Before I dive into my consular’s adventures on Nar Shaddaa, I wanted to give a shoutout to the devs. Much to my surprise they fixed a feature that was long overdue, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Pets now stay with you even after traveling to different planets and zones. The game even remembers the pet you had after quitting and you’ll see your pet on logging in again. If you die you will have to summon it. I’m a pet enthusiast and for a while I went out of my way to add pets to my collection. Eventually, my enthusiasm waned because it became a chore having to constantly summon my pet.
Now that they stay with you all the time, I might start collecting them again. I wouldn’t have even known this feature was added if it hadn’t been for Intisar mentioning it on Twitter (X). I had read the patch notes ahead of the 7.4.1 update and thought it was strange that they hadn’t mentioned this change. Later Eric Musco made a dev post where he explained that they had accidentally forgotten to add certain information to the patch notes. He didn’t specifically mention the pet change in his post, but I’m guessing it was also something they had intended to highlight.
Galactic Season 6 is live and while that is taking up most of my attention, luckily there was an objective in the first week to complete 15 missions as a Jedi consular or Sith inquisitor. It gave me the perfect excuse to get my consular started on Nar Shaddaa.
Kas was sent to Nar Shaddaa to find Jedi master Duras Fain. Syo Bakarn believed Fain was leading a cult called The Guiding Hand against the Hutt Cartel. Naturally, it would be embarrassing for the Jedi Order if it was discovered one of their own was involved in the cult’s activities, so she was tasked with finding him before the Hutt Cartel. Kas went to Tharan Cedrax because she was told he could help them locate the Jedi. He wasn’t at his office, but she met Holiday a sentient hologram with a unique personality. Holiday informed Kas that he was delivering a prototype weapon to an interested buyer in the Nikto Sector, but she was beginning to get worried because he was long overdue. Kas expressed her annoyance at having to track him down since she needed to find the Jedi master as quickly as possible.
She headed to the Nikto Sector and arrived just in time to witness a Nikto boss threatening Cedrax. He wanted to use the weapon against the Hutt Cartel and Tharan Cedrax was less than willing because it could easily be traced back to him and he didn’t want to end up on the Hutt Cartel’s radar. Kas told the Nikto boss that threatening people in front of a Jedi was a very bad idea. In spite of her aggressive stance the Nikto boss was thoroughly unimpressed with her bravado, even going so far as to call her a puny Jedi compared to the powerful master who had shown him the truth. He warned that the darkness was coming, and the gangs of Nar Shaddaa were uniting against it because they were the master’s Guiding Hand meant to crush the Hutt Cartel. Kas questioned him wanting to know what the Hutt Cartel had to do with the darkness and was told they were an agent of the darkness. He ordered her to stand aside so he could take Cedrax’s prototype to the master. She said no and a fight broke out.
Cedrax was grateful for the save and really laid the flattery on a little thick. I had actually forgotten how off-putting the guy is with his constant flirting. If I’m remembering correctly, in my first playthrough he acted like we were in a relationship in spite of the fact I kept turning him down. I guess I have that to look forward to in the future. Even with his unwanted flirting, Tharan Cedrax and Holiday are actually one of my favorite companions for the consular. Their weird relationship is so hilarious, and I can’t wait to get to the part where he gives me the ‘we have to be just friends’ speech because Holiday is jealous.
Kas impatiently explained the situation to him and Cedrax admitted he didn’t know where to find the Jedi master but suggested a local gang called the Red Light Lancers might be the key to figuring out his location. The gang had been pestering him to do a special job for them and he could pretend to be interested and set up a meeting with them. In order to prove her expertise to the gang he gave her the prototype.
At the Red-Light Lancers hideout, she met a man named Klage who was less than thrilled that someone other than Cedrax had shown up for the job. Kas told him he could spend days chasing Cedrax or hire her now and give the weapon to his master. He decided to test her knowledge before giving her the job and asked a rookie question about a D3-TR port. Cedrax told her it was used to fix computer spikes and she repeated the information. He then asked if she were to slice into the Nar Shaddaa traffic control tower what channel would she cut? Cedrax adviced her to say any channel except 552 because it was too risky. She decided to bluff and told him she would slice channel 552 because she was that good. Klage was suitably impressed and welcomed her to the gang. She asked to see the master and was denied since new recruits never see him. He gave her the task to destroy a bunch of spice factories the Hutt Cartel shared with the Empire.
She headed back to Cedrax’s office, and he gave her a Sith Overseer’s ID after modifying it to trigger the defenses and bring down the factories. She entered the Defense Network Control Center where an Imperial captain stopped her and demanded she state her business. Kas pretended to be a Sith, showing him her ID and acted angry that he would dare question her authority. She bluffed and told him that the Emperor himself requested the inspection and would be displeased with his insubordination. The captain nearly wet himself and swore to do better. She then ordered him to leave. I was prompted twice with the option to kill him, and I seriously considered it, however, in the end decided scaring the pants off him would be good enough.
She imputed the ID into the computer, triggering the alarm and the factories were destroyed. Klage called to congratulate her and said the master wanted to meet her. She headed back to the Red-Light Lancers headquarters where Duras Fain was waiting for her via holoterminal. He immediately recognized her as a Jedi and asked her if Syo Bakarn had lightened up or was still the same old stuffed robe. Figuring she could get on his good side she told him that she doubted Bakarn would ever change. He told her the Order was backward but didn’t have time to chat because the darkness was coming, and he needed to prepare. He ordered his men to deal with her.
When the battle was over, Cedrax contacted Kas to see if she was all right. After a bit of back and forth he suggested she activate the holoterminal and let Holiday trace the signal to try pinpointing the Jedi master’s location. Holiday sliced into the terminal and traced Fain to Shadow Town. She headed back to Cedrax’s office to get his help and a Hutt Cartel enforcer was already there and confronted her, threatening to report back to his superiors that the Jedi were running The Guiding Hand. Knowing the information couldn’t get back to the Hutt Cartel, Kas attacked the enforcer and his men to silence them.
