CD Issue 12: Strange Forces Report
General Summary
Our heroes have conquering the three trials set before them by the Weird Sisters, despite Siren having unleashed her power to the point the Worldwall was breached (See CD11.)
The decapitated head of The Predator was not quite finished though, spouting threats to end the Dissidents, calling them Covenant lackeys. As he proclaimed that this was the last world the Covenant would visit. Before they could question it further, Paladin clove the creature in two. It continued to flop about until Bohemian, the silent member of the Prodigies, kicked the pieces down through a ubiquitous Red Door, dooming the horror to a magical prison.
Pizzaz, the leader of the Prodigies, was noticeably upset that chaotic Siren was in the running for Gatekeeper, since she just showed up and Pizzaz had been training for years. She was more upset the Worldwall had been breached. Augur gave Paladin the stink eye and he returned the favor.
Morta was nonplused and ejected the Prodigies from the Mirador. She then allowed the trio their final answer, taking advantage of the gods ancient knowledge. After a lengthly discussion, Siren asked the big question:
"What are the Covenant running from?"
Morta explained the Covenant were being chased by something that destroyed worlds: the Metaforce itself. The The Exodus had spanned many worlds, with the Covenant Gatecrasher allowing them to flee to a new dimension before the one behind them collapsed. But their powers spread the metaforce, which exponentially spread, granting the populace fantastic powers. These powers increased in scale until the world was a scorched wasteland, populated by godlike demons hunting each other on a whim. This is what the dissidents had witnessed on the other side of the breach.
Morta then explained that Siren was to be the new gatekeeper, protecting this world from breaches such as this, and preventing the metaforce from spreading elsewhere. She said the Sisters would train her.
The dissidents were a little overwhelmed by the scale of this problem. In fact, all their problems seemed to be piling up with no solutions in sight. They quibbled a bit on what the next steps were. Morta decided enough was enough, kicking all but Siren out. Morta slipped into her younger form, Decima, who took her to the Mirador, the mystical fortress of the Gatekeeper. She explained the state of things, and the scope of the Gatekeepers duties.
The dissidents were concerned by this change of events, and decided to break back into the Mirador. Malware used their scouts to poke around, determining that Siren was in fact somewhere in inside the storefront of the Parca School for the Arts, perhaps underground. Aliena decided to delve into her new dark powers, slipping into the shadows as a portal back in. Malware grabbed her ankles, and Paladin grabbed their ankles as they were pulled in.
Siren was alerted to the attempted intrusion, and chose to allow them in. They all poured through the gateway into a giant pile on the floor.
The Mirador presented itself as a intangible illusion, looking like Albion. They asked further questions about the Exodus, learning that Albion had refused to continue Gatecrashing after the disaster that was Scorched Earth. The Covenant were trapped on Arilia for better or for worse.
There was much discussion. The initial idea was for Siren to open a gate and let the Covenant go, until they realized they would not only be dooming their world as well as the next. Mirador suggested they allow the metaforce to escape in small amounts into other dimensions to prolong the life of Arillia, but that would only be dooming other worlds as well.
As they left the mystical fortress, Aliena realized perhaps she could ask her people for help. But the link to her home world Deya, and it's leader (and Aliena's father) Guerdon Mags, had gone silent. Her lustrous space phone showed messages piled up from Dorelan. They increased in panic, until the last message which told Aliena to no longer use the device and not come near the Deyan Embassy. Unsurprisingly, Aliena freaked out. She revealed everything that had been going on with her people, and that ever since she had been assaulted by 'Felicity' (CD9, new shadowy powers such as the portal had been evolving in her.
They headed back to the Spiderweb, to take advantage of it's computing capability to find more information.
Malware scanned for Dorelan to no avail. But Malware noticed that their swarm was found to be complete, despite having lost members while scanning Scorched Earth. The missing members of the swarm were working without their master's orders as well. They were pouring over the records of the Soulforge trial (CD10), even even were able to show Malware's own dark mirror which they weren't present for. But the interesting part showed that the soldiers in Siren's dark mirror bore Alabaster's
Their problems were numerous and apparently unsolvable. Paladin in especially bad shape from the events of the night. He had a problem with all the discussion (Riche seemed to have a problem with everything lately.) Malware attempted to use their nanotech to artificially calm Richie, but, detecting it, Paladin surged his power burning the devices out of his system. After some failed attempts to talk him down, he stormed out angrily.
Riche flew away to terminal city, taking to the most relaxing dark superhero past time: brooding on rooftops. But he was not alone, his future alter ego Knightfall, joined him. Richie and Knightfall had words, and Knightfall revealed that his memories seemed to be shifting as Richie took action. He explained the events that went down with the murder of Flim-Flam as an example of how his means were necessary. Paladin asked him to change his ways and work together to solve the problem. But he was too stubborn to compromise, and Paladin wasn't down with murdering. There was some White Knight action, and some Spitting in the face of Guidance, and the two parted ways with some harsh words.
Meanwhile, the trio back at the Spiderweb nobody really wanted to be alone, and Aliena had nowhere to go since Dorelan had told her not to go home to her host family.. They decided a sleepover was in order. There were snacks and movies and ice cream. The issue closed out on this cold comfort.
Created Content
- Mirador
- Gatecrasher
- Gatekeeper
Siren
Malware
Paladin
Aliena
Report Date
17 Jul 2020
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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