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View Full Version : Journal Defenders of Aura - A Battle Century G Campaign Diary



Beacon of Chaos
2017-01-14, 06:11 PM
I've always wanted to do one of these things and I've just started a new sci-fi mecha campaign with friends using the Battle Century G system (I highly recommend it! (http://gimmicklabs.blogspot.co.uk/p/downloads.html)) so there's no better time. A few quotes from this have already made it to the No Context (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21588132&postcount=1081) thread, so if you came here from there, beware: context ahead!


The campaign is an original setting, set on the world of Aura. The capital city, Neovara, has been recruiting a mecha-based military force and four rather unusal pilots have managed to make the cut and join a new team. They are:

Alexander Tabard A.K.A. Ax. Lead singer and guitarist of the popular metal band, Break the Abyss. A charming ladies' man, possibly a little narcisistic. His mech, Riggnarok, has been custom built with a guitar for a controller and the whole thing responds to the music he plays. In battle it moves at a snail's pace but hits hard with powerful long range weapons.

Fiona Zeiss. Previously a spacer and junker, her expertise in taking apart ships for parts has translated into great skill in taking apart enemy mechs by force. She seems to have quite the temper. Her mech, the Arc Gear, carries a giant wrench into melee combat.

Dr. Spectre Diamond. A scientist who got the job by building his own mech, in a cave, with a box of scraps funding from a private investor. Somewhat meek, he is never seen without Eric, his adopted alien son. His mech, The Eagle, is the fastest and balances long and short range combat, with a preference for the former.

ZX-10222 A.K.A. Sinclair. An android who originally worked as a croupier at a casino and was "encouraged" to join the miliary after it was discovered he had been fitted with an illegal hacking rig without his knowledge. A pacifist and an optimist. His mech, Beast of Burden, is purely support, supplying repairs and ammo to the others. Played by Yours Truly.

Juyon Jidoushi. Joins in session 5. A young man filled with fighting spirit! Originally recruited by Alpha Team for his skillful piloting, he later joins Delta Team full time. His mech, Zweilander, was built by his grandfather. It fights mainly with sword and shield.


Session 1:

First day on the job, the team is gathered at military headquarters in the capital city to meet each other and our commanding officers. We're met by Adam Westfield, commander of one of the other mecha teams. After brief introductions he shows us around the base, in particular noting the simulation machines for training purposes. Fiona suggests we set up some kind of tournament, partially to keep sharp, partially to "keep score".

Next, we're shown around the mech hanger where we're greeted by Sara Wong, Sinclair's handler and someone the GM describes as "...a bit odd"

GM: You're not sure if she wants to dissect you or sleep with you.

Yikes. I don't know what to make of that, but when we arrive she gives me a big hug, so at least she's friendly either way. She's also our team's mechanic and she assures us the mechs are ready for action, though she questions Ax's choice of controls. Ax offers to give her a quick lesson, though she seems to be watching him rather than his playing.

Lastly we are shown to the office of our boss, Commander Nina Burgess. She explains to us that our team's main directive will be the defence of the country against outside forces, though thankfully this won't be for some time as we are not currently at war.

We're then given some time to get to know each other and hang out. Fiona gushes over Ax's music, then grills Sinclair on his purpose, being suspicious of his combat ability. Sinclair assures her that he is there to keep the team's mechs running and, by extension, keep the pilots alive. This seems good enough for the junker. We then ask Dr. S about Eric. Apparantly they met when he was young and the Doc saved his life. Eric doesn't speak English too well, but Sinclair is able to speak a pidgin language that he understands.

Not long after this, a communication comes through from Burgess: We've got a mission. A ship has been seen leaving the atmosphere at high velocity from an island that should be uninhabited. Intial intel suggests that these may be smugglers attempting to sneak goods off-world. We're asked to move in and secure the area, but to be careful as a powerful railgun turret has been set up.

Our dropship move us towards the deployment area and we choose where our mechs are going to land. We're in a hurry and there's no time for stealth, so we find a hill near a forest we can drop down behind for cover. Our mechs are dropped from the ship and...

GM: Make a roll to see if you land where you want to. :smallbiggrin:

Damn. Sinclair rolls high enough to stick the landing. Unfortunately Fiona ends up landing on top of him. Ax ends up in the forest and immediately trips over a tree, and Dr. S ends up landing in between the hill and forest where there's no cover. So, y'know, we nailed it. :smalltongue:

Combat begins and the railgun immediately begins turning towards us, and several anti-grav tanks move towards our position. Fiona and Ax begin moving forwards, the former using jammers to mess up the turret's targeting while the later begins taking potshots with his sniper rifle. Dr. S takes a few shots too, while Sinclair keeps the group supplied with upgrades and ammo.

After a couple of turns command tells us that the ship leaving the atmosphere was intercepted, but it moved far too fast for them to catch. It was an alien vessel, belonging to the Deitus. These guys avoid most humans like the plague while claiming to be the gods from human mythology. That means the guys we are fighting are cultists.

After a few more turns of battle, the railgun is back in action and needs to be taken out. Fiona rushes in, breaking apart the gun's armour with her wrench. The GM tells us that we detect unusal energy fluctuations coming from it. Fiona decides to book it out of there, which is a pretty good decision as the gun explodes in a massive fireball. Dr. S chases a few remaining cultists to some kind of storage area. After laying down a few (missed) shots we find out what was in the crates they had. Dismembered cow parts fly across the battlefield. Ew.

The final tank makes a last ditch charge attack against Ax. Ax, however, has a melee weapon saved up for just such an occasion. A giant hammer, shaped like a guitar and filled with explosives (he's got a theme going, okay?). One powerful hit smashes the tank to bits, but also breaks the leg that was damaged earlier from the fall into the trees.

We check out the remains of the tanks, looking for survivors. We find none. Anyone who survived our attacks took their own lives rather than be captured. Sinclair mourns the loss of life while a grim Fiona says good riddance to the "contemptable vermin". What we do discover is a laptop. Sinclair offers to hack into it, but Fiona advises against it, warning that it probably has defences against such a thing. Or, as she put it:

Fiona: Do you want to delete System 32!?

The team heads back for debriefing, followed by some R&R.


And there ends the first session. Looking back at what I've just written, it doesn't sound like much, but we had great fun. A lot of the best bits were the character interactions, which I don't think comes across well, but I don't really want to write the dialogue line-by-line. Hopefully you guys are interested enough to read more. I may also post some setting lore later. If anyone wants to give any tips on how to make a good diary, those would be welcome. I'm not really a writer.

Bonus pictures:
http://orig03.deviantart.net/fcd9/f/2010/251/5/7/57f06846d6bc921511f9c09f6e01d39e-d2yc0sr.png
http://n0nus.deviantart.com/art/Commission-13-178600203
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i93/DiegoHavoc/15879086_763303410488580_284643440_n.png
http://68.media.tumblr.com/80584822e1b66405eadd2ffd774592c0/tumblr_ohzby695Eb1rdw527o1_540.jpg
Please excuse the sketchiness. I drew this on a 3DS in 10 minutes during my lunch break.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/14/a4/61/14a4614fd43c3e3a9f2f742cb8f95321.jpg
https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/537898749222530209/

DigoDragon
2017-01-17, 04:32 PM
The destruction of those crates were... cowtastrophic.

Beacon of Chaos
2017-01-19, 04:21 PM
The destruction of those crates were... cowtastrophic.
What an udderly strange thing to say.

Next session write up this weekend.

Beacon of Chaos
2017-01-21, 04:10 PM
Session 2:

It's been a few weeks since our first battle and the team is well on it's way to being a cohesive unit rather than a bunch of weirdos with nothing in common. Things have quieted down since then, so the team has some time off.

Ax and Spectre find themselves talking and the doctor reveals that he's jealous of Ax's ways with the ladies. Ax resolves to teach Spectre everything he knows by taking him out to meet someone. Cue the wacky montage of Spectre trying on different outfits while Ax and Eric desperately try to comb his tangled hair! Yes, an actual montage.

Meanwhile, Sinclair finds himself without anything to do, so he approaches Sara Wong to ask her opinion. Her suggestion? Sinclair needs a hobby. He considers maybe music (he played piano sometimes at the casino) but Fiona overhears and has a better idea.

Fiona: Have you thought about... gambling?

Turns out Ms. Fiona has been kicked out of more than a few places for cheating at cards and rigging slot machines and a robot who can count cards would make the perfect partner in crime. Sinclair, always fond of being helpful and trying new things, quickly agrees. The duo head to a bar frequented by the Space Force because "No one likes those guys". They make a fair amount of money before it is "suggested" that they leave and never come back.

Meanwhile, Ax takes Spectre out to a different bar to meet Orion, the drummer from his band.

Ax: Orion, have you met Spectre? He's a scientist. *leaves*
Orion: Well, hey there cutie. How's it going?
Spectre: H-H-Hello, your name's Spectre. I mean- *crits his charm roll*
Orion: Haha! You're funny! Tell me about Science~

Ax and Eric look on with pride.

Ax: For the record, in terms of personality, Orion is this (http://static.snopes.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/animal-muppet.png).
Entire group: *Raucous laughter*

The next day, Sinclair detects an anomaly in the communications system at the base. It looks like someone has programmed a back door into it, causing a potential leak. Sinclair casually patches the system, and tells the others. We agree to not mention it to the higher-ups until we can figure out where it came from. Meanwhile, Ax finds that Fiona has locked herself in her room after receiving a package, some J-pop music filtering through. He decides to check up on her. She says that she's watching cartoons from her youth, though she seems bummed out about something. Ax offers to get some popcorn so they can watch together but Fiona declines. Ax leaves, but returns later to deliver her some popcorn before leaving again.

But enough of this whole "friendship and bonding" stuff! It's time for a mission, and this one seems pretty important. The country of Novak was the instigator of the planet's only (so far) war, which ended badly for them. The war has been over for 15 years, but a formal peace treaty was never signed. Well that's going to change next week when Novak representatives arrive in Neovara to usher in a new age of peace. We'll be the honour guard at the event. We question why, but Nina tells us that as the newest mech team we're on the radar and getting famous. The president himself wants to meet us! What an honour!

The group puts on their best duds (which isn't saying much) and heads out. The president greets us happily and we exchange pleasantries before getting down to business.

President: Ah, Ax, glad to have you here! I am very fond of your band you know?
Ax: I roll to detect bluffs *rolls high*
President: *rolls higher*
GM: As far as you know he's completely sincere *evil grin*

Anyway, Delta Team (that's us) is going to be marching through the streets for the big event, as a show for the crowds. Ax suggests that he plays the national anthem as he walks, which the president enthusiastically agress with. We ask why the other teams weren't chosen. Turns out we're the only team that didn't fight in the war and, well, memories are long and tensions are high. Probably best that the veterans keep their distance. Alpha and Gamma team will sit it out, while Beta team will be scattered on patrol. We note that this means they'll be pretty far away should trouble arise. Hmm.

Suspicious of this, along with the communications leak from earlier, we decide that a bit of legwork at the event site is in order. Ax and Sinclair both look into requisitioning some equipment for the event. Ax finds himself bogged down in paperwork to get an energy shield while Sinclair is completely unable to find a tracking device he wants just in case. Fiona helps the robot to build a device instead, but Ax finds his request denied.

We show up early on the morning of the event. The route seems clear and the podium where the speeches will be made is fine. We meet with the Novak guys and can't find anything off about them. We decide to stay on guard though.

And now the main event! Oh gosh, there are so many reporters around! A lady from the local news network comes to interview us. Ax is, of course, on top form and loving the attention. Spectre says something awkward and the whole crowd laughs. Fiona recites a speech she stole from some anime, while Sinclair takes this opportunity to encourage more AIs to join the military.

Speeches are made by the Neovara and Novak bigwigs and the parade begins, with the mechs slowly following the politician's limosines. Ax's performance of the anthem gets the crowd screaming. However, it's not long before the enevitable happens. A communications disruption, and it's coming from inside the city! Specifically the defence grid. Quick as a flash, Fiona makes to grab the president and get out. By which I mean she literally just picks up the limo. Which then explodes in her hand. Uh oh. And to make matters worse, the city defences are now targeting us! Also the Novak guys are here in their own mecha and they seem pissed, though we are able to pacify them somewhat. Ax, Fiona, and Spectre take out the turrets while Sinclair protects Novak from the crossfire with his shields.

With the turrets down the group tries evacuate the citizens. An ambulence comes for the president and his passengers, including the Novak governor. Sinclair, acting on a hunch, places the tracking device on the ambulance and Fiona manages to eventually get in touch with Beta team, asking them to keep an eye on the president.

It turns out that the president was in an armoured compartment in the limosine and has managed to survive. Sadly, the governor from Novak did not. Looks like someone wants to start another war, and it seems like it's someone from our side...

Bonus quotes: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21616895&postcount=1116

Bonus Spectre:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/84596681a6d4b1cf9042b0338ed6af37/tumblr_inline_ok5enbvuUR1ruki4l_540.png

Beacon of Chaos
2017-01-31, 04:58 PM
Session 3

After the debacle with the President, we are put under house arrest while the military assesses the situation. On the plus side, we are being detained in a pretty nice hotel. The downside: No room service. :( Ax attempts to flirt with one of the female guards outside his room, but with no success in this instance.

We get called into Nina Burgess' office for a briefing. The Novak governor's successor is making a press conference on TV about how our two contries are working together in the wake of this tragedy etc. etc. We're considered trustworthy due to our actions on the day and the fact that Alpha Team were suspiciously absent. The military is working to find Alpha Team (we suggested going ourselves but we are told Alpha Team is the best of the best and it could well take an entire army to take them down o_o), while we are sent off to find the source of the communications jamming signal. We've narrowed down the location to a place called Vasoon; a poor country consisting of mostly flat and swampy land with some mountains.

Before we head off, Fiona takes Sinclair out shopping for new comms units, ones that don't operate on a military frequency. We end up with some low-cost trash that Fiona decides to mod into wrist communicators (http://www.talkingoranges.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/11.01.13-power-rangers-samsung-smartwatch.png). Meanwhile Ax invites Spectre and Eric go to watch Break the Abyss practice for the next concert. Spectre takes this opportunity to fall over his own feet in front of Orion. Smooth. :smallcool:

We arrive and head to meet our contact. Unfortunately he didn't get the message and is rather suprised by our arrival. He tells us there are three potential places where our transmission may have originated from: A car factory, an electronics factory, and a research centre. All have been supposedly abandoned for years, but each has a communications dish large enough to transmit a jamming signal over such a long distance.

