Mission Briefing Ep2
April 12th, 2007
Mission Summary
- The Special Projects Team is to investigate the township of Spotsylvania, PA, where it is suspected that a spectral manifestation similar to that which claimed the population of Shiloh, TN, will occur on the night of April 27th.
Mission Details
- Recently, historical and cultural sites where a large number of deaths occurred have been host to various strange spectral phenomena. The Board of Directors suspects that Spotsylvania is likely to be one such location, and have asked the Special Projects Team to look into it, to see if causes can be determined. At the absolute least, they are to try and prevent undue loss of life.
Agents Assigned
- Claude Madden, Transportation Specialist
- Aiden Connor, Agent
- Jonathan Davies, Agent
- Chiyoko, Agent
- Lora Brovik, Agent
- Vladimir Norstrov, Agent
- Riley Bannon, Agent
Aiden Connor
Initial Impressions
Please describe your initial impressions upon receiving this assignment
The mission made perfect sense, and fell in line directly with what we were currently working on, so I found myself going along without hesitation whatsoever. We needed to see what was going on, and protect as many innocent people as possible, simple as that.
Events
Please describe the events in this mission, to the best of your recollection
We got into Spotsylvania, and hit the ground running. We all did our own part in the investigation. With the knowledge previously given to us by the NAOS group, we started researching other things of import in the town and speaking to the locals who had been there all their lives, obviously taking quite a great deal of pride in what their modest ville had to offer. We started piecing together where we thought things might start to bad first, due to historical recounts of prior violence and death, and began forming a strategy based on what information we DID have.
It was at about that point when we started hearing noise about another person who recently came into the area who was asking about the same kind of things we were, and was obviously not someone who would usually pay attention to small town life out there. After a little research, we found out where she was staying and where her usual whereabouts were in the city during the day. I also found out that she was definitely a creature of legend, quite possibly a scion in her own right. Based on what we'd found out about her, we decided to send her a formal invitation to dinner, professionals to professional, about what was going on in this locale.
The cards were entirely all in her hands. She had an idea of what was going on and who we were before we even sat down at the table with her, and had apparently been purposefully planting herself in public places so we would see her because she was curious to see what our reaction would be. She was glad that we took the upfront approach in meeting with her. This is the woman who ended up being The Capa of the Underworld, as well as the Scion of Hades. Prior to this knowledge, we decided it would be best if only a couple of us went to speak with her, as to not overwhelm her with six Scions showing up to say hello. We ended up having Vlad and myself go as representatives not of just the NAOS group, but also as the group of us being Scions who work together in the world of legend.
We then started discussing a game plan, pooling our respective knowledge together. She felt that it was a distinct possibility that what happened in Shiloh could easily happen here but couldn't say for sure. She also let us in on the fact that she was also trying to find Cerebus, as he had gone missing and could very possibly pop up with one of these spiritual disturbances. Such a wonderful, comforting thought. We all three agreed that it would be best to try to get as many people as we could out of the area to avoid a mass slaughter or disappearance like had happened in other cities, so she invited us back to her place (The entire group) to discuss a game plan in a more private setting.
We all discussed logistics of what would work best and sound most feasible in such a short notice, and after much debating, we came to a conclusion as to what we should do. She would use her connections she had, and we would use our sudden arrival in the city and asking questions to our advantage. To protect the people of Spotsylvania, we staged a terrorist attack warning on the town. We all played our parts to make this seem as real as possible, including taking some liberties with the local radio and television waves, and it worked exceedingly well. For the ones who didn't just up and leave, we visited them individually and convinced them that it would be for the best.
During our conversations with The Capa, she was very firm about not making alliances with the NAOS group. She wanted to collaborate on this one endeavor, but she didn't want us to be linked by other members of the world of legend, which was just plum dandy by us. The only problem with that was that she felt that others would see us as having an alliance if she gave us much information, so she directed us to Amsterdam to someone who could fill us in more clearly about what was going on with all these disturbances, and what we as Scions could expect from the World of Legend.
By the time the disturbance came, all of the town's inhabitants had up and vamoosed. The actual disturbance itself turned out to be nothing more than one of the other mild disturbances happening around the world, though I think this was in part to the fact that the spirits didn't have any mortals to interact with. Things went quietly and smoothly, the disturbance ran it's course, and things ended up being just fine.
