Sign of the Scorpid

(( This is a summary of an IC roleplaying adventure being currently played out. As each act is played out, a synopsis will be added here. I'll try to keep them short and to the point.

If you feel you might like to take part at some point, give Swfitmind, Demenzia or myself a tell ))

Act I

In order to safely transport an experimental a micro-fusion reactor to her Borealis mine, Omni-Mining Director Swiftmind arranges, with Dabblez collaboration, to have it concealed inside a RUR robot. The micro fusion-reactor is required for a project Infinte Circle related experiement, but in the wrong hands it could be turned into a bomb.

This robot would be part of a normal shipment to Borealis Hotel Victory and would be flown over in a fully automated transport plane. According to plan, on arrival Omni-Mining agents would switch the bot with the concealed micro-fusion reactor with a regular bot.

One the day however, things go horribly wrong. All contact with the transport ship Galileo is lost as it crosses the Stret West Bank region. Swiftmind calls an emergency meeting between Omni-Mining, Vector Blue, RUR members (with guest star Lourfoul ) to explain the situation and mount a rescue mission. At this point Dabblez also reveals that this is not the first RUR shipment of bots to disappear under mysterious circumstances in that area.

The IC team soon locates the crashed wreckage of the Galileo. Though the vessel crashed by the river bank, there is no sign of the robotic cargo. Going through the data in the blackbox and physical evidence at the site, the investigation team concludes that the transport must have been boarded mid-air, the cargo removed and then finally shot down.

At the end of the episode our heroes are left wandering who committed this act of sky-piracy and whether they were after the Omni-Mining micro fusion reactor or just after the robots and got lucky.If the latter, how long does they have before the concealed fusion reactor is discovered?

[*coughbumpcough*]

Vector Blue send chain smoking detective Barbile to speak to an informant in Borelais as part of the investigation to track down the sky-pirate crew who last week hi-jacked a cargo containing sensitive Omni-Mining equipment concealed in a RUR robot.

But things are not always as they appear. The meeting with the informer turns out to be a trap. Khordia, alarmed that Vector Blue migth be closing in on her, has arranged to have some of her goons at this meeting. Barbile is disarmed, beated as a warning to Vector Blue and its Infinite Circle allies not to mess with Khordia's Corsairs.

Finally Khordia's pirate crew grab the unconscous body of Barbile, load onto a shuttle and dump over the medusa settlement in the Eastern Foul Plain to where he faces certain death.

Oh my! It seems that Barbile's weekend is not going very smoothly at all. :eek:

On impulse Spidah, an engineer in the robotics company called RUR, decided to attend the World Leet Fighting Federation's leet fight in Borealis. He wasn't sure how he felt about getting leets to fight each other for sport. Its seemed cruel, but then again Rubi-Ka was a cruel world and after all this was a 'sport' that went back all the way to the days of the early Rubi-Kan colonists. Right or wrong it was part of our heritage. Besides, there was not much else to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

The spectacle was a violent as Spidah had expected and soon the arena was littered with the bodies of the tiny leets. There was however more showmanship and variety then he'd expected to the event including grudge matches between "famous" leet fighters, protesters from the organisation known as "L.E.E.T" (where they genuine or part of the show - Spidah was not sure), a special appearance from Timeplase and his oversized Champion Leet all the way from the mysterious Ark island, and towards the very end, a contest, between fighter leets and a robot.

A robot? With a sudden realisation, the young RUR engineer cries out. "Hey, that is one our bots! What's it doing here in the arena?

During an important meeting held by the departments involved in project Infinite Circle, reports had been made about the unfortunate events, and the name of Scorpid Syndicate was for the first time heard, linked to the false informer who had set the trap for Barbile on Khordia's orders.

In spite of the less-than-veiled threats, operatives from Vector Blue as well as Security agents from R.U.R go on with the investigation during the following week. Taking an interest in the upcoming Leet fights due to the suspected borderline crowd as well as to a report revealing that the Syndicate may have interests in it, a few operatives are sent to attend the fights and watch if any potential information can be taken out of it.

Expectations and way more are met; not only the informer is spotted, but an R.U.R employee also recognizes one of the stolen bots at the fight, confirming the growing su****ions. Plans are quickly switched, and at the end of the fights, several Vector Blue operatives immediately close down on the false informer to Grid her out out of reach from her allies and take her to an undisclosed location, that only R.U.R security main agents are allowed to know as well.

With her implants disabled and no means of being found by her acolytes, the treacherous woman is locked tightly in her cell, ready to be questioned.

Gretska, the TSS contact the Infinite Circle team had captured after the World Leet Fighting Federation event, is questioned by Vector Blue agents. Under pressure she reveals the bots were stolen for no other purpose that to be used in leet fights and that the bots are currently at the WLFF training grounds, by the old Amblestien Farm in Stret West Bank. She in turn questions the VB operatives as to why make such a fuss over a "few, dumb bots", but they know better than to answer her. After the interrogation, Gretska is handed over to the authorities to be charged with acts of piracy.