2017-08-05: Ruin

From Dream Chasers
Jump to navigation Jump to search 
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Typically, Leon and Lily don't stay on the Yggdrasill. They have quarters there, but they prefer hotels -- because a hotel lets them mingle with Drifters, hunt for rumors, and look for Gryndille with information. Today, that paid off, because a note arrived early in the morning at their hotel in Lacour. They were back in the city, after the tournament. It had a simple statement: Gryndille had been spotted, moving east as Josephine Lovelace's work had indicated.

It did not take Leon and Lily long to agree about what to do. They packed their things, grabbed the next train eastward, and headed to the location agreed upon.

They sent a note on the way, by Memory Cube, to a few people. The Yggdrasill received the following, delivered directly to Bart and Fei: 'Gryndille spotted. We are leaving to get him. Not much time. We will be back as soon as we can.'

Josephine also received a note: 'Gryndille. We will have to have dinner with you next week.' The rescheduling was short, even for them.

That others might follow never occurred to Leon Albus. His focus is laser sharp but very narrow -- at openly the path ahead -- as he hikes up a hill, towards the meeting place. Leon stalks forward in his boots, his trousers, his shirt and vest, his coat, and his utter lack of a tie. He does, however, glance at Lily. The surroundings are wooded, as they hike up a side of a hill and towards a mountain.

There is a chill in the air. "The place is just ahead," he says. "Keep your eyes open, Lieutenant. If it's here, still..."

Mount Eldrin. It was a village in the far north of Adlehyde; a remote, idyllic town known for its cool summers, colder winters, and pleasant atmosphere. That mountain looks foreboding now, though, and smoke wafts away from the town up on the mountainside. Even through the trees, Leon can see that. His silver eyes narrow, slightly.

But then he steps out of the woods, and looks to the person who wrote to him and Lily in the first place. She is a strange ally, if there ever was one, but he is grateful enough to overlook the past for a moment.

"...Riesenlied," Leon says. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"... Leon, Lily," Riesenlied expresses in turn.

The winged commander of the Tainted had long kept an eye on this 'Gryndille', as per Leon's request when they first met so many moons ago at the Starfall Saloon in Adlehyde. The news of an automaton that had enough power to slaughter even a trained company of Kislev was concerning, and it fit well into the modus of the Ebony Wings -- to prevent the abuses of artifacts of the past, no matter what form it may take. It just so happened that this one took the form of a merciless killing machine.

The woman is alone, dressed in her Ellurian cloaks -- though her hood is currently down, her horns showing.

She looks up towards the smoke. "I am glad you could make it." She's standing in front of the inn, at present. "As you can see, your target is already causing some commotion further up the hill."

There's a longer pause. "Right now... as I am... I am here in the capacity of someone who wishes to prevent ancient ARMs from causing more undue harm to Filgaia and its inhabitants. I've no dragons and no Metal Demon allies. I am as you see me. I hope that is all right?" 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily didn't expect others to follow, herself. Her attention was laser-focused on this matter as well, just like Leon, preparing curatives and ensuring that her medical kit had sufficient supplies as he handled other preparations, and assisted in the notes as well, despite her taciturn nature. Lacour became worth it, as if what they learned here.

Lacour.

Lily found the train almost relaxing, but she isn't the type to relax much. She took the rest as she could.

And now, as Leon looks at her, Lily stands in her boots, dressed all in black in long pants and a belted coat over her hips, with pockets. The cut and style are clearly field military, though there are no markings. Her rifle is slung over her shoulder, and her satchel the other.

She hikes, nodding. The chill she doesn't care about. She's layered. "Right, Captain." Lily's golden eyes are sharp. That foreboding mountain... Lily can see it. And Lily can see--

Lily's aura of Malevolence is still present, as she looks to Riesenlied. Her hair is down, black and ruffling in the chill wind.

Lily looks to Leon for a moment, and shakes her head. "Of course you do. Captain, we don't have time to debate it, and she did give us this information. I say we let her come." She starts forward immediately, "But don't be left behind. We can't afford pacifism against Gryndille." 

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

It's a little too bad about the dinner, actually.

Still, sometimes things don't go precisely as planned.

It's a little funny to her in particular, in fact, since time was -- and not too long ago at that -- that she would have considered this 'none of her business' and bailed. Maybe it's a problem that she's gotten attached.

Or maybe not.

The first thing anyone would have noticed about Josephine upon her arrival at the pre-determined location is that Penelope just isn't here. The second thing is that the freewheeling archaeologist is quite certainly loaded for bear. Which, granted, is practically her normal state of being, but we digress.

"Seen anything yet?" she asks, dark-eyed gaze drifting Leon's way as he emerges from the woods nearby. "...Besides the smoke, anyway." Her gaze shifts towards Riesenlied, who she doesn't know. "That's your name, huh? Guess we're working together today." Looking the horned woman up and down, she pauses only momentarily before stepping up and offering Riesenlied her hand. Her left. "Josephine Lovelace, archaeologist and acquaintance of these kids," she says, jerking her head towards Leon and Lily. "Just call me Josie, okay?" 

<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.

Bart got a note!

He really just stared at it for a looong moment, with the incredibly brief message that basically said 'hey, we're off to get ourselves killed, it's been fun but our mission of terrible vengeance takes precedence. Have a good life.'

His remaining eye had developed a small twitch.

"MAAAAIIIISSSSOOON! GET ME MY GEAR SMASHING SUIT!"

Fei probably heard that one pretty clearly if he was anywhere on the ship.

Unfortunately Brigandier was down for maintenance, and instead Bart had to content himself with throwing explosives and rockets into the back of a sand buggy while everyone else looked on in puzzlement. The captain was in a bit of a frenzy, and when he's loaded up enough gear to think that he might have a chance of blowing some ancient Gear sky high he ordered the hanger ramp lowered, got in the car with whomever he'd shanghaied into coming along with him, and HIT THE GAS.

They'd lost probably a quarter to half of the explosives on the first bounce, given that Bart managed to catch a good bit of air thanks to the small lip on the edge of the hanger ramp, BUT NO TIME TO RELOAD. GOTTA GO FAST.

And thus Leon and Lily are arriving at their nice, clandestine meeting with the intent of tracking down their elusive foe... and if they look to the left they will see a plume of dust approaching rapidly from the distance. Taking the long way around the forest, Bart and company rumble along over the ground, bouncing and weaving around obstacles before finally skidding to a halt near to where the trio have gathered.

And Bart just pops up over the windshield of the sand buggy and points at Leon. And Lily. And... evil dragon bird woman what the hell you two.

"HEY!" he calls out. "Hey!" He hops out of the buggy, and just stalks towards the two of them.

"Hey."

Stare.

"...did you reaaaally think I was gonna let the two of you do this on your own?" 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong is feeling pretty good lately. Or at least he did until Citan annihilated his logic for wanting to go to the Badlands to see if he can learn more about Xantia's amnesia and her past. In fact, he kind of had this strange feeling Citan was grouchy at him. It was not the most relaxing of talks even if Citan didn't really exactly shut down his plan so much as ask questions? Argh!! It just makes him more frustrated at everything! FEI PSYCHO TEN MILLION? No, no, he's just annoyed.

No what gets the Psycho Meter up is the knowledge that Lily and Leon left him behind to chase after Gryndille alone. Yes this is pretty much entirely what he'd expected they'd do, but it still pisses him off. The one saving grace is that at least they thought to send a message out to him and Bart.

FEI PSYHCHO 35

Fei Fong Wong is seated shotgun because he's exercising protaganist rights and also so whomever else comes along can do all sorts of stuff behind their backs.

But as it so happens, they arrive before hitting too many random encounters. He hops on out after Bart, looking positively sour and grumpy. His arms are crossed and he tries not to look too directly at Leon and Lily.

Eventually he says, "You're smart enough to know we'd come rushing." Though maybe they hoped they wouldn't figure to take a vehicle and would miss the whole thing, Fei thinks.

He pauses though as he sees Riesenlied. He looks shocked, and then he frowns ever deeper.

He has complicated feelings about Riesenlied but the fact of the matter is is that her presence, while not exactly UNWELCOME, it certainly puts him ill at ease. On the other hand, he has to admit, that having a Metal Demon around when a squad-killing robot shows up might be pretty useful.

Assuming Gryndille isn't like her boss or something, but that sort of backstabbery isn't her sty--

--oh wait she did do that didn't she? Fei looks rapidly more nervous. 

<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

For being a giant, living weapon, Gryndille was a surprisingly tricky beast to track. Anyone with a strong appreciation for hunting would tell you that's part of the thrill of it. Maybe the biggest part. The waiting, for that perfect moment.

Jude Moshe would be sure to say that's just a lot of flowery prose for something that can ultimately be summed up as a giant pain in his ass.

It still doesn't stop his smile as he opens up a little slip of paper in the cool, spartan comfort of his hotel room in Hilton and peruses the contents. Jacob, comfortably perched upon his shoulder as the reporter reads, blinks with a rhythmic, red light. He looks back towards the avian automaton before his gaze rolls up towards the ceiling.

"Well," he begins, fishing for his cigarette case with carefree indifference. "Guess we're going hunting, buddy." He lights that freshly procured stick of tobacco, and allows himself a wry smile.

"What a pain in the ass."

Well, if he's going to put in the effort...

"Might as well try and find a ride, huh?"

And so it was that Jude Moshe decided to finally formally introduce himself to Bart Fatima.

Because he might just be that lazy.

---

It's before that sand buggy peels its way chaotically into the meeting place that Leon, Lily, and their assembled party receive a very curious but very recognizable guest: a bird made of metal and gears flies past, circling around before descending to try to find a convenient perching point on the first available shoulder it can find. Its head tilts. Its optics flicker and whirl, zooming in and out. It chirps, chipper in a mechanical way, like a little herald for--

HEY!

Bart Fatima, shouting and riding a sand buggy like a bat out of hell. And, wedged comfortably in the back despite the raucous nature of the trip, hands clasped behind the back of his head and cigarette perpetually affixed between his lips--

"Yo," offers Jude Moshe, casual as can be, as he slides out of the vehicle. "Looks like something's going on here, huh? Hope it's something worth almost dying for, because--" he looks back towards that buggy, head tilting, brows lifted.

"... Pretty sure I've already done that once today."

And with that, Jude just makes his way over, intent on slinging one arm around Leon's shoulder in that friendly way of his. "Man though, look at you kid, trying to act like the big damn hero in a revenge story. Didn't think you had it in you." Really. Amber eyes glide over to Riesenlied. Jude pauses. Blinks.

"Huh. You're that Metal Demon, right? Reese...land?" That sounds close enough. "Heya," he greets, before mentioning in a shockingly casual, off-handed way, "One of your friends almost killed me a while back."

Pause Goes Here.

"But I imagine you get that a lot, huh?" 

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon is quiet, as Riesenlied explains. He is quiet after that, too -- but then Lily speaks her mind. It isn't common that she interjects like that. But, a good commmanding officer knows that he should listen to advice from a good executive officer. His eyes wander sideways to her, and he nods his head once. Without speaking a word, he says a lot to her then.

"It is," he says to Riesenlied. If she had brought allies, they could be captured -- or dead -- right now, if they were so inclined. She hadn't and they weren't. "If you're willing to risk your life over this, then--"

'Just call me Josie, okay?'

