SW DD 09 - Sword of the Empire.pdf
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Sword of the Empire
Episode ix of Star Wars: Dawn of Defiance
JOHN JACKSON MILLER
Design
John Jackson Miller
DEVELOPMENT
Rodney Thompson
Sword of the Empire is the ninth adventure in the Dawn of Defiance
campaign, which will take heroes from 1st level all the way through 20th
level in a continuous storyline designed to give both players and
Gamemasters a complete Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition
experience. In this adventure, the heroes take their hunt for Master Denia
to Prakith, an Imperial military stronghold and home to the headquarters
of the Emperor’s Jedi hunters. Over the course of this adventure, the
heroes will see how the Empire is quickly reshaping Prakith and will
rediscover an ancient race whose support against the Empire can be
gained—if only they can be made to understand the threat. Sword of the
Empire is the penultimate chapter in the Dawn of Defiance campaign, and
the heroes should advance to 19th level by the end of the adventure.
Editing
Ray Vallese
Typesetting
Ray Vallese, Gary M. Sarli
Production
Chad Laske
Cartography
Corey Macourek
Lucas Licensing Editors
Leland Chee, Frank Parisi
Design Manager
Christopher Perkins
Director of RPG R&D
Bill Slavicsek
2
What Is
Dawn of Defiance?
Dawn of Defiance is the name given to a series of 10 linked adventures
that Gamemasters can use to create an entire campaign for their players.
Set in the months after the events of Revenge of the Sith, the adventures
in the Dawn of Defiance campaign are designed to provide players and
GMs with the iconic Star Wars Roleplaying Game experience, set against
the backdrop of the tyranny of the Galactic Empire. The Dawn of Defiance
campaign takes the heroes all the way from 1st level up to 20th level and
features an ongoing storyline that progresses over the course of the
campaign. Each adventure can also be played individually and should
provide the heroes with ample challenges to gain two levels per
adventure. Gamemasters should feel free to use the Dawn of Defiance
adventures either as an entire campaign or as fillers for their own home
campaigns.
If you are a Gamemaster wishing to run the campaign, read the GM’s
Primer, which summarizes the overall plot of the campaign and the
events of each adventure. The GM’s Primer is available at the Star Wars
Roleplaying Game Web site (
www.wizards.com/starwars
). The site also
features other articles related to the Dawn of Defiance campaign,
including the official campaign standards and an FAQ.
The author extends special thanks to Meredith Miller and James Mishler
for design assistance.
Some rules mechanics are based on the
Star Wars
Roleplaying Game Revised Core Rulebook by
Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, and JD Wiker, the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® rules created
by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and the new DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game designed by
Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison.
This Wizards of the Coast game product contains no Open Game Content. No portion of this work
may be reproduced in any form without written permission. To learn more about the Open Gaming
License and the d20 System License, please visit www.wizards.com/d20.
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Warning! If you will be playing in a Dawn of
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Campaign Update
Sword of the Empire takes place only a few days to a few weeks after the
conclusion of the previous adventure, The Gem of Alderaan, but the
heroes will have found the interval to be a productive one. While they
realize that time is of the essence in the search for Master Denia, the
resources of Lady Alya Aldrete make it possible for them to prepare for
what lies ahead. This is an ideal time for heroes to resupply and possibly
choose a different vessel suitable for the operation. Events will move
quickly from here, so it is worth communicating to players that they
should use this time wisely.
Lady Alya’s support to the heroes is genuine, but they should expect
limits in what she’s able to provide. Much of her aid should be in the way
of giving them access to the items they need rather than in providing the
items as outright gifts. Heroes might have an easier time finding what
they’ve been looking for thanks to her connections, but they’ll still have
to pay for what they receive.
If you aren’t running Dawn of Defiance but would like to use this
adventure in your own campaign, a character relevant to your own
storyline can be substituted for Master Denia, with the final rescue
sequence altered to permit whatever resolution best suits your campaign.
Adventure Summary
On entering the fringes of the Prakith system, the heroes encounter Jekk
Seejo, a somewhat erratic alien engineer on what will prove to be his last
disastrous assignment for an Admiralty fed up with his shenanigans.
Heroes rescuing Seejo may come to regret it initially, since the act results
in mynocks infesting their ship, but the engineer’s friendship comes in
handy when they visit Prakith, a place abuzz with Imperial activity.
