Stealth 101: Vergil, Questionable Conclusion quest.

With his body guarding services no longer required at the residence of Illiana Roeder, Vergil packed up his things, collected his pay and was on his way, seeking out another quest where he could be of use.  As he perused the networks, he came across an interesting quest, one that was nearby and one that he was certain he could easily solve.

As he made his way to the city, he wasted no time in heading to the main building of Drago Enterprises, applying for a janitorial position.  With the recent business with the Demai, and with Drago now the subject of a quest, security was on high alert causing them to do an extensive background check of the applicant.  Luckily for Vergil they found nothing that would suggest a criminal record or any affiliation with the factions, which allowed him to be hired rather easily.

Once hired, Vergil wasted no time in familiarising himself with the building and it’s people, eavesdropping as much as he could in without seeming too suspicious.  From the conversations, he could tell that the employees low down in the Drago hierarchy knew little about what was going on, and many of them were as curious as he was about the information circulating in the public arena.  As for the so called big-wigs they were on high alert, working feverishly to clean up whatever mess it was that they had made.  Not being able to find much information that way, Vergil returned in the night, when most of the employees had gone home, using his guise as janitor to not only gain entry but to make his way to one of the information terminals in the building.  Unfortunately, his magnet trick didn’t work very well on the Zeta based communication devices, forcing Vergil to resort to more forceful methods, standing under the device and striking upwards, damaging it enough that he would not be monitored.

Like with most large corporations, the information was stored on a central main frame, which users could log onto with specific passwords, each user having their own clearance level, allowing them to access a different variety of files.  Unfortunately, Vergil had no clearance what so ever, and brute force tactics would only jeopardise his cover.  He would need to device a way gain access to the files he wanted, by attaining a username and password from someone likely to have access to the information.

Outcome: Quest remains incomplete.

Vergil: +18 Exp

Awareness: 4 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Precision: 0 Exp

Diplomacy 101: Argentis, Diplomatic Relations quest.

When Argentis signed up for the quest, the relevant authorities made no hesitation in assessing her personality and channelling profiles, assigning a threat level to the channeler before acknowledging any requests.  Like most channelers her level, the assigned threat level was rather low, allowing them to at least humor her requests. 

They explained that they would need assistance in mapping the native Itami language, with the final goal of defining a language dictionary so that it could be incorporated into the standard communication units, like those issued to network registered channelers.  With this information, they provided the most likely location of the base camp of the Itamis, while theorising that they were at least three channelers present in the camp if not more.  What they would not humour her in however was assigning an actual minister to accompany her to the camp, as they were not sure of the threat level of the Itamis or Argentis’ ability to protect the minister once they arrived at their destination.  They did however attempt to offer as much cooperation as possible, providing her with a listening device as she request, and official documentation showing that she was working for the government of Japan.

“Stupid piece of paper…” Argentis mumbled, noting that if she didn’t know what that was, and she was on Earth for a number of years then she was almost certain that it wouldn’t mean anything to her targets.

As planned she arrived at the location of her targets, Grand Calling R.Itami to escort her as she proceeding in.  As with all channelers entering the area, her presence was noticed before she could sense anyone in the vicinity, by the Kunoichi in her stealth mode.  The female guardian noticed the hazy green figure, scanning it briefly and noting that it was no more than a summon.

Luckily for Argentis, their encounter with Roun had made the guardians considerably less aggressive, but unfortunately for her as well, it had made them infinitely more careful.  Roun had done his best to inform them of the personal agendas of just about every party that would be considered a significant player on the world stage, which made them rather uncooperative at this point.  As Argentis proceeded further into the woods, she noticed a number of other monuments, much like the one that the Kunoichi had been protecting, numbering five in total, including that of the Kunoichi.  As she continued to monitor Argentis, she maintained with the other guardians, noting that the young caller was wandering almost aimlessly, with no systematic approach to her search, and only her Binding Summon to protect her.

As Argentis walked, she was startled by the sudden presence of an ether signature in front of her, causing her to look up and see a shadowy figure before her.  Her vision would become slightly blurred however as the kunoichi took out her summon and the back lash hit he, leaving her stunned long for some time before she recovered to find herself surrounded by five shinobi-esque characters.

“What are you doing here?”  A man spoke from among them.

The speaker was of medium build and wore a close fitting biotech armour that rippled with green energy, that flowed around him and into the strange curved blade that he carried.

“Hi, I’m Argentis.”  She started groggily. “I’m here on behalf of the Japanese government… they trying to open peaceful talks with your people.”  She explained, leaving them somewhat shocked that she could speak their language.

“How do you know our language?”  The kunoichi inquired now.

“I have a knack for picking these things up.”  Argentis explain.  “Plus, I spent some time in your country before I got stranded on earth.”  She continued.

“I see.”  The man who she was originally speaking to replied.  “Well Argentis, I am afraid that we cannot oblige you, we are neither inclined nor equipped to open talks with your people.   We are a tactical unit, not diplomatic ambassadors… please explain this to your people.  We only request that we be left alone until we can return to Itam.”  He explained.

“Okay then… I’ll try to talk to the authorities but I can’t promise anything.”  She replied, leaving the area and heading back with the information she had collected.

Outcome: Argnetis as provided useful information to aid the authorities in their attempts to open talks with Itam, however more is required for the completion of this task.  The Itam dictionary has been started successfully, however: the quest remains incomplete.

Argentis: +18 Exp

Awareness: 4 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

The Waiting Room: Crydus, Assistance Required quest.

Having agreed to help Paco and Seig, Crydus made his way to Easter Island, however, with Paco’s recent kidnapping and Seig’s attempts to free him underway, it was no surprise that Crydus arrived to find Easter Island almost empty.  Ms. Real was there alone, with only the small automa Sarah there to keep her company.  Unfortunately, with the small robotic companion being locked, this didn’t give Amanda much comfort.  Crydus arrived and introduced himself, doing his best to not interrupt the scientist as he decided to move onto making preparation that would be useful when it was his turn to aid the Stryfe twins in their journey to Oya.

Crydus’ plans for the day were to test the potencial of his Celestial assist, therefore seeing whether or not he could imbue this assistant boost to foreign objects.  Like all channelers, Crydus could easily impart his force into objects to boost them, and using this same mechanism he could impart his coded force into the objects, giving them the attribute of a particular technique that relied on his force stat.  However, this temporary imbuement only lasted for as long as he was in contact with the object, which lost its power once he stopped touching it.  His Bracers of Agales helped with the imbuement and before long it didn’t require much thought for him to boost imbue anything he touched with Elemental abilities, even technical devices like his Data Pad could be boosted with his runes without any adverse effects, though apart from the boosted energy output he was forced to sometimes admit that the elemental aspect was useless on certain devices.

The next step that he would move onto would be to not simply provide extra energy to the devices, but to do it specifically so that he could boost particular effects, which as the sensory range of his ethereal scanners or the intensity of the scanning beam.  This proved to be far more difficult however, mainly because of his relatively low control and precision, as he realised that even with the schematics of the device, he could only boost the specific function that he concentrated on by a percentage of his energy, his Celestial Assist and Elemental Assist boosting it a bit further, but still not as much as he would have desired.  With his task accomplished, he called it a day and awaited the return of Seig and Paco.

Crydus: +32 Exp

Awareness: 8 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Precision: 8 Exp

A Long Long Road: Donovan, Diplomatic Relations quest.

Donovan awoke early that morning and spent a long time doing research as he attempted to decode the mysteries of human language.  The beginning of his day was spent detangling the mysteries of language as it related to brain activity, reading up on the mental factors induced by words and how that varied from person to person and then how it varied from language to language, attempting to find some mental blueprint that mapped the meaning behind words.  His research didn’t reveal much information on the method of execution, as it only served to confirm with thousands of theories that it was indeed a possibility.  In his readings, he also came across the basis of the Comm. Unit, the small communications device that translated the languages of the citizens of the world, effectively destroying the language barrier on Earth.  The device was primitively simple compared to what he was attempting to do, simply having a dictionary data bank which translated incoming words to a single selected language.  Donovan scoffed, if he could truly work this out and perfect it to work on everyone, he could possibly make a fortune.

As Donovan moved onto the practical aspect of his exercise, he summoned Rutaedes, morphing the apparatus necessary to record his speech and the necessary brain activity, as he attempted to map his own language centre, a process that would take hours for him to do thoroughly.  Donovan went about this at the lowest output possible without compromising the accuracy of his action, but even so it would still take hours for him to get anywhere substancial.  This left him about thirty-one percent complete, as he had mapped all of the words that he found to be important and useful in regular conversation; but at this point he was running critically low on Stamina and if the conversation took a weird twist, he was not sure if he could translate their words.  He would be forced to call it a day and either change his plans to one that was more efficient or dedicate himself to this cause for more than a single day.

Outcome: Quest remains incomplete.

Donovan: +30 Exp

Awareness: 10 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Precision: 6 Exp

Finally Enlightened: Cloud, Davius, Hyaku, Juggerknot and Meric, Excavation quests

All of the various proposed digging methods were giving Hyaku a headache, as none of them really seemed viable until Meric made a brilliant suggestion.  Being a vehicle enthusiast, Meric was very familiar with various companies that made vehicles and the abilities of their products.  Knowing this, he made a very logical suggestion.

“Why don’t we just purchase a Hummer AV and drive down… it’s not exactly the most precise digging utility, but at least if we get caught in a cave-in, the Anti-Terrain Barrier will keep up alive.”  He suggesting, causing a light murmur throughout the team.  “Does anyone have any better ideas?”  He looked around at the blank faces before continuing.  “Then it’s settled…”

With that accomplished, Meric wasted no time going out and purchasing the vehicle, equipping it with spinners for the roller barriers and a tricked out sound system for his obvious listening pleasure.  Even Hyaku was impressed by the vehicle, being somewhat of a vehicle fan himself; quickly calling shotgun before the others piled in and Meric hit the entrance to the tunnel that the Juggerknot had carved out on his own.

As they started on their way down, the AT Barrier did just what it was designed for, while the Roller Barriers of the vehicle aided the propulsion so they could move down more quickly.  As Meric predicted however, the Hummer wasn’t the most delicate drill, as was evident by the ensuing tremors.  Meric did his best to avoid the crystalline substance that was no stabilising the tunnel system, not wanting to create a further disturbance in the area, while he used the vehicles scanners to home in on the facility more easily.  As they approached the facility, they busted through the tunnel into a small pocket of air before the tunnel collapsed behind them, just as before.  Luckily, this time that was not a problem, all they would need to do now is find a way into the facility.  Just as before, their scanners detected a strange energy flow in the area, coalescing around any disturbances and dealing with them to return the surroundings of the facility to a particular state.  With this, Hyaku noticed something.  The ground surrounding the facility was perfectly flat, and the roof of the small air capsule was like part of a perfect sphere.  Hyaku had also noted one thing that was strange about the facility since they arrived.  The same energy flow that seemed to return things to their original states had been coalescing around them all, though most likely due to their natural defences as channelers, it had not been able to affect them directly… leading Hyaku to a theory.

“This thing isn’t going to open if we’re near it… the energy is a security system… we’re going to have to find a way of getting in without tripping it.”  Hyaku reasoned.

“We should call it a day, and make a new plan.”

So said, so done, the group retreated to the surface in the vehicle to make arrangements for a future attempt.

Outcome: Quest remains incomplete.

