TSGL3 Week 7 Mission Report: The Mirror Crystal Invasion Part 1

[Narrator]

The Defense of Brez

The attack of the UTD Cruisers caught Urog by surprise. He knew they weren’t Lalder’s, because Lalder said so.

Urog cursed Lalder under his breath. The Earther-like machines bring Earter-like wars. Brez and Simonsburg had no defenses against this kind of attack. Brez had about 50 million olgog and underground tunnels that could withstand Der’na. He wasn’t worried about winning, he was worried about how many would die before victory was won.

Urog’s memory flickered. Auf Yyanyi said, “When the Kolgul Militia comes, I will be like the sand before the wind and simply disperse. Hiding these tents melded with the sandy earth below us, my people will be safe. But it will mean hiding. Some Olgogs would have too much pride to do so. I feel bad for them.”

He communicated with Simonsburg: “Gulag - Take everyone underground.

Get the tent city inside the main walls. Measured retreat. When everyone is safe, bring the defenders in and from there, bury the city. Use hoblal’or. Let the attackers think there is nothing to conquer. Use ka’or and other forms of smoke to cover tracks. Tell the EEF it is our plan.

When the big ships leave, reclaim the city. Make sure the people of Simonsburg know that they are too important to sacrifice, and that the Great Northern Army will always rebuild Simonsburg!!”

He sighed. Minimal casualties and fewer areas to spread UTD and GNA defenses across. It also prevents defenses from spreading thinner

Brez had bigger issues. If he hid, Ganek Lagg and Blood’og might also attack. Too many enemies, Urog lamented. He cursed Lalder and the Djinni again.

He would fight, but not fairly. The Gang of the Uf Mag’og were owed a boon. He turned on his comm crystal, calling for all channels to open. “Gog of Brez. The gor we fight today has og. But our og is greater. Not because we are more in number, but because we have no fear of their og. We have fought many battles, with many friends. And because we are not greedy, today we are granted greater og to defend our homes. Do not despair, for even the gods smile upon us today. Together, we will defeat these usurpers and fakes and show them that we has the greatest og!”

He invoked the boon owed to him by Kincaid (for not accepting a boon from the Djinn). The irony was not lost on Urog. He would ask for Kincaid to defend Brez and turn back the enemy.

To the shock of the Brezan peoples a large storm cloud filled the sky over Brez, surrounding the 3 Carrier craft that threatened the city. The Mirror Crystal mancers moved into position trying to avert the storm, but their power was no match for a storm whipped up by an ascended being. Kincaid was careful to only use natural phenomenon at the beginning of the boon. The storm was building up over the mountains, and a simple twist of the wind, and it was bearing down on Brez at full speed.

The storms gave kincaid cover to do the second part of the boon, covering as he was for the Thunder Gods of the primal Olgog peoples. The booms of the thunder came in time with a second sound he created, the sound of drums in the distance. Drums of primal Olgog drummers, filled with love and faith and community.

For the Olgogs who grew up in the ruined city of Brez, it was their first time hearing the ancestral music of their peoples and it filled their hearts with strength.

Feeling the surge of their minds concentrating on the fleet above them, Kincaid searched their minds in his fully ascended form. He sifted minds, until he found them, the minds crying out for someone to bring those carriers down. He connected their wills, and the leyas they drew, into a perfect web focusing his ascended power and finally he connected to the mind of King Urog whose boon was allowing Kincaid to act so fully in the world despite his ascended status.

Kincaid formed his avatar form on the high tower of a crumbling Oner Cathedral in the heart of Brez. His clothing was based on the Drummers of the Thunder Gods. Any who saw this moment wouldn’t think an ascended being acted here, instead they would suspect only one of the many dread locked Drummers who made Brez their home.

The Mirror Crystal Fleet had one fatal flaw. Their propulsions were caused by Leyas artificings. And any artificing could be stripped away by a powerful enough adept. Kincaid stripped away one artificing after another, until the first of the Carriers simply plunged down crashing into the desert outside the city.

Brezan raiders wearing the colors of the Uf Mag’og were immediately upon it, tunneling inside, and flooding the corridors with summoned Hydras. There was a bloody massacre inside, as Kalokian demons tried to fight their way out giving little regard to their Mirror crystal allies who were trying to push back the Hydras. The Fell Balgogs found themselves being rendered into sludge by the army of Earth Elementals summoned by the Uf Mag’og armies. In a stroke of genius, the Earth elementals were a perfect counter to the Fell Balgogs, as long as there was a meat shield of Hydras to soak up all that hellfire.

Meanwhile the remaining two had already spilled forth their fighter aircraft that were picking off Brezans and making a bee-line for the tower on which Kincaid’s summoned avatar form had appeared.

As he watched the battle, King Urog was surprised to see a salvo of crude rockets rise up like arrows flying firm and true towards the Mirror Crystal fighter craft. The explosions that filled the sky, also filled him with momentary hope.

His scouts quickly reported that some damn fool merc from the north had been arming the Lobbas with Rockets. Urog’s first thought was that he was going to have to meet with this merc before he became a problem, but his second thought was to thank the man for giving one of the most vicious gangs in Brez the ability to fight back against the Mirror Fleet.

There was suddenly a strange set of lights in the sky, and Urog wondered if that was the support attack the EEF had promised. Fightercraft suddenly stopped firing their magi cannons, and their shields dropped as one as their technomancers onboard found themselves bombarded by electromagentic pulses.

Deep in the Lobbas base, Burke found his radio short out and his electronics nonfunctional. He sighed and made a quick hand gesture to his mek, only to find it on the ground in sleep mode requiring a hook up to a power source. Burke grabbed a small Olgog by the collar and told him to get more firepower on those carriers.

The Lobbas took that order and sent a second salvo of rockets into the now unprotected side of a Mirror Crystal carrier. The vessel’s outer hull exploded sending crystal laced rock scything down into the streets of Brez. Its carcass crashed down hard near the old Brezan Arena, where the Lobbas were the first on the scene.

The remaining Carrier realized it was under orbital attack and ground attack at once, and began to make an organized retreat.

King Urog proudly stood before the people of Brez. They had won the day, and driven off the last of the carriers. One was in the hands of his brave Uf Mag’og and Opulints, and even now they had opened it up to find its hold full of United Tribes aircraft, which hadn’t time to launch before Kincaid had stripped it from the sky.

As suddenly as it had come, the storm passed and the sky cleared. Under a blue sky, King Urog made preparations to move the salvaged fightercraft from the wreck knowing it would be stolen by raiders if left for nightfall.

Meanwhile in the Greater Brez Arena, Burke and his Lobbas claimed their prize. Inside the shattered hull of the carrier craft they found Magi Cannons, Krato bone axes and a pack of tamed Armorfiends. As Burke surveyed the crash site, he was sure this may be as defense able a place as the Lobbas could hope for in Brez. And the shattered carrier armor lying all around, could make strong walls and fortifications.

[Narrator]

In Defense of Simonsburg

The rythmic tap of Uriel’s walking stick accompanied him down the hall of VLAD Headquaters. He was mentally composing a piece on his knowledge of the Tomb of Hoyls for later recording when the alert klaxons sounded. He hurried to the Command center.

“What has happened?” He asked as he entered the room McMurphy was already at his station sorting intel but it was Anise who answered.

“Based on what we have been told an alternate time line UTR has launched an invasion into our own time line.” Uriel mused briefly that it was something of a wonder such things hardly even seemed out of the ordinaray any longer.

“All VLAD agents are being activated to render aid in defense of the Provisional Colonies or to aid civillian evacuation.”

In the center of the room a map shimmered into view showing the known positions of all agents in black, EEF forces in green, local allies in blue and finally the hostiles in red.

He considered it quickly.

“I will go to Simonsberg and help. I will attempt to get civillians out of the combat area. I will also gather together any who cannot or will not be moved and use a city defense shield to protect them,” He said.

Turning toward the door, he was already using create and consume nightmare to build up vitality, enough hopefully for him to survive, and making his way to artifact storage to draw a teleporter from stores.

It was a cold flash and a moment in between places and he was in the city of Simonburg. Every time he saw this city he was proud of the Olgogs and their Earther allies. He had seen pictures of the tiny outpost Simonsburg had been merely two years before. Nowadays it was a real city with so many Olgogs it seemed almost a joke to try and attempt an evacuation.

Yet as he arrived, Uriel watched as the forces of King Urog were attempting just that. He saw them leading large groups of Olgogs into the tunnels to the under city. But he also realized they needed time.

As the fleet of ninety fighter craft began a strafing run of epic proportions across the Simonsburg skyline, they cut through block after city block until suddenly they weren’t. Uriel had heard the screams of the wounded in the city under attack, and he had willed it to stop. A city shield now glistened over Simonsburg, and the firepower was harmlessly ignored.

Harmlessly perhaps for the city but not Uriel. Once again the brave soul was pushed to its limit as Uriel tried to absorb all that damage into himself through the shield so that none would need die today. But it was the firepower of ninety fightercraft, and their magi cannons that pelted Simonsburg first on one pass, then on another, and then on a third. The pain was immense, and Uriel could feel his lifeblood flow freely from burst vessels in his nose, and his ears and even his eyes.

Finally enough of the city had fled underground, and Uriel watched with pleasure as the King Urog’s plan succeeded, and Simonsburg melded with the earth. Not a single building was left standing, and not a single entrance to the undercity could be found.

Uriel found himself alone in a great dusty plain, and he finally released the shield. Sinking down until he was only held up by his cane, Uriel once again could not help but believe his lot. Here he was sacrificing himself, and not a single bit of thanks would come his way. Then again he remembered the sound of the people dying in those first few moments of attack. He gritted his teeth, trying to get ahold of his own heartbeat.

He felt himself fall backwards…what was this…a heart attack? Uriel thought with worry. Or had he simply absorbed too much in that initial salvo.

Falling backwards until he was lying on the ground, Uriel watched the three Carrier craft of the Mirror Crystal Fleet move into a position over the now missing city. He nearly laughed as he saw the EMPs blossom in low orbit over the Carrier craft. Technomagi onboard began to experience headaches as their devices and artifacts failed.

