February 03, 2024

Hook

MCAS IV - Merchant of War 2 (Raikougan, Cahyali)

Plot Synopsis

A sixteen year old Reese Hale joins the Neuvo Zinera faction, passing by the Monumento de Libertad, where his parents’ names are memorialized. He is swept into the fight for freedom against Ley’Ork, and becomes a team leader, as they are assigned various missions to oust Ley’Orkian influence and protect Splint’s borders against expansion. But the missions are not always as clear-cut as they seem at first glance–numerous times had Reese led his fellow rebels into traps, or had gotten his teammates hurt or killed in the line of duty. They used underhanded tactics to fight against the oppressor, but didn’t shy away from using the same tactics even when they already had the upper hand. Reese and his team were given a mission by Capitan Alejandro de Zinera, to destroy a secret Ley’Ork munitions Depot located a few hours out of Ciudad de Fuentes, and the team came up with a plan to board the doors and set the warehouse ablaze to destroy any supplies and munitions that may be inside, and killing Ley’Orkian terrorists. The mission went through without resistance–a barrel of gunpowder was rolled in, making a fuse that led away from the boarded doors to the tree line. The bomb exploded and set fire to the wooden warehouse, burning up the walls and supports, and someone was able to kick the door down once the fire had weakened the planks barricading it. Reese steadied his rifle to shoot at any Ley’Orkians that would try to escape the burning warehouse, and set his sights on a silhouette amongst the smoke and flames, pulling the trigger before seeing the figure clearly as the smoke rushed out. The bullet ripped through Reese’s youngest sister, Nina Collazo, who was assisting as an Asetite initiate in a Splint Refugee Trauma camp set up in the warehouse. Before Reese could react, the generator caught fire and exploded a wall of the building, leading to the roof collapsing in. Reese was picked up and dragged away to the team’s safe house, and a few days later, quit the Neuvo Zinera faction and began wandering Splint…

The party executed their plan to infiltrate the hospital, and were able to sneak Oswald and Bailin in with Floki with the smugglers’ shipment. Meanwhile, Ignita, Katsuo, Xing Yun Yue, and Reese created a panic over Ignita’s disguise as a mortally wounded RCA soldier. In a blur, the group managed to find their way into the military ward and Reese pretended to be unable to save Ignita’s life, calling time of death as the other RCA doctors and nurses confirmed Ignita’s (magically induced) death. The party later regrouped in the operating room, and formed a plan to infiltrate the lower level. Through both lockpicking and magic, they managed to reach the basement bunker level, finding a cell block with about 20 “misplaced” patients. They also saw four RCA guards that were transporting a strange steel holding crate that held a creature smuggled in from Itlan-Youali, and followed Sunflight Tsorren and Alejandro de Zinera deeper into the basement. There, the party split up into two groups. They found another cell block, empty except for a cell at the very end holding what looked to be a young elven woman, and the dead bodies of multiple other patients and even an armed guard. The others followed Tsorren and de Zinera into the laboratory and saw the results of the last test–blood-covered ground and the lifeless bodies of a few caged animals and people, and the body of another young elven woman strapped to an operating table in the center. Floki and Reese recognized the body to look identically to Wisteria.

Floki burst through the window in a mindless rage, attacking Tsorren. Tsorren decided to treat the encounter as a field test, instructing the two Wisteria clones to attack the party, as Tsorren defended himself and de Zinera using dimensional and controlling magic.

Noteworthy Postgame Events