Captain Honda's Mission Report

[Zuranthium]

Captain's Log: Stardate 2001.6

Our crew has been tasked with containing the outbreak in delta quadrant 4. Frogloks and fungusmen have been spilling out from a newly opened S-rank portal and will soon destroy a nearby settlement if we can not a find a way to stop them. These creatures are highly sensitive to body heat and we've decided the best way to have a chance against them is by sending everyone on solo missions to try and pick them off while scouting for info about how to best defeat each species type we've discovered.

After losing three of our most powerful mages and several other scouts never returning from the field, morale was beginning to dip. Then one of our veteran members, a short iksarian named Sscalez, arrived back from the field with the heads of the two most dangerous species we've been having trouble with. Everyone was filled with elation as we listened to him describe how he defeated a group of the monsters on his own. The next morning we sent out a fresh wave of solo hunters, armed with the newfound knowledge of how to attack. It was expected we would be able to push the enemy's lines back by at least half a karana mile.

As the day progressed something was wrong. We kept receiving reports that the enemy was advancing. Our resident diviner Bran was called to cast a powerful detection spell and ascertain the whereabouts of our hunters. His magic revealed the hunters to all be dead, and as he continued to pour himself into the spell we saw the scenes of the day unfold before our eyes. The hunters tried to sneak up on the monsters and attack them in the weak points Sscalez had described, but their attacks were not as effective as they should have been and the monsters turned on each hunter and broke through their armor quicker than should have been possible after the info we were given about the monsters' level of strength.

How could this be?? Bran turned to me and his silent words entered my mind, "bring Sscalez here now, and restrain him." Sscalez was brought in quickly, carrying a pouch of gold he had just received from a camp merchant in return for one of the heads of the beasts he'd retrieved. Bran began a new incantation and soon a new scene appeared, Sscalez was about to leave for his prior mission and two unknown mercenary mages were in his tent, weaving spells around him. One of them spoke up, "our magic will hold on you for as long as we remain here concentrating, but don't take too long, you haven't paid us for an entire day of work. We will leave before the evening if you haven't returned by then."

I immediately spun around and grabbed Sscalez by the throat, forcing him down onto a nearby chair. "How could you do this to us, we trusted you! How long have you been using mercenaries to fake your battle ranks? How many others haved died from your false reports so that you could profit from the portals?!" Sscalez spat as he replied, "It's only ever been me on the field, I've done everything by myself, I've never had mercenaries with me!"

"Give me a minute", said Bran, his aura growing more intense as undulating pools of light gathered and swirled around Sscalez. After some moments he began to shake and fought to maintain his balance as the spell continued. Suddenly he convulsed and the brilliant display of magic began to dissipate as his eyes opened. "It's been happening for 7 years. Over a hundred individuals have died while trying to clear areas that were deemed safe for a single person of his rank."

There was a moment of a silence, and then I spoke, "You are dishonored and will be reported to the high council. You'll never work in any guild again and will will be lucky not be permanently jailed." One my officers then exclaimed, "many of the people in the nearby settlement are going to die too. We need to start trying to evacuate them, there's no time left for anything else. Other guilds will need to be called in to clean up the mess and contain this area and close the portal. Our guild is going to lose all of its reputation over this and never be offered another S-rank portal ever again by the high council."

I tried to control my building anger and sorrow. "Yes, we need to mobilize quickly. In the meantime Sscalez needs to be punished and marked as a traitor. Have a maester perform the scale removal procedure, as his iksarian culture dictates to mark criminals. Without his scales he will never again be able to fight at the same level strength and cause this amount of danger to everyone." End of captain's log. Enclosed is a mage's recording of the punishment administered - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz0GEc8Q4oo

[OriginalContentGuy]

Sounds like Sscalez

[Duik]

But its nothing personal.

[rhold]

Pathetic