Children of the Revelator (Event)

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Participants

Redrock Agency

The Children of the Revelator

New Longhai

  • Innkeeper
  • Unnamed colonists

MSV Susanna

Summary

To the Edge of the Galaxy

In August 2185 Chief Vasquez' investigation into the Children of the Revelator, the machine cult responsible for the horror on Ogofau months earlier bore fruit. She had nailed down their location to the planet of Di Yu IV in the Nemean Abyss, on the outer edge of the Milky Way. Despite Redrock's rough state and recent setbacks, Vasquez and Jason both agreed that they had to act immediately, and a large team was assembled, bolstering their own employees with a mix of freelancers and volunteers, including several old contacts - Ilyna T'Rea, Tarlon Sallae and Nakmor Garr. Despite Redrock's debt situation new hardware was acquired for the mission as well, including heavy weapons, a cargo truck and a weaponized M-080 APC. The hastily assembled team set off towards Di Yu aboard the MSV Susanna, a Kowloon-class freighter that ran cargo out to New Longhai, the only settlement on Di Yu IV aside from the cult compound.

A Cold Welcome

The journey to Di Yu was a tense one - many of those going were veterans in this fight that had faced the horrors unleashed by the cult before. After five restless days the Susanna landed in New Longhai, and Redrock set out. The planet itself proved unwelcoming from the start - a cold, dark place of constant rain and thunder, still in the early stages of terraforming. The atmospheric conditions prevented shuttle flight, necessitating making the journey to the cult compound on the ground. They asked around town for information on the Children of the Revelator, but were met with a cold reception - few that travel so very far from civilized society are keen to welcome a group of curious, armed strangers into their mist. Still, a location for the compound was acquired, and they set off.

The Cultist Compound

After a couple of hours' muddy travelling Redrock arrived at the compound, executing a swift assault. The cult's initial defense proved shockingly inadequate - most were cut down in seconds. However, as the team moved to secure the prefab structures that made up the compound two trucks filled with armed cultists emerged from a storage area, blasting through the mercenaries, albeit with heavy losses. Alpha and Bravo team pursued the trucks in the APC, while Charlie team continued to secure the compound. One of the freelancers, Bayani, was lost while breaching the main building, but the remaining cultists were eliminated swiftly. Father Marchal, the leader of the cult, seemed unfazed by this defeat, and surrendered to Redrock. A number of children were found in the main building, presumably the offspring of the cultists they had slain. Tarlon made the choice to bring them aboard the truck with the hopes of getting them off the planet safely.

The Catacombs

Alpha and Bravo teams pursued one of the trucks to a mysterious underground facility, eliminating the cultists that still remained on the surface before making the decision to venture into the facility in search of the remaining cultists, suspecting that this was a likely spot for any artifacts of the like that was encountered during the RSV Evening Star's ill-fated mission years ago. Vasquez remained in the APC as the others descended into the darkness below. Investigation of the facility revealed that it was an ancient asari research facility. The staff had found something dangerous buried on the planet - so dangerous that the decision had been made to quarantine the facility, cutting all contact with Thessia and leaving the staff to die rather than risk anyone learning of what they had found. Alpha and Bravo faced resistance from cultists as well as, to their dismay, mutated husks encountered on Ogofau, leaving little doubt as to the connection between the two. An ominous artifact, uncomfortably familiar to Jason, was found in one of the rooms, and subsequently buried with explosives. Phil was injured in the fighting, and Jattic and Fatsani stayed behind for protection as Dr. Halisi worked to stabilize him while the others continued deeper.

The Sacrarium

The facility's tunnels eventually gave way to a large underground cavern, with a walkway leading out across the eezo-laced waters that covered the cave floor. In the middle of the cavern the battered Redrock soldiers found a second artifact, surrounded by a group of cultists and the asari matriarch that had once led the research team here, now warped and decayed, her flesh riddled with cybernetics. The cultists were transformed into mutated husks before the team's eyes, but were put down. The matriarch proved a far greater threat. As she joined the fray, an immense, alien presence filled the cavern, speaking into the very minds of those present. It called itself the Revelator of Ultimate Truth. The matriarch was practically crackling with the power of the mysterious entity that had consumed her. Despite all the firepower turned on it, this avatar of the Revelator unleashed relentless attacks both biotic and mental on the Redrock team. Damien and Leah were grievously injured, and Vaden gave his life to protect them. Everyone was on their last leg when the combination of a blood-raging Garr and a desperate grenade from Ilyna and Jason brought an end to the twisted being. With a final warning the artifact went inert and the overwhelming presence seemed to lift from the cave. On the comms, Vasquez instructed them to bring the artifact up so that she could destroy it.