Again, But This Time With Feeling: Brain, Acquisition of Services quests

After his last stunt, Brain was not the first person that Red wanted to see early in the morning.  This explained her extreme hostility towards him, which Brain could understand, forcing him to attempt to smooth things over.  His apologies feel on deaf ears as the secretary was having none of him, causing their conversation to escalate into a shouting contest that drew the attention of the scientists on the inside.

This was Brian’s chance to pitch the offer of his employers the scientist, but given his actions and the obvious hostilities that Red harboured, the young scientist suggested that it was best he left, and didn’t return.

“Leave!?”  Brain laughed loudly at the three of them, powering up once more.  “You’d better reconsider, it should be a shame if something were to happen to you all, or this building, think of all the data you’d lose.”  Brian smirked deviously, causing Red to sigh.

“You’d better leave.”  Red countered.  “It would be a shame if I whipped out a bigger gun from under this counter.”  She added, causing Brian to growl lightly. But realising that he would be getting no where, with or without a battle, he let himself out, he would need to think of another approach if he wished to have any chance to completing this quest.

Outcome: Quest remains incomplete.

Foot In The Door: L'Qatu, Protection of Privacy Quest

While travelling, L’Qatu was getting better acquinted with his companion, the young female psychic that was gracious enough to grace L’Qatu with her presence.  The young woman went by the name of Kikoto Ashumitsu, and was definitely a channeler, though L’Qatu couldn’t figure out exactly what he class or level was, and she didn’t seem very inclined to tell him.  Her skills, as she described them, were extensive however causing L’Qatu to believe that in a purely level based sense, that she was stronger than him. 

As L’Qatu briefed her of his plan, Kikoto agreed for the most part, hoping that they would not have to resort to their plan B, as with the mercenary Bayman present, she would preferred to avoid any sort of confrontation.  Even so though, she did have to admit that she could not come up with a better last case scenario, so she would have to go along with L’Qatu’s plan.

As the two arrived in Amsterdam, they approached Misha Teragi, who L’Qatu learned was a designer and not a scientist, which left him even more puzzled as to what this second skin project could be.  Misha, having been rather annoyed by previous attempts to sway her, was not at all inclined to speak to the two, but luckily, with L’Qatu’s finesse with words and Kikoto’s persuasive abilities, the two seemed to be able to change her mind.

Under L’Qatu’s request, Kikoto attempted to pick up any projected thoughts of Ms. Teragi, being very careful to not make any attempts at invading her mind, purely out of respect.  From what she could gather, Ms. Teragi was rather anxious to get back to her discussions with Bayman, making her slightly annoyed by the hold up.  In addition, she was also rather cautious about what she let on as the project seemed to be of great importance.  As he thoughts continued along those lines, Kikoto started to pick up thoughts of the actual project itself, but she would not be able to glean much information before Bayman showed up.

“What are you two doing here, Ms. Teragi is a busy woman, and has no time for your intrusions.”  He sounded as he exited the room where he had been waiting, startling both Kikoto and L’Qatu who had been in deep concentration, maintaining a psychic link so that they each knew what the other was thinking, and making it easier for Kikoto to translate.

Unfortunately, Bayman’s intrusion broke Misha’s train of thought, preventing Kikoto from gaining any additional information about the project.

“Well we were just here to offer Ms. Teragi another business opportunity, we were informed of her tenacity when it came to her business, and well, our employers were very impressed.”  Kikoto started, drawing a look of distrust from Bayman,

“Who are your employers?”  Bayman inquired.

“They prefer to remain unnamed; they wouldn’t want to incur the wrath of the Mercenary Army by outbidding them.”  Kikoto smiled, piquing Misha interests.

“What would they have me do?” She inquired now.

“Well, they wouldn’t want to reveal their plan in the presence of a possible competitor, but I am authorised to offer you what ever it is that is necessary to secure your cooperation.”  Kikoto want on.

“Is that so?”  Misha laughed lightly, causing Kikoto to smile, as she looked at Bayman who looked rather displeased.  “I am already engaged in a contract with the Mercenary Army, it would be rather unprofessional for me to abandon it before it is completed, however, I would be willing to take on another contract once this is completed.  Speak with my secretary to set up a future appointment.”  Misha replied.

Outcome: L'Qatu has managed to pique her interest all he must do now is secure the contract.

Doesn't Work All The Time: Xian, Gladiator Quest

The scientists back at the Mercenary Army’s headquarters had garaunteed Xian that even with the containment units, they could not guarantee that the Maverick would be stored safely, as they had never come into contact with the virus and hench didn’t have enough data to custom build containment units for it specifically.  In addition to this, they warned very strongly against his attempts to sneak them into the facility, as companies occupying military contracts tended to be on the cutting edge of the technological market, this made it highly unlikely that as a low level channler, he would be able to actually hide anything from then.

And the scientists at the Mercenary headquarters knew what they were talking about, as a number of alarms went off the second Xian entered the facility, his containment units well hidden in a pocket dimension linked to the inside of his form.

“Is that another one?”  One of the young assistants inquired.

“Looks that way, think they’re form a private company, a competitor of some sort?”  Another inquired as they performed an intrusive scan of Xian’s form.

“It’s possible, says here that he’s a merc I guess they could have been hired to do a snatch job.”  The first reasoned, watching as Xian picked up the uncomfortable feeling of his form being forcefully scaned.

“I guess… but as a professional, shouldn’t they have been masking techniques than this?  I mean, this is pretty poor.”  The other assistant sighed, checking the readouts as he turned up the power on the scanning beam, causing Xian quite a bit of pain.  “Well he’s carrying class IV containment units, should we disable them?”

“Might as well, but don’t damage them, I don’t really think we wanna piss of the mercs.” So said, so done as within seconds the pain subsided, an Xian realised that his containment units were switched off, and he was unable to switch them back on.

“Damn…”  Was the first of a line of progressively more profane explitives, as Xian realised that his plan would not work.  His displeasure would only be furthered when he was denied entrance to the confined area, under the grounds of suspicious behaviour.

Outcome: Xian was not allowed into the facility

You Ain't Fly: Rayne, Public Safety Quest

Upon arriving back in Barbados, Rayne was stopped by Iolus, who was now requesting to join him.  Rayne shrugged at the offer at first, assuming that the additional man power would be helpful, allowing Iolus to tag along as long as he didn’t get in the way. 

Once he and Iolus had come to an agreement, he moved on to his initial plan.  Rayne was doing some research into the gangs in Barbados, specifically those involved in the Public Safety quest.  He had realised that the average level of the gangsters was roughly level 4, though there were channelers as strong as level 9 higher up in the gangs.  This was somewhat puzzling as Tener Aldron, the level 8 channeler had managed to keep them all in check for so long.  Their activities were usually petty, from vandalising public property to petty theft and a few drug related charges, but mostly they were just delinquent performing a number of misdemeanours and petty crimes.  As Rayne suspected, most of the harm caused by the two gangs in question were done during their clashes, which tended to take place in residential areas and caused reasonable damage to public and private property. 

Rayne’s next order of business was to acquire information on what started the feud, but much like with most gang wars, it was a disagreement that went years back.  It seemed that the two had originally begun feuding over territory, in attempts to increase the profits acquired from selling weak drugs like marijuana and a few other light designer drugs, this escalated, as most things tended to into a full blown gang war some time later when one of the members of Bloodline was killed in a shoot out, by what was suspected to be a member of Red Gear.  Rayne sighed, wondering how it could get more cliché.

From what he had gathered, Red Gear were the weaker gang and would be the one most likely to be taking on new members, all he would need to do is apply.  Unfortunately, Rayne didn’t seem very street, and with Iolus tagging along they just seemed a bit suspicious.  Rayne would need to prove himself if he wanted to be inducted into the gang.

Outcome: Rayne must prove himself

The Hold Up: Gabe, Breath of Fire II quests

Much like the others, Gabe found that Rueben and Ryuu would be a huge factor in whether or not the dragon, Tarek would be willing to listen to their plans. He would need to wait until Rueben made up his mind.

Outcome: Gabe must wait on Rueben.

Hard To Find Good Help: Crydus, multiple quests

Crydus had a number of great ideas, but he was quickly realising that when plans depended on others, they could never be certain.  Had everything gone according to plan, he would have been able to complete three of the quests at the same time, but this depended on a large number of people.  He would need information from both Donovan and Cloud is he wanted to complete the Birth of Gaia quest in one go, either that or acquire information from Roun, Ryuu and Deacon regarding the phenomenon in Easter Island.  With Rueben’s assistance he would be able to complete the Breath of Fire II and with Paco’s aid he would be able to be useful in Assistance Required III.  Unfortunately, with all of the offers Rueben was now contemplating just who he should trust, while Paco was reluctant to go through with his plan now the Rueben had retracted his assistance.  Cloud and Donovan were both reluctant to provide any assistance with something in return, and Deacon was busy as usual.  This left Roun and Ryuu, unfortunately the twin were not willing to give Crydus all of the information on the events that created the rift in Easter Island as it would require them to reveal their techniques, but as it seemed that their information seemed to be in high demand, they decided to make some of it public.

Roun and Ryuu explained that Gaia was not so much a merger of Terra and Oya, but more like a halfway state.  As Terra and Oya occupied the same space at different times, they would easily coexist for a long period of time, Gaia is one of two theoretical outcomes for when this coexistence degrades.  Gaia exists in a single place but at all times, bridging the gap between Terra and Oya.  Roun theorised that the second possibility for the degradation would be an absolute void, but he also reassured Crydus that that possibility would be unlikely given the data he collected.

To create patches of Gaia, one would need to provide enough energy to cross the energy threshold and bridge the two worlds, creating a rift.  Within rifts exist Terra, Oya and Gaia, but once the rift was created, a stabilising energy would need be applied at the precise moment of the existence of Gaia to dissipate the rift and leave only Gaia.  Roun was not willing to share however exactly what this stabilising energy was required to do however, which left Crydus slightly puzzled as he knew than any energy thrown into a rift would usually strengthen it.  Crydus would need to rethink his plans and try again.

Outcome: Crydus is somewhat stumped.

Link To The Past: Jubei and Rei, assisted by Roun and Ryuu Guardians of the Shrines Quest quest.

The Guardians of the Shrine quest was starting to become a rather popular attraction in Japan, this time attracting both Rei and Jubei to the site.  Rei started her attempt bright… well dark and early, at midnight scanning the area around the Shrines for the heat and ethereal signatures, noting that the energy in the area had a convection current to it, being sucked into the structure, purified and then released. 

Jubei on the other hand had actually beat her to the punch, starting his quest the day before by contacting Roun and Ryuu and requestinig their presence in Japan.  The twins were not exactly about to jump at the opportunity, as they had no idea who Jubei was, and with Paco’s request proving to be a waste of their time they were a bit weary of offering assistance.  However, Jubei’s information did point to a very interesting possibility, the presence of Oyan Itamis in Japan.  The request didn’t give them much time, forcing the twins to take a direct flight in order to meet him there.

Further research had also enlightened Jubei to equally interesting information.  From what he had gathered, the virus that was infecting the reserve had never spread to the area that the shrines now occupied.  This left Jubei to theorise that the Shrines must have been a purifying device, an assumption that was only confirmed by Rei’s convection observations and the Shrine’s ability to purify Xess’ energy.  This left only the questions of exactly what the guardians’ purpose there was, a task that hopefully Roun and Ryuu would be able to help out with.

