Out of the Frying Pan and into the Federation; Memoirs of The Raven Tidebreaker

Background: Corvus (awarded) The sun was rising over the vista, burning off the morning fog and unveiling the grasslands and the ranks of soldiers and their ancient guns that had been hidden beneath the mist. If one had been present at the original battle, they could have been hard pressed to recognise where Corvus stood now, located just south west of the intersection of the sunken land and the main road. Here he would stand guard in the retinue of Arthurus, the so-called Bear Prince, named for his penchance to hunt the massive Ursids in the wild while armed only with a crude spear. Arthurus was commanding the Red army in this ritual battle, tasked with holding the line against his opponent until the time ran out, while the Blue army, led by The Lion, was to attempt to break the Reds and forge his way to victory. The battle began before the sun had reached its peak, with a walled farm between the two forces being fiercely contested as shot and powder weapons raged around them, a pitched battle that would continue as the Blues began committing more troops all along the front, exerting an inexorable pressure on the Reds. A pivotal moment! Mounted Reds surged out of their hiding places, falling on unprepared columns of Blues, breaking through, but the untrained soldiers lost all cohesion after the initial charge, but they continued, as a lance through the gut of the enemy, and on tired mounts and suffering the loss of one of their leaders, the Blues regained the initiative, and half the Red cavalry was written off, over a thousand each of mount or rider. But their blood had bought time and disarrayed the enemy. The Blue guns fell silent. In the sudden lull only a single noise could be heard; a rumbling. Nine thousand sets of hooves at a canter, then a charge, bearing down on Corvus's position. They meant to rip the heart right out of the army and then rout what was left. In a blur of blood and steel, the command post devolved into an orgy of violence and by the end of it, only one was left standing; a battered and bleeding Avian, the Blue general. The Lion had long since held a grudge against the now-prone and bleeding Red general, for years they had been crossing talons in uncountable engagements, each as likely to win the favour of their peers and betters as the other, but now was an opportunity, an opportunity to rid himself of that detestable scab-feathered Atticus scion once and for all, and with no witnesses, it would be ever so easy to pass it off as just another death on the field. A small price of bloodgelt to the grieving family and the upper echelons of tribuneship would be wide open! Chuckling to itself in its fantasy, it drew its sabre and stalked up to his counterpart, glancing from side to side, ensuring noone witnesses were present. It raised its encarmine spear. Blade pierced into the Avian, cutting through wing, muscle and bone before embedding itself in the heart. With a keening moan, The Lion sunk to the floor, his lifeblood staining his front. No. This couldn't be. He'd been so close! How?! Who..? The spear slipped out of nerveless fingers, falling to the floor. A slave? The shame...  Ancestors... "Ah fuck, I only meant to wing him."

Session 1: The land of the Midg't G'ko (awarded) The Quingol system, Planet Eritos, City of Omen, Race: Dorians. We were introduced to Gill, our new pilot by the commander. Seems like a decent number cruncher, which we desperately need. Since we'd graduated, we'd gotten our hands on the FSC Cadet, a decommissioned mining ship. Landing in the industrial district of Omen and being unable to acquire more subtle security, we paid the docking fees to the port authorities and found leads on selling off the salvaged ore that was on the ship. The city is bustling with people due to the increased amount of sun due to the local stellar phenomena/intersection. After wandering around the city, we found a local run inn and acquired a pair of suites to accommodate us we began to culture and locality research. A galaxy class battleship and an Avian delegation is in the system for the festival as well. We found a group who'd managed to hire an air skiff, so we leveraged some usage of the skiff on our own time. While trying to find more leads on the errant Quingol cultists. The Li Mubp station is used for research, but is abandoned during the festival due to the solar flares/other phenomena that render it dangerous. During the informal party on the skiff, we were accosted by the High Lord to the Haemotitan after suggesting that his 'little dear' don't gorge herself on the life force of the bystanders, looking at Seth before running off to tattle to daddy. We then met up with him the next day for an informal exchange of information. No identities were exchanged. This obviously changed after the dinner when Northorn, in his infinite gluttonous wisdom, called me by my first name rather than the selected code name. So I have decided to put manure on his pillow and recommended him for disciplinary action after the mission. For some reason, he just irritates me. Hiring the party skiff, we made our way over to the second site  

Session 2: The Marshes of Quingol. (awarded) While I slept, my sentry duty finished, the others began researching and planning further into the target area, the Quingol Swamps. The astrophysicist on board/our cab driver is of the opinion that something is preventing the star from going supernova, the density and readings are showing a prime candidate supernova. It has also come to light that the gravity should've been 3.5G, currently it feels like 0.9. The planet cannot sustain the population pre-event, yet it does (48billion on a sight able to normally hold 10). The huge freighter that was purchased by an unknown third party is now floating over the largest production facility. On our approach we are accosted by a local police cruiser. There is an incident. We make contact with the locals and begin scoping out a site. Upon acquiring a stop-gap measure of a site, we are met by an avian-look-alike who exudes an aura of menace, and began threatening us. It is here that we met with one of the local enforcers, a robotic construct of medieval aesthetic but unmistakably advanced design, out intimidating our intimidator. With a final threat, the look-alike departed. After a brief intelligence gathering foray into the surrounding area came back mostly empty handed, apart from the distinct lack of communication with the superfreighter in orbit. Gill was attacked for the datapad he was carrying, but was rescued in a timely manner by Seth, possibly for the calculations on the impending supernova were on said device. Without much more to work on, and with repeated denials for interview with the freighter, we accompanied the 5-5 on their hairbrained scheme, for curiosity's sake.

