So Many Angles: Xelots attempt Ellesium quest while Gabriel runs interference (18/08/2403)

With their last strategy having been less than successful, and with more manpower at their disposal, the Xelot team now tried a different strategy.  This strategy would be rather bold on their part as they set their primary ships to autopilot, hovering above the underground hideout of their targets, while Davius’ Detrel MRX stayed on the ground.  From there, Nathan would man the Detrel and go barrelling down the mouth of the cave to create a distraction.  Nikolai, Johnny and Karl would move in behind the light assault vehicles to deal with the inevitable retaliation by the Cleis faction, preparing to deal with the assault.  As was to be expected, the cave would be flooded with automated units and Cleis del Angelus commanders, who did their best to stop the assaults while Bobby, Jason and Davius summon now made their way past the commotion under stealth in an attempt to make it closer to the city.

On the outside, Gabriel had gotten wind of the movements of the Xelot team, and was now about to commence his plans.  The young Mercenary had to start from some distance away to avoid detection by Xelots ship scanners, meaning that he had some distance to cover in order to actually run the interference, but with his high mobility, he was rather sure that he could make it there in time.  Two core detonations would draw the attention of the native creatures before Gabriel took off towards the location of the Xelots, fully prepared to detonate two more on arrival to swarm the Xelot Knights with a mass of creatures that they would not be able to handle.

Back on the inside of the cave mouth however, the battle was going in the Xelots favour.  Davius’ Detrel was not fairing particularly well against the holy auras of their Cleis opponents, but with Nikolai and Bobby having destroyed so many of their automated units in their previous attack, this team actually found it quite easy to dispatch the rest, especially with Johnny’s extraordinarily high damage capacity.  Back with the stealth team, they had managed to make it rather deep into the caves, actually coming upon the settlement of the rogue Cleis members.  Unfortunately, though they had managed to get this far without drawing attention to themselves, they were almost certain that even with their venom suits, gaining entry to the city without being noticed would be a near impossibility. 

Back on the outside, Gabriel was realising just how much he had underestimated his pursuers.  By now he was pushing his speed based abilities to the limit to rush towards the Xelots and dodge the attacks from the native creatures, a task that he had been successful at until a particularly lucky Kazern managed to catch his right thigh with its powerful pincer, bringing the mercenary to the ground.  Luckily for Gabriel, he would Ether Shift just in time to avoid the huge Seznant that swallowed is captor and a large number of other creatures pursuing him before he appeared some distance away.  The injury unfortunately retarded his movement somewhat, reducing his straight line speed as well as his evasive abilities.

Back on the inside, Nikolai and Johnny would sense the massive influx of energy and quickly give the order for their teammates to move further into the cave and abandon their diversionary tactics.  Karl would literally peel off the top of Davius Detrel and snatch Nathan out of the driver’s seat before they both activated their Shifter Boots to translocate deeper into the cave system.  By now, Gabriel has used up as much of luck as he was willing to risk, finally Omega Flashing away to escape the grasp of reversion while the swarm of creatures now rushed straight down the mouth of the cave.  This would truly put the Cleis artefact to its limit as the calm effect went to work.  Unfortunately for the Xelots escaping into the caves, the effect was a gradual one rather than an instantaneous one so they still had the more aggressive creatures at their backs, while makeshift cannons defended the city that they were retreating towards.

Luckily, this provided enough of a distraction for Bobby and his team to push their way into the city.  Bobby and Jason would be forced to drop their stealth and clear a path, while Davius Unsealed Binding Summon kept its stealth at full and made its way through the line that had been made.  This made for an all out battle at the city gates now, one that the Xelots were quickly finding themselves on the losing end of.  Nikolai would do his best to keep his teammates healed, while Davius diverted some of the power from Kaito to summon Logain into the fray with his allies, also utilising his Healing Breeze now to keep his teammates health up.  This would only last so long however.  Nathan would be the first to be teleported back the ship where Davius was waiting, followed quickly by Jason.

On the inside, Kaito would make his way towards the artefact.  Unfortunately, the binding summon would be forced to engage two ‘commanders’ to actually secure the artefact, a task that proved to be nearly impossible for him.  Davius would relay this information as he dissipated Logain and ppumped all of the energy into Kaito now, but with that summon being built primarily for stealth, all it had was its comparatively high outputs to level the playing field.  Bobby and Johnny would take it upon themselves to go to Kaito’s aid, leaving Nikolai and Karl to do their best before they were inevitably forced to activate their Personnel Teleporters and retreat.

On the inside, Kaito would now turn and make a bee-line for Johnny and Bobby, while Johnny cleared a path towards the summon and Bobby used his army of summons and his 12 Trials to take the damage aimed at Johnny.  It would not be long before Bobby’s trials were exhausted and he was forced to port back to the ship, leaving just Johnny to bring the team home.  It would be a close call as Johnny’s health quickly deteriorated under the fire of his attackers, but he would manage to get to Kaito and retrieve the artefact before teleporting back to his own ship, leaving Kaito to be dispatched.

Davius would suffer the backlash in the safety of Nikolai’s ship as they turned and fled the area, artefact in hand.  The plan had not gone particularly smoothly, but they had brought just enough manpower to complete their mission, albeit at the sacrifice of Davius’ ship.

Outcome: The Xelots have retrieved the artefact, making it pretty much impossible for the Cleis faction to continue to live in their current location.  Mass evacuations were made, but due to the riot incited by Gabriel not all of them could make it out alive.  The survivors have retreated to Redrocke.

Gabriel: 280 Exp (-1232HP)

Nikolai: 430 Exp
  Karl: 340 Exp

Bobby: 340 Exp

Johnny: 360 Exp
  Jason: 260 Exp

Davius: 390 Exp
  Nathan: 280 Exp