Unfortunately for Jubei, Roun and Ryuu failed to mention the fact that their knowledge of the Itami’s native language was minimal, as they had only managed to pick up bits and pieces from their father.

“What do you mean you don’t speak Itami?”  Jubei inquired somewhat puzzled.

“Well, my dad only uses the language when he wants to talk to my mom secretly or when he’s cussing at us… so unless you want us to go and cuss her out… I don’t think that we’ll be much help here.”  Ryuu replied.

“So then why did you come?” Jubei inquired.

“Because we’re interested.  Look don’t worry, I’m sure with the information you have, you can complete the quest and collect the money, but this is personal, if there is anything to be found out here, we’ll find it.”  Roun reassured him.

“Uh huh…”  Ryuu nodded sarcastically.  “We’re going to get poked just like that Cloud guy… then they’re going to make fun of us on the network.”  He reasoned sounding genuinely sad, causing Jubei to burst out laughing while Roun shook his head.

“Well I’ll come along, and hopefully no one will be doing any unnecessary poking.”  Jubei replied greasily, causing the two Itamis to sigh.

Locating the Kunoichi was relatively easy for the group of three, as all they had to do was move over to the location of the shrine and lounge around suspiciously.  As if on cue, a kunai came flying their way, causing Roun to counter with a transmuted blade, deflecting the attack that shattered the weak weapon.

“Do you see her?”  Ryuu inquired now, powering up his defensive armaments to avoid a shameful reversion like many before him.

“Actually no… she had some pretty interesting stealth… wait a minute.”  Roun paused, powering up his tunnel driver and dashing towards a location before gripping her hand.

His ability to grasp her through her stealth was somewhat startling, causing her to lash out with a green flame that blasted Roun back, knocking him on his butt.  Roun’s eyes widened as he was hit, knowing the feel of Veranos all too well.  Ryuu wasted no time powered up, summoning Veranos about his hands and launching a Vector attack the Kunoichi before Roun recovered and made it to his feet.  Roun had hoped that Ryuu’s ability to use Veranos would at least gain her attention, but as he could only sense her when she moved he didn’t know if it had an effect.  This left Roun to do the only thing that he could think of.  Much like other kingdoms, the Kingdom of Itam, had a crest, one that was only used by the Royal Family to indentify its members.  As a prince, at the time that he left Oya, Shin Itami possessed the crest, and as was customary he had passed it on to all of his sons.  This was all well and good, but this had proven to be a previously useless triviality, until now.  The crest was not a marking, but instead was embedded in the forms of the possessor’s ethereal flow.  Roun powered up his form to as much as his inhibitor would allow him, running the energy through the Channel Crest before releasing it.  As it was released, his body began to glow before green flames spewed from his form in the shape of the crest.  Ryuu raised an eyebrow lightly, only now remembering that he could do the same, before noticing that the Kunoichi dropped her stealth and began to speak.

The fact that the brothers understood her first word was slightly amusing, no doubt an expletive as a result of her shock by Roun’s action.  However the rest of her ramblings would be hard to follow.

From what they could both translate, she seemed to going on about something of “grave importance”, regarding a “great threat from Itam”, they were not sure of the specifics but from what they could gather, she and a team of four were sent to neutralise the threat, and they were currently maintaining their position until the out be retrieved from their location.

This was all the information that Jubei needed to complete the quest, but Roun decided to stay with the group while Ryuu returned to assist Rueben.  Rei would take in her information separately, allowing the scientists to combine the data and mark the quest completed.

Outcome: Jubei and Rei have completed the quest.

Jubei: +18 Exp + 35000$

Awareness: 6 Exp

Awareness: 8 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Precision: 2 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Roun: +28 Exp (-120HP)

Ryuu: +28 Exp

Awareness: 4 Exp

Awareness: 4 Exp

Accuracy: 4 Exp

Accuracy: 4 Exp

Precision: 6 Exp

Precision: 6 Exp

No Shame: Leonardo, Acquisition of Services quest

Having gotten wind of Brian’s encounter in Maine, Leonardo had become intrigued by the quest, venturing out to the area to try his hand at persuading the scientists to accept the offers of their would-be employers.  Leonardo had decided to use an advantage that only he possessed out of all of the channelers on the network; his boyish charm.  His entrances into the facility raised the eyebrow of the young receptionist, who was rather on edge since Brian’s stunt, causing her to watch the youngster closely.  Leonardo however had no intention of actually using force in his attempts to acquire the services of her employers.

The young woman’s anxiety was soothed somewhat by the youngster’s politeness, as he asked her what seemed like a million questions about what they did.  The receptionist, who he found out went by the name of Red, was still rather curious to find out what the youngster was doing all the way in Maine, and seemingly alone before Leonardo assured her that his parents were close by.  This allowed her to let her guard down somewhat, making her more inclined to answer his questions.  In her more open state, Red was still quite cryptic in her responses to his questions of what they did at the facility, causing Leonardo to realise that the information might be classified.  What she did let on however was that it was something that her employers were hoping would change the world for the better, but at the same time, something that could also be used as a weapon.  This was most likely the reason that they were so particular about who they were working for, which meant that Leonardo would need to be cautious with what he suggested next, as he asked to speak with the scientist in charge.

Much like Brian however, he would be forced to wait hours before he could see the scientist, allowing him to run some errands before he returned.  As he was allowed into the main office to see Mr. Mirakama, Leonardo started with the same cute routine, acting like an innocent child that was simply interested in being a scientist.  His routine was slightly less accepted by the cynic that was Markus, but his assistant Julia was rather charmed by the child.  The conversation went on for some time before Leonardo threw in that he had some friends that could probably use their expertise, causing Markus to out right refuse.

“My services are not for hire, I’ve already received a number of requests from less than scrupulous persons.”  Markus stated harshly.

“But what if my friends are nice?” Leonardo inquired naively, causing him to sigh.

“If you can guarantee to me that your ‘friends’ have only good intension, I will consider lending them my services…”  Markus replied with some frustration.  “Now go, I need to get back to work.”

Outcome: Leonardo must now convince them that the quest sponsors have only good intensions.

New Course Record: Cy, Jais, John and Alyssa, Virus Busting quest.

“Oh good, the original applicant has returned… oh and he’s brought a team this time.”  One of the scientists laughed as they prepared the facility for the next attempt.  They had encountered quite a bit of difficulty retrieving Cy’s body from the facility the last time, forcing them to put extra work into figuring out a way to turn the defences of the facility on and off, allowing them to finally make some progress.

Cy and his team, Jais, John and his sister Alyssa, made their way into the facility, which powered up instantly, causing Cy to raise an eyebrow.

“We have been working on a number of flaws in the facility since you’re last attempt, you will be pleased with the changes.”  A voice came from the loud speaker, causing Cy to growl.

“Yeah right…”  He mumbled to himself, as Jais instantly left the party, while the other three continued.

It seemed that the AI for the facility was still able to remember Cy as a hostile form the last time, causing it’s automated defences to spring to life, sending the team instantly onto the defences.  The initial offensive tactic was the same exploding rounds that seemed to be effective against Cy the last time, causing the morpher to spread his Shuriken and lightning dash in the early to evade the attacks.  Alyssa also wasted no time utilising her Reverse Demon, boosting her speed to allow her to evade the attacks while, John used Dynamic Guard to parry the rounds that detonated harmlessly on the walls of the facility, allowing the three to begin their counter attacks.

Jais was having a slightly better time as he activated his stealth, attempting to make it to the room that housed the AI core.  He was not sure whether or not the facility simply did not register him as a threat, or whether his stealth was actually being effective, but either way, his path was relatively unrestricted.  As they were simply attempting to test the capabilities of the facility, and not necessarily to prevent it from being infiltrated, the scientists sponsoring the quest had been obliging enough to offer Cy’s team a map on the facility, one which Jais was following.  Unfortunately, he realised that the AI core was protected by a number of blast doors, which he would need to make his way through before he could attempt to tamper with the core. 

Back near the entrance, the others were beginning to realise just how adapative the facility could be.  Noting that a number of Cy’s techniques relied on polarity, as well as the charged nature of Alyssa’s form, the facility quickly switched to ionic weaponary.  The high energy output of the kunoichi form, made her a lightning rod, allowing the correctly polarised ions to home into her form, while the matter component of the attacks did quite a bit of damage to the now extremely light form.  With the attacks now pinning Alyssa to a wall, Cy and John would need to pick up the slack unless they wanted to be neutralised themselves.  Cy’s Fatal Attraction was proving to be a bit more Fatal than usual, as attacks locking onto his micro would now be conducted through them to impact his form, causing his Thrid Eye to spaz out, rendering him incapacitated as well.  John still remained the most difficult to dispatch, even despite his inability to threated the facility in a major way, leaving the facility to deal with him in the only way that seemed logical; drastically boosting the output of it’s weapons.

Jais was having a hard time with the blast doors as well.  As with most reinforced structures, the primary forces holding the blast doors together were generated by the energy from the generator, meaning that they would require a lot of energy to blast the door down, leaving his only option as Matter Melding through the door.  Using Perforation and Analysis, he was relatively sure that he would be able to pass through the walls without being affected by the virus, but it was a risk that he would have rather not taken.  Jais, much like Cy, had realised that the viral energy flowed through the entire facility, and was not particularly concentrated at any single point, this left them equally open to it at any point.  As Jais melded through the door, his techniques did their best at filtering the virus through his form, allowing it to pass through his form rather than linger on it.  This proved to be more effective than other techniques, leaving his form just deformed and somewhat mangled instead of actually infected.  Jais had to admit that he did take more damage than he would have imagined however as he used his Molecular Control to defrag his form and reassemble it correctly. 

Back in the fray, John had expended a lot of energy guarding against the powerful weapons of the facility, exhausting his Perfect Guard and now relying on his Dynamic Guard and natural defences to fend off the facility.  Cy, ever the adaptive on, has adjusted his defence to filter out the static interference that had paralysed his form, allowing him to get back to destroying the defences. Unfortunately, neither he nor John would be able to save Alysaa, who would be the first to go.

Luckily, the scientists running the facility had installed a number of miniature teleporters in the facility to transport out reverted channelers as safely as possible.  Cy and John watched as Alyssa vanished, forcing Cy to activate his Jinn form, bursting into flames and scorching the defences before they finally were able to move forward.  Cy couldn’t help but think that it took a bit longer than it did on his first attempt to get past initial security as they moved forward.

Their theory however on overburdening the AI and the generator, though sound, was near impossible to execute for the relatively small and low powered team, as the facility was designed to take on strikes from entire military squadrons.  This left Jais at the mercy of the Final Wave security front.  The facility had been designed to get progressively more difficult as teams moved towards the core, hence why Cy was advised to engage the facility’s offensive capabilities on the perimeter and move in, for his teams on safety, however, with Jais having by-passed all of the defences and made it to the core, he would be the first to witness, and quite prematurely, the full power of the facility. Two laser lights ripped through the area, causing Jais to dodge instinctively, noting that no damage had been done to the facility by their passing, only noting that the molecules of the walls and atmosphere where they passed to be accelerated to a higher energy level.  Jais watched as the molecules destabilised and then exploded, knocking him way as the laser made another pass.  Luckily, the blast knocked him clear of the second pass as well, but it would make a third and a fouth before cornering its target and finishing him off with a single hhit from the fifth pass.  Even with his own molecular control, he could not stop his form from combusting under the immense power of the laser.