'...did you reaaaally think I was gonna let the two of you do this on your own?'

'You're smart enough to know we'd come rushing.'

'Yo.'

At first, Leon looks at Josephine with a look of utter shock on his face. He has a moment to formulate words but he fails. Bart, Fei, and Jude arrive, too, which is when he turns to look at them both. He doesn't have an answer, at first, to Bart's question -- and there is, for a moment, real shame in his eyes at what Fei says.

He looks down, then, and lets out a long sigh. "...You're right, Fei," he says. "I should have known you would come. All of you, it seems." He looks at Josie for a moment, before turns around. He doesn't think he can look them in the eye for what he says next. His silver eyes stare towards Mt. Eldrin, where that line of smoke continues to rise. "Moshe--" He pauses for a smooth interjection: "By the way, how the hell did you get here?" And then he continues, easily.

"--Moshe raises a good point. This thing already killed one team of ours. It could kill another. You've all got things you need to do."

He looks down at the ground, then. "...Don't waste that on our revenge. If you want to come with us, you better be sure."

Because he isn't sure he wants to live with what happens if one of them -- if any of them -- dies here. Leon swallows, before he turns around, and looks back at all of them in turn. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

It is a strange alliance, and Riesenlied can't deny that she's putting herself at a rather significant risk -- the rest of the Yggdrasil Alliance is here, however. If they all intended to turn on her, it'd go rather bad for her pretty quickly.

But this isn't the kind of thing that she can just leave well enough alone. She's too honest and too stubborn for that. She takes Josephine's hand with a polite smile and a nod. For a Metal Demon, she's rather the courteous type, isn't she? "Riesenlied," she nods, though Leon already introduced her before. "It's a pleasure, if I ... may say that."

She pauses and stares at the plume of dust fast approaching and--

--stares just for a little longer.

"... Mister Bartholomew, I presume," she expresses. She's sure that she's seen the bounty posters before -- and the Yggdrasil was a presence in Adlehyde, after all. She holds her hands gently to either side of her, as if to indicate that she doesn't come here in violence.

"And-- Fei?" she blinks a few times. Well, she should've expected that...

Riesenlied looks towards Jude, before her eyes widen in recognition. "You're that man who rescued Lily in Old Petra, are you not?" A pause. "... less than you think, actually. But it might depend on what your definition of friend is, to be frank."

There's a faint sigh as she centres herself, listening to Leon. "I am not here to contribute to your revenge. I am certain you have heard -- and possibly even spoken -- of the endlessly cyclical nature of vengeance. I am here to help ensure that an ancient relic does not claim more undue victims. There is enough hatred and prejudice out there, even without malicious intent."

She turns herself towards the mountainous path, and begins to stride in that direction. "That said, do you have more intelligence on Gryndille? I was only able to observe it at a distance, so its full capabilities are unknown to me. Any information would be useful." 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily takes Leon's meaning. He doesn't have to speak for her to do that. This time she speaks up, and this time it works.

Lily is quite still as she glances towards the sounds of others approaching. The armor she wears--likewise dark--doesn't appear to slow her down. There's the dust plume but there's also...

"Josie," Lily says, sharply. There is some clear alarm in her expression. Alarm, and concern. It gets worse in short order when Lily spots a familiar mechanical bird, and narrows her eyes at it, or when Bart arrives, points at both of them, and starts stalking their way. Her calls out, and she frowns, her expression fairly well unmoving at first. She looks to Fei next, then back to Bart again.

"I thought exactly that," Lily says flatly to Bart. To Jude she outright sighs, pressing fingertips to her temples and shaking her head. That gives her time to consider that Fei looks... grumpy. Consider what he says. She starightens. "Maybe we thought you were all smart enough not to." She pauses, reconsiders, and pulls a ribbon from one of her pockets. "Nevermind. I just thought it might take you longer." She starts gathering back black hair... And then stops bothering, putting the ribbon back. "Jude," she says, and then finds she has nothing to actually add to that yet.

"Yes, Jude Moshe helped me. I owe him my life. Which I'm not going to let him cash in here; my debts to others are more important." She doesn't seem to care abou that. But Lily listens and Leon speaks up, and shakes her head.

"I think all of you should turn back, right now," Lily speaks up in her low, quiet voice. "Whatever your reasons for being here are. I don't need distractions to patch up while I'm trying to destroy something. However..."

"Not my call. I know better than to think I can stop you."

Lily starts to turn around from the group, shaking her head. "...Riesenlied, you certainly like to talk." Lily speaks to her as if she's very... familiar, just in tone. "Fine."

Lily turns back to the others, "I've seen it up close. It is extremely fast, with both ranged and melee attack capabilities that can drop a man in seconds. If it doesn't want to engage us, we will not be able to catch it without a plan. It's also nearly impervious to harm; I unloaded every bit of my sorcery at it and didn't even slow it down. I might not have ever scratched it. ...Its weapons are incredibly advanced. It cannot be reasoned with and knows no mercy."

"...And it is highly lethal. You are aware that I can heal magically. I was able to save no one."

Lily shrugs, shaking her head. "So if you really want to fight that, come along. I'm known to do stupid things, too." 

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

Looks like she's not the only one who decided to come pay the kids a visit. Her gaze slides sidelong at Bart and Fei as they arrive, and she nods, as if in agreement. "Couldn't have said it better."

Though. Jude, she's not expecting. That one's clear from the look on her face.

"What are you-- huh." A Metal Demon. "You sure don't look it, but I guess I trust him enough on this." Shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. "Well, it doesn't matter to me, honestly. Adlehyde's not my home."

"Weren't expecting me?" Josie says to Leon, fumbling in her pocket for a pack of cigarettes. "C'mon kid. Do you really think I'd let you and Lily run off and get yourself killed on your own? Besides... Rumors travel. This place wasn't too hard to find, but someone's really gotta rethink the curriculum at Linga." She frowns, sliding a cigarette out of the pack. "Anyway, you two really gotta start thinking before you run into danger like this." She pauses, eyeing Lily. It's a look that could kill, or at least stun. "Again."

A match flares as she lights up.

"...Yeah. I know." Josie exhales smoke, gesturing outwards with it. "A whole team. You'll need more people than just yourselves if you think you have a chance of taking getting revenge here."

She glances Riesenlied's way, one snowy brow lifted as if in mild surprise. "...Besides," she says, grinning in spite of herself. "I guess I just feel like it, you know? I'll throw in with you this time. Besides, I owe her for saving my life, so we'll just call it even after this. And I meant it when I said I wanted to take Gryndille apart. I'll probably never get a chance like this again." She pauses, and gives Lily a pointed look. "And I mean that. You're not weaseling out of this one, Lily."

And the fact that those kids could get killed out there on their own is... well, unacceptable. But she's not going to say that. 

<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.

"I think we had this discussion once, you two," Bart points out to Lily and Leon as the latter points out that what they're dealing with is an extremely deadly weapon that had already killed quite a few people that had presumably been ready and willing to deal with it. "Everyone takes risks, but the question is if you're going to take risks just because you get something out of it, or if you're taking them because it's the right thing to do."

He... doesn't really quantify which of the two this is for him, because Bart probably hasn't thought this through all that well either.

But as Leon asks, Bart throws a thumb back over his shoulder at Jude and comments, "Actually this is the other half of my new dirty tricks team. Beauty and the Beast as it were. Beauty here wanted to come along and help out, and I figured if he was willing, we could use the extra hands and I can see if he's as good as I've been told he is."

The implication of whom Jude's 'partner' is... well. Bart will just let Lily and Leon work that out for themselves.

And then the Metal Demon wants to have a word with him. Bart walks over and looks down at her with his sole eye for a moment, and he does loom just a bit. Because he really doesn't care too much if he makes the girl uncomfortable. "Well, from what I've heard you're not as bad as Lord Pork and Gravy, but you Demons have hurt and killed a lot of folks that I know. So if you're here to help out, that's great. But I've got my eye on you." Point. Eye. Point. Riese. Point. ...somewhere, god where do you go with this gesture after that. But Bart chuffs after a moment, and adds, "'sides, you shouldn't criticize a man who's got a need for revenge. Some things you can only work out through blood and fire - and then you deal with the consequences."

But as Lily starts describing how dangerous the thing is, Bart just... starts grinning. She describes its terrible speed. He grins. Its awesome power. He grins more. The fact that it's SUPER DANGEROUS. "...see you didn't tell me this would be FUN, Lily. Now I'm even more cross you tried to leave me out." It's bravado. Probably.

Bart being an idiot is also a strong possibility. 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei looks towards Jude. So that's Jude, huh. Fei squints at him thoughtfully. Nice clothes, custom tailored, but he doesn't look like a mob boss. Symbology. Robot bird? People with birds have generally seemed straight up. It's hard to believe this guy tried to sell Lily to Kislev. Maybe he turned a new leaf and is a totally cool good guy now. Besides, he saved Lily's life--how bad can he be? Sure people make mistakes now and then. Between his mistake of nearly hurting Lily and Leon and his own mistake of destroying a village, he supposes he has to let that one go. Besides, he saved Lily's life. Yes, Fei thinks about this twice in rapid succession. He feels like he owes this probably straight up gentleman something fierce. Maybe Gryndille will almost kill him and everybody can stop owing each other favors.

"Riesen's right anyway," He says. For a guy who doesn't exactly trust Riesenlied that much he sure agrees with her a lot. "It's going to go and hurt other people if it's not stopped." He glances over to Bart. Dying for Leon's revenge isn't exactly how he was expecting his life to go but he doesn't really have a life beyond what Bart had told him before: Not turning away when people are in trouble. He can't do that even if he wanted to. He sometimes wishes that he could. In some ways it'd be an unexpected and sudden relief.

Lily offers another explanation as to why they wouldn't go after them: 'Maybe we thought you were all smart enough not to'.

Fei raises an eyebrow. Yeah. He's not buying that for a second. Lily KNOWS Bart and Fei, after all. Smart enough was never on the table.

"Lily, we're a team." He says after a moment. "More importantly, friends." He seems to relent a bit personally and admits, "There's no other way than just risking ourselves for one another. If it takes surviving this thing, I'll survive this thing."

He's strangely determined. 

<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

By the way, how the hell did you get here?

"Your friend, the sand pirate," is Jude's easy response, nodding his head Bart's way. "We've got a mutual acquaintance; I decided to make introductions, because we're gonna be working together a bit, and all this turns up, so I decided to lend a helping hand." Jude shakes his head and sighs, exhaling cigarette smoke before he drops that stick of tobacco to the ground to snuff it out. Despite the words and gestures being ones usually meant to look put upon, the reporter sounds and looks as carefree and glib as ever.

"Talk about first impressions, right?"

With that, the redheaded journalist seems more or less content to leave the others to their conversations; hands slipping into his pockets, he glances sidelong at Josephine; he efforts her a hapless sort of smiling and a 'what can you do?' sort of shrug, nodding his head in Leon and Lily's direction, before his amber eyes turn a pensive stare towards the smoke billowing and dissipating in the distance.

