AP (ToaM) - Tales of the Arx Jericho - Season 2, Episode 07: Faith Day

+Robert Ruthven, one of the players in the Tears of a Machine game I'm running wrote up a fantastic AP on his blog and has given me permission to repost it here as a guest post.

I haven't been posting a lot of APs for season 2, but there's a detailed recap of episode 01 and a summary of episodes 02-06 you can check out if you haven't already.

---

Starring...

• Rick Hunter: Team leader, Blue Company. Rick is the son of a human abductee and a renegade Mayzor general. Rick long ago swore revenge on the Mayzor for taking his mother, but the recent revelations about his father have resulted in Rick suffering an identity crisis, which he has been taking out violently on anyone who threatens those close to him. Well, more violently than normal, since Rick is hot-blooded most of the time anyway.

• Esteban Knowles: Alpha Company pilot. Esteban was orphaned by the Mayzor and raised as part of a child soldier program and has spent most of his life drilling and learning to take orders. As such, he finds it difficult to connect with his fellow pilots in normal social situations, and struggles when required to act on his own initiative.

• Marten Oiseleur: Alpha Company pilot. Formerly of Arx Bethlehem, Marten was transferred to Alpha Company aboard the Arx Jericho after recovering from an incident in which his SAInt was destroyed and he had to be resuscitated after the pilot pod was crushed. Since then, Marten has experienced dreams and auditory hallucinations in which the 'ghost' of his former SAInt speaks to him. Determined and brave, Marten tackles whatever challenges he faces with sheer force of will. 

• Jason Reyes: Alpha Company pilot. Technically gifted, but not the most physical or athletic of kids. Jason has never really got along with his career military step father despite wanting to because of this, and became a SAiNT pilot in the hopes of making his stepfather proud of him. Things grew strained between them after his mother was abducted during the Mayzor assault on the Arx Galilee, which Jason partially blamed him for. He blames him even more now, having discovered that his step-father is in fact one of the Mayzor generals. Jason is quiet and reserved most times, although he does have a penchant for assigning nicknames to people, places and objects. 

• Sarah Werner: Second-in-Command of Blue Company. Fun-loving and high-spirited, Sarah likes to help others and keep everyone happy. Her parents are alive, and her brother is a Robbie pilot for the Preservation Forces. She is an exceptional pilot, having defeated a Magnus single-handedly, and enjoys playing video games with friends in her spare time.

Guest Stars for this episode...

• Laurie Bach: Jason's girlfriend and Second-in-Command of Bravo Company. Loving, loyal, committed. She can get jealous like any other girl, but she doesn't generally hold a grudge or has much of a temper. She's genuinely happy most of the time, despite the Mayzor attacks, but she's not incapable of being sad. She's smart, quick-thinking, charismatic, and respected by the rest of her company mates and fellow pilots. 

• Dr Elizabeth Harris: Extremely kind, passionate about the lives and well being of the SAInt pilots, cheerful and optimistic at the worst of times, often a friend to all. She has taken over Marten's psychiatric treatment since his transfer to the Arx Jericho.

• Billy Henderson: Former pilot and newly appointed head of security and combat instructor for the SAInt Academy. During his piloting days, Billy was a jerk and an ass, plain and simple. He was usually confrontational, prone to violence, and always throwing the first insult. He does have a hidden sensitive side though, which may be what attracted Rick's sister, Serena to him back when they were dating. Billy has matured and mellowed somewhat since retiring as a pilot, proving himself a trustworthy ally to the younger pilots in their secret investigation of the Mayzor conspiracy hidden within the Preservation Forces.

• Captain Anastasia "AK-47" Kasherov: Operations director and SAInt Academy instructor, currently suspended pending a review into her recent command performance. Strict, direct, confident, not afraid to speak her mind, sympathetic, gives praise when its deserved, loyal, motherly, soft and caring underneath a harsh and strict demeanor.

• Joanne Klein: Current team leader of Alpha Company and Rick's girlfriend. Fiercely competitive and confrontational like Billy but less direct. She's more of a tease and usually not completely serious.

• Lieke: One of two twins piloting the tandem-operated Mendicant-class SAInt for Bravo Company. She is quiet, reserved, shy, introverted, relaxed, feminine, friendly, serious, and more prone to fear than her brother. She's currently competing for the affections of Strudel, who's been leading her and Ryoko on lately. 

• Kazuhiro Masaki: Current leader of Bravo Company. Kazuhiro is the strong, silent and charismatic type. He used to be bullied, now defends against bullies. Used to openly take credit, now he doesn't. Lives with regrets and dark memories. He has a close friendship with his 2IC, Laurie, leading some to speculate how close they really are. 

• Ryoko Mizushima: Current leader of Charlie Company. Contemplative, childish, flighty, easily depressed. 

• Douglas Reyes: Charlie Company's newest pilot and Jason's step-brother. Douglas has a superiority complex and looks down on all the pilots, especially his step-brother. He has clear psychotic tendencies and is clearly part of some secret agenda, either his own or his father's. He also strongly dislikes any shortened form of his given name.

• Alex "Strudel" Struder: Strudel is extremely hyper the majority of the time and exponentially so when given sugar. He overhears things far too often and knows way more than he probably should. He had more sympathy for Billy than most of his other friends with the exception of Serena perhaps. Lately, Strudel has let the fame of being one of the SAInt pilots who defended the Jericho go to his head, and has become a bit of a 'Lothario', leading on both Ryoko and Lieke, after having broken up with Stephanie.

• Stephanie Yuzuki: Bravo Company pilot, Marten's girlfriend and Strudel's ex. She's flexible, nimble, and can pack some power when she needs to into her swings during Kendo practice. Fiercely loyal to her friends but generally somber and serious in her demeanor. She loves fiercely and does absolutely anything for the ones she loves, but she grows jealous easily and overreacts if she's hurt. She's always been easily depressed.

• Opsie Wessel: Blue company pilot and Sarah's cousin. Opsie loves being the center of attention and projecting her opinions onto everyone else. She loves to take charge and take credit for almost everything, especially when it makes her look good or benefits her. Nevertheless, she's loyal and grounded when shit hits the fan. Still, there are only a handful of people that actually consider her a friend. She enjoys a sibling-style rivalry with Sarah.

Previously, on Tales of the Arx Jericho...

Rick shoves the Mayzor collaborator, Dr Johnson, against a wall and forces him to spill what he knows about the Mayzor plans: "Commander Yamasuka is the Grand Mayzor General, the others I know of are Martin Reyes (Jason's stepfather), Brünhild Wessel (Opsie's mother), Dr. Kreuz (the CRC scientist who founded the Cloistered Research Council and was the father of the Preservation Forces and the SAInts), and Rafe Hunter (Rick's father). But Hunter is a traitor, he's trying to initiate a Mayzor civil war." 

Cut to Serena being abducted by masked figures, and then to Rick and the others fighting the same masked figures at a run-down warehouse as Johnson continues: "Commander Yamasuka, recruited Ora Cohen and the Followers of the Communion to find out Rafe's whereabouts through you and your sister, Rick. She even gifted Cohen with special, Legulus abilities to be able to see psychic projections and read the dreams of others."

"Why?" Rick demands, "Why did they make hybrids like Serena and me?"

Cut to Rick, seeing his reflection in a dream, with the pale skin and silver hair of the Mayzor. 

Cut to Jason at lunch with his father and step-brother. His father gestures to Douglas: "I'd like to introduce you to your step-brother, Douglas."

"Hi Doug." Jason greets him.

"It's Douglas." Douglas coldly replies.

Cut to Jason's pod being ejected from his SAInt on the moon, then to him in the hospital as Douglas pinches his IV line and gives him a creepy smile: "I could snuff your life out right now as easily as I could a fly, little brother."

Esteban appears behind Douglas and slams him into a nearby table. Cut to Douglas backing out of the room, still grinning: "I'll see you later, brother."

