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Winds of Vesperia
As we find ourselves barrelling towards end-game, Our Heroes (tm) are faced with enemies old and new, betrayals, unlikely allies, and plot twists! (So... many... plot twists...)
[We start the game as we always start the game.]
Kyn the GM: "So, I've been thinking..."
Julie: "That's never a good thing."
[We pick up relatively soon after we left off last game, with the knowledge that the combined fleets of the Third Tier are on their way and will arrive imminently.]
Kyn the GM: "Your warships are docked around the rift, doing what humans do best: working around the clock like maniacs."
[Our plan is a simple one: a mad dash towards the Falan flagship, the Wings of Freedom, to capture the two queens. With a little luck, we'll have the element of surprise. Maybe.]
Kyn the GM: "No one expects anyone to be dumb enough to plow face-first into the Wings of Freedom. Then again, this is Jass."
[Queen T'ainesa is not going to be pleased, naturally.]
Kyn the GM: "Jass joining with the humans is one thing. Jass joining with Sela to come kill her..."
Tony: *laughs*
[We prepare our boarding party.]
Kyn the GM: "Your problem is not finding recruits, it's that you have too many. You have to figure out which among them isn't going to do something stupid."
[We practice our assault in the illusion deck of our ships.]
Kyn the GM: "The first time, you make it 300 paces before you die."
Julie: "It really feels like dying, too."
Kyn the GM: "They believe in making sure you really don't want to die!"
[The battle is joined. One thing Tam realizes relatively quickly is that the allied Elven fleet from the Third Tier is deliberately aiming wide at other elven ships.]
Kyn the GM: "Allow me to make a small addendum: they will fire at Jass' ship."
Tony: "Eh, I'm used to it."
[We do have one small advantage: our ships are not built like Elven ships.]
Kyn the GM (as Eagle Riders): "It's rock. We can't land on this ship -- it's a rock!"
[The humans have a few tricks up their sleeves, including our Supreme Magus, a 23rd level evoker.]
Kyn the GM: "At his heart, he's an evoker, and boom-booms are his very favorite thing. He's been saving this one for a decade."
[Above the Wings of Freedom is an illusion of T'ainesa nearly as big as the city-sized ship. She sees us charging in.]
Kyn the GM: "Her eyes widen in fear."
Kyn the GM (as Jass): "You bluffing little bitch."
[We land on the ship. Time for trick #1: an illusion of DAX!]
Kyn the GM: "Everyone he hits disintegrates."
Julie: "Yay phantasms."
[We rush through line after line of elves... until the elven warstriders emerge. But the human strider pilots are not to be outdone!]
Strider Pilot: "We've got this, captain." *launches meteor swarm*
Julie: "They don't start small, do they?"
[The fighting is continuous and unending.]
Pat: "What, do they have a whole nation on this fucking ship?!"
Kyn the GM: "Yes."
[As we rush through the interior of the ship, Jass remembers the portals that Garrett set up a hundred years ago. Amazingly, they're still functional.]
Kyn the GM: "That's for you, Marc -- you're helping!"
[We find ourselves on the bridge.]
Kyn the GM: "So, you all remember what the bridge looks like..."
Pat: *blank stare*
[Both T'ainesa and the High Queen are on the bridge. Queen T'ainesa takes demon form almost immediately.]
Kyn the GM: "T'ainesa is aiming at Jass. Are you standing in front of Jass?"
Pat: "No."
Kyn the GM: "Smart man."
[Strange things start happening. In particular, Jass attacks Nessa to Queen T'ainesa's horror, then holds a dagger to her throat. Tam attempts to intervene.]
Jass: "You think you're fast, but you're not faster than m--"
Tam: *hits him*
[While Jass drops his sword, Nessa runs herself through, killing herself and impaling Jass behind her. Jass seems not to mind too much and tosses her away.]
Tam: "You betrayed us."
Jass: "Oh, no. I was never with you to begin with."
[Things you never want to hear when rolling initiative.]
Kyn the GM: "What do you... oh, it doesn't matter."
[Yes, friends, it turns out that all this time, Jass was really Vita Devoratrix, the ancient black wyrm! Oh noes!]
Kyn the GM: "It's Vita. He loves monologuing."
[More plot twists! All this time, Nessa was really Jass, who came back through the rift after Nessa died in the first attack on Vesperia. And who else should appear but Bast! It's like the whole crew is getting together again.]
Jass: "What are you here for?"