"Yep," asides the man to Riesenlied as she makes her observation, shoulders rolling one after the other as he adopts that lackadaisically slouched posture. "Nearly get killed, have some asshole give me a concussion while he waves a building around like a baton, don't even get the pay I was promised for the job." He considers, before pressing a put-upon hand to his forehead. "All in a day's work."

Lily summarizes it in an even more jaded way, of course, which just prompts the reporter to wince. "Ouch. And here I thought we were finally getting along." Amber eyes slide Fei's way as he speaks, catching him as he stares with those assessing eyes. He watches for a moment, before tilting one hand in a laid back little wave. Otherwise, though, he remains silent as everyone else gives their reasons -- happy to let Bart supply his reason for him, Jude instead turns his attention in the direction of that smoke; it's not a moment later that Jacob flies off in its direction, mechanical eyes scoping as far as it can as it flies. Jude pays it no mind, instead just lacing hands behind the back of his head and offering, simply,

"It's not just Lily and Leon's team -- this thing's got a pretty decent history of making a mess of things. Seems to stick to certain areas, from what I can tell from rumor reports. This sorta thing isn't really my wheelhouse, though." Seems like someone did their research, too; but other than that, he remains silent -- he'll defer to the experts for this one. 

DG: A party led by Leon Albus is now entering Mount Eldrin Ruins.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.

========================<* CHALLENGE - Kislevi Scouts *>========================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The first sign that something has gone terribly wrong is, of course, that
 someone else got here first.

 Mt. Eldrin's ruins are still smoking. Even from a distance, it isn't hard to
 see that most of the buildings are some combination of burnt down and
 knocked over. But, a closer look will show that one warehouse was ripped
 clean open, and a gaping hole torn through a tunnel that leads into the
 ground. 
 It might be tempting to approach it quickly to slip inside. That,
 however, would be foolish, because you aren't alone.

 The scouts open fire from behind. Gunsmoke weapons make a distinctive
 report, as you find yourselves under a crossfire. Two rangers are atop a
 large water tower, a hundred feet left of the road into town -- and another
 pair are inside the burnt remains of the village's bank. Rifle shots pepper
 you. The green uniforms of the soldiers firing on you mark them as something
 rarely seen here:

 Kislevi soldiers.
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon's eyes drift to Riesenlied first. "...I'm aware. I know why you're here. Normally, I'd agree with a sentiment like that -- with the reservations that we have discussed. But... Gryndille is different for me."

He lets Lily explain how dangerous Gryndille is. He frowns, while she does. His expression is carefully controlled, then -- it isn't easy to hear it spoken of. His imagination and memory fills in the blanks of what she says. His eyes glance back to Mount Eldrin, before he looks back at them, and adds after Lily: "It has four legs, a powerful arm cannon, and a claw that was far stronger than anything I've seen."

But, he turns to look at Bart after that, and his eyes widen a moment. "...I see. Well... he is resourceful," he allows, with a glance at Jude when he confirms it. "...Hell of a coincidence, though."

Then, he looks to Fei, and frowns. "...Mm. Friends. And a team." He glances at Josephine, before nodding. "...All right, then. We'll go, then. Fan out if it comes at us, and try to not get right in its face. Moshe, whatever you've heard... double whatever you think it can do."

He starts walking forward.

As they head up towards Mt. Eldrin, they can see the smoke comes from the buildings -- almost all of which are torn down, burnt out, or both. Gryndille's handiwork is apparent, and stomping metal tracks are visible where they punched into the ground. The village is eerily quiet as they approach. Leon walks ahead, slowly, as he looks up at a water tower that wasn't torn down.

Then he looks ahead.

The gunshot slams into his shoulder, but just misses -- scraping along the arm and spraying blood. He hisses, before he turns, and looks up to see the soldiers. Another shot comes from the blasted remains of the town's bank, scraping near him.

"GET CLEAR!" Leon yells, before he swings up his flare gun. He fires it for the watch tower. It explodes in a terrifically bright blossom of light, which blinds the pair of rangers. But, as he runs for cover, he glances at one of the ones firing from inside the bank. His eyes fall on the uniform.

"Those--Lily!" he yells. "They're with the army!" 

DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Flare Gun toward his party's challenge, Kislevi Scouts.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied listens intently to Lily's assessment. The dire nature of their opponent doesn't exactly surprise her -- Leon and Lily are trained combatants, and even they were caught unaware and nearly wiped out. In truth, if Riesenlied had to express full honesty, Gryndille would be the kind of opponent she'd prefer to take on with the Dragons -- but they don't have that luxury here. Besides, in a situation like this, the Metal Dragons may not have the manueverability needed up in these hills.

She listens to Bart, and slowly nods. Her expression is all too rueful. "... I am not about to say that I am innocent, nor that the Demons have done no wrong. No matter what I do, I am, after all, complicit in this. Keep an eye on me all you wish -- if I am to do you wrong, strike me down." She smiles at such camaraderie like Fei and Bart insisting that they're a team and that they wouldn't leave Leon and Lily alone -- that was the kind of bond that they needed if those two are going to come out of this alive.

It isn't long before they approach the warehouse, and the Metal Demon shifts to a tactical sweep-and-clear approach; there's a frown at the open door, and it isn't long before she spots the flash and muzzle of the guns being fired at them. "Contact!"

Her first instinct is protection, and that's what the group gets -- some of the Drifters have already seen how she launches Pinions from her wings, which tear out from the arch of her wingspan and form into delta-shaped barriers of light that cover some of the more vulnerable team members caught in the crossfire.

She flies up to where Leon's fired that gun, knowing that she must take out the long-ranged fire first. In a swift motion, she's struck outward with her elbow for a quick, non-lethal takedown of the rangers Leon's blinded. "Get clear of the flank -- use the barriers to manuever!" 

DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon Horn toward her party's challenge, Kislevi Scouts.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei reddens as Jude waves back at him and he looks away, though he does nod and agree with his assessment. He's doing a lot of agreeing. Maybe he should relax and stop worrying about agreeing. He hasn't heard anything about Gryndille before. He just sort of figured he'd punch it when he ran into it. Fei is not, like, the best at tactical planning?

The team moves out and soon, there's smoke, and where there's smoke, there's fire. Something happened here. He doesn't immediately rush off to investigate because he's following Leon and Lily's leads here but that's when suddenly--they're fired upon from behind! Without even so much as a call out for Surrender!

Fei dives behind a rock as bullets spray where he was just a moment before.

He pokes his head out, "Hold on! Maybe we don't have to fight about this!" He ducks down again at more gunfire but pops his head out again to shout, "Maybe we could just relax and play a nice game of--of--" He sees the rock. "...Of Rock Paper Scissors!"

He is answered with more gunfire. Oh god dammit.

He runs out from behind the rock, weaving between gunfire as he tackles through a small group of scouts, taking them to the ground. He holds up his badge after a small period of fisticuffs and shows them an RPS Badge when they stop moving.

"So you ready for Rock Paper Scissors?" He asks. 

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Kislevi Scouts.

<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.

"Eh, I've seen stranger coincidences in my day," Bart admits to Leon. And he has. Strange things can and do happen. "Just roll with it, and..." He pauses, and steps near to Leon so he can whisper, 'If he does anything fishy, just... I dunno, do something. Whatever you feel is appropriate."

Riese offers slick words and the whole 'strike me down' if I do something bad, and he decides those sorts of words deserve an appropriate response. "...feh, strike you down. You're clearly ready to die." He leans a bit closer, and adds, "Nah, if you do something bad I'll tie you up, take you back to the ship, and have you critique all of Margie's cooking."

A fate worse than death? Perhaps.

But he nods as Fei lays out the whole 'We're a team' and 'we're friends' bit. He... look Bart doesn't do the touchy feeling stuff well, but he nods along with Fei in a vigorous fashion.

Of course complications arise in the form of PEOPLE SHOOTING AT THEM. Bart is used to this so he does the usual thing that he does when someone decides to start popping off shots at him.

He curses a blue streak, heads for cover, and pulls out his own revolver.

"I guess we're dealing with THESE PEOPLE now!" he growls. They were Kislev soldiers from the uniforms, which meant they were either tracking the Death Gear Robot Thing or they were tracking Leon and Lily. Bart was willing to give even odds to either, but his gut told him they probably wanted his errant pair of runaways for vague but dubious reasons.

Part of the reason why he wasn't being targeted was due to them aiming at Leon and Lily first, however, and Bart growls as he pops off a couple shots, the pulls out his whip. A flick of his wrist sends the leather coil out to grab onto an explosive in the car, and he turns and HURLS it at the base of the water tower.

...it may not actually go off, Bart did this a little precipitously. 

DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Kislevi Scouts.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"Yeah." Josie nods. "It's on the move south-east. It's capable of wiping out entire villages, remember." Josie says, after pulling one last drag from her cigarette. "There's probably a good reason why all those rumors about it were hard to come by." And almost lazily, she lets the cigarette drop from her fingers, crushing it underfoot with the heel of her boot soon after. "Still, the extra information's handy. So, just remember to duck and cover."

It's said almost flippantly, as she rolls her shoulders. "Don't worry. I've got you guys covered."

Though she does glance over at Bart, then at Jude before she begins to start forward. That explains a lot for the 'why he's here' part, doesn't it? "...Pretty handy, Bart. Using a guy like him."

'No offense meant', the only vaguely-sheepish glance turned Jude's way -- coupled with a shrug -- seems to suggest.

For now, she follows where Leon leads.

The smoke's heavy in the air by the time they reach what was probably a settlement. Josie's eyes narrow. "Visibility's bad," she mutters, squinting through the haze. Dipping her hand into a pocket, she pulls out a flask, taking a nip from its contents. Something feels...

Her gaze slides upwards, and her eyes widen. She has just enough presence of mind to return the flask from whence it came, flattening herself against the nearest fall.

"Shit!" she shouts, going for her holstered rifle. "--Get cover!" Shit, shit, shit, this place is crawling with soldiers. What did they just walk into?

With the army, Leon shouts, and considering what she knows about them, it's not hard to put two and two together.

Inching along the ruins of this wall here, she searches for a point where she can get a good look at any of the soldiers ahead.

It's time to play sniper.

"Shit visibility..." she mutters, focusing through the front sight of the rifle, and pulls the trigger. 

DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Kislevi Scouts.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily looks right back into Josie's eyes at that harsh look. ...She does this for a few moments before she glances away and closes her eyes, sighing again. "I've thought plenty," she says back, without giving more ground than that. Bart mentions the discussion they've had before and Lily lifts an eyebrow. Risks. Of course, risks. But when Bart mentions Jude's partner... Lily doesn't really know who it is. It doesn't matter to her much at the moment. "You're working with him," Lily says to Jude and Bart both.

But Josie gives a 'besides', and Lily can feel that it's going to be a problem. Lily looks flatly at her, in brief disbelief, right until Josie says that she's not getting out of it. "...You can't call it even for me saving you when you're doing something I don't want that's going to make me save you again," Lily points out. "If I even can this time."

She lets that hang on the air again before she shrugs, "Fine, Josie. Just be careful. Stay behind me." For a moment she even sounds... worried. Almost.

