FUDGE Starwars: the Easiest Way ch. 9
by Jorge Arredondo

DISCLAIMER

This article is not authorized or supported by West End Games. This conversion is unofficial and has not been reviewed by anybody at West End Games or Lucasfilm, Ltd. Star Wars (R), TM, & (C) by Lucasfilm, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Trademarks of Lucasfilm, Ltd., used without authorization, that use isn't intended as a challenge to those trademarks.

ABOUT FUDGE

Fudge is a role-playing game written by Steffan O'Sullivan, with extensive input from the Usenet community of rec.games.design. The basic rules of Fudge are available on the internet at http://www.fudgerpg.com and in book form from Grey Ghost Games, P.O. Box 838, Randolph, MA 02368. They may be used with any gaming genre. While an individual work derived from Fudge may specify certain attributes and skills, many more are possible with Fudge. Every Game Master using Fudge is encouraged to add or ignore any character traits. Anyone who wishes to distribute such material for free may do so - merely include this ABOUT FUDGE notice and disclaimer (complete with Fudge copyright notice). If you wish to charge a fee for such material, other than as an article in a magazine or other periodical, you must first obtain a royalty-free license from the author of Fudge, Steffan O'Sullivan, P.O. Box 465, Plymouth, NH 03264.

DISCLAIMER

The following materials based on Fudge, entitled Fudge Starwars: the Easiest Way, are created by, made available by, and Copyright (C) 2006 by Jorge Arredondo, and are not necessarily endorsed in any way by Steffan O'Sullivan or any publisher of other Fudge materials. Neither Steffan O'Sullivan nor any publisher of other Fudge materials is in any way responsible for the content of these materials unless specifically credited. Original Fudge materials Copyright (C)1992-1995 by Steffan O'Sullivan, All Rights Reserved.

Note: if you are one of my players or intend to play this campaign, stop reading now!

Chapter 9: Final showdown

Introduction

[ Soundtrack music: Attack of the Clones, StarWars Main Title and Ambush on Coruscant ]

After the hyperspace jump, which is slow because of the route not being a well known one (and thus not covering many possible factors which could make it faster), two days later the characters arrive to a very white planet (though the sensors show moderate temperatures, it shouldn't be snow nor ice) with a thick asteroid field around it (all around the planet, which is... impossible according to the effect of gravity?).

It seems the freighter arrived sooner than the PCs but being slower it arrived a little bit ago. It is unlocking its modules and they cross slowly the asteroid field towards a huge factory in the planet, which also seems the only place inhabited on it. It isn't very difficult to go unnoticed with so much movement of modules and asteroids, what would let them land without much trouble. The freighter will probably need a few days to unload fully.

With appropriate Sensor rolls the characters will notice the planet has a moderate asteroid activity. It is not too strange one of them falling over its surface, besides the strange distribution they have. Another bit of information the characters will get with a sensor roll is the existance of mines set in the asteroid field. Why the modules aren't destroyed when crossing the field is a mystery. The mines could have some kind of short range code that allows them to cross without danger, They can try to cross the field at top speed to reduce the time they're exposed the the mines, or try to destroy them with the weapons of the Falcon or try to guess the code which will be a Superb Security task which requires getting close enough, receive the login code and replying in the same rounf. Remember to ask appropriate difficult piloting rolls according to the speed they want to cross the asteroid field! Don't worry if the PCs fail a few rolls, it will be appropriate for the history if they damage the Falcon a little, losing first their hyperspace antenna followed by their main hyperdrive engine (or both at the same time if they fail for too much!).

[ GM's note: these mines aren't proximity explosives! They're blaster mines that shoot to any suspicious target they detect. Sometimes the mines fire at asteroids with too much iron in them, so it wouldn't be too strange if a bunch of mines fire at once, which will probably happen if the PCs try to cross the asteroid field. After they cross it safely, they can detect more blaster fire and explosions not unlike the ones they've caused when crossing the field. Don't give them more information, but someone else is still tracking them! ]

As soon as they cross the asteroid field, they can detect hangars and huge transport ships of the Trade Federation, being loaded with repulsorlift trains of cargo (how can those huge ships cross the asteroid field?), plus the huge factory and something which looks quite like huge lodging areas (the slave housings).

The world is covered with a minute white silicon sand, it looks quite like water or snow. There are little else except small rocky promontories here and there. The factory is mainly underground, like the federation ship hangars. There are some kind of towers with communication equipment and steam escapes emerging from the sand around the factory, from where it looks easier getting inside it through doors located at ground level. The characters will have to land a few kilometers away from the factory and walk up to it trying to get inside it unnoticed, something not quite easy in this world with so few places to hide in!

Times and again a meteorite falls over the white surface of this unnamed planet, but a deflecting shield covers the whole factory and the hangars.

