Mirandae

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

<Snipped quote by Prisk>
It could just be an age difference. When I was in college/high school I could sling posts so easily bc there wasn't much pulling on me. Now it's a lot more difficult to find that nugget of time for myself.

@Krash

We're getting old, aren't we? Mid 30s is a hell of a lot different from mid 20s, that's for sure.

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

@Aeolian
Haha, no worries babe! Do you want to run with it? Otherwise I'll edit if you are.

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

_{♜ ♜ ♜ ♜}

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_{DAY 1 《》 STEELWATER [Forest] 《》 Late Morning 《》 @Aeolian@Exit}

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"Yes. UDF Guardian Corps to be more precise." Emilia kept her focus on the stranger. UDF regulation mandated that all soldiers would identify themselves when interacting with civilians or unknown combatants, especially before starting a shooting gallery. These rules were no different for Aeon, even if there were mixed opinions about that. A moment after Emilia had diligently followed the wishes of the UDF overlords, the other unknown made himself present in the conversation by the all too familiar gawking. Clarke...? Almost there, buddy. She thought to herself. Emilia slowly lowered her weapon while the man continued to speak. She ejected the empty magazine of the rifle and tossed it to Christina in a slow arc, easy to catch. The woman did not seem like a threat at this time. Besides, there were civilian lives at stake. Even if BlackRock operatives could be heartless, they were not all bad apples. Emilia stepped closer to Peter and the injured girl to see what the situation was and if it were salvageable. From what Emilia could tell, and she was no medic, the little one could see yet another day if proper treatment arrived sooner rather than later. Luckily, as Peter mentioned, the Research Division PRS nearby would have the equipment to fix this, not to mention highly skilled personnel. "I could jump her there, but I don't want to risk any further injury if something goes wrong." Emilia said, and then tilted her head towards Christina. "You up for this? I'll carry her if you cover me." Emilia squatted next to the young girl and employed the standard rescue carry across the shoulders. Being an Aeon with enhanced strength, Emilia could not even feel the weight of the tiny one when she stood up again. At that moment, the shockwave of a violent explosion came from the fight between the rest of the team and the abomination further down the creek. A numbing, whining sound from the initial crack of Robert's attack rang in Emilia's ears, but slowly faded away. Everything was intensely bright for a brief moment as if the sun had broken through the dark clouds above. Robert's inferno and Scylla's barrage of penetrating beams marked the final end of the horrid monstrosity. The thing abruptly became lifeless. A loose gurgling sound escaped the various exits of the beast, as it fell over into the barren creek, which slowly had its water return from various places. The remainder of the tiny insects and tree husks quickly scattered, fleeing in all directions, being killed off by entrenched soldiers of the World Eaters battalion. The previous order that Emilia had given was still in effect, even if she could not see the abomination die. The team was to rendezvous at the ResDiv Portable Research Station. From there, they could finally continue into the city. 》 Enemy & Tactical Map 《

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_{FLASHBACK [Day 1] 《》 DUSKMIRE 《》 Early Morning 《》 @Prisk}