We eventually manage to get in contact with Nina, who relays us some satelite data, showing that there has been recent activity at the factory and research centre. There have been sightings of flying vehicles near the factory, so we decide to check that out first.

As we approach the factory an explosion happens and we see some kind of shape flying away at high speed, towards the mountains. Fiona suggests that maybe this is Alpha Team who is already ahead of us. We approach cautiously, checking for radio signals. We find the remains of... something. It appears to have been made out of white plastic, but it's in so many pieces we have no way of knowing what it was. We find the casing from a bullet nearby; a mecha-sized sniper cartridge. We decide not to hang around and instead head for the mountains.

After searching around for a bit we discover another broken plastic thing. This one has been carved in half so we can see that it was actually some kind of drone, completely unmarked. Soon after, we find more of them, about a dozen. They quickly fly into attack formation, but Fiona's mech puts up a jamming barrage to deter them while Ax prepares an attack with his guitar axe. The drones decide to flee rather than fight in these circumstances. They're too fast to catch so we attempt to radio Nina for satelite assistance. We find ourselves wishing we had more of those homemade tracking devices around.

We head back to the factory to examine the area. Scans reveal movement inside, but once we enter everything goes dead. The place looks like it's been modified, probably to produce those strange drones. We find an old computer that may have answers about what's going on. Sinclair attempts to bypass the security, but a hidden program begins deleting data off the drive. Sinclair manages to shut it down before too much is lost. We decide to give it to the tech experts back at base. We find nothing else.

Our next stop is the research facility. It's up in the mountains and there are two main ways to get there: Flying straight over the mountain and landing nearby, or heading up the main road though a heavily guarded pass full of automated defences that the GM casually refers to as "the kill zone". We decide on the former route.

When we get to the facility, we see a mech standing there, guarding the building, along with some parked vans. The mech belongs to Alpha Team member, Jericho. We attempt to hail him, but get weapons locked on to us in response. The facilities defences, five large turrets, also activate. Roll initiative!

The fight is pretty straight forward, with Ax and Spectre hanging back while Fiona charges and Sinclair supports. Jericho and the turrets take a few shots but some poor rolls, combined with our various shields, allow us to remain unscathed through most of it. At one point Ax manages to reflect a bullet from a turret back at it and destroy it, which was pretty awesome. The fight comes to a close when Fiona manages to clamp her mech's giant wrench over Jericho's head and pin him down while Spectre finishes off the turrets with his beam sabre.

Jericho ejects from his mech in an escape pod and flies away. Ax pulls out his sniper rifle and asks the GM if he can disable the pod.

GM: It's a really hard shot to make. There's an exact number you need to roll. If you go over it by more than one, you'll kill him. Less than that and you'll miss.
Ax: What's the number?
GM: I'm not telling you. :smallamused:

Cue a large argument over whether or not Ax should take the shot, whether it's worth possibly commiting a war crime over. Ax decides not to listen to anyone and takes the shot, using every reroll at his disposal. He eventually settles on a total of 10. There's a brief pause before the GM announces...

GM: You miss.
Ax: Damn. What was the target?
GM: A 12, 13, or 14, would have let you hit.
Ax: Wait, if I can go back, I think I had an extra reroll-
GM: No, sorry, you've called it. You missed.

Ax grudgingly accepts the result and we dismount our mechs to explore the research facility. The GM decides this is a good place to end the session.


Apologies if this is hard to read or has some mixed tenses or something. I wrote this during my breaks at work so it might seem kinda rushed.

We might be getting a new player this week. :smallsmile:

Bonus quotes: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21642481&postcount=1144

Beacon of Chaos
2017-02-05, 01:15 PM
Session 4

We pick up where we left off, outside the research facility and ready to investigate. First of all, we check the remains of Jericho's mech for info. The mech is on fire and Fiona gets some burns for her trouble, but she is able to recover a black box. The information from it is... unusual. Jericho was an expert pilot, but according to this, whoever was controlling the mech had no idea what they were doing, with random button presses and a complete lack of finesse. Seems like Jericho wasn't the pilot after all. But then who was it?

We enter the facility (after checking for traps and defence systems, naturally) and start poking around. Fiona notes that this lab belongs to the Sendai Corporation, who ran her family out of business. She is not pleased about this (I'll spare you the long rant we received). Most of the doors we find are locked, but one leads us to a computer lab. Inside we find the all of the computers have been wiped clean recently. We also find the remains of some noodle dinners (that Ax decides to sample, against the advice of the others), and a petri dish of some unknown chemicals. Spectre is unable to analyse the chemical (note: his player was unable to make this session so the GM ran his character) so we take it with us. We also find, locked in a drawer, schematics for the mech we just fought.

After more searching the group finds a computer that hasn't been fully wiped and is, in fact, still logged in. We check it out and find exactly the evidence we need. Communication records between the Alpha Team leader, David Washington, and several co-conspirators high up in the Neovara government, detailing the attack on the president and the comms blackout in the city.
Fiona immediately calls up Nina to tell her the news and send her the files. Nina is horrified by this information and orders the team to get back on the double while she starts an investigation. It's at this point that Sinclair realises something.

Sinclair: Isn't this all just a bit... convenient? We just happen to find the one computer that hasn't been wiped and it just happens to have exactly the evidence we need, including a huge list of suspects that just happen to be powerful people in our own government.
Fiona: ...A list that shouldn't existed in the first place. They CC'd in every single traitor? Who does that!? Dammit, we've been had!

We decide to book it back to the dropship as quickly as possible. We get into our mechs and use our jet boosters to travel back to the landing pad as quickly as possible. It isn't until we are in the air at a fair distance that we suddenly get warning lights all over our cockpits. Our jets are suddenly switching off! We're in trouble! Thinking fast, we all drop our jet packs as they're heavy and filled with jet fuel, not something you want to hang on to in a crash. All except Ax, who decides to use his explosive guitar hammer thing to create a shockwave to cushion his fall. Because, y'know, that makes sense. But it's anime and metal as hell so the GM allows it. Sinclair uses his mech's shielding aura to further protect the team from harm.

Ax manages to survive the landing, though his weapon is now in ruins and his reactor is damaged, meaning his mech is dangerously close to shutting down completely. Fiona's mech is also heavily damaged, with most of her systems failing. Sinclair gets lucky and sticks the landing (two for two!) with the use of his shields and Spectre lands in a lake, losing his primary weapon.

We're stuck in the middle of nowhere, our mechs and have sabotaged and- oh, would you look at that: Those enemy drones are returning and they have weapons armed. We're in a bad position here, but we have a minute or so to quickly organise ourselves before we're under attack.

Sinclair moves to repair Fiona's mech first; with her weapons and targeting systems down she'd be a sitting duck otherwise. She thanks him and takes up a defensive position around the others. Without his assault rifle, Spectre is limited to using his beam sword so he too defends. Ax uses his sniper rifle to take potshots at the drones, managing to hit one and send it off course.

Then, they're on top of us. They hit us with a few missiles, but the damage we sustain is minimal. Fiona and Spectre rush into melee while Sinclair attempts to fix Ax's reactor and keep him in the fight. When they're about to be rushed down, Sinclair notes something odd: The drones have been avoiding him. They've had plently of chances to shoot him but have always veered away. He has a bad feeling about all this. In an attempt to aid his allies, he reveals a hidden weapon on his mech: a giant electrified steel net, which he tosses over some of the drones, trapping them for long enough for Ax to pick them off.

Fiona finally gets pissed off and reveals a new trick of her own: Her mech's eyes glow red, steam rises from vents, and her giant wrench transforms into a modified cutting laser that slices through one of the drones like a hot knife through butter.

Only two drones left, but they're getting away. They're too far for us to chase and it looks like they're almost out of range, until the last second, when powerful sniper blasts from nowhere tear through the drones. Three new mechs appear. A quick scan reveals that it's Alpha Team. They destroyed the last of the drones, but they still have weapons raised at us.

There's a tense stand-off as we get each other on comms and try to decide if we are allies or enemies. The leader, Washington, tells us that there's a conspiracy out to frame Alpha Team and the Neovaran government for the attack and that it came from Novak. We decide to share the information we've learned. Everything seems to match up with what they tell us. We ask about Jericho and Washington tells us he went missing days ago. The drones we fought were unmarked, but it seems likely, given that our mechs were sabotaged, that the drones had Neovaran technology in them. Sinclair notes that he can think of one person who had access to all their mechs, is an accomplished mechanic, and would want to avoid hurting him: Sara Wong.

We ask what to do next. Washington invites us to stay at the Alpha Team temporary base they've set up in order to plan our next mission: Invading Novak.


And that's the end of session 4. Our GM noted afterwards that this arc wasn't supposed to last this long (we're doing the episodic thing) but we all agreed that it's awesome so far. Fiona's player also came up with a great idea:

Fiona: What does any mech pilot do after they've been betrayed by their country and need to make a dramatic return? Paint their mech black and wear a mask!

Next session is gonna be good.

Any feedback so far?

Bonus quotes: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21663120&postcount=1166

Toric
2017-02-05, 06:39 PM
I have no experience with this system so far but you're making it sound amazing. Your team's got a great spread of personalities too; Ax and Fiona seem to be in a competition to see whose mech is more metal, while Sinclair's happy sitting his mech in the background being Mr. Butlertron.

One question: what's the context to the "Do you want to delete System 32?" comment? Is it a reference to something or some kind of coding trivia?

Beacon of Chaos
2017-02-06, 03:16 AM
I have no experience with this system so far but you're making it sound amazing. Your team's got a great spread of personalities too; Ax and Fiona seem to be in a competition to see whose mech is more metal, while Sinclair's happy sitting his mech in the background being Mr. Butlertron.

One question: what's the context to the "Do you want to delete System 32?" comment? Is it a reference to something or some kind of coding trivia?
The system is really fun, and you can get the rules for free, if you are interested. You're quite right about Sinclair, my original concept for him was basically a robot butler. Mainly I just wanted an excuse to play a robot that wears a bow tie. :smalltongue: He'll push into the foreground every now and then though.

System 32 is a file in Windows operating systems that is essential to running the computer. Deleting it means having to wipe the computer and reinstall everything. This was a much bigger problem in older versions of Windows when the files weren't hidden from users who wanted to "clean up" their computers.

Beacon of Chaos
2017-02-16, 03:51 PM
Session 5

We start this session at a hidden base set up by Alpha Team. Our mechs are repaired (and upgraded! Woo!) and we get brought into the War Room (a tent) where we are introduced to a young man named Juyon (a new player!). Juyon is described as having a pompadour and a scarf that billows behind him even without wind (possible exaggeration). Is it possible we've just met the actual protagonist of this anime? (No) Sinclair introduces himself to the newcomer:

Sinclair: It's my job to keep these guys alive, a job which they insist on making very difficult for me.

Alpha and Delta Teams get together to discuss our options. Neovaran and Novak airspace are pretty much locked down so getting close seems unlikely. We know that we might be able to hack into Neovaran military communications using the same backdoor Sinclair patched in an earlier session, but we'd need to be closer in order to do so. We've also heard that there's military activity in an apparantly empty area of ocean near Novak. It would take a long time to search but we may find a hidden base of some kind there. The third option would be to capture a Novak general who lives on the island of Varel who may have information on Novak troop movements. Fiona also proposes an interesting idea. What if we find a satellite that we can drop into the ocean near the possible base and see if we can get Novak to tip their hand? Alpha Team decides to set this up, while our team will try the communications backdoor by travelling to the country of Soko, whose satellites we can use.

We have a civilian cargo ship we can use to travel to Soko so we all cram into that, with our mechs in the hold. As we approach Soko airspace we are hailed by air traffic control who tell us that Neovara has extended their no-fly zone to encompass Soko and we need to turn back. A few successful deception checks allow us to bluff that we are a medical ship carrying a patient who needs emergency care. We all borrow some of Spectre's spare lab coats (Where was he keeping them, you ask? We don't know.) and get Eric to pretend to be ill. We make our approach and Sinclair and Fiona begin the task of hacking the comms network. As we do so we get a message from David Washington, of Alpha Team. The satellite drop was successful, but was blown out of the sky by some kind of laser weapon before it crashed. This was even better than we'd hoped as we can greatly narrow down the area where the base is. By the time we land we've hacked into the network, though we're not entirely sure we haven't been detected. We glean a small amount of information; Our team has been declared missing, presumed dead at the hands of Alpha Team, who are the scapegoats for the attack. Novak and Neovara are apparantly working together to keep the peace, with new Novak governor Zack Adani, leading the investigations. He's a young man who looks suspiciously like a street magician, so Fiona decides to nickname him "Dynamo". We also discover something interesting: the general from Varel has apparantly jumped in his own mech and is travelling towards the hidden base. Our satellite drop continues to pay off. We decide that we need to intercept him.

We jet off from Soko without authorisation and are immediately set upon by mechs. Luckily they are not particularily tough and Ax is able to snipe them out of the air from the transport with little fuss. We head after the general at high speed and are soon able to catch him up. He attacks us but Fiona and Ax manage to convince him that we don't really need to fight (it's five on one, after all) we just want to find out what's going on. He agrees that it's not worth fighting and that he sees us as honourable. He gives us the coordinates to the base to let us see for ourselves.

We arrive at the base. It looks more like an oil rig than anything else, with two large drilling platforms going down to the ocean's surface and a large main platform, where there are several mechs waiting for us. One of them hails us. It's Zack Adani, who congratulates us for making it this far but we must be silenced blah blah blah. Roll initiative!

Juyon takes point, striking a pose and loudly proclaiming:

Juyon: If you wish to harm my friends, you'll first have to deal with me, Juyon Judoishi! Hah!

Sinclair shows his support for this attitude with a thumbs up emoji. Spectre shows off his new jet boosters by dodging every attack that comes his way (with a little help from Sinclair's shields) while Ax moves up very slowly. His mech is specialised for ground combat only. He moves at half speed over ocean terrain (as we are now) and his base speed is already 2 (the rest of us have at least 4). Lucky for him he has the longest ranged attacks too. Meanwhile, Fiona decides to ignore the mecha and start smashing one of the drilling platforms. After a single hit the machine very quickly heats up and the GM lets her know that there is an awful lot of energy coming from it.

Sinclair: Remember when I said it was my job to keep these guys alive?
Juyon: Yeah?
Sinclair: That job just got a lot harder.

