The Phantasmal Malevolence

The Phantasmal Malevolence is the first campaign in Darths and Droids. It lasted from episode 1 to episode 205, for a total of 205 episodes.
== Cast of Characters and Players ==
* Jim as:
** Qui-Gon (1-198)
** Anakin (102-103)
** Padme Amidala (200-205)
* Ben as Obi-Wan
* Sally as:
** Jar Jar Binks
** Boss Nass (early 26)
* Pete as:
** R2-D2
** C-3PO (late 72, 92-96)
* Annie as:
** Shmi (70-118)
** Anakin (94-101, 104-early 108, late 118-205)
* The GM as:
** TC-14
** "Trade Federation Guy"/Nute Gunray
** OWO-1
** Captain Tarpals
** Boss Nass (late 26-205)
** Sio Bibble
** Panaka
** Fake!Amidala
** Droids
** Ric Olie
** Padme Amidala (55-198)
** Watto
** Anakin (61-93, late 108-early 118)
** Alien Food Stall Owner
** Sebulba
** C-3PO (early 72)
** Dan
** Olaf
** Wald
** Jira
** Palpatine/Darth Sidious
** Valorum
** Mace Windu
** Yoda
** Rabe
** Yarael Poof
** Pilots
** Black Robed Figure/Darth Maul
** Combat Droids
** Captain
** Dofine
** Trade Federation bridge crew member
== Characters Played by More than One Person this Campaign ==
* Boss Nass played by:
** Sally (early 26)
** The GM (late 26-205)
* Padme Amidala played by:
** The GM (55-198)
** Jim (200-205)
* Anakin played by:
** The GM (61-93)
** Annie (94-101)
** Jim (102-103)
** Annie (104-early 108)
** The GM (late 108-early 118)
** Annie (late 118-205)
* C-3PO played by:
** The GM (early 72)
** Pete (late 72, 92-96)
== Sessions ==
* Film I Session 1 Episodes 1-16 (starts off with Jim, Ben, and The GM)
* Film I Session 2 Episodes 17-45 (Sally joins)
* Film I Session 3 Episodes 46-63 (Pete joins)
* Film I Session 4 Episodes 64-69
* Film I Session 5 Episodes 70-101 (Annie joins)
* Film I Session 6 Episodes 102-151
* Film I Session 7 Episodes 152-205
* Post-Film I Intermission Episodes 206-208
== Summary ==
Jim and Ben are a couple of young roleplayers starting the opening session of a new science fiction campaign with an unnamed male GM. Jim is Qui-Gon, Ben is Obi-Wan.
The greedy Trade Federation has blockaded the planet Naboo. The Superme Chancellor of the Republic has sent two Jedi, Ben and Jim, to negotiate with the Feds on the Feds' main ship. But Jim and Ben aren't paying too much attention to the plot because they're going over an inventory of weapons they can buy. Jim and Ben can only afford to buy a laser sword each, so they reluctantly buy them. The GM tries to explain to them that they're Jedi who can use the Force, while Jim keeps coming up with idiotic definitions for new words before the GM can explain them (as Jim will tend to do through every campaign).
The GM tries to set the scene by explaining they're in a room with a flattering protocol droid. Jim decides to search the room. The GM throws a hissy fit and declares the Jedi hear a loud explosion as the Feds attack and destroy the ship the Jedi came in on. Then the room is flooded with poison gas. Jim and Ben hold their breaths and at the same time discuss their strategy.
Jim tries to attack the protocol droid, but can't see him through the gas and misses. A squadron of attack droids gather outside their room. Nute Gunray orders the droids (via hologram) to bring out the bodies. The Battle Droid Leader, OWO-1 acknowledges the order with a, "Roger, roger." Hearing the droid's voice, Jim and Ben rush forward to attack only to see the full squadron of droids confronting them. OWO-1 offers them the chance to surrender, but Jim rushes forward and decapitates it with his laser sword. The remaining squadron opens fire. Jim tries to deflect the blasts with his laser sword, and Ben fast talks the GM into reluctantly agreeing that this would work, making those laser swords a lot more valuable. By deflecting the blaster rays back at the droids, Jim and Ben are able to annihilate the entire squadron. Jim collects all the droids' blasters. When the GM tells him that he needs both hands to handle the laser sword so he can't use it and the blasters, and when Ben points out the laser sword is better than a blaster since it's both a weapon and a shield, Jim decides to keep the blasters to sell at a later date.
The Feds have sealed off their main room. As Jim tries to cut through the blast doors, a squadron of advanced attack droids with shields that can deflect both blaster rays and laser swords confronts them. Against these overwhelming odds, (and with the GM taking notes) Jim and Ben run away, escaping by climbing through a ventilation shaft.
The shaft leads them to a hangar, where the Feds are about to launch an invasion of Naboo. Fearing that they'll suffocate when the hangar doors open, Ben suggests they should each hide on a troop carrier since there's no way to know how much oxygen a carrier would have. They both do so, much to the GM's chagrin. 
The carriers land on Naboo and Jim and Ben each make their way out into a forest. An exasperated GM has them face an animal stampede and declares an end to the session because he hadn't planned on them being on Naboo this early and hadn't mapped it out yet.
