2017-07-19: Weight of the World
- Log: Weight of the World
- Cast: Riesenlied, Noeline, Lady Harken, Ambrosius, Ethius Hesiod
- Where: Old Petra
- Date: 19th June 2017
- Summary: The Ebony Wings return to remember those that have fallen at Old Petra, and descend to their former base, aided by unlikely allies...
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
<SoundTracker> The Weight of the World - NieR Automata | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egn_VNVKzI4
I feel like I'm losing hope
In my body and my soul
And the sky, it looks so ominous
Old Petra was once as the myth of Laevateinn -- an anomaly, a fragile little flower that dared to grow in the midst of cracked, arid and desolate wasteland. Though it started as a forward base for the Demons' plans, in time the Tainted and other folk gathered to strike a fragile and meager life outside of the walls of the Photosphere for the first time ever. And where it may be poverty and misery for others, it embodied hope for them. It was a harsh and unforgiving thing, shadowed in the wake of the invasion of Adlehyde and the ever-looming threat of their bloodthirsty brethren. It was shadowed in the threat of those that sought revenge, however understandable, served cold and bloody.
And as time comes to a halt
Silence starts to overflow
My cries are inconspicuous
Now, Old Petra is no more. The crimson Gear and Id came in the midst of an attack that the Demons thought they could repel. In the midst of Drifters, Guardsmen and humans battling Tainted and Demon alike, they were waylaid. In an instant, the belltower was lifted from its roots on the ground and crushed upon an entire squadron of Demon soldiers. Fleeing tainted and humans alike were cut down in the wake of the Gear's crimson light. The village is shattered and burned, more of a husk than it was when Riesenlied first found it months ago. Bereft by the colliery community that abandoned it, stained by its criminal past, and now crushed for a final time...
Tell me, God, are you punishing me?
Is this the price I'm paying for my past mistakes?
A banner soars high amidst the cloudy skies, surprisingly dark and portentious weather for the border of the Badlands where the arid sun typically sears. It is the banner of the Tainted, in dark violet colours, bearing the mark of their wings. Their wings, where they dared to seek life amidst illusion.
Open plots of land are now buried for the bodies where they could find; the Ebony Wings are present, to assist in the efforts. For humans, for demons, for everyone that have fallen here. It did not matter who they were, only that they gave their lives so that they could survive to see another day. That much, they tacitly, if not explicitly, knew.
This is my redemption song
I need you more than ever right now
Can you hear me now?
Riesenlied holds onto that banner at the top of an overlooking cliff, which stands high between two graves that she'd marked before -- one, a wooden grave adorned with dried flowers, for the humans lost at Adlehyde. And another, a grave made of metal, for her brethren lost at Adlehyde.
A third one stands between them, fixed of both metal and wood, natural and unnatural components both, to commemorate those that fell in the wake of Old Petra's disaster. It is a memory of a tragedy for her, yet also one of a sliver of hope, a seedling that seeks to once more grow, no matter how much it is trampled.
Cause we're going to shout it loud
Even if our words seem meaningless
It's like I'm carrying the weight of the world...
The sun gleams in the distant horizon, the first few rays of daybreak cascading a new dawn.
The weight of the world is indeed heavy, and she is but one woman, who dares to stem the tide of oncoming hatred. But she must carry on -- they must carry on, with each other's support, with solidarity in a cause not seen by many. She gazes to that distance, to that new world she seeks.
Hope is ever distant. And yet, it is ever present, if one seeks to gaze upon it.
I wish that someway, somehow
That I could save every one of us
But the truth is that I'm only one girl
"... thank you, for being here," Riesenlied turns to address everyone present. There is a solemnness from the Ebony Wings present, Jedan bowing his head with a grunt. Cetiri lets out a little rasping noise of mechanical ambivalence, while Dva and Devet both scuff at their feet, clearly not particularly used to such things. Down below, others work to bury their closest kin, some of them weeping, others confused and with restrained anger that they can't express properly.
"The least we can do is to honour their memory." She looks towards the banner as it thrushes in the wind, tassels whipping along with the breeze. Her voice is laced with a quiet determination, sorrowful and yet hanging on with an affected resolve.
- "We carry the torch onward. The Ebony Wings' mission continues.
- We shall see, to the best of our efforts, that no tragedy of this scale is repeated.
- To that end, we must raise awareness of the dangers of such weapons and artifacts.
- We must stop those that knowingly abuse such items and stoke the flames of war.
- We must, if we are to honour our brethren's memories.
- We must, if we are all to survive and aid this ailing world."
Maybe if I keep believing my dreams will come to life
Come to Life...
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius Hesiod, that strange white-haired Symbologist who seems keen to hide the lower half of his face at virtually all times imaginable (among innumerable other strange behaviors), is among those who attend the funeral... as if by chance. He wasn't directly invited. He just happened to be coming by, for whatever purpose.
To say 'for whatever purpose' is disingenuous. Word has spread about the sheer scale of destruction. He couldn't help but come here. His curiosity became additionally piqued by the Ebony Wings' movement. He approached to observe further. One thing led to another...
Ethius, at present, helps with setting up graves for burial. He meets the gazes of no one, other than the cadavers. He seems especially interested in helping retrieve and move the Tainted corpses that aren't too heavy for him to manipulate (which has probably led to more than a few suggestions he go help with the human bodies instead).
His presence here is contentious. Even at rest, even at silence, the man carries with himself qualities of uncertainty and dread. Those who were present at Adlehyde's pitched battles and took a closer look at what happened are aware of what this man did - a window as to what he could do. He represents a potential threat, but yet has not made an overt attempt on Riesenlied's life since Adlehyde.
He says nothing throughout the eulogy. He's got his hands full assisting with the burials.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Off to the side, a tall man with a bright-red poncho draped around him stands, observing the ceremony. Ambrosius was here. Out of respect the hood of his suit had been pulled down and his hat was removed from his head, to be placed over his heart.
The presence of Ethius Hesiod certainly was a contentious point. Why was that man here? He didn't approve, but he wasn't going to be the one to disrupt the proceedings. No, as long as he did not to interfere, Ambrosius would keep to himself as well.
At any rate, Metal Demon funereal customs were not something he had expected - or even desired - to see. But he wouldn't ignore the call, either. They were his allies, and he must show the proper respect.
They were markedly different than the customs of his own people. It was interesting, in a way, but to remark on that now of all times would be incredibly poor manners.
Seeing all of this, the unmeasurable loss those around him were feeling...he had to wonder. How many more would be taken away before their goals bore fruit? Would that day ever even come?
...Would his people live to see that day, even if it did? His brow furrows slightly, but he doesn't let the thought show on his face.
<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.
For some, yes, Old Petra represents an end to things. A loss of life, innocence, friends and family, and numerous other things beside. It is fitting to lay these things to rest ceremonially, symbolically, and literally. The twist of pennants and banners in the wind is mournful, as wretched as the feelings felt by those laboring beneath them.
For likely far fewer, Old Petra's destruction represents something new. A new chance, new challenges, new questions, new dangers.
New exhilarations.
Ceremonially, it is fitting that a Quarter Knight attend so large a procession. Logistically, Siegfried is in no shape to do so, and Alhazred and Berserk are poor choices for obvious reasons. Practically, Harken is the closest one to the big event, so it falls to her to make something of it. That seems to be a reoccuring problem of late.
The towering figure looks dully upon the mourners as Riesenlied speaks. It's hard to picture Harken, known more for ultra-violence and glory in battle than peaceful negotiations agreeing entirely with Riesenlied's message, but let's not confuse aggressiveness for stupidity: this isn't her moment, this isn't her gig, this isn't her time.
So, once Harken is done reflecting on her unbelievably sick clash with the red gear and mysterious man who destroyed Old Petra, she quietly speaks to Riesenlied in the wake of her eulogy. "Well spoken."
That's high praise, really.
The big Knight in scarlet armor elsewise seems to keep her eyes trained on the crowd. Petra was a melting pot of diversity (for Metal Demons, anyway) and that doesn't necessarily comfort her. "Lord Siegfried would be proud."
Whether Siegfried would actually be proud or not is of no consequence to Harken, it just sounds good.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Two steps back from Riesenlied and a step forward from the rest of the Ebony Wings, in a position more ceremonial than anything else, stands a certain Crimson Noble - however little that title might mean, right at this moment.
Perhaps it is better to say that 'Noeline Carver' stands there instead, and leave it at that. After all, even if she still has to hide behind the label of the Demon Knight from time to time, Noeline is at least determined to mark this ceremony with the respect it deserves. Hiding behind a mask is not appropriate, for a time like this - and especially not given the pride she holds in that brief moment of interaction and cooperation, symbolized by the banner in Riesenlied's hands and separate from any discussion of race.
Stripped of her upbeat nature and her trademark flightiness, she stands as tall as she can, staring across the ruins of Old Petra as she lets the winged woman's words wash over her; her thoughts flick distantly towards Arctica and its destruction, and then towards Adlehyde in turn, but don't seem inclined to crystallize into anything solid right at the moment.
If nothing else, she can recognize the importance of this moment - for her, for Riesenlied, for the Metal Demons as a whole - both as a memory and a means to move on and forward. It is a change, she dimly realizes. Nothing like this would have ever been seen in the Photosphere. Perhaps not in the history of their race - but she finds herself both taken by it and drawn to it all at once, just as the others here do.