Then Uriel saw a dark cloud…no a dark fortress on the horizon. It approached rapidly, flying with the grace of a K’ias Ziggurat. From it surged a wave of silver that seemed even from this distance to be the ghosts of dead warriors that splashed onto the hull of the closest Mirror Crystal Carrier. The black castle repeated this again on the second Mirror Crystal Carrier. The pair of vessels quickly turned as if their controls had been taken over and charged full speed towards its two remaining fellows

Within moments the carriers had crashed with enough speed to take the wreakage up and into the air spreading over the vast deserts west of Simonsburg. The force was enough to kill most of the crew and shatter most of the Fell Balgogs onboard. Those that survived fled out into the wastes.

Uriel smiled seeing the Black Castle pass overhead, and continue on its way to Absalom and Hebron. Uriel felt his blood draining into the sand below, and darkness closing in. Looking down he saw a bit of wreakage, nothing more than part of the hull of one of the mirror crystal fightercraft sticking out of his chest.

Yet as the darkness closed in, Uriel could hear voices and see a bright glowing light. He could see thousands of beings wrapped around him. Some whispering secrets into his ear, as his eyes stared upon the center of energy that connected all living things that lay beyond the plane of Life.

He had died many times before, but he wondered if this was death or this was something else…

[Narrator]

The Freetown of Drewsport reveals it’s deadly hand

As the carrier craft approached Drewsport, a single being rose into the air before them.

"My name is Torlok’ab of the Shield of the Redeemer, Duranki of the Tomb of Holys.

I am here to inform you to turn your vessels around and leave this city and the surrounding area. Any attack on this city will be meet with Force. We do not wish to harm you but can not let you attack the innocence people below."

When the enemy craft showed their unwillingness to leave the city in peace, Torlok’ab knew it was time to meet them with force. Unlike many of the defense forces in the goblin lands, the Dead know how to fight Technomancy. They have been expecting to see this threat ever since the local forces started gearing up their militaries and becoming more warlike.

The Carrier craft began launching its fightercraft. A lesser being would have been terrified, but Torlok’ab had faced far worse than these counterfeit UtR.

Torlok’ab raised a single hand, and the sound of Roaring Cannons could be heard. As Torlok’ab stripped away the shields and defenses of the Carrier, it was struck on five sides by the cannons mounted on the Unit 817 Necro Striders. Each side was carved away, leaving gaping holes where Fell Balgogs and Kalokian Guard fell down towards their deaths on the rocky ground below.

The Carrier was quickly assaulted by DeadWing aircraft, and the Unit 817 soldiers were aboard within moments. The heroic undead found their magi cannons were useless, or worse, when the Mirror Crystal armies reflected their beam weapon back at them.

The Kalokian Guard were killed and banished by the Unit 817 as the battle for the bridge began, but more traditional soldiers and their Fell Balgog allies still stood before them. A dangerous force, that equaled their own.

The Unit 817 soldiers found themselves having to move up close and personal where the irradiated swords and bayonets they carried made short work of both technomagi and olgog warrior until only Fell Balgogs still stood before them. With every mancer onboard the Carrier cut down, and his body laced with irradiated materials, the Unit 817 no longer had any fear for using their magi cannons.
Under the coordinated attacks, the Fell Balgogs were cut into small basalt piles.

The Carrier had been taken, and Mirror Crystal crew so unwilling to surrender were slain to a gog.

As Torlok’ab began to draw out the irradiated material from the first Carrier craft the second Carrier craft and its fightercraft began their attack run on the port.

Torlok’ab soon was glowing a bright green. The neon glow faded as he used his powers over the leyas to cleanse the toxic material from himself, removing any threat left by their unorthodox attack, but then redirecting it into a ball of energy he brought crashing down onto the front of the hull of the second carrier. There was a moment like a matchstick then the entire carrier simply vaporized, turned to ash in nuclear fire, which Torlok’ab simply closed away again. There was no fallout, no mushroom cloud. Every bit of the dangerous energy was converted safely away using the Leyas after Torlok’ab used it to end the threat of the second carrier within seconds.

Torlok’ab knew the real secret of the Redeemers was out, and their future would never be the same. He pondered this as he watched the Warmachines of Unit 817 drive off the remaining fightercraft, which seemed to flee in the direction of RhugTor.

[Narrator]

Deryyanheim a nearly forgotten Provisonal Colony, but not forgotten by the Kefeda Quall

It was the strangest of days for Field Marshall Jeremiah Strykker.

First he gets a call from Colony General Malthus asking him to investigate a series of concerning Leyas Spikes in the Goblin Lands.

Then five minutes into the orbital scans of the area, he got to see United Tribes of Refuge carrier
craft over every Goblin Lands settlement.

The massive stone and crystal flying vessels opened up, splitting forth clouds of fightercraft that began attacking the settlements below targeting airfields, aerial defenses, Mancer’s Towers and anyone who dared to fight back against their overwhelming onslaught.

Jeremiah watched the command center screens as more and more unidentified blips appeared over every command center they had in the southlands.

He shook his head. He could have told them that nothing good comes of asking djinn for, well, anything really. Oh well the time to worry about that was long past.

Jeremiah turned to his aides, quickly ordering "Get the Orbital platforms and fleet on high alert and make sure they get their damage control teams ready. Share our intel about these guys and their invasion with the IR.

General Map’el replied, “ Sir our intel says this UTR already took out EEF orbital defenses once in their world.”

Jeremiah countered, “They will not be doing that again. Order all ships out of dock, get them mobile. Whatever orbital installations have them ready should deploy their detour shields.
Track the unknowns and as long as they are within range of any of the Provisional Colonies hit them. I want EMP followed by Anti-nanite warheads. Warn our ground forces to go dark and stay off line until after the first strike.”

His aides began activating radios, commcrystals and computer relays to pass along the messages to the entire fleet.

Jeremiah stood up and pointed at their main fleet in orbit. “Once that is over all forces are to engage at will. One City of the Gods class ship, two Dusk destroyers, and two Gunships plus 25 Gunpod fighters will drop form orbit and engage the enemy over each Provisional Colony.”

Jeremiah continued, “I want them deorbiting while the missiles are still enroute to targets. Hopfully they can catch them before they recover from the hits.

RCT 2 and 3 are still deployed at Absalom and Hebron. They are to offer all aid in the defense. If they can manage to push forces throught to the other Provisional Colonies they are to do so as soon as they can. We won’t have time to get ground forces elsewhere. But we’ll do what we can.”

Jeremiah began to grow grave in his speaking, “Get all spec ops teams and marines we can together and split them up into five groups. They’ll do combat drops into Tla’loc’al station, Brez, Simonsberg, Deryyanheim and Zh’ka’al to help shore up the defenders.”

Finally turning towards his aides, Jeremiah said, “Somebody call VLAD and tell them to activate all agents to either help in local defense, aid civillians or carry out sabotage on the hostiles as possible.

RTC 1 is still on the border. I want them ready to pick up anything that gets through and moves toward the Colonies. The Bastion’s Domebuster is free to engage any targets of opportunity at will. They are also to hold as fall back point if things go bad. RCT 4 will move up in support of them for now as a back up.”

Jeremiah waited calmly. He hated the waiting, and missed the days of charging into battle inside his power armor Peace. Now it was waiting, and the calmness was just a mask for his subordinates.

Finally the first word came back from Spec Ops on the ground, Simonsburg was saved. The locals saved the buildings and did a full evacuation while VLAD agent Uriel held off the enemy fleet until Free-agent Yohai’s Keep could disable and remove the threat of the remaining carriers. Now they were on cleanup in the wreakage outside of Simonsburg.

Jeremiah was proud, making sure to pass a commendation up the line for Uriel.

Jeremiah said, “Reroute the space force being sent to Simonsburg instead to Hebron. It looks like the folk on the ground handled themselves well. Any word from the other Provisional Colonies?”

“Deryyanheim has reported in,” replied an aide, “They have found the Mirror Crystal Fleet under full attack by a Quall N’drone force. The Quall are the same ones that attacked Dunesphere. It seems the Quall used the confusion caused by our orbital strike to make a full assault on the bridges of the carrier crafts.”

“At least now we know where the Kefeda Quall disappeared to,” said General Map’el.

Jeremiah said, “Are they trying to hold land in Deryyanheim?”

“Not that we know at the moment. But we do know their asteroid is still MIA. We are tracking the Kefeda Quall who defended Deryyanheim, and the analysts believe they are on an intercept course with Yohai’s Keep. They are aboard the three stolen Carriers. Or at least some of them are,” said the aide.

“How close behind them are our COG Vessel and the Destroyers?” asked General Map’el.

“The COG could fire its domebuster, but on a miss they would strike allied forces,” answered another aide, “The Destroyers’ laser cannons could be reflected back by the Carrier’s defenses if the Quall have brought them back online. Just give the orders sir, and the crew will try for the shots.”

“Where does it look like the Kefeda Carriers will intercept Yohai’s keep?” asked Jeremiah.

“Over Absalom,” replied General Map’el looking at the displays and doing a quick calculation.

“Absalom…” said Jeremiah, “Alert Lord Grimaldus and alert Free-agent Yohai. Tell the Captains in charge of the COGs at Absalom and at Deryyanheim what to expect from Yohai’s Keep. And Hopefully the Quall will hate the Mirror Crystal fleet more than they hate our own boys and girls.”

An aide confirmed, “Sir, Deryyanheim is now fully clear of enemy vessels.”

“Get Governor Scribe on the commcrystal,” said General Map’el, “Tell that little bastard his colony has a Quall infestation on the ground and our spec ops are on the way.”

“And Absalom?” asked Jeremiah.

“The battle for Absalom is just beginning…”

[Narrator]

How Absalom and Hebron learned to love the Bastion’s Domebuster

When the message arrived about the arrival of three carriers with ninety fighters had arrived over his colonies Lord Grimaldus was livid. How dare these Goblins whom he had worked so hard to not kill now attack him directly. First they stood by and let Giants attack him, now his “allies” in the UTR were attacking him with their fleet! Wait…weren’t they also provisional colonies? He was being invaded by another provisional colony? This would really make it hard for them to get their status finalized…wait…this is a fleet from another timeline in which the UTR is evil? That is the dumbest thing he had ever heard! Who would believe such rubbish about an alternative timeline. Next you are going to suggest that this “timeline war” was caused by evil magic aliens from another dimension.

Irregardless he had to defend his territory. First things first, he would contact the EEF high command and request air support. He had a local EEF garrison which he alerted to defend the cities. Next he began mobilizing his own army. Soon after he realized that the majority of his army consisted of infantry and Calvary armed with melee weapons or archers…that wouldn’t work very well against aircraft carriers and fightercraft.

