A 6- and Other Grave Mishappenings

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

AP (ToaM) - Tales of the Arx Jericho - Season 2, Episode 09: Cage Match

Here's another guest post by +Robert Ruthven (lostzeppo) for Episode 09! You can find the original post at his blog. Images and additional commentary added by me.

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.

Bala: One of the twins piloting the tandem-operated Mendicant-class SAInt for Bravo Company. He is outspoken, courageous, extroverted, comical, masculine, short-tempered, and blase.

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.

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.

Dr Donald Johnson: Gruff, stern, intimidating, manipulative, badgering, prideful. Dr Johnson is an analytical psychologist and adjunct professor aboard the Arx Jericho and recently appointed acting Operations Director while AK-47 is on suspension. He's also known to the pilots of Blue and Alpha Company as a Mayzor collaborator.

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: The second of the 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. She almost started dating Alex "Strudel" Struder last year, but he "stood her up" due to a SAInt mission in Brooklyn, NY. Since then, she's moved on but has fallen for him again due to his rising, celebrity fame since the Mayzor assault on the Arx Jericho.

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.

Allen Werner: Sarah's brother. Allen left home as well, but didn't qualify for the SAInt Program and became a Robbie pilot for the Preservation Forces' army instead. Charming, lovable, nurturing, though quite different from his sister in that he's more serious and self-disciplined when it comes to studies, following orders, and not wasting time having fun. He's close with his sister and visits her from time to time, but he has his own life and duties to fulfill aboard the Arx Jericho.

Commander Toshi Yamasuka: Cold but fair, goal-oriented, keeps her emotions in check (some would say she's emotionless), distant, intelligent, intuitive, a fierce negotiator, and a keen observer. The pilots of Blue and Alpha Company recently discovered that she is secretly the Grand General of the Mayzor herself.

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.

Extras

Annalise Lafayette: Age 15, from Martinique in the French Antilles. SAInt pilot, currently attached to Charlie Company.

Javier Ontonado: Age 14, from Dallas, Texas. SAInt pilot, currently attached to Charlie Company.

Previously, on Tales of the Arx Jericho...
The leaders of the pilot companies gather in the Kendo clubroom, where Jason, Marten, Rick and Sarah brief them on what they've learned.
Sarah: 'We can't trust Command. The Commander herself is the Mayzor Grand General, and acting Operations Director Johnson is working for her.'
Jason: 'My step-father is one of the Generals too and my step-brother is...'
Cut to Douglas grinning creepily as he talks to Sarah and her cousin Opsie: "The Mayzor have secretly been breeding with humans to create half-Mayzor hybrids...and I'm one of them. I don't know who the others are but I'll know soon enough."
Rick: 'Everyone on Blue Company, except perhaps Sarah, is a Mayzor hybrid, including myself and Serena. My father is one of the Generals too, but we've learned that he's leading a rebellion against the Mayzor.'
Cut to Rick confronting cult leader Ora Cohen: 'I need to speak with my father, and you can make that happen.'
Rick and co in a white room which shifts to a scene from the moon's surface, where his father, Rafe, has gathered a small army of Mayzor to his cause. He turns to greet Rick: 'I knew you'd make contact eventually.'
Rick: 'I need to know the Mayzor's plan.'
Rafe: "When we say 'the faith is strong' we mean it literally gives us strength. The Mayzor are using humanity's faith in the SAInts to increase their own power. Eventually they'll become so powerful that no force in the universe can stop them."
Marten: "There must be some way to turn their own power against them."
Rafe: "Rick and Serena can potentially tap into the faith, if the effects of the AmBro51A serum can be reversed, but they'd risk being corrupted by it like the other Generals have been."
Jason: "What if we use the AmBro51A serum against the Mayzor themselves? Cut off their ability to use the faith?"
Rafe: "That could work, but you'll need some equipment and raw materials...the only place to get them would be from a Mayzor outpost."
He gestures to his gathered army: "We're preparing an assault on the Mayzor stronghold in the Aitken crater. Rick, your mother is there. Jason's too, I believe. And you'll be able to get the materials you need there. But this will be the greatest obstacle you've faced yet..."
Rick: "And we'll need to do it without command approval..."
And Now...
Secret Preparations
Over the next few weeks, AK-47 uses her connections to get more details on the process for creating the AmBro51A serum, but that won't help unless they can get the technology and raw materials they need from the Aitken crater. Any material they could have used from Rafe's old laboratory has been cleared out and destroyed since his being exposed as a Mayzor. She also finds surveillance photos confirming that Rick and Jason's mothers are indeed at that outpost, as well as her own daughter.
The pilots decide to use an upcoming mission as a cover to deploy for their own unsanctioned mission to the Aitken crater. Acting upon false intel fed to her due to Jason's actions in the previous episode, Commander Yamasuka has decided to deploy Blue, Alpha, Bravo and Charlie companies to a reported Mayzor stronghold on the north pole. Meanwhile, Delta and Echo Company will be deployed to provide aid in dealing with the food crisis on Earth.
In light of Douglas Reyes showing up uninvited to their previous attempt at a covert meeting between the pilot leaders, our heroes approach their fellow pilots via more subtle channels to get them involved in their unsanctioned mission to the Aitken crater. They will, however, leave out the details about the Mayzor using humanity's faith as a power source.
Joanne is already in on the plan, having been present for the psychic meeting with Rafe last session. Sarah contacts her brother Allen - who has recently recovered from the Mayzor plague - and he agrees to support them by piloting a dropship to evacuate human captives from the Aitken outpost.
Jason passes a note to Kazuhiro in the canteen asking him to meet him in the dorms, where Jason explains the situation and the plan for the upcoming mission. Kazuhiro is all for it, he doesn't like bullies, and bullies don't come much bigger than the Mayzor and their agents within the Arx command staff.
Ryoko challenges Rick and Marten to a tennis doubles match. She picks Strudel as her teammate, and he overhears some of their brief snatches of conversation about the upcoming mission during play. They win the match and Ryoko hears them out, agreeing to help. Strudel is annoyed that he hasn't been kept in the loop. Rick points out that Strudel has been distracted with spending time with different girls lately, which leads to him and Marten attempting an intervention to make the boy recognise the damage he's causing with his behaviour. Strudel stubbornly denies there's anything wrong with what he's been doing and threatens not to go on the mission. Rick chews him out for being so childish, but he shrugs it off and leaves.
Shortly thereafter, Marten receives a text warning them that Strudel is threatening to tell the commander and Dr Johnson what they're planning. Rick contacts Jason to get him to handle Strudel somehow, and Jason sends him a text to tell him that they need to talk. Strudel arrives at Jason's and Rick's dorm, hyper from eating out of a big bag of candy he has with him. Jason and Rick are both waiting for him, and get him to sit down and Rick takes the bag to get him to settle down. They explain everything they know about the Mayzor's plan, and - when they explain about the Mayzor feeding on humanity's faith - Strudel goes quiet and then weakly asks for his candy back. After Strudel's up to speed, he tells them that Jason's psychotic step-brother Douglas has been seen doing secret training with Dr Johnston and is probably going to join Blue Company for the upcoming mission. They'll need to think of a way to keep him out of the way.
Jason gets to work on hacking the Arx main computers to disrupt their tracking systems during the mission so they can't see where they've actually gone. Also, with the help of Dr Harris, he alters the results of Douglas' pre-mission physical to make it seem as though he has the Mayzor plague (first introduced in episode 2.03). As such, Douglas is pulled from the mission roster at Dr Harris' insistence, using her authority as chief medical officer to override Dr Johnson.

