Overview

The Mine and the Monastery is a muli-mission arc. This entry contains its entirety, and will be subdivided into missions and down-times.

Synopsis

Downtime

We cut back in to Annie and Corvus at the monastery. Corvus tries to ask about the particulars of the monk's alleged abilities, but is encouraged to take part in life at the monastery first. The two help out in the garden, where Annie is much more actual help than Corvus. Then they are invited to dinner. The monks eat in a communal hall, where Corvus finally gets to ask some questions. One of their hosts gives him a book of the Convict's poetry, and speaks a bit about Convictionism.

After dinner they are allowed to meditate on one of the monastery's branching platforms. They touch hands, and Corvus asks Annie to meditate on the feeling of cold. He seems nervous, but nothing happens. (remind me - does corvus stand in a bucket for this? I know he's afraid of catching fire but i don't think its said explicitly in story, I'm trying to allude here, but i don't remember exactly)

Corvus completes his survey of the area with the help of a contact from Marion. The closest item of interest to Corvus' coordinates was a lone planet, painted with a giant red X that is visible from orbit.

Marion talks to Ginger Root. She questions him about his motives and connection to the Orion group. He reassures her that he does not have any contact with the Orion group anymore, nor particular loyalty to them. She asks him why he put his group to sleep, and he says that it was to exploit the dream, and that he was dreaming as the body. She pushes for more information, but Ginger Root expresses little desire to help her, citing the crew's lack of regard and care for him. She is somewhat taken aback, and agrees to give him more freedom to pursue his interests on the ship. Ginger Root also mentions the truth serum that was fabricated last mission, leaving Marion curious and suspicious of the other crew members.

Raleigh talks to Pari about the statue of Mercury, (what is said about it?). The sight of the Isola Heights in orbit reminds him of Timothy, and he feels guilty about taking advantage of his kindness. He send Timothy a text wishing him well.

Marion meets up with Constant at a sushi restaurant, and they catch up. Marion struggles to explain the motivations and dynamics of the Parousia crew, to Constant's amusement. They gossip about their old mentor, Brian Rose, who has left the field to pursue the Fellowship's goals beside a Humanitarian politician. They return to Constant's place and talk late into the night. Marion gives Constant access to a drive similar to the one she gave Simmons, with the same request that he send it to Julas if something should happen to the Parousia. This arouses Constant's suspicion, and he challenges her motivation. They have a cryptic conversation about Marion's timeline.  Marion stays the night.

Mission 1: Not Another Train Heist

Mission

Assigning Faction: The fellowship of intersidreal smthig, Which i think means the Provinces

• Resolve the ongoing train robbery problem to gain the trust of the locals.

Rules of Engagement:

• Do not damage the infrastructure.
• Annie can't kill anyone.
• If it's between Annie's life and someone else's, the other person gets to live.

The crew meets at the Parousia the next morning for their briefing. There is slight comment when Marion shows up with Constant.

Constant gives the breakdown - there are a number of trains that run beneath the habitable layer of the clouds, as well as elevators to link them to the surface. They are mostly used for industrial transport. In the last months there have been multiple train hold ups. Shipments have been stopped, rummaged through but not actually stolen, and a train even disappeared entirely.

Constant claims that the workers are ready to organize, but this threat to their livelihood is a huge distraction, and they have asked him if he can help them with it. Solving this problem will be a huge step toward the Fellowship's goals.

He shows the crew camera footage of the previous robberies, and they observe:

• Large orange mechs - printed on planet, designed for high pressure. Not ballistically plated, not outfitted for battle, and not using Relic armor.
• They don't seem interested in the main cargo - the fuel - and instead focus on the other cars.
• The pilots leave the mechs to search the cars, and don't take listed inventory.

Corvus does some research and finds the facility where the mechs must have been printed. He and Marion decide to head there rather than getting in the way on the dangerous train mission.

Annie and Constant continue to have conflict during the briefing, and he lays specific terms for her involvement, citing his reputation and the well being of his constituents. The most likely suspects are the Brass Owls, and while this activity is not ideal, the Brass owls are a large part of the economy in this area and have a history of supporting Fellowship movement with supplies. He says that Annie is not to kill any of them, and be willing to sacrifice her life for theirs if it comes down to it. Annie agrees.

The two groups set off. Marion and Corvus are accompanied by Raspberry, some local muscle and a friend of Constant's. They take the train to the Mech printing facility. During the ride, Marion questions Corvus about the drugs Ginger Root mentioned. They coolly deny any knowledge, and she relents, still suspicious but (stymied). They arrive at the factory, a small independent set up. They claim to be representatives from Relic who may be interested in contracting, and the receptionist hurries to give them a tour.

Annie and Rayleigh meet up with the rest of their company - Lair ()(pilot of the Found Wanting), a Management security agent, and a group who will be flying below the train with nets to catch falling cargo or people. They board the train at strategic positions and begin their long wait.

Corvus and Marion wait in the display lot for the Foreman, Clive, to show up and start their tour of the interior. Corvus examines the display mechs, but none are anything like the mysterious orange models they saw in the security footage. They chat about the monastery and the Convict. Corvus tries to get on to the factory floor by himself but is stopped, instead they retreat to the bathroom and pilot Millie toward the foreman's office.

She arrives as the Foreman is leaving and sneaks in. The office is not empty - (description of Mazzini Tear) is sitting in the chair, impatiently messaging on his phone. An observant watcher would recognize the man as Mazzini Tare, high roller in the Brass Owls and the suspect in Annie's fateful last mission in the Capitol. Corvus directs Millie to scrape the Foreman's computer for information on the mysterious mechs. Mazzini almost catches her, but she manages to distract him and hide.

Back on the train, the highwaymen take the bait. Two of the strange orange mechs land on the train and are immediately ambushed by the crew. One mech immediately docs and lets it's pilot out onto the train. Annie knocks it off of the train for the net crews below, then follows the pilot inside. Outside, Rayleigh and Lair engage the second mech.

The pilot takes a shot at Annie the moment she lands inside, and they hunt each other through the dark interior. Her opponent seems to be wearing an orange jumpsuit like the Convictionists, paired with gas mask that completely conceals their face. They clash again, and the pilot removes his mask. Annie is shocked to see the face of the Outlaw, seemingly un-aged despite the twenty years since his last arrest. he says he recognizes Annie's gun. They take shots at each other and are both injured, but the Outlaw manages to slip into the engine room and lock the door behind him.