There are small groups of battle droids patrolling the perimeter of the base, the characters will have to find a way to sneak past them and get into the base. As said the towers are a good alternative because they don't have to reach the main building to reach them, the other alternative implies having to dodge lots of droids and perimeter sensors.

Once they manage to infiltrate in the base and navigate a little inside it, they'll find it is a droid factory operated mainly by slaves, controlled by federation droids (mainly battle droids, but also some super battle droids) and with geonosians as supervisors). It is filled with large pipes, machinery noise and clouds of steam here and there. They also refine the ore brought from Mesa Central and other worlds. What may look strange to someone who makes an appropriate Technology roll is that the droids being built here aren't war droids, but large construction droids (what for?). With a better roll if they investigate a little they'll find out that in fact they aren't normal droids but deep space builders...

Average geonosian

Attributes: Fair Dexterity, Fair Perception, Fair Strength, Technique Good

Skills: Blasters Fair, Dodge Fair, Droid repair Good, Droid repair Good, Security Good

Health levels: Ok, Wounded, Out of the Fight.

Equipment: natural armor DF +1, sonic gun (OF +3), range like a heavy blaster.

Baktoid Combat Automata B1 Series

Atributes: Strength Mediocre, Dexterity Poor, Knowledge Terrible

Skills: Blasters Poor (ODF +3), Melee Mediocre, Dodge Poor

Health levels: Ok, Damaged, Out of Order.

Special: no armor, Initiative -1.

Baktoid Combat Automata B2 Series

Atributes: Strength Fair, Dexterity Mediocre, Knowledge Poor

Skills: Blasters Mediocre (ODF +3), Melee Mediocre, Dodge Mediocre

Health levels: Ok, Damaged, Out of Order.

Special: light armor DDF +1

Destroyer droid, Droideka series

Atributes: Strength Good, Dexterity Fair, Knowledge Terrible

Skills: Blasters Great/Fair/Mediocre (ODF +4), Melee Great/Fair/Mediocre, Dodge Poor

Health levels: Ok, Damaged, Out of Order.

Special: light armor DDF +1, shields DDF +3 (soaks 30 points of damage until recharging), Initiative -1, Blaster barrage (Blasters: Good / Good / Good / Good / Mediocre / Terrible or Fair / Fair / Fair / Fair / Fair / Poor / Terrible).

Neelyx is pretty sure Torunn is here in the factory, right now. Navigating through the maze of corridors and passages can be difficult, though. Make a hidden roll for the less sneaky character and ignore the result, just make the characters sweat a bit. Or perhaps you'll prefer let them be found by a small droid patrol and request the PCs to defeat the droids in two rounds at worst to avoid being detected...

Before they reach its intended target, they can see a huge ship beyond the asteroid field, macrobinoculars do help to see what happens here, otherwise it's probably too far to see anything. It's a large cruiser with an strange configuration that has just arrived from hyperspace. The cruiser, which is equipped with huge tractor beam projectors, opens a large tunnel in the asteroid field so the transports can take off and cross it without problems. Just for safety the mines are deactivated, too, though the PCs don't know it. In this moment the federation ships get ready to take off.

Then the PCs reach the end of a corridor with a blast door in front of them and another corridor leading to the right, which opens as soon as they get near it. On the other side, they find Torunn, as expected, who crosses the door and joins them. It is an isolated corner of the factory though too loud sounds might attract unwanted attention, of course.

Torunn looks at Neelyx, from the depth of his helmet, and welcomes him. He ignores his companions even if there are other jedi amongst them.

"You were almost too late. There is still a lot to do. We must leave now, but just you and me. Your companions must stay here and hide till we reach our final destination in a couple of days".

The PCs may be quite surprised at his words, he'll offer some arguments if needed.

"The jedi order has become self-centered and weak, its arrogancy hasn't let them see how its foes have become so strong. Some like Count Dooku itself have fallen and have sold themselves to the other side. You can't trust in the order anymore, they won't do anything without clear proof. They've let the Sith control the senate and haven't avoided this war".

"The Senate? The Senate is just an hindrance, a bureaucratic maze of leeches living from the fat of the land while the galaxy drowns into chaos. It's because of them why we're fighting in this war. Not counting the sith lord behind it.

"The separatists have been conspiring before I found you, Neelyx, to build the most powerful space weapon ever known, an armed combat station with enough power to destroy a whole planet!

"I'll reach the root of this evil... I'll infiltrate in one of the ships of the Federation to reach the station. The slaves must stay here or they'll detect intruders and they'll abort this convoy. In this case, sadly, the greater good prevails before the slaves' situation... the end justifies the means here. Billions of beings will die if that weapon is not destroyed.

"We're alone in this, we have to finish this task ourselves. To reach this place I've faced one hundred dangers, but we're still in time to end this menace. With you by my side, my young padawan, we'll end this madness and we'll bring peace to the galaxy. You owe this to me (this is a clear clue!).

