Off the Rail (Warframe CK2-ish Quest) (Spoilers!)
- Thread starter Erithemaeus
- Start date
- Mature
Erithemaeus
GWS Recipient
- Location
- Around Dover Street
More Tenno is always good. And the crit for the initial recruitment makes up for it in some manner.
Though given the numbers of Agents and Tenno you currently have, I probably won't put in some Training options for the Tenno. Even then, repairing the Dry Dock is an imperative for future expansion of choices.
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Turn 1 Results: Of Mice and Merry Men
Erithemaeus
GWS Recipient
- Location
- Around Dover Street
Turn 1 Results: Of Mice and Merry Men
Fireteam Ikkala
Unknown Orokin Tower, The Void
"That's the last of them."
"You think? Give me eyes, Limara."
"Nothing… yet. Seems like the Tower's done sending us more of its Corrupted goons, for the moment."
You shake your head with a sigh, dropping onto the marble-like rafters and hefting a Tenno-fabricated Harpak in your arms. Just as the Corrupted Ancient prepares to let loose a fleshy tentacle at one of your New Tenno, you let loose the harpoon.
It shrieks, grabbing the attention of the rest of the fireteam as they pointed their guns upwards, but a quick stab of your Parazon puts it down for good. Then you double tap with another burst from your Harpak, just for good measure.
Once whatever it had for a face had been rendered into nothing more than pulp, you jump down and link up with the rest of the fireteam, shaking your head at their performance. "You need more training."
"We had it in hand." One of them speaks up, Fireteam Ikkala's leader. Their name was… Virkann? Something along those lines. "A single Corrupted Ancient isn't really anything special."
You nod, sparing a glance at the carnage that they had wrought upon the insides of the Orokin Tower. It was a bloodbath in every sense of the word – corpses pinned to the walls, bodies hacked to pieces, burnt body parts with the sheer amount of weapons fire, it was a grisly sight that would've made any lesser foot soldier rear back in disgust.
This was just the usual for you. In fact, some of your other ah, more eccentric acquaintances referred to such things as a mere warm-up.
"Hm. Good job, then. Let's see you run some datajack runs, see how it goes." There was groaning over the comms at that, and you let out a grim chuckle in the confines of your own Warframe as you insert your Parazon into the console and initialized your own backdoors.
The Orokin-era console that Fireteam Ikkala had been defending for thirty minutes beeped once, and the vault door that it led to opened up with a wordless tune. Silence follows as you step inside the vault, your footsteps ringing like gunshots in the still air as you gazed upon your largest, and greatest stash.
Granted, clearing up an entire vault room in one of the innumerable Orokin towers in the Void was certainly not your first choice in a stash, but given all the damnable protections that your little stash had, there was no way in a millennia that any would-be bandits would make out with your hoard of materials and resources.
"We could jury-rig the Omni's homing function to hoover up the rest of these resources into the Railjack's cargo hold." You speak, pulling out your Omni with a crackle of the Void, "It'll take two trips to and back the Railjack, but it's better to get these out rather than…"
You let out a sigh over the comms, turning back towards the rest of the Fireteam, finding each and every single one of them crossing their arms. No doubt that if you could see them in the flesh, they would be leveling blank glares.
In all seriousness however, it was just a little fun. What's wrong with that?
[Gain 10 Materials.]
[Off the Rail]
Railjack Designation: 'HMS Babysitter'
Derelict Tenno Dojo, Asteroid Belt, Origin System
"Void translation complete. Sensor scans indicate… ship. Would need to take a closer look for me to get a ping."
If you were here in the flesh, then the blood would've paled from your face at Cy's words. Nonetheless, centuries of war and bloodshed made you snap back to more familiar tunes, and you quickly open the comm channels with a command override, barking out orders to the rest of Fireteam Ikkala.
"Weapons hot, we've got an unknown ship on the sensors. This is not a drill." As you barked off orders, you move, your Railjack moving along as well as control thrusters fired and immediately jerked you off to the side. "Cy, constant sensor pings. I want to know if they're–"
"Captain." The Cephalon cuts in on a private channel, "They're hailing us. Tenno frequencies."
