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114 Apex 599

... or 14 August 12606 AD; or 29 March 2012 AD (back in the Contemporary Juncture). The Terrans and the Redheads are heading out from Mount Song, in Pi Tui's grav yacht, to Rakkat in Misr.

A note:  some places that had strong affinities for portals:  Stonehenge; the Pyramids at Giza; the Oregon Vortex; Mount Shasta; Superstition Mountain (in Arizona); between Sedona, Arizona and Sonora, Mexico; the Bermuda Triangle; the Algerian Megaliths, south of Timbuktu; the Devil's Triangle (south of Japan, near Iwo Jima); the Loyalty Islands; Easter Island; the island of Hawai'i; the Himalayas, near Lhasa; Findhorn, Scotland; Lake Baikal; Nan Madol, on Pohnpei Island; the Zimbabwe Megaliths; Mount Fuji; Jerusalem; Chichen Itza; Machu Picchu, the Cahokia Mounds ...

Huan Ken and Pi Tui have provided the following assistance to the Terrans:

Most of these powers only work in magical locales (the Underworld, or a juncture with a positive magical tendency). If marked with an asterisk, they work on Demons even outside of magical locales. The Redheaded Nieces have the Ice Blessing from the Ice Queen, as well.

Mafkat and vicinity

The Terrans paint over the Ice Queen insignia on the sky bus, land at Rakkat, and rent a villa with a yard large enough to park the sky bus in. They have chosen Rakkat because it seems to have the most active Resistance organization.

116 Apex 599

After a couple of days snooping around, the Terrans have decided the local Mafkat Resistance isn't doing much but arguing with the Orthodox Chesorbytes. They've also detected a trio of Vaylen spies, who are conducting surveillance on the Resistance and on the local power structure. The Terrans send a few recon midges over to the villa which the spies are using. 

In addition, the Terrans have watched FNN (the "Fire News Network -- burning away the lies to reveal the truth!") to see what the Fire King is up to. He's mostly been busy proclaiming the foundation of his new capital in Jerusalem. The conquest of Canaan by the Empire of Flame was reasonably news-worthy a few weeks ago, but global attention has turned elsewhere now.

The Vaylen spies are planning to kidnap a couple of locals on the night of the 118th, fly them quickly to Mount Sinai, have them "converted" (presumably by the Fire King) and return them before dawn. The Terrans decide this will be a good opportunity to attack the Fire King.

117 Apex 599

O'Reilly, McClellan, Helen Chan and Harriet Chan fly the sky bus to New York City, join the CHIME Defense Forces, and contact the Armaments Guild for a lot of expensive stuff:  an Index 4 point defense laser, an Anvil missile pod for mounting on Iron, several Anvil launchers, 100 kg of polymer nitrogen explosives, demolition equipment, CCCI sensors and network gear, a mounted mortar pod for an Iron suit, some camouflage drapes, a tripod to mount the missile pod, a bunch of Anvil missiles (including two with anti-revetment warheads), etc. The Armaments Guild senses an opportunity, and tries to push lots more stuff onto them, including a (probably illegal) warbot. In the evening, the Armaments Guild sends them a "gift basket".

Burns, Black and Macdougall prepare for the trip to Mount Sinai. They also have to content with midges sent by the Vaylen spies!

118 Apex 599

After midnight, the sky bus returns from New York City, to a spot in the desert near Rakkat. The Terrans unpack equipment, move stuff around, and load the "attack force" into their two very rickety turbine-powered utility sleds. Macdougall and one of the nieces wait at the villa, to monitor the Vaylen; two of the nieces move the skybus and sleds to Port Torley; and the sleds scuttle in the pre-dawn hours to Mount Sinai. By dawn, Burns and McClellan have crept up the 600 meters of rough rock, to look at the portal site and plant some recon sensors.

The top of Mount Sinai looks a bit different now -- the Empire of Flame has erected a couple of insta-quonset huts, some antennae, an air-defense/point-defense mount, and a large metal-grid landing platform (slightly cantilevered off the mountaintop. There are a dozen or so Flame troops, Anvil level at best, present -- mostly tending to the equipment.

the portal is on the far right peak; left of the mountain is Saint Catherine's Monastery

During the day, the Terrans plant their point defense laser and tripod-mounted missile pod, set up Harmony and Helen in a well-concealed ravine with the sleds and CCCI central node, and take up positions on the west side of the mountain. O'Reilly plants 100 kg of polymer nitrogen explosive under the landing platform, and Black gets pretty thoroughly inserted into the Mount Sinai sensor/commo network. Just about when the sun is setting, the Fire King's grav yacht, and a couple of escorting attack sleds, approach the mountain.

