Welcome to Avalon

[Kathara_Khan]

Kudoi?
Pretty sure I have him.

What about Dark Cheshire? He looks like he should be on the cover of a Harlequin romance paperback...
And I'm looking at him right now, so I know I can put that model on the table!

You've got quite an extensive collection, don't you?

If you could make those two work, between the poses and the costumes (will need some conversion work, probably?), they would do nicely.

What I'd really like to see, 'cause it'd be hilarious, is the Nomad and PanO booth-hunks having an aggressive flex-off across the isle...

[Section9]

You've got quite an extensive collection, don't you?

I think I have almost everyone that appeared in the first Anima Tactics book except Morrigan, and I have a few others from the later releases.

What I'd really like to see, 'cause it'd be hilarious, is the Nomad and PanO booth-hunks having an aggressive flex-off across the isle...

I'll see if I can find some body-builder minis, because that would be hilarious!

[Section9]

So, how is the story-plotting/motivation going for season 2? I'm dying for a TAGsoft fix here!

[Kathara_Khan]

So, how is the story-plotting/motivation going for season 2? I'm dying for a TAGsoft fix here!

Well, we did play episode 20, which turned out not to be very long.
Writing is rough, especially with the end of the year being a busy time, at work and at home.
No idea if we'll be able to get it out to you before the year rolls over, but some progress is being made.
I can give you a quick summary of events if you want to be spoiled.

[Section9]

Nah, I can hold on until the "official" writeup is done. Wouldn't want to step too hard on Errhile's toes for (re-) telling the story. Thank you, though!

[Errhile]

Nah, it's Kathara Khan who does the writing these days (basing on actual recording, I had too much trouble doing it from my memory).

[Section9]

At any rate, I can hold out until the official episode is released.

[Kathara_Khan]

Sigh. Well, that's it, I'm afraid.

It's been 4 weeks since we played. In that time, I've managed to write down half a page of text.
I think it's time to admit I don't want to do this anymore. The amount of fun I get out of it,
in proportion to the amount of work I have to put in, is just way too small to keep me motivated.
It makes me sad to have to do this, but I really see no use in pretending any longer, and keeping
you lot on tenterhooks. The project, at least in it's previous form, is dead. There will be no more
episodes. Sorry.

We will continue playing the campaign, I think. I'm still enjoying it, and Errhile also seems to
still be into it. But the reports will be discontinued. I just can't keep doing it, not alone anyway.
And I absolutely refuse having the need to write up an episode hold up the playing of the next
one any longer. I will still be keeping records of our sessions, so, theoretically, I could return to
writing it all up in detail sometime in the future... But I wouldn't hold my breath on it.

For the handful of you who were following the story, if you are still interested, I can keep posting
rough, condensed summaries of further plot developments, and keep the cast listing
and descriptions up to date, if you'd like. Though I'll understand if you'll find this highly
unsatisfactory after the quality of the episodes so far, and decide to give up on the series
and move on...

Sorry for the downer news to start the new year. Thank you to everyone who stayed with us so far,
and sorry it has to end this way.

[jherazob]

While it saddens me a bit, it's OK, no one here wants to have you chained to a chair with a burly dude with a whip hovering over your shoulder while you write or something like that
No worries, that's how things go, still i think keeping us updater would be better than nothing, yes, i imagine everybody around would agree (speak, people!). And stick around anyway, the Infinity plot is still advancing and once the official RPG is out we should see it evolving an getting more awesome

[Radek]

Entertainment should never change into mundane responsibility *cough-o-game-cough*. BTW will there be access to the recordings? Some of us might learn Polish to listen to them

[Claudius Sol]

And so ends a journey.

Glad to have ridden it while it was operational. Take care and I do hope you enjoy your playing!

[Kathara_Khan]

And so ends a journey.

Well, not quite, if you don't want it to be!

As promised (and despite almost no-one expressing any interest...) we should be putting up an abridged report of Episode 20 this week. Actually, once I started writing it, my relentless perfectionism took over, so it's going to end up a bit less abridged and dry than originally intended... Generally, it's shaping up to be a lot closer to the very first few episodes we had than the more recent offerings.

So keep an eye out, everyone. It's not quite dead yet - but will definitely be much less lively, alas.

[Section9]

Huzzah!!!

[Errhile]

Avalon Chronicles
entry #20 (abridged)

“No Good Deed”


Note #1 - A complete list of all the characters appearing in the Avalon Chronicles is available under the link. Beware of spoilers, though, especially if you’re coming in late.
Note #2 - We now have official character art for the series, collected for your viewing convenience on the GM’s DeviantART Page.


Monday, January 6

Well, time to get back into the grind.

After their traditional morning run and exercise with Yuni, Diego goes about his typical routine alone (Alex of course had to head out to school much earlier than him). He does receive two important communications today.
One, the trial in Minuette’s case is going forward apace. As such, Diego is summoned to give his official, sworn in testimony, and be questioned as needed by the sides. To this end, he must appear in court this Thursday. Good. Time to put this thing to bed, and the scum behind bars.
Two, much less dramatic, principal Chennault would like to have a quick word with Coach Ibarrez today, concerning the recent change in miss Narahari’s familial status and place of residence. Well. Looks like it’s time for his first “parent-teacher conference”?

Said conference turns out to be more urgent and less casual than anticipated. Just as Diego arrives at the Academy in the afternoon, DeeDee calls in to summon him to the principal’s office post-haste. Looks like Alex wasted no time in getting herself in trouble on the very first day back to school, starting a brawl with another student! On his hurried way there, Diego calls Alex to get some details. She tries playing nonchalant, but it’s obvious she’s nervous about what the consequences - and Diego’s reaction - will be...
Okay, turns out it wasn’t really much of a brawl - as Alex informs Diego with some pride - she slugged the guy in the face once, he went down, and others stopped Alex before she could pound him into the ground.
Right, fine, but why did she feel the need to bust a fellow student’s head? Well, Alex caught the guy watching that disgusting fake Minnie sex-vid, and making some truly vile, perverted comments and declarations!

Diego arrives just in time to pass Alex’s “victim” coming out of the principal’s office, most likely heading for doctor Talho’s, to get treatment for his truly impressive shiner. Alex and Diego go in together, Alex defiant but visibly apprehensive.

Principal Chennault is not happy. Alex has put the principal - and herself - in quite a difficult situation. No matter how noble Alex’s motives for kicking the guy’s ass were - and DeeDee’s surveillance records and witness accounts confirm Alex’s story, meaning he will receive his own disciplinary punishment in addition to Alex’s punch (informing him - and his parents! - of which gave the principal some pleasure) - this kind of violent vigilante justice can’t be tolerated. Which means Alex must too receive punishment… And herein lies the problem. A standard disciplinary citation and suspension would once be rendered pretty much meaningless by her father’s money and influence. But now, with Alex stripped of that protective umbrella, a new administrative penalty would, when taken together with all the previous ones, be grounds enough for expulsion from the Academy! And one can bet there would be some very pointed questions raised by the administration, not to mention the parents of at least some of Alex’s former victims, if the principal neglected to enact said expulsion, now that she is finally free to do so... Ginevra is truly sympathetic (in her typical gruff fashion), she doesn’t want to lose Alex now that the girl seems to be slowly turning over a new leaf, especially with her recent familial upset… Luckily there is yet one other option now open that wasn’t there before. The incident will go on Alex’s official record, of course, no way around it... But instead making it a full administrative case, the principal goes extemporary, and instead hands Alex a week-long suspension from the TAG-Soft team!

