Alright, here is what has happened recently:
You returned to the Infinity and Pi from the research planet/facility run by Sylveste
Ah'eishabutan does a fly by in Dilemma, damaging Pi. He is then on a 24 hour loop to meet back up with you.
You use Theoninn to bust on board the Pi and take down Orlos, whereby you acquire Vaka-Svefn.
Node nearly gets killed by a bunch of soldiers on board while he is holding Vaka.
You all return and get medical attention.
You use Vaka to take out Ah'eishabutan.
You interrogate the captured C10 soldiers and discover that Gavorran is among them
Gavorran reveals that Svarturinn is actual a C10 operative.
You follow Raven's (Gavorran's?) lead to Crionysus where...
You get involved in a cult serial murder case (because of a possessed computer ticket terminal in the “subway”), the clues to which reveal a hidden message.
“The angel of darkness, that steals all living light, may be found on the lifeless moon, Tatsos.”
You don't know (or do you?) who was responsible for these murders.
You are all owed some backlog XP, which I will allow to be transferred to your favorite character. Try 2150 for size.
You believe (some of you) that you are already in possession of Atai and Abassi. What do you really have? What are the amulets?
The time to return to Palladium is nigh...but not before you have everything!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Gavorran
Oh, I almost forgot. You also learned from Calais that a very effective assassin/bounty hunter, Gavorran, is after you. Be Careful!
Goodbye, Froggy
Synopsis of 6-28-10
Volya piloted the Infinity to follow Pi as it headed out from Telemachus Station, but she avoided radio contact to unsettle the crew of Pi. It is almost completely unheard of for two lighthuggers to head off in the same direction or follow each other. The act would seem ominous and hostile, even though it is also unthinkable for two lighthuggers to engage each other in combat; since there are so few left, they are viewed as almost sacrosanct. There has only ever been one incident between lighthuggers after the end of the Conjoiner civil war. So, after a couple of days someone on the Pi gets nervous and radios to ask what the hell is going on.
Volya says nothing.
Another day passes.
The Pi is getting downright edgy and fires a “warning” shot across the Infinity's bow. Volya knows this is a bluff, so she chooses to ignore them, but pulls the ship closer to theirs, just to put the pressure on.
A day later, the crew of the Pi is making desperate offers to share profits or trade leads or something. Now Volya acknowledges them, but doesn't say much yet.
Meanwhile Node, Svarturinn, Oki, Landros, and Khouri hop on Theoninn and use the FTL capabilities to travel back to Telemachus and the moon to see if they can learn something more about what the “item” was that got secreted out of the mining facility. A little spying reveals that Grunner Corp does not believe the item has left the moon and they seem to be more concerned with the arrival manifests of The Elegance of Pi.
Khouri searches for an alternate way in to the mining facility and finds one: a cave that leads to an old abandoned service entrance or shaft. Oki bypasses the airlock security - “Fr33dom” - gaining entrance. Everyone agrees that, because of your high profile exit last time, Landros should stay back and guard the ship. Long story short, you all drive the Mako vehicle down the service tunnel as far as possible, get out, walk some, and easily foil an ambush by Resistance Fighters who didn't know who the hell you were. The Resistance folks quickly figure out who you are and they show you their find – the item you thought you had been searching for. It turns out to be an ancient alien power coupling that comes from the wreck of a many million old ship now covered in millions of years of sediment on the moon. (Hint: now airless, barren moon that can no longer have sedimentary processes...)
Grunner doesn't want this info to get out because it supports the theory of the Inhibitors, which is largely considered to be bunk. Also, the alien technology might prove useful, but if the crackpots start a media campaign about Inhibitors, then they lose the ability to capitalize off of “their” discovery.
You all go to see Calais, the Mystic, who explains this situation to you and asks you to help “spread the word” about the alien artifact (and help to get it off-world). You also find out mainly from her that there is a bad Androsien, Orlos, who has Vaka-Svefn and he represents a great threat to you. He is on the Pi and headed towards Mesmuth where he hopes to find Castlerake.
Oki has an odd experience, like someone is poking around inside her head. You decide to leave the moon in pursuit of Orlos. When you get back to Theoninn you discover that Landros has had an strange episode of sorts: he walked around the ship looking at things like the cockpit, the weapons locker, the engineering room....he seems fine, and nothing was harmed or touched, he just did some “sleep-walking”.
You decide to just go directly to Mesmuth to retrieve Castlerake before Orlos can get there (it will take him five years via lighthugger). This goes well, and you find yourselves above a moon that Sylveste research has turned into a biological testing/gene splicing facility. Not wanting to mess around too much with what these mad scientists might have come up with, you hone in on exactly where Castlerake is and go straight for it.
