This is my prayer for destruction,
slash and burn, scorch the earth
destroy this day, leave me in the desolation
let the vines creep into the ruins
reclaim the city,
prepare the land for tomorrow's
zenith completion
and another destruction -
It's meant to be cyclical, so one can go back to the start after reading the last line. Anyhow, it represents a cycle, and Nowhere was a mythic cycle, where the characters basically watched the great battle in the Bhagavad-Gita unfold before their eyes. This marks the first appearance of Arjuna, one of my favorite characters.
The characters set out for Nowhere in their recently renamed ship, The Jyhad (ironically enough). Pitt and Phalton begin having strange dreams about Kantarra crying in front of an area which is on fire, and the palms of her hands pierced as if she has stigmata. That scene fades away and they see the Stigmata Garrison symbol looming over them, which in turn fades away, and is replaced by a night sky full of stars. One by one the stars fade away until nothing is left, and they awaken.
They enter the Nowhere system with a small fleet of cargo ships primarily carrying food and religious pilgrims. A short distance into the system, two smaller freighters coming from Nowhere pass them, turn, and pursue them, firing upon the cargo liners. The characters engage the two hostile freighters and disable one while destroying the other. They board the ship and find Sathraists running around inside. Phalton discovers they can't stay aboard very long because the fuel core is growing dangerously unstable, so they promptly leave, and watch the ship explode.
Upon reaching the spaceport at Ulaanbataar, they discover a crowd gathered about a young Hawkwood-turned-Eskatonic preaching about (yeah, you guessed it) the approaching doomsday. An old, very tan Hesychast with a very long beard approaches the crowd and says "I have called an angel from the badlands to help us against the night eleven days from now." An unhappy resident of the city steps forward and threatens the bearded monk, asking why he didn't fortell the deaths of his wife and children. The resident pulls a knife and is about to attack the monk when Kantarra runs up and breaks the guy's arm, later she heals it with Theurgy. The monk says "very good, but remember - only the faithful can stand against the darkness, and only the blood of the seraphim may harm it." and walks off. The young eskatonic (Devon Hawkwood) attends to the wounded man, and the group finds out that several others are on their way to see the Screamer at Nowhere as well - an ancient and giant gargoyle which brings pilgrims from all over the Known Worlds. A young female Muster by the name of Kaylaura and a Hazat knight, Sir Juan Norberto Augusto Castenda, along with Devon, are also here to see the Screamer. Kantarra, Phalton, and Gregor agree to get a desert crawler with these folks and head out towards the massive gargoyle. On the trip there Kantarra and Kaylaura have a theological debate, Pitt makes a sideways remark to Kantarra about the Li Halan (since she doesn't know of their common heritage) which Kantarra responds negatively to.
Meanwhile, another group of pilgrims have reached the gargoyle. Among them is a Vorox, Marduk, who was servicing their ship and was offered the chance to tag along to the gargoyle. Upon reaching it, the pilgrims are attacked by a strange group of men in black studded leather armor riding on a Stigmata Garrison transport. Most of the pilgrims are killed but Marduk manages to kill the attackers and take the transport. He and the surviving pilgrims take to the desert in the transport, hoping to return safely to Ulaanbataar or Zyanne. Their transport runs out of gas shortly afterwards and they are forced to abandon it, heading towards the nearby mountains in hopes of finding shelter there.
A few days later the other group reaches the giant gargoyle, finding the bodies behind the strucutre, they begin a short investigation. Devon climbs up to the Screamer's mouth (because he's young and adventurous!!!), the others notice Kantarra isn't doing anything except standing and staring up at the gargoyle. They all gather around her to see what's wrong, and they feel a slight breeze go by (which is rare on the surface). The sky and landscape turn purple, and they suddenly notice lush vegitation around them. From the woods behind them they hear sounds of moaning and crying, as if many people were in great pain. A small army of diseased and crippled people come out of the woods, led by Brother Gustancio, whom they rescued way back on Shaprut and sent to Holy Terra. Brother Gustancio raises his arms and a soft glow surrounds the disabled peasants. They slowly are healed of their ailments, returning to normal health, and one of them steps forward and says "Thank you. You are Kalki the Savior." The people fade and they hear a voice from above laughing and taunting them. "You are all fools to think that you can stop me!" They look up and see the man in black robes from Criticorum, where they encountered the dead husk-like zombie-thing. Pitt and Phalton both attempt to shoot the man, but their shots go right through him. He laughs and says, "I am invincible here!" and fades out of sight. Phalton notices a strange sculpture has appeared next to him, and after some inspection, they determine that it is the fully assembled artifact they are chasing down. They try to rouse Kantarra, who is still staring at the gargoyle, and eventually she sprouts giant feathery wings and flies upward, out of sight, looking down upon them sadly.
