Campaign Diary

We rejoin the action after our long hiatus with our heroes debating their course of action after their adventure up in the arctic.
The still sizeable nature of their debt to Thane Gudrun still weighed heavily on the party's mind, almost as heavily as their desire to push on to locate the mysterious 'Beta Site'. Lacking the necessary jump keys to get to the vicinity of Fingisvold (the Vuldrok world that evidence suggested was the closest known point to wherever the Beta Site was located) and lacking the cash with which to obtain them, they were temporarily stymied until their debt could be discharged.
Thane Gudrun for her part was seemingly in no hurry for the money, but had hinted that she would have need of the party and their ship potentially at some stage.
The evidence gathered from the vanquished 'Team Evil' pointed toward a merchant in the city of Valholm, capitol of Ostmark, the realm of Sigfaddir Firestorm (the most powerful local Vuldrok Thane and a vocal opponent of peace with the Known Worlds). This would make an open approach in the party starship less than wise, as Questing Knights of the Phoenix Emperor would not be well received in Ostmark.
Taking the advice of Thane Gudrun, the party settled upon disguising themselves as Vuldrok followers of the 'Sons of Zebulon' (the local branch of the Universal Church) on pilgrimage to the center of the faith in Ostmark. She would arrange accommodation and an emergency egress method for the party given a few days to prepare. The exit method in emergency would turn out to be a fairly fast fishing boat owned by a friend of a friend who would be waiting for them in a quiet part of the harbour and ready for a swift getaway by night.

This leads us to the first quote of the night :
Ezra : “Let's just try intellegence gathering for a change, rather than blasters.” Antonion (wearily) : “Oh, if we must...” Rest of party : -applause-

The trip to Valholm was an uneventful trip in a twin engined float plane across the 500 miles of ocean separating the two landmasses and the party were surprised at the lack of customs inspections. Vuldrok are not great fans of governmental structures and practise a lot of personal justice, so smuggling goods at a personal level wasn't much of an issue.

The party accommodation turned out to be an old lady called Hildred who rented out rooms on a bed and breakfast basis to travellers. She provided two adjoining rooms with a shared bathroom for the party and filling if basic provender.
Their landlady was not a great mine of information on the local merchant community but did at least know one salient fact about their quarry, that he had a reputation as a collector of art and the like.
Various schemes for gathering information were mooted, such as offering money to locate a spurious item as a means of getting close to the merchant or trying to get a job with his organisation but with Alectrona concerned that her Affinity gene might make her easy to identify by Antinomists, keeping their distance at the outset was eventually judged to be the best bet.

Ideas discounted also included denouncing Ingulf directly to Sigfaddir... a plan likely to have had interesting consequences.
Having discovered that Ingulf had three principle properties : A warehouse, a commercial office and a town house, the party decided to spend the day familiarising themselves with the city and plotting their itinerary to pass the two businesses.
Staking out the merchant's offices for a while, Alectrona did notice one visitor to the business who had a corrupt signature on the lifeweb and tipped Annissa and Antonio (our two principle exponents of streetwise) off to tail him.
The man seemed to be trying to avoid being followed as a matter of principle but the pair managed to trail him to another business in a less salubrious area of town – a pawn shop of sorts next to a decrepit looking warehouse.
The landlady knew of the business when asked about it and said that it was as much a fence as anything else.
That evening, the party decided to eat out at a slightly upmarket restaurant frequented by moderately well off merchant types. Choosing a place that served the spicy cuisine of the southern continent, the party were also allowing themselves to unwind a little. Annissa managed to play the wide eyed girlie role and gushed about all the well known merchants who must eat here and how rich and successful they were. One diner at a nearby table joined the conversation and proceeded to blow his own commercial trumpet whilst regaling them with morsels of scandal about the names Annissa had dropped to make himself sound better. Ingulf it seemed was regarded as a dilettante hobbyist who used his import/export business to cream off art and artefacts for his personal collection at his house. He also mentioned an associate of Ingulf who allegedly blew his own estate up by accident due to dealing with atomic warheads (a reference to the Necromancer Althar killed by the party in the past almost certainly). Ingulf had a reputation it seemed also for exclusive parties for his closely knit set of friends.
Thorkel the merchant seemed to be labouring under the misapprehension that Annissa, Alectrona and Musa were a trio of prostitutes hired by Ezra and Antonio, doing the mental arithmetic and concluding there was a 'spare'. Annissa managed not to shoot him under the table and stayed in her role of wide eyed bimbo, much to the relief of her colleagues.
Information duly gathered, the party decided to scarper when Thorkel was in the toilet, but paid the bill at least.
Leaving the restaurant at a swift pace, they decamped to a tavern.

GM : At this point Annissa's player used her “Helpful contact” card. Summoning a useful NPC who could help them out.

Settling into a cozy booth, drinks were ordered at the bar. Ezra was surprised to feel a set of female arms slide around his waist and a sultry voice purr in his ear “Hello handsome...” Ezra turned to find himself in the embrace of Anastasia the courtesan/physician, clad in the regalia of a Vuldrok warrior maiden. Joining the party at their table, she explained that she and Kolya were in town on a job of their own and that the Baron would be joining her shortly.
Ezra's discomfiture at Anastasia's somewhat direct approach to courtship seemed to amuse his associates but somewhat confuse Anastasia, who found it hard to reconcile the somewhat gung-ho warrior priest persona with the tendency to scamper for cover whenever she was nearby.
Annissa and Alectrona explained that they thought that actually the priest was a bit shy, having spent a lot of time on his own or in non-human company.
Kolya arrived and joined in the reshuffle of seating that took place while Ezra was in the toilet so that Anastasia was sat next to the priest, coincidentally ending up sat next to Annissa.
Annissa and Antonio fell into their time honoured scenario of bickering about house status and politics.

For example :
Annissa : Here I am, dressed like a peasant in a tavern, living like this... I used to have maidservants... Antonio : So did I! Annissa : Yes, but yours were trained beavers... Kolya decided to wade in and give Antonio something of a pep talk about the chance for House Masseri to rejuvenate its' fortunes with the rise of young and ambitious members such as Antonio.

Antonio and Ezra also fell to a certain amount of bickering cum pointed banter, fuelled in part by Ezra's embarrassment at the way his colleagues were attempting to 'help' with Anastasia.

Antonio : “Has Ezra explained his method of extracting information from sailors...?”

Kolya and Anastasia explained that they were working on a case of gun running between the Known Worlds and Vuldrok space. As this involved surveillance, they had a number of bugging devices to spare and would loan them to their fellow knights.

Kolya and Annissa chatted amiably, the Baron extending an invitation to Annissa to visit his estate when they were both back at their fiefdoms on Aragon. He seemed genuinely disappointed to have constantly been missing spending time in the company of Annissa and her colleagues due to conflicting schedules and missions.
At the end of the evening, the party headed back to their digs whilst Ezra walked Anastasia back to hers (Kolya having had to leave a little earlier).
Ezra's cohorts waited two hours before deciding that Ezra wasn't coming home that evening and went to bed...
Ezra arrived in time for breakfast, bringing the promised bugging gear with him.
Rakim the trained raccoon was tasked with the job of sneaking bugging devices into the pawn shop which he did with his usual alarming level of intelligence, placing the bugs exactly where a human would have done.
The shop was a simple affair, an upstairs office, a downstairs rear store area opening onto an enclosed yard and the shop area itself with a cellar beneath.
The cellar revealed a well used sewer/drain access hatch and a door that looked as though it would open into an area underneath the warehouse next door.
Bugs were placed on the doors to the office, the shop and in the cellar area below. Examination of the footage showed a crate of wine and an entry in a ledger indicating that it was due to be delivered to the 'Masters house' the following day. This at least suggested a link to the reclusive Ingulf.
The bugs detected the arrival of the same person Annissa and Antonio had tailed who spoke to the apparent manager of the shop, warning them that Questing Knights were suspected to be in town and asking questions. The manager mentioned the upcoming delivery and was chided for leaving the rear door open (actually opened by the raccoon sneaking in from the yard) and told to increase security.
It was decided to sneak in via the sewers and examine the cellar, perhaps to gain entry to the warehouse, get a better look at the goods within and generally poke about.
Rakim went in first and all seemed fine, so Annissa and Antonio followed, checking for alarms and booby traps on the sewer grating.
Alectrona's player used the “We find what we're here to find” card, meaning that they got all the details of the goods in the room and a decent look at the ledger.
It was while Antonio was examining the door out of the cellar that disaster struck, a venomous snake that had been sleeping in a niche above the door awoke and bit Antonio in the neck, pumping him full of a deadly neurotoxin that dropped him like the proverbial sack of millrice. Annissa decided not to wait for Alectrona to arrive with the medical kit and dragged Antonio back the way they had come, meeting Alectrona en route to the drain exit. Alectrona was able to resuscitate Antonio and stabilise him.
We leave things with our heroes holed up in their digs with a semi-conscious Antonio.

