Turn 0
Note of the Day: Sudden storms can be a warning sign of Abyssal incursion. Any unusual weather patterns are to be reported immediately.
---
CallaAwakening Day+187.
Colares Military Outpost, 7 kilometres north off the city of Belém.
Stillwater Station.Calla dreams of a life that she never had.
In the dream, Sophie is alive, but more than that, vibrant, full of life, beaming at her as they sit in a park Calla is certain she has never been to, watching the sea. The waters are clear and a bright, sparkling blue. No storm is coming, the wind a gentle whisper stirring the waves. The city is quiet, devoid of anyone but the two of them. Sophie talks, though her words don't make much sense, but Calla enjoys just hearing her voice.
No dreams last forever. Calla turns with a feeling of foreboding, suddenly aware she's had this dream before, to see a tall, gangly man step towards them, clad in blood-red robes. The symbol of the Fellowship flashes through her mind and cold fear and hate fills her body, shattering her peace, and then the men are spreading around them in a circle, moving ever closer. Sophie continues babbling, happy, not seeing their approach, as they come closer and closer. Calla knows fighting would be useless, and realizes she knows what's coming next. There's a distant rumble, and she casts her eyes over the sea, seeing the vast tsunami wave approach. An eyeblink later, it sweeps them all away, and the last thing she sees is Sophie's eyes and quivering voice. She says what she thought, long ago;
I don't want to die, big sister.And Calla wakes, to the sound of the guns.
She opens her eyes and the real world floods back in. The air is humid and hot despite the fan in the unadorned metal ceiling and the military bed presses against her spine. She grunts and rolls over, considering for a moment to break it in half with her elbow. The dent in the wall is a clear reminder of a time she, presumably, kicked out in her sleep. A nightmare, most likely - those are what she usually sees. In the worst ones, she's fighting - but on the side of the Ancients, feeding Stirling to mutation forms one part at a time, surging in the waters, leading them against Stillwater itself. Over and over again she butchers Ribeiro and the others, unsuspecting. She hasn't mentioned
these dreams to anyone.
The guns go off again. From their sound, she recognizes them as the big artillery pieces set in the cliffs below the Station, overlooking the river approach. Closer by, their deafening booms are incredible - but Calla knows the big, heavy things can crack an Ancient's hide only with luck, and there hasn't been a lot of that going around recently.
She gets up. No alarms are ringing, which would signify an incursion. She picks out stray thoughts from passing personnel in the corridors outside her room and finds nothing more than worry and stress which permeates anywhere they go in any case. Calla puts on her military fatigues - lacking any insignia or identifying marks save for her name - and makes sure she looks... human, and presentable. The Brazilians gave them to her when they signed her, semi-officially, to the military. She's a rankless, positionless anomaly, but she's part of the military, though Calla knows the higher-ups have no intention of ever getting near her. She thinks back her use of her mental powers in Guadapari, and what Ribeiro might have reported - she has relied mostly on her now-perfect grasp of Portuguese afterwards - but puts it out of her mind. They're not the Fellowship, and while they won't trust her, they manage to treat her as a person, most of the time.
She hasn't seen any sign of the order since Guadapari, but she knows they can't have been idle, and that they won't have let her go this easily.
Calla focuses herself and gets outside. Several staff rush past her, hardly paying her any heed - somehow that feels better than being stared at all the time - but she spots a familiar face coming her way. Sergeant Raul Gouveia was one of Lieutenant Ribeiro's men when you walked up to that barricade all that time ago. He's a stocky, muscular man with a permanently amused expression and he nods his greetings when he sees Calla. The harsh artificial lightning hurt her eyes and Calla feels a headache coming on and sighs. She feels like going out to clear her head. If there are no alarms, it can't be that important - though Gouveia would probably know what's going on.
