Part 22: Behavioral Reconfiguration

Part 22: Behavioral Reconfiguration

Last time, an old forest hermit with a lightsaber joined us, and we fought and killed a fearsome terentatek in the Lower Shadowlands of Kashyyyk. By killing the beast, we obtained the lost blade of Bacca's sword, the weapon wielded by the legendary Wookiee warrior of ancient times. This was requested by Zaalbar's father Freyyr, who has been living in exile since Chuundar's betrayal but suggests the blade might help him challenge Chuundar's rule and free Kashyyyk from the influence of Czerka slavers.



Please, tell me you have made progress. Having the blade will gain me valuable support.

Why yes, we have.







We'll just give it to him instead of demanding payment all of a sudden.



I didn't think I was worthy to search for it, but I realize that was selfish despair. I should have challenged Chuundar long ago. I will make amends now. I have new hope. You have led me to this. Perhaps that is what the Great Beast wanted.



We still need to find the Star Map, so no need to rush into anything.



Actually, I don't think you even can join him at this point. We'll let Freyyr head up and do his thing while we finish our business here in the Shadowlands.



Damn straight.



With the blade of Bacca's legendary sword in hand, Freyyr returns to the surface to confront his son once again.



We'll see how that goes in due time, but first we have a Star Map to find and some other business to take care of. We haven't explored any of the west part of the map, so we shall head thataway.



We're currently unarmed, because we got a tip from Wookiee hunter Grrwahrr about some Mandalorians who like to hide in the shadows and attack people when they let down their guard. He also said we should look for the Mandalorians in areas where his comrades from the Wookiee hunting party fell, and while it's hard to see in the screenshot this is indeed one of those areas.



Looks like we managed to lure one of them out.



And his friends, of course.



Re-equipping all your weapons when you start one of these fights definitely doesn't get old at all. Thankfully, there's only two groups of invisible Mandalorians, the third one we can encounter without having to unequip our stuff.



We'll show these jerks what we think of their cowardly bullshit.



GAH

The Mandalorians also like to spam grenades, as demonstrated by this plasma grenade.



Fortunately, that's nothing a few Heal spells can't fix. The Mandalorians are as susceptible to Force Whirlwind as anything else we've seen, so this should be pretty quick.



Scratch one Mandalorian group.



The Mandos drop some Mandalorian weapons, which are decently powerful but also fetch even more decent sums at Suvam's store. We can also find two datapads on them:



Wait a minute. Jedi toys? I'm assuming that means the Mandalorians are training with lightsabers, but nothing in the quest aside from this datapad suggests anything of the sort. None of the Mandalorians carries anything even vaguely related to lightsabers or the Jedi.



Naturally, we still have the usual packs of viper kinrath to contend with as well.



We've located the Mandalorian swoops in this small clearing, but can't do anything with them at the moment so we'll continue onward.



More dead Wookiees. We've already unequipped our stuff, so let's just wait for the old bucket heads to materialize.



There they are. Time to repeat the inventory song and dance once more.



While we're here, we'll also equip the Bothan Sensory Visor because it makes us immune to critical hits. These guys hit pretty hard as is, so we don't want them landing criticals on us. The downside, of course, is that we'll look utterly fucking ridiculous with this thing on, which just might be a fate worse than death.



Let's get rid of these idiots.



One of the Mandalorians drops the signal device for his swoop bike. One of the swoops was missing this device, so we should go put it in and see what that does.



Here goes nothing.



This Mandalorian is wearing red armor, so he must be strong. Hopefully, he'll be less of a pain in the ass than Sherruk on Dantooine. That fight is entirely too hard for the part of the game it's in.



Our training here will continue... without your interference.



Some more Mandos join the party, as usual.



Thankfully, the Mandalorian commander is equally susceptible to being whirlwinded as his underlings (which, to be fair, was also the case with Sherruk, but at that point your level may not be high enough to unlock the Whirlwind power, or you might have picked some other power at that level like I did), so this won't be much of a problem.



Once the commander is dead, disposing of the other two guys is pretty much trivial with this kind of damage output. I've never actually done a proper crit-based build before, and it's really paying dividends here. The fact we only have 10 constitution will eventually come back to bite us, but as long as we keep hitting things and killing them quickly we'll be fine.



