Season One Player Leaderboard:
Players on this leaderboard may choose one agent they recruited during Season One to become their Favored Agent, receiving a bonus when attempting to recruit that agent in future seasons. If you're on the leaderboard and haven't yet chosen a favored agent, DM me to do so!
Season One: Rumble in Reims!
In the bustling streets of Reims, France, the barrier between the human and demon realms is particularly weak, due to the city's historical and mythical significance as the traditional site where the monarchs of France were coronated. The Cathedral of Reims has, ever since its construction, been a focal point of both divine and infernal attention. In the present day, humans and the occasional demon navigate daily life side-by-side, their uneasy peace maintained by the vigilance of the Order of Erofights and other mystical organizations. This fragile peace is now under threat as a wave of bizarre magical phenomena sweeps across the city: people inexplicably transforming into animals, ancient machinery suddenly coming to life, and a strange illnesses sweeping through the populace. The Order will need to take decisive action to maintain peace in the city!
COMPLETED OPERATIONS
Neptune Industries
Requirements: Ship Operation 1
MVP Prize: Sigil of Empowerment (+1 point bonus to a General skill for an agent of the player's choice)
MVP: Ešeeva'e Haley (Eggo):
Standard Operation: All players participating in this operation receive 1 point.
Rewards: 1 point to Eggo
A shadowy multinational corporation known as Neptune Industries has recently established its sprawling headquarters in Reims. With tendrils extending across the globe, Neptune specializes in cutting-edge maritime technology and ship operations. While the corporation rakes in a huge amount of money from legitimate business ventures, this is only a front which makes it easier for Neptune Industries' leaders to hide the organization's true nature. Reports indicate that within Neptune's heavily-guarded headquarters, unethical experiments and dark rituals are carried out to fuel the company's expansion. They are even said to have developed ships imbued with eldritch energies that allow them to pierce the veil and traverse the realms that lie beyond the mortal world. Such a ship is obviously too dangerous to leave in the hands of corrupt businessmen and their demonic masters, and it would obviously be incredibly useful to the Order. One of these magical ships is soon due to launch from Le Havre, so it's time for a road trip! Send someone who knows about ships to steal it and bring it to the Order.
Assigned Agents:
Ešeeva'e Haley (Eggo): Ship Operation 1 (Recovering)
Abida Saad (No Recruiter): Ship Operation 1 (Recovering)
OPERATION RESULTS:
The Order currently has two members who know enough about nautical travel to captain a ship, and we sent both of them to steal an eldritch terrorship from Neptune Industries. This may have been a mistake, because as it turns out, a ship can only have one captain. Our agents arrived at the Le Havre shipyard seperately, with Ešeeva'e bribing one of the night shift guards to get in (which Abida considered wasteful) and Abida seducing a dockworker to obtain access to the high-security construction area (which Ešeeva'e considered undignified.) Once they located the newly-constructed ship, they were surprised to find an entire fleet of magical dimension-hopping ships under construction. Fortunately, the construction yard contained plenty of materials that could catch fire and/or explode, so Ešeeva'e and Abida agreed to sabotage the ships under construction and cause as much damage as possible to the shipyard before stealing the completed ship. Ešeeva'e finished her part of the job just a little quicker than Abida, hopped aboard the ship, and sailed away, leaving Abida on the dock. Shortly afterward, the ship vanished from our plane of existence, which is a little worrisome but we assume Ešeeva'e and the ship will turn up soon. A disgruntled Abida drove back to the Order headquarters in Reims and is insisting that we reimburse her for her fuel costs before she will agree to set out on any more missions.
The Sanctuary of Divine Knowledge
Requirements: Divine Magic 2 (Magic skill), Knowledge 1
MVP Prize: Sigil of Blessing (Create one new agent for free and assign them to an operation of the player's choice.)
MVP: Vasundhara Akter (Zhotas)
Standard Operation: All players participating in this operation receive 1 point.
Rewards: 1 point to Eggo, Luke, and Zhotas.
This sanctuary on the outskirts of the city was once a monastery housing an order of knowledge-seekers, but those days are long gone. Now it's a fortress-like prison, housing the most dangerous demonic criminals. In recent weeks, observers have seen captured exorcists and holy knights from being brought to the prison, and none have been released. Some of these prisoners belong to the Order, while others belong to miscellaneous anti-demon organizations who would no doubt be appreciative of the Order's help. A small team is being assembled to sneak into the prison, find out what happened to their captured allies, and rescue them if possible. This team will need to have sufficient magical skill to protect themselves against corrupted guards and possibly demons, and will also need to have sufficient knowledge to find maps of the sanctuary and overcome any traps which might await them inside.
Assigned Agents:
Eleni Papoutsi (Luke): Divine Magic 1
Lourdes Echevarría (Eggo): Divine Magic 1
Lauriane Cousineau (Luke): Divine Magic 1
Vasundhara Akter (Zhotas): Knowledge 1
OPERATION RESULTS:
While the infiltration of the Sanctuary of Divine Knowledge was considered a dangerous mission, our agents' preparations, training, and cohesion allowed them to complete the mission with no casualties. After surveilling the Sanctuary for some time, the team arranged an ambush for an incoming capture team, incapacitating them and rescuing their prisoners. They used their magical abilities to disguise themselves as the capture team, with Eleni and Lauriane maintaining the illusion while Lourdes befuddled the guards to allow the team to bluff their way into the Sanctuary more easily. Once inside, the agents utilized Vasundhara's research about the layout of the Sanctuary and the priestesses' divination magic to quickly and efficiently located the prisoners, many of whom were suffering from noxious and debilitating diseases and required divine healing. The team elected to proceed further into the heart of the Sanctuary, using their magic to overcome guards and traps on the way. They discovered the ruler of the Sanctuary, a man referred to as The Enlightened One. Corrupted by demonic influence and wielding powerful magic, he proved a powerful opponent and was a match for all four agents simultaneously. It was only after Vasundhara identified and destroyed the wards in the inner sanctum which were empowering the Enlightened One that the battle priestesses were able to gain the upper hand, destroying the Enlightened One's corrupted body and freeing his soul. Once the agents had control of the inner sanctum, Lourdes led a ritual to partially cleanse the Sanctuary of demonic influence, while Vasundhara was able to use her literal technological wizardry to gain control of the Sanctuary's security network, unlocking the doors in the prison wing and disabling the security systems. The agents used the opportunity to release the prisoners and in the ensuing jailbreak were able to shepherd them to safety with minimal casualties.
