Zahak (Aspirant)'s Missions

The Agents, Formac the Hotshot, Zahak the Thunderbird, and Clara and Talon, both Freerunners, ported in to the finish line station, situated high above the space in the ring between the tracks (aka the margin). They nominated Formac as their racer for the inner track and Clara as their racer for the outer track. The starting countdown went off, and the racers began moving forwards on their respective tracks, as a trapdoor opened in the floor of the station, sending nearly all the racers to their immediate death, but Zahak was able to fly and carry Talon down to the floor of the margin.

On the floor was a massacre, as thousands of sacrificial employees had plummeted to their death. Those who had managed to keep going were being picked off by Qaldi runners, foot soldiers formed out of lightning clouds, carrying lightning swords. One charged Talon, but he managed to take it by surprise, vaulting off of it and continuing ahead. Zahak flew amidst the icy comets, taking out several runners who tried to ambush him.

Formac summoned a Tron-esque motorbike, deftly weaving around the other racers and some Qaldi runners by activating a magnetic grip to cling to the side of the wall. This did, however, draw in the electrical energy from a few runners, but Formac activated his emergency brake, stopping his and the bikes' momentum, but sending his assailants flying.

Clara made use of some shoddy leftover construction to navigate her way over the crowd in her lane. There was a large group of Qaldi runners, some even on thunder motorcycles, but she managed to deftly knock them down with her shockwaves.

A large gathering of runners on an asteroid began moving in quick circles charging up a laser beam to fire at Zahak, but he charged it straight down, burning in the process but smashing the asteroid and the runners as the agents all reached the first checkpoint.

Clara was the first to reach it and the first to see this new area, with much more vertical racing lanes the margin filled with asteroids and inhabited by 40-foot tall titanic "Roc Hurlers" They made sport of supercharging the asteroids with lightning before throwing them at unsuspecting runners. One such impact landed behind Talon and the resulting impact sent him flying up into the asteroid field with Zahak. Talon managed to take down a Roc Hurler by stomping it in the noggin and then stomping it in the noggin again but harder. Zahak felled another with a well-placed axe to the eye.

Formac made use of the slopes on his track, using the hills to boost him over the valley, dodging rocks from a hurler that appeared above him. Coming up to the top of the last hill, he saw a barricade of Qaldi runners. Straining extra essence and making use of the electric currents refracting around him, he shifted his bike into a Tron tank while still maintaining control, bursting through the barricade.

Clara was pursued by three hurlers, flying through the air using wings made up of many Qaldi runners. Clara taunted them to come down and chase her and they took the bait. With her perk she enraged them even more, and they began infighting, attacking whichever of them was lagging behind. Eventually, the three of the hurlers were engaged in a full on Asteroid fight, and Clara managed to slip away to the second checkpoint, just a bit ahead of her teammates.

After the second checkpoint, the lanes gave out, as the asteroid field became more dense, streaked by lunar flares originating from Dharossi's surface. As the agents fought the last dregs of the runners and hurlers, Formac reached the end of his tunnel and found he could go no further, and was also beginning to hallucinate that he was in Mario Kart due to essence exhaustion. Nevertheless, he managed to activate the propulsion mechanism on his tank, allowing him to fly forward.

Ahead, agents encountered the Momaq Serpent, the foremost of Momaqaldiroq's aspects, wreathed in flame and lighting and over a mile long. An intense battle ensued with the freerunners jumping between the flaming asteroids and the serpent itself, Formaq firing upon "Bowser" with his cannon, and Zahak hitting it with lightning blasts. In the end, a combination of Zahak's "Fury of the Storm Dragon" combo and a... "Spiny Shell meteor missle" from Formac was enough to decapitate the beast, as the agents passed through the third and final checkpoint.

The tracks resumed after this, and it was pretty much a straight shot to the end... except for one thing. The agents saw a blistering light appear behind them, followed by a terrible roar, as Momaqaldiroq himself appeared, a draconic lightning phoenix deity more than a dozen miles wide. Clara booked it as fast as she could, crossing the finish line. She didn't look back as she kept running, beginning a second lap.

