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Location: Tri-Galactic Cluster. Corkscrew Galaxy. Eastern Spiral-Arm (Unexplored sectors).
Temporal Indicator: Unknown; estimated Terra, post dimensional-crossrip calendar year P.A. (Post Appocalypse) 109.

The fleet sat poised at the edge of oblivion. Dozens if not hundreds of vessels sporting the green pointed cross-on-tree symbol of the Neo Earth Military Alliance kept station just outside the gravitic tide of the twinned singularites. The only indication that this cosmic puzzle existed was the sensor readings of the twisted and tormented spacetime metric and the blazing accretion discs of the two devouring holes in the universe.

One aboard the largest of the flying-wing shaped starships stared out between the two ballanced anhilators, looking beyond the hellish fire ringing them. The man was left alone; the crew knowing that to disturb the supreme commander was to court verbal flaying if not summary execution at the edge of his basket-hilted sabre. He paid them no mind as his thoughts stretched out to encompass the universe.

'Soon' he thought. 'Soon the heretics will come. Foolishly to avenge the inhuman abberations they embraced as brothers & sisters. When they do, I will be waiting to show them the errors of their ways.'

bring it on I says Jack and Johannes will eat your face

..and thus begins thread #3 of the Phoenix Force Chronicles

Well, that sounds fraking ominous! Who is that guy?! Course if all goes as I hope I could be back online by tomorrow evening, so Cormack can join in on the @$$ kickery

-ahem-
"All will be revealed in time..."
Seriously, the crew is still back on Terra whooping it up at a nightclub after a week of dealing with killer robots. The big bad(s) won't be showing up for a while. Have to find 'em first

Looking forward to the intrigue one way or the other!

Wow...what an intro....

Looks like we'll be having 80% of the present crew on deck for Sunday the 18th Nov. 2012.
For the ones unable to show, well...GM's fiat and right to deus-ex-machina those absent into the narative as needed.

Also certain long absent NPC's MAY show up within the next couple of sessions to spice things up.
We'll see.

i'll probably be there

Re-cap pending. Need to write it up first.

I at least have where the group ended up illustrated:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bherlxdvwz6c5mu/Necrosis%20Sector%20YAH.jpg

DhAkael wrote:Re-cap pending. Need to write it up first.

Uh did it not go well?

Jay05 wrote:

DhAkael wrote:Re-cap pending. Need to write it up first.

Uh did it not go well?

Edited previous post, AND I have done the rough info on the solar system (and planet) the Crew will be dealing with.

So they ended up in the Necrol's sector? Dang!

Beware planets (or ANY place) with 'necro' front and center in it' name. They tend not to be happy, bright, cheery places full of laughing kids, free-flowing wine, beautiful and willing women, and merry song(and if they are...check for illusions).

Happy Yankee Turkey-day! I know y'all down sou' of the 49th. have things bass-ackwards to civilized folks, but we all love ya anyways!
Here; have an update!

“…at the crossroads!” August 7 to 24
The meeting between Johannes Teufel and Phoenix Force Alpha’s presently active members went very well; held informally at Rika Hanlah’s private residence. Only one problem seemed to mar the day. Peace and quiet did not sit too well with some of the team members, especially the NuMan Captain. Too many loose threads needed tying off or cutting.

Eventually it was decided that Rika would use her political clout to convince Councilor Plato and General Xarl to release the Sleipnir for use in ‘showing the flag’ over at Algol. In actuality the plan was to deviate from their diplomatic fly-by and make straight for the sector seen in a psionic vision by Fionna; a place where the false NEMA star fleet waited near two black holes orbiting each other.

On the day of the dimensional transfer (and subsequent alteration in flight plan), Felix Perez; lepidopterist, treasure hunter and all around adventure seeker, became trapped inside the Naruni explorer RV as it was loaded into the Sleipnir’s external vehicle bay.
Unfortunately no one could hear his calls to be set free as he and the vehicle was placed within the boxy structure. In fact he was not detected by the vessel’s A.I. until dimensional translation from Rifts Terra to the Tri-Galactic ‘verse had been completed, and the Sleipnir went FTL. In a repeat of his first meeting with Phoenix Force, Felix was confronted by the battle magus, Johannes (shortened to ‘Yanni’ or ‘Yanns’) when he investigated reports of a stow-away. Calm soon returned as the situation resolved its self; Felix more than happy to see if he could find space butterflies and to spend time in the presence of the young technician Leena Shidow.

