(A scene from a different quest.)

Luke decides that it best for himself and his student to put some distance between himself and the Darkside necromancer before beginning the interrogation remotely.  Once the Alliance medidroid wakes the prisoner up, Luke presses the send button on the mic.  "This is Luke Skywalker speaking.  You're being held on suspicion of treason.  But I'm more curious about how very welcoming your uh... congregation was at first.  So...  Not exactly what I expected.  Please explain what your group is all about."

Groggy at first, the old man meditates for a moment to clear his head.  "So polite.  But why would it be surprising, Skywalker?  My Master recalls the time when you were just as warmly welcomed into his throne room on the Death Star and welcomed to hear out what his group is all about."

Luke's face tightens.  Taking his finger off the send button, he looks over to Layloo.  "Already playing mind games with me.  What he describes is something... how did he know?  I didn't keep what happened there a secret, but the details he's mentioning... I don't think I've told anyone.  I'm going to need a moment.  Feel free to ask him your own questions."

Layloo looks up at Luke. "Thanks, Luke."

She puts a comforting hand on Luke's arm, petting it, then taking the mic with her other hand. She can't think of any words in the moment for comforting or calming Luke concerning that matter. Even telling him she is proud of him seems to bother him lately. So she figured silent affection would be best.

Layloo presses the send button. "This is Layloo speaking. Who are you and what are you, in fact, all about?"

"Nice to meet you, Layloo," the prisoner answers with a mild smile, "After a fashion.  Though we are not face-to-face, I recognize your voice.  You're the bold one of the group, are you not?  I am Krogrol.  And I'm all about immortality.  A topic that I'm sure your Master Skywalker is particularly familiar with.  He speaks with ghosts too, does he not?  So do I!

"But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.  Not long ago, I was approached by an interesting boy who claimed to have the power to raise the dead.  Needless to say, when he proved his claim, I was quite surprised!  He told me that he is the pupil of the ghost of the late Emperor Palpatine who has ascended to a new, more powerful state of being, unfettered by limitations such as distance or physical barriers!  And he was interested in teaching me!  Like Skywalker, I am among a select few who can receive this rare power.  And receive it I did!  You saw yourself, did you not?  The child revived before your very eyes through the power of Palpatine!

"My purpose is simply to help grieving folks reunite with their lost loved ones like I have been.  With the guidance of my teacher, I've been making quite a bit of progress.  I can understand that not everyone is ready to accept that death need no longer be the end, and that is why me and my congregation meet in secret.  But I will gladly endure any scrutiny to prove to you that what I tell you is true!"

Luke's brow furrows, and he remains silent, deep in thought.

Layloo listens, ears wiggling once or twice. She lets go of the send button and briefly says to Luke, "Sounds like that ghost we encountered not too long ago. But let's see how he answers what everyone there witnessed."

Layloo presses the send button and says, "That all sounds good on its surface. But I watched that boy begin to chew on his father's flesh. Can you explain to me why a boy his age would begin to try to eat his father upon returning from the dead? And lest you doubt, this was all caught on camera."

Krogrol looks disgusted and confused.  "Is this some perverse test?  Hmm...  Unlikely you'd have had the time to put together a convincing fake video in this short a time.  May I see it now?"

The man looks skeptical and on edge.

Luke looks skeptical too, carefully eyeing the monitor.  "I took it for granted he knew that happened..."

Layloo is relieved that the man is, in fact, reasonable enough to realize that you can't put together a fake video THAT fast. A point she would have made if Krogol didn't. She presses the send button. "Of course. One moment, please."

She turns to Luke. "Does he have a monitor in there to view something sent to it? Or some way for us to show him?"

Luke nods.  He has R2 jack into the interface and soon enough, a holovid is projected for Krogrol of the confrontation.  R2 is sure to focus on the parts where zombie boy acts zombie-like.

Krogrol looks confused, but there's a distinct lack of horror on his face.  "Um...  What I see is a boy so terrified by the violence around him that he buries his face in his father's shoulder and cries.  Have you reviewed your video?  Perhaps in the chaos you thought you saw something you didn't."

Luke leans back, an incredulous look on his face.  "Is this guy for real?  How can he say that when the video is clear as day?"

