Bran the Blessed's page

"BRONWYN PASCAL. WHY HAVE YOU TAKEN SO LONG TO SPEAK WITH US."

"YOU MUST NOT RELAX YOUR VIGILANCE. YOU ARE THE WARDEN OF YOUR TIME. A BREACH SUCH AS THIS SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO FORM WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE. ATTEND, AND LISTEN WELL. THE LAWS BIND ME; ONLY THRICE MAY I APPEAR IN YOUR WORLD, AND THERE IS MUCH YOU MUST LEARN BEFORE-"

The door slammed open and Camila burst in beaming.

Altering my Bran plans a bit since Alexandra's leaving the team. You mind if his head is in the duffle?

Alexandra, you're once more finding yourself next to someone brought up to be a Living Weapon who maaaayyyyyyy not be in their right mind. So uh... let that guide you in your next moves...

Above

She knew it was time to run, to let Balor be buried. There weren't exactly stairs, but even without Bran's strength and speed, she was pretty sure she'd at least have been able to try to climb to safety, or at least the battle above.

But even her stamina was not endless and it had long since been sapped with wounds and pain.

Take a Powerful Blow: 2d6 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (4, 2) + 4 - 2 = 8

Above the Eyeblighted were raining down blow after blow, their sheer numbers overwhelming their fear of Alexis's greater strength, and while they sheltered Alexandra from the fiends, one particularly monstrous, one-eyed beast reached out to dislocate one of their arms with a savage yank! Go ahead and Take a Powerful Blow

And below, Balor's eye was shining brighter and Brighter. A blast like that might be too much for even Alexis, or Shayera...
And if I just start climbing they'll be sitting ducks.

"Shayera!" Bran cried as he watched her dive straight towards Balor's metal frame. Her wings sliced through mechanical tendons, tearing through plates, before soaring higher, out of reach of all but his Eye. "They need you! I can take this mec- I can tend to this automaton!"

Provoke: 2d6 + 1 - 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4, 2) + 1 - 2 + 1 + 1 = 7 Carrot

Wingblade's fury didn't ebb, but at Bran's words she redirected hit, arcing her flight back up towards her friends with the detonation of one of Whipoorwill's quills serving as a abrupt farewell.
Bran breathed a sigh of relief. She'll keep the others safe.

With a desperate surge of strength, Bran ran beneath a falling slab that had sheared away from the surrounding walls, catching it with a groan of effort that sent stars dancing across his vision.

His blood dripped, his wounds burned, his heart beat a tattoo against his ribs as he ran towards Balor, visions of past foes swimming across his vision.

Defend: 2d6 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (2, 6) + 1 + 1 + 1 = 11

With a heave the great sheet of stone intercepted Balor's blast- He waded across the ocean, the hopes of his people upon his back- Joints popped and muscles tore as he wrenched down another avalanche of stone and earth on Balor's Brute- One eye emptied of sight, and the other could see only a burning red as that tricksy-pirate-nobody blinded him, Him!-

The dust began to settle as Bran moved from place to place, piling on more earth wherever his eyes spied an area where's Balor's virulence might break free. But Balor's Brute had weapons of its own-Chittering mandibles pursued him before a grotesque stinger pierced into his back in a welter of burning numbness- An armblade plunged out of Balor's earthen prison and punched through Bran's thigh, casting him to the ground even as the last skeletal remains of the Brute pulled their way free.

"Come then fiend." **nngh** "Tarry with me but a while longer and our burial shall be complete."

"Oh Prince of Ravens, Accursed Crow, you have always cared too much for mortal things such as life and death. My hate has outlived ages of your beloved humans; the chance to finally be the one to cut short one of your lives is worth a century entombed." Bran strained but could not rise, hurling debris at the Brute until the towering mech caught his arms in a crumbling deathgrip. "And I shall be free far sooner than that."

The blade swept down, and all the visions that danced in Bran's eyes vanished in a thin line of fire that raced around the width of his broad neck.

Bran the Blessed was dead once more.

Reasonable likelihood of needing either extraordinary effort or someone else to make a save for you to avoid the avalanche.

"Did you save Camila?"

"Shayera... She'll do it. She'll save her." She has to.

But even as he spoke, the scaffolding that held the Brutes in place when they were at rest, collapsed. The concrete was already crumbling, only the most hardened electronics were still functioning, and all of the cultists who had not been Eyeblighted already were either fallen or fled. And then still more human artifice failed as ominous beeping sounds began to emit from the Silver Shadow's explosives belt...

A quick wriggle, toss, and sprint was enough to get out of the immediate blast radius, but it was one blow too many for the hangar. A large sheet of rock slammed into the ground above the heavy security door, splintering into rubble, and all around, wall after wall began to burst and collapse as the tons upon tons of earth and stone rested on weaker and weaker foundations.

It was all coming down.

The Eyeblighted once more began to retreat, hurling themselves with bestial strength between chunks of debris as they tore their way up to the sky. The remaining Brute began to take flight as well, the mostly hardened foam that was spattered around it not nearly enough to permanently disable its systems. But Balor, Balor could not join it. As easy to repair and reroute as the Brutes were designed to be, the constant entropic energy that spilled forth from him was too much for it to keep pace with, and his flight systems were still too damaged.

A climb might have been possible, but instead, Balor ripped at his own Brute's armor, and with each panel that tore free still more of his power spilled out, suffusing the whole of the hangar with rot and decay even as he gathered his power for a devastating blast!

Silver Shadow, pick one piece of your gear that's still fully functioning. All non-healers in the hangar (including Alexandra) - go ahead and Take a Powerful Blow (K, this is probably on the car, but do you). Alexis, mark a condition.
Also, this place is Coming Down. Ending up in the avalanche zone could just get you taken out!

Efnysien's eyes glowed, but apparently even with Camila's borrowed memories, he lacked the cultural context to be fully devastated by Shayera's Gurgi-burn. "Oh yeah. Good point. Guess I'll just lie down and go for a nap then." Both pairs of eyes close and the chains that encircle his wrists flare a deep, ugly red; the sizzle of long-dead flesh hits Shayera's nose like a wall of putrescence. His eyes reopen from his feigned snooze, and it's hard to tell if Balor's power or his own rage is burning hotter. "Guess not." He whips his chains up along the walls and deep into the ceiling above Shayera where he pulls the whole thing down on her in a rain of fiberglass, asbestos, and still more cauldron-born. Something bursts in his and Camila's noses and he cries out through bubbles of blood. "That enough "agency" for you?"

The ghostly Efnysien hovers closer watching with savage glee as Wingblade's buried beneath the wave of Camila's memories given awful flesh. Suddenly though, a burst of energy floods through Wingblade as freshly oxygenated blood hits her brain somewhere far away.

And just as her body takes that deeply needed breath, Camila's mind ripples. The desk beneath Efnysien opens, its storage cubby yawning impossibly wide, and when Wingblade once more hurls the cauldron-born back from her, this time they seize hold of Efnysien instead!

Countless hands yank and pull at him as he flails around, lacerating undead flesh with every blow, but inexorably he's dragged into the gaping maw of the desk, until with a final look to Shayera, the Camila/Efnysien amalgam slams the lid shut!

The room is in tatters, and Camila/Efnysien looks far more battered than she did before, but her eyes are no longer dull and shrunken, and Efnysien's mouth is muzzled.

The phantoms of Camila's anger, however, turn their empty gazes to Wingblade, making it very obvious that it is time to depart!

As/before you reawaken, Take a Powerful Blow from the Mental and Physical beatings you've been enduring.

Bran post later

"They're only monsters because I'm one too!" The Camila-head shouted, "He told me!"

Efnysien smirked, "It's true; I didn't think the brat would be able to channel so much of my strength, but we have more in common than I thought. Without all this bottled up rage, I don't think we'd have had such a close, close bond."

The air grew humid as Camila's head wept, "So it's my fault that I hurt Aunt Bronwyn, and Bran, and you!" Her voice tightened into a squeak as she screwed her eyes shut. "If I try to take control I'm just gonna make them worse!"

Efnysien gave a pout of faux-sympathy at Camila's fears, his eyes gleaming as he watched the scribbled Wingblade on the whiteboard tense up as Camila's hand gradually closed around her windpipe!

The images scribbling across Camila's whiteboards told an increasingly grim story as the pit was falling into ruin and decay as Balor's eye was more and more unveiled. At the edges of her view Wingblade could see Camila's hand, slowly reaching back up towards her body in the real world...

But more worrying was what she found.

There's... nothing.

Maybe for a sorceress like Hex there would be something that could be done. But so far there's no part of Efnysien that isn't intrinsically linked to Camila. There's no dividing line to cut at. No magic circle to disrupt. The only part of Efnysien she'd even been able to interact with is the part that was also Camila. It might be possible to weaken him, to strengthen her, or find some other way to tip the struggle of who controlled this body.

But there was nothing here that would free her.