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The morning in Duskmire had been the same as in the greater part of Estren—gloomy and rainy. The town was one of the smaller residential areas around. There was a 'main' street with shops and restaurants, a train station and a couple of busses, houses and apartments, a school or two, and a few places for sports and other activities. It was the perfect place to be quiet and unseen. In one of many backstreets, far away from the morning commuters, a meeting was being held by two shadowy figures. "They convened earlier this morning." The man was shrouded by a raincoat and some manner of advanced goggles. He had a deep, slightly rusty voice. "The target package is ready, should you accept." He said and handed sealed documents to a darkly clad woman. They were both individuals of the Intelligence Division, although from a specific department. Their particular field of expertise was Aeon Control or Anti-Aeon Countermeasures. These were the formal designations of it. In reality, they were in the business of assassinating unwanted problems. "Deadline?" The woman spoke with soft tones, seasoned with the distinctive accent of Tenshi. She was Hana Maeda, codename Gravija, a rare member of IntDiv terror. "There is a SWARG team assigned to this detail. Coordinate with them on the ground in Steelwater." The hidden man said and paused for a split moment. "Emilia Lange appears to be running the team, which means this op is going to be unnecessarily public. I trust that's not a problem?" He was assertive in his assumption. ...eh Hana was unfamiliar with facial expressions, but this warranted a hint of annoyance to be visible. She was well aware of what the UDF and the public thought and wanted Emilia Lange to be. It was certainly not Hana's cup of tea, but perhaps it was time to adapt and grow. She accepted the job and received the documents. Nothing more was said between the two. The man quickly left the scene of what to an outsider would almost look like a crime or illegal business. Hana departed in the opposite direction and found a modest café in which she could have a moment. The sealed documents outline who the target was and other details. Hana was slightly taken back by that name. At first, she thought it was a mistake, but the more she read the more it became apparent that this was what the Department wanted. She would have to do thorough preparation for this job. There was no subtle way of going about this endeavor, so the only loadout option available was full contact, all-out confrontation. It was peculiar, though, that the Department wanted this man dead when the SWARG team would probably come to the same conclusion. The only thing Hana could think of was that the sealed documents had mentioned his relationship with Emilia Lange. The higher-ups of IntDiv were probably paranoid about the possibility of Lange not being able to do what most likely needed to be done. It became clear that Hana was their Assurance Policy.

Summary

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Emilia is taken back by her new surname. The rest of the interaction between Peter and Christina is smooth. She figures that Christina is not a threat this time. Emilia offers to help with the injured girl, asking Christina to cover them as they make it for the ResDiv PRS.

Hana meets with a man from the Department, which is a part of the Intelligence Division. A contract on Benjamin Regardie has been established and given to Hana. She accepts, although confused about the details of it all. It eventually becomes clear that Emilia Lange is a liability, and the higher-ups of IntDiv want to make sure that the job is done.

Quest Steps

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@Aeolian@Exit, you guys are free to move Emilia along in your next posts, so that they can reach the PRS in a timely manner. For the others who are fighting the big bad: the thing is now DEAD. Robert and Scylla took it down with their last attacks. The next step is to make it to the ResDiv PRS. I will create some 'loot' for everyone who fought it and post it in the OOC later.

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

@DeadDrop@Rockette@Archangel89@Aeolian@Krash@Salsa Verde@Exit

Updated the following with some new graphics and information: Premise (first OOC post), Codex, Character Creation, and World Map.

Please check the world map and see if you have to adjust any 'Chronicle' information in your character sheets. I had to generate a new map for the website's own nation/country colors and borders, but I tried to keep it as close to the one that we had as possible.

I also have updates for the combat stuff, but I'll do that the next time we fight a big bad.

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

I'll get a secondary character for myself up and running before posting again. That's the ambition, at least.

<Snipped quote by Prisk>
But I do applaud us for reaching past 2 months. A lot of RPs don't even touch that. I'm proud of us who have stuck it to this point so far!

@Aeolian

I know it's not a competition, but I feel like the other games out there in our time-range are completely blowing us out of the water. It might just be GM paranoia, though. Anyway, resilience is the way to go.

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

I hope this doesn't feel 'dead' to anyone. I promised myself that I wouldn't shut anything down this time, so no need to worry about that if that has crossed anyone's mind. But, even if there is a narrative excuse for players/characters popping in and out, it can only make sense for so long. It's something to keep in mind.

Also, did you want me to stick to a posting order, Prisk?

@Exit

No, we need all the posts we can get.

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

@Krash
That's insane. If it's detrimental to your health, then you're definitely right in closing that chapter of your life.

@Lionhearted
Please, join us if you want to. What @Aeolian said in the other thread about this game is spot on.

