Game Session #5.5: Solo Sicarius

[Pikachu]

Game Session #5.5, The Lost Episodes

[This gaming session overlaps 3, 4, and 5 chronologically, but takes place IRL as our 6th session. It documents Sicarius' perspective of that day as he goes on a solo mission apart from the rest of his Twilight Watch unit. It also proceeds the storyline further after the Nalivir rescue, and Juno goes back to his respective unit in the Watch.]

Personal notes: I didn't take notes in my own log regarding all the full names and such. I may edit this log in the future to be more clear as to who I'm investigating, and so forth, though I will try to be a clear as possible in this first run through this eventful session. As for dialogue, it's approximate... and some parts may be edited a bit for length, but nothing should be so out of whack that it will contradict continuity.

After resting from my previous night's battle, I am called in by Klavion, particularly early in the morning by the standards of those who need sleep. Apparently, there is work to be done, and I am being sent out by myself. Klavion hands me a missing persons list, and my objective is to find a correlation between the missing, as well as figure out how relevant the Midnight Carnival is to the individuals on the list. A map accompanies the list, showing the residences and general areas of where each person was last seen.

Detective work is not my primary training, though years of life on the road and dealing with a variety of missions as a mercenary have taught me to be better at extracting information from people and contextual situations. Generally, I am fairly ambivalent towards these tasks. No one is a real fan of leads that result in dead ends, but the prospect of finding other worthy foes to hunt down is exciting. I am hoping this day will lead me to the latter.

I clarify the small details with Klavion as to the parameters in which I can operate. I am authorized to use force if deemed necessary, so long as it's reasonable and controlled. Excellent. I head off immediately to pursue the first lead on the list, a Vakten Monfoy, of noble Val blood, who is also a suspected magitek arms dealer. Starting at the basics, I go to his place of residence, a large mansion flanked with guards. "Interesting how nobility can go missing with such an entourage," I think to myself.

"Hello," I greet a guard. "I am here to see the Vakten."

"Are you serious? Have you not heard the news? Everyone knows that he is missing."

"Ah, I see. My apologies, I'm not from around here locally, so I would not know of this news. He contacted me recently, sounding distressed, and needed my assistance in some matters. Apparently, I have come a bit late. If you will forgive me for asking, however, doesn't Vakten Monfoy travel with an entourage of guards normally?"

"Yes, but not on the day he went missing."

"Any clues as to why?"

"That is the Vakten's business." The guard replies coldly.

"Fair enough." This is sufficient for investigating the notion that Monfoy is probably an arms dealer on the side. "Well, I shall bring your Vakten back to you soon," I add quickly as I walk away from his residence and toward where Monfoy was last seen.

Hopefully this area is a little more forthcoming in information. Otherwise, I'd have to return to the mansion and fight every last guard and force the information out of them. That might not be too fair. I enter a lower class part of Valdis, filled with alleys and the poor living on the streets. Most of the scum seem to have scurried off for the morning, but I spot a random punk standing in an alley, quite obviously someone of shady background. On a whim, I hide myself in a dark corner, and disappear in my own pocket of Nether. Approaching this man, unseen, I swing toward his midsection, hoping to knock the wind out of him. He suddenly turns slightly midswing, and my fist connects with his elbow.

Crack. "AHHHHHH! MY FUCKING ARM!"

Sighing to myself at this silly turn of events, I uppercut the poor sap, hoping I don't break his neck. In my past, I have lost potential information like that, and it's quite annoying when it happens. This is one of the pettier aspects of detective work - bullying the weak. It's unsatisfying, unlike a worthy kill. Grabbing the man by his raggedy clothes, I drag him somewhere unseen and start to probe his mind, seeing if he knows any arms dealers locally.

