Panopticon: A Game of Posthumans, Perniciousness, Paranoia, Politics, and Plasmaguns
1) These are Russian VAs and they're Tunguskans. We have been told several times that they're not your "wacky" cliched Western ones.
1a) Considering how many of them are ex-Technocrats, do you want to put them anywhere near Control?
2) Henrietta's primium says "lol no" to mental assaults.
3) Henrietta is a relay. Do you really want to risk everything on the assumption that whatever you can crudely throw together can hold up against the computational power of Autochthonia?
Bursting Eagerness Soul
Threadwalking Rating Machine
- Location
- Wisconsin
I'm highly in favor of saving Molotek and blowing the others up before Henrietta can use them.
ckk185
Crazy Bunny Girl Scientist
- Location
- Port city
Either way, the Relay stops working, I used the words sabotage for a good reason. Leaving the center physically intact but electronically scorched will make her waste valuable time attempting to hack it.
Likewise. Hmm. If we want the vampires to scatter. We still have sleepers amongst them right? Have them go crazy and kill each other, perhaps that will get them to run and scatter before the Biovarg gets to omnomnom then. At the bare minimum, it will take time for them to round up all the vamps.
Leaving us to use the shockwaves on the three heading to the Molotek building.
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- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Don't forget 2 Girls, 1 Cup. That ought to fry any EDE that finds squishy human meatsacks icky already.
(2.0x) Save the Molotek Construct from being consumed:
Fight Your Fate...
Henriette took off like a shot after the four BioVARGs headed for Molotek. That was the biggest group, and they were headed towards the IBM Mechanists who were providing a substantial amount of her combat systems boosting. Lose them, and she'd lose a lot of her augmented power. Worse, she'd also fail the people her mother had fought beside, the people who'd brought her the last message her mother ever made for her. She felt her mothers necklace dig gently into her skin under her pilot suit, a spur driving her on faster.
And faster she was. She kicked in the Dash System, vanishing from sidereal space for a instant, appearing in the path of the four Threat Null BioVargs. Drawing her Zweihander in one smooth motion, she set her grip, dropped her stance, and angled the blade back along her left leg, hilt forward. They were already in full sprint to try and get away from where she'd been a breath before, leaving them moving too fast to do more than begin to dodge before their own speed ran them into the reach of her blades.
She swept the blade up and across the legs of the first one, cutting from ankle up to the opposite hip. The EDE war machine tumbled in a heap behind her, but she was already stepping forward into the next, snapping the blade over to cut back left across the midsection of her target. The EDE machine tried to block with its hands, but only added a spray of mangled 2m-long fingers to the carnage.
The last two of the pair skidded to a halt just beyond the sweep of her blade. Henriette brought the sword up to eye level on the DSS-03 and waited. No one moved for a second. Time was still against her....'Time to try something stupid.' She brought the speakers back up. "This is a bad idea. I know it. But Mama would want me to try." She took a deep breath. "You are not my sister. You are a thing that wears her face, sounds like she might have sounded if she'd been allowed to live and grow up. But I know Mama and Papa would have liked that....so I'm giving you this one chance..."
The crippled half of a titan at her feet tried to roll over and strike at her, it mouth opening and a glare of plasma beginning to gather at its mouth. She reversed her blade and stabbed down without even looking, punching the tip of her sword out the back of its head. "I can cut through the rest of your puppets just as easily as I've done these. I'm better than you. Mama knew it. That's why she sent me that message. That's why she fought Control when it went rogue. For me! Not for you, doll-thing."
"SHUT! UP!" Henrietta's voice screams out in synch from both of the remaining intact machines and the crippled one behind her. She can sense it climbing up on the stumps of its legs, hear the mechanoid clicking and whirring as its arm reconfigures into a weapon. She spins in one motion, her sword licking out in a perfect arc, neatly beheading it. She completed her spin and came right back to her starting position in a single uninterrupted movement.
"Grandparents are all dead. Mama and Papa were only children. There's just me.....and you. The thing that might have been my sister. The puppet doll, that jumps when the twisted parody of Control tells it to..." The two machines remaining fired fusion lances from two different angles. Her AT-Field flared golden light ahead of her, stopping their flares dead. "You serve the things that cut the heart out of the Union, that killed Mama and Papa, that took Sanjeet from me... I have every right to hate you, and I do. Oh god, do I hate you. But it doesn't have to be this way. I'm better than you....so I'm going to give you this chance to stand down. Surrender, and we'll help you. You are not my sister.....but you could be, one day. Don't make me kill you. Mama wouldn't like it."
