Review: Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

For May the Fourth Be With You, also known as Star Wars Day, I sat down with the family and watched the greatest of the Star Wars films. Episode V has been acclaimed by many as the greatest and the best of the entire Star Wars film saga, and there are many reasons for this, aside from it being a darn good film. But I think that there is one, central factor which propelled this film to the top: George Lucas, for the most part, kept his dadblamed hands off it.

Empire takes place some three years after the evens of A New Hope, where Luke Skywalker and his friends are helping out with the Rebel Alliance. Luke's a commander, Leia's doing here ting, Han's trying to call it quits to pay back his debts, and Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO are hanging around. But after a devastating Imperial attack leaves the Rebel Alliance scattered, and Luke receives a vision of Obi-Wan Kenobi telling him to go to Dagobah to find some guy named Yoda, our heroes are split. Han, Leia, Chewie, R2 and 3PO are on the Millennium Falcon trying to get away from Darth Vader and the Imperials, and Luke is learning the ways of the Force. Will our heroes get to safety? Will Vader be vanquished? Will Luke quite snogging his sister already?! Seriously, George Lucas has a really messed up idea of romance. (To be fair, neither of them had any idea at the time that they were related, but it's still gross in any context.)

Dispensing with the ranting and raving, this is undoubtedly the best of the Star Wars films. Why? Because it was the one film that George Lucas kept his mitts off of the most. I don't know how he managed to do what he did with A New Hope, but all the other films that he had at least a degree of direct involvement in were sub-par at best and complete poo at worst. Case in point, the prequels, and to an extent, Return of the Jedi. He works best when he's in a strictly writing capacity, or even better, in an advisory role. Empire was directed by Irvin Kershner, produced by Gary Kurtz, and co-written by George Lucas and two other people. But for all this faults, Lucas is the man responsible for the whole Star Wars thing, so kudos to him for that.

But this all fails to answer the question of why specifically Empire is a great film. First of all, it knows when to be fun and funny, and when to be serious and dramatic. I remember watching Empire of Dreams on New Year's Day, and Kershner said in that documentary that the movie had to have humor, but not gags. That's exactly what I saw here. In addition, the film has some great suspense, keeping you on the edge of your seat at just the right moments. It moves along at a fast pace, giving the viewer a thrill a minute right up until Vader says that thing he says that everyone knows. If you don't, you need to see this movie before people begin laughing at you and spoil it for you anyway.

Re-watching this movie made me realize that Star Wars is most accurately described as a science fantasy war epic. I know that the prequels did a lot of "Doing in the Wizard" and leaned heavily into soft science fiction, but the genre is really evident here. We've got the space ships and laser guns from science fiction, the magic, swords, and pop-philosophy mumbo-jumbo from fantasy, the war from the... war, and the epic from the journeys and trials that the characters go through.

One of the principal achievements of this film, however, which it shares with the other films in the original trilogy, are the effects. They were cutting edge for their time, and still look great today in a world awash with CGI. You've got the Battle of Hoth and the asteroid chase scene, but the real draw in terms of special effects is Yoda. Voiced by Frank Oz, this very emotive puppet was what would make or break the film, as noted by the filmmakers in Empire of Dreams. Happily enough, the Yoda puppet actually expresses more emotion than Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker's actor, at times, and Oz totally sells it.

Speaking of Mark Hamill, he's probably the source of the film's only real flaw. I'll be the first person to defend him as a great voice actor. He did play the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series and in the Arkham games, not to mention flipping Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar: The Last Airbender, but here, he's a pretty hit or miss actor. I've heard that it's probably because he was less experienced back then, and I buy that, but I still think that even Hamill got across some great emotion, which the movie has in abundance, in his final scene with Darth Vader. In fact, every actor from James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader, to newcomers Billy Dee Williams and Kenneth Colley as Lando Calrissian and Admiral Piett, respectively, did a great job in their roles.

Suffice it to say, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back delivers the second (or fifth, depending on how you look at it) act in an epic story which serves as the climax of the original trilogy, giving us a cast of fully developed characters, amazing effects, incredible acting, and dynamic action and adventure. I cannot say enough about how it is very easily the greatest and the best of all of the Star Wars films. It is also, I think, one of the greatest films ever to grace the silver screen.

RATING: 9.5/10

Fun fact: Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is not the first person to shout "It's a trap!" Princess Leia actually says it when she first sees Luke at Cloud City, yelling to him, "It's a trap!"

Image courtesy of confessionsofamoviesnob.com

Bible Verse Sunday #75, Geek Pride Day 2014, and Memorial Day 2014

This week's verse is Jeremiah 48:7:

"For, because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be taken; and Chemosh shall go into exile with his priests and his officials."

In this passage, the prophet Jeremiah is preaching against Moab, detailing how their greed and vanity has led to their disgrace. Chemosh was the principal deity of the Moabites, whose paganism involved human sacrifice to their god. These abominations are clearly stated to be the reason for the Moabites' downfall, and Israel's as well for sharing in this travesty. We contemporary readers would do well to take note.

In the main service in church today, the pastor preached from the back half of Romans 8, talking about how God takes us in our brokenness and transforms us into something better. God removes from us the frustration, the disgrace, the isolation. There will be no "awkward moment" when we stand before God's throne, because we have been transformed.

In the High School service, the youth pastor preached from John 15, talking about how we should "marinate" ourselves in Jesus, by absorbing his word daily and living out his commandments. He said that although it is possible to "fake" being a Christian, true believers are secure in Christ, and also that God commands us to love each other. The central point of the sermon is that life is lived fullest when lived with those we love.

Today is a momentous occasion. It is not only the seventy-fifth installment of Bible Verse Sunday, but it is also the 37th anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars film in theaters, way back in 1977. That particular occasion is why this day was chosen to be Geek Pride Day, a celebration of geek culture the world over. On this day, we shall eat, drink, and be merry, though not necessarily in that order.

This weekend, however, marks an even more important occasion: Memorial Day. Tomorrow, there shall be a nationwide celebration of all those who have fought and died in service to our wonderful country. In accordance, I hereby extend my heartfelt salutations and commendations to all persons who fall into this demographic. In sum, have a blessed Memorial Day!

Image courtesy of sliceofscifi.com

Review: The Chosen (film)

The Chosen is one of those films that I can just imagine Annie from Darths and Droids sticking up for because of the "character development" and "themes" and "symbolism." In reality, however, it possesses these things in the most in-your-face, humorless, dullest way possible. It doesn't help that the one character, who, of all fictional characters out there, shares my first name, is minimally present and not called by name once. I don't even think it's the same character as the character in Chaim Potok's mediocre book. "Wait," you may ask, gentle reader, "this movie was based on a book? Shouldn't it be good then?" Despite the alarming statistic that a good deal of movies, particularly good movies, are adaptations, this is not one of those films. It is a movie, and it is based on a book, but is it good? No.

Originally released in 1981, The Chosen focuses on the friendship between two Jewish teenagers in 1940s Brooklyn, New York. We've got Reuven Malter, an Orthodox Jew living with his widowed father (widowed in the book, anyway, but never explicitly mentioned in the film), and Danny Saunders, the son of the Hasidic Jewish leader Reb Saunders. After an accident involving a baseball to the face hospitalizing Reuven, Danny and Reuven bond through their mutual love of... studying? Contrary to what you'll find posted on Rotten Tomatoes (there, it says that Reuven and Danny bond over their "mutual love of stickball"; even the poster up there tries to sell it as that) this is not a sports movie. The baseball scene itself is prolonged and superfluous, not to mention weakly and unrealistically shot and choreographed. Nevertheless, after a much trimmed down hospital scene, Danny and Reuven become fast friends, introducing each other to their respective cultures. Where Danny takes Reuven to a Hasidic Synagogue meeting, Reuven takes Danny to the movies. I'd like to say that it's all very touching, but it's not. You know what it really is? Contrived.

