TheShattered

A headline appears in the Paragon Observer

SUSPECT WANTED IN BRUTAL ASSAULT

At roughly 8pm last night, Professor Julian Hardave was assaulted by an unknown attacker in his flat in Steel Canyon. Neighbours didn't hear anyone exit or leave his flat, but heard the commotion. They found the Professor in a critical condition in his bedroom, and was rushed to hospital.

Doctors say his condition is 'critical' but believe it can be 'stabilized'.

Professor Julian is well-known as one of the leading academics in Mu History, and the PPD are treating it as a crime related to his profession.

Detective Rogers commented that 'Several items had been removed from the Professor's residence, though we do not believe that was the intent'

Anyone with any information on the matter are instructed to report their evidence to Detective Rogers.

The redcoat repeated his counting procedure, the others simply staring back at him, probably thinking he was a bit mad. When he'd done calculating, he turned back.

"Transportation should take no less than a day with a proper guide, construction about ... three days, provided the weather and environment remain favorable."

In a tiny corner of the Rogue Isles Reader

SUSPECT WANTED IN RELATION TO MURDER OF GANG MEMBERS

Two witnesses, females, reported multiple murders in the Port Oakes area. The suspect, who was described as a 'sickly looking man in a red robe' assaulted the female's partners with no provocation.

The victims were believed to be members of the Hellions gang.

Arachnos Officials have released no official statement, but cite that the suspect 'is wanted for numerous other crimes and should not be approached'

The two females are unharmed, but shocked.

If the Developers could make powersets instantly and perfectly for no cost, then yes!

But sadly, no. So i'll have this /unsigned.

I can't think of any concepts of a character using a sword that 'grows longer'. To me, it goes like this.

Melee: Use a sword (Or any other melee attack)
Ranged: Use a gun (Or any other ranged attack)

If you want ranged with melee, we have that. They are Blasters. Want it on a Corruptor? Well, as part of their APP/PPP, they can get melee attacks (albeit, one melee attack)

Because to me, having a ranged set with melee attacks is crossing some sort of technical heresy of 'melee guys go in melee, ranged guys stay at range'

As for the idea itself? I've explained that. I don't like it. Simply put. I can't take a character who has a 'extending sword' seriously. The room for innuendos is too great.

One of the redcoats did some calculation, murmuring numbers under his breath and pointing at each of the present redcoats, counting on his hand and so on.

"About a day and a bit for minimum running capacity, provided weather stays favorable."

The redcoat looked at the sky

"Most likely not, however."

One time, I wanted a Peacebringer redside for thematic reasons

Also, it makes no sense for EATS to start in Praetoria. Praetoria doesn't seem to have any sort of Kheldian or Nictus presence, and of course, Arachnos doesn't exist there.

As much as I would like to /sign it .... unfortunately not.

(Redside isn't -that- bad )

One of the augmented humans, a large, quite well-built woman, who was also bald, went to answer, until one of the redcoats raised their hand to bid silence.

"We intend to set up camp due south of here. We have other research we wish to carry out."

One of the humans put down a crate and looked about idly. The redcoat glanced at the crate, then back.

"Nothing malicious, assured."

Yale nodded "Godspeed." and looked back at his desk, which was primarily dominated by the sword. He looked over it, but decided it best to move it safely to a safer place later. "If you want a tour of the wilds, talk to the Acquisition Officer at the Armoury, he'll get a Hunter to guide you, tell 'em Yale said you could."

The mercenaries and redcoats filed out, the redcoats talking to each other quietly, and in some sort of numerical code.

Outside the command center, the various mercenaries went their separate ways, some back to the portal, the others going for a look about and some to the armoury. The hero Azurewing returned back to the portal.

The redcoats convened in the centre of the courtyard, talking among each other. A few more of their number showed up, coming from the portal building and carrying metal crates. These redcoats seemed more human, in that their hoods didn't cover their entire head, showing the skin underneath, though they all displayed signs of ferocious cybernetic replacements.

-------

Yale chuckled

"Hard to find? You wander out there at night, you probably aren't coming back."

The redcoat still seemed unphased and shrugged.

"We are adequately prepared and equipped for an ambush"

Yale also shrugged

"Well, I ain't going to stop you, but if you want to find them in the day, they're practically crawling all over Detroit. Just watch out for any Icescale."

There's not much of a suggestion here, apart from "Want more stuff."

What KIND of stuff?

Zones?

Powersets?

Trials/TF's?

Issue 23 is bringing a new Incarnate Trial and Incarnate Ability.

Useful if you're a VIP, not so much for everyone else.

The mercenary folded his arms "I don't think i've been paid enough for that, not without a guarantee of backup" Then gestured to the redcoats "These guys look like dead men walking."