"HATE YOU! DIE! DIE DIE DIE!" The voice of the puppet was getting more vicious and angry. An almost desperate note was seeping into the screeches. "You stupid, traitorous meatsack! You crushed them! You tore them apart when they tried to offer you everything! You could have joined us! Been a family again, loyal and better. You're the monster! I serve Control! I am the Union! I'm the good one!" The two machines begin sidling away from each other. forcing Henriette to pivot back and forth, trying to keep them both in view. It takes only a second before one is out of sight behind a building for long enough for her to lose track of it, trying to keep the other in view.
"Surrender. It doesn't have to end this way." Henriette felt oddly calm. Minutes ago she was a berserker, tearing into them like thunder. And she still hungered for their blood. She owed too many ghosts their vengeance....but she was going to break this doll, by fire and sword or by words and will....Director Belltower had shown her just how great weapons those could make. "You are a puppet to evil things....but you don't have to be."
The white EDE machine smashed into her back like a freight train. She felt herself tumble through the air, somersaulting into a building that crumbled like a pile of glass as the Apocalypse Canceller crashed into it. Henrietta's mocking shouts competed with the rumble of concrete and steel falling on her as she struggled to get back up. "You know nothing! Stop making me feel these stupid things! I hate you hate youhateyouhateyougrrrRAAAGH!" More pieces of the building landed on her as the EDE mecha blasted away at the wreckage with plasma cannons. "STOP DOING THIS!"
Henriette ignored the red damage warning spreading across the status displays and hit the Dash System again. Suddenly she was a block behind the attacking walker, still on her back but free of the rubble. She kicked her legs up and forward, snapping herself into a standing position. She'd lost her sword in the crash. She drew the T-3 hypervelocity autorifle and swung it around to blast her enemy in the back of the head. As the white mecha toppled, it's head aflame, she calmly said it again. "Surrender. Mama would let you."
"I CAN'T!" The doll's voice was a desperate screech. "I can't, you stupid, evil bitch! I can't disobey Control! YOU STUPID, STUPID WITCH! STOP DOING THIS TO ME! DIE!" The last of the quartet raised an arm that had become a fusion lance with a bore 3m across.
"Then I'm sorry. I will free you, dear sister, one way or another. I swear, on my family's honor." Henriette activated the CELERITY system, giving her a few subjective seconds of speed that made even her DSS-03 move like a blur to the outside world. She could see the fusion lance's beam passing through the air like a slow-motion stream of water. She raised the rifle, diving forward and under the lance's beam. The warehouse behind her exploded as the 50,000 degree beam vaporized thick concrete walls. Henriette's rifle roared back and tore the mecha's face apart.
The CELERITY boost wore off in a moment, and she rolled to her feet. Her battery still had more than half left. She looked down at the wrecked titans. Four more Cores to eat. Four more mecha to kill. Molotek was secure, for now. Time to save that Network backbone.
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Deadly Snark
Tryhard As Fuck
Losing Molotek would mean leaving Henriette much weaker and thus vulnerable against numerically superior foes, but losing the network node would mean well fuckidity shit.
I think we are not getting out of this without some loses, so we might as well blow the communication node into bits, deny Henrietta her biggest potential tool. Unless someone has a way for us to have our cake and eat it.
I think we are not getting out of this without some loses, so we might as well blow the communication node into bits, deny Henrietta her biggest potential tool. Unless someone has a way for us to have our cake and eat it.
Sarpedon
Knight Errant
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] (2.0x) Save the Molotek Construct from being consumed. You'll have to murder a group of angry cyborgs before they can raze the construct. This is not going to be easy, but when did anything cool end up being easy?
[x]Call in SN-5 strike on the Comms center, target an MIRV on the Camarilla. Yield somewhere around 5-15kt.
[x] Activate PERIMETER
Also see if the VA's can like De-harden all russian telecommunications or something
[x]Call in SN-5 strike on the Comms center, target an MIRV on the Camarilla. Yield somewhere around 5-15kt.
