Game Archive

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Here you will find completed adventures (freeform without a GM) and campaigns (structured with a GM) that have been played here at the Mardi Gras 3000 Forum. Many of these inspired official fiction that went on to be published in anthologies, novels and comics.

Only Game Masters, Moderators or the Admin should post in this thread. If you act in oneof these roles, take the completed adventure or campaign and add the proper Subject field and opening header:

[color=FF6600][size=2]"Title Here"
Game Archive #proper number here[/size][/color]

Enjoy reading!

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[Please note that this campaign was played before the MG3K Forum adopted the Stacked BBRPG System.]

"On the Waterfront"
Game Archive #1

MasterDonny wrote:
Campaign Title: On the Waterfront
Time: 3000 AD
Place: Seattle, Washington

Plot: It is midnight on a Friday night. Supernatural senses tell local Terrapyres and Celestials that the Grail will drop near by at dawn’s Neutral Hour.

Setting: A waterfront of the future, part spaceport, part water-ship receiving area. A rough part of town. Black market abounds. Import. Export. Neon giving way to dark shadows. Buy, sell or see anything here. Crowded. Loud.

Questions: What will happen between now and dawn? How soon will the Celestials dare to appear? What secondary skill will these immortals have? How might they use aspects of this dangerous and wild area of futuristic Seattle to their advantage?

Angelus wrote:
The whirl of late night hovercars speeding along the high lanes and the roar of the quicksilver waves crashing into the pillions beneath Pier 14 clashed with the rock steady refrains of Black Dove Calling playing on his eLex music plug-in. They were his favorite band from the colonies and he got great reception near the liftport.

His wings were in flux tonight, invisible to all but his most hated enemies. He was full strength, pumped up and jacked in, standing in shadows that slid around him like living coils, not concealing him but revealing him a creature in waiting, a man best left alone.

The music was almost a balm to the chaos around Angelus. It made all the other sounds fit together, like grounding them with silver thread.

He stepped out from the deep doorway of a closed off-world passport center and into the blue-purple flashes from the high lane neon forty feet above him. His long, black trench coat—the little human man with cybernetic teeth had told him it was genuine plastic but he assumed it was synthrubber—was beginning to feel tight across his shoulders. Now was not the time to sprout wings.

Where was that woman?!

Alison at Night wrote:
"Thinking about me, Feathers?" The low female voice came from behind Angelus. "Haven't been waiting long, have you?"

Angelus wrote:
"Long enough," Angelus groused. "What are you doing here?"

Alison at Night wrote:
"Don't be mad, Feathers," Alison crinkled her eyebrows in mock concerned and ran a hand over the back of Angelus' trench coat, obviously feeling for wings. "Aren't you happy to see me? The more the merrier, right?" She laughed, and tossed auburn hair across her bar shoulders. She had four up-links studs in her left ear -- one red, one green, one blue and one black. She could jack in at any time, any where. Most of her friends called her LiveWire.

Angelus wrote:
But Angelus wasn't one of her friends.

"That all Terrapyres get along is a myth, Alison," Angelus turned pointedly away from her. "And don't call me 'Feathers.'"

He ignored her as his brown, gold-streaked eyes searched the crowd for his companions.

AreaneCreator wrote:
Suddenly a nearby crate shattered as a young boy slammed into it. Fights weren't uncommon on Pier 14.

"Go back home, orphan," a little punk with a retro-style green mohawk called.

The other boy pulled himself up from the crate's remains. He was too well-dressed to be on the pier so late at night; a blue and green striped polo and smudged khakis. He was pale and shaking, his eyes continually flickering from the water and his rivals. He seemed distracted, scared, and angry.

"Don't call me that," he grunted to the other boy. "My name is Christian, not orphan! And if you come near me again I swear--"

"What?" the punk demanded as he walked toward him, fist raised, but the well-dressed boy's fist flew out first, hitting the punk square in the face. He fell to the ground screaming, his nose broken as if he'd been hit by a wooden beam.

Shocks of power flickered through the youth. He was a Raw.

The gang stared at their once prey and backed away.

"Freak," one of them mumbled as they helped their friend off the ground and ran away.

The new boy stared at his fist in shock, at the blood splattered across his skin, and backed away. He turned to run, fear in his eyes like a deer caught in the headlights. He slammed directly into Angelus. The boy looked up and shouted, then struggled to turn away and run....

Alison at Night wrote:
"Hey, there Hedgehog," with impossible speed--something a whisper or two beyond Grace--Alison grabbed the teen with the green mohawk by the back of his ratty jacket and lifted him off the ground in one smooth motion. "I think you owe Polo here a rescind."

Hedgehog sputtered down at Alison. "Dat freak broke me nose!!"

Alison shrugged. "Yay. Now tell him sorry, Hedgehog, or Mama Freak is going to break something else."

She smiled. It wasn't pleasant.

Angelus wrote:
Angelus held up his open hands to the young Raw with the universal and ageless meanings: unarmed, no ill intent. He didn't try to touch him. If this was the first time the boy had used his powers he might feel vulnerable now, even unstable. Angelus wasn't really in the mood to be accidently blasted... he was trying to stay stable himself at the moment.

Speaking of which... where was Midnight? Where was Tyger? They were supposed to be here by now!

"Hello, Christian. My name is Angelus."

AreaneCreator wrote:
"Hello, Christian. My name is Angelus."

Christian backed away from everyone, his eyes taking in the girl holding the punk by his collar, and Angelus. He didn't know what to do. His mind was spinning, tearing him between his desire to go home and the need he felt to stay. His parents would freak when they found out he was gone. He'd never done anything really wrong before, and now he was sneaking out, wandering around the most dangerous part of town, and getting into fights!

He didn't understand any of it, but he felt he should. He knew there was something weird about Angelus and the girl, but he didn't know what. Something was going on, something he didn't like. He wanted to know more, he wanted to run, and as he was trying to figure out what to do all he could think about was the blood on his hands. More then anything he wished that he had just stayed home.

"Don't you come near me. I don't want to hurt you to," he called to the long-haired stranger as bravely as he could.

MasterDonny wrote:
High above in the dark canopy of the night sky, a low rumbling sound, like a great machine slowly moving to action, predicted a programmed change in the weathersphere. A moment later, it began to rain. Warm, fat drops fell with a cleansing shower, not quite soaking the piers and its denizens but certainly washing away offense.

Angelus wrote:
Angelus tipped his face to the rain. Even in this rougher part of town the rain was pure, supplied by the best of the United Space Federations purifiers. He felt a slight grin spread to his lips. Of course, the rain was tinged with sedatives. Not enough to make anyone fall asleep, but just enough to induce that autunmal calm that rainy days may once have naturally supplied.