Lord Grimaldus sighed, he really needed to try to upgrade his personal military but that isn’t something he could do in the short term. Anyway he did have some technologically advanced units, orders were sent out to the few Gunpods and Hovercopters that he possessed and ordered them to try to hold the attention of the fightercraft and attempt to pull them away from both the cities and my siege strider. They will attempt to draw the fighters away towards the north. Waiting for them will be five Anti Air Striders who would be waiting to attempt to catch the fightercraft by surprise

Then he sent a message to the Bastion Siege Strider he had gotten from Dunesphere so long ago, it hadn’t been used in quite a while, however this seemed to be a good time. The orders were to take aim and start shooting down the aircraft carriers one at a time.

The small fleet of Gunpods and Helicopters rose up to meet the Mirror Crystal fightercraft. They dodged and weaved and took heavy losses in those first moments, especially when the pilots of the Gunpods learned their lasers could be reflected back by the Mirror crystal fleet to devastating effect on their own numbers.

Barely limping away, the last surviving helicopters and gunpods drew the fightercraft away from Hebron and Absalom, and into the land between.

Over the Tower of Resugent, the citizens could see massive aerial battle from their limited point of view.

Then suddenly the Gunpods and Helicopters dived for the earth. Thinking they had somehow disabled the enemy, the Mirror Crystal Fighters moved in for the kill. Instead the sky above them was lit up with thousands of flickers as EMP weapons detonated above them.

The Gunpods and Helicopters were safely on the ground. And the Anti-Air Striders were equally in shutdown mode when the EMP struck.

Activating emergency generators the Striders reactivated and began to fire upon the fightercraft with increased frequency. The Mirror Crystal Pilots did not expect the subterfuge and were caught in the crossfire between the Striders below and the rapidly descending EEF fleet.

The missiles that rained down from the COG Vessel and the Destroyers were a complete surprise to the Mirror Crystal Fleet who were expecting laser fire to reflect back at their enemies. When the COG unleashed its Dome Buster, the remaining fighters even those not directly in the path of the projectiles were flipped from the air like leaves in a gust of wind. They shattered across the ground, though a handfull of pilots were able to regain control and fly back towards the carriers, alerting them to the change in tactics. Those that hit the ground were quickly targeted and disabled by Duskan Destroyers.
Over Hebron, the Mirror Fleet Carrier fleeing Simonsburg met with the Carrier that had diverted from Absalom to capture the provisional colony. The two Carriers prepared to face the EEF fleet but they did not know that Lord Grimaldus had a special weapon waiting for them.

The Carriers began focus firing with chill based attacks on the Destroyers leaving them disabled across desert surrounding Hebron.

As one Carrier took up position over Hebron it was struck immediately by the Domebuster mounted on a Bastion Siege strider. Without its enhanced shields and technomantic defenses to protect the Mirror Crystal Carrier, the domebuster cracked the carrier like a hammer breaking rocks. By the second shot, the Carrier was simply falling rubble filled with dead bodies.

The remaining Carrier was not so unresponsive as the first. When one of its Mirror Crystal Auf’s saw the pair of COGs flying towards them, he decided to settle the odds. Focusing Earth Leyas, the Auf began to strip the metal away from the hull, reversing the movement of the metal. The more power the carrier put into its engines to position itself to fire the Domebuster, the more of its hull was crushed inward by the powerful Aufgog.

Onboard EEF Mancers began erecting powerful wards against Earth, stopping the buckling metal within moments. EEF Special Forces Gremlins began shoring up sections of the hull that threatened to give way. In some sections of the vessel, the soldiers pulled fellow EEFers from rooms that had been fully crushed. Others had to wait until Gremlins with plasma torches cut them from, and some had to be resurrected after being crushed alive.

Within seconds of even that tiny success, the Mirror Crystal Carrier was broadcasting to its fleet about the EEF using better tactics in this timeline, and to focus their Aufs on reversing the metal of their Domebuster cannon rounds as they fired.

As the Domebuster on the second COG ship fired hoping to end the threat of the Mirror Crystal Carrier over Hebron, a single Aufgog waited holding his breath. In that moment, the rail spike left the safety of the COG ship, and began its accelerated approach on the Mirror Crystal Carrier. The Aufgog focused on all his will on the blur that was already miliseconds from killing him and his crew.

The metal was reversed and the Domebuster spike peeled backwards, equalling its forward moment as it reversed right into the cannon mounting. Luckily the Domebusters were not loaded with High Explosive rounds, or all EEFers onboard would have been lost that day.

The COG ship had multiple explosions along its hull and settled down unmoving on the desert floor near Hebron. On all its decks, crew were putting out fires and trying to assess the extent of the damage.

Meanwhile the second COG ship, partially crushed by the reverse metal earlier, moved into a defensive position over the downed allied vessel.

Unlike the COG ships which made very clear targets of themselves while firing, the Bastion was on the ground and only a very trained and careful observer could try such a trick against the strider’s cannon.

Timing itself carefully, the Bastion and the COG coordinated their attacks. The COG fired a swarm of missiles, which the Mirror Crystal Fleet countered by stripping the missiles of their metal components. But while their attention was distracted by the missile swarm the Bastion fired. Its dual domebuster cannon was set for auto fire, and began to hurl rail spikes the size of small cars into the rear of the carrier. Sections of it to rained down on Hebron.

A dark castle of alien design flew in rapidly from the east. The EEFers recognized it as Yohai’s Keep, labelled as an allied force on the tactical maps provided by the VLAD Agency.

The Keep flew in on artificed propulsion, scanned the area for any survivers and were pleased to learn the enemy had been defeated here at Hebron without intervention being necessary.

From the bridge of the ancient floating castle, Yohai could see the downed COG Capital ship, and knew the Mirror Crystal fleet was far more of a threat than they had expected so far. Luckily, Hebron’s defense had been a success, and he was moving towards Absalom as fast as his vessel could take him.

Above Absalom, he saw the COG Captial Ship and its Destroyers already disabled by a pair of Mirror Crystal Fleet ships. Falling back on their Leyas use now that the technomancy was disabled by the EMP and Anti-nanites, the Mirror Crystal fleet over Absalom had changed their tactics completely. Fighter swarms used focus fire of chill to disable EEF aircraft, and co-pilots reflected back the Laser weapons used by the Duskan Destroyers and the Gunpods with deadly effect.

Dome Buster rounds were reversed back into their housings aboard the COG, repeating a tactic that the EEF seemed ill prepared for. This time the EEF was not going to simply lay their ship down. In act of supreme heroism combined with suicidal rage, the captain of the disabled COG began to accelerate focusing on ramming the Carrier directly over the Governors Mansion in Absalom.

Instead the entire Mirror Crystal Vessel simply teleported, allowing the COG to pass through its position without threat, the EEF Capital Ship’s engines finally failing as it nosed into the ground outside of Absalom.

Yohai’s Keep arrived in time to absorb the Carrier’s death blow on the Absalom. As Leyas attacks were absorbed by the Keep’s shields, Yohai moved the keep so its shields were also protecting the crew of the downed COG vessel.

[Narrator]

A surge of silver flowed from Yohai’s keep and onto the nearest Carrier. The vessel was taken over by K’ias ghosts within moments and it turned its weapons on the other Carrier. Distracted by the seemingly allied attack, the Carrier backed away only to move into the perfect position for Yohai to catch part of the vessel in his own Keep’s shields. The Annihilation stripped stone, metal, crystal and even artificings away like it was paper.

Had it simply been Yohai vs the Carriers he would have easily won in that moment. However two unexpected somethings suddenly struck the Keep from behind. Yohai was shaken onboard the bridge, amazed shocked and appalled that anything could find a way to board his vessel.

Running to the other side of the bridge he looked down to see two Mirror Crystal Carriers were crashed into his keep. At their prows stood a pair of Quall N’drone…Quall N’drone? Wondered Yohai…the Mirror Crystal Fleet wasn’t supposed to employ Quall!!

Quall Soldiers held massive battering rams made of Zela metal, covered in the forgotten language of the Nightmare Lords. It were these ancient rams, dating back to the days of the K’ias wars that had dropped his shields. Rams from the K’ias wars…and suddenly it all clicked.

Yohai’s instincts instantly told him these must be the Kefeda Quall. The ones who had tried to capture Dunesphere. The ones who had traveled time hunting after Mortis Leonin. The ones whose Queen was held in his own Dungeon aboard this vessel, kept in a state where she could not communicate with her Hive. Yohai saw the Quall warriors of the Kefeda Hive rushing from the boarding vessels.

He unsheathed his sword and prepared to leap down to meet the Quall in battle.

He wanted to call back the K’ias Ghosts to face the Quall but only they held the Mirror Crystal Carrier from its crew. If their crew regained control they would be a threat to all of Absalom.

Remembering the Mirror Crystal Carrier he had been facing before the Quall interrupted, Yohai looked to that side of the keep. The carrier’s remaining parts had crumbled into his Keep when the shield broke. In that rubble, Fell Balgogs were pulling themselves free and Kalokian demons were rising up.

Yohai adjusted the grip on his Nodatchi. Now he had a hard choice, drive back the Kalokians or drive back the Quall. As a Kalokian demon pulled itself up to the bridge, Yohai gave an emotionless smile. His sword was like a sliver of moonlight as he moved. The demon fell bisected to the hard stone, its corrupted flesh burning away where the sword blade had touched it.

Knowing he was outnumbered over 100 to 1, Yohai called out mentally to the K’ias Ghosts of the Keep.
At his command they drove their Mirror Crystal Carrier into the ground, and began returning en mass to the Keep. Once aboard they began a deadly fight with those attacking the Keep. The Demons of Kalok were equal a match to the K’ias ghosts to Yohai’s surprise. It could only mean that Kalok’s power was growing all around them.

Surrounded by piles of slain Quall Warriors, Yohai was exhausted, bleeding from many wounds, and covered by countless burns from the blood of the Quall. His sword’s power and his own had kept him alive so far, and the Uthvelor Akalus Ha’ku could not help but feel an element of satisfaction having slain so many of his ancestral enemies.

Yet as the bodies piled higher, he could not make headway. The Quall had put a veritable wall of flesh between him and his prisoner.

A huge Quall got a lucky hit on him, which sent him hurling into the air. Feeling blood fill his lung, Yohai knew he had a broken rib, and wondered what sort of one out of ten shot the Quall had landed on him without being cut apart by the Nodatchi. He pulled himself up half leaning on the rail of a balcony, fumbling for a healing potion.

