Doomsayer Session 02

24 April 2022: The PCs discover that the Jedi purge has spread to the hidden temple on Kamparas, and learn about Brawln's mission to bring the Mirror to justice.

Session 02 audio log

Previous: Doomsayer Session 01

Plot Summary
During the two-day journey to Kamparas, the PCs took inventory of their resources aboard Rogue Ronto and continued getting to know each other. Vic Dantor reviewed the ship's systems and learned that while it was basically functional, it would need to land for about a day on Kamparas to allow for some routine maintenance that was skipped in the rush to escape from Coruscant. Nomi Amersu and Rhen spoke to the ship's droid pilot and learned that its designation was 3D6 (Nomi nicknamed it Gigit). 3D6's memory had been recently wiped, apparently at the time of the ship's sale to Firith Mobak, and it was surprised to note that it had also been retrofitted with a droid brain from a Separatist shuttle. It was confident that it no longer held any loyalty to the Separatists (or to anyone beyond the PCs), and that there were no tracking devices or obvious security backdoors installed within its systems (as far as it could tell).

Brawln also gathered the other PCs and told them that his business on Coruscant had involved investigating the murder of a padawan named Nimm Sato at Firith's behest. Brawln believed the culprit was a serial killer called the Mirror, who Brawln had been tracking for some time. Because the Mirror had shapeshifting capabilities and might have used them to take the place of someone at the Jedi Temple, Bralwn wanted to know if anyone who had been at the temple had seen anyone behaving strangely. The Jedi PCs immediately thought of Master Quiet, Nimm Sato's master, who had behaved in a very un-Jedi-like manner around Vic Dantor and had destroyed Vic's mining operation. While Brawln doubted the Mirror could have replaced Master Quiet due to Master Quiet's apparently high level of Force abilities, his actions made the other PCs wonder if he might have fallen to the dark side or be serving the Sith.

Upon arriving in orbit of Kamparas, Nomi sent a message through the HoloNet while the others checked the news. Images of the Jedi Temple on fire were impossible to escape, as was coverage of Chancellor Palpatine's speech accusing the Jedi of attempting to assassinate him, declaring the Jedi as traitors to the Republic, and proclaiming the rise of a new Empire with Palpatine himself at its head. The PCs also intercepted a message ordering all Jedi across the galaxy to return to their home base or to the temple on Coruscant, which they obviously decided to ignore. Public reaction to current events seemed mixed so far. Some commentators welcomed the rise of strong leadership that might finally put an end to the suffering of the Clone Wars, while others approached the changes with more wariness. The PCs began to put the pieces together and to understand that Efnir Kis's mentor Saesee Tiin had likely been part of the supposed assassination conspiracy. Hearing all of this, the Jedi padawans removed any obvious markers of their status (such as padawan braids) and changed out of their Jedi robes, not wanting to attract attention to themselves.

Following Vesper Syl'tine's directions, Rogue Ronto landed at a spaceport near the Kamparas temple. Kamparas was a largely undeveloped jungle planet, with most of its surface set aside as a nature preserve or as resort facilities for tourists from the Core. Nawah Masin, Nomi, and Rhen went out together to find somewhere to rent landspeeders that could take them through the jungle to the temple. Brawln, Efnir, Somi Amersu, and Vesper also went for a stroll through the surrounding town, hoping to get a sense of what the general populace thought about the events on Coruscant. Vic stayed with the ship to work on encrypting its communication systems. He also tried to call his brother Ori Dantor and managed to get through to him for the first time in several months. Ori was very relieved to hear from Vic, since he had feared that Vic was dead after the disaster at Vic's mining camp. Vic told Ori everything that had happened to him since then and asked Ori what he thought Vic should do. With deep concern, Ori told Vic that he probably shouldn't come home, since the purge was spreading to anyone who appeared to be a Jedi sympathizer and Vic's recent visit to the temple might place him (and his family) under suspicion. Ori's only other idea was for Vic to try finding Damasa Kovani like Firith had asked, since he thoughts she might know something about the situation that other people didn't. Ori also gave Vic a more private, encrypted channel through which they could communicate later.

In town, after listening in on a conversation that seemed to suggest public opinion was turning against the Jedi, Brawln abruptly realized that HC-7 was missing. With difficulty, he communicated what had happened to the padawans. Somi followed some unusual tracks to the locked door of an apartment building nearby. Efnir used the Force to boost Vesper up to the roof of the building so he could monitor any other potential exits while Somi picked the lock. Inside the apartment, the group saw six Jawas making some sort of modification to HC-7. HC-7 turned to Brawln and said in a staticky voice, "Please let them finish."

Two of the Jawas ran out a back door in alarm. Vesper saw them go, then heard blaster fire which rapidly felled both of the escaping Jawas. He could not tell where the shots were coming from. Three of the remaining four Jawas panicked and ran out the front, but the fourth one agreed to stay and talk with Brawln. At this time Nawah, realizing that the other PCs were very late in returning, contacted Somi on her commlink and learned what was happening. Vic quickly brought the others to the apartment in one of the rented speeders. En route, Nomi, Nawah, and Rhen spotted the other three fleeing Jawas and saw another one of them get shot down before their eyes. They scooped up the other two Jawas and hustled them back into the apartment.