“2 or 4 remaining.”  The facility sounded, as it powered up the second wave of defences.

Cy’s Third Eye was enough for him to dodge the odd coloured goo that shot from the wall, only managing to catch John as the heat in the room began to rise.  Being an Emulator, Cy’s form quickly adjusted to the temperature, putting little strain on his Environmental Regulator.  However John quickly became quite uncomfortable.  The gooey substance also seemed to inhibit his channelling ability, absorbing the energy as he generated it and solidifying as he continued to struggle.  This force him to release the kinetic energy that he was absorbing to break free.  The burst managed to shatter the now hardened goo into a mist, which then glowed, burning his form now with the amplified heat in the area, leading quickly to his reversion.

The additional heat however only further powered up Cy’s form, allowing him to scan the room with his True Sight as he searched for the source of the heat, before using Eternal Slumber to short out the circuits of the facility, allowing him to move onto sector III.  Unfortunately, with his already heavily damage form, Cy would not even see what it was in the third sector that took him out.

Outcome: Cy's team has made it to Sector 3 of 7, testing 31% of the facilities defences.  They have been awarded 46500$ each.

Cy: +56 Exp (reverted)

Awareness: 6 Exp

Awareness: 8 Exp

Accuracy: 16 Exp

Accuracy: 2 Exp

Precision: 8 Exp

Precision: 10 Exp

John: +42 Exp (reverted)

Alyssa: +34 Exp (reverted)

Awareness: 4 Exp

Awareness: 4 Exp

Accuracy: 8 Exp

Accuracy: 4 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Precision: 6 Exp

Enlightenment: Rueben and Ryuu, Breath of Fire II quest.

Rueben’s initial activities for this quest were somewhat pre-empted by Paco Stryfe, who was offering his assistance, along with that of Amanda Real, currently the leading researcher in inter-realm travel, and the rifts that facilitated them.  This opened the doors for him acquiring the information he needed to complete his task of returning the young dragon to Oya, but at first, did not prove to be very enlightening, as neither Amanda nor the handful of other scientists were willing to share much with regards the theories regarding the interactions between Earth I and II (Terra and Oya).  He was however able to read up on some theories, though the theoretical models only seemed to make sense on a very abstract level.

Terra and Oya existed out of phase with each other, occupying the same space over the same length of time, though not specifically at the same time.  Many graphs used to explain this resembled that of two sine waves oscillating fully out of sync with each other, with one wave representing Earth and the other representing Oya.  Rueben grasped the concept, though he, like many others, didn’t see how exactly these things could be related back to the actual existence of the two worlds.

Noting that, Rueben decided to move onto the other parts of his plan, first dealing with the subject of the quest, the dragon.  Rueben and Ryuu had managed to get themselves on speaking terms with the dragon, though there relationship had not yet evolved to one that would be considered ‘friendly’.

“Good morning.”  Rueben sounded as he made his way up to the dragon, receiving a faint head gesture as acknowledgement of his presence.  “You know ‘dragon’ isn’t exactly a name… is there something I should call you, like a name or a title?”  Rueben inquired, drawing a curious look from the beast.

“You can refer to me by my given name, Tarek.”  The dragon replied.

“That’s a pretty manly name.”  Ryuu laughed sarcastically, dragging a look of displeasure.

“I am not amused.”  The Tarek replied.  “I do not see why a female would need a name with great male connotations.”

“You’re a girl!?” Ryuu exclaimed, having automatically assumed that Tarek was female.

“Anyway Tarek, I was going to ask you if you had any plans on how to get back home, or if you were just willing to go along with mine.”  Rueben interjected, attempting to bring the conversation back to the point.

“I have exhausted my plans; I will be willing to accept suggestions.”  She replied.

“That’s good, but you may need to offer something to the people that are helping you out, like information or something.”  Rueben explained.

“Well, I don’t see what information I possess that could be useful to them, but I would be willing to share what I know as long as their plan shows some results.”  She went on.

“Okay cool…” Rueben replied.  “Well I’ve been checking with some other researchers, but I seems like Ms. Real is the only one with a working plan to actually get stuff to Oya, and she’s agreed to transport you back to Oya directly in your homeland, so that seems like the best offer we’ll be getting in terms of professionals, otherwise we’ll have to do this on our own.  Oh yeah… I was supposed to ask you, how exactly did you get to Earth?”

“I’m not exactly sure what it was that sent me here, but it seems that these portals that connect the two worlds are affected by energy, the more energy generated, the more stable to portal becomes and the more useful it is.  There was a war between my clan and a neighbouring faction, over land and resources in our area.  As the battle raged on, more powerful members from each side began to clash directly as the weaker warriors fell, it seems that the immense energy levels in that battle were what fed the rift that brought me here, unfortunately, I was not strong enough to reactivate it and return.”  Tarek explained.

“How strong exactly were these warriors?”  Rueben inquired now, trying to get a better picture of the battle, which Tarek didn’t even seem to be a part of.

“They are the adults of my tribe, years older than I am…”  She started, only to be cut off by Ryuu.

“Wait a minute, you’re not fully grown, how old are you?”  He inquired.

“I am an adolescent… As I mature, so will my power.  My clan reaches maturity when we cross the first threshold of power, our power doubles and our body changes to that of an adult form, unlocking our reproductive abilities.  If we live long enough, we may reach an ascended state, where our powers double yet again… all of our clan members do not reach ascension however, so it is not considered a natural part of our life cycle.”  She explained.

“I see… sounds a lot like player, boss and perfect forms… except hitting boss is a natural part of your life cycle…”  Rueben reasoned, feeling somewhat unnerved by it all.  “Well thanks for the info… I guess I should get to work on creating those portals.”  He replied, moving off to a more remote area to begin his experiments, accompanied by Ryuu.

Rueben first attempted to create a powerful concentration of ether, using his Zeno and Kaigen along with Geiger to create a massive supply of energy by means of fusion, a process that proved a bit more difficult than he would have though.  Ryuu used his Rock modifier to aid in containment as wall as Ragna to boost the energy output of the technique.  With all of this energy, their combined control as well as their defensive techniques was enough to contain the energy, but they both lacked the innate precision to concentrate it into a point small enough to cause a noticeable rift in the area.  Their ethereal scanner did detect a number of distortions in the area, but nothing that would prove useful in their attempts… they would need to find another way to execute this task.
Rueben the turned to another method, using his Revolution along with Zeno in an attempt to resonate himself out of sync with the earth, but this was a task that was easier said than done.  Given his mastery over dimensions, Rueben understood that each of the 11 dimensions of ether connected to the others at a 90 degree angle, and they all combined to form a single reality which earth existed on.  As he attempted to find some common resonation that they all shared, he found it difficult to identify.  This meant that his plan was finished before he even got started, he would need to regroup and retry.

Outcome: Quest remains incomplete.

Rueben: +42 Exp

Awareness: 10 Exp

Awareness: 4 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Precision: 8 Exp

Precision: 8 Exp

Dig A... Wait A Minute: Cloud, Davius, Hyaku, Juggerknot and Meric, Excavation quest.

It seemed like the results of the quest that was the predecessor to this one, which Davius, Cloud and their so called ‘Doom Sqaud’ were now undertaking, had gone unnoticed to the entire team.  This would make it quite a shocker when they arrived at the scene to find that the extensive tunnel system that had been carved out by the creatures previously inhabiting the area was now completely filled with calcium carbonate crystals.  This meant that they would need to do quite a bit of excavation if they actually planned on getting anywhere near the facility.  This raised the question of how the other teams that had gone down made it to the facility.  Hyaku, Davius and Cloud wasted no time scanning the area, their ethereal scanners picking up a number of places where the soil seemed to be displaced, but actual tunnels to the subterrainian facility.  This left them with two assumptions, either the tunnels had collapsed in on those attempting to dig them, or they were covered up after the exploration team had been dispatched, but eitherway, they would not be much help to the team, that would now need to find their own way to make their way down to the facility.

Hyaku found this quite amusing, noting that they had all come quite equipped for the infiltration of this facility, while none of them seemed to have given any thought to actually reaching the area.  Out of all of the members of the team, the Juggerknot, with his Bender skill was the most equipped to actually perform the excavation, but with his substandard Precision, they understood that they would be risking destabilising the area if they attempted that.  With that acknowledged however, they didn’t want to be going home empty handed, so they at least need to try.  Given the attack nature of their forms, Juggerknot would be forced to take on the excavation alone, moving exceedingly slowly to avoid destabilising the area, as he moved downwards.  This was quite taxing on his Stamina, especially when he began to get greater depths, and was forced to go around the crystalline structures that filled tunnels, a structure which due to its unnatural state he was unable to control.  This was only further compounded by the fact that as he went lower, the earth became more dense, requiring more energy to move as he attempted to excavate the ruin.  Luckily, the Juggerknot’s Stamina managed to hold out for rather long, actually allowing him to finish the tunnel to the facility, though it wasn’t the most efficient path to get there.

The others wasted little time in getting to his location, making their scans of the facility, which seemed to be completely unexplored.  From the readings they we getting, the could not even sense the presence of anyone there.  This left them somewhat boggled.  Cloud wasted no time in performing a temporal scan of the past, managing to catch a glimpse of the last team that went down into the facility before they were buried by a cave in. 

“The last team didn’t make it into the facility, we’ll be the first ones in.”  Cloud stated alerting the rest of the team, whose attensions were now focussed on the Juggerknot.

The large channeler seemed to be struggling to maintain the cohesion of his form, after the near two hour dig to the facility, as it seemed that he Stamine was quickly running down.

“Hold on…”  Hyaku commented, causing the others to pause as he looked around, sensing odd fluctuation in the ether, causing Davius and Cloud to turn their attention to their own scanners.

From what they could observe, the fluctuations seemed to be surrounding the facility, seeping off in streams which coalesced around the tunnel which they had dug, before the earth began to shake. 

“An earthquake?  I thought this area was stable!”  Meric exclaimed as the tunnel began to collapse, forcing him to hop onto one of his summons and make a dash for the turnnel.  Hyaku and Davius looked at each other, before turning to Cloud, signalling that he should get the Juggerknot to the surface before the cave in doom them all.

Hyaku was the first out of the tunnel and back to the surface, as his phase shift boots whirred loudly, allowing him to pull up Meric who was trailing behind him.  This left Cloud, Davius and the Juggerknot, who exploded out of the tunnel almost simultaneously as Cloud made a diagonal leap up the tunnel, pushing out Davius who was using his special manipulation to clear the area.  The team barely made it out with their skins, as they attempted to analyse the situation.

Outcome: The tunnel that had been dug seemed to have been purposely collapsed, the team did not have time to collect any additional data, the facility remains untouched.

Cloud: +12 Exp

Awareness: 6 Exp

Awareness: 6 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Precision: 0 Exp

Precision: 0 Exp

Hyaku: +12 Exp

Juggerknot: +36 Exp

Awareness: 6 Exp

Awareness: 4 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Precision: 0 Exp

Precision: 12 Exp

Meric: +12 Exp

Awareness: 6 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Precision: 0 Exp

Finally, Getting Somewhere: Xess and Rei, Guardians of the Shrines quest

The old acquaintances Xess and Rei found themselves working on the same quest, though taking very different approaches.  Xess already knew that the authorities were never willing to share sensitive information with channelers, and thus limited his request for information to topographical data and the like so that he would be better able to cope with terrain in the inevitability of a battle.