This didn't seem to phase the redcoat one bit, instead answering his question

"We have some efficient capturing technology, though the subject will have to be shall we say, 'alive and wriggling'? If they destroy themselves upon sustaining too much damage, we will have to capture an unharmed or relatively un-damaged one."

Yale chuckled

"They'd have to get it up, running and properly defended by nightfall. Everything outside of these walls is a death sentence, in terms of starting a base."

He leaned forwards and rested his hands on his chin

"Of course, we can help with that, but i've said before what the deal's gunna be."

Yale returned to his usual soldier self and nodded slightly

"Most likely. We've tried studying them, but they melt shortly after taking too many hits. They also show clear intelligence and purpose, something you wouldn't find in something that was mindless. We can't verify anything, but we think it's a strong possibility they're magical in nature."

--

The merc remained tight-lipped, only uttering a few words

"We have plans, just not locations. Maybe these guys will be less tight-lipped once we smack around some ice monsters."

The redcoat shrugged

"The ice beings are our main concern. Whatever is animating them could surely come in useful for many technologies, though we can only theorize at the moment."

Yale looked down at the blade for a moment, furrowing his brow and pursing his lips, not quite grasping what was going on. He made a slow reach for it, then retracted his hand and rested his chin on his hand, then looked up, a little less serious.

"If I had a paycheck, this wouldn't quite cover it."

He sighed

"I'm a soldier, probably not the best guy to represent everyone here and beyond, but uh .. i'll give it some thought."

He shrugged

"In the meantime, can I put it somewhere safe?"

Yale tapped his chin with a pencil on his desk, thinking

"I can't give you a concrete answer now. I can't speak for all the NPA. We'd also need to run this by the other provinces. Don't expect them to say yes. That's all I can offer at the moment."

He then turned to Cara.

"That's precisely what we had in mind. If you can identify and eliminate the source of the monsters, we can do our best to tackle the main bulk of the horde. Your efforts should give us the respite we need to direct a concerted assault."

He then pointed his pencil at the rest, seriously

"If any of you have some .. 'other' plans, we'd like to hear them." He put emphasis on the 'other'.

One of the mercenaries shrugged "My company wants to set up some oil wells."

Yale nodded "If you can find them, good luck."

The mercenary raised an eyebrow "If we find them? You're not gunna help?"

Yale shrugged and smirked "You scratch our back ..."

The mercenary humphed, and folded his arms. One of the red-robed men spoke up.

"We want to capture and study one of these ice monsters. For the betterment of humanity."

Yale raised an eyebrow and leaned forwards

"You're welcome to try, not that I expect you'll find anything."

The soldier nodded and gestured the group to follow

"Right this way sirs and madams."

The soldier turned and headed to the door along with his retinue. He punched in a code on the door, opening the door with a slight creak of worn machinery.

Outside, the environment was as to be expected. Snow was gently falling and clouds hung heavy in the air. The ground was covered with what was likely a permanent layer of snow, though the Cold Earthers had done their best to make paths and courtyards.

On the outside, the Portal room bunker was an ugly dull grey with a thick layer of snow on the top. On further observation, all the buildings inside the encampment were almost exactly the same, although some were larger.

The encampment itself was surrounded by a similar coloured concrete wall with one gate for entering and exiting. Watchtowers were placed at regular intervals on the fence. The centre of the encampment was a large courtyard where several war machines lay, likely never having been used in years.

To the north of the camp (Where the gate leads) was a bundle of soldiers loading crates off and onto a flatbed truck. Elsewhere around the camp soldiers were either patrolling or training or otherwise maintaining the camp.

There also seemed to be a significant lack of any civilians.

The one building which did stand out from the encampment was the command tower, a large concrete building lying on the opposite side of the Portal room.

The soldier and his men lead the group to the tower, where two guards stood. The two guards saluted and stood aside to let the group in.

The inside of the tower was small, to say the least, being populated by many bustling soldiers of varying rank, and stacks of what appeared to be servers and computers.

The soldier headed up several flights of stairs until they reached the top. He pressed at a comm-panel next to the door marked "C.O's Office"

"Commander, the help has arrived."

The voice from the other side had a distinct New York African-American accent.

"Let them in Captain."

The soldier nodded and pressed at the keypad on the wall, opening the door.

Inside sat Commander Yale. He was a fairly unremarkable man, shaven head and face, heavy jaw, all the typical traits of a soldier. At his desk were numerous files and documents. He looked up from his desk, revealing more of his appearance. Clearly, he'd suffered some heavy injuries in his time, namely, his left eye showed clear scar tissue and his pupil had become a milky white.

"So, you're the guys and gals Pitcher found? Welcome to Camp Cleveland. I'm told you have lots of questions."

