DragonRage

Alexandria gathers the metal spheres into a hard-light box, and begins the slow trek back to the archaeological society's headquarters to drop them off.

"Very well. It seems some background may be in order. Forty years ago, the first omnic was created. Omnics are intelligent machines we created as servants and workers. But, some of them became far smarter than anticipated. They had emotions, dreams, and feelings of their own. We had begun discussing granting them equal rights with humans when the God Programs appeared. God Programs are powerful artificial intelligences, so much so that they can suborn or transfer themselves to nearly any machine they can connect to. They turned the omnics against us and started the first omnic crisis. The nations of the world were helpless before the endless supplies of enemies pouring from the Omnium factories, save my homeland of Russia. We held our own thanks to the efforts of Katya Volskaya and her mighty invention, the Svyagator mech, which could fight the most powerful war omnics and win. It was only when Overwatch was formed, a multinational task force of our greatest soldiers, that the omnics were pushed back and the God Programs quarantined. The first omnic crisis was over, though many cities were devastated in the process, including Rio de Janeiro, our location." "But even in victory, we had some serious problems," Lucio takes up the thread of conversation, "The paramilitary terrorist group Talon started a covert smear campaign against Overwatch, and recruited a bunch of their black ops guys. I don't know how. I've never met anyone who was part of Overwatch black ops. But they did, and they blew up their headquarters in Geneva, turned public opinion against the saviors of the world, and the UN forced Overwatch to disband. Now Talon's stirring up new trouble all over the world. They tried to steal superweapons in New York, blackmail Katya Volskaya, and are sparking fights between human and omnic communities wherever they can. They might've released the Siberian God Program, but we don't know for sure. Fortunately, Quetzalcoatl, the South American God Program, is one of the most secure in the world. Most of Talon's people are your bog standard, baklava-clad, gun-toting goons, but there's a few real nasty ones to look out for." "Widowmaker is an extremely skilled sniper, who is also fond of poison. She has likely been surgically altered for superior skill; her skin is blue, and her eyes yellow. Sombra is arguably the best hacker in the world; she can control any machine save omnics with a touch. I would argue that our own AI support, Athena, is more skilled. She also has cloaking device and short range teleporter, but is not skilled in combat. She is responsible for blackmailing Katya Volskaya, and has very large price on her head. I do not have enough money on hand to pay reward, and you could not use our money on other worlds anyway, so I offer particle shield generator instead. It will protect you from nearly anything if your timing is good. The most dangerous Talon agent, though, is Reaper. He once lead Overwatch's black ops teams. His shotguns are deadly enough, but he regenerates his wounds whenever he kills someone and can transform into invulnerable black mist with a thought. If you should see a man in a black cloak and an owl skull mask, run for your life. His only weaknesses are that he is terrible marksman, and can't hit you if you are far enough away. He also love to monologue about how he hate things, so you might escape if you can get him talking." "Fortunately, you shouldn't have to deal with any of these guys. We're dealing with Vishkar at the moment, not Talon. Those guys don't have a monopoly on evil. Vishkar's a corporation that claims it wants to bring light and order to the places worst hit by the first omnic crisis. Their hard light construction tech lets them put up skyscrapers in hours, so they aren't all talk, but as I said earlier if they can't get what they want legally, they'll resort to violence. Vishkar wants Rio, and they're willing to level our homes with us inside if that's what it takes. I love Rio. We all do. But sometimes, you gotta know when to cut your losses. We're asking you for help because we're spread real thin right now, and we can't leave Symmetra to Vishkar's tender mercies. Not after she defied the company who raised her from the age of five to help us. And once we've got her out, we could certainly use some help covering the refugees until we get to a safe distance. If we can bloody their noses enough, Vishkar's troops won't follow. They want the land, not us. Vishkar's guys aren't nearly as hard as Talon's either. Some ex-military, a few combat architechs, though none are as good as Symmetra, and maybe some battle omnics. They've been researching new weapons systems, we think, but if they had something good in mass production they'd be using that on us instead of faking a gas leak."

Alexandria considers her companions for a few seconds. "Jade, Gary, please come and take a look at this," She picks up the boulder and carefully sets it to the side, out of the way. "There is a passage under this rock. Someone went to a great deal of trouble to keep it hidden. What we seek is quite valuable. It could be down here."