Session 3: I Can Feel The Hangover Coming (awarded) With the local branch already planning on boarding the superfreighter, we volunteered ourselves on as additional backup. He was at first reluctant to take us, but was convinced of the utility of having a Psi-corps squad alongside him. Once aboard our conveyance, a breaching/boarding shuttle, we made quick time to the freighter, which had so far been ignoring all hails. On final approach we received what appeared to be an automated 'stay clear' warning, which we ignored as we began docking. Upon accessing the airlock, which was of notable proportions, in fitting with the already overengineered aesthetic of the ship, we were met by the guards. Who just happened to be elite Dragon Corps troops. The Elite of the federation, of course. We had an incredibly uneasy standoff, uneasy for us as we were well aware that we were little more than minor inconveniences. Luckily the blue on blue and our obituaries swept under the rug by the presence of [REDACTED]. Despite his deceptive appearance, we were quickly made aware of the extra-visual and hidden characteristics. As well as a possible need for discretion. The body cam was left on. [REDACTED] assured us that nothing untowards was happening on the ship, along with an enthusiastic and ample display of the ship's purpose. I can feel the hangover from this report already. The mere presence of members seen on-site was of exceptional worry to all of us aware of the possibility of the system turning into a flashpoint. Typical of the rich fuckers. Obviously Touroo was there in an appropriately inconveniencing manner. The dick. We further established that without the constant ferrying of ships, which were notably absent, there needed to be another point of contact between planet and ship. Which was confirmed as easily hundreds of teleportation circles linked to sites on the planet. We made use of them to return to the surface for resupply and reassessment. After Seth's introspection, we made our way to the Tower to make contact with command for more info/orders. The first sign something is wrong is arriving to see the lack of guards, replaced by the same droids that Seth had seen in his visions attacking the Cathedral. They allowed us entry, but upon reaching the comms room, the guards are there stuck in place while an imp of some kind is wreaking havoc on the comms console. On seeing us it dove into the desecrated console and the guards were all freed from its influence. We isolated the 'possessed' computer in the safest manner possible and submitted the report with the onsite backup that had survived the attack. Command had one further instruction. Question the High Priest. Godsdamnit.

Session 4: We Require Additional Artillery (awarded) Upon further questioning of the Dick (Godspeaker), it came to light that the succubus Scara, was in fact a mortal given the powers of one, and not his daughter as he had promised. He believes she is the one that betrayed him. Our unerring scrutiny spots her just over there, partying with a group of High Elves. Closer evaluation of the chair revealed the hallmark traits of Titan bloodmagic. A group of us went to make contact with the succubus, another heading over to the Senator's Abode. On arrival at the High Elf encampment, the succubus was gone, presumed to have entered the Princess' tent, on alerting the guards to her presence, we picked up another name 'Jasmine' The guards went to check on the princess, and we noted a pair of demons making their way through the crowd towards the tent. We interceded, and she escaped without the box she was attempting to abscond with. The Princess returned, checked the package and identified Scara as Jasmine. Using her true name, Seth summoned her back. Upon light questioning, she revealed that the Heirotitan is involved in the chair and wants the situation to become uncontrollable. She also provided that us with the information that the chair has a flaw, as well as the name of the manufacturer, who just happens to be on-planet. We spent some time trying to plan out our next move, the designs belonging to none other than Hephaestus. -------------- We would have to make contact with the Titan, but with no evident approaches we could use, we would have to make use of the raci- the anti-blood cult. They had an impressive degree of intelligence which they provided for a 'generous' donation to their budget. Before the information could be fed into our nearest orbital bombardment array, a political incident occured. The Princess had been cursed/poisoned with some kind of dancing skulduggery. Mumbojumbo and some handflapping later, they found the cause, the box with the pet. So Jasmine was involved. All we're missing is a carpet, and a genie, we already have the cat and the lamp (box) that's bigger on the inside. ------------- As it turns out, we were a little short on firepower. Well, at least the new lake spruced up the surrounding landscape. Shame there weren't any spruces left standing. So we tried for the diplomacy approach and it did end up working so well! We acquired not only the knowledge but the tools to release the Dick from his throne. It'll be such   a pleasure to have him prancing around again.

Session 5: Go Big Or Go Home (awarded) With our new and shiny key-that-unlocks-everything, we made our way back to the Warehouse-teleportation circle. The sooner we got this over with, the better for all of us, like ripping a raptor-leech off the wound so we could cauterise it. Of course, in our absence, inconveniences had arisen. On our return we were debriefed by the dragonlings that there had been an 'incident'. During our excursion planetside, it appeared the standard operating procedures of 'don't let demons amongst the dignitaries' had been thrown out of the window. A veritable host of the creatures had infiltrated the ship, and were unnoticed by the party-goers, either too inebriated or uncaring to take note. This did, unfortunately, also include the guards, who had *such* faith in the magical defence systems that they seem to have overlooked one glaring fact. Every death caused by the innate defence systems would power the chair. Which would then kill a bunch more people, and then the tedious tide of blood and terror would consume us all. Average Saturday night. Luckily, Seth's tonguelashing got the guards running, with setting set to stun and other security forces also similarly mobilised to incapacitate and detain. At this point, we had been recruited by the princess of the treehouse of terrors/horrors. We were fast-taught how to cast a stun spell, simple enough to manifest, and effective enough against the rank and file of the demons that were attacking. We kept up our barrage, the more demons we could take down, the fewer the tally of the slain, and the less chance that Deathchair would take us all. So we listened to the sweet little voice, for it dangled success rather than salvation. Salvation was out of the question, our reinforcements were Titans. Titans turning the tide? nah, that would be far too much of a pretentious chapter title. Especially since while watching another 'non-magic' user exhaust himself casting the stun spell was absorbed by the princess of the treehouse of terror. Yeah, we slowed down, conserving our strength and letting the titans take the weight. With the incursion duly kneecapped, it was time to deal with the Dick. A fiendishly complicated array of glyphs and locks swirled around, utterly un-understandable to even the most knowledgeable of scholars, and staring too long, and you would see them staring back upon ye. Eldritch powers far beyond our mortal ken were at work imprisoning the Dick. The Titans, being masters in their craft convinced us to utilise their skills. Seth solved it in a few minutes with the magic key, so there. Tourou was left stunned as the chair vanished, and I will treasure that pict for at least a few years. We 'were returned' back to our tent, planetside. One eldritch machination dealt with, a few million more waiting in the wings.

