SatPM Freedom Planet/History

## Prologue

Shortly after the events of Freedom Planet 1, and in recognition of the critical role that Sash Lilac, Carol Tea and Milla Basset played in saving the Kingdom Stone despite their criminal backgrounds, the Magister establishes a training program for disadvantaged children of extraordinary talent, like the girls themselves. The girls themselves join the program, but five months after it begins, Lilac receives a letter that has allegedly been sent by one of Milla’s relatives. The letter asks her to bring herself and her friends to a location far away from civilization, in the wilds of Southern Shang Tu. Lilac immediately smells a rat. She immediately shows the letter to the Magister.

## Chapter 1

Rather than sending the girls into a potential trap likely custom made for them, the Magister recruits four mercenaries to investigate the matter in their stead. After a brief test set by the girls and General Gong, Roland, Shunji Ishida, Alyssa Scroll and Tory Lin, a bounty hunter, ninja, thief and mercenary respectively, are dispatched to the south. They are given the objective of meeting the contact and taking them back to Shang Tu if possible, and assuming the contact is genuine.
After a long and dangerous march, the party make it to the rendezvous and meet Erin Howler, a Basset Hound and Milla’s supposed relative. It soon emerges that this is a trap. Tigers in strange white uniforms emerge to attack them with less enthusiastic allies in tow. The team manage to break out of the ambush, but a bug on Erin means that they are all being tracked. Worse, a town to the north, Senlin de Jintou, is marked for destruction by the attackers. To give them a chance of saving the village, Erin breaks off. After some travails, the team manage to save the village, Erin and her family. They are contacted by Neera Li, their mission support, during this period, but she is cut off as an attack on the palace begins. During this period, the party are joined by Eliana "Joan" Uliair, a native of the village with formidable fire powers.

## Chapter 2

After saving Erin, the team are contacted over the radio again… but it’s Carol on the other end, not Neera. It emerges that the attack on the palace was nearly successful. Neera Li and General Gong were both left in critical condition, and only a last-minute intervention from the Magister saved Lilac, Carol and Milla from total defeat. Worse, the effort apparently left the Magister comatose, leaving Shang Tu without a leader. A general emerges to take control of the city and, blaming the Red Scarves for the attack, prepares to wipe the organization out. Carol pleads the party to warn the Scarves before they are massacred; she cannot escape the palace herself for fears the attack will be started early.

The party rush towards Shang Tu, barely repelling an assault by their unknown foe’s top enforcers on the way. They try to infiltrate the city, but are swiftly apprehended and taken before General Haixi, the general who has taken command of Shang Tu. It soon emerges that not only has the palace been attacked, but bombs have gone off around the city. Worse, the new power plant designed to harvest the Kingdom Spiral’s energy has been destroyed before it can come online. The city’s power supplies are at critically low levels.

Haixi is immediately suspicious of the party. After hearing about their mission for the Magister, he grills them about their true intentions ruthlessly. Unable to handle his questioning style, members of the team quickly buckle under pressure, especially when Carol herself is brought out, and is barely able to synchronize her account of events with the party’s. After being asked to submit individual statements, Carol is horrified to learn that not only has the party’s plan to warn the Scarves been revealed, her part in the conspiracy has also been uncovered. The party are branded traitors and thrown in jail.
The party manage to break out with Carol, recovering their equipment and reconciling with her in the process, but Tory overhears a terrifying conversation between Lilac and Haixi. Haixi presents Lilac with a stark choice; lure the Scarves into a trap they will be forced to surrender within, or Haixi will flood the Scarves' Hideout with water from the Jade River, killing every last man, woman and child. The party discover that they now have two hours before Lilac’s hand is forced, and three hours before Haixi releases the waters. When Carol finds out, she is horrified. Despite their previous mistakes, she begrudgingly agrees to accept the party’s help in making it to the hideout.

The party make it back to the outskirts of Shang Tu, and begin to traverse the dangerous slums on the southern bank of the Jade River. They manage to disguise themselves by rearranging parts of their equipment and discarding others, and this allows them to make good progress without arousing suspicion. All is going well until Carol, who is at the fore of the party, is confronted by a panda in a red Scarf. The panda pulls a knife on Carol, and Roland is forced to shoot the assassin dead as the party are ambushed by more scarved attackers. The attack pushes Carol into deep shock, as she is not used to seeing living, breathing people die, despite her experience fighting Lord Brevon.
As the police pursue, the party are forced to resort to non-lethal means as they fight their way through the patrols. They manage to escape, but Carol accidentally wounds and nearly kills one of the guards, who is saved only by Joan’s quick intervention. Carol is stricken with guilt, and with her self-confidence crumbling, the party decide they are no longer willing to chance taking her with them. They reluctantly hand her over to the Shang Tu Air Force chief, General Taul, when she intervenes.

