We Sons Of Daley [Manhattan Blues]

Climb out the window!

You gather up your dry washing from last night and your clothing and your PAPERS. Checking to make sure they're all in order- there's the SHINY MARK the ESPER made on your sheet to confirm that you're a NULL- you gather up your clothing and open the window.

You hang out of the windowsill. Someone is WATCHING you.

Use your clothing bag to cushion your fall!

In fact, they watch you DROP RIGHT OFF THE INN'S SECOND STORY WINDOW TO THE GROUND.

Wow, that HURT a little more than you thought it would, but you seem to be in one piece.

A GIRL is here, about your age, who has ICE-BLUE EYES. She STARES at you, for a moment. "Joining the GRAND ARMY?" she asks.

"Yeah."

"Hm." She nods. "It's not a bad life, if you survive." She walks away. You're pretty sure you've never seen her before. And you've never seen the HORSE she rides away on, either.

You make your way to the station and get on the coach. There are something like ten other RECRUITS in the coach with you, and most of them don't seem all that HAPPY to be going. Must be CONSCRIPTS.

For the next three nights, your dreams become more and more vivid. You become certain your MENTOR has RED HAIR. But she leaves you with a warning the day before you arrive. "Until you leave BASIC TRAINING, you must not wake up."

When you arrive at the main TRAINING BASE, you are organized into a GROUP OF TWO HUNDRED.

"All right, move that way, everyone give your papers to the man at the desk... your MOS will be decided soon..."

The OFFICER looks you over, nods. " ."

You hand over the PAPERS. (OBJECTIVE COMPLETE!)

"Hm... Seventeen... Volunteer!?" He does a double take. "Welcome to the Grand Army, Private Arlington... Hm... No Gift. All right. NEXT!"

The next six months, your dreams are distant and lost, like a fog of memory over your mind. And then you're assigned to Special Operations Training due to your DETERMINATION and ACCURACY. You also gain some skill with a TYPEWRITER and SEXTANT.

Special Operations Training... Well, it's more accurate to call it 'small force tactics' than it is to call it 'Special Operations'. You're trained as part of a RAID TEAM, the team's LONG-RANGE ATTACK, a physical SUPPORT UNIT to the MAGISTER and the ESPER. You learn to work in close ranges as well with 1911s, alongside KI-USERS. Slowly, steadily, if shakily, you begin to gain the USE OF KI, though you're nothing compared with a lot of the TECHNICIANS here.

Special Operations typically work in FIVE-MEMBER TEAMS- a TECHNICIAN, a MAGE, an ESPER, a NORMAL, and a FIFTH MEMBER who makes up for the rest. You train to fill the last two positions, and the training regularly breaks up your TEAM so that you are FORCED to work with ANYONE. You discover a TALENT FOR RESOURCEFULNESS UNDER FIRE.

And your dreams come back, each night more vivid than the last, each one ending with the warning that you must not wake up yet. At least, until the last night.

"I've taught you all I can in DREAMS," your MENTOR says. "Anything you do from now on, you need to AWAKEN for. If you awaken- no, with the life you've chosen... It's WHEN you awaken... Seek me out. For the sake of YOUR NATION. For the sake of the WORLD'S REVOLUTION, you must WAKE UP."

That morning, when you awake, you are holding a small, blue crystal. You hastily PUT IT IN A POCKET. No one notices.

Not long after you leave Special Operations Training, it is time for your first mission. You're excited. The past year has all lead up to this!

It's a bandit raid near the north end of the territory, out in Minnesota. You'll be supplying raw firepower on this mission; the mage and Esper will work together to field intelligence, while the fifth member- another mage, of an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SORT than the first- keeps everyone in communication.

You already know where the bandit base is... In fact, you're already overlooking it. It seems to be a three-walled compound, built around a cave system.

As to why the main infantry isn't here cleaning up this mess... Well, that's simple as well... There's hostages, from a nearby village, or so you've been told. That must be those WOMEN AND CHILDREN here.

You each have an M4 RIFLE with FOUR SPARE CLIPS- TWO, in your case. The MAGE is equipped with a DARK GRIMOIRE and an EXTRA CLIP. The KI-USER is TRAVELING LIGHT with 1911s. The ESPER, as usual for espers, carries NOTHING. The FIFTH MEMBER has a LIGHT GRIMIORE in addition to his rifle.

You have a TYPEWRITER, a PAIR OF 1911s, and an M4-S SNIPER RIFLE.

You are observing the compound. Objectives are simple: rescue the hostages, make sure all your members survive, and eliminate every one of the bandits, destroying the base.

Simple.

What do you do?