Against the Aeon Throne Episode 005

After the Gap - May 5, 317 @ 00:08

With

Against the Aeon Throne Episode 004

After the Gap - May 4, 317 @ 06:00

Following the destruction of the Azlanti garrison on Madelon's Landing, Gryfinda, Trevian, Altronus and Beric spend a deserved night recuperating from their efforts at Aibretta's junk shop. Gryfinda suggests coming up with a list of things to do, as well as fixing the broken hovercraft. Trevian proposes that the town folks continue to act as if the local garrison was still active, with people walking around wearing Azlanti armor. He also states that the resident computer expert should try to install a translator function on their datapad for written Azlanti text. Beric replies that he will try to do that, but there's a higher priority.

Beric, with Aibretta's help, fixes the broken hoverstrike left in the stable. Madelon draws a map of where the ancient Azlanti ship, the Royal Venture, crashed. It is located roughly 12 miles from Madelon's Landing, and the hoverstrike should cover the trip in about 20 minutes. Gryfinda talks to some of the village elders about Cedona. She learns that Cedona was appreciated by the residents for her skills and her perseverance. The android had retired here four years ago, and seemed to enjoy life on Nakondis. She was the first one on the scene of the crashed probe, and she's the only one who entered the Royal Venture. She dismantled what she called a rune drive, and managed to bring it back here. She was planning on studying how the drive worked when the Azlanti arrived.

Trevian returns to Madelon the datapad he had taken from the administrator's house. Madelon thanks Trevian, but gives it back as it contains a few videos of Cedona and the rune drive. There is not enough information here to figure out how it operated, but the drive is clearly visible. Trevian muses aloud that the pictures and videos should be uploaded to the Infosphere when they return to Absalom Station. Gryfinda is opposed, since this would reveal the existence of this device to everyone, and she doesn't believe the galaxy is ready for such a paradigm shift.

Gryfinda continues to talk to the village elders, and inquires when they should expect the return of the last Azlanti team that went to the Royal Venture. Their consensus is that it should be within the next three days.

Trevian and Gryfinda then leave the junk yard and return to the water cooling station, where they defeat the water elemental guard left behind by the Azlanti. Meanwhile, Altronus organizes a drive with the village folks to gather enough supplies for their trek into the rain forest. With their help, he puts together enough provisions for a full week for all four of them.

After the Gap - May 4, 317 @ 07:38

The next morning, sensors alert them that one of the hoverstrikes is returning to Madelon's Landing. Arriving at the stables, three Azlanti cadets unload empty supply boxes and returns to the garrison. Laying in ambush, Altronus warns his friends of their arrival to the garrison. Beric, Gryfinda and Trevian quickly dispatch them with the help of a feedback loop the mechanic set up earlier. On their corpses they find a list of tools and provisions requested by Lieutenant Sharu.

After much discussion, they devise a plan. Gryfinda will fly one of the hoverstrike while disguised as an Azlanti, while Trevian rides in a large box built on the back of the hoverstrike. They will land as close to the ship as possible, with the hope of neutralizing any sentries. Altronus and Beric will follow in the repaired hoverstrike, and will travel through the forest a short way.


After the Gap - May 4, 317 @ 14:02

With all of their preparations ready, they head out to the crash site of the Royal Venture. Hovering, they see the ship partially sticking out of the ground, with two hoverstrikes, and another smaller Azlanti shuttle.  Gryfinda lands her craft next to the other two hoverstrikes. Glancing around, she spots no guards. Trevian emerges from his hiding spot, and they are soon joined by Altronus and Beric.

Beric successfully breaks into the shuttle, but no one is on board. It appears the shuttle is used as a barracks. Carefully, the party heads inside the Royal Venture. Right away they find the recently dead body of an Azlanti cadet. They soon face the same synapse worm that slew the cadet, and they defeat it.

Through exploration, they find the engine room, where Trevian is attacked by a pair of voracious electrovores, but he manages to make them flee. Further in, they discover a technomagical lab, where the rune drive would have been controlled. 

electrovore

In an adjacent room, clearly that of the ship's owner, Altronus is attacked by an adjutant robot, but with his friends' help the Kasatha is able to defeat it. Taking a quick look, Beric notices that with 2,000 credits and 2 weeks of work he should be able to fix the robot. In this room, they find enough valuable trinkets to earn about 3,500 credits, as well as two corrupted datapads. With some work, the data could probably be retrieved.

Returning to the technomagical lab, they slay the zombies that guarded it, and retire here to heal and recuperate.

Against the Aeon Throne Episode 003

After the Gap - May 3, 317 @ 12:35

With two patrols neutralized, Gryfinda, Beric, Trevian and Altronus discuss their next step with Aibretta. The fake Azlanti patrol the citizens of Madelon's Landing fielded with the equipment that was retrieved has successfully walked its regular patrol route for the last hour, and has not been challenged. However, with dusk and a shift change coming in about seven hours, their next actions will be decisive for the future of Madelon's Landing.