Brief flashes of the SAInts clashing with Mayzor units in previous battles, as we hear Rick continuing his interrogation of Dr Johnson: "If Dr Kreuz is one of the Mayzor, then the technology they use to fight us came from the Mayzor, what's the point of it all? What are they after?"

Dr Johnson smirks: "They've been playing humanity from the start. It's all part of a grander scheme, an experiment to supply the Mayzor with as much power as possible."

"But how?"

Rick shakes Johnson, who shakes his head: "I don't know, the Commander hasn't shared the whole plan with me."

Rick pulls out his Linc and presses the stop button in his recorder app, giving Johnson a cold smile as the man regards the device with growing horror: "Now we have proof."

Cut to Rick walking away with Sarah and Serena as Johnson shouts after him: "You can't stop it, Hunter! No matter what you do, the Mayzor have a plan, the will always have a plan!"

His voice fades in an echo as the screen goes to black...


Two weeks ago...

The Names of the Lost 
Rick and Serena check the list of returnees rescued from the Mayzor outpost in the Tsander crater, but do not find their mother's name on it. Serena consoles her brother, telling him that they at least know rescuing people from the Mayzor is possible now. She then wonders if there's any way they might be able to find out which outpost she's being held at, and whether their father would know. Rick points out that they have no way of contacting Rafe, but Serena wonders if Ora Cohen might be able to help them with the 'psychic gifts' that Dr Johnson mentioned her having been given. Rick is hesitant about the idea, since Cohen already kidnapped Serena once before to contact Rafe through them, but agrees it might be worth a shot.

Jason shows up to check the list too, searching for his own mother. He doesn't find her name on the list, but he does notice the name 'Esther Knowles', which he notes is the same surname as their fellow pilot Esteban...


Friday, April 2nd 2032

A Storm of Emotions
To celebrate the pilots' first successful rescue of human captives from the Mayzor, the Faithful - a religious group praising the SAInt pilots as reincarnations of actual saints - organise an event celebrating Earth's various different cultures and faiths which they call Faith Day. The whole Arx is decked out with banners, flags, Chinese lanterns and all sorts of varied decorations. There are lots of different booths and shows, offering food and entertainment.

The pilots and their classmates are given the day off to join in the festivities. Jason is at the Australian food stall, munching on a kangaroo burger when Strudel shows up with Lieke on one arm and Ryoko on the other, both of them competing for his affections while he looks very pleased with himself. Getting away from them briefly, he asks Jason for advice on how to deal with both of them demanding his attention all the time. Jason coolly suggests he pick one, telling him to stop leading the girls on. Marten is nearby with Strudel's ex-girlfriend Stephanie and notices her jealous looks toward the boy. He decides to speak his own mind and talks to Strudel about karma, indicating that his behavior will come back to bite him later if he isn't careful. Strudel retorts that at least he doesn't hear voices in his head, further infuriating Marten. He asks where Strudel heard this and the younger pilot says Opsie told him. Marten and Stephanie both in a stormy mood. Jason warns Strudel that he's turning into an even bigger jerk than Billy used to be, and that if he's not careful he'll look up from SpaceBook one day to find he has no real friends left. Strudel just laughs him off and moonwalks back to Lieke and Ryoko.

Meanwhile, Marten tries to sooth Stephanie's jealous rage and tells her that the Strudel he's heard about from the other pilots - the one that she dated - is gone, and whoever he is now is something else entirely. She agrees, but wishes she could find some way to teach him a lesson. Marten tries to distract her by steering her towards the Kendo club's demonstration tent in the garden area, but that gives her an idea on how to get back at Strudel: she'll challenge him to a Kendo match and wipe the floor with him in front of his 'floozies'. Marten decides to go along with this, and agrees to issue the challenge to Strudel for her, while she goes off to spread the word and prepare for the match.

Before they part ways to do so, they run into Esteban, who wants to do some one-on-one training with Marten to increase their efficiency in the field, since they've worked together regularly in combat. He wants to do the training tomorrow, but Stephanie protests that tomorrow is a Saturday. Esteban fails to see the problem, however. Stephanie tries to convince him to do a Kendo match with Marten instead, but Esteban is hesitant to actually fight Marten, as he wouldn't want to humiliate him in public. This irritates both Marten and Stephanie, who both grow insistent upon the match and get Esteban to agree to meet up at the Kendo tent later.

Elsewhere, Sarah is playing a new VR edition of her favourite game (Shinobi Knights) with Raspberry at the gaming booths, when AK-47 passes by in civilian attire and spots them. She asks about the game and listens to Sarah gush about it for a bit before deciding she'd like to give it a try. Sarah tries to start her off with a game against Raspberry, but AK-47 encourages Sarah to impress her with her skills..which she fails to do, suffering embarrassing defeat due to AK-47's beginner's luck and her own inexperience with the VR edition. Raspberry is doubled over with laughter at Sarah getting schooled not only by a newbie, but by their own teacher. Sarah pleads to make it best out of three.

Jason finishes his burger and spots his girlfriend Laurie walking around the booths with her team's leader, Kazuhiro, and goes over to join them. They discuss Bravo Company's recent battle in San Francisco, against a Magnus that landed on Alcatraz island, and Laurie complains about how the Preservation Forces have been limiting the number of pilots sent on moon missions since they brought the plague back from their initial recon. She says she isn't jealous, but she does miss going into space a lot. Jason assures her that eventually they'll push the Mayzor back enough that they'll be fighting them primarily in space but Kazuhiro is less optimistic, feeling they might be fighting a losing battle. During the conversation, Jason lets slip that there's a lot more going on behind the scenes, leading Laurie to ask what he knows that they don't. He doesn't want to say anything there and then, noticing his step-brother Douglas passing by, and tells them he'll explain later, after he's discussed things with the others (meaning Rick, Sarah and the rest of the pilots who are in the know). As he leaves, he notices Douglas talking to Opsie and mutters: 'He's welcome to her.'

Elsewhere, Rick and Joanne have taken a break from their responsibilities at the Kendo tent to enjoy some of the food available from the booths. Rick has agreed to try snail after having convinced Joanne to try out haggis, which almost made her throw up. While Rick is chewing on snail, Stephanie shows up with a mischevious grin on her face which puts him on edge until he realises he isn't the target of the planned revenge it portends. He and Joanne both approve of her plan to teach Strudel a lesson, but Rick is taken aback to hear about Esteban and Marten's match. 

After Stephanie leaves to tell Sarah, Jason shows up and tells Rick about his conversation with Laurie and Kazuhiro, suggesting it's time they got the leaders of all the companies together to have 'the talk'. Rick says they can arrange to have everybody meet in the Kendo clubroom later, after Stephanie's match against Strudel. Jason decides to pretend no knowledge of Stephanie's plans, but secretly hopes somebody posts it on YouTube.

Over at the games area, Sarah has just suffered a third humiliating defeat at VR Shinobi Knights against AK-47 when Stephanie shows up to tell her about the Kendo match. Sarah agrees to come along, and AK-47 says she'd like to join them as she is curious to see the pilots practicing combat outside of their SAInts.

Esteban visits the Cuban booth, where he meets a 17-year-old Cuban girl with a worn look about her. She seems to look at him curiously, before asking his advice on what to try, since she hasn't visited Cuba in a while and isn't sure what she'd like. Esteban soon learns that she is one of the returnees from the Tsander outpost and has a vafue flashback to his childhood when she introduces herself as Esther Knowles. He doesn't remember much about his life before the orphanage where he grew up, but he vaguely recalls having a sibling. He notes a physical resemblance to himself and backs away in shock, escusing himself and hurrying away. Esteban goes on his Linc to check his family history and finds that his parents had two other, older children: Anita Knowles (deceased) and Esther Knowles.