Back to campaign diary index.

Session 42

We open with our gallant band holed back up in their rented accommodation and tending to a freshly revived Antonio after his brush with ophidian neurotoxins.

"So, what have we learned from our recce?" asked Annissa.
"a) Snakes hurt" answered Antonio, "and b) There must be something worth protecting."

After some debate, during which aspersions were cast on Raki the Raccoon's ability to detect deadly snakes, it was decided to go back in to the basement of the pawn shop and make another attempt at entering the warehouse via the door in the cellar.

"We need to avoid damaging the snake" observed Annissa, "Otherwise they'll know someone was there."

"Shame it's not under a reciprocal arrangement" commented Antonio.

With a few hours still to go until dawn, the pawn shop cellar got a second visit...

Avoiding the snake this time, the lock from shop cellar to warehouse basement was duly picked and the party snuck in for a proper nose around.

[GM : Alectrona's player had the "Find the lot" adventure card and used it]

The cellar of the warehouse was full of crates, drums and boxes, most of which contained enough small arms and equipment to outfit a company of light infantry. The weapons were all of Decados or Masseri manufacture and in their factory containers (Minus serial numbers).
Photographs were taken of a representative number of crates and their contents before a bug was placed on one of the weapons crates and the party departed whence they came.
After a busy night, the party decided to get a few hours sleep and plan what to do next over breakfast.
In the pre dawn hours, two three man teams of intruders forced the windows of the party's rooms and the lead pair through the window opened fire with suppressed pistols firing tranq darts.
Alectrona took a full dose of sedatives but the initial volley either stuck bedding, went wide or in the case of Ezra, failed to deliver the full drugs payload.
[GM - All hail random damage rolls coming in low]
The party returned fire and in the resulting exchange of fire, the effects of blaster pistols at point blank range verses lightly armoured opponents was graphically illustrated...
The first four were rapidly cut down and the last pair attempted to break off and retreat. Annissa ordered Raki to attack one while she fired at the other, hoping to bring one down alive for questioning.
However, a Doggoth is not a gentle animal verses an already wounded opponent and, like a blaster pistol, does not come with a stun setting.

Annissa : "I was only suppose to blow his bloody leg off..."

As lights flicked on all along the street, other residents came running and the party started to stamp out the small fires caused by energy weapons fire in an enclosed space, six bodies lay sprawled in the rooms and the alley behind the house.
The landlady was furious, but coinage and kind words from Annissa helped mitigate the situation.

"I'm terribly sorry about the mess... and the bodies... and the fires.... Um... do you have another room?"

The sergeant from the city watch and his squad were also quite amenable to the Al-Malik's persuasive words, Vuldrok law being what it was, the fact that six men had tried breaking into someone's room in dead of night with guns and got shot for their trouble was perfectly acceptable.
Moving up to the attic room, the party bedded down to try and snatch a few hours of sleep before breakfast.
Annissa suggested checking in with Koyla but the consensus was to call after breakfast.

"I can stay up and keep watch." offered Antonio, "I've had more rest than everyone else..." "Spending time unconscious after a near fatal snakebite doesn't count as rest Antonio..." observed Annissa.

The next morning, Ezra ping'd Anastasia's comm unit but received no reply. Annissa then tried Kolya's with the same result. Concerned, the party headed over to the boarding house where the Decados and his bodyguard were staying.
En route, Antonio noticed the presence of a professional looking tail and led the party through the steps to evade it.
[Gm note : There were two separate groups tailing them but they only spotted one]

Only to have the concierge tell them that they must have checked out as their room was empty and they had left money to cover their bill.
Unconvinced by this, Annissa pretended that she was interested in the room and asked to have a look around. A close examination of the room showed a few blood spots, a spent tranq needle, evidence of the window having been professionally forced and repaired.

Antonio : "I'm surprised. I'd be impressed if someone managed to turn Anastasia over... eh Ezra?" Ezra : "Fuck off."

Antonio had one of his mercenary moments when he realised that Kolya and Anastasia had travelled to Hargard aboard the “Swift Needle of Enquiry”, Kolya's customised scout ship.
Antonio : “Hey... where's their starship?” Ezra : “At the starport I should expect... you twat.”

The identity of the snatch squad's employer seemed obvious to Antonio, “After all,” he reasoned, “Let's think of it this way, we've only annoyed one person on this planet...”
Annissa immediately chimed in with “Are you SURE about that?” and Antonio's comrades then proceeded to reel off the extensive and ever growing list of people they had inconvenienced, shot at, shot, raided, blown up and been rude to since first coming to Hargard. It's not a short list.
Ezra briefly advocated going to the local lord, Sigfaddir Firestorm and denouncing Ingulf but Annissa pointed out their lack of hard objective evidence and Sigfaddir's likely bias against Questing Knights.
Annissa declared that it would be both useful and sensible to review their surveillance tapes to see if they yielded anything.
En route back to their digs, Antonio noticed that he had been the recipient of a well executed “Brush Pass”, discovering a note in his trouser pocket. It read :

“Inndvar's tea house – One Hour @\ -----” The floral design bore a resemblance to a symbol they had seen in Ramakrishna territory.

“We have been summoned” said Antonio, “By someone who has been in my trousers, which makes them both cunning and brave”

Evading the second tailing group that they finally noticed, the party made their way through the streets of the city to the rendezvous.
Seated at a booth in the tea-house, they were joined by a non-descript man in local dress who smiled and said “You're not natural spies are you?” by way of introduction.
He asked chattily whether or not they had a good egress method from Sigfaddir's territory.
“Oh yes...” said Ezra, “A speedboat down in the harbour.”
“DON'T TELL HIM!” chorused his cohorts.
Anil Gundarson, their new acquaintance was gently critical of their performance, using terms like “Blundering” “chaotic” and “leaving a trail of bodies”.
“You have to understand that this was an ad hoc operation” said Antonio, “Although to be honest, we can be this crap after careful planning.”
Anil explained that he was the field officer for House Ramakrishna's intelligence service and that he was willing to help them out in return for “future considerations”.
A van would be waiting at the back of the tea house, ready to take them to a safe house.
Making a leap of faith, the party followed Anil to the back door of the tea house and into the van. A short while later, they emerged into the garage of a rather well appointed safehouse.
Taking it in turns to shower and freshen up, the cohort went through the surveillance data from their bugs.
The bug hidden in one of the crates of liquor in the pawn shop cellar came up trumps – It recorded the three snatch teams being given their briefing and then some time later, only one team returning and dumping two heavy, soft items down on the cellar floor. The team and the owner of the shop seemed rattled by their comrades failure to return and contacted a superior on the phone for instructions. “The two captives” were to be transported to “The master's estate” that afternoon.
The liquor crate and two groaning objects were loaded into a van an hour or so later and set off on their journey.
Antonio : “Hey, Ezra... do you recognise that moan?”
Using their surveillance equipment, Alectrona was able to get a bearing on the bugging device.
Anil seemed more than happy to provide assistance, adding to the size of the future favour the party would owe his government. He arranged a van to take them to Ingulf's country residence, provided satellite photo's of the site and some equipment to help with their mission.
Annissa examined the plan of the site, noting that the merchant's manor house was surrounded by a wall but the wall was pierced by a watercourse that crossed the grounds and fed a lake. The upstream entrance would be smaller but probably less secure, it was also closer to the house and the outbuildings might provide cover.
Anil supplied night vision goggles and a plasma torch for any metal grating over the culvert. He also gave a time and a place for “an extraction” from a forest clearing.
The bug yielded the sounds of the crate being unloaded and someone giving instructions for the captives to be taken to “Await the master's pleasure”. The bug then yielded little more than kitchen staff coming and going, humming and collecting food from the pantry.
As night approached, the party loaded into the back of a van, loaded for bear.
On a forest road near the estate, the van slowed but did not stop and the party jumped from the side door. Alectrona was the only person to land badly but was only winded and bruised.
Sneaking through the dark under the trees, the party made their way toward Ingulf's estate.
Alectrona sensed some sort of 'nullity' in the direction of the Manor.
Antonio made his way to the stream and waded to the culvert under the estate walls. The culvert was indeed blocked by a metal grating and the grating had an alarm system. Antonio's engineering skills and grounding in some less than legal matters meant that he was able to disable the alarm and then make short work of the grating down to the waterline. Signalling his colleagues, the team was soon making their way downstream.
Inulf's security arrangements seemed fairly basic – High walls with wire, presumably alarmed. The alarmed grating and then a pair of gaurds with dogs patrolling the perimeter of the estate.
[GM Note – Ingulf's best men all got killed a couple of sessions back when they got on the wrong side of the party (they were 'team evil') and he's a little short staffed at present. His defences are designed to deal with casual burglary as this is not a Bond villan, just a rich guy in the evil equivalent of the Masons).] Approaching from the NW corner, the party had a choice of two routes into the house – A door on the N wall, near the W corner or a door on the W wall midway along it's length.
Assuming the NW door was the kitchen and the W one was the tradesmans entrance, they decided on the Western route.
The door was locked and alarmed but Antonio was again up to the task. It was indeed the tradesmans entrance, with a coal chute and set of stairs down to a cellar.
Going down to the cellar the party discovered a fairly mundane coal bunker, boiler room, small wine cellar and a pantry area. Annissa however noted that the basement area was substantially smaller than the footprint of the house, which was unusual for houses of this sort. Closer examination showed that some of the walls were newer than others, indicating that the basement had been remodelled, perhaps walling off whole areas. Alectrona sensed the nullity was closer down in the basement area.