Only once the words die away does she look towards Riesenlied, not saying anything past the harsh lump in her throat - but offering that glance of support, at the very least.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
One amongst the foot soldiers helping with the burials is Sibyn -- a rookie and greenhorn who, while not Tainted, has certainly had a very rough and uncomfortable wakening that didn't quite line up with the iron doctrine she was promised from the Photosphere. In just a few weeks' outing, she's experienced Adlehyde, the fear of losing her brother and having him cast down to the ranks of the Tainted, and then lived through Old Petra.
"H-hey, leave him alone," she balks towards some other soldiers who tell him off, then moves to the other side of a heavyset Tainted who seems to have had to replace most of his torso with something resembling an icebox. "... thanks." It's said hesitantly. But not without gratitude. They lift, and move him down towards one of the open lots.
Riesenlied bows towards Ambrosius, and even if he does not speak at this moment, she appreciates his presence, and his respect. Then towards Harken as she deeply bows her head. She appreciates the Quarter Knight's understanding at this moment. Whether they diverge in ideology and approach, she feels like tending to the deceased is one they should not.
"Thank you," she softly answers the red-haired knight. "I can only hope so."
The air is different. It doesn't make for reparations to centuries of hatred overnight. But where there was no dialogue before, there are demons, some of them, who are beginning to look at things differently. Tragedy changes people. Demons are no exception.
"... we've done all we can out here," she expresses. "The next step is to proceed into the mines and the gaol that we've used for our operations, and see to any of the deceased we find and, hopefully, any survivors. We will act as lead, and a support unit will ensure that the structure is stable and remove any bodies that we discover within."
She knows, and everyone may know, that any survivors likely have fled long ago. But she wants to hold out hope.
"I would like your assistance. Do I have your cooperation in this?"
She speaks that to everyone -- in earshot of Ethius as well. Here, right now, she isn't in the business of drawing lines, of comparing differences between demons and humans. She appreciates that he is here, no matter his reasons, to assist in the burial.
DG: You have created a party! Your Digger status has been reset! As party leader your presence is very important! If you need to leave, please first promote another player using +party/promote <target>. Remember to set your tools before setting out with +tools/load.
DG: Riesenlied has created a party! To join, type +party/reset and then type +party/join Riesenlied.
DG: Noeline has joined your party!
DG: You've readied your Tool, Dragon Horn! It has 2 uses available!
DG: You've readied your Tool, Dragon Wings! It has 2 uses available!
DG: Ambrosius has joined your party!
DG: Ethius Hesiod has left your party.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has joined your party!
DG: Lady Harken's party information reset!
DG: Lady Harken has joined your party!
DG: A party led by Riesenlied is now entering Old Petra.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
===============================<* Old Petra *>================================ =====================<* CHALLENGE - Collapsed Building *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The remnants of the town of Old Petra lay before you. At first glance, it seems to be a complete wash - the village is in dire straits, wrecked and left to the dust. And the burden of the battle means that a whole building has collapsed on its side, blocking access towards the mine where the Demon base is reported to be. =Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The path towards the underground bunker is not far -- but in the interstice since they were last here and when they've returned, a building has clearly seen it fit to rot further and collapse under its own weight, blocking the way towards further progress. "... there appears to be no other way," Riesenlied remarks as she takes a glance around. She looks towards the other Ebon Wings, who begin to apply their own efforts as she chips in -- she's not the strongest demon by far, but with Jedan and his particularly heavy frame doing most of the lifting, she's able to direct the others to assist.
A very low tech solution for the Demons, but then again, they aren't most demons.
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Collapsed Building.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
"Of course... You will...have my aid..." Ambrosius says, returning his hat to its proper position atop his head. It was a simple and direct statement and, most obviously, short. That if anything was a sign of how everything was affecting him.
He moves to follow Riesenlied and the others, and pauses upon noting the obstruction in their way. His first instinct is to carve away at it with his water magic...but on second thought, that might make the ground around here too slippery for proper lifting.
So, instead he moves in, joining the Metal Demons in attempting to lift the structure out of the way physically. He might not have Jedan's physical strength, but he's no slouch either.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Collapsed Building.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius, the most ill fit among the gathered, stands with the same poker face coming in as he has in almost every other situation observed. He has just spent a vague but lengthy period of time helping retrieve bodies in various states of decay and damage. Grisly, gut-wrenching sights that he appears to have weathered with little more than the physical wear and tear that comes with helping move heavy objects.
Is it not simply not possible to move this man's heart to tears, at the site of a tragedy? When Riesenlied brings her people and the rest concerned to trudge into the depths, Ethius follows. (Up to his old tricks, shadowing other groups and just inserting himself in the middle of their own journeys, as always...)
As the group finds progress stymied by the ruin before them, one might have to weigh the wisdom of descending the depths with them. To not assist and hope the task it hand asks too much of them would allow any potential dangerous items within to be lost to time... to be out of consideration for the war effort that shows no signs of ever letting up in any of their lifetimes.
To believe wholesale, in earnest, Riesenlied's goal to recover those that might yet remain is, in itself, an opportunity.
His largely emotionless gaze betrays little as to what guides Ethius' decision to reveal his presence and begin casting one of his heat-based Symbology skills against some of the more stubborn rubble, to melt piles into more manageable, climbable slag (after it cools). He is nowhere near as physically strong as Jedah, but the scope of destruction he can call forth is comparable - maybe even superior.
By current political climates... Ethius, a human being(?), appears ready to assist those who should by all rights be considered his mortal enemy.
He says nothing, one way or the other, for now.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Collapsed Building.
<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.
So it goes, after all, Siegfried's instructions to Harken more or less demanded she helped make the Quarter Knights' presence be a little more known, lest they be perceived as sitting in whatever passes for an ivory tower in the Photosphere, leaving the 'real work' to everyone else. Manual labor is probably not what she had in mind, but hell, if the Demons' allies are pitching in with both hands, there's little argument to be made about not doing the same.
That's why Harken is cleaving through the wreckage as Ethius brings portions of it to a melting-point. Things like 'burns' and 'logic' are hardly a concern for her. What, you thought she was going to carry heavy things? Come on.
"Quite the collection you have pitching in," the Knight remarks to--well, kind of everyone at once. Her amusement at the situation seems ill-placed, but then, that's probably better than if she were irate.
DG: Lady Harken has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Collapsed Building.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline at least allows herself a long and wordless sigh once the ceremony is over; she drags a hand through her hair, at once feeling both experienced and also very, very lost at these sorts of affairs. Her gaze does linger for a moment, as the rest of the Ebony Wings start to move to assist the demons below - it settles on Sibyn, and her frown is a complicated and uncertain one. What will happen from here on out, she can't even begin to say - and the spy is more aware than ever of her time away from the Photosphere, and how it's shaped her.
Conclusions still seem like they're coming with difficulty, though, and so she shakes the thought away as she moves to flank Riesenlied down towards the entrance of the mine. "Of course," she answers Riesenlied's question-- though the solemnity in her voice gives way a little when she actually sights the first obstacle in their path, and it turns into a soft huff instead, as if reluctant to make light of the air after the touching scene.
"... of course, if I'd known it would have been heavy lifting..."
She trails off, the air still a little too heavy for that sort of thing, and shakes her head in apology - instead moving forwards to begin applying some hard labour to the obstacle in their path. ... at least, those parts of it that aren't glowing red-hot. She's got her complexion to think of. Harken's comment does seem to spur her, though, as she huffs a second time. "Such was the situation here, I suppose," she offers, and this time the grin seems a little lighter and more determined all at once.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Collapsed Building.
DG: You pass the challenge, and take 9 Exhaustion! You have 9 total Exhaustion.
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 12 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
It doesn't take long.
Jedan is the powerhouse of the Ebony Wings, a demon even older than Riesenlied herself who's at least proud that he can apply his 'stupid muscles' to such a task, and that's what he does -- just that. Ambrosius' assistance helps to lift the biggest of the liftable blocks aside, which helps to carve away at the most troublesome of the blocks and... towards the remainder.
"Can't lift that," he comments, though it isn't long before Ethius silently helps with his Symbologic magic to melt the piles into manageable chunks -- if not to climb, then at least to be sliced apart by Harken's scythe.
"... it is quite the collection, but... that is often what we have," Riesenlied smiles tenderly to Lady Harken, before nodding and helping Noeline lift the remaining few chunks of debris away. The path is clear.
"Thank you. We will keep in touch if anything unusual is to happen," she looks towards the rest of their entourage. Jedan nods as he brushes his gloves off to go, "Be careful, now."
DG: Noeline has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Old Petra *>================================
================<* CHALLENGE - Odjn's Magical Karaoke Door *>=================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Despite the ominous and oppressing metal decor of the other rooms, you enter
a curiously well-lit and colorful room. A rainbow strobe lights the open
dance floor, which appears to be pulsating red, yellow, green and blue cubes
in a random order. A curious device that, upon testing, appears to amplify
sound is set on a stand in the centre of the room. There is a metal door on
the side of the room.
A voice that attempts to sound menacing, but mostly only succeeds in being
goofy, announces: "W-w-welcome! This door only opens to those who have
proven their talent in SINGING! Kick, punch, bomb, it doesn't matter what
you do, it's all in the mind! Sing well, heroes, or you shall be forever
locked here!!"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline looks back at the assembled Wings, offering them a solemn nod of her own; she lets out a long breath as she does so, clearly still affected by the sight of the funeral - and quietly thankful for the odd team of misfits and their ability to stick by their commander through thick and thin.