R2 bleeps at him.  Luke shakes his head.  "That was different.  Obi-Wan just gave the guys a simple suggestion.  It wasn't permanent, and it wasn't remote."

R2 bleeps some more.  Luke furrows his brow and answers, "If Palpatine had a power like that, he'd have... Oh."

His face turns pale and he gulps.

Layloo says, "What is it, Luke?"

She can only guess. But it is clear Krogrol is under some kind of mental influence. And what Luke is saying is quite disturbing. It doesn't take a genius to fill in the blanks. Still, she wants to hear it from Luke's mouth.

Krogrol looks at the camera in curiosity.  "I take it you're reviewing the video.  And finding that what you thought you saw happen didn't happen."

Luke purses his lips.  "An unpleasant doubt.  But I'm realizing that the truth is probably not as bad as I'm thinking.  Two possibilities are more likely.  One: This guy is a convincing liar.  Or two: he has lost his mind and is unable to see the truth staring him in the face.

... Or maybe our enemy is using this man to plant doubts in my mind.  It felt a little too easy that we found him and defeated him so quickly."

Layloo says, "..those are a lot of thoughts."

She presses the button and says, "We're still seeing the boy acting precisely as we said and are discussing why you are not seeing what is on the video. I am wondering; if we show you the child-human-specific bite marks on the father's neck, if you will either not see the bite marks, or see it as a different kind of bite..."

Krogrol looks a tad annoyed.  "Please don't bother.  It would be a simple matter for you to bite his neck and show me this 'proof.'  I would rather him not have to suffer for this awful ruse."

Luke purses his lips.  "And now I'm wondering what the other cultists saw."

Layloo presses the button and says, "It would not be a simple matter. Child human teeth marks of his size would not match my mouth. But you are right that it wouldn't matter. If you cannot see what is on that video, no evidence will matter. But do consider this: If this were a ruse, why show you a video of what *you* expect to see?"

She then turns back to Luke. "Probably the same thing. And all of them with equal ability to reason away any evidence. The whole cult is now no longer a reliable lead. Any information they give us is now suspect and could simply be a trap. But..."

Layloo brings her finger to her nose in thought. "...if we can cleanse them of whatever is making them see illusions, they may yet be able to lead us back to this dark master of theirs."

"So certain that I'm blind to the truth?" Krogrol answers, "How can we know it is not you?  Are you so sure that the video shows what you think it does because you have a host of witnesses eager to jump at the chance to prove the infallibility of your hero?  Suppose they tell you that the boy is perfectly healthy, but all you hear is what you want to hear?  At least one of us is seeing a falsehood, so neither of us can be sure who it is."

Luke is looking annoyed and jaded by Krogol's answer.  He presses the send button and answers, "You raise an interesting question that's not easy to answer.  We'll take some time to think about it."

Krogrol looks surprised and impressed.

Luke turns to Layloo.  "I don't know how to 'cleanse' anyone of a power I've never encountered before.  There's little in this universe that's new, so chances are if we delve into the old Jedi temples that survived the purge, we'll have a better chance of finding an answer than if I were to start experimenting on prisoners.  And perhaps a better chance of avoiding the Darkside.

"Unless... do you think you can trick this guy into believing that we're considering joining his master and all we need is his location?  I dunno.  With this kinda power, I'm not so sure I'm prepared to face him.  What if he makes me see you as an enemy with his insanity-inducing power?  Even with the others to back you up, I'm not so sure you could take me down.  I'm beginning to wonder if I should ever raise my hand in violence ever again.  Just in case..."

Layloo nods to Luke and presses the button, "Your thought about whether I may be the one under mental influence occurred to me. Then I thought about all the witnesses who are confirming they saw what I did. But I did not think about the point that those same witnesses may just be saying that to see you put away. Please be patient with me and understand. I have only been off my world for a few months. Before that? All I knew was tribal hunting. Technology... the force... even the idea of factions within factions let alone so *many* factions... this is all new to me."

Layloo released the button, looks to Luke and says, "We have been doing the right thing by getting weapons that only knock out rather than harm or kill. Perhaps the subtle guidance of the Force. Let's give it heed and switch completely to non-lethal things? Guns are easy enough. And if we only use our lightsabers to block enemy blasts, then we won't be cutting off limbs. And if we should deflect a blast back to its sender, if it was one of our team, it will only knock them out. As for convincing this man..."