"The omnics are A.I.s, usually in a self-contained body. We created them to be our servants, but once we realized how intelligent they could get we started seeing them as our equals too," Lucio shares, voice heavier than usual, "Then these sorts of Super A.I. showed up. We call them God Programs, because they can take over other machines, including all but the strongest-willed Omnics. They did their best to make humanity and any Omnics that resisted extinct, but thanks to Overwatch and the Russian military we were able to push them back. A lot of people died, though, and a lot of cities were destroyed altogether. Russia was hit especially hard. Unfortunately, destroying the God Programs turned out to be dicey. They've got this nasty habit of jumping to other pieces of tech when their original container gets wrecked. The best Overwatch could do was quarantine the things. That was thirty years ago, and things were starting to improve..." "And then someone released the God Program Cikavac in Siberia and reactivated its Omnium factory," Zarya picks up the explanation, "I would be helping on the Siberian front, but my commanding officers believe that the terrorist organization Talon is behind this disaster. Talon wishes Overwatch destroyed, and fighting alongside them will bring me closer to defeating the enemies of the motherland and dragging them home to face justice. I pray... Speaking of enemies of the motherland, if you should happen upon information that might lead me to that cowardly terrorist Sombra, well, I do not have the funds to pay the full reward on hand. But I could give you my spare particle shield generator. It is worth far more than the posted reward, but bringing that Talon agent to trial will be well worth it. No one threatens the children of Katya Volskaya and gets away with it. Blackmailing the woman whose inventions saved Russia from annihilation was not a wise decision."

Alexandria leaves the house and approaches the strange boulder. Something about it seems off... She gives it a full scan, including spectrum analysis on a core sample as deep as she can easily drill.

Zarya twitches slightly when LOTUS speaks up, hands heading for the grips of her massive cannon for a brief second before she catches herself. "You carry omnic on your belt? You are braver than I thought. Perhaps too trusting, but brave. And as for you, omnic, we will find you a copy of plans before you leave. And Symmetra is Vishkar architech. If you retrieve her equipment, she can create anything, imagination and power supply willing, from light itself. Congratulations, Siri, science fiction is real." "Hey, be cool, Zarya," Lucio adjusts something on his belt, and suddenly everyone in the room feels a bit calmer and more relaxed, "He's not even from this world, much less involved in any of the dustups we've had in the past. From what I remember, the stairs don't get near the holding cells, but you might be able to cut through the elevator shaft if you had the right tools. Oh, and we'll be sure to get you the plans before you leave, Mr... ?"

"Hm. It seems likely," Alexandria begins walking towards the building immediately; with her speed, it'll take some time to get there. Since she's going to be taking a leisurely stroll through town either way, she window-shops at the various businesses in town on her way. "Allthough, I do have to wonder what kind of archaeological expedition would be able and willing to requisition an escort from another world. This place seems far too small to support an organization with such capabilities."

Lexiel heads into the servants' quarters, without running into Marisa, finds an unclaimed bed, and takes a nap. Recover from that head wound.

