Crisis on Columex Overview
We used craft for easy collab/sharing, this is but a tribute.
Crisis on Columex
The Story So Far
2 Days After Battle of Yavin.
It is a dark time for the civilians of the galaxy.
Following the destruction of the peaceful world of Alderaan and one of the Empire’s special projects “Stardust” (referred to by rebellion propaganda as the “Death Star”) the Empire seeks to restore order and find answers.
Security has tightened, raids by the ISB have become more frequent, and those voicing discontent are disappearing in the night.
On Brentaal IV, a commerce hub situated at the intersection of the Hydian Way and Perlemian Trade Route, the cantinas are bustling with people from all walks of life seeking work in all corners of the galaxy, trying to escape the oppression of Imperial bureaucracy.
Session 1
Snowy patched Nira up after a blowy up thing gone wrong? Not entirely sure on their backstory tbh.
Ed’s been Cantina security/general dogsbody at the Bent Lekku since being marooned on Brentaal after his former crew staged a bloody mutiny.
My memory is hazy. There was a gig, Routh was there to report on it, something went wonky with Deebo, we fixed it and generally ingratiated ourselves?
Matt - One of the bands transmitted a data burst using audio and light whilst playing their set to keep it discrete. DEBO and Ed both absorbed this information.
Routh-reporter lady:
DEBO, cam droid:
Snikora and Pulo are the Hutts running the blackmarket in town
They’re organising a trip out of the system, along the Permellian trade route
Routh has wrangled us a place on it as thanks for fixing Debo. Will be a working trip, no free rides, but we all need to get off planet as the Imperial grip tightens.
Cormond spaceport-docking bay 19 at midnight
- Vallorant is the ship We’re hitching a ride on
Session 2
Heading to the spaceport, run into some stormies harassing people. We could’ve snuck by, but opt to take em out instead.
Turns out the people being harassed were Pink Droid (the band). They now owe us for saving them. We got their contact deets and a copy of their latest album for now.
Looted some stuff from their corpses and the van. Nera got a (non-functioning) lightsaber, Ed got a pile (10) blaster rifles (to sell) and an ISB code cylinder. One of these things is easier to carry than the others.
Session 3
Onto the ship!
Met Moxley the Quermian, think he might’ve been quartermaster.
Liberated all his money from him playing sabacc and he slunk off in shame after getting caught trying to cheat.
Ship’s underway!
Or was. Interdicted and pulled out of hyperspace. The Imperials are en route to board us. Three transports inbound, estimated 30 troopers each.
We stumbled upon the control rod for the ships’ compliment of six astromechs. Liberation frequency. New friends!
Need to find out where we are (are escape pods an option?). Astrogation check? Is there anywhere to even escape to, or is this a deep space situation?
Talk to Routh, see what’s going on, if she knows why.
Matt - Debo captured sensitive information that would paint the Empire in a bad light, they don’t want that getting out.
Got a cutter, can theoretically go through walls rather than having to stick to doors and corridors. Ed in vacuum?
Session 4
Routh wants us to upload Deebo’s recordings to the comms relay at the front and transmit them to the Alliance.
Did it turn out the ship getting targeted was our fault? For the Pink Droid incident?
Could go around the ship EVA to dodge the stormies. We space the guns picked up on Brentaal to minimise evidence.
Use the droid buddies to steer the ship to keep us on the blindside of the incoming ships, or provide other disruption?
We do go EVA, sticking to the hull of the ship. Do find some troopers out there, but take them out without raising an alarm. (I may be making that bit up). The view is lovely. Make it to the front airlock and get back into the ship. Almost manage to get the plans sent, but the baddies are coming.
Attempt to talk them down for a bit, but alas.
The organics still have their spacesuits on, so we blow the airlock, some grenades get tossed around, a thrilling fight ensues, Snowy goes down though, followed shortly by the rest of us.
Fade to black.
Session 5
Map of Hanna City:
The team awakens imprisoned in a garrison, but mostly healed up
Noopa is a Rodian, fellow prisoner, and has a plan to escape. His buddy “Mouth” is a human in there too. Mouth doesn’t say much.