'Friendly' Sparring
Esteban is still reeling from this discovery when he finds himself at the Kendo tent and runs into Marten, who's ready and raring to go. Esteban tries to forfeit because he doesn't think he's in the right frame of mind, but Stephanie stirs things up by implying that Marten beat him without even having to do anything. Marten tries to call it off anyway, but Esteban yells 'no' several times, drawing looks from the crowd as he says more quietly that he will go ahead with the match.

As the two of them prepare for the match they notice a lot of whispering and stares from the crowd. Rick and Joanne - who are already back to help out at the tent - notice the commotion, and the other pilots soon show up to watch the match. Sarah asks what all the buzz is about, and someone from the crowd mentions Esteban flipping out and that he's about to fight 'the looney guy'. She learns about the rumours Opsie has been spreading about Marten and share this with Rick, Joanne and Stephanie. When Stephanie realises this is what all the whispering is about she yells at the crowd to shut up.

The match begins and Esteban starts off on the defensive, not really focused on the fight due to his confused state of mind, but soon snaps out of it and reflexively cracks Marten on the head with his practice sword. Marten taunts him by suggesting Esteban was just saying he wasn't in the mood to catch him off guard. Esteban gets flustered while trying to deny this and presses the attack, flanking Marten and whacking him in the back.

Marten is knocked to the ground and spots Dr Harris in the crowd, which makes him uncomfortable. He pushes himself back up and evades Esteban's attacks with nimble footwork. The two of them circle each other, with Esteban taunting Marten this time by saying he thought the other boy wanted a proper fight. Marten tries to pull the same flanking manuever on Esteban, and the two of them keep neatly dodging and weaving past each others strikes. Marten continues smack talking Esteban until the boy soldier has had enough and punches Marten in the face.

Joanne calls foul, Esteban apologises, telling Marten that he has trouble keeping his emotions in check where Marten is involved. Marten suggests they're both a bit too worked up and concedes the match. Stephanie objects to Marten giving up, despite his protests that he's simply acknowledging his teammate's skill. When he tries to convince her to let it go, she tells him she's not just upset about Esteban talking smack about him earlier, but also about the rumours that are going around and asks if they're true. Marten looks from Stephanie to Esteban, then back, and flees the scene. She doesn't try to chase after him, but the fight has gone out of her. She wonders where Strudel is, and Rick asks if he was issued the challenge, leading her to guess that Marten must not have approached him about it. She stomps off, with Joanne running after her and Rick trailing along behind, deciding to stay out of it because they probably need some 'girl talk'. 

Speaking of girl talk, Sarah texts Opsie and asks to meet at the German booth, wanting to talk to the girl about the rumours she's been spreading and find out where she heard it from.

Esteban and Dr Harris catch up to Marten, who tries to outpace them but eventually just deflates and stops in the middle of a corridor. Esteban reaches him and apologises again, explaining that the reason he has trouble when he's around Marten is that he thinks Marten gets too emotionally involved in things and asks why he can't seem to keep his feelings under control. Marten retorts that the reason he has such strong emotional responses is that it's the only way he can shut out the voices he hears, because the pills don't help enough. With that, Marten heads off with Dr Harris for an emergency session to discuss everything that's happened today.

Feeling like a complete failure in his handling of both Marten and the revelation about his long-lost sister, Esteban seeks out counsel from Billy. He finds the head of security in one of the Arx's streets, stuffing his face from a plateful of pasta. Billy is taken aback by the personal nature of Esteban's request for advice and freezes with noodles in his mouth, not quite sure how to respond...

Sarah meets up with Opsie - who's been having fun winning all the games - at the German booth, finding her there with Douglas. Sarah talks her into revealing her source about Marten's disorder, and discovers that Dr Johnson was the one who told her as a warning to 'be careful of the other pilots'. In quieter tones, she talks about the discovery that she, Rick and Serena are all half-Mayzor and wonders if Sarah is too. Sarah brushes off the question, saying she's still waiting on test results. Douglas butts in to try and find out what they're talking about, but Sarah claims they're just talking about girl stuff.

Douglas tries to pump her for information about Blue Company, and when she deflects his questions he gloats that he'll soon be joining Blue Company and that he'll end up being team leader and that there are going to be some changes.  When Sarah comments on how confident he seems about this he goes on to brag that he has special talents and abilities that will ensure his superiority to them. With further coaxing from Sarah and Opsie he tells them that the Mayzor have secretly been breeding with humans to create half-Mayzor hybrids, of which he is one. He admits that he doesn't know who the others are. He then tells them to keep this to themselves, or he'll come after them and it won't be pretty. He takes his leave of them, saying he and Sarah should talk again sometime, as she seems to have gained his favour by using his proper name.

Having recovered from the shock of Esteban's query, Billy walks with him and listens as he explains that he thinks he knows what to do about his issues with Marten, but not what to do about his sister. Billy suggests he should just reach out to her and try to get to know her better. Moving on to more professional matters, he says he'd like to look over Esteban's new weapons designs and suggests he work with Jason on some of them, since Jason is working on his own EZKY-L project.

Esteban excuses himself and first of all texts Marten a training schedule to go ahead with the joint training he suggested earlier. He then posts a public message on the SAInt pilots' group forum:

Dear pilots,
It has come to my attention that rumours have been circulating about my teammate, Marten Oiseleur, rumours that have been damaging to his reputation. I am unsure of as to where this information started, nor does it matter if it is true. What I do know, however, is facts so let us analyse these. So far, officer Oiseleur:1) Has spent a good deal of his teenage life protecting the citizens of Earth from the deadly Mayzor. Check.2) Was proven good enough to be assigned to Alpha Company (the Aardvarks) where nothing but the best of the best soldiers are placed. Check.3) Was part of the moon base assault where Bravo Company was infected and bedridden for weeks. He helped take down a giant Mayzor while also accomplishing the objective of the mission. Check.4) Single handedly is responsible for the rescue of Charlie Company during their ambush. Each and every member of that company owes him their lives. Check.5) Was there for the first human rescue mission - which, as an aside, also included the elimination of not one, but two advanced Mayzors, while completing a perfect mission. Check.6) Is my battle partner, whom I trust with my life implicitly. Check. 

Now I understand that people all want a scapegoat, a person to laugh at, someone to look down on to better themselves when they all may die suddenly in the middle of a mission. That makes sense, as it is a well known tactic amongst lesser minded people to keep themselves sane. 

However, this sort of business will not stand. Officer Oiseleur has proven time and again that he is not only better than the average SAInt pilot, but he has gone above and beyond the call of duty in both battle and teamwork. 

So if you wish to shut him down with petty rumours and terrible ideas, please remember - he is my partner and I am not known for my human empathy. 

- Esteban Knowles 

P.S. If you wish to have a scapegoat, please refer to Douglas Reyes. He speaks funny, has a strange look in his eye, and doesn't like being called Doug. Plus, he is new and not as nice as his younger, far more talented brother.

(The post gets twelve +1s and Esteban later receives one long, detailed message from Douglas_Reyes expressing his displeasure.)

When Esteban returns to the Cuban booth in search of Esther, she is long gone.


An Uninvited Guest
Later on, Jason and the others have assembled the team leaders from Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Echo companies, as well as all of Blue and Alpha Company, AK-47, Dr Harris, Billy and Laurie for a secret briefing in the Kendo clubroom. Sarah gives them all a brief explanation of why they've been gathered, and Rick plays the recording he took of his interrogation of Dr Johnson. After the recording finishes, they fill in the information not covered in it; the blueprints of Mayzor tech found on Dr Johnson's computer on multiple occasions, Rick's meeting with Rafe, Serena's abduction by the Followers of the Communion, etc.

As they're wrapping up, they realise that Douglas is standing at the back of the room and giving them all a creepy stare and evil smile...

TO BE CONTINUED...

Jason goes to punch Douglas with Marten and Rick both ready to jump him...