On the one hand, Alex is very relieved she won’t be thrown out, which would probably now completely ruin her chances at a good college and further TAG-Soft career. On the other, and completely unsurprisingly, she’s made deeply miserable by the suspension, handily demonstrating the effectiveness of the punishment. Well, Diablo did warn her to tread carefully, now that she has lost her former immunity...
Oh joy, after all those years, principal Chennault finally has an effective threat to hold over Alex’s head to help curb her delinquent tendencies! ^_^
Though the principal has one last thing for Alex - a piece of advice. Before sharing which she asks DeeDee to please give them a few moments in private… The AI-aspect looks dubious but - apparently - complies, ceasing her customarily ubiquitous monitoring.
“ - I can’t believe I have to give you of all people this advice, miss Narahari… But in the future, if you really, truly feel the need to punch a scumbag’s face in? Do make sure they’re the ones to throw the first punch!”
Alex can only gape in astonishment.
“ - Yup, chica. Listen to the principal, she’s a wise woman. You shouldn’t start fights… But nobody’ll look too askance on you for ending them. I’m sure you’ll be able to think of many things to say to secure such an outcome...”

Alex is sent on her way, while Diego stays behind for a few more words with the principal. Mostly, she wants to sound out how Diablo feels about his new responsibility. Talk about taking the work home! Still, Diego assures Ginevra both he and Alex will be fine.

Afterwards, Diablo finally heads for the hangar. Chief engineer Wana and his crew are, unsurprisingly, already hard at work. A short holiday now and then is nice, but Eric is absolutely overjoyed to be back!
The promised schedule for the upgrades is well on track, with all the team’s TAGs to be done two weeks after term start. Two (Morgan’s Lizard and Eva’s Iguana) are ready, and another one (Octavia’s Lizard) is being worked over right now.
That’s good, but it does present the Angels with a bit of a logistics problem, as it’ll leave them always one machine short for practice for those two weeks. Two really, with the new recruit coming in…
And even when the current batch of upgrades is done, being one TAG short will be a constant problem. Simulations can cover for a lot, but if Silva is to be of any real use to the team as a reserve player, she will need real, hands on experience in piloting. Which will mean constantly leaving one of the others out of non-simulated training to borrow their machine for Silva to use. Not ideal. But the team’s budget is currently nowhere near high enough to afford purchasing and operating another TAG.
Eric however does suggest a possible solution. They could get Silva a Gunhead Training Gear.* It would be useless for League matches, where everything except the ammo in the guns must be WYSIWYG, so the team would still stay eight players plus one reservist instead of upgrading to nine. But for training, where they can freely control the simulated parameters of the machines, it should serve quite well, if crudely. Over time they could even probably slowly upgrade the GTG, to finally bring it up to a level of performance that would allow sensibly fielding it as a real ninth unit for the team. Sure, the final result wouldn’t be much better than a stock Lizard, and, all refit expenses totalled, would end up costing them noticeably more than said Lizard… But paying that cost over time instead of the all at once price of a real TAG would be far gentler on their budget. And it would give them a usable trainer machine all through the mean time, which is their main problem, not solved by waiting to save up for a real TAG instead…
Provided they can even get a Gunhead - they’re definitely not in high demand nowadays, which makes them rare, if also fortunately inexpensive (it would still strain their budget somewhat, but at least not break it outright). But it’s definitely something to look into.

* The Gunhead Training Gear is an Ariadnan project, with a bit of helpful Nomad expertease thrown in. Basically what it says on the tin, a training machine for TAG pilots, allowing for more flexibility and operational realism compared even to full-cockpit-facsimile simulators. Created when Ariadna was seriously gearing up their TAG forces in the late stages of the EI War, to allow for training crews without wasting real TAGs, of which there was still a shortage, on trainer duty. A fully functional TAG chassis, but a cheap one, sluggish and clumsy when compared to even stock Reptiles, with little power and strength, only basic life-support and sensors, and no real armor installed whatsoever. Gunheads were an abysmal joke as actual combat units… Which didn’t stop the Ariadnans from trying to field them as such at least once (admittedly in a pretty desperate situation)!...

The girls start arriving for their first practice of the term.

Dominique (for once not being the first there), Evangeline, and Samantha come in together. The latter two are rather agitated, and the reason is quickly obvious - ‘Nique face is clearly marked with the trace of someone having recently slapped her, hard.
It’s Dimante’s handiwork. As expected, first day back Tiana tried “summoning” her crony Silva to her side, and did not take it well when Samantha revealed her change of allegiance. Then, after stewing in her anger for most of the day, she finally decided on a last bid for dominance and intimidation, getting physical with Silva when told in no uncertain terms that it would not work. It seems at least a tiny bit of Sam believed she deserved it… Dominique, being near enough to witness the confrontation, disagreed. Which is how ‘Nique ended up getting in the way to defend Silva, and got slapped in her place. Both Eva and Sam are rather appalled and pained by the whole thing. Silva especially keeps trying to apologize. ‘Nique, embarrassed at all the attention over what she’s adamant was just the decent thing to do, just waves her off, making light of the whole thing.
Well, the incident is on record, and Diamante can expect... A slap on the wrist, really. Even if she wanted to sue privately, what Dominique could offer to pay a lawyer wouldn’t cover a good tie for the court date, let alone the lawyer’s actual fee...
They finally agree to follow ‘Nique’s wishes and drop the whole matter. Still, it’s another mark against Dimante in their little conflict (as if she needed any more of those...). And now it’s certain that Tiana, furious, will go straight for her secret cache with the intention of releasing her blackmail vid of Eva and Sam… And find it’s been nuked and replaced, which will, no doubt, piss her off even more. It’s quite possible the whole thing will end in some kind of explosion....

In general, as has lately become customary for their interactions, Samantha is welcomed with some reserve still, but no overt hostility. Minuette is, of course, effusive and friendly (continually completely ignoring Sam’s own dislike), and Octavia coldly aloof, if obviously making an effort not to be outright venomous.

Alex’s absence is quickly noted, and Coach Diablo gives the team the bad news. The girls are obviously saddened, but agree it’s loads better than having Alex kicked out of school altogether (well, Silva seems relieved; Alex is obviously the one Sam’s most apprehensive of… the fact it’s not Octy is an understandable mistake...).
Minnie, as much as she disapproves of the way Alex has chosen to do it, is nevertheless touched by the defense of her honor, and promises to give Alex some extra good thank-you-and-cheer-up hugs tomorrow.
But the one most visibly disappointed at not having Alex there is Nyree... How things can change.
Diego requests for DeeDee to make an appropriate post on the Angels’ (still sadly neglected) Maya page in the Academy’s sports section, to note the team’s - and especially Alex’s - regret at the development. Mostly, it’s a PR move, calculated at covering Narahari’s ass - if they make it obvious enough how severely she’s taking her punishment, hopefully nobody should get into their head to demand harsher disciplinary action, which would most likely end up meaning expulsion.