For 17 and a half days the TW starship thumbed its nose at Einstein and coasted along a relatively fast space-lane. The two new crew being given a chance to integrate themselves into the crew roster; as cook & cook assistant to supplement the auto-chef system, and with Felix showing an aptitude for electronic warfare, while Johannes took over operation of the Sleipnir’s magi-tech defense systems.
Upon exiting FTL they quickly activated their cloaking device, which was fortunate: a fleet of over 50 warships of various sizes and classes hovered just outside the gravitic rip-tide of the ‘Abyssal Twins’... the paired black holes. It was decided to do a sprint forwards and “thread the eye of the needle” of the two singularities, as Fionna assured Rika and the rest that what both the false NEMA and they sought was beyond the stellar annihilators, with the gateway in the exact center. Throwing caution to the wind, the Sleipnir was sent streaking towards the twisted space-time between the black holes and only at the last micro-second was the enemy fleet made aware of what was happening.

An infinite moment later, Phoenix Force Alpha awakened to the sound of Sleipnir’s A.I. intoning:
[WARNING! WARNING! FTL-DRIVE NON-RESPONSIVE. CONTRA-GRAVITY SUBLIGHT DRIVE NON-RESPONSIVE.]

Phoenix Force alpha was now in an un-explored sector of the Corkscrew galaxy tens of thousands of light-years from their last known location. Star-drive and sub-light drive unable to move them despite being functional… and just off their bow, exactly 2 AU’s distant, a blue-green Terra-like world, bathed in vermillion sunlight, softly radiating radio-waves of a folk song in German.

The date is August 24, PA 109.

((Let's do this)) Jah Jah tiny nema armada I must break you

all I can say is...well... things will be "interesting times" soon, in the ancient Chinese curse sorta way

painted a mini to represent Johannes in his travelling robes and breast plate of his armorhttp://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=178830285589181&set=pb.100003866331915.-2207520000.1353753147&type=3&theater url for the pic

DhAkael wrote:all I can say is...well... things will be "interesting times" soon, in the ancient Chinese curse sorta way

"May you live in interesting times" and 'May you get the attention of powerful people" are two things that you do NOT want to hear applied to you.

calto40k wrote:painted a mini to represent Johannes in his travelling robes and breast plate of his armorhttp://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=178830285589181&set=pb.100003866331915.-2207520000.1353753147&type=3&theater url for the pic

Sadly, your phone-lens sucks.
Nice job from what I could make out of it though.

lol not the phone the new laptop probably too bright in the basement lol

Well how did the session go guys? Suspense killing me! LOL

Jay05 wrote:Well how did the session go guys? Suspense killing me! LOL

Re-cap will be in next couple of days.
Long story short, they made planet fall and now they are being hunted.
Ended with cliff hanger

a lot of funny moments and some aerial combat

calto40k wrote:a lot of funny moments and some aerial combat

sounds like a blast!

Jay05 wrote:

calto40k wrote:a lot of funny moments and some aerial combat

sounds like a blast!

I had things set-up to intro James as well but *shrug* stuff happens and well... other oportunites will show up as the story progresses.

I appreciate it bro, sent you a pm RE the computer issues they're driving me Nuts!! Thanks for keeping the door open for when I finally get them resolved.

“Their names we will keep where the fenians sleep 'neath the shroud of the foggy dew.” August 25
The journey would take nearly 11 hours to complete from the point where the Sleipnir had exited into real-space and the blue-green world where the radio signals had been detected. Resigning themselves to the long haul and being visible for millions of KM by using their plasma-reaction drive, Rika ordered full speed towards the unknown world. Inside of the first hour and a half though, the radio signal from the planet was lost but a distress beacon, using modern CCW protocols, was detected not more than a few minutes at their cruising speed, off the starboard bow. They began deceleration maneuvers (unfortunately, Shalyndra was so used to CG drives that she over compensated and caused the Sleipnir to temporarily rotate or ‘donut’) and soon observed a massive shoal of wreckage; enough for a CCW Explorer or even a Protector battleship. As they drew closer, a spread of what looked like rocket propelled stalactites erupted from behind some of the debris cloud; but skilful evasive maneuvers by Shalyndra prevented any damage. They soon found what had attacked; a 300 meter long “creature” that resembled a black skinned squid with 8 yellow eyes. As the star-beast awakened with a reverberation that could be heard and felt through the Sleipnir's hull-plates, it spewed forth a stream of glowing blue “fire” which was scanned as being a combination of ferro-magnetic gel and anti-matter. Again the pilots & crew of the Sleipnir evaded attack and engaged the magi-tech invisibility field and escaped pursuit; though it seemed as if the space-squid could detect their presence for several hundred kilometers and released a multitude of lesser anti-matter streams in the Sleipnir’s wake.

