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__NOTOC__ ''April 25th, 2007'' '''Mission Summary''' * The Naos Group has pinpointed two newly-Visited Scions. The Special Projects Group is assigned to approach them, and offer them employ with the Naos Group. '''Mission Details''' * There are two Scions: one in Seattle, Washington, USA, and another in Braunfels, Germany. Sambethe will make the offer; the Agents are along primarily to get some field experience, though experience has shown that newly Visited Scions are often the epicenter of violence and strange events, so they may be necessary in other capacities. ** ''Sarah Kingston:'' A young woman based out of Seattle who works as a fetish model. As far as they have been able to research, her divine parent is most likely Hel, of the Aesir. She’s been severely bipolar for years, and she was verified as being at an outbreak of hungry dead in the area recently. Several eyewitnesses can verify that she fought them off. She has also been seen by her friends in the graveyard near her house, supposedly speaking to no one. ** ''Brandt Hammerich:'' A young officer in the Bundeswehr, Germany’s Federal Defense Force, Brandt’s divine parentage is unknown. There have been signs of his possessing divine strength, however — most recently he was arrested for a bar fight in which he nearly killed several men barehanded while drunk. They don’t really expect any trouble, but would definitely like the Scions to help keep things peaceful. '''Agents Assigned''' * ''Sambethe'', Assistant Director * ''Claude Madden'', Transportation Specialist * ''Aiden Connor'', Messiah * ''Jonathan Davies'', Agent * ''Chiyoko'', Agent * ''Lora Brovik'', The Baroness * ''Vladimir Norstrov'', Agent * ''Riley Bannon'', Bossy Bottom ==[[Aiden Connor]]== ===Initial Impressions=== ''Please describe your initial impressions upon receiving this assignment'' My initial main thought when we first got this assignment was that it would be nice to get to know some other Scions outside of our small group here. Granted, I didn't think that Sarah seemed much like the NAOS group sort, but then again, I wouldn't have pegged Chiyoko or Riley for the NAOS group sort, so I was hoping to be surprised. I figured Brandt could probably be counted on to join more than Sarah, due to his military background. From what I've seen, guys like that tend to want to be on the side of good, and where things stand right now in this place of confusion he's bound to be in so shortly after his visitation, we'd be those working for the greater good who he'd want to join with. The one thing I foresaw as a possible problem was the lack of speechcraft within the group. I mean sure, we'd have Sambethe with us (we thought) but if the Scions within the group look green then that's not going to win over as many others as we could otherwise. ===Events=== ''Please describe the events in this mission, to the best of your recollection'' We arrived in Seattle and started doing some scouting. Based on the infomation we had on Sarah, we figured that Chiyoko would be the best to go and talk with Sarah, maybe see more eye to eye with her. Chiyoko and Vlad stayed with the vehicle at Sarah's place as the rest of us surveyed the area to make sure there weren't any immediate threats, then went on our way around Seattle to kill time until Sambethe and Chiyoko were done talking to Sarah. We figured that having us all walk in as one huge group would be more than a little intimidating. Sarah turned out not to even be at home, and hadn't been there in days apparently. Her roommate was helpful enough, though. While I was out, I found a missing persons poster that had Sarah on it, as well as the person they suspected to be her abductor. We were all a little off-put to find out that her abductor looked like the same person that was tailing Riley and Lora earlier. At that point, we decided that there was definite trouble afoot, somewhere along the lines. Jonathon tried tracking Sarah from her home, which lead us on a bit of a wild goose chase. We drove around for a bit, found a warehouse where she had stayed with some other people. We thoroughly searched the area and couldn't see any indications of a struggle or danger. From there, the trail lead to the airport where we lost her. She'd left days ago. After that, we decided to check into our hotel for the night. After checking in Chiyoko, Riley, and Vlad decided to go explore Seattle a bit and see what the town had to offer as Lora, Jonathon, Sambethe, Claude, and Myself decided to stay at the hotel. Jonathon and I were up late talking in my room when we heard a loud thud and a scream from Lora and Sambethe's room next door. I told Jonathon to take the hallway and that I'd fly around to the balcony to flank whatever trouble there might be, and to cut off as many exits as possible. To say that I was shocked when I saw what was transpiring one room over would be a vast understatement. Inside the room, There was a big wolf creature and Nazis. Now, with coming in to the world of legend, I can understand the existence of the werewolf in the room, but period World War II Nazis in full uniforms with period weapons was more surprising, honestly. I quickly assessed the situation. Jonathon was stuck in the hallway fighting his way through Nazis and wouldn't be any immediate help. The Nazis fired, but couldn't manage to hit me with a single bullet. The beast got a grab on Lora, and I tried to impale him with my spear but just as I was throwing, he threw Lora out the window. I caught her in mid-air, and threw her to the balcony next door so she could make a getaway, but she proceeded to jump back across and get back in battle. The beast then struck Lora and made a lunge to try and bite me. Once I evaded his bite, I saw that we were on losing grounds. Lora summoned her Wolf who distracted the beast while I flew in and got