Time to get down to business. Alex’s absence gives them one free TAG, and Diego decides to use the Anaconda to get in Silva’s basic orientation and acclimatation right away. Which leaves Octavia, her TAG worked on by Eric, with no machine today. She could join the others through simulation… But Octy herself has a different idea, and requests to take over the brunt of Samantha’s first piloting lesson!
Diego expects this to be interesting, and is not disappointed. As the others run their 3-on-3 practice engagements, Octy puts Sam through her paces. Little Moina rolls out her steely-eyed badass combat-persona, turning into quite an effective impression of a high-class drill sergeant: not outright cruel or vulgar, but exacting, merciless, and not at all gentle.
“ - Am I overdoing it, Coach?”
“ - I’ll be sure to tell you if you go too far. So far you’re fine, chica.”
If this is what it takes for Octavia to overcome, or at least constructively channel, her distaste for Samantha, Diego doesn’t see a reason to stop her, at least not until she does cross the line. She could do worse for sure.
Silva herself is obviously - and unsurprisingly - not enthused about such treatment, but, to her credit, takes it as her due without complaint. So not quite the soft, whiny, spoiled brat one could reasonably expect. Good. And, after some initial difficulties that are really par for the course for a first-time TAG pilot, Silva actually does show some promise. She’s certainly no more clumsy than the other girls were in the beginning. And once she’s passably sure on her feet and with her hands, and they move to some basic weapons handling, Samantha proves herself to be quite a good shot! A real natural, not quite as good as Octavia or Nyree, but with a bit of training Sam could probably soon rival Patty and Alex, the team’s current second-best shots (by pure on-range accuracy at least).
“ - Huh. Not bad for someone who’s only shooting experience to date is launching birds out of a slingshot at green pigs…” - wonders Sam.

Fully judging and quantifying all her abilities will require quite a bit more work, but Silva certainly looks like at least a decent prospect. Not an unwelcome development at all!


Tuesday, January 7

With Alex gone most of the time, first at school (she’ll later confirm that Minnie did indeed hunt her down for hugs!), then working her shift at Silva’s, Diego spends the day on paperwork, organisational work, and correspondence.

It’s past New Year, so as promised, it’s time to slowly start moving forward on the staff paintball team. With six volunteers beside himself (Yuni, Ken, Isabell, Gerhard, Maximilian, Felipe) they have enough players for a sensibly-sized team.
Diego contacts Bolo, to ask about the availability of playing fields on Sunday, and weather the Spiders could be roped into an additional match this week. Both turn out not to be a big problem.
That being arranged, Diego sends out notifications to all his new team members.

There’s a message from Merlin. Seems he has found a promising lead for the remotes the Angels are interested in acquiring. He’ll get back to Diablo after confirming the details. Okay, good news.

Most importantly, however, Diego finally gets a call from Bourak! Sabri bin Basara, the coach of “Rahat al-Hulqum”, the Bourak Institute of Planetology TAG-Soft team, is interested in arranging a match with the “Anjos de Rocha”. They spend some time chatting (Diablo and The Turtle never met personally, but their units did fight together at least once, and they can share some memories of the Paradiso Campaign), then move to negotiating a date for their match that would be convenient for everyone.

Visiting Bourak will be quite a trip for the Angels - it’s about as far away as one can get in the Human Sphere, where, thanks to the web of wormholes and the Circular system, no planet is more than two jumps from another. The logistics of traveling with a TAG-Soft team’s baggage, especially for the many amateur teams that, like the Angels, lack their own transport shuttle are still a bit daunting. For the Angels, the financial part of the exercise is the one most in need of careful consideration. The least draining option would be to make use of Avalon’s and Bourak’s orbital elevators instead of renting direct planet-Circular shuttles… But that would mean adding at least a good 24 hours more to the round trip time in exchange. In the quantronic age, missing school for a few days isn’t as problematic as in the past (especially as they’ll have Nyree along, who’s guaranteed to insist on not letting the girl slip too much in their studies!). Still, probably better to avoid it as best they can…

Just as they are in the middle of discussing that, Diego receives another call. After taking a look at the caller ID, Diablo, with bin Basara’s approval, connects all three of them in a conference together.

The new caller is one miss Linna Yamazaki, the coach of “Shinkōshoku no kaze” - the Crimson Gale, a Yu Jing-Japanese high-school TAG-Soft team out of Paradiso (and a pretty high-scoring one, higher on the amateur league table than Rahat or the Human Revolution). And she’s calling to challenge the Angels for a match!
Crimson Gale were supposed to be playing a match soon, but their opponent had to cancel, so that leaves them with a free date. And seeing as the neighbouring planet just recently acquired a new team, which, if the news is to be believed, is shaping up to be quite interesting...

Well! That’s a lucky coincidence, and a welcome proposition. With a bit of wrangling of dates, they all soon come to a satisfying arrangement for their matches.
So, for the 31st of January the Angels will make a little hop over to Paradiso and fight the Crimson Gale. Then, they will wait for the week-long semester break in the middle of March, and use it for a leisurely, economy-option trip to Bourak to play against the Delights. (And then, in April, they’ll be back to Paradiso again for the Nomad Krug and a rematch game with the Revolution, and anyone else that they can arrange.) Looks like the Angels of Stone are well supplied for matches for the foreseeable future. Perfect.

After they say their goodbyes, Diego proceeds to proper research on the Angels’ next opponent.

Linna Yamazaki is a resurectee, one of the limited number of Japanese granted such in Yu Jing. A former O-Yoroi Corps ace, with 21 confirmed Combined Army TAGs killed in single combat to her name (including two EI Avatars!), at least as much again in assists, and an almost preternaturally fluid and graceful, highly mobile and aggressive combat style that earned her the callsign of “Dancer” (sometimes “Blade Dancer”, or even “Dances with Blades”, but she herself humbly insists that’s way too pretentious).

Just a few short years ago, the Crimson Gale were an unpopular, severy under-funded, under-strength, poorly trained team constantly struggling to not drop off of the bottom of the league table and be disbanded. After taking over what many believed to be a lost cause, coach Yamazaki used her personal contacts, surprisingly shrewd business sense, combat and command experience, and boundless energy and enthusiasm to quickly transform the ailing Gale into a surprisingly well-equipped, proud, highly-motivated, and, above all, very dangerous contender. Currently, the Gale are ruthlessly climbing through the mid-leagues and into minor, but rising stardom.

The Gale kids (3 boys and 5 girls) are, as expected, mostly Japanese, with one Han Chinese and one Korean.
The team TAG loadout consists of 4 O-Yoroi, a Guijia, a Tachikoma, a Ramhorn, and a Szalamadra. And they are packing some esoteric equipment and weaponry.
The Szaly understandably catches Diablo’s eye first. It’s a full Praxis refit, including the HRMC! And it’s pilot, a Korean girl nicknamed “Fastball” (a transplant form, of all things, a tennis club!), is reportedly a deadly accurate shot.
The team’s captain, one miss Satsuki “Shogun” Kiryuin, rides an O-Yoroi carrying “only” an AP-loaded pistol and a mono-blade... And, at least if one believes tabloid rumors (and who would do that? -_^), is some kind of secret Japanese cyborg or g-mod super-soldier prototype. The girl is just perfect at everything! Straight A+ student, member and president of three other school clubs - including Kendo where she competes at the national level! - and a razor sharp commander with a peculiar kind of ice-cold charisma.
Her sister, the one called “Scissors”, is the team’s premiere assault element, in an O-Yoroi with a boarding shotgun and two EXP blades. A hot-headed, reckless, and foul-mouthed thing, she doesn’t have much resemblance to her older sibling in attitude, nor skill - though she’s nowhere near a slouch and not to be taken lightly!
The Tachikoma is geared as a scout and harasser, with a light shotgun and a camo system. It’s pilot, “Black Cat”, certainly earns his callsign, by being an aggravating source of bad - usually fatally so - luck to any opponent whose path he crosses.
Another O-Yoroi, lightly armed with an SMG, is driven by “Bear Momma”, and again the callsign is fitting - the TAG is accompanied into battle by a little maul of 4 CrazyKoalas! (well, technically MadTraps, as their warheads were exchanged for adhesive loads, but the chassis used are original CKs).
The Ramhorn piloted by “Maker”, in addition to its Combi rifle+shotgun, is hauling two suspicious pods around. A more recent addition to the Gale loadout and only used in two matches, the exact capabilities of their contents aren’t fully known yet, but they appear to be some kind of limited-use decoy or dummy system…
The last O-Yoroi and the Guijia are pretty standard loadouts, though the media do make notes about the pilots of both being very competent but a bit of divas. “Red Prince” is a self-styled duelist ace with a penchant for self-aggrandization. And “Tinkerbell” (the Chinese girl), the team’s second-in-command, is on record (quite loudly) for maintaining she should have been chosen captain all along…