Fei mentions how Riesenlied is right, and Lily said nothing about that. Fei lifts an eyebrow, and Lily can't argue. But Fei says they're a team, and Lily finally hesitates. "...All right," she says to him, not arguing. "That's... all right. Just be careful. I'll watch your back." A look to Bart, "Don't joke about this, Bart. I know it's you, but your plans won't get anywhere if you die here."

Jude clearly did do his research, though Lily answers the reporter's wince, "We get along fine." She seems... entirely puzzled at what Jude's problem is in that moment. "Though you keep helping me. I guess that's all right."

Lily doesn't interfere in Riesenlied's conversations, meanwhile. She keeps her explanations brief as best she can, and Lily too remembers as she speaks. His additions remind her further, but she doesn't need the reminder; she's never forgotten. "If anything happens," Lily speaks up to the group, "Leon has command. Follow orders if you want to get out alive." She has no room for civilian handling of this. It's too dnagerous. But she too walks forward, looking at smoke in the buildings, stomping tracks. She's silent, steps quiet, and then suddenly--

Leon's struck. An instant later, Lily is struck too, a bullet slamming into the plating shielding her back under her jacket, and Lily ducks immediately behind what cover she can find. But Leon shouts, Riesenlied mentions contact in shouts...

The barrier helps. It gives Lily time to look around to where they are as Leon calls to her. 'The army' doesn't need specifying; Lily's eyes widen, and for a moment she halts where she is, frozen. ...But only for a moment. She narrows her eyes.

"Captain!" Lily calls, "Laying down cover fire!"

Lily rushes out into the open again and throws out her hands; there's a roiling heat in the air that distorts it as red circles crash before her hands, and Lieutenant Keil of the Kislev Army throws up a blast of red-orange flame straight for a few soldiers on their ridge, shielded only by Riesenlied's abilities. 

DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Kislevi Scouts.

<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

Moshe, whatever you've heard... double whatever you think it can do.

"Sure thing, kid. Sounds like great bonding experience ahead for us all."

Somehow, he manages to keep any sign of sarcasm from his casual tone. He's just that good. Just like how as Josie nonverbally offers up that 'no offense meant,' his response is a come what may kind of roll of his shoulders.

"None taken," he answers, as if he understood the sentiment perfectly.

Still, with Jacob scouting the way ahead, Jude takes the rear as they start to scale the mountainside; for as much as he tends to smoke and layabout, the reporter is surprisingly adept with traversing rough terrain. It's only when they come across those burnt out buildings that he pauses, brows furrowing inward in quiet thought as he looks from one scorched remain to the next, as if lost in contemplation over the accumulated evidence of devastation. His fingers twitch. Leon looks ahead. His body tenses.

"Wait--"

BLAM

He's already moving by the time that first gunshot cracks through the air in a peel of violence; his body rolling fluidly towards the cover of a guttered out building, he flattens his back against the charred wall. "Kislev! Dammit -- this is absolutely the last thing I need right now--"

Grousing to himself, Jude looks aside towards Leon, and then Lily. His brows knit together as he looks towards the strange pinions that Riesenlied manifests, creating those barriers of shining, radiant energy. He waits exactly as long as it takes for that flare to fire off--

--and then he -moves-, springing from the cover of the building to use those barriers and the flash of the flare to dive into the midst of the soldiers. Within moments, that large, revolver shotgun is freed from the hiding space within his frock coat, the impressive-looking ARM thrumming with life as an array of runes along it begin to glow with bright, blue light. He squeezes the trigger--

--and with a booming shotgun peel, aims at the ground, freezing moisture around the earth into a slick spread of ice the very second his body pivots to drive his open palm into one soldier's solar plexus, and immediately spin about to snap his booted heel into the skull of another -- to send them slipping and sliding across icy earth to topple into more of those scouts to make them easier pickings. 

DG: Jude Moshe has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Kislevi Scouts.
DG: The party led by Leon Albus has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 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> Leon Albus has posed.

Gunfire slams into the pinion-made barriers and bounces off. One of the rangers is thrown back by Riesenlied's elbow, knocked to the ground. Leon turns, bringing up his ARM -- and fires a shot in the direction of a scout. Argent Divider's slug sends the man sprawling, as the gun fire comes raining down and the barriers block the worst of it.

Fei's RPS badge comes out -- and it proves aptly timed, because the soldier he runs for draws a long knife. He jumps, slashing it down, and sparks erupt as blade meets badge. Then jaws crack, as Fei throws his punch and sends the man sprawling. Knocked out, not dead, at least.

"Got her," one soldier says, as he draws a bead on the back of Lily's head as she prepares her spell.

Which is when Josie's bullet takes him through the neck. He lets out a strangled groan, then topples off the water tower. He slams into the ground behind Lily. And the scouts ahead find ice shooting across the earth, courtesy of Jude, and it slicks the ground. The scouts that Jude dispatches with martial arts slide out into the path of Lily's gout of fire.

It blasts through them. They shudder -- and don't rise again.

Leon stares, for a moment, before he turns his head to look at the others. "The warehouse," he says. He motions, before he starts jogging towards it. "They'll have scouts nearby. We should get down there and find what it is!"

'It' is a gaping hole -- a place where a large steel cellar door was ripped from its hinges by something, and hurled aside into the neighboring home. It is a tunnel, that leads down into the darkness below. Leon doesn't even hesitate before he dashes into it. 

DG: Bart Fatima has drawn a new Challenge.

========================<* CHALLENGE - Untripped Trap *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The attack on the base came suddenly, because some of the traps meant to
 deal with intruders haven't been triggered -- or disarmed by the survivors.
 If, indeed, there were survivors. This long, stark metal has three lines of
 pressure plates on it, which stick up slightly. Seeing them is easy -- but
 getting past them will take no small amount of caution and very precise
 leaps. And caution will, indeed, be necessary. The ceiling is lined with
 flame throwers. Stepping on a plate will send a gout of fire down upon you.
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================

<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.

"Well, that was a thing... I was wondering when we'd have to deal with Kislev coming after you two, but this was really badly timed," Bart grumbles as the group collects themselves after the skirmish. He glances around, and asks , "Everyone alright? Let's keep moving if so - I don't think we've got a lot of time if there are soldiers here already."

Leon said 'warehouse', and thus 'warehouse' it is. The tunnel is a rather obvious destination, and with the doors ripped open its clear that the Gear had gone down ahead of them. But Bart holds out one hand as they approach - and frowns. "Hell of a 'simple village'," he comments, pointing to just inside of the warehouse proper. "There's pressure plates here, and lord knows what they're connected to." He looks around for a moment, and pulls out his whip. A quick snap of his whip, and he manages to get ahold of one of the nozzles up above. "Be careful - use the whip to keep from putting any pressure down on those plates. If my eye isn't lying to me, I'd say that beast of a Gear came down here because Kislev was screwing around with some underground ruins or some crap like that. This whole area stinks to high heavens of being a hidden base."

He looks to Leon and Lily, and asks, "Does that track with why that thing keeps showing up places? Like it could be searching for something? Either that or there's probably an underground lab or something here. Too much security for this to be just some random listening post, at least."

And with that, Bart grabs his whip and swings towards the other side... hopefully not unleashing a gout of flame in the process. 

DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool Bart's Whip toward his party's challenge, Untripped Trap.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied's frown is evident even as they clear the initial skirmish, and looks around for the injured -- fortunately they were able to hold their ground, with everyone's resourcefulness, quick thinking, liquor, and a whole lotta bullets. "Leon, Lily."

She asks as they proceed forward. "Does Gryndille have anything resembling a -- 'target list', or an artificial intelligence? Between you and this base, I can't help but think this automaton was designed to take out Kislevi army targets."

Bart takes his whip to snag one of the nozzles and looks towards the plates. She floats onto the other side along with Bart, stopping by one of the flamethrowers and pulling her side-sword out to rather quickly attempt to dismantle it. No use in trying to risk what they didn't need to, after all. 

DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon Wings toward her party's challenge, Untripped Trap.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

She barely moves as she lines up that shot, in counterpoint to the actions of her current teammates who take a more direct approach to their melee situation. She's got reason to think she's gone unseen thus far -- and her preference is to get the drop on someone else before they figure out what's going on. Neither does she look back to see where that guard -- her target -- aims.

When Josephine shoots at someone, she shoots to kill.

"Probably not all of them," Josie calls out from behind her cover. "We should -- good idea." Keeping low -- as low as she can -- she follows after Leon and the rest for the warehouse. Being out in the open is a bad idea right now.

The rifle's holstered again once they're inside. "Visibility's really bad," she comments, thumbing towards the doorway. "Whole mountainside's probably crawling with soldiers."

And she pauses, listening as Bart gives his opinion on this place.

"...Especially if this is a Kislevi base."

She whistles, low, as she inspects the plates. Visually. She's not touching those with a ten-foot pole. Hell of a 'simple village' indeed.

"...Don't know, myself. There've been rumors about Gryndille tracking back about fifteen years, but if it was active before then and just killed anything that saw it, or has only been active for fifteen years is anyone's guess."

Searching for something, huh. "...Though now that I think of it, if it's been going after places like this, that's another reason no one's seen too much of it. Attacking people deep under cover..." Josie shrugs. "But, that's assuming it's after something in particular anyway. You never can tell with old machines like this."

Approaching one of the plates, she...

Yes. She's going to jump them. "This could get a little rough. Chin up, everyone~" she cheers, before stepping back a step. Next: to start hopping on over herself. 

DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Untripped Trap.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong is kind of dejected by the end there because he was sort of hoping that humans wouldn't kill one another so easily. Luckily he managed to his subdue his opponent without violently murdering them. One day he'd like for Lily and Leon to be able to go back to their homeland. It'd be nice to at least have that option. The more soldiers they mow down, the more difficult that would be. If they can take out Gryndille, there's a chance right?

He looks towards Bart but he nods to his words of caution. He's had to navigate jumping puzzles before. It's all good. Well it isn't good. Jumping puzzles are awful. But he can keep his focus here.

"This shouldn't be too tough. I mean, it's just jumping across right? Haha..." He takes a few steps back and leaps! He's going to make it, he thinks, he's going to make it--

RANDOM ENCOUNTER IN MIDAIR

SHIT! Wait, Gryndille is fifteen years old?? That's crazy! ALSO SHIT!!! 

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Untripped Trap.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily moves as quickly as she can, but a gunman falling behind her tells Lily of the mistake that she made. There were more than she expected. Lily grits her teeth as she torches a few of her countrymen, with help, and turns to Leon as he says what their next plan is.

She can take a number more shots than most, but...

"Right!" Lily dashes after Leon, pulling her rifle as she does and readying it for use. The ARM isn't terribly good, but it's important to have a weapon that doesn't require the same buildup.

"It had to happen eventually," Lily says to Bart about the soldiers. But there are... pressure plates, apparently. All of this... And a base?

"We don't know what it has in mind," Lily says. "If it has anything in mind. Some kind of a lab, maybe."

She pauses at what Riesenlied says. "Take out... But why were we spared?" Lily asks immediately. It doesn't satisfy her answer. "It appears to have some kind of intelligence, but I don't know its targets. I have no idea."

Josie is sensible here, and Lily shakes her head. "Might be. Mm..." The rumors. "I have no idea."