Sarah and Opsie confront Douglas in the hallway, with Sarah asking: "What are we going to become?"

Douglas just smirks: "You'll see soon enough..."

Marten runs through the Arc, with Stephanie chasing after him. He gets through a door and tries to shut it, but she holds it open with a determined look in her eyes...

Rick enters the warehouse chapel of the Followers of the Communion with Esteban, Joanne, Marten, and Serena all present.

Ora Cohen turns from giving a sermon and regards them coolly: "Ah, the Prince and Princess of the Mayzor grace us with their presence. What are you here for?"

Rick smirks: "I thought we might be able to help each other out."

Fade to: 

NEXT EPISODE: 'Anagnorisis'

AP (FC) - The Gurlitt Heist Part II

I played my second session of Fate last Thursday, where we wrapped up the Gurlitt Heist story.

Unfortunately, we didn't have all of the original players, but we did have Sabine's player, Gunther's player, myself (who played Alana), and a new player who took over for Bloody Dimitry. Sir Mordred and Shadow were still with the group in-game, but they were NPCs.

As much as I wanted to play Night Witches or a Fallout-themed Apocalypse World game, I was more excited to finish the Fate story. I mean, it was time for the actual heist! Plus, I didn't want to see all that planning go to waste.

If you're just tuning in, click here for Part I (includes premise and cast).

---

The Gurlitt Heist

Part II

Source: http://tinyurl.com/pevhgvg; Credit: Cheryl Carlin
Image used without permission.

The Heist

It was Friday, the 12th, middle of the day. Sabine pulled the delivery van into the parking lot of the Justizpalast, and no one seemed to suspect anything. 

Alana and Bloody Dimitry wore police uniforms to disguise themselves and entered the building with the fake paperwork that Shadow drew up for them.

Inside, they saw a horde of officers and mug shots of wanted criminals plastered over the wall. Dimitry's indistinguishable face was among them.

Alana tried to rip it off without anyone noticing. Fortunately, the officers got a call for an assault in progress and left the building. Even though Dimitry was an obvious suspect, they didn't stare at him long enough to piece two and two together. Even if they had, clearly there was someone else assaulting police officers all around Munich.

Outside, Sabine noticed a man across the street. He was casing the building but wasn't being very subtle about. She pulled out her phone to, "check her email," and took a photo of him. She went over to the gate guard and offered him a cigarette while telling him that a sketchy man had been surveilling the building for the past twenty minutes. The officer thanked her, and Sabine walked back to the van.

Inside, on the third floor, Alana met the same officer who Sir Mordred spoke to during their reconnaissance visit. She handed him the paperwork, and he began to check it but then stopped. 

"It seems there's a problem," he said, "Someone must have been playing a practical joke on you." 

Alana felt uneasy but kept her cool and asked what the problem was. The police officer read the name of the recipient on the paper which featured a horrible obscenity. Shadow's compulsive anarchism had gone too far, and Alana was seething, ready to kill him.

"There must be some mistake," she said and then faked a laugh, "Oh, they got me good!  Clearly, one of the officers is just getting back at me. Look, can we just collect the crate we're here to pick up? We have orders, and this is time sensitive." Alana managed to talk her way out of it in her accented German, and the officer buzzed her and Dimitry in. 

"Remind me to kill Shadow when we get back," Alana whispered.

Inside the evidence room, a man wearing civilian clothes sat at the desk. He was looking through a magnifying glass and staring intently at a painting by Max Ernst. His name tag read, Herr Dr. Professor Leprick of the University of Munich. Earnst was one of Alana's favorite artists, and she couldn't resist chatting the professor up about the piece.

Meanwhile, Dimitry was getting increasingly nervous. He wanted to get on with the job and poked Alana. She waved him over to a crate but was so distracted with the conversation that she accidentally pointed to the wrong one. It was one of the original crates the artwork was stored in, not the one she consolidated everything into. 

At this point in our game, Gunther's player arrived, so we brought him into the scene.

Gunther, who was in the van the whole time, grew restless and wanted to go inside. Sabine didn't think that was a good idea and tried to stop him, but he ended up convincing her otherwise. Gunther talked his way up to the third floor somehow and happily greeted Alana and Dimitry once he found them. Alana was shocked.

Dimitry noticed Nazi symbolism on the crate he was examining and the labels, "SS," and "Property of Ahnenerbe." Gunther noticed it as well and was pleasantly surprised. He began exclaiming how thrilling it was to find such a rare find and wanted to examine the crate himself. 

Alana finally realized what time it was and knew they needed to get on with the job. She grabbed the container she marked and placed it on a dolly.


We've Got Trouble

As she started wheeling the dolly out, Alana noticed a masked man with an automatic rifle in the hallway. She quickly elbowed Dimitry to warn him, while the masked man knocked out the guard stationed outside of the room. He stepped inside, raised his rifle, and told everyone to get down on the ground in horrible German with a thick, American accent.

Dimitry punched the guy in the face and broke his jaw. Alana snagged a small portrait off the ground, as she wheeled the dolly into the hallway as fast as possible. She never left any art behind if she could help. Gunther tackled the man to the ground and knocked him out. He then noticed the man had a bag with C4 explosives, all written in English.


Fleeing the Terrorists

Many more masked men were coming up the stairs and yelling in horrible German with distinct, American accents. Alana pushed the dolly so that it rolled downward, and Dimitry shoved the men out of the way to make room. Gunther drew his gun and shot the sprinklers to set them off.

Alana continued rolling the dolly down, gaining distance between her and the terrorists who were chasing them. The terrorists were advancing, but several police officers came through, and Dimitry called them up the stairs to help stop the men. 

With the terrorists distracted, Alana, Dimitry, and Gunther were able to get outside and load the crate into the van. Sabine, who saw smoke bombs go off and heard gunshots, already had the vehicle running and high tailed it out of there after everyone got in.

Looking back in her rear view mirror, she noticed a van following them. The man who she saw surveilling the building earlier was behind the wheel. Sabine stepped on it and made a series of sharp turns to lose him.


The Drop Off

The team dropped the forgeries off at the evidence warehouse without a problem and went on to their other, temporary warehouse to switch vehicles and load up the real artwork.

Alana and Sabine thoroughly cleaned all the noticeable evidence, and Dimitry suggested throwing a last minute rave to help mask any remaining evidence. Gunther made a quick call to one of his contacts and managed to organize a rave for that same night.

Before they left, Alana opened the violin case (one of the suspicious works that they stole) and took a quick peak at its contents. She saw an ordinary violin made out of a strange material and a bow made out of some sort of dark wood. She also noticed sheet music but didn't have enough time to take a thorough look.


En Route to Stockholm

The plan was to drive all the way to make the delivery. The team would spend a night in Denmark before heading to Sweden.

Fortunately, Gunther had a wealthy contact in Copenhagen named Alexander Barren Zeeland who had a palatial estate for the entire team to stay in. He even had extra dinner reservations at the Noma since his guests didn't show up, and the team celebrated their victorious heist in the world's best restaurant. 

Source: http://tinyurl.com/p9ztteq.
Images used without permission.

Once they returned to the palatial estate, Gunther examined the violin, bow, and sheet music with greater detail. Alana noticed identifying marks on the violin that read, "E. Zann." The sheet music was labeled #23 and #27 with a modernist composition that made no sense.

Gunther felt compelled to tune the violin and play it. As he did, it emitted a horrible, shrieking sound, and every electrical device inside the estate suddenly turned on.

A news report on the TV showed the Justizpalast on fire with half of the building missing. At least two were reported dead as a result of the terrorist attack, and the masked men were shown as prime suspects.