This isn't really the story's fault, of course. We've got a couple of interesting characters in Reuven and Danny, who are both basically adapted word-for-word, line-for-line from the original book, which was published in 1967. The problem is that a.) They are portrayed mechanically and lifelessly by their actors (When Reuven says that Danny talks like he's from "outer space," that's the pot calling the kettle black.), and b.) There is almost zero dynamic between them. For goodness sake, Thor and Darcy have a better dynamic between them in Thor: The Dark World. I digress on the acting, which I'll grant was only moderate, but that's not to say that it deserves any praise at all. I'll admit that Rod Steiger really sells his performance as Reb Saunders, but it's not exactly how I envisioned him in the book. Reuven, played by some guy named Barry Miller, has the exact opposite problem. He looks exactly like the way he looks on the cover of the copy of the book that I read back in American Literature class, but he has all the personality of a statue. It's depressing, really.

This film is bizarrely reminiscent of a Shyamalan film, with everything from the way the cinematography is handled to the acting of varying quality to the generally bad directorial effort. The opening credits are distracting and lengthy, and there's a lot of unnecessary narration which brings us out of the story rather than enriching it. In addition, the film is unintentionally funny at several points, probably in the same manner as my buddy Nate found Man of Steel to be funny. That is to say, this film is filled with subtle absurdities which were obviously not intended to be so. For instance, when Reuven comes home in the morning from helping to smuggle guns to Israel, his father is at first irate at him. But as soon as Mr. Malter (played by Maximilian Schell, who only has so much to work with) is told by Reuven exactly what Reuven was doing, he brightens up and offers him tea. Mr. Malter, you are the worst father ever. Where it attempts to be humorous, it only succeeds in falling flat. There's also the dialogue, which is largely wooden and hollow, a flaw admittedly shared by the book, but which still remains here.

All of these flaws are compounded by the movie's cardinal sin: It. Is. Boring. Perhaps it would be better to say that all of these previously mentioned problems contribute to making it boring, but what really nails it is the fact that the movie moves at a very slow pace, despite being only 108 minutes long. From the baseball scene to the wedding party to the very end, the whole thing is paced as slowly as can be imagined. There's not a single iota of passion in this film, except maybe when Mr. Malter has a stroke and nearly dies, which is just depressing. Even the loud scenes where the extras sing just made me go, "When will this scene end?'

What is this film's one redeeming value? It stays relatively faithful to the book, that's what. I say "relatively faithful" for a reason: Many great scenes in the book were not depicted in the film, with the character of the one-eyed prizefighter who Reuven met in the hospital being reduced to a cameo appearance, and Danny, Reuven, and Reb Saunder's "Talmud battles" being cut entirely, among others. I guess I'm not really giving the film much, given that I didn't think the book particularly outstanding either. The point, however, is that the filmmakers were given a solid premise which was competently executed, and as a result we have yet another resoundingly average adaptation. Just was the world needs more of. I'd advise that you all just read the darned book (and possibly its sequel, The Promise) and check this film out as a mere curiosity if you're up to it. If you're not, I don't blame you.

RATING: 6/10

Image courtesy imdb.com

Review: Star Wars: Knight Errant (Comic book series)

A while back, I reviewed a Star Wars novel called Star Wars: Knight Errant. I thought that it was a rather exceptional novel, with the writer John Jackson Miller doing a phenomenal job of writing a female heroine and giving us an interesting cast of characters. It made me want to explore the comic book series of the same name that he authored for Dark Horse Comics. You see, Dark Horse has had a monopoly on Star Wars comics for the past 20-plus years, though what with Marvel Comics and LucasFilm now both being owned by Disney, Marvel naturally has the rights to this cash cow franchise now. Anyhow, this comic series ran for exactly fifteen issues, consisting of three five issue story arcs, the book Star Wars: Knight Errant being sandwiched in between the first two. To get to the point, there's a reason that this series didn't last very long.


The basic premise of this series is that about 1,000 years prior to the films, known to you Star Wars buffs (like me) as the Republic Dark Age, there's this Jedi gal named Kerra Holt who's going on random adventures around Sith controlled space. In this particular area of the galaxy, Kerra has to deal with warring rival Sith Lords such as Daiman and Odion, not to mention wildcards like this random Hutt guy who's a huge jerkhole. After her Jedi posse gets wasted right of the bat in the first issue, Kerra goes on a one-woman crusade to save as many innocents as she can while the Odion and Daiman and their ilk try to grab all the power they can. Sounds simple enough, right? Could be awesome, right? Eh... yeah, no.

I'll admit, I wanted to like this series, because I loved the book. There's just not much to like about it. The art is only okay, the writing is hackneyed and trite, the dialogue made me wince (heavily), and the villains, while having lots of potential, were poorly handled. What really kills it, however, is the fact that Miller didn't think to bring any of his strong supporting cast from the book into the comics. Sure, Arkadia shows up in a hologram, but only has one line and doesn't come up again. The only two characters from the book which show up in the comics, aside from Kerra, are Daiman and Odion. This, of course, brings us to the series's central problem.

A walking the galaxy story is all well and good, but it only works if you have a strong, interesting, dynamic central character. Just look at MacGyver. Failing that, you need a lead protagonist with a strong supporting cast, who, ideally, will all balance each other out to achieve narrative harmony in characterization. Knight Errant suffers from having neither of these. Where we need a strong, central protagonist, we get Kerra Holt, whose motivation isn't given very much detail in the comic series other than, "I hate Sith, yay good guys, yarrrrrrg." She has minimal charisma or personality, being little more than a face with a name slapped on it. Kerra does have a personality, it's just not the most interesting one. Is she likeable? Yes. Is she compelling? No. I'll admit, it wasn't like that way in the book, but it's immensely dumbed down here.

Of course, this problem could easily be fixed by giving her a strong supporting cast to bounce off of. After all, where would Tintin be without Haddock and Calculus, or even Snowy and the Thompsons? Or what would become of Batman without Alfred, Robin, and Commissioner Gordon? Even MacGyver had Pete Thornton for most of his series. Being a science fantasy travelogue (technically), this would be hard, but not impossible, to achieve, as demonstrated by Avatar: The Last Airbender. I would love to see a changed of heart Jarrow Rusher turn around to help Kerra in her fight against evil, which would have opened up all sorts of interesting story possibilities. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

One final problem with the series is that it's epic in scale, but with no epic story to fuel it. Avatar: The Last Airbender, for example, was a epic story set against an personal plot presented in an episodic format. Knight Errant is an personal story set against a epic plot presented in an episodic format. This might seem like a mere switching around in semantics, and with good writing, could even be a good thing, but it turns this tale right on its head. It all boils down to too little plot spread over too much story. Kerra can have all the adventures she wants, but there's not overarching plot, no central, driving conflict which is going to get her to anything remotely resembling an ending. It's just her randomly fighting cartoonishly evil murderers, while occasionally stopping to mope about her parents. Airbender has Aang having to master all four elements and defeat the Firelord, and even Star Wars, which Knight Errant is based off of, had Luke having to master the ways of the Force and defeat the Empire, while saving his father from the Dark Side too. Knight Errant fails in this regard as well. It's epically episodic, but not in a good way.

On the whole, Knight Errant was something I wanted to like, but regretted wasting my time reading. It's mediocre at best, not at all noteworthy, and so far hasn't spawned any sequels to tell us just what happened to dear old Kerra. I liked Kerra, and I liked the book, but I did not like the comic book series. It is yet another Star Wars property with plenty of potential wasted on poor execution. Sad, really. I honestly expected better from John Jackson Miller.