Son of a– "Put them through."
On the public channels, the face of a Warframe appears, the guise of a Wukong staring back at you with faceless eyes. Beside them with a quick cutout of another instance of Cy, speaking for them. "Our captain apologizes for the scare. Just a little prank between friends, they say."
"Stand down, but keep the weapons primed just in case." You speak into the fireteam's comms, before Transferring out of your Warframe and holding out a holoprojector on your suit. "Unknown Railjack, I need a name. Giving me the scare of a lifetime isn't going to cut it. We've still got weapons trained on you until then."
The Warframe's face disappears, only to be quickly replaced by a… familiar figure. Another Tenno, implants, gear, and all. Along with a look that was both smug and satisfying – a look that you wished to wipe off with a punch or two.
"This is the captain of the 'Moonstrider' speaking", the voice piped back, "I've heard that there's someone who needs some help with a start-up. You're still recruiting?"
You sigh, and nod. Their… personality aside, they were still a Veteran Tenno, worth their weight in gold. Though judging by the rest of their crew…? No wait, you were supposed to count your blessings.
Granted, you're not sure that Miela would 'count' as a blessing. You wouldn't wish them on anyone else, unless you're there to smooth over relations.
[Gain 1 Veteran Tenno.]
[Gain 3 New Tenno.]
[Off the Rail]
Arbiters of Hexis Outpost
Larunda Relay, Mercury Orbit, Origin System
You were here to exchange Arbitration Honors with the Arbiters of Hexis. But it doesn't mean that you couldn't do something else on the side. Checking up on the progress of the Arbiters in recruiting more Agents to your little project was something you can do as well, a meeting with the Arbiters' inner circle, away from prying eyes.
The news were… bad. It was apparent from the get-go, given the somber mood in the air. One of the Agents that you've assigned to recruit more agents apparently ran afoul of a Corpus double-agent, and promptly stashed her into the hands of their higher-ups once she couldn't give any more confidential information.
Grim. Very grim. You had certainly expected such a thing to happen in this little venture, but not this early. Not when you were still very much vulnerable, and only have around… what, ten Tenno to your name? Certainly quite a lot, more than enough to potentially cripple a major Grineer or Corpus operation, but most of the Tenno that you have on hand were still new blood.
This would have to be… done delicately. The agent's extraction, that is. You would probably have to do a couple of datajack missions as well to delete all traces of their interrogation from the Corpus archives, sabotage a few vital computer systems if that wouldn't work… An entire web of events that you need to do, lest the Corpus get a lock on your operations, and try to move in.
Sublight engines, of course. They would have to use the Solar Rails for anything else. But Jupiter is a major Corpus stronghold, and you haven't even surveyeed the Dojo's defenses yet…
What a pain. The only good thing about this is that the rest of the Agents who got out would be looking through potential candidates with a much finer comb.
[-1 Agent.]
[+2 Detection.]
[+1 additional Detection per Turn.]
[New Operation Action unlocked in Turn 2.]
[Permanent -20 to DC for 'Relations-type Action: Diplomatic Smokescreen'.]
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- Location
- USA
Hmm on one hand we are watching the waters rise. On the other the number of capable Tenno we have to deploy is only growing given time. We should be able to start launching pre-emptive strikes against them to lower that heat. It has ever been our way as Tenno to strike fast and fierce, blending into the background. The secret is just aligning enough with our cause that we can keep the pressure up.
Erithemaeus
GWS Recipient
- Location
- Around Dover Street
In this quest, I have it as headcanon that Tenno clan members always bank what Warframes they couldn't have space for into the storage space of the Dojos. Or the Veteran Tenno could just lend one out to the other, newer Tenno since they have multiple duplicates of every Warframe (at least). So no big issue -- just assume that you have every frame in the arsenal, and the only bottleneck you have is the amount of Tenno that can use them, and use them effectively.