Gunther continued to play nonstop, obsessed with reproducing hi-fi sounds like an audiophile. Sabine became paranoid and thought they were all being watched. Alana ended up worse than everyone after nearly being blinded by the lights when they turned on. She saw globs forming in the sky, through the roof, and witnessed frightening, dark forms in the corners of her eyes. The hallucinations grew worse, and she ran around in circles, freaking out that they were being followed. Dimitry was unaffected; he just couldn't stand the awful noise, so he snatched the violin away from Gunther, and most of the strangeness subsided.


An Abandoned Amusement Park

Sabine drove the team to Stockholm, and they had a free night before their delivery date to recuperate and scope out the Gröna Lund.

Alana still felt lingering effects of the hallucinations/paranoia but took the lead in investigating the amusement park. She found out it had been shut down for at least a year. A few security guards still lingered there for some reason, but Alana avoided them and found a perfect place to sneak a car in.

Through his contacts, Gunther found out that the Gröna Lund was bought out a few years ago.

Sabine planned various escape routes by driving around and prepared a car in the spot Alana found for their getaway, once they delivered the artwork, in case there was trouble.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/prlzmne; Credit: Daniel Scholten.
Image used without permission.

Rendezvous With Monsieur Blanc

The next day, the team ventured to the abandoned, amusement park together and met up with Monsieur Blanc who was waiting for them.

As he led them into the House of Mirrors, he asked what happened at the Justizpalast, and they answered him honestly, describing all the details.


The Delivery

Inside the House of Mirrors, Monsieur Blanc led the team to a strange room with a banquet table, a stove, and a propane tank (similar to a Hibachi grill). A morbidly obese man in his seventies, wearing a gray suit, sat at the table, eating, while a pretty woman with long sleeves stood and prepared his food.

The obese man spoke to Sabine and asks for the details of the heist, but she refused. It was safer for both parties to leave the details out of it. He was disappointed with the lack of subtly, referring to the terrorist attack, but Sabine said it was actually better for them - less heat and all that. She asked to see the money, and the man waved a hand for Blanc to fetch it.

Gunther didn't recognize the obese man. He had a slight American accent but spoke perfect, fluid German.

Blanc returned with a briefcase of money, and Sabine took it all out and dropped it into a duffel bag that she brought. She then handed over the crate.

The obese man glanced at the artwork and looked satisfied. He opened the violin case, checked its contents, and looked even more pleased. He drew the violin, licked its strings, and continued eating from his plate. By that point, everyone noticed he wasn't actually eating food but chewing on tiny pieces of cooked, Degas canvas plucked with toothpicks. As they gave each other horrified looks, he calmly drew his watch and said that the police would be there in roughly forty-four seconds.

Still somewhat hallucinating, Alana saw eldritch forms rise from the man and nearly had a heart attack after seeing him devour a cut-up Degas. Her rage overtook her fear, and she slapped him across the face. The man smiled, nodded politely, and slowly got up to leave after bidding everyone adieu. 

A mirror door opened up, revealing a man with a machine gun. Fate was on Alana's side, for she vanished from sight using the mirrors and hid herself well. Gunther ran and managed to escape in time. Dimitry nearly stumbled but escaped as well. Sabine grabbed the duffel bag and followed suit.

While officers and federal agents stormed the House of Mirrors, Alana masterfully led her team outside in a covert fashion. They got into their vehicle with plenty of time to spare, and Sabine quietly drove off to safety.

No one ever really knew what that strange violin was made out of or why the morbidly obese man wanted such a damned thing, but they didn't care. The job was done, everyone was alive, no one got caught, and they were paid in full. The 20,000,000 € was split six-way, and everyone got their cut before going their separate ways.

Monsieur Blanc was right after all; this truly was their greatest heist.


Epilogue

Sabine filled out an official report on the morbidly obese man and handed it to her superiors after returning to her office at the precinct. It turned out she was an undercover cop the entire time.

Dimitry used his share of the money to open up a strip club.

Alana spent several months vacationing with Gunther and selling one of her Picassos to him. After a while, she grew bored and began planning another heist to steal some art from his collection. 

Shadow probably used his cut to update his equipment and/or create even more chaos in the world as usual.

No one knows what happened to Sir Mordred except that he was even wealthier than before. Truth be told, it probably wasn't the last time they would see him. 

Why, he could be in the process of contacting them again right now.

Fin

AP (FC) - The Gurlitt Heist Part I

Two Thursdays ago, while all the cool kids were at Dreamation, I stopped by the FLGS for game night. I knew many people were going to be away for the con and wasn't sure if game night was going to happen. Surprisingly, there were seven of us in attendance, so we unanimously decided to play a Fate heist game that someone pitched. I was extremely excited, because I had only played FAE once before and hadn't tried Fate Core yet. Finally, I had my chance.

We played through most of the planning stages of the heist, but the actual job took place the next session (last Thursday). The story was a lot of fun, and I knew from the get-go that I'd thoroughly enjoy the system. Fate is one more game I can add to my #51in15 list and falls under #10 of my Gamer's Resolutions for this year. I also got the opportunity to use my fudge dice in a live game for once, so that was really exciting as well.

---

Premise

Cornelius Gurlitt, son of the Nazi-era art dealer, Hildebrand Gurlitt, had been selling his father's collection of artwork from Switzerland for many years. Cornelius Gurlitt claimed his father had obtained the artwork legally, many of which were seized from Jewish owners during the Nazi-era, though at least 240 of the 1,280 works are now known to have been stolen or looted. Many more works were discovered at a Munich flat owned by Cornelius Gurlitt and had since been relocated. They were being logged as evidence and kept at the Justizpalast in Munich. Many of the original owners died in Auschwitz, and a significant number of paintings were to be handed over to the Museum of Fine Arts Bern in Switzerland, who Gurlitt named as his sole heir. He recently passed away.

Our characters assembled to take on a high-paying job stealing some of those stolen artwork for an unknown client. They didn't know what the job was going to be, where it was taking place, or how much they were getting paid, but they were told it was going to be their biggest score yet. 

The Face sent out messages to assemble the team. The Thief spotted a clandestine message behind a stolen painting during her last heist. The Driver received an encrypted phone call. The Hacker saw the message as it displayed across digital billboards all over Times Square. The Hitter was approached by a group of men while drinking at a bar. He was about to beat them up but stopped once he heard their message. 

Once the team was assembled, they made plans to meet their employer in a cafe in Paris. The last member of the team, the Expert, joined them a little bit later in the story.

This article serves as the inspiration for the story.

Cast

Sir Mordred, the Face

Alana Corvid, the Thief (played by me)

Sabine Becker, the Driver

Shadow Sa7an, the Hacker

Bloody Dimitry Mandelov, the Hitter

Gunther Wagner, the Expert

Source: http://tinyurl.com/lvlk7rn. Credit: Leonid Afremov
Image used without permission.

The Gurlitt Heist

Part I

Taking On the Job

2015. It was a cold, dreary day in Paris, France. The clouds were dark, the skies were gray and there was a torrential downpour, as every member of the team made their way to the designated cafe to meet Monsieur Blanc, their employer.

Sir Mordred was a tall, handsome, middle-aged man of status, refinement, and wealth. He wore an expensive suit and carried an umbrella, as he walked from his nearby, five-star hotel to the restaurant.

Alana Corvid was a petite, lithe brunette in her late twenties with brown eyes and curled hair bound back in a pony tail. She wore tight jeans, knee-high boots, and a light gray raincoat, as she got out of a taxi which pulled up next to the cafe.

Sabine Becker was a slightly older, taller, athletic woman with light brown hair that was also pulled back in a ponytail. She wore jeans, boots, and a different colored raincoat. She had her own transportation and parked her vehicle next to the cafe before getting out.

Shadow Sa7an and Bloody Dimitry Mandelov both took the subway, though not necessarily together. Shadow was a nondescript individual who often wore anarchist shirts, while Dimitry was tall, bulky, and sported many tattoos with a recognizable mug that was wanted by Interpol. 

