fabric, or something else entirely.

There was a large silvery globe, covered with the same glyphs they'd seen in the book and on the rod.

There was a four foot long rod of clear faceted crystal, held upright in an elegant stand.

Finally, there was a squat green abstract sculpture with a conical base that unfolded into sinuous, disturbing coils toward the top.  It pulsed direly with the Dark Side of the Force, as distinctly opposed to the others which gave off more wholesome vibes.

Davik took everything in, then calmly announced, "We will use the grav lift to take these all to the ship."  Jonas stated with firm finality, "No."  Vanni nodded with emphatic agreement.  Davik looked startled for a moment.  "I beg your pardon?"  Jonas pointed at the green sculpture.  "I will NOT have that thing on my ship."

"Jonas, this is a major find."  "My ship, my rule.  And I say no.  These others we will take.  That thing stays here and hopefully rots.  I'm tempted to smash it myself.  Surely you notice it looks like that thing we fought?"  "Yes...  You need only carry it to Corellia, where Master Insharr will take it off your hands...?"  "Which part of 'No' don't you understand, Padawan?"  "Would you rather that our captive's associates come and claim it, to use it for who knows what dark purpose?"

Jonas clenched his jaw tightly as he thought that over.  Finally he said, "All right, a compromise.  We'll cache it - bury it a click or so away from the temple.  Far enough that looters aren't likely to notice it.  You Jedi can come back and get it later...  Though if you take my advice, you'll melt it down to slag instead."  Davik nodded, resigned.  "Very well, I agree."

Suiting actions to words, they removed their finds to the ship, where they found that the sensors had recorded the liftoff of their captive's ship two days previous, which caused the three men no little consternation.  They buried the green statue deep and made a note of the coordinates.  Then they secured their captive (who still had not shown the slightest sign of waking), and lifted off from Yitak IV.  Vanni plotted the course for Corellia with obvious relief.  "So much for that!"

Jonas spent a couple pleasant days helping Davik catalogue the memory crystals they'd recovered, when finally he felt ready to broach a delicate subject, brought on by his ever-lurking balance with Pluvo Two-for-one.  "Quite the trip we had, Padawan."  "Indeed."  "Rather more exciting than we were anticipating, in fact."  "That is true."  "Vanni and I certainly didn't expect to fight looters, much less that green Blight-thing."  "Yes... what are you getting at?"  "I'm thinking that we need to renegotiate our fee somewhat."

Davik became even more still and impassive than usual.  "I am listening."  "It's only fair to take hazard-pay and combat conditions into account..." "Yes.  How much do you want?"  Jonas frowned at the younger man's bluntness, but mulled the matter over.  Expecting a good haggle, he named a number several times larger than what he anticipated getting:   "What do you say to twenty thousand credits?"

Davik stated in reply, "I do not have that much money.  You will have to take it up with Master Insharr."  Jonas blinked slowly a few times at this bombshell of mercantile etiquette.  "Ah... Yes.  Of course.  I will do that."  Mentally he added a few hundred credits onto his asking price.

The voyage was otherwise uneventful.  The _Song_ dropped into sublight in Corellia system right on schedule.  Jonas got up from the crystal reader he'd been using, stretched, and told Davik, "I'd best go up to the bridge and give Vanni a hand."  But just then the young man came rushing in, looking upset.  "Captain, there's something you'd better come look at right away!"  Alarmed by Vanni's use of the formal title, Jonas rushed after him, Davik on his heels.

In the bridge, Vanni pointed out some highlighted text on a monitor.  "We received the usual system news-squirt as we dropped back into realspace.  The computer flagged something as, um, relevant."  Jonas read in grim silence, then announced, "We - all three of us - are wanted for the murder of Jedi Master Insharr.  Apparently we fled Corellia system just after doing the deed.  We are considered armed and dangerous."

"I'd say our lives just got a great deal more interesting."

[I'll be putting up some background and descriptive information on Jonas and Vanni soon.  Vanni's an NPC, by the way, though closely associated with Jonas (my character).  Davik is played by DR.]

[We've had our second session this last Tuesday, and I hope to have it posted sometime this weekend.]


----------



## The Shadow (May 5, 2005)

*Background:  Jonas and Vanni*

[This is the material I sent to SP describing Jonas and Vanni, along with a few notes at the end.]

Jonas grew up on the hardscrabble colony world of Lorus in the Outer Rim.  Farming was difficult there, and one of Jonas' uncles taught him to hunt to help supplement his little village's food stores.  (His father had died in an accident while Jonas was a child.)  The harsh life bound the people together into a tightly-knit community, a family of families;  Jonas was happy there.

One day when he was fifteen, Jonas was returning from a successful hunt only to find hideous aliens poking about the smoking ruins of his village's houses.  Numb with horror, he could only stay hidden in shock when the aliens looted his people's few possessions and herded a few survivors onto their ship, no doubt to be sold.  Once they'd left, he wandered through the wreckage, numb, hardly even able to respond to the corpses of people he'd known all his life... including that of his mother.

After a time - he isn't really sure how long - he left, making a dangerous overland crossing to his world's sole spaceport.  There he lied about his age to a mercenary recruiter and enlisted.  He'd always been bright, and his practice with the village's antiquated computers, along with the practical first aid he'd learned, caught the eye of his squad leader.  He got trained by the company's medic, and picked up many of the skills of a spacehand as well.

But while he quickly bonded with his mates, almost like a new family - and he was well-liked for the most part in return - Jonas remained a driven young man.  He liked the art of healing, and the fact that it made him useful to his brothers in arms;  but he especially enjoyed killing aliens of all stripes.  (He'd learned that the ones who destroyed his village were Houk, but he was not too discriminating in his hatred.)  The jobs the company got against non-humans positively put a smile on his face, which weirded out some of his fellows at times.  He was too responsible to ignore his duties or disobey orders, but when he got the opportunity to shoot aliens, he took it with great relish.  About the only time he was disciplined, in fact, was for talking back to an officer about being ordered to stay back from combat.

But disaster struck the company in the Ithor system.  Outgunned by a surprise attack, the ship was badly damaged.  Jonas got shoved into an escape pod by an older man, Taren, who'd taken him under his wing almost from the beginning.  Jonas was 20 at the time.

His pod crashed on Ithor, in the midst of Mother Jungle.  Jonas emerged into an alien world, with no idea of where to go.

His food quickly ran out, and he simply wandered, delirious, for days.  Jonas does not talk much about this period in his life, except to quietly admit that the jungle "spoke to him".  It was a profound, life-changing experience.  (And it's a safe bet that he did a lot of reliving of those days in the wilderness after his village's destruction, coming to terms with it somewhat.)

When the Ithorians found him, he was raving and weak.  They took him to one of their communities, where one of their priests, Ivek, healed him and tended him in his fever.  Ivek also noticed that Jonas pulsed regularly in the Force, "in time with the breathing of Mother Jungle":  A significant omen, and one unheard-of in non-Ithorians.  (This strange "pulsing" invariably attracts the attention of other Force-users.)

Jonas' first real memory of this time is of the unearthly singing of the Ithorians, which he found oddly comforting.  When he finally came to himself, the faces he saw were not "ugly" or "inhuman", but kindly and intriguing.  His hatred of the non-human had been burnt out.  (The Houk are still a sore spot with him. But he's transferred most of his outrage to people, of any species, who prey upon others.)

Slowly he learned the language of his benefactors (as best a man can who only has one mouth, anyway), and was overwhelmed when Ivek offered to teach him the ways of the Force - or rather, the "Lifeblood" as he called it.  (Jonas shares Ivek's friendly distaste for the Jedi term "Force".  The Dark Side, seldom spoken of, is called the "Blight".)  He was inducted into Ivek's herd, and regards the elderly priest as something almost like a father.  He rarely uses his original clan-name, Starchaser, for this reason.

Yet perhaps that name had something to it after all, for at length Jonas found himself desiring to return to the stars.  His reasons were varied and difficult to articulate.  He had done much evil, as he saw it, "out there", and he needed to restore a balance.  He was tormented by memories of his family and friends on Lorus, some of whom (including his beloved younger brother, Sammel) he was sure he'd seen taken by the Houk.  But... perhaps most of all, he had an inchoate feeling that he was needed out there, that there was something important for him to do.  Ivek, after much meditation, agreed and sent him on his way with a blessing.  Jonas' herd pitched together a grubstake for him, and he agreed to return at least once every five Ithorian years if he was able, to renew ties and share what he had learned.

He worked for a time at a number of jobs:  Spacehand, bodyguard, others... anything that would let him keep on the move through the galaxy.  He's seen a great deal.  But at length Jonas realized that he needed more freedom of movement, to be able to respond to the longings within him.  With the "reasonable" help of a not-entirely-savory money-lender, Pluvo Two-for-one, he managed to make a down payment on a small, elderly, transport ship.  He named it the _Starchaser's Song_.

Since the _Song_ doesn't have a large cargo space, Jonas has specialized in carrying small, valuable goods to places others are reluctant to visit;  and in carrying sensitive messages and passengers.  He's built up a reputation for reliability, honesty, and integrity, and so far he's managed to make all his payments to the bank and, more importantly, to Pluvo. (The bank doesn't send kneecappers around if you're late...) though at times it's been by the skin of his teeth.

