The New World
From Brass Goggles
The New World is set in 1901 America and details the adventures of a small band of newfound friends that undertake the task of saving America from a mysterious conspiracy.
The game began in Bristol as various Europeans queued to board the last open immigrant ship to the USA. Once aboard, they quickly build friendships so as to have some company in their new lives abroad.
Throughout their time in America they find new companions as they begin to unearth a massive threat to The New World.
Contents |
Characters
Falko Hendrick Hoogenboome - 18. Falko grew up in Amsterdam in Holland. He had some basic schooling and is completely literate and bilingual as he can speak fluent English as well as his native Dutch. After his brief schooling he got a job as a metalworker in a factory to keep him out of the house. His father often mistreated him and beat him all throughout his childhood, often over very minor things. He also kept out of the house by spending time with his friends, who often had to apprehend muggers and other lowlifes. He developed a very strong sense of hatred for such people and now has a very profound view that every man should work for every coin he spends. A friend of his, who he considered as close as a brother, was stabbed in one such fight and, though they won the fight, the friend was clearly on the brink of death. In his last moments, the friend told Falko he had a decent skill and had no future in Holland with his father. Following the death of his friend, he decided to leave Amsterdam to start his own life in the United States of America. He stole a large sum of money off his father and fled into Belgium. He then made his way to France where he crossed the English channel and purchased a ticket in Bristol for a boat to New York in the USA.
Fergus O'Flaherty - Early forties. Fergus has had a hard life so far; the family evicted from their County Clare farm during the worst of the Potato Blight, The deaths from influenza of all but Fergus and his younger sister Deirdre, their poverty-ridden existence in Dublin, and their final split just before Deirdre's departure for America. Fergus knows only that she was supposed to have gone there -- after she left Dublin there was no word from her ever again. They had agreed to look for one another in New York, but that hope has been dashed, now, by recent events. Fergus left Ireland finally, for England, where he became apprenticed and learned the trades of both a blacksmith and a carpenter; he worked as both and also maintained a steam traction engine for his Master, so far identified only by the surname "Gill."
After being 'impressed' into the local military Levy as a fifer, of all things, he was shipped off to Africa, where he served in both the Islandwana (Zulu) Campaign, and on the side of Britain during the Matabele Rebellion, achieving the rank of Colour Sergeant, before his unit was disbanded, and he and his fellows were furloughed, then summarily discharged (albeit honorably). He returned to Master Gill, and worked for him for several more years before leaving for Bristol with Gill's blessing, and boarding the ship for New York.
Alexandre Ashlock - 18. Alexandre (or Alex, as he prefers most people call him) grew up in London to a seemingly normal family. His father was a soldier, who had been discharged honorably after receiving a VC. His father travelled to France, where he met Alex's mother, a parisian opera singer. They were married in London, and soon Alex was born. His father always expected Alex to pursue a career in the army and so taught him skills like fencing and shooting, but Alex had always drifted towards the stage, like his mother. This angered his father, and they got into several fights, and Alex ran away from home many times. He always returned, though always after his father relaxed. Alex did have an older sister, who was married to an government official. This marriage occurred a month before his parents' death, which occurred in a house fire. Seeing now future for himself in London, Alex decided to travel to America, where he was determined to have the world know who he was.
Gebbert Freidhelm - 48. Gebbert was born to a lower middle class Saxonian family. He learned English from his father who was an English immigrant to Germany. As an only child he became somewhat socially reclusive. At the age of 15 he became involved with his father's work as a railroad engineer where he learned basic mechanics and inner workings of steam engines. He learned to adeptly deconstruct and reconstruct the components of these engines by 17.
He moved to America in the mid 1870's as the economic repercussions of German unification and monetary reforms was bad for his business. He opened a pawn shop with the intention of acquiring gadgets to fuel his hobby of tinkering and inventing. With a genius level of intelligence he excels in making devices and weapons that are often more advanced than present technologies even when the devices include components and power sources he does not understand.