The party make their way alone to the edge of the river, their last obstacle before they can access the old quarter and, from there, the drainage tunnels that hide the Scarves’ hideout. The bridge they find is incomplete and heaving with security, but they manage to find a maintenance tunnel that leads deep into the foundations of the bridge. Deep underwater by this stage, they uncover the site of a massacre…

Dead guards lie strewn everywhere. The party follow the trail of carnage through underwater glass tubes which connect each bridge pillar, and quickly find the source when a bloody message lures them deep into the bowels of the bridge’s foundations. A wildcat with a white scarf ambushes them, cracks the glass maintenance chamber they are in and then leaves them to be crushed by the rushing waters and cut to pieces by the shattering glass. They manage to protect themselves and find oxygen gear, and survive the bubble dissolving, only to find that a bomb has been placed on the structure to make sure they go down and to cause as much chaos as possible. In a moment of quick thinking, Joan freezes the bomb on the last second…

The party get to the surface and, after being joined by Aiden Nate, a hedge-fox troublemaker on the run from the law, make their way into the drainage tunnels. After deciphering some interesting deception techniques, they make their way into the depths, where they are confronted by the wildcat with the white scarf again. After a brief altercation, the wildcat withdraws, shuts them in, and unleashes a vast, metal hydra upon them as water begins to rush into the chamber… the party are left fighting for their life deep within the bowels of Shang Tu.

The party succeed in vanquishing the metal hydra and link up with Lilac, Jake Satomi, a friend of hers going back, and Tatsuya, a metal/fire dragon who followed them out of curiosity. Lilac explains to them why she’s following Haixi’s plan to lure the Scarves into a trap; she doesn’t want open conflict to erupt between the Scarves and Shang Tu’s military while whoever is really responsible for the attacks makes their move. The party accept this version of events, but as they penetrate the outer defenses of the hideout, Lilac starts to show clear signs of low confidence and guilt, as well as fear due to her long absence from the hideout and apparently troubled relationship with the Scarves. The party continue to place their faith in her however.

The party continue to place their faith in her, but this faith proves poorly founded as they are apprehended outside the hideout. Lilac’s nerves overtake her when she is confronted by Spade, a Scarves mercenary she appears to have some history with. While he doesn’t discern the sheer scale of her deception, he easily tells that she is lying, and Lilac almost crumbles under the pressure completely. Luckily, some fast thinking by members of the party lets them persuade Spade that her intentions are at least good, and they also come up with a potential alternative route out of the hideout. While Spade clearly has no time for what he perceives as Lilac’s nonsense, he is prepared to give her companions a hearing at least. He brings them to meet the hideout’s Quartermaster…

The party are smart enough to be honest with the quartermaster, which convinces her that they are trustworthy. It transpires that the hideout is under siege from two angles. A group has split off from the Scarves, and appears to be involved with whatever organisation is responsible for events in the city. After discussing what to do, the party and Scarves eventually decide to use the long derelict, walled up tunnels inside the drainage system to escape the flooding lower levels with the Scarves’ best agents, while the majority of the Scarves surrender to Haixi via the secret route he suggested. The party make their way into the safety of the upper drainage tunnels, and manage to disturb and force back an ambush placed for the Scarves by the enemy. The way out seems clear now, which is just as well, as Haixi’s sub finally arrives and causes the tunnels to begin to collapse in the middle of the battle. The entire complex is beginning to collapse.

The party now have a clear route out of the tunnels with the Scarves. However, there are disturbing details about the enemy that may be buried underneath the rubble… and worse, it sounds like elements of Shang Tu’s army have been ambushed by the enemy. The party are met with a stark choice. Do they help Shang Tu’s armed forces even though they work for Haixi? Or do they cut their losses and run… though that means leaving the soldiers to die beneath thousands of tonnes of falling rubble?