The Crimson Gale, as could be expected with their coach, specialise in flowing mobility and focused aggression, coming in fast and hitting hard, often from unexpected angles.

All in all, looks like a potentially difficult and interesting match in store for the Angels.


Which concludes entry #20.

[Section9]

The update is here !!! *squeeeeeeeeeeeeee*

“ - Huh. Not bad for someone who’s only shooting experience to date is launching birds out of a slingshot at green pigs…” - wonders Sam.

175 years in the future, and Angry Birds is the game that *still* will not die or go out of style!

[Kathara_Khan]

175 years in the future, and Angry Birds is the game that *still* will not die or go out of style!

197 according to my calculations.
And I think they're calling it "Irate Avians" in PanO.

So yeah, that's about what you can expect the story to look like now, for as long as I have strength. It is much less work intensive, so I have good hopes. The loss of flavor is unfortunate though.

[Radek]

woho!
wow
such
much
very
wow

[Kathara_Khan]

So, I thought I'd give you a quick update on the situation, as we've been pretty silent lately...

This year, we finally managed to revive, after a year-long hiatus, our old Star Wars campaign (close to 8 year in the running, though it's closer to only 5 actual years of playing, monthly on average, because of various Real Life (TM) related breaks and hiatuses... ). And I'm determined to see it finally brought to a conclusion this year (or at least early next year... ).

It does not mean absolutely no Girls and TAGs this year, not quite, but SW does absolutely take priority. Which means it's gonna be a slow year over here. Sorry.

Still, we have set a preliminary date for the next episode, early next month, and I'll of course try to have a new-style abridged report for you as soon as able after that. So you can look forward to April with some hope.

[Section9]

No worries, I've been suffering from a bad case of Real Life(tm) myself.

Tell the stories you want, have fun, and don't kill a campaign just because it's been dragging on for a while. Only end your campaign if the story has come to a conclusion!

[Kathara_Khan]

No worries, I've been suffering from a bad case of Real Life(tm) myself.

Sucks, doesn't it? Hope it clears up quickly and you can get back to more fun things.

Tell the stories you want, have fun, and don't kill a campaign just because it's been dragging on for a while. Only end your campaign if the story has come to a conclusion!

No worries, nobody's killing a campaign! Thing is, it was coming to a conclusion for some time now, it were just the hiatuses that were holding the whole thing up. Right now it's 2 scenarios away from the epic finale, and I'm eager to get to it!

[Kathara_Khan]

Sorry for the silence, should have let you know sooner...
Real Life (TM) has not been kind to our gaming the last month or so. We had to cancel a lot of dates, including the new episode of G&T we were supposed to play early in April.
We have finally managed to get to it... This last Monday. So now it's off to writing for me. Hope I can get it to you soon (read: no later than 3-4 weeks from now ).

[jherazob]

As usual no worries, dude, we'll be here

[Section9]

Sorry for the silence, should have let you know sooner...
Real Life (TM) has not been kind to our gaming the last month or so. We had to cancel a lot of dates, including the new episode of G&T we were supposed to play early in April.
We have finally managed to get to it... This last Monday. So now it's off to writing for me. Hope I can get it to you soon (read: no later than 3-4 weeks from now ).

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

ahem.

No, wait, Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!



OK, I'm better now...

[Errhile]

Avalon Chronicles
entry #21 (abridged)

“Step by Step”


Note #1 - A complete list of all the characters appearing in the Avalon Chronicles is available under the link. Beware of spoilers, though, especially if you’re coming in late.
Note #2 - We now have official character art for the series, collected for your viewing convenience on the GM’s DeviantART Page.

GM Note: Before we get into things, a word on “standard operating procedures”. It happened before, but will become even more pronounced with the switch to a more abridged style of reports, that some things just aren’t mentioned anymore. That doesn’t mean they’re not happening! Diego still goes on early-morning, before-work exercise runs with Yuni almost everyday, they still go riding out of town on most Sundays, he still gets a shift or two a week in at Silva’s, and spends a night with Yuni at least once a week as the mood strikes them, ‘Nique is still almost always the first to the hangar on training days, to get some work in with Eric and his crew. Yuni is there to help out at every practice, running the girls through their warmups and usually serving as the OpFor commander. And now Alex does an afternoon shift at Silva’s as often as able. Etc. It’s just that those things became well enough established in the reality of the story, there should be no need to constantly mention them anymore. Especially now that I’m trying to save on word-count.


Wednesday, January 8

On his way to the hangar today, Diego chances upon perhaps his least favorite member of the Academy staff - a dislike which seems fully mutual - Father Alfredo Loyola. They haven’t really had much occasion to meet after Diego’s initial introduction, a state of affairs that doesn’t bother him any. Now however, he encounters Loyola in the middle of what is apparently impassioned and disapproving sermonizing at a pair of students on their break - the inseparable couple of senhoritas Vidal and Rose. In something of a curious reversal of expectations, the irreverent, punky Lyra looks sheepishly chastised, while the rather more straight laced Bonnie seems to be barely restraining some rather aggressive, angry comebacks.
Diablo feels compelled to come to the girls’ rescue. They did cheer for the Angels at the matches, and they’re friends with Minnie (though that’s no feat at all ^_^ ), plus he just can’t resist needling the uptight, humorless priest a bit.
To that end, Diego butts in politely but firmly, interrupting the father’s harangue to point out that the girls should be off if they’re to be on time to their next class - as it happens, Literature with Principal Chennault! Lyra and Bonnie eagerly take the excuse to escape, with some grateful looks Diego’s way.
Father Loyola, however, does not seem particularly put out by the interruption. In fact, he’s downright pleased to see Diablo today! He shakes Diego’s hand heartily, expressing his praise of the “firm hand”* the couch’s took in dealing with miss Larasati’s bully gang! Well, perhaps just a bit too firm, but he approves of the principle all the same. Some delinquents just need the fear of law shaken into them, and it’s good that the Academy has some people willing to do it!
Well. Diablo certainly didn’t set out to gain the priest’s approval, but he’ll take it anyway!

* For a moment Diego wonders what the padre’s order might be (Jesuit, perhaps…?), the problem being he can tell apart just a few of these (Hospitaliers, Teutons, Sepulchrites, Santiagos, Montessas and Dominican Black Friars, namely, with their respective sub-orders) From target recognition courses, y’know… Of course he could easily check, Loyola’s denomination being a matter of public record, but Diego doesn’t really care all that much.

