#the cultists proceed to try and get their money back from their cult leader

[mkarchin713]

Danny is summoned in all his eldritchy ghost king glory and proceeds to scare the piss out of all his baby sisters friends. Diana is doing her best to pretend she isn’t there and/or doesn’t know him.

Suddenly Danny zeroes in on Batman and goes mild melting abomination on him and threatens him and his entire bloodline if Batsy ever makes his baby sister cry.

Batman is frankly handling this better than most mortals (frankly he thinks Green Arrow is having a seizure) and stoically as a mortal can informs the Ghost King that he doesn’t know who his little sister is.

Suddenly the eldritch abomination shapeshifts into a more humanoid form and wailing that his little sister is embarrassed of him, lamenting that his sweet little princess hadn’t told any of her friends about him, and dramatically draping himself over Diana and whimpering that she doesn’t love him anymore.

Diana is embarrassed out of her mind and keeps insisting she doesn’t know the spirit sobbing as he clutches her legs.

As the father of …what was it eight, or maybe it was ten -however many children he has, Batman recognizes sibling bullshit when he sees it and is frankly relieved that it’s just a sibling situation, that and Green Arrow has finally stopped twitching.

Danny is Diana's Big Brother (and annoys the hell out of her)

So!

Danny decided to reveal himself to his Parents one day, and it didn't go well. Thankfully, Jazz managed to get him out of the Lab and they fled into the Ghost Zone, destroying the Portal behind them.

They seek refuge with some of their friends, and after a while they find a permanent home with Pandora in the Ancient Greek Sector. She found them while they were wandering the Zone in search of a place to sleep and happily took them in.

Danny also finds out that he is the new Ghost Prince after an incident where Fright Knight almost kills Skulker for "Daring to attack the Prince!"

So life is getting better for Danny. But he soon finds out that as the Ghost Prince, he needs a Parent to take over until he comes of Age. And he doesn't really have parents anymore.

He tries to set up Jazz as his Legal Guardian, but since she is his sister (and a newly forming Halfa, therefore also too young) she doesn't count.

Thankfully, he had the perfect candidate right there with Pandora! And she happily adopted them, she was basically already acting like their new Mom anyways, do it wasn't that much of a change. All she needs to do is keep the peace for a few decades until Danny reaches the Legal Ghost Age. (100 yrs old)

And of course, since he was adopted by Pandora he wants to learn about her Culture! So he asks her to take him on a trip to her Home Dimension and Home Country to learn about it.

So they head off to Themyscira.

And since Danny is technically Royalty, Not a Human Man, and the adopted son of Pandora (one of their greatest heroes of the past) he is tentatively allowed to visit the Island.

(Also, Danny can shapeshift, so it wouldn't be too big of a problem if he wanted to)

While there he meets Pandora's sister, Hippolyta, and her newly born Daughter, Diana.

Danny instantly decides that Diana is his new Little Sister.

And he also decides to indulge in all of the Big Brother Urges he has never been able to get away with with Ellie, and annoys the hell out of her in a way only big brothers can manage.

He teases her in front of her friends, pranks her occasionally, has play fights with her that end with a Forest being wiped off the map, and generally annoys the hell out of her.

But he also does all the good brother things like protect her from bullies, gives her wise advice, comfort her when she feels sad, and even helps comb her hair (she realized that he thrives on domestic stuff, since he never got to appreciate it when he was a kid)

He also introduces Diana to Jazz, and they get on like a house on fire! Unfortunately, Diana found out that Jazz can actually reign in Danny whenever he gets too overbearing and weaponizes this to great effect.

Ellie too, although they are hence banned from ever hanging out without supervision ever again (the observants couldn't walk right for a decade after that incident)

They go on like this for a few centuries, even after Danny takes up the Throne and has less time to hang out with her.

But Diana still loves her big brother, annoyances and all. Still, she will absolutely never let him know about the League. She wouldn't survive the embarrassment.

...

Wait, who did this Cult just say they were summoning?

[dungeonsandberries]

Session 22: Bargains

From southern Gunnato to the cult of Tidesoria...