Reginald Isley - 23. Reginald was born in the states in a small mining town in California. From a young age, he always enjoyed tinkering and taking things apart. At the age of 11, Reginald was able to fix his father's pocket watch and tractor in the same day. At 13, he took a job in a local watch shop sweeping floors and cleaning windows. Eventually, Reginald found himself on his own after the shop and most of the other businesses in town went bankrupt after the coal ran dry. He figured with the money he had saved, he could start out on his own. After a few years of odd jobs and whatever work he could get, he opened his own workshop out of an old one man airship he bought called "The Iron Crow". He spends most of his time inventing new contraptions and outfitting the Crow with new parts
Ekaterina 'Kat' Volkova- 17. Kat is a young Russian girl who immigrated to England at the age of 5. Her and her three brothers were orphaned, so their grandparents brought them along to England. Ekaterina was taught to write and speak in both English and Russian, though her preferred language had always been Russian because she had grown up being taught to have pride for being Russian, and not English. Her brothers often bullied her and stole things from her; because of this, she has knowledge of how to fight, defend herself and stay emotionally strong. Being of lower class, she had commited many crimes, from petty to setting fire to shops. Her grandfather had taught her to pick-pocket as a survival skill, but she still uses it for her own amusement. Kat has always been a bit of a tomboy, preferring to wear trousers underneath her dress. When her grandfather passed away, he left her enough money to runaway and start life somewhere new. Upon seeing an advertisement for travelling to America, she took the oppurtunity and ran away to America. There, she settled in an apartment in San Francisco, which had a small, old piano. She taught herself to play and fell in love with playing the piano.
Julius 'Doctor' Rowe- 47. Julius trained as a doctor in London before realising his knowledge was too limited. He resorted to experimentation and grave robbing to get subjects to experiment on, and stole books and other tools from local universities. Eventually he was caught and fled to his house, where he grabbed simply a set of clothes and all the savings he had and then bunt the building. He figured that with the three bodies inside the police would assume he had died for a short time, and he could escape. Whilst running from the law he found an advert for the “last ship to America” and spent the last of his money on a ticket, hoping that America would hold more opportunity for him to start over.
During his childhood, Julius joined a gang, as nearly every child did, and became proficient in a number of weapons, though the Bastard Sword was always his favoured. He killed several people in gang fights before he realised that whilst their deaths had been unavoidable, he wanted to try and help more people than he killed. A few weeks later he killed a robber attempting to rape a woman, and found that if he had to kill a person to save another he would have no hesitation and no regret over it.
Yuri Ivanov - 16. born in Siberia, Yuri's father died when he was three. his mother, an American, only stayed in Russia long enough to make sure his father's will was carried out, brought Yuri to San Fransisco, where she had met Yuri's father. Yuri, who always thought his mother was a bit of a wreck after his father died, decided to leave her when he was fifteen. he went to an art academy, and boarded there for about six months, before being expelled for disorderly conduct(he got drunk and smashed the trophy case) so he flatted with a family friend. in the earthquake, Yuri was on the top floor of the house, and fell into a strange dark place. Yuri blacked out here, and when he came to, he was outside his house. he was very scared, and more than a little disturbed. he wandered in the ruins for three days, with no food or sleep, until he came upon Reginald and falko. they let him join their group, which he did so gladly, because he knew he wouldn't survive forever with no food or money, and no family in condition to have him.
Rosalia Elizabeth Kaylock -
Vincenc 'Cenek' Daleko -
Luke Marshall -
Jack 'Bloodbath' Axel - 27. Born to Mary Axel and Jerry Axel both of whom were very poor in the slums of the poorer quarters of Moldova. Was raised by his parents in a loving relationship. Both of his parents were trying to start up a bakery so their son could have a better life however as they owed money to the Russian Crime Syndicate also known as R.C.S they had a long history of being pushed around by the R.C.S's goons when they couldn't pay. When they Depression hit everyone lost money including Jerry and Mary who couldn't afford to pay the R.C.S back anymore. They both went into hiding but were eventually found and when they were Mary was brutally murdered and Jerry was kidnapped. That was the last time Jack saw either of his parents as he was hiding under the bed when it happened. He swore that he would do what he had to do to bring the R.C.S down. After killing all the remaining R.C.S members left in Europe he took a ship to the New World where R.C.S has relocated and vows to rid the world once and for all of R.C.S members and finally avenge his mother and father.
Enemy Information
So far, the characters understand this much about the enemy.
The air fleet is structured as such (from lowest to highest) Deck Hand ---> Gunnery Sergeant ---> Officer ---> Captain ---> Commodore ---> Admiral ---> ???