Ben reluctantly brings his kid sister Sally to the next session because their parents couldn't get a babysitter. The GM decides the best solution is to have Sally play a character in the campaign, and tells Jim that in the midst of the stampede, he sees an alien being threatened by the stampede. Jim dives forward and tackles the alien (Sally) protecting her from the stampede. The GM asks Sally to come up with a name for her character, and she chooses Jar Jar Binks.
At that moment, Ben reunites with them while being pursued by droids on a hoverbike firing at him. Jim deflects a blast from the hoverbike back at it with his laser sword, destroying the bike and the droids. The GM asks Sally to describe her character's appearance, and with a little help from Jim, she comes up with, well, Jar Jar.
Jim and Ben ask Sally about the planet they're on. She tells them it's ruled by Queen Amidala who's smart and very old at age 14, that she was elected by all her people and that the capital is on the opposite side of the planet. The GM tries to shut down all these ideas of hers, which causes Sally to cry. The GM calms her down by agreeing to go along with everything she said, even if it makes no sense.
They arrive at a river. The GM suggests they find something to cross it with, but Sally suggests taking them to her home city underwater. Jim and Ben both think this idea is cool, but Ben wonders how he and Jim will breathe underwater. Luckily, Jim happened to purchase two underwater extraction aparatus (it was all he could afford after buying the laser sword) and gives one to Ben so they'll be able to follow Sally underwater. The GM tears up the detailed map he'd made of the planet in disgust.
Sally takes them underwater to her city which she names Otoh Gunga, and it's people which she names the Gungans. The GM has a Gungan officer arrest them because humans are forbidden. Sally names the officer Captain Tarpals and offers the humans as food. Tarpals likes this idea, but Ben is able to persuade him (with a good diplomacy roll) that with the droid invasion underway that humans and Gungans must unite against it. Tarpals agrees to take them to the Gungan leader.
Sally uses two dolls to roleplay a conversation between Jar-Jar and the leader, whom she names Boss Nass, and has Nass declare they'll be punished. The GM insists that this is his job, and takes over playing Nass...by having Nass declare they'll be punished.
Jim and Ben try to talk Nass out of this, but keep getting low diplomacy rolls. Finally, Nass agrees to let them go if they agree to find the Lost Orb of Phanastacoria. Nass reveals that the orb was a great weapon that was stolen from Otoh Gunga years ago (Sally volunteers that it was used to protect the city from giant fish, which gives the GM some ideas). Nass also reveals that Sally is the last in a long line of Gungans who have sworn to find the Lost Orb. The Jedi agree to help. Jim uses the Force Ability Suggestion on Nass to give them a transport to Naboo's capital. Nass gives them a type of submarine called a bongo which will take them to the capital through Naboo's underwater core.
Jim, Ben, and Sally leave Otoh Gunga on the bongo and are attacked by a giant fish, only to be rescued by a bigger fish that attacks the fish attacking them. The power goes out on the bongo. Ben fixes it in time for the bongo to be attacked by an even bigger fish, only to be saved by an even bigger fish attacking the fish attacking them. Amidst all this confusing repetition, Jim leaps to the conclusion that Summon Bigger Fish is a powerful, effective Force Ability when it's actually none of the above.
The GM reads the players a long detailed descripton of what they see underwater, including some ruins, which bores everybody except Jim, who thinks the orb might be found in the ruins. Finally the GM has the bongo surface on a river beside the capital Theed. Jim wants to go back underwater to look at those ruins, so the GM declares their bongo is about to go over a waterfall. Jim uses the last bit of equipment he has, a rope and grappling hook, to try to get them all to shore. Jim and Ben make it easily, but Sally (who in the real world fell off a tree a month ago) is scared to go. Due to a low roll, she falls off the rope into the river, but due to a good role, is able to swim ashore just as the bongo goes over the waterfall.
The GM reveals that the Feds' droids have already overrun the capital. Sally takes Jim and Ben to the top of a low balcony where they see that Queen Amidala and her entourage (including her loyal advisor Sio Bibble, her bodygaurd Panaka and a group of handmaidens) have been taken by a squadron of droids. Jim and Ben leap forward and destroy the droids with their laser swords. Jim instantly thinks "Bubble" is an evil traitor because he 1) is an advisor, and 2) has a goatee. Jim rudely demands Bibble tell him where the lost orb is and uses Suggestion on him. Jim rolls a 20, so Bibble tells him that Senator Palpatine on the planet Coruscant has information on the orb. The players want to go to Coruscant right away, but the Queen reminds them they also have to liberate Naboo. Jim offers to let the Queen come along with them. Panaka refuses to let the Queen leave without him so Jim agrees to let him and most of the rest of the Queen's entourage go with them, but he draws the line on taking "Bubble".
The players, the Queen, and her entourage reach the palace hangar, which has been taken over by the Droids, who are keeping all the pilots there hostage. Jim boldly strides up to the droids, trying to bluff his way past them, but is so hilariously bad at it, that they draw their blasters. Jim and Ben make short work of them with their laser swords. They're all able to make their way to the royal barge and take off into orbit. As the ship reaches the Federation blockade, its pilot, Ric Olie, reveals the ship has no weapons.