Khouri deftly pilots the ship down into a large, deep sinkhole type cave. At the bottom you all head out on foot towards the signature of Castlerake, but, before you can go very far, Landros pulls out four guns and locks the rest of the party in his sites. He forces you all to march into what ultimately turns out to be an albino dragon's lair, complete with two babies.
Landros fires at the dragon, but only pisses it off. After all, it isn't really Landros piloting the frog suit, but Orlos using his body (Orlos rolled an 06% in his attempt to gain control of Landros and got it hands down. Saving throw didn't...well, save). The dragon grabs Landros in its mouth and violently throws him against the cave wall, rendering him unconscious. At this point, I thought Landros was safely out of combat harm's way, and he was, but...Khouri runs over and, using her decades of training on the frog suits, accesses control to release the unconscious Landros. The idea was, of course, to use the suit to save everyone else's asses, which she did.
The rest is humdrum. Dragon was M7 helper. You acquired Castlerake and everyone got out safely.
As for Landros, although obviously somewhat crippled from a past injury that no one else present saw happen, he is/will be fine ( i.e. Not die). He is still unconscious aboard Theoninn and will wake when we next meet to discover that he is no longer in suit.
Volya piloted the Infinity to follow Pi as it headed out from Telemachus Station, but she avoided radio contact to unsettle the crew of Pi. It is almost completely unheard of for two lighthuggers to head off in the same direction or follow each other. The act would seem ominous and hostile, even though it is also unthinkable for two lighthuggers to engage each other in combat; since there are so few left, they are viewed as almost sacrosanct. There has only ever been one incident between lighthuggers after the end of the Conjoiner civil war. So, after a couple of days someone on the Pi gets nervous and radios to ask what the hell is going on.
Volya says nothing.
Another day passes.
The Pi is getting downright edgy and fires a “warning” shot across the Infinity's bow. Volya knows this is a bluff, so she chooses to ignore them, but pulls the ship closer to theirs, just to put the pressure on.
A day later, the crew of the Pi is making desperate offers to share profits or trade leads or something. Now Volya acknowledges them, but doesn't say much yet.
Meanwhile Node, Svarturinn, Oki, Landros, and Khouri hop on Theoninn and use the FTL capabilities to travel back to Telemachus and the moon to see if they can learn something more about what the “item” was that got secreted out of the mining facility. A little spying reveals that Grunner Corp does not believe the item has left the moon and they seem to be more concerned with the arrival manifests of The Elegance of Pi.
Khouri searches for an alternate way in to the mining facility and finds one: a cave that leads to an old abandoned service entrance or shaft. Oki bypasses the airlock security - “Fr33dom” - gaining entrance. Everyone agrees that, because of your high profile exit last time, Landros should stay back and guard the ship. Long story short, you all drive the Mako vehicle down the service tunnel as far as possible, get out, walk some, and easily foil an ambush by Resistance Fighters who didn't know who the hell you were. The Resistance folks quickly figure out who you are and they show you their find – the item you thought you had been searching for. It turns out to be an ancient alien power coupling that comes from the wreck of a many million old ship now covered in millions of years of sediment on the moon. (Hint: now airless, barren moon that can no longer have sedimentary processes...)
Grunner doesn't want this info to get out because it supports the theory of the Inhibitors, which is largely considered to be bunk. Also, the alien technology might prove useful, but if the crackpots start a media campaign about Inhibitors, then they lose the ability to capitalize off of “their” discovery.
You all go to see Calais, the Mystic, who explains this situation to you and asks you to help “spread the word” about the alien artifact (and help to get it off-world). You also find out mainly from her that there is a bad Androsien, Orlos, who has Vaka-Svefn and he represents a great threat to you. He is on the Pi and headed towards Mesmuth where he hopes to find Castlerake.
Oki has an odd experience, like someone is poking around inside her head. You decide to leave the moon in pursuit of Orlos. When you get back to Theoninn you discover that Landros has had an strange episode of sorts: he walked around the ship looking at things like the cockpit, the weapons locker, the engineering room....he seems fine, and nothing was harmed or touched, he just did some “sleep-walking”.
You decide to just go directly to Mesmuth to retrieve Castlerake before Orlos can get there (it will take him five years via lighthugger). This goes well, and you find yourselves above a moon that Sylveste research has turned into a biological testing/gene splicing facility. Not wanting to mess around too much with what these mad scientists might have come up with, you hone in on exactly where Castlerake is and go straight for it.
