Dark_RP

Session Six:


Dead Air Over Europe.



After their release and audience with the Loyalist faction of the supposedly neutral Anacreon Council of Berlin, they were free to to leave the towering ghostly Citadel of the Hierarchy and return to their barracks and haunts to be free for a time.
They were told before leaving that the relic LZ-4 will be returning to Stygia by way of Paris in one week, and that they will be on it.
During their weeks rest the members of the circle took care of their own business and passions, as well as regularly taking their ease at the Last Goodbye, however at the end of the week they were all individually summoned before superiors of their various factions for a last briefing before their departure for Paris.

Legionnaire Von Dekker was summoned before Marshall Adrastos of the Order of The Scarlet Sword, the Legion of Fate's department of internal security, in the opulent ghostly Villa cum military barracks that housed their Legion in Berlin.
She was tall and pale, glowing with a slight inner light and with the spiral deathmark brightly emblazoned upon her forehead, and appeared in a rich green dress. She gave Von Dekker strict instructions that while their sympathies may be with the Loyalists, it is only because Marshall Dresher had been taken by the forces of the Empire of Jade that the Legion of Fate is involving itself, and as such he is to take no direct action against the Insurrectionists while there, other than in self defence, and only act to help to free the Marshall from imprisonment at the hands of foreign wraiths.

Journeyman Stringer was be summoned before Guildmaster Dubois of the Berlin Usurers, and told that his work and doings in service with the Loyalists could now become pivotal with their Guild's standing in Berlin. He says the Usurers must also offer more support to the winning side of the civil war in order to secure their position afterward, implying that should he come to see the Loyalist position has hopeless while in Paris it could affect which side of the civil war they position themselves on, and as such he must asses things carefully there, and report back in detail. The shrewd Guildmaster also states that he expects Stringer to identify any possible ways their Guild could further profit from the events that are unfolding.

Centurion Von Fenrig was summoned before one Overlord Halder of the Iron Legion's Ministry of Intelligence, a large and old ghost in appearance complete with a large German moustache and a ceremonial uniform in black.
He tells the newly promoted Countess that the rescue of the Marshall is paramount, not only for the pride of the Legion, but because he knows the position and strength of most of the Iron Legion's forces both in the Shadowlands and Tempest western Europe, as well as their plans, if he is captured by the Grim Legion their Legion could face a second night of the short chains. She is told to use any means necessary to prevent this, at all costs.

Legionnaire Huchcastle is similarly summoned, before an Inspector-General of the Skeletal Legion, a tall thin drawn ghost in a British-red Hanoverian-era ceremonial uniform without insignia. He is told to prevent the exchange at all costs, and to take out the enemy commanders present there, both Jade and Grim, to that end he is issued with a clip of specially forged Stygian Steel bullets for his riffle and told that failure is not an option.

As they make ready to depart they receive a summons from Regent vodorovski of the Silent Legion for one last audience before their mission. While en route walking through the streets of Berlin they come to one of the city's many squares and bear witness to an episode of skinlands mob violence, as a violent protest by the Socialist-Communist Spartacist league in one of the squares is put down with force by a local Freikorps unit. They see other local wraiths, presumably with passions in some way related to what was unfolding across the Shroud, watching from various nearby vantage points as the men of the Freikorps line up opposite the [dirty]Communists as their commander inspects his men, and then as one charge in to put an end to it, resulting in a melee of batons, fists, and rifles that bloodies the streets.

The finally reach the Silent Legion's Berlin baracks for one last debrief with Vodorovski. He receives them with respect, noting the Countess's new rank, and explains that their unit now leaves his unofficial oversight, and that once on the ground in Paris they should, after finding a haunt and hideout for themselves, make contact with the Loyalist underground there, led nominally by the Penitent Legion, who will have information regarding the area of the exchange between Minister Xian Tsung and the Grim Legion.
He tells them they should make contact through the Pardoner who haunts the Rue D'Auxerre , and relaying to him the code phrase I hear the dining is good at midnight.
He then salutes, and wishes them success in the name of the true emperor and tells them to make him proud.


