Recently, I have gathered a gaming group closer to home and we have been running the older d20 Star Wars Saga game and I love it. Already painted up a mini for my lightsaber sparring droid and have played a few sessions with the crew which is composed of a Chiss politician, a human pilot, a Zabrak mercenary, a sneaky Ewok, a Duros mechnic and a scholarly human Jedi.
The regular DM let me run a game and I wrote one inspired the The Adventure Zone Amnesty and the water elemental. I loved the idea of an invulnerable and utterly alien creature. I also love the elements of horror and suspense inherent to that arc.
When we last left our heroes, the group had just accidentally joined the Rebellion by saving some mercenaries from a Storm Trooper ambush. On the run from Imperial authorities, the nascent Rebellion cell on Coruscant put them in a safe house until they could figure out what to do with this crew.A few days later, they are summoned to a busy hanger in the Courscant undercity where they met a human Rebel operative called Abo. (Realizing now that I never described Abo at all. Bad DM.) He give them their orders to dead drop medical supplies near the Ord Canfre system for Rebel soldiers there. For this he gives them the use of the "Space Cow" a venerable if aging Skipray Blastboat. Riza, the human smuggler declared it serviceable as a spacecraft. Abo gave the crew some basic gear including some glow rods, synthrope, a tool kit, a sensor pack and meshtape and left to pursue other matters.
Riza took the ship to orbit with a dazzling amount of skill. The credentials and security codes supplied by Abo passed inspection by the Imperials in orbit and the crew was away. The route would take them away from normal hyperspace routes and so would take about three days.
As they settle in over the first day the characters share where they are in their personal journeys and how they feel about the Rebellion against the Empire. On the second day during Asha/Yevra's shift a warning light goes off. She deduces that there is a coolant leak and dispatches Ouca, the Zabrak mercenary, to track it down. He goes down into the bowels of the ship but is unable to find a leak. As the coolant level continues to drop, the ship lurches out of hyperspace just as Riza was about to enjoy a space-eggsalad sandwich.The crew figures out that the ship is venting coolant from a heatsink on one of the wings and it would take an EVA and a lot of time to repair it. They stem the loss by shutting off coolant to that wing and a calculate they they can make a short jump only. Asha checks the astrogation charts and realizes that they can't make a jump to a populated system but there is a small Imperial refueling depot within range. They hold their breath and make the jump.
When they emerge from hyperspace, there is nothing. No tracking beacons or lifesigns. As Riza and Asha try to use the computer to scan for signs of the station they where expecting, Ouca spins the gunnery turret in frustration and by chance spots the H-570 mining station but it is without power. Docked to the station is a heavily-modified Scilla, a Mobquet Custom Medium Cargo Hauler. The ship is heavily damaged and also powered down.It was challenging for Riza to dock to a powered down station, but he made it look easy. It took effort to open the doors and when they did the cold air of the station flooded into the ship. They crack some glow rods and move into the station.
Right away the strange happenings started. Puddles would shift and disappear. Water would catch at this boots. Riza was soaked from a supposedly empty pipe. They discovered a dead crewmember whose lungs were full of water.Moving into the central section of the station the crew find the central section below them flooded and a pair of boots sticking out of a hole in the wall behind them. Investigating the boots they find the crushed body of a Killian Ranger with Imperial marking on her armor. The crew decided to make their way to the command section at the top.
The station being without power, they had to make difficult climb through the lift shaft to the top floor. As the last up, Riza glances back at the pool of water in the central section and saw the water there doaming out then splashing back. At the top they found the doughnut-shaped command chamber but all the computers were powered down. Another Imperial crew member was in the command section with a code cylinder and a rebreather mask.
The crew decided to climb back down and try to find a way to turn on the power. Riza goes first but Asha slips on the way down and starts to drown in the water that fills the bottom of the elevator shaft. Riza and Ouca dove after her to try and save her but Ouca dove too deep. Riza manages to stabilize Asha and they cling onto the ladder indie of the lift shaft. Ouca surfaces and says he found a way to swim through to what he thinks is the engineering section where he may be able to restore power.
Grabbing the rebreather mask, Ouca dives beneath the water and swims into darkness. Deep below them, Ouca tries to pump a priming handle to restart the plasma reactors. He is very strong but it take three very hard pulls in a row to prime the reactor and he is running out of air. At last he is able to get the reactor started and the lights come back on. Ouca begins to swim back as the rebreather mask fails.
While waiting for him to return, Riza and Asha hear a rumble of water and a gout pours through the open door above them and washes them under water. Riza begins to drown. Asha is just able to keep herself afloat. Ouca sees Riza is in distress and grabs him as he kicks for the surface.
Riza is unconscious as they break the surface and is not breathing. Asha knows how to do CPR but not when also in the water. Ouca throws Riza over his shoulder and hauls him up on the ladder while Asha pounds on his back to get the water out. Riza is still not breathing so Asha give him mouth to mouth resuscitation. In a scene reminiscent of Sand Lot, the life giving breath turns into a kiss mush to the anger of Asha.
