Mission File 001: Before The Dawn

July 14th, 1990: The Gaunt Man’s plan was a simple one. He knew that he’d need a lot of energy in order to absorb the possibilities needed to become TORG. He built his Infernal Machine to suck the possibilities out of the earth’s rotation. His plan worked and the earth stopped spinning. But before he could retrieve the energy he was stuck in a maelstrom by a brave group of Storm Knights. Now it’s up to an unlikely group of people who barely know each other to find the machine and destroy it. After having a blowout in their 2.5-ton truck, the Storm Knights are approached by a hysterical German woman named Hildy Marlen. They save her from a bunch of Edienos and hear her story of her father being held captive by Professor Shariff and the large digging machine. They follow Hildy to the digging machine where they battle many Nile Shock Troopers and the gizmo-modified Professor Shariff. They are victorious. Shariff pleads for his life and the Knights release him into the Living Land with nothing more than the clothes on his back. They learn that Shariff was here to trade some weapons for a “key” to some Edienos. They disable the weapons and disguise themselves in order to get the “key”. The trade goes through and Dr. Marlen and Hildy head back to Core Earth while the others take the digging machine back to the Nile. Along the way they learn that the “key” is a Faberge egg. They emerge in a Nile Base and they sneak to the plane intended to take Mobius to Indonesia. They beat up a Shock Trooper and convince the pilot to take them to the location of the machine. Once in the air they get into a dogfight with two Nile fighter planes. The battle is fierce. Things are made worse when a stowaway threatens to kill Ken. With some struggles they overcome both the man and the planes and land in the darkness of Indonesia where they find a swirling vortex headed into the depths of the ocean. The vortex is pure energy. A giant shark attacks their vessel, though it’s rough they beat the shark only to be ravaged by a giant electric eel. This fight takes it’s toll and Lara and Wyn are almost killed. Ken is able to bring it down and save Lara. That’s when Gibberfat reveals it’s true form as a demon. Through some conversation they figure out that the egg was intended to bribe the demon to leave. They do so and head down to face the true threat. . . the infernal machine. They find a sunken ship at the bottom. The machine is inside the ship and skeletal pirates guard it. While the others keep the skeletons busy Lara Croft works on reversing and shutting down the machine. Andrew aids her some and in the end, the machine is destroyed and the earth’s rotation is restored.