Telina - Pathfinder Character Concept

The second of the four characters I put together for the Pathfinder interlude. I had a vague idea in the back of my mind that she might unwittingly be one of Svetlana’s half-sisters, although our GM did say he wanted these characters to be completely unrelated to our primary crew.

Also, name creation – sometimes it’s really hard to come up with a good name for a character so it’s something I’ve started to pay attention to when I find it easy. Elven first names have never been a problem for me to just invent – when I build an elf, it’s usually the first thing I have. For surnames, I tend to take a pair of words that make a traditional D&D-style elf surname, then translate into another language, usually of a Celtic root. In this case, I’ve used Welsh: Camcoedlan is intended to translate as ‘Woodstep’ and Hafallen is ‘Apple tree’. Streic is Welsh for Strike. [Quick edit to add that I've recently come across this neat link talking about ways of developing names. I like the World Builder Blog.]

Considering this is a character I’m not going to be playing, I think I may have gone a little overboard with background…

Telina Camcoedlan – Chaotic Good Elf Ranger (level 10)

Abilities: Str15, Dex20, Con13, Int18, Wis18, Cha13

Ranger: Favoured Enemy – Orc (+4), Undead (+4), Magical Beast (+2)

Favoured Terrain – Forest (+4), Plains (+2)

Hunter’s Bond – Hawk (Streic; see below)

Combat Style – Archery: Focused Shot, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot

Skill ranks: Climb 10, Handle Animal 10, Heal 10, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 10, Knowledge (geography) 10, Knowledge (nature) 10, Perception 10, Ride 7, Spellcraft 5, Stealth 10, Survival 10, Swim 8

Feats: Critical Focus, Deadly Accuracy, Evolved Companion, Nature Magic (giving Know Direction and Create Water spells as spell-like abilities), Nature Soul

Traits: Forlorn, Sacred Touch

Prepared Spells: Level 1 – Commune with Birds, Entangle, Speak with Animals

Level 2 – Eagle Eye, Wind Wall

Level 3 – Cure Moderate Wounds

Weapons: Shortspear (for emergency melee use); +2 conserving shock composite longbow; 5 hushing arrows, 10 whistling arrows, 20 standard arrows

Armour: Mithral Shirt

Magic Gear: Amulet of Natural Armour +2, Cloak of Resistance +3, Efficient Quiver, Handy Haversack, Ring of Stairs and Stars (acts as a ring of feather falling with magic missile once per day), Ring of Sustenance

Mundane Gear: Bedroll, Belt Pouch, Blanket (winter), Flint & Steel, Mess Kit, Moonrod (x5), Portable Hunting Stand, Pot, Rope, Waterskin, Wrist Sheath (spring loaded)

Appearance: Russet-brown hair, the shade of the bark of a yew tree, falls to her shoulders. She normally keeps this tied back with a strip of leather. Her large almond-eyes are the purple/grey of heavy storm clouds; her skin tanned. Most of her time is spent in the wilds, away from society and even in cities she retains a slightly feral appearance in her practical and somewhat ragged dress and highly alert posture. Once back away from the crowds her body will relax, although she retains her alertness.

Streic – Chaotic Good Hawk

Abilities: Str14, Dex18, Con14, Int2, Wis14, Cha6

Skill ranks: Fly 2, Perception 3, Stealth 1

Feats: Improved Natural Armour, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes

Tricks: Deliver, Detect, Exclusive, Fetch, Flee, Get Help, Hunt, Seek, Watch

Additional: Fire Resistance 10 (from Telina’s ‘Evolved Companion’ feat)

Appearance: An average sized buzzard at the russet end of the colour scale, her golden eyes seem to flicker with flames. 

Background:

Telina’s mother fell pregnant with Telina whilst engaged to another man and her step-father never really accepted her – especially once his own son, her half-brother, was born. Her brother (Tarathiel Hafallen) was heaped with praise – often even for things Telina had done – whilst Telina was generally ignored or criticised. Unsurprisingly, she spent as little time at home as possible, preferring to explore the surrounding woodlands alone.