Once things settle down, the crew is able to make it back to the central hub. There they make the plan to start the transfer of coolant to the Space Cow. Riza will facilitate making the connections at the ship, while Asha and Ouca go to the command module to start the transfer.
The pair did not need to climb the dangerous shaft again as power restored access to the lifts. Back in the command module, Asha interfaced with the computer when alarms start going off. Just as she thinks "Oh no, the code cylinder!" Ouca is blasted in the back by automated turrets. Asha frantically tried to use the code cylinder to shut down the defenses as Ouca turns and fires on the turret that shot him destroying it. Just as the second turret powers up and Ouca takes aim at it, Asha manages to override the security system using the code cylinder. Once things settle down, Asha begins the coolant transfer.
Meanwhile in the cockpit of the Space Cow, Riza's boots begin filling with water. He doesn't see obvious water in the ship but there is a rivulet of water crawling up his legs. He follows the tiny stream as it runs out of the ship and back to the station. He runs to the door to the station and closes it. As the contact is severed by the door, the trickle turns into a puddle.
Asha and Ouca come down the left from command into the central hub to see a tentacle of water extending from the docking station where their ship is and into the central hub. Ouca draws his blaster and fires at the creature.
The response is immediate and intense. An angry ripple flows down the length of the tentacle and a blast of water hits Ouca in the chest knocking him backwards into the lift. Water pressure crushing him into the lift, he uses all of his strength to press the door close button. The lift doors close on the gout of water and Ouca drops to the floor.
With Riza sealed int he ship and Ouca in the lift, the water creature turns its attention to Asha. She stands before this water tentacle with empty hand outstretch in a defensive position. Asha is scared. She is far from home and away from her friends and family. This is all a foreign lifestyle and environment for her. She reaches out with these feelings and feels them all mirrored in the water being who is also scared, is also far from home. As she relaxes the creature relaxes and they feel a kinship.
Just then, Ouca opens the doors to the lift brandishing his blaster. The water tentacle ripples and dives back into the central pool.
The crew regroups and shares what they know and have learned. Remembering back to when they first arrived and Riza was drenched in water only to find himself refreshed. From the station's computer, Asha learned that the other ship docked on the station is the Scilla and its last know stop was on the water planet Scobar where they took on salty ocean water to use as coolant. Shortly after, the ship began to experience catastrophic mechanical failures and requested to stop at the station. After the Scilla docked, the station began to suffer mechanical failures too.
They suppose that the creature feeds on or needs salt in some way. Going through their gear, they see that the glow sticks and and medipacks contain a high concentration of salt. Asha breaks open a few glow sticks over the central shaft that is flooded and the creature eats it up and retreats deeper into the flooded parts of the facility.
The crew takes this reprieve to more fully explore the station. Down one of the docking corridors they find one of the Scilla crew in a space suit and an astromech droid with illegal modifications and a hidden stash of Glitterstim (space-cocaine). Moving onto exploring the Scilla, the other ship docked to the station, Ouca dons the space suit and explores the wrecked ship.
There he finds the captain and his cyborg pilot dead in hard vacuum at in the cockpit. While looting the bodies, he finds a key to the ship's safe, a vibroknife, a slug thrower, access to an Imperial bank account containing 10,000 credits and a very... interesting... statue. Ouca also finds crates of salt among the cargo and the conveniently portable ships safe.
As he is trying to choose which to bring back to the ship first, the salt or the safe, the water entity breaches the station creating giant ice spikes through the engineering section. As the station decompresses, Ouca makes the choice to take the Scilla's safe rather than the container of salt.
Asha waits at the airlock for Ouca to come through before running full tilt for the Space Cow. They make it through the station are almost at the door to the Space Cow and safety when a roaring rush of water comes pouring down the docking station behind them. Almost too late, Riza realizes that the door to the ship is still closed and runs for the controls to clear the way for his crew.
Asha and Ouca pour through the door as the wave of water crashes over them. The door closes and the living aspect of the water ceases. Riza disengages the docking mechanisms and pulls away from the station.
The crew takes a second to breathe before going through the safe of the Scilla. They find a facncy sword, DX-2 disintegrated pistol, blank credentials, Corellian ale,a skein of zeyd cloth robe, a droid protocol chip, and a destroyed lightsaber. As they divide up the loot, Ouca seems satisfied with his statue and refused anything else.
As they rocket away from the station they see the water creature breaching the station with giant ice spikes until it loses power again and collapses into wreckage.
Notes for myself for next time:
Even basic maps help players orient themselves. Ouca and Riza especially had difficulties knowing where they were oriented. I think that was partially because of my poor descriptions.
Try to remember setting more. While the station was powered down, I only described things in terms of the darkness a few times. I feel like I missed out on some of the creepy atmosphere.
Describe the loot on bodies more readily without waiting for the players to ask to loot the bodies.
Also describe NPC better. I missed doing the basics like race, skin, hair, dress.
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