[x] Activate PERIMETER
Also see if the VA's can like De-harden all russian telecommunications or something
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Deadly Snark
Tryhard As Fuck
Oh yeah, we still have the WW3 Stopper. Definitely want to use that.
Do you think it would be possible to send the awakened war ghosts of Russia after the vampires?
The local Gauntlet should be thoroughly shredded, and with so much else happening no one will probably care about one bunch of reality deviants killing another bunch?
Or would that just give the enemy more food?
The local Gauntlet should be thoroughly shredded, and with so much else happening no one will probably care about one bunch of reality deviants killing another bunch?
Or would that just give the enemy more food?
Kerrus
Fractal Insanity
Does anyone on station have Correspondence 4?
EDIT: The answer is a bunch of people.
Okay, so, write-in choice: Use corr 4- and possibly mind 4 via Serafina to colocate Henriette so she can go protect Molotek AND simultaneously go protect the network backbone. She'll share one enlightened genius between her two bodies, but otherwise... it's a pretty viable solution. I can try and write the stunt if need be, or someone else can if they think it's a good idea.
It's definitely, I think, our best option to make it out of here without having to sacrifice too much. Because I mean, technos technos, but we're Mages. Telling reality, the given outcome to go fuck itself is what we do!
EDIT: The answer is a bunch of people.
Okay, so, write-in choice: Use corr 4- and possibly mind 4 via Serafina to colocate Henriette so she can go protect Molotek AND simultaneously go protect the network backbone. She'll share one enlightened genius between her two bodies, but otherwise... it's a pretty viable solution. I can try and write the stunt if need be, or someone else can if they think it's a good idea.
It's definitely, I think, our best option to make it out of here without having to sacrifice too much. Because I mean, technos technos, but we're Mages. Telling reality, the given outcome to go fuck itself is what we do!
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GhostStalker
Jeopardy! contestant
- Location
- NYC
Just noticed that SeaDart is gone from the title of this quest, and replaced with something a bit more apt. Poor decision-making indeed.
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Grin_Reaper
Shadow Cabal Space Pirate
- Location
- Space Battleship Pennsylvania
I think this is a good time to sum up recent developments:
"Needing to nuke Moscow a mere once or twice is now our best-case scenario!"
"Needing to nuke Moscow a mere once or twice is now our best-case scenario!"
Bursting Eagerness Soul
Threadwalking Rating Machine
- Location
- Wisconsin
To be fair, the cruise missiles would work too.
Phase 4/5 Shockwave Codes
You know, I missed that Phase 3 was already in effect. So we're on Phase 4/5. Phase 5 is the "oh shit" level. Choose 1, 2, or none of these.
Phase 4 Shockwave Codes
[ ] Deity Suppression System Modular Upgrade Kit (D-Type Long Range Equipment)
[ ] SN-5 SLEDGEHAMMER Fusion Nuke
All Phase 5 codes involve the elimination of witnesses. FYI: You are witnesses.
[ ] NEMESIS PROJECT
Phase 4 Shockwave Codes
[ ] Deity Suppression System Modular Upgrade Kit (D-Type Long Range Equipment)
- Dropped from Orbit, Must be Retrieved
- QAF "Heaven Violating Spear"
- 500 ton Shoulder-Fired Heavy Weapon
- "Quark Association Fragmenter"-Disintegrates Matter Around Beam (Entropy 4, Correspondence 6)
- Bypasses Almost All Defenses
- Range: Limited only by targeting sensors
- Reduces Maneuverability
- Requires Battery Power To Fire (15 PE/shot)
- Applique Armor with Thruster Modules allows for rapid relocation (Forces 4, Correspondence 2, 3 PE/thruster burst)
- Dropped from Orbit
- Designed for extremely short duration combats, low-efficiency high-power
- Applique Armor with Laminar Motors increases strength (+10 [10]), agility (+3 [1]), durability (+15B/15L/15A soak)
- Relativity Drive forcibly decelerates reference frame (+1 extra action)
- Relativity Drive Overload allows for actions taken without enemy response (30 PE/use, Time 4 Stop Time)
- Additional Armaments include various ATGMs/SAMs integrated into modular armor
