On wings of fire; Phoenix Force & Prelude to Minion War

[DhAkael]

Dang that was close!

[Aramanthus]

That is true. But you could actually do what the cosmo knight did to him. I am sure that your group is more than capable of dealing with him.

[calto40k]

also it doesn't work well against Jack Chriax destroyer of campaigns.... lol

[DhAkael]

Sadly, it looked like the magicked long-knives didn't do diq... though the magic-net seemed to keep him occupied long enough to "RUN AWAY!"

...yes, I'm playing the invulnerbillity the way it SHOULD be.
It has a specfic weakness, not just; "So a dude with a +1 long-sword of wanna-be came up and carved my johnson off... then the level 1 wizard energy bolted me. Yeah I know! Niegh invulnerable my lilly white [CENSORED] "

[Jay05]

Sadly, it looked like the magicked long-knives didn't do diq... though the magic-net seemed to keep him occupied long enough to "RUN AWAY!"

...yes, I'm playing the invulnerbillity the way it SHOULD be.
It has a specfic weakness, not just; "So a dude with a +1 long-sword of wanna-be came up and carved my johnson off... then the level 1 wizard energy bolted me. Yeah I know! Niegh invulnerable my lilly white [CENSORED] "

Works for me, I have plans!

[DhAkael]

Another "talky" session, but some farce and 'mystery' was liberally sprinkled into the mix.
*The mystery of the phantom data-crystal copy.

*Paranoia (justified in this case) sets-in.

*Hot-springs / waterfall / bath house scene (with embarrassed accidental peeping Toms).

*A missing former compatriot.

*Ninja NuMan vanish (before uncomfortable questions become uncomfortable).

All this and more on the next instalment of ...
On wings of fire; Phoenix Force & Prelude to Minion war.

[Jay05]

Another "talky" session, but some farce and 'mystery' was liberally sprinkled into the mix.
*The mystery of the phantom data-crystal copy.

*Paranoia (justified in this case) sets-in.

*Hot-springs / waterfall / bath house scene (with embarrassed accidental peeping Toms).

*A missing former compatriot.

*Ninja NuMan vanish (before uncomfortable questions become uncomfortable).

All this and more on the next instalment of ...
On wings of fire; Phoenix Force & Prelude to Minion war.

Session was cool! Concerned about Markus and his actions!

[calto40k]

Yeah this is going to be a fun game on sunday

[Jay05]

Yeah this is going to be a fun game on sunday

Yep 2 days and counting! Looking forward to it!

[DhAkael]

1 day now...give or take.

[Jay05]

Yay! We get to shoot Coalition people in the face with mecha! Yay! I can justify my existence again by shooting missiles at evil Spugorthian demon peoples!

LOL, you need to justify your existence by killing sploogs? why?

[Jay05]

I am a Beta pilot. We're paid to drop bombs and shoot missiles at things, usually in support of ground troops (Marine aviator). Without that, I end up becoming a moderately skilled space bus driver with some ground combat skill on a transforming motorcycle. When you stop and think about it, all of the UEEF infantry, other then the transport division and whoever gets assigned to pilot an ever shrinking number of battloids, is one great big motorcycle/jeep gang. Mechanics, medics, Marines, Special Forces (Marine force Recon), etc all get Cyclones. And the Splurgorth have lots of things to drop bombs and fire missiles at.

LOL still thinking like a non megaversal. I sincerely hope Lt. Moon adapts better after meeting with the government in Landing. Meaning yeah, she's a military Pilot, but that does not have to be all she is.

[DhAkael]

She won't be. Magic still frightens her, frankly. And I doubt stock Rifts/Phase World augmentation (Juicer, cybernetic implants, MOM implants/Crazys) is really going to be high on her list either. Even with the Perytonians or the Garudans, she didn't enter into the service until 2036, and they kind of downplayed their special powers with the newer Shadow Chronicles stuff. I wonder if the exposure to Protoculture reactors still causes mutations, psychic or non? Or does it all have to be directed by technology for thousands of years in order to make those mutations, like Zentraedi clones or Genesis Pits?

*Gendo Pose* Not sayin'

[DhAkael]

“Clouseau would be proud.”
After the wonder of seeing the underground wilderness parkland of HAVEN spread out before them, the group settled into their respective individual suites to relax and take stock. Darius & Rika conferred on how they could be of assistance to each others endeavors, while James had some soul searching with Uno-Rez to offer non-biased advice.