Rei on the other hand too a slightly more tactical approach, proceeding towards the area using her Mercuri Solea to hover as he moves in with two turkeys (that’s right, turkeys).  Using her various stealth implements, coupled with her natural Enviromental Meld, she actually managed to get rather close to the structures undetected, allowing her for basic scanning of the monument without hostile actions from its guardian.  The surface of the monument, which stood about four feet tall and had a diameter of about one and a half feet, seemed like marble, though was much harder in actuality, as she found it impossible to scratch it with her Tear Drop blades, which by function simply passed through the structure without affecting it.  Noting this, and not being able to identify exactly what it was about the structures that gave her a feeling of unease, Rei continued with her plans, releasing the turkeys and allowing them to interact with the structure, while she observed the results.  As the creatures left her influence however, their presence seemed to alert the Kunoichi that many who came before Rei had to deal with.  However, after Cloud’s hostility, the guardian seemed far more aggressive than she previously was.  The two unfortunate birds quickly went up in green flames, being quickly burned to a crisp.

“Baked Turkey, proper!”  Xess commented as he made his way towards Rei, looking around for the source of the attack.

Rei was still pretty much undetectable by Xess at this point, opting to see what happened before she decloaked.  Like Cloud before him, Xess found himself the victim of a sneak attack.  Luckily, Xess’ Armour of Thor, which now contained the bulk of his energy, managed to deflect more than half of the initial damage from the strike, while his FAIL and AIDS modifiers travelled through the blade of the Kunoichi, infecting her form.

As his modifiers ran back on her, it stunned the guardian long enough for him to back kick her, before spinning to face her.  As the viral modifiers infected her form, her stealth capabilities quickly began to fade, forcing her out into the open.  Xess, rushed her, boosting his speed with Wings while Popeye’s Spinach boosting his strength, launching a blistering barrage of attacks.  Surprisingly however, his opponent was fast enough to dodge every attack before flipping and landing on the monument.  Xess could sense some kind of ethereal reaction taking place, while Rei’s more advanced scanners picked up what was actually going on.  As she watched, she noted that the odd magic flow surrounding the monument was actually a sort of vacuum, however, as the magic entering and exiting the monument before seemed identical, she didn’t pick it up.  This time however, she notice the infected energy flowing into the monument, while cleaned energy flowed back to her form, curing her of FAIL and AIDS.  Rei finally understood the function of the monuments, but she was still somewhat lost as to how they got there, and more importantly why they were placed where they were.  Wasting no time, Rei quickly grappled the guardian and restrained her, dropping her stealth so that a very confused Xess could see what was going on.

“You!!”  Xess exclaimed, now being conflicted with exactly which one of them to kill.

“What is going on here?”  Rei inquired to her captor, whose form was still recovering from Xess’ infectious attacks.  Unfortunately, this guardian was unable to understand what either of them were saying, replying in a foreign tongue which neither of their Comm. Units could translate.

Taking a chance, Rei released her captive, sheathing her Teardrop Blades and showing the guardian her hands.  The guardian nodded, jumping about thirty meters away before vanishing into the forest and leaving Xess rather confused.  Shrugging, Xess punched Rei in the face.

“Next time don’t ambush me.”

Outcome: Quest remains incomplete

Xess: 32 Exp (-68HP)

Awareness: 4 Exp

Awareness: 10 Exp

Accuracy: 8 Exp

Accuracy: 4 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Bad Idea: Cy, Virus Busting quest

Cy was starting get a seriously creepy feeling as he entered the testing facility, as for some reason, the research team just seemed overly excited by his presence.  He remembered the feeling vaguely, noting that it was comparable to playing a game for the first time against a pro who was about to school you.  As he continued into the facility, the feeling only grew worse, until he was finally in the combat area.

“We are still working on activating and deactivating the subroutines for hostility, so to initiate the testing run you will have to exhibit hostile behaviour… Maverick should kick in automatically then and stop when either you or it are neutralised.  Good luck.”  Came the voice over the PA system, giving Cy that creeped out feeling once again.

Despite this however, he still continued with the attempt, ripping the main breaker out of the wall as he moved in, causing the defensive systems to spring to life.  Cy noticed a number of automated turrets materialise on the walls and opened fire, launching a number of solid state rounds in his general direction.  His Fatal Attraction and Micro combination helped to deflect a number of the attacks, while his Body Lan and Third Eye aided him in dodging the others that were incoming, while he used his True Sight to devise the best way to go about disabling the defences.  Identifying his attackers was exceedingly easy, and with the large number of shurikens in his possession, it didn’t take him long before he could start taking turrets out, and the damage that they were doing to his form was so small that he wasn’t too bothered about it.

What did bother him however was the fact that he was beginning to notice, through True Sight, that some of the ether from his attacks wasn’t going towards the destruction of his targets, but instead was being absorbed and used to power the systems, progressively making these defences stronger.  This would be a big problem if it continued, but Cy wasn’t exactly sure just how he could stop this.  His burnout wasn’t being particularly useful, as the system’s generator was more than capable of sustaining all of the defensive systems at once, and Demai could only do so much damage without being absorbed and used to power the facility. 

Given this however, the facility core AI also realised that the primary defenses were rather ineffective against their target, whose high defence and massive health made bringing him death exceedingly difficult.  It was at this point that the virus’ powers of mutation were harnessed, morphing the summoned rapid fire turrets into cannons which launched mortars.  At first, Cy didn’t quite notice, as he was still able to easily dodge the larger rounds, unfortunately, he would be unable escape their explosions, which knocked him off his feet and sent him skating further into the facility while the turrets recalibrated themselves and took aim on his new location.  This forced Cy to fuse with the ground of the facility and move further in before exiting from a wall of another room, however, for some reason, he realised that no defensive armaments were being activated.  This was puzzling, until he looked down at the rest of his form.  His True Sight registered strange colours, puzzling the channeler before his form began to glitch out, leading to his reversion.

Outcome: Quest remains incomplete

Cy: 34 Exp (reverted)

Awareness: 6 Exp

Accuracy: 8 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Enter The Grease Squad: Captain Greasy, Lard Lad and Cloud, Guardian of the Shrines quest.

Cloud appeared to be early, being the only one present at the agreed meeting place as he waited for Jubei and Donovan.  He had made a call back to the Mercenary outpost in Long Island, inquiring about Demai activity in the area, which he soon learned was minimal.  They did manage to confirm the presence of the Demai Field Commander in the area but she was well outside of Mercenary territory so they were taking little interests in her action.  Cloud acknowledged this, suggesting that maybe her activities should be of greater interests to the Army, but the coordinators back at the base seemed to take his suggestions lightly.  Cloud growled lightly before his eyes widened, noting two figures making their way towards his location.

The figures were dressed in what would only be likened to super hero costumes, sporting large Gs on the chests of their black costumes with flowing capes.

“The fuck…” Cloud muttered as they made their way to his location, carrying on a conversation that he only managed to catch the end of.

“…so I could deal with her and my four o'clock at the same time…” The shorter by more stocky character stated, causing his sidekick to reply.

“Two are always better than one Captain… but onto the quest.”

“What the hell… Jubei?” Cloud inquired, rather disturbed by the whole thing.

“It is I, Captain Greasy and my sidekick Lard Lad, I know nothing of this Jubei you speak of.”  The stocky figure replied, causing Cloud to sigh and just go along.

His accomplice Lard Lad wasted no time in utilising his Tool, which spread through the environment, parting the obstructions before penetrating deeply into it’s surroundings.  As his Lust grew, so did his Tool, which was further sustained by his Desire, allowing for further efficiency in the job at hand.  Like most channelers with his talents, Lard Lad’s connection to his Tool was strong, allowing him to gather a vivid mental image of it’s surroundings as it borrowed more deeply in search of its target. 

Cloud on the other hand was using more conventional methods as he searched the area of anomalies.  Much like Lard Lad, he would notice flickers on the edge of his sensor range, as if whatever was out there could sense them and stayed just outside of their range.  Even as he boosted the range of the device with his own energy, whatever it was still seemed to be able to keep its distance.

Lard Lad would cry out in pain as his tool was attacked and quickly dispatched, shattering and leaving him quite vulnerable once it was over.  This put the Captain on the defensive, attempting to protect his young charge from further damage.  Unlike last time however, a number of Kunai flew their way, fanning out from a single point, forcing the to team to go on the defensive.  Cloud easily shielded the attack, charging his Spartan with a large dose of his own energy and launching it at the point where the Kunai spread out from.  Captain Greasy however was unable to shield himself and his young charge from the kunai which impacted their forms and threw them backwards off their feet.  As Cloud watched his Spartan sale towards his target, his C. Scanners picked up a powerful energy signature right behind him.  Unfortunately, before he could turn, a blade entered his form, slipping between the bones at the base of his spine before he fell to the ground, incapacitated.

As Captain greasy made it back to his feet, he surveyed a young Kunoichi, taking particular notice of her vital statistics upon which he commended her.  Unfortunately, his words seemed not to be understandable to the young woman, who replied in a tongue that was also foreign to him.  This left Lard Lad, who sent out a psychic message to the woman, causing her to pause briefly before she replied.

“Leave here at once, this is not the place for you.”  Was all that Lard Lad managed to pick from her thoughts, which seemed to be moving at speeds so fast that even his increased cognitive abilities could not decipher.

And with this she vanished, using a form of stealth that not even Lard Lad seemed to be able to see through.  The two decided to get Cloud and retreat, while they thought out a follow up course of action.

Outcome: Quest remains incompleted.

Cloud: 26 Exp (-356HP)

Awareness: 8 Exp

Awareness: 8 Exp

Accuracy: 2 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Precision: 2 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Jubei: 16 Exp (-190HP)

Awareness: 2 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Butting Up: Davius and the Juggerknot, Gladiator quest

Davius and the Juggerknot seemed to be on a role with their last quest, and wasted no time in making their way to the location of their next task.  Davius had only realised somewhat late in his actions that if he wanted his copy of the information to be useful to anyone other than his Benefactors, he would have needed to either keep the decoder which they acquired on the 4^th floor of the Gehena facility or find someway to copy that decoder.  Unfortunately, it was too late for anything like that.  This made the information which he transferred to Enrique Bayman almost useless, forcing Davius to offer his services to the Army if he really wanted them to notice him.

With their bids to use the virus in military operations, scientists had quickly become reluctant to share information with civilians, making it exceedingly hard for Davius to acquire any information regarding the virus, and with Jubei being rather unresponsive, his luck simply didn’t seem like it was going to get any better.

Davius also learned that a dedicated link back to the command post on the outskirts of the dedicated testing area would be useless as a number of sensors were placed all over the grounds, so all he had to do was carry out his actions and scientists would be able to get all the readouts they needed.  This made his job far easier.

As Davius made his way into the area, his Nature Fiends and his Enlightenment were his only means of scanning the area, unfortunately, this quickly pointed out two things about the modified ecosystem.  All would be easy targets, seemed to be well stealthed, or possess some other defense mechanism that made them exceedingly inaccessible, while those that were easily identified proved to be, at a glance, far more dangerous than those in hiding.  With the low power of his scanning devices, Davius realised that he would be left to carry out his tests on more dangerous creatures, a thought that left him somewhat annoyed.

