THE GRAND ARMADA RESPONSE LEVEL: 3 Redana has disturbed the natural order by setting out to steal from a god. There is not yet additional response generated by the fight in the air. [hider]Location Stats: Imperial. This place is home to the Soldiers of Empire Elysium Fields. This place is home to the Warriors of Ceron [b]Bad Weather[/b] [i]The dark storm of Poseidon commences, and all within are in terrible peril.[/i] Bad weather is dangerous, and will need to be Overcome whenever it gets in the way. Bad weather always deals Soft Cuts. [b]Dark Secret[/b] This location gains another stat - the Elysium Fields. [b]Wild Animal[/b] When you reach this Response level, a Beast or Scourge threat will try to eat the next player who goes out into the open. [/hider] [b]Redana![/b] The two old guards stand to look at the distant fires and pick up their weapons - like spears, but with strange loops of something like rope instead of points. Some sort of farming, animal handling tool and not a weapon of war, but there is still something just so about the way they hold them... [hider=Ceronian Veterans] [b]Ceronian Veterans[/b] [i]No longer young and spry, but there isn't anything they haven't seen.[/i] [b]Storm Trooper:[/b] Elite Troopers never deal damage to the fellowship. They automatically capture anyone they can surround and separate from the group. [b]Formation Instinct:[/b] Anyone who keeps the Ceronian Veterans busy cannot get higher than the 7-9 result, and one of their commanders is summoned in the process.[/hider] You shiver. Warriors to overthrow an empire indeed. "We're going to be busy," growled Sands. "Take the brainsquid." He unlocks a metal door near the gate while Leon tenses as if looking to catch someone trying to flee. Sands pulls the door open in a sudden gesture and an enormous bulk that had been pressed right up against the door falls and impacts on the ground in an amorphous mess and... "Greetings, noble princess, in the name of the mother of storms!" burbled the [i]octopus[/i] as the complicated mass of tentacles sorted themselves out. It's voice contained no hint of embarrassment at being caught evesdropping, and its orange and purple skin colours pulsed and shifted strangely. It was [i]huge[/i]. "I am Godol, Assistant Secretary of Shame, Guilt and Self Awareness, I am charmed to meet you -" a tentacle tried idly to grasp your hand but the octopus seemed to pay it no mind. It pulled itself up, standing on the tips of its tentacles, taller than Bella and many times as bulky. "I of course will serve you in any way you demand! My function is to assist! And secretary!" It chortled at its own joke. [b]Vasilia![/b] Combat is not normally done in shuttles like this on the Imperial side. Normally there's a proper ship nearby that can just clear them away with a sweep of its ELF weaponry, or they're landing unopposed on a ship that's had its ELF weapons disabled. The idea of fighting in-atmosphere with them is completely alien to Imperial thought though it's the sort of thing that happens in resource scarce frontier territories all the time. You are by far the most experienced person here. What you need to watch out for is the Imperial shuttles getting close. They're defaulting to what they know, which is to ram and board - and that's the sort of thing that's actually still very dangerous in this situation. But you start looking at this place as more than just a wonder, start looking at it as a battlefield and... "There is life here," said Artemis, pointing. "And where there's life there is danger." And you see it. Those deeps hold more life than the trees. Those shapes are not rocks, they're life. This place is filled with the strange and dangerous aspects of the Eater of Worlds, and you could provoke them into terrible response. King Jas'o is focused entirely on the prize like a bloodhound. His ship hard burns directly towards the town on the hill-top, but it's not an attack position - he's flying proud and regal, looking to land and announce himself to the local ruler. And that stirs an idea... "He doesn't have loyalty to his men," murmured Artemis, huntress' mind razor sharp alongside your own, focused on the weaknesses of your foe. "He thinks they've failed him and wants to switch them out for whatever local allies he can rally. Prevent him from winning over the locals and he'll have thrown away his army for nothing." [b]Bella![/b] The Codexia [i]runs[/i]. It's startling how fast she goes - she's not an olympic champion like you, but she's doing this in full armour. She's keeping pace and even gaining on the shuttle as it thrashes through the launch bay, Athena at her side like a storm cloud, winds flowing underneath every footfall. You're still getting your grip on the controls when you see her tearing along the catwalk at a dead sprint, leaping into the air with a battlecry, raised spear coming down to tear right through the transparent steel of the viewscreen... There's a faint click, like the impact of marbles, and with a massive jolt the ship kicks forwards. The Codexia glances off the back and rolls all the way along the back to land in a heap on the hangar floor behind you. She's on her feet in seconds again and racing again but you're clear free into the black before she can gain enough speed. You're in the black, amidst the brutal spear-shapes of the Armada, on your way to the wrecks. Ivory Smile, sitting next to the engine amidst a scattering of cards and a hastily written prayer strip stuck to the golden machinery, lets out a long, shaking exhale of relief.