Comicbook brain stuff classically can happen at very quick speed, so go ahead and feel free to respond before external things resolve, Wing.
K, if you're uncertain of what to do, I'll tell you that MANY MANY of Shadow's explosives are going to be detonating, so she could maybe use a save.
Or do you :-D

Heh, I'm not sure you actually **want** Balor's eye to be so unveiled that an uninfected Brute rusts away by mere proximity... ;-)

Kaoru's size-shifting vehicle makes weaving through the fray simple. A beam of terrible entropic force gouges through the earth behind him, savagely sweeping along the pit until with a twist of the wheel of the suddenly shrinking vehicle, Kaoru breaks line of sight entirely, leaving a frustrated Balor bellowing through distorted speakers as he hurls the other Brute aside!

Balor's lost sight of you for now, so you'll have a +1 Forward for your next move against him.

"These gnats will not long escape me, but if you do not cage for their glamered healer, I will rot you from within and without until your very name becomes a byword for misshapen horror!"

The other Brute's field powers down, some sort of circuit having tripped to prevent it from overloading, and it stalks after Alexis once more, spraying them with some early version of the SCA's capture-foam. Thankfully it lacks power-inhibition, and for now, their movement is relatively unrestricted. But Alexis can feel it beginning to tighten and draw close - if it fully pins them, they might not have the leverage to use their great strength!

As the other Brute quickly reengages from a distance, Kaoru can't help but notice that even though the Brutes are built with redundancy upon redundancy and carefully modular systems for easy, even mid-battle repair, Balor doesn't seem to be making use of any of that, whether out of ignorance, or simply that his virulent presence is acting on all systems at once. If you're able to survive his deadly miasma until then, it can't be much longer before he's eaten away at the Brute too much for it to function.

The earth shakes once more with the Brutes' impacts, and the already ruinous wall of the pit where Alexis's collateral damage had been wreaked begins to collapse entirely, miring the Brutes and sliding towards the rest of the fray in a spreading landslide, carrying the dazed and battered Bran along in the wave of loose earth.

Blow after blow rains down on Alexandra, denting and shattering the debris she'd sheltered behind. Take a Powerful Blow But before they can continue their assault, another hulking figure flings them aside with nearly the last of his strength.

Bran looks like hell. His platemail has been cracked, torn, and split, so that the layers of chain that lie beneath his newer armor is all that truly protects him. His face is pale from fever and blood loss; his great spear lies high above him in Camila's palm.

"So, you show your face, Accursed Crow?" Balor thunders, a note of supreme satisfaction somehow escaping the distortion. "If you were only on your knees, then all would be perfection..."

Taking some roll-less liberties here as this is the beginning of Bron/Bran's Moment of Truth. Rolls etc. can and should still happen, but if they're directed at Bran or Balor there may be some overrides - feel free to reach out if you're not sure!

***

Another pack of mute Cauldron-born surge after Wingblade as she banks and rolls to navigate the hallways, but as she outstrips them, the muted sounds of flesh on hardwood cease abruptly as if they vanished once they were out of her sight.

A whiff of too-strong deodorant sends her towards another classroom with Efnysien roaring on her heels as Camila screams again! Chains trail behind Efnysien as he gives chase, each of them stretching into the surrounding walls, but not seeming to hinder him in the least as they slide through the brick and mortar of Camila's mindscape.

The classroom is a sea of empty desks, with Camila the only student. However, rather than her real body, she's a horrible amalgam; Efnysien's head also sprouts from her torso, shifting indeterminate limbs grappling for control, but both their eyes fixed on the whiteboard where rapidly shifting sketches show a birdseye view of the battle below through Camila's eyes.

The spectral Efnysien rushes through, not needing the moment to take in a sight he already knows full well. Rather than resume futilely battling Wingblade when he can't touch her, he heads for the desks, tugging at them and rattling them, his chains now reaching into the floor, and leaving the desks straining and bulging in his wake. Hands and arms of cauldron-born corpses reach out of compartments designed for pencils and textbooks, heaving as the rest of their pallid, lifeless bodies begin to crawl free!

"So what was the plan with your friend the face-thief? Found one of Manawydan's old hand-me-downs and figured the real gods wouldn't notice if you glamered up what passes for a giant these days? Or did one of those old, dead dreams of Bran's overpower some poor soul who wasn't blessed with the might of Llyr? Do you even know who you've been fighting beside?"

Here, closer to Camila's heart, the faces of the swarming dead are clearer - students and teachers Shayera recognizes from her reconnaissance, the cultists who held Camila, the Triakosia who took her. Even the faces of her family are warped and distorted across the features of the cauldron-born as they emerge!

Alexis's fists rang against the Brute's armor, shivering the air with vibrations as they relentlessly drove them back. But then one blow fizzed instead of resounding, a shockwave of its force rippling and rebounding across all too familiar hexagons. The Brute's artificer field looked like an old design, not self-sustaining like the ones in the SCA's containment vans, but while it was intact, very little would physically harm the mech.

Behind them Kaoru led his own crash of the titans, bringing both Brutes crashing back down into the increasingly unstable launch bay. Sheets of ablative armor ripped free from Balor's host, corrosion already eating through the rivets and fastenings, spilling more and more of his destructive energies into the surrounding area.

Kaoru, Alexandra, and Alexis: What piece of your gear is failing first within Balor's withering light?

The scattered pieces of Kaoru's former Brute didn't lie still on the ground. They rattled and reoriented, weapons unfurling to punish Balor's foes before The Silver Shadow struck! Her high explosive charges shattered the already riven components of the newly infected Brute, breaking its grasp on the infectious stone and sending it skittering along the ground!

Taking Balor's primary host is a bit outside the scope of that move, much like you can't take someone's consciousness, and Wingblade can't just take Camila's body by punching Efnysien - but getting you access to the stone while taking away some weapons should hopefully work!

Unfortunately, the Eyeblighted who had sought higher ground rather than match their strength against 'Bronwyn's', seemed to have no greater appetite for approaching the raging Efnysien! Instead, seeking weaker prey to quickly consume, they bounded down from on high, smashing into the ground around Alexandra and burying her in an avalanche of warped flesh! Mark Afraid

Even as his rage spread across the field of battle, still more of Balor's power gathered in the shattered cockpit of his host as more and more of its chassis flaked away - the beam that wore away at cloth and fiber and metal would soon be enough to shatter stone and melt flesh, and his eye was upon Kaoru...

***

His voice dripping with condescension, Efnysien hurled himself for Wingblade. Oh God she's right...
"You won't be worth collaring if you're too stupid to train, puppy!" ...I'm frozen. Gae-Buidhe flashed through the air above her head once, twice,"I might not keep you after all!" He's too strong to hold..."Get it through your head - I CAN'T LEAVE!" And too Camila to stab! Efnysien raised Camila's foot in a stomp to once more send a shockwave rippling forth that was either going to smash Shayera from her feet or force her to leap into the spear's path - and Bran hit him, low and hard.

Camila went flying, limbs splayed out in shock as Efnysien arced back to land heavily in a pile of sand bags. Beleaguered disappointment shone on Camila's face as he stood once more uninjured, "Look, Lord of Crows or Raven Prince -did my real brother even permit you take his names- take this seriously or I will kill you. But first I'll pluck out your eyes, and your tongue, and that wriggly thing at the back of your throat and then I'll move to your-" Bran leapt, Gae-Dearg held high, and Efnysien froze in delight, not moving a muscle as the doom-laden spear came closer, but by the time it pierced Camila's flesh, Bran had re-shrunken it til little more than a nail's length of Gae-Dearg ran through the palm of her hand.

For a moment Bronwyn's mind flashed through the renewed link into the bond between Efnysien and Camila, a weary smile spreading across Bran's face despite the plague of Balor that scorched his innards, and the still bleeding ruin of his ear. The spear's runes were flaring to life, soon she'd be able to reach Camila again, find a way to unravel this spell or strengthen her...

She's doing so much already but- **KTAAANG!** Bran's breastplate crumpled as the side of Camila's fist caromed off the curves of his armor, smashing up the side of his helmless head to knock him from his feet.

The sight in one eye was nothing but crawling worms of light against a field of dark red, but the other one saw Efnysien bend down to pick him up with Camila's un-Gae-dearg'd hand, and with a brutal toss he hurled her into the pit below.

Marking Afraid from Provoke
Directly Engage (Afraid, Game Face): 2d6 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (5, 3) - 2 + 1 = 7Give a Teammate an Opportunity

Take a Powerful Blow (Not my Body): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 4) + 2 = 9 Giving Ground

Wing, Efnysien is Overreacting - you get a +1 forward for your next roll against him - and fwiw, you do have influence over Camila for rolls targeting her.

So since the gadget syringe won't work on Balor-bot without modifications, what's Alexandra up to?