In the hangar, work on the refits is proceeding apace. Octy’s Lizard is ready now, and Eric, having consulted Diego on his preferences earlier (he has none, it really doesn’t matter much for practice), has started on the next TAG, the third Lizard being used by Nyree. That should be ready tomorrow, and then, to finish off the week, the tech crew will go after the Szalamandra. This will leave them with the last three TAGs for next week, fully on schedule.

Also today the team’s latest equipment order arrives. A cargo drone, led by DeeDee in a whimsical mailgirl uniform, trudges over with crates containing smoke ammo for the grenade launcher and a TAG-scale Spitfire equivalent (basically a MULTI HMG). This should widen the Angels’ tactical options nicely… And cheer up Alex, the designated recipient of the more dakka gun, when she returns from her exile.

DeeDee tries to approach Diego, but his little AR pet Devil chooses to be difficult today, continuing with its mistrust towards the Aspect. It snarls and stabs its pitchfork at miss Alephsdottir from the perch of Diego’s shoulder, clearly intent on driving her away. DeeDee tries to placate it and finally make friends, but gets her finger pricked for her trouble. Saddened, she looks close to giving up, until, with a look of sudden inspiration, she rummages through her pockets to finally reveal, standing in her palm... A second, miniature DeeDee, in super-cute super-deformed style! The tiny girl starts making her own overtures towards the flabbergasted Devil, distracting him enough that Diego and DeeDee can converse uninterrupted.

Surprisingly, DeeDee is curious about Diego’s staff paintball team that’s supposed to go forward this Sunday. Diego doesn’t beat around the bush, asking straight up if she’d like to join in. Why not, really? She’s surprised, and obviously at least a little touched at his offer, but with some sadness concludes that the technical difficulties associated with her state of being - her being immaterial and all - preclude her from joining the fun, even if her “three laws” equivalents and other directives don’t seem to. She could use a drone for a body of course, but none of the Academy’s varied complement seem fit to become a passable combat unit…

...At which point they are interrupted by a tiny distressed squeal. Chibi-DeeDee’s attempts at making peace with the Devil seem to not have gone exactly to plan. The Devil has bound the girl in a cocoon of rope and gleefully plunged her into his big cauldron. Her distraught squeaks are swiftly silenced with an apple stuffed into her mouth as a gag. With a wicked grin, the Devil proceeds to lighting a fire under the DeeDee soup, striking flint with iron vigorously.
Diego can’t help but laugh at the little drama. Big DeeDee rescues Little DeeDee, comforts the crying miniature, and tucks her away back in her pocket. The foiled Devil makes angry noises and shakes its fist at her, then stomps away, angrily chomping on the discarded apple.

DeeDee departs, and it’s time to get to work.

Diego informs the girls about the upcoming match dates and new opponents. The Angels seem quite enthusiastic about hitting the field for real again. Though some of the girls, most notably Samantha, turn a little green when shown a clip of the Delights in action, featuring Titan and her predisposition towards using her custom Maghariba’s terrible pincer-claws to messily dismember enemy TAGs, sometimes including the pilot! This seems a bit more real than even the few instances of melee damage the girls encountered before - most notably Eva impaling Gawain - and Sam needs some quick reassurance about it all being just superb special effects*.

* All melee weapons in TAG-Soft rely on a combination of Augmented Reality / Holographic projections and rapid-morph shape-memory materials to provide both realism and safety. Further safeguards are in place to limit the striking strength of the TAGs when they engage in melee and hand to hand combat. For maximum safety, it’s still recommended that at least the attacker in every blow know what they’re doing and are able to pull their punches, which is why close combat is typically even rarer in TAG-Soft than on a real modern battlefield.

Then it’s live practice today, though of course one of the girls must participate through a simulated unit, them being one TAG short. Octavia would be fine with doing it again, to once more serve more as an assistant coach for Samantha, but Diego asks for volunteers to change things up. Minuette enthusiastically jumps at the chance (prompting a long-suffering sigh from Sam). So finally, Octy goes out in her newly-upgraded machine, Nyree takes Alex’ vacant Anaconda, Minnie runs the sim of her Gecko, and Sam gets Minnie’s real one.
They’ve already seen Silva in a Lizard with a rifle, if only in basic movement training and range shooting, let’s see how Silva deals with a lighter, more mobile machine and an SMG. The answer is: not too bad overall in the mobility department, but Sam’s definitely isn’t Minnie’s level and probably never will be, and as for weapons, a longarm looks like a much better fit for her after all.
Her full potential will take some more time to evaluate, and her teamwork must be brought up to spec, but still, she looks promising.

Samantha also shows herself rather reluctant and overly cautious when asked to perform rough maneuvers, especially throwing herself on the ground and crawling. A bit of it is aversion to getting dirty and undignified, just as Eva was in the beginning (a hangup Evangeline seems to have left far behind, nowadays getting rough and tumble with gusto). But most of it turns out to stem from the fear of… Damaging the TAG! It’s rather expensive after all, isn’t it? Sam obviously doesn’t have a very accurate idea of just how rugged the machines are. Sure, the paint-job can get a bit scratched occasionally (which does make chief Wana grumpy), but other than that, she needn’t worry. Yes, full-speed collisions with other TAGs, big trees, or reinforced walls, or accidental falls from a few stories up - or intentional jumps from even higher up! - can be dangerous (which is the main reason TAG-Soft arenas don’t feature buildings higher than two above-ground levels). Diving prone into cover, even on rocky ground? No problem at all.
Diego and the girls quickly set her straight (Patricia gets a little carried away - or at least so she claims - with her demonstration, and sends Sam crashing to face-plant into the ground with a hearty slap to the back… But then, it’s hard to expect a different result from a Szalamandra slapping an unprepared Gecko, even playfully).
“ - Chica, I did manage to really break my Gecko once. I needed the help of an ape with a shaped-charge warhead to do it.” - chuckles Diego.

After practice, on his way back to the parking lot, Diego runs into Lyra and Bonnie again. Senhorita Rose has just got out of her own extracurricular activities with the Cooking Club, and of course Senhorita Vidal waited for her sweetheart.
They have a little chat, the girls giving Diablo their thanks for the rescue earlier. Turns out Father Loyola sermonizing at the two of them is something of a common occurrence.
“ - It would probably help if he didn’t catch us every time with your tongue down my throat…” - smirks Bonnie.
Yes, the pair are not at all coy - nor very subtle! - about their affections and indulging them in public, and the padre, definitely old-fashioned and orthodox, just can’t abide that. So it is that he fervently tries to save the girls’ souls by extolling the virtues of restraint and abstinence, and condemning the evils of premarital sex… (How Minuette and Ilya, who are if anything even less subtle, manage to avoid the same fate is anyone’s guess....)
“ - Good thing he never saw us in the bedroom… Or that time in the gym equipment locker!...” - reminiscences Lyra with a dreamily lewd grin.
“ - Chica, that’s really not something I need to know about, eh?” - Diego chides gently, as Bonnie, blushing hard, elbows Lyra in the gut.
Well, one thing is clear, Lyra and Bonnie (or BonBon, as her lover affectionately dubs her), are very much into each other. They do fully intend to tie the knot one day, which should finally appease Father Loyola some… Who knows, maybe he’ll be the one to wed them himself, Diego playfully muses, to the girls’ pale-faced horror.
Before they part ways, Lyra asks if any new match is coming up for the Anjos, and is happy to hear it is indeed so, even if it’s an away game that she’ll have to watch through Maya. TAG-Soft isn’t her favorite of Dog Bowl, but still the team definitely have a fan in Lyra, and Bonnie at least doesn’t mind tagging along.