Bast: "You. And to taunt him." *points at Vita*
[T'ainesa realizes that all this time, Jass has really been Vita, and Nessa has really been Jass. The various illusions and polymorphs are dropped and T'ainesa rushes to her lover.]
Queen T'ainesa: "You didn't betray me!"
Jass: "Why did you ever think I would?"
Vita Devoratrix: *proudly points to himself*
[Things are not going well. The Cult of Zorn has manipulated the ship's mythal to trap Vita and send him to oblivion. Vita, naturally, is not going to take this lying down. It's time to beat a hasty retreat.]
Julie: "We make a beeline to our ship."
Kyn the GM: "You mean the one that's on the other side of the raging black dragon?"
Julie: "Yes. Y'know, this would be much easier if I could dimension door."
Kyn the GM: (gleefully) "I know!"
[The Cult of Zorn has their prey.]
Bast: "All right, boys, reel 'em in!"
[It turns out that Jass-aka-Vita's second-in-command was Vita's soulbound yuan-ti.]
Yuan-Ti: "My master might still be saved."
Tam: "Save this." *decapitates her*
Queen T'ainesa: "...Okay, that was impressive."
Tam: "This way, Your Majesty."
[Meanwhile, Amber and the real Jass have rushed to the engine room to free the trapped angel, who turns out to be Lucius.]
Jass: "Can we free him?"
Amber: *presses the 'door open' button*
Jass: "...I have a mechanic."
[As Vita plummets to his doom, he inflicts one last curse on Jass, and the soul jar that had been holding Nessa's soul merges with Jass. The two souls now share one body, which transforms back and forth at random, leaving each with no knowledge of what the other had been doing.]
Amber: "Captain, you're not entirely yourself. And I mean that in every possible way."
[On the deck of the ship, Jass' blade begins to drip a puddle of shadow. Suddenly, Garrett's voice resonates across the Cultists of Zorn who are trying to kill us.]
Garrett: "The two-faced lady has a message: you're all excommunicated." *destroys them*
[Drindari has taken form on the deck of our ship. The egg containing Vesperia shatters as Drindari screams in triumph. Above us, Sigil appears, the true form of a goddess.]
Sigil: *looks down*
Drindari: "...Oops."
The good news is that the egg has been reformed, thanks to Sigil. The bad news is that we're trapped in here with Zorn, and the World Eater is on its way. It's not looking good for Our Heroes (tm). Not good at all...
[We start the game as we always start the game.]
Kyn the GM: "So, I've been thinking..."
Julie: "That's never a good thing."
[We pick up relatively soon after we left off last game, with the knowledge that the combined fleets of the Third Tier are on their way and will arrive imminently.]
Kyn the GM: "Your warships are docked around the rift, doing what humans do best: working around the clock like maniacs."
[Our plan is a simple one: a mad dash towards the Falan flagship, the Wings of Freedom, to capture the two queens. With a little luck, we'll have the element of surprise. Maybe.]
Kyn the GM: "No one expects anyone to be dumb enough to plow face-first into the Wings of Freedom. Then again, this is Jass."
[Queen T'ainesa is not going to be pleased, naturally.]
Kyn the GM: "Jass joining with the humans is one thing. Jass joining with Sela to come kill her..."
Tony: *laughs*
[We prepare our boarding party.]
Kyn the GM: "Your problem is not finding recruits, it's that you have too many. You have to figure out which among them isn't going to do something stupid."
[We practice our assault in the illusion deck of our ships.]
Kyn the GM: "The first time, you make it 300 paces before you die."
Julie: "It really feels like dying, too."
Kyn the GM: "They believe in making sure you really don't want to die!"
[The battle is joined. One thing Tam realizes relatively quickly is that the allied Elven fleet from the Third Tier is deliberately aiming wide at other elven ships.]
Kyn the GM: "Allow me to make a small addendum: they will fire at Jass' ship."
Tony: "Eh, I'm used to it."
[We do have one small advantage: our ships are not built like Elven ships.]
Kyn the GM (as Eagle Riders): "It's rock. We can't land on this ship -- it's a rock!"
[The humans have a few tricks up their sleeves, including our Supreme Magus, a 23rd level evoker.]
Kyn the GM: "At his heart, he's an evoker, and boom-booms are his very favorite thing. He's been saving this one for a decade."
[Above the Wings of Freedom is an illusion of T'ainesa nearly as big as the city-sized ship. She sees us charging in.]
Kyn the GM: "Her eyes widen in fear."
Kyn the GM (as Jass): "You bluffing little bitch."