Several of the prisoners we rescued were members of a rival order of exorcists, the Order of Raphael. While they have traditionally looked down upon the Order of Eros due to our unorthodox methods, rescuing their members has helped thaw the frosty relationship which has traditionally existed between us. The Raphaelites are a wealthy order, used to working with the wealthy and powerful, and have agreed to send some of their well-connected agents to help us once they have recovered. While our agents were successful in their mission, extended use of their magical powers combined with the stress of the operation has sapped both their spiritual strength and their physical stamina, and they are likely to require some time to recover before they can return to the field.
Underground Fighting Circuit
Requirements: Knowledge 8, Athletics 4 (General skill)
MVP Prize: Sigil of Mastery (+5 skill bonus to one Combat skill for an agent of the player's choice)
MVP: Janel Bain (Lady of Light)
Major Operation: All players participating in this operation receive 2 points, plus 1 additional point for every point of Knowledge their agents contribute to the operation.
Rewards: 5 points to Eggo, 5 points to Zhotas, 4 points to Lady of Light.
Our early investigations into the city have uncovered the existence of an underground fighting ring. Literally underground, these people have dug tunnels into mysterious ancient ruins beneath the city and built an MMA arena there. This might actually be considered kind of cool, except that the arena is lined with sigils that start glowing red whenever they come into contact with blood, which seems just a little ominous. Also, many of the athletes and trainers appear to be using performance-enhancing dark magic, which not only makes these fights super dangerous but also puts their souls at risk. We need several smart and strong agents who can pose as trainers and fighters to infiltrate the organization and find out who's behind it.
Assigned Agents:
Dilek Kartal (Eggo): Knowledge 1, Athletics 1
Gardenia Falkner (Zhotas): Athletics 1 (Recovering)
Hauzini Hartell (Eggo): Knowledge 1 (Recovering)
Sloan House (Lady of Light): Knowledge 1
Lebogang Otieno (Zhotas): Knowledge 1 (Recovering)
Eleni Papoutsi (Eggo): Knowledge 1, Divine 1 (Recovering)
Kirsi Partanen (Zhotas): Knowledge 1 (Recovering)
Ludmila Melnik (Lady of Light): Athletics 1 (Recovering)
Jaci Pires (Lady of Light): Knowledge 1 (Recovering)
Vasundhara Akter (Zhotas): Knowledge 1, Divine Magic 1 (Recovering)
Janel Bain (Lady of Light): Athletics 1 (Recovering)
OPERATION RESULTS:
Our infiltration of the underground fighting circuit has been our first major operation in Reims, and required the contributions of almost a dozen agents to pull off without the risk of unacceptable casualty levels. Initial scouting by Dilek Kartal determined that the sigils inscribed around the underground arena were part of an infernal ritual to siphon spiritual power from fighters and onlookers to persons or creatures unknown. Agents with knowledge of the occult began the slow and dangerous process of covertly mapping out and analyzing the sigils, while athletic agents acted as trainers and fighters to further infiltrate the fighting league. Sloane House and Jaci Pires did fine work pretending to be wealthy gamblers, earning the trust of the circuit's organizers and identifying the ringleader behind it. This proved to be one Malachai Vey, a former knight of the Holy Order of Saint Lysander who was cast out of his order for bargaining with demons in pursuit of power and longevity.
Vey was paranoid and rarely appeared in public, so our agents devised a daring plan. Ludmila Melnik volunteered to "accidentally" expose herself as a member of our Order by using her exorcism powers against a demonically-corrupted fighter during a bout in the arena. Upon learning that a member of the Order had participated in a fight, Vey ordered her to be forced into a deathmatch against a succession of fighters, intending it as a sick form of execution. The first of these fighters was Dilek Kartal, and as soon as the two Order agents entered the arena, our other agents used specially-formulated holy water to wash away the demonic sigils that were the source of Vey's power, at which point our agents rushed Vey's VIP box in a direct assault. In the chaotic melee that followed, our agents fought their way through Vey's bodyguards while most of the audience fled the scene. Even though Vey was weakened and cut off from his source of infernal power, he still proved to be a well-trained and powerful opponent, holding off three of our fighters at once until agent Dilek struck him a staggering blow from behind and he attempted to escape into the catacombs beneath the city.
Fortunately, senior Order member Lady of Light had ordered rookie agent Janel Bain to guard the exits and make sure no cultists escaped. Instead of joining the fight, Janel took advantage of the distraction caused by the chaotic battle, inscribing a binding rune on the secret door to Bain's inner sanctum. When Bain's inner circle of cultists attempted to flee, the rune disabled most of them, and Janel ambushed the remainder, swiftly incapacitating them. When an injured Malachai Vey attempted to escape via the same route, Janel was waiting for him, tripping and binding him with a chain forged from holy iron. Her careful preparation and steadfast execution of her assignment allowed us to capture one of the demon lord's high-ranking lieutenants, and we expect to learn a great deal about the demons' plans from interrogating him. Order members are advised that some members of the audience may have been corrupted by the arena's infernal influence, and they should be on the lookout for suspicious behavior from otherwise ordinary-seeming citizens in the days to come.