Session 6: Forgive Me Father, For I Have Sinned (awarded) It was time to get the confession of none other than High Father Claybourne, leader of the Church of Quingol and, it would be fair to say, spiritual leader for the entire planet. We had already been 'shown' a series of events that were to occur, and we had been preparing accordingly. Now with all the actors on the stage, who was to say we couldn't alter the script just a little, for our own purposes? All we had to do was get in, avoid collateral damage, question High Father Claybourne and get out. Keep all chances of this devolving into a diplomatic incident down to the minimum. Well, more or less. We were to enter the temple complex from the air, ferried in on the air-barge we had been using so regularly, entering from above the 10th Floor onto a convenient balcony, well above the regular routes for the guards. Then, taking advantage of the forseen distraction at the front gates, we would make our way to the offices of High Father Claybourne. Here is where Javanot, the Ajax demon hunter, came in. He had already been Forseen assaulting the gates of the Cathedral. May as well make use of that, since he was now sort of on our side. As the barge began moving into position, the signal was given to the Ajax and his impromptu retinue, and in the courtyard in front of the great cathedral doors, all hell broke loose. The barge was rapidly moved into position and our squad combat-dropped onto the balcony, made our way into the empty room adjacent and secured it. Seconds later we were on the move again into the bowels of the complex, seeking out the High Father's office. Arriving at the doors, we employed our furry battering ram to make a hole (technically speaking the doors were moved out of the way, but that doesn't sound as dramatic), once we were inside we returned the doors back to their position. And then we turned to see a face. The face that apparently all parents, teachers and priests seem to have mastered during whatever orientation in Guilt class that they all seem to be taking a degree in. The face of disappointment. Yeah, we're not angry with you either buddy, just disappointed. During the duration of the questioning, it soon became clear that Claybourne didn't had a fucking clue that anything could possibly be going wrong, which was obviously the cue for something going wrong. Two Psi-ops operatives burst through the door, demanding our surrender into federation custody. As they continued to throw their little temper tantrum, they were interrupted by Father who silenced them with a Word of Power, giving them a little 'time out'. Seth was about to continue with his Guilt-reposte when we were interrupted. Through the doors that were now conveniently opened, an undead horde was shambling towards us (it was only a little one). As we sent fire into the horde, Scara was caught trying to make her way towards the priest. Knowing her it could be for any reason, but none of them good for us. Naturally we pinned her against the wall, which appeared the preferable position for everyone involved. The crescendo of the battle occured when the enemy leader/construct decided to ossify into a golden statue. Warchest refilled. With the battle over, Seth continued to guilt-trip the High Father, until Xandar found a reason. Hidden amongst the priest's posessions was a small 'trinket', which was identified as a 'befuddlement spell', explaining why the leadership had appeared to be unable to connect the dots on all the fuckery that had been happening on their watch. Naturally grateful for our infinite wisdom and poise, he gifted us with our second Carte-Blanche, so now we had a matching set of Secular and Religious. Unfortunately the Psi-ops, being sleasy political shits, weren't able to be foisted, or ransacked/looted, so now they follow us around.

Session 7: If we can make them bleed. (the short one) (awarded) A lot of people had been cocking up lately, and Seth was looking as pissy as Ambella when someone reshelves a book with dog-ears in the wrong section, upside down on the wrong day of the lunar cycle. I suppose that was fair enough, we had a name. Nephthys, a goddess of death that like to spread her creed (read killing people all over the place) as part of a trifecta of awful. There was Seth, a god of death and her nephew or her son. They're the same person, by the way, Anubis, another god of death. I felt much better not knowing what we were up against, but at least this would give us the tools to foil their plans. Something we'd have to be satisfied with since even Seth couldn't kill a God. Yet. So the plan was pretty simple as we were like bugs against being like these, we'd keep a low profile and mess with their minions. The enemy's next target was known to us, a strategically located geothermal powerplant not far from where we were, overloading it would cause mass casualties amongst the population, empowering the death gods in their fiendish goals (fiendish cos they appear to like deploying fiends). All we had to do is go in, defuse the situation and take out as many enemies as possible without too many lives being lost. But due to how we knew, via future sight shenanigans, so to ensure that future was kept on track, we had to make sure we did nothing until the enemy was right where we wanted him. Simple, right? While Seth and Guil headed off to talk politics with Ego, Northorn and I had heard of a Dorian 'magic' shop nearby that sold charms and talismans of the kind would prove useful in the fight against the forces of Evil.  After picking up some neat little trinkets, we also decided to take a gander at the Federation armoury, after all, we had full access and when fighting gods it's always nicer to poke them with a sharp toothpick rather than using damp confetti. We also needed the extra firepower badly, and lo and behold, there was a convenient attache that we could 'second' from his post for a much higher duty. Long story short, by the time Seth got back, we'd also picked up another human tactical officer on secondment from TAC55. Seth gave him The Talk, and after strapping on some extra protection, he was folded into the unit. Once we had the newbie in, we worked on securing some additional assets, namely something less shitty than a tent. Luckily local federation had managed to get their hands on a solid enough building to house us and our gear for a little longer. With a decent safe house, we had a couple of shopping trips to that... I want to say hedge-mage's store, as it was not what one would call sophisticated or cutting edge. But we got our hands on some talismans of resistance, a godssend against how many trials we were  bound to face, as well as some psionic foci. All we had left to do was attune ourselves and prepare for the next call-out. Those corpse puppeteers were going to be thoroughly inconvenienced.  