Finally ready to depart the former capitol of the German Empire, they board the independent Night Mail relic airship LZ-4, commanded by one Captain Mansheim and staffed by a crew of 10 freewraiths, including 2 pilots that fly a relic fighter escort in shifts.
The Captain greets them warmly, as his crew make the final pre-flight checks and invites them to come to the captain's mess later that night, saying he expects the journey over western Germany and Northern France to take no longer that 24 hours, provided they do not encounter and major elements of the Maelstrom or Spectral forces.
There are also 4 other passengers on the LZ-4, including a ghost that appears as an exceptionally well dressed gentleman that gives them the eye from time to time.
The Captain seemed professional but easygoing appearing an open navy blue greatcoat and cap, hand hands stained red with blood.
As the mooring lines are cast off the 4 pathos-fuelled engines start up and the ship begins to rise forwards picking up speed as it does so, and the fighter escort, a British biplane, takes off also.
The crew themselves are largely German, save the 2 pilots, and are both friendly, and strictly neutral.
The circle are told they are free to move about the airship as they please, interior compartments, or forward or aft Gondolas. Once they have sailed high for a few minutes they enter Maelstrom Force 2 conditions, normally savage enough to begin shredding the corpus of an unfortunate wraith, yet the terrible winds buffet gently around the actual airship, leaving it almost untouched.
One of the passengers, the English gentleman dressed in the high victorian style, tophat, cape and cane, they they spotted earlier, approaches Stringer and the Countess while they are alone looking down through one of the observation windows. He introduced himself as Edward Pembroke Esq, and goes on to ask their business, commenting on the terrible war, and the affair with the Marshall. This last comment stops them in their tracks as they ask him what he means. He goes on to say that he is the one they knew as Elizarov back in Berlin. Once they get over their initial shock, and the radical difference in both his appearance and demeanor, he casually goes on to impart some disturbing intelligence to them.
He says that through a Haunter contact of his he has recently learned that though Ambassador Xian Tsung is here with the blessing of Jade Emperor Huang Di himself, both to sow discord that could weaken the west, and to make a genuine alliance with one of the wring factions, since arriving through the Tempest Xian Tsung has fallen prey to his darker instincts, becoming shadow-eaten, and now merely wishes to cause greater division, chaos and bloodshed among the western wraiths, uncaring even of his masters wishes.
He knows this because this ally of his, the Haunter, captured and interrogated a Spectre that had been in secret contact with the Minister and extracted the information before destroying it.
As he talks with them, a flight of French fighters on patrol in the skinlands skies heads toward them unknowingly, and the LZ-4 is unable to turn aside in time passes straight through them, causing the corpus of everyone on board to momentarily enter a state of flux.
A while afterwards, one Stringer and Von Fenrig have told the others what they had just learned, they found themselves in the dinning compartment talking with the easy going Night Mail Captain, and just as he is about to pour out a relic bottle of brandy that he said was at least 100 years old whe it was drank in the skinlands, a frantic bell sounds from the forward gondola causing Captain Mansheim to drop it smashing onto the deck. The alarm! he cries as he charges out of the cabin with everyone hot on his heels.
Looking out now from the forward gondola they see a large tear in the fabric of the shadowlands had opened in the skies ahead, a nihil, and a large one at that.
As the fighter escort moves into position a pack of spectres emerge from the spiritual tear and come screaming toward the airship, 6 of them, winged clawed and blackened once-human shapes, accompanied by 2 relic fighter aircraft piloted by only marginally less monstrous beings.
Von Dekker wasted no time in leaping overboard and willing his Fokker DR-1 triplane into existence, starting its engine up and turning to join the fray.
Von Dekker and the British escort pilot quickly end up tangled in deadly dogfights with the spectral biplanes, relic machine guns blazing from all sides as they fought. Those on board the LZ-4 herself however now found themselves desperately defending the airship, firing all manner of relic weaponry as they sought to prevent the spectres from closing, Hughcastle even taking to the air himself on ghostly wings with his relic riffle.
While Von Fenrig ended up fighting side by side with "Edward Pembroke" in one of the observation compartments where 2 horrid spectres had broken through the glass, using her Stygian Steel sword as Pembroke/Elizarov tore into one of them with moliate, rending its corpus to shreds with frightening ease and skill.
The airship sustained damage, but at length the dogfights were won, and the spectres attempting to board either driven off or obliviated.
The Captain personally thanked them for their valour in defence of the ship as they began to pass over the suburbs of Paris bellow, a decaying living city, huge, filthy, with smoke rising above it, but standing out more than the ghostly living structures is the Citadel of Necropolis Paris, rising high like a spired soulforged fortress-cathedral., and an Emerald Legion relic bomber aircraft flew up to escort them safely to the ground.
The LZ-4 touched down in one piece on an open field in the necropolis area of the city, within sight of the Citadel.
Grom Legion Legionnaires swarm round the airship as it touches down, making sure all is well and tethering the ship to the ground, but thankfully leaving the circle be.
As he disembarked Pembroke doffed his hat politely to them, wishing them luck and saying that he has business to attend to of his own in the city, and that he shall be in touch soon when he knows more, and with that he sauntered off into the Parisian crowd...








AUCHTUNG: Remember, there is no W:tGW this Sat as its J & K's house-warming thing. Normal service will resume next week, before which the last pending update will be posted, as is proper, on the day before playing.
Great War backlog posting complete. Damn not having the net for the first few sessions of this game.