The Defense of Theed

An Episode 1 adventure series by Scott Spieker, www.voidgamers.com

These adventures were intended to be run in a series for low level d20 characters. These adventures can be played with the Invasion of Theed boxed set items and characters. These events are to take place between the time the Queen escapes from the planet to the time when she returns and Captain Tenaka arrives to gather forces for the Gungan battle with the droid armies.

The players are citizens or visitors to Naboo. If they are visitors, they have been stranded on planet by the blockade of the Trade Federation. No ships have been able to leave Naboo for well over three months. The long running stand off is wearing thin on both sides of the dispute.

When the droid armies descended on the planet, no one was ready for the sheer magnitude of force being brought to bear on the hapless planet. Being caught almost immediately by surprise, the Naboo defence forces were overwhelmed almost immediately. Citizens and visitors alike were herded into detainment camps, however those who were quick to react managed to fight their way out of the traps and quickly hide themselves away while formulating plans for further resistance.

PART 1 (Simple Encounter 250 - 300 XP per character):

The characters were one such group. The had managed to hide away within the sewers of the great and ancient city of Theed. The managed to gather enough weapons and food to survive on while in hiding. Once the general population of Theed had been removed to detainment camps, the resistance found it easier to move about without calling to much attention to themselves.

Food was less scarce since many homes and apartments were still well stocked. The group has moved their base of operations from the sewers into the walled compound of Governor Garzon. The villa, located near the center of the city of Theed, has many tall spires offering a stunning view of most of the central city as well as the movements of the trade federation battle droids.

The group forms a plan to continue the resistance and to capture the Viceroy if he so decides to come to Theed. The group has very little time to wait. The Queen and the Governor had been captured quickly and without a fight. The Viceroy arrived shortly aftarwards, presumably to gloat over his conquered adversaries. The Viceroy has just issued the order to have the Queen and her advisors to be taken to detainment camp 4 when the group finds themselves in a prime position to act...

And so begins the campaign. Do the characters try to take their chances to capture the Viceroy while he stands virtually alone and defenceless just outside of the palace? Or do they wait for an other opportunity to strike?

GM's Synopsis:

Although the characters do not play any part within the Actual Episode 1 movie, they can seriously effect the outcome of the Queens attempts to capture the Viceroy later. The player characters are litterally nearby the Viceroy and his squibbling henchmen. Most of the battle droids which accompanied him to the throne room have been sent off to guard the Queen.

The players can strike now to capture the Viceroy and should have to battle several remaining combat/security droids in the process. Meanwhile the Viceroy should attempt to flee back into the palace proper in an attempt to call for more droids to assist. If the characters manage to capture the viceroy, there should be some point later where he manages to escape, and thus carry on with Darth Sidious' plans for domination of Naboo (and timely arrival for his screen shots in the movie). If he is captured, his lackies will continue to flee and begin calling for reinforcements. However, the delay and confusion which results from the attack gives the player characters a small window in which to escape an encirclement and possible capture.

If the Viceroy managed to escape capture, the players should be quickly surrounded and have to fight their way back to safety or at least a path to safety (perhaps into the sewers only to arrive in the Governor's villa later).

This introductory scenario should be ranked as a simple encounter where each character is to be awarded 250 to 300 experience points each. They should gain 300 if they manage to capture the Viceroy, and only 250 if they only manage to escape.

PART 2 (Challenge Encounter - 500 XP per Character):

Several days after their first attempt to capture the Viceroy, they find that the city is virtually deserted in terms of Naboonese and in their stead, an army of droids - ever vigilant - patrol the streets roudning up stragglers and protecting the palace from additional attacks by the resistance.

Word has spread, all be it - slowly, that the Queen had been rescued by the High Chancellor's Emissaries - Jedi Knight no less! They are believed to have escaped from the planet and are heading to Coruscant to raise support for the plight of Naboo. The players again formulate a plan to disrupt the Viceroy's plans for complete control of Naboo. He is too well protected for the characters to be able to capture him (possibly for the second time). So the characters have learned through an other resistance group that the droid armies use control stations to communicate with one an other and with the Viceroy. If they were to locate and disable some of these stations around the palace, they should be able to mount an additional attempt of capturing the Viceroy while the droids are helpless to assist each other.