- Additional Armament: High-Power Particle Lance (Damage 60A [30], AP:20), 5 PE/shot
- Extreme power drain (-10 Prime Energy/second)
- Dropped from Orbit
- Anti-RD Specialized Equipment
- Acausal TimeDrive creates up to 2 Temporal Clones (Correspondence 4, Matter 5, Life 5 Co-Location)
- TimeDrive Defensive Mode Creates Energy Shielding (150 HLs of Forces 5 Energy Shield, costs +2 PE/second to maintain)
- Temporal Boosters increase unit responsiveness and agility (+2 "Dexterity")
- WARNING: Power costs increased by 100% for each active clone
- WARNING: Prime Unit suffers all damage inflicted on Temporal Clone
[ ] SN-5 SLEDGEHAMMER Fusion Nuke
- Fired from HAMMERHEAD stealth bomber
- Advanced cruise missile
- Uninterceptible flight plan (Entropy 4 "Destiny")
- Advanced stealth systems (Forces 2, Correspondence 2, Mind 2)
- Dial-a-yield warhead: 0.01kt to 100mt per warhead (Forces 5)
- WW3 potential
- Paradox Bomb (Prime 5/Correspondence 5)
- Clearance Level SERAPHIC/8X required to requisition
- Shunts most RDs into "Paradox Realm" Subdimensions
- Does not discriminate against Enlightened Scientists
- Untested In Civilian Areas-May Have Unwanted Side Effects
- Brainwashed Typhoon SSBN captain
- Designating target for entire Typhoon payload
- Lacks precision of SN-5
- Collateral damage to Moscow: ~100%
- WW3 potential
- Multiple experimental national ABM systems networked into cohesive whole.
- NWO proprietary software guarantees ~95+% intercept rate
- Can stop a nuclear WW3-once.
- No offensive value.
- Irreplaceable Chronal Weapon System (Time 6, Matter 3, Correspondence 3)
- Sends target back before formation of solar system
- Chronology Protection Conjecture converts target's mass into energy with 100% efficiency before target can make changes
- Temporal Shock may kill/incapacitate nearby agents
- Single target
All Phase 5 codes involve the elimination of witnesses. FYI: You are witnesses.
[ ] NEMESIS PROJECT
- Alternate Timeline Dredging (Time 5, Entropy 5, Correspondence 5, Dimensional Science 5)
- Hopefully brings something into being that can defeat an existential risk
- Completely Untested
- Paradox Scattering
- May save VEs trouble of witness elimination due to witnesses all being dead from Paradox first
- Anti-Technological Weapon (Dimensional Science 5, Forces 5, Correspondence 5)
- All technology beyond Industrial Age become Paradoxical
- Sleeper technology fails almost instantly, Technocratic technology fails somewhat more slowly
- 100% casualties on any personnel dependent on technological assistance for survival
- Designed by militant Son of Ether in 1948
- Should have been destroyed in 1952
Grin_Reaper
Shadow Cabal Space Pirate
- Location
- Space Battleship Pennsylvania
I don't think ES' plan for dealing with Henrietta's other Giant Robot detachment works without at least a few kilotons of Instant Sunshine in the mix, and killing or crippling those three will drastically improve Henriette's odds.
Also: Suggesting a soundtrack for this next bit.
So that should be Plan B, is what you're saying
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dash931
Conil
Uh, holy shit, that's some nasty stuff.
This, this sounds like something a hostile sleeper agent would design. "Hmm, what's the most dangerous-to-my-side weapon I could possibly think up that still has a vaguely plausible rationale?"
You can't make a transdimensional omelet without breaking an infinite number of eggs.
[X] Deity Suppression System Modular Upgrade Kit (D-Type Long Range Equipment)
[X] Deity Suppression System Modular Upgrade (F-Type Colocation Equipment)
[X] Deity Suppression System Modular Upgrade (F-Type Colocation Equipment)
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"Inconveniently arbitrary".
I'm serious. It's a Paradox weapon, and those almost never behave in ways you like.
For instance, at this point I'm pretty sure it would get rid of everything not a giant mecha.
Bursting Eagerness Soul
Threadwalking Rating Machine
- Location
- Wisconsin
[X] Deity Suppression System Modular Upgrade (F-Type Colocation Equipment)
With this, Henriette can kill up to three times as fast. If we use CHRONOS to kill the comm hub, then she can focus all of that firepower on the Molotek group, eat them for PE, and repeat with the rest. Also, the force field and Dex bonus are pretty sweet extras.