Lily doesn't think there's any way around killing the others. Fei mentions jumping, and Lily sighs. "I'm terrible at this. Leon, I'm just going to assume I have to heal myself after." With that, Lily will take help, but just tries her way across. 

DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Untripped Trap.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"Suspiciously timed," Leon says, with a frown. He looks around, taking stock of injuries. He expected a fight with Gryndille -- part of him still does, but he can compartmentalize -- and he is shaken from that. He scowls, as he looks around the tunnel. He sees the pressure plates too. His eyebrows narrow for a moment, but he looks sideways at Lily at Bart's question.

Then he shakes his head to Riesenlied's question. "I'm not sure. Its reasons for attacking have always been... sparse," he says. "It doesn't usually leave survivors. It tends to show up out of nowhere, and... no one quite knows why. Sometimes, it's just a town. Sometimes, it's soldiers on either side of the war. It's..."

He unfurls his own climbing rope. He throws it up, coiling it over a hook on the ceiling, and gives a good tug. Maybe, he thinks, Riesenlied is right. But, a Kislevi base in Adlehyde?

"...as Josie said," Leon finishes. "That is the first time he was spotted. Likely, he's far older." He swings across on his rope -- and is ready to catch Fei if his midair realization should prove costly. He lands, then sends the rope back to Lily. He turns, and he flashes a winsome gr--

No, it's Leon.

He smiles at her in an understated way. "See if that helps, Lieutenant." 

DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Climbing Rope toward his party's challenge, Untripped Trap.

<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

The soldiers fall. But as the others make their way towards the warehouse, Jude Moshe lingers a moment. He crouches beside one of the fallen scouts, and peruses his gear -- searches his uniform for anything distinctive. But more importantly -- for anything that might identify a squadron.

"... Mm."

It's only a few moments later that Jude is making his way into that hole at the same pace as he had before -- taking up the rear to keep an eye out for anything that might be trying to blindside them. It turns out, though, that the danger is ahead -- those series of long traps unactivated. Pressure plates. Like a good old-fashioned ruin.

"Not a very hospitable village. Maybe they were just rude to the thing and pissed off the wrong robot, huh?" he offers his oh-so-simple explanation for what might be going on here, with no actual commitment to indicate it's anything other than a joke.

"Still, even if it's killing indiscriminately, something like that doesn't just pop up out of nowhere." Bart slings that whip. Riesenlied... flies. Jude just watches with a blase sort of 'sure, why not?' look before he eyes those long line of nozzles. "Maybe it's just me, but it feels a little outside of Kislev or Aveh's ability to be fielding autonomous death machines."

His legs tense up in preparation. Josephine, beside him, prepares as well.

"See you on the other side, Josie," he mentions, off-handedly.

"Ten gella on who makes it over the least roasted?"

And with that, he's off like a shot, attempting to clear that distance with as swift and far of a leap as he can. 

DG: Jude Moshe has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Untripped Trap.
DG: The party led by Leon Albus has passed this challenge! The party gained 40 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> Bart Fatima has posed.

Eh, so it was weird. So were a lot of things. But Bart is confident of one thing, at least. "We're learning something NEW then. That makes it even more exciting," he decides with a grin, as people begin working to bypass the flame traps. Really, this sort of thing is not what Bart would have expected... but perhaps they didn't want the guard contingent to not be noticed? Still, traps already inside the base meant they were more worried about infiltrators... but discovery was, itself, already a sign that they had lost...

"ARRRRG THIS IS SO CONFUSING!!!" Bart shouts after a moment. Really, thinking hard was not something that he enjoyed all that much.

There is really not a lot of trouble bypassing the flame trap - the plates themselves are so obvious that Bart stops and asks, "Why exactly are they expecting to CATCH with these sorts of traps? Like it almost seems as if it's to make sure people passing by don't get caught by these things, but doesn't that defeat the point of it being a trap?" He looks up for a moment...

...and adds, "...unless these things are supposed to like... burn off things that are attached to vehicles coming up from down below?"

THAT is a creepy thought. But Bart looks at the doors downwards, and adds, "Not a lot of choice. Let's keep going." 

DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.

=======================<* CHALLENGE - Broken Generator *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 As you descend further into the mines and the strange metal hallways, you
 enter an area that looks to have been a barracks or perhaps offices set-up
 in the mines. Wooden walls have been constructed to create dividers.
 However, the result is a series of narrow passageways that are poorly lit.
 The generator has been shot through -- it is the only light source, here,
 sparking wildly as it is. If you can somehow restore electricity, you might
 be able to see more -- and perhaps form an understanding of what is here.
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"Nah, not fifteen years old," she comments, glancing Fei's way. "Just that the first time anyone saw it around was fifteen years ago. Which could mean two different things, really. Anyway, that's a mystery for later," she adds with a lazy shrug.

"Unless this place knows something we don't."

Josie's never been one to back off from a bet. "You're on. Another ten on whoever gets to the other side first."

She says, seconds before Jude leaps ahead.

Her eyebrows shoot up, and without wasting another word, she leaps on over after him. As it happens, neither of them get burnt. But...

Frowning, Josie shoves a ten-Gella coin Jude's way. "...Who knows," she says with a brief overdramatic sigh, as if losing to this wounded her gravely. "I guess it could be some sort of monster-deterrent, but... Well, we're not gonna get answers hanging out here."

The hallways are like a maze, each branching off another. Some hallways are merely poorly lit. The lights flicker on and off irregularly in other places, and in others yet... lights out, and who-knows-what lurking in the darkness. The only good thing that can be said about the bunker here is that -- for now -- it seems empty of guards.

One doorway on the left is standing open, a glow from within flickering from within more steady than any other thus far.

"Looks like the generator," Josie comments, after peeking inside. It's throwing off sparks and looks generally Unsafe. She takes a long, slow breath. "Well."

With that, she starts taking off her gloves. The right hand, notably, is swathed in bandages. "Let's call it a fixer-upper. I'd hate to go somewhere without looking where I'm going," she comments lightly, dropping her pack to rummage within. "Now, let's see... I think I might be able to get this going."

Electrical systems aren't her forte. But those weeks spent harrassing the Gear crew on the Yggdrasil probably aren't for nothing.

"Someone want to lend me a hand?" she asks, wiggling the fingers of her bandaged hand as she pulls out a wrapped bundle of tools from the depths of her bag. 

DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Broken Generator.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"I'm inclined to say it's moving independently, albeit using some logic we aren't aware of..." Riesenlied murmurs in turn to Leon. "Typically, if an army is deploying a powerful Gear or ARM, they're careful to assist it with infantry and other support units -- you have engineers, supply lines... an artillery or heavy armor piece like that leaves tracks. But this doesn't match that kind of pattern, and the deployments and targets also don't seem..." A pause. "There's a pattern we haven't yet ascertained, maybe."

For a Metal Demon, Riesenlied isn't a mechanic, so... the most she can do is kneel by Josephine's side and hand her tools when she's able to. "Here." 

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Broken Generator.

<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.

It's a... a...

"It's broken," Bart comments rather blandly, and then looks around for a moment. He looks at the generator again. He blinks. Thinks.

There is, thankfully, someone who probably stops him from employing his usual 'lets fix this broken thing' solution. Which is shouting, "IMMA WRECK IT!" and smashing it as hard as humanly possible and seeing if it starts working again out of sheer terror.

But restrained from attempting to help, Bart sulks for a moment before he states, "I'm gonna go keep watch!"

Keeping an eye out for either more Kislev soldiers or possible incoming horrible death machines that might want to do terrible things to the group. 

DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Broken Generator.

<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

Ten gella coin shoved. Ten gella taken.

Jude Moshe gains ten (10) gella!

Which he promptly proceeds to flip up with his thumb, snatching it out of mid-air and continuing on, whistling as he goes.

"Guess I should've mentioned Lady Luck always smiles on me for inconsequential bets." He casts a smile Josephine's way, expression ambivalently wry.

"Makes up for all the other stuff."

And with that, he follows along, playing that coin between his fingers as he goes; his whistling slowly quiets the deeper they get, so as not to alert any other guards that might be stationed here. Metal glints against the flickering lights as the coin glides between his fingers... until there is nothing but darkness to reflect off that shiny, metal surface. Jude blinks. He looks around through the murky air, seeing glimpses of what looks like barracks. Signs of a fight. Did it penetrate this deep?

"Huh," he utters. "Kinda drab."

And with that in-depth observation leveled, the man turns his attention towards the sparking generator as Josie turns towards it. The gloves come off, and his eyes dip towards that bandage-covered hand for a moment before he wordlessly makes his way over. A simple whistle cuts through the air, sharp but brief...

... and something lands on Josephine's shoulder with a familiar, metal weight before a light shines down upon that sparking generator for her.

"Here, let me see what I can do," he mentions off-handedly, crouching down as Jacob, comfortably perched, provides illumination from what looks like a little flashlight within its mouth, head cocking curiously as if to ask whether or not this is helpful -- or await instructions on where to turn that light next as Jude estures for some tools to start to get to work with a surprising degree of familiarity with Kislevi electrical systems for a journalist. 

DG: Jude Moshe has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Broken Generator.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

It might be that Leon does help Fei across.

Either way, Leon lands and then he starts walking. He frowns as he does, eyes moving to the flickering lights. He looks down at the ground, too. He sees the huge scrapes ripped into it and his jaw clinches. "It's been in here. The way its legs are--I can't say if this was coming, going, or both. But--"

Darkness, as they enter the next room. He winces, and then he starts walking forward, only to peer down at the generator. He looks at Lily. "Lieutenant, is this one in the field manual?"

He frowns, though, and glances sideways at Riesenlied. He nods. "I agree. There's something else to it. And... it did have a certain intelligence. More like an animal's, than ours, though." He glances down at Jude, though.

His nose wrinkles, and he peers down -- to see what he can make sense of. 

DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Broken Generator.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"No, I agree with you," Lily says to Jude. "Gryndille isn't from Kislev or Aveh. I know the higher-ups kept secrets from us, but this couldn't be one of them."

She hasn't responded to the joke. She doesn't intend to.

Bart's confused and Lily this time doesn't have the fous to talk to him about it. Instead, she focuses on the maze of the hallway, going through these passages carefully, ARM still in hand. Her golden eyes are half-closed to deal with the sparkles of light until--ah.

Lily's ARM goes back over her shoulder. Jude and Josie are already getting to work, and Lily--who Leon helped before--mentions the tracks...

"Mm," she says, and pulls her satchel, "Let me check for it. It's..." She flips through her notes on electrical equipment before she shakes her head.

"No. This generator doesn't come standard in any Kislevi bases. I think I can cobble together some idea for it, but... Well, you don't need my hands in there." 

DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Kislev Field Manual toward her party's challenge, Broken Generator.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Well I mean--someting lasting that long..." Fei begins. "When it's like THAT."

He is, thankfully, helped across by Leon (Hopefully this moment happened not at the same time as Lily's problems or he's a dead man). Nevertheless, he asides to Bart. "Aw c'mon, man." He tells him. "You know that these places never make any sense. Maybe the traps all decayed from time or something."

Despite his words, his gaze towards Bart is INTENSELY sympathetic.

The next area is a bit different. It seems pretty dark in here though. Luckily, Fei does have something to help find a generator. He reaches into his artist's toolkit and withdraws--

--a match. Which he strikes against the side of the kit to make a flame. He holds it out and tries to follow the light around towards the generator.

