Session 03: A Wretched Hive

Upon returning to the Nebulon-B frigate Resurgence, the heroes were met with a formal welcome. Admiral Gilder Varth was quickly escorted away for debriefing, while the group was introduced to Captain Adrian Verana, commanding officer of the vessel. Verana thanked them for a mission well completed and arranged for a thousand credits to be transferred to their account. He also made it clear that the involvement of Senator Bail Organa must remain confidential, stressing that any direct link to the senator could bring severe consequences in these volatile times.
  The group was given private quarters aboard the frigate and spent the next couple of weeks in relative peace, attending to personal matters and recuperating from their intense operations on Felucia. The Resurgence became a temporary home, and the quiet routine was a welcome change—until they were once again summoned to the briefing room.
  There, Admiral Varth shared a troubling revelation. During his time with the Empire, he had been involved with a shadowy operation known as the Sarlacc Project. In an effort to funnel resources and credits past Senate oversight, Varth had worked through a network of corporate fronts and criminal intermediaries. One of the key recipients of this illicit funding had been a Hutt gangster named Darga, who was currently based in the city of Zarra on Cato Neimoidia. If the heroes wanted to trace the Sarlacc Project to its source, Darga was their next lead.
  Captain Okeefe, still on retainer with the Rebellion, ferried the heroes aboard the Banshee to Cato Neimoidia. The journey passed without incident, but as they descended toward the colony world, the group noted a stark stillness. Once a hub of commerce before the Clone Wars, Zarra now seemed a ghost of its former self—quiet, with almost no traffic in or out.
  After landing, the group was immediately confronted by a local swoop gang known as the Vipers. The gang demanded payment for safe passage into the city, but Mouse stepped forward with a clever bluff, claiming they were on business with Darga the Hutt. Her performance was convincing enough to make the Vipers think twice, and they quickly backed off.
  In pursuit of a way into Darga’s court, the heroes followed rumors and bribes that led them to a local cantina called Federation’s Folly. There, they paid for information and were pointed toward a man named Warrick Raden, a mid-level criminal who operated out of a nearby warehouse and had known ties to Darga. The heroes devised a ruse, placing a disabled restraining bolt on Zia to make it appear they were attempting to sell her schematics. Warrick, however, wasn’t buying it and ordered them to move along.
  Unwilling to give up so easily, the group staged a demonstration. At a signal, Zia lunged at one of Warrick’s thugs and crushed his chestplate with brutal precision. The display was enough—Warrick surrendered and agreed to escort them to Darga’s palace.
  As they approached the so-called palace, Warrick’s nerves began to fray. What looked like a pile of ruins was, in fact, a fortress cobbled together from numerous Neimoidian estates. After a tense exchange through a narrow eye-slit in the main blast door, Warrick led the heroes into the court of Darga the Hutt.
  Darga was less than pleased with Warrick’s initiative and promptly had him seized by his Gamorrean guards. Turning his attention to the heroes, the Hutt seemed intrigued by their resourcefulness. He offered them hospitality in exchange for patience, asking them to stay in his court for a few days while he hosted other guests—some of whom, were Imperial agents. This delay, though frustrating, could present the very lead they needed. Darga’s court offered them fine food, drink, and lavish accommodations, with their guest quarters free of any obvious surveillance.
  The following day, the heroes returned to the court only to be met with a dilemma. Darga, still fuming over Warrick’s perceived betrayal, decreed that the heroes should be the ones to execute him. Mouse, thinking quickly, proposed a more entertaining option—a gladiatorial battle between Warrick and their droid. Darga agreed, and a crowd gathered to watch. In the ring, Zia defeated Warrick in brutal fashion, though the fight left her frame battered and dented.
  During the match, Mouse caught the unsettling gaze of Igren Demos, Darga’s majordomo. She immediately sensed that Igren was Force-sensitive and likely dangerous. Her unease did not go unnoticed—Merrik later pulled her aside and quietly assured her that eliminating criminals, even in these ways, was ultimately for the greater good.
  That night, Darga sent the heroes an assortment of gifts: food, liquor, and exotic dancers, all meant to entertain and distract. Though they enjoyed the hospitality, the group couldn’t shake the sense of being watched—or manipulated. Still, they hoped their time in the palace would soon yield the intelligence they needed to peel back the veil on the Sarlacc Project.