Sambethe and Lora out of the hotel room. I flew down to the ground and set them away from danger just as Riley, Chiyoko, and Vlad showed up. I told Vlad to start tending to the wounded as Riley and Chiyoko jumped up to the room to finish off the beast and Nazis up there. I flew back up to Claude's room to get him out of danger, and I think I saw Chiyoko throw Vlad's giant jackal at someone. I flew Claude back down to the ground, told him to go get the van, and went back up to help the others. As I looked up, I saw Chiyoko throw Riley up in the air, chasing after our Werewolf. I was about halfway up to the roof when I saw Riley go flying off of the roof by what seemed like something delivering a massive blow. Again, what seems like old hat at this point, I caught him in mid-air so he didn't go plummeting to the ground. Chiyoko and Jonathon got down to the ground safely, Lora blew her horn to get her dog back to her, and we drove off to the airport. We had a quick stop in Berlin where we had a rather awkward visit with Shannon Donnelley, due to the unprofessionalism of quite a number of the other Scions present. ''Thank you for noting that, Mr. Connor.'' --Shannon Donnelley, Belfast Fanum Ms. Donnelley had a quick word with Claude, and came back out and held out the cup of St. Brigid. She asked if any of us had any alcohol, which is when I pulled out my flask and she immediately identified it. She had me say a prayer to Brigid after I poured the alcohol, and had me hold the cup from Lora to drink from, which healed her up quite nicely, quite quickly. Almost as soon as she'd drank, Lora was back asleep. Ms. Donnelley said we could keep the cup, of which I was very surprised and thought it was a very generous action. I thanked her, and she was on her way. ''In the interests of honesty, I do feel compelled to'' ''point out that the Board of Directors had decided that'' ''Special Projects should be allowed to retain the Cup'' ''in the wake of the attack in Seattle.'' --Shannon Donnelley, Belfast Fanum We arrived in Germany, and found a nice little bed and breakfast. We started talking to the proprietor there, and found out that she knew a bit about Brandt's family. I posed as a Hammerich family member, and she very quickly opened up to me, and was quite warm. She told me all sorts about the family history, even to the point of knowing indiscretions of Brandt's mother resulting in his conception. After that, we went down to the bar where we knew Brandt and his mother to be. We showed up, bought some drinks, and found the difficulty that not all of us speak German. I saw Brandt in the corner with some friends and approached him. They were playing some darts, and I figured even if I didn't speak the language, I might be able to form some sort of rapport. After a while, Jonathon walked up and bought everyone a round. We tried to broach the subject of why we were there, however with me not speaking the language this made things a bit difficult. Jonathon was moving his way towards getting Brandt off by himself to talk to him when Rikert showed up, who we knew to be the werewolf from the previous night. I tried to talk to him and distract him to give Jonathon some room and some time with Brandt. I was quickly joined by Riley. Some terse words were exchanged, and I asked Rikert to leave because I knew he would try to start some sort of physical conflict, if the events of the previous night were any sort of indicator. He refused, which wasn't unexpected. Once Jonathon had talked to Brandt for a bit, Rikert demanded the same rights and we complied. Chiyoko was sitting at one side of the pub, Vlad at the bar talking to Brandt's mother, Lora at a table by herself. Riley and I sat at a table together, trying to come up with a game plan if things here went sour. To our surprise, Rikert seemed to make friends with Brandt (I couldn't understand what was being said) and they went to leave. Lora approached them both and informed Brandt of Rikert attacking her in her hotel room just the night prior, and yet still, Brandt left with Rikert. As soon as he had done so, other folks in the establishment blocked the exits. I believe Riley left before those men were in place and continued to follow Rikert. I tried to get up and leave, posing as just a regular out-of-town fellow at the establishment, and the person blocking the door kept doing things to persuade me to stay. First he offered to buy me a drink. When I said I was borderline already (which, I assure you was very much not the case) he said that it was illegal to be drunk in public in Germany. I was about to call his bluff on this when Vlad jumped up from his position at the bar and did some sort of flying kick into the sternum of the man blocking the back exit. After that happened, and the men who were blocking our way turned into werewolves themselves, the people inside the pub started panicking and trying to get out. Lora and Jonathon at that point were able to make her way out of the pub as well while Chiyoko, Vlad, and I dealt with the problems inside the pub. We dispatched several of the werewolves there and Chiyoko and Vlad afterwards went after Jonathon, Riley, and Lora. Apparently in all of this, Riley and Rikert had gotten into a bit of a conflict where they ended up knocking one another out. I'm told Lora was the one to deliver the final blow, which I'm still kind of surprised by. I stayed behind, assessing damage done and checked in with the NAOS group to see if there was anything that needed to be taken care of or anything to be gathered. After that, I got into the car (Claude had been in there the entire time) and we drove up the hill to pick up the rest of the group, where they were talking with Reginleif. They finished their conversation, and we were off again towards home. ===Complications=== ''Please describe any unforeseen difficulties that arose, and how the