As he draught the liquid, he could see the Mirror Crystal Carrier he had the ghosts abandon. All the living onboard had been killed by the K’ias Ghosts, but Yohai had seen them in battle against the Kalokian demons. As he saw Kalokians carrying a large box on a palanquin and setting it up near the city, Yohai felt his emotions surging. He clamped down the emotions again and cut down the Quall who sought to finish the job he had started with the rib.

Yohai felt the voice of Azrael his master, in his head. The ancient Falosini Sovereign was using the art of the Fallen Commander to reach right into Yohai’s memories speaking as if he were there but a moment ago. Yohai knew that the box was far worse than even a Carrier craft flown by Kalokian demons over a population center.

Yohai focused his will on his castle. Using its power he grabbed the Kalokian demons and their box and the entire Keep complete with two Carriers stuck in its side flew rapidly into the air. Breaking orbit, the Keep hurled the box into the nearest sun as Azrael had instructed. The box disappeared in a puff, consumed by immense heat and its contents…whatever they were…were utterly destroyed.

But now Yohai watched as his moment of following order did cost him the Kefeda Queen. In one of the riskiest moves Yohai had ever seen. A Vanguard of Quall carrying their drugged Queen reached one of the Mirror Crystal Carriers and loaded her on.

The rest of the Quall pushed the vessel off the side of the Keep. Now drifting freely in space, it was quickly pulled into orbit and into the atmosphere by gravity.

As the Mirror Crystal Carrier disappeared like a fireball down towards the Goblin Lands, Yohai felt his face become stern.

He had his keep descend once more to Absalom, just in time to see the Kalokian Carrier about to fire upon the city.

To his humor, he watched the Carrier be shot from the sky by round after round from the EEF’s Bastion Strider. Now it extended like red rocks around the western walls of Absalom, interspersed with the shattered basalt of Fell Balgogs.

Meanwhile the EEF Gunships were finishing off their dogfight with the Mirror Crystal Fighter craft over Absalom. They were scorched, and many were limping through the air, but the EEF fleet had been the victors here with Yohai’s help.

The EEF marched fifty Mirror Crystal Pilots captured during the battle of Absalom into the custody of Lord Grimaldus. Each was checked for demonic nature and found to be normal Olgogs. Soldiers of their own timeline who genuinely thought they were here to make things better for the Olgogs of our timeline.

Meanwhile, Yohai knew he should continue on to the next Provisional Colony, but he also wanted to track the Kefeda and their escaping queen…

[Narrator]

Mag Buskt Island

Along the Unen Coast was the Isle of Mag Buskt, where the ancient master of shadows holds court. His island had one major settlement, now a tent city extending from the ancestral castle of Mag Buskt, in the shadow of a volcano. The island was tropical and beautiful, but beloved by the dangerous Bruskti vampyrs who feed on the fear of those who come ashore without permission.

In his castle there was a balcony overlooking a waterfall, and it was large enough that many a feast had been eaten here since Mag Buskt’s return to life and rule. This balcony was also a place of one of Mag Buskt’s greatest regrets. When he first awoke to this new and strange Refuge, where Earthers ruled over Olgogs, he was confused and acted out of fear. One of his first allies in that time was a young Olgog barely past his twenty fifth year of life, a warrior who saw things in simple terms of ally and enemy. In that young gog, Mag Buskt saw such great potential, even if the warrior had suffered deep traumas that made him a challenge to work with. This warrior was only named Olgog, and he had been serving the Earther military, the EEF, and their spy agency, VLAD.

Mag Buskt hoped to bring this Olgog to his side, to free him from the shackles the Earthers had placed upon the young gog which included a bomb collar. To Mag Buskt the Earthers had treated Olgog as a weapon and as an animal. And he would put an end to this. Now he knew he should have waited. He should have sent emissaries to the Wild Gor’abs and the other traditional Karovians first, seeking more knowledge about this strange future he had woken up into.

Instead he took captive Uhryu Bill, on Olgog’s assertions the Uhryu was an enemy. And he committed terrible rituals upon the old olgog leader. It was right here, thought Mag Buskt, right on this very balcony that he had been prepared to sacrifice the old Uhryu in a way developed by the ancient Nightmare Lords.

Luckily for all involved, Mag Buskt had been shown the error of his ways, Uhryu Bill was freed, and an uneasy truce between his island and the mainland began to form.

Running a calloused hand across the railing of the balcony he could still feel a dent from the battle where Bill was rescued by allied forces. Still if he had acted with patience instead of with haste and fear, Mag Buskt might have been able to stop Olgog’s attacks on the people of Tla’loc’al. Maybe he could have healed the rift between Olgog and his father Bill. Mag Buskt made Olgog the Olgog his champion, and in doing so also shared a part of the guilt and shame for the attacks on Tla’loc’al. He knew one day there would be a reckoning. He had hoped his efforts towards diplomacy in recent months would assuage some of the pain felt by those wronged in Tla’loc’al.

Mag Buskt felt a large shadow pass over him. Looking up he saw the United Tribes Carrier craft and not knowing it was a Mirror Crystal Vessel, he thought the time of reckoning was finally upon him.

It opened its bays and released a cloud of thirty fighters which immediately targeted the moored Airships of the Bruskti. Within minutes, Mag Buskt watched the enemy disable every vessel in port before even a single could rise to meet them in combat. Without orbital support to distract the splinter fleet, nor orbital EMPs to disable the technomagi onboard, the Mirror Crystal attack was nearly a complete success.

They had taken the docks, and prevented a single Bruskti aircraft from launching. The Kalokians were currently dropping down onto the sides of his volcano. From the rumors he had heard, Mag Buskt knew the Kalokians would try and make his volcano erupt.

Long ago the Shattered Suns had come to this island and created an artifact to control the flow of the Volcano. An artifact that would make sure the Volcano would never erupt unless a specific key was used. It was designed to prevent a catastrophic event which the Nine had forseen if the Volcano ever erupted. Mag Buskt had inherited the key from the Chieftain Mag Buskt before him, who had inherited it from the previous one going back to the first of the Mag Buskt leaders.

Now he knew the key had been stolen in our own timeline, but he had thought it a boon. But wondering if these attackers had it, Mag Buskt once more succumbed to fear and headed out to meet them in battle on the side of the Volcano.

Standing imposing and strong, a Gor’ab battle blade held proudly in his hands, Mag Buskt watched the Fell Balgogs and the Kalokian Guard charging up the terrain towards him. Above them the Carrier craft was preparing to bombard the ancient hero from existence.

Mag Buskt was lucky at first. A Fell Balgog reared up to smite him, and he simply rolled between its legs. The first salvo of scintillating beams from the Magi Cannons struck it instead of him, blowing it into tiny chunks of stone. Mag Buskt finished his combat roll bringing the sword up to behead a Kalokian demon, before he spun into the shadow of the falling body only to shadow walk out from behind another Fell Balgog. Each time, magi cannon beams struck moments behind him melting earth where it struck.

Again he wished his Champion, Olgog the Olgog, stood by his side in this battle. Around him he watched as those Bruskti who came to his aid were simply gunned down where they stood by the advanced weapons of the Mirror Crystal Fleet.

Mag Buskt knew he was losing the battle. He had nothing that could compare to that Carrier and if he were to simply strip its artificings it would fall upon his people killing them. But he knew in these final moments of battle he could at least end the threat of the fighter craft.

He opened an energy bridge to the plane of Awareness, and from the Groaning Lands of Vec’zne rode the herds of True Nightmares. Dangerous and Deadly, they had not rode together since the last of the old Nightmare Lords was struck down by the Children of the Falosini. They were uniformly black in color, but not black of skin. Their form seemed to literally suck in light, and only seemed clearly a horselike shape against another background color. Their hooves glowed as each hoof strike on the air set off sparks. Their eyes glowed with purple fire, and a similar fire issued from their mouths.

Hundreds galloped from the energy bridge, crashing around the fightercraft and the carrier. Where their thundering hooves passed, their chilling flames stripped technomantic shields and disabled technomagi at their stations. Mag Buskt began to shatter the Leyas shields which protected the fightercraft, yelling out to his Bruskti to do the same.

Pilots aboard the fightercraft found their blood frozen where they sat in their cockpits without the protection of their Leyas shields. The Mirror crystal fightercraft fell from the sky, some tumbling down like feathers while others took prodigious nose dives into the island.

The Carrier was stripped of its shields, but unfortunately not harmed as the last of the True Nightmares returned to their realm. Mag Buskt finally prepared to accept his face.

Then suddenly the top of the Rocket Launch Facility designed by Godart months ago began to open. From inside launched the Goblin Ur’sa 3. The Rocketship was a vehicle, but the chemical rocket that carried it aloft was simply an upscalled version of the type so often used in warfare.

At such close range, with such little fuel used, the rocket struck the underside of the Mirror Crystal Carrier. It exploded, sending the carrier sliding backwards, its structural integrity failing, until it finally disappeared into the seas off the coast.

Mag Buskt once again knew it had been the right thing to help the inventor Godart with his spaceship plans. In the final assessment, it was Godart’s rocket ship that saved Mag Buskt and his Bruskti allies.

The Mag Buskt said a solemn prayer for the spirit of the late great Godart. He hoped the explosion had been a fitting memorial to the first civilian Olgog astronaut. Mag Buskt hoped his spirit could see it wherever immutables went when they died.

[Narrator]

Unen Why you no Unen

Urik bellowed from outside the bunkers. “Get out here we got work to do!”

The Outcasts rushed out toward him.

"We got problems boys and girls. Evil us has come knocking on our door and they want all our stuff. You know how I feel when someone tries to take our stuff.

Rumblood, you and your Leyas users spread out around the city do whatever you can to distract and confuse the ships and fighters.

Rags get the armor on the trucks and get the bikes ready then take enough gogs to drive and shoot their guns. Move around the city, stay mobile and hit the fighters and ships whenever you can but do not stay still for long.

I hear these guys use EMP so try not to show yourselves until their fighters are in the air. Hopefully they won’t use them.

Everybody else count off by fours.

Ones with me, twos with Flora, threes with Dreg and fours with Graf.

Get into the city find everyone willing to fight and make sure they’re armed. Go into our stores if you have to and lend them weapons.

Then we get the machine guns and rocket launchers ready. Set up as many air defenses as we can and hit them with everything.

