How to Use this Adventure: This frame contains notes on rules, organizations, and events for the scenario. Make sure to read through it all ahead of time, though the links at left will provide quick access during the game. The lower frame is dedicated to game stats for NPCs, and there are hyperlinks for them in the left frame, too.
You'll need 3-6 players; pass out the primary characters before the secondary ones (they're kinda more important to the plot). The links below open printable PDF files:
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Primary Characters |
Secondary Characters |
The Force: Jedi have a general "Force" skill which can influence the thoughts and actions of others, create false sensory signals, use telekinesis, accelerate healing, see distant places and times, and generate "force lightning." However, not all of these powers may be available to all Jedi at all skill levels, at the GM's discretion. Finally, anyone with a Force skill of any rank gets a bonus card to all physical and perceptive actions.
The Dark Side: "A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack." Jedi who misuse the Force may fall under the influence of the Dark Side. Give Jedi characters Bad Karma any time they act out of anger or fear, but keep them in a separate stack for each character. If they use the Force for evil, they get two points. Besides the normal ways to use Bad Karma, this "Dark Karma" can also be used to force players to commit acts of evil. Whenever the player is in a position to choose between a "good" and an "evil" course of action, just turn in a point of Dark Karma to make them choose the latter. If they use the Force in their misdeed, they get another point back. The Dark Side's a bitch.
Force Magic: The Brotherhood of the Mirror have a unique relationship with the Force: they mimic things they want to happen, and the Force makes them happen. The usual methods involve masks, rituals, drawings, and clay models. Spells include healing, blinding, paralysis, illusions, and general luck charms/curses. If the artifacts used in a spell and defaced, destroyed, or otherwise tampered with, the spell is broken. (In essence, it's Hollywood-style voodoo.) In addition, the Brothers know minds tricks that let them alter people's memories, command others, and so forth.
Nuvo City: A highly urbanized cross between Coruscant and the Fifth Element. Scattered signs of a more superstitious culture abound, however. Warding signs are drawn on doors, fortune-tellers advertise in billboards, apothecaries outnumber physicians, etc. Skycars & catwalks connect the mile-high buildings at all levels. The ambient noise of billions of people and trillions of machines fill the air all day, every day.
Fu Jedi: A small Jedi sect that considers lightsabers unnecessarily brutal weapons and does not train with them. To compensate in duels, they wear latticework gauntlets made of a cortosis alloy which briefly shuts down lightsabers and dissipates blaster bolts on contact. (The gauntlets store as rings around the forearm and, when activated via the Force, spring up around the hands. This does not require an action.)
The Nuvo City spaceport is a sprawling, open air complex filled with glass walls and ceramic fountain sculptures. After the PCs meet their guide-droid, they are accosted by a harried-looking man (Jac Laen). "You have to help me, Jedi!" he screams. A group of thugs are in close pursuit and open fire with full-auto blasters, targeting Laen and any security personnel who show up. After a nice bit of combat, Laen coughs up a mass of blood and dies. The thugs scatter and flee, yelling about the "Will of the Brotherhood." The locals make warding signs and whisper about "black magic."
The local authorities will want the PCs to come with them to file a report. If the players don't get on the ol' investigation trail on their own, the authorities might ask for their help and/or feed them clues (see below).
A number of lines of inquiry could lead the PCs to the "kingpin's" home. 1) Security personnel could track one of the thugs back there and inform the PCs. 2) Taxi records and/or witnesses could place Laen there before his trip to the spaceport. 3) A thug could be caught and questioned; they're under orders to NOT resist interrogation.
If the PCs don't look into it themselves, a Republic doctor will inform them later that Laen was killed, not by Force Magic, but by a slow-acting poison he had ingested up to an hour previous, probably less. (The locals wouldn't have caught it because they are extremely fearful of corpses that are "contaminated by black magic.")
Dar A'mahnd, the false kingpin, is a well-connected crook in a lot of debt to the Brotherhood. He lives in a penthouse apartment atop one of the mile-highs, a posh domicile with a huge terrace and floor-to-ceiling windows. The Brothers have placed in his mind false memories of using their myth, and a few simple parlor tricks, to terrorize his enemies. He will behave in a manner consistent with these memories, and they will be the first thing accessed by mind-intruding Jedi. (However, such Jedi might also notice a strange "flatness or hollowness" to these memories and, eventually, uncover the true facts beneath them.) A search of his place will uncover a collection of exotic poisons and misc ritual-lookin' sundries.