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

_{♪ ♪ ♪ ♪}

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_{DAY 1 《》 STEELWATER [Forest] 《》 Late Morning 《》 @Aeolian@Exit@DeadDrop}

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The thing had to be close to death by now. Despite its obvious injuries and affected movement, the monster was determined to continue the struggle to the bitter end. Did it even have a conception of preserving its own life? Perhaps these things truly were completely mindless. At least it had a sense for detecting threats against itself. Robert’s presence and lavish entrance provoked the thing to a vile screech and following hostility. Its mouth gaped and showed its bizarre assortment of fangs and other incomprehensible things. A violent stream of grotesquely colored water spewed forth towards Robert’s frame. The amount of it was too much to have ever fit inside the thing, so it had to be some kind of magic—but was it based on spirits? Did spirits possess these things as well? Emilia could not even begin to imagine an answer. She was just a WarDiv grunt, so she know little to nothing about these kinds of things. However, how the Stiggies used magic was not what truly had Emilia’s attention. On her way down from the jump, she noticed movement and lights a bit further into the forest area. There were people there that were not part of the S.W.A.R.G. team and it was doubtful that it was anyone from the World Eaters battalion. They were either civilians trying to escape the city, another team that the UDF had not informed about, or a hostile force about to flank the position. If the latter was true, then this was the perfect opportunity to do it. Emilia had to make an executive decision. McMahon had not designated a proper leader for the team, but had rather suggested it to be Emilia by way of implied punishment for insubordination—the ‘punishment’ being the position of trying to lead a team of leaders. "Keep at it. I saw some movement to our west. I’ll be right back." Emilia said over the communication channel. Hopefully, someone took note of her call out even if they were in the middle of a fight and distracted by all sorts of things. Emilia drove her blade through a couple of the tree husks and insects on her way towards the general area where she had seen the lights and what she presumed were people—it could just as well have been more of the creatures or some other monster they had not seen yet. An effortless jump to cover the last bit of distance made her arrival after the airy explosion appear uncanny. Emilia sheathed her sword and shouldered her rifle again before making contact with what she thought to be humans. From her experience, people were generally more afraid of a firearm than a melee weapon. So, even if her weapon was dryer than a desert and craving for bullets, it would certainly do its job to instill fear nonetheless. Emilia’s approach was from behind the tree that the strangers seemed to occupy. The first impression was the tip of the spear as Emilia rounded the tree. The scene was no stranger than any other scene in a war such as this, yet unique in its own way. Emilia instantly noticed the BlackRock logo on the chest rig of a female soldier. This was not the first time that she had dealt with mercenaries, special operation groups, and other such things based on the big corporations. They were not always hostile, but they were not necessarily helpful either. The other person there seemed to either tend to or mourn the dead on the ground. Emilia did catch a glimpse of the crossbow, so the assumption was that this other individual was a combatant as well, probably UDF of some capacity. Emilia kept her eyes on the BlackRock operator, though. “You guys got here fast. Do you mind putting that weapon away or is this going to be one of those ugly encounters you hear the grunts complain about all the time?” Emilia said while keeping her gun pointed at Christina—still dry of bullets. 》 Enemy & Tactical Map 《

Summary

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The chain of events here are a bit off from @Exit's post. But, this is the easiest way that I could have Emilia notice Peter and Christina. Besides that, the big bad attacks Robert with the "torrent" water attack.

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

@Krash
Being a sub is much worse than being a regular teacher. Even the first couple of days as the new teacher are better than being a sub, so I totally understand your position. There are plenty of shitty things about that profession, but being a sub is truly down there in the gutter of shitty things.

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

Nobody is evil. We have this nice layout for posts that @Exit was nice enough to allow us to use, so I think we should use it. I realize that the 'summary', the cards/icons, and all that adds a lot of clutter, but I think we're doing fine so far.

So, we need a couple of additional hits on this Boss/Big Bad and we're good. I believe @Rockette@Archangel89@Salsa Verde are the closest to it, including myself and @DeadDrop, but I'm not going to double-combat-post. I'll pick up on Peter & Christina in my next post, instead.

At some point after all this, I'll do a push-everyone-together kind of post and move us forward into the city. The idea is that they'll find an old, underground facility that seems to have been a collaboration between the Intelligence & Navigation divisions.

@Krash
Do you work as a teacher? Substitute?