Doomsayer Session 27

12 February 2023: On Kashyyyk, the PCs enter the Zaltin Corp factory in search of Rhen and Sekar Mirah. Inside, they face down an old enemy, but find that their mission isn't over yet.

Session 27 audio log

Previous: Doomsayer Session 26

Plot Summary
During the six-day journey to Kashyyyk, the PCs largely focused on healing their assortment of wounds and critical injuries in Rogue Ronto's bacta tank. In the process of commandeering an Imperial shuttle on Sura Sindo, Vesper Syl'tine had stolen its HoloNet array, which Vic Dantor installed on Rogue Ronto with ease. This meant that the PCs could now enjoy HoloNet connectivity and communications while in hyperspace, but also that Vesper had no excuse not to talk to Zio Tul'ya's mother, Lia Krey'tu. With Nomi Amersu present, Vesper returned Lia's call and learned that Zio had been found dead near his home a few weeks prior, and that it appeared he had been killed by a lightsaber. Both Nomi and Vesper remembered being told that someone seemed to be wiping out the former Republic spynet, so Vesper told Lia that the Sith must have been behind Zio's death, and that there was likely no further danger to anyone else in her household.

Brawln spent most of the trip sorting through the vast quantity of Shadowlander information he was still catching up on following his time on Sura Sindo. Specifically, he wanted to know what Seth Iscandar and/or Lilikai Singan might want on Kashyyyk, since Zaltin Corp's various evils had previously seemed rather banal and beneath their notice. The ramblings of a Miraluka informant going by the name of Mystic caught his attention. Mystic believed in a vast droid/AI conspiracy that was responsible for everything that had ever gone wrong in the galaxy, and whose CPU was located in a valley on Kashyyyk that she creatively called "the Ravine of Evil." Brawln realized that this location matched up with a canyon on the forest floor of Kashyyyk not far from the Zaltin Corp facility (albeit many kilometers below it in elevation). Local Wookiees did in fact avoid this place, saying it was contaminated with radiation after a capital ship with a badly shielded reactor core crashed there during the Old Republic, rendering the whole area uninhabitable. Brawln didn't know what to make of this, but mentioned it to the rest of the PCs anyway, thinking it might be worth checking out if they got the chance when they arrived.

Vic also told everyone what Ori Dantor had told him about the Empire being present on Zoph. Everyone was alarmed by this news and worried for Zernvik Akawoi and Reevo Tetsu's safety, and wondered whether they should try to deal with the problem there before going to Kashyyyk. Ultimately they decided that rescuing Rhen and Sekar Mirah was currently more urgent, but that they wanted to do something about the situation on Zoph too - ideally by drawing the Empire away from the mining camp so that Vesper and/or Zernvik could use the Force to make them forget anything was there. They had a few ideas about what form this might take - creating a distraction elsewhere on Zoph? fomenting a civil war on Mandalore? - and resolved to come up with a plan later.

When the PCs arrived at Kashyyyk, they were greeted by an automated recording stating that the Empire had taken control of the planet's spaceports, and that anyone expecting to land there should be prepared to present official Imperial identification and have their ship and cargo inspected. The PCs wanted nothing to do with this, so Brawln pulled some strings to get their ship a berth in a shadowport hidden inside the trunk of a wroshyr tree. Things seemed tense in general on Kashyyyk; the Empire seemed to be tightening its grip there, and the local Wookiees quite obviously resented it. Cheen had asked Brawln to contact him when he arrived, so Brawln did, and everyone went to meet Cheen at a cantina nearby.

Owing to Brawln having instructed Cheen to pull his people back from the Zaltin Corp facility, Cheen did not have much up-to-date information to report that he hadn't already told Brawln. However, Cheen's people had noticed a large increase in starship and speeder traffic going to and from the factory in the past week. Any one of those vehicles could have held the people the PCs were looking for, and Somi Amersu's Seek power had no clarity to offer, so the only real option was to go down there and see what was going on. However, the PCs didn't want to go in blind, so Brawln got Cheen to introduce them to Grika, a Wookiee laborer who had been formerly employed at the Zaltin Corp site and was disgruntled at having been recently laid off (GM's note: various plot points were spent to make this guy have useful information). Grika told the PCs the following:
 * He described the general layout and security measures of the factory. As far as he could tell, it had genuinely been intended as a pharmaceutical factory and not some sort of secret prison. Anything like detention cells would have been very recently added.
 * Grika had been involved with constructing a high-end medical testing lab and told the PCs its general location near the center of the factory complex.
 * Grika was annoyed with his employers because they'd laid him and all the other workers off just a few days ago, when the factory was on the verge of beginning its operations. He'd been told the Empire was taking charge of the entire complex.
 * Grika identified Iscandar as the person who had taken over the complex, and also recognized Tia Ba as a high-ranking employee. He did not recognize Lilikai.

Armed with this information, the PCs made a plan. They initially considered checking out the "Ravine of Evil" first until they realized that it was a long journey down to the forest floor and that without any way to know what Iscandar and/or Tia Ba and/or Lilikai were up to, they might be exposing Rhen and Sekar Mirah to excessive danger if they did since it seemed like the factory was really the only place around able to keep them carbon-frozen. The main way into the facility was through the landing pad, which was guarded by a battalion of stormtroopers manning at least one anti-aircraft gun (yes, this seemed like serious overkill for a supposed bacta factory). Accordingly, the PCs decided it was a better idea to approach through the surrounding forest, climb up from below, and use lightsabers to cut a hole through the floor of one of the currently unoccupied warehouse wings shown on Grika's map.