Monsieur Blanc was the only person in the cafe sitting outside in the pouring rain, sans umbrella. He calmly drank from his glass, as the rain splashed onto his plate and dripped down his face and suit.

The team met up around him, and Sir Mordred scoffed and said he would get them a table inside like a civilized person. Alana was eager to join him. Bloody Dimitry was wary about insulting their employer and made a comment, but everyone, including Monsieur Blanc, agreed to migrate inside where they found a quiet table far enough from any prying ears.

"So what is this job?" Sir Mordred asked.

Monsieur Blanc explained that his client had requested certain pieces from the Gurlitt collection that were being held as evidence at the Justizpalast in Munich. He said a lot of people have been coming into the Justizpalast, claiming that the art belonged to them and feeling guilty about what happened. Blanc also explained that his employer wanted them to steal the exact pieces he requested, no more no less, so as not to cause any suspicion. The job would pay an upward of up to twenty million Euros if carried out as requested. A percentage would be deducted for any work they were not able to retrieve and if they aroused suspicion.

Alana, who was a greedy, art thief and immensely interested from the start, asked which pieces the client wanted, but Blanc said he'd only tell them if they accepted the job. He assured them that the sum they would be paid was a whole lot more than what the works were worth if sold.

The group quietly talked it over and came to a consensus. They accepted the job. 

Monsieur Blanc nodded and gave them a list of the artwork which included paintings, etchings, statuettes, and a violin case. Once again, Blanc stressed the importance of delivering all the artwork, no more no less, and that all the contents in the violin case had to be there. Sir Mordred noticed Blanc particularly stressed that last part.

Alana asked what other valuable pieces were being held at the Justizpalast, and Blanc casually mentioned a couple of Picassos that were extremely valuable, amongst other catalogued and uncatalogued pieces.

He gave them an address to go to once they had their plan set. It was the residence of someone named Monsieur Lindback. They were to go there and place a call to Blanc, where they would further work out details on where they'd deliver the works after completing the heist.


Onward to Munich

At this point, a sixth player joined us and created a character that we naturally fit into the story.

Sir Mordred wanted to fly to Munich, and Alana was more than willing to take a plane instead of drive. Shadow decided to fly with them as well and used his hacking skills to procure them plane tickets.

Sir Mordred also mentioned that he had a contact in Munich named Gunther Wagner who was an art collector and entrepreneur. Sir Mordred placed a call to Gunther, using code words to hint at the fact that they were getting ready to do a job, and asked if he could meet them in Munich.

Sabine drove her car, and Bloody Dimitry went with her. He wanted to guzzle a bottle of vodka whilst in the car, but Sabine wouldn't let him. She said he could keep the bottle in the trunk and drink as much as he wanted to when they'd stop for gas, but Dimitry couldn't drink while they were driving. Dimitry was disappointed but obliged, and the two of them drove from Paris to Munich.

Sir Mordred, Alana, and Shadow were the first to arrive. Gunther met them at the airport and was instantly struck by Alana's beauty. He invited them all to his restaurant, where Sir Mordred filled him in on the details of the job.

Gunther called one of his contacts at the Justizpalast and learned that the art pieces were being held in evidence lockers on the third floor. Furthermore, there was an offsite warehouse that the Munich police also used to hold evidence. Sir Mordred, Alana, Shadow, and Gunther started talking about a plan to get the target art pieces into a delivery van and steal it. Gunther suggested using a terrorist threat which would put the police on high alert and force them to move all the artwork from the Justizpalast to the offsite warehouse. Then, they'd hijack one of the vehicles with Sabine as its driver and drive off with the stolen works. There'd be no suspicion, because all the artwork would be moved out of the Justizpalast, and one of the vehicles would simply, "become lost," in all of the chaos. However, there were major flaws with the plan which Sabine would later point out.

She and Bloody Dimitry were still en route to Munich.


Hijinks at the Horse Races and a Gallery Date

Given that they had some downtime, Gunther invited his guests to go visit the horserace tracks, after Sir Mordred brought it up. He had quite a bit of a gambling problem and wanted to go for personal reasons, but he thought he would use the opportunity to gather any rumors he could from the wealthy patrons there. Gunther knew some of those people and gave Sir Mordred a list of their names and descriptions. Sir Mordred invited Shadow along as well, hoping the hacker could work his magic to rig the races. He invited Alana too, but she declined and said she'd rather spend the evening with Gunther having dinner and taking a private tour of his art gallery.

At the race track, Sir Mordred gambled on horses and collected whatever information he could find. Shadow focused on his hacking, but instead of rigging the races, he changed all the horses' names to obscenities and reference to neo-Nazis and mongrels. Shadow was a compulsive anarchist at heart and couldn't help himself. He had to generate chaos. 

Meanwhile, Sabine and Dimitry finally arrived in Munich, and the entire team met up the next day to begin planning the heist.


The Plan

After hearing Gunther's plan about using a terrorist threat to force the police to move the artwork out of the Justizpalast, Sabine pointed several, key flaws: they didn't know which evidence lockers the works they were to steal were being kept, there wasn't a 100% guarantee that all those works would end up in the same delivery van, and a terrorist threat would actually raise more red flags and cause more suspicion.

Instead, Sabine suggested a much subtler plan. They could forge papers to request a transfer of evidence from the Justizpalast to the offsite warehouse. They would need to figure out where the evidence lockers were on the third floor, which locker(s) the artwork was being kept in, store all the artwork together in a separate container, make forgeries of the pieces to transfer to the warehouse, disguise themselves as police officers and go in during office hours to carry out the transfer, drive to the warehouse and deliver the forgeries, take the real artwork to a separate warehouse and switch vehicles, deliver the pieces to their client upon setting up a time/place for the final drop off, collect their cash, and complete the job.

Source: Wikipedia. Credit: Nino Barbieri
Image used without permission.

Preparations (1/2)

Wearing civilian attire, Sir Mordred and Alana visited the third floor of the Justizpalast as though they had claims on some of the artwork being held there or were bringing the police information about other, uncatalogued works.

While Sir Mordred talked to one of the guards, Alana saw another guard entering the evidence locker after being buzzed in. Inside, she saw a third guard sitting at a desk, going over paperwork, which evidently had to do with a plethora of uncatalogued pieces they were trying to log into the system.

Meanwhile, back at Gunther's estate, Shadow gained server access to the Justizpalast to be able to control the cameras and assist with the reconnaissance work. The artwork they were after hadn't officially been logged yet, but they were definitely being held somewhere in the evidence room. Shadow also set up a tracking device for Alana to plant onto one of the pieces the second time around at Sabine's behest.

Outside, Dimitry took a lonely stroll through the streets of Munich and decided to cause chaos of his own to rile up the local police. He spray painted all sorts of obscenities and Nazi symbols in order to get police to notice him (despite being wanted by Interpol). When they pulled up to stop and arrest him, Dimitry assaulted them all and ran off.


Preparations (2/2)

Now that they knew where the artwork was, they still needed to figure out which evidence locker(s) they were being kept in. Ideally, they wanted to consolidate the artwork into one container to make the transfer easier and even less suspicious. 

Gunther acquired police uniforms, and Sir Mordred and Alana revisited the third floor of the Justizpalast, disguised as officers, to enter the evidence room and perform the necessary tasks.

Sir Mordred brought fake paperwork with him to distract the guard outside as well as the desk clerk inside, while Alana snuck into the room and began searching through the files that the clerk had been mulling over. After a bit of time searching, Alana found the art pieces they were looking for and the two Picassos she had her heart set on; they were scattered between three, different crates. She gathered up all the pieces, including the Picassos, and moved them to a different container before the desk clerk came back. Alana made sure to mark the container, and she also placed the tracking device Shadow gave her onto one of the pieces.