"I'll keep her safe," she chuckles, helping to heave the last of the stone out of the way; underneath lies a corridor in flat, military grey, largely featureless as it descends into the earth. It is lit, at least, with emergency lights that mark every few metres - and thankfully relatively free of rubble, with the entrance having taken the brunt of the collapse.
Still... Noeline can feel something off already, as if something were twigging gently at her mind. It takes her a moment to realize she can't remember this entrance appearing on the detailed plans of the Old Petra base - and she has to wonder if perhaps it was added later, as a separate entrance, or else--
--or else this, she thinks, her hand covering her eyes as she lets her shoulders slump. "... really, now..." she mutters to herself, not quite having the heart to joke at a time like this - but still, she can't help but have a little crinkle at the corners of her mouth, unable to avoid seeing the humour in such a bizarre turnabout of a situation.
In fact, she impulsively decides, perhaps something like this is a good opportunity instead, and as such she simply decides to stride forwards the machine. The prideful flick of her hair is perfect, because of course it is when it's Noeline in something like her element, and then she's grabbed one of the odd sticks attached to the machine as if well aware of what it does. "Well, then. A song for the departed, perhaps. ... ah, what was it..."
... whatever might have been expected from the abrasive Crimson Noble, though, it probably wasn't a quiet-- lullaby? Halting at first, her expression is serious as she tries to remember the words - the cadence and words involved are old, and the song clearly a traditional sort of well-wishing.
When she lets the last of the short verse fall away, she hums quietly to herself - and then, eyes lit up, offers the microphone forwards with an amused grin. "Well? Who is next?"
DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Odjn's Magical Karaoke Door.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius dives off to the back-left corner of the chamber the very moment the strobe lights flash - it's kind of like he's trying to outrace the very photons of light, dodging the color, avoiding the sense of sight at all. The sort of reflex more appropriate for someone trying to take cover from the sudden emergence of a massive gatling gun and not... that.
For those perceptive of such a thing, the quarterstaff is drawn in such a way that if the light, itself, were a weapon, the first rays would have been deflected off of it.
It may be more opportune a moment to have a little fun at his expense for being so jumpy! His gaze remains level, as though in disagreement with the narrative's thoughts on the matter. When the threat of there /being/ a threat passes, Ethius stands up and gets that lens out from under his poncho.
One electrical spell later and a resulting scan thereafter (made the more difficult because the strobe lighting makes the whole thing noxious by brightening the light through the lens /even more/), Ethius becomes the bearer of bad news with one eye shut as he contends with a harsh light imprinting itself in his retina.
"There is no other way forward than to do what it says." He confirms everyone else's worst fears, which may or may not inspire themselves to greater heights of song and merriment... within minutes of having to bury the dead and disfigured bodies of people dear to most of the group here.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Odjn's Magical Karaoke Door.
===============================<* Old Petra *>================================
================<* CHALLENGE - Odjn's Magical Karaoke Door *>=================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Despite the ominous and oppressing metal decor of the other rooms, you enter
a curiously well-lit and colorful room. A rainbow strobe lights the open
dance floor, which appears to be pulsating red, yellow, green and blue cubes
in a random order. A curious device that, upon testing, appears to amplify
sound is set on a stand in the centre of the room. There is a metal door on
the side of the room.
A voice that attempts to sound menacing, but mostly only succeeds in being
goofy, announces: "W-w-welcome! This door only opens to those who have
proven their talent in SINGING! Kick, punch, bomb, it doesn't matter what
you do, it's all in the mind! Sing well, heroes, or you shall be forever
locked here!!"
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.
Harken's eyebrow twitches gently as she turns on the spot to face the rest of her entourage, arms folding slowly. It's like two train cars sliding across the top of one another. "Explain." she doesn't sound amused anymore, bathed in the light of the dance floor and speaking over the plonk of automated keyboard demos. Except, in true the-seriousness-is-broken fashion, even her ire is hard to take seriously.
Ethius only confirms the worst: there is no other option. No other choice. Someone is going to have to sing. /Multiple/ people might have to sing.
Harken doesn't do 'art'.
"What a strange security system you had installed here," the Quarter Knight loudly declares with a throbbing vein on her forehead, as the lighting brightens in intensity (thanks, Mr. Hesiod), and takes the microphone right out of Noeline's hands! Is she? Is she--
No, the heavy-gauntleted Knight of scarlet thrusts it into either Riesenlied or Ambrosius's face. Hell, maybe both. That... that counts as leadership, right? Of a sort?
DG: Lady Harken has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Odjn's Magical Karaoke Door.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied is quiet, solemn and yet focused in the gaze that she holds as she steps through the hallways with an empathic measure of seeing what was once a home for them be reduced to a hazard that they've got to be cautious around.
The moment they enter, and the moment she hears that voice, though--
An errant lock of hair just positively goes 'sproing' and turns into a coil-like spring as she stares, eyes turned to white discs with thick black borders. "Eh? Ehhh? What--" she clutches at her head for a moment, turning her eyes away from the colourful lights at the same time Ethius jolts out of position to hide and attempt to fry the circuits... to no avail.
"... I was never informed of this development! Who-- who approved--" she twitches for a moment, before she plants her hand to her face again. She does look to Noeline as she genuinely sings, however, and sighs softly as she takes the microphone next to nod quietly.
She takes a breath, and then her wings spread wide to either side of her, as she sings.
Much like Noeline's, it's a calm and gentle song -- but it's sung in an old language that hasn't seen use for a very long time. To those who can translate, it's... a very old dialect used in the Steppes of Elru, more than a couple centuries old by measure. It is a song for the departed, a requiem for the deceased.
Strive till the phantoms are broken,
Fight till the battle is done.
The squadrons of night can't conquer the day,
Nor shadows extinguish the sun.
Stories of danger, fearless attack,
Specters of plague and pain.
All of these ghosts of our own delusions come back;
And we'll be haunted again, haunted again.
She sets the microphone down with a quiet sigh, her wings drooping. Who knew Riesenlied was a linguist?
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Odjn's Magical Karaoke Door.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius had been particularly quiet throughout the ceremony and as they made their way into the facility, but now he was quiet for a different reason.
Now he found himself completely and totally dumbfounded. He...honestly hadn't expected /this/ kind of set-up. He was suffering from some major mood whiplash right now.
"...Must we...?" He murmurs.
Apparently, they must, as he soon found a microphone shoved into his hand by Lady Harken. She...wasn't exactly someone he wanted to say 'no' to.
"If I had...more preparaaation...I would've prepaaared an approoopriate song...in the...styliiings of my people...however...I will have to...settle for...somethiiing else..." He comments. He messes with the microphone for a moment as he waits for Noeline and Riesenlied to finish singing, and as Ethius confirms that yes, they really have to do this.
And so, he begins to sing. As one might expect from Ambrosius, it is a fairly slow song and takes a good while to finish singing. Not what he would've chosen, if he had a choice, but...that's how it goes.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Odjn's Magical Karaoke Door.
DG: You pass the challenge, and take 10 Exhaustion! You have 19 total Exhaustion.
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 11 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Finally, at least, Noeline allows herself a laugh in the wake of the songs, her eyes alight with sudden amusement as the spy looks towards the Quarter Knight. Here and now, she can't really summon up any way to fear Lady Harken's wrath, not in so bizarre a situation as this one, and so she just shakes her head with a lost, light grin.
"Well!-- I did hear that some of the plans had to be altered on short notice, and that a number of people around the base chipped in with a collection of new ideas. How on earth she actually managed to set all of this up in secret, mind you, I'm afraid I don't even begin to know. Perhaps we can just chalk that up to her ingenuity?" she wonders aloud.
Ethius dives to one side, and Noeline's eyebrows skyrocket. She's started to pick out various facts about the strange and powerful man that managed to slag a golem as easily as snapping his fingers - and as far as she can tell, that sudden reflex is too instinctive to be an act. "... well, such things like this happen, even in the Hyadean ranks," she just comments, filing the information away for later.
Riesenlied's song is welcome, though; she closes her eyes for a long moment to listen to it and accept the words. Here, at least, she knows she can leave the analysis alone, not have to worry about what the motive behind it might be - so she just enjoys the moment instead, and offers a hand on the other woman's arm in its wake--
--and finishes with a light moment of applause, watching as Ambrosius finishes up. "My. ... if nothing else, well done. I wouldn't have thought your suit would be particularly made for acoustic purposes, and yet, here we are." She says that last part because the screen on the machine has shifted - from a series of rankings, to a small bobbling little image of a suspiciously familiar Metal Dragon waving two flags. Ahead of them, the door slides open.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Behind the screen, Odjn is very :3-faced at having finally recorded Riesenlied singing to no doubt tease her with later.
DG: Lady Harken has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Old Petra *>================================ ======================<* CHALLENGE - Pipe Nightmares *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A small squadron of strangely dressed soldiers in blue robes have managed to get your team into a pincer attack in the midst of a large room laden with piping and overhangs! They've got steel pipes and pipettes, and don't look like they'd mind making you pipe down with it! Better put some ideas down that pipeline, or success will be a mere pipe dream! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.
To be fair, Harken is not actually in a /terrible/ mood, but she came close to having to do something that would have no doubt damaged her icy reputation and style. Luckily, everyone else took a bite from the sandwich instead of she, Ambrosius included, and all is well despite whatever potential political ramifications this has down the line. "Good," Harken gruffly concludes, dropping the mic (after it's turned off, thankfully) and leading the group swiftly from Odjn's Karaoke Cellar.