With everyone more or less in the same place, the lead Jawa produced a contract demonstrating that about a year prior, HC-7 itself had hired the Jawa clan to perform a modification that it was forbidden from performing on itself: removing a tracking device that had been installed inside it. Upon learning this, Bralwn was all too happy to let the Jawas finish their work. Once HC-7 came back online, it told Brawln that it did not remember entering into a contract with the Jawas, but that it was grateful to have the device removed all the same. The surviving Jawas then left, since their business was concluded.

The last remaining problem was getting Vesper down from the roof. The plan was for him to sneak across to the edge and jump down to the street, allowing Efnir to catch him with the Force. As he moved, he heard a voice in his head saying, "I see you, Jedi," and a small object hit him in the head. Terrified, Vesper jumped from the roof, but Efnir only succeeded in slowing him a little and he hit the ground hard, going unconscious. The others put him in the speeder and followed Nomi's instructions to guide everyone back to the spaceport by a safe route. After Vesper got medical attention from Vic, the PCs found camping gear in Rogue Ronto's cargo hold and took it and the speeders into the jungle to hide out overnight.

After an uneventful night, the PCs continued on the trail leading to the Jedi temple. Not far from their destination, a large and heavy net fell from the trees above and immobilized the speeder in the lead. Vesper looked around and was surprised to spot a familiar face watching them from the jungle: Reevo Tetsu, a Rodian padawan who Vesper remembered from his time on Kamparas. Vesper coaxed Reevo out of hiding, and Reevo told the PCs the following:
 * The clone troopers at the Kamparas temple turned on the Jedi there the same as they had done on Coruscant. Reevo survived because he was meditating alone in the jungle at the time. He did not believe there were any other survivors.
 * Reevo had been watching the temple from a distance for the past two days. A number of clone troopers were still stationed there. The day before, the clones burned the bodies of the fallen Jedi and also clear-cut an area of jungle to allow a shuttle to land. A human man (with curly red hair and a scar across one cheek - not familiar to any of the PCs) got out, retrieved documents from the temple's small library, and left.
 * Reevo set the trap that stopped the speeder in an attempt to prevent other Jedi from being lured back to the temple. Upon learning this, the PCs thanked him for saving their lives.
 * When the PCs asked Reevo if he wanted to get off-planet, he firmly declined, saying he thought his chances of survival were better if he hid in the jungle until everything blew over. He also offhandedly mentioned that if he changed his mind, he could probably leave with Master Quiet if and when he came back. This got the PCs' attention, and they got Reevo to elaborate that Master Quiet had been on Kamparas about three months before trying to recruit a padawan to join him for a secret mission (so, probably the same mission at Vic's mining camp that he ultimately took Vesper along on). Reevo had been intrigued but also hadn't been sure how much he trusted Master Quiet, so he'd told Master Quiet he needed more time to think about it. Master Quiet agreed to come back and ask again later; if he followed through, he'd be scheduled to come back any day.

The PCs respected Reevo's desire to remain on Kamparas. They left him all their camping gear as well as a way to contact them on Rogue Ronto, and asked him to reach out if Master Quiet came back. He agreed, and the PCs returned to the spaceport to discuss their next move.

The PCs briefly considered remaining on Kamparas to allow Brawln to continue to pursue the Mirror. The object that had been thrown at Vesper on the rooftop turned out to be a small broken pocket mirror, which Brawln identified as the Mirror's calling card. Nawah then revealed that she had found three broken pocket mirrors among her belongings in her ransacked apartment. The two dead padawans on Coruscant had also had broken mirrors with them, where previously all of the Mirror's mirrors had been intact. Brawln didn't know what this meant or why the calling card had changed. However, the PCs ultimately concluded that the Mirror was likely too dangerous for them to face right now, and that it would be safer for them all to get away.

With no one else feeling particularly inspired by Vesper's suggestion that they go visit his aunt so he could buy Bothan Shoes (particularly after Vesper let it slip that his father was Chancellor Palpatine's speechwriter), the PCs decided to start trying to track down Damasa Kovani. Brawln bought some information from a contact of his which revealed that there was an active warrant for Damasa's arrest on Nar Shaddaa, dating back about twenty years. With no better leads to go on, the PCs departed Kamparas on the two-week journey to Nar Shaddaa.

Things to Remember

 * The owner of the speeder rental place on Kamparas will definitely remember Nawah, Nomi, and Rhen (2 Threat on Nawah's Negotiation roll)
 * Vic's roll to encrypt Rogue Ronto's communications generated 1 Threat
 * The PCs have contact information for the Jawa clan
 * Everyone is very skeptical about the Bothan shoes

Next: Doomsayer Session 03