The next morning was spent discussing the situation back on Phaseworld & the possible existence of a copy of the data-crystal, and who, if anyone could possibly have made it and concealed the ‘theft’. When Rika finally did join the breakfasting group she was mildly annoyed at the fact Uno had yet to show up to help her field questions by both Darius & Tao-Shi Moon. As the meal dragged on, the rest of the group began to be antsy about the location of Uno as well…going as far as to have the hAvEn A.I. search for her inside the buildings; no sign inside, but in the underground park there was indications of her personal gravity bike being near the river.

Jack Chirax, having gone out on foot earlier, stumbled upon Uno taking a well-deserved bath in the stream. Striving to be a gentleman, Jack turned around and called out loudly to the Gynoid if everything was okay. JUST as James Cormac came sprinting out to catch an eye-full of Uno’s naked glory.

After the amusing interlude; everyone gathered what gear could be easily carried in the Alpha/Beta Legios and the Naruni HV and left for Lazlo. A very relaxing ride as nothing hostile; human or otherwise was prowling along their course and towards early evening they came upon the site of Lazlo City. A quick fly-by inspection by one of the VF-4’s charged with protecting the city of sages and a quick course correction to Lazlo Aerospace-port and Phoenix Force Alpha (and guests) arrived truly home.

[Jay05]

She won't be. Magic still frightens her, frankly. And I doubt stock Rifts/Phase World augmentation (Juicer, cybernetic implants, MOM implants/Crazys) is really going to be high on her list either. Even with the Perytonians or the Garudans, she didn't enter into the service until 2036, and they kind of downplayed their special powers with the newer Shadow Chronicles stuff. I wonder if the exposure to Protoculture reactors still causes mutations, psychic or non? Or does it all have to be directed by technology for thousands of years in order to make those mutations, like Zentraedi clones or Genesis Pits?

I wasn't talking about you changing her class or anything. I was just talking about her not being so confused and out of sorts all the time. Figured after some counceling from some of the higher ups in Landing,(who really are her people in a way)
and maybe talking to a shrink, her adaptation to being in the wider Megaverse as opposed to singularly in the RT verse would go better.

[DhAkael]

*A Gynoid in distress.
*New members OFFCIALLY signed on.
*TENSION as the truth of the former teammate's fate (and who abducted him) comes to light.
*Phantom explosion on the moon preceding a psychic scream that tears across the solar-system (but leaves the moon intact).
*A falling star.
*Trip to the ruins of Tolkeen.

All this and more in the next instalment.

[Jay05]

*A Gynoid in distress.
*New members OFFCIALLY signed on.
*TENSION as the truth of the former teammate's fate (and who abducted him) comes to light.
*Phantom explosion on the moon preceding a psychic scream that tears across the solar-system (but leaves the moon intact).
*A falling star.
*Trip to the ruins of Tolkeen.

All this and more in the next instalment.

Last night was a blast! For me anyway. You truly can have a great game session with absolutely no combat what so ever! Deep deep RP! It was good.

[DhAkael]

Nothing to do with the campaign (yet) but...
HOLLLLEEESHEEPBALLS!!!
Episode 18, Yamato2199.
"THAT's HOW IT'S DONE!"

[Aramanthus]

This has continued to be very entertaining.

[Jay05]

Well, last night was fun! No combat, but a new PC introduced, a bit of intrigue, and preparations made for travel to the Tolkeen ruins. My guess, we leave next session.

[DhAkael]

re-cap will be done later in the week.

[DhAkael]

“Something is rotten in Denmark…”
The next two days were not so restful. Despite both Tao-Shi & Darius signing on for 1 year contracts to Phoenix Force and the core members of the team having some R&R time (between debriefings), there were stresses.
* James found out that the ancient bio-tech using aliens they had encountered on Caliban (and later, found out had destroyed the Morphii world of Halcyn) were also present in THIS dimension; at Tau-Ceti in fact.

* Tao-Shi Moon finally had her meeting with the UN-Spacey/REF liaison officer to Lazlo, Lt. Commander Lisa Oomori Anderson (who bore a striking resemblance to Myria Parino; her mother being from the same clone batch as the Maltraedi ace). During this meeting Lt. Moon was informed that, not only was ‘her’ version of the robotech wars markedly different than the ones the Landing citizens had gone through, there were continuities and alternate universes where the Tirolians and Invid never existed and “Protoculture” was a literal culture / civilization. Free counseling of course was offered to the culture-shocked Lt. Moon at any point in the future if required.

* Jack Chirax doggedly perused his investigations into who may have copied the stolen data-crystal from Naruni Enterprises. Where his initial probes led disturbed him and he took his findings to Rika Hanlah-Falkon. Instead of tearing off the warrant officer’s head, she surprisingly agreed with his theory…but told him to keep his current findings off the record until he had incontrovertible proof.