[We land on the ship. Time for trick #1: an illusion of DAX!]
Kyn the GM: "Everyone he hits disintegrates."
Julie: "Yay phantasms."
[We rush through line after line of elves... until the elven warstriders emerge. But the human strider pilots are not to be outdone!]
Strider Pilot: "We've got this, captain." *launches meteor swarm*
Julie: "They don't start small, do they?"
[The fighting is continuous and unending.]
Pat: "What, do they have a whole nation on this fucking ship?!"
Kyn the GM: "Yes."
[As we rush through the interior of the ship, Jass remembers the portals that Garrett set up a hundred years ago. Amazingly, they're still functional.]
Kyn the GM: "That's for you, Marc -- you're helping!"
[We find ourselves on the bridge.]
Kyn the GM: "So, you all remember what the bridge looks like..."
Pat: *blank stare*
[Both T'ainesa and the High Queen are on the bridge. Queen T'ainesa takes demon form almost immediately.]
Kyn the GM: "T'ainesa is aiming at Jass. Are you standing in front of Jass?"
Pat: "No."
Kyn the GM: "Smart man."
[Strange things start happening. In particular, Jass attacks Nessa to Queen T'ainesa's horror, then holds a dagger to her throat. Tam attempts to intervene.]
Jass: "You think you're fast, but you're not faster than m--"
Tam: *hits him*
[While Jass drops his sword, Nessa runs herself through, killing herself and impaling Jass behind her. Jass seems not to mind too much and tosses her away.]
Tam: "You betrayed us."
Jass: "Oh, no. I was never with you to begin with."
[Things you never want to hear when rolling initiative.]
Kyn the GM: "What do you... oh, it doesn't matter."
[Yes, friends, it turns out that all this time, Jass was really Vita Devoratrix, the ancient black wyrm! Oh noes!]
Kyn the GM: "It's Vita. He loves monologuing."
[More plot twists! All this time, Nessa was really Jass, who came back through the rift after Nessa died in the first attack on Vesperia. And who else should appear but Bast! It's like the whole crew is getting together again.]
Jass: "What are you here for?"
Bast: "You. And to taunt him." *points at Vita*
[T'ainesa realizes that all this time, Jass has really been Vita, and Nessa has really been Jass. The various illusions and polymorphs are dropped and T'ainesa rushes to her lover.]
Queen T'ainesa: "You didn't betray me!"
Jass: "Why did you ever think I would?"
Vita Devoratrix: *proudly points to himself*
[Things are not going well. The Cult of Zorn has manipulated the ship's mythal to trap Vita and send him to oblivion. Vita, naturally, is not going to take this lying down. It's time to beat a hasty retreat.]
Julie: "We make a beeline to our ship."
Kyn the GM: "You mean the one that's on the other side of the raging black dragon?"
Julie: "Yes. Y'know, this would be much easier if I could dimension door."
Kyn the GM: (gleefully) "I know!"
[The Cult of Zorn has their prey.]
Bast: "All right, boys, reel 'em in!"
[It turns out that Jass-aka-Vita's second-in-command was Vita's soulbound yuan-ti.]
Yuan-Ti: "My master might still be saved."
Tam: "Save this." *decapitates her*
Queen T'ainesa: "...Okay, that was impressive."
Tam: "This way, Your Majesty."
[Meanwhile, Amber and the real Jass have rushed to the engine room to free the trapped angel, who turns out to be Lucius.]
Jass: "Can we free him?"
Amber: *presses the 'door open' button*
Jass: "...I have a mechanic."
[As Vita plummets to his doom, he inflicts one last curse on Jass, and the soul jar that had been holding Nessa's soul merges with Jass. The two souls now share one body, which transforms back and forth at random, leaving each with no knowledge of what the other had been doing.]
Amber: "Captain, you're not entirely yourself. And I mean that in every possible way."
[On the deck of the ship, Jass' blade begins to drip a puddle of shadow. Suddenly, Garrett's voice resonates across the Cultists of Zorn who are trying to kill us.]
Garrett: "The two-faced lady has a message: you're all excommunicated." *destroys them*
[Drindari has taken form on the deck of our ship. The egg containing Vesperia shatters as Drindari screams in triumph. Above us, Sigil appears, the true form of a goddess.]
Sigil: *looks down*
Drindari: "...Oops."
The good news is that the egg has been reformed, thanks to Sigil. The bad news is that we're trapped in here with Zorn, and the World Eater is on its way. It's not looking good for Our Heroes (tm). Not good at all...