Three years ago, Jonas' solitary, peaceful life suffered an interesting intrusion;  he found a stowaway shortly after lifting off from Nar Shaddaa.  The teenage boy fought like a wildcat when discovered, but Jonas quickly got the knife away from him and pinned him to the deck, noticing as he did so the lad's slight form and ragged clothes.

"What's your name?"  No response except a snarl and a wholly-futile attempt to push Jonas away.

Jonas just waited patiently.  Eventually the boy got tired of struggling and spat out, "What do you want!"  "I want to know your name."  "Fine!  Raddo!"  Jonas just smiled.  "All right, 'Raddo'.  If I let you up, are you going to try to fight me again?"  Grudgingly, "It didn't do me much good the last time..."  Jonas let him up, and the boy backed away warily.  "What are you going to do now?"

"What do you think I should do?"  Completely nonplussed by this answer, 'Raddo' took a while in answering.  "Uh, set me down on Corellia. ... I've got family there, they'll pay you."  Jonas nodded, scooped up the knife, and went to the cockpit.  The lad followed at a distance, still wary.  "What're you doing?"  he asked suspiciously.  "Adding Corellia to my flight plan."  The computer verified this, and the boy just stared, eyes wide, breathing shallow.  "I'll have to make a stop or two along the way to fulfill my contracts.  I hope you don't mind."  'Raddo' finally allowed as how he could live with this.

Jonas busied himself about his usual life, giving the boy a cabin to stay in and making him at home, but otherwise not changing his routine. (Other than being a little more careful to keep the arms locker and cockpit secure.)  'Raddo' ate like a starved wolf and kept glancing at Jonas out of the corner of his eye, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.  When it didn't (indeed, Jonas left him strictly alone most of the time), he seemed to get more and more ill at ease.

Finally on the third day he crept up when Jonas was meditating crosslegged by one of the portholes.  "Uh, sorry to disturb you."  "That's all right."  "You, uh... kinda glow when you do that."  "I've been told that before."  "Oh."

Then, big, "Don't you want to know why I'm on your ship?!"  "Should I?"  "You're WEIRD, man!"  "I've been told that before too."  'Raddo' threw up his hands in frustration.  Jonas just went back to his meditation.

Finally the silence got too much for the kid.  He blurted out, "My name's not Raddo."  "I know."  More silence.  "It's Vanni."  "Pleased to meet you, Vanni. My name's Jonas, by the way."  Yet more silence.  "Aren't you going to SAY something?!"  "What would you like me to say?"

Vanni buried his head in his hands.  As if speaking to a small child, he explained, "You're supposed to demand explanations and threaten to slit my throat or throw me out an airlock.  Lock me up, maybe hurt me if I give you any trouble.  If you're feeling mean, you could even plan to sell me as a slave when we get to Corellia."  His voice quivered ever so slightly on the word "sell".

"I don't like hurting people, Vanni.  Sorry if you're disappointed."  "No, I..."  "What?"  "I don't know."

Long silence, then Jonas finally looked at him with a smile.  "So, what are you doing on my ship?"  Vanni stared at him, and they both laughed.  At length the lad said, "You already know, don't you?"  "I can make a pretty good guess.  You're an escaped slave, I take it."  "...Yeah."  Jonas held his eyes. "I despise slavery, and the Hutts are crueler with it than most.  I have no intention of taking you back.  Or selling you again."  Vanni let out the breath he was holding.  "Okay..."  "Do you really have family on Corellia?"

The boy's shoulders slumped. "No. I don't have anyone."  "Still want to go there?"  "I guess."  "What will you do when you get there?" "I'll think of something."  "Tell you what.  I'll let you work your passage on the way.  I could use a hand around this old girl, and it'll give you a bit of a stake for when you leave."  Shaking his head, bemused, Vanni said, "Sure, why not?"  They shook on it.

Jonas showed Vanni the ropes, and the lad proved a very quick study.  At one of their stops on the way to Corellia, Vanni came back to the ship much later than agreed and couldn't meet Jonas' eyes when he did.  Jonas guessed that he'd nearly jumped ship, but didn't press him on it.

Finally, the fateful day arrived.  Jonas counted out Vanni's pay and said, "Well, that's that."  "Uh huh."  "You've been a great help around here.  I'll miss having you around."  "Yeah."  Awkward silence.  Vanni finally said, "So I guess this is it, huh?"  "Seems so."  Jonas stuck out his hand, and Vanni shook it but didn't make a move to go. "Uh..." "Yes, Vanni?"

"I guess I was wondering if you could use a little more help? ... I could stand to make a little more money before I, you know, set up on my own."  Jonas smiled.  "Sure, Vanni, I'd like that."

Vanni is about nineteen now, or maybe twenty - he isn't sure.  He's become a junior partner in the _Starchaser's Song._  He's proved a valuable asset - clever, resourceful, and cunning.  Insatiably curious, he's learned a lot, and has even become a better astrogator and pilot than Jonas (he's quite the natural).

Vanni is fiercely loyal to Jonas, but has a chip on his shoulder the size of a small moon toward most of the rest of the universe;  he pretty much expects the worst from others and is ready to dish it back out at a moment's notice.  He and Jonas have clashed about this several times.  (Vanni says Jonas is "way too trusting", but gets VERY defensive when Jonas points out that Vanni's lucky he is!)  One thing they emphatically share, though, is a towering indignation against anybody who picks on those weaker than themselves.

Though Jonas is considerably older than Vanni (he's nearly 30) there really isn't much of a father/son vibe between them at all - if anything, they're more like brothers.  Jonas treats Vanni as an equal, and Vanni for his part, though Jonas' opinion of his actions matters to him much more than he'd willingly let on, doesn't feel any sort of debt of obedience to Jonas.  (Though in matters affecting the welfare of the ship, it is firmly understood between them that Jonas is the captain and his orders in an emergency are to be followed without backtalk.)

Vanni shows signs of being strong in the Force, and Jonas has tried to teach him to meditate and learn its ways.  Vanni finds meditation to be unutterably boring but humors Jonas with it now and then.

The young man is also something of a heartbreaker, his soulful eyes and charming words winning him a girl in most ports.  He also gambles a fair bit, winning rather more often than seems reasonable.  Jonas disapproves of these pastimes, and Vanni knows it, but they don't talk about it much.  In more domestic matters, especially his flashes of temper, Vanni is more willing to defer to Jonas and sheepishly apologize.  In the moody funks he sometimes sinks into, Jonas is the only one who can reach him.

Recently a Jedi Master named Insharr hired the two to transport him and his Padawan, Davik Orzo, as they researched Sith relics in odd corners of the galaxy.  Insharr was intrigued by Jonas' "pulsing" and they had several interesting conversations about the Force/Lifeblood.  Enough of a connection was formed that when Insharr sent Davik to investigate an abandoned Jedi temple ruined in the Sith Wars on his own, he looked up the _Starchaser's Song_ again...

And so tells the tale!

[A few short notes I didn't manage to work in.  Jonas celebrates the anniversary of the day he found Vanni as a "birthday" of sorts, as Vanni doesn't know just when he was born.  This embarrasses Vanni to no end, but also pleases him somewhere in there.]

[Vanni always gets bemused, maybe even weirded out, when Jonas gets his military-issue blaster rifle and other weapons out of storage.  It just seems so incongruous for him, who is ordinarily so gentle, to be carrying around such lethal armament.  When he sees Jonas shoot someone (it's happened a couple times) he isn't quite sure what to make of it.]

[I'm not sure just how much Jonas has told Vanni about his past - the basics, certainly, but perhaps not the more painful details.  I don't think Jonas has yet visited Ithor with Vanni;  that should be an eye-opening experience.  And of course it's up to you, SP, how much Vanni has spilled about his own past to Jonas.]

[SP has since responded to this.  Vanni has only recently begun opening up about his past, and rarely at that.  In any case, he isn't the kind to dwell on the past;  he's very much a creature of the present moment, with a half-eye cocked on the future.  He does save a little money for the future, but isn't averse to blowing it on a big gamble or the like.  He's used to living with nothing and making things stretch, so it doesn't trouble him much to lose money.]

[Anyway, he has let a few things slip in conversation.  He was sold into slavery in response to some sort of legal trouble on Nar Shadaa when he was a child.  (On the rare occasions they've visited Nar Shadaa, Vanni has refused to leave the ship.  He's argued strenuously against visiting the place at all, in fact.)  He hadn't always lived there;  before that, he'd been raised by his grandmother.  He wears a twisted piece of metal under his shirt that she gave him.]


----------



## The Shadow (May 5, 2005)

*Character Descriptions*

[Here's the descriptions I wrote up for Jonas and Vanni - I haven't yet heard back from DR about Davik.  As usual with me, I can't describe a character without learning all sorts of things about them as I go, so I veer a fair bit into character study as well.]

Jonas is tall and lean, a weathered, sunbeaten man.  His already light hair is bleached nearly white by the rays of dozens, if not hundreds, of suns.  (He prefers to spend time outdoors when he's on a planet.)  Though not bulked up in muscle, he has a steady, tough look about him that discourages trouble.