* It was discovered that someone had done industrial espionage on Markus Falkon’s company (Falkon Heavy Industries; a company that reverse engineers mecha & power suit technologies), and even more disturbing… Thomas Carmichael had gone missing not more than 3 days prior to Phoenix Alpha’s return. The former team technomancer had been scheduled to finish a teleport circle for ease of shipping finished products. He never showed and when investigators were sent to Mr. Carmichael’s workshop, both he AND the converted garage had vanished.

* Uno discovered this fact on the first morning back in Lazlo.

* The Full team and new recruits met with Maj. Katherine Dalhousie to discuss the situation. Intel elements (primary being a satellite picture sent down from Gateway station) showed where Thomas Carmichael had been taken, and WHO had taken him.
Who, was a female that bore a striking resemblance to Uno-Rez (except instead of blue hair, this gynoids' hair was white). The where?
The ruins of Tolkeen, near the citadel of King Creed. Rika steadfastly refused to command any mission to Tolkeen, as the cause of her Feral Regression Syndrome was tied closely to her experiences in the murdered city. Lt. Markus Falkon & W/O Jack Chirax would lead.

* Plans were quickly drawn up to enact a quick search and rescue of Thomas… however, if retrieval was untenable, orders were to ‘terminate’ him to prevent a potential enemy from retaining the technomancers ground-breaking advances in dimensional magi-tech engineering. Markus loudly protested this, but was stopped short by Maj. Dalhousie and, of all people, Uno-Rez (Thomas’s fiancé) agreeing with this tactic but only as last resort.

* Just a few hours prior to departure for Tolkeen, a new addition to the team, a “traveler far from home”; an alien humanoid male insect (similar to a Danus) was taken under Uno-rez’s wing when she encountered him near the café used for the pre-morning mission planning. Though initially Phoenix Force Alpha was a bit leery of the Insect-being, they saw a kindred spirit and offered ‘Zod’ a slot on the current mission with possibility of further employment.

The date is now Oct. 11, P.A. 109.

[Jay05]

Home again Home again jiggity jig. Since we're going into the heart of the Ruins James'll have to face the destruction of his home city-state full on now. Both my boys are very interested in finding Carmichael and determining who the traitor is. (seems like we're all in agreement there must be a traitor somewhere)

[DhAkael]

*spike*

[calto40k]

Death to the infidels.... I mean EXTERMINATE... erm INVESTIGATE

[DhAkael]

No..no Daleks here...nope. No sir. None of those "Copyrighted to BBC-1" psycho-trashcans in Tolkeen.
Nope.

[taalismn]

No..no Daleks here...nope. No sir. None of those "Copyrighted to BBC-1" psycho-trashcans in Tolkeen.
Nope.

R2D2 is a renegade Dalek.
KITT is the first of the Cylons to beat the Colonials to Earth.

[Jay05]

No..no Daleks here...nope. No sir. None of those "Copyrighted to BBC-1" psycho-trashcans in Tolkeen.
Nope.

R2D2 is a renegade Dalek.
KITT is the first of the Cylons to beat the Colonials to Earth.

LMFAO!

[Myrrhibis]

No..no Daleks here...nope. No sir. None of those "Copyrighted to BBC-1" psycho-trashcans in Tolkeen.
Nope.

R2D2 is a renegade Dalek.
KITT is the first of the Cylons to beat the Colonials to Earth.

[DhAkael]

-sigh-
Got to a major plot point... but jeez-us the combat moved like molasses and I had to repeat myself like 2 to 3 times.
Do I need to start typing in phonetic swahili or parshtu?
[sub]Edit:[/sub]
To be fair, there were 2 people at any one time away from keyboards, OR giving erroneous information in middile of combat (combat strike rolls which i'd need a slide rule to figure out).
BUT...
Everyone got to one of the major plot points without too much railroad laying.
So that's at least a win.

[Jay05]

-sigh-
Got to a major plot point... but jeez-us the combat moved like molasses and I had to repeat myself like 2 to 3 times.
Do I need to start typing in phonetic swahili or parshtu?
[sub]Edit:[/sub]
To be fair, there were 2 people at any one time away from keyboards, OR giving erroneous information in middile of combat (combat strike rolls which i'd need a slide rule to figure out).
BUT...
Everyone got to one of the major plot points without too much railroad laying.
So that's at least a win.

Sorry for my part in the problems

[DhAkael]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVKaIFxQa98&feature=player_embedded
A little something untill I can get healthy enough to do the latest session(s) write up.