RATING: 6/10

Image courtesy of rebelscum.com

Review: Across the Universe

I've never read much science fiction literature. Star Wars doesn't count because it's actually a form of fantasy, and I've only watched a bit of the Star Trek franchise. I tried reading a book called Greenthieves that my cousin gave me, but younger me quickly got bored with it. I could write all day about why pure science fiction literature, heck, pure science fiction in general, has been in a perpetual rut, but I think that it all boils down to it's tendency to heavily rely on spectacle. We've been trained to expect this sort of thing from works branded as sci-fi, and when a book or movie comes along which lacks those things, we quickly move on to the next thing. (Nate (the one who thinks Richard Donner's Superman is the best superhero film ever made), if you're reading this, feel free to chime in in the comments, because you've seen way more pure science fiction films than I have, and I think that you could contribute to this dialogue.) Anyway, there's also the whole thing about Moh's Scale of Science Fiction Hardness, but we won't get into that. Right now, I want to say that Across the Universe, a dystopian sci-fi thriller written by Beth Revis and published in 2011, is easily the pest science fiction book I've ever read. That said, it's probably the only science fiction book I've ever read.

Taking on a rotating first person narration, we've got seventeen year-old Amy who voluntarily goes into suspended animation, along with her parents, aboard a generation ship known as the Godspeed (for those of you who don't know, a generation ship is a space ship which is meant to to take several generations of people to man and populate it as it traverses space over a couple hundred years in order to get to its destination), and is later woken up in less than ideal circumstances, in what is quickly discerned as a murder attempt. On the other side of the coin is sixteen year-old Elder, a wiseguy who lives in the society of the ship several hundred years later among the population of the Godspeed, being trained by the leader, Eldest, to eventually take over for him. Unfortunately, nearly everyone except for Elder and his friend Harley hates Amy's guts, egged on by Eldest, because her appearance does not reflect the mono-ethnicity of the Godspeed's population. Elder and Amy have to avoid Eldest's wrathful rule, catch the would-be killer, and figure why the Godspeed is so messed up.

This book has a clumsy beginning, and finishes only partly strong. The first chapter with Elder is rushed and forced, but from there it begins to grow. There are way too many chapters in the beginning with Amy in suspended animation, and it just goes on and on. But once Amy gets out and our two protagonists begin actually interacting with each other, then we get to the good stuff. Apart from being a dystopian sci-fi thriller, this book also incorporates a love story into its plot, and I'll say that Revis pulls off the chemistry between Amy and Elder very well. Amy herself isn't the greatest character, being hard to connect with, but she's serviceable. Elder isn't quite as impressive either, but he's definitely more interesting than Amy. This is because he has a compelling role in the story (the heir to the throne, as it were), and it's played in a compelling way. Amy's role in the story has plenty of potential, but it's not executed in the most hard hitting way. This is partly due to the spotty build up and pacing, but also because of her shallow characterization. We get that she's insecure and misses her dirtbag boyfriend and is really freaked out by the new world she wakes up in, but the book doesn't really get across who she is. She likes photography and running, and that's about it.

Now that I look back on it, I realize that the most interesting characters were in the supporting cast. Characters like Eldest, Doc, Harley, Orion, and this one old lady whose name I don't remember. Eldest is a great villain. Doc is a cool, not-quite-evil-but-not-quite-good reasonable authority figure. Harley is tragic and introspective, but also has the capacity for heroism. Orion is one of the few characters who seems genuinely nice and likeable, but there's a twist that gives him a whole different dimension. Unfortunately, this last clause brings me to one of the book's main problems, which we'll discuss later. Concerning character dynamics, the best one was absolutely the dynamic between Elder and Eldest. The tension between them is great, and they have some really raw emotion in between them. 

The greatest thing about the book, I think, is some of the reveals it pulls near the end. Note that I said some of the reveals. There were a bunch of them, which is not always good, and can actually be really bad, a la Once Upon a Time. I believe that there were three really big ones, the first of which was a build up to the second one, the second one making me want to but the book down for a few minutes and absorb what I had just learned, and the third making me raise my eyebrows and go, "Huh." But the "big" twist was one I saw coming from a mile away, concerning the identity of the killer. I guessed as soon as the character was introduced that it was going to be that person, and I was right. I'm not sure if that makes me clever or the book dumb, or even both, but I'm must saying, I totally called it.

The last twist that I mentioned, the one that I barely reacted to, felt shoehorned in and extraneous. It mainly made me think, "Okay, we get that the Godspeed is messed up, let's move on. Huh? Oh, yeah, sure, throw it on the pile." I also felt that the "mystery" that they were trying to solve (how all of the victims were connected) had a solution which was a bit too obvious. It was staring me right in the face, and then it was revealed, and I was like, "Well, duh." What it should have done was make me go, "Of course! How could I have not seen it?" And remember what I said about the build up and pacing being off? It's not as glaring a problem in the middle portion of the book, when we're dealing with Amy mucking about the ship, but it really shows in the beginning when it just keeps going on and on about how Amy's stuck in the cryonics pod and whatnot. The end is also less than clean, forcing yet another reveal on us that doesn't have quite the impact it should have. In short, there are too many twists with too little build up.

But you know what? There's one thing about this book that sets it apart from other, slightly related books (Looking at you, Thrawn Trilogy): It's actually compelling and competently written. There are no overly convoluted subplots, no unnecessary characters, no unbelievable motivations. It made me want to find out what happened next, and to actually read the next book. It's theme of deception was a bit overdone, and I daresay I rolled my eyes when I read the preview chapter of the next book and saw that this theme would apparently be continuing, but it's actually a pretty decent work of literature, and not bad for a writer's first book. It may not be exactly outstanding, but it's still one of the better ones out there. And with my standards, that's sufficient enough for me.

(A word of warning though: This book, being of the young adult-teen category, contains some not-quite-explicit sexual content, including a sexual assault, and, on a lesser note, heavy use of futuristic profanity. I'd recommend this only to ages fifteen and up.)

RATING: 7.5/10

Image courtesy of myliteratetongue.wordpress.com

Bible Quiz Team - 2nd Alderwood Invitational 2013-2014

Today and yesterday was the first Bible Quiz Invitational of the new year, and the last one to be held at Alderwood Community Church for this quiz year. It was the first overnight invitational of the 2013-2014 quiz year, and I would say that it went rather well. I was on Team 1 with Rebecca, Ashley, and Coach Wendt. On the first day, yesterday evening, we won one quiz and lost all the rest, some closely, some not so closely. After bunking at our respective host families' house for the night, we resumed quizzing the following morning, this morning. I'm not sure if we won any quizzes today, but we surely acquitted ourselves well. The devotion was on Martin Luther and how his study of the Book of Romans led to the Reformation. We had baked potatoes for lunch.

In the end, Snohomish won the Senior championship, while the Novice championship belonged to Alderwood. Faith Community Baptist Church defeated us no less than three out of four times. Kellyn, Ava, Lizziey, and myself all achieved All Star status. I was the least of the nine Senior All Stars, and Kellyn was the highest. This is an ironic contrast between myself, the worst of the best, and Kellyn, the best of the best. We then engaged in "fun quizzing" and clean up.

During the bunking period, Luke and I took some time to play a game of Star Wars Miniatures. I love that game, but I forgot to bring my own extensive collection. Fortunately, Luke brought his own collection, and we had a good time (I won).

After the invitational was the standard stuff: Drive back the church, stopping for lunch on the way there. Then we went home. Altogether, it was a good weekend, and I heartily congratulate all of the quizzers on their commendable work.

New Year's Day 2014

And here... we... go.

New Year's Day is often seen as little more than a curiosity among holidays. It's a day off, but little more than that, due to the majority of celebrations being held the night before, on New Year's Eve. But for me, New Year's Day is fast becoming an important holiday to me, chiefly because of a new tradition I have started with my buddy Caleb (the GM).