Session 8: .... No Comment. (awarded) I mean by the dark wings, come on. What kind weird ass mind fuckery could possibly end up doing us some good? Just... No Comment. Okay, I admit it was just a little bit funny hearing that fancy ass prat not able to just curb-stomp an assistant junior librarian, second class. Obviously he's a huge threat to our ability to live, but that's something I'm gonna laugh at him for while I stab him. Ambella's gonna need a couple of gallons of mouthwash though. Well, here's what happened: Now that we had somewhere to sleep that wasn't stolen, borrowed, covered by canvas or simply open to the elements and haunted by daemons. We have got to hire a better realtor. Anyway, now that we had a little extra spending money, it was time to graduate from stabbing gods with blunt toothpicks to hitting them with teaspoons, by which I mean it was time to go shopping! The  Hunter’s Bazaar was our first stop, where we were gonna go first. With a little bit more punching power, now we just needed some more intel on the targets, which we could get from a bunch of sites all over the religious city. So like the vintage series, the gang split up and began searching for clues. Ambella went to Church to search through their archives, using the access granted to us by the High Father, with the rest of us heading back to the magical curios store for a little extra bang for our survival. As we're making our way back from the odd little dorian's place, we get a distress message from Ambella and Northorn, over at the Church archives. They'd been attacked. Speeding over to reinforce, we soon got another message saying that the threat was neutralised. Still, we had to make sure that we hadn't fucked up. Seth began to look antsy when Ambella sent a data-dump with her research on hand. By the time we'd arrived at the Church archives, Ambella was already unconscious and in a hospital gown in a cot in the corner, under guard by both Northorn and church members, the High Father included, with TAC55 present with a team of Federation soldiers. Seth began getting answers in his natural and charming manner (he looked like he'd kill someone if they didn't explain what was going on). It had transpired that Ambella, while talking to the TAC troopers while researching, had stumbled onto the nugget of information. The Federation colonel, Stryder. Once it had been confirmed the guy was definitely not a federation officer and had in actual fact been masquerading as one of our fucking own, Ambella decided to gather as much information she could from the memories of the operatives on hand that had met him. Unfortunately Stryder had apparently expected this, and he'd left a trap. Hence the current horizontal attitude of our librarian. Seth, naturally worried for our comrade (make sure the enemy didn't know our secret plans) decided to delve into the labyrinthian minefield that was Ambella's mind to ascertain the extent of the damage. He began preparing the room, drawing runes, glyphs, whatever it is that helped him to do whatever it is that he was planning on doing. The High Father, seeing him preparing, offered some kind of device, to help him remain sane while delving into Ambella's mind. Time passed, then Seth ordered us to take the still unconscious ambella with us back to base. While she recovered, it was time for us to get out and back to work. There were a multitude of possible sites a deathcult would use as a base, and identifying and dispatching and reconning was what we spent the night doing. To no success, they were all devoid of our foes. But the night wasn't completely wasted, we ran into another hunter in the shadows. A vampire hunter, to be precise. Which was how we found out that Stryder, the most irritating being on the planet, was a vampire. Before departing, he gave a box to Seth, saying it was from the Senator. A gift that would help to bring down a vampire, but there was obviously going to be some kind of catch for using such a weapon.

Session 9: Funeral Services Ltd.

Session 10: I'm not stuck in here with you, you're stuck in here with me. (awarded) We're now out at the campsite, transponder removed and the distraction set off. There is a Death-god general at the south pole, we could hinder them there. Or we could kill Count Cuntula. Turns out, 3 teams of contract killers have us on their bounty lists, for 10 mil each for the ringleaders, and 5mil for myself. Apparently we stole the money that was their pay: Dawn- Avian Sniper Negemphrael- insectoid mist-using assassin, of the Drugan race. Someone pack the RAID. And a pair of mercenaries, the Ranson brothers. Unfortunately, we may not be leave, due to the thermal conspicuity of the craft we have. After deciding to leave, Cane and Dread being left behind immediately, due to reasons. Seth then used the same techniques used to foil Scara's infiltrations on Ambella's helmet. Soon we were almost ready to leave, with an ETA of 15 hours. Before leaving, we left behind a data-cache, a way for Psicorps to keep our true orders updated, since a direct communication would compromise us. As we were leaving, the Proclaimer was activated, sending out the transponder to buy us some more time. <Redacted> Ciemmesdirth, the Necro-general, is an 18' tall dogfaced deathdealer with a fashion sense to make even the staunch of emos hang themselves in jealousy. This is going to be great. On getting within 200km of the site, we're pinged by a EM field, detaching the cargo pod and causing us to barely skim the treeline. Turning this to our advantage, we grab what we can, dumping the useless stuff, and preparing to steal a march on our foes, or we could gather intel while the patrols are out. Xandar offers a way to deepstrike our heavy hitters on to our position, while they head out and take out the EMP installation. The new plan is they ambush the scouts, while we take out the EM installation. Corvus gets an upgrade to his gear, a heavy autocannon with a spotwelded 1200 clip ammo supply. Corvus is happy. We manage to get about a km from the target site, what apparently is a heavily ruined city of some past civilisation. Spreading out, we prepare an ambush on the outbound. Spy-der bots made their way into the complex, accessing data and the site, and we see our target. Apparently they arrived a week ago, waiting for someone named 'Hess'. We prepare our plan of attack, and teleport the heavy hitters in. As soon as this happens, a shield of some type covers the building. It appears they've made a cage. We cut power to the music system, and the Sphynx becomes aware, the sheen that covers the sphynx begins to waken. The rest of the enemies begin to panic, trying to turn the audio-suppressing system starting up. They then began demanding we return the fuses. Negotiating with the Sphynx resulted in the deathcultists being teleported out, and we began a dialogue with the Being. It revealed that both the Planet and Star have named gods/beings residing within. The dialogue finishes and Sphynx leaves, commenting on how its stay won't be as relaxing. The portal coordinates were sent to command, and all nearby powersources were disabled to prevent the portal being re-opened. Soon, a freighter and dragoncorps fighters are en-route, enough to count as a significant strikeforce. Dragoncorps overseer began communication. They enquired about the EM field and opening up the portal (the one with the unlimited hordes of undead), we advised accordingly. On arrival they take Seth into custody. He made his mission report and handed over the prisoner Scara into the overseer's custody. Then it was Ambella's turn. <redacted>  But after some mechanical trouble, we began returning. We acquired a new vessel and continued on our mission. Our first stop is the Capitol. We made visual contact with the Ranson brothers assassins, and kept an eye out.  When we enter the room 5-6 people are in the room, dehydrated and malnourished, under the guard of Dragoncorps. All are the missing members of the hierarchy that had gone missing in past months. They appeared to be cursed. Or at least Ambella had another nap. Scara's back. yay. On closer examination of the recovered members, the souls of the tortured have been placed to look like the bodies of those we were looking for. On suffocating one member, the other seven stand and look at Seth, before being tasered into submission by the dragoncorps, the investigation sites are made in an ominous octagonal position. Centered on the capitol building. On our way, we run into one of the Ranson brothers, the fire mage elf. We go to a bar for a drink. They hadn't yet got around to accepting the contract. The delivery point for our 'bodies' was the same Egyptian freighter. We negotiated. The Dick walked into the bar, took a look around, apologised and left. Someone to be stabbed later, I'm sure. We negotiated about the freighter, the Dor Naus, and began planning the heist of the week.