That does it for the Mandalorians. We grab the leader's helmet as proof we took him down, and also obtain a suit of Mandalorian battle armor which we'll put on Canderous eventually.



Mission levels up and gets a DEX point. She also learns Master Scoundrel's Luck (Defense +6) at level 12.



Jolee also levels up and gets an extra CHA point, as well as Improved Critical Strike and Heal.



I forgot to remove our stupid goggles before talking to Grrwahrr.



It's like we're auditioning for a role in the sequel to a 50s movie about a mad scientist.



The taint of them, their cowardice... the forest will consume it all. I hope this gives my hunting brethren peace.



BioWare Dev #1: "Guys, I think our head accessories are too good! This one only costs 150 credits and makes you immune to critical hits, and gives you a bunch of great skill bonuses as well. That's kinda overpowered if you ask me. What should we do?"

BioWare Dev #2: "Nerf the bonuses? Increase the price tenfold, maybe more? Maybe make them late-game quest rewards?"

BioWare Dev #3: "We could make the headgear look so stupid no one wants to use it at all!"

BioWare Dev #1: "Brilliant!"



You have acted as a fellow Wookiee would have. Here, take this. It is the symbol of my hunting clan. You served them, so you deserve it. When you look at it, remember that we reward respect, even from outsiders.



The item we get is an Echani Vibroblade, which isn't half bad and I end up giving it to Mission... for some reason, since she's much better with a blaster. I think I figured that since we're fighting at close quarters, the vibroblade might be better than a blaster? Or maybe I'm a complete idiot, which is the more likely possibility.



That looks like the Star Map up ahead, next to this strange contraption. Was this left here by the Builders?



GAH!

I discovered that it doesn't matter how much Awareness skill your party members have because the game will only check the main character's (which in our case, of course, is roughly equivalent to a blind cave salamander), which presumably means Mission could see this plasma mine but simply didn't bother warning us about it. I could've sworn I'd heard the game actually takes your party members' Awareness to account because that would make sense, but... well, fuck that, I guess.



We'll swap to Mission to see if we have any more mines laying around. There is one average frag mine, which she'll recover.



With that embarrassing display out of the way, let's look at this... whatever this is. We can see the Star Map but can't access it, so maybe this device has something to do with it.



I'm calling this thing a Buildogram.



Right. That might be a problem.



Match found...? What the... it always muttered something about "rejected patterns" for me.

Begin socialized interface. Awaiting instruction. Greetings. This terminal has not been accessed for quite some time.

Okay, well, that simplifies things quite a bit, even if we have no idea what is going on right now.



I gotta say, those leaves on the vine next to Zila are surprisingly high-res.





What do you mean by behavioral reconfiguration?

I have been programmed with a very limited field of knowledge, and I must restrict access to only those that fit my allowed pattern.

Err, okay then.





That seems very helpful. Why have I been allowed access?

I can't say. Preliminary matching allows for you to be coached.

Do you not know why, or are you restricted from saying?

I can't say. Likelihood of restriction by previous user, 100%.

Fair enough. Let's see if we can learn some more about Buildogram here and what this installation is supposed to be.





I guess it should be "Buildocron" then? Eh, whatever. I'm not changing the filename of his portrait.



Error. Corruption. Extrapolating. This utility was built to monitor planet-wide agricultural reformation. It has since malfunctioned. It can be theorized that the super-growth of Kashyyyk's forests is a direct result.

Huh. Apparently, the Builders are also responsible for the giant forests of Kashyyyk, along with making Tatooine into a desert. Obviously, none of this is canon anymore so it matters even less than it did back in 2003, but I'm still not sure how to feel about these revelations about BioWare's ancient precursor race(tm)... well, building all these established parts of the Star Wars universe. Did we really need an explanation for Kashyyyk's wroshyr forests?



Malfunction occured 241 years after last builder communication. Last builder communication... 29,642 years before current Republic standard.

If this place was built 30,000 years ago it predates the Republic.

Error. Information regarding the builders of this installation has been corrupted. No evidence of such a civilization exists in the galactic record.

Of course.





Error. Specific conditions corrupted. It can be theorized that produce was being exported to support a larger demand.

That is a short period for adaptation of native creatures.

Error. Records corrupted. It can be theorized that bio-seeding allowed the ecology to remain balanced. It could be expected that the same energy feeding the trees of Kashyyyk also accelerated the evolution of various species.