Jim has told his friend, Pete about this campaign, and the GM has allowed him to join the group for the next session. Pete has "min-maxed" his character, giving him skills he thought would work best in a sci-fi RPG, at the cost of personality traits that Pete regards as useless. The result is an astromech droid with incredible repair skills, at the cost of being short, armless, and mute. Pete names his character "Lord" R2-D2. (He quickly drops the "Lord" part when nobody calls him that). He's surprised and disgusted that Sally, a little girl, is a part of the group. He makes a sarcastic comment on how he and Sally are going to get along. Luckily, Sally doesn't get the sarcasm.
As the royal barge tries to fly through the Federation blockade, the Feds open fire on the ship, severely damaging it's shield generator. One more hit, and the Feds will destroy the ship. Pete volunteers to go out on the hull to fix the damage. There are a few other astromech droids on the hull working on it, but they are blasted away by the Feds firing on them. Pete is able to fix the generator, restoring the shields, and the ship is able to fly through the blockade to safety.
Ric Olie reprots the ship is 23% damaged, but should be able to make it to Coruscant. Ben thinks they should stop at the nearest planet for repairs. Jim agrees, and also wants to add weapons to the ship, in case the Feds pursue. The GM tries to dissuade them from this by making the nearest planet, Tatooine, a desert wasteland ruled by gangsters. This only makes Jim and Ben all the more eager to go.
The Queen sends for the players to thnak them for saving the ship. Ben tries to talk her into landing on Tatooine, and rolls 11 on Diplomacy. Based on that medium roll, the Queen allows them one day on Tatooine to get the repairs and weapons they want. Pete demands, in exchange for saving the ship, the Queen have her most beutiful handmaiden polish him. The GM points out Pete can only talk in whirs and beeps, so he does so. Ben "translates" in an insulting manner, Pete insults back, and a mutual animosity between the two players is born. Finally, the Queen acceeds to Pete's request by sending him her handmaiden, Padme. 
While Padme polishes Pete, Sally fills him in on the story so far. Pete is especially impressed by the details of Otoh Gunga, and compliments the GM on his imagination. Since those details were Sally's creation, not the GM's, the GM isn't pleased.
When the ship lands outside a major city on Tatooine, Ben tries to argue that they don't need Pete on the trip to the city. Pete points out he's actually the best qualified player for getting the specs they need for the weapons and repairs. Ben then decides to stay on the ship (away from Pete) and justifies it by needing to proctect the Queen from any Random Encounter they might have with sand creatures. The GM realizes he's going to have to buy a Random Encounter Sand Creatures book for the next session.
As Jim, Sally, and Pete leave the ship, Panaka tells them the Queen has ordered them to take Padme with them to learn more about the planet. When they enter the city, Jim starts randomly asking people about where to find weapons and the Lost Orb, while Sally asks Padme if she's ever met Palpatine. She admits she has. Sally asks her if Palpatine has ever mentioned the Orb to her. Padme stammers for a moment, and then says, yes, that Palpatine thinks the Feds have stolen it. Jim finally finds a repair shop.
Jim, Sally, Pete, and Padme enter the shop and meet the owner. While Jim and Pete are trying to tell him the specifics of what they want, Sally is trying to describe him. The GM tries to carry on a conversation as the shopkeeper, and with the confusion of everyone talking at once, Sally winds up deciding the shopkeeper is named Watto, and is a small blue creature with wings and a snout for a nose.
The GM has the shopkeeper's assistant walk in. Sally asks if he's an alien too. The GM replies that he's a normal, unexceptional boy. Sally asks his name. The GM stammers for a moment before coming up with Anakin. Pete gets the hint that Anakin is a completely unimportant NPC. Jim and Sally don't.
Jim tries to trade the blasters he collected from the Attack Droids in Session 1 for the weapons and repairs they want, but Watto says the blasters aren't worth as much as the new weapons he's making for the ship. Jim tries to use Suggestion on Watto to accept one blaster for the repairs and weapons, but it doesn't work on Watto's species. Watto asks if Jim is a Jedi, since there's a rich bounty to be had on Tatooine for capturing Jedi. Pete advises Jim that he should just attack Watto.
Jim decides not to attack Watto, because he thinks PCs shouldn't attack shopkeepers. He decides he and the others should just leave. Jim contacts Ben at the ship and asks if the Queen's dresses are worth selling for the cost of the weapons. Ben says they're not, and makes the offhand comment that even the ship itself is barely worth the price of the weapons. This gives Jim the bright idea to sell the ship to buy the weapons...the weapons that were supposed to be bought to equip the ship.
Jim, Sally, Pete, and Padme are walking through a marketplace. Sally decides Jar Jar Binks would be hungry, and snags a frog she sees hung up at a food stall. When the Alien Food Stall Owner objects, Sally spits out the frog in her mouth, which lands into Sebulba's stew. Sebulba is angry and mean, and he grabs Sally by the throat. Jim declares he'll draw his laser sword. Since that would expose Jim as a Jedi, and The GM had already established that there's a bounty for Jedi on Tatoonine, the GM decides to prevent Jim from making such a stupid move by having Anakin show up and calm down Sebulba, by speaking to him in an alien language.