Calla - Abyssal Hybrid
Health: Unharmed
Inventory: Empty
Traits and Powers:
*Beyond Human (As an Abyssal half-breed, you possess incredible physical and mental capability. You are capable of mental 'psychic' warfare and considerable thought suggestion, and of easy genetic manipulation by touch on-the-fly, even to fatal extremes. +1 to mental power, +2 to mutation and genetic alteration)
*Aura of Terror - INACTIVE (You share the Deep Ones' incapaciting presence, which causes deep fear and anxiety in the mortal psyche. You are currently suppressing your aura.)
Current Effects: None
Location: Stillwater Station, Colares
EUROPA Forward Operating Base, City OutskirtsAlex stands in the rain and watches gods walk the earth.
The earth shakes. The withered fields and dead forests shake. The grey, nondescript buildings of the base shake. Even the city spreading out in the distance seems to quiver in fear of the killers of Titans. Alex stays put, feeling the need to hold his ground, to keep his feet steady when others keep a grip on railings and walls. To show he's not intimidated. He keeps his eyes on the vast construct of steel, machinery - and a core fueled by something else altogether, all for the figure in the Olympian's command center, not visible at this distance. The huge weapon must be atleast seven hundred metres from the ground, with the other one coming up from behind it slightly less high. Both resemble heavy-set humanoids clad in stylized armor. The first has an almost swimmer's 'physique', with broad shoulders and a narrower body.
But most of what he sees is metal in vast, interlocking parts making up their bodies. The whole seems difficult to take in, but details jump out at him. Small lights between the Olympian's back-plates, like searchlights piercing into the dawn. The sound of turning mechanisms and the low background hum of the core. He doubts anyone else has senses sharp enough to pick them out. The tiny letters and engravings on the weapons. The sheer heat emanating from the thing - if he can feel it all the way here, he wonders what it would feel like to be standing next to one of those gigantic feet.
It is strange that he should be so impressed, he thinks. He's seen things that would dwarf these - most not in person, fortunately - but it seems strange mankind could create such things. Of course... the pilots must be hybrids or imprisons like you and from what you know, they derive their power from Ancient technology. But still.
In the horizon, Alex's superhuman eyes spot out something else. A still-distant shape of dark, glistening carapace, too many mouths and ever-shifting claws and tentacles moving in and out of the mass. The Olympians are here for it, he knows, and the city has been evacuated for the same - though from the blocked roads behind them, he doubts that has helped much. And deeper west is only marginally safer than this. Still, it's a wonder these people didn't leave earlier - Danzig is not far, one of the first cities lost in the war, and breeding grounds for thousands of ever-adapting mutation forms every day. He knows he wouldn't need to go far to see the Great Mother's massive form rise out from the ruins of the coastal city. Humanity's forces have been driven further and further away from the city under the pressure of the evergrowing hordes. Worse than that, Theo has told him several military forces have been taken outright, their minds reduced to little else than mindless hate, made slaves of the Deep Ones.
'Alright, mount up!' comes an accented voice to his right. Alex glances at the EUROPA military commander in his dark uniform, his body armor making him seem almost overweight. His insignia mark him as German, and Alex feels a pang of dark amusement at a German leading an army on a Polish city once more. The taskforce is supposed to represent all of Europe, or atleast the EU, but little information on its high command is classified and the Foundation has its suspicions on the organization. There's no denying it's kept Europe fighting all this time, though.
Alex is wearing the same style of uniform so they can go unchallenged, but he's here with the Foundation. Theo steps up behind him, nodding grimly. He's gained enough new scars for an army in these past months and certainly cuts an intimidating figure. The hybrid follows him to their military jeep.
Alex peers out at the abandoned city as the armoured column around them begins to roll down to secure the city against the incoming Deepspawn. They're like ants scurrying at the feet of giants, but they carry on with grim determination. The Foundation has tasked him and Theo with retrieving Foundation assets in the city before it falls (and even if it doesn't - the security of any place is a joke, and Greyson, the head of the Foundation, wants everything in one place where they can defend it).
