The Mystic and The Fury

"The Mystic and The Fury" is episode 42 of SuperQuest Saga. On their way back to The Starling, the party is ambushed by the next pair of Freelancers, The Mystic and The Fury. The warforged bounty hunters try to take down the team but instead meet their explosive ends (in these bodies anyway). As the battle concludes, Echo, Persephone, Primina, and Sebastian are faced with another decision; what to do when the law enforcement of Outlaw's Horizon arrives on the scene.

Introduction

 * Will Stark shall be your professional dungeon master for this evening.
 * Josh Freeland is playing Sebastian Crenshaw, half-orc paladin.
 * Your Special Guest Jake is playing Persephone Goldpetal, the firbolg druid.
 * Brian is a fucking space wizard, let’s kick ass!

Recap
Last episode, the party fought Lord Saturos in their escape from Kaebooros, and kind of kicked his ass. Archduke Ramazall then appeared, admonishing Saturos for attempting to keep Primina in hell and saying that she can’t stay. Some cryptic information was kind of revealed, Prim seems to remember something about a weapon being built while she was in captivity. Sebastian sold his soul for rock and roll and is now an Oathbreaker. After departing hell they spent a night at The Virus Bright.

In Media Res Flashback Time
Sebastian is visited in his dreams by Archduke Ramazall. He sees multiple visions of different scenes from hell; things he’s expected to do, places he’s expected to go, and what he can expect in the afterlife after receiving a dark blessing from Ramazall. He awakens in a cold sweat and his powers have changed from divine to infernal.

After their night at The Virus Bright they make their way to Hawking Harbor and put on their disguises. As they approach the harbor they see some sort of mage illusionist woman doing tricks with the water as a crowd watches. With Persephone in the lead they join the crowd and they hear what sounds like the launching of missiles and a voice yelling out “Blodia Vulcan!” and see a feminine-esque robot figure atop the parking structure and missiles are flying towards them.

Who Will Come out on Top?
Echo, Persephone, and Primina manage to dodge most of the blast but Sebastian doesn’t get out of the way in time and takes a full hit.

The warforged on the building fires up her jet boots and jetpack, flying about seventy feet above them. She splays out her hands and components on her arms, shoulders, and sides flare out into different rods. From the distance they hear her yell “Plasma Storm” and lightning comes flying down on the party. Three bolts strike down on Echo, Persephone, and Sebastian. Primina braces herself, taking a fighting stance as the szuldar on her body begin to glow, but the lines flux and she cries out in pain. She moves out of the way to safety. Echo notices that the crowd he has been trying to protect is still staring at the fountain, and cries out “What are you all doing?! Run away! Run! Get out of here!” He attempts to push some of them out of the way, but his hand phases through them and he realizes that the crowd is an illusion. He points with two fingers at the mage on the fountain preparing to cast Fireball but realizes the mage is part of the illusion as well. Echo aims at the warforged in the sky instead, shooting a bead like a bullet from his fingertips that turns into a vortex sphere of fire that visibly burns the armor of the warforged on contact. He takes a moment to recover with his Second Wind before using an Action Surge to cast one more Fireball into the sky, dealing a little more damage. He then shouts to Persephone and Sebastian to warn them about the illusion and distances himself from the others. At his words the illusion fades away, and four voices, each from a cardinal direction, say “It would seem that The Logician was correct in his calculation that you would return here. I should never have doubted him.” From the north, south, east, and west sides four identical figures, each carrying an opalescent staff and wearing purple-blue robes, step out into the plaza. Simultaneously they remove their hoods revealing another tall, lithe, feminine warforged. As one, the four figures raise their staff and a single laser blasts towards Sebastian. His mind reels as psychic energy blasts him, but he shakes off the effects of the blast. Sebastian casts Lay on Hands to heal himself and uses his arm brace to activate Haste. He looks at all four figures but can’t discern which is the real one and decides to head towards the north. Persephone slams her staff on the plaza floor, casting Earthbind to bring the airborne figure to the ground. Little tendrils of energy spawn below the flying figure and wrap themselves around the warforged, starting to pull her towards the ground. Persephone drops to all fours on the concrete floor and Wild Shapes into a bear-shaped, concrete-covered Earth Elemental. She lets out a roar that sounds like a rockslide then moves toward where the descending figure should land.