Ben asks if there's anything for him to do at the ship. The GM proudly announces that he just bought a Giant Sand Creatures book and he'll roll for a Random Encounter. He rolls and the result is a sandstorm. The GM is disappointed and offers to roll again for an actual Sand Creature, but Ben treats the sandstorm as a major crisis. He declares it's huge and it's heading towards the town. Pete panics, because a sandstorm would be especially bad for his robot character. Ben sarcastically hints that that's the real reason he treated the sandstorm as a major crisis instead of letting the GM roll again.
Sally suggests that Anakin will give them shelter at his home. The GM is doubtful Anakin would do this, but Jim points out that Anakin just helped Sally, so that should indicate that he has a positive Reaction Rating towards the players. The GM goes along with that and has Anakin take them to his home, sheltering them from the storm.
Ben has invited his friend from Drama class, Annie, to the next session. The GM decides it would be best to have her play a character, and has her play Anakin's mother. The GM explains to her that she and her son are slaves on a gangster planet, and that the other players are strangers taking shelter in her home during a sandstorm. Annie gives her character the name, Shmi.
Anakin shows Padme and Pete something he created, a translator droid, C-3PO. Pete takes this opportunity to have Threepio "translate" a long, angry rant from R2-D2 on how he's been wasted in this campaign stuck on a planet full of sand. Padme decides it might be best if they don't have a translator droid with them, and Anakin agrees.
Annie has all the players (except Ben, still back at the ship), Padme, and Anakin seated at the dinner table for supper. She asks about the Jedi Knights, and the GM directly explains them to her, and that they use the power of the Force. The GM also mentions for the first time that the Force is generated by midi-chlorians. Jim interjects that midi-chlorians are mircoscopic organisms that exist in all living cells. The GM has gotten so sick and tired of Jim interjecting his own definitions, that he disgustedly lets Jim's definition stand. He gets more disgusted as Annie agrees that Jim's explanation makes perfect sense.
Jim is fixated on getting money to buy enough blasters to trade for the weapons. Sally points out that all they really need is the money to pay for the weapons. Jim speculates on whether he could turn himself in to collect the bounty on Jedi. Sally points out that's impossible. When Annie offhandedly mentions gambling, Jim decides they need to find something to gamble on. Anakin points out that there's pod-racing, and that their master Watto has Anakin fixing a pod he's going to race in. Annie claims that the pods they race in are incredibly dangerous with no safety gear. Sally points out how Watto wouldn't need them because he could always fly away from any crash. This gets Jim thinking, much to Ben's horror.
Jim approaches Watto and offers him a blaster to throw the pod-race. Watto refuses. They haggle briefly over the price until Jim offers the ship to Watto, and Watto agrees. 
Jim shows a hologram of the ship to Watto. Watto compliments the ship and comments that he hopes Jim didn't kill anyone Watto knew to get it. Pete interjects that they haven't killed the Queen yet, but they're working on it. The GM points out to Pete that in-character, he should only be talking in beeps. As Padme tries to argue against offering the ship to Watto, with Jim overruling her, Pete starts making several different noises from his PDA during that conversation. Finally the GM asks Pete what he's doing. Pete explains that he's used his PDA's tone-generator to create a consistent "beep" language for R2 to speak. He even explains some of the translation: "boop" means "no", "whirr" means "yes", and "bee-oop" means "insanely cool". Pete will use this PDA in all the campaigns to beep a language anytime he's speaking in-character, especially when C-3PO isn't around to translate for him.
Jim contacts Ben and explains his plan. Since Watto's going to throw the race, betting on his opponent is the sure thing. So they bet a lot of money and win enough to buy the weapons. Ben points out that there'll be more than two racers, so the only sure thing is knowing that one won't win, they'd need to bet on all the other racers to collect enough money to buy the weapons that were supposed to equip the ship Jim has just given away, and that they don't even have any money to bet with anyway. Annie points out that what they need to do is bet on the winner. Jim suggests Ric Olie to pilot Watto's pod, but Annie points out that the pod is built for Watto's small size. Pete eagerly points out that he's small enough to fit inside and race it.
While Anakin is going over the pod, Sally notices that there's a spanner stuck in the pod's engine. With Padme's help, she's able to remove the spanner before it can do any damage. 
Suddenly, Ben remembers that Anakin had mentioned the pod has handlebars and smugly points out that that means that Pete wouldn't be able to steer it. Jim notices that Anakin is small enough to pilot the pod, and decides he should pilot it. To make sure Anakin will win, he decides he'll teach him everything about how to use the Force overnight. The GM claims that only those with inherent Force Sensitivity can be taught the Force and the boy doesn't have it. So Jim transfuses his blood into Anakin, giving Anakin Jim's "mini-chlorines" so he'll have the Force Sensitivity he needs to win the race. 
The next morning, Jim approaches Watto about not even entering in the race. He offers Watto a bet on a die roll. If Jim wins, Watto doesn't race. If Watto wins, Jim and Ben become his slaves. Watto rolls the die and wins. But Jim uses Fate Manipulation, which allows one reroll per day, to reroll the die so that Jim wins (Jim hadn't used this ability before because he thought it meant whenever a character in the story rolled a die, when it's supposed to be when a player rolls a die). Watto agrees not to enter the race. Jim makes a further bet with Watto: if Anakin wins the race, Watto frees Annie. If Anakin loses, Queen Amidala will become Watto's slave. Watto accepts.