Lexiel makes the rounds of the various rooms of the castle, repeating a similar message to each group she encounters. “So, a couple old friends got in contact with me late last night. I don’t know how they managed to track down a Planeswalker, much less convince them to relay a message, but they did. They’re in trouble, big time. The message was brief, but they need help, thousands of lives are at stake, and something weird is going on. I don’t know how weird, but it’s probably worth looking into. They sent a teleporter along; it’s got eight uses, I think, and is probably one way, but it’ll get you to where you’re headed. Presumably we can fetch you in the castle once you’re done. My friends will have to fill you in on the rest. So, any volunteers?” You step through the teleporter in a flash of blue, entering a rather Spartan room of concrete and metal. Two guys are playing cards at a folding table across the room. When they notice you, one of them runs off, while the other explains that his friend has gone to fetch the boss. After a few minutes, two rather distinctive individuals walk into the room, and the other card player steps out. The first one in is a lithe, dark-skinned guy whose head is covered in a mess of black dreadlocks. He has an open, friendly expression, and wears a bizarre outfit that looks like a combination of armored skates and wearable soundstage. The second is a towering, heavily muscled blonde woman, with very fair skin, clad in a lightly armored jumpsuit and heavy combat boots. A faintly visible, crackling field of blue energy surrounds her body, and she carries a massive cannon, as long as the smaller man is tall, over one shoulder. As the man approaches the group and starts shaking hands, she grounds her weapon, making the table in the corner jump slightly, and leans on it, scowling. “Yo, yo, pleased to meetcha!" The man says cheerfully, "Name’s Lucio, and Ms. Grumpy over there is Zarya. We’re in charge of this little op. Y’all aren’t exactly who I was expecting, but Lexiel’s face is plastered all over wanted posters around here since her last visit, and I did ask for some discretion. If she trusts you, I can do the same.” “We ask for one woman army, and she send us a collection of little girly men, greenhorns, and anachronisms,” Zarya grumbles in a thick Russian accent. She sounds like she’s gargling marbles, and anyone who’s met Russians in the past might wonder if she’s exaggerating her accent for some reason. “Well, Vishkar will never tag you as threat, at least. We should send them on that mission.” “Are you sure? I mean, that’s kind of important,” Lucio frowns briefly, and it’s like a flashlight was flicked off, “I thought Genji and Ana were-” “Genji said we do not have enough men,” Zarya states, “Too much to do for only him and Ana, and no one available to back him up. They do not look like threat from our world. They may slip by security measures.” “You got a point. Alright, here’s the low-down. I’m in charge of a rebel cell here,” Lucio relates, “There’s this company called Vishkar, claims to be the shining light of hope for the downtrodden. When they got outbid on the contract to rebuild Rio de Janeiro, that’s where we are now, they firebombed the offices of the local company that beat them out, and the surrounding ten blocks of favelas. Real nasty folks. Tried to drive the rest of the undesirables out the old fashioned way, but I organized a resistance force and we pushed them out. Recently, our mole in the company sent us a warning. Vishkar’s planning to fake a gas leak and blow us all to hell! I started an evacuation, and called in Overwatch to help, but we’re spread thin, and we don’t have enough people to do what needs doing before we can get out.” “Overwatch was global peacekeeping force. Did good work in past. Less official now, run off good reputation rather than United Nations backing. I am liaison from Overwatch to resistance forces,” Zarya states, “But things get complicated. Overwatch have less authority than it did in the past. We can’t just arrest the CEO of Vishkar and investigate the company openly without proof of wrongdoing. We are not police anymore. But they are good at covering their tracks, and our mole got caught warning Lucio of the bombing. Worse luck, our team is split, because the terrorist hacker Sombra is in town, and trying to crack Vishkar’s mainframe. If she does, it will automatically delete any evidence we could use, so Winston, Athena, and I are needed to keep her out. And as Lucio say, Genji and Ana cannot penetrate Vishkar Tower for rescue alone. That is where you come in.” “We need you to rescue our mole, the architech Symmetra. We don’t abandon our own. Holding cells are on floor 13, but there’s no ways onto that floor in the building plans. You’ll have to figure something out. We also need hard evidence of Vishkar’s wrongdoing,” Lucio offers the group a flash drive, “If you can copy the contents of their mainframe in the basement onto this, we can search it for dirt. Or if you’d prefer a personal touch, the CEO herself has an office on the top floor. For additional points of interest… There’s a lab on floor thirty that’s probably full of useful goodies. I hear Vishkar’s been putting a lotta cash into weapons research recently. Also a barracks on the third floor. If you can find a way to keep Vishkar’s security teams from getting outta there, that’ll make it a lot easier for us to make a clean getaway with our people.” “Genji and Ana will give you support when able. Genji is,” Zarya sighs with warm exasperation, “A cyborg ninja. He can disable guards, locks, security systems. Ana is sniper and medic. She can heal wounds, take down guards, and look into rooms from sniper nest. But if they intervene too much, Vishkar security will wise up and drive them off. We will give you radios for co-ordination. But you must finish the mission and escape before sunrise.” “It’s not like you’ve gotta hit them today. We've got some time before things get dicey,” Lucio adds, “But Vishkar specializes in hard-light technology. It’s real power-hungry, and Rio’s grid isn’t in the greatest shape. They’ve set up solar panels to keep their tech juiced up, so during the daytime they’ve got a lot more options for containing intruders. If the sun’s up, they can move walls around to trap you, turn parts of the building into turret nests, or just teleport you off the side of the roof. Once you break in, the clock is ticking, and the sooner after sundown you breach, the more time you’ll have. So, any questions?”