Fiona decides that perhaps this wasn't the best course of action. She moves to attack Zack but he counters with a powerful laser attack, the same one that destroyed the falling satellite. But his machine is overheating too. He's using some kind of experimental mech that is running of the same power the drills are. Perhaps stay a little further away from him? Sinclair attempts to capture Zack with his net launcher while Ax attempts to disable the weapons with an electromagnetic detonator. Neither of these work as Dynamo shrugs off the attacks with sheer fighting spirit. The skirmish continues, with Juyon, Ax, and Spectre finishing off Zack's allies while Fiona unlocks her mech's full potential and breaks off the enemy mech's arms. Zack Adani surrenders.

We all land on the platform and confront our opponent. He leads us inside where we find... the governor who died in the explosion and... the President!? What the hell? Explain!
The governor reveals his plan. Neovara had discovered a new bio-energy power source, the same kind that we found in a petri dish a couple of sessions back. The president had decided to sell it off as part of a big trade deal to improve Aura's standing with it's interstellar neighbors. Novak discovered this and decided that this energy was too powerful to be given away to those who could use it against us. It's perfect for weapons, so they resolved to instigate the war in order to take control of the energy and create weapons that would turn Aura into a galactic super power. So the governor faked his death in order to give Novak troops a reason to move in to Neovaran territory. Along the way they kidnapped the president to force him to officially give control of the bio-energy to Novak. Luckily we were bad enough dudes to rescue him.
So, at this point the GM gives us a dilemma: Do we let this charade continue, making Aura stronger but potentially plunging it into war, or do we let the world know, arrest the conspirators and attempt peace, even if it means giving away some of our greatest resource to nations who may become our enemies? After a long discussion, we decide to vote. We voted for peace. Who knows how this descision will impact the galaxy? (Well, we do, but session 6 has already happned because I was late :P)

Bonus Quotes: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21691710&postcount=1196

DigoDragon
2017-02-16, 06:48 PM
Sinclair: Remember when I said it was my job to keep these guys alive?
Juyon: Yeah?
Sinclair: That job just got a lot harder.

Heh, that's like... the struggle of every party healer ever, right? ^^;

Beacon of Chaos
2017-02-17, 02:28 PM
Heh, that's like... the struggle of every party healer ever, right? ^^;
Exactly. There are always one or two members of every party who insist on trying to blow themselves up. Doesn't help that in this system your health is divded into four sections and losing one disables any equipment stored there. Healing is all the more important when losing 25% of your health can knock out your primary weapon or shields.

All the more baffling that we survived the previous campaign with no healing at all, really. :smalltongue:

Toric
2017-02-17, 06:42 PM
I can only imagine a ground-specialized mech gets around on water by using its jump jets to jump into the air, splash down, and jump up again, leapfrogging its way across the ocean. Ax probably lines up his sights at the apex of each jump.

Spectre carries spare lab coats? I'm sure Doc would appreciate that kind of thinking ahead.

Could you give a description of Juyon's mech?

Beacon of Chaos
2017-02-18, 12:33 PM
I can only imagine a ground-specialized mech gets around on water by using its jump jets to jump into the air, splash down, and jump up again, leapfrogging its way across the ocean. Ax probably lines up his sights at the apex of each jump.
We have jets that allow us to hover over the water but this is too hilarious to not headcanon. :smalltongue:


Could you give a description of Juyon's mech?
It's a tall white mech called Zweilander that uses a sword as it's main weapon. Seems to be heavy on the offense but I can't really say more than that until I get a closer look at his character sheet.

Beacon of Chaos
2017-02-23, 05:34 AM
Sorry this one took a little longer; I've been rather busy lately.

Session 6

We travel back from the bio-fuel plant with a grateful president on board. Zack Adani is also there and he tries the whole "only doing what I thought was right" spiel on us. Fiona takes the time to brag about how she defeated him, single-handedly as far as she is concerned. We take the time to gently rib her on her ego.

When we get back to base, Nina debriefs us. Looks like the whole conspiracy is being swept under the rug in order to prevent outright war between the two countries. Alpha Team is off the hook, though they are understandably reluctant to come back to base.

The group also decides that we need to consider Sara Wong's possible involvement in this and how to deal with it, when, speak of the devil, she appears. She seems glad the group is alive and coyly tries to ask how the mission went and "how about that experimental mech, eh? How did that perform would you say?" We roll insight checks but she has the charisma stat of a brick so it's not hard to tell that she had something to do with this, so Fiona bluffs her back, telling her we destroyed the mech and also the entire base along with the bio-fuel. Sara loses her temper and rushes at Fiona, but the tiny mechanic is no threat to the Amazonian-built space junker, who holds her at arm's length.

Sara confesses that she was in on the whole thing and that she built Zack's mech. She insists that it was all for the greater good and that we have set scientific advances back by years by destroying the facility. We counter with the very good point that she tried to kill us. Sara assures us that our mechs falling out of the sky and being attacked by drones was only supposed to disable us, not kill us, but we call bull and Fiona slaps Sara in the face with a book of safety regulations.

Adam Westfield (Leader of Delta Team, the guy who we met on the first day) arrives and tells us not to blame Sara as he was the one who ordered her to sabotage our mechs. Seems like the Novak governor had his claws deep into our military. No one is getting arrested due to the cover up, but Adam assures us that we are unlikely to have to deal with him or his team again. He'll get a nice quiet desk job somewhere while we become the lead mech team.

So, what do we do with all this new info? Why, we go out drinking, of course! On our way to the bar the president's personal aide tells us that the president is very pleased with how we handled things and that the drinks are on him. This cheers up Ax immensely, who then drags both the aide and Sara Wong over to the most expensive bar in town. A night of much revelry and some debauchery is had. Ax and Sara get a little cozy, Sinclair engages drunkard mode and gets a rather expensive wax and polish job, Fiona and Juyon cut loose and Spectre gets a brief lap dance from Orion. We get some interesting looks from some people. Understandable, given that the media recently reported us missing, presumed dead. We'll clear that up later.

A few weeks pass and we find out the results of our decision to back trade over war. Neovara is striking up a trade deal with China back on Earth. This is a... contentious choice, as China is currently seen as a warmonger, having recently invaded Europe. Kinda like playing a Civ game, really. (Note: This campaign takes place FAR into the future. No commentary on current politics is intended.)

We are told that the president has a mission for us, so we go out to meet him and he tells us that he wants us to act as an escort for a Chinese trade ship on its way here from Earth. Fiona is incredibly happy at the prospect of going back into space and gets out a book on safety proceedures for space travel to show the party. (Note: Fiona's player actually wrote a book and brought it in for us. It's only 5 pages or so, but talk about prepared!) Spectre confesses that the only reason he joined the military was to find his father, who was kidnapped by an unknown alien race. The president assures him that this mission will take us to into deeper space where we may find clues to his whereabouts.

After posing in our space suits for some reporters we head up a space elevator to the space station where we'll be boarding a space ship to take us into space space. I mean space. Our mechs have already been loaded on to the ship (modified for space combat by Sara Wong, who we watched like a hawk) so we head over to meet the captain. He's a large man who looks a lot like Jax from Mortal Kombat, metal arms and all. He tells us that we'll be meeting the Chinese ship as it enters the system and escorting back to Aura.

The ship takes off and the team finds itself trying to adjust to space travel. Fiona is in her element but the rest of us are soon dealing with pranks from the rest of the crew, such as turning the gravity off as we walk through the corridors. Soon though, we find ourselves adapting to life on the A.S.S.* Cruel Odysseus. Ax endears himself to the crew by... floating past the security cameras naked. Well, whatever the reason, it worked. Juyon shows off in the flight simulator, apparantly taking very well to space combat in his mecha. As the GM describes it "You feel free from the confines of gravity". Spectre and Eric make friends with the ship's cook, who is a member of Eric's race. Sinclair, meanwhile, feels left out so he goes to see if there are any other androids on board. Sadly, the closest thing he can find is the decades-old ship's computer, who the GM describes as "your inbred cousin". Oh, well.

Sinclair: I always wanted to be a ship's computer, you know?
Computer: Beep.

*Aura Space Ship. Stop your snickering.

While we are en-route the GM gives us a run-down on the various planets in this system that we are passing by. I don't remember all of them but the important ones to note are Miranda, a gas giant surrounded by asteroids which is slowly breaking apart due to unknown surface activity; and Camelot (Fiona: Is it a silly place? GM: Yes) which is a human colony with possibly the highest levels of technology due to an alliance with an advanced alien race.

After a few days we approach the meeting point, but the Chinese ship is no where on our sensors. There's still time before they arrive but they should have appeared on long-range scanners by now. We're suspicious of foul play, so we ask the captain if there's any way we can find out what happened. We are actually not far from planet Miranda and the captain tells us that there's an research outpost orbiting it that we might be able to get some answers from. We can't contact them from here due to atmospheric interference so we decide to move the ship closer to the planet.

We get in contact with the researchers who tell us that they haven't seen the ship, but that there's been activity near one of the asteroid mines that we could check out. Seems like our best lead so we head that way, escorting the ship with our mechs, just in case. Ax's mech, the Riggnarok, is ill-suited to space travel so we attach it to the top of the ship as a sort of turret. Soon, as we approach the mining colony, we detect... something. A flash of something out of the corners of our eyes/optic sensors. Before we have time to react an entire ship materialises in front of us and begins blasting the Cruel Odysseus. Our captain returns fire, but the enemy shields are too strong and we do no damage.

There's little that we mech pilots can do to damage a battleship of that size, but there is potentially another option. A nearby asteroid is in a perfect position for us to blast chunks off and fling them at the ship, hopefully damaging it enough for us to escape. We roll for initiative and Fiona moves in to scan the asteroid for weak points while Ax sets up a shot with his bazooka. Juyon and Spectre move into defensive positions and Sinclair aids Ax with his targeting while also attempting to repair the damaged parts of the ship.

A weak point is discovered and Ax blasts off a large piece of asteroid which we push towards the ship using Spectre's booster jets. It's on a perfect collision course with the ship, but several point defence turrets activate and literally disintergrate the rock into dust. This ship is way more advanced than we expected. And now here come the enemy mechs. Several heavy artillery units begin advancing. We also detect some kind of commander mech hiding in a nearby gas cloud for defence.

Spectre and Juyon move to intercept the mechs, while Fiona tries again to find weak points in the asteroid, if only to create more cover. We blast off another piece, but this time the mechs themselves aid in destroying the asteroid and then turn their weapons on us. The commander mech rushes out from cover, attacking Fiona and Spectre with duel sword attacks, while taunting them both. Fiona seems happy to have found a rival to fight, but it's clear that her opponent outclasses her when she outspeeds both mechs, dealing heavy damage.

The rest of the fight goes from bad to worse, as the team takes attack after attack that even Sinclair can't repair fast enough. We get a message from the captain telling us to get back to the ship so we can try to escape. We almost all make it to the hanger but then the worst happens when the enemy ship lands a lucky crit on the Odysseus' shield generators. Immediately we are pummeled by the enemy weapons; engines damaged, life support damaged, two large hull breaches, and the ship is on fire. Just when all hope is lost and the ship is about to explode... it doesn't. A new ship appears, one we've never seen before, and holds the Odysseus together with some kind of tractor beam/forcefield that even creates an oxygenated atmosphere around us. The new ship attacks our enemy who quickly scarpers. A message arrives from it, an alien face appears. It's the advanced race known as the Naul.

Naul Captain: Don't worry, we're here to help.

And there is where the session ended.

Bonus quotes: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21714876&postcount=1226

Beacon of Chaos
2017-03-07, 04:03 PM
Sorry for the delay, I've recently had laser eye surgery, which made staring at large blocks of text difficult for a while.

Session 7

Sadly Juyon's player was not able to make this session. Juyon was assumed to be working in the background during the game.

We begin this session where we left off: Floating in the middle of space having been saved from death by an alien vessel. The Naul (a race of horned humanoids) tell us that they were tracking the ship that attacked us and when they saw we were in trouble they came to help. Our ship is being held together by a tractor beam and not much else, so after the initial panic has worn off, the ship's crew and the Naul begin working together to fix things. Fiona and Ax lend a hand fixing the holes in the hull (Fiona's mech in particular being designed for this kind of work), Spectre and Eric head to the medical bay, and Sinclair helps getting the ship's computer up and running.

The android is given two options for the ship's computer; either try and repair it as best as he can, or try and bypass it using his own brain to run the ship until full repairs can be done. Sinclair's response?

Sinclair: *gasp* I've always wanted to be a ship's computer!

However, after the GM reports the difficulty level of the two options, Sinclair decides to go for the longer, but less risky, method of repairing the computer. Perhaps next time.

After completing their respective tasks the group meets up and finds one of the nauls in one of the corridors, looking confused as she places her hand on one of the walls. She says she doesn't understand why she cannot detect the "Life Energy" of our ship. It seems Naul ships are organic in nature, grown rather than built. She turns to Sinclair in fascination at the concept of a lifeform that was built rather than born. She asks many questions and expresses an interest in learning more about our human ways. We ask her questions too, especially about what appears to be the magic that the Naul are using.

Right on cue, a wormhole appears next to us and a naul comes out to invite us onto the naul ship to speak with their captain. When we enter the wormhole we exit in what appears to be a large forest. We look up and find ourselves staring up at what appears to be open space.

GM: Everyone roll 1d10 plus willpower to avoid freaking out.
Fiona: *rolls a 10* It's a window. I've seen them before.
Sinclair: *rolls a 1* Oh my god sensors don't detect any glass what is happening ahhhh!

It's actually a projection of the outside. So the ship is space Hogwarts being run by space elves. Neato!

The captain is an older-looking naul with a cane. He greets us and tells us that he is from Camelot, the planet with the human-alien alliance. The ship that attacked us was a member of the Ebon Order, a group of humans and nauls originally tasked with hunting the aliens that the cultists we fought in session 1 are supposedly working for. The Ebon Order went rogue not long after they entered dark space and since then have been attacking other ships indiscriminately for no apparant reason. The captain wants to enlist our help in capturing this rogue order. We ask about the Chinese ship we were supposed to be meeting. The captain tells us that they passed a human ship on the other side of Miranda that seemed abandoned. We decide we'll check it out after dealing with the Order.

Our team and the captains of each ship get together to discuss plans to take the Ebon Order ship down. After checking the information from our recent battle, Eric notices something unusual about the enemy shields; when they lauched their mechs to counter ours, the shield frequency changed to allow low-speed objects to pass through briefly. This seems like our best shot of stopping them, so we plan to lure them in by pretending the Naul ship is broken down, then the Cruel Odysseus will come up behind them and catapult us towards the enemy ship as soon as the enemy mechs launch. Then we'll disable the enemy shields and engines in order to allow the Naul to board. It's a crazy, risky plan, but that's what we're here for! For additional power, Fiona builds an anti-spaceship sword for her mech out of scrap metal from the Odysseus and also finds a nuclear missile onboard. Why does this junky old ship have one of those? I don't know.

So the bait is set and we wait. We don't wait for long, as the Ebon Order ship arrives quickly and immediately begins firing on the Naul ship. The Odysseus moves from its hiding place in the gas giant's cloud and we are launched in time to catch the shield at its weakest. We pass through, aiming to land at the rear of the ship between the engines, where we can do the most damage before we are noticed. The GM makes us roll for the landing. Sinclair once again makes a perfect landing (3 for 3!) while the others get scattered across the ship's aft. We go to town on whatever we can find that looks important; Sinclair hacks the engines to disable them while the others bring their weapons to bare against shield generators, weapons, and suspicious-looking chunks of metal.

Soon enough we are set upon by enemy mechs. Fiona gets two artillery units appear close to her, Ax and Sinclair get two mid-range mechs, and Spectre ends up dueling the commander mech from the last fight, who's only communication is "DIE SCUM!". Fiona dodges between weapons arrays and the artillery hesitate, not wanting to blast apart their own ship. Sinclair shields Ax from attack while the rock star uses his bazooka and heavy-duty anti-mech cannon with impunity, blasting one mech clear into space and disabling the other. Fiona and Spectre perform a double team maneuveur against the commander, with Spectre pushing her towards Fiona who then leaps off a wall and down with her ridiculously large anti-spaceship sword, which smashes into the commander and the ship, causing all three mechs to crash through a section of the hull and into some kind of small hanger.

Sinclair considers following Fiona and Spectre, but the hanger is already cramped and Ax's low speed makes him a sitting duck against the artillery mechs, who are now free to attack since most of the ship's systems around us have been destroyed. Sinclair repairs Ax's mech up to almost full health, but sadly a full salvo from each of the enemy mechs is enough to smash his mech to pieces. It survives at 1 hit point, due to GM fiat, just long enough for a retaliatory blast from Ax to put them at critical HP. Luckily, now that the shields are down, we get some support fire from the Odysseus, putting the remaining mechs out of commission. Ax's mech gives up the ghost (RIP Riggnarok) and Ax is badly injured. Sinclair ejects from his own mech to perform some emergency first aid on the rock star, using duct tape and superglue to hold his wounds together. Ax sadly retrieves a broken guitar neck from his cockpit as a reminder.

Meanwhile, the three mechs in the hanger are striking each other at point blank range, each taking heavy damage. The commander runs a sword straight through Spectre and Eric's mech, forcing both of them to eject (RIP Eagle). Fiona strikes back with her jackhammer punch attack, but the commander is able to get one last attack in before her mech is destroyed and Fiona's mech is downed at the same time (RIP Arc Gear).

Sinclair: Honestly, I take my eyes off you for one minute...

By the time Fiona comes to, Spectre is gone. Eric informs her that the woman that the two of them fought has dragged him off. Sinclair and Ax meet up with Fiona and Eric and go to find the kidnapped doctor.

Spectre comes round to find the mech commander standing over him. She's clearly injured with a bleeding side wound, but she's pointing a gun at him. She begins barking questions at him, strange questions like "Are you with them!?" and "Do you hear the voices?". Spectre informs her that he doesn't know what she's talking about, he's only here because he's looking for his father, Victor. The woman hesitates for a moment. "Yes, yes. You look like him. I'm taking you to see the captain." Spectre is then dragged off by his collar. He tries to fight back, but he's a scrawny scientist and she's a trained soldier so he doesn't get anything other than a bash on the head for his trouble.

Meanwhile, the rest of Delta Team is on their way to the bridge to find Spectre and take over the ship. We get waylaid by soldiers so we need to take cover and try to fight back. Naturally the only team member with any non-mecha combat skills, Juyon, is not here. We take a few potshots from behind cover (Sinclair using a non-lethal stun gun, Ax using a flamethrower) but we're cornered. Thankfully we get help from some Naul soldiers who have been able to warp on board now that the shields are partially down.

On the bridge, Spectre is brought before the captain, an older gentleman with a severe expression. Spectre asks about his father and the captain tells him that Victor worked with their order for some time, but eventually he left for parts unknown. There's more talk about them and the voices with no real explanation. The captain offers Spectre a place on his ship instead of Victor, asking him to finish his father's work. Before Spectre can answer, Delta Team and the Naul arrive.

There are many naul guards around so we duck behind some consoles. The captain grabs Spectre to use as a human shield, effectively recinding his offer of employment. Fiona shoots the lights out, plunging the bridge into darkness. This probably would have been a good idea if we had thermal vision and the enemy didn't instead of, y'know, the other way around. Well, Sinclair has infrared vision so he drops a smokebomb to double blind everyone. So the entire bridge is a mess of soldiers staggering around trying to determine if who they just punched is friend or foe. Fun times.

Fiona decides to try a bluff. She yells out to the enemy forces:

Fiona: If you don't stand down we will fire a nuke at this ship and there will be no survivors!
Cultist: No survivors is what we live for!

[B]Sinclair: Wait... what?

Well, it was worth a shot. The injured mech commander tries to attack Fiona (who has decided that they are now rivals) but with her wound slowing her down, Fiona is able to simply pin and handcuff her. Sinclair administers some first aid to the prisoner.

The captain seems to be trying to make a break for it, with Spectre in tow, when a wormhole opens andout steps the captain of the naul ship. The two captains seems to have some history as they exchange some quick banter. And then both of them draw beam swords and starting having an actual light sabre duel on the bridge! While we're getting all the Star Wars quotes out of our systems, the captain's elite guard, the Reaper, appears, lunging for the injured Ax. Ax does the only thing he can in this situation: he stabs the reaper with the neck of his broken guitar.

Reaper: You... killed me... with a guitar.
Ax: And there's nothing more Metal than that!

After this, the naul captain wins his duel and the remaining guards surrender. We won! We did lose 60% of our mechs though, so it's a fair cost.

The naul captain thanks us for our help and invites us back to Camelot to receive rewards. We accept but decide to check out the abandonded human ship they mentioned first. Upon arriving, however, we find that this is not the Chinese ship we were supposed to be meeting, and is from the old mining colony we passed last session. It's been abandonded for a long time, and already looted, so it's of no use to anyone.

We're confused as to what happened to the Chinese ship, but we decide we'll deal with it later. We head to Camelot where we meet with the human president, who thanks us for a job well done. As thanks, we'll be getting access to some of their advanced technology to take back to Aura (and use to rebuild our mechs). He also agrees to help Spectre in finding any information on his father.

We head back to Aura to report the missing ship. When we meet with Nina she tells us... that the Chinese ship has already arrived. What's more, they say they already met us and that we told them we were going to investigate a distress signal. And that research station we checked in with? Doesn't exist. What the-?

Sinclair requests that the team be placed under quarantine until this matter can be sorted out and the team agrees.


And there ends session 7! There's a large amount that I missed out because this was a busy session and this log is long enough, but it was easily my favourite of the campaign. I'm sure the action and plot twists don't come across as exciting and interesting with my writing style but I hope you enjoyed reading.

Sessions 8&9 will hopefully be posted next week.

Bonus quotes: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21735066&postcount=1239

DigoDragon
2017-03-08, 08:55 AM
Heh heh, seemed to be a good Sinclair episode.

It's probably best not to try and interface with such tech and be a computer. I imagine it being like Homeworld where it's rather... permanent. :o

Oooh, mystery of the Chinese ship! I love it! Hope that gets more spotlight next session.

Beacon of Chaos
2017-03-08, 06:22 PM
Heh heh, seemed to be a good Sinclair episode.

It's probably best not to try and interface with such tech and be a computer. I imagine it being like Homeworld where it's rather... permanent. :o

Oooh, mystery of the Chinese ship! I love it! Hope that gets more spotlight next session.
To be honest, it was a good episode for all the characters, mainly Spectre (who's player is new to the hobby and so hasn't had much spotlight), I just tend to remember the stuff my own character says more clearly. For some reason. :smalltongue:


Edit: Added a little more player detail to the first post.

Beacon of Chaos
2017-03-13, 05:48 PM
Session 8

After sitting in quarantine for a couple of hours, we're given the okay by command. We're taken into a briefing room where we are met by a human scientist and the naul mage we met on the ship last session. Spectre notes that the scientist seems familiar. This man (whose name I have forgotten, I'm afraid) worked with Spectre's father, and looked after Spectre when he was a child. He tells us that our memories were altered by the same alien race that have driven the cultists mad; the Deitus. Something about them, either their technology or some innate power, can confuse or hypnotise other races. The current theory is that this is some kind of defence mechanism for them. Sinclair notes that his memories were also altered, suggesting these aliens must have knowledge of human technology. The naul (whose name I have also forgotten) notes that those who are exposed to the alien mind control for extended periods of time tend to become... unhinged. Hearing voices, for example. The Ebon Order were tasked with fighting the Deitus, so that explains their behaviour. Fiona questions why anyone is trying to fight them when they mostly seem to want to be left alone and never leave dark space. The fact they claim to be gods and are screwing with the minds of their cultists for some unknown purpose seems to be a good enough reason. There's something else though. Whatever the new biofuel is, it seems to block the mind control effects. It's noted that Adam Westfield knew of this ability and suggested that part of his plan to build weapons with this fuel was to counter the Deitus.

Nina Burgess arrives to talk to us about something different. We never had an official leader for our team chosen. Nina reveals to us that the one she has chosen is... Ax. It makes sense, as a rock star he has the charisma for the job, though Fiona definitely feels like it should be her, even though she doesn't really seem to want it. We congratulate Ax on his promotion and then finish our meeting and are told that we have earned ourselves some much needed R&R. Skip to five months later...

Many nauls have come to Aura to study our culture and share their technology. This has resulted in great scientific advancements over these short months, several of which have been integrated into our mechs. Ax's new mech, Riggnarok 2.0, is much the same as the old one, slow but steady, but with a new biofuel reactor powering an upgraded laser sniper rifle. Fiona's mech, Caliburn, is designed with heavy defence and shear stopping power in mind, with advanced armour, a powerful resonance cannon, and her now iconic anti-warship sword. Spectre's new mech, as yet unnamed, is now focusing on the new beam technology that we originally saw in Zack Adanai's mech, with a variety of settings for every occasion. The Beast of Burden, Sinclair's mech, has integrated naul techno-organic systems, boosting it's overall abilities and allowing the use of new chameleon plate armour for a stealthy defence. Ironically, this means that Beast of Burden is now technically more alive than its pilot. Finally, Juyon's Zweilander has had some minor tweaks, but Juyon's training has unlocked new techniques to be used in combat, making his fighting style that much more threatening.

(On the off-chance that anyone wants a more rules-oriented run down, you only have to ask, as I love talking about this system. :P)

Sinclair himself has also been upgraded, with the biofuel now running through his body as a power source. In addition to blocking the alien effects around him, he has unlocked the ability to use some of the naul magic, specifically the wormhole technology. Oh yes.

Spectre is running maintenance on his mech when Eric approaches him with a message... from his father. The pair quickly find a video screen to watch it on. The following is paraphrased from memory:

Victor: Hello my son. I hope you are well and that you are doing well in your studies. I'm sure you are worried about me, but I am fine. I have learned so much here and my work is very important, I'm sure you can understand. I would very much like for you to visit me. Perhaps we can work together. Attached are co-ordinates to my location. I love you, son.

Spectre notes that this is very odd, as the "studies" Victor mentioned finished years ago, suggesting this message is very old. He makes notes of the co-ordinates, but he and Eric decide not to tell anyone just yet.

Meanwhile, Fiona is running an investigation into the origins of the biofuel and its connection to the Sendai corporation, the company that ran her family out of business. Something strange turns up; the biofuel plant we attacked back in session 5 has been active recently, despite supposedly being shut down. Desperate for more information, she gets in contact with Zack Adanai, who is now leader of new mech team, Epsilon Team. Zack's father is a bigwig in the Sendai corporation so if anyone knows if they're involved, it's him. Fiona absolutely hates Zack, but she swallows her pride for the sake of the investigation. Zack confirms that ships have been going to the plant, though he doesn't know much more. Fiona decides to round up Delta Team to check this place out.

On our way there we get an emergency transmission from Nina: return to base immediately. A fleet of ships have been detected entering the solar system on its way to Aura. There's no information on what this fleet is, even whether it's human or alien, so the military is on full alert. This seems important, but we decide we still need to check out the biofuel plant before we head back. After all, last time we went against a single ship we were pretty badly trounced and there's no way the fleet will get here before we get back. We tell Nina we detected some kind of signal that might be related to the appearance of this fleet (a bluff) and she agrees that it is important enough to investigate.

When we arrive, we find that the place is empty. As in literally everything has been taken and all traces of who might have done it have been wiped. As we head inside the GM makes us all roll willpower checks. We all fail. It seems like a bad sign, but we all feel... better. Stronger. More alert and even more confident. Spectre recalls that large quantities of biofuel have an energy signature that has been known to have such an effect on humans. Sinclair even seems to be affected, the biofuel in his metal veins improving his processing power. The source seems to be coming from a capped drilling hole in the centre of the base. Sinclair's sensors note large amounts of biofuel underneath and lets the team know that it would be a Bad IdeaTM to open it. The team agrees. Finding nothing else, we head back to base.

Upon arrival we are told that contact has been made with the fleet. It's the African Federation and they have come from Earth, running from the Chinese who have invaded Africa as part of their world domination bid. Eeep! Oh, and the Chinese navy followed them here and are preparing to invade Aura. Double eeep! What follows next is a long and frankly circular discussion over what can be done. The presidents of Neovara, Novak, and Camelot are invited in to the war room for a meeting, along with General Gana, the African commander. I'll spare you the details as I was honestly very tired that session (as were at least two other players) but in the end we came up with an ambush plan, attacking the enemy as they come out of the local warp gate, then luring them into Deitus space to let the so-called gods take care of the problem for us. Nina tells us we have a week to prepare. Session ends.