Detecting the enemy's advance towards their only exit, the party decides to lead the refugee Scarves out to safety. The Quartermaster agrees, not wanting to lose any more lives to an unknown enemy or mass live burial. The collective exits the crumbling tunnels, and the refugees board the waiting escape rafts. Of notable absence, however, is Lilac. Aiden confesses to having left her at the front of the refugee line when he circled around to help the party scout ahead. As Jake is unable to make more than a trace of radio contact with the dragon girl, she is likely still in danger…

Spade and the Quartermaster are the last to depart. They give the party a map to the next Hideout's location, and ask that any information that could help them resist Haixi or the new enemy be brought there. However, the initial party (Roland, Alyssa, and Shunji) expresses a desire to be done with the Scarves altogether and collect their rewards from Haixi. Joan simply wants to go home, and the others are unsure of their next actions. What they all do know is that they've been running and fighting for their lives for at least 30 hours straight without food or rest. The party proceeds to set up camp for the night. But their rest would have to wait a little longer.

Joan, who had flopped onto her back on the river's bank to rest and not moved since, notice one star in particular begin to grow brighter. The party begins to take notice of it, and prepare for a confrontation. They are unable to make radio contact with the approaching spacecraft, but it lands nearby. Alyssa Aspen, a dragon explorer from Planet Schrodinger , steps out to a mixed reception. The situation de-escalates and Aspen (calling herself 'Liss' to prevent confusion with the other Alyssa) decides to join the party.

Then yet another spacecraft approaches, flooding the airwaves with a message informing Atlas that his presence was required on his home planet Unit. The snow fox is immediately teleported away in a green flash, leaving Detective Mandy Vega where he stood before. The newcomer indicates that she is the "replacement" for Atlas until he returns. After everyone calms down from these unexpected arrivals, they finally settle down to rest for the night.

## Chapter 3

It’s early morning. Quiet as it may seem in camp, Joan’s fever dream is anything but peaceful. The entire party is present within the dream, and Aspen has entered it telepathically while she slept. They wage a small battle against shadowy forms of many kinds, from elite swordsman to expert rifleman and a hulking boar wielding an enormous shotgun. Despite their narrow odds, the party is victorious. Joan wakes with full memory of the dream, along with renewed confidence in herself and the group. She is, in fact, mentally stronger than before. Three hours have passed since they settled down for the night.

Aspen wakes as well, and the two realize that the dream had been shared between them. Joan is shocked that this was even possible, and the newcomer apologizes for having unconsciously intruded. More concerning to Joan, however, is the setting of this dream: her hometown of Senlin de Jintou. Her worst fear is that the dream was a sign of things to come. Only a few days prior, she had left home to adventure with the party, but the group may be needed back sooner rather than later…

Vega is already awake, as she had volunteered to stand watch. But gradually, everyone but Aiden is roused by the commotion. Most pay it no mind, however, and are about to return to sleep until Jake suddenly starts receiving vitals and audio from Lilac again. The situation is critical: the dragon girl’s blood pressure has fallen alarmingly, and appears to be on a downward slope. As this is relayed to the party and a radio is tuned to allow the others to listen, Aiden wakes. Sirens and a rescue team are overheard picking up and loading the motionless hero into an ambulance. Fifteen minutes pass as Lilac is rushed to a hospital in the western part of the city. Throughout the journey, the paramedics fight to keep her alive. It emerges that she has suffered multiple stab wounds, and is bleeding out rapidly.

The party are forced to listen through the whole ordeal as Lilac is rushed in for emergency surgery. Her vital signs continue to dwindle away… finally, she flatlines. For a full minute, the surgeon on call fights to restart her heart. The crash cart is used time after time. But eventually, the shocks stop coming, the monitor’s alarm is silenced, and a hideous silence fills the operating room. A silence which is interrupted when the heart monitor resumes its normal cadence, indicating Lilac’s heart had spontaneously restarted. The baffled and thoroughly nonplussed medical staff complete their surgery, transfer her into a room in the IC ward. After ensuring their patient is stable, they leave her there alone.

Most of the party is relieved and/or speechless. But Joan had moved away from the group to calm down from the dream, and Keitaro is indifferent. The latter attempts to play his portable game device, but it’s quickly disabled by a small EMP from Jake. Kei is collectively reprimanded for his insensitive behavior, and the group start to plan their next moves. Joan wants to return home, and a few others state their intent to travel to see Lilac at the hospital.