"If you're not with me, you're against me, fools". (this only if the PCs seem to be going to ruin his efforts).

"Why didn't I tell you more about your past? It wasn't important at that moment. Now you're ready. Come with me and I'll tell you about your inheritance and the dark destiny I did free you from".

[ GM's note: Torunn knows Neelyx belongs to a race of assassins and worse yet, that he was offworld, offered to be trained by the same Sith Lord that later would control the Senate, as his apprentice... would that have meant he would have become a Darth someone??? ]

Let's remember again that causing mayhem here is dangerous, it might very well attract at the very least a small group of droids! It is thus wiser speaking first and shooting later.

Unless the characters' choices make him change his mind (or already made, after all, he's been travelling during a long time with people quite different from the jedi), Neelyx is dissapointed by Torunn's attitude; from his own point of view, he can't justify the sacrifice of innocents for no cause, unless the sacrifice was willing; as a jedi, he'd rather face the greatest danger than choose the easier way if it involves that cost. His reply thus would be "I'd go with you, master, but not this way".

[ GM's note: after all, Torunn's ordeal was probably too much for a single jedi. He had to become stronger to succeed, thus falling slowly a bit in the Dark Side. The ends never justify the means for a jedi! ]

Torunn will probably get very bothered but he won't attack the characters unless attacked first or they will ruin his plan of infiltrating the separatist ships now or before they arrive to their intended destination. In that case, he'll attack with an strength born of pure desperation of seeing all his efforts wasted by the foolish actions of the PCs... in short, he'd be fueled by the Dark Side!

Eberr Torun (ubese jedi "master")

Atributes: Strength Good, Dexterity Great, Perception Good, all others Fair. 2 Force points, 8 Fudge points, 2 Dark Side points

Skills: Lightsaber Superb, Weapon parry Superb, Dodge Superb, Climb/Jump Great, Sneak Great, Brawling Great, Brawling parry Great, Space transports piloting Good, Astrogration Good, Control Superb, Sense Great, Alter Superb

Health levels: like a PC.

Special: ubese armor (DF +1), two lightsabers (green and blue), duelist (can fight two foes at the same time without penalties, however he has no special bonuses against single foes)

As soon as the hostilities begin, he gets rid of the characters which could be a nuissance, with a single roll against multiple targets (probably the shooters) using Inflict Pain to render them inoffensive. If he's desperate, or filled with fear of being defeated by the PCs ruining his mission, or angered because they'll ruin it, he gets a +1 bonus due to the Dark Side points he has.

[ GM's note: someone else is near, waiting to see if Torunn is weakened and/or defeated... ]

If forced to flee, Torunn will try to move backward to the door he just opened and make levitate an small rock to knock the control after him, closing it. However, one way or another the one who was waiting for the right moment attacks him before he leaves, no matter if he's weakened or not... if Torunn retreays it will cross the door before it closes jumping through it from the ceiling with blinding speed! (in this case the PCs would only manage to hear the sounds of the battle through the door, but not see it).

[ GM's note: someone else, the mastermind pulling the strings of the Separatists, knew Torunn had too much information and wanted to get rid of him. However, the ubese was too good at hiding his tracks. Thus, they resorted to the infamous and little know Assassin's guild, hiring a master assassin supossedly good enough to track and kill a jedi master. So, since the start of the mission, the PCs were tracked themselves to help someone find the elusive Torunn. Having no information at all about his location, the best way to find him was using the jedi themselves! Now, the objective is killing him before he can do more harm to it's contractor! ]

In this moment, a large, cloaked, all dressed in black with some kind of leathery armor all filled with black metal straps, drops from the ceiling a few meters away of the main fight, firing at Eberr with two slugthrowers. It is very big, around 8' tall, and it's four armed, having climbed down from a wire actually. It is a faceless being, wearing a black shiny mask too. Torunn is quite surprised but he has a tough defense with his lightsabers. The assassin avoids getting close to him, even if he tries. It dodges him like a bouncy toy even for someone of its mass, and above ground it uses all its arms against him using dirty tricks like slipping foam to mine his footing, an small flamethrower (which forces Torunn to dodge) and even grappling cables trying to entangle him. Probably this combat is a draw, but Torunn is forced to run if he still wants to reach the separatists ship. The assassin dissapears in the ceiling with a grappling hook, as if never there.

Master assassin

Atributes: Strength Superb, Dexterity Superb, Perception Great, all others Fair. 8 Fudge points.

Skills: Slugthrowers Superb, Dodge Superb, Brawling Superb, Blasters Great, Sneak Superb, Hide Superb, Search Superb, Investigation Superb, Climb/Jump Legendary

Health levels: like a PC.