Marv did his best to try to disarm the situation diplomatically, offering to pay off the Freitzes’ demon minions, but they were uninterested. Veilour hesitantly drew the Phantom’s Teardrop to prepare to hand it off as Mierre demanded, seeming to see no other option but to give them what they wanted.

However, they did not know I was there. From my hiding place, I considered my own options. I could try to interfere, but I feared for Amber’s life just as Veilour did. I could stop their vulpine sorcerer from casting briefly, but we would have to act quickly to lock them down to avoid casualties. Made worse because my allies were also unaware of my plans.

I decided that whatever the Freitzes wanted that cursed blade for, it must be something dire indeed for them to risk so much to acquire it, and still care about it after we had pulled their criminal empire out from beneath them. I stepped out and blanketed Mierre and her group with silence, preventing spellcasting. I shouted to my allies to attack, and they leapt into action immediately. Maevia and Felfedau practically seemed to be ready to strike before I had done anything, and eagerly threw themselves into battle the moment I announced that we had an opening to attack.

Marv and Veilour were equally quick to respond. Veilour drew his sword and began deftly cutting into the demons’ weak points, as Marv cut off Mierre’s escape with a Web spell, managing to catch a few of the demons in it, as well.

Without the aid of their wizard’s magic, the demons were quickly routed. But my plan hadn’t gone without a hitch. Some of the guards paid the price for my boldness with their lives. A grim reminder that sometimes others pay the price for your actions. I felt for them and their families, and I could only hope that keeping the Teardrop out of the Freitzes’ hands would be worth their sacrifice.

But Mierre was too clever to be captured here, it seemed. Maevia tried to knock her out, but she crumpled into a pile of snow. She was nothing more than a clone, likely controlled from afar and from safety. The Freitzes had escaped justice, but they had still been removed from power.

Cold comfort, as they were both still out there, and they would be hunting us now, and they had nothing more to lose.

For now, we had earned the gratitude of the lord of Gunnato, Bendroit Laurier. Marv set about trying to use his good graces to convince him of Swamplandia’s legitimacy. It went surprisingly well, and Marv even tried to secure diplomatic immunity for me to protect me from my master. I was touched, but I was unable to fully listen in on the conversation, as Veilour pulled me to the side.

I had expected him to be furious with me for putting his mother’s life in danger based on a gamble that my plan would succeed, but instead he seemed to agree with my gambit. His question was in regards to something much more disturbing. He had heard a voice in the middle of the battle.

None of us had heard it, except for Maevia who claimed she heard voices all the time, which… I am going to assume was a jest, or at least I hope it was. Regardless, I still believe he heard something, especially considering what he told us of his past. It would have to be simply yet another ominous portent for now, similar to Felfedau’s visions and anxiety. I can only assume they’re related.

Marv pulled my attention back to him, and asked for my help with talking to leaders and acting as a diplomat. While my heart was not in his desire to found Swamplandia, I was more than glad to try to offer my help in achieving his own goals.

I wasn’t prepared for what that would entail.

The following day (aggravating Felfedau’s anxiety even more, as it was yet another day in which we weren’t on the road headed to stop Aurmilx’s cult), we stepped into a meeting with Bendroit Laurier… and my master, Elchin Coldsteel. I don’t know if Marv requested him or if he showed up by random chance, but I was not ready to meet him like that. My every instinct urged me to run right back out the door, and I pleaded with Marv to call the meeting off and for us to run, but we progressed into discussions about recognizing Swamplandia’s legitimacy and securing my legal freedom.

I was too flustered to think clearly. I could only watch as Marv negotiated for my freedom using resources we didn’t have. I did what I could to try to barter for my freedom with money we’d collected on our journeys, but the deals Marv was proposing were too great for him to pass up.

I wanted to declare Swamplandia a sham right there, but I didn’t want to do that to my friend. Even as my master began eagerly discussing a trade route through Ursalia, which I have no doubt he intends to use to try to illegally poach slaves. I tried to renegotiate, but I’m unsure if I managed to avoid that outcome. The whole thing was a blur.