[DhAkael]

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea…”
Markus was unable to leave immediately for the mission, as was Felix (for differing reasons). Meanwhile the rest decided on taking Uno’s E.S.-Dinah, Lt. Moon’s Beta Fighter, Jack Chirax’s SUPER-Samson (with full loadout) and Darius’ gunship ‘Cerberus’. Keeping relatively low to evade radar and just under the sound barrier, the trio of heavy vehicles (Jack being carried like a sailing vessels’’ figurehead in front of the Dinah) flew towards Tolkeen. Just past Lake Superior they detected 8 long range missiles heading towards them. Instead of enacting evasive actions they attempted to try using ECM to jam the missiles…sadly this also illuminated them for the 3 CS Nightwings ghosting them from above. A short but violent skirmish ensued; resulting in the 3 Nightwings being damaged or destroyed while Phoenix Force went below the tree line to keep the incoming LRM’s from finally being able to strike them.

As this was occurring, Markus & Felix were hitching a ride in a TW modified DeHaviland cargo sea-plane (using a ley-line for silent running and invisibility); the pilot refused to give up this advantage to “get involved in a fight that won’t bring profit.” While the two groups of Phoenix Alpha made their way to Tolkeen, BOTH picked up a distress beacon from the North of the city proper, just on the banks of the river. The beacon was using a year old code, but it most definitely was Phoenix Force. Felix & Markus arrived on-sight slightly ahead of the group that had left Lazlo first and were ‘air-dropped’ in Mk-VIII and Chromium Guard powersuit respectively.
What they found was a crashed 500ft. long aircraft of some sort; wings bent and ventral cargo hold sprung open.

As the group led by Chirax grounded near the tree-line between river and city, they heard a scream over the team tactical radio net.
Markus had found something as he tried climbing up into the wreck broadcasting the beacon; the head of a large mechanical bird the size of a full grown gryphon. Hurrying over, Jack and the rest regrouped with Markus & Felix, and Warrant officer Chirax soon had James & Darius setting up camp (along with Tao-Shi Moon) inside of the tree-line, while Uno remote commanded E.S.-Dinah to take guard IN the river (as the only place large enough to hide the giant mecha). The rest of the group entered the huge wreck.

Inside was a cavernous cargo hold taking up nearly half the internal volume of the lowest deck. There they saw the robotic eagle or whatever type of bird it was, cabled into an auxiliary power jack: the same for a bullet-shaped hover van and close to what was identified as a heavy cargo-lift near the port-aft section, a giant mecha-wolf. As Felix began to try and “jack” the beast-mech, a very angry and very female voice spoke in colloquial English and warned him to back off. The crazy tried again and the message, almost playfully told him that he asked for “A warning shot across the nose” as twinned ion blasters in the lower chest fired a 1/10th power burst at the decking. Jack soon managed to recognize the why the metallic bird was so familiar; it was styled like a Shemmarian Hawkmoon-tribe riding-beast. This led to the (mistaken) assumption they were on a Shemarrian vessel (even though there was writing in plain English everywhere). Markus was having none of attempts to communicate with what he (rightly) assumed was just a pre-recorded set of warnings for the wolf-mechs’ alarm system. No one paid any attention until Jack almost got smashed and then had a laser designator centered on his powersuits' chest. Zod confirmed (after also trying to engage the beast-mecha vehicle in conversation) that yes, it was ONLY a machine, not sentient and was cabled into the power grid of the larger vehicle because the main reactor was missing. Leaving the obviously dangerous but non-mobile (unless someone tried to approach too close or steal it) wolf-mech, Jack, Markus, Felix and Tao-Shi ascended in the heavy-lift to the second deck. Blast doors closed as the platform rose (sealing it from the cargo bay) and as the ceiling split, rust and other detritus fell upon the search team.

Zod meanwhile used his own portable generator (micro arc-reactor rated for short term large vehicle diagnostic power up) to shunt power into the crash landed air vehicle. When his by-pass was completed, he was spoken to by a very polite human male voice… the metal bird had awakened. As the two non-humans conversed, Zod gained insight into what had happened to the STARSHIP ‘Stellar 1’. What he heard disturbed the insect-man; Minimal crew, an incursion by some form of supernatural creatures, and a last-ditch attempt to destroy the creatures’ controlling intelligence on Terra’s moon via ejecting the anti-matter core into the North Lunar pole rift. This explained the burst of cosmic radiation, light and the psychic roar experienced 2 evenings ago…and the lack of debris.