The Diabolical Druggist
Requirements: Medicine 1 (General skill), Knowledge 1, Ranged Combat 1 (Combat skill)
MVP Prize: Chalice of Life (+2 Knowledge and +1 to any combat skill for one agent)
MVP: Naira Alvarez (Alex)
Standard Operation: All players participating in this operation receive 1 point.
Rewards: 1 point to Alex, Lady of Light, and Proxenus.
Our investigations into the Illuminated Brotherhood have repeatedly crossed the trail of one Elias Dorne, a formerly respected doctor who fell from grace after he was discovered to be conducting foul alchemical experiments, using human blood to create elixirs intended to prolong life and grant unnatural strength. He was well-known for supplying potions to fighters in the underground fighting ring, and now that we've put an end to that, he has moved on to dealing elixirs to corrupted members of the city's elite. If we can capture him and get our hands on his client list, we can not only put an end to his demonic drug dealing operation, we can gain valuable information about the Illuminated Brotherhood's membership and activities. A small team of agents with the proper skills should be able to track him down and carry out a snatch-and-grab operation.
Assigned Operatives:
Naira Alvarez (Alex): Ranged Combat 1
Mitrodora Anastasiou (Lady of Light): Medicine 1 (Recovering)
Lauriane Cousineau (Proxenus): Knowledge 1, Divine Magic 1 (Recovering)
OPERATION RESULTS:
We have been tracking the Illuminated Brotherhood for some time now, and our search teams identified the laboratory used by Dorne. A strike team of three exorcists was swiftly assembled to raid the lab and capture Dorne. Mirodora Anastasiou would be on hand to treat any agents or civilians affected by Dorne's concoctions, while Lauriane Cousineau would investigate Dorne's lab once he was neutralized. Naira Alvarez was chosen to lead the assault on the lab. One night when Dorne was known to be in his lab, Naira led an assault on the building, breaching the door with explosives and leading the team on a sweep. Dorne was located working in his laboratory, and was quickly cornered. He proved to be skilled in magic as well as alchemy, engaging the team by firing blasts from a magical staff and using a magical barrier to shield himself. Fortunately, his defenses proved inadequate in the face of Naira's blessed machine gun, and her holy bullets ripped through his wards as though they were passing through paper. The wounded Dorne consumed one of his own elixirs, which apparently turned him into a living conduit for infernal energy. Knocking the other two agents aside, he rushes Naira and slammed her to the floor, preparing to deliver a killing blow only to find Naira's backup weapon, a blessed dagger, buried deep in his gut. The weapon's blessing neutralized the infernal power with Dorne, leaving him nothing more than a broken, mortally-wounded human. With his dying breaths, he confessed that he had been recruited to the demonic cult by his mentor, Dr. Celeste Verrier, creating elixirs and youth potions for Verrier and her colleagues. Recently, he had been assigned to create potions that would infuse the drinkers with infernal energy, making them more violent and vulnerable to demonic possession.
Dorne perished after this confession, at which point the agents were forced to vacate the lab because it was on fire as a result of the machine-gun-versus-magic battle which had just taken place there. Mirodora freed several captives whom Dorne had been using as test subjects, bringing them to a safe house for treatment, while Lauriane retrieved his most important records. While this operation failed in its objective to capture Dorne, we are still considering it a success, as our agents were able to neutralize Dorne, hear his confession, and retrieve valuable information which has helped us to identify at least one senior member of the Illuminated Brotherhood. Agent Naira Alexander is particularly commended for her courage and quick thinking while leading the battle against the unexpectedly-dangerous alchemist.
Society for the Elevation of Mankind
Requirements: 1 Knowledge, 1 Deception (Social skill)
MVP Prize: Blessed Fountain (grant one agent +2 to one Social skill and +1 to one General skill)
MVP: Yuting Chai (Proxenus)
Standard Operation: All players participating in this operation will receive 1 point.
Rewards: 1 point to Alex, Proxenus, and Lady of Light
Our seizure of the laboratory used by the diabolical druggist Elias Dorne has given us access to his records and allowed us to begin tracking down his clients, many of whom appear to be members of the Illuminated Brotherhood. Of particular interest is Dorne's mentor, Dr. Celeste Verrier, the chairwoman of the Society for the Elevation of Mankind. SEM is a think tank which hold itself forth as an organization devoted to solving the city's social problems using cutting-edge sociological research and community outreach. But considering the sheer quantity of infernally-infused elixirs the Society purchased from Dorne, and the Society's sudden announcement that it would begin providing specially-developed and highly-nutritious meals to needy families, it certainly looks like Verrier and her organization have found a way to slip Dr. Dorne's demonic concoctions into Reims's food supply under the guise of charitable outreach. We must act quickly to gather evidence and expose the Society as a front for the demonic cult before they can do irreparable harm to the populace, but given SEM's reputation for useful research and philanthropy, this investigation will need to be handled delicately. Sending a couple of agents capable of detective work and hacking may allow us to discover the full extent of the Society's plans and stop them before it's too late.