Trapper webs in space!
Spider Galay by fotonikflow.
Image used without permission.

Mosquitoes and Spiders
The SAInts launch and set course for the moon, but enroute they notice something on their scanners in the distance. There are four spider-like Trapper Locusts up weaving a web up ahead. Since there are four companies and only four of the Trappers, they decide to have each company take on one of the Trappers.
However, as they close in on the Trappers, rifts open in space and four more Trappers emerge with webs in place, enclosing the pilots in a cage of webbing. The new Trappers are also joined by twelve of a new class of Locusts - designated Siphoners - which look like a cross between mosquitoes and crane flies. The Trappers are also different this time around, with tougher armor and more firepower.
Joanne takes Alpha Company to deal with two of the Trappers on one side, Kazuhiro takes Bravo to deal with two on another side, and Charlie hangs back to provide cover while Rick takes Blue Company to deal with two more Trappers. Between the three attacking companies, the hope is that they'll be able to make enough of a dent in the webbing to free up more space for manoeuvring.
Esteban waits until he gets close to the two Siphoners in Alpha's path, engages his boosters at the last minute and dives in between them, spinning and slicing them with his twin 'Arc swords. One more starts circling around him, but Jason blasts its wings off with his newly invented particle rifle - barely missing Esteban - and Marten finishes it off with a blast from his levic flettette shotgun.
Blue Company bombards the three Siphoners ahead of them with fire, distracting them so that Rick can get into close quarters range. Rick recently upgraded from his twin 'Arc sword setup to an 'Arc Greatsword which gives his attacks extra reach, allowing him to catch the three Siphoners with one wide sweeping arc before boosting past them as they split apart and explode.
Charlie Company aren't faring so well, as two of the Siphoners have engaged Annalise, latching onto her SAInt and draining bio-electric energy from it. (In mechanical terms, this means the pilot losing ego.) One more Siphoner is moving in towards Annalise as well. Not only that, but the twins - Bala and Lieke - have got their Mendicant-class tandem SAInt caught in the web, with Trappers moving towards them. Kazuhiro and Lauren call the other Companies for support as they're currently preoccupied with the other Siphoners and Trappers. Jason, Marten, Stephanie and Strudel head off to rescue the twins, while Esteban and Joanne head over to support Annalise.
Rick blasts towards the third Siphoner headed for Annalise as it passed him, impaling it on his sword and flicking it off his blade so that it's debris joins that of the Siphoners he just dispatched. Esteban boots the other two Siphoners off of Annalise's SAInt and slices them to bits with his twin swords. Esteban brusquely brushes off her thanks, telling her to save it for after the mission before Joanne orders him to join her in dealing with the nearby Trappers.
Meanwhile, the rest of Alpha Company (plus Stephanie) reach the twins and draw the two Trappers' attention away from them with some covering fire. While Stephanie covers him, Marten boosts in close to one of the Trappers and blasts it repeatedly with his shotgun and it explodes, tearing apart some of the webbing. Strudel fires his twin particle SMGs at the webbing around the Mendicant to free the twins while Jason shoots off the other Trapper's limbs before letting Strudel finish it off with a head shot.
By now, Bravo Company have taken out a couple more Siphoners, but two more of them have latched onto Laurie, leading Jason to charge that way to engage them. Marten falls in behind him, along with Stephanie and Strudel. Jason rips one of the Siphoners off and shoots it in the head, while Strudel shoots the other one off Laurie's back with a volley of SMG fire that nearly grazes her SAInt as well.

Reference for Abyzou.
Mother Namtaru by michalivan.
Image used without permission.

Just then, another rift opens up near Ryoko, and a Magnus which appears as a muscular cross between a spider and a three headed human (like a dryder) with snakes for hair crawls out. A bulbous mass which passes for her belly carries the heads of SAInts that this Magnus - designated Abyzou - has defeated in battle. These heads still writhe and scream in madness, projecting their emotions psychically to drive pilots mad. As it crawls out of the rift, Abyzou grabs Ryoko's SAInt with its pincers and rips it apart instantly. Upon seeing this, Strudel screams a big 'NO' over the MetaTron and charges off towards the Magnus.
Jason and Rick intercept him and hold Strudel back from his potentially suicidal charge, even as Javier is struck by a blast of webbing from Abyzou that binds him to the web for the Trappers to converge on him. Rick orders Blue Company to fall in and prepare to engage the Magnus, suggesting to Joanne that some of Alpha Company support them while the rest assist Javier and mop up the rest of the Trappers. Joanne agrees, but wants to finish off the Trapper she and Esteban were already engaging first.
Esteban leads the charge, using his hover skates to grind along the electric charge in the web, doing an ollie over the Trapper and going upside down, chopping the Trapper as he passes over and then comes back down on his skates, continuing to grind the electrical field of the webbing towards the Trapper moving towards Javier. Joanne tells everyone that Ryoko might still be alive in her pod, ordering Jason and Marten to assist the assault against Abyzou and rescue her. Strudel doesn't even need to be ordered to join the assault.
Marten is worried that he's starting to hear the voice of his SAInt again, but soon realises it's a psychic assault from Abyzou's 'trophies' and tries to shrug it off. Strudel grabs Ryoko's pod and slips it into his SAInt's storage compartment while Blue Company, Jason and Marten lay down fire upon the Magnus, inflicting damage while keeping it distracted.
Esteban skates towards the next Trapper, skewering it on his swords and throwing it back on the webbing behind him as it explodes, breaking apart the web in his wake and freeing Javier. The Magnus fires out more webbing, trapping Kazuhiro against the web this time, as Esteban continues to grind along the web's electrical field and picks up speed.
Marten leads the assault against Abyzou, with most of the pilots fighting to retain their sanity against the myriad voices of the defeated SAInt pilots. Marten gets right in front of the monstrosity and blasts it continuously with his shotgun, breaking up the surface layers of armour. Jason shoots out the creature's many eyes with a series of very precise shots. Rick takes precise aim himself, splitting open Abyzou's 'womb' and causing dismembered SAInt heads and green amniotic fluid to spill out. She seems to deflate inward as the spilling heads disintegrate into silvery dust of nanite particles.
The energy core at Abyzou's centre flashes as it tumbles through zero-G towards the part of the web where Esteban is. It crashes into the web and explodes in a massive fireball that further breaks apart the webbing. There's a moment of horror as Joanne tries to raise Esteban on the MetaTron, before Esteban skates out from the fireball, resuming his grind along the outside of the web. He cuts through the web from the other side and slices the Trapper bearing down on Kazuhiro in half.
With Abyzou's defeat, the last of the Siphoners and Trappers are easily mopped up, with Javier and Kazuhiro both taking out the last of the Trappers in a vengeful barrage of fire. The command staff cheer them back aboard the Jericho, except for Commander Yamasuka who coldly orders them to continue on mission. Strudel checks on Ryoko's pod to find her vitals are very weak. Someone needs to transport her pod back to the Arx for emergency medical treatment, and Strudel volunteers for the task. He promises to rejoin them at Aitken as soon as he can. The remaining pilots continue on course towards Aitken, their collective mood grim but determined.

