The Skarn war horns echoed like the screams of a dying star. Forty repulsor-skiffs surged across the dunes, their engines belching black smoke. At their center lumbered a monstrosity: the severed legs of an AT-TE walker, retrofitted into a battering ram by riveted durasteel plates. A Trandoshan warlord crouched atop it, his scaled hide grafted with stolen Mandalorian armor, a rotary blaster cannon slung over his shoulder.
"Break their walls!" he roared, his voice mangled by a vocalizer implant. "Leave none alive!"
James stood atop the settlement's eastern rampart, his fingers tightening around his ironwood staff. The system flickered:
[Enemy Forces: 87 Raiders | Threat Level: Critical]
[Objective: Repel siege engines | Casualty Tolerance: <10%]
---------------
The first wave hit the outer trenches—a kill zone disguised by James' Earth-inspired earthworks.
Twenty warriors lay buried under sand-colored tarps, their bodies coated in heat-diffusing resin to mimic the desert's thermal signature. As the skiffs passed, they erupted from the dunes like specters, yanking cables tied to buried repulsor mines.
The mines fired upward, shredding skiff hulls with concussive force. A raider's leg was severed mid-calf, his scream cut short as he impaled himself on a durasteel spike.
Two skiffs collided, their pilots reduced to pulp beneath the AT-TE's crushing treads.
[Raider Casualties: 12 | Tribe Casualties: 0]
---------------
The Trandoshan bellowed, redirecting his forces around the trenches. The AT-TE legs pivoted, their clawed feet gouging the sand as they charged the main gate.:
Hunters on the walls launched electro-charged nets—woven from razorvine and stripped starship wiring—from mounted ballistae. The nets ensnared the AT-TE's legs, their barbs sinking into metal joints.
Rulan triggered a salvaged Separatist power cell, flooding the nets with 10,000 volts. The AT-TE's servos sparked and seized, smoke curling from its hydraulics.
A raider stumbled into the net, his armor melting into his flesh. The stench of charred meat clogged the air.
[Trandoshan Rage: +50% | AT-TE Mobility: 70% → 30%]
---------------
The Trandoshan leapt from his crippled walker, blaster cannon blazing. Plasma bolts cratered the walls, scattering defenders.
He sprinted to the watchtower, where a hyperstorm resonator—a jury-rigged array of starship comm dishes—waited. Channeling Kinetic Control, he synced the resonator with the desert's latent electrostatic charge.
The air crackled. Sand spiraled into a vortex, sharpened glass shards orbiting its edges. Raiders screamed as the microstorm engulfed them, flaying skin from bone.
James' nose bled, his veins bulging. The system blared:
[Kinetic Control Overload: 35% → 50% | HP: -20]
The warlord charged through the storm, blaster cannon overheating. He swung the weapon like a club, shattering a defender's ribcage.
James met him atop the wall, staff clashing against the cannon's barrel.
Strike 1: The Trandoshan's vibro-ax grazed James' shoulder, drawing blood.
Counter: James jammed his staff into the ax's power cell, triggering an explosion that severed the Trandoshan's hand.
Final Blow: A Force-accelerated kick to the chest sent the warlord plummeting into the storm's maw.
[Raider Casualties: 58 | Tribe Casualties: 9]
---------------
The storm dissipated, leaving the dunes littered with smoldering wreckage. James collapsed against the resonator, his vision swimming. Mira dragged him upright, her voice sharp.
"The reactor—it's failing. You drained it!"
He spat blood. "Worth it."
[Reactor Stability: 60% → 15% | Galactic Attention: 25% → 40%]
---------------
James ascended the watchtower, channeling Kinetic Control to summon a micro-hyperstorm. Sand and debris spiraled into a localized tornado, swallowing raiders whole.
Cost: The effort split his lip, blood dripping onto the reactor's stone tablet.
[Kinetic Control (Lv. 28%) → Lv. 35% | Galactic Attention: 18% → 25%]
The Trandoshan, half-buried in sand, spat a broken fang. "You fight like a Jedi."
James leveled his staff. "Worse. I fight like a farmer."