resources of the Naos Group might have better served to prevent or navigate such difficulties'' Werewolves, Nazis, and a Valkyrie, simply put would be the unforeseen difficulties, not to mention the lack of knowledge on Sarah's whereabouts. Honestly, I don't see how we would've been able to put the NAOS group's resources to better use than we had. The one thing I could possibly see is that the NAOS group seems to have some pretty heavy surveillance. Now, I don't know the full extent of the resources there yet, but I think that perhaps using that, we could have had a better idea on the fact that Sarah had been out of Seattle for days by the time we got there, and could have maybe tracked her down. ===Final Thoughts=== ''Please place any final thoughts, including commentary on your co-workers' actions (positive or negative) here'' I'm not quite sure what to think of my Scion co-workers at this point, honestly. It seems sometimes that they lose focus on what or objective is and get wrapped up in other things. Other times, their actions seem absolutely intolerable. I was appalled by the lack of respect shown to Ms. Donnelley in our brief visit. Chiyoko and Riley seem to not understand the concept of basic courtesy in a civilized human interaction, and Vlad started hurling accusations at her that were completely uncalled for. As far as the actual mission objective, I don't know what we really could have done differently. I would have preferred to not start something in the middle of the pub in Germany with all of those innocents around, but that didn't seem destined to happen. I would prefer Riley to not immediately resort to physical action before talking things through. Overall with this group, I think we're in for a wild ride, and I'm really at a loss because I feel things are very much out of my control when it comes to the wellbeing of those around me. I can protect and save and do the right thing for those around me, but it feels like no matter what good I try to do, it's going to be counteracted by the actions of those around me, and I don't know what to do. ==[[Chiyoko]]== ===Initial Impressions=== ''Please describe your initial impressions upon receiving this assignment'' **Transcribed from Audio** *Guitar music in background* Initial Impressions “So first of all, I just wanna go on the record to say that this is baka (translation: “stupid”—Japanese slang term). I haven’t wrote a report since high school and I never thought I’d have to write another of these bitches again. Yea yea I know all you suits and skirts are ready to analyze, categorize and...(pause)…criticize everything you get from us, so I don’t mind being up front and admitting that I really don’t give a fuck. I tell it like it is, hombres, and that’s that. You don’t ever have to worry about wondering what I feel. Ole’ Chiyo is an honest monkey at least. And besides, when I signed up for all this I signed up to kick ass, not sit around a fucking computer all day. Now on the other hand, I think what you Naos yatsura (translation: “dudes”—Japanese slang) are doing is good work. You’re trying to understand and protect yourselves from shit that’s way over your head, and believe me, I’d be doing the same thing. So yea, I’ll do your little report, but don’t look for a fucking Pulitzer Prize winner here. But I ain’t gonna write it, hell no. I’ll just work in the medium I know best, and one of your pencil-pushing lackeys can write it all out if that makes you happy. I think that’s a fair compromise, don’t you?” So my impressions about the mission? I dunno, I guess it was important to get some more scions under our belt, to tell ‘em what the fuck’s going on before they go bonkers or get snatched up by some God-Damned creature of legend or something. I know from experience that “coming out” as the son of a God ain’t no fucking picnic….(a long pause) Anyways, I’ll admit I was a little disappointed, I mean I was ready to stretch the ole muscles and kick some ass against some nasty critters or whatever, but you never know what might happen, so I was cool with it. Just goes to show you what a noob I am! *short burst of music* ===Events=== ''Please describe the events in this mission, to the best of your recollection'' X ===Complications=== ''Please describe any unforeseen difficulties that arose, and how the resources of the Naos Group might have better served to prevent or navigate such difficulties'' X ===Final Thoughts=== ''Please place any final thoughts, including commentary on your co-workers' actions (positive or negative) here'' X ==[[Jonathan Davies]]== ===Initial Impressions=== ''Please describe your initial impressions upon receiving this assignment'' I was of two minds for this. Surely another scion would be the best person to talk to when dealing with such an issue as this. But, we're babes in the woods ourselves, not even two weeks old in some cases. What experience could we possibly use to gain an advantage? ===Events=== ''Please describe the events in this mission, to the best of your recollection'' We were able to speak to Sarah's roommate. She gave us some clues but nothing really solid. I was able to find Sarah's cell phone number. I left her a message but have not heard back. We were able to track her down to an abandoned building where she and some friends(?) spent the night. From there though, her tracks literally vanished into the Eastern winds. Upon reaching the hotel we were set upon by Nazis and a werewolf. Half of the team was out at first but arrived later in the battle. Teamwork seemed natural but communication was a bit lacking. I really like my teammates but it's hard after so many years of being the head honcho in the boardroom to really treat them as equals (and in many cases, especially combat, as superiors). The battle ended with what we've now come to realize was a Valkyrie named Reginleif saving her werewolf companion