At the factory, the Foreman takes Corvus and Marion to his office to discuss a deal. Mazzini recognizes Marion, and calls her by her real name as he takes his leave. The two hash out a deal with the foreman, and end up commissioning three mechs so that Corvus has time to pick Millie and the data back up. They leave, but Marion is unnerved by Mazzini's comment.

Annie radios Rayleigh, telling him to get access to the train cockpit. By now he and Lair have disposed of the second mech, and he breaks open the windshield to gain access. As he tires to crawl in, however, he is ambushed by the Outlaw, and held at gunpoint.

The Outlaw is shocked by Rayleigh's young age, and asks what the hell he's doing here. Rayleigh watches as something connected to the train's computer console beeps and the Outlaw retrieves a hard drive. While the Outlaw is distracted, Rayleigh unlocks the door, letting Annie in. She struggles with the Outlaw, and the two of them tumble out of the front window. As they fall, Annie shoots the outlaw, and says "Arbit woods sends his regards". The Outlaw appears unfazed by both events. He responds, "who's that?" then shoves Annie away from him. The next instant, he hits a solid cloud - one that Annie would have hit too if they had stayed together. Annie falls safely into the net below.

Down on the net, the second enemy pilot is trying to talk his way out of trouble, Annie tells him to get out of here. She brings the crew back to investigate the cloud where the Outlaw fell, but they find only an empty pile of clothes - the Outlaw and the hard drive are gone. They take another look at the train's cockpit and find that the Outlaw downloaded a copy of the train's entire computer operating system. Their mission over, they head back to town with more questions than they started with.

On their way back to the train station, Corvus, Marion, and Raspberry hear an engine rev behind them. They barely dive out of the way before a car, driven by Mazzini, careens past, spraying machine-gun fire out the window. Raspberry is hit. They hide for a moment, worried that he will come back to finish the job, but the car disappears into the distance.

They get Raspberry to a hospital, where it seems she will recover fine, then return home on their own. As they wait for their train, Corvus asks Marion why she is really doing this -why she would have come on this mission. Marion hesitates, then tells him that it was because she had a heart attack. She explains that the material that was mined on her planet wasn't just "not good for you" - it was radioactive. She has a condition common on her planet, and incurable. Doctors in the core estimated she had another year or two left to live. Corvus asks what she's trying to do out here then - get one more story? She answers that she thinks she and Corvus have had similar lives - they have felt on tracks, out of their own control, lived for others. She says she wanted to do at least one thing that was just her. Corvus asks if she has found that one thing yet. She doesn't have an answer, but he tells her to let him know when she does find it, and that who knows - maybe they'll find a way to fix her heart out here.

Group debrief
We share mission details, Annie is pissed about Mazzini Tare being there
We stay up late debriefing, are told to go to bed by Parri

Dream sequence
Everyone has mostly the same dream, Corvus doesn’t seem to have one
In dream, world is very big but you know where to be safe, you go into a burrow to sleep but then you feel tremors, a predator, but you’re safe
The entrance of your burrow is scraped away, but the strange paw can only barely reach you, but then it grabs you and picks you up, looks at you
Sniffs marion, throws her away, simmons gets put back to the one he belongs to, Annie realizes what’s holding her, now we’re looking eye to eye, feel a challenge, annie ends up slinking away, Raleigh gets pet and loved, and feels a sense of invitation

Mission X: Run on the Bastion

This was a side mission one-shot to fill in Simmons' absence on the train heist. You can find the full synopsis through the linked name above. It follows Simmons, If, and a group of insurgents as they attack and bring down the Bastion on Elysium.