“There has to be another way in...” “Library...” said Annissa. “Yeah... personal space of the man of the house... let's go” agreed Antonio.

Sneaking around the outside of the house, some of the party reflected on the inadvisability of box hedging and lots of statuary when you might have intrusion teams to worry about. Crawling about on hands and knees meant that the party were all but invisible to the patrolling guards.
Passing by one set of French windows, they heard muffled conversation and cutlery through the curtains. Rounding the NE corner of the house, they made their way down the E wall to the next likely room location.
Peering in, Antonio spied books and desks. “Bingo!”
The window alarm was pretty basic and Antonio made short work of it, which was just as well as the party had to stage an undignified scramble through the window as one of the gaurds patrol routes took him perilously close to their position.
Inside the library, a search for secret doors or hatches in the floor commenced, all the while aware of the sounds of dining in the room next door.
Ezra's familiarity with libraries made the unusual dimensions of one set of shelving stand out to him. Pulling a panel back revealed an unusual keyhole.
Antonio attempted to pick the lock and fell afoul of a rather more robust security system than they had run into hitherto... He was thrown backwards across the room by a very large dose of electricity. The lights flickered in the whole building and there was the sound of chairs going back in the dining room. The jig, as they say, was up...
Annissa took charge decisively, directing her comrades quickly – Alectrona to tend to Antonio, Musa to barricade the door, Ezra to pile up furniture as a redoubt around the secret door while she took the fusion torch to the lock.
As the first blows fell on the library door, the secret door succumbed to the combination of fusion torch and a good kicking, revealing a set of stairs leading downward.
Musa took up a rearguard position in the redoubt, alongside a newly revived Antonio.
The stairs led down to a large meeting room with shelves, display cabinets, a round table and, of all things, a rather nice wet bar.
A rather imposing door led to the west, framed by a highly decorated archway. “Temple” opined Ezra, Alectrona's sense of nausea seemed to agree. Annissa made straight for the somewhat plainer door to the north.
Ezra smashed liquor bottles and splashed the flammable liquid over the tomes on the walls as Alectrona followed Annissa into what turned out to be a hybrid of laboratory and torture chamber. Leading on from the lab was a small cell block – The first two cells were worryingly familiar : Concrete and ceramsteel walls, armourglass windows and a lead lined airlock arrangement for passing material into the room... a symbiote containment cell, mercifully empty.
The next two cells were more conventional, containing Kolya and Anastasia, both unconscious.

Annissa took the torch to the door of Kolya's cell while upstairs, the sounds of automatic weapons and explosions began in earnest...
“It's almost a relief...” said Anissa
“All this silence just makes me nervous...”

Upstairs...

Musa fired through the door at the gaurds forcing their way in, buying them time. Musa threw a grenade out into the hallway to deter the attackers as the door came off its' hinges, giving the attackers further pause for thought.
The guards tried a frontal assault through the door in pairs, which was not a winning strategy given their lack of shields and the weight of fire put out by the pair defending the room.
Four dead guards later and the grenades come out... One landing between Musa and Antonio, resulting in an adrenaline fuelled scramble to throw it back. It was a close run thing and the distraction allowed two more guards to storm into the room and close to close combat range.
Sadly for the home team, Musa is just as dangerous in close combat as she is with a gun and Antonio is not bad either.
One of the dinner guests turned out to be a psychic and subjected Musa and Antonio to a series of psychic assaults designed to induce terror which they shook off, the assaults stopped when the psychic received several shots from an aggravated Musa and Antonio.
Alectrona however was able to detect a rise in the background level of unpleasantness... someone nearby was engaging in some sort of rite...
As downstairs, Anastasia is freed and revived, a lull in the fighting gave Musa and Antonio a chance to reload.
We leave things for this session with our heroes preparing to break out with their rescued comrades...

Back to campaign diary index.

Session 43

We rejoin our heroes immediately after the end of our last session :
Musa and Antonio crouching behind the barricade in the library
Ezra investigating the occultists meeting room
Alectrona finishing reviving Anastasia
Annissa cradling a groggy Kolya's head in her lap

Ezra spots a mask in a display cabinet that catches his eye and he stashes it in his pack – The mask resembles the faces on the jumpgates, looking a little out of place among all the obvious diabolist items in the room.
Alectrona finds holdalls containing Kolya and Anastasia's possessions from their rooms.
Nice fanservice montage of Koyla and Anastasia changing out of their nightwear into their armour.
Musa and Antonio's respite is broken by a flash-bang covering three men storming into the library.
The three are armed with Poseidon/Prime manufactured 'Needlers', synth silk and energy shields.
The improvised barricade is rapidly chewed to sawdust and offcuts by the supersonic needles, forcing Musa and Antonio to give ground and use the stairwell itself as cover.
The high rate of fire of the needlers causes Musa's shield to suffer a temporary failure and she is wounded, swapping places with Anastasia.
Anastasia's SMG fire helps turn the tide against the three and they are cut down as their shields fail.
Kolya gets a tactical appraisal from Annissa and concludes that the phrase "rats in a trap" is apposite.
Annissa decides that they need another way out and both she and Alectrona start looking for a weak looking bit of brickwork in the wall that separates them from the kitchen area basement.

[GM Note – a "double 0" roll on d100 for "How much useful gear does Kolya have in his rucksack?" gives them the discovery of a limpet mine]

Musa, after receiving an elixir shot and first aid, places the mine and blows a hole through the wall.
The hole blows through into the wine cellar...
Antonio and Anastasia pull back from the stairwell just as the chanting reaches a crescendo and the nine corpses in the library twitch into unlife...
The party storm up from the basement, into the kitchen and push into the dining room, catching some of the enemy partially unawares as they prepare their own assault on the library.
A melee ensues : Antonio, Anastasia and Ezra facing off against three vuldrok forming a shieldwall while Musa tried to force her way around the side.
Ezra only had his dagger to hand and was forced to parry and dodge to avoid his foes' axe.
Antonio's shield had failed after a needler shot and he was wounded by an axe, Kolya stepping to replace him as he fell back for healing.
Anastasia also pulled back to be replaced by Annissa.
Antonio took a major chance and leapt OVER the melee to land behind the shieldwall and attempt to engage the wounded psychic, the medic and their gaurd beyond.
Musa forced the right flank of the now disrupted shield wall and Alectrona worked her way around the left.
Alectrona cut loose with her SMG as Antonio was wounded by the needler of the guard after being shaken by a psychic attack.
Alectrona walked her fire across both assailants, killing the psychic.
Kolya and Annissa cut down their opponents and the third armoured Vuldrok made a hasty retreat into the hall, along with the medic.
From the hall, came the sound of retreating feet and approaching zombies, whilst from various parts of the house, came the crackle of flames...
Musa and Ezra smashed a window and raced around the side of the house to try and cut off the retreat of the antinomist and his minions.
As they rounded the corner, they came under fire from the two gate houses but could see people piling into a car on the front driveway.
A voice drifted across the gardens, "Release the hounds!"
Ezra poked his rifle around the corner and fired at the car as it drove away...

[GM Note – 32 damage from one shot out of a sniper rifle]

The car swerved, skidded, rolled and then blew apart in a fireball.

[GM Note – Enough damage to total the car, a failed driving roll and a tree as an obstacle...]

Only one dog was unrattled enough by the explosion to actually pursue their target and was swiftly dispatched.
At this point, with the manor in flames and chaos reigning, our heroes decide to withdraw.
The run through the woods to the Rendezvous was thankfully uneventful and Anil was as good as his word – A skimmer was waiting for them.
The skimmer flew them to a back country road where a van drove them to the coast and a waiting fishing boat.