Balor's Brute moved smoothly, smashing the Eyeblighted aside into the concrete with callous ease, leaving its twisted frame bent, broken, and still moving anyways. It hauled itself on two limbs out of the path of the debris raining down from above as the silo doors shattered and collapsed. The other Eyeblighted backed away from Alexis's sudden violence, hurling themselves out of the pit with terrible strength as they vaulted from debris to debris to the world above.

And Balor was rising with them as inexorably as the burning sun.

***

"I'm the only one that's bound you stupid b&+&&! You think the Eye bothered with her?!" Camila's nostrils flared with rage as Efnysien took hold once more. He lunged for Shayera with his wicked spear, finally hurling it at her, but once more Camila managed to slow his strikes and foil his aim...

Until Gae-Buidhe returned, flashing straight for Wingblade's back!

***

Kaoru's ruse was successful, and neither Balor nor the other brute intervened before he smashed his mech's fist into Balor's cockpit! Despite the many layers of armor that should have shielded it, the armored glass crumbled away into rotten dust, and ferocious light spilled out from the ruin of his Brute's 'face', not dimming in the least as Kaoru withdrew the stone in a clenched fist.

"Did you think that was my Eye? My Heart?" Distortion ripped through Balor's speakers as he brayed with laughter, slowly hovering out from the pit. "It is but a seed of my might, Thief. And it will be your Doom!"

Kaoru you've lost control of that arm already. Much like you saw with Abacus, Balor is corrupting and seizing control of your Brute! His first mech is also spilling energy out around him. So far it hasn't had any effect, but being around it for too long can't be good...
Brute 2 is covering Balor's emergence from below, so any attacks from down in the pit will have to explain how they're getting around the other Brute.

Post tonight!

Camila's eyes blazed with fury as Efnysien brought her fists to bear, but with a look of anguish on her face, Camila turned the blow aside, smashing into the ground with a seismic rumble as the earth itself began to yawn open...

***

Let's hold off on Alexandra's unleash for now

The hangar looked different without the haze of power and rage that suffused Balor's vision. The cultists near the Exosuits looked less fierce and almost... wilted, like plants kept from sunlight and water for almost too long to cover.

Most of them did anyways.

Chained to the wall behind the Brutes were a half dozen hulks, dressed only in the tattered remnants of clothes that no longer fit their misshapen bodies. Muscles, bones, and tendons had stretched and warped and swollen into grotesque asymmetries that traced the odd patterns of sigils daubed across their puffy, necrotized flesh. The Eyeblighted were already stirring, and as the other cultists scattered and fled before the heroes' approach, they tugged at their restraints, tearing chunks of concrete free to dangle from the shackles at their wrists and ankles.

Two of the Brutes had pilots, priming their engines and readying their weaponry as debris rained down on them and their pit-crews from the trembling surface above, scratching away at the vintage HCPD paint job that tried to make them seem less threatening.

The third was Balor himself. The cockpit was empty except for a large glowing stone which pulsed in time with the many glyphs and signs engraved throughout his new host, sending flows of dark energy etching their way down the Brute's chassis.

The Eyeblighted horrors raced forward to meet Alexandra, who was joined a few moments later by a nearly unscathed looking 'Bronwyn', who clearly had had very little trouble with the demoralized cultists who had sought to bar their path.

Above the fray echoed a brazen voice as Balor's speakers made his displeasure known. "Do not let these ants delay my ascension - Give me the sky!"

K, you're being sufficiently sneaky that you have gone unnoticed (though uh, that's likely coming to an end. The pilot of your new exo-suit is trying to reset things and find some manual work-arounds, but you're in control

***

Sulfur and crimson wrapped around Camila's frantic eyes as the Brute Squad's launch silo opened beneath her. Her glasses discolored, the frame withering so that they sat askew across her face. Her voice was desperate, strangled, as the gleeful fury of Efnysien waited behind her exhausted eyes as she strained to keep her spear lowered and Wingblade unharmed. "He's... Coming!"

Okay Alexandra, misses when trying to Reject Influence have a predefined result, so just toss on a condition to go with the label shift (sounds like Insecure, but do you)

Efnysien simply sneered at Bran's words, "I would have thought you of all people would-" Delight crossed his features as 'Bronwyn' started circling towards the entrance to the tunnels.

"Oh look, the aunt. You know, I think this just might hurt you enough to justify it..." Suddenly Camila's body goes slack, and her eyes widen in fear and pain as tears trickle down her cheeks. "Ow, ow-ow ow! He stopped fighting me for a second, and I got me back, but he's-" **nngh** "-taking me back over! I'm sorry Tia Bronwyn, but Balor's got control of him and I don't think I'm strong enough alone to-" A tautness returned to her stance, and then it was Efnysien's smirk on her face once more as he stalked towards Wingblade and Bran, just quickly enough to force them to join battle or back up quickly over the uneven ground.

Okay, okay. Balor's binding is just on Efnysien, not Camila... "Well Brother? Piecing it together? ...Camila can get control of her body, we just need to weaken him... "Ringing any Branwen-shaped bells? Don't you even remember what we did to Gwern?" ...or strengthen her... "Do you-"

Efnysien stopped cold, his cruel sneer suddenly melting away into pure, frustrated rage. "You don't remember." Gnashing Camila's teeth, Efysien stomped her foot and the earth buckled, nearly knocking Bran from his feet.

"What are you? One of those shades that haunted his memories once he found the cauldron? Some conjured glamer of Branwen's so she could 'do some good'? Or are you just some poor dumb brute fleshwarped to trick me into hoping you'd be able to really use that spear to send me home?!"

Gae Buidhe flashed through the air to Efnysien's grasp, freed from its earthen prison by the bastard god's temblor.

"Kids' gloves are off, 'cause whatever you are, you're not Bran."

***

Down in the tunnels alarms were going off in flares of color and sound as debris fell from above. Through the heavy door Kaoru and Alexandra could hear snatches of shouted conversation, and from back up the tunnels it sounded like the other cultists might soon be on the move too!

"-st laun- -damned things! There's no time to finish the sig- -Eyeblighted are wakin-"

And just to make sure the geography's clear. Silver Shadow and Kaoru are both at the door to the Brute Squad's hangar. Within that hangar are mechs, techs, Balor, and apparently the Eyeblighted? Back up the tunnel towards the surface are the well-armed cultists that Shadow scared and K snuck past. Getting closer to them is 'Bronwyn' and nearby to her is the ball of Bran, Shayera, and Efnysien.

"WEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"

Efnysien's girlish shriek of delight was clearly dredged up from somewhere in Camila's portion of their merged soul, but as Wingblade flew faster and faster, Efnysien's mockery turned to thwarted rage, which was plain to see on her pallid, blood-drained face.

With a twist of Camila's arms, he nearly broke free in mid-flight, but Shayera managed to snag her again as they spiraled back towards the ground, sheltering Camila's body with her wings as they rolled into the ground, before flinging herself free rather than risk staying in close quarters.

"Really?! You're going to keep wasting my time with this?!" Marking Angry
Efnysien popped up from the hard landing without a pause, one ankle visibly swelling. He reached for a nearby length of jagged, rusty metal, popping Camila's thumb back into joint after he first fumbled the grip. "I've decided you aren't going to make a good enough hawk for me, Wingblade. I know your best work only happened when someone's had you on their leash, but I didn't think you were such a useless whipped cur."

Gae-Buidhe sent tremors through the ground, violently beginning to shake its way free of its earthen prison.

"Should I kill her, Brother?! Or maybe this brat's aunt? I don't see a herd of horses around to make my point with this time, so maybe I should cut straight to the quick of things."

For a moment the spear stilled, and a surprised smile spread across Camila's face.

"Oh the brat hates that, Brother. Seems she'll fight after all if it's to keep from feeling those two crunch beneath her hands. Don't think she'll care as much if it's you though."

Empathize: 2d6 + 0 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (1, 6) + 0 - 2 + 1 = 6 Hmm... I'll hold off on Efnysien's reply to see if Team is getting tossed in (taking us down to 1 left if so?)

Okay, okay. Mabinogion might not all be right, but even though Efnysien was a preposterous a+$+!&$, he was their a+%+~@+. Gross. Not what I meant. There's gotta be a way to get him to stop this.

"Efnysien, brother, stay your hand but a moment. Your victory here would only see you bound more tightly to Balor's will, and the man I knew would never submit in such a way. I know your rage is great, but it can be turned to an even greater purpose. You do not wish to remain within such a vessel, but you must know that I would never harm an innocent to free you from it. Such anger, such frustration can feed upon itself, but it is within you to find a better way.

"You know that we are not your enemies brother. Let us help you."

Taking K's miss and using it to tick things up behind the curtain/vault door, but no external manifestation. Yet.

With a final cry, Bran thrust Gae-Buidhe deep into the earth, so that only the barest hint of its yellow haft could be seen.

