Lurtor - A Trip back to School

#1

As part of Lurtor’s mission, he had the job of documenting what he could of the Olgogs in the Wastes.

As he steps back through his shadow portal to his appartment, he heads over to his computer and starts a download of the images he remembers of them. He writes up a section on how the interaction went.

How they were

  • skittish, especially of being in the open. Most likely due to their major threat of the ice dragons and Slavers.
  • How much the valued wood.

He would keep the part of how they saw enemies as food to himself for now until he could find out more on this.

Also as part of his description of events, he save off the image of the 4 Ice Dragons around them. Note of a city somewhere in the ice fields, and of how the Ice Dragons had a formal structure of government.

He would see if he had to give a lecture while he was there, and what classes he could attend. But his time was limited as there was much todo back at the settlement.

#2

Lurtor arrived early at the lecture hall where he was supposed to do his lecture, and was surprised to see a trio of Prince Lief’s Marauders on either side of the door. One said, “Student Stop.”

Lurtor wasn’t used to being talked to that way, but he was a student in their country so he guessed the title wasn’t meant offensively.

The Marauder’s were Prince Leif’s special forces, from what the EEF briefings had said. Seeing them in person however Lurtor felt they looked more like spacefaring young biker punks than serious adults. One of the Marauders flicked a technomantic scanner across Lurtor’s body, and then gave him the wave saying, “Enjoy your lecture.”

Lurtor walked in and found himself now facing a pair of Fort Lendill Peacebringers, who politely removed all the obvious weapons he carried and placed them on a nearby table.
They then escorted him through the empty lecture hall to the bottom where a small round table had been set up. One one side of the circle sat three people.
Two were menacing Fort Lendill Peacebringers, and sitting between them like he owned the room, was a thin bespeckled man in his 30s.

The man wore no obvious weapons from what Lurtor could see.

“Hello Lurtor Auf Lal’al… I hope I have pronounced your name correctly. I am Arg’oon Blazefist, and I report directly to Fort Lendill’s Dear Leader Cha’ain Moghreson. Vanguard Lil’ye’ahn was so pleased to announce your enrollment in the FLIT, and I wanted to make sure you were finding things comfortable. And ask you some questions about your recent trip out East.
I have been getting back concerning enough rumors that Prince Leif has already deployed some Marauders and Variable Fighters to the region. From what I am hearing, there is something going on out there that is going to escalate into another set of Border Wars. A full war between the free I’tashi Alliance and the old slavers of the I’tashi Loyalists, has been averted for a full year now with hard work on all sides.
Since you have the unique position of representing both EEF and Fort Lendill interests out there, I wanted to give you a chance to report on what is happening.”

[Lurtor must now choose what is shared with Fort Lendill Government about the GW Expedition. Information may have dramatic effects, but not sharing enough may cause Fort Lendill to make terrible tactical errors in the future. Progress with caution]

#3

Lurtor knew this part was coming. Though there were a few things he had to leave unsaid. Most of what happened Fort Lendill did need to know about.

Using he knowledge of how those here greeted others who deserved respect, he did an appropriate gesture of respect.

He then said "It is good to meet you. You did pronounce my name correctly, though I rarely add the name of the tribe as I don’t represent them officially as i grew up in the colonies. Away from the Olgog lands to learn about earthers. Though I do what I can to help many of the tribes of Olgogs where I can, especially when it helps chances of peace between earthers and Olgogs.

As to the mission to the Wastes. It did not go smoothly as the path the exhibition took ran across unknown issues. And I came back expecting someone to ask about it.

Here are the major events. The Group came across an Old war walker. This war walker was now controlled by a nightmare and not the demon. One of the exhibitions members had a speciality with Nightmares and removed this from being a threat. But then it shot down an Vampiric Uth. This Uth was imprisoned as she was a Vampire that had a slaves tattoo I think of Boriel I’tash or one of the loyalists. The issue is that unfortunately she was forgotten about due to the next events and after being freed she vowed vengeance. But was allowed to leave due to her status. Her name was (OOC Enter Name her as Player forgot.). This will be an issue in the future, but not as bad of an issue if she was not returned.

After the Uth was taken, there were some major events. First, We came across a lab of General Tharr’s. This was bad in itself, but there were also found 3 Tempest Class ships above it and Boriel I’tash inside. This was the first part where the trip went bad. Boriel I’tash attack me, and through a ring on his finger doppelgangered myself. Something I need to resolve still. But through this he learned our destination.

