Fantasy Return of the Scarlet Empress - IC 3e

[Psychie]

Damage

13 lethal

 

[Sherwood]

Octavian looks surprised at the blade sticking out of him, as if he could hardy believe it was happening to him. With a pained grunt he falls to his knees and spits up some black blood that runs down his chest.

He manages to gasp out, "Not bad, girl. You should have been with the others; now, when we meet again, I'll have no reason not to kill you and your little songbird." He slwly slides of your sword and hits the floor before his body vanishes in a dark cloud, leaving only the blood on your sword as proof of his existence.

Axtis stumbles over to look down at the blood and says, "Thank you. He kept on telling me that I was to live, so I could share the take of what happened here. I don't know why I was spared. Why me? I don't...." Her eyes tear up as the impact of what she saw is starting to sink in, and her face goes pale.

Of in the distance, a siren begins to wail, sounding the alarm a bit late to do any good.

The four of you are now all that live in this chamber. What do you do now?

 

[Chowlett]

Perlata looks at the wreckage and carnage around them, and feels the first hints of panic - until now held at bay by the need for action - start to rise. But she's a self-sufficient Chosen, a weaver of Fate, and she hasn't lived nearly three hundred years without learning some coping mechanisms. Keep moving - that's what Mercury does, what the Golden Barque does - always keep stepping forward to the next place where pressure can be brought.

Right.

Her first concern is for Axtis still.

"First thing's first, we're alive, thank the Maidens, which is more than we can say for our brethren. That means we're in a position to work out what happened here, and do our best to make it right. Those wounds... I can hold this charm as long as I need and they won't affect you; they'll also heal on their own while I'm doing so. Or, if we have time - an hour, say - I can let it drop and try to patch you up. Fate doesn't like things like Octavian, and it'll wipe them clean off your tapestry; but it will tax my spirit a bit."

"In the meantime - what happens next is a bit out of my league. Reyna, can you tell anything? Where do we even start with all this"

 

[gmimperfecti]

Between also looked to his sister, “The bureaucracy will attempt to assert itself. Legal proceedings and inquiries a plenty. We will be called before the Special Council of Internal Affairs at the least. Even the standing of the Maidens will be called in to question. Unlike our internal dispute with the Solars, this is Malfeasance. Big question is if the shards were captured like we did or if they are still free to reincarnate.”

Looking around Between grunted, “I’m going to need a mound of stimulants to get through this.” He sighed, “But later.”

“Spirit of Hovering Butlers,” Between called out, summoning his ever present but never the center of attention retainer (Inconspicuous Presence). “We will need to gather our fallen’s Panoply for their successors. At least we need to catalog it all so the Appropriations on Renumeration Affairs doesn’t seize it cart blanch.”

Between frowned, “Oh and I need lots of drugs.”

 

[Psychie]

Reyna slams her sword back into its sheath with an angry look on her face. "An attack in the very heart of Yu-Shan! How is this possible? Heads will roll for certain!" She turns to look at Perlata and Axtis with concern replacing anger. "Take it easy. You have been through a lot, and you need to be seen by a physician to help take care those wounds. Sit. I have many questions, but first, I want to see what happened here."

She focuses her mind on building up sorcerous energy, and once she is ready, she casts Shadows of the Ancient Past, set to display images of the room during the past two hours. The spell allows the caster to fast-forward through the time selected to be able to see a whole day in a single scene.

 

[Sherwood]

As promised, here is the post.

It only takes a moment to gather the needed sorcerous motes to cast the spell. Once the energy is released and the spell is active, the room shimmers as the illusion of the past takes shape. As you watch, you can see the room begin to fill as the members of the Fellowship begin to trickle in, singly or in small groups. You recognize them all from your time in Yu-Shan. There is Kekth Morrow, a Joybringer that has played a series of pranks on nearly all of the Fellowship with an infectious laugh. When someone manages to catch him off guard and prank him, he is the first to laugh at his misfortune. Then there is Rama Keirs. She is, no, she was a member of the Maiden of Journeys ranks, and has on more than one occasion been at your side to speed you along on a critical objective.

As the room fills, there is a wave of idle chatter as everyone wonders as to just what it is that is so important to need such a meeting. There is a lot of curiosity trying to hide a wave of concern; meetings of the Conclave are not usually called like this one was, and the dual messages from Chejop and Ayesha make the level of worry start to grow. Finally, the doors at the head of the room burst open and Chejop comes into the room like a hurricane trapped in a human body with Ayesha at his side, both flanked by high-ranking members of the Gold and Bronze factions. Chejop looks around and sees that there are a few empty seats in the room and glares. "Where the hell is Between? And his sister, Reyna? Perlata? Damn them all. Does the order of 'Drop what you are doing and get your asses here?' mean nothing to them?"

