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==== A Magical History Lesson ====

Date: September 12, 2014\\
Characters in attendance: 99, Quantum, Shimmer, Lady Paladin, Hex, Daemon Roy\\
Experience awarded: 2

There is a letter hand-delivered to the Rose City Five HQ by Sister Marie
Simone, asking them to come to Marylhurst to speak with the sisters of the
Catholic order there, offering to explain some of the recent happenings. The
team heads down there, and is ushered into an audience with the Mother Superior,
an ancient woman still in charge of the order in Portland.

She explains to them that their order, the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus
and Mary, has been active for over 150 years. It's public mission has been to be
representatives of the Catholic church, and to run catholic schools around North
America, but their hidden agenda has been to be the defenders of the various
Nexus of Power that can be found around the world.

A Nexus of Power is one of several dozen locations throughout the world at which
certain energies, often described as "supernatural" or "magical" are at their
strongest. It is also the location where the walls between alternate worlds,
different planes of existence, are the weakest. Throughout history, certain
people have tried to use and exploit these Nexus, usually to disastrous results.
The Catholic Church has a secretive arm that works to hide and defend many of
these locations. Various orders within the church have been able to effectively
defend these locations because their faith has helped them resist the unnatural
power.

In Portland, a Nexus was discovered in 1859, and twelve sisters were sent from
Montreal to Portland to secure and protect the Nexus, although the cover story
was to open a school for frontier children. This school became St. Mary's
Academy, and served its purpose as a Catholic school, even as the order
protected the Nexus below.

This continued for many years, but the sisters' ability to protect the Nexus had
waned over the last few years. That was mostly due to the weakening of the
Mother Superior herself, and she reveals to the assembled heroes that she is one
of the original twelve that traveled to Portland in 1859. Her time is coming to
an end, and until a successor is in place, the Nexus is vulnerable. In addition,
the recent opening of a portal in that location has revealed it to those with
certain "sensitivities". That's where the heroes come in.

The Mother Superior asks the team to be extra vigilant around St. Mary's, since
this is the perfect time for somebody with power to come in and access the
Nexus. She also asks them to work with one of their representatives, a powerful
being brought in to help. In walks Daemon Roy.

Daemon Roy is a very charismatic man, but the heroes sense that he is more than
just human. He is supremely overconfident, and has an entourage of several
young, attractive women dressed in business attire. He treats them respectfully
but casually, and calls every one of them "Betty".

==== Unforseen Construction ====

In their investigations, it is Daemon Roy who encounters construction going on
at Keller Fountain Park. Surly workmen try to keep him out of the area, and
there are mysterious goings on inside a canvas tent atop the fountains. He
messes around with the workmen and the tent, and starts engaging unusual powered
suits when the RC5 show up.

The villains reveal themselves. The powered suits are Steam Knights, apparently
steam-driven bulky suits (although Hex realizes that they can't be truly be
steam-powered; there is something else driving them). The seven Steam Knights
are led by Baron Dansik, in his own impressive powered armor. During the fight,
the Baron reveals that after he learned about the Nexus, he had to tunnel
through to it from the fountain.

The fight goes well, especially with the addition of Daemon Roy to the group.
The Steam Knights are defeated, but when the Baron is on the ground helpless, it
turns out to only be an empty suit of armor. Shimmer surmised that the person in
the suit phased through into the ground, and immediately goes to look for him;
Hex meanwhile goes down into the newly-dug tunnels to find the Baron as well.

Shimmer locates the villain, but it isn't "Baron Dansik", but instead, it is a
woman they had encountered before, Dark Lilith ([[Game 10]]), and she reveals
herself as Marta Dansik. Hex can barely see and hear Shimmer and Marta Dansik,
and only gets an impression that they knew each other long ago. Marta says
something to Shimmer and phases through the ground, and Shimmer appears to be in
shock, not pursuing her. He does not reveal everything that she said to him to
the group, and they don't press him on it.

==== Fallout from previous encounters ====

Back at HQ, the team learns some other information. They learn that the beast
that they subdued in the previous encounter ([[Game 12]]) was actually an older
superhero named Keith Miller, but they encountered him during their tryouts
([[Game 1]]) as Neanderthroid. Now he is incarcerated, but in a mostly catatonic
state.

Next, they get a visit from a member of the new Freedom Force. Erg is a young
woman speedster, very pleasant, trying to get to know them. She reveals that the
recent shakeup in Freedom Force was due to some well-connected government
official, and nobody really knows why they chose Portland to do the
announcement. She tells them that the new members are all good people, willing
to work together, and that the past members are now officially auxiliary
members. The RC5 members get the impression that she is sincere in her words.

==== GM's Notes: ====

A lot was going on in this game. I finally revealed the basis of the St.
Mary's/magic portal connection, and it was good to have Kurt drop in with his
character. I just wasn't expecting him to engage the villains without calling
the rest of the team in; what was I thinking?