[center][h1][b][u]The Story So Far...[/u][/b][/h1][/center]

[hider=The Fall]All is not well in the bottled paradise of Titan Tower, as a vicious serial killer has struck again: the most recent of six murders.  The victim: Cowgirl Blizzard, sister of Cowboy Wizard and wife of Emerald Bullet, good friend of Ranch-Hand Lizard was found outside Errant Park on Floor 42.  The body was located in an alley in a gruesome display, cleanly cut into many pieces and strewn about with the killer's calling card covering the victim's face. The stylized black and white "Tragedy" theater mask with "Greed" scrawled across it in blood followed the pattern of deadly sins from the previous five murders and foreshadowed a seventh.  The only other evidence being that the entire scene was covered in a sheen of ice and freezing temperatures still lingered in the area, indicating the victim (a known Cryokinetic) put up a struggle.

As a [i]Deviant[/i] related crime falling to the Templar, Yue is called to the scene to investigate, interrupting her evening session of VRMMO Final Odyssey.  She reluctantly makes her way to the scene with the assistance of Tower AI Sovereign, and Field Commander Sairyn monitoring the situation from HQ.  After setting the drones to work and interviewing the officers on scene, a distant figure watching from a rooftop is brought to Yue's attention by an apparition seemingly only she can see.  Suspicious, Yue closes the gap on the figure, intending to interview the potential witness, only to encounter the killer herself!

A brief combat encounter reveals the murderer to be a Teleporter of not-insignificant skill, and the pair vanish from the rooftops.  Yue is transported somewhere below the Plate surface and left to fall thousands of meters to her potential death.  With a little quick thinking and some ingenuity, Yue manages to break her fall though most of her equipment is severely damaged or destroyed.  She ends up alive, but unconscious on the Undercity floor.

Some time later, the eldritch shapeshifting beast J-3 comes skittering from the [i]Graves[/i] in search of its next meal, and attracted by the emotional turmoil coloring Yue's aura.  Awaking to find herself beset by a hungry beast, Yue plucked up all the courage she could muster and bravely ran away.  The resulting turmoil attracts the watchful eyes of the nearby Rogue Collective, of whom several members come to investigate and engage the creature.  Already dazed and confused, Yue's concussion is aggravated during the encounter and she flies into a frenzied state, reducing the cybernetic Temujin to spare parts and killing the (thankfully) immortal Einherjar before she can be subdued.  Finding its meal to be much more trouble than it bargained for, J-3 flees farther into the Undercity, and the unconscious Yue is taken to the Stoneworks to receive medical attention.

[center][h3][b][u]Meanwhile, on the surface...[/u][/b][/h3][/center]

Máire Morgan (Cruaidin Catutchenn) is mopping up an arrest of local Chrome enthusiasts: [i]The Rippers[/i], who had broken into a cybernetics lab in the Corpo sector.  Informed by Sairyn that Yue had disappeared during her investigation after encountering a suspect near the crime scene, Máire makes her way back to the Tower to follow up.  Upon interviewing the officers on scene, she comes to the conclusion that the murderer must be a skilled Teleporter in order to spirit Yue away without a trace: a piece of the murder investigation puzzle that had been missing.  Máire passes this information up the chain, which Yue didn't have a chance to do before her signal was lost.  This new information allows Sairyn to program the Templar's fleet of drones to scan the city for teleportation traces, and a high volume of signatures leads her to the 1-2 Plate Gap.  

Now hot on her trail, [i]Tragedy[/i] appears unsurprised to encounter the Templar, and the two engage in a short combat in which Máire manages to deliver a grazing cut to the killer's leg.  Máire falls into the Abyss with an important piece of evidence that could unmask the killer, DNA directly from the killer's blood!  Shortly after, [i]Tragedy[/i] is chased off from the scene by the Templar's [i]Switch Streaming[/i] star, Ion.  Resolving not to lose any more agents, Sairyn begins to make preparations to head the search himself by replicating a duplicate AI nexus within the [i]Pocket Space[/i] linked to the liner of one of his coats.  However, before he can attain a suitable framework with which to format the blank Nexus he is called away on an inconvenient errand for shady government organization: SINS.

At the front, whimsical receptionist and assistant Archer secretly converses with an unknown group.  Seeming to know the whereabouts of Yue through some unknown means, he is ordered to find and follow his charge to minimize the amount of "unwanted attention" attracted.  Unable to leave his post without attracting attention of his own variety, he calls in a favor from the shapeshifter "Gemini" who reluctantly agrees to temporarily take his place.  After breaking into Yue's apartment to make a magic talisman, Archer makes his own way into the Undercity via path checkpointed by the Halcyon Horde.