But in truth, trouble rarely comes looking, for Jonas is a warm, friendly man to all he meets.  The trouble he gets into is generally of his own choosing...  A patient, sensitive listener, many a stranger has found him-, her-, or itself pouring out his, her, or its woes to him, and Jonas isn't the sort of man who can stand idly by while somebody else suffers, especially if they're suffering unfairly.  Lying to him or trying to take advantage is very ill-advised, though;  maybe it's because he's an honest man himself (a vanishing breed in the circles he frequents) but he can spot a scam a mile off.  And when trouble does come to his doorstep, it finds out right quick that Jonas Starchaser can dish it back out and then some.

Though a peaceable sort, harsh experience has taught Jonas to drive a hard bargain and doggedly squeeze every credit.  The lengths he'll go to for an honest credit actually embarrass him a little at times, but the simple fact is that he has to keep ahead of the bank and Pluvo if he wants to keep chasing the stars.  (Not to mention keep his kneecaps intact!)

Jonas usually wears warm earth tones - browns and russets and the like.  He proudly sports the beret-like uniform cap of his old mercenary company on many occasions, especially formal or otherwise significant ones.  Around his neck he always wears a polished piece of intarzi-wood from Mother Jungle, blessed by his mentor, Shaper Ivek.  In a pocket he keeps a holo of his family from his childhood;  gazing at it often gives him new, if melancholy, resolve.

One lesson that Jonas has firmly learned from a rich and varied life as a settler, mercenary, gardener, and spacer is "Be prepared."  He pays close attention to detail, and is always prepared for the worst if he can manage it.  He carries holdout knives in his boots, and usually a blaster pistol as well.  You know things are getting serious, though, if he breaks out his old rifle from his soldiering days!

-----------------------------------------

Vanni is a study in opposites to Jonas.  He is fairly short (he grew up rather malnourished) and wiry.  He's gained some weight since coming aboard the _Song_, but one still gets the impression that a good stiff wind might give him trouble.  Vanni has curly jet-black hair and an olive complexion.  His face is mobile and expressive, and his fingers slender and dextrous.  (And on occasion rather too light for Jonas' taste...)

Vanni favors black and bright colors together - especially red, his favorite.  A black vest over a shirt of fine fabric is typical.  He teases Jonas about having no fashion sense.  ("You look like a farmer!"  "I am a farmer, Vanni." 

The young man is always on the alert, full of suspicion of others' motives and actions.  It takes much time and patience to win his trust, and unless your name is Jonas Starchaser, it's always provisional.  He has a fairly acidic sense of humor at times, and complains to blow off steam.  (Jonas knows this very well, and allows for it.)

Still, Vanni can be quite charming when he puts his mind to it.  His big, black, puppy-dog eyes could melt the heart of a statue.  Half the more impressionable women he meets want to sweep him off his feet, the other half want to take him home and mother him.  Eliciting either reaction privately amuses him to no end.

Most of Vanni's life and interaction with the outside world is in fact an act.  He has been hurt so often that he keeps his true self hidden deeply within;  even Jonas has seen only flashes of it now and then.  More, though, as time goes on, and Vanni's rare confidences are met by Jonas with friendly acceptance and not a trace of pity.  (Though Vanni is willing to use the pity of others toward him if it suits him, privately he can't abide it.)

Vanni is beginning, very slowly, to acknowledge the emptiness of much of the life he's living - the constant act, the empty relationships, are starting to wear him down.  Though he isn't ready to admit it to himself yet, Jonas' forthright honesty and centeredness are starting to look really good.  He is painfully aware of how many changes would be necessary in his life to get to that place, though - it looks impossible.

But while Jonas and the _Song_ are desperately-needed anchors in Vanni's life, things aren't all one-way, either.  They're good for each other.  Vanni offers Jonas a gusto for living that he needs to be reminded of at times.  It would be all too easy for Jonas to sink into meditation and come out only when necessary;  Vanni grounds him in reality.  The young man also plunges easily into social situations toward which Jonas would, on his own, be more reticent about, too.


----------



## dpdx (May 6, 2005)

This is a great one; very well written, expertly dialogued, compelling from the get-go. And I'm always pulling for more SW Story Hours, anyway.

To your credit, Shadow, the character write-ups, though fascinating, were extra; I get a good idea of the mental make-up of all three main characters from the first installment, just listening and watching them.

I'll be following this one. It's already destined for greatness.


----------



## Tony Vargas (May 6, 2005)

Hey Shadow, good to see you writing again!  A question, and an observation, though...

Q: Does Davik really have two lightsabers?  If so, why is he so excited about finding lightsaber parts?  /How many hands does this guy have?/  


Obs:  As with the Shadow story hour, you again have a PC with a very strong quasi-father-son relationship (that is, a shared, deep emotional attachment, with the PC having a definite air of authority in that relationship) to an NPC.


----------



## The Shadow (May 7, 2005)

dpdx said:
			
		

> This is a great one; very well written, expertly dialogued, compelling from the get-go. And I'm always pulling for more SW Story Hours, anyway.
> 
> To your credit, Shadow, the character write-ups, though fascinating, were extra; I get a good idea of the mental make-up of all three main characters from the first installment, just listening and watching them.
> 
> I'll be following this one. It's already destined for greatness.




WOW!  Thanks for the kind words!!  That's the sort of feedback writers love to get. 



			
				Tony Vargas said:
			
		

> Q: Does Davik really have two lightsabers?  If so, why is he so excited about finding lightsaber parts?  /How many hands does this guy have?/




He's excited because Jedi are expected to build their own lightsabers before they're made Knights, and the parts aren't easy to come by.  His existing ones are hand-me-downs from Insharr, and don't count.



> Obs:  As with the Shadow story hour, you again have a PC with a very strong quasi-father-son relationship (that is, a shared, deep emotional attachment, with the PC having a definite air of authority in that relationship) to an NPC.




That's in a sense no accident.  Vanni was in fact a partial inspiration for Carlos. 

Yes, Jonas and Vanni have been knocking around in my head for quite some time.  They were originally intended to be played in an intriguing fantasy campaign of SP's called Mistlands (which fell through).  But when Star Wars was proposed, I all of a sudden realized that it's quite easy to translate fantasy characters into that universe.  (They did mutate somewhat along the way, of course, but they're still recognizable.)  I do like to reuse characters whenever possible;  why waste perfectly good creativity?

But I don't see them as a knock-off of Alex/Carlos, either.  There's a very different vibe going on here.  Carlos and Vanni may come from similar starting points, but they've done extremely different things with them.  Where Carlos has taken a mostly constructive path and put the past behind him, Vanni is still mired in it, full of anger and vindictiveness.  (If he doesn't end up at least flirting with the Dark Side before the campaign is done, I'll be shocked.)  Unlike Carlos, he isn't looking for a father-figure, nor is Jonas exactly providing one.  Though with Jonas being the captain of the ship, that does muddy the waters somewhat.

(For those who don't know, "Alex" is the secret identity of the Shadow in my other Story Hour, and Carlos is his sidekick in a sense.)


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 7, 2005)

Just like to jump in here and say its ALWAYS good to see another Star Wars Story Hour around here, and yours is definitely great. It was getting lonely.


----------



## Tony Vargas (May 7, 2005)

The Shadow said:
			
		

> His existing ones are hand-me-downs from Insharr, and don't count.



 Ah, I see.  I think.  

And Jonas, OTOH, isn't a jedi at all, but, in effect a human 'alien student of the force' (template in the d6 version of the game).



> But I don't see them as a knock-off of Alex/Carlos, either.  There's a very different vibe going on here.  Unlike Carlos, he isn't looking for a father-figure, nor is Jonas exactly providing one.  Though with Jonas being the captain of the ship, that does muddy the waters somewhat.



 Nod.  I was just noticing that there was another strong male relationship involved.  Not as complex or intense as the 'paternal-love triangle' that Alex was in, but I suspect it'll still be interesting to explore...


----------



## The Shadow (May 7, 2005)

Tony Vargas said:
			
		

> Ah, I see.  I think.
> 
> And Jonas, OTOH, isn't a jedi at all, but, in effect a human 'alien student of the force' (template in the d6 version of the game).




Right.  In d20 terms, he's got a couple levels of "Force Adept".  Vanni has a bit of it too.  (All three are 5th level, by the by.)



> Nod.  I was just noticing that there was another strong male relationship involved.  Not as complex or intense as the 'paternal-love triangle' that Alex was in, but I suspect it'll still be interesting to explore...




To be perfectly honest, I wanted to get a bit away from that degree of intensity.  That's also why Jonas is a much lighter, less brooding character than Alex.  I don't want to have to withdraw from this campaign the way I did from the last one.

But yes, I do hope very much it will be interesting. 

EDIT:  Forgot to mention that I got a laugh out of the "paternal-love triangle" phrase.  Very apt!


----------



## The Shadow (May 7, 2005)

Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> Just like to jump in here and say its ALWAYS good to see another Star Wars Story Hour around here, and yours is definitely great. It was getting lonely.




Why thanks!  I took a brief look at yours but haven't had time to really peruse it yet.  Looks fantastic, though!