Tharrs lab was also destroyed in an attempt to keep anything useful from Boriel. Unknown at the time, or that it could even possibly occur, this destruction ripped a hole into a demon dimension.

2nd part where this went bad was the Group as a whole called in a strike on these Tempest Ships. Boriel I’tash himself was not injured in this, at least i believe. But 2 of the 3 ships were in the end. Boriel I’tash I then later found out rushed to the Research station. Beating us there according to the computers, though not there when we got there. He had left.

We then made it to the Station. It was determined since it was a race, we would go straight there. Again not dealing with the Uth, which is still a terrible thing and will have to deal with.

The third part that you will have noted is that Boriel I’tash ships made another attempt to goto the station again with another 3 tempest class ships. As these ships were coming to research station, these were destroyed again. At the time and from what the computer at the station recorded, it was determined that he could not be allowed back in.

So those are two of the events that have stirred up the area.

Next we found out from talking to the local Olgogs that slavers were coming through with the tempest ships and taking the local olgogs when it could find them. None returned from this. My guess is that this has been going on for a while as between them and the Ice Dragons, the Olgogs there could move through the snow without detection. But the big take away is that The old Itashi alliance (OOC hopefully that is correct name), is still gathering slaves again. Of one note, Biff did not take this news lightly. I expect him and his may do more about this later.

More on the Olgogs, they value wood highly as trees do not grow there well. Grimm made contact with them. I was unable as someone looking like me most likely wasn’t nice to them and put a great fear into them.
We also found out the Ice Dragons have some sort of Government. They have a Mayor who they called (OOC insert name as player’s memory is being really really bad tonight) . They also mentioned a city.

And to the most important part of things. The Package was there. Very injured, but it was there under the snow. I didn’t get to look at it too closely as the EEF drop shipped in to secure the station at this point. And those drop pods shook the area where the package was. It was bleeding out of an injury in its neck. This telemachanic liquid mixed with its blood. (OOC Lurtor will go into greater detail of the drops if he knows more than this. Player doesn’t remember 100%)

I could not tell what it was and before I could get some time to look at it carefully, the EEF removed the group from the facility. It seems Little Thorn was concerned over events that happened, and everyone was checked out.

Right now I came back to report and record what the group found. Much has happened in such little time. Many of the decisions turned out bad, though there was reasoning at the time. And a few cases of screwed either way. The mission did not go as planned at all."

#4

All and all, Lurtor was trying to be very honest with Fort Lendill and their government. They were part of this as well. And if a war breaks out, they are very much near the front line. He also hoped that the issue with the dragon bleeding, they might know enough to shine some light on what maybe the issue. Lurtor did not give names of those who did specific things as it was a team mission. And he did not want anything taken out of context to be used against an individual. Things went bad, and things were missed. Now just to fix those issues and move on.

#5

Arg’oon Blazefist smiled a thin smile as he heard about the events. It was not a kind smile or a good smile. In fact, Lurtor felt uncomfortable the wider that thin smile got. Finally Arg’oon adjusted his glasses.

“Hmm then I guess our entire effort to keep the expedition hidden was an abject and complete failure,” said Arg’oon, "Thousands of Ghaz wasted in payoff, and hundreds of thousands in ghaz wasted on logistics. If we had wanted every enemy we share with the EEF to know about our expedition we would have simply loaded soldiers onto a bunch of aircraft or space ships, flew up and over the mountain range, and safely landed there. It would have cost us nothing, and we could have hand picked the best possible soldiers to handle the situation.

I guess trusting the EEF and their VLAD agency was a mistake.

Also unfortunately you, Lurtor, have been compromised by PeaceLord Boriel.

This makes you a threat to entire student body of FLIT and to the entire populace of Fort Lendill. All it would take is for Boriel to take your form, teleport to your room here, and unleash a technomantic weapon on the populace.

But we have a compromise we created during the Border Wars for people the Dear Leader wants to trust…but can’t…due to situtions…"

He picked up a collar with technomantic devices attached to it.

“This is a nanite collar. It will log you as a proper citizen and allowed to pass back and forth past the border,” said Arg’oon, “Dear Leader designed it for our sniper units sent into enemy territory.”

Lurtor swore he had heard something about Fort Lendill collars during his briefing at the EEF before being allowed to enroll in FLIT.