He eyed Christian carefully. "You can run if you like, Christian. But the rain can wash away a lot. Maybe, before you run, you might want to ask yourself, why were you here in the first place?"

AreaneCreator wrote:
Christian looked up to the sky, the rain splattering against his face. As the cool droplets trailed across his cheeks, he felt his fears fade and his emotions cool. He looked around a second time and sat on the ground against a crate, mentally exhausted.

He absentmindedly grabbed the small cross he wore around his neck, the only thing he had from his birth mother, and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes, hoping that his mind would stop spinning. It started again. The chiming in the back of his mind, the clear sound of bells that had led him to the pier. As he concentrated on the sound, his fear began to melt and a warm feeling of confidence began fill his body.

He looked up at everyone again, his mind drawn in a kind of focus he had never experienced before, and he nodded to Angelus. He then looked at the girl, the punk still in her grip, and he chuckled.

"Mamma Freak?"

Midnight wrote:
Midnight rides up on her Harley, skidding to a stop in front of the others. As she steps off, she reaches to check for the 22 strapped to her belt. She walks over to the group with in her steel-toed boots and leather jacket, already soaking from the downpour.

"Did you need some assistance Angelus?" She says with a smirk on her face. "I would think you could handle something like this without even breaking a sweat...but I am always ready to join in the fun."

Alison at Night wrote:
Alison laughed and grinned at Christian. "Well, honey, I've been called worse."

She glanced up, almost absently, at the punk held aloft in her fist. "Oh. Hedgehog has passed out. Humans are usually so much fun." She winked at Christian. "Afraid you won't be getting an apology, honey."

Alison took two steps and dropped the punk over the railing of the pier. He hit the water with a splash and a yell. The lifeguard servos would fish him out.

Alison dusted her hands off and took a step toward Christian, extending a hand. She cast a sidelong glance at Angelus and rolled her eyes. "Feather isn't always too quick on the uptake, honey. The reason you're here is the same reason we're all here, right? Maybe you just don't know it." Alison smiled at Christian. "The Grail is calling you, honey."

AreaneCreator wrote:
Christian hesitated a moment and grabbed her hand, pulling himself to his feet. He looked over the edge of the dock with a shudder, holding his cross again as he watched the punk being pulled from the water.

The woman's words returned to his mind. "The Grail is calling you, honey."

"The Holy Grail," he muttered, and he knew it was true. "The clowns are coming back."

He shivered at the thought, his nightmares as a child returning with a sickening reality. He had been convinced as a small boy that clown monsters lived under his bed. They'd always show up in the morning before he woke up, when the sun crept into his window. He'd slept with his parents every night until the day his mom ran away and his dad died.

The chiming was growing stronger. He didn't know where his confidence was coming from. He had never gone to the pier, it was infamously dangerous, and he would normally have avoided people like Angelus and the two new women on his own street, let alone downtown. As he looked at them, however, a kind of familiarity seemed to bubble within him, a kind of trust he only reserved for friends. What was going on?

"I'm supposed to do something. What is it?" he asked no one in particular.

Alison at Night wrote:
Alison smiled gently. So long ago it was like another life, in another time, she had been a mother of a son. But she tried not to think of that now. "Yeah, there is something you need to do, but they ain't clowns, honey. They're aliens and that's not nearly as scary, eh? Come on. I'll buy you a vegstick and a hot tube of broth." She cast a half-mocking glance at Angelus and Midnight. "These two can do their thing, whatever that is. You and me can have a tasty snack and talk about finding ourselves a little ole Holy Grail, huh?"

Angelus wrote:
Angelus risked startling the young Raw, taking a forceful step toward the two. "Don't go any where with her, Christian. She's not your kind."

Angelus stared at the boy, trying to think of how to explain. Then he spotted the cross around the boy's neck. "She doesn't want the Grail for Christ. That isn't want you want, is it?"

Alison at Night wrote:
Alison cut him off, stepping between Christian and Angelus without letting go of the teen's hand. "Back off, Feathers." Her voice was a growl, primal. "I just don't like aliens -- clowns, right? -- messing with our kids and running rampant in our world. That not noble enough for you?"

Angelus wrote:
Angelus looked Alison from head to toe. Was her body language a message? A threat? "Do you really want to rumble over this, Alison? Over a Raw? Just send the boy back home now. He's had enough education for one night."

Alison at Night wrote:
"You and your girlfriend want to take me on, Feathers?!" Beneath her leather jacket and silk shirt, Alison felt her body bulking for battle. Old arguments rose up in her mind. Older images of Angelus that she didn't really want to remember right now.

Angelus wrote:
"Alison, I--" A groan and Angelus doubled over then threw back his head and howled like a wounded thing. His voice was high and thin, quite inhuman. He tumbled backward, retreating toward shadows. "Ali... Midnight..." But before he could reach the seclusion of the nearby alley, the back of his trench ripped away and two glorious white wings exploded from his back.

Alison at Night wrote:
"The Grail!"

Angelus wrote:
"The Grail!"

AreaneCreator wrote:
"What the heck???!!!"

Midnight wrote:
Midnight runs to help Angelus, but stops to face Allison. "This isn't the time to fight over why we are here...or past history. If you want to settle our differences I am ready to roll any time you are...but not if the only reason for your hostility is over my relations with "Feathers." That would be a waist of my time even if I had nothing else to do with it."

She rolls her eyes and walks to Angelus's side.

"Are you...UGH!" A laser beam grazes the right arm of Midnight's jacket. As she cringes in pain, she looks into the alley. A figure passes from one side to the other in the faint light.

" Now that is just what I needed to fire me up. Come out clowns we are ready to play... or are you all too afraid to even show off your hideous masks!"

Alison at Night wrote:
Alison's eyes darted across the crowd, then froze. She spun toward Christian. She looked at him gravely, seriously. "This is the time, Christian. *Your* time. You have a decision. Either stay and fight..."

Angelus wrote:
Angelus grasped Midnight's offered hand and stood. He tore back the remains of his trench coat and shook his head to clear it. He nodded to Midnight, squeezed her hand as a confirmation of their status as comrades-in-arms. He was himself again, and fully himself, his wings unfurled behind him. He was ready to meet the Celestials. Ready to fight to the death if need be. The Grail would be theirs, and so Christ's, tonight or it would pass back into the 4D untouched by Celestial hands. Or he would die trying.

"Stay and fight, boy," Angelus added, turning away to face the crowd. "Stay or run."

AreaneCreator wrote:
Christian felt a calm confidence settle around him, a cofidence he hadn't felt since childhood. He didn't know how to fight very well. He remembered his mother trying to teach him when he was little, but his father had gotten upset about it. That didn't seem to matter to him in that moment, however. THere was something more important going on than his own safety. He wouldn't be a nuisance. He wouldn't get in the way.

