The heroes of the 32nd follow the sky until Castle directs them to what would be the “edge” of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night canvas, and the team finds a small tear in reality, approximately four feet high. Captain Shinsanea leads the little girl at her side through the tear, and the other folks rescued from the classroom follow her through silently.
When you go through, you find yourself back in the bazaar, only inches from where the stall/portal had been standing, only to find that plot now empty. Surrounded as it is by space packed with stalls and tables, the small bit of ground looks odd and out of place, especially as a crowd of stumbling Psyscape citizens spills into and around it out of a rip in the air.
As soon as her feet hit the ground, Captain Shinsanea retrieves a small device from her pocket that looks like a brass pen and pushes a small gemstone embedded in its side. A holographic image of someone else wearing Psi-Warrior white, a Fennodi, from the looks of him, appears and the two stare at each other in silence. It becomes apparent from their facial expressions that they are having some kind of a telepathic conversation, then Captain Shinsanea nods and deactivates the device.
“Okay, help is on the way. The Psi-Warriors are sending guards and medics to come and sort this lot out. We’ll see if we can’t find where the Harvester responsible got off to.”
Return and Report
While the authorities handle the people you rescued, the 32nd is whisked away to the Halls of Government and to the judges’ wing, where they wait in a meeting room within the large, Greek-style acropolis. Some lower level functionaries come to take your statements, and you are given refreshments. They even bring in some large, comfortable furniture for you to rest. Secure lockers are provided for your weapons and armor, and they offer anyone who wants a fresh set of clothes while you wait.
It takes about an hour and a half before one of the judges comes to see you: Judge Yanchang, the young, human mystic who had initially been opposed to your involvement.
In his normal, dulcet tones, he says, “It appears that we are once again in your debt, and the debt of the Tomorrow Legion. Our experts are examining the people you brought back as we speak, and so far no one is sure exactly what happened to them in there. We think the woman in the sweater was in fact a high-ranking Harvester in Nyxla’s service, but what we haven’t figured out is how they managed to get a gate into the heart of our city. We know the people are not Xombies, and other than that, our best minds are working on it.”
“For their part, the people are at the hospital and are being examined by the head of the medical department of the Psychic Academy. I am confident she will come up with a treatment for them; she is the best psychic healer I have ever met, and that is saying something, trust me. I understand that some of you might also be feeling some ill effects from your travails in there. Nothing can be promised, but I have put in a request on your behalf; once her staff has finished with the dimensional victims, I am hopeful they can look at you, too.”
“In the meantime, get yourselves some rest. We’d like you to meet us here tomorrow morning for something.”
He stays for a polite minute or few after that to answer any quick questions you may have, but cannot stay any longer. He is clearly haggard and in a hurry, and it is evident that the discovery of Nyxla supporters, or victims, in Psyscape is a shock to the political system.
The Armory
The next morning, the elf psi-Warrior Tessaric you met along the road and the human Captain Shinsanea arrive together to escort you. Instead of leading you towards the halls of government, though, they take you back to the now familiar, drab gray buildings of the Psi-Warrior compound.
Judge Iasus (human Psi-Warrior legend), not Judge Yanchang (young human Mystic), meets you outside the administration building and without preamble gives you all a curt, “follow me,” before heading for a squat, study looking structure in roughly the middle of the compound.
Judge Iasus goes in the front door, which only looks like a normal door from the outside. Once within, you can tell the door is constructed of some kind of metal that is easily three feet thick; it more resembles a vault than anything else.
Immediately inside is a guard station, and you can see numerous guards of all races pretty much everywhere you look, up and down every hallway. “Don’t touch anything,” Iasus tells you, returning a quick salute to the guards at the door.
She takes you down a couple of flights of stairs — you’re pretty sure you spot a couple of spots between the steps that house hidden machine gun nests, similar to those found in some prohibition-era bank buildings — and to another checkpoint at another vault door.
The vault opens and you see a large room covered in racks and racks of weapons and armor of all types, from ancient-looking spears to Northern Gun plasma ejectors.
Finally, Judge Iasus speaks. “We want to thank you for the service you’ve done for our city. The others wanted to throw you some ceremony or some such nonsense, but I overruled them. In this particular area, I have jurisdiction. We’re at war, and I need warriors who are willing and able to assist, whether they are part of one of my brigades or not. To that end, this is the Armory of Psyscape. Get a good look, because unless you decide to become official members of the corps, it’s the last time you will see it. I had the quartermaster set aside some items for a few of you, but each of the rest of you may have any one item here, within reason. The quartermaster will have final say on any requisitions. You can also purchase other gear here, and if we have it in stock, we’ll give it to you at cost.”
“One final thing; we got word this morning from one of our scouts about some kind of war party near a homestead about thirty miles from here. It’s a small place, less than twenty people, and full of close minded idiots who think it’s humanity’s destiny to retake the world, or some other such stupid. This isn’t an official city matter, and I don’t have troops to dedicate to it, but I’d like you to check it out if you can. Even if a few fewer supremacists in the world wouldn’t exactly be a bad thing, they’ve got kids there, and no one should have to die because of the mistakes of their parents. If you need someone to work as a driver for you, I can have one of my Operators assigned to assist. The quartermaster has a datapad with the information for you; just ask him for it if you’re in.”
With that, Judge Iasus smiles, nods at Tessaric and Captain Shinsanea, and leaves you. The quartermaster, a wiry looking gnome fellow, steps up and says, “ah, these are the items General Iasus left for you.” He eyes Hedge particularly when he says, “I should note that at least one of these has not been carried in over a hundred years, so be careful with them.”
To @Hedge, he gives a battered-looking and tells him, “the General herself carried this in the last battle of the last great war with the Enemy. She does you a great honor, Sir Knight, giving you her personal shield.”
To @Dazzle, he hands a drawing. “My boys are having attached to your Glitter Boy unit now. They have also taken the liberty of fixing it up, as a couple of your systems were in less than pristine shape.”
To @Billy, he gives and says, “wear it well.”
He then turns to @Sis. “We have had Altara in our ranks before, sister. Perhaps we will again one day. The Splugorth are, unfortunately, known to us, and one of our Techno-Wizards has experience working with technology for your kind. As we did with Miss Dazzle’s power armor, we took the liberty of fixing up the rather well-worn suit of Combat Mage armor you brought with you when you arrived in our city, .”
To @Squidge, her gives a suit of and says, ”I believe you will find this quite useful.”
To the rest of the group he says, “As the General said, the rest of you may each pick out an item within reason. If it is within my power to grant it, I will.”