#6

Lurtor says "What does this collar do? Is it removable? I’m concerned by this as I see its a techomantic device. I do not carry techomantic device with me outside of here as they are illegal in much of the area I travel. Especially with the EEF. While Knowledge is not illegal, possession is. Since I can see that, its not obfuscated from leyas sight.

Also, I shift forms alot. My size changes drastically. And in a few, I don’t even have a neck. So i may not be able to wear it all the time in all situations when doing my tasks outside of here."

Lurtor with leyas site will study the collar from a far to see what he could tell of the device.

Lurtor was not keen on this idea. would this enslave him? was this like the EEF with OtO? He had too many questions about this. He was too stupid for being too honest with these earthers. They seemed never to care about that, only about how to punish and overreact.

#7

Arg’oon spoke in a matter of fact manner about the Ft Lendill collar, "While this is a technomantic device, once activated it will appear to all who test it using technology and Leyas to be nothing more than an actual technological tracking device. So your worries about it setting off the EEF laws are unfounded. Dear Leader developed the collars while he himself and his brother Lief were working as VLAD agents themselves, so he understood the need to keep it hidden from the general populace.

The device will shift with you, and can conform to any form you take no matter how big or small.

Once locked, the collar will give off a signal that can only be picked up by Fort Lendill commanders, and will allow anyone on the authority list to activate an Eye Spy at your location through the collar giving them a 360 degree view and audio of the area. The lock will be unlocked once you complete your education at the FLIT. Until the end of your enrollment at the college however it will be locked at all times, and cannot be removed.

It will conform to your shape, so don’t worry about it being uncomfortable.

Everytime you enter the city, your collar will alert us. That way if you were to ever enter the city without the collar, we would instantly know it was Boriel in disguise.

However, if you were to ever try and assassinate anyone on the authority list, it will activate the collar and turn your entire body into a liquid soup. It is painless but instant death.

The people on the Authority list for these collars are: Dear Leader Cha’ain Moghreson of Fort Lendill, Prince Lief of Fort Lendill, Vanguard Lil’ye’ahn of Fort Lendill, Doctor Mor’aye’ahn of S.W.A.R.M., Colony General Malthus of the EEF, Xenia DeSonda of Fort Lendill, and myself, Arg’oon Blazefist.

But since you are attending here as a good faith student, Lurtor, I doubt you are planning on assasinating any government officials, so you need not worry about being turned into soup…"

Hearing Arg’oon talk about the collar in such a blase manner, made Lurtor ask, “So how many people in Fort Lendill wear these Collars?”

“Hundreds of Thousands of Citizens,” said Arg’oon without missing a beat.

The collar looked like a simple piece of unadorned metal in Leyas sight. There were no auras on it.

“So again you would not be breaking any EEF laws by wearing this collar, and in fact right now there are VLAD agents running around with them on,” said Arg’oon, “While you decide what you are going to do…I have a question to ask of you…”

Lurtor hated moments like this. Whenever an Earther asked permission before asking a question, it was never a good question.

“When you discovered General Tharr’s lab during your Expedition, and you knew Mission objective was to arrive at the Glacial Research Facility without being discovered, why did your team divert into the lab? Why didn’t you just call EEF backup or call up to us here in Fort Lendill? I would have alerted Prince Lief and he would have deployed his Marauders to take down any threats there and secure the facility so Specialists who knew what they were dealing with could have been brought in…”

Arg’oon had the judgemental tone of a military officer who had little patience for loose cannons. Considering all Lurtor had seen working with the VLAD Agency, he was never surprised that he had to convince Officials that they were professionals.

Lurtor had seen enough unprofessional behavior from VLAD Agents just in the Goblin Lands, that on a certain level he could understand where Arg’oon was coming from.

He realized he had a moment here where he could either earn Arg’oon’s trust or he would unfortunately confirm Arg’oon’s prejudices about VLAD Agents and their agency…which Lurtor hated to admit were not entirely unfounded.

#8

Lurtor took a minute to think about this. His politically correct answers have not fared very well lately. maybe VLAD did have a bad influence on himself.

He says "In Hindsight, it was a terrible idea to enter the lab and was the start of the failure of the mission. At the time we did not know what we know now. We did not know that it was General Tharr’s lab. Or about its connection to a unknown dimension. Or that Boriel I’tash was inside.

At the time we were looking at 3 Tempest class ships that we had few ways around undetected with the caravan. There was also the concern that these ships were raiding the Uth as well.