She looks at the screen, then back to Luke. "Rather than convince him to take us to his master, why not convince him to teach us what he was taught? And where he was taught it? I'm willing to reason with him in person. I genuinely believe he is not the mastermind and does not mean us ill, despite the darkside he is infused with."

Luke nods.  "Not gunna hurt getting more info outta this guy.  Seems surprisingly cooperative.  Even if everything out of his mouth is a lie, I've heard that expert interrogators can figure out the truth between the lies.  So silence is the only real dead end to an interrogation.

"As for either of us being in the same room with this guy, that's a definite no.  He worships Palpatine, and let me tell you...  The Darkside is harder to resist when a master of it appears to be vulnerable.  Palpatine left himself wide open to coax me to attack.  Then told me what I already knew.  That if I were to strike him down in anger, my journey to the Darkside would be complete.  Hate to admit it, but this guy has learned well to emulate Palpatine, so we should not underestimate him.

"Say what you gotta say from here...  I'll probably keep my words with him few, though."

Layloo presses the button. "Krogrol... let's forget about videos then, and share ideas. It seems we at least are able to communicate. We may not be allowed by whoever to believe our own eyes, but we have been permitted to understand. And we'll try sharing ideas in the opposite way that people normally perceive. Normally, people argue because they want to be right more than they want to learn. But I want to learn. And I get the feeling you do too. So tell me your story and I will listen from the perspective of you being right so I can understand you as clear as possible."

Krogrol slowly nods, listening to Layloo.  "Wise words...  Very well.

"You mentioned earlier that you're from a tribal society.  Honestly, you probably have more experience with the larger scope of this Galaxy's workings than you give yourself credit for.  Well this place that your in is home to many different 'tribes,' but the two strongest, The Empire and The Alliance, both value this sky village.  So they fight over it rather than share.  This means many of the natives get caught in the crossfire.  And die.  Who's at fault?  It's often impossible to tell.

"I lost my family in an old conflict like this one.  Since then I've devoted my life to searching for purpose.  But what is one man against a tide of endless tide of death?  No sooner does one war end than another starts up!  It was in despair of ever making a real difference for the families of this world being torn apart that I was ready for the revelation of The Ascended Emperor.

"When His body, scarred and bent with age as it was, was destroyed, He was finally freed of such mortal shackles.  Freed also of his attachment to his aspirations of winning a needless war, he searched The Galaxy for a student to whom he could impart his newfound enlightenment, regardless of what their allegiance may be.  He found a very talented young man, Creon, a Rebel sympathizer, and took him in under his wing.

"Palpatine has sculpted Creon's natural talent into the power to raise the dead - The Touch of Sidious!  And that's not all!  The Touch of Sidious can be passed on to initiates such as myself!  Then, through practice and the glorious power of The Ascended Palpatine, I can teach the technique to others!  This means that soon life will conquer death in this Galaxy!  No more will war be the final end for sundered families!  Nor disease nor age nor any other grim gateway to eternal loss.

"The Touch of Sidious was granted to me through the touch of Creon and my willing surrender to the will of Palpatine.  It was painful, to be sure, but very much worth it!  I have not yet learned enough mastery to confer the power to you.  But soon.  Or, if you are found worthy, perhaps you and Luke can receive the knowledge of The Touch of Sidious directly from Creon himself!"

Krogrol speaks with the conviction and zeal of a cultist, eager to make converts of Layloo and Luke.

Luke has a grim look on his face as the implications of what he's hearing sinks in.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:20, Tue 12 Mar 2019.

Layloo looks like she is listening intently. With her finger off the button, she says, "Palpatine is replicating himself and granting the power to animate the dead to his replicas. I can only hope we caught it early enough to stop it at its source..."

Layloo presses the button. "I grew up on a remote world my people call Tana... The forest moon of the planet your people call Endor. I am an Ewok. Ewok tribes generally got along well enough. And we generally try to get along with other types of people. But the dulocks are aggressive, grumpy, suspicious, and barely get along with each other. So as you can imagine, Ewoks clash with dulocks often.