ASSIGNED AGENTS:
Dilek Kartal (Alex): Athletics 2, Knowledge 1 (Recovering)
Sloan House (Proxenus): Knowledge 2 (Recovering)
Yuting Chai (Proxenus): Deception 1 (Recovering)
Neohnee Augustine (Lady of Light): Deception 1 (Recovering)
OPERATION RESULTS:
This operation marked a surprisingly successful collaboration between a pair of our Academy graduates and a pair of independent contractors (or "Instagram Exorcists" as some of the Academy instructors used to derisively refer to them.) Our team used some hastily thrown-together credentials to pose as a group of behavioral scientists working for a local charity seeking to partner with the Society to distribute food and household supplies to the needy. Posing as the head of the charity, Yuting Chai did such a fantastic job presenting herself as the eager yet naive head of a fledgling charity that Dr. Verrier was convinced to give her a contract to deliver the Society's special (possibly tainted) meals to needy families, setting up Yuting and her charity to take the fall when the meals resulted in an outbreak of violence and demonic transformations. At least that's what we assume the goal was, as the Order intercepted the meals and replaced them with actual healthy food before they reached their intended victims. Our agents were able to gain access to some of the Society's personnel and computer networks while working with them, and Yuting gained particular access by seducing Dr. Verrier herself. The team was able to steal business records and research data from the society, and Agent Sloan House led the team's analysis of this data. They not only determined that the drugs formerly developed by Dr. Elias Dorne were being used to contaminate the food being sent out by the society, but they also learned that this plot was something of a smokescreen, and that the real threat posed by the Society was a plot to infiltrate cultists into the city's labor force and use the last of their demonic elixirs to pollute the city's water supply, a gambit that would cause demonic transformations throughout the city, resulting in complete chaos. Once this plot was discovered, our agents were withdrawn for their own safety and the Order began assembling a strike team to deal with this new threat.
The Iron Fist
Requirements: 4 Ranged Combat (Combat skill)
MVP Prize: Oracle of Eros (Initiate a new agent or assign any agent you've previously recruited to a current operation.)
MVP: Naira Alvarez (Proxenus)
Significant Operation: All players participating in this operation receive 2 points.
Rewards: 2 points to Proxenus and Lady of Light.
Our rapid infiltration of the Society for the Elevation of Mankind has paid off. Our agents have discovered that the Society's plans for the elixirs it received from the alchemist Dorne are more diabolical than we initially believed. The Society has used its influence and wealth to insert cultists into the city's public works union, and are planning to contaminate the city's water supply with potions which will corrupt the city's populace into demonic monstrosities. The five cultists leading this operation, who call themselves The Iron Fist, appear to be planning rituals based around other critical infrastructure as well. We don't know what they are, but considering that we already know the demon lord's power allows him to control certain types of machinery and create plagues, we know that whatever they're planning can't be good. Our investigations have already uncovered the identities of the Iron Fist leaders, so there's no need for subtlety here. We need to assemble a strike team who can take them out and recover the tools and materials they use for their rituals. The Illuminated Brotherhood won't be able to recover easily from this setback now that their main supplier Elias Dorne is dead.
Assigned Agents:
Naira Alvarez (Proxenus): Ranged Combat 2 (Recovering)
Aranza Montes (Lady of Light): Ranged Combat 6 (Recovering)
OPERATION RESULTS:
The Order didn't have long to assemble a strike team, but the mission preparation finished ahead of schedule thanks to Order members Proxenus and Lady of Light. Proxenus quickly recruited veteran agent Naira Alvarez, freshly healed from her battle with Elias Dorne, while the Lady provided Aranza Montes with a pair of magical pistols retrieved from Malachai Vey's armory and a magical sigil imbued with light magic. The pair quickly set up sniper positions outside the Iron Fist's headquarters as the group's leaders met inside to finalize their plan for the next day. The blessing Aranza had received magnified her vision and reflexes, allowing her to fire into the enemy headquarters with pinpoint accuracy while Naira's blessed machine gun punched through walls and shattered windows in a figurative orgy of destruction. While the Iron Fist's minions seem to have been relatively uninformed and low-level cultists, the five leaders of the Fist proved to be demons, as they reverted to their true forms when they were struck by our agents' holy bullets. The agents' plan to enter the building and destroy or retrieve the demonic elixirs after sniping the Iron Fist leadership was complicated by the fact that the cultists were more heavily-armed than anticipated, and quickly began returning fire. Aranza was prepared to make a heroic charge into the hail of oncoming fire, but this proved unnecessary when Naira revealed she had appropriated a celestial grenade launcher from the Academy's armory and had affixed it to her gun. After she fired a few incendiary grenades through the building's shattered windows, engulfing the structure in holy flames and utterly destroying the remaining elixirs as well as the remains of the Iron Fist's leaders, the pair were able to withdraw unharmed. They both assert that the pyrotechnics were "totally awesome" and "absolutely worth the bribes we're going to have to pay to the fire department."
Velvet Lies
Our investigation of the Society for the Elevation of Mankind has led us to another of the demon cult's fronts. Velvet Lies is a high-end clothing boutique nestled in the heart of Reims. Its owner, a woman identified only by the pseudonym Veronica, has a reputation for rapidly ingratiating herself with her wealthy clients and hosting lavish private parties for them. Many of these clients have since become donors to the Society, and have struck up personal and business relationships with members of the Illuminated Brotherhood. We should send some undercover agents to investigate and discover exactly how Veronica is winning over these people, and ideally put a stop to her recruitment efforts.
Requirements: Charm 1 (Social skill), Negotiation 1 (Social skill)
MVP Prize: Ritual Dagger (One agents receives +1 to a Combat skill of the player's choice)
MVP: Katayoun Jamshidi (Proxenus)
Standard Operation: All players participating in this operation receive 1 point.