Theo sits at the wheel while Alex considers paths to take. The military convoys offer safety, but would also slow them down, perhaps allowing the mutation forms to enter the city ahead of them. Going around, before the Olympians, faces the risk of falling prey to Deepspawn splinter groups and fliers - but they might reach the building they need to find before the main force arrives.
Alex Vondgas - Imprisoned TitanHealth: Unharmed
Inventory: Empty
Traits and Powers: *
Immortal Prisoner (In the back of your mind, ever-raging, ever-moving, lays 'the Fae', a Titan from before the dawn of history. By tapping into its power, you can take on incredible physical and mental capability. The more of yourself you give in, the more powerful you become, but the higher the risk of losing control is. Your current control level is High. +1 to physical damage, -1 to all taken damage)
*
Slow Regeneration (Your control over the Titan grants you slow wound regeneration. Heal all wounds by 1 on a 3-6 when out of combat.)
Current Effects: None
Location: In a military jeep on the outskirts of Poznan
'Angelfall' Military Zone.'...tell me again,' the Army general says, 'how can you lose an hundred-meter body?'
The youthful officer before him doesn't avert his gaze, but Alexei can see that he's as uncomfortable as can be under the general's wrathful eyes. The supersoldier stands to the side, not interfering, and considers the facts.
One. A Star God Angel was taken down here by the Russian Baltic Fleet. Though, he should add, that was after the thing had sunk most of it. Somehow that bit didn't get on the news so much, but he can't fault the government. Two, the body of the Angel was quarantined and the island blocked off from everything but military traffic. Three... the body was gone. Nearly a hundred metres tall, all elongated limbs and inhuman grace, the Angel is simply gone on the morning Alexei and the Society's scientists were supposed to arrive to study it.
The general starts shouting while the officer stands, flinching ever-so-slightly. He answers carefully, keeping his voice neutral.
'Sir, the surveillance records were wiped, but from what we have been able to tell, someone loaded the... type I remains... into trucks they arrived and left the area with. The guards claim they had legitimate identification and uniforms, though it seems likely these were forged. I believe-'
'Any idiot could tell me that! Be silent!' the general snaps. He turns to look at Alexei. 'Look, Mr. Zielkov. I don't, don't know what to tell you. I will of course be launching a full investigation, but that might take a while, with, with things as they are. It seems your trip has been wasted. eh.'
Ah. That... simply won't do. The Society will want results - no doubt they already see this as a failure on Alexei's part. St. Petersburg still bears the wounds of the Angel's attack and civil unrest following the Awakening. The police and military are stretched too thin - they'd never get anything done in time. Alexei doesn't know what credentials the Society has given him here, but he needs to do his job and do it well if he ever wants to increase his performance scores on the field.
The officer looks at him with poorly hidden curiosity, while the general seems more eager to get out of the chill than anything.
Alexei Zielkov - Experimental Superman
Health: Unharmed
Inventory: Automatic Pistol [12/2] (Fires 3 times per turn. -3 to Damage.)
Traits and Powers:
*Genesculpted Superhuman (Your extensive genetic modification and training have made you superior both physically and mentally to any other human being alive. The Shackled, on the other hand, are another matter entirely. +1 to all Damage taken, -2 to physical Damage, +1 to Dodge.)
Current Effects: None
Location: 'Angelfall' Military Zone, Kronstadt Island
USMW Field Exercises.Bannon waves an arm in a vague-but-grandiose gesture to demonstrate his point.
'Sure, they look impressive,' he says. 'but are they really worth anything? You and me, people know our worth. Put those things against the Enemy and you'll see 'em crumble. I guarantee. Useless waste of taxpayer money.'
'So you'll punch out the Titans for them, huh, Danny?' Liz Bell responds from the other edge of the little balcony. 'The great American hero, that's what you are.'