He leaned back in his chair, resting his hands on his stomach.

Pitcher took a final look around the room, and turned back to Holmes, who nodded back at him.

Pitcher looked up to the Portal Technicians, gave a thumbs up and shouted

"We're good to go!"

The technicans nodded and went about their business, setting the portal to the correct co-ordinates.

Pitcher moved to the portal, which was now set to the right place. He shouted to get everyone's attention

"Alright, on the other side you'll want to meet with Commander Yale, he'll answer any more questions you have. After that, it's up to you all, we'll give pointers where we can."

The technicians gave the green light, signalling it safe to enter.

Pitcher added one final thing

"Good luck, and godspeed!"

At that, the various mercenary groups piled in to enter the desolate world of Cold Earth.

0900 hours, NPA Cleveland Encampment, Cold Earth

On the other side, the Cold Earther technicians looked up to see their new arrivals. The technicians wore ski-masks and goggles, in addition to windbreakers, as even indoors the temperature was icy cold.They watched for a moment as they piled down the ramp. One notable thing was the size of the portal, being significantly smaller but with a lot more pipes. The technicians went back to their work.

The portal room itself was covered in a thin layer of snow and ice. Several heaters were set up, but did little to stay the onset of ice. The walls were made of several sheets of dense metal and concrete, black in colour. Small windows at the tops of the walls let in little light, but enough to keep the room decently illuminated.

Several soldiers stood just a bit beyond the ramp, waiting for their new arrivals.

The lead one, identified by the armour he wore on the outside of his coat, took a few stops forward

"Alright, nice crowd. If you will, you can follow me to meet the Commander, or, you can just go about your business. If you need to speak with the Commander later, he's in the building overlooking the courtyard, you can't miss it, it's the tall one with the antennae."

((Just to distinguish them as main plot characters over other characters who might speak in my posts.))

"Well, the main plan is to advance south to combat the bulk of the monsters, to do that, we need resources and sabotage. Oh, and you'll meet with my superiors first, before anything. Just thought i'd let everyone know ahead what the main plan on our end is."

A few more guests arrived, including the hero Azurewing, wearing his proper winter camouflage. A few of the guests were also clad in red, though their attire was more appropriate for winter conditions, all of them carrying some boxed equipment.

Pitcher regarded the boxes for a moment, then turned his attention back to the group

"You can set up any quick teleports in our base at Cleveland, though be sure to keep any temporary bases within a reasonable snow-sleding distance, in-case you need backup."

The group in red looked among each other, and spoke in hushed tones, mainly whilst glancing at the large power-suited thing.

Pitcher and Holmes looked at each other. Holmes gestured Pitcher to speak, who shrugged lightly, then turned back to Cara

"5 to 10 minutes, give or take a few other minutes."

He then spoke up a bit, to address the wider group

"If it matters, you'll be deploying in Cleveland, or what's left of it. If you're stuck for things to do, I suggest Detroit. A lot of old machinery there we can put back to use."

He turned back to Cara

"Basically, most big cities are in ruins now, we'll need the resources to advance south."

A few of the gathered mercs inspected the newcomer, one of them turning to the other and muttering "Cape .."

Pitcher shared a glance with his colleague, then replied.

"Here, yes. We're just waiting for the rest to turn up for the first look. My superiors are waiting on the other side."

He turned his attention briefly to the group in red

"And she's right, you'll freeze in a few seconds if you aren't bringing any gear."

One of them shrugged, making a slight servo-whirring noise. Pitcher tutted.

"Your funeral."

He turned back to Cara

"Thanks for the support. It's good to see some less .. militarized people turning up."

Holmes also added

"With your abilities, you shouldn't have any problems with the monsters."

Morning, Portal Corps. Building, Portal Room C

It was particularly cold in Portal Room C today. At the request of Captain Pitcher, the AC had been turned as low as possible, so as to prepare the guests for the conditions on the other side. Suitably, the Portal Corps staff had brought windbreakers and snow boots to deal with the cold.

With Pitcher was one of his colleagues, Lieutenant Holmes. The two were stood just off the entrance to the portal, which was in the process of powering up.

"What do you think of the candidates Holmes?"

Holmes shrugged. In truth, he didn't give a rat's ***. As long as the problem was dealt with. "They're okay. Never look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Hm. Let's hope it doesn't turn out to be a Trojan horse."

Less than a few minutes later, the esteemed guests began to arrive. Most were mercenary captains or envoys, others actual heroes who had brought their winter gear. Though, a few had clearly not brought any equipment, clad only in red, hooded clothing.

Pitcher gave them a curious glance, then whispered to Holmes

"Told you we'd get some fruitcakes."

Holmes chuckled once and returned his attention to his handheld computer.