This New Year's Day is the second New Year's Day in a row in which Caleb and I have gotten together to watch a movie. Last year, we had a mind-numbing seven-and-a-half hour marathon of The Dark Knight Saga. This year, we settled for something far less headache inducing: we watched Empire of Dreams, a documentary on the making of the Star Wars original trilogy. This documentary was included with the original trilogy set released back in 2004, and is a monumental achievement in and of itself. It chronicles the background of the George Lucas and how he formulated the Star Wars saga, how the thing was brought to the big screen, and how it turned into what we know it as today. It was a wholly comprehensive look at the series. It'd have to be; it was about 2.5 hours long! It featured interviews with all sorts of people, everybody from George Lucas to Walter Cronkite to Warwick Davis. In short, it was a great documentary which Caleb and I both enjoyed. However, I will not be reviewing it, mainly because I did not take notes. However, I will be looking into re-watching (but not reviewing) the original trilogy bonus material and featurettes, as well as the stuff from the prequel trilogy in future years. Speaking of the future, Caleb and I are considering an original trilogy marathon next year, or a sequel trilogy marathon, or a Christopher Nolan movie marathon (excluding The Dark Knight Saga), or perhaps a The Hobbit marathon, maybe even a Lord of the Rings movie marathon. But we'll have plenty of time to think about that.

New Year's Day is also a time to consider New Year's Resolutions. I have several this year:

* Write a little bit every day.
* Exercise a little bit every day.
* Read (from a book) a little bit every day.
* Eat less junk food.
* Write more review posts (I seriously need to get caught up on my backlog).
* Witness more often.

For tips on making and fulfilling New Year's Resolutions if you are a Christian, please go here. Best of luck to all of you out there who have made new year's resolutions. If you haven't made a new year's resolution (you know who you are) I still wish you luck in all your enterprises this year. Once again, happy new year!

Other things of note that occurred today included dad taking me out driving. I worked on my turning and actually drove around on the open road for a little while. It was ideal driving weather, to say the least. I do  hope that I'll be able to work up my confidence behind the wheel and become a veritable expert at this sort of thing.

Image courtesy of bluemountainvillage.ca

New Year's Eve 2013

Tonight is the final night of 2013. Tomorrow will be 2014. New year celebrations have been celebrated by all cultures around the world, whether they used our Gregorian Calendar or not, such as the Jewish new year celebration The Feast of Trumpets, or the Chinese new year (which also goes by a lunar calendar) celebration, which takes place next year on January 31. New Year's Eve/New Year's Day celebrations are typically celebrated by holding parties where people engage in the consumption of alcoholic beverages, sometimes accompanied by loud music and dancing. There are also fireworks in some areas, including the one in Dubai this year which aspires to be the biggest fireworks display ever to go on record.

For New Year's Eve this year, I decided to take the day off from school, plotting out my schedule for the rest of the week and editing the final chapter and the epilogue of my book. I plan to do much the same tomorrow (that is, take the day off), only tomorrow I'll be going over to my buddy Caleb's house to watch Empire of Dreams. Anyhow, in the late afternoon, we, two of the Rajaos, and my cousin Noa went down to the theater and watched Frozen, after which we went out for dinner. We pigged out on pizza at a certain establishment named after a tobacco using primate. I for one am still full.

All in all, I think that 2013 was, in the words of Frank Sinatra (and later Ray Charles), "a very good year." I got my cell phone, returned to Appalachian Bible College, enrolled in Bellevue College, earned my second degree black belt, got baptized, and got my purity ring sized. I'd say it myself, but I think that Ray Charles can say it better:

Yeah, it was a very good year. Here's hoping that 2014 will be even better! Happy new year, one and all!

Addendum: Also this is my 200th post! How convenient!

RPG Group 2013 - Session #9 (Winter Session)

Bet you all didn't see this one coming, eh? Yes, I am doing a post on the winter RPG Group meeting. Since that Caleb the GM is back from college for the holidays, we decided to gather to do a single session before picking up again in the summer (of course, then it would be "RPG Group 2014"). It was a truly memorable session, with all of the members attending save dear old Nick, who was out Christmas shopping. I myself played a large role, stepping up as leader, I believe. Natural twenties were rolled, the GM was flabbergasted, I cracked wise, and we generally had a smashing good time. But, you ask, what actually happened? Prepare to be amazed.

Starting from where we left off, Lady Andra's mountain villa was under attack by the Imperials, and we had just done a quick security check. This had in turn led to a shoot out in the art gallery, which left it badly damaged and three storm troopers dead. Also, Walt/GM (Nick's character, Walt, was co-opted by the GM for this session) and Kol/me had sustained much damage. We went into the arboretum, but stormtroopers blew out the glass ceiling and rappelled down. Instead of waiting for them all to arrive down and then getting them with frag grenades, the GM/Embar and GM/Walt charged in Leroy Jenkins style and started a firefight. Embar/GM shot one of them from below, which Caleb said was in the back, but I can think of a far more likely target. But whatever, it was only the fourth casualty in what would become a huge, bloody, XP filled battle (the first three were from last session). Walt/GM also shot at a stormtrooper, but missed. For my part, I threw a frag grenade at two of the four descending troopers (there were two others on the edge of the hole where the dome used to be) and killed them both. Unfortunately, Walt/GM was badly wounded, and we had to drag him out through the opposite entrance, into the main hall, with one stormtrooper left on the ledge.

Meanwhile, Drell/Nessa, Torin/Linnae, and Kit/Kellyn were in one of the front rooms with some of the Free Telos Movement soldiers. The Free Telos soldiers were in another shootout with the stormtroopers out front. I quickly comlinked Kit/Kellyn to inform her of Walt being knocked unconscious. Torin/Linnae, who had a medpac and was trained in Treat Injury, ran over and, after spending a few Force points on re-rolls, stabilized Walt/GM. Torin/Linnae then stood guard at the south entrance of the arboretum. I then began to take charge, ascertaining the situation. All of the Free Telos tanks had been destroyed, and the stormtroopers were guarding the airspeeders which we needed to get out of there. I ran over to the dining hall where Lady Andra and the other dignitaries were waiting, and I learned from a guard named Sareth that the most defensible room in the villa was Andra's office. I then ran back to Embar and Captain Marin (the captain of the the Free Telos soldiers) and told them that if we could get the civilians into the office, we would be able to devise a plan. I made sure that the rooms leading to the office, including the art gallery, were secured, before telling Sareth to gather up the dignitaries and lead them single file to the office. A funny thing happened on the way to the office: Torin/Linnae threw a frag grenade at two stormtroopers who were rappelling into the arboretum, killing them both, but also blew the doors off of the west entrance to the arboretum. Also, Embar/Caleb had joined the shootout at the front entrance and rolled a natural 20, critically hitting a stormtrooper right in the mask.

Anyhow, before moving the people, I got Kit/Kellyn to stand guard at the west entrance of the arboretum (there were three or four entrances; north, south, west, and possibly east) and took Drell/Nessa with me to the north entrance, to keep it secure. Sareth and some other guards began escorting the Free Telos leaders out of the dining hall and kitchen (some were in the kitchen and the dining hall, which I felt was not a safe place to be in case the stormtroopers tried rappelling in through the large windows) into the east hall. We were about to move them in through the art gallery when more stormtroopers began rappelling into the arboretum. Caleb mentioned that what with all of the grenades and blaster shots, the plants were probably on fire by now, but that mustn't of staved off the stormtroopers, because they just kept coming. Drell/Nessa and Kol/me took up positions at the north entrance, halting the line of dignitaries. I had handed Kellyn/Kit a grenade to use (I'm pretty sure it was Kellyn/Kit) at her entrance, and she threw it just as the stormtroopers arrived. I think it gave half damage, but she turned to be face to face with a stormtrooper. Luckily, Kellyn got an attack of opportunity I believe, and fired a point black shot, killing this trooper. Unfortunately, another stormtrooper shot her in the chest, severely wounding her. It must have only grazed her, because she managed to survive. Likewise, Drell/Nessa got shot in the kneecap.