Only recently surveyed by the Empire, Prakith has a much longer
history than its Imperial residents are aware of. Prakith was touched by
the dark side centuries ago, when it became home to the tomb of Darth
Andeddu. That fact is unknown in Imperial times, and the tomb is not
discovered until the Legacy era, but its foul presence is enough to give
this world of cracked and ruined surfaces a feeling of genuine dread and
gloom. No doubt, this ambiance was part of what drew the Inquisitorius
to locate its Citadel here. Also unknown to the Empire, Prakith has a
native species—or, at least, one transplanted here long ago: the Stereb, a
stoic, sturdy race of stoneworkers living in the planet’s many catacombs.
More recently, the Mining Guild has sponsored a number of limited
operations on Prakith, ramping them up as the Empire’s activities require
ever more materials. The spaceport and military headquarters are in Prak
City, atop a large plateau. Citadel Inquisitorius rises in a mountainous
redoubt, more than a hundred kilometers to the west. Inquisitors are
active in Prak City as well, putting Force-users in constant danger of
discovery.
Direct attempts to approach the Citadel are frustrated. The cover
identities the heroes arrive under might provide some mobility in Prak
City and the surrounding environs, but airspace is closed around the
Inquisitors’ mountain redoubt, and even masquerading as Imperial
officers is unlikely to foil the security efforts of a group whose main
talent is sniffing out Force-users. Local inquiries with miners provide
some information (and the chance to proceed along a variant track), but
the most promising lead comes from the discovery of Herdr’tui, a member
of the subterranean Stereb race who is stuck aboveground. His people’s
existence here is unknown to the Empire, as is the extent of their
sprawling underground network.
Herdr’tui directs the heroes toward a place they’ve heard nothing
good about: the Drains, a collection of vertical lava tubes used as a
garbage (and recalcitrant slave) disposal by the Empire. Nothing that falls
down there lives for long, thanks to an omnivorous creature that must be
slain or brought to heel before Herdr’tui can be returned to his people.
The Stereb, heroes learn, see themselves literally as part of Prakith—as the
planet’s antibodies, in a sense, keeping its arteries clear and maintaining
it as best they can. They can be rallied to resist the Empire, but only if the
heroes recognize this relationship and convince the Stereb that the
Empire represents a literal cancer on the body of their world. The Sterebs’
best resource is information on a secret underground approach to the
Citadel Inquisitorius. But this knowledge is not gained easily; the heroes
first must gain the Sterebs’ trust.
After securing the information, the heroes have an opportunity to
enter the Citadel from beneath, which is possible only because the Empire
did not realize that those who constructed the ruins at its base still
existed. A treacherous speeder bike flight across an underground ocean
under a low ceiling infested with fear moss is required first, but the
problems are only beginning. Characters must make a daring night raid
into the Citadel, learning the location of Master Denia and fighting past
Inquisitors on their home turf. Finally, the heroes confront the new and
cybernetically improved Inquisitor Draco for a battle royale. An act of
self-sacrifice by Master Denia forces Draco to abandon the Citadel, but at
least the Empire now knows its subjects are ready and willing to fight for
their freedom.
Opening Crawl
If you wish to have an opening crawl before the adventure, consider using
the boxed text on the next page.
3
4
STAR WARS: DAWN OF DEFIANCE
Episode IX
SWORD OF THE EMPIRE
It is a critical moment for the first few willing to stand against the Galactic Empire.
Jedi Master Denia, one of the few survivors of Order 66, has fallen into the hands
of Valin Draco and the Inquisitorius, a secret division of Imperial Jedi hunters.
Setting out in search of Master Denia, a hardy group of heroes finds an ally
in Lady Alya Aldrete. The resourceful Alderaanian provides the transit permits
necessary for them to reach the Deep Core world of Prakith,
where Denia is held captive.
But Prakith is a more complicated puzzle than it seems. Home to a major new
administrative headquarters for the Imperial fleet and the Citadel Inquisitorius,
the world is well manned by the Emperor’s agents of darkness.
But those might not be Prakith’s only residents . . .
Part 1: The Arrival
With Lady Alya’s forged credentials in hand, the heroes craft cover
identities that will permit them to enter the general workforce when they
reach Prakith. With a major naval installation, burgeoning mining
operations, and the Citadel Inquisitorius, there is plenty of work on
Prakith for contract laborers—at least, for those with enough friends in
high places to find their way there.
The heroes arrive at the edge of the five-planet Prak system without
incident. A quick scan (DC 15 Use Computer check) reveals that their ship
is the only one in the immediate area; traffic to and from Prakith is
moderate, with a few construction ships heading in and mining vessels
heading out. An automated message arrives from a hyperspace buoy
nearby; this is not the standard Message to Spacers (METOSP), but an
abrupt speech dripping with Imperial authority:
“Seejo? Again? I don’t believe that guy . . .
“Wait—yes, I do believe it. You’ve got a real live one there,” the
controller says. “You’ve heard about disasters waiting to happen?