We get a plan in place to escape. There is word of an Impy bigwig inbound. We can use their arrival as a distraction, and potentially nab them as a hostage on the way out.
Get gear, plant bomb near fuel place, get to control centre, ???, profit
Session 6
Ed has a copy of the plans that were meant to be transmitted to the rebels on Columex
Map of the Garrison:
We make it out of the prison without firing a shot. Reacquire our gear on the way. Bluff our way out of the gate in one of their own transports. Head across town to the spaceport, Noopa’s ship is parked there.
Noopa is double crossing us! Turns out he’d heard about the bounty on us after Brentaal, and decided to collect. Ed convinces his backup to turn on him through, and annihilation ensues. We have staked our claim on his ship. Mouth has decided to tag along for now
Session 7
Left off we’ve just “got” the ship, bounty hunter guy betrayed us, Mouth helped us take him down after talking him down failed. Snuck out of prison without attracting any immediate attention, left guards alive
On the ship!
Found 9 crates, 1 meter by 1.5, with timers on. Ship said something about destabilising in a couple weeks.
Found a donked up shell of an astromech, will attempt to repair.
Got into the ship computer. Doesn’t say what the cargo is. Does say it was destined for The Wheel, and has to arrive in advance of the deadline/timer. 5k credits on the line for successful delivery.
Triumphant jump to hyperspace headed towards blah blah then thingy
Session 8
Vlodimir Garin is the fence for the cargo on the timer
Ed and Nira know of him
Ed recalls Alexi Garin as former head of Black Sun. Vlodimir is his first born son.
Nira kinda knows the same but has heard his son’s not part of Black Sun, but is head of the “Garin Raiders”, offshoot group. They have a strong dislike for the Empire
Snowy has heard of Anasasia Garin but that could be a coincidink, we’re not certain.
At The Wheel, it’s a space station with many casinos. Exclusive.
It avoids Imperial attention by paying them off with earnings from the casinos.
Control has us land at docking bay 1138
There’s a kids birthday party on the station and an influx of neerdowells
Successfully landed
Zandar is the docking man
We spin a web of lies regarding Noopa and his fate, pass ourselves off as his replacement/subcontractors or something
Kid’s party starts with petting zoo, then food, then entertainment. This’ll involve a performance of some kind by us. Great.
Cargo is to be taken to suite 316. Have a map, level 3 is all under Garin’s control.
Blasters have to stay on the ship. Yay security.
Take a hoversled loaded with cargo up to the party.
Calico shows up, makes it clear we ain’t seen him and he ain’t seen us.
In the boxes is party food, jelly, ice cream, party bags, buffet food, a cake that needs assembling
- Juggling balls
- Acrobat outfits
- Obstacle course for small animals
- Bits of the course are labeled “porg”
- A bantha saddle
- Human(Ed) sized scratching post
- Balance pole for use with a tightrope
Fancy suite has a lovely viewport, but we don’t have time to enjoy right now. Pricey looking place
We deliver the food to the catering area, and get roped into assembling the cake. It is extravagant and complicated, being a model of The Wheel, but made of cake. There are repulsors and stuff involved.
The house caterer is most impressed with our cake building abilities. How it’s not covered in Wookiee fur I don’t know.
To the petting zoo!
There are banthas to be ridden (by the kids), porgs for the obstacle course, young nexu for danger/petting
Session 9
Cake complete.
Animal wrangling time!
Function room, viewport, 20 kids, groups of animals.
Porgs
Bantha (for rides)
Nexu lad (still cute)
Animal thing was accomplished without any major upsets. No one gets eaten.
Trapeze n shit was an actual triumph though. Came away with 6k cr and we’re allowed to leave with our lives.
Session 10
Spent some XP, spent some credits, Ed got a new coat
While in hyperspace, managed to donk Debo up trying to fix it, covered in tape for now to hold it together.
We spend some time tinkering with the astromech that was on board. Get it up and running, designation Cr03 (Crow). The story is it got shot by an Ion blaster and captured by Noopa some time ago.
Crow fixed Deebo up though, it’s better at these things than any of us.