We managed to get rid of these stormtroopers through our combined efforts, and move Lady Andra and her entourage into the office. Caleb, Captian Marin, and the soldiers then pulled through the parlor into the west room thingy (it was filled with chairs and holographic displays and statuettes and stuff), where they set up a barricade. Meanwhile, Lady Andra gave us some weapons she had been storing in her office (Light Repeating Blasters, yay!) and we all got our damage healed by a medical droid/station she had in her office. It was a mighty spacious office.

We then thought how we were going to get to the dignitaries to the airspeeders and spirit them away. We knew that a straight fight against the stormtroopers would lead to disaster, but fortunately, we had a different, crazier plan. Embar/GM had actually thought of it, and Torin/Linnae had thought of it to. We would simply 1.) Destroy the window in the office overlooking a 500 foot drop; 2.) Use the grapnel feature on our guns to send pilots to the roof; 3.) Run over the room still, grapnel down from the roof, and seize a sufficient amount of parked airspeeders; 4.) Drive the airspeeders over the window, load the dignitaries onto the speeders, and get the heck out of there. Since it was the only plan we had, we decided that we might as well enact it. Unfortunately, when we player characters (with the exception of Walt/GM and the new addition of Andra's Wookiee bodyguard- Kafaka or something) managed to get out on the roof (we were lucky that the GM didn't tell us to roll a climb check, which none of us were trained in), we had to make a mad rush past a couple of stormtroopers who were still hanging out up there, plus there were other stormtroopers up on the mountain side. Fortunately, they weren't armed with blaster rifles. Unfortunately, they were armed with rocket launchers. Fortunately, since we weren't vehicles, their heat signature locking thing didn't work as well on us, being living beings, unless one of them rolled a natural 20.

Anyhow, Embar/GM and Drell/Nessa charged the two storm troopers while the rest of us ran around, off the roof up the mountain side (the villa was pressed right against the mountain). There as a bit of scuffle between Embar/GM & Drell/Nessa and the stormtroopers. They fought, and our guy and girl managed to get one and wound another, when something terrible happened, even more terrible than Embar getting a natural 1 on his charging a attack and falling flat on his face: one of the rocket launcher storm troopers got a natural 20 and hit them. Since Drell/Nessa had evade and managed to take only half damage (meanwhile, my character had unsuccessfully tried to shoot the remaining stormtrooper- Kaphaka managed to run ahead and descend from the roof) and the remaining stormtrooper was killed instantly, his body obliterated. But Embar was critically wounded. He was down to below zero. Fortunately (I know, it's getting tired), Drell/Nessa rolled I believe a 17 and managed to use Force Heal on him, stabilizing him. She then carried him to the roof top and hopped into the waiting speeder.

Each of us flying a speeder (there were four speeders with four pilots, with about 12 people to rescue), we flew past the rocket guys (they had been bombarding the roof the entire time, and now had to reload to fire at us again). I'd like to say that we managed to evade the rockets, pick up the passengers, and then flew off into the sunset and lived happily ever after, but that would not be true. I managed to evade the first missile, but Kit/Kellyn's speeder was struck, as was mine the second time around. Kellyn/Kit's was full of passengers, including Andra! Thankfully enough, the damage wasn't incredibly bad, and Kellyn/Kit managed to get into a controlled flight, as did I, and the four speeders flew away, but to where remains to been until next summer. In short, it. Was. Awesome. See you all in June! Man, we got a crud-ton of XP.

Music

One thing I really like to do is listen to music. It's one of my favorite pastimes, up there with reading and
writing. I have a wide range of tastes when it comes to music. I like listening to everyone from the Newsboys to Ray Charles, to every genre from alternative to soundtracks to classical (except for death metal). I don't know how I became interested in such a diverse range of music, but it probably had to do with watching a lot of musicals growing up. I just like music. Granted, I don't feel like I have the insight or ear to be a music critic, but I love listening to it. I have almost 24 hours of music in my collection, and I'm steadily adding more to it. I hope to finish someday.

The most pervasive genre in my collection is by far soundtracks. Soundtracks are a rather peculiar genre. They can range from anything from rock to classical, but still be counted under one category simply because they were released with a film or a video game. As such, soundtracks make for a diverse selection. In particular, I love Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori's soundtrack from the Halo franchise. It's so emotional, so heart-melting, so incredibly splendid. It really puts you in the mood for the story, and truly sets it apart from any other story. All of their stuff is brilliant, but some of my favorites include "Wake Me When You Need Me" and "Unforgotten." Ditto for the works of Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard on the Dark Knight Saga, Nick Arundel for Batman: Arkham City, John Williams for the Star Wars saga, Howard Shore for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Nathan Furst for the original three Bionicle movies, and Klaus Badelt for Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. Sometimes a movie's music is one of its few redeeming values, such as with the otherwise atrocious The Last Airbender (Howard Shore) and the cosmically overrated 1989 Batman film (Danny Elfman). "Flow Like Water" remains a favorite of mine to this day.

I also like other genres, such as Christian rock. My favorite band is the Newsboys, with their catchy tunes and clever lyrics. My two favorite songs from them are "Belly of the Whale" and "Born Again", for when they switched lead singers. Also of note is their cover of "In Christ Alone" and "Wherever We Go." The Newsboys are my only particular favorite Christian rock band, come to thing of it. I usually scrounge around for whatever is handy when selecting other Christian rock music for my collection. I've got chunks of Jeremy Camp, Joe Poppino, Jars of Clay, and a sprinkling of individual, one-off entries from various Christian artists like Mark Schultz and Jaci Velasquez. I am also a fan of ApoligetiX, a Christian rock group who describe themselves as a cross between Weird Al Yankovic (who I also like) and Billy Graham. Some of their songs include "The Devil Went Down to Jordan" and "YHWH".

One Christian artist that I have a lot of that's not rock is David Klinkenberg. My dad picked up a couple of his CDs when they were on sale at my church, and I've listened to his strings over and over again. He's a great artist and singer. His "Rich Mullins Medley" and "Immortal Invisible" are particularly good. Other non-Rock Christian artists that I have on in my collection are a series of covers done by Bill Anderson and Brenda Lee, plus a series of highlights from Handel's Messiah.

Other rock and alternative groups I like that aren't Christian rock groups are Cryoshell and Queen, though most of the songs from these genres are individual songs from different bands, with no long stretches of songs from specific bands. These songs have a good tune and memorable lyrics. Such songs included "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2, "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi, and "Short Change Hero" by the Heavy. I really love Cryoshell for the music they provided for the Bionicle saga.

Then there's music which appeals to my sentimental side, like R&B and pop singers like Ray Charles and Rick Astley. I love a good love song, and Ray Charles album Genius Loves Company provides just that. I really dig Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up," and I was given a disk of some of his pop songs (Portrait, to be specific) by my cousin Hudson, which I still enjoy. I currently have plans to purchase albums by Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra. I love Ray Charles' covers on "You Don't Know Me" and "Sweet Potato Pie" and Rick Astley's "What the World Needs Now."

In sum, my musical tastes are very diverse, reflecting my diverse interests. I love listening to music while I read, and am listening to music as a write this article. Most of all, I feel that music is a gift from God. Music is its own language, expressing emotions and feelings in a way that words cannot convey. Thusly, we are encouraged to use music in worship, and I feel that it is a valuable tool for that purpose. I myself have dabbled in making music in the past (I used to take piano lessons). Perhaps one day I will return to that. But for now, I am content to listen. And listen I shall.