In the evening, Alex comes back home from a shift at Silva’s. Once again nothing blew up, and nobody got punched! (Good. Manhandling assholes at Silva’s is Diego’s job!)
Her sentence is two-thirds done now, but Alex obviously misses being able to participate, a lot. She asks Diego about smuggling her into the Saturday paintball practice, it being outside school and not strictly monitored, though not with much hope. Yeah, they better not risk getting Alex (and Diego) in further trouble with the Principal. So she resigns herself to wait for next week, noting she never imagined, those three months ago, that she’ll ever be so eager and miss the game - and the team! - so much.
Alex is definitely in a reflective, pensive mood today...
“ - What’s on your mind, Chica?”
“ - Coach… Do you think it’s any use to... Apologize?”
Well. It kinda depends on who you’re apologizing to - and for what - but in general? Diego expresses the opinion that it does have a use, if even for oneself. The other side may not accept the apology or forgive, as is their prerogative, but it’s still “good for the soul”, as it were, to say sorry if you really mean it.
“ - Yeah, we kinda made up with Nyree, incredible as it seems, but I realized I never truly said ‘sorry’ to her… And she’s not the only person that deserves it from me…”
Nyree is sure to appreciate the sentiment. The others? Hard to say. Still, Diego considers it a good sign for Alex to be thinking about this.
The girl notes, half in jest, that all this “turning over a new leaf” business is seriously hard. And in general, things suddenly got so serious and complicated lately… Is this what growing up is like? ‘Cause if so, she’d like to opt out!


Thursday, January 9

Most of the morning and early afternoon is spent on what will hopefully be Diego’s first and final full court date in Minuette’s harassment case (luckily, all he had to do with this case was in the broad daylight and well-documented, making the hearing more a matter of formalities being satisfied). The entire thing isn’t quite over yet today, but it does look to be heading for a speedy and hard-hitting resolution.
Diego gets to meet Minnie and her parents and exchange a few words. They are grateful for his support, and though the occasion is somber, Minnie doesn’t miss a chance for a hug.

Later today, Diego receives a comlog call from Gerhard Oobleck, the hyper, mildly coffee-addicted historian. He’s the last to (enthusiastically!) confirm his participation in their new paintball team’s first engagement on Sunday. A bit of exercise will do their collective old bones good! Not that he feels all that old himself, really, but he’s definitely not as fast on his legs as he was in his 20s and 30s.

Gerhard also has a new candidate team member for Diego! Turns out Gerhard’s own wife, one Helga Oobleck expresses interest in joining the activities.
Helga is also employed at the Academy, teaching biology. Diego did meet her during his introduction, and not really ever since. Unlike padre Loyola, she wasn’t exactly antipathic towards Diablo, but, in contrast to her husband, Helga was obviously coolly unimpressed with Diego’s Nomad war hero “pedigree”. From what Diego can tell, the woman is rather sarcastic, snarky, and somewhat superior, though not to a degree that he would find grating.
Sure, why not? The more the merrier! And this will bring the team up to eight people, which will mean they’ll be outnumbered less often.


Friday, January 10

Of the important things that happen today, first is another call, this time from Merlin. He finally found a promising proposition for Diablo in regards to the recon drones the Angels are planning to acquire. Good news, right? Well…

Ernest doesn’t seem exactly jumpy or worried, but definitely cautious, and asks about Diego’s comlog firewalls, just in case (those are still pretty good - old but military-issue). He then switches the connection settings to a slightly higher level of security. Okay, interesting.

So what’s the deal? Well, Merlin found a potential seller; a mercenary company that wouldn’t mind parting ways with two machines that would meet the Angels’ needs. Specifically, it’s two “Chickens” - Haqqislamite Murafeq remotes in the Rafiq recon and light support configuration, old but well kept and refitted. Also with some aftermarket modifications, he adds. The owners seem to have a bit of the homegrown inventor streak. But no, those are nothing illegal. The whole deal, the sellers, and their motives looks to Merlin’s trained eye (and some investigative resources he could bring to bear) to be clean and above board, far as legality is concerned… But the mercenaries seem a bit too happy to sell for what seems a too reasonable price. The entire thing smells a bit too sweet. Just a little too convenient.
What seems to be happening here, far as Merlin is able to tell, is somebody, a somebody with some not-inconsiderable money and influence, pulling strings to do Diablo and the Angels a quiet favor.

Who could that mysterious benefactor be? Diego didn’t exactly make his equipment purchasing plans a secret, but he didn’t really spread them far and wide either. Something about the remotes could have appeared in the Angels’ limited “press releases” in the Academy Maya bulletin (mostly drawn up by DeeDee in the continuing apathy of the school’s media club; Eva had some plans for building the Angels’ media presence, Diego recalls, though with everything happening lately, it’s no wonder they both had other things on their minds). Even so, it’s not like Diego has many friends in high places…
But if the entire thing is legal and not likely to cause trouble for the team, then it would be a shame to pass up such a good offer. Diego thanks Ernest for all his help, and asks him to confirm their interest to the sellers. Diego just has to consult the purchase with his boss, and if the Principal has no objections, they will be closing the deal.

So Diego calls Principal Chennault next. ...Only to find out she was just about to call him. About Alex. Uh-oh.

Well, good news is, miss Narahari is not in trouble again. She did nothing wrong. In fact, she attempted doing something right... And got punched in the face for her efforts.
Turns out Alex, following her ponderings on Wednesday, tried offering an apology to one of her former bullying victims. Said apology was apparently not so well received. A punch was thrown, and Alex took it as her due, turning the proverbial other cheek and not retaliating.
The attacker will of course suffer disciplinary consequences, but taking into account their previous clean record, their past history with Alex, and Alex’ own refusal to pursue the matter, those will be relatively mild. Miss Narahari would probably prefer the Principal to keep the thing quiet and not inform Diego, but Miss Chennault is duty-bound to do so anyway. Plus, even though the damage was minimal and is mostly healed already, thanks to modern medical tech, someone with Diablo’s experience would probably notice the marks on Alex’ face anyway. So better not make him worry more than needed…
Well, crap. Hopefully, this won’t prove too discouraging to the girl, just as she’s starting to really try turning herself around…
Miss Chennault does note, again, that Diablo’s arrival sure shook things up at the Academy, leading to developments like miss Narahari trying to reform, which nobody dared even imagine those three-odd months ago.

Diego then rises the matter he originally called with, that of buying the drones and the peculiar, too convenient offer he got.
Well, running the team, including making decisions about the equipment, is his job. If he thinks he’ll get good results, and the budget can take it, this isn’t the kind of thing the Principal feel the need to micromanage him on.
As to the “suspicious” nature of the seller and their offer, as long as it doesn’t look like it’ll involve the team and school into anything illegal… Principal Chennault does have one guess as to their mysterious benefactor, one Diego is surprised he didn’t immediately think of himself - Luna Celeste! The corporate heiress did take a shine to the Angels (and Diablo personally!; which, thanks to the media coverage of that New Year party, is now a matter of public record), and she does seem the type to enjoy this kind of “cloak and dagger philanthropy”... Diego makes a note to ask Luna about it when he next has the chance.