Camila's limbs spasmed, cleanly snapping Shayera's arm where Efnysien gripped it. Her face was difficult to read through the violent twitches, but he seemed to be almost contemplative.

Well I guess he's probably never been hit by a hundred-thousand volts to the armpit before.

While he was still incapacitated, Bran brought Gae-Dearg to bear against Camila's temple, a little less gently than he had with Alexandra, but still only touching the flat of its blade to her skin. The runes along its crimson haft sizzled and smoked as Efnysien's wrath seared into the remnants of Balor's foulness.

Unleash: 2d6 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (1, 2) + 3 + 1 = 7

His eyes were glassy, his face blotchy with fever and drawn with pain, but Bran's expression was determined, and at first hopeful as Efnysien went still.

Gratefully Bran shut his eyes as the world fell away around him into a storm of Efnysien's greatest and most terrible deeds, of blood and fire. But as she went deeper, turning aside from atrocity and pain, beneath the raging torrent of broken rage and shattering fury, she found a knot of confusion and fear and hope.

I can feel her!

Tia Bronwyn?! Help! I'm- Wait... Oh, did she send you Bran? It's bad out there, isn't it?" A spectral Camila appeared amidst the madness. "I don't have to look out the eyes, but I can hear everything."

"Don't worry child. Soon we shall free you from his clutches."

She didn't know a lot about what it took to pull a god out of someone, but she could feel the leverage Gae-Dearg was giving her, even if it was mystical instead of physical.

She wasn't sure what she was grabbing hold of, but Bronwyn pulled. Immediately the tempest ebbed, but Camila screamed. Camila's body contorted again, splintering armor and shattering the earth around her, but what finally stopped Bran's work wasn't the rain of flailing blows or the pain in Camila's voice. "It is- it's all tangled up. Her soul and his. If I tear him out of there, I'll kill her too.

"This is why they wanted a kid - they wanted someone easy to control if they were going to lock a god up in her body for the rest of her life."

Marking Hopeless

***

"Don't go into the dark after her you moron! That's a sure way to get taken out! Look, don't even worry about chasing her. Not like it's the real Silver Shadow."

"Heh, not like he'd have a chance against our Lord's new body either. It's not exactly a get the cat out of a tree kinda situation."

The cultist's words echo down the hall after Alexandra as she hears them continue to ready defenses against her powered- well, her more obviously powered teammates.

Were they right?
They're shifting Danger down and Savior up

Aww, 'reasonably competent'? He does like them :-p
Alexandra's response to the Comfort/Support aside, since she hasn't broken the link to Gae-Dearg, her Doom has decreased by 5, and her symptoms are currently suppressed.

There will definitely be no further effects to anyone involved ;-)

Doom?: 1d10 ⇒ 5

As Alexandra draws near, the tunnels erupt in a cacophony of strange sounds and beams as the cultists within unleash all their weaponry to repel her!

Go ahead and mark a condition - what's the gadget that concerns you most?

Efnysien plants a single foot on the fallen boom of the crane and gives it a firm rolling shove to send it tumbling at Alexis, but his true focus is on Shayera. With a simple bound he sends Camila's body hurtling towards her, with a slowly spreading smirk on her face.

Nestled in a pile of stripped tubing, Gae-Buidhe quivers with a quiet rattle and flies through the air, flashing towards Wingblade's back!

With a great grunt of effort, Bran leapt for the spear, perfectly meeting it in the arc of its flight to bring it crashing back to the ground. It writhed in his grasp, twisting to bring its wicked edge to bear, but without Efnysien's might it was unable to carve through the weighty layer of plate and chain that Bronwyn had spent so long forging.

Defend: 2d6 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (5, 1) + 1 + 1 + 1 = 9 Gonna finally Hold 1 for There When It Matters, but expose myself to danger
Take a Powerful Blow (Not my Body): 2d6 ⇒ (2, 1) = 3

***

From behind the heavy door, Kaoru could see light building and hear pistons and engines building up power as the Brute Squads prepared to launch... But nothing burst through, yet.

She's just a little kid, Shayera! How many places do you think I can fit a hands-breadth of spearhead into her and have her be okay?!

For an instant, Efnysien seemed to drop his guard, spear of wicked yellow dangling negligently from Camila's hand.

"She's right, dear brother, just stab us. Send me back to the Otherworld, and this brat on to whatever afterlife she's earned."

Gae-Dearg came no closer to Camila's flesh. Marking hopeless

"No? Well I'd wager I can convince you."

Efnysien sprang into action once more, bounding straight for the towering knight, Gae-Buidhe tearing through the side of Bran's helmet!

"You're so slow now! Of course I was always faster, even when we were both tethered to this realm, but its been centuries, millennia in our realms to regain our strength. Why aren't you faster?"

Bran spun round, breathing heavily, a long rent in his helm already trickling blood.

"Still nothing? Fine. You have plenty of friends here."

Camila's eyes darted between the heroes, predatory behind her tortoise-shell frames. Wingblade and the Silver Shadow were quickly discarded. Neither looked like they'd be up to anything interesting as injured as they were, and perhaps the puppy could still be taught to heel. With a broad grin, he vaulted up and through the arm of a decommissioned crane to land behind where Mercy was putting the cultists to flight.

"Oh Tia! You've been keeping secrets!!!" Efnysien thrust Gae-Buidhe into a nearby girder and split his hands into a lewd gesture while he giggled, "Your special-friend was one thing, but poor Camila's very confused about the rest. 'Why's Tia Bronwyn hitting those people? Does she have powers? Does she-" A fleeing cultist rounded some equipment and bounced off of Efnysien while he taunted Alexis. A look of outraged pique spread across Camila's face, and Efnysien clapped her hands to the cultist's temples - the man's head simply came apart in a shower of blood and skull fragments. Efnysien wiped his hands on the side of Camila's skirt and snatched up Gae-Buidhe once more.

"Rude, but he did have a point.
Enough talk."

***

The tunnel felt old, despite the ultra-modern tech of the guards. Concrete and old radioactive shielding gave the impression of some sort of fallout shelter. Kaoru had made it past the waiting cultists, but now there were heavy metal doors sealed in his way. A small slot of transparent material shone through with an ugly red light, but from his position on the floor, Kaoru couldn't see the source...

From within that ugly red glow though, Alexandra could see Balor's preparations. A dozen or so cultists frantically swarmed over a few pieces of very Sizable countermeasures, finishing up last minute maintenance and hopping into pilot's seats.

The Brute Squad was an initiative that had formerly been certain government and military agencies' go-to answer to megafauna events or profoundly powerful enemy metas, but a few cities like Halcyon that were hotspots of abnormal activity had been seconded some before they were taken out of regular service due to constant collateral damage, even in cities with Artificer Fields.

Balor had three.

***

Alexandra's vision was washing out in red heat when she felt a sharp, cool sensation at her temple, and it began to ebb.

"Careful," Bran rumbled as some of the glassiness left her eyes, "Even when turned to this cause, Gae-Dearg is still a weapon." The blade was already heating to match the temperature of her fevered brow, and the runes carved along Gae-Dearg's shaft were glowing fiercely.

Unleash: 2d6 + 3 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (6, 5) + 3 - 2 + 1 = 13 Doom in abeyance pending further actions

Bran's helm was off, so Alexandra could see the look of controlled fear in his eyes as he swept his gaze over to the blackened, flaking amulet she bore. His ear was slashed open, beaded sweat from his brow joining the blood as it ran down his neck. Eyes shining, he murmured, "No one of us has all the answers, but I know something of last farewells. Keep him safe yourself."

The spear's not getting all of this... But that's okay. I've healed from Balor's eye before. I just need to get to the end of this fight, and then Bran can rest. It'll be fine.

Okay, mark angry and I'll write the Team Spend (down to 2) into my next post.

I've got a team spend in mind to boost it to a hit, but what you're going for feels more like an Unleash to Extend your Senses to me, especially because it presumes that Balor's the most dangerous thing here...

So we can go with an Unleash, and Bran'll boost it to a 7 (so either a condition or an unstable/temporary result for me to determine)

Or you can find out the answer to that question ;-)

The cultists' voices were distorted and deep to Kaoru's tiny ears, but not so much that he couldn't make out their words, while their every minute shuffle and shifting of weight was magnified across the field of his vision.

"Sounds like a damn war out there... Should we help 'em?"

"You're kidding, right? They said not to go out there without orders. If the Vessel's not bound right, he- she-, uh, It might attack us too! They knew the risks... And once our Lord's own vessel is ready, he'll bring the Bastard fully to heel and finish taking his vengeance."

Stick around and mess with these guys? Head back outside to join the fray? Or delve deeper in search of Balor's own vessel..?

***

Outside the fire was already raging. Whatever preposterously unsafe chemical had been left here, it hadn't taken many of the strange sparks emanating from the tipped over van to ignite it in a roar that sent a fireball streaking up towards the sky - and flared out the holoprojection that disguised the vehicle as a normal van instead of a nigh-indestructible SCA Paddy Wagon! Hexagons flared around it, inefficient against heat, but still enough to keep it safe for now, even if tipped over so that it wasn't able to join the fray...