[X] CHRONOS Temporal Weapons System
Drop this on the comm hub. If there isn't a target, Henrietta can't hurt it.
EDIT: Alternately, we could hit Henrietta with this. The command unit/ humanish one.
At this point, the vamps aren't really an issue. This isn't an endurance fight as long as we can kill her mechs and keep eating them. With time clones, we can do that up to three times as fast.
And, @MJ12 Commando, don't we already have PERIMETER?
With this, Henriette can kill up to three times as fast. If we use CHRONOS to kill the comm hub, then she can focus all of that firepower on the Molotek group, eat them for PE, and repeat with the rest. Also, the force field and Dex bonus are pretty sweet extras.
[X] CHRONOS Temporal Weapons System
Drop this on the comm hub. If there isn't a target, Henrietta can't hurt it.
EDIT: Alternately, we could hit Henrietta with this. The command unit/ humanish one.
At this point, the vamps aren't really an issue. This isn't an endurance fight as long as we can kill her mechs and keep eating them. With time clones, we can do that up to three times as fast.
And, @MJ12 Commando, don't we already have PERIMETER?
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- Location
- Southern Virginia
One moment, the deep tones of a chorus chanting in unison filled the small chamber. In the next, first one chorister, then another, began faltering, and the room that seemed to have expanded beyond its boundaries in imitation of the infinite expanse of the Lord was collapsing into a claustrophobic crypt. Father Dmitri Patriechev, standing aside to channel the power of the Chorus, felt its power fading exactly as it lost harmony, providing a discordant note to the terrible gut-feeling coming over him.
He waved them to stop as he pulled at his beard in grief.
From the knot of Choristers came a plaintive wail. "Patriarkhat is martyred! Father Ioannes has left us!"
Dmitri felt tears welling up but shook his head, trying to keep them from coming. Martyrdom for the Lord was a great honor, he told himself. And there was still so much to do.
"No, Father Ioannes has joined the company of the Saints," he responded, choking up. "Our father is nearer to God, and he will not forget us. And we shall not forget him."
The members of the chorus, still standing, looked around at each other and at Dmitri in confusion. "What shall we do, then?" asked one. "All our soldiers are already fighting. We can only sing. And we have no heart for it now."
"I share your sorrow," Dmitri answered, and he ceased trying to fight the tears. They flowed down, streaking his face. "But that makes it more important. The Lord will comfort us in our grief. This is the price many of our flock have suffered already. Embrace it, nay, please continue. Let your dirge accompany all the martyrs this day to the heavens."
He began leading them with a few motions, and the fullness of their sorrow filled the room again. There was something of the One at work in the harmony of the Chorus, something that perhaps Patriarkhat himself had never quite embraced. And as he felt the bonds of that unity, Dmitri remembered something.
"Volkov," he said, addressing an adjunct in the chorus, "take over. Maintain your chorus. Our bishops need the power and unity that it represents. But we also need a focus. We must unite with all the forces fighting these satanic invaders. Truly unite, to create the same harmony of effort here, and we must bring the Sleepers into it."
The adept stepped out of the front ranks of the chorus with no hesitation, and though the chanting grew weaker for a fraction of a second, it soon rebounded. Dmitri meanwhile was walking out, leaving the chamber in the footsteps of his late leader, with his cell phone in hand.
"Catherine," he said, speaking as soon as he heard the other end of the line pick up. "Patriarkhat is martyred. And the Chorus' forces are faltering."
He heard a sigh. "Very well. It was more than I expected from the old goat, anyway. The other Traditions are being pressed hard too. I'll let them know, and I really am sorry to hear that. Will you be withdrawing from Moscow?"
"We will not," Dmitri answered. It felt natural to speak for the Chorus now, even though a few moments ago he had just considered himself the aide of Father Ioannes. "No, Russia is our homeland. And Father Ioann… Patriarkhat fell against these enemies. We will not give in the fight. We are, how do the Americans say, doubling down? But tell me what you know of the pilot the Technocrats have fielded… "
He listened as Catherine relayed information she had heard from this Serafina Rosario, who was otherwise coordinating the resistance. There was no time to contact Rosario directly, not quite yet, though he put in her number to call as soon as he could. What Catherine knew was enough, it would have to be enough. He was absorbing it as he walked through the throngs of worshippers still kneeling, now keening and wailing in fear and despair as though they too had felt the death of Patriarkhat.