It was on one of her excursions, further afield than usual, that she spotted an orc scouting party. Somewhat concerned, she followed them as though she were stalking any large beast, climbing through the trees out of their sight. After watching them make camp, she would secure herself in the branches and sleep, safe in the knowledge they would sleep longer than she as they took turns to keep watch during the night.

She was very careful as she followed them, but not careful enough. As she crept along, they split – she followed the two who remained together, figuring the third would re-join them soon. She wasn’t entirely wrong. The third – a little smaller than the other two – swung round behind to follow her and used a blunted javelin to knock her from her perch. Battered and bruised as she fell, she wasn’t in much of a state to defend herself as the orcs came to collect her. She couldn’t understand what they were saying, but knew she was in trouble as they bound her tightly using her own rope.

She tried to free herself, struggling against the bonds once they’d laid her down for the night. Despairing, she realised she was not going to get free without help or a miracle. The orc on first watch kicked the smaller orc awake before settling down. The smaller orc started pacing to wake properly for its watch. Telina’s heart pounded as she again tried to loosen herself. A thud caused her to pause; she carefully rolled herself to see the direction of the noise: an arrow protruded from the guarding orc. She could see it trying to scream, but no sound came out. Several further arrows hissed into the orc as it stumbled towards its sleeping fellows. It slumped to the ground, gasping silently. Several shaded figures ran in and slit the throats of the other two orcs before turning to Telina and cutting her free.

The group consisted of two half-elves, a human and a gnome. As the younger half-elf, Janeska, looked over Telina’s bruises, the elder, Nieral, explained they had also been following the orcs but had felt they had to interrupt when they saw Telina taken prisoner. The orcs were part of a larger band and there was concern they may be looking to move into the forest. Telina’s home was in the centre, but the half-elves and their human cousin Denise lived in Caradscomb, a village on the outskirts (Zarumat, the gnome, was wandering through and had joined the group for his own interests). They were aware the orcs had been moving from an area that had been deforested, and their hometown was concerned this forest would follow – diplomatic attempts were underway, but this wasn’t the first scouting party that had been spotted going into the forest.

Telina returned with her new friends; they taught her various tricks, including the hushed arrows they’d used to silence the guard the night they saved her and how to speak Gnome, Orc and Goblin and helped her train up a young buzzard, Streic. In return, she acted as emissary between the elves and the outlying communities. She finally started to feel accepted by not one, but two communities.

It didn’t last.

The attempts to negotiate with the orcs broke down. The orc scouting parties weren’t meant to be going into the forest, but it was noted that several didn’t make it back. The infractions became bigger, less hidden.

Telina was in Caradscomb when the orcish attack came. The mayor sent her to her hometown for assistance. With some reluctance, she left her friends and travelled as fast as she could to her family and the elven council. She explained what had happened and asked if she would be allowed to return with the battle party to help save the village.

The world fell away from Telina as council calmly explained they wouldn’t be sending anyone to help: it would just weaken the elven defences should the orcs come to them; they were capable of protecting their borders within the forest without the help of the outlying settlements; it was, quite simply, none of their business.

Livid and desperate, Telina went to the armoury and took the best bow she could pull, grabbed a quiver and handful of arrows and mithral shirt before heading back.

She arrived too late – Caradscomb was in flames and most of her friends were dead. She did what she could with the help of people from the other outlying villagers who’d come to help, but there was little to be done. Once the dead had been laid to rest and the living relocated to other villages, Telina left.

Initially, she wasn’t sure where to go, just away from the hurt. She found work as a guide, helping people as they travelled across potentially dangerous terrain. One group were undead slayers working with the Pathfinder Society. She was interested and ended up travelling with them. Joining the Pathfinders gave her purpose again, and she’s been working with them for the last few years.

Raven - Pathfinder Character Concept

As mentioned recently, we will soon be taking a break from our usual Pathfinder characters to discover a bit about the impact they're having on the world by playing other characters. I wasn't sure what to play, so created four different characters with different specialities to pick from, based on what the others went for. Here's the first (now updated with links to feats and stuff).