Special: iron will, scale +2, four armed (it's quite like a four armed Darth Maul without force powers... and doesn't need them).

Equipment: master assassin armor (DF +2, +1 to Sneak and Hide, +1 to Perception rolls), 2 heavy slugthrowers (OF +4, range like heavy blaster pistols), 2 medium slugthrowers (OF +3, range like a blaster pistol), 2 vibroblades (OF +3, total OF +8), 2 grappling hooks (20 uses each with a charge of synthetic gel rope), small flamethrower (OF +3), sonic gun (OF +3), 4 grenades, 2 proximity charges...

Soon afterwards an alarm sounds above the noise of the factory, and the PCs may hear too the steps of a lot of war droids coming. They can open the door Torunn closed with a Great Security roll or a lightsaber but, do they have time to try? If they waste much time they'll be found by a large group of battle and super battle droids. They can also run looking for another exit, which will probably mean they find no foes for now.

The exit they find unless they look for something more specific is a minor hangar opened to the planet surface, around 4 meters above it. The only problem there is a large work droid which quickly identifies them as intruders, rips a girder from the wall and uses it as a club against them. Of course, the PCs may just avoid the droid and jump down to the soft surface of the planet, but on the way there they can see Torunn, around 200 meters away, running over a footbridge leading to a Trade Federation ship... followed under the bridge by the assassin using the girders as an horizontal ladder! They quickly dissapear inside the ship which takes off almost that very moment. However, before reaching a height of more than 50 meters, a large explosion blows the section apart where the two opponents boarded the ship, and the freigther starts to fall on a weird angle till it crashes on the ground forming a huge cloud of white dust. A Mediocre Sense roll reveals the jedi PCs (or Neelyx in particular) that Torunn's Force has... vanished. Fully.

[ GM's note: if the PCs agreed with Torunn and let him go, they'll still manage to see from afar the duel with the master assassin before boarding, instead of right where they found him, then they'll dissapear inside the federation ship which will blow apart like described earlier. ]

Large work droid

Atributes: Strength Great, Dexterity Mediocre, Perception Fair.

Skills: Melee Fair (can hit close targets at the same time with such a large club!)

Health levels: like a PC.

Special: scale +3, plating (DF +1), improvised club (OF +2, total OF +7).

With the cover of the dust cloud they might be able to flee without much trouble. The other trade federation ships take off without further trouble, the cruiser keeps an open way in the asteroid field and also deploys a large number of droid fighters just in case. If the PCs manage to arrive to their ship quickly in the best case they'll have to fight a few droid fighters before being able to flee, trying to track the federation ships is both crazy and useless, they'll probably fly somewhere else instead of their intended target. The best course of action is fleeing and delivering what they've found to the republic. Ah! The communications are jammed, the separatists are trying to keep the secret for as long as they can...

Recapitulation

[ Soundtrack music: The Empire Strikes Back, End Credits ]

Before the PCs reach their ship, Neelyx manages to lose them. Not too hard after all in the dust cloud that covered almost the whole base. For a while the characters can't locate him (the communications are jammed!) but as soon as the freighters leave he calls them using his commlink.

"I, I'm well... I just found something, something I didn't expect".

"I can't return with you now... there is something else I must do before. I... may have found home. I must know".

"I'll be ok... may the Force be with you all".

[ GM's note: after getting lost he found, or was found, by the assassin. He readied himself to fight for his life but the assassin removed her mask and revealed him a face not quite different to his own. Much bigger, stronger and with full control of her chamaleonic skin properties, the master assassin revealed to him his real heritage, and asked him to return with her to their homeworld, with the ones he should be with... broken after the death of his father-like master (not before his partial fall to the dark side) and confused at the revelation of the existence of others of his kind, even when this one probably was the one who killed Torunn (though she manages to convince him "I didn't kill him, he attacked blindly and struck a fuel pipe with one of his weapons"), he couldn't help but agree... his self image was destroyed and for now he isn't sure if he is worthy of the jedi teachings, or a natural born killer... ]

As soon as they reach the Falcon, however, they'll find it slightly damaged. Either it was damaged at the asteroid field or rather it seems something was hidden in the hull near the hyperspace antenna and destroyed it when blowing apart. This means they can't report to the Republic the location of this system so they can deploy a fleet quickly to find the separatists. However, the nearer Republic system is Calamari, and they ought to get help easily there... it has been recently freed from the separatist menace so there may still be a garrison and some capital ships deployed there...

[ GM's note: the hyperspace antenna can't be repaired without the appropriate spare parts. It is a very expensive technology so you don't carry spare parts by chance... ]

If the hyperspace engine is also damaged, they can resort to the hyperspace backup, then again their closest destiny is Calamari though it will take them days to arrive there using this last resort engine.

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Jorge Arredondo
Last update: 30/October/2006