The First Session! Part Two

GM Note: I'm attempting to write this with some very loud mariachi music blaring from somewhere, and it's very distracting and irritating, so I'll try my best to keep this entertining without making it sound overly angry.

When we last left our ragtag group (which had just really met for the first time when boarding Zed's ship), they had dropped out of hyperspace far sooner than expected. A TIE Fighter had managed to get a shot at the ship, and got lucky in hitting their hyperdrive just as they were starting their hyperspace jump. So they aren't threatened by Empire ships, but where they are is a mystery. They travel at sublight speeds for a few hours, during which they attempt to get acquainted. The scanners pick up a small planet just a few hours' away. With no other options in sight, they decide to set down on this planet, called Aridus.

Upon setting down in the only major city on the planet, rather imaginatively named Aridus Trade City, they promptly look for anyone who sells hyperdrives for a Corellian YT-1300 Transport ship. Unfortunately, Aridus is...well, it's a backwater planet. It isn't on any major trade routes, so starship parts don't exactly arrive very often. One repairman informs them that they could order the part and it would arrive in a few weeks...or there's always the hermit who lives up in one of the mountains. People say he's strange and eccentric, but he's also apparently pretty good with mechanics and he might have a salvaged a hyperdrive from an Empire ship. With the plot hook dangling directly in front of them, they take the bait and decide to head out.

Luckily for the party, there's a man who lives on the outskirts of the city who rents out Droffi steeds to anyone who needed to go anywhere on the planet other than Aridus Trade City. Zed, being the most loaded with credits, pays for all five steeds, and the group sets out east. Several city folk have mentioned that there's a small village near the mountain that the hermit lives on, and the people who live there will probably know better where he lives.

So the party sets out eastward. The trip is mostly uneventful, with one exception. About halfway to the village, the party comes across a large field of rocky terrain. Thousands of rocks of all sizes are strewn across the desert that covers the landscape otherwise. As they near the rocks, one or two can hear hissing emanating from the direction of the rocks. They decide to head around instead of ploughing through. It takes them an extra day to venture around the field of rocks, and sometime during the evening, a large amount of small lizards find their way to the party and, needing warmth during the cool Aridusian night, decide to sleep on several of the party. They awake that morning to find themselves covered in lizards, which nobody can consider a normal occurrence. After that odd night, they make their way to the village and proceed to ask around about the hermit.

I hadn't actually planned any further for the first session, since I'd thought character creation and the opening scene would take longer than it did. I actually rushed the opening scene in the cantina and the ensuing escape, so I kind of screwed the pooch there. I've learned from my mistakes (at least as far as that's concerned) and I've slowed the pacing down to a more manageable pace. I mostly improvised the rest of the session, only stopping to write down basic stats for the enemies that they were about to face.

The villagers inform the party that the hermit does, indeed, live up in the mountain they can see in the distance. However, finding his cave will provide to be quite difficult without a guide. They find Timmy, a 10 year old who often plays out in the desert and sometimes visits the hermit (I never said these were good parents, mind you. They're a good deal more backwoods than the citizens of Aridus Trade City). Timmy hops on one of the droffi steeds and they head off towards the mountain.

The party travels for a day or so, and around midday they crest a large sand dune directly just a few hundred meters away from the mountain. When they reach the top of the dune, they spot a group of stormtroopers standing on a transport vehicle, trying to fend off a large group of small, lizard-like creatures. The lizards-like creatures (which the party later finds out to be chubbits, the native species of Aridus) are using what appear to be crude blasters, but despite their larger numbers, they are losing to the stormtroopers. The stormtroopers' superior firepower and armor are leading to several chubbit deaths. Zed sees this, leaps off his droffi steed, and charges down the dune, blaster rifle in hand. The rest of the party seems confused at Zed's actions, but decide to follow him down (but still riding their steeds). By the time they've decided this, several troopers have gotten off the transport and are firing at the chubbits still. Zed takes a couple of shots and downs one of the troopers on the transport. The rest follow suit, only with more style and intelligence.

And so begins the party's first big battle. I don't quite remember or have all of the details with me at the moment, so I'll post them once I've got them. Stay tunes for part three!