We’re working with the Lucky Fate Squad they’re going to draw the fighters in and it’s our job to knock them down. The fighters and ships are priority if we can hurt them bad enough they may not drop ground troops but keep an eye out just in case. If it goes to hell we fall back to caves up the coast and dig in.

Any questions?"

Rumblood raised his hand and asked, “Arrr Sir, I got a question. Aaaaarrrrrr eeeerrrrr hmmmm, how to say it nicely, but how are we going to motivate the People of Unen. Ummm no disrespect sir but aaarrrr eerrr arrr the Unenese are just a bunch of pirates, merchants and fisherfolk. I should know, I used to be one of em. They are all out for themselves. Arrr I’d be surprised if they eerrr already boarded their ships and left town.”

“By the time we get there and mobilize, then the only people left will be the Unenese who consider Unen their home. And you will be hard pressed to find an Olgog unwilling to defend her own home,” said Flora with confidence.

Rumblood didn’t look so convinced.

As the Outcasts arrived in Unen, they found the Luck Fate Squad waiting for them with more than a little concern. The Lucky Fate had been fighting a losing battle against the Mirror Crystal Fleet. Three Carriers and Ninety Fighters kept them pinned down. Only by driving through the ruined port city and using the protection of overpasses did they survive the nearly constant onslaught of Magi Cannon Fire.

True to form Graf had gotten significant firepower into the hands of the locals. A few of the Fisherfolk had a long history of fighting Sea Kings Slaver Vessels. They knew the strengths and weaknesses of Magi Cannon fire, and used it and the extensive network of tunnels and sewers underneath the warrens of Unen to get into good spots for a tactical application of force.

Unfortunately, both the Unenese, the Outcasts and the Lucky Fate couldn’t crack the shields surrounding the carrier craft. The three Carriers made their way into positions at the corners of the city. Laying down suppressive fire, their compliments of Fell Balgogs and Kalokian Guard began to drop down. Their weapons quickly cut through Olgog Pirates and Ur Kug Fisherfolk like a blade through fishing line.

But in those moments while the Carriers were distracted dropping off their troops, the Outcasts and the Lucky Fate began to implement their plan to fight back against the Mirror Crystal Fightercraft. The focused fire from the Outcast Rifles and the Lucky Fate Railguns was more than enough to punch through the shields defending the vessels. One after another Mirror Crystal Fightercraft tumbled from the sky.

And each time the Mirror Crystal fleet thought it triangulated their location, instead it found it had just been drawn to a false spot by Rumblood’s distractions. With more than half their fightercraft shot down, the Mirror Crystal commanders knew they had to stop the highly mobile Olgogs. They began having the Fell Balgogs move into the main throughways and thoroughfares, cutting the Port of Unen into a grid.

The Olgogs of Unen didn’t have the boon of Kincaid, nor the fleet of the United Tribes, nor the orbital EMP strikes of the EEF to help them disable the Carrier’s shields. Their focus fire would work for short periods but the Mirror Crystal Aufgogs would begin whipping up maelstrom shields that made it impossible to land a shot. Bullets and rail spikes would veer away.

With a small army of Rebels, the Outcasts and Lucky Fate pulled back to the Docks. Rumblood had been right, there were Unense fleeing the city like rats on a sinking ship. Everyone who owned a boat, or knew someone who had a boat was aboard it. One could say you couldn’t blame the people of the Port of Unen. Each year they would do a similar ritual when the Flamewinds came up the coast. It was easier to flee and come back when the danger passed, than try and hold on against overwhelming odds some times.

The Unenese knew how to live out at sea for weeks, months if needed.

They weren’t prepared for the Mirror Crystal Fightercraft firing down without mercy upon the fleeing vessels. Many were sunk and too many lives to count were lost in the bay. Luckily a large number of Unenese were swimmers since childhood, and swam to safety far from the wreakage.

By midday of the following day it was clear that the Carriers had control of the city. The Fell Balgogs held the majority of the city, but the Unen Rebels held the tunnels and sewers and the secret exits to the port.

Seeing the heroism of the Outcasts and the Lucky Fate, the Rebels embraced their allies. The Rebel vessel Rogaan’s Disdain became a regular ferry between the Outcasts’ safehole in the caves along the coast and the rebel bases under Port of Unen.

In their new base along the coast the Outcasts welcomed their new allies in the Unen Rebels and in the Lucky Fate Squad. It seemed the Mirror Crystal Forces were securing the lands between RhugTor and Port Unen.

In the depths of the coastal caves, it was damp and food was scarce. Urik had gathered the group around a map showing Unen and RhugTor. He said, “Word has gotten back from our GUTS contacts. RhugTor and Unen have fallen to the Enemy fleet. A battle still rages over Tla’loc’al and the Tla’loc’al station.”

He chomped down on his cigar for a moment, “We need a way to drop those Carrier’s Shields if we want a real chance at holding Unen. But the Unen Rebels are with us, as are the Lucky Fate. Its a start.”

Rumblood looked around, “Aye, and out of a city of thousands of pirates and other folk who know how to use a weapon, how many came to our aide, a rare hundred or so?”

[Narrator]

The Kasanthians learn the limitations of a Magi Cannon in Bartsport

The Carrier had dared to interrupt the feasts in celebration of Grand Magi Orloc Nightshade, and his subordinate Lord Mada had little patience for any who dared to try and make him look bad at such a time.

He respectfully excused himself and offered the Grand Magi a happy repast with fine desserts. But Grand Magi Orloc Nightshade didn’t want deserts. He wanted to see the battle. Changing tables so he could see the enemy vessels, Orloc began to grill Leftenant Ryuk about this enemy.

Unfortunately Ryuk knew little of the politics of the Goblin Lands having only lived in Bartsport since his arrival. And Orloc began to make his own judgements of the United Tribes based on the vessels that threatened this new colony.

In the cockpit of his wardragon, Lord Mada took off, taking wing, and preparing to fight against the Mirror Crystal Fleet. He dived weaved, and flew between Fightercraft. Lord Mada’s hands danced across the controls, and the Wardragon reached out tearing the wings off aircraft as he passed by. Finally he passed the cloud of the Fightercraft and was in the open air. He saw the massiveness of the Carrier craft, and suddenly regretted coming out here alone. Where was Ryuk, he wondered. The Leftenant had a Annihilation Dragon and was just supping back with Grand Magi Orloc?

Lord Mada signalled to his Nightmare Penguins on the ground. They rose up from their positions around the Manor and around the Sierra Mada Casino. Dressed in heavy power armor, the Nightmares raised their magi cannons and began to fire upon the Fightercraft.

To Lord Mada’s concern and shock it seemed the United Tribes had developed a way to reflect back magi cannon fire. The Penguins found themselves popped in their armor by the beams reflected back at them. Scorching holes pierced both front and back, and the nightmare ichor inside was all that was left of the Nightmares.

Lord Mada sent his wardragon into a dive, barely dodging a trio of impressive Magi Cannon blasts from the Mirror Crystal Carrier. He tried to return fire, but each time his shots were reflected back, just as had occurred to his subordinates. As he flew more Nightmare Penguins dropped from the shadow of his Wardragon. They rushed back to their previous positions, picking up the dropped magi cannons and raising them once again in defiance against the Mirror Crystal fleet and once again being pulped into tiny little bits of Nightmare. At first the nightmares would even try and get back in the Power armor, but enough times of getting hit with their own shots and their power armor was full of holes. Blown power cells, and shattered servos were just one of the concerns Lord Mada would have to deal with after the battle.

Lord Mada was furious. He knew he was lucky only a single Carrier had come here. He called into his commcrystal calling all the people of Bartsport to arms. Kasanthian citizens left their homes and their businesses carrying an array of Vampiric Bolt and Chill Bolt artificed weapons. Each individually weak, but they were aided by Lord Mada’s Giant Nightmare which belched up a huge cloud of chilling flames that dropped the technomantic shields and killed the Technomagi who had created them.

Suddenly the tide began to turn in Lord Mada’s favor. The simple chill and vampiric weapons were finally downing fightercraft, but the deathtoll on Mada’s side was equally growing. There were no healers among the Kasanthians, so when a Shadowmancer ran out of Nightmares to consume in battle, they usually died of previous wounds. There were corpses of the Kasanthian citizens of Bartsport everywhere, and Nightmares running amok without their masters.

Lord Mada knew he was losing this battle and losing it badly. Perhaps worse yet, was his knowledge that he would fail in the defense of the hometown of his master Grand Magi Orloc Nightshade.

The Fireball Cannons on the Fightercraft and on the Carrier had set the Manor ablaze. The Kasanthians began putting it out by dousing the flames with chill.

Lord Mada made out multiple crystals that seemed to control the vessel’s propulsion. Dropping down, he coasted along trying to fire upon them, shot after shot was again reflected back at him. Mada changed his tactics dropping back and signalling to the Giant Nightmares and the Kasanthian Citizens to once again fire upon the Carrier.

It was slow going, but eventually they drove off the vessel. The Carrier had been struck by so much chill that the entire front prow looked now like an Iceberg.

Lord Mada breathed a sigh of relief. They had barely taken the day. He knew he needed to develop some sort of air force for Bartsport, should the United Tribes of his own timeline unleash similar weapons upon their neighbors.

As he, and Ryuk and Grand Magi Orloc sat up drinking Distilled Fear mixed with Binber Brandy, a scout entered and reported that the Carrier had escaped south to RhugTor. At RhugTor an army was massing, all servants of the twisted Mirror Crystal Fleet.

[Narrator]

The Tla’loc’al Station Strikes back

Tla’loc’al Station seemed an afterthought to many who traveled the Goblin Lands. Its museum wasn’t as big as the one in Brez, and its politics were virtually nonexistent compared to Simonsburg. The small metropolis was growing especially due to the fact that it was the last settlement between the Goblin Lands and the Lost Colonies of Deldoroon & Doyest Vesk.
With the wealth and trade from the Hovertrain flowing into the station, and the personal efforts of Aufgog Lalder of the Auf Lal’al to modernize the trading post, Tla’loc’al Station had grown into a fully functional and quite beautiful small city.
But it had no army of its own, and being a vassal city of the United Tribes of Refuge it was part of their Provisional Colonies and relied upon both the EEF and the United Tribed for Defense.
Its first act was to evacuate whom they could aboard the Hovertrain, but even at its highest capacity it was but a drop of water in a lake of populace who needed to flee the attacking airforce.

