Crisis on Cloud City 1 - Fortune Favors the Bold

*Mere weeks separate the events on Cloud City from the demise of Zorba the Hutt on Tatooine.*

*The battle occurring after his death in the throne room ended with the defeat of Firith Olan (in reality, Bib Fortuna) and Shiri’ani and Valarian’s supporters.*

*Blaine Hansom, Genos Ia’danian, Bota Zi, and Zud Zorbo had won the fight. Jodo Kast and the limping Bossk had escaped, but joining the heroes was Tek Krodak, a native of Tatooine, and Vash Taalweb, a young Ithorian.*

*Paying the Toydarion mechanic Zirtrain double to fix the Jinxed Starhawk in a hurry, the heroes leave Tatooine. Genos, however, stays on Tatooine to meditate and place Vash Taalweb in Momaw Nadon’s hands, who will later catch up with the team.*

*Landing on Cloud City, Blaine meets and demands Zorba’s holdings from Toln Ne Yerres. After some persuasion, Toln promises to settle the argument with a Sabacc tournament.*

## **Previously**

Blaine Hansom has stabbed Zorba the Hutt in the head, killing him. With new allies, the group overpowers its enemies and, after some repairs to The Jinxed Starhawk, the group headed to Bespin to claim Zorba's businesses there as with the leader dead, all of their holdings would be snapped up by other lieutenants or rival hutts.

## **Recap**

### **A Post-Endor Cloud City**

Cloud City has had a turbulent recent history. Lando Calrissian flushed out the Imperial Governor and retook his title as Baron-Administrator. Most of the Imperials fled at that point, with some joining the Wing Guard. However, the years under Imperial occupation had impacted the operation in three ways: Cloud City's secondary source of income, Tourism, once a major source of revenue for the city, had devolved into only hosting Imperial nobles and dignitaries - severely impacting this trade. Second, the Ugnaughts who had been so vital to the maintenance and operation of the floating city had been discriminated against, with many leaving for Ugnorgrad. Finally, the Empire upgraded many facilities to military-class docking bay and repair stations.

Lando and Lobot had their hands full to get Cloud City back on track, but part way into Cloud City's revival, Zorba the Hutt came along. Using a rigged sabacc deck, he swindled the city out of Lando’s capable hands. He placed Toln ne Yerres, a Twi’lek loyal who served his son Jabba loyally, as his right hand man on Cloud City.

### **Meeting Adjourned**

With a freshly-repaired ship and a patched up face, Blaine Hansom races to Cloud City. Even though word must've gotten Zobo's flunky on Cloud City, the group hoped that there hadn't been much time for them to prepare for their arrival.

After some reluctance from the wing guards, the group is allowed to land and - thanks to the confusion and the large body count at the palace - Blaine could still be an ally in the Desilijiac clan for the installed baron.

Interrupting his in-progress meeting in a conference room, Blaine and the group meet Toln ne Yerres: a somewhat pudgy, spoiled-looking gray-skinned Twi'lek. Toln had started his criminal career as a slaver for Jabba the Hutt, eventually working as a spice courier. He eventually became a lieutenant in the Anjac Hutt Clan and then re-joined Jabba's criminal empire as his liaison on Cloud City, managing his interests there. Once Zorba the Hutt claimed his deceased son's holdings, Toln pledged his loyalty to the elder hutt, working to establish himself as a potential new majordomo and reached the position of Lieutenant - the same as Blaine Hansom.

Single-mindeded in pursuit of his goal, Blaine claims ownership of Cloud City. As the same rank in the Desilijiac, in theory they might have equal claim, but Blaine had a clan tattoo and Toln had been installed by the late Zorba the Hutt, both of which muddied the waters. Blaine, additionally, had deeds to the hutt's holdings.

Not waiting for arbitration (which would've gone in Toln's favor), he attempts to secretly draw his blaster on Blaine. In response, Blaine draws his sword and lops off Toln's hand. Holding the sword to his throat, Toln decides to placate Blaine (and make some credits in the process) by declaring they'd run a sabacc tournament for the title of Baron Administrator.
### **The Tournament Begins**

   With rich clientele streaming into the Holiday Towers' casino (the same used when Lando Calrissian won Cloud City from Dominic Raynor and when Zorba won Cloud City from Lando) and paying massive buy-in fees to enter the tournament, it seemed as if Toln would win no matter what but he had another card up his sleeve, so to speak.
Rigging the tournament, Toln worked beforehand with local crime boss named Sawthawne to assassinate the winner of the last match if he didn't win it. Even for all his tricks, he exited the tournament third. The remaining two hands rested on a single card, herglic crime boss Vandumgrift bombed out while Blaine stayed under positive 23. The winner of the match and three consecutive games was Blaine Hansom.

Seeing Toln's nod the assassins, a riot breaks out in the casino as blaster bolts were fired. After Bota Zi, Tal, and Tek subdue the hitmen, Toln presses charges against Blaine - blaming the whole fiasco on him. Taken away by Cloud City guards, the rest of the group is left to figure out how to free their friend.
## **Featured Characters**

### **Our Heroes**

* Blaine Hansom
* Bota Zi
* Tek Krodak

### **NPCs**

* Talcoborro
* Toln ne Yerres
* Vandumgrift
* Sawthawne
* Wilber Flagesso

## **Notes**

* Luke had us play actual sabacc in this mission with a standard deck of playing cards. Ilya helped Jordan cheat in real life by sneaking cards under the table
* Sawthawne and Flagesso are from WOTC's *Geonosis and the Outer Worlds* D20 supplement. Ilya was printing out sourcebooks from his work at the time and putting them into binders and presumably Luke (and Stu?) got these characters from there