Khouri deftly pilots the ship down into a large, deep sinkhole type cave. At the bottom you all head out on foot towards the signature of Castlerake, but, before you can go very far, Landros pulls out four guns and locks the rest of the party in his sites. He forces you all to march into what ultimately turns out to be an albino dragon's lair, complete with two babies.
Landros fires at the dragon, but only pisses it off. After all, it isn't really Landros piloting the frog suit, but Orlos using his body (Orlos rolled an 06% in his attempt to gain control of Landros and got it hands down. Saving throw didn't...well, save). The dragon grabs Landros in its mouth and violently throws him against the cave wall, rendering him unconscious. At this point, I thought Landros was safely out of combat harm's way, and he was, but...Khouri runs over and, using her decades of training on the frog suits, accesses control to release the unconscious Landros. The idea was, of course, to use the suit to save everyone else's asses, which she did.
The rest is humdrum. Dragon was M7 helper. You acquired Castlerake and everyone got out safely.
As for Landros, although obviously somewhat crippled from a past injury that no one else present saw happen, he is/will be fine ( i.e. Not die). He is still unconscious aboard Theoninn and will wake when we next meet to discover that he is no longer in suit.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
The Switch to the Other Crew
May 21, 2010 Synopsis
Ginsberg, Oki, and Landros, along with Palfin and some other red-shirts leave Palladium on Theoninn. A quick check of Raven indicates the direction of the nearest runic item, which you immediately head toward. Long story short, you meet up and dock with the Infinity and then continue to the Telemachus station.
Khouri is now added to the to party and you all investigate ways to get to the surface of the moon since that is where Raven indicates the item is. Gaining access to the moon is a little tricky because of the political climate, but help comes in the form of Node and Svarturinn who offer to join you, act as guides, and get you onto the surface colony hassle free.
You arrive at the mining colony to find that Grunner Corp is packing the place full of a lot of mercs in light of some recent tensions between the freeman workers and the corp. Node knows of a seer/mystic which he brings you all to see in hopes that you may find a lead as to where the runic item may be. Node and Landros also do some hacking and discover that some freeman found an interesting object while working in the tunnels.
You investigate this lead to find that some freeman had indeed extracted some boxlike object and hae hidden it somewhere in the colony. You also learn that the Grunner mercs are about to put the colony in lockdown so that they can search for this item. The freeman, whom you offer to help, are sending three teams out to try to escape; each team believes it has the item in an unmarked box.
Landros creates a diversion while the rest of you try to get a team of freeman to the shuttle pad to get off the moon. With some help from the Infinity you manage to make it back to your shuttle, but discover your team's box had nothing of value in it. You wait awhile to see if anyone else shows up, but no one does. So, you leave, heading back to the Infinity. There you learn that the object is no longer on the moon...Raven is tracking it as being on the lighthugger The Elegance of Π, which is starting to pull away from Telemachus.
Tough week...you were set up in a trap and had very little chance of figuring it out from the inside. On the bright side, if you analyze what the goal of such a trap might have been, namely to hold you up in Grunner's lockdown, then you did quite well in getting out of there as quickly as you did. And the get-away car is just pulling into traffic, so you're still very much in the hunt.
Ginsberg, Oki, and Landros, along with Palfin and some other red-shirts leave Palladium on Theoninn. A quick check of Raven indicates the direction of the nearest runic item, which you immediately head toward. Long story short, you meet up and dock with the Infinity and then continue to the Telemachus station.
Khouri is now added to the to party and you all investigate ways to get to the surface of the moon since that is where Raven indicates the item is. Gaining access to the moon is a little tricky because of the political climate, but help comes in the form of Node and Svarturinn who offer to join you, act as guides, and get you onto the surface colony hassle free.
You arrive at the mining colony to find that Grunner Corp is packing the place full of a lot of mercs in light of some recent tensions between the freeman workers and the corp. Node knows of a seer/mystic which he brings you all to see in hopes that you may find a lead as to where the runic item may be. Node and Landros also do some hacking and discover that some freeman found an interesting object while working in the tunnels.
You investigate this lead to find that some freeman had indeed extracted some boxlike object and hae hidden it somewhere in the colony. You also learn that the Grunner mercs are about to put the colony in lockdown so that they can search for this item. The freeman, whom you offer to help, are sending three teams out to try to escape; each team believes it has the item in an unmarked box.