If this one seems shorter, well, I'm not gonna lie, this session dragged on a bit. That final paragraph probably took up 90 minutes of real time, so I've trimmed a lot. On the plus side, it freed us up for a large actiony session afterwards. So, look forward to that soon. :smallbiggrin:

Bonus quotes: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21764684&postcount=1261

Toric
2017-03-15, 10:19 PM
So does this mean Sinclair's some kind of reverse-cyborg whenever he's piloting the Beast?

Of course Ax is the team leader; he's been listed first in the character summaries this whole time!

Also I'm curious whether or not that biofuel energy that supercharges you guys is addictive. Guess we'll find out if your GM rolls some random willpower checks for everyone soon.

Beacon of Chaos
2017-03-16, 03:58 PM
So does this mean Sinclair's some kind of reverse-cyborg whenever he's piloting the Beast?
That's... huh, yeah I guess so.

Although considering what turns up in session 10... Well, you'll see.


Of course Ax is the team leader; he's been listed first in the character summaries this whole time!
He's also the most prominant character on the anime boxset cover. :smallwink:


Also I'm curious whether or not that biofuel energy that supercharges you guys is addictive. Guess we'll find out if your GM rolls some random willpower checks for everyone soon.
Heh heh heh, again, you'll see. :smallamused:

Beacon of Chaos
2017-03-21, 06:17 PM
Session 9

It's nearly time for the Chinese fleet to arrive. Each of us is preparing for the battle to come...

Juyon is working on his mech when he's approached by a young lady-

Fiona: If it's Sara Wong tell her to **** off.
GM: It is Sara Wong.
Fiona: Oh god.

-who begins talking about... her life story? (Paraphrasing a lot here, it's been a while and I barely remember this)

Sara: We're not too different, you and I. Your grandfather taught you, my father taught me. We both have a certain bond with technology, wouldn't you say?
Juyon: Get to the point, Sara.
Sara: Do you truly believe your Grandfather's spirit resides in your mech?
Juyon: Well, no. It's a metaphor. I don't actually think my grandfather's heart beats within it.
Sara: That's a shame.
Juyon: Uh...

Creepy. There was then a frankly uncomfortable conversation about death, though I'm afraid I've forgotten most of it at this point. Something about dying a hero, I think. Anyway, Sara leaves and Juyon is left incredibly puzzled.

Elsewhere, Sinclair is monitoring radio frequencies when he detects a hacking attempt coming from inside the base. He attempts to get a security patrol to look into it but the communications go down as he tries. The hacker seems to be downloading videos.

Sinclair: From the security cameras?
GM: No, seems to be from an outside source.
Sinclair: Huh. I'll attempt to lock them out of the system.
GM: You don't need to, it seems they've already locked themselves out.
Sinclair: My work here is done!

Despite having "solved" the problem, Sinclair decides to see if he can find this hacker. There's a console in a rarely used corridor and using it is a teenage girl. She quickly apologises, saying she was bored and only trying to find some youtube videos since there wasn't any wifi, due to the base being on high alert. Sinclair responds that that's all well and good, but who is she and how is she such a good hacker? The girl responds that her name is Ajhra and she is the daughter of General Gana of the Africa forces.

Ajihra: So you have to be nice to me.
Sinclair: Debatable.

She asks Sinclair why Aura is gearing up to fight the Chinese. Why not just let them take what they want so no one gets hurt? Sinclair responds that while he doesn't really have a lot of experience in human behaviour, he understand that people who make demands of you don't necessarily stop making demands if you give in. They just take and take until you have nothing left. Ajihra responds that Sinclair sounds like her father. The young lady then decides that Sinclair needs to find her some entertainment. Sinclair takes her to the combat simulators for some mech practice (it's basically a video game, right?). And for once Sinclair can choose a mech with actual weapons!

Spectre is working on his mech when Eric approaches him. A new battleship, the Argo, had been built and is ready for combat against the invaders. Eric is a seasoned mechanic now, having worked with Spectre on mech building for years. He lets the doctor know that he wants to join the Argo's crew as an engineer.

Spectre: We've never been apart before.
Eric: I know, but I think I can do more good with them. You don't really need me to help you anymore.
Spectre: Promise me you'll stay safe?
Eric: As long as you do the same, yes.

They give each other a big hug. D'awww. Meanwhile, Ax is meeting up with his band mates. Together they decided that while their lead is out fighting on the front lines that they would help evacuating the citizens of Neovara to shelters in case the worst happens. Ax shares some works of wisdom with them.

Ax: First of all, no bottling anyone!
Bandmate: There are few problems that can't be solved by bottling someone.
Ax: NO bottling anyone! And no setting fires either! Ori, I'm looking at you.
Orion: Aw, you're no fun, Ax.

Don't they sound like a fun bunch? It's all a bit of banter though and the group shares a tender moment too. Eric shows up here too, and tells Ax he looks up to him. The singer responds by giving Eric one of his limited edition band tour jackets.

Finally, Fiona is in the cafeteria getting lunch when Nina Burgess approches her.

Nina: Tensions are high at the moment. How are you feeling?
Fiona: Fine.
Nina: How do you think the battle will go?
Fiona: I think we have the best plan we could come up with, considering the circumstances.
Nina: ...You know I considered you for the leadership position as well.
Fiona: I thought you might...
Nina: You could have done well. But we needed a front man, someone charismatic. We've had so many recruits join up thanks to the work you've done. I hope you understand.
Fiona: Ax is doing a good job. I'm okay being the one with the ideas.
Nina: I'm glad.

Back in the simulator, Sinclair is getting his metal butt handed to him by a teenager who's never piloted a mech before. I suppose that's what you get when you pilot a mech with no weapons for a living. (natural 1 vs natural 10 on a d10. Thems the breaks). Ajihra is about to deal the final blow when the base alarm goes off. Battle stations!

Sinclair: Oops, would you look at the time! I guess we'll call this one a draw, but good job, you nearly got me! See you later!

We gather in the war room. So, what's the situation? Have the Chinese fallen for our ambush? Did they avoid it somehow? Actually the reality is the Chinese fleet has... vanished.

Sinclair: Job done then! Who's for badminton?
Ax: Depends. Do you play that as badly as you pilot in the simulator?
Sinclair: *death glare*

While we search for our foes, we discover a strange signal coming from orbit. We're not exactly sure what it is, but it seems to just be space debris. We try and get camera footage from a nearby satelite. As we do, another signal starts up nearby. And another. As the cameras move into place, we see what definitely looks like debris parts, clustered into a circle. And then another one appears, quickly at first, before slowing down and moving into place in the circle. Nina realises what's happening: The Chinese have launched their own portable warp gate into orbit, disguised as pieces of debris that we'd just ignore!

Fiona: Oh, that's clever!

We order the ships in orbit to fire on the warp gate, but before they can move into position three Chinese battleships warp through. We're in trouble. A message from the Chinese General is broadcast down to the surface, demanding that we surrender. No chance! Nina orders us to get up there and destroy the ships and the warp gate before the rest of the fleet arrives. How are we going to get up there in time? Being fired up out of a specialised mecha railgun. Sounds... fun?

As we make our way to our mechs...

GM: Ax, make an awareness roll.
Ax: 6?
GM: You feel a sudden stabbing pain in your side. You turn around to see Sara Wong, clutching something in her hand.
Ax: S-Sara? ...Why?
Sara: You want to be a hero, right? Kill the bad guys and save the world? Become powerful and die in glorious battle?
Ax: ...W-what did you do!?
Sara: You'll see. For now, you have a fight to win.

And with that, she lightly pushes Ax with a single hand... and sends him flying into his mech.

Ax: Did she just kill me?
GM: No. In fact, you feel great. Better than ever.
Ax: ...Huh?
GM: You feel stronger, more alert, more confident. Like you could take on the world.
Ax: The biofuel! She injected me!
GM: You get +1 to ALL of your stats this session. Character and mech.
Ax: Awesome!

The rest of us don't notice anything as we are busy being launched out of a cannon into space. Sounds dangerous but we have some kind of g-force damping system in place to stop us turning into paste and scrap metal. We get our mission orders: The Cruel Odysseus and the other Auran ships will take on one ship, the Nauls will fight the other. Our job is to take out the third ship, or at least cripple it enough for a ship to get past and destroy the warp gate. We arrive within range and slow ourselves as much as possible. We have one major advantage that we didn't have when fighting the Ebon Order ship: These ships don't have mechs. We're just dealing with the ship's guns, and most of those are designed to fight other ships; they're too slow to hit us. Fiona attempts to hail the ship and offer them a chance to surrender but there's no response. How rude.

Juyon, Fiona, and Sinclair begin moving towards the ship, while Spectre lays down cover fire with his laser cannon, adjusting the wavelength to ignore the enemy shields. Ax, on the other hand, begins moving directly towards the gun batteries, opening fire with his bazooka and dealing large amount of damage. The other mechs main targets are the anti-mecha turrets at the front of the ship. Juyon moves in close to attempt to cut the guns apart but is unable to pierce the armour (note: Juyon's player was suffering from a string of bad luck this session, never rolling higher than a 3 and getting four 1s in a row. He did not pray to RNGesus that day, clearly). Spectre overcharges his laser for an explosive blast and Fiona moves in after with her anti-warship sword. Sinclair attempts to hack the turrets to attack each other, but their systems are strong and he only manages to disable one.

Ax, meanwhile, is getting a little cocky, hammering the gun arrays so much that he blasts a hole in the hull through them. We all notice he's acting strangely, but we don't get much communication from him. Then he does something... scary. He fires something into the ship through the hole he just made. A spare reactor core, which he then detonates. No one's even sure where he got that. We don't notice the explosion, but we do notice life signs heavily diminishing as the radiation from the core begins slowly killing the crew. There are many cries of "What the Hell, Ax!?" But he doesn't seem to be listening. He makes a willpower check and rolls low.

GM: *to Ax* It all makes sense to you now. Everything is clear. This feels amazing. You are unstoppable.

After a couple more rounds of combat, there's a warning from our sensors; the Chinese ship is overcharging its shields. If we don't stop it quickly the resulting energy burst will fry us. Fiona moves in to try a risky maneuver and disable the shield generator with melee attacks. Ax hefts his weapon at the shield generator...

GM: Roll a willpower check.
Ax: ...11?
GM: It would be so easy. All you have to do is pull the trigger and blast them to pieces. But you come to your senses just long enough to see Fiona there and you lower your gun.
Fiona: Phew. Ax, we need to talk.

Fiona tears apart the shield generator. The overload triggers inwardly, crippling the shields and leaving the ship defenceless. Heavy weapons fire comes from the distance and disables the rest of the weapons. It's the Auran ships who have just finished dealing with the other ship. We turn our attentions to the warp gate. We take a few pot shots with our weapons and deal some damage, but it's not enough to destroy them before more ships begin pouring out. We have, however, damaged it enough to send the new ships wildly off-course and a transport ship flies directly at us! Uh oh, time to bolt! We jet away from the battleship as quickly as possible, but the shockwave from the impact sends debris flying and we take some damage. Worse still, more ships are incoming. Nina tells us we're going to have to attempt re-entry.

Fiona: Is that even safe?
GM: Normally yes, but if your mechs are damaged that could make things dangerous.
Fiona: Well I'll be fine then! Thanks, by the way.
Sinclair: *just finished repairs on her mech* No problem!
Everyone else: Uh oh.

We drop into the atmosphere and the GM makes us roll checks which we all pass with varying degrees of success. We land scattered on an unihabited island North West of Soko. Sinclair ends up stuck in the sand on a beach up to his neck (Well, 3/4 perfect landings isn't bad). Ax rolls another willpower check and fails. This causes him to begin burning up, some incredible energy flowing through him and he loses the ability to concentrate. He can do nothing but scream. Fiona attempts to break him out of the mech by ripping the cockpit out.

GM: Another willpower check.
Ax: *rolls low*
GM: This really ****ing hurts! You feel everything that your mech does and it's like she's trying to tear you apart. Fiona, a burst of energy flings you away from Riggnarok.
Fiona: Dammit, can't anyone do something?

Juyon steps up. There's an access hatch on the side of Riggnarok. If he can just get to it...

GM: Roll athletics.
Juyon: ****! Another 1!
GM: Oh for the love of- here, use my dice instead!
Juyon: *rolls another 1*

The GM rules that Juyon makes it up to the hatch, but slowly and with a few injuries from the energy field. Eventually he's able to get inside the mech and sees Ax screaming while floating in the middle of a swirling mass of energy.

GM: What do you do?
Juyon: I punch him in the face!
GM: He falls unconscious and the vortex stops. And THAT is the end of the session!

<=To Be Continued|/|\ (https://youtu.be/87jZPVI_2P8?t=13s)


Man that was a good one. Awesome from start to finish and with some brilliant roleplaying from everyone, but especially Ax. I feel like this is the longest journal I've written, too. Or at least the one with the most dialogue.

Bonus quotes: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21787234&postcount=1278

Bonus scene from session 6 I drew:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/0ac905de0428a0cb959c7dc0f9755426/tumblr_on4rvxBpAV1rdw527o1_1280.png

DigoDragon
2017-03-21, 10:38 PM
Pffft, books are great improvised weapons. ^_^

I feel that anytime someone says "Promise me you'll be safe", it just invites the GM and the RNG to conspire against them.

Toric
2017-03-23, 10:32 PM
Called it on the narcotic super-serum!

Huh, everyone got a good chunk of character development this session. Even Sinclair with his new pet human! And I don't blame him for losing his duel; the guy's just not programmed for violence.

I have to say, I don't know if this was planned or not, but Fiona fits the lancer archetype quite nicely. She's abrasive in a fun way, and she seemed to just slide naturally into the leader role once it was clear that Ax wasn't himself.

Beacon of Chaos
2017-03-27, 04:44 PM
Session 10

Two hours later...

We remain on the island mourning the loss of our friend. Ax... is dead. His heart has stopped and he no longer draws breath. For some reason that hasn't stopped him talking in his sleep, nor his body being burning hot, but it's still very tragic. His mech also completely vanished the instant Juyon knocked him out. We have no explanation for this whatsoever.

We've intercepted communications from the Chinese being broadcast across Aura. Neovara has fallen and the invaders are encouraging the rest of the world to surrender. There's also another secret signal being broadcast by the general of Novak, saying that the Chinese are lying. Neovara is still under siege, only the capital was taken, and there is resistance across the other colonies. Soko is the nearest to where we landed so it looks like that's where we're going.