The search team found themselves in the machine-shop of the vessel; what they saw disturbed them (but not enough to dissuade Tao-Shi and Felix from leaping ahead to try and go further in…as they rushed to the blast-doors leading further in…barely registering more unsettling clues); blast marks from high-energy weapons fire and…rot. Mold & rust and general decay. Then the voices started.
Tao-Shi made some flip comments still trying to get through the blast door to go further in. Felix on the other hand stopped just as he and Tao-Shi kicked down the (heavily) rusted hatchway. Jack finally put 2 & 2 together. Demon spoor of something he hoped never to exist in this ‘verse. Sign of the Plague God. Warning those who may have known of what he was talking about; (“If you call out his name I WILL shoot you! Learn from my own screw-up and don’t do it!”) the warrant officer gathered his team back as clouds of stinking mold spoors and a miasma of rot came from the hallway further into the ship. They returned onto the lowest deck to confer with Zod and his new friend, the Hawkmoon Elite E-Shemarrian Steel Phoenixii, Stormglider.

More intel was shared once Stormglider recognized both Markus and Jack. His mistress, Hope Brightlance, was still up on the second deck, sealed into the med-bay guarding ‘Col-Taros’ Eris Cloud (former commander of Phoenix team Beta; presumed lost across the dimensional veil in an alternate Earth) and a prisoner; both in cryo-stasis. Also confirming Jack’s surmise about the Plague Lord’s influence having invaded a small area of the ship and also learning to his sorrow and rage, that the only other member of his former unit, Correy the Titan Juicer, had sacrificed himself to corral the minor plague demons into the reactor room so they’d be ejected along with the core. Before anyone could take time to collect their thoughts though, Uno reported E.S.-Dinah detecting multiple Coalition air borne units enroute; 50 miles out heading due west. Zod volunteered to remain inside the Stellar 1 and continue to attempt bringing up its systems enough to maybe salvage something of it. Felix took the duty of going up the medical isolation elevator to med-bay and hopefully retreive the E-Shemarrian warrior and the two in cryo-stasis. The rest went out to give the killers of Tolkeen a “warm welcome”.

As the first initial volleys were shot outside (destroying a Super SAMAS and killing the crew of an IAR-3 Skullsmasher bot), Felix Perez, gentleman of adventure, profit and butterflies ascended to Med-bay of the Stellar 1. As he exited, he heard a very pleasant female soprano tell him calmly and slowly;
“Drop…your…weapons.”

[Jay05]

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea…”
Markus was unable to leave immediately for the mission, as was Felix (for differing reasons). Meanwhile the rest decided on taking Uno’s E.S.-Dinah, Lt. Moon’s Beta Fighter, Jack Chirax’s SUPER-Samson (with full loadout) and Darius’ gunship ‘Cerberus’. Keeping relatively low to evade radar and just under the sound barrier, the trio of heavy vehicles (Jack being carried like a sailing vessels’’ figurehead in front of the Dinah) flew towards Tolkeen. Just past Lake Superior they detected 8 long range missiles heading towards them. Instead of enacting evasive actions they attempted to try using ECM to jam the missiles…sadly this also illuminated them for the 3 CS Nightwings ghosting them from above. A short but violent skirmish ensued; resulting in the 3 Nightwings being damaged or destroyed while Phoenix Force went below the tree line to keep the incoming LRM’s from finally being able to strike them.

As this was occurring, Markus & Felix were hitching a ride in a TW modified DeHaviland cargo sea-plane (using a ley-line for silent running and invisibility); the pilot refused to give up this advantage to “get involved in a fight that won’t bring profit.” While the two groups of Phoenix Alpha made their way to Tolkeen, BOTH picked up a distress beacon from the North of the city proper, just on the banks of the river. The beacon was using a year old code, but it most definitely was Phoenix Force. Felix & Markus arrived on-sight slightly ahead of the group that had left Lazlo first and were ‘air-dropped’ in Mk-VIII and Chromium Guard powersuit respectively.
What they found was a crashed 500ft. long aircraft of some sort; wings bent and ventral cargo hold sprung open.

As the group led by Chirax grounded near the tree-line between river and city, they heard a scream over the team tactical radio net.
Markus had found something as he tried climbing up into the wreck broadcasting the beacon; the head of a large mechanical bird the size of a full grown gryphon. Hurrying over, Jack and the rest regrouped with Markus & Felix, and Warrant officer Chirax soon had James & Darius setting up camp (along with Tao-Shi Moon) inside of the tree-line, while Uno remote commanded E.S.-Dinah to take guard IN the river (as the only place large enough to hide the giant mecha). The rest of the group entered the huge wreck.