"I uh... sometimes like to work in the dark." He sort of explains.

He glances over to Josephine further though and asks, "So are you two really partners? I didn't know that." Oh! He thinks. Maybe that's why Jude has a robot bird somehow?

Hmm. 

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, Broken Generator.
DG: The party led by Leon Albus has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 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> Leon Albus has posed.

"Wait." Leon stops, eyes on Fei for a moment. Then, he turns to look at Josie. Then, at Jude. "If you two are partners, then I feel my life is far more complicated than it has any right to be." 

<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.

Bart has a coughing fit in the background. And totally is not trying to restrain a laugh or anything similar. 

<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

"Yep," Jude says off-handedly as he works, so casually spoken it has to be true. "We're thick as thieves. A more trustworthy partner I could never ask for." And here, he flashes Josephine an easy smile that speaks of pure unspoken camaraderie and is in no way a conspiratorial expression of 'just go with it.'

Nope. Definitely not. 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily sighs audibly. Audibly, until it's muffled a little bit by her arm because she's facepalming. "I don't care what your relationship is," she comments. "Leon, don't bother." 

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"Keep watch, okay? Some of those guys might sneak up on us." This is to Bart, puntuated with a wave as she approaches and kneels before the spark-throwing generator.

Being effectively one-handed -- outside some coarse-level action, enough to grab and roughly pinch where needed with her right -- makes this level of repair, especially with the type of system she's only passingly familiar with a little bit trickier.

But there are many little things that help.

A sudden weight alights on her shoulder and almost, almost Josie thinks that Penelope has arrived, against the odds. "What--" Her eyes light up, as if in delight. "Oh, Jacob! Thanks, buddy," she comments, the bird lending her a little much-needed light as she inspects the faults in the generator. "Now, if only Penelope could... oh well," she settles for, lips quirked in a lopsided smile.

"Thanks," she comments to Riesenlied as the Metal Demon woman settles down next to her, apparently here to be assistant for this repair job. "Pass me the screwdriver. I think I see the problem now. ...Not standard?" She glances back over her shoulder at Lily and Leon. "Damn, so much for that. Any tips, like 'do not touch this wire'?" She stabs in the direction of one, for emphasis. "I'll take anything you can give."

Some of these wires are shot. If she can rewire this section... "Pliers," she asks next.

Which is followed by an extra and honestly needed flare of light from a match. "Well," Josie starts to say at Fei's question, her shoulders tensing. Slowly, she glances up at Jude.

'When in Kislev', as they say. Let them think what they want. "What, are you surprised? I'm not over the hill yet," she grumbles, goodnaturedly. And then straightens, wiping her hand across her brow. "...Okay, I think I've got this! Where's the switch -- got it!"

It's still throwing sparks so it's not in the 'healthy' range yet, but the lights come back on. Go team? 

DG: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.

===================<* CHALLENGE - Mangled Defense Turret *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 1          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Automated defense turrets are uncommon, but not unheard of, among Ignasian
 militaries. This one sits in the midst of the tunnel leading in deeper, but
 the danger isn't the cannon -- which has been ripped away and hurled against
 a wall. A smear of blood is half-obscuring the emblem of Aveh's military,
 while most of the casing has been crushed in like something stepped on it.
 Sparks and lightning arc out of its cracked casing, which will make
 disposing of the wreckage a dangerous prospect indeed.
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Weaken===========================================

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong doesn't seem to mind whom Jude 'partners up' with, one way or another. He doesn't really know why it's a big deal sometimes. "Huh?" He asks, tilting his head. "What does your age have to do with anything?" Though, really, how old IS Josephine? He's not sure. He doesn't comment on that, though, he just kind of looks curious in a moment. Not over the hill means at least thirty right? But then how old is Jude? Better yet, does he really care? No he supposes he doesn't really care.

Yes he totally misses the signaling and since it's confirmed he just adds, "Well you make a good team." simply enough.

The generators flicker on and reveal--

--turrets! An automated turret. Fei says, "Shit! Get out of the--"

He pauses as nothing happens. "...Oh, nevermind. It's broke." He frowns a bit. It seems exceedingly unlikely they aren't gonna run into Gryndille here anymore. Wait--is that bad? Okay maybe that isn't actually bad. Maybe it's better if they don't run into it. But he came along on this so he'll see it through to the end.

He approaches the cannon and ducks down. His eyes widen as he sees the sparks but more importantly, sees the emblem.

"Bart! Look at this! I think this is from the Aveh military!"

He then examines the electricity crackling out it and reaches out to try and caaaaarefully push it along.

"This is going to suck isn't it?" He mutters to himself. 

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Mangled Defense Turret.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied throws her eyes open at Fei's exclamation, and she herself throws to one side as-- nothing happens. There's a faint breath as she murmurs, "Even the automated defenses have been..." she pauses, as she peers for a moment at Fei's discovery. "You're right..."

A pause. "The mystery deepens. A hidden base in the depths of Adlehyde, where we encounter Kislevi troops and Aveh-marked defenses..." She shakes her head. Between this and Garlyle, there is entirely too much military subterfuge happening.

"Careful, Fei -- here," as she rummages through her knapsack and offers some well-worn rubber gloves for him to use. It's not much, but it might help protect against the electric currents that're sparking through the machine. 

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mangled Defense Turret.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

What does your age have to do with anything asks Fei. Josie, turning to face him now that the generator's back online, actually stops to stare at him for a moment. She tilts her head to one side. And then she grins. "You're cute, kid. Don't change." With that, she'll stoop to retrieve her tools and pack -- and even more importantly, her gloves, which she slips back on.

The lights illuminate what else is in this room. Turrets--

Josie draws back a step, bag dangling from her good hand.

--Nonfunctional turrets. "Well, that's a relief."

Yes, in spite of the blood.

Fei calls out that there's an Aveh emblem, and Josie approaches, sliding the bag to the crook of her arm as she reaches down to rub some of the blood off with her thumb. "...Yep." She straightens. "Guess that clinches it. I don't think this is a Kislevi base -- look at this thing, it wouldn't be moved easily."

She takes a step back, drops her bag again, and roots through it a moment. "Hey, kid. Try this."

FEI GOT: 1 MATTOCK

"Handle's wood," she points out, offering the tool over. "With that and the gloves you should be fine." 

DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Mangled Defense Turret.

<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.

Bart wanders up to have a look as soon as Fei informs him of the oddity. He leans down and looks it over for a moment, and then grimaces. "Yep, this is definitely the Aveh symbol. But this weapon..." He looks it over for a moment, and thinks hard on where he's seen this sort of thing before.

"Well, this baaasically means..." Hmph. "...well if Kislev was in control of the place now, it probably wasn't theirs to begin with. This sort of thing isn't going to go wandering like a few Gear parts - these weapons are pretty well guarded and we generally don't steal 'em 'cause we gotta smash em to get what we want. Might have been an Aveh base at one point, or they're using Shakhan's crap they looted from somewhere. Don't recall a large enough operation where they would have made off with any of these, though."

He looks at the turret for a moment and shakes his head. "Tryin' to be careful with these pieces of crap is a waste of time, really." He pulls a bottle out of his jacket and pops the cork off of what looks like... cologne? Leon, Lily, and the others who have worked with Bart have seen this trick, and he unleashes a bit of ether charged scent into the air and breathes it in. Fortified by the awesome power of his blue cologne, Bart just reaches out to grab the turret and just RIP THE DAMN THING OUT OF ITS MOUNTING.

Really if you want to deal with the problem then just RIP AND TEAR it out, that should help stop the electricity. Someone else might want to deal with the wires while Bart is being unnecessarily macho. 

DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Mangled Defense Turret.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon's eyebrow shakes, once, at Josie's remark. He stays quiet, but there is a long glance at Lily. He should not be surprised. After all, his life is quite complicated. His eyes widen a moment, though. "It's not?" he asks. "This should be standard equipment. I wonder why..."

But then the lights come on, with a flicker.

When Fei calls out that warning, his eyes snap to the left and he sucks a deep breath in. He steps forward, though, and forces some calm. He looks once at the martial artist, and then down at the emblem. His silver eyes narrow, slowly, as he gets a good look at it. "It is. This is... this is growing confusing. And the damage--I think Gryndille could have done this. And the generator."

He looks at the tracks, still cut into the floor.

He scowls, before he walks over -- and then throws his rope onto a piece and yanks. "It wouldn't, no," he tells Josie. Then he watches Bart move in. His eyes widen. "Gh--Bart, careful! You'll get shocked! Lily, can you blow the damn thing up?"

He knows she will be careful. (About this.) 

DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Mangled Defense Turret.

<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

"You've got a heart of gold, don't you?" Observes Jude of Fei as he works. "Awful nice kid."

Eventually, between the two of them, that generator is put into a state that is at least passable enough to get the lights working again. As they thrum with dangerous, sparking life, Jude straightens out, wiping one hand over his forehead and looking around him. There's--

--turrets?

He tenses, but it lasts only for a moment before the reality sinks in. Those turrets are demolished, and yet look unusually advanced for the region -- not impossibly so. Just enough to indicate...

"Well, this place was important."

Jacob's flashlight shuts off, sliding back into hiding within the automaton. It chirps once as if in answer to Josephine's delight, before Jude cocks his head to the right; off the bird leaps, flying up through the stale, enclosed air. It circles about those destroyed automatons just as Fei makes his way over, and as he does, the lenses of Jacob's eyes shutter once, twice, capturing the sight of that Aveh insignia before flying deeper into the ruined passage.

Jude, for his part, knits his brows together into a mild knot of thought.

"Things are probably gonna get a whole lot messier sooner than later. I've written enough on things like this to note that much," Jude notes casually as he grabs his ARM from the depths of his coat. He ratchets open the revolving chamber, reaching behind him to fish out one of a row of rune-etched slugs as he speaks. "Starting to reach the point of no return here. Now would be the time to bow out before things really go to shit."

It'd probably be the time someone with as strong a self-preservation instinct as Jude seems to have would gracefully make his exit. But instead? He just delivers that easy warning before chambering that slug, snapping the revolver back into place. It spins about by inertia as the runes of the shotgun glow a bright, yellowy orange, the barrel glowing a similar hue as the whole ARM starts to whine at an increasingly higher pitch, like the sound of something about to burst.

"Either way -- clear some space." At least he gives a headstart.

"Five... four... three... two... one..."

Click.

"Fire in the hole!"

BOOM 

DG: Jude Moshe has used his Tool Demolition Shell toward his party's challenge, Mangled Defense Turret.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Josie says she's not that old. Josie is also at least not using her off hand, and Lily sighs after having given what advie she can. "I don't want to know," she says to Josie, and whether or not that stays true, it's not true right now. Fei's comment about age, "It's... Probably nothing, is what it has to do."

But a turrent comes up next and Lily is there to look to the others and see... that... symbol.

Specifically, after Lily takes cover, she looks up at it and sees Fei commenting on same. "Aveh..." Lly looks first to Leon, after that. "We could always try to take a prisoner and ask some questions," she says, and feels like she's cold-blooded for even suggesting it. "Look, let's be ca--"

'Lily, can you blow it up?'

