As the other take inventory of the guns, Jaq finds a small electronics repair kit and a bunch of spare e-clips and starts trying to wire them up to power the Mountaineer.
Jaq starts looking at the E-clips available and looking at ways to put together the wires even though her fingers are trembling from the cold. Private Casey tries to help as well.
Pulling the E-clips from each of the rifles and rigging them up to the Mountaineer's battery cables, with a little magic and some mundane percussive maintenance, Jaq is able to get the machine running again, though for how long is anyone's guess. At least you will be warm for the night.
Encounter: 9D, no encounter.
to d4
stay d6
to d4
to d4
Magic and Spare Parts Out
Just West of Green Forest, AR
November 8th, 109 PA, 18:43 pm. 29 degrees, Clear, Light Wind. 20 miles to Garnet Town. 31 miles to Castle Refuge.
Burgurk tells you that you are only about another two days from Castle Refuge and this would be the turn around point if you changed your mind and wanted to go to Garnet Town instead. You know you are getting closer because off in the distance, you can see a group of power armor pilots on patrol. They are two far to be able to see you in the trees, but they aren't the black of the Coalition, so they must be Legion. That or someone else. Either way, with supplies starting to dwindle and the Mountaineer still in need of some work, you will be glad to get back to base. Every once in a while you catch a radio signal from Castle Refuge, warning of an opening Rift or a recon force from the Coalition and you are able to steer clear of them, for now.
Encounter: AS,
to d8
to d4
to d6
to d4
Magic and Spare Parts Out
Self, AR
November 9th, 109 PA, 14:23 pm. 32 degrees, Clear, Light Wind. 34 miles to Garnet Town. 11 miles to Castle Refuge.
After traveling for most of the day, you come upon the remains of a small town that looks like it was recently abandoned. You scrounge around and find some cans of vegetables, bottled water, cured meats and even some spare E-clips to keep the Mountaineer going. There is even a ley line nearby to charge those energies as well. It's odd that such a place was abandoned.
Then, about an hour after you finish getting what you can before moving on, you find the reason the town was cleared out. Burgurk's fur begins to stand on end and Shakti suddenly gets a strange look in her eyes as the divine winds speak to her. Anya notices Kellek put down the hunk of meat he was eating and sniff the air. Something was very wrong. The tang of electricity washes over you as a loud humming sound nearly drowns your ears. A large floating vessel of some kind comes into view atop the ley line. Sitting on top of it is a large creature with a very large fangs and several tentacles. Surrounding it are several women with helmets that cover their eyes and quite a few orbs that look like eyes surrounding the entire thing. A strange gurgling sound seems to come from the creature before you realize it is trying to speak to you. Its voice is loud and and very clear in your ears and your minds. "I claim you as my trophies. Surrender your selves so that no damage comes to your bodies. You are worth more that way. Resist and I will be forced to add your bodies to the pile of ash that this place is about to become."
"Splugorth.", Kellek spits out.
"Great guy. I bet he's a real ray of sunshine," Jaq quips as she gets ready for a fight.
Your group has faced many things in the last week together and this was just another in a long series of mishaps. You were almost home and you were not about to let some alien thing get in your way.
"You have chosen poorly human. You will do well fighting at my side." As he accelerates his barge across the ley line, you can see an energy field surrounding it. The women on it start taking aim with the weapons on their forearms.
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"Oop, here we go," Anya lets out as she sprints a few steps to the side and drops down behind a medium-sized boulder that looks like it might have some rose-quartz in it.
'I like that boulder. That is a nice boulder' she thinks, bringing her rifle to her shoulder and lining up a shot on one of his slave-women, hoping to clear the field a bit.
= 12
= 19
Anya opens fire first, deciding to try to level the playing field. Kellek helps by telling her to aim as the trees move in the light wind. Her bolt should have hit the warrior woman square in the chest, but the energy field surrounding the barge flashes briefly and her laser blasts are diffused into the air. The Splugorth responds in kind, his arms raising a staff in the air and pointing it at your group as a beam of green energy washes over your team.