Alright then, all that’s left now is to let Merlin know.

Late afternoon, Alex is back. And indeed, now that he knows to look for them, Diego can see the telltale signs of her having been punched in the mouth.
The girl is rather depressed by the turn of events, quiet and deflated.
“ - Sure, nobody said it’d be easy… But why does it have to be so damn hard, Coach?...”
Alex elects to skip dinner for now, and just go and sulk for a bit in her room, though, encouragingly, she doesn’t close the door completely*. Diego does what works best for both of them, being a supportive presence outside that Alex knows she can come out to any time.
Eventually, Alex beats her funk enough to at least come out to eat something. And also remembers to feed Felix.

* She usually doesn’t, even when she ostensibly wants to be alone. When she moved in, they put a lock on her door as well, but Alex has never yet used it either. She obviously enjoys and appreciates having someone around she can really talk to anytime she wants, even when not actively making use of that possibility, and avoids isolating herself as much as possible. No wonder, really.


Saturday, January 11

The day dawns cloudy, and the weather forecast announces heavy rain early afternoon. Still, battle doesn’t wait for sunny skies. The Angels could use some bad weather training. One never knows what conditions will be like during an official match either. Most TAG-Soft fields are open to the elements, and some places the unpredictable, violent weather is a big part of the show.

The Angels gather for their last (for now...) training without Alex, which will also be the first paintball outing for Samantha. Evangeline has, per tradition, taken Sam out shopping for gear. So Silva is properly attired and armed - she went for a pretty practical jacket and cargo-pants set, and, not having any preference or much experience so far, chose a basic Combi Rifle for a weapon. She’s handling the rifle with a bit of unease, but her grip is good, and she’s observing all safety procedures.

The conversation comes to the topic of Dimante. Apparently, as Eva, ‘Nique, and Sam can attest, the little vibora spends her recent days in a state of permanent low-boiling anger. No doubt that she already found out her blackmail material has been nuked (and replaced with a very unflattering vid of herself), on top of her closest ally turning sides, and her dirt work squad having been defeated and neutralized for a long time...
About that last one, a smirking Patty mentions offhandedly, that “a little quantronic birdie” tweeted to her, that Tiana did try to contact Larasati about resuming the gang’s “employment” once their suspension ends, maybe even taking some action now, outside school… And has been told, in no uncertain terms and in pretty foul language, where to go and what to do with her “business propositions”.
All in all, looks like a solid defeat for Dimante. For now, she’s stewing in her fury and resentment. They can only hope that if - when - she finally boils over, she’ll do more damage to herself than anybody else…

Evangeline, on the other hand, seems positively giddy today. If Diego didn’t know for certain that Minuette is the way she is on thin air alone, without the need of any mood-altering substances (except perhaps copious amounts of sugar), he’d suspect Minnie shared some of her joy-juice with Eva!
The Princess is almost vibrating with excitement, and it’s obvious she’s just bursting to share something with everyone - something good this time. And it seems connected to a packing case she brought with her today, a long, flat, glossy thing of obvious high quality, similar in style and shape to a musical instrument carrying case, like that for an oboe, maybe? Or, to Diego’s experienced eye, a weapon case…

And that’s exactly what it is. The normally dignified Evangeline almost prances along as she retrieves it and shows off its contents with a dramatic flourish - a finely crafted broadsword!
Her big announcement? Eva was finally able to persuade her parents, and so will be dropping her piano lessons* in favor of fencing! HEMA/reconstruction-type fencing at that, rather than the Olympic variety. Apparently, she’s been discussing the matter with her Knight friend, Percival, for some time now.

* GM note: As far as I recall, Evangeline taking piano lessons was only ever mentioned once in the narrative, and the offhand mention never actually made it into the reports.

Well now. If it makes her happy, why not? Evangeline muses that, though she certainly didn’t hate it, she never felt much passion for the piano. Having started rather late, and not really possessing “a pianist’s hands”, she’d probably never advance all that far in that skill. And after their match with the Knights and her narrow defeat of Gawain, Arthur had good things to say about Eva’s sword-fighting reflexes and instincts. So why not try that? Seems much more fun that the piano.
Octavia agrees, that if she really didn’t “feel” the piano, it would be a shame for Evangeline to waste another potential talent by sticking with it. Music requires passion and isn’t worth pursuing if it doesn’t give you joy. (Patty teases Octy a bit here, that she also doesn’t want Eva to taint and torture some poor piano with her lack of musical soul). Octy herself would never want to give up on her music, but combat definitely scratches a different itch.

So, Eva would probably like a CCW for her Iguana now, right? Her eyes definitely light up at Diego’s question. Still, she doesn’t want to rush things too much. Eva is fine with waiting until she took some lessons and has a better idea of what she’s doing before she goes swinging a TAG-scale sword around! Not that she’ll probably have all that many occasions to use it in combat anyway. Even the Knights carry their blades and shields more for style (and promo shots!) than real utility. But, as Minnie points out, if she does, like with Gawain, it’ll probably be awesome! And a bit of showiness won’t hurt the Maya ratings… Hmm, an Angel with a sword? Should probably be a flaming one then…

Anyway, time to head out to meet the Spiders at their usual field. Especially as it’s getting progressively more cloudy. Samantha is a bit dismayed when told they very much don’t intend to stop if it starts raining…

And rain it does. It starts with a drizzle, but by the time the Angels and Spiders play their second engagement of the day, the rain is coming down hard.
Not that it really seems to bother anyone much, at least initially. Combat does sometimes give way to slapstick comedy, with people slipping and sliding on mud and wet vegetation, but though there are many falls, no one gets hurt, and everyone seems to be having fun. Minuette especially seems to relish the weather, jumping in and splashing her way through every puddle she can find with childish glee. Patricia takes the biggest fall today, losing her footing and half tumbling, half sliding down a hill and landing nose-deep in a mud-filled ditch. She proceeds to cheerfully use said ditch as a concealed sniping position. And is momentarily joined by Minnie, who slides down on purpose, whooping and giggling all the way.

The girls do really good today, even if their mobility is seriously impeded by the weather and it’s effects on the terrain. Evangeline especially is quite a terror today, her great mood from earlier not at all dampened (heh ^_^) by the conditions. Morgan is not far behind, even though she spends most of one match stuck thigh-deep in a particularly insidious patch of muddy ground and requires some help to get out afterwards and rescue her boots (still “alive” at the end of the fight, despite being trapped immobile, and having taken down two Spiders who tried to take advantage of her predicament!). Nyree is another standout, the difficult weather conditions seemingly bothering the accuracy of her indirect fire none. Though she doesn’t get much opportunity to train her secondary command duties (by now, Diego has fully decided to train her in Chain of Command skills), with Eva so sharp today.
The rest don’t do half bad either. Samantha, though decidedly rough around the edges, especially in the teamwork department, certainly does all she can to pull her weight. A fuller picture of her capabilities is slowly forming, and it continues to look good.