Seems like we fill two different niches - your guys seem to be a military unit of some sort, while this group is more what Traveller would call "Free Traders".


----------



## Tony Vargas (May 7, 2005)

The Shadow said:
			
		

> To be perfectly honest, I wanted to get a bit away from that degree of intensity.  That's also why Jonas is much lighter, less brooding character than Alex.  I don't want to have to withdraw from this campaign the way I did from the last one.



I noticed that about Jonas right away - if he's like Alex at all, he's more like an Alex that has gotten over his dark/brooding angst and moved on into the light.  He has power, but he's not as unique in that sense, so it's not as much of a burden, and the Dark Side provides a clear moral line to avoid crossing.  Plus, Star Wars, even though it really does have it's roots in the same era, just can't be as dark as The Shadow.  If he were in the Old Republic, the Shadow would be a Sith - morality in the Star Wars universe can't abide morality in that dark a shade of grey.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 7, 2005)

The Shadow said:
			
		

> Why thanks!  I took a brief look at yours but haven't had time to really peruse it yet.  Looks fantastic, though!
> 
> Seems like we fill two different niches - your guys seem to be a military unit of some sort, while this group is more what Traveller would call "Free Traders".




Thanks.  And yeah, we've definitely got two ends of the Star Wars universe between us. Though the military thing faded from mine early on...so I wonder if the characters in yours will be undergoing some interesting changes to keep up the trend.


----------



## The Shadow (May 7, 2005)

Tony Vargas said:
			
		

> I noticed that about Jonas right away - if he's like Alex at all, he's more like an Alex that has gotten over his dark/brooding angst and moved on into the light.




You make a number of spot-on points in what follows, Tony.



> He has power, but he's not as unique in that sense, so it's not as much of a burden,




Right between the eyes.  And what's more, Jonas doesn't have to worry about zapping everyone around him if he lets down his guard, too. 



> and the Dark Side provides a clear moral line to avoid crossing.




Bingo on that one, too.



> Plus, Star Wars, even though it really does have it's roots in the same era, just can't be as dark as The Shadow.  If he were in the Old Republic, the Shadow would be a Sith - morality in the Star Wars universe can't abide morality in that dark a shade of grey.




Yep.  I mean, it seems clear that the Star Wars universe apparently can't even handle a "good guy" like Han Solo shooting a bounty hunter who's threatening him unless first fired upon.  </dripping sarcasm>



			
				Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> Thanks. And yeah, we've definitely got two ends of the Star Wars universe between us. Though the military thing faded from mine early on...so I wonder if the characters in yours will be undergoing some interesting changes to keep up the trend.




Well... I need to ask SP some questions before I can finish up the writeup, but as you'll see in the upcoming installment, there are some lifestyle changes happening already.


----------



## Spider_Jerusalem (May 7, 2005)

Hello everyone.

I'm loving this. Not a usual Star Wars SH reader, but this was recommended here and there - The character dynamics are great. 

I'm a touch lost on what the game mechanics are (having played starwars d20 only a few times), but what the jimmies was that tentacle thing? Also, if that weirdo sith coma-victim is a force zombie, you've got me hooked.

Awaiting the next episode with a Rancor sandwich in hand...

Spider


----------



## The Shadow (May 7, 2005)

Spider_Jerusalem said:
			
		

> Hello everyone.
> 
> I'm loving this. Not a usual Star Wars SH reader, but this was recommended here and there - The character dynamics are great.




Thanks for the feedback!



> I'm a touch lost on what the game mechanics are (having played starwars d20 only a few times),




This is my first time, personally, so I may know less than you. 



> but what the jimmies was that tentacle thing?




Got me.  I'm guessing it's a Dark Side ghost of some sort, but as for the species, only SP can tell you for sure.



> Also, if that weirdo sith coma-victim is a force zombie, you've got me hooked.




No clue.  Should be interesting. 



> Awaiting the next episode with a Rancor sandwich in hand...




It's nearly done, just need to get a clarification or three from SP on how the world works, and a little bit of scenage in between Jonas and Vanni.  (Didn't want to hold up the game while Davik's player was on the line.  Our regular sessions suffer from time constraints;  the first one was an in-person game.)


----------



## The Shadow (May 10, 2005)

*2 - Grounded in Reality*

[This was a short, fluffy session.  I got inspired and did a fair bit of embellishing, though - mostly in terms of daily-life stuff in the Old Republic - so it's nearly as long as the previous one in written form.  Funny how I keep learning things about SP's world when I write about it.   Thankfully he's not the kind to get threatened by player input.]

Davik sucked in a stricken breath at the news, while Jonas shook his head slowly.  "Vanni, get me on the horn to Corellia Port Control right away."  Vanni gave him a dubious look.  "You sure about that, Jonas?"  "That's an order, Vanni."  The young man shrugged and obeyed.  "You're the boss.  Channel open."

"Corellia Control, this is the trader _Starchaser's Song_, Captain Jonas Starchaser speaking."  There was a slight pause before a crisply professional voice responded, "Good day, Captain.  We... weren't expecting to hear from you."  "We've received the squirt, yes.  We have no idea what it's all about, but we are prepared to cooperate fully with the authorities."  "Understood, Captain.  Hold your position;  a corvette is being diverted to escort you in."  "Acknowledged."

When the connection was broken, Jonas said, "It'll take them a few minutes to get here.  Vanni, hold us steady.  I'll be right back."  But if any hopes were raised of a secret plan, they were dashed when Jonas returned wearing his old mercenary uniform - navy blue with silver trim, a couple decorations on his chest, the cap settled firmly on his head.  Vanni, who'd never seen the full panoply before, was suitably impressed but commented, "Like to look your best for the execution, huh boss?"  He probably wasn't comforted overmuch by Jonas' simple "Right," in response.

Soon a sleek warship hove into view.  "_Starchaser's Song_, this is the Corellian Navy Corvette _Stingray_.  We are sending you course instructions;  please do not deviate from them."  The tone was businesslike but courteous, which was a bit of a relief.  "Acknowledged, _Stingray._"  Jonas suppressed a sigh when he saw that the landing coordinates were for a naval base on one of Corellia's moons.  Vanni shot him a meaningful glance, but got the _Song_ moving as per instructions.  Davik was still staring off into space, stunned and speechless.

Once settled into their assigned docking bay, Jonas led the way to the cargo hold.  There he said quietly, "Disarm, Vanni.  That's an order."  Vanni nodded, resigned, and produced a surprising quantity of weapons secreted about his slim form.  Stacking them neatly in the arms locker, he stood back as Jonas sealed it.  "I hope this works out, Jonas."  Forcing a smile, the older man replied, "I hope so too."  He turned and rejoined Davik, standing at parade rest as a squad of marines came aboard his beloved ship, weapons at the ready.

Their leader nodded to Jonas. "We thank you for your cooperation, Captain.  I am Lieutenant Tavin.  Is there anyone else aboard?"  "Only one, Lieutenant.  An unconscious man who attacked us on Yitak IV."  "We will see to his needs.  If you will accompany me?"

Once off the ship, Tavin told Jonas somewhat apologetically, "We will have to search you and your crewman for weapons, Citizen."  Jonas nodded;  clearly the man was going out of his way to be polite, refraining from searching him aboard his own vessel.  (Where, by longstanding custom, he held the courtesy rank of "Captain".)  He and Vanni submitted to this indignity while the lieutenant turned to Davik.  "I am afraid I must also ask you for your lightsabers, Padawan.  They will be returned to you when our investigation is complete."  Davik took them from his belt and handed them over wordlessly.

The three were led into a meeting room, where they sat.  An older officer looked them over, then said gruffly, "I'm Captain Artan.  You've handed me and my superiors quite the conundrum, Citizens.  The case against you seemed airtight;  you aren't just our prime suspects, but our only suspects.  We're not quite sure what to make of this, but you've definitely earned some points by turning yourselves in as you have."  Davik finally spoke, his voice hoarse and trembling:  "What happened to my Master?!"  Artan grimaced.  "I'm afraid I can't tell you that until we've investigated further, Padawan."  Turning to Jonas, he asked, "What brings you to Corellia?"

"My partner and I were retained by Master Insharr to conduct Padawan Orzo to Yitak IV and aid him in recovering Jedi artifacts there.  We have only just returned and gotten the news.  I have the receipt here in my pocket, if I may produce it?"  Artan gestured for him to do so, and Jonas brought out a small crystalline cube.  Pressing a stud on its side, he set it on the table as it warmed up.

Abruptly it projected a holographic image to one side, about six inches tall:   A tall bearded man in Jedi robes, greying a bit at the temples.  Davik choked back a sob at the sight of him, and it seemed almost strange that the man showed no sign of recognition in return, but kept on smiling.  A mechanical voice spoke:  "State your names for the record."

The man held up his right hand and said clearly in a warm resonant voice, "Master Insharr of the Jedi Order."  Laser light flickered over his palm, and the digits of his Citizen Ident Number shimmered into being over his head.  "Recognized," the voice concluded, and the image shifted to one of Jonas.  He likewise raised his hand and stated "Citizen Jonas Starchaser of Lorus, late of Ithor.  Captain of the trader vessel _Starchaser's Song_."  When his CIN had duly appeared and been acknowledged, the two appeared side by side.  The robotic voice continued, "State the terms, Citizens."

