Story Seed - Marksman

Image Source: http://aituarmanas.deviantart.com/art/Cyborg-Araneae-461010438

My comms bleeped twice; the operation was go. I mentally triggered the full suite sensor helm that was slaved into my biocomp. There was a high pitched whine as the electronics woke up and the external projectors came to life. The night fled like shadow under the noon sun. I flipped through the overlays and dialed in a combination of IR (25% opacity), active UV (20% opacity), passive light amplification (65% opacity), and ultrasonic echolocation (45% opacity). The world looked like a drug trip gone wrong, and the detail was washed out, lost beneath the optics enhancements. I dialed up the computer active framing assist to 85% opacity with a 70% sensitivity. My biocomp processed the incoming data set separately and the redrew the details I'd miss into my active display. I could have read the newspaper lying in the gutter if I'd wanted.

I gave my rifle an unconscious heft. My biocomp told me that it came in at 18.87 kilos, and the magazine was fully loaded. One hundred solid steel, polymer coated, 14mm slugs, lined up and eager to fly with the assistance of several dozen high Gauss electromagnets. I activated the smart gun overlay (77% opacity) and knew exactly where the gun was pointed. In this case at the alley below, and the picture in picture pop up on my active display was more than enough to know that there was smashed flat soda bottle at the end of my gun's current trajectory.

I shouldered the weapon and took a shooting position before locking my leg joints (100% stiffness) and dialing up the resistance in my lower back (45% stiffness). I'd barely feel the recoil at all. I waited, my reticle hovering over a bit of brick wall. I adjusted the IR overlay (65% opacity) and dialed back the passive light amplification (20% opacity) so I could better see the interior of the cheap hourly coffin bank. Details were lost as my biocomp adjusted for targeting beyond the wall and inside the building (projection accuracy: 73%). Lucky for me the uplink quickly communicated my problem with the field agent inside. His biocomp provided as much data as it could and my active display started to update with projected renders based on what he could see and sense (projection accuracy: 87% and climbing).

I waited.

Last Week Today - January 2 - 8, 2017

Monday
Holiday

Wednesday
Inspirational - Person of Interest

Friday

Gods of the Fall - Session Prep - Things Change

Gods of the Fall - Session Prep - Things Change

In the last session that characters had a strange adventure in a collapsing aether realm that may well have been a heaven, a heaven for gods unknown during the Fall. Their journey tested them and in then end gave them a bit of nascent power. Will that power grow within them upon their return to the Afterworld, or will the darkness there snuff it out?

Our heroes have returned to the world. They are more than they were but have also been scoured by their journey and have sacrificed blood and possessions to return. They now stand in the crater of that fallen object, an aether realm that has finally degraded into nothingness.

• The first thing that will happen is they will realize they are not alone. 
• Actually the first thing that will happen is they will have to deal with the dawn's light that threatens the life of one of their own...
• ... and also they will find they are not alone.
• A large figure, rough in appearance exited the object with them, or perhaps was at the crater site when they exited. This savage seeming ork has a ruddy red glow about her to their eyes. What will they do?
• Raehcha claims to have had a vision of a fallen star that led her to this place shortly after the impact. Her description of the realm within the object is similar to what the PCs saw but neither she nor they can explain why they did not see each other. 
• Raehcha (level 4, red aura, divine symbol appears as a drop of red liquid, health 18) Raehcha, is a nascent god of health and a possible ally of the group. 

I'm curious how this will play out as the Gods of the Fall orks & goblins are described as being fairly savage. We'll see how the PCs deal with the situation and if they may an ally and potential pantheon member from of this goddess of the savage races. 

Of course hours have passed and the sun is rising. With the godstorm that protected the impact site gone the group may make their way out of the crater easily enough. There are still many cyphers to be looted (and in daylight its easier to do so, 10 minutes of searching will yield 2 cyphers with a level 2 perception/searching test. 

However with daylight have also come more of the curious, including many who would not have made the journey at night. This includes two groups that the PCs are already on somewhat familiar terms with: The Reconciliation and the Adherents.

• The Adherent preacher from the night before (Jaekob, level 2) is leading a group of the faithful (mostly level 1 to 3) to the impact site as they consider this a holy event and a holy site. They arrived just before dawn and were witness to the godstorm's collapse. When they see the PCs climb out of the crater they will react accordingly. 
• The Reconciliation arrived more recently, with a full Knight in tow. Two of the junior knights the group had humiliated the night before had followed the group here and then reported back after seeing the PCs enter the godstorm. They returned with their senior knight, a sneering, woman named Keetha, to secure the area for the Reconciliation and (they hoped) get some revenge on the PCs.
• The two groups are on the verge of fisticuffs. Keetha has little patience for the Adherents and outside of the city limits of Somorrah she is not bound by the city's law. She intends this to be a massacre.
• Though the Adherents outnumber the Reconciliators by 5 to 1 they are not combat trained and many are not armed with more than a dagger or walking stick. If need be one of the Adherents will out themselves as a bibliomancer (possible GM Intrusion during combat if it comes to that), but the odds are by far in favor of Keetha and her men.

I'm not planning this beyond the set up. If the PCs can manage a diplomatic solution I'll let it happen, but Keetha does want blood, and 3 of her men want retribution for the humiliation they feel they suffered at the hands of the PCs. Jaekob and his followers don't seek violence but they will not back down from their beliefs which will now include that the PCs (and possibly Raehcha) are (at the least) chosen champions of the old gods.

For this session I decided not to plan beyond these two encounters as there is a strong chance that the 2nd will lead to a combat. Keetha is a full level 7 Reconciliator and while she will not fight to the point of death or foolishness, the odds are in favor of PCs being able to route her men and forcing her to retreat (which would allow a recurring villain to be born). 

If there's time I'll allow the PCs to continue RP with the Adherents and/or return to Somorrah to regroup and refit (e.g. shopping), if not this can happen off screen between this session and the next.