'Raven' – True Neutral Human White Necromancer (level 10)

Abilities: Str13, Dex15, Con15, Int17, Wis15, Cha22

Skill ranks: Appraise 4, Heal 10, Knowledge (arcana) 10, Knowledge (religion) 10, Profession (midwife) 3, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 8, Use Magic Device 10

Feats: Arcane Shield, False Focus*, Fast Learner, Great Fortitude, Heighten Spell, Improved Counterspell

Traits: Inured to Death**, Sacred Touch

Alt Racial Traits: Heart of the Wilderness (replaces skilled)

Spells: Level 0 – Arcane Mark, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Disrupt Undead, Guidance, Light, Mending, Read Magic, Resistance

Level 1 – Cure Light Wounds, Deathwatch, Protection from Evil, Ray of Enfeeblement, Sleep

Level 2 – Bone Swarm, Cure Moderate Wounds, Darkvision, Spectral Hand

Level 3 – Cure Serious Wounds, Inflict Serious Wounds, Nap Stack

Level 4 – Bestow Curse, Cure Critical Wounds

Level 5 – Chain of Bones

Weapons: Quarterstaff of Entwined Serpents; +1 Compassionate Dagger

Magic Gear: Bracers of Armour + 6, Cloak of Resistance + 3, Handy Haversack, Ring of Seven Lovely Colours, Ring of Sustenance

Mundane Gear: Basic Maps, Bedroll, Belt Pouch, Flint & Steel, Guide to Flora/Fauna, Holy Symbol of Pharasma (gold), Lady Marais’s Journal, Mess Kit, Midwife’s Kit, Pot, Rope, Trail Rations x 5, Utility Knife

I picked Pharasma for her diety thinking the goddess worked slightly differently - I wanted the balance between life and death which Pharasma seems to give, but not the abhorrence of undead. I might revisit this later and create the diety I wanted, but Pharasma is very, very close.

Appearance: About 15, but short and skinny making her appear younger. Her hair and eyes are very dark and her skin very pale.She dresses in practical clothes that look slightly too big for her.

Background:

Raven’s parents were killed in a bandit attack on the caravan her family were travelling with when the leader foolishly decided to fight rather than pay their tithe. Raven survived by being unnoticed when the rest were slaughtered and left for dead. She would have died soon after, except this took place near the territory of self-styled Lord of the Marsh. This living corpse had been the companion of Lady Marais, a white necromancer and follower of the goddess Pharasma, for many years until she eventually grew old and died. He continued to live in the wilderness as discretely as he could until the day he heard the crying child. He took her to the hut he'd shared with his friend and did his best to raise and care for her. He taught her from the books left by Lady Marais; Raven proved a keen and capable pupil.

When she was older, she began trekking to the settlements in the surrounding area, learning from their healers and plying her trade as midwife, healer and palliative carer. She came to be respected for her abilities but some were suspicious of the way she had appeared seemingly from nowhere and her reluctance to talk about where she came from. When a group of undead hunters came to town investigating old rumours of a powerful undead creature haunting the area, the suspicious few passed their concerns on to the hunters, who (with no better clues) followed her the next time she came through. Unwittingly, she led them right to her companion and they raced in and destroyed the Lord of the Marsh. Being aware she was not evil in herself (but not having bothered to discover the Lord of the Marsh also was not), they assumed she'd been held against her will so took her with them. She screamed in horror and fear; when this didn't work, she fell silent and unresponsive. Her change in mien was misunderstood by the adventurers, who took it to be a reflection of the horrors she'd witnessed prior to being 'rescued'.

She eventually managed to escape and, after some wandering, found her way back to her home. The hut was a burned ruin and there was no sign of the remains of her companion. She carefully picked through the ruins, managing to save a few items that had been Lady Marais's, and then walked away for the last time, to begin her life as a wandering adventurer.

*False Focus is a neat little feat I spotted in Herolab: it basically acts as 'Eschew Materials' up to the value of a holy symbol (up to a maximum 100gold pieces). As a worshipper of Pharasma, I thought it worked for Raven, but can't find a link on Paizo's website.

**Inured to Death also doesn't seem to be on the website (neither does the White Necromancer class, which is a shame cos it's kinda cool). It gives a +2 bonus to saves against death effects.

Pathfinder: The Crusade part 11 - Endings

Back to Pathfinder.