The cultists scattered, their supernatural teamwork shattered as they each ran separately for cover, trying to shout out and re-coordinate as spells, spears and shockwaves rocked the battlefield.

They're not accomplishing anything at the moment, but if no one deals with them, bullets will be flying again shortly.

The cultist's eye finally erupted, leaving him a grim echo of the ruin that had been made of Dane Giras's features. Within the shadow of Shayera's wings, Bran and Camila were safe, but Wingblade and Mercy were fully caught in the blast, and even removed as she was, the Silver Shadow could feel a warm hum as her charm tarnished nearly to black.

Wing and Mercy Take a Powerful, Silver, mark two doom...

Beneath Shayera's wings, Efnysien let out a giggle of pure delight. "Ha! Marvels that would suit Manawydan's troves are still being forged in this age I see." Not the least bit cowed by the fires or living rot that was spreading around him, Efnysien lashed out serpent-swift to send Wingblade toppling to the ground the moment she was no longer his shield. "What are these delightful things made of?" With an unyielding grasp he seized one of Shayera's long feathers and pressed, veins popping out in Camila's arms, her face contorting in a look of savage glee as Efnysien slowly folded the feather's tip back on itself. "Oh they're strong; they're very strong!" Camila's hands were already slick with blood from where he'd been careless with Shayera's wings, but he ignored it, and shifted his grip, bringing a dainty shoe to the small of Wingblade's back for a moment of better leverage. "But perhaps we can think of some way I can get a closer look at-"

Defend: 2d6 + 1 - 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4, 2) + 1 - 2 + 1 + 1 = 7 Clearing Insecure and Escalating.

Bran cannoned into her, his speed and strength and sheer mass loosening Efnysien's grip before he could torment Wingblade further. Quickly he released her, trying to hurl her into a pile of sandbags, but with a shriek of tearing metal Efnysien landed much closer than Bran had wished, the pauldron from his armor crumpled in Efnysien's fist. With broad sweeps of Gae-Dearg, he tried to keep her at bay. I can't just stab her, but if we can force Efnysien to show himself, I can drag him out the rest of the way! And maybe the haft will do something, that's where most of the runes are anyways...

"Dear Brother," Efnysien casually ducked and sidestepped, all but ignoring Bran's attempts to catch him with Gae-Dearg's haft. "Still you vex me. I thought it agreed that once your cauldron was burst that neither of us would depart the Otherworld. And stealing Gae-Dearg away for our bout? Hardly fair of you." As Bran dragged Gae-Dearg back into line after a frustrated sweep, Efnysien flickered out Camila's wrist, still bound to uselessness by mystic bonds, which shattered as she struck them against Gae-Dearg's blade. Efnysien stretched out Camila's hand with a smile, revealing another charm bracelet like Bronwyn's, only with a yellow-hafted spear in place of her red. Bran lashed out, hoping his spear might prove the stronger, but Gae-Buidhe swiftly expanded to deflect his strike, with no hint that Gae-Dearg had harmed the enchantments on its dark brother. "But then, I've always been able to find ways to take what is mine."

(My read was that Kaoru getting to be annoyed by stuff is a feature not a bug :-p )

Mmm actually let me post before then. Probably tonight :-)

The almost whispers in Alexandra's head blend with the hissing of the opening hatches, rising and rising in volume until the rest of the world fell away.

Images flickered through her head. She could see her body diving forward beneath a spray of bullets as a rifle roared soundlessly and a melee swirled around her. Little words crawled all over her teammates in invisible dossiers. Projection? Ethereal Construct? Henshin Cape?

This is basically him getting a peek at your own personal Batman/Xavier Files on the team. So Balor's definitely going to learn about the possibly invisible shrinking car from this; he's going to learn that 'Bronwyn' is really Mercy after another death. What does he learn about Bran, Wingblade, and Bronwyn before you get back control of your own mind?

Oh, and I didn't call this out, but the cultists fighting like they're the only ones who know the choreography is ongoing

Good rule of thumb is that you shouldn't Directly Engage anyone/thing that hasn't responded to Traded Blows, since their condition moves could change situations pretty dramatically. So in this case, since by taking a condition you didn't really **need** GM input on your Unleash, it would've been okay, but not once Silver Shadow rolled. That make sense?

I know other people GM with more formal rounds, so y'know, go with them when they're running, but I don't mind moves carrying into each other when appropriate - I just need to cut in sometimes :-p

While Mercy and the Silver Shadow got stuck in with the throng of cultists, Bran focused on the eye-patched cultist, who seemed to shimmer with enchantments to his spellwise eyes. Bran surged forward, brushing aside smaller combatants with broad sweeps of his arms as he drew nearer to his foe, but he was forced to dive aside as a lesser version of Balor's eye flashed out!

He rolled out of the beam with a clatter before it could do more than add an aged patina to his armor, but was unable to break through to the warlock without taking a grievous blow...

Directly Engage: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (3, 2) + 1 = 6

...until the spear dropped from above. Team spent to hit and Resist Blows.

The beam of sickening red was broken upon the bulwark of Gae-Dearg, and Bran the Blessed followed swiftly after, hurling the warlock to the earth!

***

"Shouldn't have done that duckling. My Brother took that spear from me a long time ago, and I'm not done playing with it yet." With her newly freed hand 'Camila' seized Wingblade's offending one and squeezed, hard. Every bone in Shayera's hand shattered, nearly crushed to powder. "Look at you not screaming. No wonder you're her favorite. I'll tell you what, if you free me from The Eye before I finish killing you, I'll need a right hand-

"Ah. Well maybe not that, now, but I'll find something for you.
I always loved hawking, maybe you'd like that? I always shared my prey with my birds when they were good."

Your right hand is thoroughly mangled. It will not regenerate by itself over the course of this scene, and will probably require later attention to make sure that it realigns itself correctly.
And mark a condition ;-)
The extra effects of your move have gone through, but 'Camila' is using the move "A Mortal Blow? Ho Hum." and has not taken a condition.

***

Alexandra weaves among the cultists, disabling some with quick twists and strikes to their joints, and pulling their attention from Alexis while they were making their escape! Then suddenly she half-hears a whisper in her ears and they get much better at avoiding her. She's still able to stay close, too close for them to let off a burst from their rifles without hitting each other, but otherwise it's like they're the only ones who know the choreography to this fight, and after a furious few seconds, one of them finally slams the stock of his rifle into her chest, hurling the Silver Shadow back with coat flapping!

Take a Powerful Blow

Nearby, the fallen warlock writhed, his remaining eye swelling and distorting with power as his failure was swiftly punished!

Unleash: 2d6 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (1, 3) + 3 + 1 = 8 Temporary/Unstable

Bran managed to hold the edges of the destructive power upon Gae-Dearg's point, but the eye was still pulsing more and more! It's gonna break past me any moment, but I can't cut off the source when the source is his head!

"Run!"

So first of all, we're very much entering battle as a team against a dangerous foe, so let's get some Team Pool going!
By default we're getting +2 Team, but go ahead and toss into a spoiler your answers to these questions with your next post:
Who's the leader right now?
What's your purpose in this fight right now?
Do you mistrust the leader, or the Team as a whole?
Despite the whole ambush/counter-ambush thing going on, I'd say we aren't really caught off-balance, so no need to answer that.

As Alexandra swings into the fray, her vision keeps shifting and warping across space, showing her different angles on the battle and her sweat-streaked face. She rushes the goons to clear Alexis a path, but as she can see for herself from odd, subterranean angles, her form is sloppy, or maybe they're just ready for her tricks. Quickly she finds herself entangled in the same crush of bodies, with almost no room to maneuver!

Relocating will take significant action, or the defeat of these thugs.

"I don't like it. Exchanges work when both sides have something to gain. They must know you'd never give up an innocent." Whippoorwill's voice is controlled but concerned. "Are there signs of heavy ordnance? The SCA didn't bring out any of the suits from the Brute Squad, even when their own headquarters was attacked, and we've seen a lot of misplaced tech tonight.

"So let me ask you: Did you preempt their trap? Or is it about to snap shut?"

A whiff of ozone reaches Shayera's nose just as a voice far too deep for Camila's throat replied. "Heh, she's a wily wench, eh?"

***

Wingblade and Camila suddenly buck and pitch in the air, making it clear to both sides, even from afar, that something is awry.

One of the cultists slams the stock of his rifle into the back of 'Bronwyn's' head, grabbing them by their bound arms and with a grunt of surprised effort, begins hauling them back towards the van while more still more cultists pile out of it!

As if that weren't enough, cargo containers begin to open with strange pneumatic hisses, heralding more reinforcements to come. Loud, clanking, reinforcements.