Turn 2: Troublesome Actors
Erithemaeus
GWS Recipient
- Location
- Around Dover Street
Turn 2: Troublesome Actors
[+2 Detection per Turn.]
Railjack Designation: 'Moonstrider'
Unknown Tenno Dojo, Beyond the Origin System's Heliopause
"Damn."
You sigh, mirroring Miela's own expression. "At the very least, this serves as a reminder to all of our current agents. By all means, they would take their job more seriously now."
"No, not that." They reply over private comms, shaking their head while pointing at the navigational map, showing a real-time projection of the Origin System. "You think that this would be hard, but the Corpus fragment their storage data across multiple planetside servers to ensure opsec's followed. We trash one of those, and they probably won't be able to piece together the information together."
"They're not that stupid." You grouse back, flicking an arm to show the icy moon of Europa, awfully close to Jupiter at this very moment. Corpus capital ships blip in the dark, each a bastion of sensor waves that could be seen by Tenno spy satellites, but this was just passive scans. It gave you a rough position of their movement, but anything else would risk detection. "The thing is, we're going to have to do a simultaneous strike to get our objectives done. Rescue the agent, sabotage the servers, and junk off whatever information they have in the local archives. That's at least three of us."
"So? We could send the new blood off the sabotage mission. Less hassle that way."
"And they won't learn. They'll be right in their comfort zone, and–"
"We're playing with lives here." Miela cuts in, glaring at you while crossing their arms over their chest. "You don't get to play teacher with the new blood when there's an agent of ours currently being tortured for information on our operations."
Your grip tightens on the holotank, but you nod in response to Miela's words, moving your hand to focus on the middle reaches of the Origin System. "Fine, let's give the new blood the sabotage operation, but I still need ideas on our approach and escape vector. We still need data on Corpus ship patrols, and there's only so much that passive scans can do without deploying our agents."
"What's your rough plan so far?"
"Orbiters deploy through the Solar Rail to Ceres, Jupiter, and Saturn." Another wave of the arm, and three planets of interest come into view. "From there, landing craft go sublight and converge at Europa. Once our strikes are done, we burn to Jupiter's Solar Rail and get out. Have a Railjack on standby just in case we get spotted to run distraction."
"Good plan. But at least one of us has to be on the Railjack to make sure it doesn't go boom."
"Then use your Omni to get on once the mission's done. Ordis can pilot your landing craft back to the Solar Rail, if need be." You pause, then turn towards the little hologram of the ship Cephalon by the corner of the holotank. "Can you?"
"Of course, Operators! Leave it to Ordis to pilot the ships while you S̵̨̨͈̙͆͂̒L̵̹̖̮͌Ȧ̸̡̍C̵̡̩̥͚͊̽̎͌Ǩ̵͍͝ ̷̣̔O̷͎͇̩̬͑̓͂Ḟ̷̤̠͑F̷̖̤̹͛̌͂ –command your Railjacks!"
Well, that was good. One potential issue down, a lot more to go. "Anything else?"
Miela hums. "What if we just… don't do anything?"
You glare at them. They rear back with raised arms, letting out a little laugh, but it only makes you glare harder. "Come on, come on, I was just joking. We're gonna bail them out of prison, torch up some Corpus projects in the meantime, what's not to like?"
What's not to like indeed.
Vote by plan. There will be a two-hour moratorium in place.
- Operations (1 Action)
- Upkeep (1 Action)
- Relations (1 Action)
Erithemaeus
GWS Recipient
- Location
- Around Dover Street
Nope!
EDIT: Well, not right now. Currently thinking about adding additional benefits to assigning extra Agents. What do you guys think about that?
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- Location
- USA
[X] Plan Jailbreak
-[X] [OPERATIONS] Clean Extraction 2 Veteran Tenno, 5 Agents, 2 New Tenno (Risk 150-130 = 20)
-[X] [UPKEEP] Recruit more Tenno 4 New Tenno (Risk 40-20 =20)
-[X] [RELATIONS] None
Working on minimizing risk this turn
-[X] [OPERATIONS] Clean Extraction 2 Veteran Tenno, 5 Agents, 2 New Tenno (Risk 150-130 = 20)
-[X] [UPKEEP] Recruit more Tenno 4 New Tenno (Risk 40-20 =20)
-[X] [RELATIONS] None
Working on minimizing risk this turn
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We can only assign up to 4 Tenno to one action.