The dragon dismembered, we continued on our way. The passage was slightly too small for the giant Evander so Alexei stone-shaped a larger route for him. This backfired when the passage opened into a chamber at the bottom of a slope. As Evander started to slide down, we spotted a large beastie – a floating body of tentacles surrounding a large mouth with rows and rows of sharp teeth. The tentacles, we soon discovered, could be pressed into the ground around us to grab us even when we were a distance away. It was not a nice beastie, surviving a vial of Ezekiel’s alchemist’s fire being dropped down its throat by Aaron and many other, smaller attacks from the rest of us. We defeated it eventually, though, and clambered back up the slope to carry on our way.

Entering a large cavern, the paladin made a bee-line for a winch he’d spotted at the centre by a deep pit, wanting to know what it raised. It was hard work – even for him – and I soon got bored watching him work and started to explore. There was a hidden door – locked, so I set about picking it… I’d missed a potent trap, a flame burst that knocked me to the floor, close to death. Fortunately, Aaron spotted me and got Alexei over. Neither of them could see the door and seemed a bit confused when I insisted on continuing to work through it. The flame that nearly singed me convinced them I wasn’t mad, at least.

As I finally got the door open, Paul (Kieran’s player) left to join a birthday meal. We decided the winch may have been cursed and left him raising and lowering the small platform whilst we continued.

The door swung open to reveal a room decorated with maps, with a large heart-shaped purple crystal (nahyndrian, we assumed) on a desk and a minotaur sitting there. She wasn’t best pleased to see us, realising our purpose immediately. Throwing up a blade barrier, she ran through the door at the rear of the room. We chased, using various means to bypass the barrier (hurray for Shadowstep!). The next room had tieflings within, who slowed us down. This continued – with blade barriers and smaller demons to slow us – until I realised we’d come full circle: by turning left, we would be back in the cavern. I could see Kieran still raising and lowering the winch, but patrolling now were several demons.

It felt as though my heart paused before resuming at a hundred times its usual rhythm: they were the same species as the one that killed me just a few months ago. I threw myself back, pressed as close against the wall as I could whilst I tried to calm myself enough to message warn the others. I crept to the right, finding a storeroom. I could see it led round, giving another entrance to the main cavern. Controlling my breathing, I suggested Aaron and I use this to creep round and ambush them from behind whilst Alexei, Evander and Ivan keep them busy. It was a delaying tactic, but fortunately unnecessary: I’d underestimated how powerful Alexei and his brother can be, as the room filled with lightning that left no demon standing.

There was no sign of Baphomet’s minotaur daughter.

There was only one way left to go. The first door we found led to a torture chamber, with a male demon attended by three succubi making use of one of the tables for pleasure. Aaron threw in another vial of Ezekiel’s fire before closing the door tightly behind… But the power of the blast could still have killed us if it wasn’t for Alexei’s contingency spells throwing up a protective wall around us. It’s very powerful stuff. At least the torture chamber was destroyed.

Next room had several tall posts with humanoid slaves chained to them. Flying above were 6 demons. They weren’t very strong and once they’d been defeated we set about freeing the poor slaves. We gently shepherded them back to the main cavern. I set up my tent from the Rod of Splendour and we ushered them inside. The unseen servants were tasked to make sure everyone ate slowly and left Yanielle to watch over them (with a degree of uncertainty but little choice) before continuing to hunt down Baphomet’s daughter.

Heading back down the corridor revealed nothing beyond a few bedchambers and some minotaurs; just not the one we were looking for. We walked back to the main chamber to find (as I’d dreaded) the pavilion torn up and the freed slaves dead. Yanielle was barely alive, but still breathing. We stabilised her but there wasn’t time to mourn the slaves: their fragile bodies had taken too much punishment and all I could hope was that they were with their gods.

Kieran came to from the trance he was in at this point (Paul got back from his meal) and I went back to the door I’d opened when we first arrived: it was locked but rather than spend time picking it again, I jammed it so she wouldn’t be able to escape that way. I was starting to feel sick and the deaths of the slaves had stung – I knew it was a risk but had hoped to save them.