Downtime

Session 6/3: unethical science bunker and propaganda radios

Recap of Simmons bullshit, from the rest of the crew’s perspective
We make it back to the ship, simmons is still not back, it’s been two days
Marion turns on the news because Constant is arranging a walk out, news anchor for planet (management sponsored, Chancel Reason) is announcing local protests have turned violent, donned gas masks and throwing bricks, management mechs are suppressing the protest and Constant is arrested
For a split second, we think the screens have blanked, but its our eyes blanking on the screen (Corvus sees things getting brighter for a second) (everyone else experiences a wave of heightened emotions, stay heightened), everything melts/warps for a second, now some mechs have purple eyes, and are fighting each other
Parousia alerts, Bellicose’s ship is shooting down satellites; Corvus’s firewalls are attacked
This planet was briefly Woven instead of Bastioned, but is now quarantined
We all have a bit of a panic, try to comm simmons again (hasn’t worked previously)
Instant pickup, it’s IF, she’s out of breath and excited
Corvus explains to us a bit about IF, being a very contagious entity
IF explains simmons was taken by a Management strike force, in their bunker
We debate going after Simmons, none of the plans are reasonable
News comes back on: on planet communications are mostly fine now, refer to a group of city insurgents who have taken over the Bastion, in initial moment of takeover president of Nubus Tinto’s cybernetic head exploded, a very high ranking Management official (Selmond Rise) was on retreat at monastery and has now been hustled to a bunker for safety, they have captured the terrorist responsible for it
Corvus asks Raleigh to monitor coms, keeping him occupied
A local hospital is operational but needs support staff
Someone saw an Apparent landing party
Someone was stopped by a Trust model robot, and the robot was asking nonsense questions
Marion and Annie decide to go to Constant’s place to grab some things
Streets are quiet, we get to the bar below Constant’s apartment
Hess had beaten us there, but Annie shoots through the floor, scaring her off but destroying the Ansible with a direct connection to Brian
News report: local union organizers have been working with the city the whole time, a concerted attack on trust space, provinces were able to stop the spread
Constant hill was involved in the process, the rally merely a diversion for a smaller team,
Management found the smaller hideout, overall give Bastion a wide berth
It’s at least half bullshit
We transition to slow crisis mode
Simmons is in an office retrofitted as a cell, sharing with Constant
Realize they’re together because they have no special containment requirements, have both been in cells before
Have plenty of time for small talk
Marion wants to set up her propaganda radio, asks corvus and Annie to set up calibrators
Corvus and Annie chat while on their walk
Corvus shares that Marion knows about the truth serum
Corus made and installed the sniffer (lvl 3 aptitude, can only detect within a block of the trail), it’s somewhat unreliable
Marion and Annie have a small chat over drinks, it doesn’t end in screaming so overall a win?
Corvus and Raleigh take apart the mechs, chat a bit
Annie asks corvus for help with capturing the outlaw, they agree to work together
Federation paradigm  says synthetic belief doesn’t count/synthetics cant be channelers in federation space
Get a paper from Macro written by Persea, it’s about testing “the device” corvus made
The device (the Artifact) can create an artificial paradigm within a space, but only one of the five big paradigms
The article redacts Corvus’ name so Annie doesn’t know who made it
The Artifact doesn’t actually create a paradigm, it changes where the space is
Corvus explains he made the device but they don’t remember making it
Corvus explains the inspiration, that they have lapses but can somewhat control them, and they result in “good things always”
Annie agrees to help Corvus, gets their safety plan
Is generally unresponsive to things outside current interest
Episodes usually 3-10 minutes
(We draw tarot to determine how things go, how corvus focuses, we draw the tower)
Corvus pops the pill, gets immediately distracted from box building by the fall of Bastion
Q1: how can i exploit this? How can corvus use the psychic presence of the Weave to learn more about the world
A: look inside Annie’s eyes ears nose and mouth
A: Corvus cannot exploit this psychic wave because corvus isn’t experiencing it, hasn’t been able to since “the Moment”
It isn’t that the city came in, the bastion stopped affecting people; the norm swapped from Bastion to Weave
Weave hops on human psychic connectedness, a natural phenomenon, the Bastion dampens this natural phenomenon
Q2: How is the Bastion enforced?
A: to do that, corvus and annie need to be genuinely screaming, must compare them
Corvus explains to Annie, they both get electrocuted
Marion and Raleigh hear, come to the door, Annie refuses to let them in and says everything is fine
A: corvus compares the UnBastioned screams to the Bastioned screams, the Bastion is enforced through all media and text and audio and visuals that are bastioned. They all leave a psychic imprint on the mind, build a psychic wall
Q3: How can i replicate this on a smaller scale? (How can this information be utilized in conjunction with the Gentle conjecture?)
A: make something of quality five  
Raleigh and marion enter during the making of the object, annie is cagey but insists everything is fine and under control
Corvus makes code written in binary,
If they expose enough people to this code (visual or audio), corvus can layer a belief into their psyche (if enough people are exposed to this belief
Corvus and Annie review the footage, corvus thanks annie for the help
Annie gently suggests Corvus speak to Raleigh, corvus says they’ll think about it
Corvus responds and asks if Annie is willing to talk about uncAnnie, Annie shuts down a bit
Marion works on her propaganda radio setting up a mutual aid network
We move around quite a bit, use our ship as an encrypting relay
Marion gets reports from the area, there are some fights going on
Marion takes a week, building a big network, Unity Perlite eventually reaches out via direct comm
Asks for a meeting on behalf of Fortuna
Marion lets everyone know, we schedule a date (either a b plot, or the mission)
Raleigh continues to work on finding his sister
On a voicecall with citizens, Raleigh talks to someone who knows Harvest Manfred
Says she’s alive, will send coordinates, they switch to a secure, private line
“Your sister’s caught up in some stuff”
There’s this planet (Lugo), person was on lugo, where there’s some sort of holy war happening, sounds like she’s pretty involved in some strong anti-human sentiments (synthetics vs humans); they follow some guy with an astrological name (Black Hole? (the black star))
Humanists tried to colonize the planet, which was a reservation planet for synthetics, situation heated up
This person was there maybe 5-6 months ago, says it sounds like Harvest was a big deal
Marion and Raleigh cut loose together, cook with Sushi
Sushi announces that he got a job at the sushi restaurant constant and Marion went to
Will leave us a recipe book
Everyone makes meatball sandwiches
Raleigh lets Marion know he found Harvest
Marion asks what Raleigh wants to do after he finds her
Raleigh says he wants to help her go somewhere safe, but after that “I guess I’m still enlisted?” (there’s a contract)
Marion suggests that if he ever wants to not be enlisted after this, they could pull some strings
Raleigh asks marion if she picked her career or if it picked her

Corvus and Raleigh talk about the danger suit (raleigh’s pineapple salad), and Raleigh asks about corvus’ “Other side”
“I have a medical condition that affects my mind, but i take meds for it”
Corvus hadn’t been able to take their meds the day Raleigh got hurt, corvus apologizes for raleigh getting hurt
Raleigh asks if corvus forgot the more recent time
Corvus explains that with the proper help, corvus can do things they otherwise wouldn’t be able to; a lot of care and time went into the preparation
Corvus doesn't think his condition is bad, thinks it can be helpful if used appropriate
Corvus compares to fernebis: a lot of things have two sides, it matters how you use them
Raleigh asks if he should or shouldn’t be scared of Corvus
Corvus suggest Raleigh leave if Corvus is having a moment, “if you’re scared you’re scared, I’m not in charge of your feelings/beliefs”
Raleigh accidentally stabs himself with a pencil
Annie stops by Corvus’ room, more than a little drunk
Confesses that she doesn’t know anything about uncAnnie, because she doesn’t know anything about her mom’s side of the family
Her name was Ancillary Weaver, she left that name on Exon 43
Simmons and Constant remain in prison, constant gets interrogated and returns
He shares some of the schematics constant picked up
Simmons also gets interrogated, at the end there’s a knock on the door and an average looking white guy comes in
Knows Simmons’ full name, “we’re not sure what to make of you…you’re not anything special”, asks why simmons is in that group (the city people he was working with)
Man gives simmons a deal: tell him everything and he’ll give simmons everything
Man is Selmond Rise

