SJE/Session65
Session 65
Thunderbirds Are Go
The Sky-eater hovers over Solaria Magna, unmissable for miles around. Closer inspection shows it to be a giant mass of soulsteel, necrotic flesh and bone.
General consensus regarding this turn of events seems to be oh, bugger.
Brand, eternally curious, takes a look at it through a telescope, sorcerer’s sight switched on. The Sky-eater is a sort of starfish shape, five-pointed, and rising from the centre is a huge ziggurat, topped with a central chamber - perhaps an alter? Focusing in on that, he spots a pale-faced figure up there, wearing a wide-brimmed Western-style hat with a feather in it - and he’s looking straight at Brand, across the twenty miles or so that separates them. Brand responds with a wave, and goes to find everyone else to report on what he’s just seen -- but as he leaves, something slams into the wall where he was standing, partially destroying it!
Obscene gesturing follows on Brand’s part as he turns to see the Sky-eater floating away from the Solaria Minor again to hover over Solaria Magna, moving in what seems to be its own mobile shadowland. The thing it fired seems to be a zombie. A former zombie, anyway.
While Brand tries diverting some of the power from the GRH to strengthen the warding around the walls, Ravitsu speaks to the Dragon-Blooded officers about any air support the army can provide - possibly air aspects might have some relative abilities. But they seem doubtful. Against the power of a fully operational Sky-eater, our air aspects won’t stand a chance!
Alana, meanwhile, is dealing with the panicking populace of Solaria Minor, who approach her asking for deliverance. She advises them to remain calm and trust to the power of the Unconquered Sun - which is fortunately interpreted time for a prayer vigil, rather than anything more chaotic, and leaves Alana free to join the other exalts in planning how, exactly, the Sky-eater can be taken down.
Shizu has a lot of suggestions to offer, but sadly few of them are of any use in this day and age, involving ancient artefacts and lost magic. But eventually, the circle reaches a decision. The main (or at least first) problem is reaching the Sky-eater, far above the ground. Ravitsu can make it with one other person, but that won’t do much good. Perhaps the Dragon-Blooded can be persuaded to summon some air elementals. The Dragon-Blooded agree to this plan, and make three attempts at summoning thunderbirds for the circle. Two succeed, but the third gets a bit out of hand, and eventually escapes. Still, with two thunderbirds and Ravitsu, there shouldn’t be a problem getting to Sky-eater.
Preparations and for the attack are well underway. Shizu sets about getting hold of a bow, and Alana and Brand work together to bless some arrows for her, to give a bit of an edge against the forces of evil. (Brand: Use these wisely. Possibly against exhaust ports.)
That accomplished, Brand goes to analyse how the Sky-eater works and find possible weaknesses, discovering that it’s sucking all the essence out of Solaria, and generally messing up the chi lines. Another attempt to strengthen the wards around Solaria Minor is made, accompanied by some quite alarming noises. “Is it meant to be doing that?” Alana asks. She’s a bit concerned about the GRH - she’s sure it’s watching her. “Err, probably?” Brand replies, not terribly reassuringly.
The Captain, wanting extra firepower, has been talking to the Dragon-Blooded about those nice essence canons they have with them and, specifically, whether he could borrow one. They seem doubtful - can one man really operate such a large piece of equipment? - but the Captain wins out, increasing his strength with charms until he can lift the canon easily.
The circle gets together to actually plan their attack, alien as the concept of planning may sometimes feel to them. Brand draws up a diagram showing the locations of what weapons can be seen on the Sky-eater - implosion bows, arranged around the central ziggurat. How can the exalts avoid getting shot down before they even reach the Sky-eater?
Ravitsu and Shizu think they have an answer. They’re both stealthy; Ravitsu can sneak Shizu aboard, and the two of them can attempt to disable some of the implosion bows before the others come in on the thunderbirds. The attack will begin at Zenith, as this is a highly auspicious time of day!
What could possibly go wrong?
Ravitsu and Shizu set out, Ravitsu going sort of transparent and silent, becoming extremely hard to see; and Shizu, clinging to his back, vanishing entirely. On the ground, Brand, Alana and the Captain make their final preparations, with Brand instructing the Captain on correct use of an essence canon. “Don’t shake this bit, and if anything goes wrong there’s a quick-release button here...” -- and with that all clear, they follow behind - Alana and Brand on the blue-feathered, slim thunderbird (which, for the sake of clarity, becomes known as Thunderbird One), and the Captain with his bulky essence canon on the second, wider thunderbird, with fine green plumage...
As the thunderbirds take off, Ravitsu and Shizu are flying around the Sky-eater, taking a closer look. So far it seems to be working - there’s no sign that they’ve been detected. They can see pens full of zombies of various types below (“do not feed the zombies”), and they confirm the locations of the implosion bows. Rav takes a target, and begins his descent -- but about a hundred feet up from the ziggurat, an unexpected problem arises. The Sky-eater’s wards are active, and the pair crash headlong into them, progress brought up short. They hang there for a moment, caught in the wards, and then fall painfully through, becoming separated! Ravitsu is forced to pull off some speedy aerial manoeuvring in order to catch the now fully visible Shizu. It would seem the element of surprise has been lost, but they make it to one of the implosion bows anyway - albeit not the one they were aiming for - and get to work picking off the crew of the implosion bow. Ravitsu seems to be in his element, taking out two of the crew and beheading the third which, in a remarkable display of determination, keeps moving anyway. Shizu soon puts a stop to that and, without anyone else defending the bow for the moment, Ravitsu can try to figure out how on earth it works.
Up above, the thunderbirds are circling. It’s almost time for them to begin their own descent; they’ve been circling just outside the shadowland, and while Thunderbird One is flying well, Thunderbird Two seems to be having some difficulties with the Captain and his essence canon; some interesting balancing acts ensue as the Captain tries to stay on the thunderbird without dropping the canon.
Brand and Alana have noticed the wards, and - not wanting to enter in the same way as Ravitsu and Shizu - are working on an attack. Alana thinks that if they coordinate an attack, they might be able to break through: Brand finding weak spot (strangely enough, around the point at which two exalts just fell through the magical barriers), the Captain targeting it with his essence canon at full power, and Alana widening the hole this should create with her anima, using the power of the sun to temporarily dispel the necrotic energy which is keeping them out. Plan decided, they move in on the Sky-eater!
But the crews of the other implosion bows haven’t failed to notice either the incoming Thunderbirds or the two intruders, and everyone finds themselves having to dodge fire from the bows, with the thunderbirds trying desperately to stay on target - fortunately, no-one is caught off guard.
Approaching the wards, with Brand and Alana in front guiding the way in on Thunderbird One, the Captain charges up the canon and opens fire, screaming “DUCK!” as he fires right over the shoulders of the two exalts in front. Alana is beginning to glow right as the ball of energy passes her, and it picks up some of the purifying energy of her anima, impacting on the wards with spectacular force in precisely the right spot. Alana’s anima flares into life, widening and stabilising the opening for them as they dive through... but they’re still in the firing line of the bows!
Ravitsu is working on it - he’s finally figured out how to fire the implosion bow, and already one of the other platforms is down, or at least not manned any more. In the distance, though, running up the steps of the ziggurat, reinforcements are approaching. Shizu decides that the process of taking out the other platforms needs to be speeded up, and runs down the side of the ziggurat to a lower platform, launching a flurry of attacks at its crew. But they’re still standing, and grin nastily at her, ready to attack...
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