It was not a time to mourn, though. That would come later. Satan still loomed.
He stepped into the nave, stepping down an aisle covered in praying and weeping Sleepers. A priest, one familiar with Patriarkhat but not one of the Awakened, was leading the mass. He stopped as Dmitri approached, and as if recognizing his intent, stood beside the altar in anticipation. Dmitri nodded, and spared a single glance up to the ceiling dome, where a mosaic depicted the perfect order of heaven, with saints and angels singing praise to Christ the Savior.
There was a palpable sense of anticipation as Dmitri reached the altar, and picking up a chalice of consecrated wine, began reciting the Lord's Prayer. The Sleepers packed in the room followed, and soon those outside were repeating in a ragged intonation that echoed through the Cathedral.
"All will unfold according to the will of the Lord," Dmitri began, breaking into an impromptu sermon. "We face a great trial today. The lies of the world are being rent asunder and the veil has been pierced for you to see. The white walkers destroying our city are the tools of evil men, who in their hubris have forsaken God and wish to subjugate the souls of all mankind. Their victory will mean the death of Russia, and soon enough of all peoples and nations."
The normal gasps of disbelief he would have expected did not come. The usual deceptions of the Technocracy had been town away by the Umbral invasion, and that had shattered the certainty of the Sleeper Consensus in Moscow. At least it had for a brief time.
"There is one who fights these demonic engines. She serves masters who are no less godless than her enemies. Masters who still lack humility and have strayed far from the path of the Lord. But in this time, they are the instruments of the Lord. One of the great walkers stands against nine, and its pilot is named Henriette Langley. On her shoulders is the fate of our city. If she fails then Moscow will die, either the slow death of our soul or the quick death of nuclear weapons. And yet, she will not fail, for the Lord is with her."
He scanned over the crowd, and even to his side at the priest, and saw only focused attention. They were with him.
"The tribe of Israel faced a similar fate, while in exile in Babylonia. The body of Israel was enslaved and its mind was crushed under by the oppression of pagan arrogance. And when it seemed that the people of the Covenant would wither away entirely, he sent them a prophet to proclaim their delivered. And that prophet, Daniel, trusting in the Lord, predicated with confidence that the exile would end and that Israel would survive. And so it came to pass that the Babylonians were overthrown, their pride shattered and their empire all but forgotten, as a deliverer overthrow their arrogance and restored the people of Israel to their ancestral homeland. The temple of the Lord was rebuilt in Jerusalem, and the covenant proven again, as a foretaste of the deliverance that He would bring through His Son, Jesus Christ.'
"The deliverer of Israel was the Persian Cyrus. He was not a believer. And yet he fought the enemies of the Lord, and served in the Lord's plans, and for a nonbeliever was even righteous in his own way. Now Russia stands in the place of Israel. This enemy will enslave our bodies and minds until we are not what we were. They are so arrogant as to think they can deny the power of the Lord through their sheer will and disbelief, but they are wrong. And so the Lord has brought forth a deliverer for us, this Henriette Langley. As the children of Israel prayed for the blessing of Cyrus who delivered them from Babylon, so now must we pray that He blesses this Langley."
"Pray to the Mother of God, that she might intercede with her Son to spare Henriette Langley. Pray to the Archangel Michael, that he might intercede with the Lord to strengthen Henriette Langely. And pray to our Lord, that He bless this Henriette Langley as He once did Cyrus the Great, that she be an instrument of His will to deliver the Faithful of his new covenant. Focus on the icon of Our Lady of Kazan, the patroness of our cathedral, as you pray, to bring a unity in our prayers. We must keep this Langley on our lips, and the icon of the Holy Virgin in our mind, as we beseech Heaven. And above all, we must have faith that the Lord will prevail."
He stepped aside, and began reciting a short prayer. The crowds followed, and the priest soon took back over at the altar. With the press of a hidden button in the frame of the sanctuary behind the altar, he piped in the chanting of his fellow Choristers. Dmitri also texted the other bishops in the other cathedrals of Moscow to follow his lead so that all the faithful of Moscow would be praying for Henriette Langley, while focused on the image of Our Lady of Kazan.