Remains of the Trappers' webs.
Celestial Constellation by Widowmura.
Image used without permission.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Director Commentary

This particular battle was significant for several reasons: tougher units, a new Locust class (the Siphoners), a Magnas appearing in the middle of freaking space, and a recurring extra (who, let's be honest, is more important to the fiction than some of the other extras) nearly torn to death by said Magnas. It's definitely getting real all right!

In the beginning of the session, Strudel was torn a new one by Rick and Marten for how he's been acting all of season 2, but when Ryoko faced peril and near-death, it seemed to have brought back the old Strudel which is a nice character shift. Maybe he'll finally come to his senses and grow up.

All in all, this episode was set up as a precursor to the Aitken battle. It proves that the Mayzor won't simply lie in wait for the SAInt and Prophet pilots to knock on their door with weapons blazing. The battle at the Aitken crater will prove to be the toughest yet, but if the Pilots can't even get there in one piece, how do they plan to save humanity yet again?

Stay tuned for the upcoming AP for Season 2, Episode 10: Charge!

And if you want to watch through the actual play session, you can do so here:

As always, thanks for reading. Until next time!

AP (ToaM) - Tales of the Arx Jericho - Season 2, Episode 08: Anagnorisis

Tears is back on! We took a slight hiatus, but we're back and ready for more anime drama tossed in with giant mecha, explosions, and the sheer drive to bring the Mayzor and their generals to their ends in order to save humanity once and for all.

To celebrate, here's a guest post by +Robert Ruthven, aka lostzeppo. You can see the original post at his blog. Images added by me.

Starring...

Guest Stars for this episode...

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.

Rafe Hunter: Rafe's father, a rogue Mayzor general who lived undercover as a neurological researcher, then went into hiding shortly after the invasion began.

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.

Ora Cohen: Masked leader of the Followers of the Communion, a cult worshipping the Mayzor as gods.

Previously, on Tales of the Arx Jericho...

Intercut Marten and Esteban clashing with Kendo practice swords as we see the following events unfold...

"What have you heard?" Marten demands of Strudel, who just shrugs.

"Just that you hear voices that aren't there..."

Marten striking...

Marten clutching his head to shut out the voice as it says: "The faith is strong."
Esteban on the offensive, a flicker of emotion in his eyes...

Esteban conversing with a young Cuban woman at the festival: "I'm Esther. Esther Knowles."

Flash of Esteban's shocked expression before cutting to a computer screen displaying a family tree, identifying one 'Esther Knowles' as Esteban's biological sister.

Cut to Esteban knocking Marten to the ground.

"Is it true what they're saying, Marten?" Stephanie asks him outside the Kendo arena. Marten backs away from her and flees...

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."

Cut to Jason in the hospital after a battle, 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."

Sarah and Opsie stand together in front of Douglas, who grins at them, "The Mayzor have secretly been breeding with humans to create half-Mayzor hybrids...and I'm one of them. I don't know who the others are but I'll know soon enough."

Dr Johnston, Mayzor collaborator, smiles coldly despite being shoved against a wall by Rick."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."

"The war against the Mayzor invasion...it's all part of the Mayzor's own plan. You, Serena, the other hybrids..."

Flash cut to still frames of Rick, Serena, Opsie and Sarah.

"...you all have some part to play in the Commander's scheme. Even I don't know what that is."

Rick clicks the stop button on his Linc, ending the recording in front of the gathered pilot leaders in the Kendo clubroom, spreading out his arms: "And that's what we know."

Quiet laughter from the back of the room. Everybody turns to find Douglas Reyes standing there, giving them all a creepy smile.

Friday, April 2nd 2032

An Uninvited Guest
A chilly silence descends as everybody notices Douglas at the back of the room, eventually broken by Jason asking who invited him as he walks towards him. Douglas says he noticed they were all having a meeting and didn't want to be left out, since he's still confident that he'll be joining Blue Company soon. Jason retorts that he shouldn't be so sure Blue Company will even have him. Rick nods his agreement with this as he and Marten circle around to block Douglas' exit in a pincer formation. Douglas says Blue will have him, and asks Sarah if she told them what he said earlier, before explaining that he is a half-Mayzor hybrid like most of Blue Company is. Jason tells him they'd already guessed that much, so Douglas gloats further about his knowledge of the Mayzor's plans for the hybrids and what they'll become. When Jason taunts him to try and get him to elaborate he just says it's far too early for that, giving Opsie a creepy grin as he does.

At this point, Jason throws a punch at Douglas, with Rick and Marten choosing the same moment to make a grab for him. Douglas' eyes flash blue and, with superhuman reflexes, he deflects Jason's blow and dodges the other two boys so that they crash into one another. He then gut-punches Jason, dropping him to his knees, staring down at him and spitting on him before he heads to the door. He warns them not to mess with him, before once again declaring that he will be joining Blue Company and they will follow him, then walks out.

AK-47 and Dr Harris go over to check on them, while Billy grabs his stun baton and moves to chase Douglas down. Rick warns him about Douglas' inhuman reflexes, but Marten points out that he's probably on his way to tell the wrong people what they were discussing. Rick growls in frustration before heading out after Billy, along with Marten, Jason and Sarah.

They catch up to Billy just in time to see him run up behind Douglas, who stops for a second before turning around and hitting Billy with a roundhouse kick. He then grabs Billy's baton and whacks him in the back of the neck with it, before turning to stare at the rest of them menacingly.

Joanne comes out after them, carrying two practice swords, tossing one to Rick and keeping the other for herself. Marten tries to talk Douglas down and convince him that he's not helping his case any, and maybe they can find some common ground. Sarah apologises for the boys' gung-ho behaviour. Then Opsie joins them and berates Douglas, demanding to know why he was looking at her so smugly earlier and what he means by 'what they'll become'. Rick follows up by telling Douglas that he doesn't know as much as he thinks, that they're nothing like him. Serena has joined them this point (along with the other pilots) and agrees with Rick.

The light goes out in Douglas' eyes, he slips the baton through his belt and stares at Rick, head bowed as he says 'we'll see about that'. He assures them that he won't tell anyone what he overheard. It doesn't matter since he'll be leading Blue Company soon anyway. He then turns and walks away with a backhanded wave. Rick is so angry that he grips his training sword tight enough to crack the hilt.