He looked up at everyone and took a few steps toward them, carefully looking around. He found a long, thin strand of metal beads on the ground and gave it an experimental flick. It was close enough to the warrior beads his mother had tried to train him with so long ago. If it broke... well, he'd think of something then.

AreaneCreator wrote:
"Wait for my signal!" Pandora hissed back to Eridanus. "One more misfire and you'll answer to the elders!"

She looked down at the group of Terrapyres calculatedly, carefully keeping her face hidden in the shadows of the building. If the moon glinted just right off her golden mask, it would be over. Where were the leaders? If they didn't arrive soon, she would have to start the attack on her own; and though she'd never admit it aloud, she was afraid she would fail. She pushed thoughts of failure from her mind, steeling her nerves as she'd been taught to from childhood, her focus intense. No fear, no failure. She was in control.

She turned to her lietenants, Orion crouched next to her, his battle axe poised in his hand, a sleek knife in the other, and countless other guns, lasers, and knives hidden in the folds of his robes. On her other side, Hyas was poised, his magical spells ready on his lips. She felt everyone around her, waiting for her command.

She searched the area again with her mind. Where were the leaders?

"We wait for the right moment. Check with the scouts for word of approaching Terrapyres. Don't let any more through," she thought telepathically at Eudora, who instantly vanished, leaving in a gentle rustle of robes like an owls wings gliding through the night air.

"Hyas, when I give the word, target the Raw. Those sentimental Terrapyres will try to help him. Cripple the boy long enough for us to take them down," she commanded. Hyas nodded, the feeling of his smile rippling through the air.

"Of course, Pandora."

Alison at Night wrote:
Alison's eyes darted. She found herself backing toward the pier railing, almost shoving Christian along with her. The Grail was a scent in the air, strong and wild, a thing of power. But something more, something sinister and acidic roiled over that.

"Mother of God..." she muttered. "There's so many of them..." She couldn't see any of the Celestials but she could tell they were there. In the crowd. In the shadows. Somewhere.

Angelus wrote:
"I thought you weren't religious, Alison?" Angelus quipped gently and, his wits about him, took three running steps, leapt to the top of the railing -- "Grab on, friends!" -- and threw himself into the blackness.

They were pinned if they stayed on the pier and obviously out numbered. Plus, his sense of the Grail was strong, and the song said to fly, to dare dip closer to the quicksilver of the cyber port waves. The Grail would not be found on dry ground tonight.

Alison at Night wrote:
"Gotta get myself some of those some day," Alison muttered as she ripped her eyes away from the strangers on the pier to behold Angelus' (as always!) majestic wings, even as her body moved her, legs pumping, full tilt toward the darkness of open air. "Christian! Trust me!" She flung out her hand to him even as she leapt, clearing the railing like wind.

AreaneCreator wrote:
Christian saw Alison race toward the rail after Angelus.

"Christian! Trust me!" she screamed.

With a practiced movement he activated the crash bracelet on his wrist, which immediately warmed the bracelets on his other wrist, ankles, and the band hidden around his waist. If they were leaving the ground, he wasn't taking any chances.

He ran after Alison and grabbed her hand, slipping over the railing and tumbling down and then up again. His bracelets hummed lightly as they sensed the ground, but calmed as he didn't hit anything. He actually felt himself grinning. Not exactly a hoverboard, but, well, it certainly was buzz.

"Hey, uh, you with the bike! Coming?"

Midnight wrote:
Midnight could feel the power of the grail pulsing through her veins. She felt stronger and her urge to fight was almost more than she could control.

She took a second look at the pier and then jumped on her bike, following the others. "If you guys think you are leaving me behind to fight these clowns alone you are crazier than I thought!"

It had started...the race against time. The sweat and blood that would be shed in this battle would either be the end of this tattered group or a new beginning. They were all so different but they were there for the same reason, the grail. Two terrapyres fighting to steal the grail for Christ, another full of hatred for celestials, and a rebel without a cause.

One hour, that is all they had.

AreaneCreator wrote:
Pandora's heart sank as Angelus fled, carrying everyone with him. Her mind spun, forming strategies and back-up plans. She was an honor-graduate of the Academy: whole lectures and skirmishes were based around fighting Angelus, nullifying his advantage. She could do this.

"Orian, I want you to ready half your army and come to my aide. Keep Alcyone with the reserves. Make sure they do not move until given the order. We can not underestimate them, no matter how few."

"Yes, Pandora," he answered with a deep bow.

"Astrea. Get your telepaths together. Confuse them. Use illusion if you have to. We have to keep them busy."

"Yes, Pandora," a small Celestial in deep green robes announced with a bow before disappearing.

Pandora turned to Hyas, a commraderie reminiscent of their days as lieutenants in Academy stirring within her. She supressed it. No emotion, no distraction. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, Pandora," he answered as she took his hand and they disappeared, reappearing before Angelus and his motely crew.

Hyas' shields were impenetrable, his hands moving steadily as he kept them evenly levitated. Pandora drew her sword with the impression of a smile. She knew she was intimidating, her robes billowing in the breeze, her eyes bright and intense; almost as if they were on fire. She had trained a long time to imitate the presence skill.

She could hear the wir of hundreds of Orion's hoverboards coming to life. They had all the advantage.

"Hello little Terrapyre."

Angelus wrote:
Angelus felt his fellows leap after him, Midnight's bike crashing through the rail that the others had jumped. He grinned. She always did things her own way. He valued that about her.

The night air was clean and calm. The rain had stopped. He savored the feeling of gliding down, held in God's invisible hand, then his feet touched the slick metal of a landing platform. He took a deep breath and looked around.

The two kilos long black strip was barely twenty cm thick, hovering less than that above the quicksilver waves. It was ten meters wide and lined with alternating lane lines and parking spaces in neon green, orange and yellow. He had landed among a clustered of parked pods. His eyes narrowed.

"Midnight? Alison? ...Christian? Anyone know how to fly a Pod?"

Alison at Night wrote:
Alison laughed then smiled and squeezed Christian's hand with a friendly wink. "You never know what you'll get when you hang with this guy, Christian." Then, to her one-time lover, "I can fly it, sure. Up. Down. Right. Left. But I can't decode the lock. And I've never used the, uh, extras... if it has any."

Angelus wrote:
Angelus nodded. "You can tell which have onboard weapon's systems -- supposedly for taking out random low-space trash. The Pod will have seams lined in carbon in the aft... like this one!" He slapped a yellow, black-striped four-seater Pod with carbon lined seams in the back that could fire either metal- or energy-based blasts.

Midnight wrote:
Midnight walks over to the door of the pod. She runs her fingers along every edge, contemplating the different types of security weapons they could be dealing with. She stepped back to face the others. "We can't blast through, that would risk our lives as well as the possibility of setting off the defense system they have programmed."

She walked back over to the door, paused, and then pulled a switch blade out of her pocket. She stuck it in a small crevice to the right off the door and pried it open. “Hah…found the control panel.”

The control panel was a series of symbols. The symbols were glowing different colors and interchanging periodically. She looked closely and noticed the yellow light made the same arrangement in the sequence, unlike the others. She took a deep breath and decided to test her theory. She pushed each button in the yellow light’s pattern, a different tone sounding with every one. As she came to the last button she paused. “Here goes nothing,” she said with an uneasy sigh, closed her eyes and then pressed it with her index finger. There was a loud beep and then the sound of decompressed air as the pod door opened.

She breathed a sigh of relief and turns to face Alison. “It’s all yours Alison, I’ve done my part.”

AreaneCreator wrote:
Christian looked around nervously as the girl from the motorcycle examined the pod. He felt like he was being watched, fear trickling down his spine.

"Heya, Chris, what you doin' out this late?" Jayne's voice flooded through his earpiece.

"Not now, Jayne," he hissed to his friend. He had no such luck.

"Why?" she wondered suspiciously. "You sneak out? Christian the Christian breaking curfew?"

"Shut up, Jayne," he growled. "Seriously."

"You ARE breaking curfew, aren't you?" her shocked voice laughed. "It must be a sign of the apocalypse."

"Jayne, go away, seriously! This is SO not the time!"

“It’s all yours Alison, I’ve done my part.” the girl called as she retracted a switchblade from the pod's security system.

"Oh, wait 'til I tell the crew, they won't believe it!"

"Janye, if you tell anyone -"

Suddenly his throat seemed to close off on its own. He gasped, reaching for what felt like fingers around his neck. He couldn't breathe.

"Chris, you all right? Chris?!" she shrieked.

He felt himself falling. What was going on?

AreaneCreator wrote:
Pandora watched as Hyas' hands moved in violent circles, attacking the youth. The boy wouldn't die, but hopefully it caught his fellows' attention.

"Orion is ready to attack. Keep them distracted," she muttered. Hyas nodded, and gave another wrenching motion, the raw falling to the ground.

[Jennifer]

"In the City"
Game Archive #2

Harper (Terraypyre)
Harper leaned against the rough beam, her feet stretched out into the desolate street. She’d heard it was once a popular place, but it had long since been abandoned, the only other creature a dog scrounging through the garbage.

She could feel the other Terrapyres and Celestials nearby, the Neutral Hour drawing to a close, their rumbling crashing against her senses from the other side of the city. She didn’t feel any need to join them. She didn’t rumble unless her lairmates were close, and she had left them at home a few days ago. They knew she would return. She always did.

She closed her eyes and blocked out the rumbling. She could feel the Grail, too far to reach, but near enough that its power pulsed around her. She felt it, throbbing through her, beating against her skin steadily, deeply, like the regular pounding of the bass at a nightclub. She sighed. The Grail was being nice to her tonight. There was no pain, no need to reach it. It was just a rhythm. A pulse.

“Thus beats the heart of the world,” she muttered with a smile, knowing that no one was near to ask her what she meant or if she was hearing things again. Perhaps she was. Perhaps the Grail was on the other side of the world and the sound was nothing more than a phantom. She smiled wider. She knew it wasn’t.

She stood in the middle of the street, now practically a dirt road from disrepair, and she began to dance. She danced to the beat of the Grail, bending and swaying, doing what her body told her to, her awareness of the buildings around her strong even with her eyes closed and she had no fear of hitting something. She kicked and punched, spun and leapt, her long, black hair swaying around her shoulders, clinging to her back and spinning away wildly. Her long, wool sweater drooped almost down to her knees but didn’t tangle her thin legs. She was not a master of Grace, but she had spent years learning how to bluff it. Even her tall, black combat boots left barely an imprint in the dirt as they scuffed and slided across the ground. She opened her eyes and tilted her head up, spinning beneath the full moon, the light reflecting on her pale face until she seemed to glow and she laughed, a wild, careless sound shattering the night, blocking out the rumble as it floated through the air, pulsating with the sound of the Grail.

She didn’t stop as she felt someone approach. She didn’t care who or what it was. All she felt was the absolute joy of the night.


In the City (Jade, Terrapyre)
The path in front of her was bright and clear. Vividly clear. She went down the street at a brisk jog, Riley and Kia a few paces behind her. She ignored her blurred peripheral vision, and followed the exaggerated colors and tug in her chest. "We may be able to make it if we hurry," Jade whispered. Her lairmates were used to this - chasing after the Grail, sometimes without any hope of reaching it. But there was nothing that could keep Jade home on nights like these, and they would rather be with her than let her go out on her own.

Suddenly she stopped, crouching in a low fighting stance. Her knives were in her hands as she steadied herself, listening intently. She had heard a strange noise above the clatter of the Immortals rumbling a few blocks to their left. She looked to her right and left, but that only left her dizzy enough that she had to close her eyes, quickly shutting down the feelings of doubt, regret, and guilt that pounded her head unless she had herself perfectly under control during the Neutral Hour.

She gave the signal to continue forward. Around the next corner she found the source of the noise - a young girl, spinning and dancing in the dirt of the street. Jade identified her immediately as a Terrapyre, but not young at all. Jade slowed, and tilted her head. "What are you doing?"


Harper (Terrapyre)
Harper stopped mid-twirl and sighed. She didn't care that someone had been behind her, but now they had interrupted.

"Interloper," she grunted so inaudibly they couldn't hear her. She spun around and looked the three over. Raws. Well, perhaps not, but they might as well be.

"You aren't going to reach it," she called to their leader, her eyes wild in an intensified expression of the need Harper felt on Neutral Hours. "The Grail is cities away, and you are on foot. You could take the train, but you need to move, right? Can't sit still? Even with the Grail being so politely mild tonight?"

She studied the girl's face, her eyes, and knew that her words probably sounded cruel. Still, she sympathized with her. She knew what madness felt like, though in a way, Harper had it easier, living with it all the time.

"You won't see the Grail for a few more Neutral Hours," she announced softly, knowing it was true.


In the City (Riley, Terrapyre)
Several thoughts flashed through Riley's mind as he heard the girl speak to Jade.

First: The train? Yes, Riley could totally see Jade sitting calmly in a seat, waiting to make it to the next city over.

Not.

Second: Politely mild? Perhaps. But not nearly mild enough that Jade could pull down the shields she had to block out as much of the Grail's call as she could. Even with the strongest mental block she was restless, intense, and needed movement. A lot of movement.

Third: A few more Neutral hours? We'd see about that.

Riley put a hand on Jade's shoulder. She turned her head back at him, her wavy hair falling behind her shoulder, and he raised his eyebrows in question. Her eyes flicked back to the girl, looking her up and down, then back to Riley. "Let's go," she stated, then turned back around.

They were a few steps past the girl when Jade immediately came to a halt. "What is it?" Kia asked her. Riley watched the muscles in Jade's shoulders relax, which meant there was something out there that couldn't be seen, but was definately there. He had an idea of what it was, and he silently pulled out the sword that hung in it's sheath across his back. His idea was confirmed as he heard Jade utter an almost silent, "Clown time."


Elijah (Terrapyre)
"You aren't really going to drink that, are you?" Elijah smiled a slow smile that lingered on her lips. It was a cross between amused and incredulous. The candle light caught in the dark, red wine, shining through the dark blue bottle with the cracked ancient label.

"Why not?" The other Terrapyre, his long, curly blonde hair wild about his nearly bare shoulders, grinned back at her. "I mean, don't even priests drink wine?" He uncorked the 200 year old red.

"Not Terrapyre priests," Elijah leaned away from the fine mist rising from the bottle. The smell of wine nauseated her. Maybe Chorus and Angelus had been right. Tommy was a bit more than odd.

"Oh, Elijah, don't sweat the small stuff," Tommy wouldn't look away from her, never breaking their locked gaze even while he filled two fine glasses.

Presence is a real drag sometimes, Elijah thought and she forced her mind to stay focused. Gracious and immortality! How she hated going undercover. Why hadn't Chorus taken this one? Oh right... she had that interview for MusicVRGlobal. Like it would just kill Angelus to pretend to swing both ways for an evening! Well... it probably would.

"Relax, Elijah," Tommy murmured. "Trust me. I've got a deal with the local Clowns. No one will bother us and the Grail is half-a-state away. You said so--"

The huge picture window shattered, showering them with expensive, real glass. There was a whistle than a harsh hiss as the fractal serpent soared through the room and crashed across the table, breaking glasses, bottle and Tommy's nose. He screamed. The serpent lunged. Elijah pinned it through the eye with a kris and vaulted over the table, Tommy and all.

At the window she looked out. Two storeys below... a group of four Terrapyres... young? Raws?... It didn't matter. They were engaged and the Clowns were obviously fighting wild.

"Gotta go, Tommy Boy. Remember, a broken nose lends character." Elijah blew him a mock kiss and leapt out the broken window.



Celestial Team
"Taris. Eris. Scale up. Sedna. Tor. Search the scaffolding. Geir stay with me, we'll cover the street."

Even before the rest of the group rounded the corner, two of the Celestials obeyed, leaping up and scaling the face of the apartment. Adhering to 3D surfaces was effortless. Gravity a lessor inconvenience. Like carnival creatures, the two held Ornate Form, tight, brightly colored battle gear that was fully their own bodies. Moving with speed, they were garish and deadly at once.

A second later, their Lead, a willowy, tall Celestial, rounded the corner with the other three of their group. His swirling red and yellow eyes glowed in the darkness, pinned instantly on the four Terrapyres.

"It seems we have some of Christ's dogs. Forever loyal even after their master has kicked them to night." The Lead paused, his mask flickering with the casual taunt. A few of the other Celestials made laughter sounds. One did not. "Hello, Dogs. Don't worry. We aren't here for you."

The Lead tilted his head and motioned with one hand. Two of the three Celestials behind him fanned out.

"I hear panic," the black and gold one said suddenly, clinging to the side of the building, his voice was deep and amused.

The Lead nodded. "Where, Eris?"

Before he could answer, a sphere shot out of the darkness within the complex scaffolding. It was fast. Bright blue. Eris brought a hand up and the fractal serpent deflected away, rebounded off the scaffolding and shattered a huge window five feet above Eris' head.


Harper (Terrapyre)
Harper spun around, her leg flying back, slamming into the Celestial's chest before flipping back around and punching it in the mask, the harsh material under her fist not material at all. It was living. She cringed a bit at the feel, but she didn't let it stop her from spinning out of the way as a lightning-fast genetic bomb whizzed past her, leaving a tiny crater in the ground on impact.

She smiled. Her fighting style had been called mesmorizing, but no one had yet realized exactly why. They tried to figure out what martial art she studied. They didn't realize that, tonight at least, her style was Handel and her kicks were nothing but extended Pirouettes.

She dodged another attack and jumped toward the sidewalk. She glanced up as a group of Celestials hung from the wall, ready to attack. She looked around, grabbed a nearby drain-pipe, and pulled herself up, wondering how she would get to the clowns, knowing that she would figure it out as she went.



Riley (Terrapyre)
"My dear Celestials, how kind of you to join us. I was almost thinking this Neutral Hour would pass without a Clown sighting, but I was mistaken it seems."

As soon as his sword was drawn he begun blocking attacks. He, unlike the ever-silent Jade, loved to banter and taunt them as he fought. "However, I fear my good nature is slowly but surely running out. I do hope that you are prepared to feel the sting of my blade," he warned them with determination.

He grinned and said, "Hats off to you," as he swung his sword at the neck of a nearby Celestial, literally beheading it.


Orcus (Celestial)
Orcus was shaking. He willed himself to be still. He screamed it into his own mind but he was shaking. It was all happening again.

His misty form shimmered, flickered, for just a moment he was Ornate. Not now! The worst time. But another part of him screamed to help. The poor Terrapyres...

His perception flashed out to the street. Geir and Xeo, their Lead, Orcus' own Lead no less than three weeks ago, were standing next to each other. They looked somewhere between annoyed and amused. Orcus heard Xeo cast to all the Celestials, :::Didn't the Dogs hear that we weren't here for them?:::

Orcus felt the ripples of laughter. How he hated that feeling. How it had driven him out of their Outpost.

He flashed Ornate again against his will as the boy lunged powerfully forward, spinning, whirling. He might hurt himself! After all, no one was fighting back. The fractal serpent had been Orcus' own. No other Celestial had attacked. It was all an illusion. A distraction. A cruel game made by--

"Hello, Orcus. Are you ready to come home, Son?"


Eris (Celestial)
“I am *not* your son,” the young Raw snarled out loud, snapping between Ornate and True Form so quickly it gave Eris a headache.

Eris shrugged. “Close enough, boy. Don’t squabble.”

Orcus stared up at him with open hatred.

Eris moved forward, unwary. He stepped away from the brick wall and wove between the thick metalworks that held up the massive neon sign, 120 feet above them. “Do you like your Terrapyres tonight, Orcus? So easily fooled. Shouldn’t even animals know better?”



Orcus (Celestial)
The older Celestial’s burning black eyes were specked with gold and they had always terrified Orcus but he forced himself not to look away now, even as his smaller body eased back among the scaffolding. “They are not animals,” he managed. But he was flashing again, unable to hold a single form out of fear.

:::Quite a show you’re weaving out here, Eris!::: Xeo was laughing. He was always entertained by Eris. At least, the performanced Eris allowed Xeo to see.



Eris (Celestial)
Eris rolled his eyes, allowing a few ugly thoughts about Xeo to roil across his mask. When Orcus grimaced at the images, Eris mimicked a human grin. He mock whispered, “Who are the real idiots, Orcus, hm?” Eris’ eyes burned. Eris shot a glance up and behind. :::Grab him!:::


Orcus (Celestial)
Sedna and Tor! They had fanned out under the scaffolding. Orcus had backed right into their hands.

Ornate Form was forced fully upon him as the two adults willed him so. He could feel their hands dissolve part way into his arms and shoulders, imposing their demands into his very genes. He knew it would do no good but he struggled wildly. He even made a sound, raw and angry, through the night.

Then Eris was stepping into his space. And one of Orcus' arms ripped free. And without thinking, without anything but feeling the solid fear and revulsion tearing through him, Orcus balled his faux gloved fist and struck.



Eris (Celestial)
Eris face contorted beyond the small fist, morphing into itself, folding up so that the boy it nothing, his own furious momentum carrying him off balance and now securely into Sedna and Tor's grasp.

Eris leaned forward until Orcus could experience his absence of scent, his frigid breath. :::Did you know, Orcus, that in Oregon there is a small town where all of the children are missing their hands?:::



Orcus (Celestial)
Orcus was shaking again; His black, bronze and red hood fell away. His mask was streaked with fear and sorrow, captive emotions. :::I hate you.:::


Eris (Celestial)
"How quaint," Eris patted his cheek, breaking the Celestial no-casual-touch custom with vengeful malice. He turned away. :::Take him to Xeo.:::


Elijah (Terrapyre)
With a loud, damp THWOP, like a great bag of water and meat slapping a cold grill, Taris' lifeless body struck the side of the scaffolding with enough force to rip away cables and dent braces. High above them, the neon RED in RED TIGER COLA blinked, sparked and went out.

Perched on the scaffolding a few feet above them, Elijah peered down, passed the now disspuring body of the dead Celestail, to the three other adults and the clearly terrified youth. She threw a mass of... something... at the black-and-gold Clown with the sadistic bent and general bad attitude. "I never knew Celestials had a heart."


Eris snatched the watery, color-streaked mass out of the air. The red-haired Dog had clearly torn it out of Taris.

Taris. His fellow Gwandi.

Eris looked up at the Frontline with her pierced eyebows and lip ring. Then he sniffed the mass and tossed it over his shoulder. "We don't."

Then he leapt.


Elijah (Terrapyre)
Elijah scrambled up the scaffolding, rushing over the crossed braces swearing under her breath. She had hoped to shake Mr. Black-and-Gold and little bit more than that!

Never underestimate your enemy, she was always telling new teams. She snorted, thinking about not only the Clown quickly catching up to her but the wine-swilling, Clown-dealing himbo back in the apartment. What a night! Time to take her own advice.

The two other Celestials still had the little skinny one held between them, dragging him now, kicking and wirthing, out into the street. But at least the four Terrapyres on the street seemed to be... what? Coming to their senses? Had there been an illusion? Some kind of Celestial matter manipulation?

Another snort as she took a swift kick up, flipping over a beam and leaping across to a cord of cables as thick as she was. The icky gooey trick had been low, even to play on a Clown. But if the illusion was broken, at least it had done something.


Harper, Terrapyre
Harper sighed. She knew the instant she had climbed level with the Celestials they would drop back down to the ground. They were obviously focused on something, and it wasn't her.

She hung from the drainpipe, watching the battle from above. The insane Key girl (Harper chuckled at the thought) and her lairmates were stunned as their opponents vanished. Her eyes rested on them only a moment as she felt a swell of hatred below and she saw what had obviously taken the Celestial's attention. They were holding a young Celestial, pinning it to one place. She could feel the swirl of emotion, burning beneath her like a fire. So, even the Celestials had bullies.

She was contemplating leaping down to help when a loud clatter echoed above her. She glanced up as another Terrapyre crawled toward the edge of his apartment, the window and part of the wall shattered, and he looked down at the street nervously. Blood dripped from his broken nose, leaving a scarlet trail down his chin and soaking his shirt at the chest.

She crawled up higher, read to help him, but he stumbled away in shock. She glanced down at him, her head cocked slightly to one side. He had Presence, but it had dwindled almost to nothing with his fear. He smelled rancid, like he was rotting from the inside, though she knew her sense was manipulated by something else, something she could sense in him.

"You stink like wine," she hissed. "And fear. And it's killing you from the inside."

She didn't know what she meant, necessarily. She didn't think he was ill, yet she knew it was true.

"Get out of my house," he growled.

"Don't be so inhospitable. I'm here to help you."

"I'm not going out there!"

She snorted. "I know you're a coward, but you do know you might very well die here. I thought you'd go to save your own skin."

"I don't have to sit here and let you insult me," he huffed, struggling to his feet.

"So you're going to stand and let me insult you? Do you want to be rescued or not, because you're really starting to waste my time."

"Get out!"

She rolled her eyes and turned away, heading for the hole in the wall, when she spun back around, running at him and using her momentum to pull him toward the window.

"When we hit the ground, roll!" she shouted as she leapt with him out into the night air. He screamed, his shouts echoing over the sound of the battle. She landed heavily on her feet, but the other Terrapyre must have been just a bit tipsy or, more likely, severely untrained because his feet instantly fell out beneath her and he hit the ground hard, smacking his head against the floor. He moaned loudly and she glared down at him. He was more of a nuisance than she was willing to deal with.

"Your legs aren't broken, run away!" she huffed.

"What are you, my mother?" he grumbled as he held his head.

"I could be," she responded with a shrug and ran away from him, fleeing toward the young Celestial. One of the Celestial's captors looked up in surprise just as her fist connected with the side of its head.


Orcus (Celestial)
''This is not happening,'' Orcus thought. "This is a nightmare." He had certainly had enough nightmares before chosing to leave... escape... the Outpost.

He was vaguely aware that he was flailing, trashing and just possibly screaming. Sedha and Tor dragged him relentlessly forward even while he struggled to turn, to look back at the broken body of his father.

Why? Why had the red-haired Terrapyre killed Taris like that? Orcus had come to the conclusion that Terrapyres would just as willingly turn the other cheek... with humans and others of their kind. Had Taris attacked the woman? She had arrived from the broken window. Taris had been scaling the brick beneath it. But there had been no sounds of a clash. Or maybe... maybe Orcus had just been too distracted to hear the sounds.

He remembered only the sound of the body, still clinging to Ornate Form, as it struck the steel scaffolding.

He remembered only the vital mass of his father, crushed in the hand of the Dog.

No. No. They are not Dogs. Not thoughtless, remorseless animals, he thought wildly. He knew what an animal was:

His mind replayed the moment again: Eris throwing the not-heart aside. The scene was sound tracked to Xeo laughing.

Orcus lashed and yelled aloud. He howled and cast his confusion and shock. He glimpsed the scaffolding. The body was entirely gone now, dissipated into True Form and then scattered forever to the ether. No one would take part of Taris back to Hom to be considered for the Great Archive. There was no hope for more. This had been his end.

A snap-crack. A sound-feeling. Orcus looked up. The pale, dark-haired Terrapyre, the lone dancer, had attacked Sedna. And Sedna appeared to be losing.


Elijah (Terrapyre)
No plan is perfect.

Wasn't that rule #1? Geesh.

Elijah pulled herself up, hand over hand, her shoulders bulging, her stupid high-heeled boots -- so retro-punk, '90s cool, an hour ago -- providing no grip whatsoever along the slick, rubbersealed high volt cables.

Why didn't we set a check-in time? Why didn't we have back ups in place?

Because it was just one lone, stupid Terrapyre. Playing with wine and Clowns and maybe feeding stupid humans dreamtime drugs to make a happy little cluster of stupid juiced up minions. Elijah imagined Chorus and Angelus sitting down to a stupid game of chess while she was climbing for her life, chased by the stupid Clown that put psycho in psychopath.

Everything was stupid tonight.

Something -- Oh! Of course. A stupid marble! -- exploded above her. Sparks sprinkled down, blue and green. She sneered. "Boy, does your aim--"

She looked up. Two more marbles burst and opened. Three fractal serpents -- the nasty of choice tonight, it seemed -- began to twine themselves down the cables at her.

"I hate snakes," she muttered.

The mass of cable she was climbing hung from the "A" in "Cola," jutting some twenty feet from and parrel to the edge of the scaffolding. Mr. Black-and-Gold, still on the scaffolding, was almost level with her. Why hadn't he just tossed the snakes at her head?!

"Drama queen," she growled. "Just like all the Clowns."


Harper (Terrapyre)
Harper dropped to the ground, avoiding a blow, but the instant she stood she was struck by a wave of emotion. She fell back a few steps in shock, the feelings flooding off the young Celestial. She held her head in confusion. She never felt anything but the Grail so strongly. She clenched her stomach with one arm, the bitter grief of the emotion burning within her, every nerve, every vein in her body on fire with it, making her ill.

She couldn't dodge the blow that came her way, she was completely paralyzed. She was thrown to the ground, her hands raw and scratched as she skidded along the gravel. She watched, stunned as the Celestial advanced on her, disconnecting from the young Celestial, a blood red marble gleaming above her in the clown's fingers, ready to strike. She was numb, sound seemed to disappear, all she could hear was the blood flowing behind her ears and her heart pounding wildly in her chest. She closed her eyes, waiting to feel the deadly strike of a Fractal Serpent or the sharp blow of a genetic bomb. She knew she was going to die.


Eris (Celestial)
There was something about fractal serpents that made them so satisfying. Yes, their history was quaint... invented by a mourning Celestial father whose daughter and her serpentine pet had both been destroyed in a Descent. Fuelled by a desire for revenge, the serpents became powerful weapons but they weren’t flawless. Hardly so. But in his private midnights of discontent and boredom, as he released and dissected a hundred of the creatures to pass the time, Eris had found that fractal serpents were very well-suited to transplants. Specifically ocular transplants. All of Eris' serpents, for instance, had his eyes. Dazzling functional bulbus oculi. He saw everything they saw, the observer always linked by the finest of quantum entanglement. And fractal serpents could go such interesting places, see saw such interesting things.

Eris smiled -- unpleasantly, he'd been told before by someone... who was dead now... or worse.

"Show me your ‘scared face,’ Dog,'' he tossed causally at the red-haired Terrapyre. Through the eyes of the serpents on the cables he watched her slipping, casting quick glances between him and the snakes above. They were even now, level. He poised on the framework. Watching through eight eyes.


Xeo (Celestial)
Xeo stopped laughing. This had ceased to be amusing when the boy's sardonic blade had come within an inch of beheading him. Why did the Dogs always seem to get in the way? They were greatly outnumbered by Humans and yet Dogs not Humans were the constant bother. Like parasites or other riders that once plagued Celestial missionaries.

Sedna had released the boy and was wickedly engaged with a male Dog, slashing with flashing, organic scythes that extended twenty-four inches beyond her forearms. She spun with her normal blurred speed and high-pitch whistle, but red and golden light spilled from her shoulder, her thigh and her head. She was wounded. At least the dark haired Dog had dropped back.

:::Tor! Take the boy. Go!::: Xeo sent the command but Tor did not respond. The Dogs were circling him now as well. His Minotaur morph -- rare and powerful -- had startled them some. Perhaps these Dogs were as young as they looked. Or just not old enough to remember when Human legends still walked this planet for their DNA to be sampled into a morph.

:::I want to help them, Xeo.:::

Xeo looked at Geir. His face flashed questions. They hovered twenty feet up. Shielded by Xeo's own field of spinning quarks. He had lifted them up instantly when the scene had turned heated. ::: Don't be foolish, Geir. You are safe here.:::

White, silver, black. Geir's face flashed conflicting emotions. :::Xeo... I'm leaving.:::

And with that, she broke through the field and dropped upon the distracted Dog, the dark-haired, inflicted one. The one reeling from the onslaught of Orcus' panic and sorrow. The one acting very much like a Celestial.

Xeo fumed. Then lifted a hand and threw a warp. In one motion, he dropped to the street, grabbed Orcus by the hair, and leapt into the warp.

:::Follow!::: he commanded, but he neither waited to see who obeyed nor cared.


Harper (Terrapyre)
Harper heard the scuffling and felt the young Celestial disappear into a warp. Her senses heightened at the loss. She took a deep breath, mentally cursing herself for letting the vulnerable clown disappear, and she rolled away as the sharp sound of a crushed marble split the air. She kicked out at the Celestial, feeling her boot connect with the Clown, the marble flying into the air as the Celestial lost balance for an instant. Harper leapt to her feet and punched out at her attacker, opening her eyes only when her fist once again connected with a living mask. She glanced up into the air as a fractal serpent twisted and writhed in the sky, released from the thrown marble, before plummeting back down to the ground. She spun away from it, ducking as it double back around, constantly aware of the Celestial behind her.


Elijah (Terrapyre)
Elijah's lips pulled back in a snarl. "This is my scared face, Clown."

Well, she didn't actually say "Clown" in her mind but she tried not to use profanity out loud with Celestials. They lost the off-color, color of it, the finer nuances and historical implications. No fun at all.

"Have a boot, Black-and-Gold." And she took the risk, swinging herself to the side and off balance. Her leg snapped up and out, she slap-activated the switch blade nestled in her boot laces -- the knife opened and slit the laces to be free. In the same moment, Elijah kicked the high-heeled boot at the Clown's head and slashed at the cables above her head with the switch blade.

The nine-inch blade severed seven cables. They ripped with a hot crack, still coursing with enough voltage to fry Elijah seventy-times over and still have the power to roast an Angus. As one entity, almost alive, the hydra of cables recoiled, lashing up, speeding past the fractal serpents, frying them with proximity blasts, before continuing to curl, then--

Shards of red everywhere. Dense and beautiful, thick and jagged. The cable hydra had struck home, shattering the red plexi of the "A" and "L," only to crumble the brace holding the giant "O" It teetered for a moment...

Elijah couldn't help but grin, "O!"

...and then it fell.

[Jennifer]

[Please note that this campaign was played before the MG3K Forum adopted the Stacked BBRPG System.]

"In the Clouds"
Game Archive #3

Aera looked over at the Human woman with some impatience. She knew that Teresa meant well but it just took so long!

Standing among the banana trees, waist deep in the mist that cloaked all the Cloud Forest, Aera's Ornate Form was white, green and blue. A mix of provinces and rovien. Province wasn't important to her. Finding a cure was.

"Teresa? Can't we get a reading any faster?" Aera's tone was clipped. It had been twenty minutes.

Teresa, a Caretaker since her early twenties, shook the GPS device that Aera's nature would short-circuit if the Celestial touched it. "I didn't make it, Aera. I just use it. It takes time. Patience."

Aera grimanced and looked away. Away from Teresa and the egg-shaped GPS. Away from the rest of the team.

Tomas looked up past the edge of his sketchtablet. Aera was being impatient again. Why was he not surprised? Of all the Celestials that Tomas had ever known, and that was quite a few, he had never known one with such a short fuse.

Tomas looked back at the Red-eyed Tree Frog sitting to still on a wide green leaf two feet away. Tomas kept his eyes on the frog while he sketched, sending color changes from his optical implant directly to his stylus. What was the Latin name for these frogs again?

:::Agalychnis callidryas, brother.:::

Tomas started a little as a green, gold and black mist joined the cool cloud layer that hovered around the rock where he sat. He laughed aloud. "Alsop! That's your Intimate Form, remember? You're not supposed to run around in it."

His Celestial foster brother materialized into Ornate Form, tall and slender, beside him. :::Whatever, Tomas. To me it's just mist form. I don't really care what these pure-bloods think.:::

Tomas sighed.

* * *

Sukeena climbed over a fallen tree, the thick moisture of the clouds clinging to her, beading along her dark skin. She glanced over her shoulder at her Terrapyres. They had never been to the cloud forest before, but rumors that the clowns had ventured into the tangled foliage had made them too curious to stay away. Sukeena knew the forest. They needed her, and the thought that she was doing something invaluable for her immortal friends filled her with a sense of pride. She knew she was their friend, that they saw her as an equal, but she envied them. Wished she was more powerful.

"You said you saw them with a human?" Abhay questioned, his eyes intense as he scanned the forest. She nodded.

"They had a GPS."

Abhay nodded stiffly. "Lead us on."

* * *


*Calibration complete.* The words appeared as small gold letters across the bottom of Teresa’s HUD as the GPB unit omitted a sound beep. *You are here.*

“Great,” Teresa murmured as she slipped the UIN biochip into the egg-shaped unit and tucked the whole thing into her belt pouch. A moment later, the unit had processed the chip and sent words and images to Teresa’s HUD lenses. A 3D mesh of the surrounding terrain appears, grid lines of varying colors showing elevations and, about half a mile away, a very, very small cluster of blinking white dots.

“Well?” Aera had stepped closer but not near enough to disrupt the feed.

Teresa involuntarily took a step away, even as she tapped her Myth760 Bander on her wrist absently. “We have confirmation of a small nest about twenty-five hundred feet away. There’s a gulley that’s likely a sink hole from the moisture reading. Jungle is too dense to go around. I’ll need to sideload a bridge and—”

“Let’s go,” and Aera was off through the clouds, snatching a Marble from her pok. Teresa took a deep breath. Right. Marbles. There was sure to be some organic mesh that could be used instantly. “Exactly,” Aera called back at her, reading her thoughts. “A 7.6 second delay for sideload is not acceptable.”

:::Looks like we’re moving out,::: Alsop said with a smirk as he watched the 4D Celestial Aera tromp through the jungle. Despite the stereotype that all purebloods were graceful and ethereal, Alsop found them glaringly out of place. Nothing about them fit in the 3D world. He’d much rather gaze upon the beguiling form of the vHuman pop singer Bandi... oh man, Alsop missed his vPod. But, with the cleansing, he’d boxed away all his electronics. They were useless now, unless Tomas wanted them.

“If they keep us moving at this pace,” Tomas commented, a tolerant, good-humored grin on his cherubic face. “I’ll never get a sketch done.” He tilted his sketchtablet toward the frog with tapped his stylus, the picture completing itself with an overlaid photo capture. Tomas sighed and stood up. “Come on,” he pushed Alsop’s arm companionably. “And no more Intimate Form. You gotta save that for someone special, not Aera.” Tomas laughed softly and moved after the two women.

Alsop frowned. His face didn’t change but his displeasure was apparent. He stayed frozen in place for a moment. His brother’s touch felt differently now. He could feel all Tomas’ worries and dreams, all overwhelming in a moment. His empathy had never been anything like this before the task force had tested their serum. His frown turned darker, more despondent. Why had he agreed to this? Why had he actually wanted to be fixed? Oh right. His rumo. He made a snorting sound aloud. Jenny, Tomas’ biological parent, and Alsop’s foster mother since birth, Jenny was his rumo, his parent, his mother. Aera was as far from a mother as anyone could be.

Wrapped in his young, conflicted thoughts, Alsop finally moved after his team mates. He did not sense the danger in the jungle.