Image courtesy of picsandsticksmusic.com

Review: Star Wars: Knight Errant

One thousand years before Luke Skywalker, and a generation before Darth Bane, Star Wars: Knight Errant, written by John Jackson Miller, takes place in the turbulent years of the Old Republic. Jedi Knight Kerra Holt is trapped in Sith controlled space, having just helped several thousand oppressed people escape to the Republic. Now stuck on the capital planet of the Lord Daiman’s empire, Kerra plots and schemes to take down the tyrant and his evil brother, Lord Odion. But other Sith Lords come into play, along with a mercenary crew headed by Brigadier Jarrow Rusher at first working for Daiman, but enlisted by Kerra to save a group of students caught in the crossfire. Kerra will need all of her wits and all of her power to save every life she can and win the day.

This is quite possibly the best Star Wars novel I’ve ever read. What makes it work is that it’s got a very strong cast of characters. Every character is well rounded and individualized, from Kerra Holt herself to the Bothan spy Narsk to bumbling mercenary recruit Beadle Lubboon. The most interesting character in the novel is undoubtedly Rusher, a military history buff and experienced commander. Rusher is a classic anti-hero in the same vein as Han Solo. What differentiates him from Solo, however, is his dedication to his men and his admirable sense of duty, though he doesn’t mind the money. Naturally, he and Kerra don’t get along well at first, but it’s a testament to Miller’s handling of the character development that they’re fire forged friends by the end of the book. They’re both selfless in their own way, with Rusher being the pragmatist and Kerra being the idealist, thus being perfect foils to each other.

The book also has a lot of interesting settings, ranging from the dark police state of Darkknell, which is Lord Daiman’s capital, to the icy Syned, Arkadia’s headquarters. They’re all finely described, the author expertly transporting the reader’s mind to these imaginary places. In addition, the action is well plotted out, keeping you on the edge of your seat the whole time through. We have everything from speeder bike chases to pitched battles to the classic lightsaber duel. Then there’s the tone. This book can be serious when it needs to, but is overall a rather enjoyable and lighthearted read, a nice departure from more grim and serious Star Wars books like the Thrawn trilogy or even the barely readable Fate of the Jedi. In addition, I also liked how the writer focused on details in the lore, such as why the heroes can’t simply escape back to the Republic, or the difficulties of a bunch of different alien species living crammed together in Rusher’s ship, Diligence.

One downside to the book is that there are a lot of villains to keep track of. You’ve got seven named Sith Lords with varying roles, plus a bunch of backstory connecting them all. The sole chink in this book’s armor is that it doesn’t focus on one particular villain for the entire story. In the first half or so of the book, Daiman and Odion are the villains, and then it switches briefly to Calician, Quillian, and Dromika, before Arkadia takes center stage for the last third or so of the book, and in the background is someone manipulating everyone’s puppet strings. All of the Sith Lords seem to have their own unique philosophy when it comes to being a Sith Lord. Daiman imagines himself to be the creator of the universe, while Odion intends to destroy it. Arkadia relies on chaos to produce a semblance of order. But this approach, while unqiue, gets a bit tired after seeing it happen five or six times. Still, all of the Sith Lords are great villains, especially Arkadia, who is more of an anti-villain than anything.

On the whole, this book is worth reading, and is in fact superior to the comics on which it is based (the book serves as  an interquel between the story arcs “Aflame” and “Deluge” in the Star Wars: Knight Errant comic book). The plot and the cast are both excellently written, with superb action and an engaging writing style. It’s a fun, adventurous read which should be on the reading list of any Star Wars fan, or any fantasy or science fiction enthusiast for that matter. Mind you, it’s by no means a perfect book, but I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if it doesn’t come pretty close.

RATING: 8.5/10

Note: I originally wrote this review as an assignment for my Creative Writing for Publication class. For those who care, I got 95% on it.

Image courtesy starwars.wikia.com

Bible Verse Sunday #36 & the End of Vacation 2013

Today's verse comes from a book I picked up while on vacation, called The Spirit of America. It's basically a catalog of various Bible verses by subject. Today's verse is Psalm 31:24:

"Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!"

The ESV Study Bible has this to say about the verse:

"The psalm closes with assurance: the God who has made promises and who has kept them in the past will continue to do so. On v. 24, cf. 27:14."

We didn't attend church today as we were busy driving home from vacation. We packed up all our stuff and let the hotel room swept clean. Then we went out for breakfast, going to this buffet thing at this fancy burger joint. Then we drove to this somewhat larger city where we walked around town. A lot. We walked more than half a mile to get to this bakery place where mom could purchase some gluten free bread. Then dad met up with us with the car, and we went to this electrical museum, where they had these old radios and telegraphs and stuff, including a theremin. It's a musical instrument invented by this physicist guy which you don't have to touch to play. You just wave your hands next to the rods and sound comes out. They even had this old radio which could be tuned to play stuff that would have been on the radio when it (the radio) was new, or something more modern, like a local news broadcast. After that, we went to this hobby shop, where I was unable to find anything related to the Star Wars Roleplaying game, but I did pick up some new dice. We then browsed at this comic book store where a bunch of guys were playing Yu-Gi-Oh. I didn't buy anything, but my Dad bought for my sisters some old Archie Comics and a Batman: Gotham Adventures issue from back in 2001! (As a rule, I generally don't buy any comics if I can get it from the library. Luckily for my comic book store, and comixology.com should I finally decide to shop there, there are plenty of issues out there that have yet to be collected in trade, namely issues from the first volume of the Azrael comic book)

We then left that town and hit the road again, listening to a Focus on the Family Radio Theatre production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I've always liked anything to do with The Chronicles of Narnia (except for the absolutely awful The Voyage of the Dawn Treader film), or anything to do with C.S. Lewis for that matter, and I listened to this series of audio dramatizations of The Chronicles of Narnia a lot when I was younger, and am thrilled to, after a series of technical issues, have them all ready to play on my iPod! With the help of a adapting cord, we were able to play it through the car radio. That kept us entertained until we got home (we stopped for bathroom breaks and an early dinner at this less-fancy burger joint). Aw, home, sweet home!

RPG Group 2013 - Session #8

This was a most unique session, in that I, being on vacation, had to Skype in to the session, which was attended by all of the other members. True, Nick arrived a little late, but he did arrive! Skype being Skype, I didn't have the best connection and sometimes Caleb's words were muted, but I managed to get most of what was going on.

After taking a moment to get our wits about us, Caleb had us re-roll our stealth checks, because he hadn't written down what we had rolled for last time. We then decided to send in Drell/Nessa, the only one trained in stealth, to investigate what was ahead of us. She went down the tunnel to find the bounty hunter standing over Captain Tede, a human. He/she (Drell is a male; Nessa is female) then doubled back, and told us of what he/she had seen. We then decided to sneak into the room and charge the bounty hunter. So, we rolled for stealth again, and we all got good rolls, setting our guns to stun. We then charged the bounty hunter, firing with all of our might. Unfortunately, since our guns were on stun, we weren't able to penetrate the bounty hunter's armor. Embar/GM got a twenty right in the bounty hunter's visor, and Captain Tede grabbed his gun and began laying down "suppressing fire", but it took several rounds, three stun grenades from the bounty hunter, and two attempts to combine fire before the GM had the vastly outgunned bounty hunter surrender. After my character stuck my gun under the bounty hunter's chin, Embar pulled the bounty hunter's helmet off and, surprise surprise, the bounty hunter was a girl! To be specific, a female Zabrak with white hair and I believe purple eyes. I think her name was Montellia or something, but I can't remember exactly, partly because the Skype connection wasn't the best.

