"Hello Emerald Lady. What has happened that there is blood on window ?"

"Well we made it back inside a week. Found the source of said weapons and banished it from this dimension for a while at least. Didn't quite kill it I'm afraid or don't think we killed it." Arulas says to himself.

"Well Sir Arulas, we killed it in this dimension and took out several groups of bandits that were using the weapons and destroyed those as well."

Samuel says this with a smile, not quit preening.

"We had an abortive bar fight, scared off some demonic ponies, and got hugged by an invisible tree whilst some half-beat ghosts wailed at us", offered Nyx to the mechanic, with the hint of a smile

A Nightelf Faerie answers Polkatain's question. "There was a fight here last night. Some wild vampires made it across the river and attacked the town. They were put down, so most of this blood belonged to them. The Lady told us to clean up the mess as best as we could."

Kalista became very cold at the mention of her mortal foes. "Vampires." Her face twisted into a kind of anger or maybe hatred at the mere mention of the word. She spat on the ground. "We need a techno-wizard. I need one, sorry I won't drag the rest of you into this. You may follow if you wish, but we must have the proper tools to kill vampires."

The Lady in Green was a good place to go. "Lady, you will honor our agreement. I would prefer to trade on your black market for techno wizard gear. The vampires must be cleansed."

Doc grinned, "Yeah, let's get the pay. Then we can worry about the leeches. They gotta get dealt with, to be sure. But I need my money. Yeah we killed it, it ain't here no more."

Lady Kalista, they said they dealt with the vampires already though."
Polkitain looked back and forth.

"No they drove them off Polk. Kallista, the Twins, and myself have all made a hobby of killing vampires. If there was an incursion it needs to be dealt with. Rewards are second to that." he says to the young dragon. He turns to the medic and says "To be clear Ethan anyone who helps the vampires is either insane or irredeemable evil. They die either way. No trial. No helping them leave because of a moral grey area. This is black and white." Arulas

Polkitain tilted his head this way and that looking in thought.

"Those willingly helping the vampires I could agree with, but there are some terrified into submission, or mind slaves, or blackmailed into helping them or afraid for their families safety so they submit."

"Vampires are one of the worse creatures in existence no question, like a plague infecting all around them."

Polkitain sat back on his haunches thinking about vampires they were dangerous very dangerous.

Kalista spoke in a kind of brooding way she had not before. To Polkitain, "Vampires are a plague upon the land. The only way to stop it is to find the intelligence behind the outbreak and destroy it." To Ethan, "My fellow knight is correct, Doctor Ethan, those who aid vampires of their own free will must be destroyed along with the vampires. If you are opposed to this, you must remain behind."

 "If helping the vamps meant killing a hundred people by leading them to the vamps. Turns out the guy's wife was being held and turned into a vampire. So is it morally Grey area still?"

Polkitain backs up a bit when Lady Kalista speaks to him.

"You know I will help, just worried like the tree, vampires can control one. I know vampires are horrible I just dont want to hurt the innocent in a crusade."

Polkitain hung his head somewhat having both Cyberknights scold him.

"I am not mad Polk. Just passionate about this. There is no middle ground and in this there can't be. The threat is to dangerous. If they could ever get their collective act together and fight as one. They would win or so close to win that we would wish for death. Point is Polk we can't beat around the bush. This is merely survival."

"How do we fight them ? They are so numerous and make up for their losses by making more of their kind. We should know all we can about facing them."

Doc shook his head, "Less they're giving us gear, the reward ain't secondary to nothin' Arulas. We gotta have the proper means of killin' 'em to avoid bein' killed ya know? Polk, don't you worry, this'll be more fun that that damned tree, for sure."

Ethan listened as his comrades spoke with varying degrees of passion about the vampire menace. He had personally never seen any. In fact until this moment he hadn’t known they were real. “Though in a world where shape changing dragons and soul sucking trees exist, why shouldn’t there be vampires?” he asked himself.

His thoughts returned to the here and now when the two Cyber-Knights pre-emptively singled him out as being opposed to the job. He heard the moral certainty in their voices and his curiosity was genuinely piqued. “I think you are operating under a misconception,” he tells them, looking from Kalista to Arulas and finally Polk. “I am a soldier that happens to be a medic. I have no problems neutralizing the enemy. To be clear by ‘neutralize’ I mean force their surrender, render them incapable of being a threat or yes, kill them.” He shrugs, “that is the nature of war, people get hurt, people die. I have no illusions about that. What I do care about is doing what I can to minimize the effects on the innocent and bystanders that inevitably get caught up in the events.”

He points at Kalista, “Even you just said that only those that willingly help the vampires need be executed. Polk understands that there will be those being used by the vampires against their will. Evil people and fanatics convinced of the righteousness of their cause have been doing that for thousands of years on this planet. For all those people, that are being held hostage, whether by threats against their loved ones, mind controlled, spellbound or whatever, for them I will fight to free them, not kill them.”

Ethan looks at all his companions with his next words. “If that means we have to part ways now, so be it. I won’t stop you but I refuse to participate in indiscriminate mass murder just because its easier to do that than sift the guilty from the enslaved.”
This message was last edited by the player at 17:24, Tue 31 Jan 2017.

Kalista looked Ethan over carefully. She looked at Arulas and nodded, "I think we are all on the same page."