---------------
After the battle, James sought Tharak at his camp. The warrior sat sharpening an axe, his followers roasting skink lizards over a fire.
"Protect the tribe while I'm gone," James said, tossing a sack of kyber shards onto the sand. "These power the reactor. Sell them to the Pykes if raiders return."
Tharak eyed the glowing crystals. "And what do I get?"
"The Star-Keeper's vault," James said. "Weapons. Tech. Enough to make you warlord of the entire Glass Plains."
Tharak's laugh was a dry rasp. "You trust me?"
"No. But I trust your greed."
The warriors murmured. Tharak stood, towering over James. "Fail, and I take your tribe as my own."
[Tribal Leadership Check Passed – Temporary Alliance Secured]
[New Status: "Fragile Truce" – Tharak's Loyalty: 40%]
---------------
The reactor core pulsed like a sick heart, its kyber crystals veined with black corruption. James descended into the chamber with his mother and Lira, the Twi'lek girl clutching a datapad of ancestral glyphs.
Purge Process:
Step 1 – Ancestral Resonance:
James placed his palms on the stone tablet, channeling Force Echo to replay the Jedi Knight's final moments. The vision revealed a melody—a healing mantra in Proto-Basic.
Challenge: The corrupted kyber retaliated, spewing dark energy that seared James' hands.
[Force Echo (Lv. 4) → Lv. 5 – Audio Reconstruction Unlocked]
Step 2 – Harmonic Alignment:
Lira hummed the melody, her untrained voice shaky but pure. The reactor's hum shifted, green-black veins retreating.
James used Kinetic Control to realign fractured crystals, sweat drenching his tunic.
[Kyber Purification (Lv. 1) – Progress: 50%]
Step 3 – Sacrifice:
The reactor surged, threatening to detonate. James' mother stepped forward, slicing her palm with a ritual dagger. Blood splattered the tablet, its glyphs blazing gold.
"Our ancestors demand a price," she hissed. "Pay it."
[Reactor Stability: 15% → 60% | Corruption Purged]
[Quest Completed: "Purge the Shadow" – Reward: Kyber Purification (Lv. 2)]
---------------
With the reactor stabilized, the stone tablet projected a holographic map. The vault's coordinates glowed 200 kilometers north, buried beneath the Glass Plains' deadliest region: the Shattered Wastes.
James, Lira, and six warriors boarded a sandcrawler retrofitted with hyperstorm sails. Supplies included:
Force-Reinforced Waterskins (via Kinetic Control).
Sunflare Grenades (improvised from reactor shards).
The Jedi Beacon (still pulsing ominously).
---------------
At dawn, Tharak tossed James a skull-shaped key. "Found it in a raider's corpse. Don't die before I get my weapons."
[New Item: Skull Key – ??? Properties]
---------------
The Shattered Wastes lived up to their name. Jagged glass spires stabbed the sky, reflecting the twin suns into a kaleidoscope of lethal light. The sandcrawler's treads crunched over obsidian shards as the group neared the vault's coordinates.
A band of Tusken Scouts ambushed from glass tunnels, gaderffii sticks clattering against the crawler's hull.
Counter: Lira unleashed a Force Scream (untrained, accidental), shattering the glass around them.
[Force Disturbance Detected: Galactic Attention 25% → 35%]
The crawler plunged into a hidden pit, its hull screeching against buried starship wreckage.
As James climbed out, a shadow fell over the dunes—a Krayt Dragon, its scales glittering like the glass plains. Behind it, the vault's entrance loomed, sealed by a door etched with the same skull symbol as Tharak's key.
"Well," Lira whispered, "That's not in the stories."
[Quest Progress: "Heart of the Star-Keeper" – Vault Accessibility: 10%]
---------------
[STATUS PAGE]
[Age: 12]
[Current Identity: "Victorious Defender of the Tribe"]
[Affiliation: Tribe of Stone Ridge]
[STATS]
[Strength (Physical): 18]
[Agility (Movement & Reaction Speed): 18]
[Force (Midichlorian Count): 8,000]
[Luck: 8]
[SKILLS]
[Staff Combat: 55%] [Advanced] [Foundation skill; opened into subskills like Whirlstrike and Fluid Assault.]