Jim asks Pete how much money they'll need to bet on Anakin to win enough to pay for the weapons. Pete tells him how much, using C-3PO as a translator. Jim leaves for a little while, then comes back claiming he's just pulled off his best plan yet. Ben is understandably horrified.
The GM decides that with so much riding on Anakin, Annie should roleplay him for the duration of the race. Meanwhile, one of the other racers, Sebulba does something sneaky with Annie's pod before she gets into it. He says something to Annie in "Huttese" (actually just gibberish the GM's making up), Annie responds with her own gibberish and translates it to the others, much to the GM's surprise. Annie switches back to playing Shmi to ask Jim if Anakin is nervous. Jim reassures her that Anakin is fine.
As the race is about to begin, Jim begins to explain his plan to the others. He sold all his blasters to some people to raise the money to bet on Anakin, and to stack the odds in Anakin's favor, have those people use the blasters to fire on the other racers. To ensure their cooperation, he offered to lead them to a Jedi after the race so that they can collect the bounty on him (since Jim's planning on leaving after the race, he doesn't think this will be a problem).
As the race starts, Annie switches back to playing Anakin and takes off after a near-fatal false start. She switches back to playing Shmi to ask Jim what kind of people he made the deal with. He answers vaguely that they were some "sand...people". Sally asks how these Sand People are going to know which racers to fire at. Jim explains that he showed them a picture of Watto and told them to fire at every racer who doesn't look like Watto. Annie switches back to playing Anakin just in time for the Sand People to fire at her pod (since, of course, Anakin doesn't look like Watto).
What follows is an epic, exciting race for the ages...or would be if this were any other genre but a tabletop RPG game. Instead, it's actually an endless, mind-numbingly boring series of dice rolls between Annie and the GM. Finally, Annie asks how much longer this is going to take. The GM figures they've nearly completed the first of three laps in the race, and notices that it's now 2 a. m. He asks her if she'd like to continue.
Annie's the only one not present at the start of the next session. Ben speculates that she was scared off by all the dice rolling. The GM has Jim take over for Anakin for the duration of the pod race.
Pete asks Jim if there are any other details of his plan he's left out. Jim switches back to playing Qui-Gon to reveal that earlier he was the one who put the spanner in the pod's engine that Sally removed, and that just before the race, he used Suggestion on Sebulba causing him to sabotage Anakin's pod. He switches back to Anakin as a Sand Person takes a pot shot at his pod. Pete sarcastically congratulates Jim on his "intricate" plan. Jim switches back to Qui-Gon to sincerely thank Pete for the compliment.
Annie then shows up and (as Shmi in the screencaps) apologizes for being late, explaining she had car trouble. She takes over playing Anakin and learns that the race is in its third lap and she's in fourth place. She recklessly drives her pod up a safety ramp sending it flying high into the air and landing just in front of the till-then-first-place racer, Sebulba. (Annie breaks character (and switches back to Shmi in the screencaps) to ask if anybody can give her a lift home after the session.)
Annie switches back to Anakin as the sabotage Sebulba had inflicted on Annie's engines kick in, and her engines catch fire. Annie hits the overdrive on the theory the sudden acceleration will put out the fire. It does, causing her to catch up again with Sebulba's pod, but now her pod has no power. Annie rams her pod against Sebulba's, entangling her right engine with Sebulba's left. When the two pods get in sight of the finish line, Annie uses Force Manipulation to snap Sebulba's right engine cable and detach her pod. Sebulba's pod crashes and explodes while Annie's pod coasts safely to the finish line, the winner!
As everyone congratulates Annie, she switches back to playing Shmi while the GM resumes playing Anakin. Jim meets with Watto. Watto agrees to free Shmi for losing his wager, but points out he's not going to free Anakin. Jim's okay with that since Anakin's now back to being just another NPC anyway. Jim gives Watto the money for the weapons and tells Watto to have them ready for their ship. Watto points out that it's now his ship since Jim gave it to him for throwing the race. Jim points out that Watto didn't actually throw the race. Watto points out that Jim gave him the ship before he could throw the race. Jim points out Watto had lost that roll of the die, and thus lost his chance to throw the race, making the earlier deal null and void. Watto suggests they take up the matter with the planet's leading gangsters, the Hutts, and Watto can collect the bounty on Jedi. Jim calmly suggests Watto take his money and call it a day. Watto asks why he should do that. Jim answeres simply, "Laser sword." This is enough to make Watto back down.
Jim delivers the weapons to the ship and goes back to town to get Shmi. On his way to her home, he sees Anakin getting into a fight with an alien kid his own age named Greedo. Anakin is suddenly so filled with rage he accidentally kills Greedo. Jim takes Anakin with him to Shmi's home.
At Shmi's home, Jim tells Annie she's free. Annie tells Anakin to pack his things so they can leave. Jim points out he only agreed to free her. Annie insists she can't leave without her son. Jim tries to assure her that he'll be fine, after all he just killed a kid. Annie is shocked. She insists that Jim take Anakin instead of her, because now Anakin will have a price on his head. Jim is utterly confused by this, since Annie is the PC. Annie then points out that the Hutts will now be looking for Jim now that word's gotten out that he's a Jedi, that there'll probably be bounty hunters after him as well, not to mention the Sand People Jim had promised to deliver a Jedi bounty to. Jim goes from confused to scared and orders Anakin to leave with him now.