Richert and beating a hasty retreat. ''We have updated Reginleif's profile in the Vajra Archive,'' ''and made that profile available to the Special Projects Team.'' ''We have also added Rikert to the Known Werewolves profile in the'' ''Archive as well.'' --Dr. McMurtry, San Francisco Fanum East from Seattle is a pretty vague point of reference but I'm not used to seeing nothing for hard work and I want to prove myself to the team (as well as push my own limits to know what I'm capable of now) so I spoke with the injured Sambethe (now destined to return to San Francisco). She loaned me her laptop which has access to something called the Adamantium Archives. I was looking for any kind of related relic or reason Sarah might travel to the roots of Hel's mythology. I was and still am, unsuccessful at finding Sarah. ''A note: They're called the Adamant Archives.'' ''Adamantium is what Wolverine's claws are made of.'' --Kelly Rollinson, NY Fanum We continued on to Germany. Shortly after arriving and learning about Brandt's family and a bit of the town's history we found him in the local pub. Vladimir approached his mother to speak to her. Laura performed reconnaissance while Aiden and myself went to speak to Brandt. Chiyoko and Riley secured the perimeter and also performed recon. Trying to find a way to discretely say "Wow, you're a scion?! I'm one too!" is quite difficult. Our flailing attempts at talking to Brandt were cut short by the appearance of Richert. I quickly managed to pull Brandt aside and simply and directly say .. well, that. He was a bit taken aback by my abruptness I think but I wanted to be as "un hostile" (is that a word?) as possible. Richert, as well as certain .. short tempered party members were not about to back down however. The mounting feeling of frustration I was dealing with (being that of how to deal with my team mates, not finding Sarah, Sambethe being near fatally wounded, et cetera) became a bit too much for me and now I had to face the distinct possibility we were going to lose Brandt because of our inexperience and (frankly) ineptitude at being ourselves... or, more succinctly, what we are. Now, I'm no stranger to science fiction and fantasy. It's a great deal of what I do for a living. But it blew my mind when we began fighting werewolves IN BROAD DAYLIGHT in the MIDDLE OF THE STREET. Doesn't that like, break the Camarilla or something? Isn't there a code here? By the time I could think of anything to do, the situation was under control by my far better teammates. Richert was dead. I ran after Brandt, now heading up to the Schloss. It appeared we were making headway with him (especially Laura) but Reginleif appeared and commanded attention. It always seems like the right thing to do, you're on the right side, if you back down and give the focal person the time to think things through. Truth and justice and light and the goddamned American way are on your side, right? Well. I haven't heard from Brandt either. ''At the risk of coming across as overly sensitive to American jingoism,'' ''perhaps it is this very adherence to "the American way" that drove the'' ''young German man into the arms of someone who sang the glories of their'' ''Fatherland. An observation, rather than a criticism.'' -- Sajid Makram Sulimani, Makkah Fanum ===Complications=== ''Please describe any unforeseen difficulties that arose, and how the resources of the Naos Group might have better served to prevent or navigate such difficulties'' Well, the entire presence of Reginleif and her cohorts were completely surprising and unexpected. I suppose though that it was our naiveté not to expect opposition. Maybe we were just expecting "Scions vs. Titanspawn" and not an all out WWE brawl of thirty "cage match of doom". Sorry. I'm exaggerating. I honestly believe, given the failure of our recruitment, that on future missions of this type the Scions presence are definitely needed to protect the more experienced NAOS group member who will then engage the newly developed scion. Therefore, I believe Sambethe (as well as all NAOS group members) should be fitted with kevlar vests (which I'd be happy to look in to funding if needed) and our focus should be simply to protect her and use our abilities to assist the field agent as best as possible. ''At this point, I should probably annotate our purposes here.'' ''My goal with this assignment was to give our Agents some measure'' ''of field experience. You did not fail, Jonathan. You were not'' ''the only Scions we approached. Sometimes, they're interested'' ''in our offers. In our experience, most are not. Furthermore,'' ''each and every one of you were unaccustomed to the sort of'' ''strange demands that these sorts of missions can bring, and'' ''you even carried through with the second half of the mission'' ''without the guidance of Sambethe - who was the one doing the'' ''actual recruiting. I would say that given all of this, you have'' ''nothing to be ashamed of, and quite a lot to be proud of.'' --Alfonso de Valencia, Special Projects Team Director ===Final Thoughts=== ''Please place any final thoughts, including commentary on your co-workers' actions (positive or negative) here'' Looking back over the case notes we might still be able to search for Sarah. One distinctly overlooked point is that of the graveyard. Whose grave was she visiting (and possibly talking to) and does that person have any connection with a destination that might be east of the city. Honestly I am impressed with almost every single one of my teammates. They show extraordinary skill at what they do. I am though, worried, about Riley and Vladimir. Riley tends to get himself into an extreme amount of physical danger and Vladimir seems to do the same but with his mouth. But who am I to judge? Maybe I'm still coming to grips with my ..im?.. mortality? and exactly what I can do. These are guys who probably