Inside was a cavernous cargo hold taking up nearly half the internal volume of the lowest deck. There they saw the robotic eagle or whatever type of bird it was, cabled into an auxiliary power jack: the same for a bullet-shaped hover van and close to what was identified as a heavy cargo-lift near the port-aft section, a giant mecha-wolf. As Felix began to try and “jack” the beast-mech, a very angry and very female voice spoke in colloquial English and warned him to back off. The crazy tried again and the message, almost playfully told him that he asked for “A warning shot across the nose” as twinned ion blasters in the lower chest fired a 1/10th power burst at the decking. Jack soon managed to recognize the why the metallic bird was so familiar; it was styled like a Shemmarian Hawkmoon-tribe riding-beast. This led to the (mistaken) assumption they were on a Shemarrian vessel (even though there was writing in plain English everywhere). Markus was having none of attempts to communicate with what he (rightly) assumed was just a pre-recorded set of warnings for the wolf-mechs’ alarm system. No one paid any attention until Jack almost got smashed and then had a laser designator centered on his powersuits' chest. Zod confirmed (after also trying to engage the beast-mecha vehicle in conversation) that yes, it was ONLY a machine, not sentient and was cabled into the power grid of the larger vehicle because the main reactor was missing. Leaving the obviously dangerous but non-mobile (unless someone tried to approach too close or steal it) wolf-mech, Jack, Markus, Felix and Tao-Shi ascended in the heavy-lift to the second deck. Blast doors closed as the platform rose (sealing it from the cargo bay) and as the ceiling split, rust and other detritus fell upon the search team.

Zod meanwhile used his own portable generator (micro arc-reactor rated for short term large vehicle diagnostic power up) to shunt power into the crash landed air vehicle. When his by-pass was completed, he was spoken to by a very polite human male voice… the metal bird had awakened. As the two non-humans conversed, Zod gained insight into what had happened to the STARSHIP ‘Stellar 1’. What he heard disturbed the insect-man; Minimal crew, an incursion by some form of supernatural creatures, and a last-ditch attempt to destroy the creatures’ controlling intelligence on Terra’s moon via ejecting the anti-matter core into the North Lunar pole rift. This explained the burst of cosmic radiation, light and the psychic roar experienced 2 evenings ago…and the lack of debris.

The search team found themselves in the machine-shop of the vessel; what they saw disturbed them (but not enough to dissuade Tao-Shi and Felix from leaping ahead to try and go further in…as they rushed to the blast-doors leading further in…barely registering more unsettling clues); blast marks from high-energy weapons fire and…rot. Mold & rust and general decay. Then the voices started.
Tao-Shi made some flip comments still trying to get through the blast door to go further in. Felix on the other hand stopped just as he and Tao-Shi kicked down the (heavily) rusted hatchway. Jack finally put 2 & 2 together. Demon spoor of something he hoped never to exist in this ‘verse. Sign of the Plague God. Warning those who may have known of what he was talking about; (“If you call out his name I WILL shoot you! Learn from my own screw-up and don’t do it!”) the warrant officer gathered his team back as clouds of stinking mold spoors and a miasma of rot came from the hallway further into the ship. They returned onto the lowest deck to confer with Zod and his new friend, the Hawkmoon Elite E-Shemarrian Steel Phoenixii, Stormglider.

More intel was shared once Stormglider recognized both Markus and Jack. His mistress, Hope Brightlance, was still up on the second deck, sealed into the med-bay guarding ‘Col-Taros’ Eris Cloud (former commander of Phoenix team Beta; presumed lost across the dimensional veil in an alternate Earth) and a prisoner; both in cryo-stasis. Also confirming Jack’s surmise about the Plague Lord’s influence having invaded a small area of the ship and also learning to his sorrow and rage, that the only other member of his former unit, Correy the Titan Juicer, had sacrificed himself to corral the minor plague demons into the reactor room so they’d be ejected along with the core. Before anyone could take time to collect their thoughts though, Uno reported E.S.-Dinah detecting multiple Coalition air borne units enroute; 50 miles out heading due west. Zod volunteered to remain inside the Stellar 1 and continue to attempt bringing up its systems enough to maybe salvage something of it. Felix took the duty of going up the medical isolation elevator to med-bay and hopefully retreive the E-Shemarrian warrior and the two in cryo-stasis. The rest went out to give the killers of Tolkeen a “warm welcome”.

As the first initial volleys were shot outside (destroying a Super SAMAS and killing the crew of an IAR-3 Skullsmasher bot), Felix Perez, gentleman of adventure, profit and butterflies ascended to Med-bay of the Stellar 1. As he exited, he heard a very pleasant female soprano tell him calmly and slowly;
“Drop…your…weapons.”

I'm so BUMMED I missed the majority of the session!

[DhAkael]

Getting things prepped for the battle Roayle to occour next session.
...and a couple of suprises.

[Monkra]

Felix says 'Bring it!!!', as he hides behind Jack's humongous suit of armor...

[taalismn]

Felix says 'Bring it!!!', as he hides behind Jack's humongous suit of armor...

Always have at least one heavily armored mook as ablative shielding...

[DhAkael]

Session ended with the ley-lines to the north of Tolkeen city erupting due to the intensity of the battle between the PC's and the CS forces.

Something was seen just past the ley-lines (like a double exposure / D-shift event)

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/119/e/1/mobius_war_00_by_takayamatoshiaki-d3f5t0q.jpg

[calto40k]

Jack really wishes he had smoked before they came into tolkeen after seeing what he has just seen coming from the ley lines.... we're gonna need a bigger bot

[Jay05]

Jack really wishes he had smoked before they came into tolkeen after seeing what he has just seen coming from the ley lines.... we're gonna need a bigger bot

Yup! That's a Big MOFO! I think James might ask to partake once that fight is over!

[DhAkael]

*Gendo pose*
Who said anything about "fight"?

[DhAkael]

Mind is boiling away here... have so many more options open. *grin*

[Jay05]

You guys worry way too much. We're Phoenix Force, this is what we handle.

You have a point lol

[Jay05]

Mind is boiling away here... have so many more options open. *grin*

It is a pretty damn cool site.

[taalismn]

You guys worry way too much. We're Phoenix Force, this is what we handle.

Yes, you'll rise from the ashes.
Of course, the whole part about being cremated to MAKE those ashes to rise from is what hurts like a #####.

[DhAkael]

New game site is proving to be more user friendly than I thought...and the GM has to -ping- you when you can take a turn
heheheheh.

[DhAkael]

Note:mini-update before the GM goes to make coffee.

“And the hits just keep on comin’!”
Felix of course complied with the voice, trying to get a view of who was threatening him in such a sexy way. As he was then instructed to go back into the medical elevator & containment cubicle, he caught sight of the mysterious woman; 8ft. tall dressed in silvery armour and sporting blonde hair with what looked like natural blue streaks. She did NOT look healthy though; her left leg and most of her hair looked melted our corroded away; Felix had found the E-Shemarrian ‘Hope Brightlance’, whom he mistook for a cyborg. As Hope began decontamination procedures (to ensure none of the Lord of Decay’s taint had piggy-backed on Felix’s armour) Hope regaled the Crazy with why the Stellar 1 was in the state they found it and why her Col-Taros, Eris Cloud, was in suspended animation along with a prisoner.

Outside, battle continued. Two more IAR-2 abolishers with Striker-class SAMAS as hatch gunners and the 3 Super-SAMAS made things difficult for the team. At one point Jack Chirax and Tao-Shi were surprised to see the cannons on the IAR-2 Abolishers were using technology the CS wasn’t known to have; Electro-Thermal cannons. The IAR-2 Abolishers were taken care of with sustained volleys of Boom-gun fire by Markus with missile salvoes by Tao-Shi’s Beta Fighter & Darius’s gunship. Meanwhile the Super SAMAS were difficult targets to hit but were soon made to attempt retreat (after causing a cockpit fire in the Beta) and were soon dispatched again by carefully targeted Boom-gun shots. Uno-rez meanwhile kept the Striker SAMs occupied trying to chase her.
That’s when something BAD occurred.

The Ley-Lines, already unstable in Tolkeen, were disrupted by the intensity of the battle and violent deaths, causing a ley-line storm to erupt. What Team Alpha (and the surviving CS troopers) saw behind a wall of glowing mystic energy, chilled their blood.
Like a double exposure superimposed over the landscape, they saw rank upon rank of gigantic creatures; half dragon-like beast, half high-tech war machine.
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/119/e/1/mobius_war_00_by_takayamatoshiaki-d3f5t0q.jpg
Then the world went grey as the ley-line surge washed over the city.

[DhAkael]

October 13th, P.A. 109 “Tempus Fugit.”
Leena Shidow had spent nearly a day and a half trying to catch up to the rest of her team-mates. She had done all she could with the resources at her disposal constructing her personal power-armour, but the project had to be put on hold. Finding out from Rika Hanlah (who remained behind in Lazlo) where the team had gone, and why, Leena hurriedly donned her Psi Power Armour and took off at top speed via contra-grav. Not encountering any resistance, even when she reached the 200 miles exclusion zone set up by the CS around Tolkeen, her NuMan senses were nearly overloaded as she detected the tail-end of a massive ley-line surge. Hurrying into the teeth of the un-natural thunderstorm, she soon found the crashed vessel that Team Alpha had gone to rescue / salvage, along with the unconscious forms of said team mates. Quickly setting down near Markus, she began to make sure everyone was waking up; even Uno-Rez had not been immune to the effects of the ley-line burst. Quickly exchanging information, it was realized that those at the river-side had been out-of-phase with normal space-time for close to 2 days. Zod woke up noticing that several maintenance drones were floating around and by him in the Stellar 1’s cargo bay and that the wrecks of the 2 IAR-2 Abolishers and the face-less IAR-3 Skull-Smasher were now INSIDE the Stellar 1’s cargo bay and tied down. As Markus asked what had happened to the battle wreckage, Zod, along with Felix Perex (coming out to see his beauteous Leena) informed everyone that the salvage had been taken care of.