The GM and Annie agree that she should play Anakin from here on. As Shmi, Annie says her goodbyes to her son, making him promise to never come back here, then switches to playing Anakin.
As Jim and Annie are leaving town, Jim's looking around for anybody trying to get him. He spots a small, black droid hovering in the air towards him. Jim strikes the droid with his laser sword, splitting it in half. He tells Annie to run.
As Jim and Annie are reaching the ship, they're approached by a Black Robed Figure on a hoverbike. Jim attacks him with his laser sword...and the figure leaps from his bike and parries Jim's blow with his own laser sword! Jim and the Figure duel back and forth, too evenly matched for either of them to land a blow. By this time, every player is on board the ship except Jim. Ben suggests the ship start to lift off so it can aid Jim by firing on the Figure from above. The ship immedeately lifts off as Pete frantically explains he hasn't installed the weapons yet because he didn't think they'd need them until after they had left the planet. Sally asks Jim what Force Abilities he's got. Jim reads aloud from his character sheet, and when he mentions "Force Jump", Sally tells him to Force Jump. Jim does so, safely reaching the ship's landing ramp as it's taking off, and gratefully shouts, "Jar Jar, you're a genius!"
On the way to Coruscant, Annie strikes up a conversation with Padme. She looks at her inventory sheet and notices she has something called a "Japor snippet". She asks the GM what that is and he explains that it's a crudely carved necklace Anakin found in a junkyard. Annie gives the Japor snippet to Padme for Padme to remember her by, telling Padme it will give her good luck. After some hesitation, Padme takes it, deciding she needs all the luck she can get with those Jedi around. 
The ship reaches Coruscant without incident (Jim thinks it's because the Feds would now be too scared to attack them). As the ship reaches port, the players, the Queen, and her entourage (including Padme) are greeted by Senator Palpatine and Chancellor Valorum. Valorum comes across as a raving lunatic, only speaking in bizarre non sequitors. As the Queen goes to address the Senate to request aid for Naboo, Valorum refers in passing to the Jedi Council, and wonders what Jim and Ben have done on the negotiations with the Trade Federation Valorum sent them to Naboo for. Jim and Ben decide to go talk to the Council.
Jim and Ben address the Jedi Council, which is headed by Yoda and Mace Windu. They give a very brief account of their exploits, but Ben feels he has to mention that they stopped on Tatooine and left it with a boy from the planet. The Council insist on talking to this boy. Ben asks what the deal is with Valorum. The Council explains that Valorum is no longer himself, that he's become decadent and lost touch with the people, but no one dares to challange him because he wields too much power.
Annie is borught to the Council. Yoda asks if she's afraid. She admits she is "a little". Yoda warns that Fear is the path to the Dark Side, since fear leads to anger. Annie argues that anger leads to passion. Yoda argues that passion leads to jealousy. Annie argues that jealousy leads to nurturing. Yoda replies that nurturing leads to weakness. They argue back and forth like this, inadvertantly creating the full path to the Dark Side which will be used in later campaigns.
Sally talks with the Queen (and there are hints that it's the real Queen this time, not her loyal decoy), telling her that Palpatine still hasn't spoken to her about the Lost Orb she's seeking. The Queen admits she doesn't know why this is, since the Queen has talken to Palpatine about it, and that he told her he thinks the Feds are using the Orb to power their orbital corporate headquarters on Naboo. Palpatine arrives and talks with the Queen about what they just experienced in the Senate. The Queen had been trying to address the Senate, but she kept getting interrupted by Valorum with his bizarre non sequitors. When the Queen mentioned that the Feds' droid armies had been killing her people, Valorum interrupted by saying people were such fragile beings and should all be made cyborgs under his command. Disgusted, the Queen called for a vote of no confidence against Valorum (Valorum called for ice cream). Palpatine informs the Queen that the Senate has voted Valorum out of power and that a new Chancellor will be elected to give aid to Naboo. Sally tries to speak with Palpatine about the Orb, but he's evasive. He warns the Queen that she's now in danger from Valorum. Sally suggests the Queen come back with her to Naboo, and the Queen agrees.
At the Jedi Council, Jim and Ben have been brought in with Annie. They are informed that injecting Annie with midi-chlorians is dangerous, that this practice was done centuries ago, but people who gained access to the Force this way became unstable, some even became evil. There's also a Prophecy that indicates Annie might be the Chosen One who will bring balance to the Force, which would be very bad because the Force has been used for good for centuries and balance would bring an equal amount of evil into it. To prevent this from happening, Yoda orders Jim to guide and teach Annie to learn self-control.
The players, the Queen, and her entourage return to their ship and head back to Naboo. On the way, the Queen (back to being the decoy again) asks Jim what his plan is. Jim starts off with a plan that rehashes how this campaign all started. When Ben points this out, Jim puts Sally in charge. Sally proposes the Naboo humans unite with the Gungans to form a big army to liberate Naboo from the Feds. 
As the ship reaches Naboo, it's explained to Annie how all the planet's waters are connected by an underground ocean. She asks how that is possible. Jim (who has a PhD in geophysics, it's only in roleplaying that he's an idiot) gives a good, scientific explanation involving tides. Ben asks if that's why Naboo now suddenly has a large moon. The GM unconvincingly claims it had been there all along.