[center][h3][b][u]Back in the Undercity Outskirts...[/u][/b][/h3][/center]

Weasel, an agent from Menagerie Pharmaceuticals, approaches the edge of the Stoneworks, entreating the local wildlife for assistance tracking down an escaped shapeshifter.  The Ravens demand "shinies" before revealing anything, and the wolves aggressively chase him off the property.  Later, he bumps into Menagerie operative Iridium Dragon (ID) who is investigating a large [Mana] disturbance that happened in the area.  Bumping into Weasel was a coincidence, but after his account she starts to believe their investigations may overlap.  Id provides him with a Fire Crystal to give to the Corvids in exchange for the information that they know, and orders Weasel to reveal to the Halcyon Horde that the Templar are in Undercity to keep them occupied and out of their way.  After spending some time at the site of the disturbance, she manages to procure a sample of [Mana] cleansed of the turbulent emotions that were polluting it and begins to trace it back to its origin.

Meanwhile at the Stoneworks, the Rogues Aegis, Einherjar, Freyja, and Temujin all try and figure out what to do with the Templar that's fallen into their community.  Yue eventually regains consciousness and is tended by Dr. Mahmud, the local physician, for a head injury and mild concussion.  During their conversations Yue recounts her encounter with Tragedy, and informs them she suspects the killer is a high-grade Mover with a focus on translocation.  Einherjar informs the group of the possibility that based on the distance Yue was transported, Tragedy could have easily made it into the Undercity to finish the job.  The other rogues discuss the difficulties in getting Yue back to the surface and ultimately decide to split up.  Freyja and Einherjar decide to scout "Freight" as a possible means of returning to the surface, Aegis takes Yue to local Tinker Forgemaster to have her equipment repaired, and Temujin makes a nuisance of himself with the local gangs.[/hider]
[hider=Freightening Encounter][center][h3][b][u]Freightening Encounter[/u][/b][/h3][/center]

Einherjar and Freyja make their way to "Freight," a small Halcyon slum built at the base of an enormous cargo elevator to investigate a potential avenue for smuggling Yue to the surface.  Inquiring under the guise of shipping a large chunk of Feldspar from the surface, Einherjar learns that Halcyon has the elevator under lock and key due to the rumors of Templar in the Undercity already circulating.  On their way out of Freight to search for other avenues, the twins come across a pair of locals fleeing the scene of a disturbance caused by none other than Tragedy herself.  Einherjar sends Freyja away to safety and goes to confront Tragedy himself. He finds her overpowering a Halcyon cargo transporting goods for Ares and interrupts her attempt to frame local Rogue Emerald Bullet.

Tragedy responds by shooting him in the face, and is [i]overjoyed[/i] to find out that he's immortal and now she can kill him over and over again!  With his high Charisma, Einherjar convinces Tragedy to stop and have a "polite" conversation, where she hints that she killed Emerald Bullet and took his gun.  She is reticent to talk about her general plan, and instead is much more interested in Einherjar's immortality and testing his limits and patience.  Tragedy suggests she knows he's with someone else, and that Freyja could be brought to the discussion and Einherjar replies by politely blowing them both up.

Having narrowly survived the explosion with her lightning reflexes, Tragedy turns up the [i]Yandere[/i], and after some short banter, spirits Freyja away to the Frozen sector beneath the Number 5 Plate.  The pair verbally probe one another, and though the conversation is mainly centered around Tragedy's obsession with Einherjar's ability, Freyja is able to deduce through clever wordplay that the woman may be immortal herself.  Unable to reach a satisfactory custody agreement over Einherjar, the woman reveals her name to be "Ouroboros" and attempts to balance Freyja out of the equation.

Freyja proves to be a worthy combatant, enamoring Ouroboros.  She uses her ability to create Wormholes to gain superior positioning and becomes overconfident, leaving herself open to Freyja's unexpected counter.  One of her spells interrupts Ouroboros' ability to teleport and she's banished to... somewhere.  After effectively removing Ouroboros from the combat (for the time being), she begins making her way back towards the Stoneworks with her hard earned information while Einherjar plans to meet her half way, hanging up on Freyja to avoid having to endure any further bondage jokes about his new girlfriend.

