When last we left the Boston party, they had just finished searching the captured trucks. Now they send the Rent-a-Horde back to what will be a safe place for at least a couple of hours, where they will meet the transport which will take them to Tunisia.

Tom tunes up the car, bolts some rifles to the door, and off they drive. An hour later, they approach the airport. Disarming a trapped water tower, the truck blasts through a fence

The Ebon Shadow teleports into the plane and begins beating up the crew. One of them is all viney and brambley, and fights back rather effectively. Meanwhile, Zance starts burning off the unmanifested vines on the tarmack. The Ebon Shadow plays "This Old House" and "Yankee Woodworker" on the brambleman. Most of the party ends up on the plane for at least a few seconds. Mara draws RebornFlameOfTheChampion and scares off the Big Bad. The party burns the brambles and the airport into the ground. They pack up their stuff and head for Tunisia. On-the-scene investigation reveals that the bad guys were headed for Aztlan.

Lofwyr, without the party to fend off the horror army, personally takes the field. A hurricane blows up in northern Germany. For the first time since the Second Age, mortals witness the breath weapon of a Great Dragon. From the Rhine to the Pyranees, nothing survives. The ground is melted to obsidian, and dank clouds of steam drift across empty Europe.

The breath weapon of a Great Dragon is clearly not a weapon the party wants to regularly use—it's raised the global mana level noticeably, and darkened the Western European taint level quite a bit.

In the microseconds following the attack, S-K's stock is slaughtered in a complicated game run by DIMR, Draco, Aztech, Ares, and an association of the Japanese megacorps and several heretofore unremarkable large private foundations. Lofwyr loses most of his personal fortune in the process. The ancients Do Not Approve of his actions. The next day, Lofwyr posts to the public news feeds:

Battle is now joined.
As autumn's early snow drifts down,
The bridge is here. Now.

My brethren of the ancien' regime, gird yourselves. We of the old world do it no service to let its hymns lapse into silence and its libraries wither to dust. Humanity's long gentle summer draws to an end. They shall fight this war, as solitary victims if we do not teach them to be warriors and generals.

You flee in fear from the miracle I have worked, and recoil, aghast that I teach the humans truth. Once, so did I. Oh my brother, you were so right. Would that you were here to guide us now. Indeed, we who are the greatest and the least of Earth's creatures must ally for this battle. Now, I shall The metaplanes shall ring with the sounds of battle and songs long unsung.

As Lore<garbled after transmission> of the <garbled>, hold up the Jewe<garbled>. Those who will fight to protect our future, <garbled>

There is a fully anonymous response: "Don't argue in front of the children."

Much party argument happens, including the PCs distrusting The Ebon Shadow a lot, and The Ebon Shadow disavowing Steven.

14 XP, as lots of things got finished.

Downtime

Zance spends some downtime training the Horde. This is mostly a few dots of Command.


The GM records that The Ebon Shadow has now actually been hit. This may be a campaign first. Also, consider the difference in Stunts between "I foo to bar" and "To bar, I foo." The second is much more clear, since the intent can be kept in mind during the description.

"I only kill bad people!" —The Ebon Shadow.
"There are things that are wrong regardless of who they are used on." —Varan (Tommy adds "like eating hearts").


Power Combat

This isn't actually being brought into play yet, it's just being presented for consideration.