Antonio : "Were these the gun runners you were after?" Kolya : "They had me kidnapped, so maybe?" Ezra : "Were they smuggling these?" - pulls out illicit Poseidon sidearm Kolya : "No?" Ezra : "Oh, right... forget I mentioned it then."

Antonio : "Put that mask on, I dare you!"
The mask appeared to have Skey/Vau runes worked into its edging.
Anastasia used a satellite uplink on the Ramakrishna spy trawler to access the autopilot on 'The Swift Needle of Enquiry" and put it into orbit for later collection.
Antonio : "Have we wrecked your mission Kolya? We could debrief one another and see where we get?"
Kolya : "Let's not..."
Antonio and Annissa fell to bickering at higher than normal levels.
Arriving at Valheim, they apologized to Gudrun for their lack of loot.
Ezra held a small thanksgiving service at the stone cross before allowing anyone to go and grab a well needed bath.
Antonio announced his intention to get riotously drunk.
Annissa : "Oh why don't you go impregnate another local?"
Ezra sought out the Skey runcaster who told him that the item bore runes for "Revelation", "Darkness", "Time" and "Seeing". He said the item had a purpose but a hunger also.
"No man alive could make this, so far as I know... forged in the valley of mists itself I think."

We leave things with our heroes still mulling over the evets of the raid.

Back to campaign diary index.

Session 44

We rejoin our heroes on Hargard as they digest the events of their somewhat eventful trip to the continent of Jyandholm and the capitol of Sigfaddir Firestorm's territory.

Antonio : What have we learned?
Ezra : That bringing a dagger to a fight with a man armed with chain, axe and shield is a tad inadequate?

Antonio : And we're in hock to another person...
Ezra : An entire nation you mean?

Antonio : We could make some money running drugs?
Everyone else : NO!
Antonio : It's a pity we killed all the potential witnesses really, we'd need a necromancer to get any more information on the guy we hit. Ezra, can you do Necromancy?
Ezra : I AM NOT A NECROMANCER!
Antonio : Well I didn't -know- did I ? I've never seen you do it, so I thought I'd ask...
Annissa (appalled) : Toni!
Ezra : Well, I've never seen you hit an enemy ship with a missile first time, you cock!
Antonio : I was just asking...

Kolya took the loss of the potential leads on the gun running side of the cultist's operation with good grace, stating that he would have to return to the Known Worlds and pick up the trail there again. Given the evidence that they did have (that the guns ended up in the hand of Antimonists amongst others) he felt that it might slow the supply at least a little.

Kolya : There's a world of difference between the borderline treason of supplying arms to an enemy of House Hawkwood and giving guns to those opposed to God himself.

The subject of the party's colossal debt to Gudrun seemed to prey on Antonio's mind most of all, although everyone was trying to think of ways to earn coin to pay their ally off.
Antonio : Kolya? Can you write her a cheque?
Annissa : ANTONIO!

Annissa went on to suggest that merely transferring the debt to another person was hardly addressing the problem.
Antonio : Piracy! We could try that for a bit.
Annissa : You are so in the wrong house... No offence to you Kolya
Kolya : None taken.

With some time to themselves, our heroes got to spend some time doing their own thing

Antonio visited Thyra the blacksmith and his son, Storri at her smithy.

Alectrona spent some quality time with Casey

Ezra headed up to the ship to check his books for information on the mask

Annissa visited the ship to collect some more comfortable clothes.

Musa went back to the ship to service and recharge the weapons used in the raid.
Annissa : It feels safer to be aboard ship
Osprey (speakers coming to life and sounding pleased) : Thank you
When asked what he had been doing in their absence, Tanalu said that he had been spending his time ministering to the faithful among the local population
Ezra : He's a much better priest than me...
Thane Gudrun loaned the party the use of a house now empty since the previous family lost a warrior in battle and moved to another home in a different part of the settlement.
Valheim as a town was visibly expanding and developing, with more warriors coming to Gudrun's banner and extensions to the town walls.
The house was a half timbered affair with five bedrooms, albeit fairly small ones and a modest kitchen garden. It came with a thrall acquired in a recent trading mission, a young woman called Ayesha. Ayesha it seemed didn't talk much and no-one in town spoke her native language, she understood basic instructions to cook and clean but other than her name no-one knew much about her.
Ezra and Antonio both thought she might be from the Kurgan Caliphate and Antonio was able to prove this when she responded to one of the two or three phrases in Kurgan he had learned taling to veterans of the Hazat war with the Caliphate.
Antonio also took the time to write up such information as he could recall about persons involved in House Masseri's arms industry to aid Kolya in his investigation.
Noting that the house had no soft furnishings and a minimum of fittings, Antonio took himself off and bought bedding, mattresses and the like for the house.
The presence of a Vuldrok 'God Box' in the lounge of the house caused some interest.
Mass media being almost banned by the Church on most worlds in the Empire having a combined TV and radio system in every home among the Vuldrok seemed very strange.
Antonio settled down on the sofa to “study local culture”
Programming seemed to be dominated by entertainment with a smattering of information channels covering weather, commodities and travel. The entertainment channels featured many old Second Republic adventure serials and movies, dramatisations of Vuldrok sagas, action shows of unknown provenance and a large number of shows featuring 'Hawkwyrdr' as villains.
Antonio and the others were somewhat amused to see their own culture through the lens of the Vuldrok entertainment industry – Effette and incompetent buffoons or sadistic despots lording it over oppressed peasants and constantly running in panic when brave and resourceful Vuldrok came raiding to carry off the products of the Hawkwyrdr's decadent system.

[OOC – The Known Worlds get very much the same treatment as the Germans did in 'Allo Allo' or, for that matter, the Empire in 'Krod Mandoon' but with the heroes not portrayed as idiots ]

A chance comment in the tavern about education led to everyone trading stories of their own educational experiences -
Kolya having had a fair old time at the Hazat war college on Aragon during the war
Antonio having enjoyed his time at the Leagueheim Academy Interatta
Ezra had had a mixed time in seminary on Pentateuch
Annissa had had a less entertaining time of it, having been raised in the arts expected of a lady and also to run a business.
Alectrona went to medical school and then military academy, switching between various Xanthipe moonhavens over the years Musa didn't share her experiences.

[OOC – Cue montage]