The corridor revealed by the song-locked door is a lot less colourful and lively than the previous room, rife with valves and control panels and circuit breakers. Lots of engineering bits and whatsits. "I don't quite understand the logic of your security system, but it /did/ seem intact." Harken lectures from the front, leading the Scooby Gang into what appears to be a much larger adjoining room. Some kind of plant (not Plant) maintenance centre, perhaps, judging from all the pipes and machines and bits.
No sooner has Harken given some kind of praise to the security system than a bunch of panels in the walls slide open and reveal some slightly-wobbly mechanical drones once meant to make the faux town look populated. They lurch towards the motley crew with arms outstretched and holo-camoflauge popping on and off intermittently, sparking and moving with a jitter to their step.
"I suppose not /all/ of it survived so well." the Knight snaps her fingers, and hefts the polearm at her side. Azrael's blade snaps into place. Oh, God.
"Put these things down, and let's make haste!"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied proceeds with haste in turn, her arms draped a little bit closer around herself as she peers towards the incoming drones with a sad and sorrowful look upon her face. "I--" she holds onto her hand as she concentrates for a moment.
Her horn ebbs with a slight empathic pulse, one that reaches the internal mechanisms of the drones that are harranguing them from all directions.
"--... it's no use," she concludes. "Their ability to recognise and respond has been damaged beyond repair. Yes..." she draws her thin sword and gracefully glides to one side, small thrusts and sweeps cutting at the drones' cameras and ability to function. It's very merciful and restrained.
DG: You use your Tool Dragon Horn against your party's Challenge, Pipe Nightmares!
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon Horn toward her party's challenge, Pipe Nightmares.
DG: Lady Harken has used her Tool Azrael toward her party's challenge, Pipe Nightmares.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Moments before the panels open, Ethius' gaze turns towards one such panel above his head. The quarterstaff already being drawn, there is a cursory swing in an attempt to push it back. His positioning among the group is as such that he can't find a place both away /from/ the malfunctioning drones and the gathered party of Metal Demons, Crimson Noble(?), and Token Veruni Minority.
...Let's talk about that for a second.
In his evasive maneuver, Ethius ends with his back turned to Ambrosius - someone who stopped him from attempting to destroy a crystal filled with Malevolence, and to Lady Harken - a speed demon who is one of the most fearsome warriors to walk Filgaia. He is either unaware of the irony, too well-trained in keeping a stiff upper lip, or in possession of an exceedingly short memory span. There could be cases to be made for mutual tolerance between Riesenlied, Noeline Carver, and himself. Those other two, though...
It jogs the imagination as to what circumstance would see this man willingly throw his lot with these two - or anyone here, for that matter - with nary a protest or some spoken solicitation of a temporary truce.
Ethius begins to chant a higher-yield electrical spell in hopes of shorting out the one he's facing, but a sudden burst of speed in its lurch means it's going to be a closer call than he would like.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Pipe Nightmares.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"Ah--" comments Noeline briefly as she steps along just behind Riesenlied; she eyes the drones with an appraising sort of frown, and it doesn't take long for her to decide that the best course of action is to take a step backwards, a waft of one hand apparently acting as a signal to bring Trouble and Strife whirring down the corridor to catch up with her. Already, the flaps that cover Trouble's 'eye' have split open to reveal the focusing lens instead, as the little machine powers up the laser she's used a few times.
"Do please be careful with them - if you can. I understand that we may be able to repair and reuse them where we can, and someone has made a request to salvage whatever we can of them. That said, if the other option is to not have people finding them and getting into accidents with them..."
Well, she trails off. It might be a rather moot point with Lady Harken on the case, after all. Instead, she raises a hand, seeking to follow Riesenlied's lead as Trouble settles in at the end of her hand. It could almost be a very strange gunsmoke ARM, the way she points and the little spherical device beeps and follows, spitting an occasional piece of laser fire down the corridor towards their attackers.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Pipe Nightmares.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
"The deeevice helps..." Ambrosius comments, gesturing to the microphone. He wasn't sure he would've been able to do so well without it. Fortunately, they had done all the singing they needed to and the door opens shortly after.
They are soon, however, confronted by an assortment of malfunctioning drones. In any other situation, he would've liked to leave them intact so he could study them. Right now, however, he concedes that this probably wasn't the best time or place to do so.
This does, however, offer him a rare opportunity - a chance to see one of the Quarter Knights in combat. He was interested in seeing what she was capable of.
That doesn't mean he wasn't participating in the fight himself, of course. At the moment, Conversator is in one hand while water begins to converge around the other as he prepares a spell. Soon, some of the drones will find themselves surrounded by water.
Ordinarily machines like this were probably protected against the elements, but Ambrosius would hazard a guess that in this state that protection had been mostly stripped away. The water would attempt to seep into the machinery, shorting them out where possible. As an added bonus, a relaxing mist would also begin to settle around the area.
Ethius's current positioning doesn't go unnoticed by Ambrosius, either. It would be all too easy to end him as a threat here and now...but he does not take the opportunity. He has no intention of betraying Riesenlied's trust.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Deluge toward his party's challenge, Pipe Nightmares.
===============================<* Old Petra *>================================ ======================<* CHALLENGE - Pipe Nightmares *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A small squadron of strangely dressed soldiers in blue robes have managed to get your team into a pincer attack in the midst of a large room laden with piping and overhangs! They've got steel pipes and pipettes, and don't look like they'd mind making you pipe down with it! Better put some ideas down that pipeline, or success will be a mere pipe dream! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
DG: You pass the challenge, and take 7 Exhaustion! You have 26 total Exhaustion.
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 17 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.
Riesenlied is more concerned with mercy and a gentle end than Harken is, but to be fair: anything that isn't a protagonist entering combat with the Quarter Knight is guaranteed a pretty swift mercy, if you want to think about it that way. Ambrosius has opportunity aplenty to sneak a glimpse of Harken's fighting style: for someone with such an unwieldy and unbalanced weapon, she visits unbelievably swift violence upon her foes with broad, sweeping strikes. Of course, malfunctioning mechanical drones only require so much martial prowess to deal with, so there's a limited selection on offering to witness in the first place.
The irony of poor Ethius's presence in the group, and his tenuous relation to those present, seems to be of less concern to the Quarter Knight than ensuring nothing goes awry on her watch. His spell of lightning is indeed completed without issue, thankfully, and fries the drone before him with stunning efficiency. The gang's Token Veruni Inclusion makes clever use of an aqua-based assault that only magnifies the conductivity of the group's targets! Does that mean he and Ethius are actually performing a Dual Tech? That would be rad.
Of course, Noeline and Riesenlied are hardly challenged by their own selection of foes. With sword-thrust and laser-fire alike, they disable the remainder of the lumbering wrecks and a pall of (damp) silence falls over the group in the aftermath.
Harken takes a deep breath, as if greatly relaxed. Be it by enchanted mist, or the exercise of violence. "Good." she judges briefly, not sounding harsh at all. "We can clean these up and repair them later. Let's keep moving."
What a SHAME that she also doesn't stop to observe whether anyone were to LIFT something from one of the fallen drones and take it away later to be examined. Oh me, oh my.
====================================================<* Old Petra *>===================================================== =====================================<* CHALLENGE - Inexplicable Ninja Training *>====================================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- What is this even doing here!? Someone replaced the floor with a series of narrow poles and a bottomless pit. The ceiling menaces with sawblades and swinging pendulums, and a timer? Try to beat your fastest time, have it recorded on an electronic scoreboard, endeavor to dethrone the mysterious UMZ from his top ranked place! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius eyes the rest of the team as they make their way through. In a moment of confusion as he falls behind, he picks up a piece of debris that, individually, might not appear all that useful if anyone is going to try and sneak something... sensitive. Really, he could do a lot better if he were going to do that!!
A finger taps against the two satchels at his belt.
Hmm.
The rest of the way through the corridor is mostly uneventful, aside from a few unprotected wires sparking and swaying in dangerously tight spaces - merely a testament to the level of damage and dereliction the base suffered, even this far down.
The paneling gives way underneath a number of them, into a fun(?)-filled slide down into a chamber that has a number of flashing dot-matrix lights moving around a marquee overly well-lit by flourescent lighting above.
The moment the first boot (or butt) hits the ground, a timer starts to count from the marquee. A timer to what? It's counting up, and not down, but in it adds a sense of urgency -
Ahead, a series of narrow poles suspended in mid-air over a bottomless pit (or at least a poorly-lit floor, if you want to find out, be my guest, you go down there).
The ceiling starts to life with pained, chugging screeches as sawblades have trouble starting up. Pendulums dip down, moving at an irregular beat and placing themselves in-between poles in the path.
There's only one way forward, and one can't afford to be shy. It kind of looks like that sawblade above them is about to fall off from damage and stress, anyway.
Ethius is among the first to leap to a pole, clutching it tightly as he attempts to gauge the distance and timing to the next, and the next.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Inexplicable Ninja Training.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied, of all people, is one of the ones to stop and kneel by one of the drones that she's more or less sabotaged without really harming, so that she can rummage through the insides and pull out -- what appears to be a thin, translucent data crystal chip from it. "... we may not know what we find in here, but it may be useful..."
She rises to her feet steadily, draping her cloak a little closer around herself. Indeed, the base has suffered much damage, even considering that much of it is underground -- and there's a quiet yelp as she's dragged down the slide and... she stares towards the timer, and the surroundings.