Mission 2: Apparent Alliance

Scene opens on the Parousia’s Bridge, Marion, Corvus and Annie present
We discuss options for meeting with Fortuna, decide we need to get a little more information on what IF has been up to
Corvus looks at a lot of footage, realize IF is operating within her symbol, so Corvus can predict where IF will strike next
Management also understands her area of operation is limited, but haven’t figured out the precise area
We cant tell her what to do, but could give her nicer mechs to work with
IF is very scared
She tries to broadcast her bedtime story to Simmons (doesn’t get to him), story is about being lost, not being able to find the person you need, you are a weasel and you bring down a mammoth, what do you do with the carcass?
Our connection with IF will be a somewhat major sticking point
We look into the mech schematics that Corvus stole
Files are partially a converted version of an impossibly old design, translated from English, and partially modern designs, very well compiled. Mech components and the code signatures are stamped with the signature Zabina
Corvus trips a self destruct in the designs, starts replacing with a poem, “A Worker Reads History” by Bertolt Brecht
All of the mechs are built on ratios of five, a ratio used for architecture
We dock on the apparent’s ship (Isola Heights), it’s large and two tricentennial mechs are already there, we are met by Odie
Informed that Fortuna has put together a reception, we are to join
Odie sizes Marion up, “Not quite sure what she sees in you”
Gives us the spiel, “you’re in the throne of the apparent, step out of line and we’ll kill you, don’t cause problems, he won’t be familiar like he was before”
We step into a massive room, a garden, mirrored/windowed ceiling. Garden is 100+ years old, by a lake there is a castle, party sounds from within
Someone greets corvus, disdainful of their company: It’s Jade! (the only spouse Corvus had mentioned by name)
Taller than corvus, green skin, decorative black jewelry and flamboyant style, lithe and strong appearance
(Corvus’ Rival!!)
Corvus asks why they’re here, jade says they’re an honest guest, jade is clearly mad at corvus
Jade and Corvus talk
Jade is here to retrieve Corvus
Corvus apologies for leaving without warning Jade, Jade says they don’t need Corvus anymore, Corvus is dejected but Annie helps them rally
We enter the party
We meet dignitaries, Bellicose’s court (dregs of high society), And And And is there
30 minutes in, Fortuna arrives, gives a short address to the court, retires to a separate room and Odie brings us all in
Sitting Room, tapestries
Everyon introduces themselves: Jade (Felicity Jade the VII, here on diplomatic mission), large military guy who came in with Jade (Velocity Roca; leader of the fearless flyers),  us, Fortuna, Unity (intelligence and aide to the heir), Odysseus (Odie; security and general), thin older woman (Sellance Veritas; vertias as in Veritas Co, mech manufacturers bought by Orion group)
We give opinions
Jade thinks with the isola and their forces combined, can punch through gate; unity doesn't like this plan
Sellance suggests bringing in the orion group (more trust forces), stabilize the sector, then go through gate; Odie dislikes this plan, it’s too slow, would take weeks/months, need to “punch through now”
We propose that Fortuna joins forces with locals as well as fearless flyers
Spicy negotiations
We suggest our plan, say the riot is the language of the unheard
Jade suggests we’d be throwing civilians into the line of fire, marion retorts they were going to do that anyways
Odie asks how long that would take, we let them know it’ll go way faster with Constant out of prison and we want help to do that
Unity brings up Simmons, says he’s in prison too, and for potentially good reason, what’s our explanation there?
We explain we lost contact with Simmons, and his character eval is such that he couldn’t have come up with this plan
Fortuna asks why she should let simmons go, why not keep him?
We explain IF, share our research, it’s reacted to poorly
Unity asks how we could guarantee Simmons would be prosecuted
Annie reminds Unity that it’s her job as an Arbit to represent the federation’s law (Odie makes an accurate joke)
We ask why we can’t negotiate with HOuse Cantrelle
Fortuna explains their beef goes way back, but Lillian is making a stand here for unknown reasons
It’s imperative to Provinces that the tricentennial mechs are united in cause
Jade intervenes, outlines some of their plan
The Red Sky in a unique ship, can do microslips, would be able to sneak up to the gate
Marion asks why we can’t just combine plans, use the parousia and the red sky
Suggest that the isola send a frontal assault, and the red sky and the miners secure the gate ring itself
Fortuna says fine but Marion needs to join her on the Isola during the assault
Sellance points out that Jade and Corvus are married, Jade and Corvus point out that they don’t even like each other
Annie asks what’s the deal with the vines, Unity says the Blood Rose (tricentennial mech)  was built using pieces of an ancient mech, the Persephone, which was able to control other mechs using hard and software, the Blood Rose has those abilities too. The Gate is being controlled by the Blood Rose when the blood rose is active, so we need to either take the whole gate and scrub it clean over a day, or punch through when blood rose isn’t active
Sellance suggests waiting until the Orion group appears, we say we don’t have the time, Sellance asks why, asks why we’re in such a hurry, asks Fortuna who she wants to hold the planet at the end of this: Trust or Federation?
Marion gives a damn good speech about what will help the people most, Annie points out the federation runs without Bastion all the time
Fortuna smiles, “finally, someone’s being honest. Everyone leave except for Marion”
Fortuna asks what Odie and Unity think. Odie: seems good, Unity says this plan has best chance of retrieving Blood Rose, and also moves fast, and suggests we remove Sellance’s access to communication entirely. They leave the room
Fortuna turns to Marion: “Marion, I would like to offer you a job as one of my advisors, equal to Odie and Unity. You’d have access to any tech you’d wish; i understand the political ramifications, but I, if not my father, am working on moving towards a closer relationship with the Federation, and with the Fellowship”
Marion is shocked, appreciative, and says she needs to think about it, Fortuna is understanding, promises to give Simmons back by dawn, but pleas that the AI be put under control
Outside the room, Jade is Looking at Corvus, heads towards them. Corvus closes the distance, asks if they can take a walk
Apologies for ambushing Corvus, Corvus also apologizes for leaving
Jade: “Do you know what position this puts me in?” Corvus: “Do you want to tell me?” J: “No”
Jade says Oto asked to come on the ship, corvus is confused, says i thought Oto left, jade explains Oto applied to be on the ship as a private contractor, to come out here and get to you
Corvus asks what Jade wants, Jade says to stand “right there” (over a rotting board); Corvus does
Steps with one foot, uses the board to send a flowerpot up into Jade’s face
Jade says “You know, don’t you?” Corvus nods . “How long have you known?” “Since the time you tried to take me to the Sactuary. It wasn’t probable, what kept happening to you”  “Why’d you even keep hanging out with me?” “because you’re my best friend” “That’s so sad, Corvus
Odie lets Annie know a member of the fearless fliers tried to put a bomb on the ship, but it was a small one and they failed
Corvus explains it wasn’t a problem, that as long as Jade is purposely trying to kill Corvus it’ll never succeed, Jade has the ~worst~ luck
Annie asks Marion what Fortuna wanted to talk about, Marion says Fortuna offered her a job
We process this
Scene ends, mission ends