One of the groups of warriors new to town seemed to regard the group with some distrust, Musa asked one of her occasional lovers and long term friends in Gudrun's warband for the reason and was told of Einar's crew and their distrust of Imperials, being more of the pro-Greolf end of the political spectrum than the more common pro-Eldrid sentiments of the town.
Casey gave a demonstration of the world's least convincing expansive yawn and declared an intention for an early night, followed a beat later by Alectrona getting the hint and also retiring early.
Ezra left early, wanting to be fresh for the 'Althing' happening the following day whereas Kolya, Anissa, Musa, Antonio and Anastasia stayed on later.
Kolya was jostled on his way back from the bar by a member of Einar's crew but the Decados merely stared his opponent down and made his way back to the table with a shrug.
At the end of the evening, Antonio walked Anastasia back to her digs, taking an ostentatiously different route back to Kolya who walked Annissa home. Musa merely kept an eye on her principle from a professionally discrete distance.
At the Althing the next day, all the ship captains were in attendenc with their retinues as Thane Gudrun threw open the floor to any grievences or issues for discussion before they moved on to the matter of planning a raid.
Einar pointed the finger at Annissa and the Osprey contingent, calling them outworlders with no place or reason to be in attendence.
Ezra launched into a spirited and vocal defence citing their past record in battle alongside their friends and willingness to defend their allies. [Ezra's spirit dice seriously exploded, rolling 3 10's on the d10 for a total of 33]
Annissa followed up with a more honeyed address, pointing out that one of their former shipmates was now Gudrun's husband and father of her child and how Antonio had fathered a child he was happy to call his son with a local woman. The crew of Osprey were tied to the people of Hargard by blood and honour and would not take such accusations lightly.
Halfred, Einar's shaman pointed at Alectrona and accused her of being a witch with the taint of the Weed-Demons about her.
Ezra shouted this down and declared that every shaman, priest and runecaster who knew Alectrona had never said such a thing or accused her of any taint. There was some uncomfortable shifting in the Osprey contingent's seats however as they were well aware that Alectrona's genetic heritage included some traits that did bear a worrying similarity to Symbiot powers.
Halfred backed down but declared that he would be watching Alectrona.
With Einar and his crew's objections and slurs out of the way, the meeting moved on the proposal that the flotilla stage a raid.
Gudrun brought up a holographic display of a planet, announcing that their target would be the planet of Lamorak, a world with a reasonable technology base deeper into Vuldrok space.
Gudrun : Usual routine, the flotilla will mark our target and land at twilight. No automatic weapons or unnecessary fatalities, a volley or two at range and then we decide it by melee before we hit the town. We'll be hitting a warehouse and distribution center in the middle of the town.
The Osprey contingent seemed somewhat puzzled by the rather unusual method proposed.
Antonio : If they pulled this on one of our planets, we'd massacre them.
Gudrun then addressed the Osprey crew : Osprey, you'll hit a transmission center a mile or two out of town. Your ship's too small in the belly to be much use for the main raid so we'll give you a forklift and you can help yourselves to as much as you can manage.
Liftoff was scheduled for a day hence and the meeting broke up with traditional Vuldrok high spirits.
Kolya and Anastasia said they would travel with the flotilla as far as the gate for safety and then make their way to Leminkainen.
The raid was estimated to take about a month from start to fimish (7 days to the Hargard gate, 6 days from the Lamorak gate and back)
Antonio wrote letters to his family back on Cadavus and his daughter Saskia in the hidden system of Poseidon.
Kolya took Annissa horse riding in a suitably courtly fashion.
Having been on the receiving end of melee with opponents armed with physical shields, Antonio and Musa invested in shields of their own. Ezra picked up a sword from Thyra's smithy.
Antonio spent several hours practising melee with warriors from the town, getting himself beaten black and blue, spending much of the next day or two complaining of numerous aches and pains.
As Osprey powered up on the morning of the launch, the whirr of fans, hum of power systems and vibration of the engines sounded almost like a sigh of pleasure.
The flotilla lifted into orbit and formed up ready to commence the run to the gate. As the ships broke orbit and headed away from Hargard, Alectrona sensed a baleful eye pass over the ship as though some dark force were looking in their direction, searching for something.
Alectrona informed her cohort and they speculated on who could be seeking in such a manner. Casey said that that level of psychic ability was not so very rare, sensing at a range of 500 or so miles with direct line of sight through a telescope would not take a psychic much more powerful than her if they had the talent.
The jump from Hargard to Khotan was uneventful, Annissa bidding Kolya a farewell as his ship jumped to Leminkainen ahead of the flotilla.
Jumping from Khotan to Frost marked the first jump into the unknown for Osprey, emerging into the home system of Greolf the Grim. Greolf's military might was in evidence, a number of heavy cruisers hung near the gate.
The flotilla jumped from Frost to Leminkainen and the order went out to take up a loose battle formation. Ships were warned to expect figher attack but to only engage vessels that attacked them directly unless ordered otherwise by the flagship.
This order caused raised eyebrows aboard Osprey, flying in the face of conventional Known Worlder tactics.
A few hours in from the gate, a group of five heavy fighters made an attack run on the flotilla, singling out a raider on the edge of the formation. The fighters assumed a vee formation and executed a series of acrobatics on the way in. They made one strafing pass, inflicting minor damage on the raider and suffering moderate damage to one of their number before breaking off and heading away.

Osprey : Are they taking the mickey? Annissa : Pardon? Osprey : Those ships... they're mockups of ships from an entertainment show. The same one my avater was taken from.

The scanner data from the engagement was reviewed and the crew speculated about the motivation both for the nature of the attack and why their opponents had chosen to customise their ships in such a manner.
Antonio made a thoughtless comment about why they would bother asking Osprey for an opinion, being “Just an AI”.
The flotilla arrived in Lamorak orbit without further incident and Osprey reported a planet with a few moderate sized cities with evidence of widespread lights, travel networks and a network of communications and broadcast satellites.
Gudrun gave Osprey her final orders and landing zone, causing some confusion when they were told to land a quarter of a mile from their target and make their way on foot.
The flotilla made a slow pass over the target town before dispersing to their designated landing zones as sensors indicated a number of fixed and rotary wing aircraft making their way toward the town, along with ground vehicles speeding along the highways.
Three vehicles arrived in the vicinity of the transmission facility Osprey had targetted, one of the vehicles, a van, seemed to be towing something.
As Osprey touched down, figures emerged from the vehicles and formed a skirmish line, three of them unhitching the item they had been towing.

Ezra : What is that...
Osprey : Tubular, wheel carriage, probably bronze.
Antonio : Bronze?
Ezra : A cannon?

The cannon theory was confirmed as the figures busied themselves with a barrel, tamping rod and a heavy ball.
There was a flash, plume of smoke and a resounding -clang- as the black powder cannon struck Osprey with a theatrical but ineffectual blow.
Annissa : Osprey, are you hurt?
Osprey : Not even remotely... I'll admit to being pretty confused however.
The landing ramp was dropped and the cohort made ready to engage the defenders.
Casey (unbuckling from her seat and grabbing her gun) : I'm not going to miss this...
Confronting them were three groups of men :
Two clad in what appeared to be the special forces uniform of the Second Republic armed with heavy pistols and short swords.
Three dressed in broad hats complete with feathers, bucket topped boots and ornate clothing, armed with black powder pistols and sabres.
Three men clad in scale armour with pot helms, shields and scimitars, also armed with black powder pistols.

Both sides exchanged a volley of fire at medium range, two of the defenders going down wounded and Annissa taking a pistol ball to the arm that shattered one of the bones in her wrist.

[GM Note – One of the damage dice seriously exploded upward and did enough damage to put two wounds over the top of Annissa's shield. She was dealt the joker in the next turn and on the turn after that, played a card to give her a +2 to all rolls, thus eliminating her wound penalties for two turns]

The skirmish was brief, the party's energy shields coming into their own as they entered melee with the defenders.
Casey displayed her growing facility with telekinesis, throwing one opponent a good fifteen feet and onto his back, unconscious.
The defenders were soon overcome, the last two on their feet calling for quarter, which was freely given.
Annissa went aboard Osprey and Tanalu used the ritual laying on of hands to restore her arm.
As Alectona gave first aid to the enemy wounded and Ezra helped them back to their vehicles, he noticed that the vans had camera equipment built into the roof. Flitting about in the twilight were a pair of camera drones.
Antonio : Curiouser and curiouser...
An ambulance arrived with flashing lights and screaming siren, its' medics accompanied by a camera team.
Ezra : Oh this is just fucking mental...
Down in the valley below, the sounds of battle could be heard as tracer, flares, searchlights and explosions lit up the the town.
The team then proceeded to absolutely strip the station to the wallpaper... Seizing the fridge and the food within, toilet rolls, electrical cabling, data storage media (DVD equivalents), uplink and downlink equipment, the emergency generator etc.
Ezra did leave a note pinned to the wall :
“Really Sorry... thanks...”
Ezra : Would it be bad form to raid that ambulance for supplies ?
Everyone else : YES!
As Musa loaded the generator that she had thought to locate and purloin into the cargo bay, the recall signal came over the communicator from the flagship.
Lifting off from the ridge, Osprey joined the formation as the flotilla made for orbit.
Gudrun announced “A good haul” with no fatalities among the raiders, no more than a few lacerations, bullet wounds and stabbings.
Lamorak, she explained, had been a major center for the entertainment media during the Republic and it had left something of an imprint on the local culture.
Antonio : Utterly, utterly fucked up.
We leave our heroes on their way to the jumpgate. Back to campaign diary index.

Session 45

The session opens on October 30th 4,998 AD with the Osprey en route to the Lamorak jumpgate.

Antonio : We have solvency issues

Antonio suggested that perhaps Annissa might want to approach her elder brother for some sort of financial assistance. Annissa suggested in no uncertain terms that Antonio might want to think of a better way to solve their debt crisis.
Ezra contented himself with eating the sandwiches from the stolen refrigerator before going off to read some of his theology tomes.
The uphill run to the gate was fairly quiet :

Ezra spending time discussing matters of faith with Tanalu

Annissa and Antonio had a remarkably civil series of conversations about relationships and marriage with Antonio pointing out that “Being married to a Decados really isn’t that bad”

Ezra proposed that when time permitted, a trip to to Pentateuch and a visit to his old mentor might be in order. Tanalu’s dedication and faith had impressed him and he wanted to find someone with influence within the Church who might be able to help ordain the Hironem.
Jumping from Lamorak to Frost, the flotilla took up station near the gate to wait for the reset period to pass.
Out of the blue, the ship went to action stations without human intervention. On the tactical screens, a neighbouring ship in the vicinity of the gate was marked as a target with a passive firing solution and Osprey had missiles in the tubes ready to fire on a word of command.
Querying the AI, the crew was informed that Osprey had a positive ID on the vessel and that it was one of the raiders that had attacked them in the Leminkainen system some weeks previously. Although the ship was painted in Vuldrok colours, the emissions spectra and drive signature were unique and unmistakeable.
Ezra’s Theurgic rite to detect evil only worked on people in line of sight and so was no use against an inanimate object like a starship but Alectrona was able to extend her perception of the lifeweb and could sense what Symbiotes called “A nullity” (a region of unlife) within the ship.
Annissa sat and thought about what to do for a while, prompting Antonio to sarcastically commend her for “swift tactical thinking in a crisis”.
After half an hour of deep thought, Annissa broke her silence with “Open fire. All weapons.”
Osprey’s missiles ripped into the hull as her lasers (fired by Musa and Antonio) downed the raider’s shields and then raked the vessel from stem to stern.
Within seconds the enemy vessel was all but crippled, despite this it attempted to return fire until only one gun was in action.
Abruptly, a section of hull plating dropped away and a large, torpedo like object launched from the raider and streaked away toward the inner system.
Annissa gave the order to pursue the rapidly accelerating object and break off from broadsiding the raider.
As Osprey turned away, the AI took over weapons control and raked the raider with another broadside, causing a catastrophic explosion that reduced the enemy craft to gas and fragments.

