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As her rifle slips from her grasp, Quantum-K gasps.
Triggering the Called fusion pulls the rifle back to her grasp, only to see her drop it again.
"She's a problem - Get Her!"
Q-K then slaps her shoulder patch to trigger her Lightwrap Inlay, becoming Invisible again.
0rion takes a bright, fiery stab at the high priest, who curses as she gets hit Infernum!
Quantum K encourages the team to be more accurate, and Kolefo takes advantage of the coaching to hit XVAM.
---Round 1---
Quantum K
0rion
Troyvaian
Kolefo
Benoit
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Acolyte
XVAM (91)
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Scripsi paginas et paginas, Vidi sal, deinde lacrimas
Me repellunt sed non scandunt rapidas
Iam in mea lapis scripsi : "Non vivt deus in domo mea".
Sed si sensum temporis inveneris, ab oblivione emerges
Et nullus est ventus qui resistit virtutem naturalem
Ex parte dextra, suavitatem venti sentis
In dorsum meum cera agglutinata pennis, opus est fugere
Si vis prohibere me , iterum conare quia praecidere caput meum
---Tace et sis boni - Cives musicis
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Benoit drops his flame glaive! "Damn you and your mind tricks witch. As me bearded dwarven mother used to say; a good knife solves problems quickly and quietly."
The dwarf draws a starknife in a blink of an eye and begins to circle around XVAM before stabbing out at his enemy with his knife.
TEC-9's points its colossus coil at XVAM and a hair raising stream of electricity erupts from it.
Benoits swings twice, and draws blood with his Starknife. From the opposite side, Troi manages to hit the high priest with his solar weapon.
Non permitto te hic excedere! the high priest exclaims.
The acolyte blasts Benoit's mind with a spell
--Round 1---
Quantum K
0rion
Troyvaian
Kolefo
Benoit
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Acolyte
XVAM (148)
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Benoit grimaces as his mind is assaulted again.
"When I'm done here I'm coming for you next witch."
Despite his words he is still under the spell of the acolyte and proceeds to drop his starknife.
"Damn."
He activates the called fusion on his glaive, teleporting it back to his hands, so he can swing it again at XVAM.
Now with a clear firing line, TEC-9 fires its colossus coil twice.
Benoit stabs XVAM, while TEC-9 fails to hit. Kolefo attempts to bring down the high priest as well, but is stopped by the mighty armor plating of the opponent.
--Round 2---
Quantum K
0rion
Troyvaian
Kolefo
Benoit
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Acolyte
XVAM (177)
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"T - are you all right?" Orion call out to Troivayan (narrowly cutting himself off from yelling the man's actual name deep in enemy territory.
Whirling to the high priest, Orion stabs out relentlessly. Each strike is a bit more reckless and frantic, but the solarion desperately focuses on dropping them before they do the same to Troivayan.
for
for
for
0rion brutally dismembers the high priest, leaving Troivayan with no further target in range. Quantum K manages to re-target and just barely misses the acolyte.
---Round 2---
Troyvaian
---Round 3---
Quantum K
0rion
Troyvaian
Kolefo
Benoit
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Acolyte
XVAM (DEAD)
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Both 0rion and Kolefo miss their attacks, and which this poor argument the acolyte looks no closer to surrendering than before...
---Round 2---
Troyvaian
---Round 3---
Quantum K
0rion
Troyvaian
Kolefo
Benoit
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Acolyte
XVAM (DEAD)
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Hands crackling with coruscating black energy, Troivayan realises the job's not done--and payment won't be coming--until another foe is dealt with. He walks slowly towards the acolyte, his fatigue receding a little as the mysterious energy amplifies his metabolism to burn energy more quickly, and then launches a series of haymakers.
Troivayan takes a movent to grit his teeth and recover some stamina, then proceeds to slash the remaining acolyte. Quantum K fire with deadly aim and effect.
---Round 3---
Quantum K
0rion
Troyvaian
Kolefo
Benoit
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Acolyte (83)
XVAM (DEAD)
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Benoit slashes at the acolyte with unrelenting force, and it's enough to bring down the last of the enemies. With that, the compound returns to silence.
Further searching of the compound reveals a tiled entry room, with wash basins and a few places to sit. The next room is a temple
The columns and altar in this room are of the highest quality. Prayer mats line the floor, and green curtains conceal much of the south and east walls. A gold and emerald statue of a woman with a serpentine body and six feathered wings features prominently. Emerald runes trace the figure’s body from torso to tail. Its head is a golden circlet with a seven-pointed emerald star inside of it. One of her hands holds a whip while the other holds a feather.
The statue represents the war aspect of Lissala.
The seven-pointed star as represents a Sihedron, a magical artifact of tremendous power.