Trusting them since the slaying of the Azlanti near the cemetery, Aibretta tells them about town administrator Madelon's house and that Cedona might have shared more information with him. This information may still be in his residence. Trevian heads over to his residence and enters the town. He immediately sees that the Azlanti were very thorough in searching the house, but she does find a printed report from eleven days ago mentioning an industrial accident in the Blue Tin Range, but that two people who were hurt are likely to recover. Madelon had written a note to deliver this report to Goraya Li. Trevian is also able to pick up Madelon's data pad.

Returning to the junk hop, Trevian gives the report to Aibretta. She tells him that Goraya Li was worried sick about her niece and nephew, and this would really assuage her fears.


With Trevian at the administrator's house, Altronus and Beric carefully move the glider to the top of the antenna ridge. They climb to the top, and wait for the hobgars to be released from their cage before landing on top of the garrison.



After the Gap - May 3, 317 @ 18:29

With everything in place, Trevian releases the door on the hobgars' cage. The monkeys drop from the pole and attack the garrison building, destroying many of the outside cameras. Azlanti guards come out and engage the hobgars. At the same time, Altronus and Beric launch themselves from the antenna ridge in the glider, and land on top of the garrison. Beric cuts a hole in the roof using
Aibretta's plasma cutter, and they drop from the ceiling inside the Azlanti dormitory.

Outside, Gryfinda and Trevian devise their own means of climbing the garrison's outside wall, and they follow down the hole. Exploring the building, they confront two groups of Azlanti soldiers, and  in short order they successfully eliminate the threats. Gryfinda hacks into the system and disarms the alarm one of the Azlanti had set, warning everyone inside the compound.


Further in they discover the jail, with Madelon as one of the residents. He tells them that he's been here for 10 days, and he and the other prisoners have been tortured. Cedona was removed off-planet on the day the Azlanti landed, and was taken back to the Azlanti Star Empire. Aboard the ancient starship, the Android had found a rune drive, a powerful magical artifact that allowed ships to travel through space without Drift engines. None of the other settlers know anything about the device aside from what Cedona told them. Madelon also tells them that the local commander, Olajara, is in the next room, possibly with a few guards.

Entering the next room, they confront Olajara who hurls insults at them in a stilted Common. The fight is vicious, but Altronus is able to daze the commander, and Trevian delivers the kill shot. On his desk, they find Olajara's computer unlocked. In it are several reports he has written.

Olajara is perplexed that the Azlanti have suppressed their own signals, and he suspects that it is to prevent them from transmitting back to the Empire. Their ship, the Barazad, was rerouted to Nakondis when the probe returned a signal. Lieutenant Sharu, charged with training Azlanti Cadets for the Aeon Guard, took overall command of the expedition that secured Madelon's Landing and the site of the crash of the ancient Azlanti starship. This ship, the Royal Venture, carried an experimental rune drive that allowed it to travel through space without a Drift engine. The whole operation was ordered by Sardat Zolan Ulivestra. A fast courier ship, called the Silver Needle arrived a short time later to collect Cedona and the rune drive and returned to an unknown destination in the Azlanti Star Empire.

Armed with this information, the party returns to Aibretta's junk shop to discuss their next steps.

Against the Aeon Throne Episode 002

After the Gap - May 2, 317 @ 14:09

Following their meeting with Jellik Fulsom, the party follows the colonist through the woods on a circuitous route to Madelon's Landing and Aibretta's junk shot. Fulsom tells them he's trying to avoid the detection equipment the Azlanti have placed in the forest. It takes an hour to cover the half kilometer, but eventually they reach the back of a large building. Fulsom walks them to a section of the building, and shows them how to activate a concealed panel to access the junkyard's interior.

The junkyard itself is made of three large shipping containers assembled in a u-shape, with chainlink fencing around the property and large piles of junk hazardly placed around the yard, obscuring the view of the inner courtyard. Fulsom takes them to the easternmost building, which are Aibretta's private quarter.

Aibretta

Aibretta does not look surprised to see Jellik, merely disappointed. She welcomes the new arrivals, and informs them of what has happened over the last 20 days, retellling a similar story to that Jellik told them earlier in the morning. She then inquires if they came to Nakondis because their plea for help was heard. Unfortunately, none of the four had heard of the assault before they came here on a merchant transport.