Annissa : I didn’t order you to destroy them…
Osprey : You didn’t order me to stop firing either.
Annissa : That’s one of the ships that damaged you, do you feel better now?
Osprey : I have fulfilled my function…

The crew ascribed Osprey’s ‘ruthless’ dispatching of the raider to emotion and a desire for vengeance.
Accelerating after the missile, Osprey focused her sensors on the speeding object to get a better appreciation of what it actually was.
As Antonio switched control of the laser weapons in the dorsal turret to his station, the first data on the missile came in – It wasn’t a standard ship to ship weapon, it was accelerating too fast and for too long to match any known rocket, missile or torpedo.
Antonio opened fire at extreme range and was shocked to discover that the missile had some sort of shielding…
[OOC – At this point Ezra’s player used the “Fortuitous malfunction” card and caused the missile’s engines to shut down as a result of the weapons fire]

Osprey matched vectors with the now tumbling missile and fired a grapple onto it, ready to begin to tow it.
At this point two large Vuldrok vessels were noted to be on an intercept course with a heavy cruiser beginning to make its’ way toward the area.
Annissa levelled with Gudrun via tight beam, explaining her suspicions about just what might be in the warhead of the missile.
The Vuldrok patrol craft ordered Osprey to drop her shields, close her gunports, cast loose her tow and prepare to be boarded. The heavy cruiser was commanded by one Thane Viggo, sworn to Warlord Greolf and someone not best pleased by random weapons fire near the gate.
As Osprey’s crew disembarked aboard the cruiser, they were met by Thane Viggo, an imposing man in armour with a bearskin cloak and a glowering expression.
[OOC – And at this point, Annissa’s player used the +4 charisma card to further buff Annissa’s already rather high charisma bonus]

Annissa and her crew were taken to a meeting room and there Annissa launched into a spirited defence of her and her crew’s actions, pointing out just what it was that they believed was in the missile and what it could do to Frost if it had arrived.
Viggo was accompanied by a shaman who seemed to test the truth of the statements made by Annissa and her crew.
Viggo was visibly impressed and gave orders to make for Frost at best speed.
The missile was towed behind a smaller Vuldrok patrol craft and brought along in-system.
Frost was not a world that inspired warm feelings in Aylon-born Annissa Al-Malik, being over 50% icecap, glacier or packice. Hostograd, Greolf’s capital city was at least in the temperate zone at the equator but the castle overlooking the city was a forbidding sight as their shuttle touched down in a stone flagged courtyard.
The cohort were led down a torchlit passageway, deep into the bowels of the castle and into a large meeting chamber with a table bearing bread, meat and ale to await the Warlord of Frost, Greolf the Grim.
Greolf did not keep the party waiting long, simply dressed with a chain off office around his neck and an axe strapped across his back.
Those of an occult bent could easily sense the strong power radiating out from the man, clearly a powerful shaman in his own right.
Greolf questioned the cohort civilly, asking each of them in turn to speak their mind and heart. Ezra gave one of his famous ‘powerpoint presentations on evil’, outlining the information they had on the cult, plot and “Breath of Life”.
Greolf seemed to take the position initially of “This is a Known Worlder problem, why should I care?” He pointed out that the missile was only fired at Frost after the ship carrying it was almost wrecked. The cohort suggested Frost was the target and was being used as a testing ground for the weapon before it was used on the Empire.
Greolf ordered the missile deposited on Frost’s moon to be examined by some of his people, including Runecasters.
He also revealed that the trail of the ship carrying the missile went back as far as Fingisvold.
A display unit was wheeled in to show the examination of the missile on the lunar surface (inside a pressurised bubble).
A Maghtaw shaman opened the booster stage of the missile, revealing a shuttle drive motor, a battle shield and a guidance package. The warhead however was most unusual – A clear egg shaped vessel filled with a black substance that swirled and roiled like smoke or flecks of jet in dark oil. The material seemed to shy away from the light.

Runecasters examined the egg and pronounced that it was “The essence of hunger itself”.
Greolf seemed to take the issue very seriously and sent out a call for his foremost Runecasters to seek a method of disposing of the weapon “I hesitate to throw this thing into a sun”.
In all his territory, he felt that perhaps four Runecasters would have the power to neutralise such a device and if it had detonated in the atmosphere, perhaps not even then.
The Known Worlds of course, have no Runecasters.
Greolf, whilst not one with a great deal of love for the Empire, could see that the cohort were acting in good faith and for the good of all, not just the Empire.
Greolf enquired how much the cohort owed Gudrun and what they planned to do next.
Ezra : 12,000 firebirds and we hope to track down the location of the beta site and end the threat once and for all.
Greolf summoned a servant and had a box of coin brought in.
Greolf : And you'll need these I think...
He counted out jumpkeys onto the table : Khotan, Frost, Wolfs Lament, Fingisvold
Greolf : Obviously... abuse these and I shall not be pleased.
The cohort were both grateful and more than a little surprised that Greolf would be so reasonable and helpful.
Greolf : Where next, other than Hargard... I believe you have a refrigerator to deliver do you not?
Annissa : Hargard and then perhaps investigating Fingisvold
Greolf : Then I shan't detain you... Gods speed and keep me informed.
Back aboard the Osprey in orbit, the consensus was that Greolf did not seem as grim as his reputation.
Antonio : Until we cross him
Thane Gudrun's flagship had waited for Osprey in orbit and accompanied them back to Hargard.
The trip back to Hargard via the Frost jumpgate took nine days.
Landing at Valheim, the cohort were overseeing the unloading of their spoils when a messenger reported that there was someone waiting to see them in the ale hall.
Paranoid as ever, everyone immediately grabbed weapons, armour, energy shields, knives and swords before heading to the tavern to investigate.
Sat with a flagon of ale and a haunch of meat was Anil Gundarson, Ramakrishna intelligence agent.
Anil was cheery affability itself (or smug, depending on ones' point of view) and enquired after everyone's health and wellbeing before getting down to business and asking about their recent adventures.
When the cohort expressed regret that they were unable to get more information on the raiders activities, Anil suggested that he might be able to assist. The time was come due on the favour he had done them and he hoped that some of the benefit would actually be mutual.
He refused to be drawn on the details but it entailed carrying himself, some equipment and four 'mission specialists' to Frost.
It would take a day to arrange so the cohort would get to spend some time in the settlement and relax.
Annissa cautiously agreed, prompting Anil to fire up his comm unit and say “Eagle to base... we have a 'go'”
Ezra made time to spend time under a tree with a book and some fruit.
Antonio went to see his son.
Any passing telepath would be able to see the visions of glory, riches, a noble title and a parade with elephants and tickertape running through Anil's mind.
Meeting up with a Ramakrishna shuttle in orbit, two of the 'mission specialists' turned out to be Vuldrok Runecasters. One of the Runecasters moved around on a wooden trolley, having sacrificed his legs for Runlore. His colleague lacked an eye and was tattooed all over his body. Two Ramakrishna military technicians rounded out the team, busying themselves in preparing the cargo bay with complicated measuring equipment and some sort of Faraday cage.
Osprey headed for the jumpgate with Anil cheerily refusing to elaborate on just what he was up to, other than a chance comment about putting right “shooting first and asking questions later”.
Arriving in the Frost system, Anil gave a set of co-ordinates for Osprey to move to. On arrival at the designated point, the Runecasters began a casting and the technicians passing a series of adjustments to the ship's position and attitude in space.
Anil : Time for you lot to assemble a boarding party, armoured... suited up and armed. You'll need someone who can extract a computer core.
Bemused, the crew of Osprey assembled their boarding party.
As the rune casting reached a crescendo, a swirling nimbus of runes took form at the center of the cage and then with a bright flash, a 'window' appeared in the air, admitting smoke and sparks from a wrecked starship bridge.
Anil : Two minutes... in you go and be careful. Not a second more, your ship will destroy that vessel at the end of that time.
Antonio : Fucking hell!
Ezra : Time travel?
Anil (looking very smug indeed) : Oh yes...
Entering the wrecked bridge of the raider, the boarding team were confronted by a scene of carnage and devastation. Half the captain was still secured in his command chair while the remainder drifted around the interior of the bridge, mixed with most of the rest of the command crew.
Alectrona swiftly extracted the computer core while Antonio, Annissa and Ezra stood guard in case any of the surviving crew turned up unexpectedly.
With seconds to spare, the boarders exited the window and it winked back out of existence.
Anil explained that this runecasting was not strictly a violation of causality because the item retrieved no longer existed in the present continuum.
Anil : Now then... I'd call that a successful proof of concept test wouldn't you?
Antonio : Test for what?
Anil : Our main target and the balance of your obligation to my House...
Annissa : Being what?
Anil : I want you to take me and my team to Byzantum Secundus...
Annissa : Why?
Ezra (realisation dawning) : You wouldn't?
Anil (nodding) : I rather think we would.
Ezra : They're going after the lost Vote-Scepter of Vladimir Alecto!
Anil : Oh yes...
There then followed a very heating debate, during which Antonio dug his heels in and refused to have any part in the operation.
Anil seemed to require unanimity among the cohort and very much wanted the operation to remain a secret.
Annissa made compliance dependent on permission from the Empire, which Anil refused but did concede that he could consult his government. After a delay, House Ramakrishna took the position that the Emperor and only the Emperor could be consulted about their bid to recover a vote scepter.
Annissa also refused to carry the mission specialists, only Anil. The specialists could follow on if permission was given.
Anil made various allusions to the power of Runes, suggesting that their starship was not fully 'aware' until Mako the Shaper had “Got his hands on it”, telling the tale of how the Ishkin were said to have achieved sentience, one legend being that a Runecaster gifted them the Rune for thought.
Antonio was vehement that the lost scepter should stay lost, fearing that the Civil War would reignite over the extra power the rod would bring.
Anil was accused of insufferable smugness and arrogance, remaining enthusiastic about the project despite Antonio's or any of the other's concerns.
He explained that the 'technology' would serve as a demonstration of the sort of powers available to House Ramakrishna and the Vuldrok, things no priest or psychic could do, even if the Empire permitted all religions and didn't burn or oppress psychics.
We leave things with Osprey waiting for a Ramakrishna shuttle to arrive and take the mission specialists off.
Back to campaign diary index.