= 15
Jaq snaps off a quick shot and then dives for cover.
Initiative Draws
Anya and Kellek- Danger Sense, on Hold- Done
Shakti- Danger Sense, on Hold- Done
Splugorth- KS- Done
Jaq and Ariel- KD-Done
Burgurk and Casey- 9C
Warrior Women- 7D
Shakti summons her divine power as best she can, but the presence of an alien power seems to make her struggle a bit, especially with the ley line so close. She tries to close with it as her other arms frantically fire her weapon until the barrel glows red, but even as some of the bolts hit, they are easily absorbed by the shield surrounding the barge. Jaq's weapon fire seems to have no effect either. The shield still holds and the creature grins a shark like grin. "This will be easier than I thought."
Burgurk throws mental blasts of force at the unearthly creature :
= 5, 6, 21, 10
Doing
Shakti summons her divine power as best she can, but the presence of an alien power seems to make her struggle a bit, especially with the ley line so close. She tries to close with it as her other arms frantically fire her weapon until the barrel glows red, but even as some of the bolts hit, they are easily absorbed by the shield surrounding the barge. Jaq's weapon fire seems to have no effect either. The shield still holds and the creature grins a shark like grin. "This will be easier than I thought."
Seeing her blaster fire easily deflected by the shield, she shifts her point of aim, concentrating her fire on the hover mechanisms on the underside of the platform.
As she does, she prepares a secondary form of attack, summoning up champions to attack the monster.
She creates three Sentinel gollums, aiming them to appear inside the force field
A sentinel is a larger and more powerful version of a bodyguard.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d12+3, Vigor d10
Skills: Fighting d10, Intimidation d10, Notice d8
Pace: 8; Parry: 6; Toughness: 14 (4)
Gear: Great sword (Str+d10; Parry –1)
Special Abilities:
• Arcane Bond: Sentinels count as having Arcane Resistance for anyone other than their summoner.
• Armor +4: Stone skin.
• Construct: +2 to recover from being Shaken; no additional damage from called shots; constructs do not suffer from poison or disease.
• Fearless: Sentinels are immune to fear and Intimidation.
• Improved Sweep: Sentinels may attack everyone adjacent to them as a single action.
• Size +3: Sentinels are 8–9 feet tall and very dense.
All three will immediately converge on the Spluggorth, hacking away with giant swords.
Last she focuses her will on the monster, trying to diminish at least one of his skills.
Shakti, deciding that this version of reality wasn't working, adjusted things a bit. Her laser fire still was absorbed by the shield, even as she adjusted her aim to hit the barge itself, so she switched up her tactics and decided to summon some help in the form of some guardians that attempted to breach the barge's defenses. Her summoning was not able to bring them inside the barrier, but they would at least give it occupants more things to fire at as they surged forward.
As reality settles into its new norm, Burgurk is busy focusing his own new powers to bring down that shield. Leaves, snow, tree branches and other debris forms into a giant ball of energy and is hurled with immense force at the barge. At first the shield holds, but then it flicker out of existence for a moment as the Splugorth raises his staff up to try and deflect some of the blow. He points the end of the staff at Burgurk with a snarl and you can only imagine the commands he might be giving his slaves right now.
They start firing back, bolts of energy ripping through the trees. Mostly they target the golems that Shakti summoned, destroying one of them. The other two do not waver in their charge and keep rushing forward.
Private Casey ducks for cover as one of the women aims at the Mountaineer itself. Another one fires at Burgurk directly, both bolts bouncing harmlessly off of his personal force field and burning large holes in the ground near him.
Another shot comes from the barge, but this one doesn't burn through trees, instead it sends a low humming sound through the ground and then into your bodies, giving you a painful tingle, but it passes quickly as the charge must not have been strong enough.
The barrier on the barge slowly starts to come back up as it gets closer, rising higher in the air to avoid the oncoming golems. As it does so, they start to fade from existence.