When the fleet of friendly UtR Carrier Craft moved to intercept the attacking four Mirror Crystal Carriers, the audible rejoicing of the people could be heard.
All within the station had heard about the false fleet through official United Tribes channels including messengers, news sheets, and adverts posted to the doors of local taverns and religious houses of worship explaining the threat. There was a wave of pride that flowed through the crowds looking up.
How many would tell the tale of the battle that day to their children and their grandchildren?

Many saw the two UtR Destroyers move into position, firing their weapons against the Mirror Crystal Carriers. The Carriers seemed at a pause, as if their crews were confused about what they faced. In fact they were. Aboard the vessels the Captains began talking with each other rapidly, trying to figure out what were these new vessels that were not of a design known to their timeline.
In that moment of indecision, one the Destroyers finished its pass, followed by UtR Fightercraft. None on either side saw the United Tribes soldiers board the Mirror Crystal vessel, nor did anyone see them stealthily fight their way deep inside the vessel to its communication hub room. Once inside, the United Tribes soldiers began relaying contradictory orders to distract and disorient the Mirror Crystal Fighter squadrons involved in a deadly battle with their own.

Explosions ringed the air around the settlement as EEF orbital EMP missiles detonated to shockingly good effect. While the Mirror Crystal Fleet relied upon Technomantic enhancements and Technomagi enhanced Mancers, the pure Leyas users of the UtR Fleet were immune to the EEF’s clean EMP weaponry.
As Mirror Crystal Mancers suffered migranes or died in their seats depending on their personal level of Technomantic enhancement, the UtR pilots went in for the kill, dropping shields and tunneling wood and crystal hulls with ease.

Two of the Carriers were pulled apart while the other two were take deck by deck by United Tribes soldiers from our own timeline. The communications hubs taken, the rest of the Mirror Fleet didn’t know about the capture yet.

Quickly mopping up any remaining fighters with the weapons on the Mirror Crystal Carriers, the entire UtR fleet turned south towards the Entrance to the underground city of Tla’loc’al. What they found waiting for them was a deadly aerial battle between the Poisonbringers of Or’Lur, and an entire second Mirror Crystal fleet.

Field Marshal Strykker had ordered Vlad assets to aid the Olgogs in their current Mirror crystal crisis. Agent Brooke knew she couldn’t do much on her own so she took a Stealth AAV to fly over the Provisional colonies one by one, first starting with the UTR ones and then cycle through them until she gets to the last, with the former Church of One colonies being last as she never was a fan of those bigots, even if these ones were suppose to be better.

She was closest to Tla’loc’al station as she had been on a mission investigating Neliff sightings near the Forest of the Shattered Horn Wartribe with General Map’el’s daughter Zora. Leaving the K’iorn princess in the care of the Dragoons, Agent Brook had arrived to see the end of the Defense of Tla’loc’al Station.

She couldn’t help but be impressed by the battle. The Olgogs of the south had come a long way from the dirty ferals she had been forced to work with two years before. Their fleets reminded her of cruder versions of those used by the Northern Kingdoms. Approaching a Mirror Crystal carrier she quickly ascertained they were Leyas powered and began observing it, realizing it had been taken by allied forces.

She dropped into its shadow to further hide her vessel, and began to follow it from the first battle at Tla’loc’al Station to the Entrace to Tla’loc’al. Arriving at Tla’loc’al itself she knew she was technically outside of EEF territory. The border between the Provisional Colony that was the United Tribes, and what was the actual physical place where their interests ended blurred. But the underground metropolis of Tla’loc’al was firmly ruled by the Aufs of each individual tribes and not part of the Provisional Colonies, even if some of the surface caves were considered part of it by their owners.

The Mirror Crystal Fleet that waited for them was in battle with the Poisonbringers of Or’Lur it was true. But to call it a battle did not show how one sided the odds were against the Or’Lur. Much of the Or’Lur defenses had been designed to work in concert with the forces of their allies the Ol’Lur. As a result the Or’Lur were ill equipped to deal with the fast moving Fighter Aircraft, and their Poisonbringers did little when both Fighter and Carrier were protected from all forms of poison gas.

The Or’Lur dragged great wads of excrement into the air and hurled it at Mirror Crystal fightercraft. Some glopped up the windows and the fighters crashed. Others were ignited by Fire Mancers below, only to be put out again by mancers onboard. Without the orbital strike to disable their Technomagi, the Mirror Crystal fleet were simply unharmed by the tactics used by the Or’Lur.

But the three Carriers over Tla’loc’al did not expect the massive fleet that approached from the Station. After all, they saw ten Carriers approaching their three. Not knowing that Five of the Carriers were merely fakes, the three Mirror Crystal Carriers simply up and fled. Turning tail, they used the cover of the Mirror Crystal Fighter craft to flee.

They dropped Fell Balgogs as they did so, the automatons attacking ground troops and firing up at the UtR Fleet. They held their ground, being blown up as Lur Union Fightercraft made pass after pass. But they did succeed in sinking two of the faux Carriers.

The Mirror Crystal Fleet fled from Tla’loc’al, and Agent Brooke decided to follow them. To her surprise they bypassed Zh’ka’al completely. It seemed since Ar’yay’s love never spread to the Ka Gor in the Mirror Crystal Timeline, Zh’ka’al was not even a dream, and had been ignored in the assault plans of the Mirror Crystal fleet.

As the Carriers passed over Zh’ka’al, the local defense force hurled fireballs uselessly at the underside of the three Mirror Crystal carriers. Their weapons had no ability to pierce their hull, even after some of the more powerful Quall citizens of Zh’ka’al had stripped away their shields.

Agent Brooke followed the Mirror Crystal vessels to their new base.
As her cloaked AAV rose over the dunetops, she beheld what had happened at RhugTor. And Brooke’s eyes widened in horror.

[Narrator]

The Great Horror of Karov

Yagogi’al the Og’ab, leader of the Venerable Tribe of nomadic olgogs often referred to as the Yagogi, meant to be true to his word.

Originally, the Yagogi had used their flamewinds shelter as a hidden docking spot for Tor’ol’s ziggurat. Yagogi’al knew Tor’ol Gogkiller wanted to go straight for the Mirror Crystal Lalder, and he wanted to give Tor’ol the very best chance.

Tor’ol had already gathered his Gultor’Gor and prepared them to die in battle. Yagogi’al could respect that choice. Charging the Mirror Crystal Fleet Flagship with a K’ias Ziggurat was not a suicidal attack if they planned on simply annihilating the Flagship. But that wasn’t the plan. The plan was to capture the mirror crystal Lalder, recover the copy of Mirror Crystal from him. All those present worried what would happen if either copy of the Mirror Crystal were struck with Annihilation Leyas, and knew they were trying to use a tank like a scalpel.

Yet Yagogi’al the Ogab had grown up on stories of the K’ias Ziggurats and cutting through to the bridge of an enemy vessel to allow K’ias to steal control of the helm was not unheard of. Yet it would mean dropping the defensive shield for a moment allowing the Ziggurat to accept prisoners taken from the bridge, and in that moment they would all be deeply at risk.

Yagogi’al had an idea, one that might distract the other Carrier craft. But it would require precise timing. He only hoped their new ally in the Herald of Wintermute would be able to help them achieve that timing.

Tor’ol saluted Yagogi’al and said, “If I return to my own timeline, I will seek out your bones in Karov. I will recover them from where your betrayer Zhol’gog Maklur placed them below the tents of the ancients. And then we will finish the ceremony we started here for my beloved Witch Gogkiller.”

Meanwhile in the Shadow Dome of Karov, there was a very unhappy diplomat from wintermute.

The Herald was annoyed, he had spent a large amount of time away from his lab in these Goblin Lands building up this city of Karov for the sake of their newest ally the tribe of Gul’Tor’Uf. He had brought in workers, and citizens helping construction and enhancing the economy.

Now all of his work was threatened because of some expansionistic Olgog from another dimension. As if the people of Wintermute didn’t have enough people looking for any excuse to kill them now they have people from other timelines? This was idiotic, however it was the sad reality of the times.

When the Ziggeraut had first arrived a while ago The Herald had informed Wintermute and called for reinforcements to deal with any further incursions and thankfully they had just arrived.

Six Thousand Shadowmancers, mostly Vampires, some living Blight Guard members, arrived upon the request at the Shadow Dome.

Unfortunately at the same time as they moved, he received reports that the Northern Kingdom of Kasanth was now sending an equal number of troops to their colony in Bartsport in response. Unknowingly, the Herald realized he had just begun a troop buildup in the Goblin Lands. Since Wintermute was a member of the I’tashi Alliance, the Kasanthians saw the expansion in Karov as a direct threat to their tactical interests in the south lands.

The Herald sighed. Once the Mirror Crystal fleet threat was handled, he knew he would probably have to face a Kasanthian invasion knowing their style of “diplomacy”.

The Herald saw his commcrystal blinking. It was Tor’ol and the Yagogi, and The Herald suspected they would want to begin their attack run. The Herald activated the commcrystal and said, “You have a go.”

On board the bridge of the Mirror Crystal Flag Ship, the evil version of Lalder was getting full tactical reports from the attacks against the many targets on our Refuge. It seemed the west was holding, but the east had fallen to his fleet. Only Drewsport and Bartsport had evaded his grasp. Now with Karov to be taken, and made an example of, the mirror crystal Lalder knew in his heart of hearts that he would take the region necessary. The GulTor’Gor would be wiped out and the threat of Rapi’og would end.

He had sent an Olgog trained as a Doppelganger to interrogate the prisoners. Each of their forms and memories had been copied, except the immutable. But when the Doppelganger returned from below deck he informed them that the GulTor’Gor weren’t even in Karov in our timeline. The GulTor’Gor were along the coast near Bartsport, and Rapi’og was in Brez at the Museum with the Mirror Crystal from this timeline.

The GulTor’Uf of our own timeline were relative pacifists who only acted with violence against the Plague Vampyrs of the Tor’Lallur who were knowingly spreading plague. They had no great war machines, no massive armies. In fact so far the only defenses and troops the Mirror Crystal Fleet had faced so far were the defenders from Wintermute, armed not for war but for peacekeeping.
The mirror crystal Lalder was confused, confounded even.

How was it that the most militarized place in the Goblin Lands in his Timeline, Karov, was the most pacifistic on this timeline he found himself on.