Importantly, droids are now in equal numbers to ‘ganics on the ship. Crow, Deebo, and Ed vs Mouth, Nira, and Snowlakka.
All the droids had an oil bath, everyone is feeling refreshed.
We land on Columex in one piece, don’t appear to have raised any suspicion on our way in.
SWRPG Session 11
Landed in Sector 1. Word on the street is that Sector 4 is off limits for some reason.
Columex is on a major trade route. We managed the clearing of the customs, but may get more scrupulous attention on our way out, once we’ve presumably got some cargo.
Mouth is coming with on this one, but playing it incognito. He seems a bit paranoid about his voice being recognised.
Deebo’s got a map of where it thinks we need to go.
In the spaceport proper, pick up more news about cordon around Sector 4. Surprising no one at all, Deebo’s red dot is in Sector 4. Supplies are still going in, but heavily restricted. News didn’t say why it was cordoned off though.
The meatbags ruined Ed charming the barman. Did spot another Miralan though, getting a bit of traffic/selling/buying in the bar. An individual in demand. They’re being eyeballed by some stormies though.
They start to lead him away (not in cuffs). Nira legs it, Ed shouts “stop, thief” to try and get their attention/distract em.
Holy shit that actually worked.
So matey boi comes with us as we head to the back door, which conveniently has cover.
Jax Korr is our new pal, gone back to his place. Got his comm deets
Jax has a way to get us past the cordon via the shit pipe. Voss is an imp that’s open to negotiation. There are droids manning the cordon too.
Cordon’s up because the imps have released a virus or something similar to provide cover for them cracking down on the rebels that are believed to be in sector 4.
Into Jax’ speeder! There’s some cargo to run too, food/rations to bring in. Squishies have some PPE on to keep em safe. Some meds to be delivered too. “General supplies”, food, meds etc. A backpack’s worth each.
Into the tunnels, not a lot of light
Scene swipe to us in the sewer. Mouth’s nice n sealed in. His constant whistling is annoying. Sewer’s stink. Backpacks are on. There are some stairs at the end of the tunnel that’ll pop us out within the cordon.
Once we’re out, we’ll have to dodge patrols and/or bluff our way past the droids to get access to the tradesmen’s entrance.
At the inner cordon now
Snowy convinced the droids guarding the cordon that we’re here to perform a QA on the medical containment. They provided us with a better map.
Snowy stepped in shit though. Actual human? Shit. Shit.
PPE will probably break if despair is rolled, eek. Although that could be our “sample”, silver linings. File under “Things Ed Isn’t Concerned About”.
Official Writeup:
Boaty McBoatface and her crew reached the Outer Rim planet of Columex and were directed to land in Sector 1. Sector 4 is off limits for some reason.
Columex is a major trade world, currently in Imperial control. Whilst customs were not an issue getting in, the spotlight might be brighter on your way out.
Deebo was able to indicate where he needed to reach, and this is right in Sector 4. Mouth decides to leave the ship and provide assistance, but is keen to remain incognito.
You travelled to a bar to find some information and you rescued a Mirialan from Imperial capture by the name of Jax Korr. Jax takes you back to his place, is open about his sympathy for the Rebellion, and offers to get you into Sector 4 if you will deliver some supplies to the hospital there. He even offers you part of his cut, 4,000 credits, if you can get in and out.
Korr informs you that there is an Imperial patrolling the cordon by the name of Voss that is open to negotiation. Some droids are also manning the town gate and you will have to get through them to get in.
Jax has another job for you while you are there, and asks if you can retrieve a live sample of the virus for him. The reward he offers is 5,000 credits per stable sample.
Jax takes you into Sector 4 and travel through the sewer system to reach the Inner cordon of the QZ. PPE has also been provided to protect you against the viral threat. Snowy was able to convince the maintenance droids that your presence is required to perform a QA on the medical containment despite having a foot in faeces.
The droids were also able to provide you with a map to the main hospital.
Todo list:
- Fake QA
- Deliver Jax’s stuff - Profit
- Get a sample of the virus
- Deliver Deebo
SWRPG Session 12
Soo,
Nira had some xp to spend, bought a rank in ranged light, and the Resolve Talent (taking one less strain when taking em involuntarily)
Snowy got a rank in melee
We have yet to see that Voss guy. Snowy might have history with their sister (a doctor). Ed n Nira probably don’t know that tho.