Gunther took some time researching Monsieur Blanc and found out quite a few interesting things. Blanc had recently been seen at Action for Deutschland meetings and was previously in Kiev talking to the Organizatsiya. He was a well-connected man and mainly operated out of Sweden. Many in the team became highly suspicious of him, especially Sir Mordred.

Sabine was tasked with acquiring forgeries of the artwork (she knew people who could create them for her), including the two Picassos which Alana specifically requested. After finding out what Gunther learned about Monsieur Blanc, Sir Mordred wanted Sabine to get two sets of forgeries. After dropping the first set off at the warehouse, he wanted to con their employer with the other set and keep the real artwork. Sabine was against it. Sir Mordred didn't trust Blanc's client and urged her to change her mind, but Sabine didn't give in and flat-out refused. Sir Mordred then tried to figure out why she was so adamant about going through with the original plan, but he couldn't get a read on Sabine.


Making the Call

Sir Mordred, Alana, Shadow, and Gunther all stayed back, while Sabine drove Bloody Dimitry to Monsieur Lindback's apartment - the address where they were to place the call from to Monsieur Blanc.

The first thing Dimitry noticed after getting out was a dumpster filled with heaps of newspapers that were missing the financial sections. When he got to the apartment itself, there was police tape plastered in front. He informed the rest of the team but decided to proceed anyway.

Back at Gunther's, Shadow quickly searched for information and found out that Monsieur Lindback was recently murdered via a home invasion.

Inside the apartment, Dimitry discovered decades of financial journalism with blood stains all over the place and an antique, rotary phone with a random, direct line leading out of the building.

Dimitry picked up the phone, and it automatically dialed in. He heard three dial tones followed by Monsieur Blanc's voice who asked if they had a date set for the job. Dimitry said, "Friday the 12th," and Blanc told him that they were to deliver the artwork Sunday the 14th at the Gröna Lund in Stockholm.

The call ended, and Dimitry hung up. He and the rest of the team weren't sure if they were being set up or not, but they had officially committed to the job and had no choice but to go through with it.

End of Part I

AP (ToaM) - Tales of the Arx Jericho - Season 2 - A Midseason Recap

Howdy Tears fans! I know it's been a while since I posted any Tears of a Machine APs, and I do apologize. Real life priorities were getting in the way, and I had many other APs on my plate from other games I've been trying out.

I hope to catch you up with all the details of episodes 2-6 in due time, but since we hit midseason (and I'm episode 7 later today), I want to recap what's been going on in season 2 of Tales of the Arx Jericho, focusing on the important bits.

You can read the AP for Episode 01 right here.

Episode 02

Our heroes carried out their mission and planted the surveillance probes they were given at the designated targets on Tartarus. After defeating the crustacean-type Locusts, they were surprised by a Principal Magnas named Rusalka who rose out of the lava and tried to mess with their minds by mimicking voices of those they held most dear. She even mimicked a young, Russian girl's voice which freaked AK-47 out and put her out of commission for a little while. Blue, Alpha, and Bravo Company defeated Rusalka and returned to the Arx Jericho, but they accidentally brought back a parasitic strain of Swarm which broke out like a plague amongst pilots and Preservation Forces officers alike. Several weeks later, most of Bravo Company (minus Raspberry) and half of Blue Company (Opsie and Serena) were quarantined in the hospital with psychosomatic symptoms from the disease. 

Jason hacked Dr. Johnson's files out of suspicion and discovered blueprints of the biomechanical Parasites. They were carried by Mayzor Jammers, another strange Swarm which attached themselves to the pilots' SAInts like barnacles back on Tartarus. The Jammers were small enough to fit inside the miniature, Wormwood device (which the Pilots discovered Dr. Johnson used to create MetaTron static back in Season 1).

Meanwhile, Joanne planned a surprise birthday party for Rick and Serena, but Serena couldn't attend, and Rick was in no mood to celebrate. 

He received a present from his estranged father who asked him to meet him in the garden park. Rafe appeared as a hologram and confirmed that he was a Mayzor General and that Rick and Serena were half-Mayzor. He apologized for everything that had happened and said he loved them both. He confessed that the AmBrO51A serum wasn't meant to heighten their abilities but suppress them in an effort to protect them from the other Mayzor Generals. He hinted that the Mayzor had a much larger plan and he was no longer a willing participant. "The faith is strong," he said. He also told Rick that the surefire cure for the Parasites was to scourge them via depravation tanks like a SAInt would Id. 

Rick later told AK-47, and it would definitely work on the pilots, but the adult officers needed larger tanks and materials were scarce. 

During Rick's birthday party, Billy got a call and had more bad news. Dr. Harris was infected and quarantined.


Episode 03 

The Pilots coupled up for a pre-Valentine's Day, group, dinner date, where they enjoyed a low key evening with some mandatory, teenage drama.

On Valentine's Day, Charlie Company went on a scavenging mission to gather raw materials from a local asteroid in order to build more depravation tanks for the adult officers affected by the Plague. Marten's voices kept warning him of impending doom, so he convinced his team and Command to deploy in case Charlie Company needed backup.

It turned out they did need help, because on the way back, they were ensnared by electrical webbing and surrounded by spider-like Locusts called Trappers. Blue and Alpha Company fought them off and freed most of the pilots of Charlie Company plus the cargo. During the battle, Marten failed to rescue Conrad Andersen in time, and he was sadly killed by a Trapper. A Dominion-class, shapeshifting Magnas named Jorōgumo landed on the asteroid and morphed into a middle-aged woman holding a child which strongly resembled AK-47. The Pilots defeated it, but back at HQ, AK-47 had a mental breakdown and was worse than ever before. 


Episode 04

Jason, Billy, and Esteban broke into Dr. Johnson's office to hack a couple of emails that were addressed to Jason's stepfather, Martin Reyes, and Opsie's mother, Brünhild Wessel. Dr. Johnson told Martin that AK-47 and Dr. Harris were being taken care of and that all the papers were set to bring Douglas aboard the Arx Jericho and into the SAInt Program. He told Brünhild that Opsie's abilities were still latent due to the AmBrO51A serum and that she didn't suspect what she was. He added that she would be utilized to sow discord amongst the pilots.

Dr. Johnson scheduled a meeting with Marten to grill him on how he knew Charlie Company was going to be in trouble. Jason, Billy, and Esteban were almost caught. During the meeting, Marten held his own, leaving Dr. Johnson suspicious but unable to get any more information out of him.

The infected pilots of Blue and Bravo Company had recovered, and Opsie and Serena were to join Rick and Sarah for Prophet training. Opsie arrived and said she had a strange dream where Serena was captured and taken to a warehouse, while Rafe Hunter was telling her to rescue her. After calling Serena's Linc and getting no response, Rick and the others figured she really was in trouble and went to find her.

Billy helped the pilots acquire taser guns and batons from the security locker, while Joanne grabbed practice Kendo swords to arm themselves with. Jason also shared the contents of the emails he hacked, and Opsie was utterly surprised to learn that she was half-Mayzor.

A propaganda video by the Followers of the Communion had spread virally and stated that the Sixth Plague was upon them. They believed the only true faith was one of Communion like the Legulus that revealed themselves on Earth.

Blue and Alpha Company followed Opsie's vision to a warehouse which served as the Followers' HQ. The pilots were ambushed by masked Followers in an alleyway who wanted Rick and fought them off, knocking most of them out. They questioned one man who told them that Ora Cohen, the leader of the Followers, had indeed kidnapped Serena and was holding her in the basement.

The pilots proceeded to the warehouse, where they found Ora Cohen on stage speaking to a large crowd of Followers. The pilots called AK-47 for backup and decided to split up: Marten and Joanne snuck into the basement to rescue Serena, Jason and Esteban took the high ground to provide cover fire, and Rick and Sarah confronted the Followers head-on.