Downtime

Entanglement: “Message from Home”
Federation finally opens up a little communication, Annie sends report to Macro, then reaches out to Woods, he doesn’t respond
Annie reaches out to Arbit channels, no one responds, until Bell reaches out on Woods’ channel, says Woods was shot, and he’s dying
Annie does not handle this well
Bell offers to visit Woods and tell him anything Annie wants, annie says to tell him she loves him, he’ll always be family, and she’ll make him proud
Annie goes on a walk, pre dawn when and where it’s quiet
Rounds a corner, sees the outlaw, he asks her to sit
The Outlaw begins by asking Annie to not kill Mazzini, Annie agrees. He’s surprised, Annie says it was her fault too, Outlaw is surprised she admits it but agrees
Annie asks what his name is, he says he forgot it, goes by Zabina for now
Annie talks about wanting to make someone proud, but not being able to anymore, Outlaw says the promises you make to the dead are even more important than the ones you make to the living
Annie word vomits random things, along the lines of “i wish any other crew member was here, they can actually talk to people”
Annie talks about the person who taught her everything she knows fucking up big time, so it makes sense that she also fucks up big time, Outlaw asks if that’s the person she got her gun from, Annie confirms, he says “Oh, he’s a piece of shit,” Annie says “well, he’s dead”
7/8: session

Opening:

    Odie + his crew go to break Simmons out of prison. While they attack the building, Simmons and Constance take advantage of the situation and break out of their cell. The two of them make their way out as the building collapses. Odie doesn’t have a current photo ref of Simmons and so doesn’t recognize him and Constance. IF is able to get to Simmons, she sounds scared and desperate, and get him and Constance into the cockpit and escape while management is distracted by Odie and make their way to the Parousia.

Simmons Debrief:

Went to talk to brass owls, they wouldn’t back down from train heist. On his way back IF gave Simmons a mission to visit the bastion. They met up with a monk who altered the landscape, & Wiz Kid who was very good with computers (better than Corvus (allegedly)). They went in and overloaded the systems. Indicated that the Bastion was causing problems, cutting people off. Given orders by a plastic plant (literal). Simmons doesn’t understand why it was a problem that he went on this mission.

    Marion and Corvus try to explain why this is a problem. They explain that over 120 civilians died from the Bastion outage and many many more were injured, lost their livelihoods, or were displaced. Simmons didn’t realize that civilians were impacted and wants to talk to IF. Corvus tells him that if Simmons and IF want to stay on this ship and be a part of this crew they need a way to ensure this won’t happen again.

    Simmons and Rayleigh go in to talk to IF. They are the only ones who don’t have integrated tech and Corvus doesn’t want Simmons to go in there alone. They tie ropes around the two of them and send them in on the little scooters elementary schoolers use at recess so that they can pull them out if something bad happens. Rayleigh takes notes and Simmons talks to IF. She want Simmons to go to sleep but he demands answers from her about the mission. She’s resistant and upset, feeling like he’s turning against her. He tries to explain that this time it was different, that civilians were really hurt. She laughs at him and says he’s soft. They go back and forth for a while, every now and then Rayleigh chimes in but IF either ignores him or is snarky. IF eventually reveals that she is a failed prototype. She killed her brother (the bastion) because “he was a prick” and wanted his body because she thought it might be able to house her, but it didn’t work. She’s resigned to living in this “corpse” and says she’ll behave for now. Simmons asks if they could try to get help from the crew, but IF doesn’t trust them and is mad that Corvus used a part of her for a weapon. She eventually shuts down ending the conversation.

    They come back and relay things to Corvus and Marion. Rayleigh’s notes are not helpful but they debrief what happened. Simmons is upset and wants to help IF. He asks Corvus if they can make her a body and Corvus says they can try.

LTP + Simmons cut loose:
    Corvus and Simmons start a long term project to start looking into making IF a body. They look through Simmon’s old mech logs and Simmons realizes that a lot of the tragedies here likely cause by IF. Corvus stops the terminal and says they need a break. Simmons wants to keep going and Corvus stops to ask if he’s ever been in therapy before. They explain that looking through old trauma can be triggering and that maybe they should take a break. They change locations to put together little mechanical bits and chat about IF.

Other things that happened between ⅞ and 7/30
Corvus and jade have a hangout
Marion told Rayleigh she was dying, Rayleigh was distressed and tells Simmons
Corvus looks into how to save Marion, realizes she needs gene therapy (v.v.v. taboo/anathema)
How have Marion and Constant been? (they’re spending time together, working on mobilization of a civilian workers militia)
Marion released two articles, one gets her nominated for a prize (the one on the Bastion falling; she talked to Vera (the monk who helped Simmons take down the Bastion)); the other is about the Apparent/Cantrelle drama

Mission 3: The Ring

Blue text indicates things that have been added 8/12, during our take two session