We went around the other way – another blade barrier barred our way, and she’d lit the route so I couldn’t Shadowstep my way past but Ivan got us past and we went after her. The battle was brutal and bloody. As it neared the end, her body started to crack and fracture, a fiery red light spilling out. She screamed out as the air behind her twisted and pulled her through. Baphomet spoke, angry at the loss of his daughter but saying whilst we’d been distracted he’d managed to take the Herald of Iomedae. Unaware of who this was, my mind turned to Queen Galfrey and my stomach lurched again.

Baphomet was pissed off and ready to wink us out of existence – until the visage of Nocticula reminded him this was her realm. He backed off, but we didn’t need her to tell us we’d made a powerful and dangerous enemy.

Nocticula thanked us and left a shimmering image behind for us to step through when we were ready to return to the Fain from whence we’d journeyed to the Abyss. We realised Evander had vanished somewhere along the way – Alexei advised he’d be back soon and vanished, Ivan vanishing with him.

Aaron, Kieran and I stood for a moment, then started taking down and securing the maps from the walls. Aaron tried to take the nahyndrian heart, but it was difficult to hold. Eventually, he managed to kick it towards and down the pit at the centre of the cavern. I was feeling more and more nauseous so cracked the emergency escape device Alexei had made and found myself back in Drezen with the maps.

The city was nearly rebuilt. I quickly pressed Irabeth for information on the Herald of Iomedae and learned who this was and that they’d only just learnt he’d been taken from the heavens and pressed the maps on her before heading to find Brutus so I could meet the others when they returned through Nocticula’s image to the Midnight Fain. He was looking older, so I cornered the nearest person and asked how long we’d been gone.

Five years.

Still feeling sick from the mines, I don’t know how I kept myself from throwing up.

Five years.

I raced back to Brutus, wished he would take me back to my husband but knew he wouldn’t. I told him where we would find Kieran and we set off.

Five years.

They’d come back through before we got there, and Kieran had called for Brutus. I tried to convince them to go straight back to Brevoy, but Alexei hadn’t returned by the time they left so they figured he’d be waiting for us in Drezen and flew me back there.

Five years.

Queen Galfrey had been summoned and was on her way, but no one seemed to realise.

Five years.

It’s been a few weeks since I last saw Noleski and he hasn’t seen me for five years. I can’t imagine what he’s going through and all I want right now is to see him and no one is helping me get there.

Five years.

It’s worth bearing in mind Svetlana is a half-elf and Noleski human, and that there was already about 10 years between them when they got married so she knows she’s going to outlive him by a long way and is dreading losing him. The biggest reason she tries to stay alive is not because she’s afraid to die but because she knows if she does she won’t want to come back again and wants to have as much life with Noleski as she can before that. Five years feels a big chunk to have stolen from that. Also, they hadn’t been together long and part of the reason for their marriage was to stabilise a threatened kingdom, so it feels like very bad news – what if he’s had to marry again? And once she’s dealt with all her Noleski fears, she’ll realise Anya’s daughters aren’t babies any more, and who knows how old Vlad will be, and that all of her friends and family will have aged and missed her and she doesn’t want them to have gone through that pain. She’s pretty heart-broken and afraid, right now.

And this is where we’re leaving the characters for now (I believe, there may be a slight ret-con about exactly where we are for story reasons, but AFAIK it’s five years later and we’re in Drezen rather than Brevoy like Svetlana wants). We’ll be playing through those five years back on Golarion using different characters – level 10, non-mythic people. I shall introduce you in due course. I am going to miss playing Svetlana!

Yawning Cat

Just a placeholder post. I ought to be writing up Pathfinder, but it's the end of a chapter and I think I won't be playing Svetlana for a while so I'm holding off doing it because I really love her and don't want to let go just yet!

To help us (as players) see the way our characters are shaping the world, we'll be playing other characters elsewhere for a bit. Husbit (Alexei) has a drow gunslinger prepared. Bells (Aaron) I believe will be a druid. Not sure what Paul (Kieran) is looking at and I'm similarly torn... so far, am looking at a skald (possibly half-orc) because I've always wanted to play a barbarian/bard, a traditional archery-based ranger (an elf, with the vague thought that she could be one of Svetlana's half-sisters), a spell-less, two-weapon ranger (I've done her as an ifrit, but need to run it by Rich), and a white necromancer (human) because it intrigues me. Will do each of them a character post at some point, but what I'm doing is putting them together and sending them off to the GM and will play whichever best suits the party balance. It probably won't be the white necromancer: Rich wants us to be able to survive as individuals and her hitpoints are low.