Session 46

November 4th 4,998 AD

We rejoin our heroes at the Hargard jumpgate as they prepared to return to the Known Worlds and convey Anil Gundarson and House Ramakrishna's proposal to the Emperor.
While the Osprey waited at the gate for the reset period to pass, Alectrona worked on the recovered computer core from the cult warship.

OOC - Alectrona played the "I find out everything" card.

The computer core revealed:
That the raider was carrying food, life support consumables and other supplies to restock a flotilla of warships in the Rampart system.
The ship was also carrying encrypted orders for those warships and another group in the Leminkainen system.
Details were also recovered of the rendezvous in the Rampart system where the cargoes would be delivered. In 10 days time.
There were also orders informing the raiders in the Rampart system to "shift from primary target to secondary targets in Li-Halan space"
Additionally, two sets of data were provided in the orders that detailed the sensor characteristics of two ships deemed "Priority targets" to be engaged and destroyed on sight : Osprey and 'Swift needle of enquiry' (Kolya's ship). These orders were flagged "copy 1 of 2".
After some bickering and debate the position "Let someone else deal with Rampart" won out over Annissa's initial stance of "This might be more urgent".
Emerging into the Byzantium Secundus system, an encrypted message was sent to the throneworld that summed up the basics. 24 hours later, orders arrived back that stated "You are the fastest ship closest to a gate with appropriate level of clearance. Proceed at best speed to Rampart."

Osprey took the route Bz-II -- Criticorum -- Kish -- Rampart

At Kish, some red tape was encountered with Annissa having to establish her bona fides with three levels of Li-Halan bureaucracy before being able to jump the queue and tag onto a Rampart bound convoy.
Attempts were made to alter Osprey's drive emissions at a slight performance penalty, as a precaution against the second copy of the 'kill order' having beaten them to the system.
The Li-Halan gate picket ships were no less bureaucratic than those at Kish but after some back and forth did agree to inform the inner system patrols and render assistance if possible. Annissa warned them that there "May be some shooting" (the untransmitted sentiment was "There usually is...")
Osprey arrived at the system's asteroid belt with two days to spare and the decision was to lie doggo in the general region given for the rendezvous and see what transpired.
In a particularly dense patch of space debris, sensors detected an old sensor platform, apparently inert.
At 'zero hour' the satellite powered up and transmitted a short range carrier wave. Annissa ordered the recognition code to be transmitted and was rewarded by the sight of a panel on the side of the satellite lighting up. The view through the ships telescope mounted camera showed some sort of keypad arrangement. After some worry that a second code might be needed, it was decided to send someone out in a space suit to try the original code on the keypad.
As Osprey nosed closer to the satellite to minimise the distance for the spacewalk, the AI overrode the controls and brought the ship to a sudden halt.
Osprey : I am detecting six missiles in passive mode some 1,000 meters out from the satellite.
With only three weapons able to bear on the missiles at any one time and nobody willing to follow Antonio's idea of a mass space walk to "shoot the missiles in the drive module with handguns" it was decided to just risk it and nose to a few hundred meters, ready to high tail it if the missiles woke up.
Antonio performed a perfect EVA and input the code, getting a second set of co-ordinates output to a data slot. The co-ordinates appeared to relate to a location somewhere on the surface of Rampart itself.
Heading out of the belt and toward the mainworld, Osprey was attacked by a flight of rebel/pirate fighters, receiving minor damage from a missile before Annissa began swearing at the enemy over the radio and turned their Imperial transponder back on, at which point the pirates broke off and disappeared into the asteroid field whence they came (with the promised Li-Halan assistance an hour or so away).
Arriving in Rampart orbit, the planetary governor’s office promised every possible assistance, after passing Annissa's call through various levels of functionary.
Rampart:
A cool temperate world that was once in line to be capitol of the Second Republic. Once a League world, it fell to the Li-Halan during the Emperor Wars and is being assimilated into that House's culture. It is still a high technology economy despite a natural disaster over a century ago.
Its ecology is Urthlike, albeit having only left the 'age of reptiles' some 3-4 million years ago.
The Li-Halan deny any problems with piracy, rebellion and high tech insurgency by those opposed to their rule.

Landing at the VIP pad in the capital, Aveneir, the party were shocked and bewildered to see an honour guard and a band waiting for them.
It was at this point that Ezra decided to mention that prior to his career as an Eskatonic priest and archaeologist; he had in fact been a Li-Halan serf and was technically still on the run from repossession by his former masters.
Antonio: And you think to mention this now, thirty seconds before we meet the Li-Halan and their brass band?
Ezra hastily donned his most concealing ecclesiastical robes while his comrades absorbed this little bombshell before the Questing Cohort went out to meet the local dignitaries.
The knight sent to meet them; Tsien-Shi Li-Halan was fulsome in his welcome and willingness to assist. He conveyed the party by limousine to the governor’s palace and installed them in a suite of rooms so that they could prepare for a dinner to be given in their honour later that evening.