So does that mean the Builders also ended up creating the Wookiees in some way?



Oh. Well, okay then.





The exact date is unavailable. Programming keys indicate no earlier than five years before current Republic standard.



Five years, huh? That sounds kind of familiar.





Error. Data regarding subject "Revan" corrupted.

Was there any further contact with the installer of this interface?

That information is unavailable, but contact is not required for the execution of my programming. Scanning range of this facility is well beyond planetary boundaries.

Who last accessed this installation?



Oh, Jolee.





Naturally.



The current purpose of this installation is defense.

Defense of what?

Error. That information is not available.

Okay, fine. We're clearly getting nowhere, so let's get to business.





Restricted? That's new.



Your request requires additional security access. You must be made to match the parameters I have been supplied.

What if I fail?

Then you are not worthy of further access. You will be rejected as unsuitable.

What will rejection mean?

Information unavailable. If you have further questions, ask them now. Access will terminate with success or failure of evaluation.

How can I match them when I don't know what they are?

There are measures available. Personality profiling will verify the basic structure of your conscious mind. With that, I will determine whether you are ready to receive the Star Map, or can be made ready.

What do you mean by that?

Information unavailable. If you have further questions, ask them now. Access will terminate with success or failure of evaluation.

You may begin evaluation.

Well, we didn't really learn a whole lot about how this evaluation is supposed to work, but it doesn't seem as if we have much of a choice whether we want to be evaluated or not. Might as well get it started.



Hit me.



If you both remain silent, one year in prison for each of you. However, call Zaalbar a traitor, and he will serve five years, while you serve none. He is offered the same deal, but if you both accuse the other, you both serve 2 years. What do you do? What do you trust him to do?

Well, that's easy.



Zaalbar is our buddy and we trust him.



Your loyalty is dangerous. Your companion could take the opportunity to benefit by turning on you. Zaalbar's family is mired in treachery. What loyalty do they know? Your answer is incorrect.

What? Incorrect? Okay, I see what we're doing here.



You cannot refuse. Evaluation must continue. You must match the pattern in memory. *Your* memory. I must demand honest acceptance of the proper behavior. That is a condition of my programming.

Continue with your evaluation then.



Hypothetical: you are at war. Deciphering an intercepted code, you learn two things about your enemy. A single spot in their defense will be at its weakest in ten days, and they will attack one of your cities in five days. What do you do with this information? What is the most efficient course of action?



The most efficient course of action in terms of winning the war would, of course, be to prepare our forces to attack in ten days and completely ignore the city. Thousands of innocent lives would be lost, but we'd catch the enemy off guard. However, is that really worth it? Can we try to bolster our defenses?



Attempting both will merely dilute your efforts. Would you trade one victory for two failures?

Fuck you, Buildogram. That is totally an option and you're just giving us an arbitrary bullshit choice.



As much as we want to win the war, the civilian casualties would be unacceptable. If we brutally sacrifice the people we're ostensibly fighting for, what are we even doing? I realize this is war and we obviously want to win, but not at any cost.



They would reinforce, and the war would go on. You saved thousands at the expense of victory. You do not match the pattern in memory. Subject has failed to demonstrate the required behavior.

Oh boy.



If we were to answer all the questions "correctly", we'd get a metric ton of dark side points and earn access to the Star Map. But since we didn't, Buildogram activates the installation's defenses. Let's see what that entails.



Two pretty tough defense droids. They have strong shields, as well as advanced flamethrowers and carbonite projectors.



Not a walk in the park by any means, but we should be able to handle them.



That flamethrower, though. I'm glad I was healing while the droid used it, because that hurt like hell.





Fortunately, Whirlwind still works on these droids, and from there it's pretty much smooth sailing for us.



Alright, Buildogram, time to give us that Star Map. We'll take you and this entire contraption apart if we need to.



Well, it would appear initial assumptions about you were incorrect. Secondary scans during battle have revealed much. Under duress, your emotions were easier to read. Programming now instructs that I give you what you seek.

...what? Why?



That information is not available. Soon you will recognize the proper course to follow. The Star Map is yours. This unit has now completed its primary duty and has finished with the subject. Executing final action. Activation of Star Map commencing. Parameters reset. Stasis initiated. End communication.

Thanks. Good riddance.



And there's our prize. Another step towards the location of the Star Forge.