Kalista had that odd feeling of floating, feeling like the world was spinning fast than it should. She couldn't identify the feeling since she had never really had it before but she knew Ethan was causing it.

Nyx remained silent, his brother had said what had needed to be said

"I think we are all on the same page,” were the words Kalista spoke but Ethan scarcely heard them. They came across as if from a great distance, the origin just within his range of hearing. He didn’t know why that was and in that moment he couldn’t spare the presence of mind to wonder about that oddity. He was far too preoccupied with the strong and confusing emotions that suddenly washed over him.


“Um...” he said, then cleared his throat before continuing. “So what are we doing now?”

"I think we should head into the tent and get paid for a job well done."

Samuel opens the flap or gets some herald to get them an audience with the Lady....whichever is most prudent.

A female Brownie meets the PCs as they enter the tent. "The Lady in Green is aware of your return, and she is available to see you now."

Inside the huge tent, the PCs are hurried through a maze of cloth-walled rooms. They arrive in a large space up like a conference room. The Lady in Green sits at a round table across the where the PCs entered. She is wearing a different gown, but yes, it's also green.

To her left is a tall orc with scars and an underbite, dressed and armed like a warrior. A successful Lore: Magic roll will recognize this character and his unique reputation.

To her right is a Simvan Monster Rider with tribal tattoos and the skull-necklace. A successful Lore: Monster or even Lore: Psychic rolls will recognize this character as being a chief (which anyone can guess) and his specific name.

Beside the Simvan is sitting a well dressed man with dark hair in a spotless uniform which was once a Coalition officer's uniform but has been tailored differently. A successful Streetwise skill will recognize this NPC.

The lady addresses the team diplomatically with her usual poker-faced expression. "Welcome back, my mystics tell me that your mission was successful. I congratulate you. These gentlemen along with myself are the Warlords of the Pecos Empire. At least, we are the Warlords who happen to be in this area at the moment. We were just discussing the disturbances that creature called Opopanax or the Soul Tree. We do not like how it was able to insinuate itself into Coalition territory near our imperial border without its presence being known. Now that we have a better idea of what to look for, we shall be quicker to recognize such creatures in the future."

Kalista the respected Cyber-knight spoke up first, saying, "Lady, you will honor our agreement. I would prefer to trade on your black market for techno wizard gear. The vampires must be cleansed."

The lady answered, "I have an employee with a shop downriver from here. She should be able to give you exactly what you want. I will send word for her to extend credit to you. If you kept any of the new-type weapons created by Glory, you may turn them over to me, and I will extend you additional credit in fair market value for them. You may also keep the Arnzo prototype knives and the telekinetic pistol that I loaned to your group as a bonus, Lady Kalista."

The orcs spoke up in American but with a heavy Gobbley accent, "If your group is looking for more work, we have a job in mind which is suited uniquely for your people. You would have agree to take the job before I give you the details."

The Simvan offers, "If your group is determined to go after a vampire, I have a specific target in mind for you. This is not a paying job, but there might be considerable salvage to which you are welcome. These are the spoils of war, and I would not demand tribute from fair spoils."

The human speaks up in a voice which epitomizes swarmy. "I think these folks just want to get out of town while the getting is good and lay low for a spell. We overheard -- yes, we spied on your talk in the street, and we're sorry -- we overheard a mention of traveling north. If you do that, I have a small errand that I would like for you to run for me. The pay is small but so is the inconvenience, and you are going that way anyhow."

"Understand now, discretion is a virtue. If you take one of these offers laid before, we will reveal the details only after acceptance. You will never learn about the jobs you didn't take. We can't have mercenaries walking around with too much intel on unrelated jobs in their heads, now can we?"

 Arulas being freshly, as far as elves are concerned, inducted into the knighthood is still a little nervous around powerful personages. He stands there waiting for an appropriate place to speak. While waiting he studies the assembled Warlords.

  The orc while interesting starts to spark something, but it goes no where. Failed that roll by 20.

  The Simvan seems familiar. Made my Lore:Monster roll.

 When they offer the chance at employment he laughs. "The vamps are dead one way or the other. Kallista and I will clean them if we have to go it alone. I doubt we will, but we can. Now information to make sure we walk away is always useful. As for mercs knowing to much about unrelated things I doubt that there is such a thing in this room right now."

Nyx kept his hands away from his holstered pistols, recognising the palpable authority in the room even if the figures were themselves unknown to him. He looked intrigued by the offer from the orc, but said nothing until the knights had had their chance to be pious and his brother, the smarts between them, had a chance to speak

09:41, Today: Nyx rolled 60 using 1d100.  Streetwise, 34%.

Kalista nodded, "I will make a list. It will be short." If anyone kept the strange weapons she will nod so that they can be produced. "As my colleague says, vampires are kind of our specialty. We will stay the night here," (she projects lust and humiliation and not being in control of herself ) inhaling before continuing, "And we will leave when our purchases arrive. I appreciate your extending us credit. I would like to be excused." She put a hand on Arulas's shoulder, "Whatever details are provided," and she leaves the tent.

Anyone paying attention might realize by now she is uncomfortable in enclosed places. She never stays in them very long. Her we is intended to indicate herself and Arulas.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:01, Fri 03 Feb 2017.