Yes, but she's apparently not the only one. "Bart, do you ver consider that munitions might still be live when you move to throw them?" Lily lingers on Jude's weapon, though. That's a very interesting approach.

"Whatever," she says, and sets out her hand, violet circle forming at her fingertips. She breathes in, and the air gets hazy around her, before something crackles about the turret--or what's left of it--and a haze of black power starts to shift around it, set to reduce whatever is left to dust.

There's a darker aura around her in those moments, too, as she channels her power. 

DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mangled Defense Turret.
DG: The party led by Leon Albus has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 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> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Jude makes an observation.

  • laughter for the rest of the Digger run*

"No." Fei shudders, looking like he's just been shot. Considering that he HAS been shot at today yet displayed less of a perturbed response to THAt, that might mean that Jude just hit a sore spot somehow which is strange because it doesn't seem to be that Fei thought Jude was being sarcastic or anything. "I just try to keep...level." He looks over to Jude though and adds, "You don't seem like a bad guy either. I actually wanted to thank you for helping Lily out that one time. I couldn't do it so I'm glad you were able to." He pauses. "Oh uh I was the guy in the gear who got stabbed." That's probably one reason to try to be level at the very least. "So you probably didn't know it was me."

He pauses as Riesenlied offers him gloves. He takes them and adds, "Thanks. I'm, you know, I hope...ugh, nevermind."

He puts them on and takes Josephine's mattock in the process as well. He slams it against the turret for a bit and weakens it from its mooring enough to rip it partway out with help from Leon but it gets stuck on something as he tugs on it forcing even more assistance to be provided.

Jude asks for people to get clear. Lily does not give such forewarning but she's metaphysically loud enough. He runs the hell away as Lily and Jude blow it the hell up.

Fei covers his head and cowers aat the magnificient display of destruction. It's over. You know.

Eventually.

"Well, that's...one way to handle it! Yeah!" Fei admits, sweating profusely. 

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"Hands on approach, huh?" Josie remarks, as Bart foregoes protective measures and just makes to RIP THE DANG THING OUT OF THE WALL.

"Well, you know what they say," Josie comments to Jude, perhaps also seeing a different set of writing on the wall and beginning to make her way towards the doorway, ducking to scoop up her bag as she goes. "In for one gella, in for ten, right? I'm not backing out now." Not unless things go well and truly pear-shaped, in which case she also is going to have a couple of foolish kids to drag out with her.

Josie can be sensible at times.

Explosions -- and a blast of magic, courtesy of Lily, the trailing aura of which prompts Josie to faintly frown -- roll on out.

"Probably, that's that handled, huh?" she comments, before gesturing towards Fei with her good hand. "I'll need that back, too." 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

There's-- a rather rueful cough from Riesenlied as she backs the heck away with Fei in the wake of both explosions and magic. There's a rather groggy look on her face for a moment as she -- stares back towards the martial artist to remark, "... that-- that settles that, I suppose." She places a hand to her cheek with a put-upon sigh. She's not inquiring about the gloves, on the other hand. 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei quietly hands the Mattock over to Josephine. He's still shaking. He forgets to hand the gloves back. 

DG: Leon Albus has drawn a new Challenge.

======================<* CHALLENGE - The Crimson Wolves *>======================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You descend into the lowest level of the Mt. Eldrin ruins. Here, they extend
 into a large room that shows no small amount of damage. Dead Aveh and
 Garlyle soldiers are scattered across the floor, many shot, clawed, burnt,
 and blackened by advanced ARMs. The antechamber here is a half-circle, and
 the flat wall opposite of you ends in a large double door with a keypad.

 "Got it," one soldier standing there says. He wears -- as do his six fellows
 -- a deep crimson uniform, styled in the Kislevi form, with a patch showing
 a howling wolf's head on his shoulder. He presses the keypad and the door
 opens into a poorly lit lair.

 One of the other soldiers turns as you enter, though. Her eyes widen, before
 she barks out: "Look alive! We have company! It's--" She gasps. "--It's the
 traitors!"
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
<SoundTracker> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrWkm4aJTkU

Leon, mercifully, still cannot see the darker aura around Lily. Sorcery is not something he knows much of.

He looks down at Fei -- a frown is on his face, when he answers Jude -- before he nods. He steps back and watches as the bomb and the spell combine to burn through the remains of the destroyed turret. He lets out a sigh of relief, then. "Good job," he says. "Let's see, then..."

The path ahead is easier to see. For one thing, there is one well-armored tunnel leading in. A place where the walls and floor are lined with steel, and Gryndille's movement through it has left the plates crushed and crumpled. Against the wall, an Aveh soldier is slumped over dead. His head is nothing but a dark red smear on the wall. The blood tracks across the ground, as if Gryndille dragged the corpse after.

Leon swallows, hard, at that.

Which leads into the next set of stairs, which lead downward and downward. They empty out into a large room, shaped like a half-circle. A battle was fought here -- and the Aveh soldiers, with a few Garlyle uniforms mixed in, clearly lost. But, as they come down, they are not the only living souls in this room. A unit of seven soldiers stands there -- four facing the door, as one of them works at a keypad. "Got it."

The door hisses open.

One of them facing the stairs, though, gasps. "Look alive! We have company!" She gasps. "--It's the traitors!"

Another soldier brings a beautiful, wood-edged ARM to his shoulder. Another swings out a rod, which crackles with electricity. A fourth flexes tattooed hands, and icicle shards begin forming in the air. The lead soldier turns, a woman with dark blue hair and an eyepatch. She looks them over, before she cracks a smile. "...Should have known the turncoats would appear," she says. "And... the boy, from Lahan. And--ha! A Metal Demon! Too rich."

She spits. "I always wanted a crack at you."

Leon's eyes narrow at her. "Captain Legrand," he says. He lifts his flare gun -- and fires. The shot flies over her shoulder, then slams into the wall above the keypad, before it explodes with brilliant white light. "I see you're not planning to talk this out."

"No," the Crimson Wolf says. "Not in the slightest." She looks at her subordinates. "Take the traitors and the boy from Lahan! Kill the rest and burn their bodies with the rest of them!" 

DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Flare Gun toward his party's challenge, The Crimson Wolves.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily is not inclined to share that aspect of herself with Leon now. Maybe not at all, if she can help it. Anyone else who sees it... So be it. They have places to be, and things to find deeper within here.

For her part, the black-haired sorceress stretches her gloved hands and follows along. Now and then she checks on each of those travelling with them, and spends less time looking towards the soldier smeared against the wall than Leon does. She steps right past, avoiding it if anyone can notice.

Downward, downward, Lily's soft-soled boots tread, until this large room moves before them. Lily looks over corpses... But sees more than corpses. The door opens and a familiar face greets Lily. She stares for an instant, but she would know their insignias even if she didn't know thair faces, and she looks a moment later at that beautiful ARM that makes her eyes outright widen. Still, she says nothing.

"You..." Legrand is there, and Leon fires his flaregun.

"The Black Wolves won't fall so easily," Lily says. "I'm sorry."

That dark aura from moments ago crackles into being around Lily as she adopts a wide stance, both hands out with violet magic within them. "You've probably heard that I can do this," she says simply, and from above comes a blast of darkness sharp enough to pulp the ground straight down for the soldier who spotted them.

"Come on!" 

DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Crimson Wolves.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied, on the other hand, can sense Lily's aura, and it concerns her.

"... do keep a watchful eye on yourself," she quietly advises Lily. "... perhaps it is rich coming from a Demon, but that aura of yours..." She pauses, and then shakes his head gently with a sigh. "... just don't drive him to despair."

Then, she turns her head up towards the path up ahead as they proceed. "This machine definitely is poised for naught but brutality..." she expresses with distaste, gazing towards the wall.

Her eyes widen further as she scans and immediately denotes -- Aveh, Garlyle -- a more personal chase for her. And Kislevi uniforms... with wolfshead marks. The same squad as that of Leon and Lily? Or another? They know each other, but from where?

Riesenlied is identified, but she frowns towards the Captain to say, "Can you truly afford to have a clash here when you know what's just beyond?!" She doesn't wait to see if she'll have an effect on her, though, since she's already ducked underneath a console and concentrated harder--

--Pinions fly out once more, forming barriers of light by which the group can afford cover. This was, to her, the utmost priority in what's rather obviously going to be a firefight in a crowded little room -- they had poor positioning and needed aid here.

There's a wince from the Demon, as fresh droplets of red blood flow further from the arches of her wings. She's not going to be able to keep this up forever. "Eliminate their sorcery first! We're sitting ducks in a crowded hall like this!" 

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Crimson Wolves.

<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.

As they walk into the next room, they finally find some living people.

Unfriendly living people at that, but Bart wasn't really expecting to find anyone here who would actually be on their side. He looks up at the shout of 'It's the traitors!'... and the pirate smiles.

Oh does he smile.

"Traitors eh? Well, I've heard that sort of thing before," he states, pulling out his whip. He looks at Leon and Lily for a moment, and asks, "So I take it you two have some history with these folks?" in a rather bland tone of voice, although Leon should be able to tell that this just means that the pirate is both irritated and fully ready to lay some hurt down. "Doesn't seem like the good sort, though, so I'm not inclined to go nice on this lot."

His whip suddenly snakes out, aiming to wrap around the gun of one of the Kislev soldiers and pull it out of the man's hand. Bart tosses a bottle into the air a moment later, and eruption of white mist providing an invigorating shot of energy to his companions as the ether inside is released.

"Now look here, Alpha Bitch," Bart comments, lashing out with his whip again. "I am a God. Damn. PIRATE. The people who stand with me are also pirates, because they're my jolly crew and we go around pillaging, looting, and having a GOD DAMN GOOD TIME OF IT! I worked hard to be a pirate, generally sailing the sea of sands, looting, pillaging, boozin' and living it up with the ladies, and no stuck up Kislev special forces 'kaptain' is gonna go around callin' any of my crew some weakass name like 'traitors' or 'that kid', because yo ho, darlin'!"

And Bart grins as he leaps into the fray. "It's a pirate's life for all of us!" 

DG: Bart Fatima has used his Tool White Cologne toward his party's challenge, The Crimson Wolves.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

The mattock of course goes back in her pack.

Josie pauses near the body as they press on through the hall, glancing up at the roof of the tunnel. Her eyes narrow, her mouth twists. "...Looks like it just walked right through this place. Looking for something, or... perhaps it was just coincidence." The archaeologist shakes her head. "Mm..."

She's silent, as they press on towards the stairs, as if turning these things over in her head.

"Hold up--" she hisses, well-earned instinct kicking in--

Too late, as it happens. They've been spotted.

Kislev soldiers.

The past always has a nasty way of coming back to bite you when you least expect it, doesn't it. Josie's gaze casts about tight space here, taking in opponents, potential avenues.

And then dark eyes flit first towards Leon, then Lily as the woman -- Captain Legrand it seems -- addresses them.

And then towards Fei. The look there is at best knowing, unreadably so.

Kill the rest and burn their bodies with the rest of them!

Slowly, Josie reaches into the pocket in her coat, drawing out that flask once again. Unscrewing the cap, she takes a hit off of it, and just as deliberately puts it back.