[X] Plan Rescue and Recruitment
-[X] [OPERATIONS] Clean Extraction
--[X] 2 Veteran Tenno, 5 Agents
-[X] [UPKEEP] Recruit more Tenno
--[X] 4 New Tenno
-[X] [RELATIONS] Recruit Agents
--[X] 4 New Tenno, 1 Agent
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Erithemaeus
GWS Recipient
- Location
- Around Dover Street
Welp, we've got two plans, and we need a tie-breaker vote. I'll flip a coin tomorrow if no additional votes come up.
- Location
- Canada
[X] Plan Rescue and Recruitment
-[X] [OPERATIONS] Clean Extraction
--[X] 2 Veteran Tenno, 5 Agents
-[X] [UPKEEP] Recruit more Tenno
--[X] 4 New Tenno
-[X] [RELATIONS] Recruit Agents
--[X] 4 New Tenno, 1 Agent
-[X] [OPERATIONS] Clean Extraction
--[X] 2 Veteran Tenno, 5 Agents
-[X] [UPKEEP] Recruit more Tenno
--[X] 4 New Tenno
-[X] [RELATIONS] Recruit Agents
--[X] 4 New Tenno, 1 Agent
Vote Closed, Turn 2 Rolls
Erithemaeus
GWS Recipient
- Location
- Around Dover Street
Plan Rescue and Recruitment Wins! Now time to roll...
Oof, a nat 1 right after. Lucky that it's not anything too important, eh?
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- Location
- Queensland, Australia
I'm assuming that the lack of a fourth new Tenno quality roll means that because we only had a regular success on the roll, this turn we'd getting the normal results of the action. Which is 1d6, then (previous roll-1)D20 quality rolls whereas last turn we actually rolled 1d6, then (previous roll)D20 quality rolls because last turn's crit on the action roll guaranteed a Veteran Tenno in addition to the normal 1d6 new Tenno?
- Location
- USA
Phew everything passed and looks like we got some good recruits.
Erithemaeus
GWS Recipient
- Location
- Around Dover Street
Yep! Like the action said, there's one guaranteed Railjack-Capable Tenno that shows up, so I just rolled the extra 3 for their capabilities. And it turns out you've got another Railjack Tenno from that, what are the odds?
- Location
- USA
So 2 railjack, 1 combat and 1 new tenno? nice set of additions.
Hmmm so we are at 5 detection current thoughts for next turn:
Smokescreen 1 Vet, 1 combat tenno, 10 agents Risk 80-80 = 0 (3d20 mats and negats detection gain for a turn)
Survey Defensive Emplacements 1 Railjack and 5 agents Risk 20-60 = 0
Recruit Agents 1 Vet and 1 agent Risk 40-60 = 0
Wanted to repair drydock but we do not have enough agents to do that and smokescreen in the same turn (hence going out to recruit more)
Hmmm so we are at 5 detection current thoughts for next turn:
Smokescreen 1 Vet, 1 combat tenno, 10 agents Risk 80-80 = 0 (3d20 mats and negats detection gain for a turn)
Survey Defensive Emplacements 1 Railjack and 5 agents Risk 20-60 = 0
Recruit Agents 1 Vet and 1 agent Risk 40-60 = 0
Wanted to repair drydock but we do not have enough agents to do that and smokescreen in the same turn (hence going out to recruit more)
Tenno yes, agents we still need more
Turn 2 Results: Step-Up
Erithemaeus
GWS Recipient
- Location
- Around Dover Street
Turn 2 Results: Step-up
'Research Base' Stromata
Undari Striata, Europa, Origin System
The alarms ring.
You curse over the private comms, hearing the telltale hiss of poisonous gas being pumped in through the vents as the Corpus began to dispose of their prisoners. Not that you would let them, of course. You've gone too far just to fail this rescue mission that you yourself had planned.