Pete wants to attack the Feds' orbital hq, but Sally vetoes that idea since the Feds' hq has the Orb protecting them. She orders the ship to land near Otoh Gunga.
The players are gathered around the shore leading to the underwater city of Otoh Gunga, waiting for Sally to return from there and give a report. She arrives and reports (much to the GM's surprise) that the Gungans have all left the city to go to the secret hiding place in the swamp, to make exlopding soap bubbles for the fight filled with electric mosquitoes, and that these bubbles will be piled on the backs of the dinosaur ponies.
Sally leads them to the hiding place, where they meet the Gungans headed by Boss Nass and Captain Tarpals. The Queen appeals to the Gungans for aid, but is refused by Nass. She asks Sally to negotiate. Sally tells Nass that they should help the Naboo humans defeat the Trade Federation droids, and then they can retrieve the Lost Orb of Phanastacoria. Nass agrees, but Sally insists he should demand payment for their aid: 10 humans per day so the Gungans will never have to worry about food again. At this point, Padme comes forward to reveal that she, Padme Amidala is the real Queen of Naboo. She offers to sacrifice herself to the Gungans to save her people. Fortunately, Annie comes up with a better solution. She points out to Nass that without their help, the Gungans can't get to the Trade Federation orbital headquarters where the Orb is, and it'd be a shame if someone should destroy the hq and the Orb along with it. Nass backs down, and agrees to help the humans.
The players make their strategy. Sally will lead the Gungans to fight the droid army by attacking them with the soap bubbles. Jim suggests they fill up the bubbles with water from the geysers at high tide. Meanwhile, the rest of the players, along with Padme and her entourage, will storm the palace through the hangar and take the Fed leaders captive.
Sally takes charge of the Gungan army and leads them into battle with a rousing speech.
The rest of the players along with Padme and her entourage storm through the hangar where the Naboo space fleet is docked. Ben points out to the GM that the pilots they rescued from the hangar way back in Film I Session 2 went with them on the royal barge and would've been with them all through the trips to Tatooine, Coruscant, and back to Naboo. Ric Olie and the other Pilots come forward and take off in their space fleet to battle the Fed ships orbiting the planet.
Sally's forces are protected from the Combat Droids' bombardment by a shield that Pete had provided. All Sally and the Gungans have to do is wait for the geysers. Then thousands of droid reinforcements arrive and attack through a flaw in the shield that Pete hadn't noticed.
At the hangar, Jim orders Annie to take a fighter ship, go to the orbital hq, and assassinate the Feds' leaders. Ben asks Jim sarcastically why he doesn't get her to single-handedly destroy the base, and deactivate the Lost Orb and bring it back while she's at it? Jim thinks that's a good idea and tells to Annie to do it. Annie reluctantly climbs onboard the fighter. Pete eagerly joins her as her co-pilot.
Suddenly, the Black-Robed Figure Jim had fought earlier on Tatooine enters the hangar. Jim rushes forward to attack with his laser sword. Jim's confident because with Ben by his side, it'll be two against one. Then the Figure reveals his laser sword is double-ended. Jim orders Padme to lead her men to the throne room while he and Ben fight the Figure. Padme tries to do so, but she and her men are pinned down by the remaining droids in the hangar. Pete and Annie are still in the hangar, in the fighter they're abaord on. Pete takes charge of the fighter, using its laser to obliterate the droids. Padme and her men rush out of the hangar while Pete and Annie take off in their fighter to take part in the space battle orbiting the planet.
The Figure keeps trying to break off the fight with Jim and Ben to talk to them, but Jim keeps attacking.
In space, Pete and Annie take part in the battle, with Pete firing at the enemy fighter ships.
Jim and Ben keep fighting the Figure, despite his attempts to talk. Finally, an exasperated GM declares that a series of force fields have come on in the hangar, seperating Jim from the Figure and Ben from Jim. Ben wants to know what these force fields are here for. The GM claims it's an airlock. Ben wants to know why there's so many of them. The GM stammers that it's a redundant system. Ben points out they're in an atmosphere. The GM has to pause to think before he can claim that they do vacuum testing of fighters in the hangar. Ben points out that the hangar has a huge open air entrance. The GM claims that it also has a force field. Ben wants to know why the Feds didn't use that force field to keep the Naboo fighters trapped inside. The GM stammers that the force field blocks out air, but lets metal get through.
With Jim unable to attack for the moment, the Figure warns him and Ben that the Feds are about to use the Lost Orb to destroy Naboo's moon.
At the Gungan/Droid battle, it's not going so well for the Gungans. Jim wants to Summon Bigger Fish to help, but the GM points out he's not actually there.
In space, Annie tells Pete to fly the fighter into the orbital hq's open hangar. The GM claims it has a force field. Annie declares that this must be a force field that keeps in air but lets ships come through, and the GM reluctantly agrees. Pete and Annie fly into the hangar. Annie wants to go searching for the Orb, but Pete chooses to destroy combat droids individually to level up on XP.
At the hangar, the force fields go down long enough for two rounds of combat. Jim rushes forward and continues to fight the Figure. Ben also rushes forward, but the force fields come on again before he can reach them, seperating Ben from them by one forec field. The GM, rolling for the Figure, rolls a 20 to hit. Jim rolls to parry...and rolls a 1. The Figure impales Jim with his laser sword and Jim collapses.