Session 11: Sometime's you just need a little push. (awarded) We began heading back to the Hotel, the Dragoncorps, not the one we down-paid a month's rent for. As we arrive at the HQ, we see a undead-anubian style creature. It's been shackled with some kind of laser cuffs and restrained against the wall. IT's obviously some kind of prisoner. Heading up we're told that some interrogations are occuring and to avoid those areas. Upon reaching the rooms, and Seth passes his hide-racism check. We intended to research the 8 points, but we aren't able to deal with that until our assassin stalkers are dealt with, so we make the Corps aware of this issue. The Dragoncorps commander appears unaware of what diplomacy is. So with the brothers being used to take us up after the staged fight, we will need a ship to pick us up after the playdate. During the meeting, we're told that a massive astral event has occured in the seconds after sunrise in the Cathedral city, for which we give our Intel comes in that the assassin Dawn has been located and a strike force is teleported out. As we re-enter the room, all the guards around the monster are staring at the walls, listening intently to the feed of whatever action is occuring. We make our way down the street to our first base. returning to the hotel, there are two blue-clad dragoncorps, who inform us that local command is  waiting for us in another room. After arranging their side of the plans to limit collateral, we notice and crush a tiny spy, just to be on the safe side. As soon as we squished the bug, we noticed one of our errant psi-ops members clasp his head in pain. Another one of the Dick's pawns, it seems. On closer inspection, it's just a douchebag with a license, who practiced arts similar to them. The error is seen, and we returned to our hotel. It appears that while we've been gone, the entire suite has been turned into some kind of fucking frat party. Lighting our fist with lightning, we gently coerce the inhabitants to fuck off, which they do. Mass cleansing of the room occurs, and we bed down to rest. Several of the group wake up an hour or two early to the sound of water dripping, a phantom sound, by all accounts. Sleeping arrangements have been redacted. Gil lands not long after, carrying the Lord Grey and company, and we began debriefing him on the events of the recent past. Upon hearing of the simulcrums/golems, Grey began rummaging through the duffel bag of body parts, as you naturally do. After geeking out, he began checking on the equipment he'd issued us. He explains that something summoned Count Cuntula to the planet. They also explained that this is an exceptional length to provide an alternative while keeping the original 'unharmed', to most extents, but their souls will have been damaged during the creation. While experimenting on some parts, he accidentally triggers a failsafe, which aknowledges the creator of where we were. As we're getting ready, an explosion happens at each of those 8 points. Deluth says when the shit hits the fan, rip the paper as fast as I can, giving me a piece of paper. As we run outside, we're accosted by a cop outside, at which point Seth tells us to take cover back inside the building. Comming the dragoncorps to tell them that Dawn is in the vicinity. Perks of being able to see the future. Highlighting the point, we push past the cop and board the ship. Making our way to a storage hanger we begin preparing a counter-ambush for Dawn. Ambella and Scara set up a counter-sniping spot to prepare. Seth prepares a ritual of some kind and we begin taking our positions at Grey's direction. As the time draws closer, Ambella sees Dawn as she appears on-site, and they both begin setting up the shots on each section. We get the call that the ship is ready, with the option to pick up the ship or have it delivered. We're to go pick it up. Ambella takes the shot, neutralising her, then takes another, cutting the sling of the rifle, and neutralising her further, the <redacted> then returns with her and the rifleto Ambella's perch. The ritual activates, and we are all in front of Faye, and Seth begins to talk. <Conversation Redacted>. Defendo, I am the Sword that Defends, Custodio, I am the Shield that Guards, Protego, I am the Armour that Protects Reprehendo, I am the Gauntlet that Censures, Vindico, I am the Lance that Avenges, Refugio, I am the Wings that Shelter the Realms of <Red@ct3d/!ERroR>. Some of us came out changed. We consider how to deal with Dawn, she attempts a bargain, but is sedated again. Then we continue debating it amongst ourselves. Seal her powers away, let her go, kill her, the debate just continues. Eventually it is agreed that an attempt is to be made to remove her precognitive powers. It is done. A bad taste in the mouth that turns into worse. Dawn is dead and there is an anger that must be vented. There is a difference in death on the battlefield and what comes after. Stryder is chosen to pay the Bloodprice. The gambit is played and we wake up in the cargo hold of the Brother's ship, heading towards target. The attack will begin soon.