Once things were wrapped up in Spotsylvania, we hopped a flight to Amsterdam. Got there, checked into our hotel, and started hitting the streets, trying to find the contact that The Capa gave us, as per the information she'd given us and our instructions on where to find him. After a bit of following leads, we get a message saying that someone at the hotel is waiting to speak with us, which we assume to fall in line quite well with what we're there for, and figure that The Capa may have sent word ahead or something.
We all get back to the hotel, and we sit down with her in the bar, where she's already seated and waiting for us. We start conversation off with smaller chit chat, then move into our questions about how to meet up with our contact and what's going on. She feeds us a bunch of information of the things we'd like to hear which would have been peachy for her, had it not been for Vlad's impeccable judge of character. Vlad secretly brings to my attention that most of the things she's been saying are lies, including questions asked at point blank with yes or no answers. We call her on her bluff and she is caught very off guard. She apologizes profusely, explains herself, and offers amends for what she did while we're waiting for our contact, who she's familiar with and will talk to for us.
Apology accepted and things explained to a respectable extend, we take her up on her offer, which ends up being an invitation to a club called The Lady in the Mirror, which she claims is neutral ground and she has used it as a meeting place for our contact several times in the past. We get there, and things are a bit... more free than they would be back in the states, though being that it's ANYWHERE in Europe, that's not really surprising. We killed some time in the club while waiting for her to set up the meeting. We all decided to do what we thought was most prudent at the time. Chiyoko decided that he was going to enjoy himself for the time being, and with his high-tolerance to pretty much everything ever, I saw nothing wrong with this. I asked Lora to take lots of photos if she could of what we were making out to be key players, just in case. We eventually got an invite to the upstairs portion of the club, which was more secluded for our meeting.
And, just like the history of everything we've ever done, it ends up being a trap. Our supposed hostess turns out to be a gorgon who apparently has this big grudge and problem with Riley (No offense Riley, but that's not all so surprising), and then she summons up two basilisks... are we seriously going to have to go through this most every time? She has a perfume bottle she sprays herself with that seems to be a basilisk-repellent, as it were, though it got knocked out of her hands before we could make good use of it ourselves. Long story short, Lora and I make quick work of the gorgon and we struggle against the two basilisks but come out on top at the end. No one got really hurt during battle, except for Riley which really, makes a whole lot of sense considering that that's who she was there for.
After all the confrontation, seemingly with perfect timing, others show up to help us who are ACTUAL representatives of our contact. They take us to his establishment, and we end up meeting him, as well as Zoe. He and a few others speak to us and fill us in on what's going on in the world of legend and why these disturbances are happening. We find out that there's not a whole lot we can actually do to stop any of them from happening, but that they should be done running their course soon. With information gathered up, we grab our things, and head 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
-We really need some sort of coaching or base-line script on how to approach other Scions without coming across as... well... I suppose quirky at best. There's always a lot of awkwardness on how to broach the topic without making the other party completely skittish, or in the case of our last mission, how to broach the topic without showing that we have a lot less knowledge and experience than they do about a current state of affairs.
-We need to stop meeting people in places on their terms. It's always a trap.
Final Thoughts
Please place any final thoughts, including commentary on your co-workers' actions (positive or negative) here
After this mission, I know there's a lot more at play here than we possibly could have imagined in the first place. There seem to be alliances all over the place, judgments on people based on where they stand on said alliances, and it's still a lot to take in. It feels like we may be ruffling a few feathers, though we have no idea who's feathers or why our actions are ruffling them. I feel that we're running from a place of ignorance, in comparison to the other groups out there, and that if the NAOS group possibly has more information about relations in the World of Legend in general, this would be a good time to make those things accessible for consumption before we really step on someone's toes and find ourselves in way over our heads with trouble.
Chiyoko
Initial Impressions
Please describe your initial impressions upon receiving this assignment
X
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
As my fellow team members will/should tell you, this assignment seemed like it was exactly what we should be doing. Of course, that could be some type of extension a psychiatrist might categorize as some type of "Superhero Syndrome". In any event, it felt good to further test our still-newborn legs with a bit more preparation and background information in a situation where we could do some good and save some lives.
