Session 8 - October 27 - October 29 5002AD

Brother Godfrey woke from an awful nightmare and washed his face, checking in the mirror for signs that he had actually eaten broken glass. He ambled into the kitchens and found some strong coffee. He needed to take immediate action to deal with this thing in his head before something really dangerous happened. He returned to his quarters and squawked his brother to set things into motion

Alden had been awake trying to puzzle out two assassination plots and worrying about his brother. When the call came over his squawker to meet his brother for an early lunch he didn't hesitate, crossing town to find Brother Godfrey anxiously waiting. As they walked out of the Cathedral and out of earshot of the other priests Godfrey didn't explain what had happened but told Alden that he must get out to the Pharm and talk to the engineers. Alden quickly figured out what his brother was after and didn't see any reason to wait so he walked back to his Autowagon with his brother, they packed a light lunch and they drove off without hesitation.

The drive out to the Pharm was beautiful in the Autumn afternoon. On the road the conversation turned heavy as Alden began to question the wisdom of turning Emily over to the church, questioning Brother Godfrey on how it benefit a girl that he has taken responsibility for. His questioning was ultimately shut down with Godfrey told him it would give her her best chance at a life that didn't end with the flare of a flamegun. Godfrey had a rough idea of the location of the old sanitarium but neither Alden or he had ever been there. With some luck they found the turn-off and drove up into the hills on a rugged dirt road. As they entered a picturesque clearing they could see the old Rukovich castle, a huge sprawling walled manor on a sun-drenched field. Over the tops of the stone walls the brothers could see large plastic domes set up on the castle grounds. They approached the gates, curtained by sheets of black plastic tattered by the wind with no signs of life anywhere in the silent castle.

They began to debate what to do next as they parked at the gates when Godfrey noticed a tiny metallic ball roll under the gates towards their autowagon. As he moved to look there was a brilliant flash of light and a man was standing beside the autowagon "Welcome to Ruchovich Manor, I'm afraid the hospital is closed. Do you need directions to the nearest health care facility?" Both brothers were startled, Alden actually screaming "ghost!" before he caught his nerve. Brother Godfrey reached out to calm his brother "No.. I think it's a projection, like a magic lantern show..". Godfrey raised his voice and spoke to the illusionary man "I need to speak someone inside". The image flickered briefly and spoke once more "Welcome to Ruchovich Manor, I'm afraid our hospital is closed. Do you need directions to the nearest health care facility?". Alden smirked "He's not real, It's some sort of creepy high-tech message..". Suddenly the man vanished and the ball began to roll away back to the gates and Alden sprung out of the Autowagon to chase it snatching at it before catching it just as it rolled through the gates. He picked it up and began to examine the device "Is anyone listening?" just as it blared to life momentarily blinding him and leaving an illusionary man standing sideways on his clenched fist. The hologram looked around and waved his hand "Put the ball down before you damage it!". Irritated but seeing reason in the ball-man's words, Alden set the silver ball on the ground, leaving the illusion man swaying as the ball found it's balance one more "This facility is not open to the public, we have no services available.." Brother Godfrey stepped forward "I need to speak to someone about cybernetics". The Ball-man stubbornly persisted "Then you'll want to talk to someone in the city, we're a farm, we do not install or maintain cybernetics here." Then he turned to the side, speaking to someone not being projected "I don't know two men.. men.. One is a priest I believe the other is.. armored.." Brother Godfrey interrupted him once more "Look I know your wife is cybernetically enhanced there must be/". "I don't have a wife" snipped the ball-man. "Someone's wife.." Godfrey patiently continued "I must speak to someone about cybernetics.. this is a matter of life and death.." The Ball-man adopted a grim expression "One moment please..." and then he flashed out of existence, his little silver ball rolling under the gates without warning.