By the end of it, I was seething in my chair as my master’s old butler presented me with my certificate of purchase, but it felt unearned. Unless Marv could secure the resources we promised, it would mean nothing, except a bounty on all of our heads instead of just mine. But success might mean my master would simply capture more slaves from Ursalia.

I held my tongue. He meant well, I knew. Was this how Veilour felt when I acted without his consent to attack his ladies and put his mother at risk? Had he lied to me about approving of my actions to spare my feelings, as I was doing to Marv now?

Either way, after that business was done, we began to make our way back to Tidesoria at last. We took Amber with us, intending to leave her with Felfedau’s church to keep her safe. It was a mostly uneventful journey, but I was more restless than I had been before. I was still upset with Marv, and I could feel Feldedau and Veilour’s worries about their own troubles. Only Maevia remained unphased, and for that I was grateful. One of us, at least, had their wits about them instead of being wracked with worry.

She proved that in spades during a chance encounter with monsters, slaying both of the creatures with powerful swipes of her weapon, even as they actively tried to run away from her. For her, this battle was cathartic after so long without violence. For the rest of us, we could only think of the dead in the area, and wonder if these beasts were more spawn of Aurmilx.

The lords of Tidesoria were still warring among each other. Totally ignorant of the looming threat that grew under their feet, ready to wash them and their petty squabbles away. But the commonfolk were more aware of the threat, it seemed. When we passed through a village, we found them trying to put a pair of accused cultists to the torch.

We stepped in and attempted to calm the mob down, and discern if these men were what they were accused of being. Among their possessions was another coin of Koharu, which was certainly suspicious, but not outright damning. My allies tried to get the truth out of them, which got them to admit that they were given the coin by a pink haired amami woman. I think the thought occurred to many of us that he could be referring to Marv’s girlfriend, Maybel. I conjured an illusion of her, but they denied that it was her.

I then tried a different approach. Using my penchant for deception, I whispered into their ears and convinced them that I was a member of the cult, and that I would free them if they told me where to meet with them again. They pointed out their base to me, hidden underneath a major bridge in Tidesoria.

With their guilt confirmed and their base pinpointed, I told the villagers to proceed with the execution, but Felfedau intervened. She didn’t want to see them die in such an excruciating way. Gods, how I wish she had just let the villagers have their way.

I will fully admit, I have perhaps an overly idealized opinion of Felfedau. To me, she is a beacon of purity and innocence in a land awash with corruption. I haven’t told anyone yet, but I believe I have developed some feelings for her. Beyond simply calling her a friend. I never thought about the idea of a relationship with another woman, but I think I might be willing to try it with her.

Which made what she did all the more painful. She stepped up to them to kill them mercifully, but she activated that strange power of her’s. I made the mistake of looking when she had asked us not to, and I felt that primal dread claw at my soul, the same as the last time I was too close to her when she did this. The dread which overpowered even the hags.

The men began screaming and begging for mercy, and each snap of their necks caused my stomach to turn. I fled behind the nearest building so I wouldn’t have to hear any more, and simply tried to collect myself amid the fear and disgust. What she did was merciful, I knew; she provided them with a quick and relatively painless death instead of the torturous end that would have been the flames. But it still felt wrong to me, clashing with my high opinion of her. I hadn’t felt such sickness since the first time I had killed on behalf of my master. I can’t even explain why, these men weren’t the first people she had killed in front of me, but the theatrics of it all made it feel so much worse.

She knew she had upset me, and tried to apologize. I eased her concerns, but I’m not entirely sure if I meant what I said to her. Veilour did his best to comfort me, as well, bless his heart. I couldn’t help but feel selfish, as I wasn’t even the one who had done the deed. It was her he should be comforting, who I should be comforting.

With that darkness behind us, we continued to Tidesoria city to secure Amber her safety, and we were met with yet more dire news: Ramsay Rapidsteel, the man who we had informed about the cult, had been arrested for destroying evidence, and had been declared a traitor.

What in the world could that mean?