Lalder ordered two of the Carriers forward to take the city, dropping Fell Balgogs as they advanced. But the Fell Balgogs were caught midair by tentacles of shadow that extended from the now glowing Shadow Dome that enclosed the city. The Tentacles drained the animating energy from the Fell Balgogs, in the same moments when four larger tentacles wrapped around the two Carrier craft.

Reports came in from the Carrier crew that they were being chilled to death in droves. Their shields were being dropped as the cybernetically enhanced Technomagi suffered doubly from the chill, and their carriers were soon crushed.

The Flagship Carrier released its compliment of Fighters to assist their allies, but instead they were swarmed by Air spirits that raced from the deserts in flocks. Some suffocated pilots, others warded away the flight crystals causing fighter to crash. Some even tried to lure the fighters down to caves, but the pilots had their orders and would not stray trying to take an aircraft underground where it would be an easy target.

A few Mirror Crystal Fighter Pilots kept their wits and tried to cut one Carrier free with their magi cannons. They severed a single tentacled before the sky was lit with a massive explosion and the pilots felt themselves quickly sickening and dying in their cockpits.

The mirror crystal Lalder got reports from across his flagship. Someone had hurled a barge full of toxic sludge at his vessel and set it ablaze. There was toxic sludge poisoning the Oasis of Karov, toxic sludge coating the Shadow Dome, and decks of the ship had been exposed during the initial attack.

Those nearest died of toxic fumes literally melting their lung tissue.

Those further away inhaled hot particles that seared their lungs and made breathing impossible.

Even those miles away would be dealing with toxic ash on the wind that would cause illness for generations if left untreated.

The Mirror Crystal Lalder began a full evacuation, knowing it would take days of decontamination to save his flagship. Probably months of study and treatment to counter any of what the Earthers called cancers that would be caused by the toxins.

The vessel began pulling back from Karov, leaving the rest to die in the cold embrace of the Shadow Dome, now a vibrant a semi-living monster protecting the city. But from the horizon appeared the K’ias Ziggurat, charging the Mirror Crystal Flagship. It annihilated Fightercraft in its way, and a blast of annihilation cut through the hull of the Mirror Crystal Flagship. They reached the interrogation chamber easily, but Lalder was not there.

Instead they found Bill, Naeil and friends imprisoned.

Tor’ol took the rescued heroes back to the Karovians, and placed Uhryu Bill once more in charge of the Shadow Dome.

Then Tor’ol set off again to make an attack run on Lalder’s Flagship, now slinking away from Karov in the direction of RhugTor and the Coast.
As he approached the Flagship, he saw the evil Lalder standing in the hole he had already cut, raising the copy of the Mirror Crystal from the Mirror Crystal Timeline. Energy was sparking across its surface, and Tor’ol knew he was putting both timelines at risk, but his hatred for the evil Lalder had grown so great with the death of his beloved, Witch, that Tor’ol would see him granted final death.

Focusing the Ziggurat’s weapon, Tor’ol fired in the same moment Lalder fired the crystal at his vessel. There was a flash of yellow light and the Ziggurat was gone, presumably sent to the mirror crystal timeline along with Tor’ol and his crew. The Mirror Crystal Lalder was also gone, granted final death by the Ziggurat’s main weapon.

But the copy of the Mirror Crystal remained, and who but the mirror crystal version of Glog would step out from the rubble of the bridge and pick up the Djinni’s gift. He stared at it with covetous eyes, and raised it up triumphant.

With it in hand, and no longer any fear of the Ziggurat, Glog ordered the Flagship to rendesvouz with the rest of the Mirror Crystal Army at RhugTor.

He left the people of Karov to deal with the horror they had created there.

[Narrator]

No One Weapon is a Tool for All Situations

Krodnok was a god to his people. And like any god worthy of the name, there were festival days in his honor in the Underground City that bore his name. Festivals celebrating the Rise of the Disciples from the ranks of common Warmonger’s Dead. Festivals celebrating his daughter Lotara, and even celebrating Bo’gan and Krodnok’s adventure into the heart of the Tomb Factory of Holys.

The Festival of the Great Kraken which was all week, was a celebration of the time when Krodnok found the Laboratory of the Devil Bishop Kasanth and made it his own. There were gogs running around wearing masks of Ser Resugent, Khalid Killer of Hope, Yyan Kol the Holy, Dr. Yitor the Gor’ab and even in masks of Warmonger itself.

The Disciples of Krodnok saw themselves as freed from Warmonger’s evil grip by their god, and their faith was powerful.
It was powerful enough that when a Mirror Crystal Carrier led by the Kalokian Guard appeared over the city, Krodnok was able to simply slam the vessel into the ground with a wave of his hand. But despite the worship of his followers, Krodnok was still a person. And he was limited by how fast he could think and act.

While he was able to prevent the Carrier from lifting off again, it took much of his will to do so. Meanwhile, thirty fightercraft were trying to gun down his followers. They had significant firepower in their hands, with a plethora of Magi Cannons that could pop an Earther Tank with ease. But these were not Earthers the Disciples faced, these were Olgogs of the Mirror Crystal Fleet and trained much as the United Tribes army. They had faced Unit 111 and defeated them utterly by turning their Magi Cannons back upon them.

It was this tactic that the fightercraft copilots and the crew of the grounded Carrier used to deadly effect against Krodnok’s army. To Krodnok’s anger, Mirror Crystal Auf’s tunneled material opening huge holes allowing them access to his underground city.
Each time his Dead would fire their magi cannons, the Mirror Crystal army would reflect it back towards the Dead and the Civilians they were intent on protecting.

At first Krodnok was greatly displeased, blaming this attack on others, mostly Lalder and Rapi’og and their foolishness with the Djinni. But that was before a Kalokian Guard tried to charge him.
With so much of his will focused on keeping the Carrier grounded, Krodnok was nearly stuck by the Kalokian from behind. Krodnok annihilated the Kalokian’s axe with a glance from his Illuminated Eye. Grabbing the Kalokian by the throat, Krodnok lifted the demonhost into the air.

The monster hissed at him, “Our Master Kalok sends his greetings, he wishes to remind you of how you unleashed the Forbidden Armory upon Mt. Rhug in both timelines and splattered it across the Hell Dimensions. Kalok will never forgive you for this affront, Krodnok, and you will burn and watch all of your mind-sick followers burn in the unrepentant heat of Kalok’s volcano.

In this timeline you are no greater evil, and my master Kalok knows once your followers burn away, so your power will go as well.
Make peace with this fact Krodnok, my master will detonate the Volcano at the Isle of Mag Buskt. And in that moment, you will see your living followers die choking on ash and freezing to death under a sunless sky.”

Krodnok simply manifested a hell gun. Pressing the otherworldly weapon to the Kalokian’s temple, Krodnok simply fired. The hellgun ripped the lifeforce from both host and demon, and Krodnok tossed away the headless body as it swirled into ash.

Looking down at his hellgun, Krodnok realized there was one weapon the Mirror Crystal fleet could not hope to reflect back. Manifesting multiple Hell Guns, Krodnok raised into the air above his city, ready to take the fight back to the Mirror Crystal fleet.

In that moment he knew this was no punishment for the actions of others. This was the beginning of a Godswar on Refuge between Kalok and Krodnok. Looking at the battle that raged, Krodnok also knew this battle was feeding a third enemy, the Warmonger.

[Narrator]

The Mirror Crystal Menace at RhugTor

There was much for Captain Reshed to do on the day in question. His usual duties in his office were already handled, and he needed to only stop by the Public House of the Bladed Sun to finalize some paperwork on a new orphanage wing the Knights wanted to open.

Afterwards was a relaxing afternoon of inspecting the Hindengog Dockyards. They were all fine ships, but each day Captain Reshed saw how his Rhug’na’ru were getting better and better at building combat ready Dirigibles. In a way it was a daily joy to look upon his fleet.

He still remembered those two years ago when he and the boys had set out on making technological airship travel a reality for the Olgogs of the Goblin Lands. And it had been everything that he had hoped it would become. Regular Hovertrains from Simonsburg brought goods, and carried food from Tla’loc’al. Some were diverted to local markets in RhugTor, while the rest were loaded onto Hindengogs bound for the rest of the Provisional Colonies. Trade was good, food was fair, and the brave Uriel had saved the from the previous season’s Flamewinds.

Thinking again upon Uriel, Captain Reshed wondered what their savior was doing these days. He also realized the city had never properly thanked the Scholar-Adept for saving the city those dangerous months during the summer. Hmm, he thought as he opened the door to the Public House, we should probably send Uriel some sort of thank you. After all they would need his help again next year.

The city didn’t have any real defenses against the Flamewinds, he thought as he approached Lance of the Bladed Sun. The blond haired human had grown out his beard again. Captain Reshed approved, it made the knight look more regal. The human seemed more…frowny….than usual.

Reshed extended a hand to shake, and Lance pulled him in uncomfortably close.

“What do you know about this Mirror Crystal Fleet, Captain?” Lance’s blue eyes were unflinchingly staring into Reshed’s own. There was a bit of an accusatory glare that the Olgog Captain didn’t appreciate.
Before he could reply there was a crash from outside. Then another, and a third moments later.

They all ran back to the door. Opening it they were greeted by the image of a full size Hindengog right next to the open door, and half stuck in the house across the street. The Gas bags had been ruptured by what looked to their trained eyes like Magi Cannon fire.
Looking up into the blue sky, they saw the Mirror Crystal Carrier hanging overhead. Their fightercraft had caught the airships at dock, and the biplanes in their hangars. The first pass by the fighters had cut the bags on vessels that plummeted down towards the ground below. The sturdy hindengogs had survived the falls, but those caught underneath their falling bulks were not so lucky.

Seeing his glorious fleet laid low Captain Reshed reached for his radio, hoping someone, anyone had come to the defense of RhugTor.

Aboard the badly damaged Mirror Crystal Flagship, the mirror crystal Glog, master of the Teardrop Hammer looked around with gloating covetousness at his new prize. In one hand he held the copy of the Mirror Crystal. It seemed to pulse like a heartbeat, which was new, but Glog chalked it up to a near miss from the Ziggurat’s annihilation weapon. Had Glog not been in the middle of an invasion, he might have noticed how the pause between pulses seemed to grow smaller and smaller as time went on. But he was in the middle of an invasion, and it was going smashingly well.