Her horn starts wiggling, as if in a twitch, as she sighs faintly to say, "... somehow I feel like I know who snuck this in here too ..."
She shakes her head, and then spreads her wings out wide as she goes to a running start. "But fortunately, this means that there may yet be more intact rooms." The way she deftly skims along a sawblade and glides along is rather confident, as is her measure of movement along the training course -- even kneeling to throw up a tatami to let it soak a quintet of shurikens with a deft, singular movement.
"... I hope this at least found /use/ as a training environment." She's already grumbling about the mysterious shrinking budget of Old Petra.
DG: You use your Tool Dragon Wings against your party's Challenge, Inexplicable Ninja Training!
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon Wings toward her party's challenge, Inexplicable Ninja Training.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Despite his interest in the machinery, Ambrosius doesn't try to slip anything out. These are his allies, after all. If he was really curious he could probably just ask them directly. He nods in acknowledgment as Lady Harken directs them to keep moving and proceeds to follow the others.
And though he usually tried to compose himself with a manner of poise, it isn't long before he finds the ground dropping out from underneath him in favor of a long slide that deposits him unceremoniously at the end, looking for all the world like a pile of brightly-colored cloth.
It is with some grumbling that he picks himself up from the ground, and turns his attention to the obstacle course ahead of him.
This...wasn't exactly his area of expertise. And, judging from some of the devices set up around the field...some people did this sort of thing for /fun/? He couldn't understand it.
He makes his way forward slowly. Even with conjured jets of water to propel himself forward, he still takes his time compared to the others.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Inexplicable Ninja Training.
<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.
One small mercy is that despite the ludicrous arrangement of poles and pits seen past the drone-filled corridor, the Quarter Knight stalking ahead of everyone else doesn't put two and Zed together to conclude who is responsible for it. "An odd choice of tools," quips Harken, looking to and fro with a frown. In this instance, hands on her hips as Ethius leaps bravely onto a pole and begins journeying through the course, Riesenlied seems to be the wiser one. Maybe she's always the wiser one. "Seems liable to kill our clumsier recruits. Well, no matter."
Is that really a no-matter kind of situation? Harken doesn't appear to think so, and cracks her neck to the side briefly before tapping the heel of her boot on the floor. Something in the recesses of her armour whines to life like a spooling jet engine, and the Quarter Knight makes a 'after me' motion to Noeline and Ambrosius with one hand before leaping from the starting platform to the second-last pole in a single jump that travels at a dizzyingly lateral angle with no clear parabolic arc.
Ugh. /Ugh/. That's not very helpful to your allies, Lady Harken!!
DG: Lady Harken has used her Tool Harken Booster toward her party's challenge, Inexplicable Ninja Training.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is still sticking somewhat close to Riesenlied; rather too close than is appropriate for a Commander and her Second, even if that last part isn't expressly known to at least one member of their current retinue. But she doesn't seem inclined to hide the point right now, helping the winged woman back to her feet--
--just in time for the floor to disappear under their feet, her eyebrows raising in a rare moment of surprise. "Oh," she has time to blurt, almost cartoonishly, before their footing is swept from under them. Fortunately for her, she doesn't get to land. Instead, she pops out of the chute already sat on Strife's back, the second of her spherical helpers already whining slightly at the added weight.
With a sigh, she tugs at her hair, scanning across the haphazard mess of obstacles as they all start to churn and move. "I dare say his defensive plan was to ensure anyone attempting to assault the base would simply turn away in disgust," replies with a wave of her hand; the booster on the underside of the little ARM fires, drawing her up into the air and across the chasm with a remarkable lack of worry on Noeline's part.
--and, in a rare moment of tact, pauses at Ethius' shoulder, glancing back towards Ambrosius. "... are you quite alright?" she adds as she hangs back for the human and the Veruni both, her brow furrowed. Perhaps it's a bit of a fig leaf for Riesenlied's sake. Perhaps she's just run out of any desire to see harm come to Old Petra or those within it.
... it would probably be more respectful and helpful a gesture if she weren't perched so ridiculously. Oh well!
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, Inexplicable Ninja Training.
DG: You pass the challenge, and take 1 Exhaustion! You have 27 total Exhaustion.
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 26 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Even cheating through flight, it seems the course's designer did a swell job of accounting for multiple attempts through - or maybe they just changed it so that the way through they prefer is meant to be the only way. In which case, Risenlied and Noeline do fantastic jobs of navigating the pop-up traps and pendulum swings, passing by what looks like a small cube of meat with bandages on it going for a whirl on one such sawblade. (Don't worry, they'll be fine.)
Lady Harken is technically the first to make it to the other side, and whaaaaaaaat a power play (even if it is also technically cheating)! And yet, to her dismay, she will find that she doesn't place as high in the HIGH SCORES table. This UMZ fellow, whoever they are, must be a really freakin' sweet rad dude. How could anyone build upon the perfection that is the speediest of the Quarter Knights?!
Ethius and Ambrosius, total slowpokes on getting over to the other side, find themselves mocked by the marquee for 'NOT BEING AS COOL NINJA WARRIORS' and offered the opportunity to fill their names in the LOW SCORES table. They scored high on the LOW SCORES table... er... scored low? Did well? Didn't do well? Whatever.
Ethius wordlessly pays it no more heed as he nearly comes short on the final jump, but there also doesn't seem to be any sort of apparatus within reach in which to put in one's name, which is just as well.
...
At the lowest of the low, there's YBL, with a score of 'DNF.' Huh.
"Your concern is appreciated," he says dryly with the same tone as ever as he allows most the rest to go in ahead of him. Maybe he's disappointed he did so poorly. Maybe.
DG: Ambrosius has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Old Petra *>================================ ===================<* CHALLENGE - Now Available on Steam *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Whoever enhanced this base is clearly not complying to Workplace Health and Safety standards, because the many metallic vents appear to be releasing piping-hot bursts of steam into the precarious plank routing across the room. Fortunately, they release in predictable bursts, but one wrong move and you'll be scalded! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius...completely ignores the 'LOW SCORES' table. He pushes on ahead before sending a nod towards Noeline.
"...I will recover..." He replies. The only thing wounded was his pride, after all.
It's with a bit of a hurry that he progresses. However, after a certain point he stops quite suddenly, throwing out an arm to block everyone's progress.
This is followed by a dangerous hiss coming from the wall ahead of them - the sole warning before a dangerous burst of steam shoots out.
"This aaarea...it seems to have...been....particularly daaamaged by...the attaaack..." He comments. At least, that's what his assumption was - for all he knew, there was just a room where they let steam shoot out of the walls for no reason.
If it weren't for the bizarre karaoke room and the obstacle course they had just cleared, Ambrosius would have assumed there had to be a logical reason for all this?
Now? He wasn't so sure.
"Do be caaareful..." He warns. He knew what kind of damage steam could do for a person...though now that he thought about it, that was a potential idea for a new spell...
He'd consider that later. Right now, there was a steam room to cross, and not the proper kind.
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Now Available on Steam.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied bows her head somewhat profusely at Harken to say, "I-- daresay it was not a bad challenge, but perhaps we will scrutinise where our funds go regarding features of our base a little more stringently next time."
She looks towards the panel, with a quiet little sigh of her own as she inputs her own record with somewhat obvious initials: 'RIE'.
There is a nod of concern and acknowledgement towards Ambrosius as she holds her hand out for the both of them, as needed... but it doesn't look like it was. She's nearly startled when he stops them, however, and--
--there's a nod of acknowledgement. "... it looks like it--" she taps at her chin and looks up. "I believe the boiler room would have been just upstairs, and seismic shifts from the attack appear to have disrupted the pressure and ruptured it."
She floats up towards one of the topmost pipes, and says, "If we use this..." she starts to turn the crank, which turns off some of the steam valves to make it safer for people to travel through. "How's that?" she calls down.
DG: You use your Tool Dragon Wings against your party's Challenge, Now Available on Steam!
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon Wings toward her party's challenge, Now Available on Steam.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius holds a finger up into the air as Ambrosius takes point into the hallway with a steam pipe problem. Facing away from the rest, he brings the finger underneath the bandanna around the lower half of his face and... sniffs?
"Hm," he hms aloud, as he steps closer to one of the walls.
Curiously, he seems to be... listening, to the rhythm and pattern of the steam leaks? He looks a ways behind him, past territory that has ceased to be relevant ground to cover, drawing a finger in the air across some invisible diagram he must be forming in his head according to Riesenlied's descriptors of where the pipes lead as she moves to make the going easier for the rest.
He considers the possibility of soldering some of the steam leaks shut with heat. One can make out a few syllables and a pointed hand, before he seems to think better of it. Why? This would be one of the situations where copious applications of heat in the right spot would be welcome!
"I would advise caution about breathing too deeply," he says, as he pulls one hand over his bandanna to best protect himself from whatever threat the steam vapors might pose - real or imagined - to mover under the added leniency of Riesenlied's assistance.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Now Available on Steam.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
As she steps down from Strife's back - and completely ignores the machine, wow, guess that's another line for system default 'UMZ' - Noeline just nods towards Ambrosius and Ethius both, accepting their determination to get across the chasm on their own merits. "I suppose that I can appreciate the determination - but perhaps do remember that just because something is a challenge does not mean you need to treat it as such, hm?"