[beacon-of-chaos]

Defenders of Aura 2 - A Battle Century G Sequel

We return to our regularly scheduled prison breakout, already in progress. Fauna finds herself frustrated with her magic being blocked and tries to find a way around it. A couple of us suggest she simply cut off the arm with the implant in it but for some reason this idea doesn't appeal to her. An idea occurs to her however; the implant blocks manifestations of magic, but not necessarily the flow of mana in the body. It's possible she can divert her mana around the body in such as way as to numb the arm containing the implant, effectively negating its effect. This will leave her with a useless arm but it's better than cutting it off. A lucky willpower roll releases her magic and even leaves her arm functional, though weakened. Katari creates a distraction long enough for Fauna to get to Lucis and heal him. Fauna then uses her magic to create a portal between the potted plant she was holding and another she can see on the other side of the guards. She and Lucis teleport across, where Katari is pinned down. Fauna heals his wounds as best she can and Katari then proceeds to seal the door where the guards are by bending the metal with his bare hands. Badass. Luckily, they now appear to be near a medbay, so they pick up some supplies before heading towards the hanger. A voice begins speaking over the tannoy. It's the cult leader (I forgot his name) who encourages his followers to rise up and defend the prison against the military who have been alerted to the break out and are coming to put a stop to it. Sinclair attempts to trace the location, only to find that the voice is a recording. The hanger is well guarded now and while Bloody Mary and Amir are able to hold off the guards there's no way we can advance. Sinclair hears the voice of his mysterious friend, who he has dubbed "Space Face". Space Face: You were brought to life through the blood of your planet. There are others out there that can also be brought to life. Reach out to them. Sinclair concentrates and sure enough he detects that there are other robots nearby. Just two: a large loader bot and a human-sized welder bot. The GM says they are left over from when this place used to be a factory (that explains some things). Both are broken and rusty but Sinclair gets the feeling that they want to move again. He focuses his strange new power on them and sure enough they begin to stand. GM: You can issue one order to them. Sinclair: These people are trying to kill us! Stop them! The robots get to work, attacking the guards who are completely blind-sided. Emboldened by the sudden help, Amir and Mary begin moving forwards, using as much cover as they are able. Kirt, the teenage hacker, on the other hand, decides the best solution is to run straight at the turret with no cover. GM: He's going to get himself killed. Sinclair: Well, it was nice knowing him. Who was he again? The GM informs him that the only way to get to him in time to save him would involve moving the robots in between Kirt and the turret, sacrificing them. Sinclair hits on another idea. There's one big robot and one little robot. Fastball special, anyone? Of course the GM makes Sinclair roll for the robots in question, but he rolls a measely 4. The little robot makes it to the turret, but doesn't survive the journey. Oops. Still, the turret is thrown off its aim enough to avoid hitting the kid. The rest of the fight works out well and we make it into the hanger at the same time as the others. GM: There are four ships- Lucis: Excellent! We can split them between us- GM: Two of which are on fire- Lucis: Well, okay we can still take two- GM: And one of which is being boarded by the cultist and his gang. Lucis: Yeah, okay. The cult leader takes off before we get to the ships. Lucis radios Zack to try and see if he can get the prison air defences to take out the cultist's ship but it looks like the defences are now down. Zack suggests we get to the remaining ship and shoot down cultist guy ourselves. Sinclair ponders why we are doing so until Lucis and Katari point out that this guy asked his followers to basically throw themselves at a much stronger military force in defence of a building that he himself is now running away from. We board our ship and Lucis asks who intends to pilot it. Sinclair: I can do it! Plug me in, cheif! Sinclair's head is plugged into the control console and Katari co-pilots while Lucis and Spectre man the weapons. We take some shots at the cultist ship but he's able to boost away without a scratch. Military interceptors then turn up, forcing us to retreat, though Sinclair is able to crit his piloting check and we get away with ease. We set course for a town where one of Lucis' contacts, Karen, has agreed to meet us. While we are on the way, Spectre gets to work creating a new body for Sinclair, using parts from the powered armours the guards at the prison used. By the time we land, the robot has a brand new shiny body, possibly