have FAR different life experiences and can therefore better judge what they can and cannot back up what they purport to do. Maybe I wish they'd just be a little more tactful. ''I can vouch for this assessment of Riley's character. I have similar concerns.'' -- Dr. McMurtry, San Francisco Fanum I don't think I'm very well liked by the group. I'm probably not the easiest guy to understand. I know I'm still having problems understanding what I'm supposed to be now. I don't want to be another lame comic book superhero dealing with some bullshit angst but at the same time "To thine own self be true" is a statement I firmly believe in. I don't think there are many more ways I could possibly be different from who I was a month ago than what's happened now. See? I'm getting all angsty again. Point blank my co-workers are my role models now. They are the ideals I created when developing my life's work and now seeing them in the flesh I can't help but be awed by them. ==[[Lora Brovik]]== ===Initial Impressions=== ''Please describe your initial impressions upon receiving this assignment'' The mission assignment itself didn't really leave me with any impression good or bad. It was just a relatively simple job to do, or so I thought at the time. I was thinking that it would be just like when the Naos group approached each of us, only this time it's a group of people rather than an individual and this group happens to primarily made up of other scions who can relate (and react if necessary). ''That was certainly my intention. I had no idea just how strange things'' ''have gotten in the world, apparently. None of us did. I don't think'' ''we'll be making that sort of mistake again.'' --Alfonso de Valencia, Special Projects Team Director So I thought that we'd just pop into Seattle, analyze the situation, approach Sarah and introduce ourselves and offer our friendship and the Naos group as an ally or employer if interested. Rinse and repeat in Germany with Brandt. Unfortunately, both Seattle and Germany did not turn out to be so simple. I think "simple" was an aspect of my life before the talking squirrel happened that I'll never know again. ===Events=== ''Please describe the events in this mission, to the best of your recollection'' We flew into Seattle and chose to immediately tackle the Sarah situation. We went to her home and while Sambethe and Chiyoko approached the house, most of us mingled into the scene around the house, myself walking Ludwig, Aiden & Jon wandering down the street a distance and Vlad...sitting on top of our van...very natural like and not sticking out at all. From what I picked up when we regrouped, Sambethe, Chiyo & later Vlad had spoken with Sarah's roommate and learned that Sarah had vanished but had been seen in the company of another man, who we later identified (with the aid of Sarah's missing persons flier) as the guy who was following Riley and myself in San Francisco the previous day, his name is Rikert. We did a bit of tracking and found that she and someone else had stayed in a warehouse and then the train vanished. We did figure out that she was more than likely the daughter of the Norse goddess Hel. That night our hotel was attacked. Someone was at the door to Sambethe and my room and she went to investigate, suddenly our door was destroyed and Sambethe attacked and cast aside on the floor. It was Rikert, but not as we'd seen him before - he was a werewolf. Rikert jumped at me, but I was wrapped up in my blankets and unable to move fast enough before he had landed on top of me, pinning me to the bed. So I did the only thing I could do, I screamed. I knew Aiden & Jon were next door still as they had not gone out with the others to a club. Then the world went mad. I heard and saw the flashes of gunfire from outside our door and could hear Jon and Aiden. Rikert was off of me and I blew my horn, transforming Ludwig into Sverð and joined the fight with Rikert and Aiden who had appeared from the balcony. Things turned ugly fast, I had been terribly injured by Rikert and saved from a very nasty fall when he threw me off the balcony by Aiden. Jon & Aiden had also taken out most of the...Nazis who were attacking us. Ludwig had grabbed onto Rikert's leg and held him while Aiden flew me and Sambethe to safety in an alley below. Chiyo, Riley & Vlad were returning and saw us. Vlad raced to assist Sambethe while Riley went after Rikert who had just lept up onto the roof of the building and saw Rikert escaping with a flying wolf riding woman we later would know as Reginleif. She popped him off the building top with a relic spear and they flew away. ''My God. This is...this is beyond the pale. Is this really the sort'' ''of situation we should be sending our agents into?'' --Eduwart Van Der Vlucht, Cape Town Fanum ''I warned you - all of you. This Special Projects idea is going'' ''to involve us in this kind of thing more and more frequently.'' ''We'd damn well better make sure it's what we want.'' --Kelley Rollinson, New York Fanum I spent most of the next part of our trip sleeping. I was having difficulty thinking clearly and it hurt a lot. But I felt that I might be able to provide some help regardless. We stopped off and met the very kind Shannon Donnelley who presented us with a magical healing cup that Aiden used to patch up some of the worst Rikert had done to me. I'm still a bit in awe of these things, I've seen them work, I have and use them myself, but it's just so unreal. Not for the first time and far from the last time I felt that I had stumbled into a role playing game. She left the cup with us, very nice indeed of them, especially barely knowing us at this point, and we went on to where Brandt was. We rather quickly tracked him to a pub and made our way in in small groups. Not everyone spoke German and most of the talking had been left to Aiden, Riley & Jon. Vlad made conversation with