The results are surprisingly helpful, as he has seen Monfoy recently... I continue probing that part of his memory, eventually seeing that they are ambushed and Monfoy is killed. I keep what I see of the killers in the back of my mind. Black tattooed Illryians are hardly ever a detail to overlook. I am unable to find out why Monfoy was there, unfortunately, and I leave the probing a that. I have many other places to investigate. I briefly search through my own Killing Intent, but decide that it is not my place. Death will collect him in other ways, I conclude.

The next destination is the home of a human laborer. I am a little unsure how to approach this as the missing has a wife and child. I am pretty sure my presence would startle them, and I don't want to kill the wife and child to make sure they do not tell anyone that I am investigating missing people. Hmm, I am at their apartment building, so I should decide now. No, they shouldn't snitch. Perhaps I'll offer to help them and be a bit consoling... it may win them over. I decide to march right up to their doorstep and be upfront for this encounter.

Hehhehehehe...ahahahahahaha!

I bolt up the stairs at the sound of the familiar laughter, fading from sight on the way up. The door to the apartment is already open, and I come upon the sight of a man, babbling hysterically, kneeling over the corpse of a woman and child. Three jesters stand around him.

"This one is progressing nicely!" One of them states inanely.

The man, on his knees, is giggling over how much fun the kill was. The fool. Killing a woman and child, for the record, is not fun. When a man is truly hungry, does he seek out crumbs and scraps of meat? No, he seeks a hearty meal. The Killing Intent operates on a similar instinctual basis. This is in fact why, despite my origins, I never had the desire to kill randomly.

The clowns, on the other hand... I begin to feel an upwelling of desire to end these idiots right here and now. I quickly march up to a clown and unsheath my sword. In the same motion, I cut his face, and he reels back in shock.

"I think something's in here!" The clowns are not given to useful epiphanies.

I continue to slowly cut the clowns up, taking a moment to enjoy this morsel, hoping to kill one and perhaps following the retreating ones to somewhere useful. Thump thump thump thump. Footsteps?

I turn to see an Alundrian standing at the doorway, obviously dismayed at what he sees. "So you've done this again, I see. Very well then." A tendril of water forms at his hands, and shoots out toward one of the clowns. It quickly turns into ice and slices one of the clown's arms off. Very admirable work. I sense a very intense urge from this man to kill the clowns. I decide to take a bit of a risk.

Stepping around between him and his target, I make myself seen, pointing to the laborer. "Leave this one alive. The clowns we will kill." No sense in leaving the clowns alive at this point. How can I deny this man his want to eradicate these foul imbeciles? A pool of water collects on the ground, and then springs up as ice, freezing two clowns and the laborer in place. Good, he seems to be compliant. Some hacked heads and spilled innards quickly end the combat.

"I see that I am not the only one displeased with these clowns," I say, trying to "break the ice".

"No, certainly not."

"I'm Sicarius."

"Korin." Good, a cordial start. "It looks like they got to this one."

"Definitely. Are you familiar with how this transformation takes place?"

"They call it the Dreaming Serum." Ahh yes, the same stuff from last night.

"I thank you for keeping this one alive. I wanted him for some information."

"Well, speaking to him would be difficult. If we were to delve into his mind..." Interesting suggestion.

"Allow me, then," I say.

Korin looks at me strangely. We come to an understanding and both probe this poor bastard's mind, reaping all the information we can. I recognize this man as one of the prisoners that were released by Lucia and Shin. Well, this is quite a fumble on our part.

After a while, I discover that Korin is also investigating missing people, and that our goals seem to temporarily coincide. I don't ask him what unit he serves, out of respect for privacy. Saying the wrong things may get either of us killed, or force our hands against each other, and I'd rather pick a much better moment for such revelations. Korin is a potential asset that I don't want to squander. We split our search up, with Korin agreeing to search for one of the knights on the list, who openly accused the police of corruption (I wonder why he's missing), and I decide to head off to Calivera University, where Korin is apparently an alumni. Though he would be far more familiar with the campus, we decide not to attract too much attention to our investigation for now, and he points me in the right direction to see what I can find of two missing professors from the University.