Rewards: 1 point to Proxenus
ASSIGNED AGENTS:
Katayoun Jamshidi (Proxenus): Charm 1 (Recovering)
Melina Remington (Proxenus): Negotiation 1 (Recovering)
Fawziya Khaled (Proxenus): Charm 1 (Recovering)
Operation Results:
Our investigation into the boutique went well from the very beginning, as agent Katayoun Jamshidi investigated the shop posing as a fashion-conscious student and quickly used her charm and flirtatiousness to coax the manager into giving her a job interview, which she passed with flying colors. As an employee of Velvet Lies, Katayoun quickly ascertained that the store's owner, Veronica, actually owned the entire city block and had converted the buildings there into a single overwhelming complex, one that extended into the catacombs buried beneath the buildings as well. She also determined that Veronica was hosting debauched parties and rituals for the city's wealthy elite and its less reputable occultists, and learned that it was only a matter of time before she would be called upon to "work" one of these parties, although the exact nature of the work was left vague. Katayoun's conversations with other workers who have attended these parties claim that Veronica has a mysterious patron who has an uncanny ability to learn secret things, and that Veronica uses those secrets to tempt or blackmail her customers.
Two additional agents were assigned to the operation by Order member Proxenus, keeping tabs on Veronica's visitors and being prepared to extract Katayoun if necessary. Our agents have discovered that an upcoming ritual will be officiated by a so-called Cardinal of Light, one of the Illuminated Brotherhood's highest-ranking leaders, and we expect that this will be a major working. We will prepare a team to disrupt the ritual and capture the cardinal. For the time being, our three agents will remain on site under Proxenus's supervision, keeping tabs on the enemy and preparing to aid our attack team from the inside.
The Illuminated Brotherhood
Requirements: Leadership 8 (Social skill), Divine Magic 4 (Magic skill)
MVP Prize: Sigil of Empowerment (+1 to any Combat Skill for an agent)
MVP: Lourdes Echevarria (Eggo)
Major Operation: All players participating in this operation receive 2 points, plus 1 additional point for every point of Leadership their agents contribute to the operation.
Rewards: 6 points to Proxenus, 5 points to Lady of Light, 4 points to Alex, 2 points to Eggo,
Our preliminary infiltration of the underground fighting circuit have determined that it's run by some sort of weird Fight Club-style cult preying upon those who feel disillusioned and disempowered by modern society; demons always have been a little behind the times as far as popular culture is concerned. Our agents have determined that the circuit is funded and controlled by something called the Illuminated Brotherhood, and they're pretty sure the fighting circuit is just one of many activities the Brotherhood is using to lure the most frightened, angry, and hopeless members of society into the service of dark powers. Rumor has it that the Enlightened Ones, the leaders of the Brotherhood, even command fearful infernal magic that they use to punish failures and dissenters within the Brotherhood, commanding the obedience of their underlings through fear. We don't know exactly how numerous the Brotherhood are or how deeply they've enmeshed themselves within the government and economy of the city, but we need to find out. Once we've done that, we need to break the hold that the Enlightened Ones hold over their cultists, rescuing them from demonic influence and rehabilitating them if possible. We may even capture some of the Enlightened Ones and learn some useful information about their demonic master. The agents we send on this mission will need to both be persuasive and have a strong grounding in divine magic to counter the infernal powers of the Brotherhood.
Assigned Agents:
Lourdes Echevarria (Eggo): Divine Magic 2 (Recovering)
Cruz Quintana (Lady of Light): Leadership 1 (Recovering)
Purificacion Gutierrez (Alex): Leadership 1 (Recovering)
Ogul Robbins (Lady of Light): Leadership 1 (Recovering)
Nita Edgar (Proxenus): Leadership 1 (Recovering)
Brigida Da Vinci (Proxenus): Leadership 3, Ship Operation 1 (Recovering)
Kimimela Hedley (Alex): Leadership 1 (Recovering)
Veyra (Alex): Divine Magic 1 (Recovering)
Christina Konstantinou (Lady of Light): Divine Magic 1 (Recovering)
Lysiane Renard (Lady of Light): Leadership 1 (Recovering)
OPERATION RESULTS:
The sheer size of the Brotherhood, and the wealth and power of many of its members, made this investigation more complicated and time-consuming than anticipated. Particular credit goes to Lourdes Echevarria, the first Order agent to successfully make contact with members of the Brotherhood and secure an invitation to join its ranks. Once she established herself, she quickly got to work studying the Brotherhood's extensive occult library, which included several long-lost ancient Greek texts detailing the fusion of infernal magic with mechanical arts, which we believe to be a clue which will aid in identifying the demon lord. Lourdes was also able to impress many low-level Brotherhood members with her undeniable magical skills, planting the seed of doubt in the twisted garden of the Brotherhood's beliefs, causing some initiates to question the methods and goals of the cult.
Lourdes was also an enthusiastic "recruiter" for the cult, bringing in several new members with connections or magical abilities who just happened to be undercover agents of the Order of Eros. While all of our agents did a good job infiltrating and surveilling the cult, special credit goes to agents Kimimela Hedley and Purificacion Gutierrez for the risks they took in sabotaging certain rituals by replacing magical components with mundane substitutes, causing the rituals to fail and fomenting further doubt among the rank-and-file as to the power and competence of the Brotherhood's leaders.
Our agents' investigation was aided by the redeemed demoness Veyra, who had previously acted as a liaison between the cult and its demonic masters, and who was easily able to win the trust of the Brotherhood's leaders, who provided her with a great deal of information about the Brotherhood's members and schemes. This allowed us to publicly reveal the Brotherhood's identity and misdeeds to the city by broadcasting an emergency news bulletin during the first half of Stade de Reim's match against Paris Saint-Germain, turning public sentiment against the Brotherhood's members. The outcry against the Brotherhood, both for its crimes and because it was responsible for an interruption in the broadcast of the most highly-anticipated football game of the season, convinced the local authorities to take action against the cult. Agent Nita Edgar, who had meticulously tracked the schedules and habits of the Brotherhood's leaders, was able to make sure that Order agents coordinated with city law enforcement to capture most of the prominent members of the Brotherhood before they could escape the city. It remains to be seen whether the leaders of the brotherhood will be convicted by secular authorities or whether they'll be able to bribe their way free of prosecution, but now that they have been exposed their ability to function as a secret demon cult is at an end.