The gates unlocked and they were pulled open by a tall woman wrapped in a tight metallic blue dress printed with the symbol for the Engineers, her head was wrapped in an expensive scarf and her eyes hidden behind a pair of smoked spectacles "Welcome to Rukovich Manor, how can the Supreme Order of Engeineers assist you today?" Brother Godfrey stepped forward "Someone has installed cyberware in me and I need to know if it's dangerous or not.." The mysterious woman examined both Godfrey and his brother Alden before asking "Is it a bomb?" Neither of them had contemplated the possibility that Brother Godfrey's head might explode. Godfrey spoke hesitantly "I don't believe it's a bomb, I don't think they would see value in that.." The nameless woman pursed her lips thoughtfully "Who were they that put this in you?" Brother Godfrey was desperate he knew this was his only salvation he hung his head "A group of cultists who called themselves the House of Lights, in the Forbidden Area in Elibyrge.." The woman smiled at Godfrey's refreshing honesty and nodded gesturing them into the manor grounds with a sweep of her hand. As she lead them across the grounds to the manor's doors the brothers could see people moving within the foggy plastic domes and high-tech machinery working throughout the grounds. They had no sense of what was being done here but it didn't look like any farm they had known.

Inside the manor things weren't any less strange. The furnishing were more at home but not quite right. There was a dressing table being used as an end table and mismatched furniture everywhere. It wasn't quite chaotic or ugly just disjointed as if someone who had never been inside of a noble's home tried their best to make the hall look noble-esque. The woman removed her scarf to show the machanical workings that supported her head and the transparent plate that showed the think-machine inside. She brought a tray with a wine decanter full of water and bar glasses, setting it on a low table between the couches before asking "Can you tell me more about how you came to have this device installed?" Brother Godfrey began to expound on the automaton Physiks and the procedure room of doom bringing a sad frown to her face "That's a shame, I would hope we could recover some of that technology.. I'd like to perform some metric analysis on you, it's very safe.." she withdrew a multi-scanner and a number of other tools from a nearby drawer and began performing a diagnostic "Could you tell me what you're perceiving of this device? do you hear voices or see projections on your eyes?" Brother Godfrey was too embarrassed to tell her about his hallucinations or dreams but he related what he could until he noticed her backing away from him with a startled look at the device she was using "Is something amiss?". She pursed her lips and locked eyes with Godfrey "Do you know what a micro-machien is?" Godfrey raised his brows "My Latin is rusty but, it's a small machine?" The Engineer woman nodded "It's a very small machine, smaller than the eye can see and you're infested with them.." Godfrey choked and his brother scooted away from him on the couch "Are they dangerous, what do they do?" The woman shrugged, glancing at the display of her scanner "In your case not a great deal. I suspect that perhaps whatever you were injected with had deteriorated to the point of being ineffectiveness." Godfrey leans in a bit closer "Well can we remove them? Some sort of mechanical ointment or injection?" The cyberneticist shook her head gently "They could be removed but the process would likely be much more harmful than the Micro Machien infection. No I'd say unless you develop a health problem that you simply learn to live with them." Godfrey wasn't comforted by knowing more about his affliction but politely thanked the mechanical woman.

After they were shown back to the gates of the Pharm Alden and Godfrey discussed what's to be done next. Alden suggested a pleasant afternoon in the countryside or a visit to his order's manse but Brother Godfrey was distracted. He had caught sight of a figure in blue robes far down the walls of the manor watching them. From a distance the figure didn't look like an Engineer but while deciding what to do about them the figure ran around the corner of the wall and disappeared. Alden didn't like the taste that the Engineer's Pharm had left on his tongue so I persuaded his brother to visit the Order House as a palate cleanser.

Another hour on the pleasant country roads found the brothers at the Manor House of the Order of the Blue Glove. Alden was greeted at the door by one of the Lord Marshal's house staff and was told that Master Henning and Sirs Altier and Hulsey were on the South Lawn engaged in archery. The Householder invited Brother Godfrey to wait in the study while Alden want out onto the green to join is fellow knights for a few rounds of archery and a glass of cognac. Lord Henning had just purchase a new bow and he was a bit sour at it's accuracy, his fellow knights teasing him about his displeasure. While shooting a few flights with the boys Alden got some faint praise for opening the house in Sokol city to the order and he learned that there have been reports of a military build-up in Sekbridge. Lord Henning wanted a confirmation of the rumors but getting caught on Decados Lands would only stand to escalate tensions. After a shameful display of his poor archery skills Alden excused himself but Henning insisted that he had a chore for Alden. The Order Master took Alden into his private study and produced a small wrapped gift "There's a small bar not far from your new house called The Big One, could you see this is delivered straight to the owner?". Alden naturally agreed.