Jekk Seejo is the one that already has. Well, you can tell him the
Incom guys are done with him. Let him rot.
“Hold on a second—OK, I’ve just been informed he’s got some
Subpro engineers aboard that they’d actually like back. He’s in luck,
which is more than I can say for you. You are authorized to divert to
Moon Prakith One to render aid. Over and out.
“Hey, Ervyn!” the voice says, fading. “Get this—Seejo wrecked
another one . . .”
“Attention! Attention! All work vessels immediately set course for
Prakith orbit. Do not, repeat, do not deviate from a direct course to
Prakith. Straying vessels will be intercepted and boarded by the
Imperial Navy.
“From orbit, utilize your own judgment as to approach vector to
Prak City Control, but be advised of no-fly-zone 100 kilometers in
radius from the Magraddor mountain range. Confer with orbital
buoy on arrival for specific details.”
Thus, whether the heroes actually help Seejo or not, they are obliged
to make contact with him before resuming their course.
Good Feelings
and Bad
Little more than a jalopy pieced together from various bits of old ships,
the Good Feeling requires only one pilot but operates best with an army
of mechanics. Right now, it is occupied by Jekk Seejo and four of his
associates, all engineers working at the Imperial Testing Grounds on the
Outer Moon. Two are Incom subcontractors and two work for Subpro, but
the important thing is that they’re all engineers, not technicians. They
know a good bit about designing starships, but less about flying them—
and, quite obviously, not near enough about fixing them.
Heroes who dock with the Good Feeling learn this and more. Only
Jekk Seejo, a chirpy, upbeat Duros, has much spaceflight experience,
although the heroes realize pretty quickly that whatever is wrong with
the ship is over his bald green head—particularly since he’s left his toolkit
on Prakith. It takes a DC 25 Mechanics check to get the ship running
again in short order.
If the heroes glance around while they are working on the ship or
afterward, they spy one of the engineers working at a console. The
console displays a ship design with which the heroes are utterly
unfamiliar; it resembles a forced marriage of a large Z-95 Headhunter
and an ARC-170. If the heroes ask Seejo about the ship, he begins
chattering about a Deep Scout design that Subpro and Incom are jointly
developing on the Outer Moon of Prakith—until one of the other
engineers reminds the chatty Duros that secret does actually mean secret.
“You’re hanging by a thread as it is, Seej.” Blushing—in his case, picking
up a slightly bluer hue of green—Jekk coughs and chuckles.
Receiving a message from his employers, Jekk makes his apologies
and escorts the heroes to the airlock with their ship. “If you’re ever in
Prak City, look me up,” he says. “I do a lot of thinking at the Mother Lode
Cantina. Maybe we can talk hyperspace theory sometime—and, um, you
can tell me again how you got that thingie back there to do what you got
it to do.”
Ad-Hoc XP Award: Heroes who successfully assist the engineers in
fixing the ship receive experience equal to defeating a CL 14 encounter. If
the heroes also befriend Jekk Seejo and are able to count him as a friend,
they receive experience equal to defeating another CL 14 encounter.
The heroes enter the quickest course to Prakith orbit (DC 15 Use
Computer check). It takes three hours to get to Prakith orbit, and along
the way only a single vessel, a Mining Guild freighter loaded with ore,
passes the heroes, heading out to the hyperspace lanes. Prakith might
soon become a busy center for the Empire, but it is clearly still a work in
progress.
Just before arriving in Prakith orbit, the heroes receive a weak
distress call over subspace channels. It fades in and out but is strongest
at the closest approach to the Inner Moon. Read the following aloud:
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“Um . . . hello? Hello? Um, looking for some help here? Anyone?
“This is Jekk Seejo of the Good Feeling, just out of Prakith. We’re
. . . well, we’re stuck. On the Inner Moon . . . Can anyone hear me?
Systems are failing—power, life support . . . and then some of the
more important stuff. Anyone out there?
“Blast. I think we’re really in trouble this time . . .”
A simple (DC 15) Use Computer check enables the heroes to track the
signal to the Inner Moon, where the Good Feeling, a small kit-bashed
“yacht” of dubious quality, sits at the center of a small crater. The ship’s
gazetteer describes Prakith’s Inner Moon as having no atmosphere and
gravity that is low but just enough to keep the Good Feeling from
escaping in its current condition.
But the buoy was specific: No course deviations. Heroes who decide
to investigate without first contacting Prak City Control will receive a
sharp radio warning, followed not long afterward by a detachment of TIE
fighters if the heroes fail to change course, putting a crimp in their
mission very early. However, if the heroes mention Jekk Seejo’s name to
Prak City Control, permission is given:
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