Finally, the back of the compound holds a cellblock.The room smells of unwashed bodies and waste. Cages adorn the floor, each filled with barely clothed Azlanti citizens. Some of them are silently murmuring the well-known azlanti resistance song by Revolvoricaro:
Amoris sumus periti
Leges noscis necnon ego
Devotionem plenam intendo
Hanc non habebis ex ullo alio
Communicare volo tibi quod sentio
Intelligendum tibi est
Tibi numquam relinquam
Tibi numquam deseram
Tibi ero desultor non numquam
Faciam non flere te
Nec dicam valere
mendax vulnerabo non numquam
A prisoners few lie still on the floor, but the rest look at the new entrants into the room with wide-eyed interest and shock. One gray haired Azlanti gives an easy, almost aloof look. He nods and holds his fingers to his lips to signal discretion.
Upon a closer look, the gray haired Azlanti looks exactly like Felthaum.
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When they reach the prison Orion glances about and takes in the many trapped prisoners. I wonder which 'offenses' these committed? he thinks grimly to himself. Failing to worship conquest with the proper enthusiasm?
He steps forwards with arms raised and palms facing ourwards.
"We are not here for further harm. Are you all right? Are any injured? We may not have succulent grapes to give you or frilly clothes to garb you in now, but we can work to treat your wounds."
This man is injured one of the prisoners responds, pointing at the lying, unconscious prisoner he was treated poorly by our captors
The unconscious prisoner looks like he is in need of urgent medical attention.
The Vesk hireling stabilizes the unconscious azlanti.
One of the captive citizen speaks Gratias tibi ago, gratuiti civis. Rationem captionis nostrae ignoramus. Capti sumus, imperium prodidisse nobis nuntiatum est. Tunc percusserunt nos et interrogaverunt nos. Sacerdos nobis in via gloriarum futurarum narravit, sed crimina quaelibet enumerare recusavit.
Thank you, selfless citizen. The reason for our capture we do not know. We were captured, and we were told to have betrayed the Empire. Then they beat us and interrogated us. The priestess told us we had gotten in the way of glories yet to come, but she refused to list any crimes.
Felthaum seems to do his best not to seem to familiar, but joins the other prisoners in expressing his thanks.
With the priest dead, it is straightforward to liberate the prisoner before authorities arrive.
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Felthaum has been rescued, and the group retrace their route. Fortunately, the disguises of Mohaul hold up, and it's only when the group is safely in orbit that Felthaum says Please call me Keldon, without confirming whether that's a true name or another pseudonym.
During the trip Keldon’s demeanor gradually softens, his gruff and commanding nature becoming more subdued. Halfway through the trip he laughs out loud for the first time.
“The mask is finally coming off,” he remarks. “I’ve been under so long, I forgot what it feels like to be me. To just... be.” He shudders. “My work was necessary. But, may I never hear the words ‘Great Purpose’ again.”
Keldon changes the topic, speaking of anything and everything—save for the Azlanti Star Empire. He staunchly avoids any discussion of the information he found. “There’s only one person who gets to hear that,” he says more than once.
Eventually, the group makes it back to the same “Quiet Room” where their mission began.
Naiaj greets the group. “You’ve all done excellent work. I knew the mission would be difficult, but I also knew that you were up to the task.” Naiaj exchanges a grim look with Keldon. “Welcome home. Let’s talk.” The pair go into another room.
---
Naiaj returns with an even more serious and grim expression on her face than she left with. Keldon is not with her. “I’ll repeat what I said earlier: you did excellent work. Your actions helped the Pact Worlds prepare for some dangerous times ahead. When I have another impossible task, you’ll be the first on my list to call.” She opens a door to another room and prepares to exit.
“I have some urgent work to do. The most important thing for you to know at this moment? This mission never happened.” She leaves the room.
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"The preistess is gone." Orion informs the captives. "But I cannot vouch for how many of her acolytes may still be out there. And ready to continuing rounding up more. I would flee this place, and likely this planet. But your choices are your own." he says, trying to avoid making too much eye contact with Felthaum more than the others.
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Later, when returning back safely with the operative, Orion accepts the 'introduction' genuinely. "I'm sorry it took so long for us to come to retrieve you." the android says. "You know how the Society can go: always a new bit of chaos cresting the horizon that throws off well-made plans." "But you're safe now. That is what should matter."
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Kōlēfō tries to extract as many hints for improved spying as he can from Felthaum, or Keldon, or whoever he is. He's clearly impressed by how much the agent accomplished on Azlant, even if the ending was sub-optimal.
During the debrief with Naiaj, the skittermander is jotting down notes and occasionally whispering to whoever is nearby how interesting a book this will be.
"...This mission never happened.”
His face falls as the venture-captain leaves the room. He tears the page out of his notebook, crumples it up, and tosses it over his shoulder.