Morning of battle, Marion and Constant conversing in marion’s room
“Are you considering things you can change?” -C  “Are you?” -m  
Constant asks marion what she know she’s going to do, she says its harder to know this time. “But you’re sure you’re going through the ring?” (constant does not want her to go, failing to be chill about it)
Constant asks which ship she’ll be going through the gate on, marion says no
The job description is to go deep, marion is going to follow through
The rest of us are a little bonkers for doing this, Marion is super bonkers because she’s rational and still deciding to go
Constant gets ready to leave, “I’m glad that i got to see you, and I hope I get to see you again” -C   “stay safe out there” -M
Simmons sits down with Marion, asks about why she left his name out of her report on the Bastion
“From a practical standpoint, the info about you and IF being Federation assets is too big of news to leak” and “very few people know about simmons involvement so far, want to keep it that way” ( i’d like to think you’d do the same for me)
Marion mentions she usually isn’t friends with people who get into such deep shit
M asks if Simmons has made any progress on what he believes
Simmons says he’s working on it
Recap from GM
-2 humanitarians, +2 apparent, -1 orion group, -2 acquisitions, -1 management, -1 brass owls
The week leading up to final confrontation
Annie takes some meds and gets sober
Marion and Rayleigh and Constant working on militia, corvus working in the lab, Simmons helping militia retrofit weapons, Corvus running simulations for Parousia, Annie gets the Big Iron into shape, Odie is broody, Simmons is broody about IF/shell shock, Odie/fortuna/unity are planning
Selmond Rise is brutally murdered via knife in the Steady (interdimensional bar), his funeral is publicized
(corvus finds out he was on uncAnnie’s list) (Marion and corvus do not tell Annie about this event)
Parousia goes to space, meets up with Isola Heights (all crew except Rayleigh, Parri, fortuna, odie, unity, constant, jade, velocity roca, etc) for pre battle meeting
Are we letting IF/Shellshock out?
It’s decided that shellshock will be kept in reserve
Parousia will fly with the civilian fleet to attack the ring directly while the Heights draws out Lillian
Fighting over ring gates is oldest form of war, so attacking rings is more about taking a fort connected to a bridge you can’t afford to destroy
Civilian forces will need to prevent lillian’s reinforcements from arriving, mostly a space battle but with a potential to do boarding
Rayleigh is stuck in the hall,
Timothy joins
They’re pleased to see each other
Timothy will be running messages, has recently acquired his first aid cert
He offers Rayleigh a(nother) favor, they wish each other luck
Timothy still has it bad for Rayleigh, heads out blushing
Simmons leaves the meeting, “setting up for a battle I’m not going to be a part of”
Rayleigh can tell Simmons is upset, lets him go
We return to parousia, go join the microslipping fleet, Marion remains behind
Fortuna and Marion talk
“I’ve been thinking about your offer,” marion doesn’t have enough info to make a decision, and neither does fortuna
Marion offers her information first: she’s unlikely to live more than a year or two, it’s not a curable thing (this is a big bummer to fortuna, but) “Marion, i’d take your council for a year”
Marion says she’s leaning towards not going, but could be swayed if she knew what fortuna was actually doing
Fortuna would be committing treason if she told; (yes, that’s wild)
The royal trio is looking fly af
Fortuna requests a favor, Marion gives her a nice pen, it’s well received
Marion is working with Signals Scrawled on comms, SS says Andx3 will be running the tricentennial’s resupply vessel
Tricentennials launch
We all ready, corvus receives an ansible message from Macro: “close the door behind you”
New secondary objective: find a way to temporarily disable the gate so that only parousia crew gets through
Mission begins (Leon rolls us a 6)
Tricentennials begin to fight, the fearless flyers microslip
Parousia Crew directly before slipping, what are we sensing?
Simmons can still taste breakfast; this is just another day, but it’s bitter
Corvus: checking cameras, seeing everyone, then looks out the viewing port to the fleet, then out to the bright blue portal looming over them all, feeling the weight of his responsibility for everything he needs to protect and accomplish.
Marion: the heights smells weirdly natural, Signals Scrawled smells like incense and engine oil
Rayleigh: air through vents, envirosuit muffling the sounds of the mech, can hear his own heartbeat
Annie: it feels like acupuncture but sideways, being in the Draig is like being in a cage. Also, hollow and sharp
Tricents fight
Odie and fortuna need to work together to occupy lillian without getting touched by the vines,
What is fortuna’s self-perceived role?
Fortuna pilots by issuing commands, sits still and lets the mech move
Fortuna doesn’t distinguish audibly which commands are to her sword, her mech, or to Odie
Crew engages in combat
Annie shoots some mechs
She’s really normal about the emotional toll of blowing up mechs with people inside them
Rayleigh destroys a ship, killing the crew (takes a lvl1 harm shaken)
Rayleigh is actually normal about blowing up people, which is to say, a little fucked up after
A split second of joy “yes, i got it!”, then the shrapnel hits, then the body hits
Pit in the stomach, knees get weak, horror and dread
The thoughts of “we’re the good guys” goes away, replaced by “i can’t do this”
He pukes, the gunfire comes back into his focus, and Rayleigh compartmentalizes in order to keep going

Tricents
Lillian’s mech is weird af, signals is mad at Trawler (the blood rose’s mechanic)
Marion takes a more detailed scan by asking Andx3 to get closer, And gets grabbed, but Odie gets her free, attacks Lillian
Signals is freaking out, asks Marion to get more data (get into her mech and get out there)
The scan they do have is of the Blood Rose, rapidly appearing lines are showing up and overloading the screen. The blood rose feels like a person, the way it moves, etc
Crew

