Part 23: Dantooine: Hey, We Were Running Short on Mines, Okay?

Last time, we were poking around the Kinrath caves on Dantooine and stumbled upon Master Vrook, the second of our four lost Jedi Masters.



Against my better judgment, we’re going to let Vrook go.



Well this is somewhat interesting. We haven’t heard anything about the Exchange on Dantooine up until now, why would they suddenly take an interest in attacking Khoonda?

Hmm.



It sounds like the mercenaries were going to attack anyway, whether they had Vrook captured or not. He’s just saying this to guilt us for something that’s not our fault, yet again. Vrook is like one of those emotionally abusive fathers who always tries to pass it off as ‘tough love’.





We’ve got a little welcoming party as we exit the cave.



“I am planning to take Khoonda, and you're going to help me.”





“Of course, I will pay well for your services.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“There are many ways someone with your abilities can aid us. Before the action begins, I have two main tasks in mind for you: disable the gun turrets and the traps. When the militia learns of our attack, they will plant traps around the entrances to Khoonda. Disable them. Deal with the turrets however you see fit, just keep them from pestering my men.”



Well, let’s just keep our options open for now. It’s no good getting the mercenaries mad at us this early.





Even Kreia agrees.

Anyway let’s cut away for a moment to check in with what’s happening back on the Ebon Hawk.

This is the first confrontation between two of the more evil droids in the galaxy.



Goto knows quite a bit about the other HK-50 units for some reason.



Oh, HK. Never change.









I don’t even know what this means. Probably related to the cut droid factory subplot again.



Sounds like Vrook was being a dick to her too.



“You didn't anticipate a coordinated attack?”
“Certainly not. The common mercenaries are wild and undisciplined, like feral kath hounds. We didn't anticipate that their leadership could organize anything so elaborate. We were wrong. But thanks to you and Master Vrook we now have a chance to win this battle.”



What the hell – is Vrook doing the ‘Fonz’?

“What can I do to help?”
“Our militia is effective at peace-keeping but isn't prepared for a full-scale battle. If you can do anything to ready them for the reality of it, that would be helpful. Besides that, look around Khoonda and see what you can do to strengthen our defenses. I know that we don't have the perimeter turrets online, and that alone could make a significant difference.”



Zherron is the militia captain on her left.



“Any ideas on what I can do to help?”





Ok, so we’re going to go around fixing things and recruiting people to the militia. This is an RPG type of ‘siege’ quest, where all the actions you do right now are suppose to have an effect on the final battle of this planet. That’s the theory.

However, none of what we’ll do right now matters.





First we should recruit some people. Prime candidates are the asshole NPCs we’ve met so far; what better way to get revenge on them than to get them killed in the militia?



This was the bitch that ‘greeted’ us when we got off the plane.





And this was ungrateful guy who swindled a bunch of stuff from the Jedi Enclave and tried to sell it to us.





Yes. Yes he does.



There’s a minefield outside. We’re suppose to add our own mines to it to make it more effective and blow up the mercenaries better. But uh, we’ve been using quite a lot of mines ourselves, so we’re running a bit low…

In fact, no one will notice if we take the ones already in the ground, right?



La de da…

Don’t worry. As I said, none of this matters.



There’s a medical facility here with some injured soldiers and a broken healing droid.





One of the few times we can use Treat Injury in a conversation.



We can also fix the droid and it’ll automatically heal everyone.



There’s also a bunch of broken droids to fix.

This whole place is such a craphole. Nothing fucking works around here; everything’s broken.



These droids will help us fight in the final battle.



In one of the droids we find a spanner stuck inside. Akkere is the local droid dealer. Suspicious.

Let’s track him down and grill him, Law and Order style!











Here it comes, the good ol’ sob story.



I knew it. It’s the wife and kids thing again. We’ve heard this one twice on Dantooine already.

“The doctors of Telos will not treat her without full payment up front. But my brother doesn't have any money. Before the moon has turned, I must send my brother enough credits to pay the doctors.”





Lennie Briscoe wouldn’t take shit like that and neither should Jedi Jesus.



Wha?



Uh-oh, this shouldn’t have happened.