The moment Li Ting emerges from his yacht, the Terrans set off the bomb. Boom! Huge rocks fly into the sky, landslides occur on all sides of the peak, and a cloud of dust swells outwards from the mountaintop. McClellan spots a couple of survivors in the dust; the Iron suits make quick work of them -- before they're even visible though the dust! The sensors, huts, landing platform, and pretty much everything else on the peak are destroyed. Harmony and Helen launch multiple Anvil rounds at the attack sleds, and destroy them.

edit:  the Crusade isn't over yet, since it's been called against the Fire King and the Darkness Queen.

The Terrans poke tentatively around in the ruins for a bit, and shoot at a soldier who emerges from the portal (they miss, he ducks back into Hell). They leave a few booby traps, toss some bombs through the Portal, and call the nieces to pick them up in the sleds. Within 20 minutes, they're all aboard the sleds (with the point-defense laser and the missile pod), screaming at top speed into the west. Another 20 minutes puts the sleds just over the shore; long-range radar is probably picking them up by now, and attack sleds may be on the way! Helen and Harmony fly the two sleds out over the Strait, and hover behind the metallized sails of a couple of fishing vessels. Within an hour or two, the airborne search has passed them by, and the sleds proceed to Port Torley. A couple of Empire of the Flame assault sleds are in the town, and troops are searching the buildings in the darkness; but the sky bus has left (presumably to avoid the Flame troops). The turbine-powered sleds struggle along to the cache near Rakkat -- sure enough, the sky bus is there, too.

The Vaylen spies have already left Rakkat, bound for Mount Sinai. The Terrans fly to Rakkat, dismount from the sky bus, and march to the Emir's palace. The sight of four or five troops in Iron sends the palace guards running; the Terrans request an audience with the Emir. Within a few minutes, the turnip-shaped Emir comes waddling into the throne room; meanwhile, McClellan has detected a Vaylen among the servants. The Terrans (barely) capture the Vaylen, whose naiva slides out of his skull and attempts to flee -- unsuccessfully. The two kidnapped locals turn out to be the head of the town hospital, and an official in the court. The Emir is warned to look out for Vaylen. Just before the Terrans turn to leave, the Emir asks with a quavering voice, "Who are you people?" O'Reilly answers, "We are star knights of Vinland!"

The Terrans arrange for the turbine-powered sleds to be returned to their owner (and to recover their deposit), and board the sky bus. Within the hour, they are back at Mount Song, and pass through the Portal in the Shaolin monastery.

The Ice Pagoda, Hell

The Terrans march into the throne room; ice trumpets sound, snow leopards roar, and they receive a heroes' welcome from Pi Tui. After the wearying day, they welcome a bracing visit to the Ice Sauna, a hearty meal of snow cakes and ice cream, and massages from the snow-maidens.

119 Apex 599

After a brief rest, the Terrans meet again with the Ice Queen, and tell her in more detail of their success. She agrees to accompany them to Mount Sinai and into the Fire Pagoda.

Mount Song, Terra Insula

Back into the sky bus, and around the world to Mount Sinai. On the way, the sky bus picks up an escort -- a frigate of the Darikahn navy. Apparently, the Empire has finally taken the Vaylen menace from the Sinai seriously, and has sent a few cruisers, frigates, and lots of Anvil to uproot the Empire of Flame and its wormy allies. They've found a few caches of naiven, which disturbs them a lot; they've been rounding up the population of the Empire of Flame to check for Vaylen infestation. In fact, the navy insists on checking the Terrans, the Ice Queen, and her staff, too. After the security check, the navy leads the Terrans to Mount Sinai (looking very forlorn with its top blown off), and Pi Tui leads them through the Portal.

The Fire Pagoda, Hell

There, she quickly Exorcises the Vaylen, then Transmutes the naiven into ice, Banishes the remaining demons, and Dominates any remaining human servants of the Fire King. She also casts spells to cause Cold and Snow, purely as a personal preference. Her magical energy barriers already protect her from most attacks here.

The Terrans explore the former locations of Portals (to Sunnyvale and Britilthin, specifically); both are in the center of glassy nuclear craters. Indeed, a lot of the areas around the Fire Pagoda show signs of damage from Kerrn nuclear weapons. There don't seem to be any substantial amount of Vaylen equipment present, and probably there weren't more than a hundred Vaylen (plus a few thousand naiven not-yet-implanted). The Ice Queen is ready to remove the defensive spells which keep the quark cloud at bay, but the Terrans realize this is their best portal site for returning to Sunnyvale in the 21st Century.

Mount Sinai, Terra Insula

Back on Terra Insula, the Terrans wonder where the Darkness Queen is lurking, and what she's been up to ...

on to Journal Entry 20