Anyhow, Tede filled us in on what happened. The Imperials and this mining corporation called Telos Industrial Mining Coalition had been getting after Tede (something to do with him knowing about this weapons transport), which forced him to go underground- literally. He apparently commandeered the sewer system with Joem, and has been hiding out there. I wasn't able to get all of the details, what with the poor Skype connection and all, but I'll ask Caleb next time I see him. If any of you fellows who are in the RPG group are reading this blog, feel free to fill me in in the comments section. We then took the bounty huntress' weapons, and with breath masks supplied by Tede, made our way through the sewers back to the surface. We locked the bounty huntress in the trunk of our airspeeder (we bound her with her own binders) and sent Drell and Torin up to her motel room to secure Joem, who had been tortured by the bounty huntress to reveal Tede's location. Poor guy looked like he'd been through a lot.

After some debate over what to do with the bounty hunter, we decided to take her back to our base for interrogation. I wanted to take her to a motel on the outskirts of Terrovae to conduct the interrogation, as mandated by the Evil Overlord List, but Caleb talked me out of it. We went back to the Ax Head to grab Joem's speeder, and then we all went back to the base. There, we held a meeting to determine what to do with the bounty hunter. We realized that there wasn't anything we actually wanted to know, so we drove her back out to Terrovae and let her go.

A day or two later, the Free Telos movement contacted us, asking to meet with their leadership on forming a formal alliance. This would require a meeting with Lady Andra, a canon Star Wars character, at this mountain villa. Leaving Tede and Joem at the base, presumably to recuperate, we drove our Arrow battle speeder and the airspeeder up to the place. There were several paramilitary guys standing around, and I believe there were some tanks. We met with Lady Andra, who had a Wookiee bodyguard, and had a fancy dinner. We talked about uniting to fight the Empire and the TIMC, but then Drell got a sudden feeling of foreboding. We then requested that we do a quick security check around the villa, which we were given permission to do. We split into two groups; Embar/GM, Walte/Nick, and Kol/me in one side, and the others on another. We were in the art gallery when something blew up the tanks, and three stormtroopers broke through the windows. There was a shoot out, where each of us took out one stormtrooper. We then rushed into the next room, where some of the paramilitary guys were readying their weapons. I sheathed my sporting blaster and pulled out my blaster rifle, ready to take on any threat. It was then that we chose to end to end the session, where Caleb told us that our next session, wherever it might be, would be held not next week, but possibly on some random Saturday. We'll work out the details later. It was, in short, a momentous session.

RPG Group 2013 - (Belated) Session #7

Dangnabbit, yet another belated post? This is a disaster. Well, anyhow, here's the info on the seventh session of the RPG group. Nick was once again unable to attend, as was Kellyn. I believe that this session is the most dense session we've had yet.

After we fled the Black Bantha, we headed back to the base and dropped off Kellyn's character, Kit. We then headed back to the Ax Head, where we waited for Joem to show up. When we arrived there, the GM told us to role a spot check, which I succeeded on. Upon succeeding, I noticed Joem's landspeeder parked in an alley across the street from the Ax Head, covered with a tarp. We then went into the bar and tried to gather information, by rolling Gather Information checks. We learned that the bartender hadn't seen any Sullustans (Joem is a Sullustan), nor had these three old Duros that sat around yammering. My Gather Information checks were so bad, I actually ticked some people off. We eventually sent Drell to search Joem's speeder, where he found a holdout blaster in the glove box, and a key under the back seat.

After trying unsuccessfully to ferret information out of the bartender, the GM's character, Embar, dropped hints that we should try searching Joem's speeder more thoroughly. In this case, we found that the key under the seat did not start the landspeeder, but opened the trunk in the back. In there, we found a pair of waders, a glow rod, an access card that read something like "Terrovae Sewage Disposal - Sector Four - East Zone," and a large box. We opened the box to find a large supply of food and clothing. We were unable to figure out just was Joem was doing with this stuff, but pocketed the key card, just in case.

After that, we split into two groups; Embar and Torin stayed with Joem's landspeeder, while Drell and I stayed in the bar to keep an eye out for the Sullustan. We eventually all decided over comlink that we had to check out the Ax Head's back room, the same room where we had traded some Imperial blasters for a couple of explosive devices two sessions ago. I tried to distract the bartender. I went up to the bar and said, "Terrovae P.D.! I have a warrant to search your back room!" The bartender said, "Let me see your badge," to which I, Kol, said, "I'm undercover." He then said, "Where's the warrant?" I didn't say anything, but Drell said, "It's in the car!" When my deception rolls failed, I decided to say, "Uh, psych!" I then proceeded to pretend to be drunk. While the bartender wasn't exactly distracted by my antics, Nessa/Drell rolled a really good stealth check, allowing her to sneak into the back room. She rolled a twenty on her first spot check, and a sixteen or seventeen on her second spot check, allowing here to find not only a listening device behind this picture, but a camera in the corner of the room. There was only one door in this room. Drell took the bug and took it back to me, crushing it with her hand so as to not give us away. We sat down at a table and examined the bug. I rolled for knowledge of tech and concluded that it was made by SpireTech or something, and that it could either have been put there by the police, the Imperials, or a rival criminal enterprise. It could have been purchased legitimately or on the black market. In other words, we still knew nothing.

We stayed at the bar keeping an eye out for Joem until midnight (bar close was as 2:00 A.M.). After that, the others (Drell, Torin, and Embar) went back to base to get some sleep, while I stayed in the bar to keep an eye out for Joem (we had agreed to meet with him "tonight" at the Ax Head, but we never set a specific time). Finally, the bar closed, Joem hadn't shown up, and my character had to spend the night in the alley next to Joem's speeder. I called Embar in the middle of the night to tell him this, taking twelve rings on his comlink to answer. He was kind of tired.

The next morning, the others drove back from the base to help me further investigate the whereabouts of Joem (it was also at this moment that I put on this breath mask I had scavenged from the last campaign to further disguise myself). We went to this sewage disposal plant to ask around, but Embar couldn't find anybody who knew about Joem. We then decided to roll Gather Information checks to find the bounty hunter that had been chasing us. We also called Kit at the base to do some computer slicing, but the GM played her as Kellyn wasn't with us. Anyway, it wasn't hard to ask if a guy dressed head to toe in grey armor and a cloak with a wolf-shaped helmet was hanging around. We figured that the bounty hunter and Joem must be connected, as was Captain Tede. We finally found out what motel the bounty hunter was staying at ("the Saxon Motel") and prepared an ambush for the bounty hunter. Upon questioning the clerk at the front desk, we learned that the bounty hunter had been seen lugging a huge package up to his room. A Joem-sized package. But we still didn't know what room the bounty hunter was staying in (keep in mind that we all thought of him as a bounty hunter, even though we didn't know if this was the case). Linnae/Torin was sent up to the parking garage connected to the hotel/motel to scout around for the bounty hunter's swoop bike. She found it, but before she could do anything (or rather, she didn't have the mechanics skills to sabotage the swoop; my character was bringing the airspeeder around to where GM/Embar and Nessa/Drell were), the bounty hunter snuck out of the window of his room, went down the stairs, jumped onto the parking garage roof, and ran over to his bike past Torin, who I believe was hiding.