I wonder if the Star Map has had an effect on the evolution of the creatures here in the Shadowlands. Might explain why it's so dangerous down here. An interesting theory, but I suppose we don't have time to test it now, do we? Now that we've got what you came for we should be heading back up to the treetops.

We shall do exactly that, but first we'll level up.



We take another point to Repair and Knight Valor, meaning that we can almost complete the first two repairs to HK-47. Right now, though, we should head back to Gorwooken.



Whoops.



Gorwooken is less than enthused about seeing us again, so we've got a fight on our hands.



A fight with Gorwooken's buddies throwing poison grenades at us, the jerks.





Despite the poison, Gorwooken doesn't last long against our damage output and his friends don't even last that long. Looks like we're gonna have to operate the basket ourselves.



[You begin the long ascent to the upper boughs of Kashyyyk]



I'm not entirely sure, but I think this might just be the Shadowlands descent cutscene played in reverse.



Oh, there's Chorrawl. We briefly talked to him last time but didn't have much of a conversation. What's up with him?





Freyyr went to the throne room to challenge Chuundar. I will take you to him now.

You fought each other? Why?

We follow the Chieftain, whoever that is. If the position is in doubt, we each fight for the side we believe in. This must be decided quickly or there will be much more bloodshed. Come, it is this way.

Why should I follow you?

I wanted to complete the Eli & Matton quest first but forgot the game puts you on rails here. Oh well.



It is the only way. I'm sorry, but I won't allow you to proceed any other way. This is too important.

Let's go then.





You have Bacca's blade? So what! I have the hilt, held by each true Chieftain in recent memory! Even you claimed it was all-important!

Chuundar is obviously not impressed by his father now wielding Bacca's sword.







Zaalbar seems to be the most sensible person in this room right now.



However, even he's not completely immune to Chuundar's influence. Chuundar clearly tried to convince Zaalbar that his way, dealing with the Czerka slavers, was the best way forward for the Wookiees, but to his credit Zaalbar isn't fully convinced.



I wasn't quite paying enough attention, so I accidentally picked this option first. It's still obviously the good option, but shouldn't we try to talk things through before we do anything drastic?



Thankfully, Zaalbar wants you to be sure about your choice, so you'll get another opportunity to confirm it.



So, let's talk it out instead, like civilized people.



Convince them! Avoid this needless slaughter!

Then so be it! The fighting stops here! I will not have our world destroyed beneath you two!







Chuundar won't have any of your silly attempts at diplomacy, as was probably expected.



That may have been a slight miscalculation on his part. I'd say Stasis and Whirlwind is probably a little overkill, but Chuundar kind of deserves it.



As is so often the case with Jedi diplomacy, the negotiations are finished with a lightsaber. It's a shame we had to kill Zaalbar's brother, but there was no choice. We tried our best to avoid violence, but Chuundar's pride would not let him go out without a fight. The rest of his allies go down without much trouble, and Freyyr is the chieftain once more.







What will you do about the slavers?

We will fight them. It will be difficult, but I swear they won't take another one of my people without bloodshed. I'll send quick-climbers to other villages and try to rally a defense. We must guard against this ever happening again. You will be the last outsider welcome here for a very long time. That is a change for the better, I think.

Looks like the Wookiees are finally going to rise up against the slavers. Good on them!





You have a place by my side, Zaalbar. I would be honored if you would take it.

I... I can't. Not yet. I'm just getting used to being free... and not just from the slavers. And I have a life-debt. Now that my life is truly my own again, honoring that agreement is all the more important.

Listen to my son! His insight humbles me. Take that good judgment with you and all the planets will come to revere Wookiee wisdom.

I have a few questions about Kashyyyk, Freyyr.

Could they wait? I will answer what I can later, but we need to settle our current business. There is much that needs to be done.

Fair enough. Time to say farewell.





Because of you, I am reinstated as Chieftain. We will return to the old ways, when honor and trust of kin ruled above all else. I'm not sure there is a reward that accurately reflects the value of what you have done. Our world is changed because of you.



We don't really need anything, but Zaalbar has a request of his own.



I see no reason not to oblige.



Zaalbar, do you understand what this will mean? It is the legacy of our people, held by chieftains... and future chieftains.

Zaalbar will be a great chieftain some day, I have no doubt about about that.



I have no doubt. Let the two halves of the blade be made one. My son shall hold Bacca's Sword.