The vision fades and they find themselves lying on the ground in front of the Screamer, Kantarra is sitting on the base of the gargoyle. She claims they all began staring at the gargoyle and then passed-out. They tell her that she was the one looking at the gargoyle until she flew away. Kantarra doesn't seem pleased at all the angelic imagery surrounding her, but before she can get too pissed, Pitt notices a vehicle approaching in the distance. He makes out the vehicle to be a Stigmata Garrison armored personnel carrier, though in bad condition. Men in black studded leather sit atop it with weapons brandished. Devon, being the idealist he is, decides to step forward and try to talk to these people. They open fire on Devon, who dives out of the way and runs for cover, the party returns fire and eventually they kill-off the crew of the personnel carrier, but losing their own desert crawler to stray weapons fire. They decide to take the personnel carrier back to town, but find that it doesn't quite have enough gas to get them there. It does have enough gas to get them close to the mountains, which they decide to do, hoping to find shelter. The drive is short but the vehicle is in very poor condition - fecile matter is strewn about the floor of the passenger compartment, and discarded food rots underneath the seats.
Happily leaving the vehicle behind, they venture into the mountains a short ways as night begins to fall. Pitt and Sir Juan notice a strange structure in one of the mountains far off, and the group decides to investigate. As they near the structure, they find it is a crashed Vau corvette. A short rummage through the ship yields no explanations, save that it has been there for a long time, and that it will provide the necessary shelter for the night. In the morning they leave the ship and find what appears to be a pass, or at least an area where travel through the sharp rocks is more agreeable. They emerge in the T'ruis desert, a large expanse of sand dunes, unlike the Drasian desert where they previously were, which was mainly rocky and flat. The group spots a structure in the distant dunes, and decide to head towards it. Fortunately for them, it is an arborium, a sort of self-sustaining hydroponics farm. They restock their food and water supplies and head further northward. The group marches until nightfall and sets up camp. During the night they notice a single, solitary figure on the horizon approaching them. Again the idealist, Devon decides to try to talk to whoever it is, while the others cover him. As the figure gets nearer, they see that it is the "dead thing" from the ruins on Criticorum, but how and why is it here? The group opens fire and doesn't ask questions later, packing up camp in order to get as far away from that thing as possible.
They set up camp later and sleep a bit, hoping that the undead "thing" isn't still following them. The next day they continue to march and find a ruined town, which they investigate. Pitt hears someone whisper a word in some foreign tongue, and later he hears someone running between buildings. Twelve rangers in cloaking armor suddenly appear around them, yelling for them to identify themselves or be shot. As they are doing so an Ukar with a fusion rifle and a Stigmata Garrison patch steps up to them and introduces himself as Arjuna, leader of the Stigmata Ukari Special Forces here on Nowhere. The group asks about the Garrison forces on Nowhere and why they seem to have gone rogue recently. Arjuna claims to have no knowledge of what is going on with the Garrison, but they haven't heard from anyone for a few weeks now. Pitt and some of the Ukari Rangers begin to hear rumbilng in the distance, and soon afterwards spot a tank and two light personnel carriers approaching in the distance. They begin to prepare a defense in the ruined city, hoping to capture one of the carriers (so they don't have to walk anymore). The approaching force turns out to be al-Malik infantry supported by a small team of Grimsons and a medium tank. The Ukar and the group happily kill them (as the Ukar here harbor a special grudge against the al-Malik), and they steal one of the carriers.
After driving for a time they stop and make camp again, getting some much-needed rest. While on watch Pitt notices another campfire in the distance over some dunes. He and Phalton go to investigate and find two Imperial Eye agents resting with a bag of something. Pitt asks what is in the bag and the agents respond by pulling pistols on them. Phalton and Pitt promptly dispose of them after that and find some strange artifacts in the bag. They also find a map of Nowhere with four marks in a line and several other strange markings. Devon determines that they aren't very far away from the first of the markings and in the morning they set out in that direction. They find a strange bunker-like ruin hidden in the sands which the Eye agents seem to have already pillaged. Again, the walls are covered with strange glyphs and alien writings of long past. They travel to the other markings and find ruins exactly the same as before. The last set of ruins is embedded far inside the "Screamer's Teeth" mountain range, and the journey there is treacherous. After climbing a short way, they notice someone following them in the distance - several personnel carriers with League markings on them. The group decides to set up an ambush at an appropriate place, Pitt places explosives on the walls of a nearby canyon.