A low murmur from the crowd signals a general lack of knowledge, and the room falls silent at Chejop's obvious anger, and a chill fills the room.

He grunts out, "No matter. While they would have been useful, we cannot wait." In a louder voice that fills the room, Chejop says, "My fellow Sidereals! A drastic matter now faces us. Eight hours ago, Mannan Doll was performing her duties at the Heptagram in the role as an elder Dragon Blooded sorcerer teaching the apprentices when the very gates were torn off their hinges as Mnemon entered the grounds flanked by three demons of the Second Circle. She ordered the demons to point out which one of the instructors were actually members of the Order. Once Mannan was pointed out to her, she approached him with critical information about the Empress. Using her own resources, she has been able to discover the whereabouts of the Empress for the past five years before her reappearance. She has been locked away in Malfias in the claws of the Ebon Dragon."

A shocked gasp erupts from many of the audience at this, but a few of the older members of the Order can be seen slowly nodding their heads as the information sinks in.

"I have been able to confirm most of what Mnemon had said to Mannan, along with finding out what the end game is: She is now actively working to break her husband, the Ebon Dragon, out of his prison of Malfias and set him free upon us all. As a 'wedding gift', she now possesses powers far beyond what she could have ever wielded before, and is in command of a new, twisted group of Exalted raised up from the missing fifty Solar Shards, Exalted of Malfias under the sole direction of the Primordials. As such, she has committed treason against all of Creation, and the sentence for this crime is death."

At this point, the old man begins to pick out of the auditorium the best fighters of the Order, including Ayesha Ura and eight other members of the Enclave. "We have let a poison flow into our midst for too long. We now will go forth and eliminate this snake at its head. No quarter will be given. Am I clear? The rest of you, start making plans to dig out the rest of the corruption that the Demon Queen has already hidden in all corners of Creation. We are at war, and have been behind the curve for months." He turns to look at those that were picked out of the auditorium, saying, "We must prepare for a fight from the moment we set foot in the Imperial Palace. Prepare yourselves with your most potent Charms. We set out as soon as possible."

Weapons are drawn and Essence spent, filling the room with their anima glow, all the while Chejop is preparing to cast a spell. Once all are ready, he casts a powerful teleport spell that takes the ten Chosen out of the room.

Just as the spell is completed, a powerful series of explosions rip through the room. The blasts kill many in moments, wounding others. Even as the flames begin to burn, Octavian and five other Second Circle demons appear on the burned platform where the Chosen once stood. They waste no time and begin to move out into the auditorium, slaughtering all that survived the initial explosions. The Chosen are not helpless, and they do manage to start putting up a fight. Two of the demons are destroyed, but in the end, there are four still standing. Octavian reaches down into the pile of bodies and pulls out the bleeding form of Axtis Jen, throwing her up against the wall where he impales her with his staff. He lets out a laugh, saying, "You will be our witness to what happened here. Make sure you tell then all that the end of the Age has arrived, and all that stand before us will fall as the Ebon Dragon rises up once more." He turns to face his fellow demons, saying, "Go out into the building and enjoy yourselves. I wish to toy with this one a bit longer."

It is not long after that that we see the arrival of the three of you, and the ensuing battle with Octavian.

As the spell comes to an end, you realize that you are no longer alone in the auditorium. Six Celestial Lions stand there, eyes wide open in horror, along with a full two dozen little gods that serve as security. They must have come in while you were all watching what had happened.

What do you do?

 

[Chowlett]

Perlata is the first to shake herself free from the shock of watching what has transpired; she turns to the lions and the small gods.

"Noble friends, you can see that Yu Shan and the Deliberative have been the victims of a hideous and callous attack, pre-planned and executed without compunction. Reyna, Between and myself were saved from the slaughter here only by what we have reason to believe was the direct intervention of the Maidens themselves; before returning, Reyna requisitioned information from the pattern spiders and learned that we - along with Axtis here - represent not less than half of the Maidens' chosen that remain. Even Chejop and Ayesha have fallen."

"We do not know if Mannan's intelligence is accurate, but if it is then clearly it augurs extremely ill for all Creation. I presume" - here she looks to Reyna and Between for confirmation - "that we must now follow those leads and do what we can to safeguard Fate."

"I trust that you all will discharge your duties here with unusual diligence in the meantime. Clean up. Attend the dead with the appropriate rites, and see that their possessions are safeguarded for their next lives. I... do not think you will see another attack. With luck, our enemy believes the Sidereal Exalted completely eradicated. It is my hope they do not realise we four, at least, remain alive; and on that element of surprise we must rely for as long as we are able."