Alfonz Wulfric looks up from where he's sitting. The four of them - Daniel Bannon, Bell, and Clay, typically silent - make up the second operations team of the 'Division of the Damned', more officially known as the Threat Advisory and Special Operations Division, which Alfonz guesses fulfills its purpose of meaning very little. Or more specifically, the to-be second operations team. Training is still undergoing, though whether more the government's reluctance to use Hybrids and their ilk in official combat roles than lack of skill is unclear. Alfonz had received an invitation to an interview with them just before the Awakening - though the plane supposed to take him there had had a little accident with a tsunami wave caused by a Abyssal Great Mother surfacing off New Orleans. They were damned surprised when he actually turned up for the interview, over a month later.
Well. All that he likes to tell the story, New Orleans still features heavily in his nightmares. The helpless, screaming people, the incoming mutation form masses. He'd tried to organize some sort of escape to little effect, and when the military had finally been able to put some fight up, tens of thousands were dead... or taken by the Deep. The Great Mother had descended, eventually, leaving New Orleans full of its brood and to be classified a quarantine zone.
The country - the world - was in chaos for months. It still is, he supposes. Apocalyptic panic broke out everywhere - and it's still there, but... contained. Stress and fear leeching away everyone's sanity day by day.
His gaze finds the huge mechanical humanoid coming into view. The US Mechanical Walkers are what has brought some of the hope back. The warmachine in front of him is a stocky, bulky thing, the angled armor bringing to mind an Abrams battle tank - though it's obviously humanoid, though the head with the command center is deepset in the torso to better protect it. It's a respectable eighty metres tall, one of the biggest they've built so far. Wulfric's superhuman gaze easily finds the words
'USMW-1' and
'Yankee Green' painted on the Walker's chest. The huge cannon strapped to its back seems to be a converted artillery piece, and he can see rotary cannons around its wrists. Its square, rounded head stares fixedly ahead, the crew's windows glinting in the low light.
They're here - well, moving north, but today prepared for some live testing and a demonstration, one first class and a handful of Reds and Rainbows. They themselves seem to think they'd be better off doing their testing as trial by fire, defending against incursions, but this is what the high-ups want, and so will it be. Though, Wulfric, thinks, there's no reason for a Titan not to awake or a Star God not to descend here. A moment later he realizes it's not really a funny thought.
'Oh yeah, I heard of this one,' he hears Daniel say. 'Get this - the moment it was announced to be 'Yankee Green', the one they're building down south was declared to be a 'Dixie' by the generals there.'
There's some chuckling at that. Wulfric turns back at the others - all hybrids, making him the sole Imprison in the group. They're all treated the same, though - with suspicion and a general feeling of not knowing what to do with them. He didn't have this in mind when he came to the Damned.
Someone coughs at the door of the balcony, and they turn to see a Division staff member there. 'General Moore is waiting for you downstairs,' she says, and is promptly gone, back into the Colonial-style house they'd set up in while the Walkers get ready. The others groan and get up. Moore's not someone you disobey, though there's certainly time for talk while they move.
Alfonz Wulfric - Imprisoned ReaperHealth: Unharmed
Inventory: Empty
Traits and Powers: *
Immortal Prisoner (Drawing from the Reaper in you rhead, you are physically and mentally superior to any normal human on the planet. You have innate power over the life forces of living beings, and can draw, give and imbue it at will. Your current level of control is high.)
*
Life Force [6/6] (You can imbue objects and living beings with life force to create more potent weapons and combat constructs. You will regain spent life force automatically over time, and by devouring others - though this bears the risk of harmful energy damaging you. You can also draw the life force of others and imbue it as long as you also include some of your own.)
Current Effects: None
Location: USMW Field Exercises, West Virginia
In the back of a refugee convoy.The convoy has stopped. Again.
The endless line of battered military vehicles and refugees crawled out of Perth over a month ago and have been crisscrossing the coast ever since. Titans have risen out of the outback in vast numbers, according to the latest reports, many of them actively destroying human habitation. The Star Gods that made landfall off the western coast were eventually repulsed by the navy, atleast, but not fast enough to prevent Perth and most cities on the coast from becoming little more than smoking rubble right now. And as long as Sightseer sits on Sydney, the military has no resources to commit anywhere else. The Deep One Dreamsinger came in the first wave and promptly turned most of the city into mindless crazies - or food. The latter was probably the better fate.