[Pikachu]

The University is too easy of an investigation. An old man is willing to unlock an office for me after a lame excuse on my part, and I am able to find important sounding research that I drag Korin back to see what he can make of it. It seems that they have been researching Darkmoon mana, and something related to controlling or dealing with Zex's minions. There is also something about how the demon lords' magics correlate with one another. Very fascinating, though I can only make so much sense of it myself.

The motive seems apparent enough for the professors' disappearance, and with no leads on the knight, we continue with the list, this time together, and head to another residence. Our next destination is the home of another prisoner we had released the previous night. I am, in fact, hoping this one turns out like the other, already succumbing to the Serum and attracting the clowns.

Korin catches onto my cue, traveling in liquid form, while I am pocketed in Nether as we arrive at the residence. No sign of a break in yet...

Ahahahahahahha....

There they are. I stand and watch them hop from rooftop to rooftop, and then leap down to the ground. They run to the front door and hack it down. I quickly run in and watch as the clowns gleefully tower over their newest friend.

BOOM!

A hole is blasted through, and two Illryians run in. What an interesting development. They look like the sort of Illryians who botched up the Monfoy kidnapping. I wonder if they're in cahoots...

"Stand down or die, clowns." One of the Illyrians command.

Well, I suppose they might not be.

"I think they want to play!"

Play time starts with the clowns attacking the Illryians. I make no move to join the melee. I am a little irritated that the Illryians have interfered, since I want to hunt down some more Ringmasters, but I suppose I can tail the side that wins. I do sense a stronger Killing Intent fron the Illryians. A clown's arm is cut off, and another is punched straight through the gut. The clowns flee, and I watch what the Illryians' next move is.

"This is an interesting subject. Olrox will be pleased with this him, even if he is far gone. We will undo Variex's Venom and then elevate our master's status."

Variex's Venom? I suppose that explains the clowns a little, but what kind of force would want to contend with Variex? This is most intriguing. As the Illryians leave, I move to pursue them, when Korin materializes and looks straight at me. He asks me if I intend to give chase.

Korin is quite skilled to be able to detect me past the Nether. Were my powers ever fully developed, this would not happen. Nonetheless, I dismiss the thought killing Korin on the spot, and tell him to come along for the chase. We soon arrive at a mansion, and I feel as though this place is probably irrelevant. As I turn to leave, Korin stops me.

"What are you doing?" He asks.

"There isn't anything here," I reply, wondering what he notices.

"Are you serious?"

I begin to feel a bit of unease around this mansion, and a compulsion creeps into my mind telling me that I don't want to be here. Something must be at work here, and it is most unpleasant.

"There a strong darkmoon aura around this mansion as well," Korin explains. That accounts for a bit of the unease.

"Well, let's go in then. We should see what's going on."

"No, going in is going to be a very bad idea. I wouldn't recommend it, especially for you."

I understand what he implies, and back off. "I wonder who owns this mansion."

"A K. Oladorn," Korin replies, looking at a mailbox.

Oladorn? As in the one from the Millenium War? He's dead. There's something more to be done here, but I guess I need to report on it first before I can be provided with means to go inside. Despite the compulsion, I have a good deal of curiousity as to what lies inside, but I will need to be patient.

"Let's go to the Savarti's house. We'll come back and appropriately raze this mansion later," I suggest.

We move on to the Savarti knight's house. A Savarti knight.. quite an unorthodox combination of race and profession, but he seems to be an opponent of government expansion into the wildlands. There's natural motive to remove such a unique dissident before he gets too much attention, I suppose.

Korin is kind enough to slide under the door in his watery form and unlock it for me. The place is, unsurprisingly, a bit of a sty, but not bad for a Savarti. Korin searches upstairs. As I move into the kitchen, I suddenly sense an attack coming, and jump back. An Illryian dematerializes out of the shadow.

"We have guests!" I shout.

"I know!" Korin shouts back as he comes down the stairs.