There was power in prayer. There was also power in symbols, and associations. The demons fighting Langley would soon discover that. So too would the Technocracy, even if they did elect to mind-wipe the entire city. And yet for a moment so many Sleepers of Moscow would be united with the Technocrats and the Traditions in a single purpose. Perhaps there was a broader purpose still in that; in any case, the One would approve.
OOC: I'm going to pretend this was the plan all along. Well actually I figured there was a good chance of Patriarkhat being killed but expected someone, anyone, to come up with something better. But on the chance no one was going to use the Choristers at all, well... Anyway, this should do as a stunt for focusing Prime Energy into Apocalypse Canceller? Or dumping some serious Blessings on Henriette? Whatever, have to go mow the lawn.
He waved them to stop as he pulled at his beard in grief.
From the knot of Choristers came a plaintive wail. "Patriarkhat is martyred! Father Ioannes has left us!"
Dmitri felt tears welling up but shook his head, trying to keep them from coming. Martyrdom for the Lord was a great honor, he told himself. And there was still so much to do.
"No, Father Ioannes has joined the company of the Saints," he responded, choking up. "Our father is nearer to God, and he will not forget us. And we shall not forget him."
The members of the chorus, still standing, looked around at each other and at Dmitri in confusion. "What shall we do, then?" asked one. "All our soldiers are already fighting. We can only sing. And we have no heart for it now."
"I share your sorrow," Dmitri answered, and he ceased trying to fight the tears. They flowed down, streaking his face. "But that makes it more important. The Lord will comfort us in our grief. This is the price many of our flock have suffered already. Embrace it, nay, please continue. Let your dirge accompany all the martyrs this day to the heavens."
He began leading them with a few motions, and the fullness of their sorrow filled the room again. There was something of the One at work in the harmony of the Chorus, something that perhaps Patriarkhat himself had never quite embraced. And as he felt the bonds of that unity, Dmitri remembered something.
"Volkov," he said, addressing an adjunct in the chorus, "take over. Maintain your chorus. Our bishops need the power and unity that it represents. But we also need a focus. We must unite with all the forces fighting these satanic invaders. Truly unite, to create the same harmony of effort here, and we must bring the Sleepers into it."
The adept stepped out of the front ranks of the chorus with no hesitation, and though the chanting grew weaker for a fraction of a second, it soon rebounded. Dmitri meanwhile was walking out, leaving the chamber in the footsteps of his late leader, with his cell phone in hand.
"Catherine," he said, speaking as soon as he heard the other end of the line pick up. "Patriarkhat is martyred. And the Chorus' forces are faltering."
He heard a sigh. "Very well. It was more than I expected from the old goat, anyway. The other Traditions are being pressed hard too. I'll let them know, and I really am sorry to hear that. Will you be withdrawing from Moscow?"
"We will not," Dmitri answered. It felt natural to speak for the Chorus now, even though a few moments ago he had just considered himself the aide of Father Ioannes. "No, Russia is our homeland. And Father Ioann… Patriarkhat fell against these enemies. We will not give in the fight. We are, how do the Americans say, doubling down? But tell me what you know of the pilot the Technocrats have fielded… "
He listened as Catherine relayed information she had heard from this Serafina Rosario, who was otherwise coordinating the resistance. There was no time to contact Rosario directly, not quite yet, though he put in her number to call as soon as he could. What Catherine knew was enough, it would have to be enough. He was absorbing it as he walked through the throngs of worshippers still kneeling, now keening and wailing in fear and despair as though they too had felt the death of Patriarkhat.
It was not a time to mourn, though. That would come later. Satan still loomed.
He stepped into the nave, stepping down an aisle covered in praying and weeping Sleepers. A priest, one familiar with Patriarkhat but not one of the Awakened, was leading the mass. He stopped as Dmitri approached, and as if recognizing his intent, stood beside the altar in anticipation. Dmitri nodded, and spared a single glance up to the ceiling dome, where a mosaic depicted the perfect order of heaven, with saints and angels singing praise to Christ the Savior.