Agent Lysiane Renard, a member of one of the prominent old-money families of Reims, was able to step into the void left by the leaders' capture, staking a claim for leadership of the Brotherhood and promising to restore the organization to (what she claimed to be) its original mission of seeking truth through faith. Lysiane's partner, Christina Konstantinou, along with Lourdes Echevarria, took to the streets to lead the Order's divinely-empowered spellcasters in the search for those few members of the Brotherhood who escaped the initial wave of arrests. Tracking down the remnants of the Brotherhood will not be a fast or easy process, but it is vitally important that we prevent them from escaping and re-establishing themselves elsewhere. Once they are found, our agents will purify them of demonic taint when possible, and see them punished for their crimes when necessary.
Cardinal Blackwood
Requirements: Melee Combat 3 (Combat skill)
MVP Prize: Potion of Magnetism (+1 to any Social skill for one agent)
MVP: Nazli Ghasem (Proxenus)
Major Operation: Players receive 1 point for every point of Melee Combat their agents contribute to the operation.
Reward: Proxenus receives 3 points
Our agents working at the Velvet Lies boutique have discovered that its owner lures her elite customers to "private events" that consist of debauched parties and depraved rituals, bringing them under the control of the Illuminated Brotherhood by indulging their base appetites or, when that fails, engaging in blackmail. The occult rituals are often led by a man calling himself Cardinal Lucius Blackwood. To be perfectly clear, we don't think he's a real cardinal, and we're pretty sure that he plagiarized his pseudonym from Harry Potter or something. What we do know about this edgelord is that he is an imposing presence and powerful spellcaster capable of summoning spirits and demons, and he is highly placed in the Illuminated Brotherhood, perhaps even its leader. From what our agents have seen of his powers, it is likely he is a former exorcist turned to the dark side, but since our investigation of the Brotherhood is not yet complete, we have been unable to uncover his true identity. We do know when he intends to preside over the next ritual at Velvet Lies, though, and if we send a team of skilled combatants to capture him before the ritual, we might be able to decapitate the Illuminated Brotherhood's leadership in one stroke.
ASSIGNED AGENTS:
Casandra Ramos (Proxenus): Melee 2 (Recovering)
Nazli Ghasem (Proxenus): Melee 1 (Recovering)
OPERATION RESULTS:
Even though most of the Illuminated Brotherhood has been captured, Cardinal Blackwood and his comrade Veronica attempted to carry out the major ritual they had planned. The cultists had prepared their ritual site a crypt complex beneath one of the downtown buildings owned by Veronica, and our three agents who had previously infiltrated Veronica's store were able to use their inside access to help our strike team, consisting of the axe-wielding exorcists Casandra Ramos and Nazli Ghasem, navigate the crypts and reach the ritual site. When our agents arrived, Veronica attempted to flee the scene, although she was quickly chased down and apprehended by agent Katayoun Jamshidi and her team.
Despite Cardinal Blackwood's silly choice of pseudonym, he proved a fearsome opponent, skilled in martial arts and armed with a ceremonial dagger which inflicted diseased wounds with every strike. Although our agents' ferocious attack interrupted the ritual and prevented its completion, Blackwood somehow used his dagger to tear an unholy rent in the fabric of reality, allowing low-level demons to surge forth from Hell. Our two agents divided their efforts, with Casandra dueling the cardinal while Nazli did her best to hold off the horde of demons. After an exhausting battle, Casandra was only able to turn the tide when she realized that Blackwood was channeling infernal energy through a sigil carved into his left hand. With a desperate strike, Casandra severed Blackwood's hand, causing the rift to begin collapsing in upon itself and driving the demons into a frenzy, causing them to attack the dark cardinal as well as our agents. Blackwood attempted to flee the chaotic scene, but was brought up short as Nazli hurled her axe in front of him, barely missing his head. This momentary delay proved fatal to the cardinal, as Casandra's holy axe bit into his neck, severing his last link to the powers of Hell (and nearly severing his head from his body.) With both our agents bleeding from multiple wounds, Nazli yelled for Casandra to escape from the ritual chamber, staying behind to fend off the remaining demons and buying time for Casandra to escape. With the cardinal's death, the otherworldly rift began to exhibit chaotic energy fluctuations, and several minutes later emanated and explosive shockwave which collapsed the catacombs around it, as well as causing the partial collapse of three buildings aboveground. We have lost contact with agents Ramos and Ghasem, and will dispatch rescue teams for them as soon as possible. Unfortunately, any rescue attempt will be complicated by the fact that, according to our diviners, the rift is still open despite being buried in the ruins of the ritual chamber, and it is emitting a extreme amount of dark energy.
A Demon Lord Emerges!
Even though Cardinal Blackwood's summoning ritual was interrupted by our agents, it would seem he used powerful infernal magic unlike any we've ever seen before to allow his portal to Hell to sustain itself even after his death. Powerful demons have emerged emerged from the portal into the cardinal's buried ritual chamber, and while our divine magic specialists worked a powerful exorcism upon the site, it failed to banish these demons. Perhaps the demons have found some sort of way to protect themselves from our priestesses' divine power? The Order has decided it's time to try an alternative approach, and is bringing in practitioners of Arcana magic to devise a ritual close the rift before any other demons come through. While the Order has traditionally viewed Arcana magic as being borderline heretical, often practicing ritual magic disturbingly similar to that used by Infernal magic practitioners, we are willing to set aside any prejudices we might have against this magic if it can be used to repair this rift in reality and expel the invaders.
Since the establishment of the rift appears to mark the beginning of a full-fledged demonic invasion of the city, we expect the demon lord to take direct action against us soon. We must track down and identify the demon lord quickly before it is able to bring its demonic legions into the city and unleash them upon us.