Anyway, whilst I pluck up the courage to say goodbye to Svetlana (even if it's not forever...), here's a photo of the Cat.

Aberrant - Training Montage part 3

Back to Aberrant and the Nova Initiative's attempts to retrieve a newly discovered nova from the centre of a warzone without using their powers... We left it with the team finding an old friend of Mark's, Omar, who agreed to assist them in return for their help in rescuing his target (the child from Hong Kong, Mina Trang with codename 'Pandora' because we don't know anything about her) from a KGB stronghold.

Omar explained the first target (the one whose name was still unknown) was likely nearer than Pandora, so (as time was ticking on the deadline) the team set off to track him down. As they left, Omar triggered a programme on the computer to burn down the building.

The Initiativemobile (mk2) took them most of the way to the suspected location. They parked up - Adam again taking the precaution of removing a fuse to reduce the risk of theft of the improvised armoured vehicle. Heading on foot, they hid from a pair of Russian soldiers on patrol and overheard their radio speak of a sighting at a nearby mall. Pouncing from the shadows, Mark took them both out with swift, silenced pistol headshots. He grabbed the radio and agreed, in Russian, to check it out.

So they went to the centre, sounds of warfare all around and nova battles in the distance. The shutter was down but had recently been manipulated, suggesting a presence within. Adam started to lift it and spotted the telltale signs of an improvised claymore... He froze, holding the door in place. Rachel sat nearby and talked to keep him calm whilst the others sought a solution: Omar and Chrissie decided to seek a way in from the roof and come at it from behind. Vents provided access and they squirmed through. It was hot and uncomfortable but within about 10 minutes they'd made their way to the other side of the door and Adam, who'd had time to study the base of the weapon, talked Chrissie through disarming it and the team could proceed.

The atmosphere was tense as they crept around the top floor of the building. Adam, with his near miss at the door, was on particularly high alert. He spotted someone on the floor below pointing a gun at the group, about to shoot. The glass balustrade would offer no protection, so he shot first... The second shot took the mannequin out. Chrissie insisted he put his gun away until he'd calmed down some more: she'd spotted signs of people on the same floor and didn't want him to shoot their target by accident.

They headed down to the floor, spotted movement in a bookshop so Adam and Chrissie moved in, guns drawn (and AK and a pistol respectively). A foot disappeared around a stack of books: Chrissie and Adam went opposite sides to follow. On spotted a huddled group at the end, Chrissie rose from a crouch and dropped the hand holding the pistol to one side - still ready to defend herself if necessary, but less threatening. As she approached, calmly, she felt joy at the closeness of the completion of their task filling her and she put her gun away as she spotted their target - the new nova who was known to be able to manipulate emotions. They had a chat, highlighting the benefits of the Nova Initiative and he agreed to join them. The others with him were happy enough for him to leave - they knew how to survive here.

The new nova was suitably impressed with the Initiativemobile (mk2). Stef phoned Benedict for the evac co-ordinates: a nearby park. Once made secure, a woman in NI uniform unrecognised by the team appeared, took the target's hand and snapped a disc for them to disappear together.

So they clambered back into the Initiativemobile (mk2), which was starting to show the hard use it had suffered on the damaged roads. Some of the improvised armour plating had fallen off, and it was dusty and marked. They pulled up in the basement of a multi-storey car park beside the entrance to the gated community that contained the house where Omar understood Pandora to be held. As they’d driven there and now they’d arrived, they discussed the plan.

“Couldn’t we just drive the Initiativemobile through the gates? It’d certainly be a surprise?” Adam looked at his vehicle with pride.

Chrissie was gutted: she’d wanted to make the insane suggestion and instead had to be the voice of reason. “They’re trained, well armed KGB operatives, and one of the doors has come off.” [Suffice to say, this exchange had the GM in hysterics: “He wants to drive you into the midst of a small army in a defended gated community, and that’s your objection?”]