That's what Aaron and the others have been hearing, anyway. It's been six months from the night of the Return, when the facility was evacuated. They were never really told why - getting outside, Aaron saw lightning strike again and again on the roof of the complex, flames dancing around it. And there were gunshots, and the screams... but they were shepherded away quickly. The second facility was by the coast, all small rooms and sterile walls, probably an old asylum, but they didn't stay there for long. In the black of night, with no warning, they were moved to Perth... just in time for the Star God attack.
The project staff have grown more and more quiet, pensive. They're all afraid. The de facto leader of the convoy is Pierce, an officer from the regular army who doesn't even know what Aaron and the rest are for. Their APCs and trucks make up most of the military presence in the entire state now. Nobody seems to know where they're even going.
And the dreams... the dreams haven't stopped. For a short time after the Return, they were gone, but they came back in force. The dark angel whispers to him every night, though he remembers little upon waking up.
'We should go,' Alex says from beside Aaron. The three of them - Thomas, Alex Bray and him - are sitting in the back of a jeep. The driver, a facility staff member who seems glad for any chance to get away from them, has gone up ahead to find out what's going on.
'What?' Thomas says, rubbing his eyes. He doesn't seem to mind the limited space or hard floor, having slept happily away before right now.
'We should go,' Alex repeats. 'Us three, maybe some others. Just take a few cars and head out. I've had enough of these people for a lifetime. We could start driving - they wouldn't be able to stop us.'
'That's insane. We're in the middle of nowhere and food is scarce enough as it is. You don't think it's a bit safer in the middle of all these guns than out there?'
'Fuck safe. We could do it. We're much tougher than the normals and we can move much faster on our own. We'll, we'll head up north and take a ship out. This place is dead already and just doesn't know it yet.'
Thomas grimaces and turns to Aaron for support. While Aaron has been growing... more stable, Alex has only become more angry and bitter. Having lived most of her life in confinement, she seems way too eager to break out now. Before they can continue, the driver returns. He seems exceptionally nervous when he talks.
'Right, uhh... there's been an attack on the town ahead, they think. The convoy's stopping until they've made sure it's clear.'
Behind him, military vehicles begin to detach themselves from the line and move up in a formation. The dust cloud they raise up washes over the rest.
'Oh for the... we should atleast go with them,' Alex murmurs.
Aaron Gray - Abyssal Hybrid
Health: Unharmed
Inventory: Empty
Traits and Powers:
* Beyond Human (As an Abyssal half-breed, you possess incredible physical and mental capacity. You are capable of mental 'psychic' warfare and thought suggestion, as well as easy genetic manipulation, especially for war. You have also been blessed with extraordinary toughness and mental fortitude. +1 to physical Damage, -1 to taken Damage, +1 to mental defense.)
* Aura of Terror - INACTIVE (You share the Deep Ones' incapaciting presence, which causes deep fear and anxiety in the mortal psyche. You are currently suppressing your aura. -3 to Combat Rolls around you, fear checks every turn.)
Current Effects: None
Location: Refugee Convoy, Western Australia
KOSCHEI Recon Flight of Danzig/Gdansk.The two Nexus Fighters begin to descend as they approach the ruins of Danzig. Clouds drift past them, pure and white, hiding away the ravaged, dying land below. This is higher than the flier forms usually come, but they're not about to let their guard down. Alessa's
MARA and Katya's
BUKAVAC keep a distance between them, but their computers keep them aware of eachother's locations and readings.