Boss Battle Phase 1
The Demon Lord has revealed himself, casting aside his previous disguise as a scholar at the University of Reims. He has taken the form of a towering demonic figure, sending the faculty and students scattering in fear as tendrils of shadow snake away from the demon's form, draining the life from anyone it touches. As the demon lord stalks across the campus, the bodies of the dead rise up and follow along in his wake, possessed by the spirits of wrathful demons. These demonic thralls are joined by a veritable legion of mechanical automata as they muster in the courtyard, preparing to go forth and wreak havoc in the streets of the city. More skilled spellcasters are needed to erect barriers around the university and prevent the demon lord's army from launching their devastating attack!
Boss Battle Phase 2
Rookie agent Na Chan has been trying to ward the university and is joined by experienced exorcist Lauriane Cousineau. The two of them are unable to put up enough wards to keep the demon lord and his minions trapped inside before the demon's army of dangerous automata surge forth, attacking the two Order members! Being mindless and soulless, the automata are unaffected by Lauriane's powerful divine magic, but Lauriane is able to at least by Na Chan enough time to shield some of the civilians on the university grounds from the demon lord's life-draining attack, evacuating them to safety. The two exorcists are then forced to fall back for their own safety as the automaton army sweeps through the streets of Reims, spreading terror on behalf of the demon lord and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake!
Boss Battle Phase 3
Another pair of rookie mages arrive, their elemental magic turning the tide against the army of automatons. Luzmila Esteban summons powerful jets of holy water, smashing the attackers to pieces, while Ai Noguchi raises barriers of earth from the very streets, creating barricades that block the path of the automatons and hurling heavy stones into their ranks. As the attack of the mechanical horrors momentarily stalls out, the demon lord retreats back into the university's grand hall. The gargantuan demon's form starts to shift, his hands transforming into claws like those of a lion. With a deafening roar he swipes his claws across the ceiling of the grand hall, stone and timber falling from the ceiling as a glowing rift in reality opens above the hall. A horde of twisted lesser demons begin to pour through the rift, and the wards erected around the university flare as they struggle to hold back this infernal assault. The demon lord's laughter echoes across the university grounds, booming out over the city. "Reims will be mine, fools! And from here, I will conquer all of France!" Will the Order be able to send reinforcements in time to keep the demons contained, or will they break out and subject the nation to a new reign of terror?
Boss Battle Phase 4
As more and more demons emerge from the dark rift in the grand hall, veteran exorcist Vasundhara Akter makes her way across the university's grounds and enters the hall. When the demonic invasion first began, Vasundhara had been a mere ritualist wizard with no confidence in her ability to hold her own in a fight. Now, she nimbly navigates through the chaos in the grand hall, vaulting over rubble and dodging around demonic minions as she channels holy power through her very body. Her sole target is the demonic rift, knowing that if she can seal it, she can cut off the demon lord's reinforcements and source of infernal power all at once.
The other agents on the scene arrive at the grand hall moments later, laying down a barrage of magic to cover Vasundhara's approach and clear a path for her. In the meantime, Anita Flores sets up a divine light cannon of her own design, taking aim at the Demon Lord just as he turns his attention to the approaching Vasundhara. His eyes glow with hellish malice as he raises one clawed hand and a roiling mass of pure darkness coalesces into a threatening sphere above his palm. Just as he rears his arm back to throw the darkness at the intruder, there is a flash of blinding light as a burst of purifying radiance flashes forth from Anita's cannon. Turning to face the new threat, the demon lord throws the sphere of darkness into the beam of light before it can strike him. Divine light and demonic shadow collide in a blinding explosion, blowing out the windows of the grand hall and blasting a hole in the nearest wall. A hideous cacophony arises from the demons caught in the explosion, and confusion reigns in the hall as demons and exorcists alike try to regain their senses and take control of the situation. The moment of truth has arrived; it's time to send in one last group of agents to take advantage of the confusion and finish off the invaders!
Boss Battle Phase 5
The final group of Order reinforcements arrives at the great hall as the explosion rocks the university. As the blinding radiance of the explosion fades and the dust from blasted mortar and plaster dissipates, the demon lord's true form as a massive armored lion is revealed. He is Marbas, a Great President of Hell, commander of thirty six infernal legions. Yet even in his true form, his power is constrained as senior Order member Proxenus had already deduced his identity and invoked the Ritual of Admonition against him, sapping his infernal energies. The exorcists already on the scene try to finish the fight against the lesser demons who survived the explosion, while the newly-arrived Naira Alvarez lays down covering fire with her machine gun, directing a stream of blessed ammunition at Marbas, his armor popping and smoking beneath the withering barrage. While Marbas is distracted, Vasundhara Akter and Anita Flores combine their efforts to weaken Marbas's demonic rift. Vasundhara's holy symbols glow with radiant energy as she incants ancient banishment spells, while Anita directs her divine light cannon against the rift, the power of its beam causing the roiling darkness of the rift to slowly contract inward upon itself.
When the last of the lesser demons have been slain, the remaining order members begin to converge on Marbas, being careful to stay clear of the firepower their comrades are directing into the great hall. Lauriane Cousineau steps up to defend her native city of Reims, her superior knowledge of exorcism rituals allowing her to choose a banishment spell tailored to Marbas. Her voice echoes through the hall, overwhelming even the sounds of gunfire and the hum of the divine light cannon, and with every line of the ritual she recites, Marbas is seemingly forced to take another step backward toward the rift, even though he clearly struggles against the compulsion. The rookie wizards Liliane Porcher and Ai Noguchi rush to support Lauriane. Liliane uses her magic to create ice lances out of frozen holy water, hurling them at the fearsome lion; although they shatter against his tough hide instead of piercing it, Marbas roars in pain and frustration where the holy water strikes him. Ai stays out of the battle itself, but begins hastily sketching a runic circle around the demonic rift to disrupt the flow of infernal energies, weakening Marbas's connection to his own plane and further diminishing his power.