They had a quick chat about either exploding the walls or launching the van from the car park into the middle of the courtyard. Chrissie was against the idea, initially, as she wasn’t sure how to ensure they’d survive the landing, but even denied access to the quantum flows that make her one of the smartest people on the planet, she is still unbelievably bright and she, Adam and Stef very quickly did the calculations. The van would be ruined, but they could survive if Adam did it right.

A few other things were needed: Adam, on Chrissie’s suggestion, built another iteration of the Initiativemobile whilst Mark, Omar and Robert made explosives. Some of these were to go around the mk2, to be propelled off once we landed to cause more chaos and cover. Others were set on the wall behind the house Pandora was in, with a triggering device. Once ready, the Initiativemobile mk3 would be parked here, rear doors open to accept the team as they raced in. In theory…

And we were off! Even Chrissie had taken an assault rifle for the ride rather than her usual reluctant pistol. The moment the van’s wheels left the car park until the moment they crashed into the paving of the courtyard was the sort of joyful exhilaration Chrissie hadn’t felt since the assassination of Yeltsin. The landing brought her back to reality - the sides of the van came away as the explosives flew off and the team all prepared to fire into the smoke. Making use of the cover it provided, they exited and ran towards the house, killing (or at least incapacitating) the KGB agents who came running out to greet them. It was the first time Chrissie has fired a gun into a living person, but they were moving too fast for her to dwell on it.

Inside, they quickly cleared the ground floor and raced up the stairs. A couple of agents threw a grenade at the team, but Adam used his gun as a bat to return it to their feet, where it exploded them and they were no longer a concern. Racing along, now, they found a panic room. It seemed obvious that Mina was within.

The team were just trying to work out how to get in when a voice from behind asked “Can I help you?” If Chrissie hadn’t had such intense training and didn’t have such a knack for languages, she wouldn’t have picked up on the other woman’s trace of a Russian accent.

Adam started talking to her, explained why they were there and that they wanted to return the girl to her parents. The woman was unimpressed, but remained perfectly calm as Adam pointed his gun at her. After he shot her, she merely smiled and flew at him with glowing hands. She swiped across his chest and left the marks of sharp claws traced in blood on his chest but left no damage. The rest of the team open their guns full-auto into her: it takes 213 bullets to (just!) take out a nova.

To demoralise the enemy, Adam arranged for her body to be tipped down the stairs, and to buy us time lit the stairs alight whilst Stef hacked the panic room keypad. The moment the door swung open, Chrissie raced in and bundled the girl into her arms. She tried to reassure her a little as they ran - Jean took the child as Chrissie took the first leap out the window. The team laid down covering fire for each other as they followed, Jean rolling to protect Mina tight in his arms. The wall ahead of them exploded and they ran, exactly as intended, into the back of the Initiativemobile (mk3). Adam started the engine and they drove off - Omar giving directions whilst Mark, using the radio they’d nicked from the Russians, fed false information about their route.

They arrived at the airport where a plane waited to whisk Omar and Mina back to her parents. The relief was short lived as Cestus Pax landed in front of them and announced the child would be coming with him. Chrissie and Adam recognised him from a charity event they’d been at before he was openly a nova. He didn’t recognise them: they’d been in their nova-forms that day. After some argument, Mina walked to Cestus, took his hand and left with him. Omar was devastated and Chrissie livid when Benedict arrived to take them home. To everyone’s surprise, Omar immediately recognised him.

Benedict teleported them back to the Hub and the new debriefing room. As they settled, their powers returned. In Chrissie’s case, this meant she grew a couple of inches, her muscles became more defined. As she settled herself into a comfortable, cross-legged position in mid-air, she opened and closed her hands to create and extinguish mini fireballs. As the others similarly relaxed back into themselves, Omar looked around in surprise. He looked to Mark, who shrugged and nodded. Chrissie took a quick look, now her connection to the quantum was restored, and recognised a flow within Omar - not a flow as came through the others, but maybe a waiting, or maybe something else. Definitely not a standard baseline appearance, anyway.