Insharr recited, "I hereby contract with Citizen Jonas to carry my Padawan learner, Davik Orzo, to a Jedi temple in the Yitak system and to assist him, within reason, in recovering items belonging to the Jedi Order there.  I will pay him two thousand, five hundred credits now, and a like amount upon C. Orzo's safe return with said items.  In all other respects my terms conform to the provisions of the Trader Guild's Standard Passenger Contract 5-B."  Jonas' image nodded and said, "I hereby acknowledge the receipt of two thousand, five hundred credits from Master Insharr and will carry out his terms to the best of my ability."

Insharr's image then grinned at Jonas', his eyes crinkling up in laugh lines.  "Do try not to get into too much trouble.  I'd hate to pay you for enjoying yourself!"  Jonas' holo laughed.  "You mean you'd hate to miss out on the fun!"  Insharr chuckled, pointedly not denying it, then said seriously, "May the Force be with you."  He got the smiling reply, "Keep your 'Force', Jedi," but then equally seriously, "Walk in Life."  "Are the terms of the contract concluded, Citizens?" the voice droned.  After receiving two affirmative answers, it proclaimed officiously, "Sealed and notarized in the name of the Galactic Republic.  Let none gainsay it!"  The official time, date, and location appeared as it spoke, along with the star-spangled Seal of the Republic.

The hologram fuzzed into static for a moment, then vanished.  Davik's face was wet with tears.

Captain Artan cleared his throat awkwardly.  "The receipt is evidence;  I'll have to retain it."  Jonas nodded somberly, and even Vanni looked sad, though he hadn't known Insharr well.  Jonas then asked, "What happens now, Captain?"

"We're going to question you separately at some length.  And we will be searching your ship."  Jonas nodded, and handed over the _Song_'s keys.  "How long will you keep us here?"  "At this point, Citizen, I don't yet know.  Until our investigation is complete."

"I understand your position, Captain;  please try to understand mine.  I have loans outstanding on my ship.  I can't earn money to pay them while you and your associates do your work.  Is there any way you can formally freeze the loans until..."  Davik abruptly lunged to his feet and shouted, "Master Insharr is DEAD, and all you can think about is your ship?!"

Jonas winced, while Vanni looked anywhere but at the two of them.  "I have to, Pada-...  Davik.  I grieve for your loss.  I liked Insharr very much.  But my livelihood is at stake here, not to mention my home.  It won't do him any good for Vanni and me to lose the _Song_."  Davik sat back down, fuming lightly, while Jonas looked back at Artan.  "What about it, Captain?"

Artan replied, "That's more of a matter for the civil authorities;  I don't have the jurisdiction.  But you will be in contact with them soon enough, and I assure you that you will be afforded all the protections of Republic and Corellian law."  When Jonas nodded, he went on, "We are ready now for the questioning I spoke of.  I ask you to cooperate fully and answer everything to the best of your ability."  The three rose;  Vanni a little hesitantly.  He'd been conspicuously silent, hunched in on himself during the whole proceedings.  Jonas touched his shoulder lightly as they were led away, and Vanni flashed him a wan, half-hearted smile.

The interrogators knew their work.  Courteously relentless, they went on and on, dissecting detail after detail.  Jonas was worn out by the time they led him off to a small room to sleep;  and it just started right back up the next day.  His patience finally starting to fray a bit by mid-morning, Jonas suddenly said, "Look!  Have you ever heard of Pluvo Two-for-one?"  His questioner paused, then asked with furrowed brows, "Sure.  What about him?"  "He owns part of the mortgage on my ship.  Given that, do you honestly think I'd kill a man who owed me money?!"  That got a wry chuckle out of her, and the ice was broken somewhat thereafter.

The three allies were permitted to eat lunch together that day.  It wasn't much of a meal for scintillating conversation...  Vanni was in an irritable, moody funk - stabbing at his food as if it might rear up and fight back.  He was still making himself as small as possible under the harsh glare of the law.  Davik was tight-lipped and morose.  Jonas was just fatigued and worried.  He tried making a few cheerful comments to brighten the mood, but they just stared at him balefully until he faltered to a stop.

After a time they were escorted back into the meeting room.  There Artan told them, "I have news for you, Citizens.  A decision has been reached regarding your status."  When he had their full attention, he continued, "We are not going to press formal charges at this time.  However, our investigation continues, and we need to have you nearby.  You will be taken planetside to the city of Miretta, which has direct jurisdiction over the case.  We expect you to remain there and to stay out of trouble, but other than that no restrictions are placed upon you.  We will pay for the first night's stay at the starport hotel, but after that you will have to provide for your own lodgings.  Your ship will remain here in the meantime.  Are there any questions?"

Davik gripped the arms of his chair.  "NOW are you going to tell me what happened to my Master?!"  Artan sighed.  "It appears that some person or persons shot him with a stunner.  Meanwhile someone else attacked him with a lightsaber from behind, cutting him into several pieces."  Davik broke down into sobbing at that image;  Jonas reached out and gripped his shoulder to steady him.

When the Padawan had recovered his composure, his face was set like flint.  In a dead, determined voice, he inquired, "Was there any sign of a struggle?"  "No.  It appears he was taken completely by surprise."  "Where did this happen?"  "In his own home in Miretta.  Nobody but the three of you were observed to enter the house, and the time of death points to roughly the time you left - though there is a margin of error, of course."  Davik pondered that, wheels starting to turn in his brain.  "I see."

Jonas asked, "Will we be provided with legal representation?"  "No, Citizen, you will have to see to that yourself."  "May we  get some personal items from the ship?"  "Of course.  You will be escorted there after this meeting.  You are required to remain unarmed, however."  That brought Vanni's head up;  he stared at the man in disbelief.  Jonas looked dubious himself, and was starting to say something when Artan assured him, "It's a very law-abiding city.  You will not need to defend yourselves."  Vanni snorted quietly and Jonas just shrugged, resigned.

Shortly after, aboard the _Song_, Jonas paused just before heading out the hatch, a rucksack full of clothes and other items slung over his shoulder.  He stroked the bulkhead and said softly, "Hang in there, old girl.  We'll be chasing the stars again soon enough."  Vanni overheard that as he was trooping out and stopped in his tracks.  He turned and met Jonas' eyes, and nearly spoke...  But then he hunched his shoulders and turned away again.  Jonas sighed softly and followed him out, and the three were escorted onto a transport shuttle.

He sighed again as he looked out a porthole at the approaching planet.  Corellia was disgustingly overbuilt, a few anemic parks about the only wilderness left.   [SP says that Corellia is due for a major population crash in the next couple thousand years, which will eventually turn it into the rough-and-tumble den of smugglers that Han Solo will arise from.]  But Davik's toneless words roused him from his reverie:  "I never thought my first investigation would be of my own Master's death."  "I know you'll make him proud, Padawan."

Davik grimaced, and Jonas swiftly asked, "Are there any Jedi you can contact once we're planetside?"  "...Yes.  My Master's former Padawan, Tecza, works in the Ministry of Justice on Coruscant.  He's a Zabrak, very dedicated and zealous.  He'll definitely want to know all about this, and may be able to help us.  And there's Master Ayala;  she was a good friend of Master Insharr's and will definitely want to get to the bottom of things."  Davik warmed to the topic as he spoke, and Jonas smiled to himself.  Vanni, for his part, still seemed determined to brood, but he knew the cure for that:  Give him something to do.

They were met at the spaceport by the civilian police, who reiterated the terms of their stay:  No leaving the city, no trouble, no weapons.  Jonas tried chatting them up, asking them if they could recommend a lawyer among other things, but they rebuffed him coolly.  To them he was just another perp, and that was that.

But Davik, of all people, managed to get through to them.  "Take me to Master Insharr's house."  They started to deny him, but he overrode them passionately:  "I know the place.  I've LIVED there.  I'll notice things nobody else will!  PLEASE!"  After some discussion and calling in to headquarters, an escorted visit was approved.  Davik was striding after the cops purposefully, head held high with determination, when Jonas called, "Padawan!"  Davik turned.  "Yes?"  After a pause, Jonas managed to say, "May the Force be with you."  The Jedi nodded sharply.  "And with you, Jonas."

Once settled in their rooms, Jonas went and knocked on Vanni's door.  The young man was pacing like a caged lion. "Yeah?"  "I'm going to be researching our situation.  While I'm doing that, why don't you go find us a place to stay?  You know how outrageous these spaceport hotels are - damned monopoly!"  Vanni shook himself, then nodded.  "Good idea, Jonas.  I'm on it."  "Keep your ears open for any work we can do, too.  There's no telling how long we'll be here."  Vanni nodded again.  "Yeah."  After an awkward pause, he started to head out.  Jonas asked him quietly, "Hey.  How are you doing?"  Vanni shrugged easily and flashed him a smile.  "I don't like all this, Jonas, but that's life."  Jonas nodded.  "True enough."  He felt sure there was more going on than that, but knew better than to pry.