Mindful that they were meant to be subtly investigating the potential handover of weapons of mass destruction, the party were keen to get a chance to slip off into town and investigate the co-ordinates they had obtained.
The city was an impressive sight, although sharp eyes caught glimpses of extensive checkpoints, frequent armoured patrols and other signs that all was not entirely as the Li-Halan would have outsiders believe.
Antonio was also rather set on the idea of a bath, and possibly a massage.
Tsien-shi was prevailed upon to arrange a meeting with someone in security and when 'Agent Chen' arrived, it was explained to him that the party needed to get to a certain location to investigate something of importance to the Emperor.
Agent Chen informed them that the co-ordinates were for "a most insalubrious place in a not very pleasant district" and promised to provide two plainclothes drivers and a beaten up looking van, plus copious backup at a discreet distance.
The district in question was gloomy and sullen, a provable fact given the psychoreactive nature of the concrete that made up much of Aveneirs' buildings, reflecting as it did the mood of the populace. The location proved to be a rather seedy looking bar called "The Red Rose" (a possible reference to the Li-Halan's diabolist past before their conversion to the Church).
Alectrona extended her perceptions into the local lifeweb, something the nano-mycelium matrix in the concrete actually made somewhat easier and discovered the nauseating stench of a 'nullity' within the bar. Someone or something in the building was not very nice at all...
Annissa was able to talk the group past the initially obstructive bouncer on the door and the be-cloaked and trenchcoated Questing Knights made their way into the dark and smokey environs of the club. Antonio chided Annissa for tipping the bouncer a whole Firebird.
Ezra's theurgical sight and Alectrona's lifeweb perceptions both 'made' the source of the nullity at the precise moment his equivalent senses 'made' them... The figure and his companion at the back table rapidly rose and made for the rear exit but not before pointing at the party and yelling "Informers!"
Fleeing the flurry of blows and beer bottles, the party rushed back the way they had came, unobstructed by the bouncer whose appreciation of his sizeable gratuity outweighed for the moment any desire to see agents of the state get a right kicking.
The party ran around the side of the building to try and catch up with the fleeing cultists but instead ran into two other individuals with SMG's who opened fire.
Judicious use of the "botched attack" adventure card meant that the plasma grenade the would-be ambushers used did not take out the party as planned but instead cut the ambush messily short.
The party chased the cultists through the alleys of the city as sirens, searchlights and police loudspeakers cut through the night. The activities in the bar had led to a full scale police raid as the backup tried to catch up with the action and a minor riot was now in progress.
In the running battle that followed, the party chased the cultists down into the sewers (Ezra being mildly blown up by a booby trapped manhole cover) and down a series of malodorous tunnels. Ezra also fell afoul of a large and ill tempered alligator like creature which nearly drowned him before being dispatched.
The cultists triggered some sort of poison gas trap but had not reckoned on the Vau life-support sheathes that the party were carrying, which automatically deployed to protect their wearers.
An attempt to use some sort of psionic attack on Ezra failed and the cultist was gunned down for his troubles, leaving his less arcane colleague to face the full wrath of the party.
When the cultist's first grenade failed to do any damage (a well played 'dud' card by Alectrona's player) Ezra decided to charge and close to melee range, hoping to take the cultist alive. Annissa and Antonio followed, with the rest of the group giving covering fire.
Rather than face capture, the cultist pulled the pin on the grenade on his belt and charged Ezra and the others.
Annissa turned tail, leaping with extreme grace and agility over the recumbent form of Antonio who had fallen flat on his face in his haste to get clear.
Ezra and Antonio were caught in the blast from the plasma grenade but fortunately for them, their shields failed AFTER the blast had washed over them and not before, meaning they were both merely half-dead, rather than a faint outline of a shadow on the wall, like the cultist.
We leave our heroes in the sewer, with Annissa searching the non-vaporised cultist for clues and Alectrona ministering to a deafened, blackened and scorched Ezra and Antonio.
Back to campaign diary index.

Session 47

Game Date : November 16th 4,998

Action resumes in the aftermath of the sewer fight against the Cultists

Annissa searches the body of the cultist that did not blow himself up and retrieves his wallet.

Party met at sewer exit by Li-Halan S.W.A.T. Team. Party escorted back to quarters for debrief.

Li-Halan promise to run the contents of the wallet through their security system.

Ezra : You've got something horrible in your sewers you know

Tsien-Shi : This level of chaos and disorder is most unexpected.
Ezra : You've not met us before...

Antonio : You know, it's been a while since I was bittern by a venomous reptile.
Ezra : How is your ex-wife by the way?

Annissa asked if the cultists were on any DNA database and the Li-Halan promised to check.

There was much frustration over the lack of leads (in no small part due of course to the messy demise of the last two suspects)

The party head back to the ship to talk to Anil (who is a professional intelligence operative)

Ezra recalls the Ur-Mask he recovered from the raid on the manor house in Ostmark.

Annissa : That thing might be dangerous, can't we test it on a peasant first?
Ezra : I am a peasant...

Ezra donned the mask and found that it bonded to the front of his head with some sort of adhesive property of the material and some rather robust looking claws that grew out of the metal.

The mask seemed to give a view of the world that showed the traces back in time of objects and people, along with hints of the energy that composed them. People appeared like long caterpillar series of images getting fainter as they got further 'away'. Items with no real significance to a person were hardly visible, prized possessions were more distinct etc.

The mask seemed to be drawing the energy from Ezra's life force and there was some concern about how to get the damn thing off.

OOC – Annissa's player used the +4 trait test card for her next idea:

Annissa got the party to link hands and touch Ezra, meditating on the mask removing itself. This seemed to work.

Ezra was left very fatigued but there was no physical damage from the experience.

Ezra : Maybe it will come off when I go unconscious?
Antonio : I could use a club!
Annissa : Use a taser!

The next morning, the party arose and decided to use Ezra to try and backtrack their dead contact to his point of origin and then perhaps pick up the trail of those he was working with (whoever it was that the warhead was intended for).

Anil asked mock-rhetorically whether the Ur-mask was legal and Ezra therefore donned his best monastic style robes with a nice deep hood.
Annissa : We can dress him as a Holy Man
Antonio : Or a dog... on a lead.

The Li-Halan announced that their search of the dead man's hotel room had revealed nothing but allowed the party access to perform their own search. On Anil's advice, the party had hired their own vehicle, although the Li-Halan thoughtfully provided a tail/escort.

Ezra picked up the trail of an individual with a very nasty aura who visited the man in the hotel room and the party took off in their car across the city.

The path they followed was an evasion course, resulting in their inadvertently losing their own tail car.

OOC – Ezra's player made a series of incredibly spawny Spirit rolls for the use of the mask (many many exploding dice).

After three hours, Ezra finally collapsed with exhaustion and the mask fell off. The party were now in the countryside some two hours outside of town.

Each of the other party members tried the mask but it would not work for them.

Some four hours later, as Ezra was beginning to stir, Anil called on a secure channel. Casey had been arrested by Li-Halan security on a charge of psionically assaulting a deckhand with telekinesis.

The party abandoned their wait by the side of the country road and sped back toward town.

Part way back, Anil called back to inform them that the deckhand had died and the charge was now “Murder by means of the Evil Eye”, an archaic Church charge for which the penalty was death.

House Li-Halan being very close to the Church had given the prisoner immediately over to the Inquisition and were happy to let Church law deal with the matter.

Ezra was dropped off at the ship to check what information they could muster there.

Alectrona and Antonio headed to the city prison to try and get access to Casey

Annissa went straight to the governor's palace.

Antonio made a lot of rash statements about killing Avestites.

At the prison, the knights were met with uncooperative members of the Avestite order who refused point blank to allow them into the wing reserved for Church prisoners. When Antonio produced his badge and warrant, they told him they could not read. A literate Inquisitor was sent for but he pointed out that Questing Knights could only demand access to records, not prisoners and so Brother Septimus told them :“When she has finished being put to the question, you can have the transcripts”

Annissa was very politely stonewalled by the governor's staff who told Annissa that the governor was away inspecting troops but that any security footage would be made available as per the Imperial warrant. Annissa also demanded the name of the best firm of Reeve advocates in town.

Annissa arranged a meeting with an Advocate. The fact that Casey was an alien, a pagan, a psychic and engaged in a pre-marital sexual relationship with a churchgoer would not stand in her favour at all in a Church court. He did give hope that the old Republican code of law on Rampart might still carry some weight and that perhaps Casey might be tried in a civil court rather than the Church. This would take some time to check. In the meantime, he would apply for a blocking order to stop further torture.

Raki, the trained Raccoon was used to smuggle a message of support and some painkillers into Casey's cell.

Ezra reviewed Osprey's own footage. Casey had got into an argument with a ground crewman who used a racially offensive term for an Ur-Ukar to her and a packing crate had then flown up from the ground and struck him in the head.

Anil speculated about staging a jailbreak of political prisoners from the adjacent wing to cover extracting Casey as a plan of last resort.

Messages asking for help were sent to : Brother Viktor (a fairly sympathetic seeming Avestite Inquisitor they had met on Bz-II), the Bishop of Bz-II, Brother Balthazar on Grail and Ezra's mentor Shohan on Pentateuch.

Using the mask, Ezra examined the scene of the 'murder' and determined that Casey's aura did not flare at the time of the attack, something he would have expected to see, having seen Alectrona's aura when she used her 'Affinity'.

Casting his gaze wider, Ezra spotted a flare of power and darkness some 100m away from the ship in an area used to store cargo. Someone hiding among the crates and barrels had flung the crate, not Casey.

The suspect's trail was backtracked to a house in an affluent suburb of the city. The property was detached with a large garden and an underground parking garage.

Alectrona and Antonio return later to stake out the house.

Anil slipped out into the city to 'go shopping'

There was much plan related bickering.

The Reeve was able to get Casey transferred to the civilian wing of the prison. She would be allowed visitors the following day.

Anil returned in the early hours with a holdall of non-lethal ammunition, stun grenades etc. Back to campaign diary index.

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