"I'm a data analyst for hire. I've commanded before, and can do it again." Carl glanced to Gabby. If she wanted to bust him down, he'd have no objection to it. "I'm all on board with a plan. But I'm going to have a lot of questions we will need answered before we act on any plan."

"My first question is where exactly is this Nxla, and what do we know about its base of operations?" He knew it was through a Rift, but that was just a likely presumption as of now.

When Athena asked who was the leader of their group, his first reaction was to snort in amusement. Clearly she had no idea that what she was talking to was a collection of random individuals and not a cohesive group. He didn’t fault her for that though as she had only just met them. Kahlvyn thought that Rodrigo’s answer, that Carl is ‘their CO’, interesting. It added more weight to his suspicion that Carl was in fact a CS operative. At this point the only question in his mind was whether or not Carl was a current agent or former.

“So a relatively common spell can be used to detect the Soulless but not the Harvesters” Kahl thought considering the implications before speaking. “Unfortunately while that will help, it will also generate a lot of false positives by detecting evil that isn’t a Soulless. It will also do nothing to help detect an actual Harvester unless they are literally in the middle of a group of Soulless.”

He looked at Athena, hoping for something more. “Do you have anyway of detecting a Harvester at range without psionics? Detecting the Soulless is great and all but I though the point is to find and eliminate all of the Harvesters, unless I heard you wrong?”

In answer to Carl, "his home dimension is unknown.  There is a ritual to find him and attack him, but we lack the means of finishing him for good.  It would take more destructive force than we have to bear.  As to where they are operating from, I don't know.  We tracked them through one of their rituals.  Some of you with psychic ability may have sensed it.  We did so recklessly.  They lured us in to destroy us, which they pretty much did."

Responding to Kahl, "unfortunately no.  Finding and eliminating his harvesters is the goal, because he apparently needs a certain number to fully enter a dimension.  Every one we kill slows him down.  Finding each and every one of them will require some searching and scouting.  The Magic Zone is full of likely spots to find their altars.  Each one destroyed slows them.  They are not easily replaced.  I get the sense that you might already have an idea of where to find some of them," she says while looking directly at Carl.

Gabby shrugged at Carl. He knew she wasn't his biggest fan, but she didn't voice any objections. She looks at Kahl and Rod, "This Nxla sounds a lot like vampiric alien intelligences." she muses out loud.

Then she turns to Carl, "Do you know someplace we might start our investigation?" she asks.

In reply to Gabriella (msg # 69):

"Unless sliver works on them, we are still gonna need the right weapons." Rod said, nodding at Gabby's calculation.

The short chef turns to Athena.  Didn't you say. the Soulless were pretty easy to kill.  Well, I mean as in no special requirements to kill them.  If energy and conventional weapons are enough to kill them, then it should be relatively easy compared to staking/beheading/burning or disabling and sewing the salt-filled mouth shut.

"I know of one place that might have a lead." Carl points to the remains of the Dead Boys. "The base they came from. They might have jumped from a rift, but a CS outpost not far from here had a platoon vanish into the woods. Hush-hush, so as to avoid embarrassment that forty soldiers could vanish without any trace until now. That's why I want to get a read on that data Rod got for me."

He tapped the side of his helmet in thought. "The problem with the base is that I don't know what is more dangerous: if it is still CS held, or if it is Soulless held. Still, give me some eyes on it, and I can tell you with five minutes of information who has the base. If it is CS held, we'd have to tread real carefully. Garrison forces are often rife with frustration and laxness, and are notoriously brutal when they are given an outlet. Steer clear of the Dog Packs, too. They'll sniff the magic right off of you."

Athena answers Darvin.  "Their supernatural nature makes them incredibly tough, but they aren't resistant to any thing.  Energy weapons can take them down, but it can take a lot of energy to do so.  Just be warned, those whose souls were already a little thin might have a touch more autonomy than most.  Not all will walk blindly into enemy fire."

(So no you guys will have a little more free reign over things.  You have a major goal to accomplish which will require a few minor goals: ie hunt down Harvesters, find and destroy summoning altars.  You can assign minor missions (scouting, procurement, chasing rumors) to your own soulless, the characters without players.  Athena will advise where she can, but she is leaving the planning and action up to you.  If that's too much sandbox for you, I can also put together a mission board or something.)

Okay.  Gotcha.  No special requirements to kill.  Some may actually thunk a bit.  He saddles up to bar, easily getting up on one of the stools.  I am hungry right now.  Apparently, cooking and eating illusionary food is not very filling.
The small, handsome man raises a hand to get the attention of the barkeep so he can order a filling meal or two, and a fortifying (as in alcoholic) drink or four.

