The Opera House

  • Sturm easily noted the location of numerous snipers and sentries.
  • Cyra considerered opening a secret way to the base, but discovered a sorcery ward to prevent departure from Fierce.
  • Sturm assessed the strengths and capabilities of the opposing forces. They appeared to be fairly well equipped. They were clearly members of Drake’s Legions and therefore quite capable of injuring even him.

  • Uther suggested abandoning the mecha suits and approaching as themselves. That would allow the Legionaires to assess them themselves.
    Assieh looked into the future and saw the immediate sense that we would be challenged by a pair of dangerous automated guardians. In the distant future she still saw the Cyber-Naki flooding the Grand Stair.
  • William suggested approaching alone and making contact while the rest covered him. Sturm suggested that he go in alone and take command. William did not think that would be successful.
  • Mena suggested sending Mindel in as an envoy to make contact.
    Sturm had determined that someone of comparable strength to them was commanding these legionaires. He asserted that he should challenge that leader if necessary and take command.
  • Cyra created secure communication between the team members. Then William went in alone.
  • William was immediately surrounded by soldiers pointing weapons and speaking Japanese at him. He summoned Jane, and her Warden translation kicked in. They were commanded to lay on the ground. Sturm advised showing strength, but they complied and were immediately shot by the soldiers.
  • William put up a shield to protect them, but was unable to prevent Jane from being shot. They succeeded in evading the shots from the snipers.
    Sturm advanced to challenge their leader. Uther sniped at their snipers and killed three female shooters. Jane took cover. Cyra probed the area for the highest Psyche presence and found one more powerful than her within the structure. Miranda fired her mecha’s weapony, but the legionaires avoided her shots. Mena caused the front wall of the Opera House to be remade into an ampitheater. Standing on the stage was the Mecha-Mage and its mecha familiar.
  • The mecha appeared in front of Sturm and hit him. Sturm was surprised but uninjured. Uther killed four more legionaires. Cyra probed the psychic presence and communicated Superman’s favorite dish to him, but was rebuffed. The weapons of the legionaires fell apart in their hands.
  • William created a table of Superman’s favorite meal perfectly arranged. The mecha-mage did not recognize it right away. He through his sword at William. It hit his Eidolon Shield and a cantrip appeared that removed all physical items from his person. The Mecha-Mage was surprised at what he found. Myra created a perfect swarm of enhanced fire-ants on the Mecha-Mage. They swarm and crawl inside him. She determined that he was clockwork, not organic.
  • Uther moved to a different position. The mecha grabbed Sturm and squeezed. the mech suit was crushed and several of Sturm’s ribs cracked. The axe sprouted legs and started crawling back to the Mecha-Mage. Jane grabbed it, and it asked for a four digit PIN. She released it. Assieh rusted off the mecha’s arms and legs, and it released Sturm, but the rust immediately reformed and the limbs were restored. William attempted to remake his clothing, but found an Eidolon blockage preventing him from creating anything. Mena made the stage disappear, and the Mecha-Mage fell into the laundry cart beneath. The psychic connection blocking William disappeared, and then the axe and the mecha jumped into the hole.
  • Sturm attempted to assert his leadership, but determined that these legionaires had been broken and were beyond hope. They would have no depth of loyalty to anyone and were only together through mutual convenience than out of any loyalty to each other.
  • William restrained a fleeing legionaire to interrogate by creating a closed room around him, and then repaired his Eidolon. Cyra scanned for the psychic presence and detected the echo of a teleportation. She tried to locate the destination, but it had been concealed. The legionaire ultimately burrowed through the floor before he could be interrogated.