Now alone, Jonas sat down at his room's computer, dipping into the planetary Net.  Searching on Corellian law proved enlightening;  he now understood why they were being given the kid-glove treatment.  A Corellian court could hand down one of four verdicts:  Besides the usual "Guilty" and "Not Guilty", there were also "Not Proven" (which meant the defendant was free to go, but the case could be reopened again if new evidence surfaced) and "Acquitted" (which meant the case never should have been brought to trial in the first place).  Those who were Acquitted had the legal right to sue the government for damages, and the Corellian courts had a long and proud tradition of socking it hard to the other branches of government over such cases.  Evidently the authorities were sufficiently unsure about the case that they feared a possible acquittal.

The government couldn't hold them more than a day without pressing charges;  but they could impound the _Song_ on various pretexts for up to six months.  Jonas sighed.  If it ended up being six months, it might as well be sixty years.

His next step was to call the Ithorian Consulate.  The hammerheaded receptionist looked him over and said in accented Basic, "How may our office assist you, Citizen?"  His neck sacs bulged in astonishment when Jonas responded in 'Sister Tongue' Ithorese (the simplified, one-mouthed dialect used by children and computers), "Felicitations, courteous sir.  I humbly ask your forgiveness for my pronounciation;  my anatomy does not permit all of the necessary sounds.  I can comprehend the Mother Tongue if you deign to speak it."  The rumbling, fluting response eventually came, "Felicitations, talented human sir.  How may the Children of Mother Jungle be of aid?"

The receptionist's neck sacs bulged all over again when Jonas introduced the stylized whistling note of distress into his words - the note of a youngster separated from his herd.  "I seek the encirclement of the Herd of Herds, magnanimous sir.  I am far from home and set upon by the claws of predators."  He got the thoroughly confused but ritual response, "Deliverance is yours, distressed lad.  Our spears are sharp. ... What, ah..."  He evidently searched for a polite way to ask just what sort of "herd" Jonas was referring to;  Jonas spared him the trouble.

"Mine is the fifth Shaper Herd of Mother Jungle, legitimately puzzled sir.  Shaper Ivek has stretched his neck over me."  The Ithorian started to turn blue with incipient shock.  He mumbled to himself, "Shaper?!  MOTHER JUNGLE?!" while Jonas politely ignored the discourtesy.  Pulling himself together, the being finally stated, "I am passing your request on to our Negotiator With Predators, o entirely unprecedented sir.  Walk in Life."

There followed a long and polite set of rumblings, growlings, flutings, and moanings.  In the end, Jonas took his leave of the "exalted sire" Consul and sat back in contemplation of the situation.  A message was being sent to Ithor.  Soon the Corellian government would be flooded with sealed affidavits vouching for his character from every last member of his herd;  it was the Ithorian way.  Jonas grinned for a moment as he imagined the poor harried sap of a bureaucrat whose in-box was about to overflow.

The Consul had also recommended a lawyer of impeccable reputation.  More than that he was not willing to do until he heard from the Shaper;  Jonas could hardly blame him.  A quick call to the lawyer - a late-model protocol droid owned by a prestigious firm - got his case accepted immediately.  What's more, the droid assured him with typically mechanical enthusiasm that there were legal means to freeze the loans on the _Song_ - at any rate, the loans from the bank.  Pluvo was another matter... but Jonas still breathed a sigh of profound relief.

He sat a time in contemplation after hanging up.  He hadn't spoken Ithorese in... too long.  It brought back memories.  Ah, where are you, cherished Shaper sire?  Your herdling hopes you do not turn blue at the thought of him...  Jonas shaped the Lifeblood into a little blessing toward Ivek and sent it on its way.  He had not the craft to ensure that it would be recognizable by the time it got there, but it's the thought that counts.

Meanwhile, Davik was going over his old home with an investigator's unsparing eye.  Everything was neatly in order, Jedi discipline abhorring clutter.  The cops didn't entirely trust him, but his status as a Jedi helped;  they were willing to answer some questions.  No life-traces had been found in the house other than those of himself, Jonas and Vanni, and Master Insharr.  The murderers had evidently been very cautious.

He was beginning to despair of finding anything when his eyes fell on his Master's meditation focus... a kinetic sculpture programmed to weave in intricate patterns, capturing the eye.  Master Insharr had favored such things, speaking of "active attention"...  Davik sternly rebuked himself and applied that active attention to the task at hand... Something was strange here.

Yes!  He'd spent hours in front of the focus, but he'd never seen it in this configuration before!  It wasn't part of any of the thing's programs...  Something had disturbed it - perhaps it had been tampered with?  The police confirmed that the Jedi Master had been sitting in front of the focus when attacked.

Keeping his own counsel, Davik went over the room with a fine-toothed comb.  Eventually, to the cops' chagrin, he turned up something they'd missed:  A notch in the chair opposite Insharr's.  He was positive it hadn't been there the last he'd seen it.  Davik wasn't certain what it meant, but he was sure it meant something.

When satisfied for the nonce, he said, "I thank you for permitting me to come here, Officers.  If I think of anything else, I will be sure to contact you."  The Padawan then strode off, intending to send a few hyperspatial messages.

"Justice will be done, Master.  I swear it."


----------



## The Shadow (May 10, 2005)

*Session Notes*

As I mentioned, this was a short session but I got inspired and did a fair bit of embellishing.  SP's approved the basic ideas.

First off, I "noticed" that the usual title for social interaction is "Citizen".  Very French Revolutionary. 

The "receipt" struck me as a very logical and proper use of the holographic technology we'd seen in the movies.  Saves on paperwork, that's for sure!  And on legal interpretation of what the contractees intended.  Then there's the "Standard Contracts" out there to help fill in the chinks that ordinary people don't normally think of.  As an added dramatic bonus, it enabled me to display a bit of Insharr's personality and Davik's and Jonas' relationships with him.

I put a bit of thought into how Ithorese would "sound" when translated into English.  I learned a lot about their culture when writing Jonas' conversation with the receptionist.

I figured that as herd herbivores, they probably have little or no concept of privacy.  You don't draw someone aside to have a private conversation;  you just preface your remarks to make sure people know who you're talking to, and everyone else politely ignores it.  (That's why Jonas took no notice when the receptionist was talking to himself.)  They are a very courteous people with a distaste for conflict.  Jonas, who'd grown up in a tightly-knit rural community, got along just fine.

Hence the constant "modified sir" business.  Translated in pidgin-literal fashion, the "sir" means something like "male of presumed-to-be-equal social status".  The feminine version I'll probably render as "madam", or maybe "miss".  Notice that the receptionist switched to calling Jonas "lad" - ie, "immature/lower-social-status male" when Jonas invoked the mode of distress.  (But switched back to "sir" when that ritual eventuality was taken care of.)  The modifiers carry a fair bit of information about the speaker's attitude toward the listener.  Meanwhile, Jonas accorded the Consul and Shaper Ivek the higher-status title of "sire" (reproduction being a privilege in a herd community, limited to alpha males).  The feminine version would be "dam".

As for the lawyer being a protocol droid... It just seemed right.  The law is complex enough in this day and age;  in a nation with as much history as the Republic, you probably HAVE to have a computerized brain to keep track of it all!  Besides, we all know that lawyers are lower life forms. 

---------------

In other news, SP and I had an extensive discussion on just how hyperspace and FTL radio work in the setting.  Hyperspace is like a higher "energy level" of the ordinary spacetime continuum.  It takes a large chunk of energy to enter it, but a much smaller amount to maintain one's ship there.  If that maintenance level isn't provided, one immediately drops back into realspace.

Ships in hyperspace are cut off from the rest of the universe;  they can't be attacked or communicated with, and they can't see where they're going.  Gravity affects one's path, which is why plotting is necessary.  It's quite risky to enter hyperspace too deep in a star's gravity well, and only somewhat less risky to emerge too deep.  (In Sol system, a cautious astrogator would emerge at about the orbit of Neptune.  A somewhat more daring one would emerge somewhere near the orbit of Saturn - though not near the planet itself.  A truly insane one might try for the asteroid belt.  But that's about the limit - Jupiter's well complicates things a lot.)

A typical mishap is damage to one's hyperdrive, but a variety of other effects are possible, including "reflecting" off of a gravity well, or being "deflected" by it to an unexpected location.  Since entering hyperspace takes a lot of energy, this is something one really wants to avoid for the sake of one's power plant.

Sublight drives are reactionless, efficient, and quickly ramp up to near lightspeed.  They produce a fair amount of waste heat, which is why Davik could suggest burning a landing space on Yitak IV.

FTL communication exists, despite my protests - it's in the movies.  But in this era, it's fairly slow, expensive, and requires massive transmitters.  The _Song_ could conceivably mount one, but to turn it on would require turning everything else off besides the life support;  it's just not worth it.  Even planetside, there's generally only one transmitter per large city.  Receivers are no more inconvenient than ordinary radio ones, though.

A fast ship can outrun a message, but of course one can't count on keeping it up.  The main reason why people like Jonas and Vanni are hired as couriers is for the sake of privacy.  There's no way to hide an FTL transmission, and though you can encrypt it, why take the chance that anyone overhearing it has a good computer?

----------------

Finally, SP says he's not certain we'll get a game tonight;  he's short on sleep and might need to recharge the batteries.  He'll call and let me know this evening.  (Tuesday is our usual gaming night, as Wednesday and Thursday are his days off from work.  Makes it difficult to try to get F2F sessions.)