Alexandria is going to Jak and Daxter.

Lexiel is going to Shadowrun.

Lexiel begins summoning goblins under the table to jump in and stop a fight if one starts, using slight of hand to keep her casting out of sight. The goblins are fairly stealthy, but the tangy smell of barbecue sauce pervades the area. If he wasn't immune to mental status, Eon would feel compelled to track down and eat the source of the smell. As it is, he just thinks it smells incredibly tasty.

"I remember when the worst I ever had to deal with was some homocidal, mechanical lab experiment looking to dismember me," Lexiel sighs with nostalgia, "Urza's bones, I did not appreciate what I had back then. And... What's an airbag got to do with an insect? Equipping a gnat with an airbag would be pretty useless."

"A bunch of those Rakdos guild loons put me in a cage with an ogre once. That was worse, and I'm still here," Lexiel rests her head on the table with a soft groan. "Probably shouldn't have challenged the hand to hand specialist without shaking the rust off first, though."

After a few moments of struggling to stand, Lexiel blasts herself in the face with a conjured lightning bolt. Oddly enough, this actually seems to help, and she's able to stand up long enough to stagger to the table near Eon and slump into a chair. "Uh, sorry about waking you up, ma'am. I, uh, didn't see you there." She addresses Hiroki sheepishly.

Lexiel tries to hop over the fist, instinctively flaps her wings, and ends up slamming face first into Andre's knuckles with the combined force of his arm and her wings. She ends up about eight feet away, face down, unable to coordinate her limbs well enough to stand back up. "Okay. That... That was a good hit. Let's not do that again until I can figure out how to stand up straight. And get some more practice in..."

Lexiel catches herself on her hands, springing into a whirling technique that looks like a dance move from the outside. Andre, however, can see that it's actually a fairly calculated series of jabs and heavier strikes. Doing it with the legs rather than the arms is fairly novel, and he can see how the dance-like movements might distract a less savvy brawler.

Lexiel tries to lock the incoming arm in preparation for another pin, doesn't quite manage to grip the right places, and ends up being thrown back a few feet. Leaping into the air, she flaps once for stability and comes down in a literally flying kick.

Lexiel sees the punch coming, and winces at the hit. Even a light blow from somebody as big as Andre is a strong attack. But she rolls with it and comes up on her feet, fist headed for his jaw.

Lexiel drops into a low guard and moves toward Andre with surprising speed, considering that what she's doing appears to be half combat roll and half break-dancing routine. As she gets within range, she pushes up into a handstand, feints left, and then attempts to bring her right foot crashing down into his head.

Lexiel lets him up and resumes her position across from Andre, this time in a relaxed and balanced guard. She still doesn't look like someone who practices daily, but a lot more formidable than before.

Round 1 subplots are starting soon! If you want to have your character(s) in a round 1 subplot, now's the time to sign up. There are currently 4 round one options: Shadowrun, The Tenth God, Overwatch, and Jak and Daxter, but Shadowrun and TTG are almost full! Sign up while there's still time! Sign ups are on the master spreadsheet. Get in contact with the GM asap. I, Zoe_Walker/DragonRage, am running Overwatch. Cronos/Hatchetman is running Shadowrun. Hal Hendrics/Shadestyle is running Jak and Daxter. And Nepgear/Kosherkitten is running TTG.

Lexiel withdraws her jab, clearly a feint, and abruptly shifts into a far more stable and practiced-looking stance. Andre has just enough time to process that she's been sandbagging him - hard - before she puts his arm into a lock and slams him face first into the floor. He knows from his extensive brawling experience that getting out of a hold like this isn't a matter of being stronger or not; the human body simply can't bend the right ways to escape. "So, you going to take me seriously now?" Lexiel asks from somewhere on his back, "Or are you gonna be adding a lot of dirt to your diet?"

Lexiel waits a few moments to see if Andre is going to charge again. When he doesn't, she closes in, and throws a sloppy (by his standards) punch at his gut.

Lexiel just jumps over Andre as he attempts to slide under her. His attempted gut punch completely misses. "...What even was that?"