There was a palpable sense of anticipation as Dmitri reached the altar, and picking up a chalice of consecrated wine, began reciting the Lord's Prayer. The Sleepers packed in the room followed, and soon those outside were repeating in a ragged intonation that echoed through the Cathedral.
"All will unfold according to the will of the Lord," Dmitri began, breaking into an impromptu sermon. "We face a great trial today. The lies of the world are being rent asunder and the veil has been pierced for you to see. The white walkers destroying our city are the tools of evil men, who in their hubris have forsaken God and wish to subjugate the souls of all mankind. Their victory will mean the death of Russia, and soon enough of all peoples and nations."
The normal gasps of disbelief he would have expected did not come. The usual deceptions of the Technocracy had been town away by the Umbral invasion, and that had shattered the certainty of the Sleeper Consensus in Moscow. At least it had for a brief time.
"There is one who fights these demonic engines. She serves masters who are no less godless than her enemies. Masters who still lack humility and have strayed far from the path of the Lord. But in this time, they are the instruments of the Lord. One of the great walkers stands against nine, and its pilot is named Henriette Langley. On her shoulders is the fate of our city. If she fails then Moscow will die, either the slow death of our soul or the quick death of nuclear weapons. And yet, she will not fail, for the Lord is with her."
He scanned over the crowd, and even to his side at the priest, and saw only focused attention. They were with him.
"The tribe of Israel faced a similar fate, while in exile in Babylonia. The body of Israel was enslaved and its mind was crushed under by the oppression of pagan arrogance. And when it seemed that the people of the Covenant would wither away entirely, he sent them a prophet to proclaim their delivered. And that prophet, Daniel, trusting in the Lord, predicated with confidence that the exile would end and that Israel would survive. And so it came to pass that the Babylonians were overthrown, their pride shattered and their empire all but forgotten, as a deliverer overthrow their arrogance and restored the people of Israel to their ancestral homeland. The temple of the Lord was rebuilt in Jerusalem, and the covenant proven again, as a foretaste of the deliverance that He would bring through His Son, Jesus Christ.'
"The deliverer of Israel was the Persian Cyrus. He was not a believer. And yet he fought the enemies of the Lord, and served in the Lord's plans, and for a nonbeliever was even righteous in his own way. Now Russia stands in the place of Israel. This enemy will enslave our bodies and minds until we are not what we were. They are so arrogant as to think they can deny the power of the Lord through their sheer will and disbelief, but they are wrong. And so the Lord has brought forth a deliverer for us, this Henriette Langley. As the children of Israel prayed for the blessing of Cyrus who delivered them from Babylon, so now must we pray that He blesses this Langley."
"Pray to the Mother of God, that she might intercede with her Son to spare Henriette Langley. Pray to the Archangel Michael, that he might intercede with the Lord to strengthen Henriette Langely. And pray to our Lord, that He bless this Henriette Langley as He once did Cyrus the Great, that she be an instrument of His will to deliver the Faithful of his new covenant. Focus on the icon of Our Lady of Kazan, the patroness of our cathedral, as you pray, to bring a unity in our prayers. We must keep this Langley on our lips, and the icon of the Holy Virgin in our mind, as we beseech Heaven. And above all, we must have faith that the Lord will prevail."
He stepped aside, and began reciting a short prayer. The crowds followed, and the priest soon took back over at the altar. With the press of a hidden button in the frame of the sanctuary behind the altar, he piped in the chanting of his fellow Choristers. Dmitri also texted the other bishops in the other cathedrals of Moscow to follow his lead so that all the faithful of Moscow would be praying for Henriette Langley, while focused on the image of Our Lady of Kazan.
There was power in prayer. There was also power in symbols, and associations. The demons fighting Langley would soon discover that. So too would the Technocracy, even if they did elect to mind-wipe the entire city. And yet for a moment so many Sleepers of Moscow would be united with the Technocrats and the Traditions in a single purpose. Perhaps there was a broader purpose still in that; in any case, the One would approve.
OOC: I'm going to pretend this was the plan all along. Well actually I figured there was a good chance of Patriarkhat being killed but expected someone, anyone, to come up with something better. But on the chance no one was going to use the Choristers at all, well... Anyway, this should do as a stunt for focusing Prime Energy into Apocalypse Canceller? Or dumping some serious Blessings on Henriette? Whatever, have to go mow the lawn.