Cedrax took down the defenses and gave her a device that should prevent Fain from brainwashing them. They made their way to Shadow Town and Kas provided a distraction in order to let Holiday and Cedrax scramble the camera uplink. She approached the guard and he assumed she was a prisoner and ordered her back to the guard tower. She demanded a lawyer, but he was adamant she wasn’t going to get one.
Next, they needed to cut the power to Fain’s hideout and disable his security while Kas kept watch. A guard came into the room, and she force persuaded him that no one was there and everything was in order.
They confronted Fain in his hideout, and she ordered him to surrender. He declined and told her about the time he and her master, Yuon Par were on Malachor 3 where they had an affair. She tried to brush it off as none of her business, but he persisted and claimed that their passion paved the way for darkness to enthrall the others, including Parkanas. He told her the guilt had been weighing on him for years but now he was free from guilt and fear.
The first time I played the consular this whole conversation was very funny and awkward, and it still is this time around. It’s like when an older person says to you, did I ever tell you about this hot girl I dated in high school? and you say, please don’t and then they tell you all about it anyway? Maybe I’m just weird but I was chuckling the entire time this scene played out.
Anyway, Kas told him he had fallen to darkness and couldn’t even see it. He tried to brainwash her and Cedrax used his device to stop him causing Fain to feel great pain. Kas taunted him asking how it felt having his mind attacked and pointed out that was exactly how his victims felt when he brainwashed them. Fain didn’t appreciate her sense of humor. They fought and she bested him. He surrendered and told her it didn’t matter because Lord Vivicar would never stop. She tried to question him about Vivicar and he told her that he was everywhere and in everything.
Cedrax warned that Fain’s condition was deteriorating, and they should act quickly if he was to be saved. At that moment the Hutt Cartel showed up and she told them not to try anything. They demanded she hand over the Jedi and she refused. Eventually they came to an agreement after Kas promised the Order would owe them a favor if they let her take Fain. When the Hutt Cartel left, she shielded Fain. When he was himself again, she tried to ask him about Vivicar but like the other Jedi masters he couldn’t remember anything. He agreed to return to Tython and Holiday told Kas that Syo Bakarn was asking for her. They said their goodbyes and she headed to her ship where she found them waiting for her in the hanger. Cedrax asked to join her on her travels, and she agreed.
She reported to Syo Bakarn and he congratulated her on her success. He then told her they had received a distress signal from the Republic starship Carida, and he suspected it was plague related because the Jedi aboard the ship was Duras Fain’s daughter. Kas agreed to investigate. Once onboard the Carida she talked to Lieutenant Bek to find out what was going on. According to the Lieutenant, Laranna Fain had been fine until they were ambushed by Imperials. Laranna had fought them off and almost died from her wounds. They sent out a call for help and a Jedi master responded. He came onboard and healed her but acted odd and had scars on his face that he kept covering up. It was after his visit Laranna began to act strange and started slaughtering everyone. They managed to trap her in the aft section of the ship and then sent out a distress signal.
Their conversation was interrupted when a soldier came running up to tell them that Laranna had sliced into the systems and was taking over the whole ship. Kas headed in to stop her and fought through a bunch of reprogrammed droids to get to her.
Kas ordered her to stand down and Laranna told her that the darkness was coming but she wouldn’t let it take her. She claimed that Lord Vivicar had explained everything to her when he came to heal her. When Laranna continued to refuse to surrender they briefly fought and then she ran into the air lock and locked herself in. She threatened to open the air lock because she would rather die than let the darkness take her. Kas tried to call her bluff by saying she had to come out sooner or later so she would wait her out. Laranna opened the air lock and spaced herself.
The computer terminal chimed, and she saw Lord Vivicar for the first time. He was displeased that she had cost him a disciple and told her in spite of her efforts to undermine him it wouldn’t delay the inevitable.
He did the typical villain monologue and told her that he once believed in the Jedi way, but Morrhage’s teachings showed him the error of his ways. He claimed that Morrhage’s hatred nearly crushed the Jedi and that was true power.
She taunted him and said if he was so powerful why was he hiding. Vivicar told her that by sacrificing herself to shield the masters she would eventually perish because it would require too much of her strength and she wouldn’t be able to shield them all. After posturing a bit more, the conversation ended, and Kas reported back to Syo Bakarn. Fain was grief stricken that his daughter was dead and Bakarn asked if she had learned anymore about Lord Vivicar. She told him she spoken to him, and he needed to touch his victims in order to spread the plague. Later she was sent to Tatooine to help another Jedi master.
The first time I played the consular I convinced Laranna to surrender so she lived. Much like the padawan on Taris, taking an aggressive stance caused her to die. This entire time I’ve been choosing to make the light side decision to shield the Jedi masters that Kas encounters mostly because I couldn’t come up with a good enough reason not to. She was tasked with the job of finding and using the shielding technique on the Jedi and she knew they were behaving irrationally because of the plague. She didn’t blame them for their actions, but I knew eventually I would have to come up with a reason why she might start sacrificing the Jedi as she slowly slid down the path to the dark side.
After talking with Lord Vivicar I began to get this idea that my character would believe his claim she wouldn’t be strong enough to take him down if she kept shielding the Jedi. Obviously, we know that the consular can shield all the Jedi and take him down, but hindsight is 20/20. So, I was thinking going forward she could begin to sacrifice them for the greater good. It would fit her personality very well and give me the RP excuse I needed to start making more dark side decisions as she becomes more obsessed with bringing Lord Vivicar down.
The Old Republic Era 