The eye-patched cultist carried across the decrepit lot before any gunfire could muffle his words. "Find where their other healer's hiding, and don't finish them unless you have to. Bran either, Balor wants to punish the Accursed Crow himself. The rest are worthless"

***

Mercy! You're unarmed and bound in Very Strong golden knots overtop of whatever bonds you showed up in. They're a significant obstacle to your free movement, and you're currently surrounded by the Van Cultists (largely treated as a single villain for this scene). You possibly also have a mild headache?

Machina! You're in Mercy's pocket. Otherwise your surroundings are very similar. It's definitely not an open place to size back up yet.

Shadow! You're out of punching range for now, with a lot of options for places to swing down to, or people to take shots at. Remember that Directly Engaging is for when you're actually exchanging blows/fire with people, but uh, coincidentally, the cultists with assault rifles and other gear are very aware of your location.

Wingblade! See below.

***

The strange energy surrounding Camila's hands shattered into shards of magic, sending strange synesthetic sensations fuzzing across your consciousness, but one thing was very clear across sight, sound and scent.

Red.

The blood-red haft of Gae-Dearg expanded in Camila's grasp, its bronzed leaf-blade carving through the enchantment that had kept that hand shrouded.

"This child tells me you heal, little bird. Well that just means this can go on for as long as I wish it to."

She has a grip on you and it is STRONG - easily stronger than Bran or Mercy. If no one does anything to stop it, this Will hurt.

Camila stepped forward, slightly favoring one leg at first, but quickly recovering as she passed 'Bronwyn' with a confused, glassy look in her eyes.

As Alexis got closer, the eye-patched cultist began to reek of rot while he muttered, "No enchantments, no talismans. She's probably clean, but I don't have the eye for this that the Watis does..."

While the cultists looked for enchantments that weren't there, Wingblade's senses pierced the noisome atmosphere in search of surprises that very much were. The whole area was far more dug out than it seemed; there were little pockets and tunnels heading farther and farther into the earth, detectable by odd air currents that came intermittently rushing out of the... vault? Whatever that space was supposed to be, there were definitely more cultists down there, and from the ozone scents, less conventionally armed than the ones up top.

Satisfied with what they've found so far, the eye-patched cultist takes out a skein of gold that beings to unspool and reknot itself into an intricate pattern before stretching out to encircle 'Bronwyn's' arms!

"Well?" The thug's voice was mocking, but fear lay beneath it. "Looks like our trade's done."

Sorry for the delay all, I've been using the excuse of those who hadn't posted while I was dealing with crunch time at work, but if Shadow doesn't post first, I'll just assume she's lying in wait nearby when I update tomorrow/today/whatever Friday counts as.

"No way, three of you f#&~in' capes to three people, and you think we're the ones who are gonna' try something? Why the hell would we show you ours first?"

The rumble of Bran's reply was not heated, but it still foretold the wrath to come if he was denied.

"Because I know the worth of your master's word. And he knows the worth of mine."

Provoke: 2d6 + 1 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (5, 6) + 1 + 1 - 2 = 11

The cultists blanched, sneaking glances up at Bran's shadowed eyes. All at once Bran stiffened and Shayera caught a whiff of decay that bored through the ambient stench before the Balorites relented. "...Fine. We'll bring her out."

To Bran's spellwise eyes the wound on the scarred cultist's arm seemed to flare, and a moment later, a young teen awkwardly came hopping out of the back of the van, still in her uniform and backpack. She was blindfolded and her arms were held behind her as though she was in handcuffs, though nothing physical seemed to bind them. But all in all it looked like Camila had been rumpled more than hurt. There was a scab on her knee, but it looked old enough to have been from before the abduction, and aside from that and her missing glasses she seemed fine.

Magic on her wrists, but nothing else...

It has to be a trap anyways. There's no way this could be that simple... We're not the only ones who are planning a double-cross, right?!

Pierce the Mask: 2d6 + 1 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (3, 3) + 1 + 1 - 2 = 6

Bran's obvious alertness kept the cultists keyed up as well, filling the air with a horrible tension that could clearly shatter at any moment.

"Send her over."

The best way to deal with the van is probably the turtle solution. Get the K-mobile to grow up underneath it, or get someone super strong to tip it over before it gets up to speed. The biggest threat is that they picked somewhere where your nose is clogged with other stinks. Maybe they're just terrible, but one of the big advantages of picking a meeting spot is that you're able to set up there in advance, but the van just drove up.

There's probably someone else here.

She'd never been so glad to have her peripheral vision blocked. It made it easier not to see Alexis walking around in her body.

She really hated Shayera flying around with her -Them. Dang it- too. I'm being so stupid. You've seen Shayera carry Alexis before. And she just said that Alexis mostly didn't take my scent, so it's not like she's... But if she has any weird ideas about- No, no, that won't happen. She's not like that. And she's not 'like that...'

She was letting herself ramble, she knew that. When she wasn't mulling over something specific she kept getting these memories bursting like bog-bubbles as she ran. But nooooo you made Bran the strong, silent type. You can give big speeches, but small talk? Fragments of smiles and jests from the Bran she hadn't created flowed across to her mind from the Dreamstone, but carried along in that stream were other memories. Branwen's wise smile, Manawydan triumphant again, wielding the charm-breaking spear he would one day gift to another, and eyes red with rage staring at a burning child...

But there was no time for that.

"They are here."

A van, possibly another SCA hand-me-down, possibly the flower delivery van it claimed to be rolled up, and out of the back popped a few armed cultists, two of them eye-patched, the third with a deep scar that blinded an eye with no need for a piece of cloth.

Bran stirred, gaze focused on the scarred one as he noted the auras of quiescent spells. They were subtle, nearly overpowered by the leash of a binding, which was anchored to a wound on his forearm, bandaged over, but clearly fresh.

Over the smell of clotting blood and the awful chemical smell that still blanketed the construction site, Shayera could still smell more of them. Aside from the driver and the man riding shotgun, there were still at least a half-dozen more people unseen in the back of the van.

"This her?" one of the patched cultists asked of the other, who was holding up a phone to check against a picture.

"Yeah,"

"Well then, hand her over. We'll make sure she doesn't have any more little surprises, and then we'll bring out the kid."

The call was quick, an address, very little time to get there, and done.

The address is in Rustside. It's a lot that's existed in a terrible limbo between its past life as a branch of a bank that went under once it couldn't escape the gravity of scandal after scandal, and an abandoned attempt to replace it with a aeronautical manufacturing plant.

Languishing equipment, long ago scavenged of all its best bits still lies scattered around between shipping containers too difficult to cart away and the skeletons of buildings past and future.

"I should be able to see any enchantments that Balor or his minions might seek to snare us with. I should stand with Alexis until the time comes."

"What do you mean they aren't coming?!"

"It is a shame that we will not have their support when the time comes to spring your trap. But you are strong enough without them. So rest, veil your eye until the time comes to ferry you to war." A cold smile spread across his face as he turned to where the bruiser was still twitching, kneeling down to daub strange sigils on his clenched face. "I will see to it that his strength is not squandered."

So it is my fault. Bran turned away for a moment from the uncanny valley'd mirror image in front of him. I mean, not like I couldn't guess I was involved...

He sat for a moment, helm off. He withdrew the Dreamstone from his pouch, and carefully retied it to fit around his neck, eyes closed in concentration.

"Manawydan," he corrected. "I do not know. When I returned to this world it was very quick, but I do not walk the same paths as Balor, nor did I require the theft of another's body to stand before you now.

"We do not know how long we will have..."

Gotta do this as Bran, I've been spitballing with my best ideas, but I should really see if I can find something better from the source...

"I am certain that anger will be far from her thoughts. Though confusion will certainly... Did you know that this could happen? Why this happened?"

***

Nebulously after this, but before Watis gives Alexandra the call.

"It will be a trap. There will be cultists; there may be Triakosia; there may be their strange weapons. They will have Gae-Dearg, so any magical preparations will likely be shortlived, but there are two things too dangerous to ignore. Balor's gaze, which we have seen he can channel even without a true host, and Manawydan.

"What I once knew of his vaults has been incomplete for millennia, but arming heroes to suit their needs was always his strength. Reclaiming Gae-Dearg would help, but I may be able to find some craft by which he might be banished or restrained."

As they found a private place she sat down gingerly, trying not to rattle any armor. She turned most of the way away from Shayera, eyes shut as she tried to speak in her own voice and ignore its basso rumbles. "Should I just tell them?
I just... I was slow to protect Alexis earlier, because I didn't want to show that I had powers that's what the whole emergency charm's about by the way, but... Even five minutes might have changed a lot today... And what if someone had decided they had to guard me while I was 'resting'? Am I just being selfish?"