The worst off today is Octavia. Though definitely not terrible, her usually high performance lags behind today, the girl seemingly bothered by the weather the worst of them all. Not that she’s complaining, far from it! Octy gives her all, but is just off today… Especially after, somewhere during their first engagement of the day, she develops a bit of a sniffle. She insists it’s nothing, really, but Diego keeps an eye on her, and can see, as the matches and rain continue, that the girl is clearly more and more miserable. Finally, after the fourth round of fighting (third victory for the Angels! - in which Octy is the only casualty, at the very start of the engagement), when Octavia is left huddled under a blanket in the Monster’s cab, heating set to full, sniffling, sneezing, and coughing, nose runny and forehead burning, all the while putting on a brave face and insisting she’s fine, Diablo decides enough is enough.

They cut the day short, but with the weather, they wouldn’t be able to do the traditional after-battle bonfire picnic anyway. The girls did get a good foul-weather workout, no use endangering everybody’s health further. Also, Bolo and his team didn’t seem to mind too terribly, but they definitely enjoyed the rain and mud less than the Angels (who seem to mostly have really gotten in touch with their inner child today), so that’s a win for them too. They’ll be seeing Diego and Yuni again tomorrow, anyway. Luckily the weather forecast is much better for Sunday.

With the rain not abating, instead of going back to the Academy for the usual disbanding, Yuni takes the Monster around, giving all the girls a ride directly home (except Eva, who has Roger waiting with the limousine at the school, and Sam, who Eva gives a ride to). Patty goes with Octy, vowing to make sure her bestie gets a hot shower, a hot meal, proper medicine, and a warm bed. All the girls are instructed to have the same, just in case. Not that a simple cold is much of a problem, Octavia should be right as rain by Monday.

Having taken care of the team, Yuni and Diego decide the continuing bad weather makes the day perfect for wasting the rest of it cozily bundled up in bed - though not necessarily for sleeping…
Alex’ reply when Diego notifies her not to expect him back today, is the by now expected and characteristic: “ - Have fun! ;D ”.


Sunday, January 12

The rain kept pouring down all night. It’s still pretty cloudy today, but outside of a light, short drizzle happening a couple times, it’s much drier and more pleasant than yesterday.

The new staff paintball team gathers for the first time (at the Academy hangar, just like the Angels): Diego, Yuni, the head bedel Ken Kamehameha, the music department and orchestra head Felipe Ramoz, english teacher and shooting club advisor Maximilian Largo, history teacher Gerhard Oobleck, biology teacher Helga Oobleck, and Academy head of medical Isabell “Pills” Talho.

As per earlier agreement, everyone was responsible for providing their own gear. Diego and Yuni already had their equipment of course, he a Combi Rifle, and she a Boarding Shotgun (Yuni also determinedly stuck with cargo shorts as part of her uniform since the beginning - not that Diablo is complaining, she does have a lot of powerful leg to show off… ^_^). Max goes for a simple Combi himself, though he does possess a small but varied collection of other guns he’ll be happy to lend out, should anybody feel like experimenting later (including a Spitfire from his “more dakka!” phase; nowadays he finds it too cumbersome to deal with). Helga went with a Boarding Shotgun, aiming for close assault. Well, if that doesn’t get the enemy, her attitude should! Gerhard, the self professed skirmisher, totes an SMG. Ken and Felipe, not having an idea for a preference yet, both opted for the vanilla option of Combi Rifles. And Isabell, not fond of being close and personal at all, will be attempting a sniper role, with a standard Sniper Rifle.

They’re about ready to set out, when DeeDee shyly makes an appearance. Did she have an idea to solve her “incorporeality” problem? In fact she did! It took some searching of her memory, because this particular piece of equipment hadn’t actually been in use since the founding of the Academy. But the remote park, among all the cargo, housekeeping, and surveillance machines, does in fact include something that should be suitable...
Well than, let’s see it!
DeeDee de-rezzes, and a few moments later she jogs up in her new drone body (almost tripping over her own feet in her hurry). It’s a humanoid model, apparently a medical assistance unit for people with serious mobility disabilities. It looks a bit goofy, all flowing lines and rounded corners, gangly, wasp-waisted, big handed, and with a large head with a screen for a face (which DeeDee uses to display her own)*. DeeDee strikes a “taa-daa” pose, at once shy and eager. Will this do?

* GM note: For those interested, I based its appearance on Canti from FLCL.

This should work. The machine isn’t a combat unit. It’s reflexes, speed, and agility are no better than an average, untrained human’s, and neither it nor DeeDee have any tactical, gun-handling, or other combat assist software. And Miss Alephsdottir is definitely not a soldier AI herself. So nobody should feel using a remote piloted by an Aspect is offering the team an unfair advantage. The only thing she has going for her, is the remote’s strength - it is built to be capable of easily lifting and carrying an adult human if necessary. Well, she also won’t get tired... But since the machine is not built for combat, mechanical heat and strain on the mobility servos and myomeres is a serious consideration with continuous exertion. So even though untiring in the typical sense, she’ll have to watch herself for over-exerting and rest anyway. But the machine is sturdy enough that it shouldn’t get damaged in the simulated combat. They’re going to be borrowing it to use for a very much unintended purpose, but it should be okay. Luckily, with modern medicine, it’s hardly ever needed for its intended one.

Alright, she’s in! DeeDee is overjoyed, happily snapping to attention and offering a brisk salute… With the wrong hand. “ - Recruit Alephsdottir ready for duty, Sir!”

They should see about re-painting the body in a camo pattern (removing the paint if necessary won’t be a problem), but they don’t have any paint on hand, and Diego doesn’t want to search through the hangar and possibly make a mess (like displacing some tool a few centimeters!) in Eric’s supremely ordered domain.
For now, Maximilian offers DeeDee a camo jacket, which fits passably well over her new body.
And as for weaponry... She’s strong, right? Looks like the team found it’s Spitfire gunner! DeeDee’s eyes go wide on the screen, and she almost drops the weapon in amazement.

Let’s go. Here’s to hoping the Spiders won’t kick their old-timer butts too hard! ( )


Which concludes entry 21#.

[Section9]

*squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!*

I'm almost afraid to ask what the Spiders are going to say to an Aspect-driven spitfire gunner... We'll see how well Ditzy can move in the mud.

[Errhile]

I guess that's going to be one pretty slow and somewhat clumsy Spitfire gunner...

[jherazob]

Nice! I was missing the gals
And a Canti-powered Ditzy with a Spitfire? Gold!

[Kathara_Khan]

Nice! I was missing the gals

I certainly did too. Happy you still with us!

And a Canti-powered Ditzy with a Spitfire? Gold!

Gold? Comedy gold, you mean, once it turns out she attended the X-Com Rookie school of marksmanship (class of 1994)!

Though I'm a bit bummed nobody felt like commenting on the main emotional beat in this one, of Alex trying to say sorry...

[Section9]

And a Canti-powered Ditzy with a Spitfire? Gold!

Gold? Comedy gold, you mean, once it turns out she attended the X-Com Rookie school of marksmanship (class of 1994)!

Ouch. I remember that school, best described as "can't hit the broad side of a barn from inside one!" Usually with more profanity.

Ah, well, it'll be good for keeping people's heads down.

Though I'm a bit bummed nobody felt like commenting on the main emotional beat in this one, of Alex trying to say sorry...

At least she didn't swing back. Props for that.

[jherazob]

Though I'm a bit bummed nobody felt like commenting on the main emotional beat in this one, of Alex trying to say sorry...

Then i say sorry too, the weekend was a bit more complicated than i expected and couldn't leave more than a couple of lines
Of course that's the most important thing, we love the (myriad of) references, the action and the Infinity setting and all that, but we keep coming back because of the characters