LogThe Watch-Jason-4

Game log for the 2020-06-07 session of The Watch, as taken by Jason

We return to our squad in progress, getting up early to search for the delegation of diplomats. Sadly we get nowhere. When the search fails, the squad grows surly. Lomo calls out Yeli for being a slacker, and Rezi only responds by telling Tovy to get the squad in line. Tovy then counsels Lomo not to open up negatively but to focus on setting a good example, and later helps Yeli carry her load. Yeli opens up to Tovy in return. Rezi, meanwhile, opens up to Loisa, and listens to her concerns that none of them might live thorugh this.

Rezi reports to Sgt Tyla. Tyla greets her with, "I assume there were no problems," and so is immediately disappointed. Rezi suggests that maybe the delegation returned to the southwesterly plains whence they came, but also reports on the Shadow attack on Lower Ness, which doesn't seem entirely coincidental. Tyla reports that there have been other indications that the enemy is closer than they thought, and that the whole point of this conference is to discuss their strategy. Lomo goes to visit Lindi (Rayli's mom) and tells her she's missing. She starts out sounding strong but she starts to fall apart a bit. Lomo calms her down.

Rezi's conversation with Tyla uncovers the fact that all three elders from Thasen were male. Three missing men... three Shadow monsters in the assault... that's unlikely to be a coincidence. The Shadow almost certainly turned them all into monsters. More men are still coming to the summit. This could get a lot worse.

The next day, Sgt Tyla returns with some more reinforcements for the squad and tells Rezi to stick around until the talks are over. Rezi asks if there's been any trouble with the male delegates, and Tyla says that they haven't, though clan politics have been an issue, which implies male delegates have been troublesome that way.

Later that day, we hear horns from the battlements of the Aerie, which are blown only in times of conflict. That's a bad sound. She immediately wakes the squad. Rezi asks what's up, and Lomo tells her that the horns mean there's an emergency and they need to get to whatever their battle station is. Rezi sends Loisa to get a sitrep and tells the rest of the squad to stand by. Tovy gets ready to fight, but Yeli's a bit confused, and Rezi has to tell her to steady out and get ready to do her job. Loisa returns, looking shaken, and says "Corporal, you're going to want to see this, they're here." Rezi asks who she means, and Loisa says, "The Shadow... they're marching." Rezi leads the squad to the Aerie walls overlooking the valley, and the squad sees a whole dang lot of Shadow creatures, in military order. The weapons on the Aerie battlements start firing. Someone tells Rezi to have her squad man the battlements and ready their bows, but not to waste ammo.

As the squad watch the Shadow forces come closer, they can see different types of monsters, including woman in the army. They're been twisted and distorted by the Shadow, such as one Rezi sees who floats two feet off the ground with bleached-white skin, wearing a black ball gown with a high tight collar, and seems to be giving orders for a little while before fading back into the mob. The enemy is taking fire from the siege weapons, but the squad weapons are useless. Yeli tries to see if any women from the squad are in the Shadow army, but it's just too far to make out any faces. Lomo tries to get more active orders from Rezi but the corporal insists that the squad will man its position and wait. Throughout the rest of the day and into dusk, the Shadow army just waits, absorbing fire. The soldiers on the walls get rattled with all the waiting. Rezi starts rotating individual members out on break so that they get a break from that. At one point, Tyla comes in and tells Rezi to send runners to draw rations, since there's no telling when the squad will be relieved. Rezi asks her if the men in the Aerie have caused any issues. They haven't. The sergeant also reports that the Watch will be sending scouts out to attempt to uncover enemy intentions. Tovy tells the corporal that the squad could handle a scouting mission, and Rezi tells Tyla the same. Loisa and Yeli are not entirely stoked about this. Tyla warns Rezi that once the squad leaves the Aerie, it may not be easy to return. Tovy reminds the initiates that the Shadow clearly has a plan for the Aerie, so they can't assume they're safe behind the walls. On a scout, the squad gets the initiative, so they'll be safer.

The squad prepares for the op, and then Tyla comes back and tells the squad to scout the rear of the enemy formation and see what they're waiting for. The squad will be lowered over the wall after dark, which gives at least an hour to finish getting ready. Lomo will navigate, Rezi will watch our backs, Yeli will do recon, and Tovy will take point. Rezi gets a full success, Lomo gets a full success, Yeli a full success, and Tovy gets a little help from Rezi to also get a full success. Complications: The Shadow took hold of Rezi for a time, and Rezi and Tovy were both hurt during the mission.

