Microscope (Inactive)

Game Master Pirate Rob

Scene 1: During (Dark) Ma’rakah, the V’rek dominion’s largest Western city and home to their most dangerous munitions factory is obliterated while Ja'Mek is visiting to oversee construction of a new doomsday weapon, when a terrorist cell loses control of a weather spell and repeated lightning bolts rain down on the city.

Why does Ja'Mek not flee Ma’rakah once things start going wrong, even though he knows he'll be killed?

Lightning and fires rage throughout Ma’rakah, clearly out of control. Ja'Mek and his Crimson Executioners have just stopped the terrorists and must decide what to do next. Ja'Mek doesn't yet know city is going to be destroyed even though we do, and he will by the end of the scene.

Required: a captured terrorist.
Banned: anyone higher ranked than Ja'Mek in the V’rek Dominion.

Ka'nek, an overweight, balding local guard. He's currently bleeding from his shoulder, but it doesn't appear to be lethal.

Sweat drips from Ka'nek's forehead, mixing on the ground with the blood slowly oozing from his shoulder. He's worried about what Ja'mek's next move will be, knowing he is not afraid of collateral damage.

Ke'lac, second-in-command to Ja'mek. Lost her legs in a previous battle years ago, and got them replaced with hock-jointed cyberlegs.

Ke'lac stands in a meeting room with her Commander, silently going over the report she is about to give, troop orders, expected outcome of the terrorist attack, damages, what to do with the prisoners...

St'Rang Ashtong, a portly man with a strange left arm and half cybernetic right side of his head. He is a Climeomancer...combining inherent magical talent and technological weather understanding to control localized weather. He is part of the terrorist cell.

St'rang looks over the note in his pocket once more. He hopes he can get the lightning back under control...

Jo'neth, a wiry man wearing a helmet with an assortment of lenses, sensors, and other devices. His clothing is bedraggled, but his bandolier and belt full of devices is immaculate.

Jo'neth stares at the wall, his hands unconsciously clenching and uncleching. Beads of sweat slowly run down his face, collect on his nose, then drip to the floor. He runs the sames thoughts over and over in his head, wondering how he came to be in this position....

Roleplay away!

Ka'nek hears the rumbling thunder shake the foundation of the building they are in, while the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end from all the static electricity.

Turning nervously to Ke'la "Ya, I think my shoulder will be okay. I had worse in my youth playing roboball. What are we going to do with these two?" pointing at the prisoners St'rang and Jo'neth

St'rang huffs and sweats. "Listen, you should let us go and run. That storm is climeomantic...A magical storm. It IS going to destroy everything and everyone here."

Jo'neth peers through the lens mounted on his headgear. "Aye, tis gonna be a bad one. Worst one yet. Still can't figure what happened. He trails off, mumbling to himself. Scalar numbers for the vector space....lambda....Ho'cheng's algorithm...critical energy threshold...divided.....saturation of fluidic arcanium....

Ka'nek looks at Jo'neth through the electric bars.

"Whada mean you can't figure out what happened. You set this storm off. You need to fix it."

Ka'nek appears quite agitated.

There just isn't time. They better keep up their end of the bargain. As long as she is taken care of...it doesn't matter.

St'rang gives a small snorting laugh. "Correction, I set it off." His eyes dart back and forth as he tries to stuff the note back in a pocket.

Hmmm...how would we do Sleight of Hand or Bluff checks? Or do we not?

No dice, no GM, describe whatever you like. Things that happen to your character you decide how they resolve. So if I wanted to try and grab you and riffle through your pockets you'd decide what happened.

Ka'nek looks over at St'rang, clearly intimidated by the man's confidence and oblivious to the recently hidden note.

"Well then, stop it." says Ka'nek with a thin veil of confidence.

St'rang looks down at the floor, noticing for the first time in a long time the awkwardness of his mechanical leg, and says in an almost whisper, "I can't."

Ka'nek is emboldened a bit by St'rang's meekness.

"Can't or won't?"

Ke'lac shakes her head as Ka'nek tries to intimidate St'rang into fixing the problem. "This is a waste of our time. Whether he can't or wont fix this storm doesn't change that this... magic," taking a quick moment to spit on the floor, "Wont bring down this city so easily. Whatever it is you fools intended has failed."

St'rang looks haplessly between Ka'nek and Ke'lac. "It will bring down the city if that is what it takes. There's only one target but all casualties are considered expendable. Jo'neth, you can tell how I made this storm, yes? Tell them."

Ka'nek looks to Jo'neth, wondering what lies that monster will spew next.

After staring into space for what seemed an inordinate amount of time, Jo'neth snaps his attention back to the present. "Umm..well...yea, I think I can."

Jo'neth clears his throat and rises to begin pacing back and forth. "First, you must understand the concept that magic and technology are the same, but differing aspects of a spectrum." He pauses to look up, gauging the reaction of his captors. "Both tap into the energies of the univ..er..multiverse. What we..he did." He steals a glance at St'rang. "Through the use of a harmonic amplifier we were able to tap into a local energy sink in what some call the ley lines. Lines of force if you will. It takes the latent energies and focuses them, in this circumstance, creating an atmospheric event."

The wiry man shakes his head in thought. "What was unforseen was that the event, the storm, became self sustaining. As it draws energy from the local area, there is a vacuum. More energy has been moving in to fill that void, creating more for the storm to feed upon. It's a cascade effect...it can't be stopped...perhaps ever...." Jo'neth trails off, his eyes losing focus as his mind once more begins racing through computations.

Just then Ja'Mek shimmers into existance as he turns off his invisibility generator. He's not one of our chosen characters so I can just poof him into existence.

Ja'Mek's raspy electronic voice booms through the room

It can be stopped. Execute the prisoners and go to the library. There you will find Gi'Selth. She must live. Get her out of the city, you have 30 minutes. I will use the singularity that powers me to stop the storm, it is the only way.

Boom, question has been answered scene is done. I'll see everybody back in Discussion.

--- NEW SCENE ---

Mo'Habas, owner of Electro-blue, a former powerful warlock who's power has mostly faded and is desperate to hang on to what's left.

Mo'Habas is short on funds and is looking for some quick cash.