Session 12: Diversity is the spice of life (awarded) In our facade manacles, we're brought up in front of an assembly of troops who had been waiting for our arrival. Notably amongst them is a red-clad Dragon Corps member, standing beside a feline armed with pistols. Both in federation pattern armour. Under the facade of still being in restraints, the enemies step forwards. The Brothers step forwards to collect the bounties on the members, and they begin inspecting us to ascertain our identities. They try to pull some bullship about delaying payment till we're in cells before being paid. Typical. Guil notes that an Egyptian cruiser is en-route, and will be in range almost immediately. The cruiser is shields up and weapons arming. This is why we brought the Dragon Corps. Dreadnaught 3, the DC vessel is lying in wait. The Op'Gauss tries to have Seth taken to a nearby cell, when the undead are still blocking their path. Our weapons are just behind us, stacked against the wall. So easy enough to reach. The Cadaverous step forward and try and beckon us forwards, but we maintain our ruse. Soon we begin to filter into the enemy ranks. The Gauss takes off Xandar's helmet, a GO! command is given, and everything descends into fire and hell. The order goes out for the engagement to begin. Dragoncorps square off against cruiser in space The Shepard steps forward, activating his orb and everything descends into quiet, and over the comms, "Bridge is secured," The close combatants are bathed in blood, surrounding us are the kneeling forms of our foes, bereft of weaponry and forced into submission. Northorn and I head off after where the feline hared off, to secure the bridge. Seth takes over the prisoners, and the prie crew prepares to make way with their new trophy. Seth continues dealing with the unimportant items such as diplomacy and interrogation. The results of these can be found in Addendum <Redacted> for later perusal, but consisted of the freighter being scrapped looted to the bolts in system and left to drift. The following 'humanoid projectile' currently en-route out of system at 5km/h is to be kept under observation till it stops wriggling. I voted that we put the captured drones into crates labelled 'camping rations', but this was 'logistically inconvenient. The confiscated items are put on the ship while the Corps pick up the prisoners. Glynfir tries once again to make us feel happy. Irritating fucker. Once we're back planetside, Seth begins briefing the new guy, bringing the former apprentice to the Shepard back up to date. We meet in the Lounge of the ship, and Seth tells us what occured with Faye. The vision shows Gods and Titans in battle, using stellar objects stars and planets like chairs and bottles in a barroom brawl. After they depart, a pulse comes from the sun, wiping out life on the planet, which is retaliated by the planet. As the years pass, the destructive pulses from the star are cancelled by the ones from the planet. Every time the planet fails, the star wipes out all life on the planet, twice in total. As the native life on the planet grows, the planet remains strong, feeding both star and planet. The time cycles to the present day. We decide to take some downtime at the Galaxy class cargo freighter, you know the one. I heard Grey took his first look at the Partybarge, probably going to be quite the experience. andar offers to teach something about the path of the Paladin. Looks like a good way to square off against the champions of the Enemy and bring them crashing to their knees. Seth took over the chair of pretty over to Ego, as a gift/bribe, as you do. This was the throne we stole from the Death Gods' general over at the south pole, so it was pretty shiny. Ambella is having tinkered with the Gun of Expensive. They found Grey playing strip 'information collection' over on the Dwarven side of the party, probably worth checking in one that. I heard that the Russian Bug had... bugged our comms... you can't make this shit up. What's with literal bugs bugging us? Apparently this assassin is on vacation and had decided that this particular bounty was way too low a payment for the amount of trouble we'd demonstrated ourselves to be. I really need to get a hammer, because this sword comes with Terms and Conditions.

Session 13: And that's the Gospel Truth (awarded) Seth had requested the group over at the Elven encampment, Ambella comes in, saying this, also that the comms from Seth had died. So obviously I armoured up before leaving, cos the chances of this being just a little glitch are gonna be absolutely possible. Not. Ambella then starts looking like she's gonna confess something. Oh. The Dick has been sniffing around, I wonder if it has anything to do with Grey's addition to the party. Tourou could be a problem as this goes on. Resolve to stab him repeatedly if he interferes. Ambella and Seth went off to the little elves room for some talk. After a few hours of quietly enjoying the party, we all head back to the ship. Guil gets some kind of alarm/alert, and immediately alerts us about hits going out on Tourou, Cuntula (10m each) and Scara (35m). Apparently we're calling Scara 'Lady Hotpants' now. While we're trying to wonder where Scara's got off to, considering she should have arrived first. Tourou appears on the ship. Obviously I pull a weapon out and prepares to shank him. Apparently he's trying to buy safe passage. Yeahhh. Right. He then tries to bargain with information, firstly trying to say that the Enemy will leave if their contingency fails. Then naming a vampire hunter to go after Cuntula (who we've already met). Then it turns out that he's actually turned up in person, carrying absolutely nothing of value. Gods I wanna stab him. Seth then asks for his True Name to allow him passage. Slavery for Life. Heh, awesome. Initially he refuses, then he concedes he'll tell it just to Seth. Now that's over with, we just have to put him in some room. Then we find out that the politicals that had gone missing were kept in a secure location (attached), as well as the location of Cuntula, which is sent to the Russia-bug. We make a course towards the Proclaimer to assess its progress. Judging by the timing, we can return the missing chancellor. After assessing the surveillance readouts of the, frankly, dingy ass warehouse with a ton of low level grunts. We used the Dragoncorps that had been assigned for the task, emphasising the priority of getting them out alive. They are characteristically unusable. Which is great. Several more minutes of planning, and we come up with a Shock and Awe attack, with all of us going through with overwhelming initial force. My job is to brake in through with the other melee heavy hitters and then preventing the enemy reaching the console. I can do that. We begin with Grey infiltrating into the building, like a ghost. Seth dominates a guard to go around the corner to be dispatched. The noose around the enemy tightens and then we wait for the hammerblow. Deluth rans into the wall, breaking through and flopping