His illusions were his first test, looking to see how the creatures would react to them in an attempt to determine their hunting methods.  This test actually lended quite  abit of insight into the abilities granted to the creatures infected with Maverick.  The virus did seem to give them some ethereal sensing capabilities, but their intelligence levels remained that of animals.  Their boosted senses allowed most of the more complex predator species to quickly identify that the illusions were fake, but Davius did notice that quite a few of them attacked the illusions before giving up and moving back to search for real prey.

His next test would involved his Resonance Negation, allowing him to summon his Nature Fiends almost right onto the hides of the creatures, biting them.  What was strange to him however was the creatures’ unresponsiveness to his Fiends’ venom, which actually seemed to have no effect on the creatures, a reality to proved to be very puzzling.

At this point, Davius was quickly running out of tests, a decided to run his final one: battle performance.  Wasting no time, he teleported up to one of the less intelligent creatures, one that had been unable to see through his illusions, charging his Zanryuken around his hands before delivering a palm strike to the creature, stunning it as it’s body spasmed, allowing Davius to observe it before he moved back in, in an attempt to finish it.  The energy from his Zanryuken subsided more quickly than usual, lasting only long enough for his first attack with Benediction to land before the creature began to mutate.  Davius wasted no time at this point, increasing the strength and speed of his Benediction attacks.  Unfortunately, this only sped up the creature’s mutation before it finally spun it’s body and clamped down on Davius’ arm.  The pain from the bite stunned Davius allowing the creature to pick him up and shake him around like a rag doll, knocking him against trees before the Juggerknot came to his aid, pulling the creature into the ground with Bender before launching it with a kick into a nearby tree.  The attack had unfortunately left Davius rather stunned, forcing him to attempt to focus on the battle at hand.  Juggerknot quickly switched to his battle plan, summoning a number of vehicles and hurling them at the now recovering creature, before he caused the earth to clamp around the creatures feet to prevent it from moving.  The attacks on the best causing it to mutate further, growing it size until it broke the Juggerknot’s grip and made its way for the two channelers.  Using Bender once more, Juggerknot sunk the creature into the ground, crushing it beneath the earth in his own form of Sand Burial before he turned his attention back to Davius, who was now spazzing out.  Juggs cursed long as he saw this, taking is sight off of his target for just a few seconds as he tried to figure out what was wrong with his running buddy.  Unfortunately, these seconds would be rather crucial as the creature burst from beneath the ground and charged him once more.  Grabbing Davius, the Juggerknot attempted a Hulk Jump, being caught as he left the ground by the creature that had slammed into his body.  The assisted Hulk Jump allowed them to clear the area however, and they quickly left the facility seeking medical assistance for Davius.

Outcome: The two have been paid 20000$ for their collected information.

Davius: 36 Exp (-211HP) (3 days soft reversion)

Awareness: 4 Exp

Awareness: 4 Exp

Accuracy: 6 Exp

Accuracy: 10 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Sometimes Diplomacy is Better: Brian, Acquisition of Services quest

Being unable to synchronise his schedule with those that he was supposed to be working with, Brian decided that he would make it solo for a while, and attempt one of the local quests.  He had seen over the communication’s network that an unknown party was attempting to acquire the services of scientists in the area, Brian would make it his business to ensure that these two scientists saw the light.

Brian was bent on being very no-nonsense in his approach to this quest, storming into the facility and demanding to speak with his targets.

“I’m sorry sir but you will have to wait in the lobby, Mr. Mirakama is rather busy, he may be unavailable for hours.”  The young receptionist explained, causing Brian to power up his form.

“I don’t think that you understand me, I need to talk to him right now.” Brian reiterated forcefully, causing the young woman behind the desk to become somewhat concerned.

“Please calm down sir, but Mr. Mirakama is in the middle of a very important experiment, maybe we can reschedule this appointment?” She inquired, but Brian was having none of it.

Without hesitation, his energy flared, exploding across the desk and knocking the woman out of her chair, as well as clearing the table of any devices that we lying around.  Needless to say, the young woman wasted no time in sounding the security alarm, an action that caused Brian to smirk deviously, as he now scanned the room’s various entrances and exits as he prepared himself for the security force.  Strangely enough, he saw nothing, causing him to turn his attention back to the young woman at the desk.  His eyes would widen as he did so however.  The woman stood behind the desk, now holding a modified Whistler, a device that Brian was barely familiar with.  Before Brian could react, the modified laser his hit form, knocking him off his feet and into a nearby wall, pinning him against it with a steady stream while his form began to glitch.  Just a few seconds more would leave him in reversion, before the woman notified the police of his hostilities.

Outcome: Quest remains incomplete

Brian: 20 Exp (-300HP) (3 days soft reversion)

Awareness: 2 Exp

Accuracy: 2 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Telling It Like It Is Part II: Rueben and Ryuu, Breath of Fire quest

With Ryuu recently joining up with him, Rueben realised the usefulness of having a vehicle at your disposal, as the two were able to move from China to England in a single day, and most importantly, with no incurred cost.  The flight over gave the two some time to catch up, as Ryuu hadn’t seen much of his family since he and Roun left the island of Barbados on their little quest.

“So Rueb, how are things back home?”  Ryuu inquired as he looked for somewhere to land.

“You know Barbados, barring that thing with the psycho attacking people, it’s pretty quiet… I think they’re gearing up for the local festival… that’s about it.”  Rueben replied.

“How’s the family: mom, the kid?”  Ryuu continued.

“Mom’s pretty much good, not like her life is overly interesting… this kid’s doing fine too, he’s growing up fast… he’ll probably be walking soon.”  Rueben smirked, causing Ryuu to laugh.

“That’s good to hear.”  He replied, landing the craft before the two made their way out of the vehicle.

Before they got started, they would need to meet with two people.  Their first stop was at the local law enforcement station, as they ran their plan by the authorities to make sure that they would not be jeopardising any plans that the authorities were making.  Once they were sure that this was not the case, they made their way to the outskirts of space controlled by the Council of Xelots, in an attempt to talk to them about a possible retreat unto their facility if the need arose.  This didn’t go down well with the Council, as it proved to be a very high security risk, but in the end, they were able to work out a deal.  The Itamis could retreat into a small demilitarised zone set up on the outskirts of Xelot controlled territory, where they will be provided with a single Paladin for defence and to ensure that they do not attempt anything, terms to which the Itamis quickly agreed.

Once this was achieved, the two set off in the direction that the dragon was last detected in.  Hoping to be able to resolve the conflict in a single go.

“So, what’s the plan for this quest?”  Ryuu inquired, powering up his form as a precautionary measure.

“I’m just going to talk to it… but it has problems with humans, so we should be on our guard.”  Rueben replied as he came within sensory range of the creature.

Both Itamis could make it out in the distance, the dragon having grown quite a bit since its encounter with Cloud and Donovan.  Its growth in size also seemed to be accompanied by a growth in power as the dragon’s energy also seemed to have increase.  This however went unknown to the two Itamis, both of whom had sensory ranges that were by far inferior to that of the dragon.

As the neared the dragon, bringing it closer to the edge of their own ethereal sensory range, it took to the air, leaving it’s perch and vanishing from it’s location causing both Itamis to engage their defensive techniques.  Rueben’s Perfect Guard only complimented the array of defensive armaments that he possessed, acting with Ryuu’s Perfection Shell, it created an impenetrable barrier which the Dragon plastered itself on.  The initial impact startled both Itamis, who were convinced that the dragon was teleporting, leaving them somewhat shocked  to see it slam into the barrier.

“That was thrust?”  Rueben thought to himself, as the dragon flew backwards and landed and a defensive posture, summoning it’s natural energies around it.  “Hold on, we didn’t come here to fight!”  Rueben shouted, though it seemed to have little impact on the Dragon’s actions.

As the Dragon’s energy continued to charge, Ryuu quickly realised that he would not be able to keep up with it in battle in his current state, causing him to begin his Chaos Dragon Morph, while Rueben kept his Kaigen about him.  Needless to say, their actions were interpreted as hostile, though their was an egging feeling in the back of the dragon’s mind, causing it to wonder why they hadn’t exhibited any aggression as of yet.  The force of the next attack from the dragon pushed them both back, though Rueben’s perfect guard was once again able to shield the attack.

“We’re not going to fight you, so you might as well hear us out!”  Rueben started, as he and Ryuu did their best to shield the Dragon’s attacks.  “I looked up your situation, and I know that you’re interested in the rifts.  I think you want to get home… that or you’re studying the disturbances.  But eitherway, we can help you.  There are a number of other disturbances, at Long Island, Easter Island, all over the place, and they are being studied as you speak… whatever you’re looking for, we can help you.  All you have to do is let us help you!”  Rueben yelled, causing the dragon to pause.

The creature had been unable to kill the two channelers, and it wasn’t for lack of trying.  Ryuu had sustained considerable damage, and Rueben had been able to block even more, allowing him to escape almost unscaved.   Despite all of this however, they had not returned a single attack.  Taking this into consideration, the dragon ceased its attack, and began communication.

“What do you want from me in return?”  The dragon inquired.

“Nothing, we’re just here to keep the peace.  After what happened in Novosibirsk, people are afraid of you.  They need to know that you won’t be a threat.”  Rueben explained.

“Is that why they tried to destroy me?” The dragon inquired, Rueben just laughed.

“No, the people that attacked you did that on their own, I don’t work with them.”  Rueben replied.

“Who do you work with?”  The dragon continued to question.  Rueben just looked over at Ryuu, who was still in his Chaos Dragon form.

“I don’t work with anyone…”  Rueben started, explaining the quest system to the dragon before showing it his Data Pad.  “…we can have one made for you, it would allow us humans to share our information with you, and if you want you could do the same with us.”

“It’s a hell of a lot better than us trying to kill each other.” Ryuu added.

“Very well, I will consider your request.”  Were the dragon’s last words as it took to the sky and vanished from their sights.

Outcome: Quest complete

Rueben: 40 Exp + 25000$ (-22HP)

Awareness: 6 Exp

Awareness: 6 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Accuracy: 0 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

More Overkill: Xian, Gabriel, Cloud and Meric do Uncovered Ruins quest with Rayne's help.

Rayne’s last attempt at the quest had left him sidelining, while the new members of the Mercenary army, accompanied by Meric made their was to the facility to finish what he had started.  In the interests of friendship, Xian had offered to include Rayne in the team if he provided them with the information that he had collected during his previous attempts and the use of his I-Type Zeta expansion.  Rayne accepted these specifics, adding that they included him in future quest attempts, a deal that Xian didn’t see too much of a problem with.

Seeing this, Rayne conveyed the information to his colleagues and handed over the expansion.  Xian wasted no time equipping the expansion to his form, an summoning his Endtime Array.  By this time, Xian was quite accustomed to calibrating his Endtime Array on the fly, and with the added power of his I-Type Expansion, he could even pick up flickers, though quite miniscule of an energy that seemed foreign to his native ether.  Xian sighed lightly, with a higher awareness he was sure that he would be able to pick up more, but still, he was achieving far more than what a number of other channelers were able to so he could not complain.  As he fractured off parts of the array and sent them into the facility, Meric checked around on the outside for weakened parts of a structure, accompanied by Cloud who used his C. Scanners to make the search more indepth.  With each new room that Xian’s scouts entered, they encountered more and more resistance, until not even he could rebuild them as fast as they were being destroyed, forcing him to abandon that kind of scanning, but by then, he had already mapped a considerable amount of the facility, and with Rayne’s help in identifying the weapons, he had been easily able to calculate where they were, making them a lot easier to deal with once his team made their way in.  Meric and Cloud had managed to find a number of slightly weaker parts of the facility, but nothing that would allow them to smash through and bypass the security features, and with Xian finished mapping the entrance to the facility, they would need to abandon their search and help with the insertion.