The idea was to see what they were so interested in or why they were there and then plan the next steps were. We needed answers first. Were the ships going to stay long? Which direction would they go next? What was their goal? Had they noticed us? Were they looking for us? Were there forces ahead of us already? Could we chance leaving them at our backs pinning us between the dragons and them? There were too many questions that impacted our next moves. We needed some info.

With the members we had, we should have been able to get in and out without being seen or detected. Leaving only some guards missing some time. Almost all on the team were very powerful and intelligent individuals in their own right. Should have been no issue.

That proven completely wrong when it was Boriel I’tash was the one in there.

I was not the first he attacked, but when he attacked, he was quicker than I could follow. I didn’t attack back because he didn’t do damage, it was a hold not a killing strike. I thought the situation could still be recovered, but if I attacked there was little chance of that. I also didn’t expect him to do what he did when he pinned me. Otherwise I would have shut his artifact down and escaped. By the time I realized what he was doing and I saw his shift and it was too late.

Then, Boriel I’Tash was talking instead of attacking, the group made an arrangement with him to leave together and to destroy the lab. None realizing the consequences of destroying the lab. None noticing that the Lab was holding a demonic dimension rip back. I’m still not sure why this happened. I have not got a chance to go back and see it. Right after. Though I was told the EEF would secure the site just in case and look into it.

The only thing we found in the lab that was demonic was a claw to a demon, which was carefully contained to be sent back for later study. What had left that claw either escaped long long ago, or was some how destroyed. Don’t know the answer to that except it wasn’t there recently.

So there was reason, thought and debate that went into that event. The truth on the ground was not anything that was expected or planned for and the results show that."

Lurtor then pauses. He didn’t like this, but he didn’t see another choice. It reminded him so much of OtO’s collar. just improved. But this could solve the issues of others knowing who he is. And there were extreme ways to remove it if they went back on their word. He would just have to figure that out if the need came.

But then Lurtor says "I will wear the collar per those stipulations. To be removed when i complete my education and time at the FLIT. I have no plans to assassinate anyone. That is not an issue. Nor do I want to be involved in the politics at all either.

I do have another question, You listed Colony General Malthus as one on the authority list and that some VLAD agents are wearing the collars as well. So I assume the EEF will know of this? Will the EEF also be able use this to determine if this is me instead of the imposter?"

#9

Arg’oon leaned forward and placed the collar around Lurtor’s neck securing it.

“Thank you Lurtor Auf Lal’al, this goes a long way to assuaging both my worries and the worries of our Dear Leader. I know your family is involved heavily in politics south of the Colonial lands, and I am happy to hear you do not have politicial inspirations here in Fort Lendill. For the first time in a long time, we have peace, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

Arg’oon visibly relaxed as if he was worried any moment before this Lurtor would have pulled out guns and started shooting his way out. He also lifted up a small keypad, that Lurtor recognized as a stylized control artifact for Eye Spies. Five displays activated showing different parts of the city.

“Another benefit of your trust in us, is that it has allowed me to cure a problem we have been noticing since Vanguard Lil’ye’ahn approved your enrollment. Watch,” said Arg’oon.

To Lurtor’s amazement he saw clones of himself making their way through five different parts of Fort Lendill. They were of course missing the collar he now wore, and were dressed more in Fort Lendill’s style than in Lurtor’s won. Arg’oon raised the command artifact to his mouth and whispered just loud enough for Lurtor to hear him, “Eliminate the targets.”

At the exact same moment, the heads and chests of all five clones of Lurtor exploded. From the angles and wounds, Lurtor could tell each had been shot simultaneously by two separate magnetic rail sniper weapons at the same time. The supersonic weapons actually made a loud sound at the same moment as impact, giving little to no warning until the weapons were already doing their damage.

Five Lurtor clone bodies were quickly and deftly collected by the Fort Lendill Peacebringers who moved in to secure the bodies and check them for traps. Each was found to be rigged with some sort of explosive device, but were quickly hacked and shut down by the techno-adepts.

Arg’oon placed the control console down and looked up at Lurtor.

“I appreciate your reasons for exploring the Laboratory. And now that this security manner is handled, FLIT is happy to continue having you represent the university at the Glacial Wastes Expedition,” Arg’oon said, “Be careful in the future. Fort Lendill will be sending you an advisor to assist you. You should expect him to arrive at the GRF shortly.”

[Lurtor has retained safe access to the school. And during the live game may be gaining a new Fort Lendill ally in the form of a Fort Lendill Gun Monk]