The Next Plague
Sarah snaps Rick out of it with a smack to the back of the head, telling him and the other boys off for mostly seeming to want to smack things with sticks lately. As they go to check on Billy, Marten starts hearing the voice of his old SAInt repeating over and over that 'the faith is strong', getting louder and louder. He excuses himself to go use the restroom, but Stephanie catches on that something's wrong and goes after him.

Marten doesn't want to talk to anyone in this state, least of all Stephanie, so he tries to outrun her. She catches up to him as he attempts to lock himself in a vacant classroom. Pushing inside the room, she demands to know what's wrong and why he's avoiding her. Marten tells her he feels like he screwed everything up earlier by not being able to deal with Strudel and letting Esteban rile him up. Plus, with Opsie spreading the story about his mental disorder, he just feels like everything is falling apart.

He tells her all about the voices and fears he isn't cut out to be with her. Stephanie surprises him by pulling him into a hug, telling him she's not mad at him, and calms him down. She suggests that, since he seems to hear the voices most around people like Douglas and the other hybrids, perhaps there's more to it and it's worth talking to Rick and the others about it.

Back at the Kendo clubroom, Billy is still recovering from his injuries and Rick rubs where Sarah hit him on the head, muttering a complaint. She maintains that he deserved it, and that he needs to rein in his current trend towards hitting people first and asking questions later. Rick protests that Douglas is dangerous, but Sarah feels they don't know his full story and should try to work that out first.

On that note, Opsie decides she wants to go talk to Douglas and try to find out the meaning behind his weird looks at her, and what he meant about what they'd become. Sarah decides to go along with her as backup. The two girls catch up to Douglas in the corridors and press him for more information, but he feels he's said too much already. They try to convince him he can open up to them, since they've been the least confrontational towards him, but he just shakes his head and says it's too soon.

He implies that the Mayzor have big plans for the hybrids, and that Sarah, Rick and Serena might not reach the same 'heights' as he and Opsie will; Sarah isn't completely like them, and he doesn't say why for Rick and Serena but it's probably because of their treatment with AmBro51A. He refuses to elaborate further, suggesting Dr Johnson might tell them more before walking off, leaving them with more questions than answers.

In the clubroom, as Jason returns from picking up the prototype lightning gun he's been tinkering with, everyone receives an urgent news bulletin on their Lincs. Food all across the Earth is starting to rot inexplicably, crops are starting to wither and die, and livestock are contracting deadly diseases. The phenomenon is causing widespread panic, and people are joining in mass prayer at various religious services.

Jason notes that Ora Cohen, leader of the Followers of the Communion, did warn about the coming of the 'next plague' and suggests they go talk to her to find out what she knows. Rick wearily notes that he needs to talk to Cohen about contacting his father anyway. AK-47, Harris and Billy leave to go and find out more about what's going on. Before they go, Rick sends a copy of his conversation with Dr Johnson to AK-47's Linc, trusting her to do the right thing with it.

Resignedly, Rick asks who else wants to go pay Cohen and the Followers a visit. Jason just cocks his lightning gun in response and Marten, Esteban, Joanne and Serena all decide to go too. Rick looks ready to argue against Serena going, but she assures him that it'll be fine and if there's a chance of finding out about their father's whereabouts then she wants to be there. With Sarah's lecture about resorting to violence still fresh in his mind, Rick leaves his kendo stick on the table, but doesn't argue when Joanne picks it up - along with her own practice sword - before they head out.

The Unfortunate Truth

Depiction of Ora Cohen.
Dragon Priest by Vol-demort.
Image used without permission.

On their way, they find the festival is still going on, but the atmosphere is more subdued because of the news from Earth. Those who were indulging at the food stalls have stopped and are looking guilty. The Faithful, who organised the festival in the first place, are leading people in prayer for the 'saints' to help them. Rick puts up the hood on his head in discomfort at hearing prayers being made in his own name.

They arrive at the warehouse used by the Followers as their 'church', finding the doors wide open. They head inside to find Ora Cohen on stage, delivering a sermon to the other mask-clad Followers, declaring that the prophesied plague has arrived and that they must pray to the Mayzor to reverse it; just as they solved the problem of the world's diminishing resources when they first appeared on Earth as the Legulus. She tells them that the plague is the Mayzor's punishment because their faith in them has been waning, and that they must strengthen their faith or the Mayzor will punish them further.

Rick interrupts the sermon with sarcastic clapping, drawing all of the Followers' attention. Ora greets him and Serena, announcing that one of the 'princes' of the Mayzor and his 'princess' have graced them with their presence, and welcomes them as guests. Rick observes that Ora's part in the plan seems to be to make people turn back to the Mayzor and submit to their rule out of fear of retribution. Ora reiterates the points of her sermon, leading both Jason and Rick to rebuke her. Jason says that 'faith doesn't come at the butt of a gun' and Rick denounces Ora's religion as little more than a protection racket. Marten agrees, if the Mayzor actually cared about humanity they'd help them, not punish and destroy. Ora counters by asking if Marten thinks all gods are just. Marten doesn't have an answer for that, but Rick retorts that the Mayzor are not gods.

Ora disagrees, repeating her sermon again, this time using the phrase 'the faith is strong' which catches both Rick and Marten's attention since they've both heard that a few times before. When Marten asks why she keeps saying that, she tells them it's something the Grand General of the Mayzor has said time and time again. She knows they're probably aware of the Grand General's identity, Commander Yamasuka herself, from having stolen her Linc during their last encounter. She asks for it back, so Rick gets it from Esteban and tosses it back to her. They've got all the information they could out of it anyway. She then asks Rick why he and his friends have come. Rick tells her that since both of them are looking for his father, he thought they could help each other out.

Ora suspected this was their reason for coming, and leads them down into the basement, to the blank white room where Serena was held last time. Rick and Serena both get a similar vibe from the room to that of the Zen garden the Prophet pilots use for their mental training exercises. Rick surprises Ora with his foreknowledge that she has been gifted with a psychic talent by Commander Yamasuka, but remains silent about the source of his knowledge.

She elaborates on her talent, telling them she is able to see into peoples' dreams and memories. She'll use this ability to help Rick attempt to contact his father. The first step is to guide Rick through his most recent dreams and memories to trace the source of Rafe's last psychic contact with him. As soon as Rick is ready, she places her hands on his head and starts probing his mind.

Among the most recent dreams and nightmares that surface in her probing, the most prominent is one of Rick and Serena standing on the surface of the moon without spacesuits, the two of them standing on a distinct border between the light and dark sides. They both cling to each other, holding each others arms tightly to keep each other firmly anchored between the two sides. Rick also sees the dream of him looking into a mirror and seeing himself with the pale skin and silver hair of a Mayzor.

They soon reach the memory of his conversation with Rafe in the Arx's garden park, zooming into Rafe's eyes and down a dark tunnel, coming out on the surface of the moon. There, they find Rafe with a swarm of Locusts and a couple of Magnas gathered around, rallying them to him against the other generals in a fight to restore balance to their race. Ora mutters in satisfaction: 'Found you.'