Ariel recovers from her initial shock of what is occurring, and Jaq, realizing she is out in the open, moves to cover. Firing haphazardly along the way. "Come on Ariel, get out of there!," she yells.
The woman return fire as the golems underneath them disappear. They hit Burgurk hard and his shield wavers a bit, but it holds as he focuses on keeping the hot blasts of plasma away from him.
Jaq is singed as well, but she has no such shield and gains a plasma burn on her leg. The pain shooting through her is unbearable.
Shakti puts up a defensive shield and her armor takes most of the brunt of the fire against her.
The Mountaineer takes fire as well, one of its tires now molten rubber and metal.
The fire continues to rake the area, and as it reaches Anya and Kellek, it misses the cyber warrior, but catches the Simvan square in the chest. He collapses to the ground, screaming.
They get little time to recover as another wave of energy washes over them...
Shakti grunts as her link to her golems is disrupted and they shunt involuntarily back to whatever dimension they call home.
"This creature vexes me. I believe he'll regret that."
Shakti hops out of the mountaineer on the far side of the vehicle, using its bulk for some momentary cover.
Teleporting just behind the floating platform (30") Shakti immediately transforms into a Flame Wind dragon, as she's had a mirror self do before.
Quickened Round:
The massive dragon bursts into a conflagration of flames and pounces on the platform and its shield, seeking to tear its way through and reach the irksome squid monster.
A sudden burst of fire and smoke appears behind the platform as a great beast appears, roaring and tearing into it. You watch as it rips the force field down with its fangs and then tears into the Slaver with its claws. A great gurgled scream echoes across the snowy area as it rends the creature into body parts and slime that sizzles as it burns away.
The women on the barge, attempt to get away from it, but not before Anya hits one square in the chest and sends her reeling backwards on the barge.
The barge, without its pilot, is starts to lose altitude...
Seeing as the main threat is taken care of, Burgurk throws mental blasts of force at the remaining women :
Assuming >=7 hits, and >=8 is a Raise, he fires 3 bolts at 3 different women :
= 24
= 24
As the barge starts crashing towards the ground, the women begin to brace themselves for impact. As they do so, Burgurk takes advantage of their vulnerability and knocks three of them off the barge and they go rolling off somewhere in the debris. You can't see where as seconds later, the barge hits the ground and a great ball of blue energy engulfs the barge.
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Wraith stays prone and hunkered as the shockwave passes over her fighting position.
Getting up and dusting herself off she spares a glance back. "Ah man! They killed....that guy! I'll never forget you...dude."
She turns away, having already forgotten him.
Rifle held at the ready, she stalks into the wreckage looking loot and survivors.
In that order.
Shell shocked and limping, Jaq comes from her cover a few moments after the end of the fight and joins the others.
"Hey, Ariel? T-think you could patch me up? My leg seems a little mad at me for some reason," she jokes.
As Anya walks over to the smoldering wreckage, she sees that some of the women are still alive, but barely. Two of them are lying on the ground, barely conscious, while one is struggling to stand.
Ariel grins. "Maybe.. maybe if you were nicer to those legs, they'd hold you up a bit longer. I'll see what I can do." Ariel grabs some equipment from the back of the Mountaineer and then starts walking towards Jaq.
"That burn is going to take a bit longer to heal, but this should take the edge off."
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Anya gives the two women a quick once-over,
before favoring them with a professional grin.
"Hey girlies! Now, I've seen enough strung-out 'dock workers' to know that you girls might not have been entirely willing participants in this little welcome your big pimp daddy set up for us all.
Hence, Imma willing to give you something you ain't had in a while.
A choice.
It just so happens that we have an opening in our little organization here, and you all could put in for some honest work. We can get you back to Refuge, clean you up, start a new life.
Or you can decide to be zealots that wanna die for the cause. In which case, well, you get your wish.
What say you?"
Before getting their answers, Anya calls over her shoulder, "Medic! We got a couple of live ones."
She just has a good feeling here.
"Thanks, I try to treat 'em nice, but everyone keeps aiming for 'em."