Gryfinda tells Aibretta she is looking for someone. Beric confirms that he too seeks someone. They explain that their ship was shot down, and, seeing the lights in the night sky, made their way to Maledon's Landing. Trevian introduces himself, and asks if per chance she knows what was discovered in the wreck of the ancient Azlanti ship. Aibretta doesn't know, and Cedona, the android who discovered the ship, was immediately arrested and imprisoned inside the garrison following the Azlanti's landing. All others on the trek were arrested or shot, leaving no other witnesses. Gryfinda reveals that her deity has sent her here to free Cedona.

Aibretta questions them on their encounters with the Azlanti, and they assure her that they covered their tracks very carefully, and that the Azlanti don't know they are here. Aibretta considers this a very good thing. As leader of the local rebellion, she knows of several ways to hit at the Azlanti short of assaulting the garrison. One, the town is often infested by hobgars, and the townsfolk built a trap to catch the apes. It is currently full, but the Azlanti have not allowed it to be empty. Second, the Azlanti have forced water rationing, so freeing the water collector would be a boost to the inhabitants' morale. Finally, she's worried about Rendell Tace, who is the storehouse clerk and who hasn't been seen since an Aeon cadet was posted there two days ago.

Trevian, Altronus and Beric discuss how to neutralize the Azlanti surveillance that has bee strategically placed around Madelon's Landing. Since all the guards wear the same uniform, it's difficult to arrive at an actual number, but Aibretta believes there are three dozen soldiers here. She has not seen more than 12 at a time, however. She identifies Olaraja as the local commander, while Sharu is in overall command and was the only soldier seen without a face plate when she first occupied the town. Whereas Olaraja wears a distinctive armor, Sharu has not been spotted in town since the Azlanti's first landing 20 days ago.

The discussion then turns to the cause of the planet-wide jamming signal. Gryfinda speculates that the source of the jamming could be at the crash site. Trevian offers that it could be a system set up in space. Either way, they realize they have no way of effectively dealing with it at the moment.

Eventually, they begin considering their options. Altronus volunteers to monitor the town at night by sitting on the natural ridge that acts as an antenna after dark. Gryfinda is concerned that her Kasatha colleagues will stick out. Even though she could pass as an Azlanti, she is not very stealty. Aibretta lends night vision goggles to Altronus, and confirms that the Azlanti confiscated all of the weapons following their arrival. 

Beric excitedly explores the junkyard. He questions Aibretta about the water collector. She tells him it is composed of a large array of fins that collects the moisture from the air and drips it in four large tanks, that then feed into a systems of pipes for delivery to the residences in town. The Azlanti have shut the valve down, and there are reports that it is protected by a ghost, even though there are no guards posted there.
 


After the Gap - May 2, 317 @ 21:00

Following night fall, Altronus and Beric climb on the ridge and watches the garrison. There is a shift change around 22:00, but aside from a strange beam of light that is focused into space from the roof of the building, nothing of interest happen. Beric determines that a glider could drop them on the roof, and the cameras' are positioned to cover the grounds, but not the air.

Gryfinda decides to explore the storehouse. At this time of night, there are no guards, and the large bay door is opened. She checks the small office door, but it is locked. She enters the storeroom. Taking a peek through the inside office door, she finds a sleeping man in the office, with Aeon Guard armor and equipment next to him. She casts mind thrust at him, and debilitates him. Coming closer, she realizes that he does't look like a soldier and is in fact dressed like the colonists. She gags and binds him. Searching the warehouse, she finds the dead body of an Aeon cadet. Returning to the office, Gryfinda heals Rendell and he tells her about how he accidentally killed the guard the first day he showed up, and he has been impersonating him ever since. She tells him to continue keeping guard for a few days while they devise a plan, and he reluctantly agrees. Gryfinda then returns to the junkyard.
 
Beric climbs down the ridge and also returns to the junkyard and begins work on a two-person glider. Beric's current plan is to land someone on the roof with a plasma cutter, cut a hole in the roof and infiltrate the garrison building.




After the Gap - May 3, 317 @ 6:09

As the dawn approaches, Altronus witnesses another change of guards. Two patrols, one of three and one of two, begin a rotation around town and take the trail that passes by the cemetery, away from prying eyes.

After the two-persons patrol goes by, they lay in ambush, and when the three-persons patrol shows up they attack. Surprised, the Azlanti cadets fight to the death. Gryfinda and Trevian clear all signs of combat, while Altronus and Beric bury the bodies, and they reset the trap. Less than half an hour later, the next patrol enters the path next to the cemetery, and meet a similarly grizzly end. 

Having collected the salvageable gear, they return to Aibretta and bring her three suits. She outfits three townsfolk, and ask them to continue patrolling. With the five Azlanti killed on the trail, the dead one in the storehouse, five more dead and buried in the cemetery, and another five away at the wreck of the ancient Azlanti ship, this leaves approximately 20 Azlanti soldiers in town, with at least one patrol out in the forest. Gryfinda, Trevian, Altronus and Beric regroup at the junk yard and plan their next step ...