The explosion is large enough to tear the mountaintop to pieces, as the bounty hunter's ship swoops away.
The sight is visible for hundreds of miles around, from the site of Ogros' victory in the jungle out to the plains beyond, seen by every tribe and settlement. It leads to the creation of a new fire god mythology amongst the Epireans, as the worship the spirits that smote the demons on the mountain with their wrath. No-one ever goes near the mountain again.
Welcome, then, after our pre-amble, to Episode VI of the Second Campaign! It has to be said, things are not looking great for our rough band of charismatic desperados, and at this precise point vague worries about your future in the galaxy, the nature of the Syphar n Kalar and what to do about Lady Adelmo have given away to more immediate worries. You have a new Enemy- and whoever it is means serious damn business. In fact, he or she appears to have succeeded in one move! Tricky.
By now, all players that are not new have had a chance to learn about the rules and how to fight, so things will become increasingly less forgiving! You might have noticed that the danger rating is getting higher, which may have seemed inconceivable but... just goes to show!
This episode is about two simple things that will, of course, gve way to more complexities, yet these two themes will be the overriding logic throughout, The first is not dying. Obviously that is always a consideration, but this is the first time that the plot has been that someone is coming AT you, rather than before where the risk to your lives was a consequence of something you were trying to get done. You can't run away this time either- they'll happily kill you in your home.
The second thing is finding out who is trying to kill you, and maybe have a few quiet words with him/her/it/them. Discovering the nature of your Enemy is not going to be easy and will drive the plotline forwards.
Now, at this point, in the time where the game is still gearing up, you need to tell me if you are going to use any of your predictive powers. There are three such powers you may have- ‘Dreams’ if you have Master Intuition, ‘Foresight’ if you have Master Insight, and Manifest Destiny if you have Master Corruption. Dreams is free to use, though you can make it more likely to work if you spend a Force point on it. Foresight and Manifest Destiny always works, but always costs Force! You may only use one power. Remember, these Force points have to last you for the entire story.
‘Dreams’ means you receive an unconscious set of images about events that are to come- obscure meanings and metaphors that you must decipher to find clues in.
‘Foresight’ is more direct and represents you actively navigating the future to find answers. Whilst the way you see the future may still be obscure, Foresight will definitely contain directly useful information somewhere, sometimes about very important things. Minor revelations from Foresight can give you useful clues for story advantage. Major revelations could change the entire plotline in your favour- if used correctly.
‘Manifest Destiny’ gives you particular clues and advice about elements of a story not directly related to the main plot, though there is normally an association. It won’t help you with the main plotline at all- but it will help you personally! If you fulfil the ‘challenge;’ of a Manifest Destiny hook, you will be rewarded not only with in-game power, but also bonus xp!
Let me know... and then we'll see how you can get out of this one. I am sure some of you have already drawn your own conclusions.