The two women that are down struggle to aim their weapons in Anya's direction, but the barely standing third one says something in her language and they lower their arms. She looks at Anya as if judging her potential and then says, "You have defeated our master rather handily, but I fear this is not over. There are more on the way. If you are going to take us to this Refuge, we should be going soon. Your companion, the Shivan, has been noticed by Lord Splynn and his High Lords want her brought back to Atlantis. We appreciate that you would offer us this peace, but I worry that our kind is seen as a scourge on this land due to our unfortunate upbringing. Can you be sure of our safety once we arrive?"
Ariel finishes with Jaq and heads over. She seems to be shocked at what she sees. "These are.. women.. they are all so.. wow! Oh! Let me take a look." She kneels over one of them and looks for wounds. "Mostly scrapes and bruises, but it's hard to tell with this, what is this? Slime?"
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"Can you be sure of safety? Ha! Lady, every swinging johnson from here to the big ice wants to burn that place down, but they ain't. Apart from the Renraku Arcology, there ain't a safer place t' be found. An' ain't none of us getting into Renraku anytime soon, so, yeah, the place is a safe as such a place can be....out here."
She pauses awhile in ulfish thought, but eventually gives up on the idea and shrugs, turning to Jaq. "Oy! Since their ride ain't going nowhere, is there any scrap you can use here to bolster either the car or my rig?
Spare parts being hard to find and all, maybe we should scavenge while the getting is good?"
Jaq helps Ariel out as best as she's able. (Aiding Ariel. Dunno if a roll's needed here or not.)
The woman nods and says, "Then we will accompany you to your home in your vehicle, if it is serviceable, otherwise, we should be able to walk."
Jaq and Ariel help the other two women to their feet. Even though they are wounded, you watch as some of the small cuts and bruises heal in mere moments.
Looking at the Mountaineer, you see that one of its tires is now melted rubber. The wheel itself is still intact however. Looking at the wreckage of the Slave Barge, it is apparent that the magic of the ley line seemed to hold it aloft more than anything. With some work, Jaq may be able to use some of it to rig the Mountaineer to do the same thing, at least for a short while. That, or you could task Burgurk with holding it with his powers, but it would drain him by the time you got back. Either way, its going to be slow going, but you'll make it by the evening, barring any other unforeseen incidents.
Looking at the ley line, though, and from what the warrior woman said, whatever you're going to do should be done fast.
Shakti remains in her dragon form until the warrior-women are thoroughly disarmed. Knowing that magic weapons do not need to look like weapons, she sniffs them out with her magical senses as well, and has them rid themselves of any enchanted objects as well.
Once satisfied, she shifts back to her natural form, and escorts them to the ATV, locking them in the cargo hold. She then gathers up the weapons and enchantments objects in order to give them a better census.
Shakti sees that the women are covered in magical things of the biological variety. The symbiotic creatures that inhabit their bodies would be difficult to remove at best. However, the blades at their sides and the blasters on their forearms come off easily. The women do not make a fuss when you do so.
Jaq and Burgurk spend some time rigging up the Mountaineer so it can travel along the ley line and soon, you are on your way. After an hour passes, you notice a large blue explosion far behind you. The other Slavers must have shown up looking for Shakti.
You keep moving at your best speed, knowing that it would be easy for them to track you along a ley line, but it seems they have decided against pursuit. Probably for the best, as you have entered the Tomorrow Legions's patrol zone, as evidenced by over head flights of power armor with the Legion's markings and a passing vehicle patrol that waves you in.
Finally, late in the evening, you arrive at the gates of Castle Refuge and the guards take the warrior women and their equipment into custody. Before they leave, the lead woman says, "Thank you for bringing us here. This is far safer for us than out there, with them."
After they leave, you drive to the motor pool, and you watch as several dwarves look up in horror at the Mountaineer. "What have you done to her?" He goes over and pats the vehicle, shaking his head. "We'll get you fixed up. Not to worry." He then glares at the rest of you. "In one piece. Is that so hard for a SET to understand?" Growling, he trundles off to get someone to move the vehicle into a repair bay.