Brother Godfrey and Alden drove back to the run-down garage that was increasingly referred to as The Clubhouse. As they approached Brother Godfrey spotted a figure up on the roof of a nearby building but dismissed it as the strange industry of the waterfront. Godfrey thanked his brother for the ride and began to walk back across town to the Cathedral. He spotted a group of Hironem near one of the bridges back into the Hub but they seemed a bit antagonistic so he moved along on his way.

Alden locked up the doors of the garage and set out with his package in hand to find the bar, moving towards a band of six Hironem he asked "Do you gentlemen know the way to The Big one?" The largest of the group, a powerful hironem wearing brass-etched armor, smiled at him "I've got your big one right here Lord Poisoner" as he produced a warhammer with propulsion jets on it. The others pulled out weighted chains, crossbows and a pistol, looking pretty confident in themselves. Alden raised a hand politely "If you would, just let me set this down first.." walking over and resting his package on a stack of barrels along the wharf and drawing his broadsword and standing respendant in his armor and cocky grin "Now who will be served first?"

The Hironem with the crossbows threw smoke grenades onto the bridge and into the street behind them to block off line of sight. Alden faced off against the Hironem with the rocket-hammer, narrowly avoiding the first strike and his armor being badly scarred by the second. Quickly he learned the intention of the thugs with the weighted Kusari chains as one of them entangled his sword arm and the other attempted to tangle his leg. The crossbowmen took their best shots but their bolts couldn't puncture ceramsteel with their cheap quarrels. The Hironem with the flintlock pistol didn't even try a shot. Alden couldn't disentangle himself and fight the big NLO thug with that roaring warhammer. He drew his heavy revolver off-handed and began taking shots at the Hironem, crippling one of the arms of the thug with the hammer. Just as the second chain thug entangled his leg there was a roaring boom as an explosion went off in the crowd of Hironem thugs then a pair of shotgun blasts heralded Private Uzilo walking out of the smoke that had swamped the bridge. Uzilo had dispatched one of the Chain thugs that was trying to pull Alden down and Alden charged the other knocking him down. Alden heard another explosion from behind him as Uzilo threatened the injured Hironem with the rocket-hammer using a lit blasting rod and then tossed it after him as he ran. In seconds the fight was over and the Hironem that weren't dead or injured were fleeing. Alden was in the process of wrapping up the Hironem he'd just defeated with his own Kusari chain when Uzilo shook him and urged him to get off the streets before the authorities showed up. Alden was worried about his brother so he sent Uzilo to fetch him in the autowagon while he secured the prisoner in his garage.

Brother Godfrey was beginning to question turning back towards the waterfront as he heard explosions ring out. While he was weighing the risk of ending up in someone else's fight, his squawker crackled to life with his brother telling him Uzilo was en-route and he needed a writing kit and seconds later he saw Uziolo's driving up the street in his brother's Autowagon. As they returned together to the garage they found the street crowded by Decados investigators wrapping up bodies on the street. They were stopped and questioned and Brother Godfrey struggled with his sense of honesty to avoid questions. Eventually he simply declared that he hadn't been in the neighborhood, when whatever happened happened, and didn't have any information.

Back at Alden's clubhouse Brother Godfrey unpacked his writing kit for Alden to use and they interrogated the Hironem captive with Uzilo's help. They didn't have much luck getting information out of the Hironem captive who wouldn't admit to being in the NLO despite wearing their colors on his armband. Alden wrote a letter to their leader telling them that they were being misled and he wanted a dialog with their leadership. If they were interested they could leave a note at a drop-point under the bridge East of the County Castle. He gave the captive the note and sent him off into the streets where he was almost instantly chased by Decados Militia men.