The Rhug’na’ru and Kul Gul Rapi Family from the Mirror Crystal timeline had already secured the docks, while the Fell Balgogs began herding the locals of RhugTor into the holds of the Mirror Crystal Carrier. Due to their friendship with the Kalokians in both timelines, most Rhug’na’ru from our own timeline were spared execution. A few refused to give in to the invaders and were slain, but the battle was over without any meaningful defenses.
The Mirror Crystal fleet secured the main roads into and out of RhugTor, setting up Magi Cannon defenses and preparing against the counterattack they knew inevitable. Glog knew he had limited soldiers due to massive losses over Brez and Tla’loc’al. The Kalokians were demanding he focus the fleet on eliminating Krodnok and his disciples, while the Kul Gul Rapi were pushing for the full scale assault of Mag Buskt Island to end the threat of that great Chieftain. The Ol’Lur spoke of the retaking of Tla’loc’al, but other groups shouted them down saying they were not thinking tactically.
The Yagogi were up in arms over the final death of Lalder and so many other Mirror Crystal Leaders during Ziggurat counter attack over Karov.

Glog wondered how Lalder had kept them all working together for so long. Immediately upon his death it seems any sense of teamwork became a dream upon waking.

Glog knew he had to consolidate power quickly, or the other tribal leaders would turn on him and try and take control of the Mirror Crystal fleet for their own ends. In those moments he began a diabolical plan. Taking enemy prisoners of war from the Unen and RhugTor fronts, Glog had them secured in specially made pens throughout RhugTor. Once they were secured there, Glog visited each of the pens turning the Olgogs and Earthers there into Reavers. Breaking their bodies and minds with the corruption that leaks from the Teardrop Hammer, Glog was able to create monster pits throughout the small city.

Those Reavers easiest to control through the Teardrop Hammer and his Alchemical arm, Glog had loaded up into seized Hindengog Derigibles. As the hours ticked by, the Reaver army, broken by Shapeshifting Leyas, grew in numbers. And the city of RhugTor grew fearful of their invaders.

Meanwhile back at the Public House of the Bladed Sun, Captain Reshed, Lance of the Bladed Sun, and other rebel leaders met trying to figure out how they would liberate the city. Captain Reshed knew stealing back the Hindengog fleet and turning it on the Mirror Crystal fleet would be their only chance.

That was when the Bladed Sun knights dragged in an Olgog knight wearing the unholy plate mail of the Morgothian Knights. The Morgothian was unarmed, and seemed like he wasn’t resisting despite the obvious hostility the Bladed Sun knights had for the dark paladin.

Lance was the first to question him. Lifting up a pendant, Lance waved it above the head of the Morgothian knight, and whispered, “You will feel assured that your life is not yet in danger. I know you. You are Sir Mag’Nrs, the Morgothian who has been corrupting the youth of Port Unen to your master’s dark worship.”

“I am no corruptor of youth,” disagreed Sir Mag’Nrs, “I teach my squires Honor, Loyalty and how to protect the living from beings like Nightmares.”

“Okay Mr. Honor and Loyalty,” said Captain Reshed, “Then what are you doing here in RhugTor. Shouldn’t you be fighting with your squires back in Port Unen.”

“I was, and while I did I was able to make my way aboard the enemy vessels. Unfortunately I was taken prisoner the moment I was found, and would have languished in a cell still if not for a friend I brought with me. That friend broke me out, but not before we discovered where your friends are being held, Captain.”

“Where is this friend now?” asked Lance.

“My friend is around…if I need him,” said Sir Mag’Nrs without malice but certainly in a way that sounded awfully suspicious.

Captain Reshed said, “That settles it, we take this Morgothian so he can show us where they are hiding my Rhug’na’ru. Then we secure the Hindengogs and turn our weapons on the Mirror Crystal fleet.”

“One small problem,” noted Lance, “The Adepts working for the fleet will chill your engines before you make a single tactical manuever. Then you are back to being sitting ducks for their fighter aircraft.
And what are we going to do about their Fell Balgogs, Kalokian Demons, and Kul Gul Rapi Vampyrs?”

Sir Mag’Nrs said, “I may have a way to control their leader if we can get close enough…“

[Narrator]

Rewards

Gangs of Uf Mag’og gains 30 fully functional Lur Union fightercraft (taken from the downed Mirror Crystal Carrier. They have standard Lur Union FIghtercraft stats with 2 additional onboard weapons and no open weapon mounts. Each has 1 Magi Cannon MCF Fighter Model 6d6 Energy dmg, x4 vs Vehicles and has 1 EMP Harpoon (10 Chill dmg EMP to one target). Both are technomantic artifacts and will not work in the same combat round they are struck with Chill or EMP.

Lalder gains 2 Mirror Crystal Carriers (use UtR Carrier stats) Each has 4 Magi Cannon MCF Fighter Model 6d6 Energy dmg, x4 vs Vehicles and has 4 EMP Harpoons (10 Chill dmg EMP to one target). These are technomantic artifacts and will not work in the same combat round they are struck with Chill or EMP. These vessels have NO fighters and count as damaged (Half V.A.R. if used in battle before full repairs can be done)

Burke The Merc gains the Arena FORT LOBBAS. Burke now has a full Brezan gang in his employ (counts as Shaman of the Lobbas). He gains all benefits listed in the GL book for having a Brezan Gang except they have Rocket Launchers and they now have a defendable base (S.A.R. 100) in the heart of Brez.

Urik’s Outcasts gain Arming the Rebels. For missions that occur in Unen, Rhugtor, Drewsport or Mag Buskt Island they can call in 100 Unenese Rebels (use Ur Kug Stats but armed with .50 Cal machineguns, Bolt Action .50 Rifles, and Hand Cannons).

Godart gains Last Flight of the Rocketship. Godart’s last design succeded in saving Mag Buskt Island. He also gains a full green light on Super Secret Project 1 and can deploy it during the next mission without delay. Naeil is now free again. Godart also gains a Freighter (V.A.R. 20, Move 10 water, carries up to 200 people or cargo) which can ferry Lucky Fate Squad Members up and down the coast. Also gains +10 Goblin Gunners and +25 Ur Kug from Unen and Mag Buskt Island.

Sir Mag”Nrs gains Since When do Morgothians Infiltraite? Gains +2 Stealth or a Stealth of 4 if he does not already have stealth.

Yohai gains For my Leige a Gift. Yohai has delivered a fully functional Mirror Crystal Carrier into the EEF’s hands. Using it Celyse and the EEF Generals have discovered a fatal flaw in the design. It seems the living crystal imbedded in the Carrier can be shattered by sonic attacks. Yohai knows this now, but must decide if he is following the escaping Kefeda or continuing the fight against the Mirror Crystal Fleet. Yohai gains Blessing of Azrael (in one mission he may summon a flock of Falsewyrm Riders, Uth and Pelebor riding Falsewyrms to attack target).

Yagogi’al gains Using Toxic Weapons near the main Oasis in Karov? The Yagogi are currently being blamed by the Karovians for this pollution of their sacred site. In fact the toxic fumes are killing people all around the Oasis now. The Yagogi however do gain Defenders of the Shadow Dome, allowing them to come and go from the Shadow Dome as welcome defenders. The rest of Karov currently hates them for this attack.

The Herald of Wintermute gains Northern kingdoms escalation. They may now bring any force from the Northern Kingdoms to the Shadow Dome. This may cause diplomatic strain with the EEF (provisional colonies) or the Kasanthians (Bartsport). The Shadow dome is now semi sentient and will defend the city.

Lord Mada gains Northern Kingdoms escalation. He gains +3 Giant Nightmares, +2 Death Cloud Airships for the defense of Bartsport. This may cause diplomatic strain with the EEF (provisional colonies) or the I’tashi Alliance (Shadow dome of Karov)

Or’Lur gains We tried to fight their Fleet, but we could not break the shields. For a heroic attempt at defending Tla’loc’al the Poisonbringer Riders of Or’Lur gain the title Unshaken (and may double their emotional control for all tests against mental control and emotional upset while on the battlefield). Urog’na and Shaterwing are now freed to use again. They will never flee from technological or artifact threats unless on a direct order from their player.

Krodnok gains My Rivalry with Kalok. A full religious war has just passed between timelines, and Krodnok’s Disciples are now fully hunted by the Kalokian Demons. HOWEVER all of Krodnok’s Faithful may now learn Hellguns as part of their religious devotion to Krodnok. Living members may also learn Hellguns lvl 2 for combined leyas hellguns.

Unit 817 Reveals their Radiation Control. The EEF is now terrified of them and Drewsport. But all Unit 817 soldiers (living and dead) are immune to Radiation attacks (except Nukes). They also now carry in lead lined sheaths, Irradiated Weapons which do +5 Posion Dmg, +2 Energy weapons, and will stop the regeneration abilities of Technomantic monsters like Akunan and Legion.

Tor Lallur gains We Saved the Day? WE DID WE DID. When the Unity members experimenting on the plague weapon died all hope was lost. But the Tor Lallur saved over 3 million Olgogs. All TorLallur plague vampyrs gain 20 Years of Extended Life.

Agent Brooke gains Sneaky Sneaky. She learns the technical specs of the Mirror Fleet Carriers And gains an automatic +2 to hit and dodge in combat against all Mirror Crystal fleet vessels in combat.

Uriel gains On the Cusp of Ascension. Once again Uriel has nearly killed himself trying to save an entire city of people for no personal gain. His player must choose will Uriel ascend or will he return to his mortal life. Hard choice. PM NARRATOR FOR DETAILS

Lord Grimaldus gains In Defense of the Provisional Colonies. Lord Grimaldus gains 2x Duskan Destroyers and 1x Interplanetary Gunship for use in the Defense of the Entire Provsional Colonies region. His Bastion gains 5 shots of single use Plasma Cannon Shots (x2 damage, loses Orbital Range, 800 Energy dmg against Vehicles & Structures. )

Field Mashall Strykker gains Full IR support. He may now deploy all space forces against the Mirror Crystal Fleet and the IR will not interfere. He also gains access to IR spy satellite footage of RhugTor
All players face the GREAT COUNTDOWN. Both Mirror Crystals are now in our Timeline. If the Mirror Crystal that mcf Glog carries is not returned to the Mirror Crystal. The dark powers of the artifact will slam the elements of both timelines together with possibly catastrophic results. Especially as the mirror crystal Glog begins spreading the TearDrop Hammer’s curse.

If any player rewards were missed please PM the Narrator so they can be fixed.