to the floor like a beached manatee. Well that's one kind of shock and awe. The Go word is given for the assault. Cutting down the first one in a flurry of blows. Then the combat begins in earnest. It seems the Dragoncorps have been halted by a bunch of funny looking crystals. Of course they did. In the meantime, Dagger and Psi burning with purpose (one figuritively, one literally), I cleaned the room in seconds, felling the mook, mage and cadaver, time to return to the next room, and cleanse it too. As I turned around, an exceptional blast shakes the building. Apparently the Dragoncorps wanted to shoot bombs. Clever. Cane's dead, irritatingly. Hearing the detonator in the next room, I run through, and see Seth teleport out with the bomb, charging up, I ruthlessly dispatch the remaining mook. Apparently the Emperor's Mark blade has some kind of sentience. A bloodthirsty one. Namely it drinks the blood of the enemies I slay. This is something that needs further studying, as it attempted to compels me to further bloodshed. Apparently we've eschued a dedicated healer in favour of a party undertaker, as we prepare what's left of Cane (See exhibit jar 3) for burial. Back at the ship, we start examining the dagger, which Tourou describes it as an Entity weapon. Which will not be able to control me, merely make me sound like a total asshole/terrifying. We arrive at the capitol, where the Proclaimer has been making it's way towards for the past few days. Disembarking from the ship, the official federation operatives amongst us head in and are directed by the Dragoncorps to an official round table containing office, which has all the missing governmental ministers and chancellor. They look furious. This seems to have been due to the 'subtle' examination by the Dragoncorps. After the chancellor finally, I don't want to say pulls rank, but convinces the blue-coated dragoncorps to fuck off. We are then granted an audience with the chancellor, on account of us being the ones who actually saved the damn dorians in the first place. Awful nice of them. Upon being enlightened of the manipulation, he attempted to say he would resign at the end of the festivities, but Seth was gonna drop a truth bomb on them that would shake the foundations of his fate. Just like we did last tuesday. Before we're able to do that, though, a winged being, Eos the messenger. He says he is here to show us the truth. We're in space, on a platform where there are 4 gods and two groups of titans (one of 3, one of 4) who are arguing. The arguments escalate as one of the gods is shoved into the sun and bonded, another is melded into the planet. Then we once again see the 'Truth of Quingol', showing the interaction between the two that we had already seen. This time, though, a god is seen intervening in the cycle, right as the sun is about to pulse, the planet pulses, washing the distructive power away. I am in space, surrounded by these stunted reptile creatures. A gnarled and burnt creature, constantly shedding ash with a shepherd's crook that does the same. He sees me, and steps towards me. He is one of the Avian gods, Mortis, the Avian Death God. He congratulates me on my victories and souls I've brought. He identifies my yearns for glory, vengeance, power. He tells me to continue my path, and send the honourless souls to him, to be fed to his dogs. When we return, Eos is gone. The chancellor is babbling about Seth being the one to bring balance. He believes that Claybourne is in danger, and we must save him. The Chancellor believes he will be a champion of many, and a destroyer of many. Heading outside, we're teleported straight to the front of the Cathedral. Unable to update the rest of the crew before the teleport, we liaise with Tac 55 to relay that to the rest of the team. A temple to Glynfir, now that we recognise the idolatry of the titan trapped in the sun. Claybourne isn't presiding over the ritual, so the group, brandishing the tablet of 'let us in'. In Claybourne's office is a titan, one of the more powerful ones, Ventris. From behind her steps out the creepy ass tiny motherfucker. They greet us civilly, although seem unfamiliar with us, and then they vanish in a red mist. Claybourne thanks us for coming, then invites us into his office, wear King Arthur, Robin Hood (not the disney red fox one, the humanoid one) and the Iron Giant are in the room.  ASking Claybourne what was going on, he explained that the titans had been offering to sell security for the coming days. Then it is Claybourne's turn to be Truthe'd up to the truth. Over the next 25-30 minutes, esteemed dorians arrive to witness this event. Gathered to witness the evidence that their faith is being manipulated. He warns them that this will be difficult to accept the truth, but they must be made aware. Seth gives his 'Gift of Knowledge' speech, and then the assembly is Shown.

Session 14: AHead of the Competition. (awarded) We were wrapping up the meeting with the priesthood. Seth decided he didn't want his new title as champion to be associated with the federation, and gave his insignia. While the priests start jabbering, I decide to mute my feed to stop myself going insane with the chittering. I unmute the hearing when there's an apparent lull in the conversation, to the sound of a bell going off. The sign for the mass, apparently. The High priest gathers the others and they head off to attend. We head down and out in front of the Cathedral, where we run into Shepard, standing next to a dwarf, with a shit ton of equipment and a cannon as big as him (3ft) strapped to his back and escorted by a short platoon of dragon-corps. Shepard 'requests' Dread to come with them for medical analysis, with contamination to Staticite, a magic nullifying crystal, which affected the dragoncorps troops as well. The Dwarf introduced himself as Sgt Alvstett, an explosives expert. Should be useful considering our penchance for needing to put holes in things. First things first, though, we should probably get the pallet of explosives out of the well-travelled public square. As we're making our way back to the base, we spot sight of these large, 3meter tall mantis creatures, as we're making our way to the warehouse, where Guil, York, Tourou and Scara are. As we get closer, we notice more of them scattered around, rather obviously keeping an eye on our progress. We still hadn't received any word from the Russian Bug. So there's still a chance I could kill Cuntula myself. As we arrive, we introduce Bjorn to the gang. Seth gives the Talk, again, the regular "I have one rule" every troop leader gives, which consists of coupla subsections. We then enlightened Bjorn on the fact that there's a titan trapped in the system's sun, and the fact that mentioning their names brings about unwanted attention. We also told him that, unbeknownst to the Dorians that we had a second titan, embedded into the planet we stand on. With the Sun-Titan trying to depopulate the planet, and the planet preventing that from happening. We also told Bjorn that we've updated the clergy on their theological misunderstanding, now we wait for them to resolve that. We also told Bjorn about our missions up to date and the Death goddess/titan that we've been facing and tripping up. He seemed incredulous that we were letting the enemy's plan with the powerplant continue, so we (Seth) explained how we (Seth) knew what was happening and how to stall it in its tracks, letting us dismantle the enemy's organisation in totality without alerting them that we know of their 'deep and secret' plan. As we're winding down for the night, the cameras catch the mantis creatures milling about across the street, obviously keeping an eye on us. With Bjorn stowing his gear, and Ambella talking to Toroo, a group of us head out to see what's with the bugs.  