Gabriel, who had been assisting Xian with his Temporal Enhancement, now turned his attention to his own form, preparing himself before they attempted to move in.  With Gabriel’s boosted speed, evading the automated turrets wasn’t entirely difficult, allowing him to get close enough to take out the turrents with physical damage, only taking a minimal amount of damage.  Cloud was having slightly more luck, having his Lawgiver to compensate for his overly melee form, allowing him to take out the initial turrents.  Between Naiad and Grace, Meric also contributed to the destruction of the turrets, leaving Xian to clean up while he continued to press forward his scans.  However, no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t seem to get his scouts past a certain point, luckily each time they got to that point, they painted a clearer picture of the obstacle that blocked their path.  The team had managed to make it past the powerful Buster Cannons that had taken Rayne out of the equation, leaving just the final sector of the facility to be cleared.

“Stop!!”  Xian shouted as he unsummoned his Endtime Array, analysing all the data that he had managed to collect up until this point.  “There appears to be a…” but Xian would not get a chance to finish that sentence.  Before stopping in second sector, the team would have had to have taken out the buster cannons in that area, and by doing so, it would have appeared to have activated the final defensive measure.  An explosion round blasted its way into the room, impacting Meric’s form and knocking him off his feet, slamming him into a wall.  Cloud and Gabriel managed to shield most of the splash damage, which also knocked Xian away.  When the team saw what made its way into the facility, their mouths uniformly dropped.  Meric couldn’t identify the unit that made it’s way into the room, but the Ethereal Scanners equipped to the three mercs automatically interfaced with their Data Pads and pulled up the relevant files, registering the suit as a Golem Beta.  Cloud wasted no time in charging his Spartans with his energy, jumping back and swinging with forward simultaneously, launching them towards the automated exo-suit.  The impacts echoed throughout the facility before the suit swivled and returned fire, forcing Cloud onto the evasive.

“Stoppa Za Warudo!!”  Gabriel shouted, engaging his special and maximising his Temporal Enhancement, as he rushed the suit, comboing it in the back as it swivked to face him before he connected with his Burst Knuckle.

Unexpectedly however, the suit didn’t take any recoil, smacking Gabriel away before catching him with a round from its Particle Cannon and pinning him to a wall with the residual static current.  Xian wasted no time summoning Tyrant Queen at this point, charging a powerful static attack and imbuing it with Zeta in hopes that it was at least slow the beast in the facility.  However, the impact would be shielded by the unit’s barrier, forcing it’s attention back onto Xian.  Cloud wasted no time now following up with a slash from Ragnarok, cleaving the barrier and cutting off one of the shoulder mounted shrapnel launchers, along with the corresponding arm of the frame.  Meric quickly provided support, lowering the defensive capabilities of the unit using Cyclonic from the recently summoned  Ral Griffon.  Even though the suit greatly outranked each member of the team in termed of power, their combined effort quickly neutralised that advantaged, and with Gabriel back into the fray, it wasn’t soon before the Zeta-static attack from Xian’s summon landed a hit on the unit, shorting it long enough for Gabriel to barrage the suit into Cloud’s finishing slash.

With the defences neutralised, the team then collected the information necessary to complete their task and exited the facility.  Within minutes, a Mercenary team arrived at the scene, stripping it of equipment and downloading the information there before an edited copy was provided to the team to give the scientists that had set the quest.

Outcome: Though disappointed with the small amounts of information gathered from the quest, the scientists have honoured their word and paid the team $30000.  Quest completed.

Cloud: 38 Exp

Awareness: 4 Exp

Awareness: 4 Exp

Accuracy: 8 Exp

Accuracy: 12 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Meric: 34 Exp

Xian: 52 Exp

Awareness: 4 Exp

Awareness: 12 Exp

Accuracy: 8 Exp

Accuracy: 4 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Precision: 8 Exp

Best Laid Plans...: Donovan, leonardo and Roun are unlikely allies in Semblance of Genon quest.

With the short notice, Roun had just enough time to pick up Leonardo and head over to South Africa, a location that luckily was reasonably close to his previous location.  However, this didn’t leave him with much time to formulate a strategy for his test, so it seemed like he and his young charge would have to ‘wing it’.

As the two arrived at the site of the quest they noticed the landscape, which now appeared grossly deformed.  Many of the physical features of the landscape was now either collapsed or exaggerated, with steep inclines and deep trenches right next to each other.  In addition, the ground was cracked and unstable, making it extremely hard to traverse for Roun who had very recently lost his ability generate thrust, and hence fly.

Luckily, the channeler had managed to reroute the stats that were rendered useless into a single synchronised energy stat that replaced his other abilities, giving him a greatly enhanced physical prowess.  As Leonardo floated over terrain, and Roun manoeuvred as best as he could over the terrain, the two came across another channeler that seemed to be attempting the quest that they had been ordered to complete. 

Donovan Cael, who had been present at the moment that the creatures first started their journey towards being a world threat, stood some distance away from what he estimated to be the surface point that corresponded to the centre of the colony, and if he was right, the chamber of the queen.  Luckily for Donovan, his presence had gone unnoticed, as he was smart in staying powered down while he finalised his plans to destroy the nest.  Unluckily for the Summoner, Roun and Leonardo had little knowledge of the situation, and as such, proceeded into the area fully powered up.  Their spikes seemed to draw the curiosity of the scouts, who had become exceedingly aggressive after the first brooding cycle.

“Hey, we’ve been sent to contain the situation, are you a local?”  Roun sounded as he appeared at the scene, drawing a look of utter displeasure from Donovan.

“Are you an idiot?  Power down before you give us all away!”  Donovan exclaimed, causing Roun and Leonardo to power down as they tried to figure out what was going on.

Unfortunately, their presence had already drawn the attention of a small scouting troop, which was heading their way to investigate now.  It was at this point that Donovan summoned Rutaedes.  The summon wasted no time in morphing itself into a member of the species, attempting to pose of a member of the colony.  Using information which he had collected in his previous attempt, Donovan had his copy imitate the gestures that it would make if it were inspecting himself and the other two channelers before returning to tell the scouting team that they were no threat.  Unfortunately, the creatures seemed so drastically changed from the last time he inspected them that even his near perfect copy seemed foreign to them and quickly came under attack.  Seeing what had happened the last time, Donovan wasted no time in unsummoning Rutaedes, which served to confuse the scouting party long enough to Leonardo to set them on fire with his Soul Call, allowing Roun to create a make shift blade with his Alchemic Arms and finish the creatures.

Donovan cursed under his breath now, having to reword his plans.  Luckily, Leonardo and Roun had provided him with all the materials that he needed.  With four dead specimens, he had all the DNA he needed to update his knowledge of the creatures.  As Rutaedes assimilated the information, Donovan gave the two new comers the run down of his plan, and even they had to admit that it was far less messy than their ‘kill it with fire’ though with their efficiency at killing things, it was debatable which method would be more effective.  Nevertheless, Donovan’s plan was simply better and so, they decided to go with that.  Analysing the situation with their various scanning impliments and increased brain functions, both Roun and Donovan agreed that it would be imperative that they send a “team” to report on the situation, that way they would avoid another, larger and more dangerous scouting party.

“Soooo… we’re not just going to burn everything to a crisp?”  Leonardo inquired, looking to Roun.

“Oh yeh, we will, but not just yet, let’s see how far this guy’s plans get.”  Roun confirmed, drawing a smile from Leonardo.

Donovan wasn’t sure how many organisms Rutaedes could seamlessly impersonate, but he know from the information that he had gathered that if a single scout returned then the entire hive would increase it’s defenses.  For this reason, Rutaedes moved into the hive as copies of all four scouts, proceeding back into the hive and separating before allowing three of these copies to dissolve, hoping that they would go unnoticed.  This was not exactly the case, as it did cause much unrest that three members of the hive would vanish so quickly, but it seemed to only draw attention to the areas in which the three drones vanished.  This allowed Donovan’s main drone to move freely around the hive with less suspicion.

Unfortunately, when little was detected they turned their attention to other anomalies in the area, leading them to the three nearby channelers.

“I’m reading a slightly larger search party proceeding up the main shaft of the hive.”  Roun started, looking at Donovan.  “You’re the ecologist, what would you suggest we do here?”

“I need Rutaedes to get a good idea of what’s down there so just by me some time… this is your fault after all, deal with it.”  Donovan replied, causing Roun to smirked.

“If you say so.  Okay Leonardo, let’s try not to botch things up any more than we already have, keep the power outputs low and lets finish these things quickly, it should be a while before they send another scouting party, so once these things done make it back to warn the others we should be in the clear.  And if shit hits the fan, we can just nuke the area and call it a day.”  Roun smirked confidently, clearly not knowing just how many creatures he would be dealing with.

Having to resort fully to melee combat, Roun decided he would need a weapon to deal with these creatures effectively, but his Alchemy wasn’t the best, as his last weapon shattered rather easily when he was dispatching the final creature.  Roun paused for a second, thinking of the strongest structure that he could create with his limited practice, before a smile came across his face.  Slamming his hands into the ground, he summoned a dark katana, with texture mirroring that of carbon fibre, swinging it a few times before he readied himself for the incoming team.

“Leonardo, give me long range support, I want you to keep a steady barrier of doom between me and Donovan here, that should make them focus on me, once I’m their main target, gimme long range support, but keep the numbers small… Okay?”  Roun called out to his partner.

“Doom, got it.”  Leonardo confirmed, causing Roun to sigh loudly.

Despite his reply however, Leonardo did attempt to moderate the amount of energy that he outputted, relying more on the tendancy of Soul Call to spread than anything else, allowing him to work more on containing the burning effect than generating it.  This left Roun to focus on more melee aspects of the battle.  The new scouting party had eight members, each with rather formidable strength, strengths that Roun gauged to be equal to that of a level 4 or 5 channeler.  Luckily, Roun’s power inhibitor only prevented his externalisation of energy and hindered him going into a transphasic state, but for the most part, he could still generate and contain a reasonably high amount of energy, and with the Tate Effect of his Polar Wraith, which allowed his physical strikes to increase in power with each attack, the task seemed rather doable.

Meanwhile, on the inside of the hive, Rutaedes was managing to make it’s way down to the Queen’s lair without much hinderance, especially now that most of the hives defences were focused on more pressing matters.  His scans of the brooding room revealed that their were hundreds if not thousands of juveniles present, each with a basic enough form that they could evolve to be either a drone or a queen.  This made Donovan’s job rather difficult.

“Shit… I can destroy that many organisms without being noticed… and if Rutaedes is discovered then that is it.”  Donovan sighed, drawing Leonardo’s attention as he remembered the plan that Roun had relayed to him.

“Can you cover the entire hive with gas?”  Leonardo inquired, popping another creature into the air with a Soul Call blast, now modified with Sun Lee’s Dragon Explosion that he had been taught, allowing Roun to cleave it in half with his now glowing blade before the impact shattered the weapon.  Roun cursed under his breath, that had been the third weapon so far, and though he attempted to remake each blade stronger, he still seemed to be breaking about one blade per creature.  But never the less, he dodged around, accumulating enough dust in the air to transmute another blade.