Most ships simply have a few deckhands as crew that are answerable to that ship's captain (they are too small to need officers). Only larger ships will have the structure mentioned above (up to Captain, no further). Each fleet section is answerable to a Commodore (who will generally be flying with the fleet) and the Commodores are answerable to the Admirals.
In San Francisco the team capture 5th Commodore Berkley (NPC) who reveals some of this information before mysteriously disintegrating.
The Story Begins
The Ship In Bristol
-Falko stands in the queue and observes the world around him while he waits to board the ship.
-Alexandre sees Falko in front of him (the two do not yet know each other) and pledges that the world will know his name someday.
-Vincenc (Cenek) sees Falko and Alex and decides to slip into the queue where they are and briefly introduces himself to Alex.
-Julius, a few spaces behind Alex, is slightly disapproving of the younger Cenek's manner and cautions him while moving Cenek behind him in the line so as to avoid potentially missing the boat.
-Rosalia, doing her best to avoid being seen by the search party she is convinced her father has sent, accidentally collides with Cenek and Alex.
-Luke notices the happenings further forward in the queue and has some brief thoughts about them.
-Arx pickpockets a ticket and moves in line with the others.
The group begins to talk and become acquainted with each other.
-Fergus boards the ship separately from the group.
-Falko escorts Rosie to her room before finding his own, which he shares with Alex.
They split off into separate conversations as they converge on the deck. Alex says his goodbyes to England. Fergus goes to the mess hall to eat. The others eventually do so as well. Arx and Cenek arrange a deal whereby Arx robs various cabins and they split the wealth between them. Luke and Fergus begin talking, which introduces Fergus to the group. Most of them hold discussions about their plans for their future in America. Rosie and Falko hold a conversation on the deck, during which they admit some feelings for each other and they decide to have a relationship.
Once everyone has dispersed again somewhat, a gunshot is heard from the deck. Upon further investigation it is revealed that one man is lying wounded on the deck, having been shot by a kitchen crew member, while other kitchen crew attempt to negotiate and apprehend the shooter. The shooter commits suicide and both he and the wounded passenger are taken to the kitchen rather than the medical bay.
The End Of The Voyage
A time jump takes place. Upon investigation by Falko it is revealed that the wounded man was never seen again and was killed because he discovered something he should not have known which the kitchen crew know. The events on the deck after the shooting are revealed to be a charade and the shooter was in fact sacrificed to keep the information secret while avoiding arousing too much suspicion. It is also revealed that, as the entire ship essentially bore witness to the shooting, the kitchen staff plan on destroying the ship in New York harbor by overloading the boiler. The post with this information can be found here: [1])
-The group hold a meeting where they decide to get off the boat by stealing a tug, which they would then use to hijack another small ship after 'accidentally' crashing the tug to avoid being caught as they dock. They split into 4 groups. Rosie, Falko and Alex are to steal the tug boat, Luke and Julius are to find the ship's logs and papers in the hope that they may have some further information, Cenek and Fergus are to tamper with the boilers so that they cannot be overloaded and Arx is to find disguises and outfits for them all so they can blend in upon arrival in New York.
-Rosie, Falko and Alex decide that Alex will head to the deck where he will create an argument to help draw away crew from the tugboat station so that Falko and Rosie have less crewmen to apprehend in order to obtain control of the tug.
-Fergus and Cenek go straight to the boilers where they make them impossible to overload intentionally.
-Julius and Luke burn the documents of the group to make them untraceable and steal the captain's logs.
-On the deck, Anna notices Alex, who is posing as a rich gentleman, and decides she should pickpocket him as he seems wealthy.
-Rosie and Falko overrun the tug crew and kiss on the deck on the tug while they wait for the others.
The group eventually all make it to the tug, minus Arx, and set off. They 'accidentally' sever the rope from the tug to the main ship. They spot a private yacht out in the harbor which they decide will be the ship they will hijack. The team pull up along side it and jump aboard.
-Fergus is the first aboard, where he secures the steering room.
-Cenek joins Fergus in the steering room where he takes control of the yacht.
-Alex is next aboard, he apprehends the men who have reacted and gone to the deck.
-Falko jumps aboard and makes for the first of two crew cabins. He apprehends the men inside but is shot in the left shoulder in the process.
-Rosie finds Falko in the cabin where he is conscious and stable.
