Session 13 - Battle at the Bridge

Key Points:

• The party enjoyed a fireworks display at the Kasai Caravan before turning in for the night...
• In the morning, the group woke up. Everyone seemed recharged and in good spirits. After breakfast, the group left the Kasai Caravan and traveled via truck towards Quiet Mountain.
• The way to Quiet Mountain is a gradual ascent to a higher elevation.
• The forest here is a thicker red woods.
• The group ran into a problem with an immature biker. He was on the truck's ass the whole time, and shouted at Del to show off her goods. She declined.

•  The group made it to the second (and last) Genesis Checkpoint between Babylon and Quiet Mountain. This one was a bridge with three armed guards. The central 'base' of this checkpoint was located elsewhere nearby. Running parallel alongside the road was a train that had been stopped.
• On the side that the group was on, the biker from earlier was arguing with the Genesis guard and picking a fight.
• On the opposite side, a white van with a drug-addicted youth had been stopped and was being hassled by the guard.
• The guards had been tipped off to look for suspicious individuals, but it seems they were looking for a group of 2-3 rather than a large group like the party.

• The biker (Tucker) started the conflict. It seemed he had the ability to manipulate his bones. Creating a bone spike from his forehead, he headbutted his guard and killed him instantly.
• Tucker's additional 'gift' seemed to be regeneration. The group would learn that normal damage would incapacitate Tucker, but not kill him. It would ultimately take fire to bring down the man for good (as Del recalled from an old legend about trolls).

• The drug addict (Jaunt) across the bridge grabbed onto the guard he had been talking to. He teleported over the open ravine (with a rough river below it) and let the guard plummet to his death.
• In addition to teleporting others and himself, the group would learn that Jaunt's additional gift seemed to be the manipulation of electronics with his mind (as Jaunt could control the white van with only his thoughts).

• A team of mercenaries (wearing ski-masks) emerged from the white van with several fanatic bandits (wearing steel-masks). Their leader was a woman (Ruby) with long flowing white hair, black fatigue pants, and combat boots. Her chest was wrapped in bandages and bindings, as were parts of her hands and forearms. She looked exotically beautiful, too perfect in a word. She had red eyes and Managirl could detect a mana radiation signature from her.
• The bandits advanced forward onto the bridge and dispatched the remaining guard.
• The mercenaries split up. Three of them were tasked with disabling the spike strip on the bridge (they were ultimately successful, even if Managirl blew two of them up later).
• The other three mercenaries were tasked with breaking into a cargo car of the parked train and steal a footlocker.

• The party leaped into action...
• Kembu decided to first take on Tucker. With a powerful swing of his sword, he left a deep gash on the biker.
• Tucker assaulted Kembu with a bone blade from his forearm. Tucker had the ability to manipulate and stretch his body like it was plastic. No Stretch Armstrong jokes were made.
• Roan backed Kembu up, shooting Tucker and leaving him bloodied and stunned.
• Trajan moved into assist Kembu with Tucker.
• A bandit fired on Trajan and Kembu with an assault rifle.
• Managirl moved to the parked train for cover, then unleashed globs of manafire and radiation upon the crowded enemies. She killed a bandit, bloodied the other, and offed two of the mercenaries. Ruby, the leader, was left unharmed.
• Del advanced to support Kembu and Trajan, summoning her spirit Graal to hinder Ruby.
• Klein decided that she had enough of sitting on the sidelines. With her recently purchased rail pistol, she leaned out of the truck and fired at Tucker. It was a successful and powerful shot.

• Ruby revealed that she had no problem sacrificing who she needed to in order to succeed. She killed off her own nearby fanatic, absorbing his life and empowering herself through some necrotic siphoning energy.
• Del tried to figure out if Ruby, Jaunt, and Tucker were escapees from Quiet Mountain. Ruby answered that Del was close, but still off.
• Ruby said that their beef was with Genesis, not strangers. If the group agreed to surrender, she would spare them. They declined.
• Ruby later on revealed that her leader was Macklemore--the enigmatic tiefling leader of the terrorist organization known as Earthquake.

• The fight continued...
• Jaunt, using orange and blue portals, was able to punch Managirl while being nowhere near her. He packed quite a hit too, bloodying the young girl and leaving her with a wrenched back.
• Kembu with an amazing leap cleared the chasm and killed one of the mercenaries near the train. 
• Trajan got a good punch in on Tucker.
• Roan fired on Ruby, but missed.
• Managirl, wounded and desperate, threatened to summon her 'pet'. Ruby was willing to call her bluff, so with the ring Managirl stole from Nerva, she summoned the illusion of a powerful dragon she called Charizard.
• All the enemies didn't see through the illusion, and began to panic. Ruby gave Jaunt the command to drive the van into the Charizard.
• In the mean time, Kiki the Bear and Del began to whoop on Tucker some more.
• Klein ran to Managirl's aid, injecting her with an adrenaline boost.