The vision fades and Ora tells Rick that he must now concentrate and morph the room they're in to match Rafe's location the same way they do in their visualisation exercises in the Zen garden. Serena links minds with him to help out, and they telepathically reach out to Opsie for her help as well.

The rest of the group are stunned as the room shifts to the same scene on the moon, finding the huge Magnas and Locusts towering over them and Rafe standing with his back to them. The Mayzor all turn their gazes on Rick and company, and then Rafe turns to face Rick. He doesn't seem surprised, but rather relieved to see his son. He notes the others' presence but focuses on Rick and Serena. He tells them that this army is the rebellion he has gathered against the Mayzor.

Not really Rafe or the Mayzor but could be!
Armored core wallpaper by uberdspy.
Image used without permission.

While everyone else is distracted by this family reunion, Jason notices Ora Cohen has her Linc in her hands and sees her type something into it before slipping it back into her pocket. Jason gets out his own Linc to hack hers, finding that she has sent Rafe's location to Commander Yamasuka. He edits the message to alter the coordinates to indicate the Peary crater on the opposite side of the moon, then wipes the credit from her phone just to be safe.

Meanwhile, Rick tells his father he's not sure how long they have to talk and that he needs to know the Mayzor's plan. Rafe agrees that it's time they knew the truth and explains that the Mayzor do not want to eradicate humanity, but they are instead using them to power and evolve themselves.

When the Legulus were on Earth, they discovered that they could draw power from humanity's faith; the reason they say the faith is strong is because it literally gives them strength. When they revealed themselves and offered their aid to humanity, they were praised as saviours and that gave them some strength. They began to experiment with this effect, even after their exodus from Earth, and became corrupted by it.

They abduct people to use their faith that they will be rescued and saved to draw power from that. They laid waste to the Holy Lands in their initial invasion to diminish faith in the world's major religions, because they don't draw power from faith which isn't connected to them somehow. They had one of their generals, Dr Cruix, go undercover and provide humanity with the means to fight back, which culminated in the creation of the SAInts: Mayzor technology controlled by human pilots. Because the SAInts are tied to humanity as well as the Mayzor, humanity's faith in their ability to defeat the Mayzor actually generates more faith for them to draw upon.

The whole Mayzor invasion campaign is essentially a long con to build up the Mayzor's power. The longer this cycle goes on the more powerful the Mayzor will become until eventually they'll no longer need humanity and no force in the universe will be able to oppose them. Rick is staggered by this revelation, as there seems to be no way humanity can possibly win if what Rafe says is the truth. The only way, Rafe agrees, would be to destroy humanity's faith; stop fighting, stop making everyone believe in them and their ability to save mankind from the Mayzor. But even if they did that, the Mayzor would still have enough energy leftover to devastate Earth.

Marten protests that they've done so much to turn the Mayzor's weapons against them and that there must be a way to take that further. This gives Rick an idea, and he asks if there's any way they can harness humanity's faith in them to their own advantage. Rafe says it's possible for Rick and the rest of Blue Company - due to their half-Mayzor DNA - to draw upon the faith. Rick and Serena have been treated with AmBro51A to suppress that ability, but there is a way to reverse the process. However, in using the faith to empower themselves, they would risk being corrupted by it just like the other Generals. The only reason Rafe has been able to resist corruption himself is because his love for his family has given him enough of a tie to humanity to resist it.

Jason proposes another option: they could use the AmBro51A serum against the Mayzor Generals themselves, cutting them off from their power. Rafe agrees that it's possible, but as long as the Generals are united and strong it will be difficult to get close enough to use the serum. Jason remarks that five years ago he'd have said piloting giant robots on the moon was impossible too, so it's worth a shot.

Rick suggests preparing a means of reversing the serum for himself and Blue Company anyway, just in case they need an extra edge against the Generals. Rafe says he can help them do that but Jason will need to help in setting it up and they'll need to requisition Mayzor technology for it which can only be used by the Mayzor or those with Mayzor DNA. Unfortunately, the only place they'll be able to get such materials from is from one of their major outposts. Rafe promises to support the SAInt pilots with his army whatever course they decide to take and gives them a means of distinguishing the rebel units from the main force.

Before their connection is lost, Rick asks Rafe if he know where his mother is. He does: she's being held in an outpost in the Aitken crater, which is the equivalent of a fortified city and the next major stronghold they'll need to storm to reach the heart of Tartarus, the Mayzor's main base of operations. Rafe bids them good luck and farewell before the scene dissolves, and they find themselves back in the white room.

Rick turns to Ora Cohen, who is herself in shock at Rafe's revelations, and angrily asks if she will still follow the Mayzor, commenting that her 'gods' are nothing but parasites. Jason backs him up by referring to her faith as a 'happy meal' for the Mayzor. Cohen is unable to respond, needing time to process what she has discovered. Rick and the others leave her alone in the white room, looking completely lost.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Marten: We've got to pull everyone together for this mission...
Strudel: How is this the first I'm hearing about all this stuff?
Rick: You're threatening to skip this mission because you're in a childish strop?
Jason: Sit down and listen, because this is big bombshell type stuff, and we need you on board.
Esteban: I'm getting some strange readings, multiple contacts appearing...
Strudel: NOOOOOOOOO!

NEXT EPISODE: 'Cage Match'

Director's Commentary

Thanks for reading, everyone! This episode was a lot of fun, especially as a Director, because I finally got to reveal the big, Mayzor plan. The PCs finally have all the pieces on the table, but what they choose to do with that knowledge is especially awesome. I honestly didn't expect that they'd try to form an anti-AmBrO51A serum to counteract the Mayzor, but it makes sense in the fiction, so we're rolling with it.

The PCs still have a long way to go for such a daring and drawn out plan. First thing's first, though. They need to get to the Aitken crater and survive long enough to rescue the captives, gather what materials they need to produce the anti-serum, and get back to the Arx to move forward with their plan.

All in all, it won't be easy.

Stay tuned for a recap of Episode 09: Cage Match, which Robert already posted on his blog, and a fresh, upcoming AP for Episode 10: Charge.

You can also check out the live play session for Episode 08: Anagnorisis here:

Thanks for reading! Until next time!

Monday, August 3, 2015

AP (LB) - Chapter 1, Part 1: Into Darkness

"Drop your weapons and don't move, or I'll eviscerate you all with our Etheric Accelerator Cannon," Snargle said over the PA.

The pitch black hangar of the Hand of Sorrow flooded with blue-white light after Snargle started up The Owl.

The seven, remaining Imperial officers staggered as they rose from the ground, still recovering from Lady Blackbird's spell. They circled her and the rest of the crew, steam-powered rifles and pistols drawn.

Naomi and Cyrus stood behind Natasha after grounding themselves to avoid being swept up by the wind.