----------



## The Shadow (May 12, 2005)

Just to let people know... No game on Tuesday, but we're hoping to make up for that sometime this weekend.  We'll see.

Where'd everybody go?


----------



## dpdx (May 17, 2005)

We're still here; among readers, sometimes multiple comments and long back-and-forths clutter the updating, so I don't (often) post multiple times unless I've got a question or comment about the story. But my opinion hasn't changed.

I await the next update. By the way, what does FTL stand for? I don't have my book with me.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 17, 2005)

FTL is probably Faster than Light.  Its not used in Star Wars that much, so I'm just thinking up the generic sci-fi meaning of the term.

And yep, readers still here.


----------



## The Shadow (May 17, 2005)

Yes, FTL is "faster than light".  I'm not really up on the Star Wars universe, so I sometimes use "standard" SF terminology.  (I got lucky, it turns out, with "realspace" - that actually is used in SW. 

Oh, and I deleted a sentence in the second update that said that Corellia was in the Outer Rim... It's not, even in this era, alas.

No game this weekend, but we will *definitely* have one this Tuesday, barring acts of God.  Bah!  We shouldn't let insignificant things like work and sleep get in the way of serious gaming!


----------



## Arkhandus (May 18, 2005)

Nice to see you're still writing and gaming, Shadow.  I'm sure more of your old storyhour's readers are still lurking hereabouts, like me. {:^D

Interesting story so far......

Personally, I'm guessing that an assassin droid killed the Jedi master, given the lack of evidence for living attackers, though I can't say I have any clue as to why the Jedi was murdered like that.......  Leastwise, that's the only guess that comes to mind.  I'd have expected someone to detect the presence of any Dark Side wielder that may've attacked the Jedi master....after all, back on the other planet they were able to sense the presence of a Dark Side user before even seeing any signs of 'em, and they weren't even master Jedi....


----------



## dpdx (May 18, 2005)

It's a product of the times, I suspect, for Jedis to be hunted down and assassinated.


----------



## The Shadow (May 18, 2005)

Heh.  That seems to be common, yes.   I have my own theories as to how and why Insharr died, but there's not yet enough data to substantiate any of them.

Remember what I said about acts of God?   Turns out that SP couldn't game Tuesday night due to a family emergency - something bad is happening with his grandmother's health.  I'm not clear on what, but he needed to keep his phone line open that night.  We'll see how things unfold.

If you're the sort to pray, throw in a few good words for her, if you would.


----------



## The Shadow (May 31, 2005)

Sigh.  Just thought I'd keep you guys posted on the long delay...  SP's grandmother died, followed a week later by the death of my and DR's grandmother. 

With any luck we will game tonight, though I haven't heard word one from SP yet.


----------



## Ormiss (Jun 19, 2005)

My condolences. I lost my grandfather about a year ago.

To speak of lighter subjects, I'm enjoying this story hour quite a bit so far. The ambience is excellent, and the characters are interesting. I'm glad for the expanded information you gave on your character and his ward. The writing flows excellently, and is easy to read without being simple.

The criticism I can give, however, is that it's sometimes a bit difficult (for me) to tell who is speaking. This is largely due to the format of your paragraphs (I'm used to breaking paragraph for each person's speech). I also had trouble telling the characters apart in the first post, but after reading your character's background, that is no longer a concern. I actually though that Jonas was Davik's Jedi Master at first.  

I'm looking forward to reading more. Incidentally, your character shares my real life name.


----------



## The Shadow (Jun 30, 2005)

Good news!  We have FINALLY managed to game again!  Just last night, in fact.  I'm sorry for the extraordinarily long delay;  hopefully it won't be repeated.

The writeup is already finished, I just need to ask SP a few questions for the finishing touches.  So, assuming I get ahold of him tonight, you'll have it in your hot little hands tomorrow morning!


----------



## ragboy (Jun 30, 2005)

The Shadow said:
			
		

> Good news! We have FINALLY managed to game again! Just last night, in fact. I'm sorry for the extraordinarily long delay; hopefully it won't be repeated.
> 
> The writeup is already finished, I just need to ask SP a few questions for the finishing touches. So, assuming I get ahold of him tonight, you'll have it in your hot little hands tomorrow morning!




Yes! Another fine Star Wars story hour. Update update update...


----------



## The Shadow (Jun 30, 2005)

*3 - The Walking Dead*

Good news!  After deaths in two families, job troubles, phone troubles, housemate troubles, moving troubles, health troubles, and assorted other troubles, we FINALLY managed to game again!

This was a very Davik-heavy session.  I didn't mind, as it was interesting, and he's been due a bit of spotlight.  I think it also puts on display how good SP is with different NPC "voices".

I've added a few "footnotes" with asterisks.

----------------------

Renting a cubicle at a commercial interstellar messaging office, Davik placed a call to the Ministry of Justice on Coruscant.  (Since Coruscant was relatively nearby, there was little in the way of time-lag.)  Unfortunately, he got a recording...

The horned Zabrak holo told him gravely, "Jedi Tecza is not available at this time, being away for the next several days on a contemplative retreat.  He is not to be disturbed save in the case of emergency.  If this is the case, say 'Forward'."  "It's certainly an emergency for me," Davik muttered.  "'Forward'."

After several minutes of his call being bounced around, he managed to get the real Tecza on the line.  "Ah, Padawan Davik.  To what do I owe the honor?"  Davik fought down a rush of tears and managed to say, "Our Master is dead."  "Ah."  Tecza lowered his eyes and keened softly.  "This explains much.  I sensed a disturbance in the Force that I could not understand, and went on retreat to explore it.  I thank you."

"There is more."  "Yes?"  "I, and two people I was travelling with, are accused of his murder."  "Ah.  That is awkward. ... I will not insult you." * Davik sighed impatiently.  "Actually, I was calling to ask for help."

Tecza digested that for a moment, then said, "Very well.  What do you wish of me?"  "I could use some help conducting the investigation, and you are a Justiciar..."  "Yes.  I will do what I can;  it will likely take me a few days to arrange the necessary leave and make my way to Corellia."  "Thank you, Master Tecza." ** "Until next, Davik."

Davik then placed a call to Master Ayala, bracing himself as he did so.  She was well-known for being prescient;  so much so that she often seemed to mix up past, present, and future.

Sure enough, the first words out of her mouth were, "Ah, Davik.  I've been expecting you."  "Master Insharr is..."  "Dead.  Yes.  I felt him go - or rather, I felt his absence."  She sighed sadly, and continued, "He has not returned in any pattern I recognize. ... Though, he may have returned twenty years ago."

Davik absorbed that, nonplussed, then said, "Uh, there is another problem."  "Oh?"  "I am accused of his murder."  She nodded encouragingly.  "I see.  Well, you are of course innocent, so there should be no trouble."  When Davik just stared at her, she finally said, "Oh.  You're having trouble convincing them you're innocent?"  "Yes!"  Ayala sighed at the obtuseness of the universe.  "I will see what I can do, dear.  You had better tell me a little more about the situation."

Davik outlined what he knew, and she nodded.  "Circumstantial evidence only, then.  Good.  I'm glad you're able to investigate...  Have you found out yet that the murderer isn't human?"  Davik asked weakly, "He isn't?  What is he, then?"  "Well, how should I know, dear?  You're the one who finds out!" ***

After a few pleasantries, Davik hung up, his head spinning.  Master Ayala tended to have that effect on people.  Pulling himself together, he resolved to check out a few of his Master's favorite haunts.

The first was an herbary which Insharr had favored for fresh produce, especially the makings of an exotic alien tea.  (A distinctly acquired taste that Davik had never managed to acquire.)  The owner of the shop recognized him, and it wasn't hard for Davik to maneuver the talkative man into reminiscence.

"Ah, terrible thing that happened to poor Master Insharr!  Such a friendly sort.  I don't know who will buy the gorshyl tea now.  Most people can't abide the stuff, you know.  He knew his tea, did Insharr.  Maybe that other fellow who came by will want the rest of my stock..."

"Other fellow?" Davik prompted.  "Yes, strange sort of man.  I was fixing up the gorshyl for Master Insharr, and he came in and commented that it was a odd-looking plant.  We got to talking, and he seemed very interested.  So I fixed him a cup, just on the off-chance, you know, and he asked if it was popular.  So we got to talking about Master Insharr.  Friendly enough, but...  He was odd, you know?  Very blank expression;  his face didn't seem to match what he was saying, even when he was excited.  Didn't help that he wore these big black sunglasses, either."

Davik pumped the man gently for more information, but his quarry hadn't made much more of an impression than that.  Since it was getting late, he headed back to the spaceport hotel.

There he found Jonas and Vanni packing.  Vanni enthused, "I found us rooms for a great price!  Unfortunately it's only for a few days;  the hotel's got all its rooms booked for a big convention."  Davik teased deadpan, "I'm surprised you didn't spend the whole day gambling."  Vanni snorted and replied with mock-hauteur, "Room and board come first, Davik.  Gambling comes _tomorrow_.  You may accuse me then."