We've found a crashed plane that we can jury rig with our mechs' boosters to get us to the next island, in Soko. As Spectre now has a spare seat in his mech, we strap Ax into it and load it onto the plane and take off. En route we get a distress signal coming from somewhere over the ocean. It's not much of a detour so we check it out. As we fly over it, we see debris from a spaceship floating in the water. A large piece of hull on the top carries the text "Cruel Odysseus". No life signs detected. We travel the rest of the way in silence.

Arriving in Soko we see there is a battle already in progress. Chinese forces are squaring off against a group that we recognise as being Zeta Team, one of the newly formed mecha squadrons. They are also being assisted by one of the African commanders in a mech of his own. Scattered troop battles are also occuring in between the mech fights. Seems like they could use our help.

Soko is an archipelago, and the city we've arrived in is made up of several smaller islands connected by bridges. We arrive on the western island, Zeta team is pinned down on the south west, and the enemy forces are moving in from the East. Juyon and Fiona move across the bridges to intercept the Chinese mechs heading towards a large concentration of Soko troops. Spectre, with the unconscious Ax sitting in Eric's seat, spots a heavy artillery unit and jets across the water to take it out before it does too much damage. Sinclair moves south to aid Zeta team, beginning by hacking the systems of one of the enemy mechs and forcing it to give another mech a nice big hug, pinning it down. As the battle rages on, we get a communication from the African mech; air support is incoming, we just need to lure the enemy into an open area to prevent too much collateral damage. There's a large area to the south that fits the bill so we plan to herd the enemy there. Fiona and Juyon battle side-by-side against two mechs while Sinclair supports from afar, easily dodging enemy sniper fire without even needing to use his cloaking shield. While Spectre closes in on the artillery and takes some pot shots, Ax briefly stirs, shaken awake by the battle. Unfortunately, he makes the mistake of grabbing Spectre's shoulder, who had forgotten he was there. One reflexive (we assume) punch later, and Ax is out again.

Eventually the Chinese troops are coralled into the courtyard on the South island and the air support arrives. It's... the white drones we fought back in session 4. The ones built and controlled by Sara Wong. She's still on our side... right? The enemy squad is hit hard and the remaining mechs begin to retreat. It's at this point that Ax awakens once more but this time something is different. He makes a willpower check and crits. This awakens some latent magical power inside him and a fireball erupts from his fingers, bursting inside Spectre's mech, scorching the both of them. The GM kindly decides not to kill them both; instead we rule that they just end up looking like Ash Ketchum after a run in with Charizard (i.e. charred but okay). Luckily for us Zeta Team has an outpost with a hospital nearby we can take them to.

Ax and Spectre wake up in the hospital a few hours later. Spectre is looking a bit rough, and his spiky green hair has been incinerated, but he's doing okay, no stat penalties or anything. The miracles of modern medical science at work. Ax, on the other hand, seems to have regenerated his wounds and is left without so much of a tan. He's coming down from his biofuel high though, so he's not exactly feeling well. His stats are halved for the rest of the session. The doctor's are rather amazed that he's up and walking though, considering he has no blood left in him. His memory is fuzzy too, so we fill him in. In a tactful way.

Ax: Oww, my head. I can't remember... What happened?
Sinclair: Do you remember going insane and killing a lot of people?
Fiona: Or aiming your weapon at me?
Spectre: Ax, you owe me money.

So very tactful. We eventually piece together what happened, Ax telling us about Sara and the biofuel, us mentioning the whole rampage followed by shouty glowing. We also talk with Zeta Team, the leader of which is an Auran, one of the native aquatic aliens of this planet. He tells us that we were the reason he joined up, inspired by our exploits. All very flattering. The African commander gives us a status update on the war. The next country over, Varel, was being protected by Gamma Team, A.K.A the team that Adam Westfield and Sara Wong are part of. He says he's heard of strange experiments going on over there; experimenting on humans with the biofuel (I really wish we could come up for a better name for this stuff) that Adam was involved in. Ax has unfinished business with Sara Wong and we need to find out what Adam might be up to, plus Varrel could be in trouble too. Ax is given a temporary replacement mech until we can find out what happened to Riggnarok and we board a transport to Varel.

The city we arrive in seems to be deserted. There are no signs of combat however, just some suspicious scorch marks scattered around. Never a good sign. Varel is a hub for scientific research and there's a research centre up ahead that seems like the best place to get info and possibly find survivors. We exit our mechs and head towards it, but as we round a corner we see there are two mechs standing outside. One is a bizarre, semi-organic machine like nothing we've never seen before. The other one is Adam Westfield's mech. These guys should be on our side, so we take a punt and send them Neovara Military codes. Adam's mech immediately begins scanning the local area and, upon finding us, the organic mech rushes straight at us! Sinclair opens a wormhole with his new power; it doesn't get the team very far away, 20 metres or so, but it's enough that we avoid the falling rubble from the building the monster just ran into.

We curse ourselves for leaving our mechs (The GM admits he was surprised we did this) but it's tricky to get back to them without being spotted. Adam seems to be scanning the area for us, so we come up with a daring plan. Or a stupid one. Hard to say. Fiona has noticed the hatch on Adam's mech and decides to try and climb up the mech to sneak up on Adam, so she and Sinclair sneak up while Ax distracts the mechs. Ax unleashes his new fire powers on the organic mech, but it barely scorches it. To make things even worse, what ever organic material it's made out of is regenerating. Gee, I wonder if this thing is powered by biofuel. Spectre and Juyon do the sensible thing and run for their mechs.

Fiona makes it to Adam's mech and begins climbing up. Sinclair tries to hack it into submission but its systems are too well protected for that. Fiona tries to prise the door open but it's locked tight. To make matters worse, a blast hits the mech from out of nowhere, sending Fiona to the ground, breaking her leg. A pink mech shows up and picks Fiona up before anyone can get to her. A voice emits from the mech:

Sara: Hello Fiona. Thrown any books at anyone lately?
Fiona: Oh, **** off.
GM: Was that in character?
Fiona: Yes!

Sara seems unusually aggressive right now, suggesting some biofuel use of her own. Meanwhile, Juyon and Spectre begin taking on the monster mech. It's fast and moves in close, leaving them to use their melee weapons against it. When it charges at Juyon, he skewers it with his sword. This seems to have no affect on it, and the creature simply moves forward along the sword and begins crushing Zweilander's head with its hands. Spectre moves in and uses a magneburst, a short range energy blast, to get the monster's attention. Adam seems to do something and the creature moves back towards the others, causing Sara Wong to drop Fiona (ouch) and flee, though not before Sinclair can fire a tracking beacon on Sara's mech.

Ax and Sinclair help Fiona back to her mech, and the group forms up again. Adam's mech seems to be without weapons for some reason, so it hits us with a targeting jammer and calls over the monster, which is bloody and beaten, but still moving and regenerating. The rest of the battle goes quickly; though the monster was fearsome, Juyon and Spectre had already done a large amount of damage and they were able to finish it off. Adam surrenders after.

...Except it's not Adam. The cockpit opens and out steps Wong Yu, another member of Gamma Team. We try to question him about the location of Adam Westfield and why the hell he just attacked us, but he just spits up blood and tells us to get lost. Sinclair does a quick medical scan to find that Wong seems to be suffering from heavy internal bleeding. Nothing to do with us and there's no way to help him. In moments, he is dead.

We're pretty freaked out and confused at the moment, so we head inside the research centre to try and find some clues. The place has been emptied, not until the biofuel plant we recently visited. In one of the computer labs we find a body, that of Emily "Sweets", another Gamma Team member. She has multiple bullet holes in her back. In her hand we find a memory chip that we plug into one of the computers. It's a journal. One belonging to Adam Westfield.

I have a long version of the log that our GM gave us, but I need to ask for permission before posting. The gist is that Adam has been manipulating everyone from the word go. The President is in his back pocket, though there's no mention of whatever dirt he may have. The plan to create a war between Novak and Neovara, mention of the biofuel, and even talk of Sara Wong. Apparantly she discovered the way that the biofuel can link a living creature with technology, and she discovered it by experimenting on and AI called... Sinclair. Woah. After this the journal takes a turn for the weird. Adam seems to becoming more maniacal and paranoid, no doubt due to biofuel exposure. He plans to kill off his allies who are "plotting against him". Sara apparantly blames him for driving her and us apart, so she has to go too. There's talk of strange powers of heat and energy emerging, and of... absorbing people. Guess we know what those scorch marks were. Adam wants to "ascend" by stealing people's memories and skills. He plans to do so by opening some kind of faultline and releasing biofuel into the atmosphere. Sara injected Ax (or "the fool" as Adam calls him) to not only gain more power by forging a link between them, but to create a hero to stop Adam.

It's at this point that we leave the building to find ourselves surrounded by the Chinese army. The Chinese General herself arrives and we hand over the journal in the hope that perhaps we can work together. They decide that we need to be taken in for questioning.

Session ends.

I'm too tired to proof read this right now, so please excuse any spelling mistakes or plot holes I may have made.

Bonus quotes: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21812398&postcount=1295

Bonus chibis:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/e655ff518cc0f56bc0f68703c8fa2c0a/tumblr_one7eojBhd1rdw527o1_400.jpghttp://68.media.tumblr.com/a2738d802eed0bf924840b7de7f51382/tumblr_one7eojBhd1rdw527o2_400.jpghttp://68.media.tumblr.com/a93481adef56ec467d4f625978906b6d/tumblr_one7eojBhd1rdw527o3_400.jpghttp://68.media.tumblr.com/f2a768467dd4ae0131bab1d1c99b5ae8/tumblr_one7eojBhd1rdw527o4_400.jpghttp://68.media.tumblr.com/f47b56384d4e91dc523d4829da0f058e/tumblr_one7eojBhd1rdw527o5_400.jpg

Beacon of Chaos
2017-03-28, 03:13 PM
Adam Westfield's Journal Excerpts, courtesy of my GM.

...'President' Becker continues to be a highly valued investment, worthy of the time and effort I invested in his career. Once again we have found something of mutual interest to us both, as this biofuel Novak has discovered seems to be a rich avenue of both study and profit...

...I might enjoy the challenge of reaching beyond my field, but I recognize the need for experts. Fortunately I already have some of the universe's best scientists in my unit, and Sweets was an obvious choice. Indeed she has already catalogued some very interesting properties, properties which extend far beyond some simple fuel source...

...Of course politicians are ever practical, and both Becker and Governor Irvine have stated their primary interest is in military applications. Thus it is with some hesitation I've decided to bring Sarah Wong onto the project. Though I personally have found her scatty, overly idealistic and emotional, there's no question that she is one of the foremost minds when it comes to military technology...

...I underestimated the girl. Sarah Wong is clearly without caution or common sense, but then I guess I could say the same of some of the great scientists of history. She has not only discovered a way to establish a deeper bond with technology through the medium of sharing the same strain of biofuel, she has done it with an AI. The results are incredible...

...We are all in agreement, President Becker must be stopped. The greatest discovery in human history, and he wants to sell it as a mere power source. Indeed he has banned us from referring to it as anything else, and has halted all further research. Sarah ranted with a passion I didn't believe she had in her, and to my surprise I completely agree. Of course she simply wants fame and the respect of her peers, but we are also of one mind on the possible future this substance promises...

...Singularity, the final fusion of machine, spirit and man...

...Is the reason why this substance repels the Deitus because they share a connection? Do they fear it because it rivals them?

Does this biofuel contain the secret to the powers of the gods themselves?..

...Sarah Wong has disappointed me at the last hurdle. Just as I was beginning to value her contributions she has chosen to break down on me.

She blames me for causing a rift between her and those fools in Delta Team. For making her a ‘bad guy’. She questions my morality, hounds me with outdated notions of ethics. She forgets that she agreed with the plan, that she wanted this more than anyone.

I will have to kill her soon. She knows far too much...

...The experiment was a success! I injected the same strain of biofuel into myself, and another willing recipient. And indeed, it forged a connection between us, transferring his skills, his physical abilities, his very spirit!

And it awakened something from within me. Powers I did not believe possible, the power to manipulate heat, create energy from nothing. I knew the subject had experienced the same, and that he was now a threat. I simply had to extend my hand in order to burn him to ashes from the inside, with as much ease as if I was to squash a fly...

...My final experiment nears completion. I have absorbed dozens of people now, but still my power does not grow fast enough. The solution is remarkably simple. I need to find a way to infect all machines and people on this planet with biofuel, and use that connection to draw energy from all of them at once. Sweets has already figured out how to make the connection one way, and I in turn have figured out how to project my energy through said connection to burn them away without even needing to be in the same area...

...The biofuel lies beneath the planet. Therefore all I need to do is crack the planet, place charges at key fault lines, cause a rupture which will expel the biofuel into the atmosphere...

...I should have expected this, but I was too distracted with my immanent ascension to take notice of the little people around me. Sarah Wong is gone. She left a lovely message about how I had gone mad, how she had to stop me. Suffice to say, I am not worried.

Still, my team has outlived their usefulness. I will have to kill them before they do the same...

...Sarah Wong never ceases to amaze me! Her plan certainly had merit, to use the biofuel to forge a connection between herself, a worthy hero and their machine to not only give herself greater power, but create a individual who stood a chance of stopping me.

And she choose the fool. The 'rockstar'. Apparently her only consideration when choosing a champion is whether they're desperate enough to **** her skinny ass.

Still, I will not underestimate the threat, not when I'm this close. I conducted a brief test of my theories, unleashing a fault line upon Varel and infecting the whole area with biofuel. The results were exactly as theorized, even better in fact! The knowledge and power of a whole island of scientists and artists, and the machines they had created?

And when I was done, it was childsplay to burn them all...

White hair version
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d8/8b/41/d88b41fbf3533102f815e2a0f41f36c2.jpg

Beacon of Chaos
2017-04-13, 04:09 PM
Session 11

As the Chinese march us out of the building, Ax passes out once more. This time, the GM runs a little flashback session, showing Ax's dream from when he was knocked out the first time.

Ax looks around. He's in some kind of dark space. There are walls around him but it's hard to see. A form materialises in front of him. It's Adam Westfield.

Adam: Well done. I'm impressed you made it this far.

Adam taunts Ax and reveals that he was the reason we were all hired in the first place, as pawns in his little game. Spectre for his scientific genius, Fiona for her strength and lack of ambition, Sinclair due to his link with Sara, and Ax as a charming face for the team.

Adam: A mediocre musician was the perfect choice.
Ax: MEDIOCRE!?

Ax rushes forward and attacks. Adam socks him in the jaw but Ax is able to counter with a nut shot. Ax then fires back with his new fire powers, but Adam is able to use an energy blast to counter it.