Sector we’re in is kinda industrial, majority of the people trapped by the quarantine work there rather live there. Food may be in limited supply.
Wandering the empty streets. Fortunately we have a map.
We don’t spot anything particularly out of the ordinary In the streets. “Bango Skank was here” graffiti. Some sort of path has been cleared, something been dragged through.
Mosey mosey. Spot something hopping over/between the rooftops, using the cables. Bit zipliney
Someone drops down and begins to approach us.
They have their weapons out. 4 of em. Probs locals.
Ask us what we’re doing.
One em’s got the drop on Nira a bit.
Snowy tells em we’re after samples
Reminder Mouth is with us as extra muscle
Locals say the virus is affecting people at night. Sounds like a double tap situation.
Watch out for Nero near the hotel, his gang are thievy.
Guys are on cables/ziplines and mechanical pulleys for getting around town while staying off the streets.
Nero’s not between us and the hospital (?) we’re headed to. Scouts may be out n about tho.
Nero sounds a bit like Neegan, keeping his guys strong while preying on everyone else.
Heading on to the hospital with our escort, locals taking point.
Hospital in sight. There is power, some lights on, but not a lot of em.
Vehicles and stuff arranged out front, acting as barricades. Feels a bit ominous. Whether for “zombies” or something else we don’t know.
Hospital entrance has been fortified too. Slot on the wall for one of them eye stalk camera bois.
Spot some traps around. Nothing super complicated, spiked barrels, bloody trails, no bodies, trip wires. Mines/explosives closer in to the hospital. Make it to the door without setting anything off.
Eyebot pops out.
Convince em we’re dropping off the supplies. The want us to dump the stuff and go.
A bit of negotiation/name dropping to get us inside. Get the locals let in too.
Bit of an airlock situation, 2 way mirror above, some speakers n stuff hooked up.
Medical table/scanner/supplies to one side. Card/guide for clearing the quarantine to one side too. Gotta clear the test, and depending on the results, varying levels of access.
Couple of the locals test positive and go through a different door to the rest of us. Apparently not a trash compactor. They’re off to be “treated”
They have an incinerator to deal with anyone that does come back.
Ed has no blood, so no test to take.
Go through, see a Doctory looking Twi-Lek female who welcomes us in, in her 40’s/50’s. Her name is Probably.
Hospital’s partitioned up with glass, so can see further than we can go, into the treatment areas.
Doc explains they don’t have a cure, but can keep it at bay. They know where it came from though.
Snowy’s leaning in to the sample collection. Prevention rather than treatment.
Virus mutates almost as soon as it gets into a host. Pre-infection samples are needed to (hopefully) develop an actual cure.
Which is why Jax wanted samples.
Doc believes the virus got out of a local lab, and that’s where it started.
Ed’s gonna pipe in with “Coincidence has been cancelled. I know a side quest when I hear one, where’s this lab, lady?”
Get the map out, she marks it out on the datapad. Not sure of exact location, but based on infection figures/cases, has a ballpark.
Head there, see who’s in the lab, if they have any info, or scour their systems etc for data/samples.
Oh yea, bang Deebo out, let her have a look. Nira is anxious of nosy people. But we were told to bring it here.
Some back n forth, most suspicious.
Doc Probably describes Deebo to a T, hands the droid over. Still a bit sticky/scuffed up, but in working order.
Deebo comes back to life, he seems to recognise the Doc. There are hugs.
There is, apparently, something we have to see. Leads us to a room/bacta tank. Surprise, it’s Routh!
She’s on the mend after the ship debacle, but still unconscious.
Deebo’s message contained info about fuel for the deathstar’s weapon. Had a renewable energy source that was mothballed by the empire. These are the plans/method of producing that. The alliance plans to use it to help, provide power across the galaxy for deprived places/break the monopoly/make the empire look bad etc.
Reminder that Ed also has these plans encoded in his brain box.
Overnighting in the hospital for safety.