-Fergus begins treating Falko's wound.
-Julius sets the tug on a course that will have it crash into some rocks. He jumps overboard and begins to swim toward the yacht but soon finds himself exhausted and about to drown.
-Luke stays on the tug the longest to keep it balanced while the others board. he apprehends the men in the second crew cabin.
-Alex jumps overboard to help Julius but soon finds himself close to drowning as well.
-Falko has a short hallucination where he sees what he thinks are angels. He disregards it as him being in shock. He is soon stitched up.
-Anna raids the owner's lavish cabin before finding Falko and Rosie. She and Falko have a short argument about her way of life and it's unsuitability for the new life the group still wishes to start together.
-Fergus saves Alex and Julius from drowning and sets about warming them up while Luke finds some blankets.
-Falko finds some more respectable clothes so as to disguise himself in the owner's cabin.
The group finally reach the dock where Luke reveals he has a way of wiping the memory of the crew members Alex pacified. The crewmen's memories are subsequently wiped to protect the identities of the group members.
The Loss Of The Steamship
At the dock, the group hears a very loud 'boom' and look across the harbor to see the ship they had taken to America has somehow been destroyed in a boiler explosion, even though they made such a thing impossible. A strange blue light appears beneath the ship which seems to be a portal. It is drawing in water and dragging the ship and everyone aboard into it. The yacht they are on, which is not tied to the dock, begins to move so the group promptly exit the yacht. Falko is the first to do so and blacks out on the dock after and outburst in which he complains he his freezing cold.
Falko's Vision
The post detailing this can be found here: [2]
While blacked out, Falko has what he believes is a vision. He looks around and can see lights that seem to represent the people around him and can see an exceedingly bright light where the portal beneath the ship would be where several smaller lights are being snuffed out upon contact with the larger light. An unseen being talks to him and reveals he is in the Aether. In conversation with the entity, he is told that someone is posing a threat to America which is somehow linked to the manipulation of a being similar to the one communicating with Falko. Falko suddenly finds himself back in the real world, though he still feels exceedingly cold.
Acquiring Abilities
The group is somehow affected by the portal and bizarre things immediately begin happening around them.
-Rosie begins to hear what she believes is many voices talking. A window shatters behind her.
-Fergus begins emanating some smoke and, upon contact with the wooden dock, causes it to smoke too.
-Alex begins to see people's 'Auras'
-Cenek finds several metal objects begin attaching themselves to him.
-Fergus manages to discern that Rosie is hearing their thoughts.
-A mist settles around the dock.
-Anna observes the events happening around her and attempts to rationalise each as she refuses to accept anything 'supernatural' is occurring.
-Julius begins to feel sick and causes a spike of earth to appear beneath his feet. Once upon this patch of rock he does not feel sick.
-A lightning bolt shoots from Falko's hand.
-Fergus manages to separate the metallic objects from Cenek's hands.
-Falko also discovers he can manipulate air pressure and, by extension, temperature.
The group quickly move off the dock where Julius opens a temporary tunnel which the group travel down for a short while until they stop and Julius constructs a small cave which they decide to use as a temporary base. Falko reveals what he has learned in the Aether to the group and they agree to help stop whatever threatens The New World.
Fergus builds a smithing room so they can have some tools and basic weapons while Julius works on keeping the cave structure intact. The group agree to go into the city at sunrise, which by this point is only a few hours away, to try and find anything that may give clues as to what is about to happen in America. The rest of the group decide to get some sleep.
America
New York
Gebbert
The group again decide to split into teams. Alex is to get groceries and other living needs. Falko and Rosie are to observe the city and attempt to glean some information as to what is about to happen. Julius stays behind to work on the cave. Fergus also stays behind to construct some weapons and tools. Anna also stays behind and helps Fergus in the smithy. Luke also heads into the city, as does Cenek. cenek is stopped by some thugs who he quickly apprehends with the help of Fergus before deciding to return to the cave.
Rosie visits a friend of her in the city. Falko buys a newspaper where he reads about an earthquake in San Francisco that only seemed to affect a few city blocks. He walks about the city and some thugs attempt to mug him. he apprehends them and takes their weapons to avoid them going after him but realises he cannot carry the weapons around the city. He enters a pawn shop next to the alley that the scuffle took place in where he sells the guns. In the shop he meets Gebbert Freidhelm, a Saxonian German and the owner of the shop.