The sun hadn't quite set and the three of them weren't especially tired so Alden suggested they walk down to The Big One where he'd be doing some business with his order. Uzilo lead them through the narrow alleys of the waterfront to a small round building in the fisherman's market. The old wooden bar was filled with rough company packed shoulder-to shoulder and even drinking outside on plank benches. Alden talked to the bartender, letting them know that he had a package for the owner and the bartender called for Maddie May, an enormous woman with red weathered features and a jolly nature. She waddled out of her tiny office and eyed Alden "Blue Gloves... are you dropping off or picking up?". Alden was caught off guard by the question, he disliked too much thought about what he was delivering and never imagined it might be part of an exchange "Dropping off I think..". The huge woman laughed at him and waved him into her tiny office where he took care of his simple errand in private, resisting the urge to interrogate her for  more.

Brother Godfrey, sensing a fortuitous encounter with the common man pulled out a stack of firebirds and bought beers for the 45 men in the bar, grabbing a pair for him and Uzilo and finding a seat out on the docks where he talked theology with some of the drunk fisherman and finally got to trot out the story of Hombor's redemption from alcoholism where the prophet explained that "Sobriety is like a home on the far side of a formidable mountain, it is a journey that no man could hope to make that becomes more possible with each step of the climb." Eventually Alden's unsavory errand was done and he shared a beer with his brother before they made their way home in the dark of night, walking Alden back to Hildi's first then Uzilo seeing Godfrey back to the Cathedral safely.

Alden woke late in the morning with the taste of rough beer in his mouth and Maid Ava rapping at his door to let him know there was a paige from the Baroness's estate to call on him. Alden received the paige who handed him a sealed letter and awaited his response. It was an invitation to lunch with Lord Lucaas Hendle Van Gelder, his uncle and the legendary finance minister of Irkuz. He wrote a short note in response accepting the invitation and set about proper dress before going to meet Lucaas at the Salon.

Brother Godfrey woke up feeling great after a late night drinking on the docks. He got some breakfast and chased down the Deacon Bryant to try to go over more specifics of the tourney events. He managed to take tea with the kitchen master to sketch out plans for the feast, and met with a local seamstress to find out what would be involved in having banners made that depict the many trials of Lexitus.

Alden arrived at the Salon to find a few VanGelder knights drinking in the lobby and the bartender told him his party was upstairs in the 'moonlight" suite, an expensive private suite of some renown among his brothers. Alden climbed the stairs to find Lucaas Hendle VanGelder waiting alone in the opulently decorative room, already digging into a fantastic looking meal. As Alden came in the Lord of Finance turned on a high tech device on the table that hummed softly and went right into the ugly part of the meeting. It seems that Lucaas had arranged to kidnap the sister of a Muster Sgt named Hayes as part of an effort to strong-arm the Muster into more favorable contract negotiations with the port but two days ago the Muster shut down the Port of  Sokol in protest of tax policy. Now the Muster Slavers who Lord Lucaas hired have cut off communication and there are rumors that Sgt Hayes has received a ransom. Lord Lucaas now needs his nephew the knight so sorted out the House of Lights fiasco to bring home miss Kimberly Hayes safely. Lord Lucaas knew that the slaver boss was a Muster Woman called "Breakman" and she had at least two subordinates. They were hiding their captive in the ruins of an old observatory up by the border of Harden Peak and he gave Alden directions to get there Alden was as outraged as he was permitted that his fellow nobles would engage in this sort of business but it was clear what was expected of him. He told Lord Lucaas that it would be done and he marched out of the meeting back to the townhouse.