"Do you know approximately where in the woods they disappeared?" Gabby asks Carl. "If so, we could start there, and make our way towards the garrison if we don't find any clues."

"Someone mentioned something about finding one of these Harvester altars already right?" Kahlvyn asked the group in general. "I'm thinking that we should send a team there. If its lightly defended, we can take it out now and comb through the rubble for clues. On the other hand if its too heavily defended, we sit and observe for a while, see if we can learn anything useful before returning to the group."

OOC - In case anyone missed it, this is straight from the mission table.

I'm not sure if we did or not, Darvin says around bites of real stew and bread.  He washes it down with a mug of whatever beer or ale they brew.  All we know is a bunch of mages tricked us with illusions, knocked us out, bound us, and were sacrificing people.  We got loose and proceeded to kick the crap out of them.  They made some zombies join in, and we ended up burning all the corpses.

"CS logs are not meant to be accessed by civilians, so it will take some time to get that data about their point of exit, likely marked by the bios of the soldiers spiking as they realized 'oh crap we are walking through a rift and now being turned into horrible monsters.' As soon as I get it, we have a lead." Carl scowled as he considered the operation as it stood. "Depending on how long that takes, we might be better off getting further information or looking for supply opportunities. I might be able to pull on some strings to arrange for some supplies to fall off the back of a truck or two...although those will certainly have some strings attached in the form of credits paid or expectations to be met."

He considered what Darvin and Kahlvyn were discussing. "And good thinking. If they can be taken intact, a counter-attack will probably be launched, and a trap could be set for them with a potentially high payout in supplies and information gained...but that's a risky move, and asset denial would be safer."

“So can you find your way back to this altar?” Kahl asks Darvin.

Yeah.  It's not really that far away, he responds.  He then adds, a bit sheepishly, I don't think any of us thought to destroy it so no one else could use it again.

"That's alright," the Undead Slayer says to Darvin amicably. "No time like the present to correct a past mistake." Then he looks at the food Darvin is enjoying. "And by 'present' I mean at least ten minutes from now. I'd like to get me some of that too before we head off to face an unknown number of nigh unstoppable soulless zombies and powerful sorcerers. I just hate fighting on an empty stomach."

Darvin looks up at the Atlantean.  I hate doing anything on an empty stomach.  Especially when I've been cooking and eating all day, only for it all to turn out to be an illusion of some kind.

Gabby looks at Kahl with a mixture of amazement and distaste. "You just ate ten minutes ago..." she starts to say, then decides to shut up. That wasn't going to get her anywhere.

Summarizing what she thought the decision was and clearly anxious to have something settled, she says, "So we go check out this altar, leaving in ... an hour?" she directs the last as a bit of a question to the hungry men.

Darvin waves a hand to get the attention of the server, pushing his empty dishes and mug forward and pointing to indicate he wants more.  Three more servings, please, he says as he holds up a hand with three fingers extended.  He turns to Gabriella.  I should be ready to go in about thirty minutes.

"Sounds good, whenever you do this. I have a different mission to pursue, and I'm going to pull on some old strings I normally don't touch. Unless you have some information you want me to crunch on your behalf."

Carl was doing a mental count of the scavenged weapons. It was going to be hard to pass off this many C-10 rifles as anything but a scouting unit being bushwhacked and killed, but if he played his cards right and approached the right channels, he would be able to return the property in exchange for a bounty and a credit line of CS equipment. His real bosses would also appreciate the information regarding their fate, so they could stop trying to suppress information and start the process of "explaining" what happened.

He'd probably have to throw in the e-clips as well, which was a minor lament. He had his own copy of the data that Rodrigo had gotten him, on his micro-computer, and if no one here knew how to crack it, then he'd just turn it in and get it read from the source.

Who is going to the altar and who is going with Carl (if any)?

And where is Carl looking to go to start his investigation?
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:05, Sun 03 Dec 2017.

Darvin watches each of his new compatriots as they speak, paying attention to the back and forth intently, while eating silently.  His eyes focus in on Carl for a few moments then he looks away as his second plate and mug are delivered.  Yeah, that's it.  Just keep 'em coming. This is actually pretty good.  Maybe we can trade a couple of recipes, he say between bites of food.

Kahlvyn eats his meal quickly, finishing it in under a few minutes. "Whenever you are ready Darvin," he says to the self proclaimed cook.

In reply to Man in Black (msg # 86):

Rod will go with his CO Carl. Maybe his sensor array will help with the investigation somehow.

It is surprising how quickly the small man can eat, while maintaining overall good manners.  He doesn't speak with his mouth full or smack his lips, makes little mess, and cleans off every bite and sops up gravy of other liquids with bread.
I'll try to hurry up, he says with a smile.