Gebbert reveals that the seismograph he has gave a reading that would suggest an explosion rather than an earthquake, despite the happenings during the event itself being synonymous with an earthquake. Sensing he has a lead and has found someone who could be helpful, Falko invites Gebbert to join the group. Gebbert agrees and the two decide the group will go the the shop tomorrow where Gebbert can pack some items into crates.
When he arrives back, Falko realises that in the mad rush of the previous days nobody had noticed that Arx never made it onto the tugboat and would have been killed on the main ship when it was sunk. The group toast his memory and also those of other people they had lost back in Europe.
The Airship
Upon everyone's return to the base, Falko mentions his meeting with Gebbert and the unusual nature of the San Francisco earthquake. He asks if they will help Gebbert pack his many devices into crates then commandeer an airship so they can travel to the west coast to investigate further.
The next day they promptly head into the city where they find some crates and enter Gebbert's shop. Luke and Gebbert agree to take the crates back to the docks above the base while the others steal a police airship. As the leave, Falko finds a note from Anna in his suitcase informing them that she has decided to leave the group and start her own life in New York.
Julius manages to block most of the exits to the buildings around the airship yard while the others run aboard the ship. falko figures out the basics of flying the ship and, after apprehending a few police officers who try to stop them, they take off. Falko enters the envelope where he focuses on speeding up the ship after he hands control of the airship to Fergus. They arrive at the dock and pack the crates on as quickly as possible. They are forced to blow up a flatbed truck with an autocannon mounted on it. Falko manages to salvage the gun, though he does not manage to salvage any ammunition. With Falko's assistance with the airship's speed they make good ground.
Meanwhile, an American trader and businessman, Reginald Isely, makes a delivery aboard his ship The Iron Crow but is forced to kill the captain of the ship he is delivering to as he refuses to pay Reginald and threatens him with a firearm.
The group on the stolen police ship find a map and some other map-related tools and attempt to figure out where they are. Unfortunately they are unable to do so as Julius spots an approaching airship. Soon, several others come into view and it becomes apparent they intend on attacking the group.
Falko decides to man the useless autocannon to act as a deterrent to any attack but Fergus manages to get the ship's weapons systems working. They open fire on the pirate vessels. Reginald notices the gunfire in the distance and moves in to investigate and potentially assist. He begins shooting down pirate vessels at the rear of the pirate fleet. Falko makes a large leap to one ship and takes it down before returning and deciding to conserve his energy. He focuses his power on stopping and deflecting missiles launched at their ship. The remaining three ships surrender. Reginald boards one to capture it, Julius boards the second and Falko boards the last. Fergus kills a pirate who attempts to board their ship. The three ships are captured. Control of Falko's ship is handed to Rosie so that Falko can get some sleep. Control of the ship cleared by Reginald is handed to Gebbert. Reginald informs them that they are about a day's flying away from San Francisco, much closer than they had thought.
San Francisco
The group flies on through the night where they become more accustomed to flying the airships. The stolen police ship is named the Raptor, Falko's ship is named the Falcon, Gebbert's ship is named the Osprey and Julius' ship is named the Raven.
The Battle Above San Francisco
Upon arrival, they land down on a sky port. Seconds after disembarking an air raid siren blares out across the city and they get back in the ships to investigate. Once in the air, they see a large fleet of well over 50 plain black ships are approaching. they are not police or military vessels yet are, from appearances, seemingly a match for the military vessels.
Falko scouts ahead to count the ships, then returns to pass on the rough figure. He then maneuvers himself to flank the fleet before striking out with a large lightning bolt that downs 2 ships. He also destroys a third by making the air pressure within one ship's envelope too high, which blows it apart.
Julius flies forward and boards 3 ships one after the other. He destroys them by drawing up large spikes of rock from the ground below. He then uses the rock pillar to leap back onto his ship where he fires a full broadside at the enemy.
Reginald manages to board one of the larger ships, which he then destroys by firing an explosive round into the envelope.
Alex begins to man one of the Raptor's autocannons and shoots down a ship while he urges Fergus to bring the other weapons online.
The enemy begins to return fire, though mainly against the military vehicles attacking the other flank. Weapons far more advanced than those used by the military are being used by the enemy. Among these is a weapon that fires a wave of white-hot fire that burns down 5 ships at once.