Meanwhile Marduk the Vorox and the surviving pilgrims make their way across the same mountains. Marduk's powerful sense of smell suddenly picks up humans in the distance. He tells the others to wait while he investigates. As the group waits to spring their trap, Phalton makes out his old friend, Janosh, as part of the group approaching them. Phalton climbs down the hillside and approaches Janosh, who has a small contingent of Muster mercenaries with him. Janosh confronts Phalton, asking where the key to his ship is. Phalton says he doesn't have it, Janosh pulls-out a strange device (much like a taser) and fires upon Phalton, delivering an electric shock which kills Phalton. All hell then proceeds to break loose, Marduk, hearing that someone has a ship, joins in the fight against Janosh. The group and the Rangers eventually kill Janosh (well, bury him under a few tons of rock at the least) but no trace of Kaylaura and Sir Juan is found. Introductions are made and funerary services done, the group, now a bit smaller, proceeds to cross the mountains back to the rocky Drasian Desert and find a band of nomads on the other side.
The nomads take them in, calling Kantarra "the Iron Flower" and pointing to her Brother Battle insignia (which sorta looks like a flower if you're really creative). The nomads speak of a great and evil sorcerer who has gained control of the guardians of this world, including some of their own nomadic people, with the use of a strange device and talk about a "republic of three." The group gets access to an old transport and begins the long drive back to the spaceport. After a day or so they notice a lander with al-Malik markings coming down in front of them. They turn around and drive a ways until they notice another lander there too. After a short discussion, they resign themselves to fight it out with the approaching horde of al-Malik. Just before the al-Malik get into firing range three Stigmata Garrsion transports land around them, declaring that there will be no hostilities until things are straightened-out.
Stigmata Garrison Commander Lucinda Dulcinea shows up to see first hand what the situation is, bringing with her one of the Fist of God - an elite group of Brother Battle monks known to be the best fighting unit in the Known Worlds. She has also brought along a sizable fleet, which she uses to back up her threats to the al-Malik. After some surveying, she determines that almost all of the Stigmata Garrison stationed on Nowhere has gone rogue for some reason, and begun converting the nomadic populations around them. Her scouts find their base and she quickly forms a plan involving Pitt, Kantarra, and Marduk. Baroness Dulcinea plans to mount a major assault against the bulk of the rogue forces, called "Kauravans" by the nomadic peoples, while the group slips behind and disables the shields on the Kauravan base so that her fleet can bombard it from orbit at the appointed time. The al-Malik under General Ben-Gazi protest, but are quickly silenced by the Commander. After hearing of Ben-Gazi's situation, she makes this deal : the group will remain unharmed until their mission is over, after which they will do the honorable thing and surrender themselves to the al-Malik for trial. Furthermore, the al-Malik will send along two of their finest Grimson (genetically-bred) warriors to see that they do not simply run-off afterwards. Ben-Gazi doesn't seem very concerned about the Vorox, figuring he'll do the smart thing - stay out of the whole affair and return a hero. Pitt and Kantarra figure they'll just get a plan or something before then. Arjuna approaches them after the talk and says that he regrets not being able to go with them, but he has been ordered to provide special operations support to the main assault. He also says that his brother has been brainwashed by these Kauravans, and that he must do his duty and fight his brother. The next day comes and goes, with the group gathering resources and being airlifted to appropriate coordinates. The sky that night is without moonlight for most of the night, as it is a rare lunar alignment during which none of the moons can be seen.
During the march to the base the al-Malik Grimsons become increasingly hostile to the group, almost resulting in violence a few times. After a some time travelling, they come upon the outer wall of the base. When they are given the signal, the group begins scaling the walls, using as much stealth as possible, they manage to leave the Grimsons behind (they weren't stealthy enough to keep up). Once over the wall, Kantarra heads towards the main power generators while Marduk goes after the fuel depot and Pitt scouts-out the headquarters. After the power goes out there is much confusion, and the fuel depot exploding doesn't help. The three meet at the main headquarters just as they notice the Grimsons reaching the top of the wall. The headquarters is surrounded by another wall, taller than the last, but less sturdy-looking. They decide that all notion of subtlety is gone and break through the front gate. Marduk rips the main door off its hinges with his great strength and uses it as a shield for the other two. A group of Kauravan guards on the other side of the gate open fire and a short firefight ensues. Eventually they defeat the guards and make it inside what appears to be the main building. The bald antinomist they saw in their vision at the Gargoyle is there with a small horde of lackeys. As they enter they find the head antinomist chanting his dark prayer, the group starts unloading into his followers. As his followers drop, their blood leaves their bodies and floats in the middle of the room, the head antinomist laughs at this, saying something about how they are too late and how he, of course, is immune to their weapons. Pitt remembers that he has explosives and decides that the term "boom baby, boom" is the idiom for this situation. He drops the whole demolition rig and the group runs for cover, the building goes up and all that is left is, well, something very nasty...