better than the old one. Several hours later, we land in the forests outside of town. We decide that we need info and supplies so Lucis determines the best way to do this is pick up rumours at a local bar. He was, until recently, a student so he uses his keen bar senses to find the most appropriate one. Of course, we need disguises. Lucis and Spectre put on guard uniforms from the prison, while Sinclair already makes a passable military droid Lucis: We should also get him some paint in town. GM: Okay. What colour? Fauna: Red and gold! Sinclair: Yes! Katari wants to come too, but his injuries are still not fully healed. Fauna forces him to stay behind so she can patch him up. There's only so much magic can do. So Lucis, Spectre and Sinclair head to the bar. On the way, Sinclair plugs in to a public terminal and decides to try and fix his programming errors by downloading firmware updates. Curiously, the GM tells him that with the way his systems are, he shouldn't actually be able to function as he is. Downloading the updates feels odd, like "dying and being reborn, while staying awake". The bar in question is quiet, only a few patrons sitting in their own corners. It's at this point we remember that we have no money, so we find a table with some half-finished drinks and sit down, hoping no one will say anything. There's a news report on the TV that we listen to. There is already news about the prison breakout. Unusually, there is no mention of us at all, or even pictures. Instead, the cult leader is the one getting the screen time. This should be good for us but there's something very fishy about the whole thing. Afterwards there's a message from the new leader of Camelot. It's basically a propaganda piece justifying the coup the ousted the previous preseident, claiming that the war against China was illegal and harming Camelot citizens. It's a speach full of xenophobia and nationalism and mid-way through one of the other patrons, a shabby-looking woman, throws her cup at the TV and yells obscenities. A bouncer gets up to throw her out, but Lucis takes initiative. Lucis: Leave this one to us. We're the military and that sounded a lot like anti-government sentiment to us. We'll deal with her. Lucis gets a great check on his deception roll, and the bouncer not only allows us to take her away, but gives us a little bit of cash out of respect. As we're carrying her, she passes out. The GM then asks us for awareness rolls. Sinclair is the only one who makes the roll. GM: *to Spectre* I can't believe you didn't notice this. It's Orion. Your girlfriend! Spectre: Well, she wasn't exactly my girlfriend... Sinclair: Facial recognition software for the win! We get Orion back to the ship and wait for her to sober up a bit. When she comes to, she tells us that she was able to get on an evacuation transport leaving Aura when the Chinese attacked. She had hoped that Camelot would have done more to help her, but when the Auran refugees started getting arrested, she set out on her own. She tells us that she'd planned to rescue us herself, though exactly how is not clear. Unfortunately she ran out of money and had turned to stealing drinks to cope. Things only got worse when she saw an advert broadcast from Aura. She brings it up on a console, showing us an image of Ax. With a new band. Sinclair and Spectre are fairly convinced that this must be some sort of trick, as the last they'd head of Ax was that he was in jail and heavily drugged to supress his powers. Orion doesn't sound convinced. Sinclair asks about the other members of Break the Abyss but Orion doesn't know what happened to them, assuming they are dead or captured. She did hear about where Delta Team's mechs were taken, however. Some kind of military base not too far from here. It's around now that we get a knock at the door. It's Karen, Lucis' contact (and by all accounts, the brains behind the resistance). We talk about our options and mention getting the mechs. It seems like our best option for fighting back. Spectre, on the other hand, has been looking into information on his father, Victor. It turns out that he had a research base here on Camelot and it was the last place he was seen before he disappeared. He insists that he wants to check it out, not really caring about the whole resistance thing. Sinclair agrees that it's important to check out, having pledged to help Spectre find his father before. The android also has his own reason for going: Victor was researching dark space before he vanished. Sinclair believes this research could be the key to finding out why he is still able to function despite his programming effectively being unusuable, as well as the origin of Space Face. The team agrees that this would be a good place to look, but that getting the mechs is the best place to start, making everything else easier. With Karen's help we begin making a plan... Session ends. Bonus quotes: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/shows...&postcount=473