A burst of blue lighting appeared in front of The Owl as Lady Blackbird concentrated her magic to help the Goblin pilot out while preparing to make a run for it with her bodyguard and the smuggler captain of The Owl.

The Imperial lieutenant, who had recovered faster than anyone else, glared at Snargle through the window of the ship. He raised his arms high, one palm outstretched, while the other hand gripped his rifle which pointed to the ceiling. Anger and hatred oozed out of every pore of his body.

(Less than an hour ago)

"Lady Blackbird is on the run from an arranged marriage to Count Carlowe. She hired a smuggler skyship, The Owl, to take her from her palace on the Imperial world of Ilysium to the far reaches of the Remnants, so she could be with her once secret lover: the pirate king Uriah Flint.

HOWEVER, just before reaching the halfway point of Haven, The Owl was pursued and captured by the Imperial cruiser Hand of Sorrow, under charges of flying a false flag.

EVEN NOW, Lady Blackbird, her bodyguard, and the crew of The Owl are detained in the brig, while the Imperial commander runs the smuggler ship’s registry over the wireless. It’s only a matter of time before they discover the outstanding warrants and learn that The Owl is owned by none other than the infamous outcast, Cyrus Vance.

How will Lady Blackbird and the others escape the Hand of Sorrow?
What dangers lie in their path?

Will they be able to find the secret lair of the pirate king? if they do, will Uriah Flint accept Lady Blackbird as his bride? By the time they get there, will she want him to?

Go. Play. And find out."

- Excerpt from Lady Blackbird, Tales of the Wild Blue Yonder: Chapter 1

The Breakout, Part I

Three, Imperial guards manned the brig of the Hand of Sorrow, as they escorted the prisoners into a sizable hall, eighty feet deep and sixty feet wide with a ceiling more than eighty feet from the ground. Six, hexagonal-shaped cells made entirely of metal were carved out into the floor, three on each side. They were about twenty feet deep and fifteen feet wide, complete with a single, metal cot in each cell along with a rusted toilet. Each 10x10 entrance consisted of metallic bars which lined the ground of the brig and retracted by way of mechanical gears hidden inside the walls of each cell.

Source: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/D-District_Prison
Image used without permission.

Despite the fact that the rest of the cells were empty, Natasha Syri, aka Lady Blackbird, Naomi Bishop, Cyrus Vance, and Snargle were all grouped into pairs and led to the rear-most cells on opposite sides of the hall. Snargle and Naomi shared the left-hand cell, while Natasha and Cyrus shared the right.

Only one entrance led into the brig from the front, where a male officer stood guard, while another male and female officer patrolled the hall back and forth, alternating positions as they continuously walked.

From inside the cells, the bars were situated on the ceiling with no lock or handle to speak of, and Naomi wasted no time in using her might to make the first move. Snargle gave her a leg up, and she burst through with ease. The bars splintered off the hatch and flew upward into the air, as Naomi climbed out to meet the stunned faces of all three guards.

Shock quickly turned to anger, and they each drew a steam-powered, tesla rifle - a highly advanced stun gun of the Imperial model - and began running toward Naomi.

Snargle crouched low and leaped out of the cell like a tree frog, somersaulting and landing gracefully on his feet in the process.

As one of the male officers passed over the opposite cell, Cyrus quickly grabbed his ankle and yanked his leg down through the bars. There was a loud crunch, and his tesla rifle dropped on top of the bars.

Natasha was quick to grab it and shoot the guard just as Cyrus let go to avoid getting electrocuted himself. She hit her mark, and the stunned guard went limp and paralyzed, his legs twisting even more. There was another loud crunch, and if they hadn't been broken by this point, they certainly were now.

"Mack!" the female guard shouted. She aimed her rifle at Naomi while signaling to the third guard at front entrance to come and help.

Naomi made a beeline for the female guard but missed. The guard quickly sidestepped and tripped Naomi who face-planted the ground. The guard's foot crushed the back of Naomi's head in, the rifle just inches away from her face.

"Don't move, or I'll shoot," the guard said.

The other guard reached a point ten feet from Cyrus and Natasha's cell and thirty feet from Naomi and the other officer. He pulled out a large, clunky radio attached to a battery, strapped to his belt, and began radioing in for backup. Cyrus grabbed the rifle from Natasha and jumped up to grab hold of the cell bars. He shoved the rifle through and attempted to shoot blindly at him before he got any words in. Natasha directed him to go more left, but Cyrus overshot his aim and accidentally hit Snargle in the side with a jolt of blue lightning.

"Requesting backup! Requesting backup! Prisoners escaping, I repeat, prisoners escaping! Code red!" the guard shouted into the radio.

Disoriented and injured, Snargle attempted to stop him by climbing the wall and leaping backwards into a tumble. Unfortunately, the Goblin underestimated the distance and ended up on his back five feet away. The guard immediately dropped his radio and shoved a tesla rifle into Snargle's face. Snargle drew his hands up and surrendered.

Standing at the back of the cell, Lady Blackbird barely saw the top of the guard's head. Cyrus offered her a boost, and she called upon her inherent, magical talents coupled with the noble training she'd received in the arts of Stormblood sorcery.

Her voice echoed in a strange tongue called the Language of Blood which only Cyrus and Naomi clearly recognized.

While there were a lot of practitioners of magic who knew basic spells equivalent of parlor tricks, true master sorcerers were a much rarer breed and were exclusively restricted to those of noble blood. Hardly any noble master would ever tarnish their reputation by imparting such ancient and treasured knowledge onto a mere commoner.

Once Lady Blackbird finished chanting the proper words and honing in on her target, a burst of lightning erupted in front of her hands and traveled through the bars and into the air. It made impact with the guard's shoulder before trailing through the rest of his body, electrocuting him.

The guard dropped to the ground like a ragged doll and curled into a fetal position, groaning and unable to move a muscle. Both his tesla rifle and radio fell onto the ground, and Snargle noticed another, strange device which also fell off his person. It was a remote control of some kind, smaller than the radio, with a circular dial at the bottom. It had a sliding switch running horizontally across the middle and six lights with circuit lines connecting to the various points of the slider like a timeline. Five of the lights were red while one glowed green, indicating that the rear, left-most cell was registering as open even though the bars had been broken apart by Naomi.

Prior to unlocking Cyrus and Natasha's cell, Snargle quickly picked up the tesla rifle, aimed it at the back of the female officer, and fired. The electricity left a scorch mark on her armor, and she slumped over Naomi's body, paralyzed and out cold.

Klaxon alarms started blaring throughout the brig and outside, and the crew knew it was only a matter of time before they were surrounded by a plethora of Imperial officers ready to re-imprison them or worse.

Naomi got up, grabbed the radio next to the moaning, fetal guard, and snapped his neck before handing the radio off to Natasha who was now free and happy to be out of her cell. Cyrus shared her sentiment and listened in as Natasha radioed in to stop the backup.

The Breakout, Part II

"Attention all officers, false alarm! I repeat, false alarm! We're all good here." Lady Blackbird used her manliest voice as she channeled every Imperial soldier over the wire.

<<Krrsscht! "This is Captain Hollas. Identify yourself, officer.">>

Lady Blackbird hesitated, but Cyrus walked her through the proper, military procedures of the Imperial army, including how to address Captain Hollas.

The officers' uniforms featured concentric, hexagonal patches on their shoulders with bars on the inside which signified different ranks. The dead guard with the snapped neck was Petty Officer First Class, Warren. The other two were Petty Officers Third Class Mack and McKenzie.

"This is Petty Officer First Class, Warren," Lady Blackbird replied.

<<"What's the situation down there? What was that about prisoners escaping?">>

"It was a misfire, sir. We thought one of the prisoners had escaped, but it was only a misfire. False alarm. My apologies, Captain."

There was a slight pause on the other line, but Captain Hollas's voice finally came through:

<<"Very well, officer. All personnel, return to your posts. I repeat, all personnel, return to your posts. Officer Warren, we ran the ship's registry through the system. Bring Cyrus Vance to my chambers in ten minutes. That's an order! Captain Hollas over and out." Krrsscht!">>

Cyrus cursed under his breath.

The crew of The Owl needed to get to their ship, and they needed to move fast. They spent a few minutes debating their plan of action. At first, Cyrus told Naomi to dress up like an officer and escort him to Captain Hollas's chambers. Lady Blackbird thought that if anyone were to put on the guise of an officer, it should be her, and Naomi and Snargle could go find the ship.

In the end, however, the crew decided on a completely different plan. Having once been an Imperial officer himself, Cyrus more or less knew the layout of the Hand of Sorrow and knew that The Owl was being kept in the hangar which was next to the galley and overlooked by the bridge. The ventilation shaft could take them straight there. Snargle would take the lead and get to the ship first. He'd start it up while the others boarded, and they would all fly out as fast as possible in the wild, blue yonder.

Easy plan, right? What could possibly go wrong?

Cyrus found a large spool of wire on Mack's body which just barely reached the eighty foot-high ventilation duct after Naomi stacked all three of the officers' bodies on top of each other. Snargle scaled the wall, secured the wire, and the rest climbed up with relative ease.

After meandering through a labyrinthine airway, the crew finally made it to a grate which overlooked the hangar. From their angle, they could see part their ship, along with eight officers of various ranks eighty feet below: two Petty Third Class Officers, two Petty Second Class, two Petty First Class, one sergeant, and one lieutenant.

"If we could kill the lights and get down there, our plan might actually work," Cyrus said. Snargle started spouting technobabble about needing to find the source of the lighting grid to hook the tesla rifle to in order to fire it and short out the circuits.

Sure enough, he found what he was looking for around the corner, and in minutes, all the lights in the hangar went dark. The crew lifted the grate, dropped the wire, and let Snargle go first.

It's a good thing Goblins can see in the dark, and it's even better when they're able to sneak past a group of blind soldiers without making a peep. Once Snargle reached The Owl, he was able to open the hatch silently thanks to some special oil he applied a few days ago.

One officer craned his neck toward him, thinking he'd heard something, but was too distracted by the blackout and turned back. Every Imperial was confused and on edge.

Cyrus and the others began climbing down the wire, unable to see what was going on themselves. Just as they got close to the ground, one of the Imperials stumbled into the wire and gave it a slight tug.

"What the-" the soldier began, but Cyrus jumped on his back far too fast for him to finish his sentence. He knocked him down and threw a punch toward his head, but the officer grabbed Cyrus's wrists and wrestled him to the ground, flipping him over and pinning Cyrus to the floor.

"The prisoners!" the officer shouted, but those were the only two words he spoke before Naomi dropped down like a ninja and snapped his neck in an instant, swiping his pistol afterward. Lady Blackbird came down as well and grabbed a rifle off the dead soldier as the rest of the officers cocked their guns and turned toward the noise.

Lady Blackbird whispered a chant in the Language of Blood. This one was different from her previous spell, and instead of lightning erupting front her fingertips, she summoned a gust of wind that blew her clothes and hair before erupting outward in a circle, knocking every officer off their feet.

Snargle witnessed everything from the confines of The Owl, and he formed a risky plan that would greatly aid in their escape. The only problem was that it required an exceptional bluff, and that sort of skill wasn't in his wheelhouse.

He really hoped this would be his lucky break.

* * *

"Drop your weapons and don't move, or I'll eviscerate you all with Etheric Accelerator Cannon," Snargle said over the PA.

The pitch black hangar of the Hand of Sorrow flooded with blue-white light after Snargle started up The Owl.

The seven, remaining Imperial officers staggered as they rose from the ground, still recovering from Lady Blackbird's spell. They circled her and the rest of the crew, steam-powered rifles and pistols drawn.

Naomi and Cyrus stood behind Natasha after grounding themselves to avoid being swept up by the wind.

A burst of blue lighting appeared in front of The Owl as Lady Blackbird concentrated her magic to help the Goblin pilot out while preparing to make a run for it with her bodyguard and the smuggler captain of The Owl.

The Imperial lieutenant, who had recovered faster than anyone else, glared at Snargle through the window of the ship. He raised his arms high, one palm outstretched while the other hand gripped his rifle which pointed to the ceiling. Anger and hatred oozed out of every pore of his body.

"Officers, stand down," he said. His frustrated voice echoed throughout the hangar, and the soldiers obeyed his orders, lowering their guns.

"Now!" Lady Blackbird said, and she made a run for it alongside Naomi and Cyrus.

Snargle already started turning the ship around as the three boarded, but the launch tunnel was closed. Lady Blackbird pointed her rifle to a switch located on one of the hangar walls and fired, opening the vacuum-sealed hatch.

The lieutenant signaled to the sergeant and several other soldiers who started boarding one of the other, docked spaceships, turning it on and getting ready to follow.

As The Owl propelled itself into the Wild Blue, an Imperial-class fighter ship was hot on its tail. A huge asteroid orbiting the central star appeared directly in their path, but Snargle's quick reflexes and evasive maneuvering came into play. He came dangerously close to clipping the ship but was able to pilot it right above the asteroid and use it to slingshot the ship directly toward Haven. The Imperial ship chasing them panicked and swerved to the left, avoiding a full on crash, but lost an entire right wing in the process.

No other ships pursued The Owl while it raced toward the most prominent of the Free Worlds at top speed. As a result, the crew reached their destination in less than half a day's time.

Not bad, all things considering.

The Refreshment (Haven)

<<"You have some nerve showing your face here,">> a woman's said over the wireless after Cyrus hailed the Smuggler's Port that they were landing.

Jennifer Towes ran the Smuggler's Port of Haven. It wasn't the most funded or prestigious port in the free world, but it was reliable in a pinch and catered to outcasts where other ports would turn them away. Jennifer was blunt, sarcastic, and often had an attitude, but she was fair, accommodating, and took pride in running a tight ship.