All seemed well until only 2 hours before making orbit around the destination planet. As most of the crew sat down to an impromptu staff meeting in the galley (food having been made by Johannes Teufel), Fionna exclaimed over the PA system; “Hold onto something!” just as a massive cross-wind of gravity waves and charged particles slammed into the ship. Not only was the solar system in the grip of a repression field, it was also throwing a Nebula Storm at them. White-knuckled piloting by Fionna Faraday prevented disaster, and the Sleipnir landed gently on a plateau on one of the planet’s many mountain ranges. Unfortunately Sleipnir did not come out of the situation undamaged; a full 5% of the exterior hull plating over the entirety of the ship had been stripped away in the stellar hurricanes fury. It seemed as if Phoenix Force was going to be staying put for a while. On the approach, Fionna had detected a massive complex of buildings (though no energy signatures on the brief cursory scan she was able to do while landing) on a mountain range about 300 miles to the south of their landing site. Eventually they’d have to find the ‘natives’ and talk with them, but in the interim, a patrol of their local area would have to suffice. Fionna and Leena were left behind to deal with repairs, while Felix & Johannes would take the plateau and ridgeline as their scouting area, while Shalyndra and Rika would go on foot down the mountain side (about a half mile) and check out the lowlands and its dense forests. They would exercise extreme caution however as they had seen in the distance creatures they thought only existed in Terra’s mid-West; giant tree-spiders.

The two pairs went their separate ways. Johannes & Felix eventually finding, not a cave but a sign of some form of predator; blood stains on a patch of lichen covered rock. Felix became quite agitated; thinking he saw glowing green eyes staring at them but in fact it was only green berries. Shalyndra stopped Rika from walking into a possible ambush down in the forest. The death-world raised Elf maid had detected what looked like giant trap-door spider coverings. Rika nodded her thanks and whispered that the fog that was flowing through the trees “smelled” odd to her acute supernatural detection… then strange guttural and clicking noises came from the dozen or so covered pits.

The date is now August 25, PA 109.

Unknown world, damaged ship, and giant tree spiders that trip magical senses? Lol, just keeps getting deeper! Sounds like fun though!

Jay05 wrote:Unknown world, damaged ship, and giant tree spiders that trip magical senses? Lol, just keeps getting deeper! Sounds like fun though!

Hmmm...seems like the rest of the crew want to keep quiet on the last session. That or they're waiting to see how it all plays out.

You left off with them being confronted with the spiders? Or did they actually fight them?

Jay05 wrote:You left off with them being confronted with the spiders? Or did they actually fight them?

Who said anyting about spiders?
They SAW spiders off in the distance (100ft. tall spiders at that), but they never actualy confronted any.
And Felix & Johannes? They just saw a shrub with green berries that might have kinda looked like something with glowing green eyes staring a them

LMAO!!!

Jay05 wrote:LMAO!!!

Just hoping everyone involved actualy shows up (and on time)Sunday, so I can get this shin-dig movin' promptly.

“What’s new pussycat? Whoa!!!” August 25
Shalyndra, showing great tactical sense, tossed a rock at range onto one of the trap-doors to see the reaction. A snake like appendage lashed out from the pit, but Rika had other things to focus on. Reacting to something she heard behind the Elf sword-maid, Rika threw a knife into a 5ft. long caterpillar or centipede with 3 inch long “fangs” that had been ready to bite into Shalyndra. At the death cries of the creature, the inhabitants of the pits were revealed; salamander like creatures with long whip-like tails…nippers. Rika actiavted her multi-phase ability and created 3 copies to confuse the Tauten beasts, while Shalyndra had a brief scuffle with one attempting to chew through the force-field surrounding her body (her foot especially). Feeling that discretion WAS the much better part of valour, Shalyndra suggested a retreat which her captain firmly seconded.