With that, we say goodbye to Freyyr.



Now that Zaalbar is available as a party member again, of course we'll take him along for the rest of our stay on Kashyyyk.



Before we leave, we'll take Chuundar's bowcaster. We don't need it, but it's a unique item (and fetches a high price, although I don't recall if I actually sell it on this playthrough) so we'll take it along.



Bacca's blade is an actual melee weapon, and not a bad one at that. Zaalbar will wield it for the rest of the game, although sadly he's not gonna spend a lot of time in the party after this. Zaalbar also levels up and learns Master Flurry (further reduces the Flurry penalty to -1 to DEF and ATK), and gains a STR point. That puts him at 21 STR, but we have accessories to boost that to 22 and increase the modifier.



There's a better look at Bacca's blade.



Before we leave, we still have the matter of Rorworr's death to address. The Wookiees in the village are also happy to have Freyyr back and tolerate us a bit more than they did earlier. Anyway, off to the Holder of the Laws.



Do you know who owns this bolt casing?

Hmm... let's see if the family insignia is there. Yes, there it is. This belongs to Jaarak. Er... how did you get it?

Yeah... about that.





I... I can't ignore this. Wait here, outsider. I must address this. I will have Jaarak brought here...

Jaarak was the older Wookiee who was really adamant about not letting us talk to Woorwill about the disappearance of Rorworr, and now it turns out Jaarak himself was responsible for Rorworr's death. Rorworr himself was of course dealing with the slavers, which may have had something to do with Jaarak killing him.



But let's hear what Jaarak himself has to say first.





Woorwill has a bond with Rorworr. He is the closest to family that can be found. He is entitled to be here. Jaarak, please speak. If you are guilty, it means death. This outsider will be given your possessions. Do you want that?





My life debt won't let me speak for you, Zila Galcyon, but you know Jaraak had justification. Will you tell them?

We will, despite your misspelling of Jaarak's name.







Jaarak himself seems to be quietly accepting his death sentence.



You only need to know that I did it. The reason is unimportant. Woorwill... I'm sorry.

We're not having any of this.







I'm old. I'm not important. Let Woorwill and the others have their hero.

This so-called hero was selling your own people to slavery. Rather poor of a role model, don't you think? His reputation is not worth protecting and certainly not worth dying for.





Don't listen to these outsider lies... please. Woorwill, don't listen.



I've spent about ten minutes trying to convey what I think about that dark side line, but it's so ridiculous that I am at a complete loss for words. That's the kind of one-liner you'd see in an Image comic book from the 90s, possibly uttered by a cool anti-hero with very small feet and a penchant for murder and pouches.



I'm sorry, Woorwill. I didn't want you to know. So much is against us... you need someone to look up to. I couldn't let him betray you... betray everyone. Outsiders are enough of a threat by themselves; we don't need traitors of our own.





Well, looks like we managed to convince them to acquit Jaarak after all.



Perhaps some of you are capable of honor after all. You are deserving of your reward.



Did I not explain? As the person that discovered the crime, you were also affected by it. You would've been given a portion of Jaarak's possessions, but he was innocent. Rorworr, however, was not. Rorworr was wealthy. His family was taken by slavers, leaving him everything. You get one third of this. Woorwill receives the rest, if he wishes. He is still upset, but he is young. He will recover.

Let's hope so.





Some of us will be disappointed in him, but we have other enemies to worry about.

Goodbye to you.

Goodbye. Bacca guide you.

Before we go, let's visit Woorwill and Jaarak one more time and see what they have to say about the events we just saw.



I just wish... that you hadn't seen us at our worst. We can be so much better. We must be.



I still thank you... I just need some time to think about things.

Bye, guys.



That's all our business in Rwookrrorro over and done with, so all we have left to do on Kashyyyk is the long walk back to the Ebon Hawk.



The Wookiees haven't wasted any time. They're already fighting Czerka, fighting to free their world from the slavers that have oppressed them for so long.





We'll be happy to lend them a hand.







That is the face of a man who suddenly regrets his life choices.



Again, we'll help our Wookiee friends.





We can still land on Kashyyyk, but there won't be much reason to because all the non-Wookiee NPCs are now gone. As such, this is the last time we'll see Kashyyyk on this playthrough.



Next time, we'll start some sidequests and decide where to go next on our Star Map hunt.