After dark, the squad abseils down from the wall into the no man's land in front of the wall. The Shadow forces don't seem to have any fires set, which is unsettling, but Yeli still leads the squad around in the dark. As Lomo brings the squad around the enemy rear, they hear a creaking noise, which eventually turns out to be an enormous battering ram being pushed by the 8ft tall things we've seen before. Lomo looks to see if there's a spot where the Watch might create a landslide that would destroy or delay the ram, but there's no obvious way to do that. Rezi realizes that aside from the ram, the giants are a threat in and of themselves; if they got inside the Aerie, they'd be hard to stop at close quarters. Also, she (and only she) sees Thin Boy in the enemy ranks. Tovy sees the Corporal coming back to the squad from her brief trip to a better vantage point, and then gets suspicious when Rezi keeps closing into her personal space.

The Corporal tries to grab Tovy's hair and then wrap a hand around her throat, bends in, and hisses, "neeeeeed." When pushing and shoving doesn't work, Tovy punches her square in the face to break her grip, rocking the Corporal back. Lomo runs in to tackle Rezi, aided by Yeli. Rezi comes to with no memory of anything since she saw Thin Boy, and stutters out a plea of ignorance. The squad heads back to the Aerie to report.

The defenders drop ropes to pull the squad back up, and Rezi reports to Sgt Tyla again. Tyla leads Rezi, and the squad, deep into the interior of the fortress, to a room containing many high-ranking officers, including Lt Cmdr Leyma. Leyma finds their report useful.

After Tyla and Leyma have gone, Tovy confronts Rezi about her unprovoked attack during the scout. Rezi assures her that it was a one-time thing and won't happen again. Tovy pushes her to report in to the sergeant, and when she refuses, Lomo pushes Tovy to go over her head. Tovy agrees and goes in search of the Sergeant, asking Lomo and Yeli to come along as witnesses. Rezi orders her to halt. Tovy refuses. Rezi pleads that it's bad for the squad if they make this report. Tovy goes in search of the sergeant. Rezi Lets the Shadow In to try to find a way to keep her squad together, and has flashes of memories from earlier in the day, of the Shadow forces in broad daylight, pressed against the walls of the fortress, battering ram shattered by the Aerie's weapons, but the gates opened nonetheless. She interprets this as a sign that the Aerie will be betrayed, and that she can keep the squad together by addressing the enemy outside the squad. She tells the squad there are traitors in their midst, and they need to deal with them before they deal with Rezi's problems. Tovy ignores her, and Loisa and Yeli follow Tovy. Lomo decides to stay with Rezi so that she can't escape or commit any more treachery. Rezi watches them leaves and tells the remnants of the squad that she knows, for sure, that people inside the fortress are with the Shadow, and they're a bigger problem than her little moment. She wants to lead her squad on a search for them.

Rezi and followers check the gate first, and see that the gate looks intact and the soldiers alert and anxious. She Looks Beyond to see who the traitor or where the weakness is, and "hears" a sort of sibilant voice from a corridor near the gate. It seems like she's the only one who hears it... except for a sergeant at the gate, who looks in that direction, then goes walking off toward it. Rezi tells Lomo to follow her in that direction. They follow and see the sergeant duck off into another package, then open a door and close it behind her.

Tovy and companions report in to Sgt Tyla, who is very disturbed by the news and wants to find Rezi right away.

Lomo knows that the door that Rezi and friends are outside leads to a cave, most likely used for storage. Rezi asks her what she thinks of the situation - why would this gate sergeant be in there?

Tovy and crew try to find Rezi with Tyla, but since she's been moving around, they have trouble.

Rezi orders Erda to report to Tyla, and then she and Lomo go into the room/tunnel the gate sergeant entered. Rezi hears the voice again when they enter, but the sergeant seems to have gone deeper into the tunnels. They hear a one-sided conversation between the sergeant and ... something.

Erda finds Tyla, Yeli, Tovy, and Loisa and reports what the Corporal is up to. They all go to see what Rezi is up to this time.

Rezi and Lomo find a way onto a raised area where they can look down on the potential traitor. Rezi tries to figure out what the sergeant is up to, but makes a noise that alerts her quarry, who turns to look at her. The sergeant's eyes are pure black. Lomo jumps the sergeant to take her down, bouncing her head off the floor before she gets a word out. "Prisoner taken, Corporal!" Lomo then binds the prisoner with her own belt, just as Tyla and companions arrive.