Meanwhile, along the mountain path, further indications that Felix and Johannes were being stalked came in the form of rocks & pebbles tumbling down-slope towards them. Both warriors took up defensive stances, with Felix opting to try ranged weaponry first.
It almost succeeded. A deep growl preceded a one-two attack of horn ridged tentacles lashing at his and Johannes Armour of Ithan fields. Not one, but four 6-legged twin tentacle panther creatures surrounded the pair, completely ignoring Johannes robotic horse.
Felix tried to ion-blast his first attacker, but the bolts just passed harmlessly THROUGH the creature as if it wasn’t there; the same for Johannes’ double knife attack. Only after a lucky wild slash with his own vibro knife was Felix able to wound one of the creatures, its blood dripped onto the ground 5 ft. to the left of where he saw it. Then he was pounced from behind.

Rika & Shalyndra quickly d-portaled back to the Sleipnir and were informed by Fionna that the other scout team were engaged in combat, and that Fionna was ready to go offer assistance (seeing as how the Naruni RV was still stowed away and the Sleipnir couldn’t move while undergoing hull repairs) via her TW fire-wings. Rika approved of this plan, telling Shalyndra to go with Fionna (who would have to carry the sword-maid) while she would remain behind to ready the Sleipnirs teleport system; cursing the fact the two new members still hadn’t learned to keep their communicator transponders on at all times. Swiftly the burster and sword-maid took to the air and hurried to the aid of the two males.

None too soon it seemed, as the Crazy 7 Battle-magus were being slashed at from all sides. On seeing the creatures Fionna recognized them from an obscure file on magical creatures; Displacers they were called, and relegated to near myth due to their scarcity on Rifts Terra. Rika, also knowing of these creatures from first-hand experience from her dimension hopping years earlier, suggested a fighting retreat, long enough for her to get the teleporter up and running. On sight of the burster one of the Displacer’s howled up at the mountainside as if calling for aid while its 3 other pack mates kept up the attack pressure on the others and took wounds of their own. A great sky shaking roar echoed from above. The Displacers pack master had arrived.

On the rocks a hundred feet above the battle, a giant white furred tiger-like creature with a pair of long furred whisker tendrils sat indolently on the rocks, snarling at the quartet of panther-like aberrations. The Displacers shrank back, two of them severely wounded (especially after Johannes switched to his battle fury halberd). At Fionna’s barked commands to stand down, of which Shalyndra sullenly acquiesced and Felix and Johannes reluctantly followed suit, the great tiger creature purred and blinked its eyes slowly, as if it could understand what the red-headed burster was saying. At Fi’s hurried telepathic conference with Rika, the Captain radioed over to the team that they were to not in any way antagonize the new creature; it was another beast she had encountered in recent years (when Team Alpha had wound up in Spyra), one with human-like intelligence and spell casting power with a personality like the god Loki.

Johannes tried speaking to the felinoid in dragonese, and inadvertently may have insulted it by saying its name was the same as his own after seeing the cat yawn. At this, the tiger-beast leapt down to get closer to the team as the Displacers scuttled away rapidly… then a concussive shockwave of sound and magical energy radiated outwards from it, slamming everyone backwards. It was fortuitous that Rika had just then activated the Sleipnirs' teleporter grid and snatched the team away from this new, likely more lethal danger.

On the floor of the cargo-bay, Felix and Johannes complained bitterly of not being able to settle the battle properly and being denied booty. Rika apologized but firmly ordered everyone to get cleaned up and meet her on the observation deck for a quick conference.
They all did so and soon everyone was gathered as Rika activated the holographic projectors in the observation / secondary command deck. Lines of glowing blue bracketed an image of the planet they were on, along with criss-crossing the surface. Also, blobs of amber light dotted the projected mountain ranges. Rika (and at times, Sleipnir’s A.I.) told the gathered crew and team members what had been compiled over the hours by Sleipnir's sensors; the planet was caged by no less than 3 cosmic ley-line nexus points and the surface ley lines, though not as frequent as Terra’s, all intersected each other at one point or other, thus creating massive nexus points on the surface. Further, the TW sensors had detected large deposits of a rare mineral (on Terra at least) called magicite; a crystal that stores and at times amplifies natural PPE. In fact, so prevalent was this mineral that it floated in the atmosphere as dust clouds seeming to concentrate in valleys and ravines (explaining why Rika “smelled” magic in the fog). Speculation and plans began to go back & forth between the crew, only briefly interrupted by Felix becoming hysterical at one of the 3 spider drone robots offering him a drink. The meeting and discussions were cut short when Sleipnir announced he had detected a singular humanoid in armour approaching, possibly wounded. Rika and Leena quickly went to the bridge, while Fionna and Shalyndra were ordered to see to this possible native, and to assist him or her.