the woman at the bar who spoke English while Chiyo began to play her guitar. I just blended in, a talent I picked up from school and living with my family where being able to be invisible was very useful. So I grabbed a seat, was given a beer, and absorbed the room. Brandt was speaking with the boys already when of all people, Rikert walked into the bar. Under the table I went. He spoke with everyone, crap about master races and stupid supremacy and other Nazi dogma that I though surely had died out by now. Brandt, Aiden, Rikert and everyone else who could speak German were having a back & forth on the matter of who was right or good or worthy, etc and I decided that I wanted to throw my own two coppers into the mix, throw some doubt on Rikert's shiny words. So I got up and joined them, demanding to know why he had tried to murder me in my sleep. Rikert kept using the Nazi propaganda to lure him, equating his divine birthright, son of Thor it turns out, to lure him in, that we were weak due to our bloodlines, etc - and I reminded him that I was the daughter of Heimdall, the same blood. Again, this seemed to bother Brandt. Well, doubt was cast on Rikert, but his argument was apparently most intriguing as Brandt went with him. I vigil branded him as he left. Riley followed and then suddenly some bar patrons took up positions blocking both exits. I had sent a text warning out to everyone and then Aiden & I were headed to one of the doors to try and finesse our way out before Riley did something rash without backup. Vlad beat even Riley to the punch when he suddenly took it upon himself to run and jump kick the guy at the other exit. And chaos ensued. The guys at each door were, of course, more werewolves. I slipped past one and was out the door while the others took care of the situation inside. Riley & Rikert were fighting in the street and Jon racing off after Brandt in the distance towards a castle were we had learned Reginleif was waiting. Riley & Rikert dropped each other as I approached. They were both still breathing. Filled with righteous anger at this bastard who had tried to kill us before, I stuck my gun into his mouth and removed the top of his head. The bar situation was handled and most of us ran after Brandt and Jon where we all encountered Reginleif. She ultimately convinced Brandt to go with her. After speaking with her, we had discovered a few things. While she may have similar goals as us, she goes about them very differently. I feel that she is on a bit of a high horse (or wolf) and is only concerned with creatures of legends, gods and their kin. She doesn't seem concerned with everyone else. While we could be allies, her foolish short sightedness prevents her from accepting help from those she feels beneath her. And she said something else that struck me - when Rikert was accused of attacking a little girl, she snorted and stated that I was the daughter of Heimdall, that I could not be both that and a little girl. She's right. I'm not just a little girl anymore, I AM the daughter of Heimdall, the daughter of a god and it's time that I start living up to that. My father is a guardian and protector and so am I. ===Complications=== ''Please describe any unforeseen difficulties that arose, and how the resources of the Naos Group might have better served to prevent or navigate such difficulties'' There were numerous complications, surprise attacks, cold trails, injury, Nazis, bitches with spears and werewolves, but none that the Naos Group would have been able to prepare us for any more than they had already done. They provided us with the tools and personnel we needed in order to pursue our mission. I have no complaints and only regret that we failed to accomplish either of the tasks we had been sent to perform, though I feel we did bring back some invaluable information that may prove quite useful in the future. ===Final Thoughts=== ''Please place any final thoughts, including commentary on your co-workers' actions (positive or negative) here'' Hm... I feel that each of us has different strengths that we bring forth, though sometimes they are not coordinated as well as they could be. But we are learning about our own capabilities as well as each others. Some of us are a little more hot headed than others and some are somewhat more...awkward. I admit, I've always been somewhat meek in the past, something I need to get over, but it can be a difficult transition jumping directly from mundane life into what sometimes feels like a comic book. And there is just so much out there than we do not know of and thus we enter situations with little ability to prepare ourselves. Yes, now I'm going to carry a clip of silver bullets, but I had no idea to do so before. ''You should probably be aware, then, that silver bullets aren't the'' ''best thing for firing at a target that you wish to drop. They hold'' ''their shape better than other bullets, being durable enough to'' ''resist fragmenting when fired. As a result, they also tend to not'' ''fragment when impacting a target - generally, they strike a target'' ''and keep right on going. They are very accurate, however.'' --Shannon Donnelley, Belfast Fanum And what next? Evil pixies? Should I start carrying rounds of cold iron? ..hmm...mental note: investigate cold iron bullet manufacturing. ==[[Vladimir Norstrov]]== ===Initial Impressions=== This sounds like the Naos group is just scared. They saw what we can do or what some of us can do. It's kinda like they twitched a little in their collective minds. This won't be a bad thing if we convince those two, but i don't know if i could take a punch with super strength. I think things are being hidden from us and we don't know everything, man i hate that feeling. oh well, might as well go I'll just kinda watch the others hit things if it gets bad, i just don't want in the middle. We need better reconnaissance