Adam: Impressive, but I have far more power and knowledge than you. You can't defeat me.
GM: You feel a presence. Something familiar, something that's been with you all along.
Ax: ...Riggnarok?
GM: Yes.
Ax: I call to it.

Ax makes his willpower roll easily and doesn't just call his mech, he transforms into it. Adam is still grinning but he looks uneasy.

Ax: Can I use mech weapons to attack him now?
GM: Of course!
Sinclair: Anti-mecha cannon?
Juyon: Adam would be a fraction of the size of the bullet!
GM: Actually, Ax's mech is currently human sized.
Ax: Works for me! Fire!

Adam is blown away by the attack. Ax's vision wavers and the dream begins to fade. The next thing Ax sees is Spectre's fist coming towards him, shortly before he blacks out again.

Back to the current timeline: The rest of us are on board a Chinese transport ship. We're not handcuffed, but Sinclair has been fitted with a jamming device that restricts his hacking abilities. Fair enough.

We're sat in the hold, surrounded by troops. General Xi Shi is interrogating us about the info we just found on Adam. She asks for his location so they can try and capture him. We don't know, but Sinclair offers Sara's location from the tracking device he put on her mech. The General then offers us a deal if we agree to surrender to the Chinese forces. Fiona tells her in no uncertain terms that we won't surrender and she can eff off. The rest of the team enthusiatically agrees. Xi Shi shakes her head and exits, leaving us with the troopers.

Fiona: Well, I think it's about time we got out of here!
Sinclair: One portal, coming up!

The android attempts to use his wormhole powers but the device used to scramble his wireless access detects the attempt and shocks him with a heavy burst of electricity. He falls inactive.

Sinclair: Motherf- *bzzzz*

The rest of the team get up and try to grab weapons from the troopers. This goes poorly as Fiona and Spectre both get knocked out by tasers. Juyon fares better, managing to get a few good hits in, but in the end five troopers pile up on him, all using their tasers to drop the plucky teen.

Juyon: Typical Chinese cowardice! Ack!

We all wake up (Ax included) in white plastic cells. Sinclair notices with horror that his hacking rig has been removed. However, there's another piece of tech hidden on his body. A small device hidden in his clothing. As he examines it, it sends him a message.

???: Help is coming. You can use this to unlock the doors.

It seems to be a minature hacking device. Through it, Sinclair is able to access the door mechanicisms for the cells and let everyone out. We sneak through the prison until we come across a section where several guards have been knocked out. A character that can only be described as a cyborg ninja approaches us and says:

Cyborg: Come with me if you want to live.

Seems like a plan. Juyon, Fiona, and Spectre grab some weapons from the KO'd guards (apparantly gene-coded, but Sinclair hacks them too), while Ax sticks with his flame powers. We head through the facility, taking on small groups of guards. Spectre gets a good moment where he blasts a fuse box near a pair of guards, sending them flying. Eventually we get to the roof, discovering that the prison is in the centre of Neovara. Guess it got taken over after all. Our ninja buddy attaches a rope and we rappel down and out into the streets.

Ninja man takes us to a hideout where the Neovaran resistance resides. It's a run down bar down a narrow alleyway. After we get in, the ninja takes off his helmet...

GM: ...and a mass of floppy black hair spills out.
Fiona: Oh no.
GM: It's Zack Adani wearing an advanced battle suit!
Fiona: UGH.

Other rebel members include two members of Ax's band: Yuri and Iron Eddie; Ajhra, the teenaged hacker; Fiare, the naul mage; and David Washington, the leader of Alpha Team. We spend some time speaking with them on an individual basis. Yuri and Eddie haven't heard from the rest of the band since the attack. Ajhra reveals that she was the one who put the device on Sinclair's clothes, hoping to use him as tool to get better internet access. David tells us that he lost the rest of his team in the fighting. Accoring to Fiare, he's been drunk ever since. She helps Ax heal up after his ordeal, but says that his body may not be able to handle the biofuel much longer, like he's burning out too fast. Ax asks if he's going to die but Fiare doesn't seem sure. It's like his life force is being replaced with something else.

We need to come up with a plan. Zack tells us that our mechs are being held in the Neovaran military base, now a Chinese stronghold. This seems like a good place to start. David also tells us that Nina was captured and that we should try to get her out. He offers to come with us, but it's clear that he's in no condition to assist. We're going to infiltrate the base disguised as maintenance people. We make a list of things we need, including disguises and a truck. Iron Eddie pops up, tells us he's on it, and vanishes again. Ax tells us that Eddie, the band's roadie, is a man of few words but can always get stuff done. Apparantly he just showed up at a gig one day, face covered with scarf and goggles, and began helping out. No one questioned it. Sure enough, Eddie is back within a couple of hours with the truck and disguises. We ask no questions.

The plan is to drive into the compound through the service entrance, then use Sinclair's wormhole generator to teleport into the mech bay where our mechs are being held. Ajhra warns that the Chinese may have already put their own systems in place so hacking may be difficult. We'll have to avoid being seen on cameras, rather than disable them. Once we've got our mechs, Fiare will aid Sinclair in warping us to the Argo, currently the only ship left in the Auran fleet.

The next day, we make our way through the eerily quiet streets towards the base. We're stopped by guards who check our credentials. There's a tense moment when they scan Sinclair for his ID number, but he is able to hack the scanner just in time to put the team on the schedule. We move slowly through the compound, parking up around the side in a surveilance blind spot. Sinclair scans the surveilance to find that the Chinese have installed their own operating system over the old one. A rough job, but it means effectively hacking through two layers, both of which may activate alarms. We decide not to risk it yet and portal through the wall.

Inside, we find ourselves in a store room near the mech hanger. A couple of guards block our way but they haven't seen us so Juyon and Fiona are able to take them down. David Washington radios us, asking us again to look for Nina. We have no way of getting to the detention centre without being spotted, so Sinclair and Fiona attempt to get access to the cameras to search for her. A couple of crit successes later (with help from Ax's leadership skill) and we have access to the entire facility.

We get a camera on Nina. She's in a cell, battered and bruised and her hair has been shaven off. Sinclair patches the intercom through to her.

Sinclair: Nina, it's me, Sinclair. can you hear me? We're in the base.
Nina: ...You've tried that one already.
Fiona: No, really, it's us. We snuck in.
Nina: They've already gotten the codes out of me. Everything is theirs now.
Sinclair: If I can unlock the door for you, can you get out on your own?
Nina: ...Yes. I'll create a distraction.

We unlock the door remotely and Nina darts out, grabs a gun from a guard before he can react and kills him and two others easily. She escapes, making her way towards the munitions store, planning to create an explosion.

Meanwhile, we break into the mech hanger to look for our robots. We notice our mechs, along with Adam's and the strange monster we fought, the fleshy parts gone leaving only a metal frame. Unfortunately there are also two guard mechs patrolling around, perhaps expecting us. Ax gives us a look that says "I got this" and summons Riggnarok directly into the hanger.

Fiona: Holy **** Ax, that's awesome!

The guards are too surprised to react before Ax blasts them (While Sinclair plays "Invaders Must Die (https://youtu.be/gTw2YvutJRA?t=1m3s)" through the tannoy). It's at this point that we hear an explosion ring out (Nina works fast!) so we head to our mechs. Before we head out, Sinclair attempts to access the records on Adam's mech to see if we can find out where he's gone. Unfortunely he fails the check and all he gets is a gif of Adam's laughing face. Sinclair curses that he was out-hacked, but it sounds like he doesn't have time to try again. There are more explosions and Fiare tells us that the entire place is about to blow. We get the warp coordinates from her and jump through a wormhole to the Argo. We have just enough time to register the smiling face of Eric greeting us before the explosion comes through the portal. Session ends with the GM cruelly laughing about the fact that we didn't say we were closing the portal behind us, despite never having needed to before. Git.

Edit: Forgot the bonus quotes: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21842021&postcount=1316

Beacon of Chaos
2017-05-20, 08:23 AM
Apologies for the wait. Severe writer's block combined with IRL factors to making writing this nearly impossible.

Session 12

The session begins as the explosion blasts through the wormhole. Thankfully, Fiare is able to block the explosion and close the portal but is injured as a result. She gets rushed to the medbay. We are met by an Auran general who takes us to the bridge of the Argo. There we meet up with Eric again, who is now the Captain of the Argo. The ship was the target of a takeover attempt by the Chinese forces, but Eric and a few allies were able to fight them off and keep control. With the previous captain killed in the attack, Eric took over to try and keep order.

We discuss our options. Fiona reveals that she's spent a lot of money on construction robots for her family's company that could be retrofitted as combat droids to aid us. Sadly these are on the Carl Reichenbach Station, which is currently blockaded by Chinese ships. These droids also don't have AI yet, only Sinclair's is available to copy, and he's not combat ready.

While we're talking, news comes in from Neovara. The explosion was far larger than we expected it to be. While blowing up the munitions should have only destroyed the army base, it seems that the blast has leveled several buildings in the capital including a couple of skyscrapers. Our assumption is that Adam had fitted his mech with a powerful self-destruct mechanism that triggered when the base exploded.

As we are reeling from this horror, General Xi Shi contacts us. She blames us for the destruction caused and labels us terrorists. She claims that her people wanted a peaceful solution and that they were only here because our president was making deals for the biofuel with Camelot behind their backs. We're pretty sure this is garbage but we aren't really in a mood or position to argue, so we just cut the feed.

We're feeling bad but Adam is still on the loose and he is our priority. Eric tells us that we only have limited time before the invaders discover our location so we need to narrow our search as soon as possible. Sara Wong's last known location was Vasoon so we start there. There was a base of some kind there but it seems empty now. Sinclair thinks back to Adam's journal and his talk of dispersing the biofuel. Cross referencing this with fault lines under the planet eventually leads to the Apple Core.

The Apple Core was the nickname given to the rocky core of the planet which stretches from pole to pole (with the rest effectively being soft rock and water). A meteor impact thousands of years ago was thought to have occured at the north pole which caused a series of fault lines that travel through the planet's core. There's an abandonded research base at the pole and it seems like the most likely place for Adam's plan to work. We head there immediately.

The main research building is built into the side of a mountain, with more buildings surrounding the entrance all encircled by a heavy wall. Scans of the area reveal movement of large lifeforms similiar to the organic mech we fought in Varrel. We land a distance away from the facility and sneak up (or at least as sneakily as we can in our giant robots). Thankfully there is a heavy snowstorm reducing vision and giving us cover. Unfortunately there is a heavy snowstorm reducing vision, meaning we can't see the enemy either.

As we get to the outer walls of the facility, we detect a lifeform guarding the gates, and a further two somewhere inside. We begin by leaping over the wall and performing a pincer maneuveur on the guard, taking it down with focus fire. This goes much better than the previous battle since we all have our mechs from the start. The creature begins to regenerate so we make sure to decapitate it, but the noise from the battle has attracted attention. Ax uses his rocket launcher to blast a building at the other end of the facility, drawing the monsters' attentions and we use the distration to head to the main base.

The base is empty, though the power is on. There's an elevator going down a large mineshaft in the centre of the building. If Adam is here, that's where he'll be. It's too small for the mechs, however, so we descend on foot.

At the bottom of the mineshaft we see a strange sight: This place looks like the Naul ship that we were invited to out near planet Myranda. It looks older but it's definitely in the same style. There are several interface consoles around but none of them seem to work. Maybe the "meteor" that struck Aura was actually this ship? We make our way to the bridge where Adam is waiting for us.

There's some kind of large reactor here with a shield around it. Adam grins at us and launches into a villain speech about becoming a god by exploding the reactor to break open the faults and release biofuel into the atmosphere. He also tells us that those monsters we fought are contructed from the remains of the people he absorbed. Ax suggests to Sinclair that he use his wormhole power to send the reactor into space, preferably onto one of the Chinese warships. Sinclair attempts it, but the spell fails. The reactor is protected by a forcefield and also by Adam's smugness. There's a console that appears to be linked to the reactor but Adam is in our way. Time to fight.

Those of us with guns open fire, while Ax uses his fire magic. Adam shrugs off most of the attacks or simply regenerates the damage dealt. While Adam is distracted, Fiona and Sinclair rush for the console, but attempting to interface with it (no wireless) shocks Sinclair quite badly.

The fight continues and Juyon and Ax get some good hits on Adam. Ax gets a high result on his magic check and literally turns into a being of fire to combat Adam. Adam vanishes in response and we are suddenly surrounded by huge fireballs in the shape of his face. The faces attack, though we manage to avoid most of the damage. The fire damages the control console defence and Fiona and Sinclair are able to bring down the shield. Ax turns his magic to disabling the reactor, which Sinclair aids him with. The sheer power radiating from the machine restricts us. Just as we're struggling to switch off the machine and Adam is rounding on us, Sara Wong teleports onto the bridge. She aids us with her own power and the reactor ceases overloading.

Adam: I should have killed you sooner, Sara. I'll deal with you eventually, but first I will kill these fools!
Sara: Be my guest *vanishes*
Us: ...

Adam then... begins to grow. And glow. Is he self-destructing!? We decide to get outta there, all except for Ax who insists on staying behind to try and contain Adam. We get to the top of the elevator and try to figure out what to do. Ax's mech vanishes. We hope this is a good sign. We decide to set some charges and collapse the mineshaft. We don't want to leave Ax down there, but if Adam does explode, we need to try and mitigate tha damage.

As we escape the exploding mineshaft, we see that the area outside is a warzone, with Chinese mech troops taking on Adam's monsters. There's an explosion from the base as the shaft collapses. A shape is thrown out and lands not too far from us. It's Ax's mech. Which is on fire. Probably a good sign. And rising up from the wreckage is a huge form that looks like Godzilla but made of smoke and ash. Hello again, Adam.

We decide it's time to finish him off once and for all so it's time for our ultimate ability: The Synchro Attack. This requires all of us to use our actions for the turn but grants one character (in this case Fiona) a huge boost to attack power for each player for one turn. Ax and Spectre open fire with their weapons, Juyon slices Adamzilla's arms off, and Sinclair overloads his own reactor for a huge laser weapon, disintergrating the smoke armour, leaving only a small and scared looking man left. Fiona raises her sword and strikes Adam down into the ground. Sara appears again, in her own mech.

Adam: I... suppose it's only right... that it be you... who finished me off.
Sara: I would love nothing more, but I can think of someone who deserves that right more than me.