However, getting into said penthouse isn't easy. Access is controlled by a consierge stationed on the apartment complexe's first floor. Visitors must announce themselves and request an audience, all while concealed security cameras monitor their every move and run run background checks via facial recognition. The entire room is armed with retractable blaster turrets which are operated by the building's computer. The only other access point is the penthouse balcony, which is guarded in a similar manner (except that there's no way to request an audience).
When the PCs do manage to get in, A'mahnd will greet them at the door. He's very hospitable, but can summon a squad of bodyguards from an adjoining room at the first hint of hostility.
The Cleansers have been following the PCs and have decided to ask Andros for help. From their aircar outside A'mahnd's place, they send the apprentice a telepathic message: "We are fellow Cleansers on an important mission and we need your help. You must trust and cooperate with us, no matter we appear to be doing. Serve us well, and our order will be in your debt." No matter what happens, make sure Andros gets the message.
Unfortunately, the Cleansers don't realize they are tainted by the Dark Side and the other Jedi (except Andros) will sense a "dark" disturbance in the Force. A'mahnd keeps a few skycars outside his terrace, so the PCs should have no trouble giving chase, and more bodyguards will happily come up to the penthouse to occupy anyone who gets left behind. The Cleansers don't want to kill the PCs (yet), so Cleanser #1 will try to loose them in the crowds while Cleanser #2 throws his lightsaber crosses at the PCs' vehicle in an attempt to disable it. Be sure to through a parade float or three in their path!
Due to the interference of the Cleansers, the Brotherhood is not certain that the PCs have taken the bait. So, they decide to up the ante a bit and organize a staged attack on the PCs... using phony stage magic to complete the ruse.
If the PCs have been fooled, their theory will meet with stiff opposition from local authorities. In fact, the only one who will believe them is the Republic doctor; he thinks the locals are far too superstitious about a great many things. Meanwhile, the Cleansers would like the PCs to report some belief in the Brotherhood before their demise, so they will try to lead the PCs to the Brotherhood's headquarters before making their final strike. They can do this by either 1) sending the PCs a datacard with footage of the Vanity Club, or 2) leading the PCs there if they try to contact them in any way. Finally, probing A'mahnd's mind will reveal true memories of hypnotic rituals conducted above the Vanity Club.
Taking up 4 levels of a mile-high above a 7-story shopping complex, the Mirror Order's base uses a social club as its legitimate front. The first level is devoted to parking and the second level contains the club's meeting rooms, kitchen, and dining area. It's all quite posh. The second floor, listed as "under renovation," contains a secret ritual chamber, a closet full of ritual tools (masks, clay, incense, oils, etc), and a concealed room full of battle droids. The exterior windows are equipped with holographic devices that make it appear vacant from outside.
The fourth floor holds a pair of offices and a living quarters the Brotherhood uses as a safe house. The main office is used by the leadership of the Brotherhood to administer their criminal empire. The datacards stored here would be a gold mine for the PCs' investigation. However, the other office is the center of security for the entire complex. All of the surveillance cameras and lock systems feed directly into this monitor-festooned room and a small team of Brotherhood Thugs man it at all times.
The Brothers are painfully aware of the reputation of Jedi Knights. They have given their security personnel and droids standing orders to let the Jedi do whatever they want while Brotherhood magi are summoned to the scene. Then, they will pull out all the stops to trap the PCs in a full-force ambush.
To make the most dramatic possible entrance, the Cleansers use their lightsabers to cut a hole in the mile-high's outer wall (on whatever floor the PCs are on, of course). They ignite their weapons and walk outside to a catwalk on the level below, waiting for the Jedi to follow. (Destroyer droids and/or various Brotherhood baddies can give the non-Jedi something to do.) The Cleansers detonate an explosive under the catwalk, hoping to take out as many Jedi as possible. Then the battle begins in earnest, clinging to the narrow ledges of the mile-high and/or hanging from the remains of the catwalk's support beams! Thrilling!