Landros creates a diversion while the rest of you try to get a team of freeman to the shuttle pad to get off the moon. With some help from the Infinity you manage to make it back to your shuttle, but discover your team's box had nothing of value in it. You wait awhile to see if anyone else shows up, but no one does. So, you leave, heading back to the Infinity. There you learn that the object is no longer on the moon...Raven is tracking it as being on the lighthugger The Elegance of Π, which is starting to pull away from Telemachus.
Tough week...you were set up in a trap and had very little chance of figuring it out from the inside. On the bright side, if you analyze what the goal of such a trap might have been, namely to hold you up in Grunner's lockdown, then you did quite well in getting out of there as quickly as you did. And the get-away car is just pulling into traffic, so you're still very much in the hunt.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
The Crows
You had left Marhund intent on reaching Aja where you hoped to make contact with the Theoninn crew. The Skedic power boat got you just past Slodaulur when the river became too rocky and shallow too continue. While 'hiding' the boat and preparing to leave, Silus happened to notice a strange beetle crawling out from your sacks of gear; something reminded Silus of things Demonic, perhaps from his younger days hanging out in Marhund. You all concluded this was a sign that you had been followed and spied on, presumably by Ililsus.
Farallon attempted to arrange air transport from Aja to come pick you up, but it took a while, and, ultimately, they would not agree to send you an aircraft until morning light. You all decided to forge ahead through the forest around 2:30am. It wasn't long before “something” started following you, staying at the fringes. Despite the efforts of Silus and Farallon to figure out who or what these pests were, they offered no clues.
An relatively uneventful night gave way to dawn and the news that a V-Lift transport would meet you all in a clearing about 2 miles south. You make it to the rendezvous location and meet the craft. On your way out to the airship, a sudden stampede of forest animals – chipmunks, squirrels, deer, bears – comes rushing out of the forest behind you. You all run for the ship. Suddenly 13 crows dive out of the sky and transform into wraith-like creatures sitting astride black steeds. The ground crumbles into sinkholes, trapping all the animals. The ring of sinkholes creates a small island on which the V-Lift waits.
You all jump on board and order the pilots to swing around and strafe the black creatures with the 50mm guns. As the ship rises into the sky the creatures return to crow form and fly towards you. Treasda's shield keeps them at bay for only a few seconds before one drops through the shield and gets sucked into the turbine. The engine explodes, sending shrapnel everywhere, one piece pegging Farallon in the arm (lucky for his kevlar diggs). The ship immediately spirals out of control, heading for a wicked crash landing...
And Silus saves the day by using Celeros to reset time to when you first boarded the ship. So a change plans: Agar, Silus and Farallon decide to draw their Dragon bone weapons – an action which gets a bit of a rise out of the creatures – and essentially charge the enemy. Two crows down, and the rest of the horsemen flutter into the trees as crows. That's when you all sense that a dragon is heading your way.
You run for the ship! From back over your shoulder you can gleaming in the golden morning light the scales of a dragon you will never forget – Echo.
The group consensus was that Mirella would use her amulet to banf you all to safety at this point, but Mirella will have to make that call, and see where she wants to go.
Musings: I don't think there has been talk of what the relationship, if any, between Ililsus and Echo might be. For perspective, Echo is probably at least 4 times the foe that Anskut, the Baalrog, is. But, it is disturbingly possible that Anskut has Void. And then there's the question of Necros: what are its powers and limitations; how might that effect how to approach a massively powerful foe like Echo?
Farallon attempted to arrange air transport from Aja to come pick you up, but it took a while, and, ultimately, they would not agree to send you an aircraft until morning light. You all decided to forge ahead through the forest around 2:30am. It wasn't long before “something” started following you, staying at the fringes. Despite the efforts of Silus and Farallon to figure out who or what these pests were, they offered no clues.
An relatively uneventful night gave way to dawn and the news that a V-Lift transport would meet you all in a clearing about 2 miles south. You make it to the rendezvous location and meet the craft. On your way out to the airship, a sudden stampede of forest animals – chipmunks, squirrels, deer, bears – comes rushing out of the forest behind you. You all run for the ship. Suddenly 13 crows dive out of the sky and transform into wraith-like creatures sitting astride black steeds. The ground crumbles into sinkholes, trapping all the animals. The ring of sinkholes creates a small island on which the V-Lift waits.
You all jump on board and order the pilots to swing around and strafe the black creatures with the 50mm guns. As the ship rises into the sky the creatures return to crow form and fly towards you. Treasda's shield keeps them at bay for only a few seconds before one drops through the shield and gets sucked into the turbine. The engine explodes, sending shrapnel everywhere, one piece pegging Farallon in the arm (lucky for his kevlar diggs). The ship immediately spirals out of control, heading for a wicked crash landing...