Reginald fires a group of cannons that shoot out a cone of flames which destroys several ships but risks his own ship's safety as the pressure gauge for the weapons begins to show high readings.
It becomes clear that they are outnumbered and the military ships are outclassed but they have the strategic advantage. The group is not outclassed but only because of their powers or, in the case of Reginald and Gebbert, their inventions.
As the battle continues, Fergus boards and destroys 2 ships, which set of a chain reaction that ends up destroying around 8 ships. He jumps back on to the Raptor. The military vessels are inspired by this and renew their efforts.
Falko continues destroying what he can through hit-and-run attacks.
Gebbert has meanwhile been struggling in the Osprey as he can not aim the weapons due to them not being automatic. He is forced to fire wild broadsides which have some success and destroy a few ships.
The ground defenses finally kick in and more ships are destroyed by tracer fire, though most of the salvo's are ineffective as they are better suited to destroying lighter pirate vessels.
Eventually, only their 5 ships and 2 military dreadnoughts, the USAS Implacable and the USAS Hammer, remain, with about 15 enemy ships left. Some of the enemy vessels begin to retreat and, due to there still being other ships and the dreadnoughts being too slow to chase them, they manage to get away.
The team continue their assault and down a few more ships. The Hammer is forced to land due to heavy damage. Falko boards one ship in an attempt to capture one of the ranking officers of the enemy fleet. He discovers the pilot has no mouth whatsoever and is so disgusted by the image that he kills the man and destroys the ship before returning to his own ship where he promptly vomits.
Reginald's ship The Iron Crow is forced to land when one of the enemy destroys the port side engine. He finds himself close to the few buildings ruined in the mysterious earthquake. Falko lands down to assist him and they hook up a cable so Falko can tow Reginald to the sky port. He also learns Reginald's name at last.
Gebbert manages to fly and shoot by hooking up strings to his firing controls. His ship is rocked by an explosion below it causing him to trip and accidentally fire. Unbeknownst to him, his salvo hits an enemy ship and forces it to land. Julius land the Raven to apprehend the crew of this ship and capture someone who they can interrogate for information. As this is happening, one of the dreadnoughts downs another ship. Only 1 enemy ship remains in the air.
Julius successfully speaks with the captain of the downed ship and discovers that the highest ranking officer is aboard the last remaining ship. He warns Fergus, Luke and Alex aboard the Raptor not to shoot the last ship down and begins to make boarding manoeuvres.
Yuri And Ekaterina
As the battle is beginning, Yuri Ivanov and Ekaterina Volkova separately reflect on the week's difficulties. Though the two do no know each other, they were both in the cluster of apartment buildings that were destroyed in the mysterious earthquake and have been somehow affected by the earthquake in a similar way to the others and the portal, though Yuri has not yet noticed his powers.
Ekaterina (Kat) is confronted by a man who attempts to steal her food. She envisions her brother striking the man down and suddenly, as the vision disappears, the man is in fact struck down by seemingly nothing. She then notices the battle happening in the sky and begins to move toward it. Yuri also notices the battle and decides to follow the girl he sees running toward it, who is in fact Kat. On the way, Yuri asks her who she is, but she does not reply.
Yuri instead greets Falko and Reginald, who had spotted him and Kat approaching. Yuri offers to help while enquiring about the battle above them. Falko lets him help with towing Reginald's ship and makes a not to ask him about helping them on their ships as a deck hand. Kat also boards the ship. Falko assumes she is with Yuri and is not suspicious. She introduces herself once they have landed in the sky docks.
Also upon landing, they spot Bloodbath.
Jack 'Bloodbath' Axel
Meanwhile, Jack 'Bloodbath' Axel, a contract killer, is waiting at the sky port for a ship he can get out of San Francisco on as he has just fulfilled a contract which required him to kill a mobster named 'The Warlord'.
When the Falcon and The Iron Crow land down he takes the opportunity to get on an airship out of the city.
Gebbert sees the Falcon and The Iron Crow land and decides to land the Osprey just as the sirens and ground defenses fall silent. Falko offers Kat and Yuri a position on the under-manned Osprey. Reginald also offers Kat a position on The Iron Crow.