Clues and Communications

  • Mena located the Mecha-Mage’s diary. She determined that when they first arrived, they though that they were on a grand heroic escapade, but that quickly was not the case. He had determined that just over a year ago that a former apprentice of Drake, Morholt, the Knight of Beasts, who was present on Fierce who had discovered an umbra-powered piece of artifice. He broke it into an infinite number of halves (pure Eidolon), and used the halves to power the ananaki, creating the Cyber-Naki. His intent was to fight the Dwimmerfolk on whatever realm they appeared in, but the enraged annanaki took control. He escaped and may have been the one who suggested seeling off Fierce to Drake.
  • Uther determined that this legion had committed atrocities against the local populace in the fight against the Cyber-Naki. There was a rift between the Mecha-Mage and Soto-Sama as to whether the Cyber-Naki should be utterly destroyed or could be saved. Drake’s solution was to seal of the world and let it destroy itself. The diary said that the strength of the cohort was down to 500 six months ago. At that time, the Mecha-Mage and Soto-sama parted company. Soto-sama was holed up at a train station.
    William asserted that the prime goal was to located the artifact. Uther opened a door back to the temple. Mena and Mindel went through. She saw in the hole created by the air strike and Cyber-Naki, but it did not seem unusual.
  • Mena created a link to Baudemagus, and detected someone trying to contract her. She provided Baudemagus a full report, and also a copy of the diary to present to Drake. She also shared the possible future that Assieh saw of the Cyber-Naki flooding the Grand Stair.
  • Baudemagus told Mena to pursue the artifact. He also told her that Jason Vagabond used to be an agent of Dayle, another of the Gossamer Lords. Morholt used to be an apprentice of Drake, but left to apprentice under Baustiano, another of the Gossamer Lords. Mena told him that Morholt might be the source of the sealing of Fierce. Baudemagus said he would have others seek out Morholt.
  • Cyra was icon contacted by her mother. She stepped through the door and responded. Mother said that she had been trying to contact her but had been blocked. She filled mother in. When she mentioned Jason Vagabond, mother intially said to kill him, but then softened to just hurt him. Cyra asked about isolating Umbra artifacts. Mother replied that such things are usually just handed over to the Gossamer Lords. Short of that, dropping them into a volcano or teleporting them into the center of the sun usually works. Or an Umbra master (such as Assieh) could usually destroy anything.
  • Cyra asked in Vagabond could be made useful. Mother replied that he could be bought or persuaded, but lost interest quickly. She added that he could be working for Morholt, but it appeared that he just found Fierce as amusing, and that he had appeared through a door other than the main, sealed one. She also said that the name if the Mecha-Mage was Amir. Cyra asked how they could get Amir to parlay. Mother did not know of a way. She mentioned that the sentient clockwork beings had a sadistic character trait.
  • Uther’s uncle called him. He stepped through the door to communicate successfully. He mentioned that he was part of the unauthorized mission to investigate Fierce. Uncle mentioned that he had done a lot of research and that the clockwork race had been contacted by the same people who had contacted his own people, and that Amir was the one who had been contacted. Uther asked how they might make contact with Amir. Uncle passed on the symbol that was used to contact his people and suggested trying it. Uther mentioned that Amir had gone renegade from Soma-sata. Uther asked his uncle if there was a way to split an annanaki. Uncle asked what that was. Uther explained that it was a being of pure Eidolon. Uncle said he would do some research.
  • Uther shared the symbol, and Sturm remembered an emmisary with that symbol approaching the Leader of Krieg to form an alliance, but the Leader has already formed an alliance with Drake and the ambassador left discouraged and perhaps a little amused.
  • Mena contacted her mentor. He noted that the team had determined that the Cyber-Naki could be separated from the Eidolon and returned to their original programming. They question is whether that could be done en masse, and also where the pure Eidolon was going. Was bringing the annanaki back worth the risk? She asked if the balance could be restored? He replied that the question was how to remove the annanki from the world? She mentioned that visiting the halves was suggested. He said that was a bad idea. He added that more reconaissance was required. He said the finding the temple in order to communicate with the outside was fortunate.
  • The three in the closet noted a robot in the rubble searching for undestroyed ordinance. Cyra hacked into the robot’s uplink and the robot (Explo-6) stopped him. Cyra set herself up as a more powerful AI. The robot, or whoever set it up, was a gifted person who countered her abilities. The robot approached her. She stepped through the door and Uther severed the door just before the robot came through. She informed the team that the robot belonged to somebody and was not some local tech.

Regrouping

  • William suggested searching the Opera House for the legion’s stores. They found very little. Uther suggested perfecting one of the nearby hotels to create some lodging. From the top of the Opera House they could see a Japanese style castle, an office building, a hotel with a glass pool floating above it, some type of contruction, perhaps another amusement park, a hospital, and the cooling towers of a nuclear power plant.
  • They scanned for powerful Eidolon, Umbra, and Sorcery. They found none. The only traces were the lingering remnants of battles that had been fought there. Cyra’s search for Psychic presence got a sense of the remains of a lifeform not native to Fierce.
  • They walked to the hotel. As they travelled, the wind picked up out if the east. There was no sense anything unusual.
  • Uther opened the main door and discovered the corpse of a massive winged creature in the lobby that was not native to fierce. It was purely organic and definately dead. They rested for the night.
  • Assieh looked into the future to see what would happen if she revived the creature. She determined that it would recognize everyone except William (who was not a warden) as something not to be bothered. However, she also saw it save them in her visions, so it might be able to help them. Jane theorized that the creature probably natively inhabited the Grand Stair. Mena suggested using sorcery to shield William from it. Cyra hypothesized being able to shield William, but he would need to maintain it.
  • They breakfasted while Cyra prepped her spell and Sturm kept watch. Vultures circled above and then Assieh revived the creature. It stood and flexed its wings, though it appeared gaunt and possibly undead. She detected no Psyche. She did not know its True Name, and so could not control it. It bowed to the Masters of the Grand Stair. Then it hocked up a little black crystal for each of them and Assieh. And then it flew off. They picked up the crystals. Assieh got a deep Psychic impression from it and determined that it would crack upon her death. Uther created matching lockets to contain them.
  • To the west toward the train depot was the Crystal Dragon Jesuit Temple, the Hapnex Highway, the Illustrious Bathhouse of the Jade Ghost, and Pearl Diving House. That leads to the edge of the western side of the volcanic intrusion. The trains travel down the volcanic intrusion to the seaside bringing up supplies. Soto-sama had sought to keep the trains running, but they were under constant attack. Assieh hypothsized that there may be signs as to where she went there.

Crystal Dragon Jesuit Temple

  • Sturm searched for threats as they advanced toward the train station. At the Crystal Dragon Jesuit Temple he noted two sets of flexible steel footprints, probably a ton of weight that did not fly. They were light-footed for mechs, but not similar to the Cyber-Naki ninja they had previously encountered, but too small for mechs. The movement suggested heavy infantry. They decided to investigate.
  • As he entered the temple, he noted that the entire interior was concealed in a heavy fog. Mena noted two points of Eidolon in the building walking in a pattern as if on patrol. Uther remained on guard while the others entered.
  • Sturm engaged them with his plasma rifle. He hit one as it opened its mouth. the Eidolon pattern within absorbed the plasma to no effect. They shot back, but Sturm evaded their attacks. Cyra established a mental link and mentally blasted on of them. Jane looked for doors. She saw crystal arches, but no doors. She realized that the only door was the cabinet for the communion wafers. Assieh attempted to alter the enemy weapons, but her attempted by blocked by an Eidolon barrier. William attempted to free the Eidolon from one. He created a quick mental contact, but when he attempted to remove it, he was repulsed. Uther entered the temple and fired. He hit the mentally distracted one and the plasma damaged it, but the laser that guided the plasma was refracted by the crystal structure repeatedly. Sturm and Uther avoided the shots. William and Jane dove into the same cover and slammed into each other. Mena and Cyra avoided the bolts, but Assieh’s mech suit absorbed it. Mena attempted to remove the Eidolon from the other Cyber-Naki. The Cyber-Naki attempted to do something, but the Eidolon flew off to the southwest. She thought it might be communicating to something.
  • Sturm sliced through the other Cyber-Naki down the middle and the Eidolon flew off. The other Cyber-Naki targeted Mena thanks to William’s aura of non-sensing. She was hit by a plasma assault rifle and the blast burned through her mid-section. She fell to the ground injured. Uther noted that its magic level had dropped significantly. He ran up and launched a flying kick in the back of its neck. It rolled and recovered into a battle position ordering it to stop so it could protect it from evil magic users. Then Cyra a-sploded it. The Cyber-Naki was destroyed and Uther flew across the room, slammed into the wall, and fell to the floor, where the crystal cross fell on top of him, broke into three pieces, and pierced him in several pieces.

The Team:

  • Oberleutnant Sturm von Krieg the warrior (Joab)
  • William Edwalton the scientist (Greg)
  • Jane Edwalton the explorer (Jenna)
  • Mena the traveler (Stephanie)
  • Uther the gatherer (Dave)
  • Cyra the sorceress (Mike)
  • Assieh the demi-goddess (Miranda)