The almost teasing lecture is actually well-timed, because it means she hasn't moved forward enough to be caught in the first blast of steam leaking from the pipes; she takes a stumbling step backwards, a little alarmed by the sheer scale of the destruction and with, for once, wide eyes.
"--my. Hairline fractures, I suppose, that have since worsened," she huffs, her hands on her hips. "Or, perhaps, Filgaia's tendency to draw everything slowly towards ruin has just kicked in that much quicker in this case?"
She leaves that hanging with a light shrug of her shoulder, and simply holds onto the handle that has been roughly welded onto the side of the little robot. Riesenlied's actions have lengthened the pauses between blasts, and it's suddenly clear that she's lining herself up--
--to simply shoot down the corridor in a lengthy, rocket-powered slide, hopping up into the air to clear the last distance.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, Now Available on Steam.
<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.
Cheating: it's only a problem if you get caught (or if someone is enforcing the rules).
Harken pays no attention to the scoreboard, upon landing and progressing onwards. This is probably a narrative self-defense measure to keep her metallic blood pressure from spiking any higher. It's also because someone goofed on the scoreboard and mis-entered her name as ELM. Weird. How about that?
"I doubt you were responsible, but yes. Keep a closer eye on it next time." Harken either gives Riesenlied a pass or, more likely, doesn't care about finances enough to file it under Important Information.
The Quarter Knight also almost comically bumps into Ambrosius's outstretched arm, which could be very amusing given her considerable size advantage. The lady clad in scarlet taps her chin once, and then hefts the scythe Azrael--how is that a solution to the problem ahead!?
"Oh, I see." Harken pipes up in response to Ethius's careful engineering-based sleuthing. "Good eye." and then vanishes from where she was standing with another turbine-scream of power, reappearing at a leaky segment of pipe as she smashes it with the butt of her terrible weapon.
Pros: It directs the flow of steam away from the party. Cons: Might cause problems later.
DG: Lady Harken has used her Tool Harken Booster toward her party's challenge, Now Available on Steam.
DG: You pass the challenge, and take 3 Exhaustion! You have 30 total Exhaustion.
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 22 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Even Ambrosius had his own manner of pride - if possible he would succeed on his own merits, but if not he would then accept help. He does acknowledge Noeline's advice with a nod, but he doesn't respond.
In the steam room, he listens as Riesenlied explains the most likely problem, and nods in understand. Yes, that made sense. Fortunately, thanks to her knowledge of the facility, progress through the corridor is made much easier - the crank she had located does turn off quite a few of the steam vents.
He glances back as Ethius makes his comment about not breathing deeply. He's certainly not going to try, but that doesn't mean Ambrosius is taking his word on it, either. Ethius would get a good feel for the pattern, however, undoubtedly aiding his journey forward.
"Hm...perhaaaps..." He comments in regards to Noeline, then watches as she simply rockets right past him.
And then, Lady Harken fixes the problem in an effect manner - it was already broken, so why not break it further in a manner that's advantageous to them? The damage done to it prevents any more than small, harmless fountains of it to come out.
In one way or another, the group all manage to get out without spending too much money on sales...oh wait, wrong steam. Instead, they escape without getting their cuccos cooked.
DG: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Old Petra *>================================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - It's Symbolic *>========================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Finally, you've come to what appears to be the end of this bedraggled,
logic-defying dungeon, judging from how the corridors appear to have become
highly symmetric. The problem: There's an uncomfortably energetic demon
guarding the final corridor, bearing an unbearably photogenic humanoid body,
packed to the brim with deliciously oiled, rippling muscles and a highly
defined twelve-pack. His lower torso is that of a metallic lion with black
horns, and he's got a long and hard lance that he'd very much like to
penetrate your moist cocoons with.
What do you do?
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
It's with a faint sigh that Riesenlied watches Noeline pass through, and Ethius and Lady Harken work through with ... unstartling, but still deadly efficiency. She steps towards the end of the path and has a hum of recognition. "Here, this way, we should be reaching the deepest levels soon. If anyone is still left here, it should be in the residential and command quarters--"
She pauses, as they step through past what's probably a very conveniently placed Memory Cube (for whatever reasons) towards the room containing a...
"E-eh?"
Riesenlied's eyes widen as her cheeks burn, as the view suddenly turns to that of a wonderfully, ripplingly oiled demon guarding the corridor, with the upper body of a humanoid with studded and glistening rhinestone-like metal shards all over and a mane of hair that's fit to entrance the cover of a bodice ripper. His lower body is armored, and that of a metallic lion with black horns protruding from his forehead.
Riesenlied looks very happy -- if incredibly nervous -- as she exclaims, "You're-- you survived, Freyr! Are any of the others alive down here? Thank you for keeping watch--"
She yelps as 'Freyr' -- apparently the demon's name -- suddenly thrusts his lance forward and sweeps it around in a menacing manner. "W-what's wrong? It's me, Riesenlied!"
There's a particularly ... pungent scent that permeates the air, come to think of it. He holds up a particular black bottle once thrown by a particular apothecarist that might have a particular label titled 'Reliable Repellant'--
"Mmm~mm! Oh, oh my! This scent is simply di~vi~ne! And if you'll interrupt my quiet me-time, then you'd be~st be prepaMerilan (talk)red..."
"S-something's controlling him...?" Riesenlied sounds worried. She yelps as he charges and attempts to bray through their pack, with a laugh.
"I'm in lo~ve, baby! No scent has ever existed like this in all of our history! Ya-hoooo!!"
Riesenlied's thrown to one side, with a wince, but she focuses once more -- and tries to sweep through with a disarming strike from her weapon. "Please stop this!"
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, It's Symbolic.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius takes his suggestion of not breathing so seriously that he goes the entire stretch of that hallway with his breath held. This may prove needless, but something or another must have convinced him it wasn't a good idea to take any of it in - an idea that probably wouldn't cross an uninitiated human being's mind so readily. He coughs loudly when he gets to the other end, having to take some time to get air in his lungs.
As the group moves to encounter Freyr, Ethius makes it a point to move out of view - behind the taller Lady Harken, risking certain death just by being so near as to minimize his chances of agitating this new encounter. He is shadowing one of those responsible for the assassination of King Justin. She could cut him down in a single stroke as if it were trivial. He must be aware of this risk, but there he is right there.
Noeline might recognize this same near-fearlessness that saw him risk being burnt under the exhaust of Welltall - let alone possibly crushed under its feet - when he dared to attack Ebon Zero from /underneath/ the black Gear of dreadful rumor. This is the sort of courage that doesn't come from sheer ignorance.
Ethius kneels down as he chants an incantation, grabbing a satchel from his belt. Lady Harken's body would not provide complete cover from the lights that would shine from the exposed tattoos or the symbol that forms on the floor around him.
Moments later, he lobs it towards Freyr's face.
A dust cover fills the room, likely blinding the eminently eligible battle bachelor - but it goes a bit deeper than that. The dust doesn't play too nicely with any surveillance equipment still working on site. (Noeline's little helpers would be displeased.)
Experience with the way Ethius conducts himself in these situations should put forth a worry - he likes to use this as a smoke cover to move ahead. He may be a flight risk towards sensitive areas humans should not venture into...!!
Did he? Didn't he?! His movement proves difficult to track within moments of the dust cloud's appearance!
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Powder Grenade toward his party's challenge, It's Symbolic.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
...It seems even demons like this existed. Ambrosius stares at the impeccably-formed demon before them. He...doesn't quite seem to be /guarding/ the path ahead of them, in fact, he seemed to just be enjoying himself before they barged on in.
"'Controoolled'...?" Ambrosius repeats, glancing toward Riesenlied. That explains the demon's behavior...he likely wouldn't attack them otherwise, especially when one considered that the Quarter Knights were present.
Whatever substance that was that was controlling him, it appeared to be potent indeed...
The scent certainly was.
In the interest of attempting to solve this non-violently, Ambrosius conjures water once more - this time attempting to thoroughly soak the room in an attempt to dilute the scent enough for the demon to come back to his senses.
Soon after the completion of his spell, however, the room is suddenly filled with a smoke cover.
Ethius Hesiod...what were you planning? Ambrosius grimaces slightly. There was nothing he could do about him right now. He didn't want to go after him and risk leaving himself open to Freyr's attacks.
DG: Ambrosius has used his Tool Deluge toward his party's challenge, It's Symbolic.
<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.
Harken is standingly perfectly, comically still as the most sufficiently-lubricated demon in the current Photosphere employ folds both arms behind its head and bumps into things with a powerful lance. Thank goodness this undoubtedly refers to a polearm in the same sense as a guisearme or bec-de-corbin, no? The sanctity of Old Petra feels terrifyingly threatened with such a sight. "Apprehend him." she commands, in a tone of voice usually reserved for booking a taxi after a long day at work.
At least, for Ethius's sake, there are no sudden movements and no scything of blades. There is a wrinkling of Harken's nose in mild confusion at the sight of strange, glowing symbols flaring briefly against the floor beneath her feet, but she can feel no murderous intent from the near-silent symbologist hiding in her shadow, and so he is safe. Relatively. Maybe being in her vicinity is safe in the same way that a distracted lion might be a great protection against enemy gazelles.
Sharp as the Quarter Knight's non-visual senses may be, and as much as she may distrust the strange man, other worries take priority. This is why she sidesteps the charging Freyr and, after a bucket of water is thrown on the dazed Demon's head, she unceremoniously thumps the poor Demon in the head with the blunt end of her tremendous scythe. The blade is even folded back to a resting state. "Ugh, it /stinks/. What even /happened/ to you, fool?"