I fade away, unseen to the Illryian, and lunge for his throat with my blade. His instincts are very keen, however, and he is able to avoid the attack. This is my one flaw, given to me by creation. Veterans of the battlefield can often make an effort, occasionally successfully, to dodge an attack if they can supernaturally sense my Killing Intent. More often than not, though, they try and still fail as I cut them, but this is not to be right now. Damn it.

Korin then encases most of his target in ice, but the Illryian uses his shadow form to get out. This trick is looking very familiar right now... though that becomes an irrelevant point as Korin quickly dispatches both the Illryians with blasts of light.

I come out of my invisibility, quite disappointed that Korin had the pleasure of the kill. And I could tell he enjoyed it a decent bit. I search the corpses and find a piece of paper, containing orders.

"Well, I can find nothing about the Savarti, but it looks to me as if they want to kill you specifically, Korin. They must know you're investigating people from the missing persons list. Is there someone that knows you well enough but may rat you out? Or succumb to torture?" I ask.

Korin looks a little distressed at this. "Well, there may be."

"Say no more. I can continue this on my own if you have other things to attend to. We can meet later if necessary."

Korin nods. We agree to meet at St. Yves in two hours, and he quickly departs.

Two more residences later with no leads (they are ransacked), I come upon the final home to be investigated. Ripley, an Illryian merchant, lives here, and he seems to deal in magical items. I sense someone else's Killing Intent and barely avoid an attack. Two more Illryians. Disappearing from their sight, I begin to run circles around them both. I land some solid hits to their chests, but they have some defenses that I have not fully penetrated. This will change in time; I feel my Killing Intent rise up to a coldly uncontrollable level, especially having been deprived from a kill earlier.

"This isn't working, we must retreat."

Retreat? One runs off, and goes out the house. Another fades into the shadow and moves toward the door. Interesting, the light seems to inhibit his movement...

Warping the space between myself and my intended victim, I teleport next to the shadowed Illryian and channel my Spiritual magic into my blade. I wish I could feel the caress of sword meeting flesh, but alas, I must settle for striking a dark spot on the ground. I instead feel a quick pulse as my slash hits true, and a corpse suddenly materializes out of the ground.

Not having the time to savor this kill, I run out the door after the other Illryian. He turns a corner, and I follow, closing the gap by quick teleporting bursts. Oh, I need to enjoy this one a little more. I burst ahead of my target and stand, waiting.

As my target runs by, I swing my blade down, cleaving through his leg. He falls face down, skidding to a stop. I hack through the other leg, but then, to my surprise, the victim stops moving. I certainly didn't expect this turn of events. Sighing, I head off to wait at St. Yves. What a disappointing day. Little information to go on, a dead end at the mansion, I lose my lead on the clowns, and even my kills are unsatisfying.

[Pikachu]

My thoughts are interrupted by an immense rumbling off in the distance. I quickly move off to investigate, still hidden in the Nether. Within a minute, I come upon a collapsed building, little else. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch two blurry figures sneaking off behind a building. Interesting. I wonder if Korin is around here, too. Or his friends. I follow the blurry figures to see what they are doing.

They both huddle behind a building, and I hear them whisper into some apparatus. They give a description of a human, an Illryian, and a big Val. Oh, they were fighting Lucia, Osmium, and Shin? Well, I guess I can clean up after them, I think to myself, as I decapitate the one on my right.

After he dies, he becomes fully visible; he is wearing black leather armor, and a helmet, which is presumably what he spoke into moments before death called him home.

"What the hell!?!?" I hear the other exclaim.

I use the flat of my blade and beat him into unconsciousness. Well, at least I can do some detective work on my comrades while I'm here. Images flood my mind of an assassination attempt on a Senator Nalivir... and then a clumsy combat with the rest of my Twilight Watch unit, as well as some man flying around in a silver hawk suit. I read deafening sensations from my victim.. I guess I know where that loud noise came from now. Hmm... he's from the Shadow Templar, a black ops organization run by the government. Well, I shouldn't be surprised the government would want to control their senators. But since their plot has obviously been foiled by the Twilight Watch, I turn my victim's head a full 360 degrees and leave his corpse next to his friend to rot.