At the Gungan/Droid battlefield, the Gungans continue fighting until the Feds blow up the moon. Without the moon, there can be no high tide for the geysers being used to fill up the soap bubbles. With their ammunition now depleted, Sally and the Gungans have no choice but to surrender.
At the hangar, the force fields come down and Ben rushes forward to avenge Jim. They fight, but the Figure shoves Ben over a ledge and Ben is forced to hang on precariously to a knob on the wall. The Figure introduces himself as Darth Maul, Private Detective. Maul explains that he's working for Senator Palpatine to track the Lost Orb, but Jim and Ben have ruind everything.
Maul relates in flashback on how Palpatine had hired Maul, and that Maul placed a "stooge" within the Trade Federation to spy on them. Palpatine got Valorum to send Jim and Ben to negotiate with the Feds. But when Nute Gunray learned they were Jedi, he contacted Palpatine, accusing the Jedi of being spies. Palpatine tried to calm him down by telling him that if they were spies they'd be searching the Feds' base. And at that moment, Jim began searching the room he and Ben were in. This was why the Feds attacked Jim and Ben at the start of the campaign. The Feds then launched their full scale invasion of Naboo. When Jim and Ben went to Tatooine with the Queen, Palpatine sent Maul to locate them. When he got to Tatooine, Maul sent the small spherical droid that Jim destroyed to locate them. Maul finally found them as they were leaving and approached them on his hoverbike. Maul tried to talk, but the others couldn't hear him over the roar of his hoverbike, and then Jim attacked and escaped on the ship.
Maul finishes his flashback by revealing that the Feds have a spy among the Gungans, Captain Tarpals. Ben offers to help Maul get the Orb and return it to the Gungans. Maul tells him his job is to get it for Palpatine.
While surrounded by the droid army, Sally says outloud that Pete could find a way to deactivate the entire droid army. By an astonishing coincidence, right after Sally says that, Pete in his fighter thousands of miles away, realizes he can hack into the Feds' systems and deactivate the entire droid army. He does so.
With the droids deactivated, Tarpals admits he was forced to spy for the Feds because they were threatening his family. Sally tells him that as punishment, he won't get to eat the humans along with the rest of the Gungans as they now get ready to invade the capital Theed. Ben is able to distract Sally from her dreams of conquest and cannibalism by telling her that the manes of the Gungans' dinosaur ponies need grooming.
In the orbital hq, Annie goads Pete into setting off the destruction of the orbital hq by firing at its reactor.
At the hangar, Maul offers to help Ben up if he'll join him in retrieving the Orb and giving it to Palpatine. Ben declines because he promised to give the Orb to the Gungans. Maul's going to leave Ben there, but when Ben threatens to report this to the Senate, Maul decides to kill him. Ben uses Force Jump to leap from the knob he's been hanging on to all this time, grab Jim's laser sword and use it to slice Maul in half.
Ben tries to comfort Jim as he lies dying. The only thing that can save him now is a Stabilisation roll. Jim takes it...and rolls another 1. Sally points out he can still use Fate Manipulation to do a reroll, but Jim declines, pointing out that Fate Manipulation only allows him one reroll per day and he already used it to win that die roll against Watto way back in Film I Session 5. The GM tries to point out that that was a long time ago. Jim points out that the GM has never specified that another day has come since then. Jim "wins" this argument, and Qui-Gon dies.
Jim's eager to roll up a new character to play. This late in the session and the campaign, the GM decides the best solution is for Jim to take over an already existing NPC. The GM decides, with some trepidation, that the best choice is Padme. Jim eagerly accepts and asks Ben to pass on his equipment to her. Ben agrees to pass on to her Qui-Gon's underwater oxygen extraction aparatus and 50 feet of rope and grappling hook, but decides to keep the laser sword since he lost his when Maul pushed him over that ledge.
On the rapidly destroyng orbital hq, Pete is able to locate the Lost Orb. He flies over and grabs it.
Jim takes over playing Padme, and has her escape the droids, lead her men climbing up the outside of the palace wall, storm the throne room, and capture the Fed leaders. Which, as the GM points out, with their orbital hq destroyed and their entire droid army deactivated, isn't that much of an accomplishment.
Afterwards, all the players are back together at the palace when they are greeted by Palpatine, who announces that he's been elected Chancellor. He also casually mentions that as a retired Jedi, he has the courtesy title of Darth Sidious. He warns, however, that Valorum has disappeared like a phantom, and may become a menace. Now that they have the Orb, Ben insists on giving it back to the Gungans, and Palpatine reluctantly agrees.
Yoda takes Ben aside and promotes him to full Jedi Knight. Yoda warns of the legend of the Sith, a warlike race who used the Force for evil. Yoda fears Anakin may be the Chosen One who will bring about the dreaded Balance to the Force. To avoid this, Yoda orders Ben to train Anakin.
Everyone's present for Qui-Gon's funeral, where his body is being cremated. Ben promises Annie he will train her in the ways of the Jedi.
A big victory celebration is performed at the palace, where Jim formally gives back the Lost Orb to Boss Nass.
Category:Campaigns
Category:The Phantasmal Malevolence