As Leena rapid-fire babbled her relief at everyone’s survival (though James, Darius and Tao-Shi were unconscious still due to sensory overload from the D-shift event), a husky female voice called through the Phoenix Force com channel and asked politely for her to “Please keep it down... I feel like I just wrestled a dai-oni…and lost.”
Markus & Uno recognized the voice; Eris Cloud (family name first) was awake.

A storm was beginning again outside; left-over atmospheric disturbance from the mystic storm that had raged earlier. Phoenix Force Alpha came on board and sealed up the cargo-bay ramp and began to take stock of the situation and exchange information & histories with Hope & Cloud. Zod & Leena, being more at ease among machines, worked in tandem (Zod on physical aspects, Leena in the digi-verse) to bring the battered Stellar 1 up to at least mobile functionality.

The tale Hope & Cloud told would have been unbelievable if Jack, Markus & Felix all hadn’t seen the evidence with their own eyes.
In an alternate version of Rifts Earth (what Cloud called “Terra Imperialis”), her organization, the Dimensional Anomalies Response Team, had been faced with a terrible situation. All of the orbital communities had been killed off (or worse) by a mystic plague so potent, it had coloured the vacuum around Terra & Luna with a green miasma… a miasma that was slowly descending towards that Earth’s atmosphere. Knowing what had to be done and being the only ones in that alternate dimension capable of doing so, Cloud, Hope & Stormglider, the as yet un-named prisoner, the Titan Juicer Corey and the lovers Persia & Tahlor, left the rest of their companions behind. They had swiftly threaded through the debris ring with the Stellar 1, and made a straight run for Luna and the horror that had infected it; an avatar of the Plague God. Despite the wards Cloud had tried to set up to protect their ship from daemonic attack, a small force of minor daemons had managed to manifest inside the port-side main deck area. Corey sacrificed himself by drawing the plague bearers and other minor creatures towards the main reactor chamber. There, he made his last stand and just as the Stellar 1 flew over the rift on the moon the Plague God avatar had made its home, Corey manually ejected the anti-matter core, himself and the plague daemons. The psychic scream and explosion everyone had seen several days prior was the anti-matter reactor detonating within the rift. As to how Cloud & her ship had survived and managed to wind up in her original home-dimension?
Cloud’s response was;
“Okmai or the Forge only knows…”
The location of Persia & Tahlor was still unknown.

Later Eris Cloud took Jack Chirax up to see the prisoner she had taken. In her own words she said she hadn’t had the heart to kill the man, as he was “…as much victim as foe.”
The man in the cryo-tube was none other than Jack’s long lost cousin, Roland.

Meanwhile Zod & Leena had managed to get the scavenged reactors from the 3 CS war machines to power up the Stellar 1’s anti-gravity lifters and maneuvering jets. Once a few more pleasantries were exchanged, along with food, drink and Cloud’s promise to honour the old Phoenix Force contracts (giving 100% of salvage rights to the team who made the kills / initial salvage of an enemy), Team Alpha had to depart back into the storm wracked city of Tolkeen. The CS were still absent, and not looking a gift horse in the mouth, they parted ways with the old commander of Team Beta and her crew-mate, with the promise that Cloud would see to helping rehabilitate Roland (who had somehow gotten into the clutches of Dr. Bradford and his mad scientists). The Stellar 1, with a rumbling of maneuver thrusters and thrum of contra-gravity lifters, flew off East to Lazlo, while Team Alpha headed south.

…Back into the mouth of madness.

[taalismn]

...ah, madness. A fun place to visit, but you wouldn't wanna live there...

[taalismn]

Taalismn, we play Rifts. We're already in the mouths of madness. Other then Space Opera and d20 modern fans, I don't know of any crazier gamers....

Paranoia("Trust NOTHING") and Call of Cthulu("You are all going to die...or go insane...or go insane and then die...or die, THEN go insane...the Elder Gods can do that, y'know?") maybe?