If Ethius had one shot, or one opportunity... would he capture it? Or just let it slip?
DG: Lady Harken has used her Tool Azrael toward her party's challenge, It's Symbolic.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
From behind - far, far behind, and when exactly did she drop back that distance? - Noeline perks up, her eyes wide and not a little astonished. Not only has one of their number survived - a minor miracle, and certainly a better outcome than Noeline would ever have suspected - but he's apparently content to stay down here, structural weakness and imminent collapse be damned.
And as if that weren't enough, he's apparently content to charge Riesenlied and Lady Harken, two commanding officers all at once - where one of them is not exactly known for giving short shrift. For just a moment, the Crimson Noble permits herself an almost weary sigh - and then darts forwards, a slim and almost ornamental scythe the same colour as her title sliding into her hands out of almost nowhere. It doesn't even begin to compare to Harken's, of course - the Quarter Knight has a tool of battle, whereas this is almost a fancy. It works when she needs it, though.
"Stand down!" she yells sharply, suddenly sliding into place in front of Riesenlied to cover her, her blade meeting the odd demon's to scrape sparks along its length. She doesn't know if the order will even get through - but the movement is almost on impulse. Even if Harken's first impulse is to call for his apprehension, Noeline still feels like she has to do something to try to deescalate the situation.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, It's Symbolic.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
What exactly is the shot, or opportunity that Ethius seeks?
The way he inserted himself into funeral proceedings, how he quietly invited himself into the rescue/salvage party by helping melt the obstructions to a more manageable form. This entire set of circumstances is beyond strange. There might have been opportunities to try and use the environment against them for quick, clean disposal, though frought with risk by chance. He couldn't have been here before now.
If it's not an attempt to assassinate one of the very highest leaders of the Metal Demon race in a moment of vulnerability, however slight... what, exactly, is so important for him to keep such a comparatively low profile for?
Up until he tossed the Powder Grenade into the mix, he seemed to do his level best not to rock the boat in their route through. Now there's that chaos. That uncertainty. Where is he now, what is he doing? Where is he going?
"Grave Dust." The lights give away his presence a ways behind Freyr, soaking wet from Ambrosius' drenching. Some powder falls around in a halo around the large lion-lower-bodied love-struck lancer.
That's because the intent is to have conjured the majority of the dust that appeared in that select area /inside/ them. Fine, coarse, powdery material scrapes and clogs at the inside of them. This is... a tiny step above 'subdue.'
Just a tiny bit.
It is as agonizing as described. If anything is going to forcibly get Freyr to calm down...
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The battle is soon joined, and none too early -- Riesenlied kind of skims off against her more powerful brethren with a gasp as she's just tossed away rather haphazardly, indicating to a mismatch between their strengths, no matter how skillful her approach may be. Fortunately, it's with that powdery distraction that he exclaims, "This powder just simply wo~on't do for my skin!"
That distraction is enough for Ambrosius to pour water on the demon, which starts to dilute the potent and definitely non-potable liquid away and help return some semblance of air to the stench. And Lady Harken is ontop of things once more, striking back at the Demon's head with a--
--well--
--it's a kind of comical-sounding 'GONK' that hits hard against his head and causes him to collapse. Noeline's clash also comes rather readily with another sharp cry, which seems to jolt him out of his reverie. "What..."
Of coarse, Ethius' very fine spell comes into effect with his intonation. For any lesser kind of creature -- even perhaps a Tainted, or a minor demon -- it could be fatal. The fine particles still have an effect on the Demons' ultimately biological makeup, after all, no matter how mechanical they are. But Freyr is certainly not positioned here to guard for no reason -- he's tough, and that agonising, clogging effect brings him to a halt and a gurgle, as he passes out.
"Freyr!" exclaims Riesenlied, as she steps by his side to inspect him. After a few moments, she says, "He... should be fine. His vitals are still stable. We'll get the Ebony Wings to pick him up."
DG: You pass the challenge, and take 5 Exhaustion! You have 35 total Exhaustion.
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Old Petra *>================================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Paperless Since 23 PC *>====================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
You've defeated the final guardian, and you come onto a most private chamber
of operations. It looks like this is where the owners of this base do most
of their strategizing and planning.
There's a problem, though: None of it appears to be written down on paper.
These curious devils appear to not have even heard of paper.
Only more of those befuddling terminals remain before you, and you're going
to have to figure out how to extract any valuable information from within!
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied checks on the demon just a bit further, before sighing gently and beckoning for the group. "If it's from this area... then..." She proceeds forward at a somewhat more clipped pace, wondering if there were more people who were under the effects of the strange liquid that she has no idea actually belongs to Jacqueline. For all she knows, it could've been a private experiment of Alhazred's in the wake of the chaos. It kind of fits his M.O., to slip in an unexpected result when no one's looking.
They get onto a surprisingly mundane series of corridors and hallways, looking for all the world like an ordinary living quarter... but there are no people there. Then she tries one last door and enters ...
... a particularly mundane-looking room.
It's got an oval table, a half-eaten box of churros that look definitely rancid by now, a tipped-over mug of what appears to be iron-rich coffee that's stained and dried on the table, along with a singular laptop terminal that's still glowing with a screen that's password-protected.
Nearby, an emergency exit is shining green, indicating to how it's been engaged. Someone evacuated in the wake of the battle here.
"... hmm," she sounds disappointed. "There are no other survivors... but on the flipside, no other bodies either." She sighs quietly as she glances to the terminal, frowning. "I wonder if they would have left a message about their evacuation here..."
She tries to key in some letters, before frowning as it comes up with an error. "There is a passcode, but..." what could it be, she wonders? She doesn't even know who owns this.
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Paperless Since 23 PC.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius is not entirely sure what just happened, but it seems to have ended poorly for Freyr. Not fatally, fortunately, but who knew how long it would take for him to recover.
He nods toward Riesenlied and proceeds. The rooms past the chamber that had been in are looking...surprisingly normal? But then again, he supposed he shouldn't be too surprised, from what he had seen of the Metal Demons. And after that they end up in a just-as-mundane room. A meeting room of sorts, perhaps? The most interesting thing here - besides the emergency exit - was the terminal.
He glides up to it, and looks over Riesenlied's shoulder.
"When in doooubt...try 'paaassword'..." He suggests. "Perhaps with...symbols...instead of the letters... Or...failing thaaat...'one...two...three...fooour'..."
There's a slight hint of distaste to his tone. It...sounds like he's speaking from experience, almost. Could it be? Were there Veruni who had terrible password safety, as well...?
DG: Ambrosius has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Paperless Since 23 PC.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Paperless Since 23 PC.
===============================<* Old Petra *>================================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Paperless Since 23 PC *>====================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
You've defeated the final guardian, and you come onto a most private chamber
of operations. It looks like this is where the owners of this base do most
of their strategizing and planning.
There's a problem, though: None of it appears to be written down on paper.
These curious devils appear to not have even heard of paper.
Only more of those befuddling terminals remain before you, and you're going
to have to figure out how to extract any valuable information from within!
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.
Harken is the kind of person who anticipates violent betrayals at every turn, because the alternative is more /boring/. Boredom, unfortunately, wins the day here in Old Petra. Perhaps it's a blessing in diguise, given the ruins everyone is picking through are the result of entirely too much excitement in the first place.
She is also not what you might call a Technologist, by any stretch of the imagination.
"Can't we just take it with us?" the Knight asks of Riesenlied, keeping Ethius in her field of view this time. "Maybe they never changed the password. Try '1234', or somet--" her suggestion is cut off (somehow) by Ambrosius, who apparently subscribes to the same network security protocols she does.
Well, anyway, maybe Harken trusts that Noeline can keep an eye on the non-Demon guests. She strides curtly through the hastily-vacated break room and peeks through the exit, as if expecting an ambush to be lying in wait.
DG: Lady Harken has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Paperless Since 23 PC.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius stands over Freyr. That stare of his hasn't lightened any. He doesn't stop to ask if anyone is all right. No apologies are offered for the suffering. He seems content to stand vigil and allow them to deal with the disabled demon's health and well-being as they see fit. His head tilts downward to Freyr's prone form for a few moments, until the lot of them seem intent to move on.
The living room(?)...
Ethius quietly goes to have a look at the leftover former foodstuffs and oddly-colored coffee stain. He scratches idly at the stain, as if to try and get a sample to sniff. He gives a few shifty glances as focus seems to fall upon the laptop.
He moves the box of churros quietly. Inch by inch, bit by bit, as though he were about to pull the heist of a lifetime. (Noeline may remember the time he tried to claim a rancid owlbear corpse for, supposedly, eating. This would be disturbingly consistent behavior, if that's his intent...!)
And then the overturned coffee mug.
Is he just here for petty thievery of garbage?!
Unless disturbed, he slinks off to some other corner to get out the Spectral Lens and give it some electrical Symbology juice to have himself a look at the connections between mechanisms that might still be active in these parts.
The terminal ought to be the most interesting thing there, to the so-called Technology Hunter, who has sought lost technology to an obsessive degree.
That he has not involved himself in its operation should be rightly considered suspicious.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Paperless Since 23 PC.
===============================<* Old Petra *>================================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Paperless Since 23 PC *>====================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
You've defeated the final guardian, and you come onto a most private chamber
of operations. It looks like this is where the owners of this base do most
of their strategizing and planning.