Formac was still lagging behind. As Momaqaldiroq approached, time seemed to slow for him. Nearly out of essence, he was heavily hallucinating, but managed to keep his foot on the gas, pulling of a cool maneuver to regain just enough essence to activate his boost engines, giving him enough momentum to carry him over the finish line. Talon ran ahead of him, barely holding on after burning through all of his energy drinks.

Zahak realized that if he didn't do something big, Momaqaldiroq would catch up to Formac. He turned around and revealed his hidden storm giant form, over a mile high and surging with near-godlike power. With determination, he charged Momaqaldiroq head on. Momaqaldiroq opened his mouth and revealed that his power (and hunger) came from the miniature black hole in his maw, bristling with electric energy. The bird god fired an iridescent beam at Zahak, tearing the legs from his body.

Still Zahak fought on, charging at Momaqaldiroq with another Fury of the Storm Dragon. This took the god by surprise as he was pinned to the floor of the margin before... it cracked, as the air drained from the tunnel and the pair, still locked in combat spiraled off into space.

Zahak managed to keep struggling, landing another mighty blow with his hammer, but as he looked down, he realized something horrible... he'd been stabbed through the heart by Momaqaldiroq's claws.

At that moment, Formac crossed the finish line
Badges Pinged

Even in Momaqaldiroq's clutches, Zahak Found the strength to power through the immeasurable pain and ping out.
Formac, finding his tank was driving without needing his legs, which had vanished from essence wounds, hit the "Return to Main Menu" button on his chest
Talon, without Clara's resilience, found five energy drinks to be too much. His heart gave out, and, certain he would die, he put his hand to his chest and pinged out.
Clara was already about halfway done with her second lap, and found the Roq Hurlers still fighting each other. She taunted them one last time and pinged out.

Mission Success

Agents arrived outside the abandoned estate and encountered Ava, the client, clearly distressed. She told the agents that her friends had recently gone missing, and gave them her phone, which had the suspicious "Two Roads" app installed. As the agents approached the building, they found they all had phones appear in their pockets, with the mysterious app installed, of course. It prompted them to choose between two doors, the "Easy Way" and the "True Way." Agents dawdled for a bit before the app decided to choose for them while playing an unskippable ad.

Morgan and Skjaldmaer were assigned to the left path, where they noticed they were being followed by a shadowy figure. They went into a room that had a buzzing noise, and were greeted with illusions, the battle where her mother gave birth for Skjaldmaer and a casino with debt collectors for Morgan. Meanwhile, Zahak and Magpie went in the other door and were also followed. They took a more head-on approach, attacking and defeating the shady spirit. Upon doing so, Morgan and Skjaldmaer's illusions faded, and the agents coalesced in the room beyond.

There they encountered facsimiles of themselves who claimed to be the "real" agents, calling the PCs "NPCs." They moved in to attack but were dealt with handily, with all slain save for the false Magpie who the agents allowed to escape further into the compound.

Beyond that, the agents found two mysterious beings, one a child and the other slightly larger, both offering their hands. The agents split in a similar fashion to before and went into their respective illusions. Zahak encountered a false storm god and Magpie a scarecrow that she'd had trouble with previously. Morgan and Skjaldmaer were together in the casino and Morgan distracted the debt collectors while Skjaldmaer engaged in combat with the warriors from her battlefield. In the end, all agents made it through. (At some time around this point, Zahak located one of the hostages, mostly unconscious.)

In the final room, the agents stepped out into a grand arena, with more mysterious shadowy beings in the audience. Magpie put on a big distraction while Morgan attempted unsuccessfully to blend into the crowd, instead slamming into an invisible barrier. Skjaldmaer found some computers and employed her "computer hacking" skills, specifically the variety involving a very large axe. She then uncovered a core behind them including tech and a massive heart. Spurred on by fellow agents, she threw her spear and destroyed the foul construction.

Immediately the reality around the agents came crashing down. Zahak had the hostage in tow, Morgan tried a slapdash plan to make phones that would protect them, and Magpie used her map to find the way out. They only barely made it before the whole thing went kablooie and all that was left was a perfectly normal abandoned compound. The hostage awoke and reunited with Ava, along with two other mysterious figures that emerged from the building. Morgan, suspicious, investigated these new beings and found them to be inhuman and operating on some sort of code. It was too late however, and Ava drove off with her friend and her two "friends"

Mission Success?