With a burst of mist, your Wukong Warframe splits into mist, snaking through the cracks in the vents of the holding cells before reconstituting themselves back into a solid form. Your sensors immediately pick out five Corpus Techs pointing their Supras at the door, Shield Drones fully undocked and linked, with two Wardens standing by and keeping watch over their currently dying prisoners.
One of them turns towards you, screaming an alert to the rest of their fellow crewmen, but you pull the trigger of your kitgun, modded to a Tenno's personal preference and amped up to highly-dangerous levels, and the Warden's ferrous helmet melts under the impact of the radiation wave, shearing the head off and causing blood to burst from what remained.
A spin, and you flick a hair off your Warframe, a clone of yourself forming itself from the hair wielding a nikana reforged from back in the days of the Orokin. They surge forward, beginning the grisly work of mowing down the assembled Corpus located in the holding cells, while you slam your Parazon onto the main console and begin working through a command override for the rest of the cells.
It takes you four seconds.
The jail doors slam open, and you bring your kitgun to bear at the familiar sound of an Infested Charger. It barges through whatever remains of its former cell, charging out of its confinement like its namesake, but another blast from your kitgun puts it down for good, the lingering radiation slowly cooking down the rest into an organic slurry.
With that little execution sequence aborted, you pull up a hologram of Ordis, letting the Cephalon speak for your 'silent' Warframe. "Greetings F̴͙̫̎̈Ḷ̷́E̵̹̻͗͊Ș̶̡́̈́H̸̖͌L̴͈̆̿Í̴̡̈́N̸̛͚̎G̷̖̈́S̴͚͠ –prisoners of the Corpus, follow us, and you shall be free to go as soon as we arrive at the nearest Tenno Relay."
"Tenno." You turn your head, and come face to face with the Hexis agent that you were here for in the first place. By all means, they seem to be cross. "You should've left me here. There are much more important things that you should be doing."
You gesture towards the rest of the people that had just escaped their confinement, all of them looking quite cross with the Hexis operative. Of course, they wouldn't be doing that in the first place if the operative had the decency keep quiet… which might be one of the reasons that they had been put into here in the first place.
Ordis, bless their fragmented memory, figured out what you were trying to do, and quickly piped up once more to stymie any potential conflicts. "Does anyone want to Ğ̵͚͎E̸̹̠̎T̴̗̣̈́ ̸̜͔̏͐Ơ̸͙̆U̷͖͂͘T̶̫̾̽ ̷̘͌Ō̴̫̦F̴̱̊͆ ̸̼͋͑H̷͖̓͠Ė̴̡̘̾R̵̢̋Ę̷̪̆͝ ̷̰̻͒̾Â̷͓̱͋L̶̜͙̀I̴̫͂V̷͈́Ḙ̷̿͂ –take up the Operator's offer? We will ensure that the Arbiters of Hexis would facilitate the change of your identities to ensure that you could live under the Corpus bounty boards."
Slow nods all around. "Jolly! Now, please follow the Operator. They know what to do."
[Gain 9 Agents.]
[Detection gain reset to +1 per Turn.]
[Off the Rail]
Railjack Designation: 'HMS Babysitter'
Unknown Tenno Dojo, Beyond the Origin System's Heliopause
"Railjack translation." Cy reports, "Five hundred thousand kilometers off the Dojo, hailing friendly frequencies."
"Miela, you're up." You mutter into your private comms, "You're the one that suggested bringing these people in, you get to reap the benefits of interacting with other people."
"Wonderful." Even in a different Railjack, you could hear the enthusiasm in their voice. "Am I going to be the Tenno on call whenever you want to talk with somebody?"
"Just this once." You grouse back with a sigh, "Still sorting out the new agents that we've got, ensuring that they're placed on different positions. Who knows how many altercations Cy had to break up ever since they started bunking in our Railjacks' cargo holds."
"Seven." The Cephalon reports in their usual dry tone. "They are culling my management efficiency."