_{*It’s possible I may have deliberately murdered that guy to get influence with HK-47 without incurring a Dark Side point. But don’t tell anybody.}



Vrook is going to run off and be useless again.



Good. With him out of the way we can do whatever want to Khoonda and he’ll be none the wiser.





“Have you talked with the men?”
“Well, I'll tell them what's there to do. I'm not much for words.”





Me speak good.



Well we’ve got four options. Three of them are highly moving and uplifting. One of them is the total clown option.

Do you even have to ask which one I’m picking?







They look so… inspired.



Well, he doesn’t seem to mind, so it’s all good.



There’s a cutscene between Azkul , the mercenary captain, and one of his lackies.

“Tell me what you see, soldier.”
“They're mobilizing the militia. Looks like a lot of activity down there.”
“They've been warned. It won't be of any use. The plan doesn't change. Captains, prepare your men.”
“Their "leader", Administrator Terena, must not survive the battle. Everything else is secondary to that objective.”



We shift to a cutscene. Here comes the mercenary army.





It shows us the battle outside, instead of letting us fight it.



“We've breached the perimeter, Azkul.”
“We must accomplish our objective. They're falling before us like herdbeasts to the slaughter. Still, a lesson must be taught about resistance. We won't be made fools by these backworld slime. Kill anyone who crosses your path.”



Hey guess what? None of the crap we did, none of the turrets we fixed, none of the people we recruited – none of it matter a lick of difference because whoever we side with, wins the battle. No matter what. If we did all the stuff to help out Khoonda and then take up the mercenaries’ offer here, then the mercenaries win anyway.



I was going maybe offer a vote for siding with him, and present some sort of philosophical argument to his point of view. But he’s even more of a colossal prick than the rest of the Dantooine people and I don’t see any empathetic qualities to him, so we’ll just go with the settlers next update. I’ll show what happens if we side with him though.

To make up for it, here’s some more cut content.



The siege of Khoonda was suppose to be much bigger. As it is now, there is one short fight inside the building, and that’s it. It’s really chopped up. However there was originally suppose to be a huge fight outside, and a longer fight inside where mercenaries were suppose to be pouring in through the various entrances of the building. It would have been slightly more… climatic than what’s in game right now.

If you started off the battle on the settler’s side, you were suppose to be able to talk to Zherron (the captain) and choose to strategically place different squadrons of troops at various entrances. If you’ve played NWN: Hordes of the Underdark or NWN2, you’ll know what I’m talking about with regards to the siege minigame.

“There's the front door. The security door on the side. And the garage door in back.”
“We got three squads of militia. We can assign people to the front, back, or inside. Backside has to guard two entrances. The front will have to fight more people. And the inside will have to deal with any that break through.”
“Could you tell me about the squads?”
“First squad is the most experienced. The only squad that could go blaster to blaster against the mercs. Second squad has a lot of passion, but no experience. Third squad is new and not trained too well and they may break in combat. They need a good leader to make them effective.”
“So... where do you think the first squad should be deployed?”
“The back - by the garage.”
“The battles that had the least dying were always led by Jedi. I'm gonna go with what you think. Where do you want the second squad?”
“Inside by the administrator's door.”
“Where do you want the third squad, the new recruits?”
“Main entrance.”
“Fine by me. The last question is, where do you want to go? Either the front or the back. I'll take whichever one you don't. That way both sides have leadership.”
“I'll try covering the two back entrances.”
“The back? I... suppose that there is more ground to cover with the two entrances. All right, I'll take the front. Once the fighting starts you got to stay in your area. We both have to guard our half of the battlefield. Come over to me, and the mercs will just charge straight into Khoonda.”

---------------------------------
Start off with the mercenaries at first, and you have to lead the charge against Khoonda outside. It’s possible either fight Zherron there or turn on your allies and side with settlers instead.

“I can't believe you've betrayed us. Terena was wrong for trusting a Jedi.”
“I had to gain Azkul's trust so that we could ultimately defeat him. I fight for Khoonda, Zherron!”
“The Jedi has turned on us! Hear me, Jedi! I will see you dead and spit on your rotting corpse!”
“I must admit, you had me worried there. Men, protect our Jedi ally!”



EDIT: Now with even more cut content!