The PCs gathered their supplies and set out for the factory. The journey through the forest was filled with various pratfalls and near-misses, but disaster was averted through a combination of grappling guns, the Force, and Nawah Masin's athleticism (as she used her muscular legs to save Somi from falling to her death). Efnir Kis then boosted Somi up to allow her to cut a hole for everyone to pass through. Once inside the empty warehouse, Vesper hacked into a computer terminal to find a path to the main lab that would bypass the more inhabited areas of the facility (not realizing his intrusions were leaving a trace - 2 Threat on Computer roll).

Indeed, the PCs didn't encounter anyone else until they entered a long hallway with a mezzanine running along one side of it. Suddenly, three Wookiees with swords entered through the door at the opposite end, while three with bowcasters emerged onto the mezzanine. The PCs noticed that all of these Wookiees looked very similar and that they had odd metal implants attached to their skulls. As the Wookiees readied their weapons, Nomi shouted orders and Efnir used the Force to yank the Wookiees on the mezzanine down to the floor. Vic, seeing the implants, produced an ion grenade from his utility belt and tossed it into the melee. This shorted out the implants but also disabled HC-7, who was tagging along with Brawln as usual. Seeing four ignited lightsabers, the Wookiees quickly fled, but Nawah convinced one of them to stay behind and talk to Brawln. Through this conversation, the PCs learned that the Wookiees thought of the facility (not Kashyyyk) as their home, and that (as Brawln had suspected) they had been cloned by Tia Ba to serve as a cheap and loyal labor force. Brawln let the other Wookiee go, telling him he should take his companions to safety on Kashyyyk and refuse to serve the Empire.

Knowing their cover had now fully been blown, the PCs hurried to the central lab. Vesper looked through the door with the Force to find the interior appearing ransacked, with no trace of Rhen, Sekar Mirah, Tia Ba, Iscandar, or Lilikai (though the freezer that had once held the Mirror's corpse remained plugged in alongside a row of other freezers). Cautiously, the PCs entered and found Kandria Haren (a Zaltin Corp employee who Brawln and Nomi had encountered on their previous trip to Kashyyyk) cowering beneath a desk. Kandria, who had recently been promoted to be Tia Ba's assistant, explained that Iscandar had recently delivered the frozen Rhen and Sekar Mirah to the lab with instructions to have Tia Ba extract and study their genetic material to investigate the biological basis of Force-sensitivity. They had barely begun the work when, a few hours ago, Iscandar had burst into the lab accompanied by Lilikai and unceremoniously removed the Nightsisters from the carbon-freezing chamber (meaning they were in the process of thawing out), saying plans had changed and he was going to take them to the planet's surface. When Kandria and Tia Ba objected to this, Lilikai said it was all part of a planned exchange, whereby Iscandar would get the Nightsisters in exchange for giving Tia Ba to Lilikai. Kandria had been too frightened to interfere.

The PCs were completely perplexed by this development - what could Lilikai possibly want with Tia Ba? - but were interrupted by the lid of the freezer in the corner beginning to rattle. They watched in horror as the Mirror's corpse, reanimated by spooky red energy, climbed out and approached them. Kandria immediately fled the scene, and so did Vesper and Brawln! (GM's note: you guys really Rule Zero'd this one) The Mirror's corpse began to speak in a blend of the Mirror's voice and Alashaa Sanu's, saying that he/she/they were much stronger now than they used to be and able to reach much farther in the galaxy. Sanu expressed dismay at the beaten-up state of the Mirror's body as compared to what it once was, but characterized him as "a blunt instrument" and said that "I've found much more interesting toys to play with now, like that Jedi Master you left behind for me."

Despite their fear, Efnir, Nawah, Nomi, Somi, and Vic stood and fought, not wanting to unleash whatever this was on an unsuspecting populace. Efnir ripped the freezers from the walls and threw them at the Mirror, which caused as many problems as it solved when the chambers split open, unleashing several reanimated Wookiees on the group. (GM's note: a Force power roll for the Mirror activated the power, failed to hit anything, but included 2 Triumph - WTF do you even do with that?) The ensuing battle was fast and furious and ended with Somi decapitating the Mirror with her lightsaber, then scooping up his head and taking it along with her (hoping this would convince Vesper and Brawln that he was well and truly done for). After incapacitating the Wookiees by pinning them under debris, the PCs hurried to catch up with Brawln and Vesper, knowing they had to find a way to intercept Iscandar on Kashyyyk's surface before it proved too late to help Rhen and Sekar Mirah.

Things to Remember

 * Vic deleted his translator software after what he learned from Ori Dantor and is now speaking Basic directly (with a slight speech impediment)
 * Vic still has the explosives he stole from the mining platform. It has been agreed that these explosives will function more as a plot device than something with a defined damage rating etc. - i.e., set them with a successful Mechanics roll to make something sizable blow up at an expedient time.
 * Rhen will be back with us next session!
 * Sekar Mirah eats butt spiders for breakfast

Next: Doomsayer Session 28