Corvus’ comms light up with sudden distress codes from every single civilian ship, same code, says “have lost control”
Too many lights going off, too many radio signals, pings and alarms, firing outside slowly stops as ships begin to change course
Mazzini Tare appears in space outside the Parousia, ready to kill, (corvus sets a calamity in motion: in a research station very far away, scientists press an “on” button), goes after the ship
Simmons appears, having previously convinced IF to help (flashback), taking the blow meant for Annie
Simmons asks/tells/begs IF to help “right now we need to be a weapon”, breaks through the shield quarantining IF/Shell Shock
Simmons piloting IF again; is like returning to a space that is safe, but you have changed so that it doesn’t feel quite the same
Civilian ships are being piloted towards the ring
The Outlaw appears on Parousia’s bridge, tells Corvus to keep flying
Corvus feels frozen, the outlaw is a signal that cuts through the noise
Tricents
Marion gets into the mech, gets shuttled into space
Had time to get into her environmental suit
At first when she goes out, its scary and risky, shes not supposed to be doing this but its the only thing that can help. If you manage this maybe a miracle happens, if you don’t then you don’t.
Marion is in her mech in space, Unity announces the Cantrelle fleet is approaching
Fortuna tells Odie to handle the fleet, Odie handles it brutally
Marion scans the Blood Rose
It’s breaking reality, the mech is oscillating wildly between provinces and sovereign suns paradigms, changing the paradigms
Its difficult to look at it and remember that its a mech and not a person. It has emotional presence, not a beast of burden like draigs though. Alien and familiar at the same time.
Crew
Rayleigh joins the fight against Mazzini, gets bumped off the ship but remains tethered
Corvus makes a mental list
Protect the crew (Parousia and fleet), stop the outlaw, get through the gate, close the gate, (learn more about the outlaw)
Corvus asks the outlaw what his stake is in this, the outlaw doesn't respond
The outlaw looks at the blood rose specs, says ‘oh fuck’ (english), and that things need to go faster
Corvus has Milli take his scary floppy disk to the ship’s data array, set it up and broadcast it
The outlaw asks why the civilians are leaving their course, corvus says idk, the outlaw asks mazzini to come inside
Rayleigh attaches the sizzling sparks to mazzini’s mech, annie shoots Mazzini’s mech and simmons shoots it too
Rayleigh’s mech starts to drift into space, unmoored from the Parousia
Simmons retrieves Rayleigh, says “I’ve got you, bo I’ve got you.” Rayleigh flails like a child picked out of a kiddy pool.
Mazzini ejects from the mech, the outlaw sighs and teleports to save him, they enter the hangar bay
How much is Corvus paying attention to how the outlaw teleports?
Trying to figure out the rules, notices how the outlaw looks to where he teleports, sees that outlaw went into space without depressurizing
All of this is in background brain
Annie’s hunter robot activates, shoots Mazzini, he drops, Annie enters the hangar bay
The outlaw grabs Annie, she lives through Mazzini’s entire life, up to the present moment
Realizes Mazzini called the outlaw the convict
Flashback: Drunk. Annie goes into the hangar, looking at angles. She programs the computer to detect if anyone enters who isn’t a registered crewmember and to give her a ping. Programs the Hunter robot to shoot without hesitation.
What does Mazzini’s hand feel like: He has workman’s hands, but no calluses.They are dry and warm on Annie’s cold and sweaty forehead.
Has a dream of Mazzini’s life in real time. Zooms back in on before Mazzini comes in through the wall. He is just trying to get away. He rationalizes that if the positions were revered his companion would have done the same. I know what planet his husband is on, I can send him money to compensate. He is all nerves, this broke so bad.
Annie falls to her knees, hands trembling, drops her gun
The Outlaw disappears, Annie rushes over to Mazzini, tries to get him to the medbay, he dies in her arms
Tricents
Odie’s mech is on fire, Lillian speaks
Alludes to Odie being a pathetic dog, that he doesn't know what the tricentennials are capable of, that he’s choosing again
Lillian sends out a pulse, things start to get weird, a new paradigm takes over
Marion notices important things in her scans/in the vibes, the curtana is the same person as the blood rose was, there is no difference
No one knows what this new paradigm is, our machines can’t tell
Odie talks to Lillian, begs her to come home, LIllian asks if Fortuna is offering this too, Fortuna doesn’t respond, says to Odie “I can’t take her alive without your help,” continues to fight
Odie finally gets free of the Cantrelle fleet, destroys their willpower
A recap: the civilian fleet is drifting between the gate and the ring, Odie and Fortuna are battling Lillian, outlaw on the way back to the bridge
Crew
Corvus
Relief at the outlaw being gone, fear for when he returns, knows Annie is on her way
“I just need to get Annie here, if Annie is here we can resolve this”
Listening in on as many comms as possible, checking in on Millie
Corvus reaches out to the civilian fleet, Constant responds, says ____
Outlaw asks corvus to let him pilot the ship, and he’ll get everyone out safe and let the parousia go through
Corvus stalls, desperately waiting for Annie
The outlaw punches Corvus, corvus tries to block the blow and gets their arm broken
Corvus believes he’s about to die
When their arm breaks, it reminds corvus of every single time they’ve broken a bone,
The outlaw gets confused, touches corvus, asks “what the fuck are you?”
“I’m the convict, i was convicted for destroying earth’s ring gate, and I’m going to destroy this one” corvus: “we need to go through this gate” convict: I’ll let you
Upon hearing this news, corvus experiences a big shift in mentality “this man can do whatever he wants, annie can’t do anything”
List becomes: Comply with the Convict. Don’t get skull caved in. The militia gets evacuated. The barrier gets destroyed. They collect Marion. They go through the gate. The gate gets destroyed. Mission accomplished.
Corvus lets the convict through, turns off his floppy disk
Civilian fleet begins to accelerate towards the ring teeth, everyone is panicking, but the crew begin to be ejected in escape pods
An unreal grasping for why on earth this is happening. There should be a reason for this happening (the fleet moving towards the gate), but there’s a dead end.
Fortuna makes the decision to fire on the civilian fleet because they’re going to destroy the gate, Marion is furious
First thought, somebody has sabotaged the alliance.
Marion told them to be here. She’s not in control. Marion is a doer, she doesn’t sit around and feel things.
Marion and Fortuna have a conversation. Marion is pissed.
Odie turns to go towards the civilian fleet, Fortuna attacks it in response
Fortuna’s pissed, odie says they’re ensuring fortuna’s reign, “don’t make me do it.”
Flashback to a meeting between fortuna and Odie, Odie says “don’t make me do it [kill lillian]. I haven’t asked anything of you. Please show me mercy this once time”
Fortuna says “finish this, then i will remove you from this mission”
Odie continues towards the parousia
Crew
Simmons and Rayleigh enter the hangar bay
Rayleigh tumbles out of his mech, ripping helmet off
Simmons goes to help, make sure rayleigh isn’t injured, rayleigh’s just having a panic attack
“Kid, this isn’t over yet. Focus!” Simmons gets rayleigh’s attention, but he’s still v panicked
Simmons tells him if he keeps panicking, he’ll get people killed, rayleigh says “but i’ve killed people already!” simmons basically tells him we can think about it later, deal with later “could’ve beens aren’t important right now, could bes are”
Rayleigh is still very worked up, simmons slaps him out of it, and a second time to double check
Corvus on the bridge, Annie enters the bridge
Annie has a hard time focusing util she notices Corvus’ arm, goes to set the bones
Corvus asks if it’s annie’s blood “no. it’s Mazzini Tare’s”
The civilian ships begin to impact the ring gate, causing a bright explosion that catches their eyes
Corvus has a flashback