Einherjar brings Freyja a mount to speed her trip along, and they both retreat to the Stoneworks to recuperate and plan their next move.[/hider]
[hider=Ratpack Adventures][center][h3][b][u]Ratpack Adventures[/u][/b][/h3][/center]

Máire breaks her fall with her nanotech cables somewhere in Undercity proper, and although she does catch some of Sairyn's drone debris falling from the surface which may become important later, she is effectively cut off from communication with HQ.  Finding the locals to be unhelpful, and even distrusting of her affiliation with the Templar she's initially at a loss.  Nearby, J-3 concocts the foolproof plan to pose as an agent of Templar and disguises themselves as "Guy McManshape III, Esq." (twice removed).  Máire is (of course) completely and totally bamboozled by this ruse with no chance whatsoever of having their clever deception uncovered.  During their conversation the pair run into local courier and genius "Rat," who agrees to let them off without a fine for blocking a high traffic alleyway.

Rat is [i]completely willingly[/i] recruited as a guide and agrees to lead them towards the Templar that fell from the ceiling (of which he, of course, has absolutely no knowledge about), and after only one minor betrayal are taken to Gertrude near the Outskirts in order to collect meatstuffs to appease the wolves (clearly a gang) whose territory they must cross to reach their destination.  Gertrude shares what assistance and information she can with Máire while J-3 and Cuilean make fast-food friends and Rat survives a deadly encounter with a local napkin.  Rightly informed, Rat leads the pair to the "Scuttleways" in order to make better time to their destination.

Narrowly avoiding a chance encounter with the Cult of Flesh, they forge their own path through the tunnels and find themselves negotiating with the local fauna.  Floormaster Andreas informs the group of the error of their ways, and blocks the way forward, leading the group to "Sizzle-Drip Cavern" where they attempt to find a way to navigate the acidic river and the burning seepage from the tunnel ceiling.  Unable to find a suitable path towards their intended destination, they manage to cross the river into the adjacent caverns.  They encounter more cultists, who scream something about [i]'The Hydra'[/i] getting loose and vanish deeper into the Labyrinth, allowing them to slip past un-noticed.

Something smashes its way through the Labyrinth a level below them, causing their passage to cave in, but opening a path back to the Scuttleways beneath Undercity proper, and allowing them to emerge back to the surface just several hundred meters from the Stoneworks border.[/hider]
[hider=Journey to the Ignis Citadel][center][h3][b][u]Journey to the Ignis Citadel[/u][/b][/h3][/center]

Ready to escape the sensory overload of the Stoneworks, Yue leaves with Aegis who is quite concerned with her ability to keep up with him since he is [i]quite fast[/i] at 40mph.  Yue finds his concern amusing, and they cross the outskirts to Shieldtown on foot.  The trip is (thankfully) uneventful, and on arrival they meat Aegis' roommate and super-fan Dean who is elated to receive an autograph from Texas' very own "Number 1 Responder."  Aegis performs last minute maintenance on the aptly named jalopy "Tumbler" while Yue endures a fan discussion with Dean.  The two load up and drive across the Outskirts towards Sector 7 to avoid having Yue use her powers in the open and keep a low profile.

Aegis restrains Yue from leaping out of the Tumbler to investigate an explosion somewhere off to the south, though the grudge is forgotten as they crest a hill and the Ignis Citadel comes into view.  Aegis reveals that Forgemaster created the castle in the image of a classic raid from Final Odyssey and outs himself as a nerd by admitting he used to play.  Yue realizes Aegis is a former guildmate and their argument is resumed after she admits his disappearance from the game caused their guild to implode due to the clashing personalities of the other players.  Their argument carries to Forgemaster's lab, after which she is distracted by the Tinker's sudden avarice towards her armor's creator... Maybe she's just numb to Arcanist's paranoia and petulant personality having worked with him since her teen years.

Distracted further, Aegis calls her attention to something neato in the back allowing Forgemaster to ruminate in peace.  Forgemaster keeps many displays of weapons, one of which is the Sword of Justice: the weapon renown hero Titan... never used (much to Forgemaster's disappointment).  Of course Yue had to pick it up and together, she and Aegis discover that her Enhancer ability does what it says on the tin: Enhancing the characteristics of the things she touches.  The Sword of Justice is supernaturally sharp, and constantly in an ionized state, so picking it up causes the sword to violently throw lightning!  Being supernaturally dense, and extremely conductive, Aegis is not a fan.

Then why did you hand her a fucking lightning sword?!

After "carefully" plunging the sword into the facility's floor to end the storm, and some postulating on what caused the interaction Forgemaster finishes the repairs on Yue's armor.  The suit is significantly upgraded in both style and function with tinker alloys, and aesthetics based on Final Odyssey's Drachenmail set.  Aegis accepts his completed commission of "work out equipment," and the two prepare to retire back to Shieldtown...[/hider]
[center][b][u][h3]The time is now - 14:11pm - March 11th, 2045 - Undercity Region, Texas, USA[/h3][/u][/b][/center]