One of the command liaison soldiers tells you that you should get some rest, as Major Grimjack will want to see you in the morning.
Thursday, November 9th, 109 P.A., 0700. Snow.
You don't remember falling asleep, but that doesn't seem to bother the soldier at your barracks door pounding and calling you to your debriefing. After throwing on your clothes and heading to the room, you find Major Grimjack waiting for you, along with Lieutenant McDare.
"Well, sit down already. Three things we need to work out. Tell me about the rescue operation. What happened to the other operatives from that team? I only see two here. Second, why you came here instead of going to Garnet Town. I'm guessing the state of your assigned vehicle was part of it. Third, I still have those promotions to hand out because someone upstairs thinks you are doing a good job. So, who wants to start talking first?" He looks at you expectantly and for a very brief second, you think you catch Lieutenant McDare mimicking him for a moment, but then it passes and she stands there, silent and still.
"It was a trap, sir," Jaq says before telling Major Grimjack everything that happened all that she saw, even her agreement to undergo reeducation to help Ariel.
By the end of it, she looks tired and ashamed.
Burgurk relates everything he saw and experienced since he last saw the Major honestly and completely.
As they are leaving the dwarves, Shakti looks at them askance, "What was the little mechanic blathering on about? The vehicle is clearly still in one piece. In fact, with that wheel melted on, he'll likely have a very hard time removing it."
When they get to the Major, she gives her report in her typical fashion; she lays out the events plainly in chronological order. Her report focuses entirely on her own perspectives and experiences, and while egocentric, it is not embellished.
"...When the slaver's shields proved to be too strong for my small arms to destroy, I merely teleported to the craft, this time taking the dragon form myself instead of summoning it, and destroyed both the shield and the Spluggorth creature behind it. His servants were disarmed and confined, and have since been turned over to your dungeons."
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After they leave, you drive to the motor pool, and you watch as several dwarves look up in horror at the Mountaineer. "What have you done to her?" He goes over and pats the vehicle, shaking his head. "We'll get you fixed up. Not to worry." He then glares at the rest of you. "In one piece. Is that so hard for a SET to understand?" Growling, he trundles off to get someone to move the vehicle into a repair bay.
Anya saunters up to the bevy of dwarves, fully armed and filthy, swarming about the Mountaineer.
"Whoa whoa, hold up there me chummers. This bit'o'scrap is but the aperitif. The big bad booty main course is in here."
She opens up the cargo area and points to her poor departed Victoria.
"We had a little excitment out there and the delicate little thingys couldn't handle it. Now I need 'er fixed an' fixed good. But beseems that we need us some more grade-A bang bang, so I got these bad boys."
She reaches in and points out the two salvaged Heavy Canons from the enemy fliers.
"I can't be havin' those things pointed at me and not be able to reply in kind now can I? I mean, that's just rude.
So I gots a battery of light laser than ain't even good enough to give a tickle to your aunt May's little bum, so what say we yank those out and put these two mean SOBs in their stead?
Also be a dear and top the missiles off. I might've used a few."
Wraith lets the others talk. She's not much for briefings. Or meetings. Or debriefings. Or upbringings. Wait, that last one is different isn't it?
"That's about natch, Major. And yeah, the next time you hand out vehicles, might could be an idea to match a driver what can drive with 'em. Often we were too busy doing things to see to such details and, chip truth, his not driving but lack-of did the car more harm than enemy fire."
She taps her chin cutely.
"And did you say something about promotions? Well THANK you sir. I won't let you down."
You watch as Lieutenant McDare dutifully records everything said on her minicomputer with her usual professional demeanor. Major Grimjack goes through a range of emotions on his face as he hears each of your reports. When you are finished, he says, "Given that you are a special operations team, I would expect that you would be able to make do with what you're given. Unless you'd rather be assigned to the Diplomats or the worse yet, the Library." He stops speaking when the door opens and not quite human woman dressed in robes enters the room. As you look closer at her, her eyes seem to glow a deep amber and the robes appear to actually be feathers. Her sharp features belie that of her name. Lieutenant McDare and Major Grimjack stand at attention, the latter harumphing that you do the same. "Top Chief Elle of Owls, we didn't expect you so soon, we were just finishing our debriefing.." Grimjack looks about a foot shorter, if that were possible.