The city was one of the first to fall. The Great Mother there is one of the biggest of the handful humanity has faced and vast hordes of Deepspawn are spawned into the city every day. Their spread south is threatening to cut Russia off from Europe entirely, and there's talk of an offensive, the first real one ever, to reclaim it. The Ark Projekt's fighters have scouted out the area for the last week, though this is Alessa's first flight. Simple drones were too easy prey for flier forms and Russian high command seems to be too happy to use the KOSCHEI fighters whenever possible. They're tasked with just flying as close as they can - while still remaining safe - and taking in as much data of the Great Mother and the city as it is as they can.
Alessa hears Katya let out a breath as the two fighters pass through the clouds and see Danzig up ahead. The Mk IIs optics automatically close in for the pilots' benefit.
At this range, Danzig is little more than a grey-black stain between the fields and forests, but the Mother of the Deep is clear to see. According to the readings, it's over a kilometre tall, with a curved, broad crest shaped like a crescent around its skull. Red, glowing lines run throughout its body, like scars, pulsing to the beat of its vast heart. The crest surrounds a central body held aloft by four, enormous legs of angled, organic armor. The entire form seems to be in eternal movement, the glistening carapace pulsing and shifting like liquid.
Surrounding the Deep One in every direction are endless ruined buildings, turned uniformly grey by ashes and dust. At this distance it's hard to tell, but it seems like some kind of organic constructions lay between and inside buildings. And all around the Abyssal is constant movement, thousands of dark shapes crowding around their spawner. Alessa shivers to thought some of the mutation forms there could very well be what remains of the city's original population.
After a moment, Alessa picks out two more huge black shapes elsewhere in the city. It's hard to guess from the shapes alone, but they might be more Abyssals, perhaps Vanguard types. Wonderful.
She hasn't been with the Projekt from the start, but she's flown her MARA long enough. She has combat experience... though not against full-on Ancients, but the thought of getting close to them willfully, even with the protection of her strange powers, does not fill her with glee. The Nexus Fighters are marvels of engineering and experimental technology, but they are not invincible.
'Okay... let's not spend any more time here than necessary,' Katya's voice comes through in Alessa's ear. She speaks in her native Russian, which Alessa has painstakingly had to learn.
'We'll find out everything we can, not get killed, get back home in time for Devdan's party. Should we split up or what? Each takes an area of the city to scout out? The flier nests are gonna explode once we get close, so keep an eye out.'Alessa looks over the area. In addition to just images of the approaches, Command will want details on each Deep One. The bio-constructions would also interest them, as would information on the forms of the spawn themselves. They're constantly changing and evolving, so up-to-date intel is a must for the troops trying to keep them boxed in. It might be a matter of priorities, as there's a limit to how many fliers they can outmaneuver and the longer they stay, the more will come.
---
Status: Unharmed
Location: Polish Airspace, near Danzig
Equipment:
*Nexus Cannon [-] (Fires once per turn. -1 to Damage.)
*RUS SmartBombs [12] (Fires three per turn. -1 to Damage. +1 to Hit.)
*Firefly Air-to-Air Missiles [6] (Fires one per turn. -2 to Damage.)
Special Traits:
* Field Booster (Capable of co-opting and considerably enlarging a pilot's Nexus Field.)
* Heavy Fighter (+1 to taken Damage)
Alessa Tairon - Star God HybridHealth: Unharmed
Inventory: Empty
Traits and Powers: *
Beyond Human (As a Star God half-breed, you carry within your veins incredible physical and mental capability, but more importantly, innate knowledge of Star God technology and powers, including rudimentary control of your Nexus Field.)
*
Nexus Field - DEFENSIVE MODE (You have the power to control a personal force field that can be used to redirect and turn away attacks, supercharge fired projectiles, energy weapons and physical attacks, or knit together wounds or mechanical damage. Only one mode can be active at once. Defensive: +1 to dodge. Offensive: +1 to damage. Regenerative: Heals all wounds/damage by 2 on a 3-6.)
Current Effects: None
Location: Inside the cockpit of the KOSCHEI Modified Jet Fighter, near Danzig
Author
Topic: Their Coming Is At Hand II - an Eldritch Invasion RTD (Turn 9!) (Read 23753 times)