And Silus saves the day by using Celeros to reset time to when you first boarded the ship. So a change plans: Agar, Silus and Farallon decide to draw their Dragon bone weapons – an action which gets a bit of a rise out of the creatures – and essentially charge the enemy. Two crows down, and the rest of the horsemen flutter into the trees as crows. That's when you all sense that a dragon is heading your way.
You run for the ship! From back over your shoulder you can gleaming in the golden morning light the scales of a dragon you will never forget – Echo.
The group consensus was that Mirella would use her amulet to banf you all to safety at this point, but Mirella will have to make that call, and see where she wants to go.
Musings: I don't think there has been talk of what the relationship, if any, between Ililsus and Echo might be. For perspective, Echo is probably at least 4 times the foe that Anskut, the Baalrog, is. But, it is disturbingly possible that Anskut has Void. And then there's the question of Necros: what are its powers and limitations; how might that effect how to approach a massively powerful foe like Echo?
Friday, March 26, 2010
The Noose of Ililsus
A brief overview of your recent trials and tribulations:
A return to Ttumal after your adventures at JKLK nets you a new friend...one of Silus' old buddies. This leads you to the captain of the Black Shrimp, which leads you to some old Skedics with a power boat. A journey back to the Temple of Ptelas, then the Briar Rose town, and now you have a complete set of dragon armor and dragon bone swords.
It seems that the items left at JKLK helped you unlock the curse/spell that had hidden away Esai's weapons and armor, although there is the lingering possibility that it is merely his return which allows these things to be uncovered. By now you have concluded that Styphon of Dragonwright fame is synonymous with Esai-En-Dar. And also most likely the cause of the Cataclysm. And the cause of the destruction of the Skedic homeworld. And...
Again you journey back to Ttumal where you confront Silus' friend about his local dealings and discover that this road leads back to Ililsus and Anskut at Marhund. These are names you haven't come across since your initial dealings with Hasder, Omunis, and Zog. You debate whether to pursue Esai or go for the "lower" level henchman (or even to pursue Echo). Since Ililsus is a high ranking bad-ass locust demon, Anskut seems like an easier target.
You drag DB to Marhund and set out to find Anskut. Instead, something finds Farallon and leads you all to a temple where, at the last moment, you decide to scoot out the back and avoid confrontation. The group concern was whether or not this was a trap. But whose trap?
As I understood your reasoning, Esai was luring you to his henchmen in an effort to reclaim parts of himself so that he might be more fully resurrected. Of course, this perspective was largely that of Farallon's. So, how do you confront Esai or his allies without risking giving him the power he seeks? Can these weapons be used against him? Could it have been someone else?
Maybe an even bigger questions: What is it that Esai/Styphon wants? Can this be used against him? If you have to fight Anskut (a Baalrog) how can you beat him?
A return to Ttumal after your adventures at JKLK nets you a new friend...one of Silus' old buddies. This leads you to the captain of the Black Shrimp, which leads you to some old Skedics with a power boat. A journey back to the Temple of Ptelas, then the Briar Rose town, and now you have a complete set of dragon armor and dragon bone swords.
It seems that the items left at JKLK helped you unlock the curse/spell that had hidden away Esai's weapons and armor, although there is the lingering possibility that it is merely his return which allows these things to be uncovered. By now you have concluded that Styphon of Dragonwright fame is synonymous with Esai-En-Dar. And also most likely the cause of the Cataclysm. And the cause of the destruction of the Skedic homeworld. And...
Again you journey back to Ttumal where you confront Silus' friend about his local dealings and discover that this road leads back to Ililsus and Anskut at Marhund. These are names you haven't come across since your initial dealings with Hasder, Omunis, and Zog. You debate whether to pursue Esai or go for the "lower" level henchman (or even to pursue Echo). Since Ililsus is a high ranking bad-ass locust demon, Anskut seems like an easier target.
You drag DB to Marhund and set out to find Anskut. Instead, something finds Farallon and leads you all to a temple where, at the last moment, you decide to scoot out the back and avoid confrontation. The group concern was whether or not this was a trap. But whose trap?
As I understood your reasoning, Esai was luring you to his henchmen in an effort to reclaim parts of himself so that he might be more fully resurrected. Of course, this perspective was largely that of Farallon's. So, how do you confront Esai or his allies without risking giving him the power he seeks? Can these weapons be used against him? Could it have been someone else?
Maybe an even bigger questions: What is it that Esai/Styphon wants? Can this be used against him? If you have to fight Anskut (a Baalrog) how can you beat him?
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