Falko asks Gebbert to take a look at Reginald's engine so they can repair it and be flying fit once more.
At The Sky Docks
Julius quickly communicates quickly with the USAS Implacable before chasing down the last ship where he manages to successfully capture the highest ranking airman in the enemy's fleet. He lands down and throws the man on the deck where Falko interrogates him. They find out that the man is 5th Commodore Berkley and he is answerable to 2nd Admiral Forsythe, who is somewhere around Seattle according to the Commodore. Berkley then disintegrates in a bizarre fashion. Fergus then lands the Raptor and greets the 3 newcomers.
The USAS Implacable lands at the sky dock and a man who introduces himself as Henry Skarssen (NPC), the captain of the USAS Implacable. Skarssen informs them that he has been instructed to act under his own initiative as the ruined defence force is being relieved. He decides to join the team due to what he has just seen them do in the battle.
Gebbert figures out what's wrong with The Iron Crow. Reginald quickly makes a repair. He then enters the Raptor's gondola to examine some odd wiring he'd found earlier. He finds it has an odd brass cylinder with Fergus had mentioned could be an 'aetheric telegraph'. Gebbert asks Luke to take a look at the cylinder.
Bloodbath goes into the Raptor's interior where he finds a bed and goes to sleep as he thinks about the shock of watching the Commodore disappear.
Upon inspection, the cylinder appears to be some sort of aetheric device that somehow controls the Raptor's targeting systems and Gebbert and Luke consider finding a way to make it able to increase the range of Luke's extrasensory abilities.
The group restock and refuel before heading for Seattle.
Seattle
The group, now with the men on the dreadnought accompanying them, fly through the afternoon towards Seattle. Julius enlists the help of Henry Barum, from the USAS Implacable so he can rest while Henry flies the Raven. Upon arrival in Seattle they discover the city has been completely ruined and there is no sign of the 2nd Admiral and his fleet. during the approach to the city Rosie also notices an invisible barrier of sorts that blocks the thoughts of the team who have not yet passed through it. Their thoughts return to her head when they also pass through the 'barrier'.
During the journey, Gebbert has examined the mysterious cylinders, similar to the one on the Raptor, which Luke had taken from one of the downed ships in San Francisco. He opens it up to find odd wires and what appears to be a small grey lump of something that looks a bit like living tissue. Luke does not make any further discoveries upon immediate inspection.
The Looters
The group decide to search around the city for survivors. Falko and Rosie locates one who is delirious and almost dead who is muttering about Angels and Looters. Meanwhile, Kat is alone aboard The Iron Crow. A group of looters decide to raid the ship. After she uses some bizarre powers she gained during the earthquake in San Francisco they decide to take her and steal the ship, though they are soon apprehended by Falko.
Falko manages to talk with one of the looters for some time who claims that there is an army that is a major threat to the USA. He also says he has kidnapped Kat because they need her to bargain with them, implying that the new army will leave them alone if they have someone with powers to use as a bargaining chip. The looter says the army he saw is headed back south, supposedly toward Texas.
Falko then stuns the man and flies The Iron Crow back where he dumps the stunned body and calls out that they need to leave now and head toward Texas.
Before leaving, Gebbert manages to alter the cylindrical device to make it work for Luke so he can pick up whatever the ship's targeting system was picking up, which was presumably life forms.
Once in the air, Falko informs everyone of why they're heading to Texas and begins to doubt his own ability to fight this enemy.
Toward Texas
After the incident with the looters, they quickly head toward Texas so as to get a glimpse of the scale of their foe. After a while in the air, Henry Skarssen informs Falko that he has received a transmission from the USAS Hammer saying she is ready to fly and will rendezvous with them in a day or two. A few hours later, Falko spots a moving land force on the horizon. With the aid of a telescope he finds out it is an army of what looks like angels. The ships form a stationary cluster to plan their next move.
The Battle In The Southwest
Julius suggests they break a section of the force off and destroy that before heading back to New York as Falko suggested.
Suddenly, Falko hears the voice of the aetheric entity that told him of the conspiracy when they arrived in the USA. The being informs him that it is lending him its power so that he can better fight the enemy. After communicating with the being, a large storm begins to brew around them. Julius is contacted by a similar being that does the same and soon he is rendered blind. He swiftly moves to the ground and, though he is still blind, can now 'see' everything around him through the earth.