Brother Godfrey stopped by his cousin's townhouse while he was out and about to check in on his brother and found him arming up and laying out his weapons angrily. He calmed Alden down enough to get an explanation out of him and plaintively argued the wisdom of bringing more people. He suggested they both go and try to bring Uzilo along with them. Brother Godfrey was reluctant to entangle his brother after getting him infected with a Nano Cloud but he knew bringing Uzilo along with make a huge difference and realized that Uzilo hand become fast friends with his brother and would more likely agree if Godfrey was coming with them. As the brothers were conspiring sister Chelsea Hendle VanGelder arrived to check on her knightly brother only to find him gearing up for a fight. She tried to explain that this was a poor idea and diplomacy would be the safest route but Alden, still furious with his own house for this mess, berated her, explaining that he was a knight and Chelsea needed to stick to her lane.

They drove their Autowagon out to the rundown farmhouses that ringed the outer city. After asking around about the Muster Hironem they were directed to a large barn at the edge of the fields where they found Uzilo with apron and mask, mixing chemicals in a large tub. He agreed to go along just as soon as his batch finished setting, grabbed his gear and piled into the autowagon. On the way Uzilo explained the complexity of having him oppose other Muster, that he could act as an official intermediary but if he interferes with their contract work he could face fines or censure from his Guild up to and including being de-vested by his guild, however if they were not working as part of a formal contract they were just like anyone else. They drove much more quickly with Uzilo behind the wheel, reaching the outer area of the observatory in just a few hours.

The observatory was surrounded by a rounded curving wall that surrounded the observatory tower like a bowl. Once they found an entrance through the wall they found that the interior was filled with thickets of lush leafy trees that surrounded the decrepit old tower at the center. They found a raised conduit and followed it through the woods to the base of the tower. As they stepped up onto it's dais they heard a woman's voice booming from the tower "That's about as close as you need to come, what you want!" They searched the area but couldn't spot any sign of them. Alden spoke up "We've come to talk about the Muster's Sister. Or do the other thing if that's the only choice we have..". The voice inside the broken tower laughed and a rope ladder dropped from the gap of a missing all panel before a muscular woman in Muster livery climbed out of the dark to the ground. She walked closer "I'm Breakman.. You're in my man's crosshairs.. if you try anything funny you're going to be buried here.." Brother Godfrey began casting the Shield Rite but his concentration waned with the fear that he would be shot and the Rite failed. Alden squared up against the Muster and explained that she was going to turn the kidnapped woman over to him in exchange for clemency. Breakman smirked and just turned around to walk back to the rope ladder. She was going to make some glib comment about Alden being inexperienced or moon-brained when Alden shoved past her in ceramsteel plate and jogged at the rope ladder as fast as he could in full plate. There was a single gunshot that rang from the shadows of the tower above and Alden went down on the dais with a  spray of blood from his helmet. Sgt Breakman just looked down at the downed VanGelder knight and shook her head "Tell your boss the price is now 2000 Firebirds.." and she wordlessly climbed the ladder as Uzilo and Brother Godfrey rushed to check on Alden.

Brother Godfrey did his best to perform first aid on Alden but as they pulled his helmet off they could see that the shot had penetrated his skull, leaving him barely alive. They did what they could to stabilize him and dragged him back to the autowagon on a makeshift stretcher, carefully loaded him into the back and Uzilo drove back to Sokol City like a madman while Alden cradled his brother in the cargo bed. While they were still driving The Causeway Alden's heart stopped and Godfrey performed resuscitative procedures on him to bring him back to life.

They dragged Alden into Doctor Sarkinsen's offices and after some argument about bringing a dying night into his clinic the old physik set about pumping Alden full of enough Elixir to get him breathing once more. As they waited Chelsea ran in to find her brother and Uzilo waiting on news of the surgery. She seemed almost more angry than frightened, silently waiting beside them for news. Dr. Sarkinsen emerged after several hours of surgery and explained that the shot to Alden's head was remarkably close to fatal and likely would have killed him if it weren't for his helmet. Alden would need bed rest, fluids and pain medication. As they carried a bleary bandaged Alden from the Physic's office Chelsea took charge and explained that they would be taking her wounded brother back to his family home in Molovko. Alden protested that he needed to meet with his Order Marshall to tell him about the Slavers in the old observatory, however once he passed out in the back of the autowagon Chelsea drove right past the road to the manor house, taking her brothers and Uzilo to Hendleridge.