So we followed the bounty hunter in our airspeeder, with me rolling excellent pilot checks. We followed him (some of us speculated that it was, in fact, a her) to this sewage disposal plant or something, and followed him underground through this lift access (it's sort of like an elevator shaft). We trekked through the sewage disposal corridors until we came to a control room, where we found an unconscious male Twi'lek. After ascertaining that he was, in fact, alive, we used the computers in the control room to get a map of the sewage maintenance tunnels. We found that we were in the South Zone, I believe, and that there was a grey splotch on the map in the north part of the East Zone, where no information was being streamed from. We shimmied along these pipes to keep out of the waist deep sewage that was flooding the tunnels (we eventually all slipped and fell into the sewage and continued to walk through it. Embar's suit was ruined). I took some time to say, "What a wonderful smell you've discovered!" After several minutes of trekking, we came upon some womp rat packs, which we shot at in the cramped tunnels. I suffered from some damage, but we managed to fight them off. Also, Torin missed his shot and hit a pipe, splattering more sewage over us all. Nice going, Torin.

We then came to this door marked with warming signs saying not to go further, as previous doors had been marked. We got through them using Joem's key card which we had lifted from the landspeeder. We eventually came to this room where noxious orange smoke was coming out of it through a busted pipe or something. We quickly shut the door while we plotted our next move. Since I had the breath mask, I volunteered to go through the contaminated area to scout it out (I had gotten out the glow rod that went with my utility belt a while before), and then come back for the others. I did so, and found the other entrance. I ran back to the others and prepared them for what we were about to do. We all took deep breaths and ran through the gassed up area. Embar was holding a handkerchief over his nose, while the others held their breaths. The way poisons work (a GM's worst nightmare) in an RPG is a bit complicated, but it boils down to our constitution score being the limit of how many rounds we could hold our breath for. We managed to get to the next room just in the nick of time (nine rounds versus my +14 Constitution) As we got through the corridors and came to the next door (since I was the one with the breath mask, I had been leading the way this whole time), we saw it close ahead of us, as if someone had just gone through it. Intrigue! Anyhow, we went through the door and went on, finally entering the grey area on the map. There, we found a closed door with a keypad whose light was neither green nor red, but black. There was also a spot on the floor covered by some kind of metal sheet. After doing a spot check to know all of this, Drell lifted up the metal sheet, and we found a secret passage leading to a tunnel bored under the door. What could it be? Who was that talking beyond us? What was going to happen next? We could only wonder, as the session was over, and we had to wait until next week.

RPG Group 2013 - (Belated) Session #6

Gee whiz, another belated post? This better not turn into a habit. Anyhow, for yesterday's session, Nick was unable to attend due to fatigue. However, Kellyn was able to attend for the first time in a few weeks, so I hope that next week will be our next full session.

While we were waiting some fifteen minutes for Nick to arrive, we spent some time role playing. This session started off with us informing Kellyn's character, Kit, about our past adventures while she was away scouting for benefactors. She found an Ithorian guy who might want to help us, but I don't know much beyond that. We then discussed with Embar about how we might recruit some new members in the form of Captain Jeiry Tede, my character Kol's old commanding officer from the Telos Security Force. I made it up out of my head that Tede had founded his own private security company, and that we might be able to find him there. We went to the little business park where his offices were located, but his business seemed to have disappeared (Nick's character, Walte, was on "guard duty" at the base). We contacted the land lord of the building, and he informed us that Tede's company, Sabre Security, had recently gone out of business and had vacated the premises. We then went to this bar called the Black Bantha (name and existence also courtesy of me) where Tede and other army officers used to hang out. Kit and I went inside while Embar, Drell, and Torin waited in the airspeeder. Kit used her gather information skill to question the bartender, who was a Bith. In spite of her good roll, the bartender did not know where Tede might be, having most recently seen him last week (I kept my hood up this whole time to avoid being seen). As we were leaving the bar, the GM had us roll a spot check, and my character got the highest, I think. I saw an armored figure on a swoop bike watching us with macrobinoculars. He wore a cloak over his armor. We tried to follow him, but we soon decided we should try to lose him and not the other way around, so we broke off the chase. We speculated that he was a bounty hunter, but there wasn't a bounty on our heads as far as we knew.

We then decided to try to contact another one of my old army buddies, a Sullustan named Joem. He was a sergeant in the Telos Security Force and used to work at Tede's company. So we made tracks for his house, but as we were pulling up, we came upon a small squad of stormtroopers who had surrounded the house. Two where at the back where Joem's airspeeder also was, and two were at the front, where another Arrow Battle speeder was. My character, who was driving, drove the airspeeder into the alleyway behind the house (Drell got out of the airspeeder as we were going for it). We engaged the two stormtroopers in the back in a firefight, trading fire. Joem also came out of the house, brandishing a vibro knife. The stormtroopers tried to take a shot at him, but fortunately, their guns were set for stun. I got out with the others and made a point blank shot at a stormtrooper. Despite my good roll, however (I think it was a 19), I didn't score high enough damage to deal a killing shot. I don't recall who killed that particular stormtrooper, though it could have been Kit, but Drell got the second stormtrooper by aiming over the speeders. Meanwhile, the two stormtroopers at the back had come down through the narrow alleyway adjoined to the alley we had piloted our airspeeder in, and Embar rushed to confront them with his vibro rapier. He utterly failed at his attempt to strike the stormtrooper, however. There was then a complicated bit of gun play involving shooting over or around Embar at the stormtroopers (my character took a shot and failed), but eventually Torin or Kit killed the stormtrooper nearest to us. Unfortunately, now with Embar and that stormtrooper out of the way, this gave the fourth stormtrooper the opportunity to fire at Torin, hitting him square in the shoulder. Fortunately, we managed to all pile into the airspeeder (Drell had hidden himself in the trunk (???)) and flew away. Joem had already hopped into his airspeeder and flown away. We had agreed to meet with him at the Ax Head tonight.

We headed out from Joem's neighborhood to a parking garage where we ascertained everybody's hit points and did some healing. Torin got his injury treated and Embar took a second wind, recovering. I recovered as well, I believe, though I'm not sure exactly when I got hit. Must have been in the confusion of that firefight. We then went to hang out at the Black Bantha while we waited for nightfall to occur, when we would go to meet Joem at the Ax  Head. While we were there, we had a drink. I had a glass of Corellian ale, and I asked Caleb the GM if the bar had karaoke. He wasn't sure whether to roll with the black die ("bad") or the white die ("good"). So he rolled a 20 with the black die, meaning that there was karaoke, but it was really bad karaoke. My character decided to do some karaoke, singing the Ballad of Qui-Gon Jinn. I didn't make up more than two lines of lyrics for the song, but I heard a crack from Embar that I wasn't able to hold my drink very well. Fortunately, I had a Constitution of 14, so I wasn't incredibly inebriated. I did have only one glass, you know. Anyhow, we were chilling for about an hour of in game time when the same armored figure from earlier came into the bar. Thinking fast, I threw my glass at the back of this Gamorrean's head, and tricked him into thinking that the armored figure had done it. I did it by affecting a baritone voice similar to the bounty hunter's, and called the Gamorrean a pig face (the two had some kind of disagreement in front of the bar earlier), and after a threw the glass at him, I pointed to the bounty hunter and said, "He did it!" Unfortunately, both I and the Gamorrean had rolled a 1 on initiative. By the time the Gamorrean was able to go over to the bounty hunter (we were all calling him the bounty hunter), he had shot my character with a stun bolt. Meanwhile, Embar and Kit were making a break for the back entrance, and the other twenty-odd bar patrons erupted into panic. Drell and Torin had been outside watching this street magician, and we alerted them via comlink that the bounty hunter was here. So they pulled the airspeeder into the alley behind the bar, and we all piled into the airspeeder and went on our merry way. And that was the end of the session. The last thing I said was, "So much for your night on the town, Embar!"

I'm greatly looking forward to our next session, as we will likely be meeting with Joem to discuss the fate of Captain Tede, and I'm sure we'll be able to work Nick in too. And this new subplot with the bounty hunter... it's intriguing to say the least. I also hope that we'll be able to fight something other than stormtroopers for a change.