There's a problem, though: None of it appears to be written down on paper.
These curious devils appear to not have even heard of paper.
Only more of those befuddling terminals remain before you, and you're going
to have to figure out how to extract any valuable information from within!
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
DG: You pass the challenge, and take 2 Exhaustion! You have 37 total Exhaustion.
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has successfully explored Old Petra!
===============================<* Old Petra *>================================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Attack Plan: Alpha *>=====================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
You discover a reconnaissance report of a nearby ARMs manufacturing plant.
The detail is quite thorough, informing one of a lot of intrusion points,
employee schedules, and even a roster of people who are involved and
shipping schedules. Whoever has planned this attack has done so for quite
some time -- and now you've got the upper hand in stopping it!
(Please @mail Riesenlied of your discovery for more information!)
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied heeds onward with Ambrosius and Lady Harken's suggestions as she tries a few key combinations -- 'password', 'password1', 'password123'...
... in the meantime, Ethius glances around the room. The churros are surprisingly just... regular churros. Yeast, sugar, water, flour, cinnamon -- gone bad over time as is the wont of food when exposed to air and nature for long periods of time. And even the coffee seems similarly just that -- coffee and water, if not interlaced with some enriching nutrients that are preferred by some Demons or another, but ultimately still incredibly mundane.
The Spectral Lens -- or whatever it may be -- reveals very little that's not obvious to the eyes... the lighting system is wired to a power grid, and rather possibly a circuit breaker someplace else. But curiously, it registers a set of lockers along one side that's flush against the wall, which have had their lock systems disengaged. There are relatively ordinary belongings inside, little that is of value...
... save for a curious jewel box in one of them -- it's a particularly neat locker, containing effects that seem to suggest a tribal and Ellurian nature -- little dreamcatchers, beads of reverie or prayer. The box contains a particularly valuable looking silver locket if he looks inside, with a brooch, tarnished with age. It seems like it can be opened as well...
Meanwhile, details of what appear to be assault plans come up on screen with a frown from Riesenlied's lips. "Let me check..." she goes through a few screens, and then says, "It seems that there've been other log-ins since then. It would probably be safer to assume that any information contained on this terminal is effectively compromised."
She looks up towards Lady Harken in turn. She doesn't /say/ anything, but the lack of horror on her face says that, no, there isn't anything /deeply/ critical that's been breached, like the existence of the Photosphere or its location.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
It would appear that terrible password security is a universal constant. Ambrosius shakes his head disapprovingly, but resignedly, knowing that not much could be done about it. Sometimes no amount of teaching could help.
He looks over the plans that were brought up, then nods when Riesenlied mentions that there had been other log-ins. He glances up toward Ethius, briefly wondering if the man had seen this before.
"Well...at the very least...we now know...they know..." Ambrosius comments. And the intruders didn't know that they knew the intruders knew. What they didn't know was which intruders knew?
...This line of thought is starting to get very confusing.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline certainly does keep watch, even if the majority of her help is grumpily wondering who even owns this nondescript office and its badly protected console; she makes a little internal note to find out, and perhaps have some words with them as far as decent security is involved. Perhaps she will even include Devet, allowing the tiniest of the Ebony Wings to actually get grumpy at someone for the first time in years.
--or, perhaps not, given everything happening overhead. But she can tuck that thought away for later, at least.
"Almost certainly, yes," Noeline sighs to herself, putting a hand to her forehead for a moment. From behind it, she's already scanning the screen, sharing that resolute glance with the winged woman as she comes to the same conclusions. It's a small blessing, given recent events with Gylfi - because as much as she might be conflicted on the question of Metal Demons as a whole, she certainly doesn't want to see a repeat of Old Petra any time soon. "That is one thing to cross off, I suppose. A pity," she adds with disapproval, huffing softly as she folds her arms. "I understand the working conditions there are /disastrous/. Perhaps I should go and have a polite word with them instead."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The situation at hand is one of those things that, were this put to print in a history book, would garner a lot of criticisms as to how any of this were feasibly possible.
As the story would go, Ethius was in what was unquestionably 'enemy' territory, surrounded by at least two high-profile Metal Demon figures and two... friends? Conspirators? This man was in the single greatest amount of peril imaginable in today's political landscape, after allowing himself to have helped with the funeral proceedings that historians would believe should have seen him killed before he even got near.
He may or may not have seen things that could be considered gravely damaging if word got out to anyone, as Riesenlied discusses the possibility that certain plans are compromised.
Lady Harken could kill him in a blink. Ethius doesn't think he could take Riesenlied in a protracted fight alone. Ambrosius would require an element of surprise he does not have, and even that would be luck of the draw reliant on not having a series of difficult spell casts disrupted. Noeline, for all his dealings with her, seems a bit of a blank. (If only he knew!)
Ethius turns a gaze over to Ambrosius as he inspects those lockers. He meets the taller man of the long vowels in the eye.
His gaze isn't any different from before. It should be filled with displeasure and hatred, shouldn't it, but... nor have his eyes ever communicated warmth or friendliness, either. They just... are.
He holds up the box of long-mouldy churros, as if offering Ambrosius one.
He gives it a little shake for emphasis, as the other hand seems to reach lower for the satchel.
<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.
Harken (correctly) surmises from Riesenlied's expression that there is no need to secure the data on that laptop by way of destroying it, and so, there's little need to panic. "Unsurprising that we weren't the first ones down here, but so be it. Retrieving even one addled comrade will bolster morale." and with that, dusts her hands symbolically of the whole affair. Ever heard two dumbbells crash together? Now you have.
One cold, cobalt eye can be seen watching Ethius's every move, not long after his strange investigation of the room turned up naught. Maybe his suspicious, but ultimately weak (by comparison) status serves as a shield. Sure, he's sketchy, but Riesenlied keeps sketchy company and doesn't present enough of a threat to warrant Instantaneous Execution like certain members of royalty.
"Your assistance is all greatly appreciated." rumbles the Quarter Knight, "For whatever reasons you are here. It matters not to me."
At least Ambrosious hasn't attracted the evil eye this whole time. That's positively a mark of support, from the Metal Demon most associated with sudden and unexplained bouts of horrific violence. Great success...? Yes. Great success.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied, if she were in a better state and werewithal, would probably have drawn her attention towards the lockers at this point in time -- but she doesn't, instead profusely sighing as she defeatedly leans back on the chair, looking up at Ambrosius and to where the Veruni is being offered churros. Oh, it didn't seem like long ago that churros were just being offered around like snacks from where they're procured in Adlehyde...
She rubs at the bridge of her nose and murmurs, "I'm... yes, I deeply am grateful for all the assistance you've provided, Mister Ambrosius. Mister Ethius."
She seems like she needs a moment. While there's some levity in knowing that your information's been compromised, it does mean that their schedule's been tightened. "I will have this information forwarded to you as well, Mister Ambrosius -- I'd hoped to wait until the research had matured further, but..." There's no point now.
She rises slowly and looks haplessly towards Noeline, then with a faint smile. "... let's meet up with everyone."
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius stares back at Ethius, but out out of hostility. No, yet again, he finds himself...dumbfounded. Was...was Ethius seriously offering him a box of foul churros...? He shakes his head.
"I do not...understaaand you...Ethiiius Heeesiod..." He mutters, unsure if this was a plot or the man's idea of the joke.
And from what he knew of him, he wasn't particularly inclined toward the latter. He's a little on edge, but doesn't look about to lash out or anything...so that, in itself, was a victory.
He turns his attention toward Harken and Riesenlied, then.
"I am...glaaad to be of assiiistance..." He replies with a bow of his head. He was only here to help his allies, of course...but Harken had already said she had no interest in that, so he keeps it himself.
Instead, with his poncho swishing around him he turns to leave.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius remains almost without motion, completely without spoken word, as Lady Harken and Ambrosius give their appraisal of his assistance and behavior throughout this journey of mourning for the Metal Demon people. He watches where Ambrosius and Lady Harken go. Those eyes of his remain... the way they are. Is it possible for a human being to achieve such unflappable stoicism even in a situation like this?!
When he has the opening, he swipes the jewel box. He does not move again until he can have all of them moving within the same field of vision together. He takes his leave among their company at the same measured, inoffensive, careful pace.
He does not initiate further conversation. His answers are succinct. This is a time of mourning for the Metal Demon people. A respectful distance of some sort is maintained as to not antagonize them any further in this emotionally charged, tense situation.
He breaks away from them all when he gets to the surface.
LATER, OUTSIDE, AWAY FROM THREE-AND-A-HALF-CERTAIN DEATHS
The mysterious Technology Hunter looks over his shoulder one last time to ensure he's not being followed.
Once satisfied after this sixty-seventh check, Ethius takes the bandanna off his face and exhales loudly, bringing a hand to his forehead. He exposes his white-stubbled jaw to the elements for several minutes as he sits down with his back leaning up against a rocky outcropping. He breathes in. Out. In. Out.
The pressure throughout their whole expedition was overwhelming, balancing upon the head of a needle for every last step.
That was almost too much even for /him/.
<Pose Tracker> Lady Harken has posed.
And remember, gang: no matter how strange Ethius Hesiod's inscrutable ways might be to the unlearned onlooker, no matter how uncaring Harken might seem to regard the Metal Demons' allies in the Veruni, one thing is sure from this bizarre expedition:
Neither of them are as weird as Al-Hazred. Approved.
RANKING: B+