Shayera frowned slightly at the question, thinking back just earlier that evening when Bronwyn had called her selfish for wanting to go after Omega. She suddenly felt unsure of the meaning of the word. Taking a moment to think about it, she shrugs slightly. "That's one way of looking at it, I guess. But... having a normal life, separate from being a superhero? I think I get it. I didn't, once. I never thought I'd have a normal life -- never thought I'd want a normal life -- but Whip made me go to school, and...
Well, I see where it's important to you. And keeping it apart from this." She gestures to all of Bran's large size. "So no, it's not selfish."

Here be a failed comfort/support roll
Bronwyn marks Hopeless

She really wanted to nod, but she knew she'd feel that little ting of her helm against her breastplate, so she stayed still.
It's not just your life. Don't you want there to be somewhere safe for her? Somewhere without life-and-death and evil penthouses?

"But it's not even keeping my family safe! Papá y mi sobrinos... Everyone's talking about how I'll hate them because they weren't perfect or whatever, but I'm the reason any of them were in danger in the first place!"

Shayera was quiet for a short moment, then she said softly, "No. It's Balor's fault. Not you. Balor."

Bran flapped his hand dismissively. "I know, I know, 'the bad guy's the one doing bad things.' But I'm not keeping them safe! And Mary-Beth too?!

...I'm making all of them a target. Can I really put Alexis in that position too?"

"I think it's worth the risk. There's no one more dangerous to hand over to the Balorinas than Alexis. Except me. Maybe. He-- she-- they want to protect you, Bronwyn you. It'll at least solve the problem about why Bran is sitting out the exchange when his 'acolyte' is being given to the Balorinas." She stretched a bit, testing her ribs by taking in a lungful of air. "And Camila is depending on us."

"Yeah? Well then maybe between the three of us whoever's died the least should go!"

Shayera's lungful of air bursts out in a rush. She squares her shoulders in front of him and balls her hands into fists. "Are you sure about that?" she says, narrowing her eyes. "Since how many times have you died, Bran the Blessed? I seem to recall you getting poisoned and losing your head once!"

And maybe drugged and blinded as a cyclops before that... And even in that vision Polyphemus remembered deaths before him... "Fine! Who ever's died the least in the last year then?! Look, I'm just saying, if Alexis looked like Bran now, they wouldn't feel like they need to 'protect me.' It's not right for me to put them in danger over a lie."

Shayera blinks in surprise. "What? No! We're protecting Bronwyn's secret identity. Okay, maybe Alexis will think she--they're protecting you -- and that's not a bad thing! -- but I know you don't need to be taken care of! You know that, right?"
She gently took Bran's hand. "Come on. We gotta focus. Camila first, then we'll deal with everything else."

"Putting Alexis in danger and making them fight without their armor, and everyone else fight blind won't help." She stood, rising until her hand was out of Shayera's grasp as she looked back towards where her team was still waiting. "This is saving Camila."

Shayera's eyes went wide. She shook her head vigorously. "Wait, no! You can't!"
She pauses, then said, "Okay, maybe you can tell Alexandra, but she knows the rules. You can't trust Kaoru though! And Alexis... Maybe. They might get the importance."

"I'm already trusting them with a lot, Shayera."

Shayera stood in front of her, a face full of sadness. "I think Kaoru wants out. This secret... He doesn't need to know. Not if he's gone in a couple weeks."

"Maybe. But I don't think he'll tell anyone.
He might hate me though."

"Well, there's that. But also, knowledge can be dangerous. It'll make it tougher for him to get out. Maybe ask him if he wants to know? My guess is, he doesn't. He's had one foot out the door since Whip forced this on all of us."

Here there be a 10+ Provoke, accepted, so Team Up one to 3

"Fine. I'll... I'll ask them. They can make their choices and then I guess... I guess I'll figure out what to tell them then."

***

"Alexis, it may be that this strange twist of fate could aid us, but I would not have you risk yourself unduly. There are many ways for you to fight, to help us in saving Camila from Balor's clutches. You might be a potent weapon in their midst, but if you will fight better in your full regalia, you but join many other heroes. You do not need to seek absolution."

Bran's voice is surprisingly clipped as he cuts in on Shayera's departure. "Wingblade, may I speak with you a moment?"

With more than a note of exasperation in his voice, Bran cut in on the discussion of exactly who Bronwyn was going to hate, "Enough! Kaoru is correct that Bronwyn has no cause to hate either of you, but... But that is a matter best discussed between you when she..." His voice trailed off as Alexis took off their helm "... when she wakes."

"Alexis, why are- How did- Did you die?"

Well anyone in the K-mobile could reach out to talk technical specs, or just 'hey we can see it! Aim here!' :-)
In any case they're the ones on the right side of the vehicle to have the clearest shot at Mercy's target :-p[/i]

But, eh, I've got a thought.

A countdown was all well and good, but this had to be more than within just the same second, else Bran's strike might do nothing more than strengthen the shield!

But as Alexis counted, another current ran through Bran's mind, not quite in time with Mercy's words. Spikes of a grinding pain, that ebbed and flowed as Lucas tried to stay brave, but couldn't help thinking about what happened to him the last time Mercy had tried to burst free. That tightly held fear, that pained anticipation let him begin his swing the barest moment earlier, slamming into the top of the car in perfect synchrony.

The roof tore inward, and with a squeal of shearing metal, he peeled open the top, a cry torn free from him as the field flared in a final eruption of power!

Punching through an unstable forcefield saysTake a Powerful Blow (Not My Body): 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (1, 2) + 1 = 4

He glared in at the only two cultists that remained conscious as the field separating them from Mercy sparked and flickered, armor blackened, but voice steady.

"Lay down your arms and no further harm will come to you. You shall not have him."

Provoke: 2d6 + 1 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (6, 5) + 1 - 2 + 1 = 11

A horrible prickling heat breaks out all across Alexandra's skin, a phantom fluid invisibly trickling down her temple as she receives an impulse to move.

The cultist's hastily aimed return fire didn't come particularly close to her, especially once the crossbow's payload kicked in, but one of the bullets caromed off a bit of transparent armored car, coming apart in spray of fragments that tore through where Alexandra's head had just been.

The tactile hallucination of a gushing headwound ebbed, but the prickling fever was more stubborn, tarnishing a thin ring around the edges of Skuld's amulet before finally burning out.

Mark off two Doom.

Okay, so we've got 1 more Team in the pool - how's someone helping Alexis's efforts?

Bran winced as phantom pain lanced through his torso, only heightened as Shayera was tossed from beneath invisible tires. He swept his mighty arm low to scoop her up, resting her across his shoulder in a fireman's carry as he swiftly caught up with the rapidly slowing (and levitating) van!

She looks bad... Just gotta give her a moment to heal though - she can come back from anything!

"Be prepared to strike above. In five, four, three..."

This would not have been a good idea if this thing were still swerving!

Unleash: 2d6 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (4, 3) + 3 + 1 = 11

With a quick leap and grab, Bran hauls himself on top of the van waiting for the countdown to unleash a devastating strike!

And if someone spends Team to boost Alexis's unleash to a success it might even work :-p

Unleash: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (3, 5) + 3 = 11

Bran stretches out to snag the lamppost, wedging it as best he can before the library's field kicks in. Hexagons shimmer around him as he gives a satisfied nod, powering up to prevent further damage and fixing his temporary repairs in place.

The library's field is kicking in now, but since there wasn't a kaiju wrestling match (or what have you) going on, they hadn't powered it up yet. Lotta power draw on the civilian models.

Also, I read Kaoru's move as more of an Unleash since neither car is really exchanging blows, but Kirby-Craft makes it a Superior roll either way, and with Shadow's team-spend it all comes out in the wash anyways.

The van's wheels began to spin faster and faster as they lost their connection to the pavement, twisting and squealing in vain for now as they sought to get a good enough grip on Kaoru's car to propel the van forward!

Wingblade casually balances on the swaying van while she makes her pitch, but rather than answering her with helpful directions, the cultist riding shotgun flings open his door to clear her off the windshield with his rifle! Making the 'cultist group' vulnerable via a critical opportunity...

Could you toss me a Comfort/Support roll Mercy? Influence will help with it, but isn't enough by itself.

The cultist's thin voice is edged with annoyance that Alexandra had dared to put him on hold, but the main thing that Alexandra hears from him is avarice as he replies, "So she is special then? She's Hex isn't she?" He snickers unpleasantly, "I thought her auspices were too cloudy for the danger we divined.

**click**

***

With his hands free from keeping the building intact, Bran is able to speak and reply to his companions as he catches up. "Wingblade says that there is a weakness to this shield - that if it is struck from above and below at the same instant it-" he comes within sight of the oddly testudinal position of the van "- Ah. Silver Shadow? Machina? Was this your doing?"

Within the van, with the door still open, Bran's words crackled through to Alexis's comm.

Hmm... Go ahead and toss a Provoke for that Alexandra - they're definitely susceptible, but there's definitely variation possible in how they'll respond ;-)

Alexis's increasingly frantic attempts to find something useful to stab leave a lot of glowing marks on rapidly cooling plating, but really become a problem when they explosively puncture a foam tank!