Betrayal

The survivors of the battle in the Sacrarium limped their way back up to the ancient facility, only to find that Fatsani had snapped under the pressure of the buried artifact, and had been killed by Jattic in self-defense. With low spirits and dwindling numbers they made their way back to the facility entrance. Jason was the first one up, but he found himself looking at the barrel of a shotgun as he emerged back onto the surface - a shotgun held by Vasquez. An apology was all he got before he was shot in the shoulder, the artifact taken from him before he was left to bleed out in the rain. The others scrambled up, chaotic confusion reigning, but Ilyna took charge of the situation, getting everyone back into the APC - they had to return to the ship immediately if they injured, now including a near-death Jason, were to survive. They reunited with Charlie team and started the journey back to New Longhai.

Unforeseen Consequences

As the surviving members of Redrock entered New Longhai it quickly became apparent that something was very wrong - the second truck had reached the town and unleashed the infection. Most of the town was already turned, and they swarmed the two vehicles in overwhelming numbers. The battered, exhausted survivors pulled on their last reserves of energy to cut their way through the horde back to the landing pad, only to be faced with a closed ship ramp - the captain of the MSV Susanna was refusing to let them aboard, fearing that the creatures would find their way in as well. For minutes the cornered mercenaries held the creatures at bay - Jattic was separated from the group and forced to seek shelter in the town's inn, where some of the locals had barricaded themselves. Redrock's increasingly desperate last stand was brought to an end as Alessa Barbaro, one of the Susanna's crew, went against orders and opened the ship's cargo ramp. The team quickly made their way aboard and the ship took off. With the captain refusing to turn back for Jattic, Mendez took matters into his own hands, holding the crew at gunpoint to force Jattic's extraction. The risky action proved successful - Jattic and a handful of surviving locals were evacuated from the inn before the Susanna left Di Yu IV, beginning the long journey home.

Not Over Yet

Halfway through the five-day journey back to Aite, all hell broke lose aboard the Susanna as the decision to bring Father Marchal along backfired. Possessed of a secret weapon capable of infecting others with the proto-adjutant nanovirus, he made his move, infecting first himself to break out of his restraints, and then two of the extracted New Longhai denizens. From there the infection spread to the captain and navigator, and soon the ship lost power, and the cargo module was jettisoned, unleashing chaos on the small vessel, as those that remained fought to eliminate the infected and restore function to the ship. Their efforts were, thankfully successful, with all the infected being killed. The ship's engineer, Karana, restored power, and Victoria took over piloting, performing a risky maneuver to reattach the tumbling cargo module and the people that had been unlucky enough to find themselves within. Shook by this final misfortune, the increasingly-dwindling survivors settled in for the remainder of the flight to Freedom Falls.

Aftermath

No one left Di Yu without scars, be they physical or mental. Redrock laid in tatters after the inexplicable betrayal of Chief Vasquez, and Jason was left determined to find his missing love, convinced after speaking to Halisi that her actions were not her own - that someone had tampered with her neural compensator implant. Vaden was dead. Jason and Damien both lost an arm, and Leah was hospitalized with a broken spine, paralyzed from the waist down. Ilyna took in the cultist children as she worked to figure out how to get them the help they needed, but soon discovered that she had bit off far more than she could chew. In the months that followed, those that survived would learn that the ordeal was far from over, and that what had happened on Di Yu would ripple for a long time to come...

Related Events

Trivia

  • A sacrarium is a shallow basin of water near the altar of a church in Christian tradition, and a place where sacred artifacts are kept in ancient Roman tradition.
  • Di Yu is the realm of the dead in Chinese mythology.
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