Jonas cut in with approving tones, "The new place is still much better than this overpriced norkla-hole.  For my part, I've gotten us a lawyer.  Late-model, even!"  Davik nodded somberly and said, "That is good," while Vanni beamed at the praise.  The Jedi then passed on his own information.

"I'm glad you're making progress, Padawan," Jonas told him.  "Once Vanni and me get a few more things squared away, I'm more than willing to help you out."  "That is appreciated, Jonas."  Davik got his things together quietly and the three walked over to their new, if temporary, abode in silence.

The next day Davik looked up another acquaintance of Insharr's, a Blaat painter whose work displayed an odd view of the universe.  Insharr had bought a couple of its * impressionistic, pointillist paintings - another taste Davik had never managed to acquire.  

"Yes yes yes!" the little amphibian exclaimed when it recognized him, waving its webbed hands about.  "So sad, so sad, learned Master Insharr!  Perhaps he has gone to the Great Pool."  It paused, then asked, troubled, "Do you humans believe in the Great Pool?  I forget."  "We... have beliefs not dissimilar, I think," Davik responded, thinking of the Force.  "Has anyone else been by recently asking about Master Insharr?"

"Ah! Yes yes!  I have seen the human-who-is-not-a-human.  A dead man, he is, walking about as dead men should not!  Walking!"  "I beg your pardon?"  "He looks human, but his eyes behind his sunglasses - they are those of a dead man!"  "If he wore sunglasses, how could you see his eyes?"  "Ah, you forget!  You humans are much too tall, not proper Blaat-size.  I looked up at him, and I saw.  Yes!"

"What did he look like?"  The Blaat described the man carefully, with an artist's eye for detail.  Unfortunately, it was a _pointillist_ artist's eye for detail...  "His hair - fascinating stuff you humans have! - it was mostly of the brown, with a little of the black, yes, and a little of the yellow.  He did not have chin-hair - very odd!  He did not even have places for chin-hair."  Davik abruptly recalled that the Blaat's portraits tended to give humans patches of hair in odd places where the subjects simply did not have any.  With heavy irony, he replied, "Well, he was a dead man, you say.  That tends to interfere with the growth of hair, I understand."  It bobbed its head. "Yes!  That is true."

The man had been fairly nondescript, other than his emphatic "deadness" and stiff walk.  He had been dressed in typical Corellian street-clothes.  He had been curious about the Blaat's paintings, claiming he had seen one in Master Insharr's house.  But he didn't get much information, because he had dismissed one he was shown with distaste.  "He said it was 'just dots on a canvas'!" the Blaat complained, outraged.  Drawing itself up to its full one-meter height, it exclaimed, "DOTS!  Why, you may as well say that the stars are 'just dots on the sky!'"

Davik restrained himself from agreeing with the man's taste.  "Did he give any indication of where he was going?"  "He was walking toward a hotel, yes!  I saw!"  Davik thanked the little alien and walked there himself - a rather posh, upscale place.

The receptionist there snootily refused to answer his questions or even give him the time of day, until Davik flashed a wad of credits.  After that, his opinion of Davik's culture and breeding seemed to go up markedly...  With palm suitably greased,  he admitted knowing the man Davik was seeking:  Jatin Virlai.  (A Corellian name, probably fake.)  He had occupied room 208 for several weeks, but had left the day after Insharr's death.  "The maids might be able to tell you more."

Shortly after, a little Twi'lek maid was happily counting her new cash and spilling all she knew in heavily-accented Basic - probably she was a recent immigrant.  Her head-tails swished in disapproval as she said, "He not a good tipper.  Neat, though," she conceded, "Easy to clean up after."  "Did he meet with anyone while he was here?"  "No, sir."  "Did you have any indication of his business?"  "I not an eavesdropper, sir!  But..."  She hesitated, then confided when more cash was handed over, "I once heard him on the comm, saying to someone, 'I've found a way to reduce the risk.'"  

On that deeply troubling note, Davik walked off, thinking hard.

Meanwhile, Jonas and Vanni met up at their rooms after a hard day of job-searching.  Jonas had come up empty-handed, but Vanni announced, "Found something!  It's just for a few days, but the pay isn't bad.  Cash, too."  Jonas' brows abruptly furrowed.  "Cash?!  Vanni..."  "Yeah, I know, it's probably not entirely legal.  I didn't ask, and they didn't say."

"What's the job?"  "Moving boxes.  I don't know what's in them.  Don't want to, either."  "Vanni, this just isn't smart!  We're suspected of murder!  If the cops..."  The young man's face was clouding over and getting stubborn.  "The cops'll what, Jonas?  I'm not doing anything illegal.  I'm doing a job and getting paid for it.  Making money, like we need to."

Jonas sighed raggedly - at times Vanni's utter disregard for legal niceties was nerve-wracking.  "All right," he finally said quietly.  "But if things start getting any more questionable..."  "...I'll pull out.  I know, Jonas."  He quirked a smile.  "'Better safe than sorry', right?"  He held out a fist.

Jonas nodded and repeated the proverb, one he'd always favored: "Better safe than sorry."  He bumped his fist against Vanni's, the gesture communicating many things they rarely said out loud.  Everything from, "Be careful," to "Sorry I get on your nerves sometimes," to "Hope you're okay," even to "Glad you're here."

For Jonas it held another meaning, one he knew would petrify Vanni if said openly:  "I love you."

You are a seed, he thought at Vanni's sly grin and proudly erect posture.  One day your shell will crack and you will reach for the sun.  And I will rejoice to see it.

Jonas chuckled to himself and said under his breath, "I'm not a gardener for nothing!"

---------------------------------

* According to SP, Zabrak culture in this era regards it as highly insulting to offer unsolicited help or advice - the implication being that you can't take care of yourself.

** Davik was laying it on a bit thick by calling Tecza 'Master'.  In this era, being acknowledged as a Jedi Master is considerably more informal.  Basically, as a Jedi becomes notable and trains Padawans, people start calling him 'Master'.  When other Jedi Masters start doing so, he's basically arrived.  Tecza hasn't really been around the block enough times to warrant the title.

***  It makes a certain sick kind of sense, don't you think?   I was really impressed with this reply.

*  Blaat are virtually sexless when not in heat, and prefer to be referred to as "it".


----------



## Wilgar (Jul 5, 2005)

Hey Shadow. Been lurking here for a while, since you pointed this place out. Just thought I'd finally join the site and say hey. Love the new update, by the way. Any GM who can spice up Star Wars with a dash of zombie is definetly worthy of praise .  Looking forward to what SP comes up with for next time.

-Wilgar


----------



## The Shadow (Sep 16, 2005)

Hey guys, this game has been suffering from extreme schedule-coordination problems lately. We have gamed a couple times, but the sessions were short and inconclusive enough that they didn't seem worth posting on their own. We ARE hoping to get a good long session in this coming Tuesday. 

In other news, I have gotten involved in a weekly online True20 Al-Qadim game. Well... To be more accurate, it's Zakhara crossed with the historical Abbasid Caliphate, and told in the style of the Arabian Nights.  

I intend to post that one as a Story Hour as well - it's been an incredible amount of fun! - but I'm wondering how best to do this. 

See, I have the logs of all the sessions, and I'm finding that having everyone's exact words and poses at my fingertips is curiously paralyzing to the imagination. I try to sit down and write it as a narrative, but I keep drawing a blank, because I have the transcript *right there*. 

Plus, due to the way the medium works, sometimes one doesn't notice a pose from someone and ends up replying to it belatedly, in ways that just don't happen in F2F gaming. This can sometimes result in verbal tangles that make one want to tear one's hair out in terms of representing them narratively. 

So... Would it be objectionable if I just posted the cleaned-up and edited logs here on a thread? All the OOC chatter and die rolling and so on is gone, and I've reordered some of the lines to avoid confusion as best as possible.


----------



## Arkhandus (Sep 17, 2005)

We're still here, awaiting a new update...... {:^D

Dunno how entertaining it'd be to just read the game logs from your other game....... *shrug*


----------



## The Shadow (Sep 20, 2005)

Just for future reference, I went ahead and posted the logs of the other game:

Zakharan Nights


----------



## The Shadow (Apr 29, 2012)

*The News*

_Greater Thread Necromancy!_

This game fell apart about six years ago due to irreconcilable schedule conflicts.  However, all the players have carried a torch for it ever since, and the stars have now aligned to bring it back from the dead.

The GM, SuentisPo, came down for a long in-person session last week, and I am writing it up.  I've got a lot on my plate this week, but hopefully I'll be able to finish it satisfactorily within the next week or two.

The plan is for the GM to come down to play a session of this game roughly once a month, until about October.  (He loses a great deal of energy when his usual seasonal depression flares up.)  Then we plan to pick up again next spring.


----------



## Michael Silverbane (May 2, 2012)

A game revived after six years must have been a heck of a good time.  I look forward to reading about it.

In other news, it is good to see a post from The Shadow.


----------



## The Shadow (May 2, 2012)

Michael Silverbane said:


> A game revived after six years must have been a heck of a good time.  I look forward to reading about it.
> 
> In other news, it is good to see a post from The Shadow.




Hey thanks!  And in other news, I hope to have a long-delayed update for Life and Light up soon too!


----------