• The conflict began to take a turn...
• Ruby, fleeing from Managirl's dragon, tried to engage Del in hand-to-hand combat. Her life siphoning attacks weren't working, though, as Del countered them with primal energy.
• Jaunt, using just his mind, began to speed and rev up the van down the bridge. Unfortunately, the van splatted Graal (Del's spirit companion). Fortunately, the van crushed the head of one of the mercenaries. The van then went through the dragon, revealing that it was an illusion.
• Jaunt then tried to engage Kembu one-on-one. Kembu resisted being teleported, good for him--because he would've been dropped into the river.
• Jaunt teleported to avoid Kembu's retaliation strike, but with an action point, Kembu bloodied Jaunt in one blow. Pulling out a natural 20, Kembu intimidated Jaunt into surrendering.
• Taking Roan's advice, Trajan tries to bullrush Tucker off the bridge. Following two natural 1's, Trajan ends up being thrown off the bridge instead. He fell, nearly dieing, but recovered enough to find some rocks to latch onto. Trajan didn't play a role in the rest of the combat.
• With Trajan removed, Tucker decided now was the time to fight a bear. He wounds Kiki.
• Roan fired on Ruby, hitting her this time. Then, noticing that another van was approaching from the south, turned around and shot out the tire. The full speed van flipped from the blown out tire. Everyone inside died, aside from two bandits, which were captured later and in no way able to fight.
• Managirl fired on Ruby and Tucker with her magical napalm, but only managed to wound Ruby (burning some of the bandages she wore and causing a nip slip).
• Del then became something of a badass. She smacked Ruby with her staff while Kiki mauled Tucker. Del's toad spirit was summoned, and it lashed out at Ruby with its tongue.
• Klein tried to stop the oncoming white van (the one controlled by Jaunt) but she failed to shoot it, even with an action point. Fail, Klein. Fail.

• Holy shit, more fighting...
• Ruby continued to suck against Del, missing another attack.
• Although Jaunt surrendered to Kembu, he trolled the group by having the van continue on. Somehow, the toad, Ruby, Tucker, and Kiki managed to avoid it. Del was unlucky and wounded by the van. The van crashed into the parked motorcycle and stopped.
• So, the mercenaries by the train (who I have forgotten to write about until now), had been giving Kembu trouble with some shots here and there. The pair tried to escape with a footlocker, but Kembu wasn't having any of it. Kembu killed one of them. The last merc had the biggest balls of steel (as a result of Kembu rolling nat 1's on intimidating him), and had a standoff with Kembu. The merc got in one good shot, but Kembu eventually killed him.
• Tucker wounded Kiki enough to force the bear to retreat through the primal spirits. Jergo had also been summoned, and the blink dog was wounded by Tucker.
• Roan got in another great shot against Ruby, who was starting to not look so hot...
• Managirl set Tucker on fire. This prevented his regeneration, and resulted in Tucker being burned alive. Tucker died. Sad music played.
• Managirl kept up the illusion of the dragon, because she thought it was funny.
• Ruby avoided most of Del's strikes that time, but she was shot in the face by Klein.

• I think this is the last round...
• With a rush of wind, Del deflected Ruby's last attack against her. Ruby reversed her life siphon from necrotic to radiant, and it allowed the woman to heal herself up to her bloodied value. With most of her allies gone, Ruby decided to swan dive off the bridge and take her chances with the river.
• With Kembu off chasing those mercenaries down, Jaunt tried to escape through his teleportation. Roan noted this, fired on Jaunt, and knocked him out with a flare round.
• Managirl dove off the bridge, because fuck it, she is a superhero. She was going to find Trajan down there, and try to capture Ruby. Managirl would be able to sense Ruby's mana signature, but was unable to pursue because she had difficulty with the rough waters. Eventually, Del's toad spirit would jump down there, rescuing both Trajan and Managirl.

• So, Del went off to ensure that Jaunt wouldn't bleed out and die. Kembu would help Del carry Jaunt back. Jaunt would have a golden ring cuff put on him by Klein, and she explained that a gold band would prevent teleportation in subjects.
• Klein with Roan's help acquired Tucker's burnt corpse and put it in the trailer for research purposes.
• Roan, Del, and Kembu checked out the overturned van, and found that two bandits had survived. They were quickly made prisoners.

• Throughout combat, over the deceased radios of the Genesis Guards, it sounded like Earthquake had been attacking the front part of the train as well as the guard station. Genesis managed to get a handle on the situation, and when Roan contacted them, they claimed that they would be sending a group to the bridge soon.
• Next time, the group deals with the fallout of the bridge fight, and get to meet with some Genesis security. Better hope they don't catch whiff of any of your illegal activities.

New Items:

• N/A

Current Objectives:

• Complete the Middleman's Second Job: Escort Dr. Klein to Quiet Mountain to investigate the mana reactor there.
• Complete the Middleman's Third Job: ???
• Receive the Middleman's Answers.