Seeing the tide turning against him, Marbas unleashes a deafening roar of rage and desperation, a roar which causes the walls of the great hall and other nearby buildings to crack, and sections of ceiling to collapse onto the stone floor of the hall with shattering force. A wave of pure malevolent darkness pours out of the lion's gaping maw, threatening to engulf the Order members, the intense darkness extinguishing even the beam of Anita's divine cannon... but thinking quickly, Vasundhara and Lauriane work together to raise a shield of divine energy, holding the tide at bay. There is a momentary stalemate, the din of battle abruptly silenced as though the world itself awaits a judgment as to which side's powers will prove stronger... then the silence is broken by Naira's laugh as she slams home a new magazine and unleashes a torrent of blessed bullet through the darkness into Marbas's leonine face, sending him rearing back as the darkness dissipates.
At this moment, the rookie wizard Luzmila Esteban has a moment of epiphany, stepping forward and raising her hands to trace arcane sigils through the air. She weaves together the energies of the disparate magics filling the room: arcane, divine, and infernal magic alike come together, Marbas's dark power being subsumed into the magic used by the Order members, the demon lord's own strength being turned against him. Luzmila then turns this combined power against the infernal rift itself. The runic circle Ai created glows intensely as Luzmila shapes the magical energies surrounding the rift into a dome of impenetrable force, cutting off Marbas entirely from his source of power. The rift flickers and writhes beneath the dome almost as though it's in pain, shrinking in upon itself at a rapidly accelerating rate.
While is magical powers are failing, Marbas is still a threat even without them, leaping forward to swipe at the order members with his fearsome claws. The Order members fall back from this sudden assault, only Lauriane Cousineau standing firm as she rushes to complete the banishment ritual, Naira moving into position as she directs her fire against the charging lion, desperately hoping to bring him down before it's too late. The hall is filled with the scent of burning demonflesh as round after round slams into the charging lion. Lauriane completes her ritual incantation, divine energy engulfing Marbas as his legs collapse and his immense bestial body slides forward across the floor, coming to a stop mere centimeters from Lauriane. She takes a step back, narrowly evading a swiping claw, Marbas's rage undiminished even as celestial fire plays across his body. As the banishment spell takes full effect, Marbas is drawn back toward the demonic rift, his claws scoring deep claw-marks into the floor as he struggles to resist the magical energies ejecting him from the mortal realm.
Luzmila creates an opening in the forcefield she's maintaining around the rift, just for a split second as Marbas is drawn into the whirling vortex. His claws hook into the floor, clinging with a desperate tenacity... but then Luzmila grits her teeth and with a surge of effort starts to contract the forcefield around the rift, compressing it into a smaller and smaller space. Marbas may have just enough strength to resist the pull of the banishment spell, but when it's combined with the push of the forcefield, even the mighty demon lord is overcome. With one final bone-chilling roar Marbas is pushed into the rift, falling into the realms of Hell where he belongs. As the forcefield encloses the demonic rift entirely, there is a flash of pure darkness and a deafening sort of anti-sound as the rift abruptly pops out of existence, leaving Marbas and his legions trapped on the other side and the Earth safe, at least for now.
Luzmila and Lauriane collapse to the floor, exhausted by their efforts as their companions close ranks around them protectively. The night has passed and the light of dawn breaks through the shattered windows and collapses ceiling of the university's great hall. The bodies of the defeated demons begin to smoke as the sunlight touches them, then dissolve altogether into a dark mist which ascends toward the heavens and a fate which no living mortal can know. As the members of the Order stand in the ruins of the great hall, still awed by the life-or-death struggle they've just experienced, the hear the sound of sirens as emergency vehicles rush toward the scene, a reminder that their battle against their supernaturals foes is over and that the mortal world can once again take care of itself... at least for a time.
Requirements: Arcana Magic 6 (Magic skill), Knowledge 3
MVP Prize: Blessed Forge (Use to create a new agent, heal an agent in Recovering status, or add +1 to any skill possessed by an agent)
MVP: Luzmila Esteban
Demon Lord Battle: All players participating in this operation receive 1 point for every skill point possessed by their agents participating in this operation. Please note that only agents possessing the Arcana or Knowledge skills are allowed to participate in this operation.
Rewards: 9 points to Proxenus, 6 points to Alex, 2 points to Lady of Light, 1 point to Caspian.
Bonus points: +1 point to Proxenus for successfully invoking the Rite of Admonition
Assigned Agents:
Na Chan (Proxenus): Arcana Magic 1
Lauriane Cousineau (Proxenus): Knowledge 2, Divine Magic 1
Luzmila Esteban (Lady of Light): Arcana Magic 1
Ai Noguchi (Proxenus): Arcana Magic 1
Vasundhara Akter (Proxenus): Athletics 1, Knowledge 1, Divine Magic 1
Anita Flores (Lady of Light): Arcana Magic 1
Neeltje Dekker (Proxenus): Arcana Magic 1
Feodora Orlova (Caspian): Arcana Magic 1
Liliane Porcher (Alex): Arcana Magic 1
Naira Alvarez (Alex): Knowledge 2, Ranged Combat 4
EPILOGUE:
In the wake of Marbas's attempted invasion, those members of the Order who contributed the most to the city's defense rise high in the order, and the agents they've commanded are rewarded for their service as well. Once the top players on the leaderboard have selected their favored agents, the fate of the Order's members in Reims will be revealed here!
You can keep some notes on this character. You'll be the only one to be able to see this:
