Autumn's Rainswept Tower

The Slaver and the Seeress

The party found itself in orbit above Samsara aboard a Xanadu-class luxury yacht, in the personal chambers of a Slaver cartel boss. This led to some immediate misgivings.

Lyra extended her claws, ready to throw hands pretty much right out the gate. However, she and the others at least agreed to listen to what Vargo the Whale had to say after he promised he would not keep them there against their will. He admitted to wanting them to hand Trinity over as well, but would not take her by force. Instead, he felt that someone else needed to be heard. 

Ira, Vargo’s Keleni “advisor” went to pull a hologram up on the computer. To Aeila’s muted surprise, who should appear but her cousin Lysenia Sabine? Unfortunately for the blind seeress, while it may have been some hours after sunset on Samsara, on Persephone it was horribly early in the morning. After frantically cutting the communication, Lysenia returned to speak, having exchanged her oversized band tee-shirt and bed hair for an elegant Akashic robe and blindfold. Finally, serious talk could begin.

Lysenia implored Aeila and the others to give Trinity to Vargo. The Westerly girl’s blood ran thick with psychic potence. Beyond even that, a destiny lay upon her, one Cero already knew. Someday, her child will change the course of the galaxy itself. 

This did not convince Lyra. All the talk of psionics and destiny only riled up the skeptical half-Asrathi. She angrily demanded the Akashic priestess stop lying to her, which only led to Lysenia becoming angry in return. Nobody else was particularly thrilled by the proposition either, least of all Trinity herself. 

Vargo stepped in then, giving his own pitch in a roundabout fashion. He titled himself a closeted Abolitionist, a reformer who saw that slavery held the Umbral Rim down and needed to be done away with. However, he refused to let his ideals blind him to necessity. He dealt in people just as much as in any other resource, but all for the purpose of one day making a change. As he explained to Lyra and Lee (whose introduction earlier amused the Temkorathim greatly, while irritating Ira), what he did was not much different than trading heroes and units in Stratagem. He traded resources he did not require with others to gain resources that benefitted his needs. 

To that purpose, he needed assets. Specifically, he promised a free ride for the party plus cash of varying quantity for handing over not just Trinity, but any of several other options: Terrilee Jones (to humiliate her boss, a colleague and rival of Vargo), Atrin or Revalis Khalli (the ones behind her initial abduction), a templar such as Vienna Grey, or one of the notable figures attached to the Imperial delegation.

Speaking of the Imperials, he also alluded to a certain recently arrived security agent. At the mention of her name, Lyra became very interested indeed.

A Brief Rest

The party agreed to consider the offer and accepted a few rooms to sleep in. Before they leave the audience chamber, Delphina spoke up to Aeila, begging her for a dose of Ketrazine. The Temkorathim, ever the gracious host, summoned a Keverling in his employ to fetch some, though he admitted to holding very little of it on hand. It was enough, at least, to sate the girl’s addiction for the time being.

The next morning, the group discussed their plans over breakfast, finally agreeing to an audacious plan. 

The Priestess in Her Temple

After catching a ride back down to the surface with Vance and Rhee Kitee, they dropped Trinity off at a Domen Sefalina temple near her house and, conveniently, near the Imperial police precinct where one Agent Julie von Steinhorst coordinated the search.

Within the temple, they explained the situation in brief to a priestess and left both Trinity and Delphina in her care. Despite Aeila’s fondness for the Ranathim dancer, the party as a whole felt it best that she receive care for her addiction and recent freedom from experts in both fields.

The Agent, the Bodyguard, and the Gangster

The place: an unassuming street in Maon.

The time: late afternoon.

The mission: provoke the Valorian Empire.

Lyra sent a half-Keleni boy with a handful of credits and a message for the Imperial police. She knew Julie well, and knew just how to get under the woman’s skin. Sure enough, before long a troop of twenty armored policemen armed with a mix of rifles and riot shields with neurolash batons stormed down the street, led by a beautiful blonde woman in a crisp grey uniform. Lyra stood at the mouth of an alleyway, seemingly alone. 

At the far end of the alley, four more policemen rounded the corner and came face to face with a giantess leveling a massive gun at them with one hand. A spray of bolts mowed down three, and before the last could run she bisected him with a flick of the grand force sword in her other hand.

At the sound of blaster fire, Lyra mocked Julie for her foolish attempt at an ambush, stunning her. Then, from a cafe down the street, Lee fired a blast of plasma into the center of the troop. Imperial tactical armor can be quite good, and the penetration of the plasma pistol is low. None of the men were injured. But, the blast did its job of tearing up the roadway, impeding movement at just the same time that Luckpicker fell from a roof above.

From the roof, Cero hurled bolt after bolt of necrotic energy at the riflemen, as Luckpicker began to grapple and tear the soldiers around it. Lee followed with a second blast at the rear of the formation and then ran away. Lyra ran too, down the alleyway to draw Julie towards Aeila.

At the end of the alleyway, a figure stepped past the bodies of fallen policemen. He was lithe, well-armored, and as he approached he slowly drew his elegant ceramic katana. Toshiro Edge of the Imperial delegation had arrived.

Lee ducked out the back of the cafe into another alley on the other side of the street. But there was someone waiting there as well: a man sitting cockily on a steel drum, with a Kainian cybernetic on his arm. He smiled at the androgynous ersatz aristocrat.

The grifter fired and ran.

Lessons Learned

This session went better, though I feel like less happened. The party is in the middle of one of likely two major fights in the arc. I’m a bit nervous about how it will go, though. 

Cerablate plates in tactical armor is pretty decent protection, at least from a mere AD (2) pistol. However, they are still just mooks so Luckpicker’s brawl and wrestling should make short work. I am worried that Toshiro will go down too easily. Aeila is terrifying. Apparently the lesson learned this session is “Mother’s Corpse, Aeila can use a machine gun one-handed”. We’ll need to wait for next time to see how it shakes out.

Another lesson is that non-damaging effects can still change an encounter a lot. Lee took out none of the police, but had an outstanding effect through churning the road into uneven ground. It should give them and Lyra time to reposition before the melee-armed police have much of a chance to do anything, while Cero continues killing off the riflemen.