The woman smiles and her hand elegantly raises and then lowers in an indication that you should sit and relax. "Major Grimjack, you know that I do not stand for the rituals of your military tradition, but I know you have the utmost respect for my position. As do the rest of them." She looks at Shakti for brief moment and then returns her gaze to the rest of you. You can almost feel her mind touching yours. It isn't intrusive, just a gentle caress of thought. "This is the team that returned from Garnet Town and that brought in the Falhaeren." It wasn't a question. "I wanted to personally thank them for their work and their flexibility in working with others. We have lost so many already and I fear the farther we reach, the more fingers we lose." She sighs and you sigh with her, unconsciously.
"Now, before I tell you your next assignment," Major Grimjack seems shocked by this, "I want each of you to stand and receive your new offical ranking pins within the Legion. We just had them made and I am proud to honor you with them." She produces a small black case from somewhere in her robes/wings and opens it. You see gleaming metal pins with different colored gems denoting the ranks. She goes down the list, starting with the lowest.
"Private First Class Zacharia James Casey, congratulations." The young man can barely contain himself, but he does his best to stay professional and at attention.
"Specialist 2nd Class Ariel Renee Jimenez, congratulations." She has less bearing than Casey, a smile she is unable to keep hidden creeping to her face.
"Specialist First Class Jaqueline Cho, congratulations."
"Specialist First Class Shakti, congratulations."
"Specialist First Class Anya Whiteangel, congratulations."
"Sergeant Burgurk, congratulations."
After a salute and low bow to each of you, Top Chief Elle of Owls continues. "I wish that I could say you could take your leave and celebrate, but I have urgent business that your team has experience with. Unfortanately I have to reassign Specialist Cho to another division at this time. Something came up regarding her prior team. Specialist Shakti, the offer still stands that you join with the others in the Hospital to offer your vast divine power to heal, but I will allow you to stay and hear this out first." She pauses, looking each of you over, as if measuring for something. "Major Grimjack will no longer be your handler. You will be reporting to me and me alone directly, unless instructed otherwise. Understood?" She doesn't wait for an answer, but Major Grimjack, Jaq and Lieutenant McDare take that as their cue and they live after a quick salute.
"What I'm about to tell you only the Council and the Director of Intelligence knows. It appears that our new friends, the faelerin, had some secrets they weren't willing to part with right away when they arrived. It appears their world is overrun with what some might call demons. Something happened and numerous Rifts opened up on their world and many of their kind took them here to what they though might be safety. We now know that it was some of their own kind that brought this disaster to their world and it is possible that some of them are trying to make that happen here. We can not allow this. We have recently received word that a few of their kind have been sighted east of here in a town called Paragould. From what we know, the townsfolk there are an independent community and not associated with the Legion or anyone else. I don't have to tell you that this creates some concern within the Council. Your mission will be to infiltrate the town, find out what is going on and report back. If you unravel any activity that could threaten the town, you are authorized to bring it down. Remember that you are our representatives there, at least until we can establish a Diplomatic Team to go and hopefully add them to our good graces. Be on your best behavior. We have already sent word to the unit in Garnet Town that they will remain there to protect it until you able to return to your duties there. We have decided to keep Specialist Jimenez and Private Casey assigned to you as well, as they have familiarity with your abilities and tactics. Sergeant Burgurk. I know that leadership is not an easy thing to bear, but I trust that you will wear it with pride and honor. These people are your tribe. I know what that means to one of your kind, so I know you will treat them as such. Remember to listen to their council, take their words into consideration, but as their leader, their responsibility falls on you. I know you have questions, so I will hear them and answer them as I can."
Burgurk looks at everyone with a questioning look on his face, inviting questions.