They are about to do just that when the radio (which was left on) relays the sound of a door opening. Haixi and Wanjian enter and, oblivious to the fact that Lilac’s implants are transmitting their every word, discuss their plans. Among other things, they intend to frame Lilac for the disastrous sinkholing taking place across the Old City, and the death of Arthur Xin and seventy of Shang Tu’s finest, caused by Haixi’s failed attempt to exterminate the Scarves.

These revelations prompt a slight change of plans. The Quartermaster is contacted and brought up to speed on everything the part knows and has experienced, including Lilac’s near-death and the subsequent exchange in the hospital room. The Scarves have little to offer in way of information, but what they do have is enough to connect more dots and shed light on some new leads. They enter a mutual truce/agreement with the party to share intelligence. Roland is skeptical, but reluctantly agrees. Not paying much attention to the party line with the Scarves, Aspen creates a telepathic link with Joan. Aiden, Aspen, Jake and Keitaro depart for the hospital, and the Quartermaster directs the remaining party members to a safe bolt-hole somewhere in the Southern Slums.

The party going to the hospital wind up breaking Lilac out of hospital, almost killing her in the process. They manage to stabilize her with the help of Jake’s father, and meet up with the rest of the party. They have triggered a city-wide manhunt, however, and are forced to flee. At this point, the Quartermaster of the Scarves offers an interesting solution; find one of the Scarf tunnels taken over by the enemy and force them out of it. Rather than try to evade the entire guard and army, the party take this option.

(Keitaro left after the hospital mission)

The party uncover a massacre in the tunnels. It seems the enemy have turned against one another. After dodging some traps and finishing off a small cadre of enemy soldiers who were hiding at the end of the tunnel, the party rescue two defectors from the enemy. At this point, the party finally get some answers regarding what is happening in the city.

General Hansi Perera of Palu Divayina is planning to invade the Three Kingdoms, and she is attacking Shang Tu first. She has sent Divayinese forces to stir up resentment and insurrection against the Magister as a prelude to a full invasion that is coming in three days, exploiting the severe poverty in Shang Tu as a result of a long economic decline. The two defectors the party saved joined up alongside many others, but when they discovered that the Divayinese were brutal and oppressive towards anyone who isn’t a soldier, they and many others within this particular tunnel system tried to overthrow the professional Divayinese soldiers who were now forcing them to fight, and holding others hostage far away to ensure their good behavior. The rebels lost the fight, but they inflicted heavy casualties amongst this group of Divayinese. The Divayinese are, however, everywhere, having infiltrated the Scarves’ underground tunnel systems with the help of the rebel Scarves.

Lilac also wakes up at this point, and the party explain what is going on. After a fight with more Divayinese forces arriving late to relieve the tunnel, the party return to the surface and make plans to prove their innocence and show the city what is really going on. Haixi, it turns out, is likely to prove unreasonable, so the party target the leaders of Shang Tu in the slums instead. They opt to try to convince the guard, under one Commander Sima, and General Tallus, the general who captured Carol earlier, of their innocence. Tallus has Carol under house arrest, so after dropping leaflets warning the guard of the enemy’s presence underground and directing them to the tunnels they just left, they make their way towards Tallus’s house.

The enemy, however, attack Tallus and Carol as the party make contact with her. Tallus and Carol are forced to flee, and the party pursue. They succeed in saving the pair, explaining to Tallus what is going on, but the party’s prisoners from the last battle, including the two defectors they saved, have been picked up by a Shang Tu commando who intends to execute them on the spot.

The party manage to convince this commando, General Shizi Xin, the brother of the commando leader who was killed back in the tunnels, to take the prisoners to Sima’s HQ in the slums. However, as they move to meet up with Shizi, Thu attacks again in a last-ditch attempt to keep the Divayinese invasion a secret. A massive Divayinese force converges on the commandos, while a delaying force is dispatched to delay the party. Jake and Aiden fly off to defend Shizi, while the rest of the party break through on the ground. In a massive battle, the party succeed in driving the enemy off, capturing most of them, and they even manage to capture Thu. While Shizi still doesn’t trust the party, assuming they are now simply changing sides after having warned the people who killed his brother, he is convinced to at least give them a fair hearing. They head off towards the Southern HQ.

(Though chapter 3 is concluded, the remaining part of this section has yet to be completed)