Of course they were. Most of them still had bad blood with the Hexis operative that you rescued back in Europa. Enough that they slowly started painted the other Hexis engineers you've currently got with the same brush. You had put an early stop to that, forcing them to mingle and mix with one another to get rid of any and all preconceptions.
As far as you can tell, it was working. But you were currently in the 'wait-and-see' period, which meant lots of altercations, and an annoyed Cephalon on your back.
It had to be done, however. You'd rather sort any teething problems now, rather than let it rise up later.
"Update." Miela barges into your comms, snapping you out of your thoughts, "We've got four more Tenno wanting to join up with our super-secret project."
"Any of them good?"
"Half of them can pilot a Railjack like we can." Miela grins, "The rest are still trying to figure out that the piddly little printer that we called a Foundry was just a small portion of our Orbiter's manufacturing capabilities."
… At the very least, there's more Railjacks under your command now. Now if you only you could actually get started on repairing that Dry Dock, then everything would be... wonderful...
"Wait", you call out into the empty bridge of your Railjack, "Miela, did you say half are experienced with Raljack systems?"
The other Tenno's voice oozed smugness. "We've got Railjacks 'Kritaka's Doom' and 'Ovyuvenunwe' added to our fleet. Should we refer to you as Admiral from now on, Grandmaster?"
You pause, the number just hitting you with a brick. A Sigma-Series Railjack solos entire Sector fleets and their strongholds just by their lonesome. Having more...?
"Cut back with the sass, and meet them face to face." You snap back with more than a little heat in your tone. That's four Railjacks in one little area of space. Who knows how many more would be joining your ranks?
"Yay. More. Ships."
Sometimes, you wish you could speak in the same dry tone as Cy.
[Gain 2 New Tenno.]
[Gain 2 Railjack-Capable Tenno.]
[Off the Rail]
Arbiters of Hexis Outpost
Kronia Relay, Saturn Orbit, Origin System
You just spent three hours doing oddjobs for Teshin, the old coot. Heavily-reduced weapon mods ensured that at least those three hours were more engaging rather than the relative snooze fest of your usual operations. Not that you slacked off on that as well, but seeing Grineer armor dent from a full burst of buckshot from a Tigris Prime ignited a fire in you.
'Warrior spirit', the old Dax called it. You just wanted to know where the hell he kept getting all the goods that he trades with you.
Still, you nonetheless check in on the Arbiters, set up in their own little wing of the Relay. The automatic doors hiss open as you enter, and the smell of incense was the first thing that your Warframe's sensors detect. The rest of the Arbiters were nestled in their own little alcoves, drawn into their own methods of meditation, while two Operatives stood guard by the entrance, a pair of Telos Akboltos hidden just out of sight.
"Tenno." The lead Arbiter speaks, raising their head up from their meditation as their address you with a nod. "We have matters to discuss."
"Arbiter of Hexis operative codenamed 'Pijornas' rescued from Corpus research facility JUST IN TIME –and they are working under the Operator's employ once more." Ordis speaks for you, the Cephalon appearing from your Warframe's holo-projector. "Additional agents have been recruited from the rescue. They H̸̤̄͑Ą̵͚̿T̶̮̻̆E̵̱̘̐ –have a low opinion on the operative, based on the last mission logs."
Ordis plays back the Operative's words after you had freed the prisoners within. And while you couldn't see through the lead Arbiter's helmet, there is no doubt that they were now treading a little bit more carefully.
"We would be more than honored to assist you with replacing operative Pijornas, if you so wish."
"Another agent would certainly be more tenable to our current project."
"It shall be done." The lead Arbiter nods once more, before returning to their meditation. "Do take note that finding engineers of repute would take time. And there might not be enough of them around without being snatched up by the Corpus, or other Syndicates. Shall we meditate on this, Tenno?"
You saw no reason to refuse. You still have a few more hours to go before you have to regroup with Miela back at the Derelict Dojo.
[Gain 1 Agent.]
- Location
- USA
Oh the 14 was not enough for a combat tenno?