[some time later...]

20 minutes have passed since Korin should have shown up here. He doesn't seem to be the awfully late type, so something must be pressing for his attention. That, or he's in trouble. As there is little I can do about this turn of events, I walk out the restaurant. I sense I am being followed, and I turn into an alleyway, and stand, with my arms crossed, waiting expectantly.

Four Illryians appear, surrounding me. This is more or less what I expected.

"Our master wishes to see you. We can do this one of three ways. One, you can come quietly with us. Two, we can beat you senseless and bring you to our master to be studied. Or, you can come along dead."

"Your master must be quite intriguing. Very well, let's meet him."

"I didn't expect this, but very well. We will bind your hands, and you will follow us," says their group's representative.

"No, I agreed to follow. Binding my hands was not a part of the agreement."

"You would still follow us even unbound?" He asks incredulously.

"Of course. I said I'd follow already."

Soon, I arrive at that same mansion belonging to Oladorn. I enter the mansion, unaffected by compulsions or other unpleasant auras. I guess I'm getting to go through the front door. This will prove to be a very intriguing meeting.

I am lead through the insides of the mansion, past a door with a keycode (for which I need to turn around so as to not see the passcode), and down underground, where I wander for a long, long time. I pass by many interesting specimens that seem to be a result of their "research", including a golem stitched together with Monfoy's face on it. So much for me returning the Vakten safely.

I eventually arrive at a laboratory, filled with glass tubes and vials and chemicals. Strapped to two chairs are the professors I had been looking for, with a strange helmet attached onto each of their heads. No need to guess what's going on here, then - Illryians with darkmoon research regarding minions and an alchemical laboratory means they want to make some new followers. At long last, I am allowed into an office of sort, overlooking an arena with two creatures fighting.

My four escorts stand aside as a tall, dark Illryian turns his attention to me.

"I have no records of you, and yet you come willingly. This is unexpected," he begins. "What brings you here?"

"Curiousity. Since you have no records of me, my name is Sicarius."

"Heh. You expect a name from me, but you will get none."

How impolite. Well, this one is probably Olrox, the master the other Illryians spoke of.

"That's alright. I just gave you the name I use right now."

"Fair enough," he smiles. Giving a nod to the arena, he adds, "What do you think?"

I see a griffin-like creature fighting some fat ogre golem. They seem evenly matched.

"Nice, but nowhere near the quality of creations such as ourselve."

The man I assume to be Olrox smiles at this. "You can add to our research and bring us closer to perfection. A creation of Kazera would be quite an asset."

I ponder that remark for a moment. A creation of Kazera? I suppose he doesn't know everything like he thinks he does.

"That's flattering. To what am I adding to?" I inquire.

"You see those four over there? They are Illryians created by Zex, unable to withstand the trials of enhancement. They are mere shadows of what they could have been. We seek to create an army of minions, you see, to finally end the Blood War between the Dark Lords and allow the demons to fight on a united front."

"That sounds like an idea. Is this why Zex withdrew his forces toward the end of the War?"

"Not quite. It was thought that the remaining forces were sufficient to attain victory..."

"But no one expected a reversal of fortune coming in the form of a certain rebellion?" I interrupt. Most interesting that he'd be so forthcoming with his information right now. Perhaps there may be a chance here.

"Yes, things didn't go as some of us thought they would. But that is in the past. Tell me, though, how does a creation of Kazera, a being of wanton destruction, kill with such deliberation? You are a very interesting subject to research."

Now I know he doesn't know as much as he thinks he does. If he cannot see the greater pattern of death's designs - the necessity of death to come from many aspects, who is he to raise this demonic army? Well, let's see if he can offer anything.