Catching onto what Leonardo was suggesting, Donovan rewired Rutaedes to release a volatile gas into the hive, one that would go unnoticed by the inhabitants of the hive, however, it would take a while to be completed, even with him rerouting power from Nautilus to his summon as the Hive had now expanded to covered miles square miles beneath in ground.

“How do you intend to contain the explosion?  Or did you two not even think about that?”  Donovan inquired as he worked ferverously to accumulate the energy necessary to finish his task.

“That’s where Roun’s Flash Coder comes in… he can’t do much in terms of externalising energy right now, but he’s fast, and if he can seed my energy, he can flash convert the entire blast into a single energy type.”  Leonardo explained, continuing to provide support and keep the creatures’ focus on Roun.

Roun on the other hand seemed to be struggling.  Being the only one on the team to take damage, it seemed like he was absorbing enough for three people, and given his low threshold for damage, this would eventually prove to be a problem.  His Alchemic Arms seemed to be his trump card in this skirmish, allowing him to summon both weapons and armour.  His armour helped quite a bit, though it tended to shatter just as quickly as his weapons did, it was still better them his form dissolving into the ether.  As for his weapon of choice, the more familiar katana was proving to be inadequate, forcing him to switch to two slightly shorter, curved blades which he wielded with a back hand grip for added efficiency.  Though this tended to weaken his striking power, the energy that he had built up with each kill made each additional kill far easier, until he reached the point where he could cleave one scout per attack. 

Needless to say, by this point, stealth was no longer an issue, and Leonardo had kicked up his damage outputs to deal with the swarms that seemed to be making their way towards the mouth of the hive, setting the entrance on fire to slow their exit, while Roun deal with those brave enough to face his Soul Call.

“Done!”  Donovan finally sounded, unsummoning Rutaedes and shifting to using his monstrous to slice and dice the incoming droves of enemies and Roun fell back to Leonardo, running his energy through the Manipulator as he prepared to spark the volatile gas.

The resulting explosion ripped through the hive, flooding the structure with flames before Roun activated Leonardo’s Soul Call, instantly changing the flames to that energy.   As the energy type consumed creatures, Roun ran his own technique through Leonardo, coding his energy now into a basic mass before transmuting it to Calcium Carbonate.  Given Roun’s abilities however, this was still somewhat botched, but the makeshift ‘rock’ would maintain the structure of the hive until the authorities could deal with fixing it.

Roun and Leonardo would thank Donovan before leaving to head to the Rogue Headquarters.

Outcome: The quest is complete, authorities are cleaning the area up and attempting to regain stability

Roun and Leonardo have been accepted into the Rogues Special Forces.

Donovan: 88 Exp + 10 Exp (perfect bonus) + 140000$

Awareness: 10 Exp

Awareness: 4 Exp

Accuracy: 4 Exp

Accuracy: 20 Exp

Precision: 12 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Roun: 110 Exp (-420HP) + 140000$

Awareness: 12 Exp

Accuracy: 12 Exp

Precision: 32 Exp

A Bit Too Much: Daviuis, Hyaku and Juggerknot, Ruins of Gehena quest.

Having fallen victim to the cold on their last attempt, Davius and Hyaku, now accompanied by Derick the Juggerknot, made a wise choice in upgrading their Environmental Regulators before returning to the site of their quest.

The results of the upgrade were visible from the get go, as both Davius and Hyaku noted that their energy drain had returned to normal, and Juggerknot didn’t notice anything at all.  This allowed them to code their various communications devices before once again moving towards the facility.

Using his Scarlet Manuever Davius made his way into the facility while Hyaku did the same with his Wraith Expansion, leaving the Juggerknot, not one to be much for stealth, on the outside while they disabled the various scanning devices near the entrance and allowed him to follow. 

Strangely enough, the facility was rather lightly guarded, with just a few automated turrents scattered throughout, making exploration of the first floor rather easy for the stealthy heavy hitters, and the Juggerknot, who seemed to just be tagging along.  In fact, it wasn’t until the team cleared the bottom floor that the team met resistance.  Just as before, the two channelers attempted to scan the facility, while Davius’ Nature Fiends searched the inside.  Much like last time, their external scans didn’t reveal much, as the facility seemed to employ some form or shielding that blocked scanning, but Davius’ Nature Fiends had an easy time scoping out the first floor.  However, as they attempted to move onto the second floor, Davius lost contact with them once again.

“I can’t sense my bugs…”  Davius whispered over their communication network, causing Hyaku to raise an eyebrow.

“Where did you lose contact with them, same place as last time?”  Hyaku inquired.

“About the same place, yeah.”

“Okay, we need to move in with caution.”  Hyaku commanded as he now took point and moved up the staircase.  As he reached the 1^st floor, he felt a faint discomfort, which on analysis greatly resembled the energy drain that he had previously experienced just greatly reduced.  This raised his suspicion, causing him to use his Zeta Bio Scanners to get a temperature reading.  He noted that the temperature inside the facility was far lower than the temperature outside, but even so, now that he had his Environmental Regulator upgraded, he noticed that the energy drain was not simply a side effect of the cold.

“There must be a security system that is generating this field… we need to find it, quickly.”  Hyaku sounded, attempting to quickly scan the facility and find any defences that would hinder their search.

Unfortunately for the team, the same field that caused Davius to lose contact with his bugs seemed to be stretched all over the facility, a form of chaff that was messing with their scanning abilities.  This meant that they would need to move quickly and cautiously if they were going to pull this off.  Engaging his Wraith Expansion, Hyaku dashed into the facility, coating his body in an Energz barrier before he made a dash for it, causing Davius and Juggerknot to act similarly. 

The team would soon realise that the first floor defences were far more powerful than those on the ground floor, as they easily pierced Hyaku’s barrier, hitting him dead centre and knocking him on his back as tried to move through undetected.  Davius would suffer a similar fate, leaving the two to regroup as the dodged around, attempting to identify their targets visually before taken them out.  At this point, Juggerknot was having better luck.  Even though his defense did not fully block the damage from the attacks, it allowed him to proceed with minimal recoil, allowing him to rush towards the turrets targeting him and manually crush them.

Meanwhile, Hyaku and Davius were having a slightly harder time.  Using his AI, Hyaku was now able to dodge about 80 percent of the projectiles aimed at him, and quickly destroy the turrets that were whittling down his defence.  But even with this level of success, he was still losing health faster than he would have liked too.

Davius shared this sentiment, having to resort to radial field attacks to quickly take out the security systems around him, as his health was quickly beginning to fade.

Juggerknot completed his search first, coming to the end of his route and finding nothing, only noticing that he was already at half of his maximum Stamina, forcing him to track down the others and see if he could lend them any assistance. 

Hyaku didn’t finish very long afterwards, managing to locate the device spreading the chaff on that floor and destroying it.  This gave Davius his ability to scan again, allowing him to more easily pinpoint the defenses on that floor and make it to the Central Control room, where he disabled the security systems, including the odd form of energy drain, rather forcefully.

This left them with just one more thing to do, to find and bring back the device that would allow them to read the information that they were sent after.  With the automated security systems deactivated, this would be an easy task, and as such, Davius delegated that Hyaku and Juggerknot make the trip, while he stayed guard in the Control Room.

The two shrugged and made the trek, somewhat cautiously even though the primary security systems were deactivated.  The duo easily cleared the second and third floor without resistance, arriving on the 4^th floor which was sealed by a large metal door.  Hyaku found this somewhat odd, but didn’t come with the intention of asking questions so he paid little attention to it.  From what he could sense, their was no energy running through the door, so it would have been easy to break down, a task that he left to the Juggerknot.

As soon as the door was knocked down, and the Juggerknot stumbled into the room with his momentum, he found himself riding a super heated, corrosive wave of energy right back through the doorway.  Hyaku charged his energy at this point, diving into the room and blasting the first energy channelling ethereal construct that he sensed, knocking an automated drone into a wall as the Juggerknot charged back into the room, drawing his Lens.  It was at this point that the two thanks God that their were no more of these things present.  Hyaku found himself phasing away from his current location and the flame blast from the automa incinerated his previous location, forcing the Juggerknot to flank it as it targeted Hyaku.  As he got near it however, the automa thrusted away, spinning to launch another wave of flame at him.  This time, the Juggerknot attempted to dodge, using a Warp to get away from the attackm only being clipped by the edge as he reappeared and tossed his Lens into the machine before Hyaku could finish it with a Messatsu charged slash.  With the automa defeated, Hyaku scanned the room once more, sensing no more defenses, allowing them to get what they needed and return to the central control room to gather the information and leave the abandoned facility.

Outcome: The information has been retreived and fowarded to the Benefactors.

Hyaku: 34 Exp (-211HP) + 30000$

Awareness: 8 Exp

Awareness: 8 Exp

Accuracy: 8 Exp

Accuracy: 8 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Juggerknot: 40 Exp (-120HP) + 30000$

Awareness: 4 Exp

Accuracy: 8 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

The Easy Way: Xian, Gabe and Cloud Mysterious Benefactors quest.

With all of their complex schemes seeming to end in either failure or only marginal success, Xian decided to resort to doing what he did best and what was, in his opinion, the simple approach.  Combining his summons to create his Endtime Array, he fractured them into separate entities and set them to digging in hopes of gathering some more information on underground facility.  Xian’s Endtime Array was by far the most powerful searching force present and arguably, one of the best information gathering units on the entire network, when added to Cloud’s powerful C. Scanners and Gabe’s knack for finding things, there was no surprise when they found what seemed to be a sophisticated access panel.  This time, it was Xian who discovered the panel, drawing his colleagues to the site as they attempted to figure out how it worked.  Being the most technical minded of the group, Xian quickly went to work, attempting with the aid of his summons, to hack his way into the facility, a method that proved to be rather futile given the facility’s advanced security systems.  This put the team back at square one.

“So much for smashing stuff…” Gabe sighed disappointedly, giving Xian an idea.

Setting back up the array, Xian pinpointed the thinnest wall of the structure, and combined his summons to attempt to destabilise the structure, a task that was added to by Cloud’s modified Ultima.

“FALCON PAAAAAUUUUUNCH!!” Sounded next as Gabe used his overwhelming force to smash through the wall, stumbling forward from the force of his punch and falling into the facility as Cloud stepped over him, and moved in.

Unlike Cloud however, Xian wasn’t much for adventure, instead sending his summons in ahead of him to check out the facility.  Xian’s summons, not exactly the stealthiest, did manage to trip a number of security features, but with Cloud and Gabe present, the light security didn’t stand much of a chance.  This left Xian to simply collect information and send it to the Mercenary Army.

Outcome: The information has revealed that the facility is nothing other than a relay point for a satellite teleportation system.  Apparently, this structure manages to somehow by-pass the shielding in the area, allowing teleportation from this point at anytime without the permission of transport authorities.  With this information coming to light, it is almost certain that the benefactors are not there.  The Army will analyse the facility and decide on further actions.

Gabriel, Xian and Cloud have been extended an offer to join the Mercenary Army.

Gabriel: 36 Exp + 50000$

Awareness: 4 Exp

Awareness: 4 Exp

Accuracy: 8 Exp

Accuracy: 8 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp

Xian: 42 Exp + 50000$

Awareness: 12 Exp

Accuracy: 2 Exp

Precision: 4 Exp