Date: Fri, 07 Nov 1997 17:25:59 -0500
From: Tenandys Qural <beattier@RIVER.IT.GVSU.EDU>
Subject: [SW-RPG] Random adventure idea (was Re: [SW-RPG] Tell Hooly...)
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This didn't get sent earlier, so here goes...

> Don't you just hate it when people accidentally send personal messages
> through the list. I know I do.

Heh...  Hi, Mark...  Howyabeen?  This reminds me of the time that I sent a
message meant for the Jim Steinman mailing list to here...  And some
people wanted me to add more to the thread...

> Beating my head against my keyboard...

Just to make this mildly on topic, list-wise, I got a weird idea for an
adventure:  What do you think of characters accidently intercepting an
Imperial transmission...?

How's this sound?  The characters are minding their own business, on their
way into a planet for repairs and resupply when the comm starts squawking
and crackling.  Apparently, that last battle screwed something up.

The message is a tight beam transmission to the garrison base on planet,
that some dolt in communications forgot to properly encode.  I mean, the
Imperial frequencies are on shuffle anyway, what are the chances that
someone would pick up this message in the sea of static?

The gist of the message is that the garrison has to mobilize for a quick
strike operation into the polar area of the planet, based on some data
that none other than Lord Vader has come forth with.  Apparently, there's
something of interest at the transmitted coordinates -- something that
must be stopped at all costs.

The garrison, by all estimates, will be able to mobilize a strike team
within three hours, given the nature of the mission.  And since the
characters are already in orbit, it's not going to take them nearly as
long.  So much for that resupply and repair...

Finding the position by the coordinates is no problem, but there is the
difficulty of the weather.  Something resembling a gale is howling over
the polar highlands, which works nicely to keep the Imperials from finding
the ship, but it also makes things pretty nasty on the count of living
through the cold...  (Insert survival rolls, etc. here.)

When they find the long forgotten cave (which might require some strategic
blaster or lightsaber work to open up), it's an archaeological treasure
trove, replete with all manner of pre-Purge lore and so on.  A library of
ancient texts, histories of the Jedi, starmaps, etc.  Once inside the
library, the temperatures will be just on the chilly side of human normal
(say around 50 degrees Fahrenheit), unlike the subzero temperatures of the
exterior.

And in the midst of it all, there's a stasis capsule with a figure locked
inside, and a counter that's rapidly running down to zero.  By all
guesses, it's been running for the better part of 50 years.

When the counter reaches zero (about 15-20 minutes after the characters
arrive), the capsule pops open, and the figure inside (a fairly young
Chadra Fan) steps groggily out, attempting to shake off the effects of a
half century's stasis.  It turns out that he is not a Jedi, but a
caretaker of the Library named Ghilran, put into stasis so many years
before when the Masters were forced to abandon the Library.

According to Ghilran, the Library was built over the ruins of an even
older civilization that the Masters were in the midst of studying, the
texts of which were in the midst of translation when something in the
deeper chambers alarmed the Masters and forced them to abandon the place.
Ghilran also tells of a book in one of the Masters' chambers that detailed
much of their studies here, which he wishes to retrieve before leaving.

(All players should know better than to do this...  Heh...)

Of course, whatever was found in the lower chambers that caused the place
to be abandoned is still there...  Exactly what it is remains up to the
GM, but my thought is this:  a spore from an extinct plant that causes
delusions, hallucinations, and rampant paranoia.  All the while, the
players will think that something's stalking them, much like everyone's
favaorite paranoid SF movie, Alien.  And of course, Ghilran will be immune
to it, playing the straight man to all of this.

By the time the characters finally get the book (whether or not they
figure out what the hell is making them so damned jumpy), the Imperials
have arrived.  (Apparently Lord Vader persuaded them to step up the
operation.  He'll be arriving within an hour...)

At this point, all remains is to get the hell out of Dodge.  Between the
hallucinogenic threat that's stalking them and the very real threat of the
coming Imperials, it's a nasty, balls-out run to get to their ship and
off-planet...

As to what the book has in it...  who knows.  Maybe the Master was pretty
far gone with the effects of the spore when writing, which would make the
book pretty weird (and entertaining) but useless reading.  Or perhaps
there's something of note within.  But being that the characters likely
couldn't haul much off (if they tried, there's a garrison strike team
waiting to take it back...), this is as good as it gets.  And well,
Ghilran was little more than a glorified janitor, whose senses worked well
to find things but otherwise knew nothing...

Just some thoughts off the top of my head...  Take them as you will...
But I figured it would make a good change of pace adventure for things...

        Tenandys Qural, Lord Khanjheira.
        <beattier@river.it.gvsu.edu>

"The churches are empty
The priest has gone home
And we are left standing
Together alone..."
        - October Project, "Dark Time"