As we approach, the six of them are making an unintelligble clicking sound and lining up in parade style formation. Seth, being in possession of a translation spell, casts, and immediately then scram in all directions to get away. Odd. Well, they'll probably be back anyway. Back upstairs, as Bjorn is packing away his things, Russian Bug appears, asking to see the Fuckmagician (Seth). He's not happy about the tip we gave him about Stryder. Apparently Stryder  blew up his ship, after inviting the vampire in (involuntarily), then managed to lose his tracking device on the creature. Great. Bjorn sets out not long later, off to grab some extra explosive materials with Northorn. Seth is getting what appears to be a forge together, while Ambella gets information from Toroo. After kicking whatever influences attempted to influence me, I awake to darkness. Kicking off the wing covering my face, I head to the showers to after checking my environmental seals and grabbing the dagger, just in case. The rest of the group continue their own little morning traditions, and Ambella talks to Lord Grey about magic, and Deluth is talked to about taking his invigouratingly fresh methods of breaching. Obviously he's not gonna take this lying down. When I get down, I sit 4m from Ambella, while that situation resolves, then I'll go practice upstairs with Xandar. After debating the logistics of feeding the bottomless pit and dealing with the waste (he just burns it, go figure), I head up to the roof to train, gotta keep my skills from going rusty, that vampire isn't gonna dead itself without a lot of work. So far my attuning to the psi-sword has it manifesting as a crackling bolt of lightning as I have the power but need more finesse to prepare it. Interrupting the idyllic tranquility of the afternoon, Guil runs in, brandishing a datapad showing our perimeters have tripped, with a decent force of enemy undead.  They've come in force. I disgard grabbing my lasrifle from my rack, even if I hit, that would do nowhere near enough against these foes. Ambella and Canistarius will join Xander and I on the roof. Hundreds of those mantis creatures are placing things into crates then scattering. The decay mages approach, removing wards from around the building. STRYDER! THAT FUCKER! He steps out of the building, holding a golden ankh. Ambella braces herself with Canisturius. We'll see who kills the dick from this distance. If Ambella doesn't get a go, I can only hope that he's not the envoy we're supposed to let leave. The 'envoy' was allowed to enter, and fuck it, Cuntula entered the damn building. Smug asshole prick.  An ebony, gold inlaid man, fitting that egyptian death god aesthetic, is walking at the head of the enemy. Engraved into his flesh are what appear to golden rituals. He's carrying a crate, and all his undead followers and the army of skeletons behind him hold position when he comes up. He places the crate in front of us, bows and places the crate down.  He takes responsibility for all the acts of terrorism, and surrenders himself to the federation. "Our business is done," he says, standing next to the crate full of explosives. Bjorn checks the crate, ensuring it's not immediately dangerous. The ebony being holds his hands out to be cuffed, and Stryder, smug asshole fucker. Doesn't seem to have noticed I'm standing outside the door, and that my Federation badge is on the floor. As the fucker stepped out of the room, he sees me, smiles that smug little smile of his. I use the Mark to hit him in the chest, and it hits several times into a wall of unyielding force. He was still smiling that smug little smile when my psisword manifested in my other hand, swinging in an arc of crackling lightning at his neck. The shield and that smug expression, lasted just a second. His surprised expression will be treasured for the rest of my days, and captured in exquisite slow motion as his head and body parted ways.  Negemphrael appeared next to me, we exchanged a few words, but I cannot remember them, the adrenaline was still pumping through my veins and I had trouble holding steady. He tossed me an access card, for the Stryders ship. Not a bad trophy, I'm sure. The bug rifled through his clothes, dropping a bunch of credsticks at my feet. Not bad. Shame he didn't have anything better on him, but at least now I can have a relaxed nights rest now. The walking lawn ornament might have been right, our business is done. We burned/cleansed the remaining blood off of the front of the building. Wouldn't want anyone to get infected or anything. I consider bottling a droplet, the Federation will want it for containment, most likely. I let it all burn. At this stage, that kind of power can only corrupt. Dealing with that kind of thing needs greater strength than I do now. Bjorn goes out to grab some items to store explosives safely in, as well as some other trinkets. Seth goes out to look for ritual tools. As we're all winding down, we get 2 hours of break. Guil's datapad sends out an alert signal, that Faircry is coming, as soon as it stops, Faircry steps into the middle of the room, asking for an update. He informs us that the dupe had been picked up by TAC55, he explains that all Egyptian military vessels have left, along with the unaffiliated mercenaries. He tells us command want us to R&R here, with the festival starting in two days, with two weeks of downtime.  We will have one of our number reassigned and another will be borrowed. He gives us a datachip which will unlock at the arranged time. He also informs us that Toroo is a federation fugitive, and the penalties we would face if we're found harbouring him. When Faircry leaves, we notice that Scara is taken too. I get the nagging feeling we won't have seen the last of that. As the sun crests every morning, we see the visage of Glynfir in the sky. And every morning the image is that little bit dimmer. Come the end of the festival, that image is almost gone. While the vacation carries on, I frequent the Hunters Market, training with Xandar, getting the security on stryder's ship reliably and slowly broken through, and checking up on that warhammer commissioned from the dwarves. York and Northorn are reassigned and we're going after a precog and a tyrant titan general. Brilliant.