Ora Cohen introduced herself to Rick and confessed that she kidnapped Serena to get to him. Rick asked why, and Ora said she knew he'd spoken to his father and wanted the location of his whereabouts. Rick said he didn't know, but she didn't believe him. She knew Rick was half-Mayzor and publicly called him out on it for all his company mates to hear. Tensions rose, while Marten and Joanne freed Serena, and Ora further confessed that her orders came from a Mayzor General. By that point, a group of Preservation Forces officers and Robbies arrived to arrest them. Sarah's brother, Allen, was one of the Robbie pilots. 

While attempting to flee, Ora Cohen accidentally dropped her Linc, and Esteban picked it up. He looked through the messages and found an entire conversation where Commander Toshi Yamasuka of the Preservation Forces instructed Ora Cohen to kidnap Serena and Rick and find out Rafe's whereabouts.

That same day, Jason's stepfather was in town and invited Jason to have dinner. There, Jason unexpectedly met his step-brother, Douglas, who he had never known about. Douglas was older, pompous, and gave off a very negative vibe.


Episode 05

After learning that Commander Yamasuka was allegedly a Mayzor General, the Pilots didn't know which adults they could trust anymore. They split up into groups, hoping to get AK-47 and Dr. Harris on their side, while Jason gave Douglas a tour of the Arx Jericho.

Douglas displayed a creepy, sadistic side to him through talking with Jason whilst trying to pry information out of him on the pilots of Blue and Alpha Company. Douglas confidently said he would pilot a Prophet in no time and join Blue Company's ranks.

Rick and Sarah visited AK-47 who informed them that she'd been temporarily suspended due to sending back-up to the warehouse without Commander Yamasuka's authorization. She wasn't entirely surprised by what the pilots had uncovered and told them she was on their side and would help any way she could. She was more surprised to hear that Rick was half-Mayzor and suggested that Sarah should take a blood sample to see if she, too, had Mayzor DNA (given her blood relation to Opsie).

Marten and Esteban ran into Rick and Sarah, and the four of them paid Dr. Harris a visit who was very surprised by all the news but somehow saw it coming. She told Sarah she could take her blood sample and compare it with Rick's to identify any Mayzor DNA.

Afterward, the Pilots wanted to question the Followers who were arrested, specifically Ora Cohen, but Billy said they'd been released under Commander Yamasuka's orders. The Pilots were all set to visit the warehouse again, but they were called in for an impromptu, lunar mission to Tartarus.

Blue and Alpha Company's mission was to visit one of the Mayzor outposts at the Tsander crater and attempt their first, rescue of human, Earth citizens who were once captured by the Mayzor.

At the Tsander crater, the Pilots fought off Soldiers, Brawlers, Archers, and Trappers, while Strudel prepared the atmospheric bubble to transport the captives from a Wormwood settlement in the center to nearby drop ships. Inside the settlement, the Pilots discovered that the people were under a hypnotic spell caused by psychic music being emitted by hidden, Locust Crickets.

As the Pilots started engaging and destroying the Crickets, two Magnas appeared to wreak havoc upon them.


Episode 06

The Pilots of Blue and Alpha Company continued to battle Locusts and the two, Magnas threats that appeared.

Paimon was a Principle-class Magnas with a great and powerful, psychic roar who resembled a demonic, Persian king atop a biomechanical, zombie-like, dromedary camel.

Amdusias was a Dominion-class Magnas that looked more demonic and could create electrical storms while using his thunderous, psychic voice to deafen, lower Resolve, cause rage within SAInts, and lower the Ego of Prophets.

In a miraculous display of bravery, luck, and teamwork, the heroes prevailed, destroying both Magnas and the Crickets, freeing the humans from their hypnosis, transporting them to the drop ships, and bringing them back home to the Arx Jericho. Unfortunately, Jason scourged his SAInt's Id to avoid a frenzy and fell unconscious. The Pilots had to convince Dr. Johnson back at Command to remotely eject Jason to save him, leaving his SAInt on the moon. 

Once they got back, everyone aboard the Arx rejoiced, and the Faithful called for a special holiday to commemorate the first-ever rescue of human captives from Tartarus. In the next episode, they will throw a grand festival with all cultures and faiths represented, and they're naming it Faith Day.

Jason nearly died and ended up in the hospital, where he was visited by family and friends. Douglas showed off his true evil by almost killing Jason before Esteban stopped him. Sarah found out her brother Allen had been infected by the Plague and was being quarantined. Dr. Harris got the blood results back for Sarah and confirmed that she, indeed, had Mayzor DNA within her. Marten, who had been dating Stephanie for a little while now, took her out to the mall to clear his head of the rage he felt for Dr. Johnson.

The very last thing that happened was a long-awaited confrontation between Rick (joined by Sarah) and Dr. Johnson. Rick browbeat him into confessing who he was really working for, who the Mayzor Generals were, what the Mayzor were up to, and what was going on with all the pilots who were half-Mayzor.

Dr. Johnson said he was a human agent for the Mayzor and that his direct superior, Commander Yamasuka, was the Grand Mayzor General - the highest on the food chain. He listed off four more out of seven total Generals: Martin Reyes (Jason's stepfather), Brünhild Wessel (Opsie's mother), Dr. Kreuz (the CRC scientist who founded the Cloistered Research Council and was the father of the Preservation Forces and the SAInts), and Rafe Hunter. Dr. Johnson said Rafe had strayed from the Mayzor's grand plan a long time ago and was a traitor who was trying to initiate a Mayzor civil war. Commander Yamasuka, indeed, recruited Ora Cohen and the Followers of the Communion to find out Rafe's whereabouts through Rick and Serena. Commander Yamasuka even gifted Ora Cohen with special, Legulus abilities to be able to see psychic projections and read the dreams of others. Regarding the half-Mayzor, Dr. Johnson said they were all various experiments being conducted by the Mayzor, and while he didn't know what the end game was, he knew it had to deal with obtaining as much power for the Mayzor as possible. The Mayzor hadn't eradicated the human race, because their plans were far greater and more sophisticated. 

Essentially, the capture of Earth humans, the creation of the Preservation Forces and the CRC, the development of SAInts and Prophets, the experimentation with siring half-Mayzor, the mothership Tartarus being stationed on the dark side of the moon, and the infiltration/involvement of the Mayzor Generals was all part of a grand scheme - a long con to supply the Mayzor with as much power as possible. 

After Dr. Johnson finished spilling his guts, Rick clicked the stop button on his Linc to finish recording, and the episode ended. 


Coming Up

6-7 episodes remain in Season 2, and the cards are all out on the table. The Pilots have plenty of evidence now along with plenty of problems to deal with. 

What will our heroes do now? Will they continue their lunar missions, trying to free more captives from Tartarus whilst bringing down other Mayzor outposts? Will they focus their efforts at home and try to expose the Generals now that they have some proof? Will they try to find Rafe and see if he can fill them in on what's going on? 

What will the Mayzor do with the half-Mayzor experiments? How will Opsie sow discord? What is Douglas's role? Will Rick and Serena ever gain the full strength of their Mayzor abilities? What will happen to Sarah given that she, too, has Mayzor DNA?

What will happen to Ora Cohen and the Followers of the Communion? What about the Faithful? Will they praise the Pilots more than ever now that they've done the impossible and rescued captured humans? What will happen during the Faith Day Festival?

Esteban has recently taken up an interest in R&D to create new weapons and improvements for the SAInts. Billy and Jason are with him. What new weapons and tech will they develop? 

Finally, the golden question that remains is what is the end game? What is the grand scheme of the Mayzor, and how exactly will it help them attain power? 


Stay tuned for the exciting, second half of the season. You won't regret it! We play almost every Sunday at 2 PM ET via Hangouts on Air, so if you want to catch us live, leave a comment here or tag me on G+, and I'll send you the link.

Otherwise, I'll try my hardest to get the detailed APs up soon and hope this recap suffices for now. Thanks for reading, and, as always, "May the SAInts preserve us."