The fact that she seemed extra hostile toward Cyrus wasn't completely unwarranted. A couple of weeks ago, he took her younger sister, Kimi, out for a date. Jennifer found out and clearly wasn't happy with the news. Playing the overprotective, big sister, she hired one of her bodyguards to storm into Kimi's apartment that night. Cyrus and Kimi had just finished a drink and were starting to get intimate, when the door burst open, and the bodyguard threw Cyrus's ass out onto the curb with a message from Jennifer warning him to never see Kimi again.

Cyrus hadn't spoken to Kimi or Jennifer until now, so he played his cool, usual self in response:

"Oh, hey Jennifer... What's happening?"

"Cyrus, I've got a bone to pick with you. Meet me as soon as you land."

"OK, Jennifer, no problem!"

Cyrus couldn't help thinking this had something to do with Kimi, but he decided not to ignore the summons. First thing he needed to do, however, was to treat Snargle's wound - especially since it was his fault.

All the while, Snargle thought that Lady Blackbird had shot him - he had seen her use magic to generate lightning, after all. Of course, Cyrus kept his mouth shut and just nodded as he patched Snargle up.

"Mhmm, mhmm, but she is easy on the eyes, isn't she, Snargle?"

The Goblin had no comment.

"Hey, think you can play wing-Goblin for me?"

Snargle rolled his eyes, wincing every now and then from the pain.

They continued to make small talk which led to a conversation about their other partner, Kale Arkam. Kale had gotten stranded in Nightport during their previous mission last week. They were tasked with smuggling expensive wines, but Kale had to take care of some other business. He said to go on without him if he wasn't back in three hours. Cyrus and Snargle waited half a day before they were forced to leave without him, or else they were going to be late on their delivery.

Now that they were in Haven, Cyrus and Snargle decided to find out what they could about Kale before heading to Nightport which was only a few hours away. The funds they were receiving from Lady Blackbird would be enough to do whatever they needed to do there to find him - especially if Kale had gotten himself into trouble again.

After Cyrus finished patching Snargle up, he left to go see Jennifer, while Snargle left to acquire space/sky coal and other supplies from a contact of Kale's.

Meanwhile, Lady Blackbird had a chat with Naomi about Haven and their experiences with the Free World.

Naomi reminisced about how the pit fighters in Ilysium would talk about Haven, referring to it as the promised land where slaves could live free. Naomi vowed she would never believe it until she saw it with her own eyes, but perhaps now she would have her chance.

She remembered two pit fighters in particular who fled to Haven: Malechi and Livia.

Malechi was one of the more, formidable opponents she'd faced in the pits. He fought with honor and eventually bought his freedom with Haven as his intended destination. Naomi had great respect for him.

Livia was one of Naomi's greatest rivals in the pits, and the two never got along. Livia was all about proving her dominance but could never really compete against Naomi who bested her every single time. One day, Livia just vanished. Rumor has it she fled to Haven somehow, but no one really knew the exact details.

Lady Blackbird had been to Haven several times, when she used to work as a trade negotiator between her family and the Noble House of Mooncloud. The nobles who were Master Sorcerers were well known for their secrets surrounding dream blood magic. Lady Blackbird was on good terms with them all but had a particularly favorite and reliable contact named Logan Mooncloud who'd only started apprenticing at the time.

After their conversation was over, Lady Blackbird wanted to visit the market, and Naomi naturally followed. Snargle was on his way to pay a visit to one of Kale's contacts in order to acquire space sky coal, so the three decided to walk together. Cyrus stayed at the port and went off to pay Jennifer a visit.

As Snargle, Naomi, and Lady Blackbird walked through the streets, they witnessed a group of teenage punks who were shouting all sorts of sneers and obscenities at a Goblin couple walking down the street.

Humans, especially those who considered themselves part of the Empire, hated Goblins with a passion. It was racism at its ugliest. Many had a supremacist outlook toward them and considered Goblins inferior creatures, tricksters, moochers, pests that needed to be exterminated, and the absolute worst scum of the Wild Blue.

Despite being raised with such prejudices, Lady Blackbird never hated Goblins. She thought they were untrustworthy, sure, but she was never rude to them and never understood how other nobles could hate them with such fervent passion.

One of the teenagers took a long drag from his cigarette and glared at Snargle and the women beside him with hatred. The others followed suit with dirty, menacing looks.

Fortunately, there were plenty of potential witnesses walking through the street in case anything happened. For now, it seemed safe, but the relentless looks that the teens were giving did not seem comforting one bit.

Next Time

"Where the hell is Kimi, Cyrus?!" Jennifer roars.

The sounds of steam-whistle sirens blare as constables on bicycles appear in an alleyway.

"Wait a sec, you aint no pirate! Yer that Lady Blackbird they been lookin' fer!" says a shopkeeper as he glances back at a MISSING poster.

"My lady? Lady Blackbird? What are you doing here?" Logan says, stepping out of the shadows after exiting a drug den.

"The pirate king has eyes and ears everywhere, my Lady," a Goblin says, handing Lady Blackbird a gold coin of the Empire, stained in blood, with the Emperor's face scratched off.

End of Session 1

What exactly does Jennifer want with Cyrus, and what happened to Kimi?

Will Snargle run into any trouble with the teenage punks?

Will Kale turn up, or will news of his disappearance surface?

Will Naomi find Haven to her liking? Will she run into anyone from her past?

Will Lady Blackbird make it safely to the Remnants, and will she be reunited with Uriah Flint?

Stay tuned for Chapter 1, Part 2 coming soon.

Greetings, readers! If you've made it this far, kudos to you, and thank you for reading. My apologies from being absent from the blog for far, too long. A lot of real-life events have unfolded in the past four months, including a new job, a move, and a death in the family, but now that things have finally started to settle a bit, I've been getting back more into gaming with a strong itch to write APs.

This was my first attempt at running Lady Blackbird, which I've wanted to do for a long while. I played the game several times before and loved it, but running it is just as much of a thrill.

I have some commentary on the game itself, especially in comparison with Dungeon World (which I run most often along with Adventures on Dungeon Planet), but that commentary is best saved for its own post. I'll collect my thoughts and post sometime in the near future.

I got a chance to run a second session yesterday, even though we were down a player. A lot of great stuff happened, so I'll definitely follow up with another AP when I get more time.

I want to thank +Robert Ruthven (Naomi Bishop), +David Andrews (Snargle), +Wolfie Fang (Natasha Syri/Lady Blackbird), and +Lloyd Gyan (Cyrus Vance) for being awesome players.

I especially want to thank Lloyd for helping me out during my first GMing experience for this game. He's an awesome, seasoned GM who ran this game both times I've played, or was it three? Anyway, I greatly welcomed his help anytime questions about the rules came up, or when he'd give me friendly reminders to ask questions during pertinent moments - something I forget to do sometimes if I get too fixated on the moment.

All in all, great times, great game.

Thank you again for reading, everyone. It feels nice to post an AP again. There are still many games I have yet to post summaries about (especially the PbPs), so hopefully I'll find more time and energy to keep you all entertained with geeky goodness.

Until next time!