"But then one day, another world besides Endor began to take shape in our skies. What the Empire called the Death Star. My tribe had no idea how this world came to be. Some said the gods had made a second home. Others thought perhaps the dulocks' gods had finally grown powerful enough to challenge our own.

"It soon became clear that the new world in the sky was an ominous thing. Shining white people taller than dulocks and wielding sticks that created beams of fire began occupying a nearby area and creating what looked like a palace from the afterlife. We soon discovered these shining white beings were not benevolent and were not interested in trying to communicate, but rather, harming or killing us. Then the big turning point happened. One of our gods showed up: The Golden One."

She pauses both for effect and to see the man's expression. Honestly, this is the first time she has had the chance to voice her perspective of the war and she wonders if Luke already knew she felt this way or not.

Layloo continues, "After he demonstrated his great power to convince us that our latest prisoners were his friends, we were soon recruited into this divine war between the friends of the Golden One... and the White Devils. When we saw the new world in the sky burst into flame, we figured the Golden One had used his power to destroy the world the White Devils were in service to. Pieces of that divine world fell from the sky and onto our world.

"Towards the end of the victory celebration, I was told by my tribe's shaman Logray that I was to go with the one named Luke Skywalker, who's very name still has great meaning to me and my people as you can imagine...

"It was then, after leaving my home behind that I began learning from Luke about what happened and that the Golden One was a protocol droid made of gold-colored metal. The powers the Golden One demonstrated were actually Luke using the Force in a clever way to convince my tribe to not sacrifice him and his friends to the Golden One. The Death Star was actually destroyed by people in flying machines."

At this point, Layloo's voice becomes clearly shaky and filled with conviction, compassion, and terror.

"I also learned the White Devils were just people wearing white armor and that their faction was The Empire. I also learned that the world I saw burn up in my sky was not the first time the Empire had made such a terrible thing. A world called Alderaan had been destroyed by the first Death Star. I have met some of the few fortunate survivors of that tragedy, including its princess. I do not know if the Alliance has destroyed worlds, but time and again, I have met people from all over who were witness to The Empire having destroyed many worlds, killing so many innocents that my people never had a number that high.

"So believe me when I say: I really *really* hope it was all a lie and that I've been deceived somehow. But you yourself told me life isn't so fair. Life proved to you that what you are saying is too good to be true. And what I was told sounds exactly like the truth you have known most of your life. But by the Force, I will get to the bottom of this one way or another."

Luke stoically places a comforting hand on Layloo's shoulder without saying a word.

Krogrol listens intently.  When Layloo finishes, he looks spooked.  "You yourself witnessed the destruction of a populated world by the Rebels.  But don't you see?  This is why.  The Touch...  it must be true!  Th-  There simply must be an end to the cycle of needless death!"

Tears roll down his cheeks and he sobs like someone at a funeral.

Layloo reaches a hand up to place upon Luke's hand, looking down as she lets her other hand slowly slide off the mic. Then turns to lay her head against Luke's side.

She doesn't say anything for a while, though it is clear she is shedding silent tears for the very thing she was just talking about and is taking deep breaths to collect herself.

Layloo puts on a determined look and takes the mic again (though still keeping her other hand on Luke's). "I'm sorry. Even if the search isn't over; there is still hope. The answer is out there. Please help me. Tell me where I need to begin my search. I might find you are right. And if I don't, I'll at least know I'm ruling something out in the search for the end of the cycle of death."

Krogrol collects himself and answers, "I don't know.  I haven't heard from Creon for a couple days.  I can give him your contact info the next time he does."

Luke looks to R2 who bleeps in reply.  Luke nods.

Layloo presses the button again. "That will work. Luke will give you the contact information. Thank you. Until next time..."

Layloo looks up at Luke expectantly.

Luke has R2 put the contact info for an Aliance coms officer onto Krogrol's datapad.

"Way to go, Layloo.  I think you probably did better than anyone else could have."

R2 bleeps.  Luke chuckles.  "Yes.  Me included."

He exchanges a few words with the Alliance interrogator present, sharply warning him that only droids be allowed near the prisoner.  And that probably it will be best if the prisoner be kept in cryo-stasis for his own good.

Layloo gives a hopeful smile from the commendations of Luke and R2. "...thanks, guys. I just hope it was good enough."

From there, Layloo quietly follows Luke until reunited with the others.