Events
Please describe the events in this mission, to the best of your recollection
Upon arriving in Spotsylvania we began researching probable locations of disturbance and specific targets. Shortly after arriving we started hearing about someone else in the town asking questions along our line of preparations. Trying to find out information about her seemed to be rather difficult so in the end we decided to just take a direct approach. It was quite refreshing actually and it ended up serving us well (finally).
It turned out to be the Capa of the Underworld. In the end we seemed to have similar goals and she was actually quite pleasant to deal with. Given the nature of her organization and the correlation that might be widely accepted to that of mortal society it was also pleasing to me that we worked in tandem with very little ground being given or even asked for; no 'favors' exchanged as I seem to recall. This greatly pleases me personally as, frankly, I might be one with certain skills and abilities beyond those of others yet I am still not completely familiar with the years of scheming and preparation others of both Godly and mortal blood may have over me. (Please, I only add that in faith and candor. I feel that my work with the NAOS group is - while still needing a great deal of more-than-fine tuning - advancing cohesion.)
We decided an 'epic distraction' in a "War of the Worlds" manner would be the best way to vacate the town as quickly as we needed. Without spreading the information past the confines of the space we needed (so as not to create a regional/national state of panic) we executed the plan and were entirely successful without incident. Based on our temporary alliance with the Capa with regards to promising assistance (in just that scenario) should Cerberus appear, she in turn offered us some contact information in Amsterdam regarding the Norse pantheon section of the World of Legend.
Once the situation wrapped up in Virginia we immediately boarded a plane to Amsterdam. I was still a little skittish about this contact I must confess, as it came from the World of Legend's mafia. Being on our guard proved prudent as we overcame an unexpected trap from a supposed envoy of our contact. Once the battle was won and the real emissaries were encountered we quickly got underway and on track with the true contact, a Mr. Asboom.
Mr. Asboom provides us a meeting with the Aquarians and a new ally (Welcome Zoe). Among other bits of information that is shared with us is that more than likely the next town that will experience such a phenomenon is in the Renne valley of France. (I need to confer with my teammates as to the accuracy of that data however. I felt it was rude at the time to be typing away on my laptop while being addressed by The Aquarians.)
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
I think Aiden has a good point about developing our skills at approaching other Scions and other "Creatures of Legend" in general. I believe that we're making progress on that front though, and through time and experience we will know better how to handle situations. It appears to me that what makes the encounters so difficult is that when you're addressing a new Scion their immediate response is to think, "What do they want out of me?" so trying to simply speak respectfully, honestly and directly comes of as being "quirky". Frankly until recently I've felt like a child trying to recruit adults into "doing the right thing" and it seems naive at best. With more experience and a reputation of our own developing, I believe these interactions will become easier in time.
I think our biggest complication to date is working together as a team. Again though, I believe we're making some rather good progress on that. We're learning each other's goals and strengths and weaknesses quite well. I think the inherent difficult we're dealing with now is that each of us as individuals has been "awakened" with our own sets of abilities and skills and as such we end up accomplishing a goal but then have issues "cleaning up" the ... ... denouement once the action has been resolved. Many times a specific enemy in battle will do something that affects us all and instead of divvying up the battle to end "in step" we'll all turn our focus on that one enemy which generally leads us to a bit of overkill followed by a period of re-examination. To me it seems our teamwork could flow a little better if we had some better tactics.
Final Thoughts
Please place any final thoughts, including commentary on your co-workers' actions (positive or negative) here
While again I agree completely with Aiden I also feel that discovering these alliances and protocols (if you will) would be best discovered by ourselves as we continue. At the time of this writing we've been on one other mission that I feel we did exceedingly well with in regards to throwing/keeping our allegiances. While I certainly would like to hear what the NAOS group has to say about other groups I think that in good faith the organization may not be fully aware of every group out there and/or their temperament toward any given group.
It's at this point I personally would like to visit each fanum as a means of introducing myself (as time permits) and deepening the relationship and trust I hope to build upon before looking outside my own backyard for what's beyond the rainbow. Kansas and Heimdall puns intended.
Lora Brovik
Initial Impressions
Please describe your initial impressions upon receiving this assignment
X
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
Vladimir Norstrov
Initial Impressions
Please describe your initial impressions upon receiving this assignment
X
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
Riley Bannon
Initial Impressions
Please describe your initial impressions upon receiving this assignment
X
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