As she falls sixty feet, two openings pop out on the warforged’s back and two mortars launch into the sky as she calls out “Carbonadium Smash.” The mortars explode midair and shrapnel rains down on Persephone and Sebastian. Sebastian dodges, taking minimal damage, but Persephone takes the full force of the attack. Primina pulls her pistol out and starts firing at the northern warforged, but misses. Echo activates his Bladesong as he waves his hand out in front of him and opens his hand portal, aerial-stalls the hilt of his blade as it appears, does a full 360 turn, grabs his sword and spins once more as he critically strikes the robed figure that appeared in front of him only to have his blade pass through the illusion. Echo moves towards the center of the plaza. The robed figures turn to Echo telling him he was not a part of the calculation and asking who he is. Echo tells her to huff his shorts and asks who they are. The figure responds that she is called The Mystic, and her volatile companion is known as The Fury. Echo immediately recognizes their names. The Mystics in the north and south turn to Echo, eyes glowing, and psychic energy washes over him. He yells “It’s inside my mind!” as he takes some damage. Sebastian saw what happened when Echo attacked one of the illusions, so he busts out his BFG to take pop shots to find the real one. He starts by firing at the figure in the north, and when The Mystic is hit he hears a metallic ring as the shots bounce off her body and damage her cloak. Her Mirror Images change as well to reflect the damage she’s taken. Sebastian calls out that he’s found the real Mystic. Persephone rears up and swipes her concrete bear paws twice at The Fury, landing one solid hit.

The Fury slams into the ground with a loud crunch, her body starting to spark. She stands in front of Percy with her hands splayed and says “Berserker Barrage” as she shoots pulsar beams directly at Persephone. The attack causes Percy to lose concentration on her Earthbind spell. The Fury then launches herself back into the air. Primina fires on The Mystic in the north and does a little damage. Echo casts Magic Missile and four missiles fire out of pods the nanobots build on his shoulders, two from each side. The missiles spiral into The Fury catching her on her lower body and torso. The Fury’s jets go out and she plummets into the ground, smashing into the concrete. Her eyes start flickering and Persephone hears her glitching as she stammers “B..Be..Berseker Barrage.. BerBerserker Barrag.. Bersek..” The Fury’s body starts beeping. Echo quickly casts Zephyr Strike and begins to move towards The Mystic. Seeing The Fury go down, The Mystic speaks again: “It’s easy to see how you could best both The Armory and The Dynamo so easily.” Turning to Sebastian she says “You physical brutes never learn. Smash and hack all you will, it is the mind that is the greatest weakness that one must protect.” Her eyes glow and she unleashes a wave of psychic energy at Sebastian, damaging and stunning him. Sebastian is unable to break free from his mental bonds as his eyes glaze over and his body begins to go slack. Persephone tries to grab The Fury’s beeping body in her jaws to throw it, but it flails around and only travels about five feet. Seeing that it didn’t travel very far, she dives into the concrete of the plaza and begins to move towards The Mystic in the north.

The Fury’s body explodes but no one is close enough for it to matter. Primina takes aim at The Mystic, scoring another hit. Echo’s armor unfurls some wings as he quickly closes with the Mystic, appearing to almost glide to her, and flips forward and connects his sword with her, following up with a second slash from his hip to shoulder which also connects, dealing a good amount of damage. He dashes away as far as he can. The Mystic targets Echo with her staff and casts Telekinesis. Echo reacts with Counterspell and successfully negates her spell as a vortex of translucent gray swallows it. Sebastian struggles against his mental bonds but still cannot break free. Persephone emerges from below The Mystic much like Jaws, crushing her beneath the paws of her elemental form. The Mystic’s body lies mangled on the ground, the staff falling from her hand, and Persephone hears her say “You have done well. The Emperor was wise to hire us. The Logician will know where you are before even you do, you will not escape him ….. so be ready.” Her eyes blink out, and her body starts beeping.

Smoke and Lights
Persephone attempts to toss the body away, but since it is in so many pieces, it bounces off the alley wall five feet away. Seeing that it did not go far, she dives back underground. The body explodes between the party and the entrance to Hawking Harbor. Blue and red lights begin reflecting from the smoke as law enforcement arrive on scene with flying vehicles and heavily armed ground troops, all yelling for the party to freeze. They need to decide whether they will stand and fight, flee, or surrender.

The Party

 * Sebastian Crenshaw: A half-orc paladin. Starting to have infernal dreams.
 * Persepehone Goldpetal: A firbolg druid. Living her best concrete-bear-shark life.
 * Echo: An elf wizard/fighter/rogue. Now believes the crazy shit the party tells him.

NPCS

 * Priminia: The loveable MacGuffin. Freshly rescued from hell.
 * The Mystic: A female warforged and one of The Freelancers. Specializes in Illusions, Psionics, and cryptic messages.
 * The Fury: A female warforged and one of The Freelancers. Specializes in Area of Effect damage and shouting her attacks as they happen.

Music

 * SuperQuest Saga Theme - by Brian

Out of Character

 * The Fury's attacks are all from Marvel vs Capcom.
 * Sebastian is now an Oathbreaker paladin, he will take a level as a Hexblade warlock.
 * Will gives Primina 60 HP based on Persephone's 65.

Nat 20's (1 total)

 * Brian (Attack)

Nat 1's (2 total)

 * Special Guest Jake (Initiative)
 * Special Guest Jake (Concentration Check)