The monsters turn towards Adam, his weakened form no longer able to control them, and they tear him apart. Once he is dead, the creatures too, fall down.

We've won. Adam is defeated and the world is saved. In one way, at least. The Chinese forces surround us, General Xi Shi steps forward.

Xi Shi: You've done a good thing here by defeating that madman. But you are still criminals. We offer you a deal: Surrender peacefully and we will be lenient.
Us: Oh, come on!

We get a transmission from Eric with coordinates to the Argo. Sinclair opens a wormhole for the group and sends a transmission to the General which contains only a link to ascending_shark.mp4 (I can't link to it here but I'm sure you can find it). However, as the group escapes, Sara Wong's mech pounces and pins Ax to the ground. We try to reach him but the Chinese forces have opened fire and we get cut off. Ax tells us to go on without him (again).

Fiona: What is with you and trying to sacrifice yourself today?

We escape through the portal to the ship and proceed to leave Auran airspace. Eric delivers us the bad news: We've lost. The Auran leaders have surrendered to the Chinese. So now we're fugitives from our own planet. Great. Our options are slim. Camelot is our best bet for safety. But in order to get there without being caught by the enemy, we're going to take a serious risk: We're going through dark space, the area owned by the mysterious and powerful Deitus.

Session ends.

I do hope people are still wanting to read this.

Bonus quotes: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21862643&postcount=1340

Toric
2017-05-22, 10:00 PM
The reactor is protected by a forcefield and also by Adam's smugness.*

This episode has been brought to you by Plot ArmorTM! Plot Armor: It's Not Just for Heroes!

All things told, that was a pretty great Season 1 finale. I like how the system allows for non-mech battles and action sequences; I'm sure if I GMed a game it would lean towards the Power Rangers model of escalating violence.

Sinclair must've updated his software. I dare say that's the first time he's ever connected with something resembling an attack.

Beacon of Chaos
2017-05-23, 03:17 PM
This episode has been brought to you by Plot ArmorTM! Plot Armor: It's Not Just for Heroes!

All things told, that was a pretty great Season 1 finale. I like how the system allows for non-mech battles and action sequences; I'm sure if I GMed a game it would lean towards the Power Rangers model of escalating violence.
Glad you enjoyed it! There's one more session to write up (a sort of intermission between this campaign and the next, which will probably start in 2-3 months). And yes, the system allows for non-mech combat, though it's obviously not the focus and literally none of us besides Juyon took anything resembling combat skills. In fact there's an entire category of pilot combat techniques which remained untouched by anyone.


Sinclair must've updated his software. I dare say that's the first time he's ever connected with something resembling an attack.
Sinclair has been notably resilient so far, taking no more than (I think) 3 damage in any one session, and ending most at full health (which is 15 for himself and 20 for his mech). To be honest, this is because he's support and sticks to the back of the battle mostly and also because no points spent on weapons allows for much more energy devoted to shields. Only once did the GM made a focused effort to take him down with Snipers. He deflected every attack without even resorting to his new cloaking device (thus far unused). GM's response was along the lines of: "Oh my god, you're invincible!"

I expect far more defence piercing attacks next campaign :smalltongue:

Beacon of Chaos
2017-06-18, 06:52 AM
Note: I went back over the logs and fixed the names of a couple of NPCs I got wrong.

Session 13

Aboard the Argo, moral is low. Our home- our world- has been taken by invaders and we are leaving on a very experimental ship with little in the way of working weapons to travel through hostile and uncharted territory. We're still just in range of Aura to be receiving transmissions and it seems like the propaganda has begun. We stand in silence as we watch a news report praising the Chinese for their efforts to rebuild Neovara after the 'terrorist' attack. The scene switches to images of Sara Wong using her powers to lift debris off trapped civilians. An interview with her follows where she claims we were the ones who killed Gamma Team, in order to steal the biofuel for ourselves.

Fiona announces her intention to leave. Before we get too far from Aura, she plans to head to the space station she grew up on to try and rescue her family. She asks for help from the crew, but most are not willing to head back into enemy territory to rescue just a handful of civilians. The party, too, feel that they can do more good on the ship. David Washington, now somewhat more sober, volunteers his services and Sinclair gives Fiona a copy of his programming with some military modifications so she can upgrade the robots she bought. We bid farewell to Fiona and David, who take a shuttle out as the Argo leaves the system.

Juyon spends his time holed up in his room while Spectre works with the engineers to get the ship's engines up to full power. Sinclair finds himself taking lessons from the Naul mage, Fiare, who is instructing him on the magic art of ship-speaking, not easy to do in a non-organic ship, but Fiare believes Sinclair being a robot may aid him.

Soon we are gathered on the bridge to discuss our plans. Getting the key systems operational is the main concern, with engines and shields being priority one. As we are discussing this, a ceiling tile falls down and with it a rather dazed young woman.

Woman: Ah, yes, sorry about that. This ship is much larger than I thought. I'm detecting confusion and hostility. I should probably explain...

The woman introduces herself as Yon, a psychic from the military's genetic experimentation sector, and the replacement character for Fiona's player. When the Chinese attacked, Yon sensed danger and stowed away on the ship for safety. Normally she'd be thrown in the brig, but we need all the help we can get and she is military trained so we allow her to stay on.

Later, Sinclair detects a hacking attempt from somewhere onboard. After managing to shut it down, he takes a security detail with him to search for the source. They eventually find a man hiding in a storeroom. He's wearing some sort of computer glove (it's so bad) and claims his name is Witcher (spelled W1TC43R). He's a hacker (and Ax's new character) who snuck onto the Argo to find someone very important to him.

Witcher: I came here to find Ax, the leader of Delta team.
Sinclair: Ah, did you hear of his heroic exploits and decide to join up for a mech team?
Witcher: No, I came for his autograph. I'm a big Break the Abyss fan. Where is he, by the way?
Sinclair: ...About that.

Witcher is pretty frustrated that he stowed onboard only for his idol to have been left behind in a Chinese prison somewhere. He gets marched to the brig for interogation. We decide that this is the perfect time to test our new psychic out, to check if Witcher is actually a spy.

GM: Make a willpower check.
Witcher: ...1?
GM: What's your most embarrassing secret?
Juyon: His search history.

We all get a good laugh, but it seems that Witcher is on the level, so he joins the crew, with supervision. They put him on the systems with Ajhra.

We work together to get the warp drive operational and soon we're ready to test it out. Spectre works in engineering, Sinclair, Yon, and Witcher are on the bridge, and Juyon is in the hanger. The warp drive is turned on and the ship enters warp speed, but it's not quite enough. It will still take months to get to our destination at this rate. Sinclair attempt to use his ship-speaking to try and improve the output somehow. He crits his willpower check.

GM: You can issue one simple command to the ship.
Sinclair: Um... accelerate?
GM: Okay, the ship suddenly speeds up. Everyone roll fitness to see if you can grab hold of something.
All: Uh oh.
Yon: I'm wearing a seatbelt. :)

The sudden burst of speed sends many of us flying, but we're now moving towards our destination at a rapid pace. Until moments later when the engines break and we drop out of warp. We're in a section of dark space that has never been explored. Luckily sensors detect a nearby planetary system where we might be able to get materials for repairs. None of the planets have any detectable life, but there's one where we can detect many structures, so that's our target.

As we approach, Yon receives a psychic message: "Turn back or you will die". Yon relays this to the crew. It's coming from the planet but there are still no lifeforms or even power signals. The message repeats, but now that we are closer, we all hear it. Is it a threat or a warning? We try and broadcast a message saying we come in peace and only want to repair out ship. No response. We don't really have much choice but to continue on.

An away team is sent down to the planet. The remnants of Delta Team take the mechs down, along with Yon, Witcher, Zack, and some soldiers, who follow on foot. There's a large city with a faint power signal coming from a large central building. This seems like our best bet. The city is eerily silent, but the first thing we notice are the corpses littering the streets. Naul and Nomad bodies are everywhere, not a single one with so much of a scratch on them. It seems like they all just died, very suddenly. We resolve to not stay longer than necessary. We do notice something unusual; the Nauls seem to be much smaller than the ones we've met before. More than that, they seem to be part of a servant class, subserviant to the Nomads. We don't really know what this means. Neither Eric nor Fiare seem to have any information on this place.

As we continue towards the main building, we see statues and murals of various strange alien gods. A giant with four arms, a mermaid-like creature, a shadowy figure with no face. There is text underneath each but we have difficulty translating the alien language. A set of murals further along depict some sort of war between the two races here. It looks like the god with no face incited the Nauls to some kind of uprising and there is a scene of the god bleeding from a wound and the blood drives the Nauls into a powerful frenzy. Sinclair suggests that this may be some sort of origin myth for the biofuel. It certainly would fit in with the Naul ship we found crash landed in the Apple Core back on Aura. The ship could have ran on the stuff. But what about the bodies, which have no wounds of which to speak? We have no answers and only more questions.

Inside the main building we leave the mechs behind and begin our search. The signals we detected come from under the building, so we descend downwards. Eventually we find a large store room with mechanical parts that we can use for the ship. Jackpot! Of course, that would be too easy, so as we radio for a retrieval team, we are assaulted by some kind of psychic attack. The warning we heard early plays again, and we appear to now be surrounded by aliens! Key word: appear. We make our saves to see through the illusions. Well, most of us do. Juyon though, fails and is suddenly now attacking the soldiers. And he's beating them into a pulp, completely solo.

Juyon: Why can't I roll this good when fighting the bad guys?

Yon attempts to calm Juyon down with her powers, but receives a bloody nose for her trouble. Witcher flees from the scene. Eventually Juyon gets a chance to make a new save, which he succeeds at. A new figure appears. It's... one of the gods we saw earlier. The giant with four arms, though it is no longer a giant. It looks small, scared, and weak. And translucent; maybe it's an illusion too. It begs us to leave the planet. We try to reason with it, that we just need to repair our ship and go. It ignores us. Spectre decides that he's had enough, so he blasts the alien with his flamethrower. The creature screams and then vanishes.

It's at this point that we get a transmission through. The origin is unclear, but the picture is clear as day. It's Spectre's father, Victor.

Victor: Ah, Spectre, dear boy. Good to see you again. Shame we have to talk in these circumstances but it seems you've rather upset some friends of mine. Probably best that you leave, before the ship arrives. I have to stay and finish our work, it's very important. Say hello to your mother and good luck with your studies, son!

Spectre's mother died before Victor went missing and he once again references the studies that were finished years ago. Seems like Victor is not all there and Spectre doubts that he's even the real deal. Though he did get one thing right: there's a ship coming. Eric sends us a message telling us to get a move on because a ship is on its way and we have no operational weapons.

The retrieval team arrives and begins loading parts onto a transport. Zack and Witcher stay behind to help and search for anything else useful, while the rest of us head to the ship. The enemy arrives and it appears to be made completely of some unknown black material. It begin its attack with an unusal weapon: It creates large shards of crystal and launches them at our ship. The shields are barely holding, so those of us with mechs pilot them out and begin shooting at and/or shielding against the attacks. The parts from the ground are loaded on board and the quickest jury-rig repair job is done, just enough for us to get the warp going again.

With the repairs done, the mechs return to the hanger and we move again. We enter warp speed immediately to escape our attackers. Unfortunately, this ship seems to be more advanced than ours and it catches up easily. We decide to try boosting the engines again; even if we break down we should get to Camelot, where the enemy hopefully won't follow. Sinclair gives the signal again and we leave the black ship behind.

Sure enough, we break down again, but we made it! Camelot is in sight and there's even a ship to welcome us! A welcome ship with weapons locked on to us. Oh no, what now?

The ship hails us: The previous president has been deposed for taking Camelot into an illegal war with China due to a back-alley deal with Aura over the biofuel. Are we are allied with the previous government, we are all under arrest for treason. We are in no position to fight. We have no choice but to surrender.


And there endeth the campaign! Yes, on a cliffhanger, but the sequel will start up soon enough. I do hope you all enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed being a part of it. I have a little epilogue thing for Sinclair which I'll post later, but for now, thanks for reading and see you next time!

Edit: Forgot the quotes! http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21895185&postcount=1371

DigoDragon
2017-06-19, 01:21 PM
Heh, search history is indeed a really big secret. I'm sure it tells more about us than anything else. XD


(yes, I do still read)

Beacon of Chaos
2017-06-22, 04:51 PM
(yes, I do still read)
Good to know! Thank you, Digo and Toric for your replies and to anyone else who read the whole thing. Or even just some of it, that's fine too. :smallbiggrin:


Sinclair's epilogue, which I wrote to try and give the guy some development for the next campaign:



//
// Cybermind Solutions Inc.
// Unit ZX-10222
// Class A Servant Model
// CMS OS ver. 4.9.11 (Modified)
// Personal Log File
//

date = 08102XXX;

log = "Day 2: As we await trial, I am once again musing on the discovery of the source of the biofuel. The depictions we saw on that planet suggested that the biofuel is the blood of a powerful creature; one the Naul worshipped as a god. I am reluctant to say that this is truly the case as there is little evidence to support it and such a creature would have to be massive to create the vast quantities of biofuel that have been discovered so far. Perhaps there is an entire race of these creatures, or maybe whatever strange powers the so-called god has allows it to create biofuel at will. There is little I can do but speculate at this point.

There is something I am now sure of. This biofuel, or 'ichor' as I feel it is appropriate to call it, is dangerous. More so than any other substance known. It drives living creatures mad and powers weapons far more formidable than any other. It turned Adam into the monster we saw that day at the Apple Core and likely caused whatever tradegy that wiped out the Nomad homeworld. Goodness knows what has happened to poor Ax. Every tragedy that happened on Aura in recent months was linked to the ichor in some way, from the war with China to whatever the hell Sara and Adam did to themselves.

I feel now that I have a true purpose in life. Everything I have done has been in the service of humans. This has never been a problem to me; it's what I am made for, after all. Now, however, I have discovered something that I feel needs to be done for the safety of the galaxy itself, something that only I and my allies are in a position to do. This task will meet great resistance, no doubt, and I will need all the help I can get, plus significant upgrades to myself, but I feel that is the right thing to do.

I must eradicate all traces of ichor from the galaxy. I will need to find a way to not only destroy it in large quantities but to reverse the effects it has on the human body without killing the host. Sadly this will mean the eventual decommissioning of our mechs and the Argo but I'm sure the others will understand.

I only hope I can prevent more tragedies in the future."

// End Log

Because blaming the magical plot device is so much easier than blaming the people who misuse it, right? :P