Rapidly-hardening purple goo sprays across the containment zone, brushing Mercy's enhanced physique with an odd weakness and weariness where it seeps through the breaks in their armor, but worse - the sudden spray catches Lucas and the unconscious cultist entirely unaware and it won't be long until they're entirely engulfed!

***

"Bobby? Why the hell are you calling? You know that any backup is already assigne-" The line crackles with static in Alexandra's hand for a moment before some intangible sense of menace makes it clear that someone entirely different is on the other end.

A thin voice cuts through the silence "If you're just calling to beg or to crow, then you clearly don't understand what's really happening."

***

**KTAAANG**
**PCHAAK**
**NNgrrrRRUN**

Poles bounce off the armored van, but where they're still anchored to something they're able to lever the heavy vehicle off its course, or force it to slow as it crunches over them. A cry to "Get that damn bird out of the sky!" becomes increasingly easier to hear as one of the cultists pops open the passenger door and begins snapping off shot after shot at Wingblade with his rifle!

He doesn't have the setup for this to be a Powerful Blow, but he's got enough firepower and training to keep Wingblade on the defensive or force her to heal - go ahead and mark a condition.

Another cultist hauls the shooter back in, slamming the door again as in a flare of re-powering shields the driver takes an off-road detour straight through the front of a library, shattering a mass of concrete and steel out front that was once some kind of public art and leaving a trail of broken wood, walls and books - and a sagging ceiling!

With a bounding leap, Bran hurdles the wreckage, stretching to his full height to try to brace it for long enough for the patrons to escape, but as his first grip crumbles he ends up barely supporting it across his broad back - pinned unless he lets it fall!

Defend: 2d6 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (3, 5) + 1 - 2 = 7 Clearing Insecure, but escalating the situation

Go ahead and keep your Courage, Mercy. This isn't really you unleashing your powers, so beginning the carve won't take a roll

The field was still resisting, but it seemed to be far less optimized against focused, low speed heat like the knife was bringing to bear, and a thin . The dark of the holding area was illuminated in the dull glow, but the light was mostly hidden from the front compartment by Alexis's armored silhouette.

Unfortunately, Lucas started to scream. "Noo! Nooooo! I'll go along, whatever you want - just don't let him kill meee!!!!"

"Oh s#~@ - he's got Scott's knife."
"So foam him"
"He'll just cut out of that too"
"Give him a zap then!"
"A zap big enough to down a f$*$ing cape is gonna fry the kid!"
"S~&&, if he's getting away anyways... Hey, hey! Mercy! You put down that knife or we're gonna make you. Kid won't like that, Mercy!"

***

The feedback mode of Artificer's fields was very hard to deal with, by design, but powering itself via feedback does allow a weakness to be created. A hard enough strike, delivered close to the capacitor will draw most of the field's strength to that location for the instant before the power is properly redirected to strengthen the whole thing.

This makes the opposite edge of the field particularly vulnerable, but since the capacitor is located beneath the vehicle, that means you'd have to get someone on top of and underneath a moving van...

***

Ngh!

"Lucas is hurt! I beg you, stay cautious!"

Bran's words over the comm preceded him as he sprinted around the corner in pursuit. "Machina, Silver Shadow," he jerked his head to the side to reposition his helm-phone, "Wingblade, if you slow the van enough for me to catch it I might be able to..." Even through his helm, Bran's surprise was evident as he saw the partially disembodied Kaoru. "To... hold it in place while you... strike. Or it seems we may possess other assets of which I was unaware."

The bottom of the van holds beneath Mercy's blows, but the sheer force of them tilts the van, and it veers up onto the sidewalk, taking an abrupt turn as it sideswipes a deli!

Inside the van, the cultists in the front compartment stay safe, but everyone in the holding area is unrestrained and bounces around from field to wall to floor! Mercy's armor holds fine, but their captive and Lucas land with a pair of sickening thuds!

***

From the outside, the van seems to have taken a turn through the corner deli for no reason - the paneling is still holding, but momentum is momentum and driving through two walls has slowed its progress.

The van slammed into what seemed to be some sort of telekinetic wall, only escaping disaster as the force of the crash dissipated into a suddenly appearing hexagonal field.

The tires squealed as the van started weaving, what was left of its pretense to normalcy burned away. Lights flashed as it scraped its way free, hexagons pulsing, the grey of the van melting away into glossy black paneling with the sirens and flashing lights of an SCA capture-van calling for everyone to clear the streets and sidewalk as it races away!

"...She'll be safe, don't worry..."

Her words tore through her, leaving a cold pit in her stomach as she tried to stay calm.

"Shayera, you have to stop. You're not... You can't let them take you again." Bran's voice rumbled throughout the helmet. She hated it. She hated so much that this was another moment that he had stolen.

Shayera's words were icy cold and resolute. Bronwyn could almost see her head shake. "They're not taking me. They're not getting anything from me. I'm going to rip Camila's location from them and leave nothing left."

Tears stung at Bran's eyes She's gonna do it. She's gonna leave me again. "You're being so, so selfish right now Shayera! They're just Balor's pawns, his tools, and you're acting like they're the Masterminds behind all of it. There are goons running around who are stupid enough to take pictures of their targets on their frickin' cellphones and you think that Omega's the easiest way to get answers?! Why are you going after them Shayera, can you be honest about that? To me at least?"

Shayera's gasp was audible on the other end. "What?? Bron, they got away!! I don't know where Camila is! But I do know where the Triakosia are, so I'm going there to find out! And if I can take them down while I'm at it, so much the better!!"

The sarcastic twist to her voice was blunted by Bran's bass, but she couldn't help but drive in harder. "So it has nothing to do with how guilty you're feeling? The fact that you know that they could really- Hurt you? That what they could do to you would be 'punishment' enough for letting them get away?!"

Shayera looked around wildly, not believing what she's hearing. She screamed into the phone. "CAMILA WAS TAKEN!!! I'm not letting her go! I'm not leaving her with them! Why? Tell me, why? Why don't you want me to find her?"

A sob tore free, muffling her words, "Because the best chance that any of us have of finding her, of saving her, is if you're fighting with us. You don't know if she's there, you don't know that this would go any better than the Hospital, and you're not even looking for other options! You didn't even care to find out what's happening with the rest of the team or what we know, or you would have gotten a comm while you were breaking into Whippoorwill's armory!"

She took a deep breath before rumbling once more. "You promised me you wouldn't do this Shayera. You promised that I'd be by your side when it was time to bring them down, and I'll be Damned if I let you pretend that this is what you'd be doing if it was anyone but Them.

"You can't beat them. Not like this. Not alone, not with nothing but guilt and hate driving you."

A quiet pause. Shayera's voice was soft. "I'm not alone."
Tears streamed down her face. Shayera turned away from her sisters and walked further away. "I'm doing this for you. For your family. Please understand."

"Shayera, I love you. Don't do this.

"Don't make me lose both of you."

Provoke: 2d6 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (5, 3) + 1 + 1 + 1 - 2 = 9 Going for the stick, and Bron will burn her influence to inflict another condition if needed.

The roof of the van dents in an odd pattern around Mercy's feet, and the plain grey paint... flickers. Hexagonal black paneling traced by strange fiberoptic cabling briefly appears in the place of drab grey, heralding a ferocious pulse of vaguely nonlethal energy that courses along the outside of the van!

Mercy, Take a Powerful Blow.

***

"Ah, Bran! Do you have comms with Wingblade? I need to know why she has just pilfered a load of my ordnance. Can you call her?"

Really?!

Bran was already racing after Mercy, guessing what direction they must be pursuing in if Lucas hadn't been taken past her.

"I will see what can be learned."

It tore at her heart, but Bran's steps slowed as he fumbled with his phone, making sure it was secure so he could do his best to catch up.

"Shayera? What is- What's happening? You said you were gonna- You said you were going to find her, but Whippoorwill just told me that you have broken into her armory? Shayera, if... if she has been taken then we Will find her, but- Shayera just talk to me, okay?!"

***

The van that Alexis was pursuing hadn't been on Kaoru's hitlist, and something about it was blocking the signal of the cultist's phone - he kept losing him every few blocks, but it was enough to keep getting closer, closer, hopefully enough to let them cut him off...

Alexandra, the greatest danger is to the ones who aren't showing up on K's map, since he's already routing police/SWAT teams to the ones that have been lower threats so far. Not all of the ID'd teams have been stopped, but none of them are being ignored.

Was your idea on stopping them the whole 'Hack the System' plan? If not, then there's not really anything else here that can be used to stop the kidnappers. At least, not aside from the fairly prosaic plan of intercepting them...

Hmm... I guess you've probably got access to the cloned phones... You could possibly use them to get a message or contact through to some higher ups? If you had the right offer, well, who knows what you might be able to do...