for stuff like this. ''Scared? You're damned right we're scared, boyo. And let me tell you why.'' ''So far, we've seen people who have nothing going for them other than'' ''the fact that one of their parents fucked a god being given the kinds'' ''of power that should classify you as Weapons of Mass Destruction. There'' ''are Scions in the world - including at least one in our own Special'' ''Projects team - who don't hesitate to respond to the slightest provocation'' ''with obscene levels of ultra-violence. Anyone who isn't scared - including'' ''those of you who are Scions, too - is either stupid, or not paying attention.'' -- Antoine Rigaud, New Orleans Fanum ''Antoine - a little less confrontational, if you please. Keep this professional.'' -- Eduwart van der Vlucht, Cape Town Fanum ===Events=== ''Please describe the events in this mission, to the best of your recollection'' We arrived in Seattle and started looking for Sarah, we went over to her house and decided that Chiyoko would be a good choice; not entirely sure if the chick talking to dead people is gonna befriend someone as "unique" as Chiyoko. Chiyoko and Sambethe went inside to talk her. I decided to stay off the ground if she fought zombies and sat on the roof of the van. After a little while i followed her roommate to the coffee shop and back. While we were gone Lora looked through her room and i find out about the relics she may posses. We left and followed something Jonathan was looking at to a warehouse where it seemed like Sarah had stayed. We went back to the hotel and Me, Chiyoko, and Riley went out. I convinced Chiyoko to leave early and we started back to the hotel at about 2am. When we were nearing the hotel we noticed Aiden carrying two heavily bleeding people to the alley. we got out of the cab i ran to see if i could help the bleeders and sent Hiaty with Chiyoko. I stabilized Sambethe and stitched up Lora the little bit she needed. After this we took Sambethe and left the area. The next day we left for Germany. We stopped to refuel and received an item from one of the other fanums for healing. When we arrived in Germany we traveled to the town where Brandt lived and got the woman at the inn to disclose too much information. We found out he would be at the bar and left for it promptly in two different cars to avoid suspicion. When we got there we entered and i took a seat in front of the woman i presumed to be his mother while the others cavorted about in german with the locals and Brandt. After a while Chiyoko and the others entered the bar and took seats around the place. I was having an intriguing conversation with Brandt's mother about her life and his childhood. I noticed the skinny guy that turns into a werewolf walk into the bar and everyone perked up. Some of them walked towards him and others, including me, maintained there spots. After that prolonged conversation in another language, the skinny guy and Brandt sat down at a table and had a discussion. Half way thru the discussion i receive a text that says be wary but nothing explaining it. The conversation ended and they left the bar, although i did get the mother to almost take a stand, and three men blocked the exits and wouldn't let us leave. I panicked a little and wanted to get outside so i kicked the man blocking my door in the chest lightly, so as not to injure him too badly. Shit hit the fan at this point and people in the bar started panicking when someone pulled the fire alarm. The man i kicked turned into a werewolf and i fought him while Chiyoko and Aiden took care of the other one. When the fight ended we were all running up to the castle where we met with Reginleif and Brandt and discussed who she was and what she was doing. After that we left without Brandt. ===Complications=== ''Please describe any unforeseen difficulties that arose, and how the resources of the Naos Group might have better served to prevent or navigate such difficulties'' A lot of blood, a lot of werewolves, some Nazis, and some guy stopped the mom i sent to scold her son. We need better weapons or at least more of them and some more reconnaissance would be nice. We need the ability to heal, but one of the other fanums has taken care of that. other than that maybe a relaxing spa in the hotel. ===Final Thoughts=== ''Please place any final thoughts, including commentary on your co-workers' actions (positive or negative) here'' We didn't get the scions we wanted, thats lame. I kicked a werewolf in the chest which was cool, but he was a bystander first and that was bad. Jonathan has no tact and i'm still working on mine. Riley is a little violent and i'm worried Lora is going the same route. We should never split up again this winds up badly. Aiden and Chiyoko make a very weird pair, appropriate but strange none the less. I'm happy Sambethe is alive as well. ''As are we all, Vladimir. Thank you for tending to her wounds as quickly'' ''and ably as you did. I'm in your debt, professionally and personally.'' --Alfonso de Valencia, Special Projects Team Director ==[[Riley Bannon]]== ===Initial Impressions=== ''Please describe your initial impressions upon receiving this assignment'' Typical military-type assignment... "Go do this task. Don't worry about the details, we got that covered. We have no idea what you should expect when you get there. Here's a gun, here are some bullets... stay alive and complete the mission with as few friendly-fire casualties as possible." ''Is this a joke of some kind? Please tell me that this was'' ''not presented as a military endeavor of some sort. I was'' ''afraid that this kind of thing would happen with this project!'' -- Sajid Makram Sulimani, Makkah Fanum ''Do keep in mind the personal perspective of the person giving'' ''the report. Narrative bias is present.'' -- Dr. Shannon Donnelley, Belfast Fanum ===Events=== ''Please describe the events in this mission, to