[Combo Chain – Fluid Assault: Lv. 2] [Allows for smoother, uninterrupted chains of attacks during melee.]
[Momentum Skill – Whirlstrike: Lv. 2] [A forceful spinning strike, useful for clearing space or staggering foes.]
[Pain Resistance: 60%] [Allows to keep fighting while injured. Developed from repeated exposure in training and battle.]
[Tactical Insight: Lv. 5] [Grants limited predictive combat intuition; recognizes enemy stance shifts and weaknesses.]
[Force Body: Lv. 3] [Boosts physical resistance and stamina recovery; triggered through willpower during the first trial.]
[Force Sensory Awareness: 35%] [Allows user to detect hidden threats, resources, or presences (e.g., water sources, approaching enemies, or Force-sensitive beings) through the Force.]
[Force Telekinesis: Lv. 10] [Most used Force ability. Can lift, push, and crush enemies mid-combat. Precision is improving. Lift limit is expanded.]
[Kinetic Control: 35%] [Compressing air with invisible force. Summoning the hyperstorm vortex during a battle.]
[Force Cloak: Lv. 4] [A rare and advanced Force ability that allows a user to mask their Force signature, making them undetectable to other Force-sensitive beings. It's often associated with Sith stealth tactics (e.g., Darth Sidious hiding his dark side presence) or Jedi Shadows (elite Jedi who hunt dark side artifacts covertly).]
[Force Reinforcement: Lv. 1] [A utilitarian Force skill that strengthens objects, structures, or the user's body. Jedi often use it to reinforce shields or fortify defenses (e.g., Bastila Shan's Battle Meditation indirectly bolstered allies). Sith might enhance weapons or torture tools.]
[Force Echo: Lv. 5] [Glimpse memories imprinted on objects with audio traces. Get glyphs reaction and ancestral visions from objects.]
[Kyber Purification: Lv. 2] [Cleanse dark energy from corrupted kyber crystals.]
[Strategic Planning: Lv. 4] [New skill unlocked from tribe leadership and defensive planning. Provides insight into long-term survival and defense strategies.]
[Basic Engineering: 38%] [Construction and fortification design.]
[Salvage Crafting: 34% Success Chance] [Repurposing scavenged materials (starship parts, Skarn weapons, etc.) into tools, weapons, or infrastructure.]
[Starship Engineering: Lv. 1] [Can repair basic systems (life support, power grids).]
[Tribal Leadership: Lv. 6] [Governing, morale management, organization.]
[Environmental Empathy (Passive): Lv. 3] [Grants an instinctive connection to the planet's ecosystems, letting the user "read" environmental patterns (weather shifts, geological stability, resource distribution).]
[Hydraulic Mastery: Lv. 1] [Grants advanced understanding of water systems (+10% irrigation efficiency).]
[Hydroponics Design: Lv. 2] [This skill boosts food security by allowing soil-free cultivation in sealed greenhouse domes, using recycled water from hyperstorm runoff and Force-regulated humidity.]
[Crisis Management Lv. 1] [Enables the user to make rapid, effective decisions during emergencies (raids, natural disasters, resource shortages).]
[Risk Assessment: Lv. 1] [Calculates cost/benefit ratios for critical decisions.]
[Teräs Käsi Combat: Lv. 5] [A melee weapon and hand-to-hand combat technique that was created to fight force-sensitives, particularly members of the Jedi Order.] [Unlocked "Dune Tempest" Combo (spinning staff strikes + Force-assisted momentum).]
[Earthborn Resilience: Lv. 1] [Brutal training regimen blending Earth endurance and desert survival. Reduces fatigue from manual labor and combat.]
[Archaeotechnology: Lv. 2] [Decoding/repurposing ancient tech (e.g., reactor's stone tablet, geared mechanisms).]
[Low-Tech Engineering: Lv. 1] [Designing systems without galactic tech (Roman aqueducts, windmills).]