Pitt and Marduk collapse at the sight of the demon which has arisen from the ashes of the fallen temple, their minds not able to handle such a desecration of their senses. Kantarra seems to be the only one standing, she looks back at her two comrades, and realizing this, she turns to face the monster. The demon itself seems to be a collage of tentacles, human and alien faces, internal organs, slime, and other such strangeness (including a Patrick Duffy leg!! just kidding...).
Kantarra begins with her standard maneuver - unloading the clip into the demon. Of course, this does little more than piss it off, and it swats her to the ground. She gets up and unloads a couple more clips into it, which again do nothing. In desperation she turns to Mantok, the ancient Brother Battle martial art, but her flurry of fists and kicks do even less than her assault rifle. Time and time again she is batted to the ground. By now she's a bloody mess, literally, because she bleeds when protecting, her nose and scalp have bled a lot by now, and she's wiped some of the blood off...onto her gauntlets. She continues to beat the demon, which is now starting to become very angry with her, but her first attack with the bloodied gauntlet sends the monster reeling in pain.
Realizing that the creature is highly dissatisfied with her blood, she steps back and draws her autofeed pistol, placing it against her palm and aiming at the beast. There is a dramatic pause as she looks at her quivering comrades, but she quickly regains her focus and fires, spraying blood all over her foe. Kantarra drops to the ground in pain, her left hand pierced by the bullet. The demon also reels in pain, roaring and howling its displeasure. Kantarra somehow composes herself enough to stand again and switch hands. This time it is only by sheer will that she pulls the trigger and fires a shot through her right hand. With this, the demon's many heads screech one last time as it fades away into a large pile of black goo. Pitt and Marduk are able to move once again, and stand only to see the vision from their dreams - Kantarra crying in front of a large fire, her hands bleeding from stigmata.
Marduk gathers their posessions while Pitt searches the rest of the inner compound. Within one building he finds the artifact they're looking for on a pedestal. As Marduk carries the crippled Kantarra out of the inner complex, Pitt hears the Grimsons approaching the gate outside. Marduk and Pitt prepare to do battle with the fearsome genetic warriors, as they have anticipated such a conflict arising. They wait for the Grimsons to open fire first, which they do, and a short battle ensues, ending with the Grimsons getting shot enough times in the head to finally kill them. The group manages to steal a light tank and start their escape. They notice that none of the Kauravans seem to have focus anymore, as they are simply milling about, looking confused. Pitt sticks his head out and begins yelling at them to run away as fast as possible, as their base will soon be destroyed. They check the clock and realize they have little time to make it to safe distance before the torpedoes and Meson cannons start to pound the base into oblivion, and Marduk drives them to safety as they watch the lightshow in the distance.
After a time they arrive back at the main Stigmata Garrison base where Commander Dulcinea is coordinating the attack. They tell her about the Ben-Gazi's betrayal (the Grimsons trying to kill them) and she frees them from their obligations to the al-Malik, saying that she will provide them an escort to their ship and out of the system. She also gives them permission to disguise their ship by painting it with a Garrison color scheme. Meanwhile Marduk loots some dead al-Malik soldiers outside. They arrive back at their ship without incident and head for the gate. An al-Malik destroyer recognizes them but is turned away by the Garrison escorts and the group safely jumps to the Stigmata system, where they find well, more trouble....
Favorite scenes :
1. After losing their desert crawler at the Screamer, they realize their water and food supplies are short (they were all in the desert crawler). Pitt makes a survival roll to figure out how to best ration-out water and scores a critical success. I wasn't sure exactly how to explain getting a critical success so I just said Pitt starts raving about boiling urine to get water out of it, and other such nonsense. Well, it was funny at the time...
2. The first personnel carrier they capture was filthy - it had feces and rotting food sitting in it for months. They took serious displeasure in riding in that vehicle. When they stole the second personnel carrier, the first question Pitt's player asked was "Is there shit in this one?"