the best of your recollection'' Again typical government/military/political mission... An Entry-and-Recovery mission becomes Wet Works due to lack of planning or advanced reconnoissance. We go to Seattle to find another of us godspawns, named Sarah... mostly just a meet & greet with no beat. The mark turns up missing. During some scouting, Lora and I spot a tail, lose him and produce some photographs of him, who later turns out to be the only lead in the disappearance of the girl we are here to meet. After some magic thingy Jonathan does to find the girl's movement (pretty handy I must admit), it ends up being a cold trail and the girl had flown the coop, literally. So that night, since we weren't leaving until the morning, some of us go out for drinks and entertainment. When we get back, we see one of our team flying from a window of the hotel, holding some wounded members. Leaping through the window... I get my first one-on-one with a fuckin' werewolf (I kid you not). He had a bunch of Nazi lackeys who didn't realize they lost the war a few decades ago... or did, and were still really pissed about it. The team got a lot of slices and whacks at the baddies and recovered the wounded. For all the huff-puff-blow-your-house-down bravado of the werewolf, he couldn't take a couple bullets from me before he tried to run for it. And if not for that Nazi bitch with the spear, he would have had his comeupance that first night... But Fido would get his. We then fly to Germany (best place to hunt Nazis I hear), and in route meet a woman from another Naos office who seems to have a real issue with the fact that we aren't prim and proper and wearing leashes like good little super-powered pets. But we got a healing mug out of it and she didn't stay long. Lora was tended to and we got to Germany. So we were there to find another godspawn, Brandt. And wouldn't ya know it... Fido shows up too in his human costume but without Nazi-Bitch to protect him. I prefered to just fire a few slugs in his skull but I understood discretion was an advantage around unaware normals (I think Chiyoko is rubbin' off on me)... so we let him have his say to Brandt... and I followed them out the door. Of course, he taunts me so we go at it, him all claws and teeth, me with my big honkin' sword. I mean come on, saying I couldn't take him without my guns.. he provoked me, so he deserved what came to him... what am I gonna do? back down?? hehe, that's a good one. Well then the Nazi-Bitch pulls a twist and doesn't want to fight us. Dropping her spear and all... damn that, but I am not gonna shoot an unarmed opponent, even of the uber-godlike variety. The worst thing about this was that she made some sense in a warped white-supremacy sort of way. ''This isn't the first time that we have note of Reginleif's persuasive'' ''methods. She is undoubtedly drawing on Legendary power for this'' ''kind of effect. We should attach a warning to her profile.'' -- Nethele Odenathus, Athens Fanum So the Brandt guy wanders off with her to decide for himself who he wants to fight for... and I can't say I blame him... I wonder pretty often exactly what we are fighting for. So we head back to San Francisco and I do a little snooping of the Naos group. Most seems up-and-up, which certainly doesn't help me in my pursuit of answers. ===Complications=== ''Please describe any unforeseen difficulties that arose, and how the resources of the Naos Group might have better served to prevent or navigate such difficulties'' Complications? Man, that's an understatement... the whole mission was one large complication. But hey, I am not complaining, I got to face off with a werewolf and a vengeful flight-of-the-valkyrie chick... We lost both scion contacts and almost got Sambethe, Lora and (hell, I will admit it) myself killed. We walked in blind and walked out with little more than a bunch of bruises and even more questions. The biggest complication is now knowing there are other forces involved in this apocalyptic showdown between us godspawn and the titanspawn. Gladius may prove very formidable, but not much is known about them now. And this Nazi party... if the woman... umm whats her name? Reagan Leaf?... well if she is a sign of their strength, I want my god-dad to toss me a magical tank or aircraft carrier or something. ===Final Thoughts=== ''Please place any final thoughts, including commentary on your co-workers' actions (positive or negative) here'' The team is pretty laughable... not saying that in some horrible way... but we can't seem to work together until the bullets and swords start flying. I know, I know... I am the worst one... but ya know if someone would just take charge (other than some normal human who can't be there on the front line with us... ''He's right, you know. Alfonso, you may be acting'' ''as Director, but I highly suggest that you do some'' ''internal apportioning of authority and responsibility'' ''among the Special Team Agents themselves. We clearly'' ''cannot afford to have them run around half-cocked'' ''and without guidance all the time.'' -- Antoine Rigaud, New Orleans Fanum ''Agreed. I'll speak to the team about this.'' -- Alfonso de Valencia, Special Projects Team Director Sambethe is a prime example of that, poor human pincushion), and know how to lead us using out strengths, they may be surprised at how I step in line... I am a military man after all, but I haven't been brainwashed enough to take a poorly-planned order. Until someone proves themselves as a competent leader, I will let my guns lead my decisions... they seem to be the only thing people are willing to listen to in this god-induced insanity. Plus... *evil grin*... let's just say I like to test the limits of my leash before someone starts tugging at it. And once they start tugging, they best have the balls to hold on tight.

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