Corvus is looking out a spaceship window, in pjs, low lit room and a phone up to his ear
The phone starts to droop down as on the moon below, all light and heat and energy are sucked into an event horizon
From the phone, strange birdsong echoes, discordant and looping and backwards
Jade and fearless flyer crew member enter the hangar bay, want to talk to Corvus, corvus refuses to come down, Jade’s crew member fires
Jade wears a comical amount of lucky charms
Corvus is frozen until Jade comms from the hangar bay, struck with fear for Jade, tells simmons to get him off the ship (from corvus’ perspective, this should be an easy thing)
Jade insists again, says he’ll never see corvus again so it has to be now, they exchange poignant words
(a note: private ships in the civilian fleet were not overridden, only the trust owned ships)
The convict has teleported to the ring gate, fighting cantrelle troops to get the shield down, not holding back in any capacity
Teleporting, taking people’s weapons, teleporting inside people, getting faster and faster, stops concentrating on bringing things along
Marion sends the blood rose scans to the parousia, Corvus says aloud “we need to get marion”
Annie comms Marions, tells her to get her ass over to the Parousia, she’ll have to come on her own
Corvus asks marion to ask fortuna to stop firing on the civilians, marion explains that she tried already
Corvus briefly explains to Odie what’s going on, asks it to bring Marion with it
Jade hits Simmons with a bo staff, he’s okay
Odie offers to distract the cantrelle fleet while Marion makes a break for it
While they talk with Odie, Rayleigh enters, asks why we can’t stop the civilian ships again so that fortuna will stop firing on them
“There are a lot of moving parts here, i can’t guarantee that stopping the firing will stop the deaths, we lied to Odie, … there’s a lot here going on that you don’t understand rayleigh, go make yourself useful
Annie asks Raleigh to go help Simmons, having seen from her hunter robot that simmons is getting his ass kicked
Corvus asks Millie to send the signal again, but towards the Isola heights, to attempt to get them to stop firing on the civilians
Unity comms, “corvus what are you doing?” Corvus:  “you’re firing on civilians and you need to stop!” unity accuses corvus of isolating the planet, corvus insists on stopping, unity feels the affect but can’t fully resist it
Unity swears to destroy Corvus if she ever sees them again
Lillian is done charging up
Creepy red silhouette, 2D vines start grabbing everything, scans say she’s a collapsing star, pulling everything in
Odie comms Signals, tells her to take a breath, explain what’s going on
Her best guess is Lillian/the Blood Rose entangled herself with a dying star (this is obvs impossible), doesn’t know how to stop it
Marion begins to get pulled in by the blood rose
Vines are clipping through the ship, but not causing any damage, biological eye picking up on it
A vine is through her leg, making it feel like it’s someone else’s leg stapled through her body
Digital interference as well, vines impacting cameras, Marion can only see Red
Simmons continues to fights Jade, Jade hits him in the head, Simmons asks who tf Jade is, jade responds “I’m! Corvus’! Husband!”
Simmons is feeling off balance, a little hungry, but above all else Simmons is in pain
Hasn’t been going easy, using nonlethal moves, simmons is a good fighter and Jade is better
Odie and Fortuna switch, Fortuna moving to clear the way for Marion, and Odie turning to face the Blood Rose
Annie tells Jade to stop, Jade does, lets Jade up to the bridge
Corvus asks Annie to leave so he can talk to Jade, she does
Jade asks Corvus wtf he’s doing, corvus says he needs to do this
Jade asks if corvus doesn’t care that Jade’s trying to kill him, corvus says no, he was kind of hoping jade would succeed
Jade’s like that’s sad af, therapy did not work, and corvus is like yeah
Corvus says they can’t stop now, they have to keep moving
Corvus offers to help Jade with whatever they need, jade says they need a room on teh ship
“If i have to be burned with the bs that comes with you being alive, i might has well get to hang out with you”
“I know i said i didn’t want you here but i’m actually really glad you’re here”
Jade asks where Marion is, Corvus says that’s our next objective
Corvus tries to get Marion to the Parousia
Corvus pulls up some stats - how long till the ring closes, how far she is and her speed - it is practically impossible for her to reach them in time, there’s only one trajectory that could work
We try to achieve the trajectory, but it fails due to outside factors
Simmons continues to fight Jade, is getting his ass handed to him; jade shatters Simmons’ shins
Rayleigh shows up, tells Jade to stand down, Jade moves to disarm Rayleigh
Jade continues to kick ass, they try to stop him, it’s not going well for Simmons and Rayleigh
Fortuna rescues marion and her mech, yeets them through the gate
Parousia goes through the gate
Odie’s mech embraces the Blood Rose
Lillian can only refer to herself, speaks only in i statements, her world has collapsed into first person
Cleanup
Fearless flyers are arrested or killed by Unity,
Constant is trying to help people, can’t stop looking at the gate
Odie isn’t holding Lillian anymore, Lillian goes somewhere, Signals builds dampeners, gets Odie and the mech out
Going through the ring gate puts everyone to sleep, reliving the last 24 hours over and over
Corvus and annie asleep in chairs, Parri checking diagnostics, raleigh and simmons asleep in the hall, Jade too, GR checking pulses, but everyone is dreaming
Simmons
IF tries to join the dream by beginning her bedtime story, but fails,
Marion
When she reaches the point where shes touched by red, for a second, its not that she’s not marion, bc marion is a part of her, in the reliving of the memory there is more to it than she can process. In the dreaming she can look around and see everything her subconscious was picking up. She knows a fury for Odie and an intense longing. Same for fortuna + admiration. Knows what it means to be a dying star. Not much more she can make before she implodes. It will be a great work. Preparing for the big one. Then back to being the little part of Marion.
She’s around people she doesn’t really trust, then a moment of being more, oscillating  between the two states in dreams
Corvus cycles through his day, then wakes up, many minutes before the others
Parri is glad to have corvus back, “we made it through”
Corvus begins to check coordinates
Nearest planet is the black star (one with Harvest)
Rayleigh
The first time you run through this, you don’t notice her, you move through the day as it happened in real life. Right at the end, as you and Simmons stagger to the wall, getting hit by a need to sleep, you look to your left and at the end of the hallways is a figure: a tall human woman with indistinct features, but she’s monstrous, your brain says that’s a monster here to kill me. Second dream run through, when raleigh goes to enter the fight, jade is already dead, the woman holding her like a cat bringing prey to its master. Third time, trying to get your helmet off, someone else takes it off for you, a scent so human its animal. You can’t look at her face, its too horrible, even though it a human face. Next time, get to killing the boy, start to panic, see her land on the mech and wash the boy with water, now you’re in an ocean, she heals him, presents him to you like a cat who had just killed a rodent. Her eyes are human eyes, and they are terrifying to you.
In the Medbay,
Rayleigh is crying
Annie grabs the newspaper article from Mazzini
Runs into Jade outside Marion’s room, tells jade to fuck off, punches Jade, gets knocked out
Meanwhile, Marion:
Crashlands on a tundra, approaches a building and reads a plaque
“This planet is managed by intergalactic something something: Welcome to Boreas”

Cast

Player Characters

• Annie Woods
• Corvus Rubrum
• Marion Maxwell
• Nero Simmons
• Rayleigh Manfred

NPCs

• Arbit Woods Sr.
• Bell
• Constant Hill
• Felicity Jade VII
• Fortuna Bellicose
• Ginger Root
• IF
• Lair
• Lilian Cantrel
• Mazzini Tare
• Odysseus ()
• The Outlaw
• Pari
• Sellance Veritas
• Selmond Rise
• Sushi
• Unity Perlite
• Velocity Roca
• Vera