GM Synopsis:

The characters have to work with the other resistance cells in an effort to locate and disable or destroy the control stations around the palace. After finding them, they are suitably protected by battle droids, and unbenounced to the characters, destroyer droids! The destroyers will arrive just when the group manages to get the upper hand on the battle droids. The destroyers are conveniently called well before the alarm is raised, and so they are being brought in before the installation is destroyed. The characters should accomplish disabling the one communications node that they were to attack, while the other cells continue the press the attack of other nodes.

The Destroyers should be a grand match for all of the characters, and if they are not, there should be more added to make it overwhelming. The players should fall back to their base camp or to some alternate destination/safe-house. If one of the characters is incapacitated or captured, the group should then have a new sub plot to regain their lost or fallen colleague.

The rescue process should be well instride with the main goal of capturing the Viceroy, since rebel dissidents will be taken to the palace for interrogation, oh, ahem, I mean debriefing... The characters can soon push on to the palace since the destruction of the nodes has thrown the droid forces into disarray without their normal leadership.

The second attempt on the Viceroy should be a failure with destroyers protecting the main audiance chamber/ throne room. However, the characters may capture one of the Viceroy's lackys and 'debrief' him as to the plans of the trade federation. The sub-plot of rescuing their comrade should succeed but will a complicated affair since the character will probably be guarded as well as sedated heavily.

PART 3 (Challenge Encounter - 500 XP per character):

With one of the Viceroy's men in their hands, the group can either bring him to their safe house, or take him to one of the other resistance leaders (prefered) for 'debriefing'. The characters would then get several days to recouperate and rearm themselves. The word on the resistance is that the Queen has been received on Coruscant, but nothing further should be gleaned. A day later, the resistance witnesses a new ship which has docked in the imperial palace. It has brought with it several men believed to be dark jedi...

The Viceroy now seems untouchable since the group will feel wholey unable to withstand the training of a merciless foe such as a Sith Lord. The group must determine their next action to assist in liberating their planet from the droid armies of the Federation. While they are doing this, they will find that their safe-house has been compromised. One of the dark jedi arrives at their compound, accompanied by several battle droids waiting outside to apprehend the disidents as they try to escape.

The confrontation with the dark jedi adept should require the resources of every character to at least slow him, if not cause him to flee to the safety of the battle droids. The characters can then depart through the sewers or try to make it out over the walls of the compound on foot.

This encounter should be considered a challenging encounter worth roughly 500 XP per character. The dark jedi adept is a formidable foe, who should again return for a climactic battle in Part 4. The adept was brought to Naboo with Darth Maul, as well as two other adepts. They have been brought in to deal with the resistance threat as well as to assist the Dark Lord when and if needed. In the mean time, they are to lead the fight against the resistance, offering their command and control to local units of battle droids. The adept will return for the Extereme Encounter where the group may triumph, or they may perish.

PART 4 (Extreme Encounter - 1000 XP per character):

The resistance cell that the player group was organized into has been discovered, and their safe house revealed. The characters are now to flee and find refuge somewhere else deemed safe. The characters manage to recouperate again. The terrible news of resistance cells disappearing is very disheartening. However, the news of the arrival of the adepts explains the occurances rather handily. The group now finds themselves confronted with a deadly new foe, as if the destroyer droids were not enough. The groups is sent on a scouting mission to try and learn the location of the dark jedi adepts and worn other resistance cells of the imminant danger they represent.

While scouting, the group as a whole, or as close to it as possible, the adapt which they had managed to fight off earlier confronts them. However, he is not alone this time. He has brought a second adept for this encounter and he sorely remembers the fight he had the first time around. He now has a score to settle.

GM Synopsis:

This should be a rather extreme challenge for the group, but since the first adventure, they should have amassed enough experience and skills to handle the two of them. It should not be easy, but it should be enough to keep them occupied for a while. Eventually the heroes should be victorious over both adepts, especially when the fight looks to be going poorly. If one adept manages to escape, it should be of little consiquence as captain Tanaka will return and muster the group or other resistance cells throughout Theed.

The group's services and experience should be needed again when the main attack on the palace takes place...