Season 2, Episode 7: "Val-Yuddha" Report
General Summary
After the Dream Team put a swift end to the coup in the Horizon House, police swarmed the building, and the remainder of the Sunrise Collective and Brass Dragons were arrested. Chad's vision exploded with messages about leveling up, and was swarmed with quests surrounding the Burning Archipelago. The hostages, mostly councilors and government workers, were set free, and lauded the party with praises. Then media swarmed in, and the Dream Team was hailed on national news for being saviors of Asanatown, their faces shown for all of the Pact Worlds to see. While initially nervous, the party couldn't help but enjoy the good karma, especially given the negative connotations surrounding their image.
Abelina returned with Nib and Taeress in tow, and the party returned to Horizon House to explain everything to Councilman Zarrad, the unofficial head of the council. In return, he explained that the Brass Dragons still stationed in Corona vanished not long after Zeylan put out a call for surrender, and were seen heading deeper into Mataras. He exchanged SIDs with Mist in case they needed to contact each other, and then the party went to Nib's house for dinner.
While the
Ysoki made a savory meal from the cuisine of Akiton, the Dream Team took the moment to speak in private, sharing their worries of the day. Then Nib got down to business, and shared information about a location her group, the Deep Cultures Institute, had been examining for the past month. Ezorod, an ancient bubble city nestled nearly two-thirds into the roiling plasma of the sun, shrouded in darkness by magic that predated even the age before the Gap. Built to imprison an Elder Numen known as the Eshtayiv, the settlement seemed to have been abandoned for centuries, but another group hired by the DCI had cracked the code. After some initial confusion, it was discovered that Varos Mining Team 1 escaped the explosion of the Jasper, and then came straight to Mataras. They had been working for Nib ever since, exploring another bubble city named Noma, where they discovered a tablet encoded with the keys to Ezorod. Although the tablet was stolen, the group recovered it, and left for Ezorod a week past. Unfortunately, they never returned to the ship, and after a week of waiting the DCI chose to recall the vessel remotely. While the site alone was worth exploring, Nib begged the party to save her old team -- to which Chad immediately agreed.
With full bellies, the Dream Team headed back towards the linecrawler, and set course for the Aga Jain. Sadly for them, their recent media attention had earned the attention of two Kasathan Solarions -- Roranoa Devinte Sesh and Golonos Egras Seh -- who had come on business from the Solarions of Idari. They attempted to convince Tesin to return to the Idari at once, but after her refusal, Roranoa challenged her to Val-Yuddha. In a tense minute-long exchange on the train, Tesin prevailed by a hair's breadth, gaining her 14 days before she had to be on a ship headed to the Grand Master, on penalty of a swift death.
With one last pit stop before bed, the group decided to check out the Radiant Cathedral, and take care of a quest related to Isra. But as they reveled in the beauty of the gardens, the Jestyr came haunting, riding on the back of one of Mist's most dangerous enemies - Dominic Altraeza. A bullet sliced through the din of the town square, just as the Jestyr flooded Mist with his ire, angry that he had refused the Great Old One's offer, and destroyed his Access Beacon on Aballon. He revoked his Blessing, causing Mist to falter as the bullet sailed towards his head. The Arrow overtook Isra, but destiny decreed that this bullet was not her's to catch. Instead, a thread of energy grabbed the round from the air, and narrowly diverted it from Mist, arcing just above Abelina's heart. The crowd fled in a mass panic as the Dream Team leapt in to action, narrowly missing Dominic, but acting just in time to save their new friend. After several hours of police reports, a weary Isra brought herself to the main altar of the Cathedral, and found a vault of similar make to those found on the Forge. She was able to open it, bonding her core to the Astral Flintlock, and then the party made a swift exit, eager to be in a safe location.
Back on the Aga Jain, the party had restless dreams, full of terrible visions of Ezorod. The dream ended with a short exchange between Valentina Terris and Alexander Marcus, who seemed to each be gloating of their respective team's success...
Although the plan was to meet Nib at the DCI around noon the following day, Chad desperately wanted to visit the Vestrani Gaming Complex, and investigate news of sabotaged MMO servers that took place around the arrival of the Centurion. To his surprise, the trail led him to an old "ally", Hush of Absalom Station, who was quite unhappy with Chad's recent lawsuits against his friends at Absalom Station PD. But instead of squabbling, the kingpin offered up a friendly wager instead -- if Chad won, Hush would give him 10,000 credits, and give him access to the security logs from the night of the crime. But if Hush won, Chad would come back to work for him, and begin anew the long path that ended in his imprisonment on Varos...
To everyone's amazement, not only did Chad knock it out of the park, he beat the Pact worlds record, achieving close to the maximum score. Although Hush begrudgingly handed over the funds, his angry glares spoke of future trouble, and a renewed interest in the Barathu's skills.
With little time to spare (both narratively and in real life!) the group headed to the DCI, and began signing a small mountain of documents to be allowed onboard the DCI's proprietary starship, the Sun Diver.
Rewards Granted
The party gained a wealth of smaller items between Episodes 5 and 9, mostly equipment-based. As I am behind on episodes, I'll be focusing on major updates, likely listed at the end of Season 2.
Created Content
I am very behind on reports, so I don't know what was updated between Episodes 5 and 9. The full list of updates will be given at the end of Season 2.
Tesin Movahesh
Thunder in the Mist
Lockette Endrinmaster 12 2.0
Isra
Chad
Report Date
22 Jan 2021
Primary Location
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