"Let's say I were to be researched. What do I do?" I ask.

"I will be honest. It will be painful and unpleasant. However, if you come out of it with your psyche intact, you can join us."

"That's all?"

"You will also get the pleasure of knowing that you are a part of a greater plan to unite the demon armies under Zex."

One would think that he could offer incentive in the form of position. Maybe more power to spread wanton destruction at least? This is such a disappointing turn of events.

"I don't think this is sounding very lucrative. I'd like to leave now, so please have your servants show me the way out." I quip.

"That is certainly not going to happen."

I turn invisible immediately.

"What?" The man seems very surprised.

I quickly move behind him, unsheathing my sword. Aiming for his chest, I lash out with my blade. He suddenly turns to block the attack, unsucessfully, but he is able to physically dodge the tip of my sword. He swings very wildly with his claw-like hands.

"FIND HIM! Seal off the doors!"

He must have been able to sense my Killing Intent, but not be able to see where I am. As misguided and uninsightful as he is, he is a formidable foe, and one I don't have time to be able to face if I am to get out of this mess successfully and report back to HQ.

I go to open the main doors to the office, and then sneak off to a corner.

"Go out and get him!" The boss commands. He quickly bursts out of the room in a shadowy trail. I hear a report of some other vigilantes breaking out, and something about Jumi. This draws more anger from the commander, and I hear sounds of someone dying.

I sit and wait, frustrated. The one foe worthy enough for a satisfying kill, and I need to have discretion or risk fighting a base full of Illryians. I have no illusions that my invisibility will protect me forever, as someone or something like Korin might exist here that can see me. But now that I've mislead them for a little, I can move about and try to get out.

I wander through the lab, looking for something important to demolish before I leave. I find something in the room with the professors. Regretfully, they must wait for their rescue. I then break a few shelves apart, hoping something important is messed up.

"What the hell? Hey didn't they say something about someone invisible? Call the Mine Spiders!" One of the researchers exclaim.

Well, this is quite a risky way to figure out what their defenses are. I quickly move out and run through the laboratory, and out into a long stairway, which I was lead through earlier. I notice that some of the lab workers are evacuating, and decide to follow them. Perhaps they may gather somewhere and I can kill some of them as well.

Before I know it, I have followed them above ground. Suddenly, one of the researchers with a device of some sort spots me, and gives attention to my position. I start to use a series of teleports to get out of the mansion. Good, it doesn't seem like they can follow my fast movements with their magitek. I make my way out of the mansion, still regretting that I was unable to engage the Illryian who is probably Olrox, but a little pleased that I have a good lead regarding the missing people.

Still, it is irritating to have run like this, but alas, I must follow orders. I am under contract right now anyway, and were I to break orders, I'd probably invite trouble that would be far worse than an angry Klavion. Soon, however, I will return with support, and hopefully set up a fair fight, and kill Olrox myself.

I return to HQ, and reunite with my team. I make my report, and am updated on the Nalivir situation. Whereas Klavion seemed pleased with my report, Osmium seems riled up by my mention of the mansion and the presence of some of the prisoners, and immediately heads off to assault it.

"You don't want to go there, Osmium... there's a strong darkmoon aura there that has a very negative effect," I say, hoping he understands what I imply.

He will have none of it, and is determined to go alone if need be. Even Klavion barking at him has no effect.

"Do you want to jump back into the maw of Zex? This is what he wants you to do!" Duragar says.

Hmm. This is getting to be a touchy situation. So Osmium is from Zex. I suppose I can imagine some hard feelings then. Still, as much as I support going off to create a bloodbath, mine's is a Killing Intent, not a Killing Impulse.

Duragar resorts to using some sort of compulsion effect on Osmium, and commands him to go off to rest. He seems ashamed to use this tactic - and I thought I had been reserved today. Well, my mission for today is done, and I go off to rest myself. I hope to next day will be a little more gratifying.