CD Issue 8: Shadowboxing

General Summary

The session opened with various news reports. The local mainstream news reported terrorist assaults on the Canopy Cotillion Ball, focusing on the positive aspects of the presence of the Rust-bucket Covenant Barons and the peace talks. The Dissidents were called out for their intervention and prevention of any loss of life. Several commentators were still anti-vigilante noting that the glorification of such events would only heighten metahuman battles which inevitably cause large scale loss of life and property damage.
Meanwhile, Jenny St George broke off from the Terminal City Times to form her own Birdcall flock on Terminal City happenings. Her feed showed footage from the Knightfall attack, and spotlighted the expert handling of the event by the Dissidents.
Ms St George called out Paladin as the white knight who could finally stop Knightfall's reign of terror. Malware was cited as managing the crowd expertly, preventing both injury and death as the battle raged. Aliena , much to her own dismay, was called out as an extra terrestrial, but also celebrated for her superheated superheroics that could help in the battle against the Covenant if need be. Siren's show of magical might drew attention to her, as mystical heroes were few and far between since the death of Lady Whisper.
The report also mentioned the Baron presence, showing footage of the lords quarreling in the aftermath of the fight. The Engineer accused Alabaster of trying to steal Blast Furnace, inferring that Siren was in fact her magical agent. Alabaster in turn blamed the Engineer for the use of Covenant technology, saying it her foes fingerprints all over it, specifically the Ikarys Field he used to entrap them all. Minotaur proclaimed that these talks were over, and he'd see his foes on the battlefield.
Jenny closed the report by stating her sources had confirmed the death of Prince Albion, the overlord of the Rustbucket and architect of the peace that had protected Terminal City for the last fifteen years. The future of the city was now in question since these peace talks had failed.
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We find our heroes living their best lives in the aftermath of the battle. Malware reached out to their friend Richie, who had left the party in anger citing his friends lack of support in saving his friend Fireheart (now Blast Furnace.) They wished him well and welcomed back to the Spiderweb at his leisure. He assented, opening himself to the comfort of knowing his friends had not forsaken him despite having lashed out at him. He then found himself with another well wisher, albeit a tenebrious one, Shadowpack. She came to support Paladin, saying she knew how hard it was to not be brought down by inner darkness, and have a looming shadow over you. She cited how her own godfather, The Living Shadow had often battled his own darkness, but in the end had sacrificed himself to protect her when she was a child during the final days of the Trinity War. She told him to keep his friends close and they could see him through it. Richie thanked her for the concern. Shadowpack raised some doubts about Aliena, citing some vague Deyan conspiracy on Earth, and that if there were one alien there were likely others. Richie did not accept these accusations, and requested that Shadowpack not teleport into his room unbidden, because he is a teenage boy and, you know.
Serena and Maggie had chosen to meet up at a local Coffee Shop, Bitters, to chat. Siren had had a rough few days after having witnessed her mothers power used as a weapon in the battle and needed support. When she tried to get this support, Aliena recieved a call from her cousin Dorelan Mags who insisted she visit the Deyan Embassy. She left her friend in the lurch and headed out immediately.
Upon arrival Aliena found out that due to her actions at the Ball, the Deyans had recalled their embassy and her with it. She protested, but Dorelan said it was out of his hands and his career was likely over. When she grew more and more distraught about the news, he showed his softer side and promised to fight on her behalf so she could stay. Maggie exited and found a good spot to call her Father, Dorelan Mags, via special Deyan light telepathy. While he was happy to hear from her, he said he had been busy with clan business, and did not seem to know about the happenings on Earth. As she 'hung up', she found that Paladin had snuck up on her and was waiting for her to exit her glowing fugue state.
The team decided to retreat to the Spiderweb and touch bases. Of immediate concern was the apparent Deyan conspiracy, and the Dissidents decided to try to press Shadowpack on her knowledge of the events. They called her on the phone, and the dark den mother grew increasingly combatitive, eventually threatening harm on Aliena if she hurt any of the team. Malware had traced the call, and the receiving phone to be at Terminal City University's department of anthropology. Maggie found this even more upsetting, since her host father Professor George Chadwick was the chair of the department.
The team quibbled a bit about their next course of action, with Aliena insisting the team assault the university and beat some answers out of people. The discourse was interrupted by Siren's magical business card reaching it's zenith, providing a invitation to a mysterious building in Old Town., the Parca School for the Arts. The team rallied around her friend, and Siren teleported the ensemble to their location.
The found themselves in from of a shoddy new age store, which closed for business five minutes prior. Banging on the door and showing the card gained them entrance. The curator of the store was a middle aged matronly woman, dowdy and direct. She referred to herself as Decima. Apparently the card presented them with a free tarot reading in the small backroom. The cards were laid down and the team got the following readings foretelling their near future:

• Aliena: Moon, reversed: confusion and deception in the air, illusion, intuition to guide to the truth. Lying, sabotage
• Siren: Chariot, reversed: lack of control and direction over your life. at the mercy of the opposing forces and the obstacles, and cannot seem to muster the strength to take over. Taking everything lying down, life is dragging in any direction. Overwhelming drive to find love, so much so that other goals and aspirations may have been forgotten
• Paladin: Knight of Wands, reversed: Arrogance, reckless, impatient, lack of self control, passive, volatile, domineering

Paladin did not receive this guidance well, rejecting it fully before Malware could receive their reading (ironically, given the reading.) He flipped out, and flipped the table. Decima countered by flexing serious magical might, stopping time and altering the dimensions of the room in strange ways. She righted the table, visibly angered, and completed her reading:

• Malware: 7 of swords: Betrayal, deception, getting away with something, acting strategically

At this point the team was tired, and at a loss on how to react. Decima revealed that she was a teacher at the Parca School for the Arts, but to enter Siren must pass three tests. The trials are to exhibit basic proficiency over the physical, inner, and mystical realms. She is allowed to rely on her Coiterie, which is conveniently a thing all wizards have.
The first of these test was to catch a rampant mystical beast, a Gremlin, wrecking havok in Old Town! Catch the next issue to see what happens!

Rewards Granted

Paladin took : What's that thing from the Innocent playbook
Aliena took: Symbol of authority from the Outside playbook

Created Content

Bitters Birdcall

Campaign

Masks: The Revolutionary Cognitive Dissidents

Protagonists

Siren

Malware

Paladin

Aliena

Report Date

31 May 2020

Primary Location

Bitters

Secondary Location

Deyan Embassy to the Covenant