Turn 9: Web of Intrigue
Tumbling Down (Vale)
Calamity has struck Vale, and through it, the world. Having gone soft due to the recent trend of reduced Grimm predation, Vale was unprepared for a vicious incursion of Grimm in the midst of the worst rainstorm in years. The situation was further worsened by the absence of some of its defenders, with Headmaster Arc needing to hastily leave in the midst of a meeting with Vale's council, Cherise Cheshire on business in Atlas, and the former Team HERO being busy in Vacuo.
The Grimm's target was thus destroyed: Vale's Cross Continental Transmission Tower.
In the aftermath, investigations showed that the Tower's Defenses were unable to act at full capacity, due to many of them being disabled as the Tower was prepared for planned retrofits in the upcoming year. Thanks to Cherise Cheshire's exemplary work, a temporary solution for re-establishing global communications was enacted after only a few weeks, but creating a new Tower, ideally in a more defensible location, has become Vale's top priority.
Headmaster Arc kindly volunteered a portion of Beacon's grounds for the new Tower, and Vale's council is expected to agree. Nonetheless, ensuring that the Network is far more resilient and robust has become a hot topic of discussion worldwide.
[Rolled 8 Learning, 7 Martial, 17 Environmental Check]
Grace (Vale)
Just a month after the Tower Attack, Vale's Huntsman Corps scouting teams in Mountain Vale encounter a highly unusual event - a massive swath of mountainside covered in blooming flowers, months ahead of normal plant growth times - an area, covering hundreds and hundreds of square kilometres, entirely free of Grimm.
A small number of local reports of Team HERO being in the area are dismissed, somehow propagating this unusual event as penance for their earlier absence, are dismissed - the group's whereabouts in Vacuo at the time are known.
[Rolled 99 Piety, Rolled ???]
All Quiet (Mistral)
Mistral continues to be embroiled in petty politics and the Great Game of local influence. Their push to create an International Taskforce is met with only lukewarm support internationally, and their unusual purchase of Space Dust does not seem to be in play at the moment, remaining sequestered for future use. The winter season is unusually mild in Mistral this year.
[Rolled ??? Intrigue]
Cruising On Down Main Street (Vacuo)
Shade Academy has at long last opened its doors, with an enrollment rate considered to be quite good for the circumstances - its student body being around a fifth the size of Beacon's.
Headmaster Hathorne quickly dispenses with the notion that his status as a Beacon alumni will influence his decisionmaking, being scrupulously fair in the offers he extends to Beacon, Atlas, and Haven academies. Nonetheless, the simple geography of the situation itself means that Beacon academy ends up with the slight edge in shared research contracts.
Professor Ozpin continues to recuperate from his injuries in Atlas, but his keen intellect serves him well as Shade's history professor, and the head of it's archeology department. Under his guidance, Shade seeks to locate, identify, understand, and reproduce the relics of the past, for the benefit of all.
Professor Réal is no novice to the art of Dust Casting - with Mistral's assistance, the curriculum she has assembled is inarguably worthy of the standards of a Great Academy. Vice Headmistress Everglass, in turn, rapidly acquires a reputation to match Professor Cheshire's among Shade's students.
[Rolled 76 Learning, 93 Piety, 94 Diplomacy]
Insider (Atlas)
Relictant to share the details of their failure abroad, but cornered by public opinion into doing something, Atlas appoints several prominent figures onto the international taskforce spearheaded by Mistral. To the dismay of some, but approval of others, Weyland Schnee is able to secure his position amongst that group, citing his many business interests abroad that might be threatened by a global terrorist organization - Dust is, after all, one of the key tools behind any regime change.
[Rolled 25 Stewardship, 10 Intrigue]
Deus Ex (Atlas)
Although the details remain classified, whispers in the laboratories indicate that it one of Atlas' military research projects has bourne fruit. Dust Infusion has long been seen as one of the branches of Dust Casting, allowing skilled practitioners to enhance their bodies and weapons with the strength of the elements.
This new research, however, indicates that with the correct networks, a Dust Infused state can be artificially created and maintained. It remains in the trial phases, and long term effects are unknown, but the potential is there - the potential for an army, every member permanently infused with some cocktail of Dust, augmented beyond the human norm.
[Rolled ??? Learning, 99 Piety]
Vytal Festival (Atlas, Mistral, Vacuo, Vale)
It's inarguably an exceptional tournament. Vacuo's nominees are not exceptional in absolute terms, but given their young age and status as First Year students, their performance is nonetheless worthy of note.
Despite this, they are thoroughly eclipsed by the other contestants. Vale's performance is eclectic, cosmopolitan, and showcases combat styles from all around Remnant - in a less extraordinary tournament, it would have easily triumphed, and the efforts of Headmaster Arc and Professor Ozpin are clear to see.
Atlas has truly put its best foot forward. The fourth year Team BRVO is an exhibition of the newly formed Specialist Operations Training Program, each of the students being already promised a position in the prestigious Specialist Corps after graduation, and it shows. With communications, tactics, and tightly drilled plans that eclipse those of many professional Huntsman teams, they're shoo-ins for the finals.
Which makes their loss to Team SFLK, a first-year team from Haven Academy, all the more extraordinary. Yuki Setsuko darts around the arena with all the grace of a skater, and her feats of ice manipulation, while not quite up to professional huntsman standards, are exceedingly impressive for a seventeen year old - as is the fact that through dodging, notable endurance, and just plain luck, her Aura doesn't break throughout the entire tournament. The rest of her team are no slouches either, given their age, and it seems likely that barring extraordinary events, Haven will retain the Vytal Cup during the tournament two years hence.
[Atlas: 95]
[Mistral: ???]
[Vale: 65 (Rolled) + 23 (Tutoring) = 88]
[Vacuo: 55]
SDC Results (Turn 9)
Scouting: 20
Failure. No new Dust veins uncovered.
Grinning Colossus: 69
Some Dust reaction research workload offloaded to Atlas. Improved future research.
Hand In Hand: 13
Some accommodations made in Atlas' council.
Pattern Recogniton, Part 5: 103, 52
Three new stable triple dust blends ready for sale, to be marketed as:
• Twilight Dust: A combination of Light, Shadow, and Glass Dust. Very potent when used for creating detailed three dimensional images.
• Life Dust: Majority Water Dust, combined with a Plant/Light Dust mixture. Stimulates rapid cell division and generation in ensouled subjects. Carcinogenic if mishandled.
• Fate Dust: Time Dust anchored in Metal and Earth Dust. Extends other effect durations by two orders of magnitude, with a corresponding decrease in potency.