Splat’s Write Up:
The group have reached the treatment center, delivered the much needed supplies, and passed on the stolen plans held within Deebo.
Upon arriving at the makeshift base, they discovered that Routh Skivta, the woman that appeared to perish in space above Brentaal IV, is on the mend and currently undergoing a bacta tank treatment.
Bad news arrived in the revelation that a deadly virus is loose in the sector, a virus that mutates based on the species of the host and has thus far proved fatal to those infected.
Death is not the end for those who suffer; as darkness falls, the dead rise, and the streets become unsafe.
Can the group solve the problem and restore access to the sector?
Crisis on Columex 20260325
Back in the saddle!
Recap from Crisis on Columex 20251119
Virus, blah blah, always fatal. But appears to be engineered.
“Nero” and his crew poaching the (limited) supplies n stuff that do come through.
Concerns that the Empire will use the outbreak as an excuse to torch the sector.
Reminder that the virus is reanimating the dead. They mostly come out at night, mostly.
Moxley’s here! The guy we busted for cheating at cards.
The doc’s name was Jackie Goodman.
‘Ganics get some sleep, Ed potters around, skip to the morning, everyone’s well rested.
Doc directs us to the canteen for refreshments. Top up on caff, prep for the expedition, check the map. Got a KM or two to cover. Plan is to roll stealthy and observant.
“Sneaking, we’re sneaking” Ed says, earning a dirty look from Nira as they blend into the shadows.
“Did you hear that” we hear as Snowy and Ed blunder out into a street.
Three guys, one in a forklift (or sporklift), two assisting. Not in imperial uniforms, but are all rocking the same blasters (of imperial origin).
“Just taking my dog for a walk” says Ed.
Tell em we’re out after medical supplies, they offer to show us their wares. Disclose that anything that comes in/out goes through them.
We decide to pass on through. They ain’t having it though, have to pay the toll. Snowy tries telling them about our actual mission. They ask if we’re from the hospital. So nooow we’re off to see their boss instead. Turns out there was a bunch more of them in the warehouse behind, so might be good that we didn’t start blasting. There’s almost a fight over who gets to say “I have a bad feeling about this”.
To the hotel! It would have once been lavish, but time has taken its toll. Too many fluids spilled and grime accumulated.
There’s a bar.
Tools/weapons/supplies etc laying around. Snowy trips over a crate, Nira stubs a toe, gets pointed and laughed at.
Ed clocks some clearly Imperial/military crates.
We’re waiting.
A Rodian comes out. Fat Greedo. This is Neero.
Speaking in Huttese, says he has a “particular set of friends” that have an interest in the hospital, and the “terrorists” that are holding the patients “hostage”. We need to talk our way out of here, stat.
Wants us to Trojan Horse em into the hospital. We agree because otherwise we’ll be killed, but point out we can’t show up empty handed. Calls on some lackeys who give us a few vials of something, a datapad, and a portable drive that’ll nerf the hospital defenses once we’re in. And a comm link.
Off we head. Walkin casual. Duck into a nearby building to check we’re not carrying a bomb or something. The stuff is mostly harmless. Malware looks like it’ll do what it says. Code rings a bell with Nira, reminds her of the guy that was involved in her dad’s death. So there’s a tie there. Not the ship.
Carry on our merry way towards the lab.
Looks like we found ground zero! Is a warehouse. No people about, and nothing particularly outstanding, ~20 meters high. Kinda like an ikea from the outside, without the colour. Beige, with some windows higher up, otherwise kinda boring. Like those “definitely not an FBI van” jokes.
Clock the office/visitors entrance, and the loading bays. Nira spots an entrance to the cellar tucked in a blind spot behind the building. Looks more high tech than the surroundings.
So we head for that. Obvs a trap.
Try inserting our ISB code cylinder. Great success! Some beeps and the door pops open.
Head into a corridor that leads to a bit of a lobby. Some signs on the wall, nothing clear, “black wing” “operations” and “lab”.
“Doors and corners, people” Ed says as they head towards the lab. The lab vs ops decision was made by a roll of Ed’s lucky chance cube.
Ominous music and a fade to black as the crew head towards the lab, 15XP richer