Fionna and Shalyndra heard a brief, pained exclamation by the stranger as they exited the ramp from Sleipnir, the foreign language nearly un-intelligible except for the last gasped phrase “…Valkyriiae?” before the armoured knight (for that’s what the armour-plating resembled) collapsed. Cursory inspection and treatment by both women revealed the knight had been gravely wounded in the side just above the hip, and not even Fionna’s psi-healing could completely heal this stranger; the knight would have to be brought aboard for more comprehensive treatment. Both took hold and dragged the figure up the ramp; realizing that the armour might be some form of powered plate, or the figure was heavier than normal.

Johannes remained on the observation deck, keeping track via the closed circuit cameras he had recently learned how to use; pondering on many things, but ready to act should this new comer prove violent after being treated for his or her injuries.

Felix, feeling abashed for his irrational outburst at the spider-drone and subsequently upsetting Leena, decided a nice hot shower was in order and some rest. When he opened the door to his quarters though he found that wasn’t in the cards; gear bags and even a hover-bike were packed into his room and on his bed, a strange man lay insensinate…at the foot of the bunk lay Felix’s shaving mirror, face up and surface cracked.

LOL Did James just land in the crazy's bedroom? Or was that someone else?

Frost_Wolf wrote:Had Fionna known he had a mirror on board without the protective mesh it would have been destroyed a lot sooner than with the arrival of the stranger in his bed!!! Mirrors = bad stuff!!

My first thought on seeing the mirror reference...NIGHTSPAWN.

I have a sneaking hunch it's DhAkael brining in my pc who crashed his hoverbike and gave Leena a headache. As I'm almost 100% sure I'll have my computer fixed finally. Oh and Frost_Wolf, I sent you a pm about the campaign awhile back, hope you don't mind, it was just about the game it'sself. But I will agree with both of you the only mirrorwalkers I've ever heard of are from the NB/NS verse, which in a lot of cases is bad news. Hey, didn't there used to be a Nightbane in the crew?

Uh...Ms. Rika...I think someones been sleeping in my bed...and there he is! Some people have no regard for other people's property, i tell you.

Monkra wrote:Uh...Ms. Rika...I think someones been sleeping in my bed...and there he is! Some people have no regard for other people's property, i tell you.

And here James is out cold! LOL I hope your crazy doesn't over react!

I have an updated montage pic of Team Alpha.
Work in progress, BUT...

Sit-rep. as follows;
1) Ship under repair.
2) Unknown planet saturated with magic crystals & dust.
3) Unknown planet has some rather nasty fauna (who knows what the flora can do ).
4) Unconscious man in the Crazy's quaters, broken mirror on the floor, and all this new-guys gear stacked willy nilly in said bunk room.
5) Wounded man in archaic looking powered armour showing up on doorstep of the ship-undergoing-repairs.

...
are we caught up?
GOOD.

A new friend.
An new/old unexpected guest.
Falling stars.
Fire in the woods.
A village becomes a grave site.
A new enemy.

All this and more in the next instalment of On wings of fire.

Just as long as it's not Of Wings ON Fire....
Whole different meaning re-arranging the word order...

taalismn wrote:Just as long as it's not Of Wings ON Fire....
Whole different meaning re-arranging the word order...

LMAO yeah your arrangement usually means screaming death! LOL

Jay05 wrote:

taalismn wrote:Just as long as it's not Of Wings ON Fire....
Whole different meaning re-arranging the word order...

LMAO yeah your arrangement usually means screaming death! LOL

LOL---Loss of Lift. Usually what happens when your wing surface burns through.

LMAO yep

Haven't gotten around to typing up the re-cap -yawwwwwwnnnn- it's been that kinda week.

For me too buddy.