"So sorry, but I'll have to pass on that part," she says, with a smile that suggests she's not at all sorry. Her other hand slips low, to the holster at her hip. A click echoes out as she eases off the safety of the sidearm. "Besides, I'm not just going to let you walk off with any of these guys. Call it payback on a debt I owe if you want."

No room for a rifle in a place like this. But luckily, she's not that limited.

Eliminate their sorcery first, Riesenlied says.

"Don't have to say it twice. Look alive, everyone~!" Josie calls out.

Normally, Josie prefers a more pragmatic approach to combat. But this time, there's nowhere to go but forward. So forward she goes, a short rush rush down the stairs before she feints right and cracks off a shot towards that Symbologist back there. From the look of those tattoos -- the ones Josie can recognize from here -- they're going to be a problem.

"Funny," she comments, a moment later, sparing a glance down at the sidearm she's now wielding. "This is an Aveh military ARM." 

DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, The Crimson Wolves.

<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

You don't seem like a bad guy either.

Fei thanks him. Guileless and full of genuine gratitude. And Jude remains quiet for a time afterwards -- presumably, to focus on aiming that weapon so as not to blow up everyone else before he and Lily can even take care of the debris. As the turret is blown apart with that deafening boom of combined technology (?) and magic, as melted metal falls and clatters, Jude Moshe walks past, lifting a hand to tousle Fei's hair like the cool, affectionate gesture of an older brother.

"See? Always seeing the best in people. You're a commendable kid."

Fei mentions, however, that he was at Old Petra. In the Gear who got stabbed. Jude's head tilts back.

"Huh, really? The black one, yeah? That's a nifty little toy you got there, spud."

And just like that, he carries on -- but doesn't let go of his shotgun. Not quite yet. He looks up -- seeing a glimpse of Jacob beyond, lenses glinting in the light before he flies off in another direction -- and his grip tightens a bit on that ARM.

And just as well that he does, considering the sight beyond him as they finish winding their way across those stairs. Well-used boots hit hard earth with a little, stony crunch as Jude turns his gaze towards the sight of soldiers. Aveh, Garlyle. And the only ones here unharmed...

Amber eyes track towards the squad at the far end. Red uniforms. Kislevi. Wolf decor.

"Great," he grouses, sounding more put upon than anything else. His index finger curls around the trigger of his weapon. He looks aside, towards Lily and Leon.

"Y'know, I'd ask you two to see if you couldn't smooth things over, but considering I was gonna sell you off to these guys--"

Words exchange and go as well as to be expected. That flare explodes in blinding light.

"--I'm pretty sure they're not really the type to live and let live!"

Darkness swirls around Lily in that telltale way; sharp, amber eyes flit her way for a moment, as if cataloguing the familiar sight of that power somewhere in the recesses of his mind before Jude darts forward. This time, he provides cover for Lily and Leon against the very people he had every intention of shipping them off to months earlier, interposing himself with a certain, deadly certainty between the Crimson Wolves and their prey before his ARM lifts up. It whines, charging with sparks of electric magic as the runes glow a radiant gold and purple -- before that shotgun fires off a blast of pure electrical discharge, aimed for the generator directly behind the soldiers -- to distract as the power goes berserk with electrical fluctuations as he pushes in. His ARM swings to his right. The long edge of its bayonet blade shifts into place with a snap.

"I'm not really much of a pirate," he begins conversationally -- and for all that he acts so glib and carelessly indifferent...

"But I'd be lying if I said you didn't hurt my feelings, too."

... the motion of his blade as he seeks to literally disarm the symbology user with two fluid strokes of that bayonet before ducking out of the way of Josephine's shot, speaks only to a very brutal sort of efficiency. 

DG: Jude Moshe has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Crimson Wolves.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Nhh..." Fei bites his tongue at Jude calling him commendable. "Well thanks but... I don't know...Uh...It's not... Sorry." He doesn't even know what he's apologizing for! How did this happen!

Fei Fong Wong looks towards Leon for a moment. He takes in a deep breath and advances forward with Leon. He scowls deeply as he sees more Aveh bodies. Was this Gryndille, then? And if this was Gryndille, why is Kislev fighting them? Do they think they're with Gryndille?

No, it becomes pretty apparent rather dang quick that it's not Gryndille. They don't care about Gryndille, at least not enough to not try and take their heads as well. Maybe they underestimate the danger of Gryndille. Fair. It's hard to know just how dangerous something is when it leaves such few survivors but judging from the corpses, these people should know.

He exchanges a knowing look with Josephine. There's plenty of despair there as well.

"You." He says, looking towards Captain Legrand, a sudden ire raising up from within him. It's her words that are just making him full of anger. The words of these...these people. These soldiers. These little men and women who are gleefully ruining these good people's lives.

He can't go back to Lahan. He can't go back to his friends. He can't even go and help Dan. He'd only make things worse. He knows what it's like to not be able to go home again. He's known that feeling. It feels like that feeling has been with him since far before Lahan. He can't go home. He can't go home. They can't go home either. His sympathy is making him angry. He hates feeling like there's nothing he can do. He just wanted them to go home some day. It doesn't seem like it's possible, Fei. It doesn't seem like it's possible.

"Are you insane!?" He shouts. "What do you expect out of fighting us here? You should know by now they aren't actually traitors. You're seeing evidence of Gryndille with your own eyes!" He clenches his fists. "They nearly DIED fighting for your country...!"

He does not grip the RPS Badge. This fight isn't going to be charming in any capacity. He walks forward, baring his teeth at this woman--and then he leaps impossibly through the air towards her. He probably takes several shots from symbology magic and actual weaponfire from this, but he just pushes through like a madman. He tackles the captain to the ground and starts wailing on her with his fists rapidly and brutally.

"THEY DID NOTHING WRONG!" He screams. "YOU KNOW THEY DID NOTHING WRONG!" Punch! "BUT FOR NO GOOD REASON!" Punch! "THEY CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN!" Punch! "THEY CAN'T SEE THEIR FAMILIES AGAIN!" Punch! "THEY CAN'T SEE THEIR FRIENDS AGAIN!" Punch! "THEY LOST THEIR COMRADES FIGHTING FOR YOU!" Punch!! "BUT YOU BETRAYED THEM AND CALLED THEM TRAITORS!" Punch!

This is probably why Fei prefers to keep level. 

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Crimson Wolves.
DG: The party led by Leon Albus has failed 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.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon nods, once, to Bart's and Riesenlied's inquiry. "Crimson Wolves," he says. "A unit in the same command the Black Wolves were part of."

He rushes in. One of the soldiers swings out a saber -- and Argent Divider meets it. Sparks fly as each stroke is parried; it isn't hard to see that Leon uses the same style as the soldier he spars with, and their blades meeting are a metronome for the pace of the rest of battle. Josephine's gunshot cracks out -- and even as icicle shards fly, some smashing against the pinion's barriers and some flying past -- the shot takes him in the shoulder. He stumbles backward.

Blood smears on the wall, but he looses a blast of lightning. The barrier intercepts it, though, just in time. Captain Legrand scowls, then swings up her own weapon -- a long, jagged knife -- before she lunges at Bart. His whip leaves a bloody gash, but she tries to bury it in his stomach. "Is that so?" she asks. "You pick poor company. But, I wouldn't expect more from you. Besides--"

She laughs, and fire explodes off the long dagger as she slashes again for Bart. "--A pirate's life is short!"

"What the hell IS SHE!?" one of the soldiers screams, as Lily summons her magic. The blast of sheer darkness rips downward, smashing into the man. Skin, flesh, and bone dissolve in a blast of otherworldly shadow -- and he is gone, reduced to a darkened ash in an instant, as it hits dead on. Another soldier turns, staring at her, and then lifts his rifle.

But Jude interposes himself between Lily, Leon, and those soldiers. The shotgun fires an electrical current towards the generator. It hits it, and arcs of lightning explode outward. A fork of it catches the soldier about to fire on her. He convulses and falls -- and the Symbologist looks up at Jude, raising a hand.

The bayonet slashes it off. He screams, tattooed hand grabbing the bloodied stump.

Leon ducks as the soldier he fights swings his sword in a wide arc. "You should have paid closer attention to my father's lessons, Veiken," he admonishes the man.

"Shut up! SHUT UP!"

"He always said the third hew shouldn't be overreached--" Leon slams upward, and his sword is gripped in both hands. He thrusts straight upward -- and spears the soldier through the underside of the jaw. He spasms as the blade rips out top of his head, legs and arms convulsing. Leon rips the sword free, then kicks his corpse to the side. "--it leaves you vulnerable to blows from below."

Captain Legrand is, for the moment, too busy trying to slaughter Bart with a knife that bursts with Symbological fire to catch Fei rushing at her. Her one good eye turns, to look at him. "We're soldiers!" she spits. "We do as we're told--and we think as we're told. Do you know what the difference between any of you and a fish is!? None, because I'll gut all of--"

She gets tackled by Fei, smashed away from Bart in an instant. The dark-haired woman slams back against the floor as he screams and starts punching, until his fists are red with blood. Each blow smashes her head backward. No more words come out, though not for want of trying. Her head smashes back against the metal floor.

And then there is a sickening crack. She goes limp underneath Fei.

That leaves only a pair of soldiers, edging away -- and one dropped the fine rifle he held. He draws a pistol. His eyes meet the Symbologist's -- and then he fires a single round through that eye, dropping his comrade to the ground.

He and his fellow bolt up the stairs they came from and the room falls deahtly silent, with five new bodies joining those that Gryndille slaughtered. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"F-Fei!"

Riesenlied's eyes widen as the young man from Lahan launches into an angry, frustrated tirade-- and she bites her lip as the barriers start to flicker in their shimmer. She can feel her power fading, and this won't last-- longer--

She grits her teeth, and takes a risk.

She lunges out of her cover, drawing her arms out over her as she leaps across the consoles and is singed by weaponfire in the moment. "Fei, stop! Calm down! You--" her eyes widen as he continues to scream, continue to strike, and--

--she decides to throw herself in the wake of interposing fire in the din of battle, and she gasps as the last errant few bullets fly free and cut a swath straight through her wings. Blood drips from them, tainting the darkened colour that they normally have.

She stares in horror as the lone soldier turns on their comrade and flees, before she quietly holds onto the martial artist's shoulder. Without words. Words can't reach him now, not the way he is. Somehow, this feels familiar. A rage that she could not possibly dispel with just words, just...

...a glow emanates softly from her, as she tries to reach out towards some gentler side of him within. There's nothing but compassion and concern there.

It's a much smaller-scaled version of Laevateinn, much gentler. Lily, Jude and Leon both could see the light from when they saw it. 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Maybe she ought to be more careful, but instead of following Riesenlied's advice, Lily is immediately leaning on it again. It lingered for her anyway, that caution, and she is being more careful.

Maybe they can discuss it when she's not obligated to be on her guard in this way.

"Bart," Lily snaps, "You don't know what you're talking about." Lightheartedness--as it is to her--has no place at the moment, and Lily's patience is very thin as she attempts to rend apart her countrywomen and men.

Josie too has things to say, mentions that debt again, and it's all happening fast. Even Jude, "Do you really have to remind me of that right now?" she snaps. It weighs on her nerves. It presses on them hard. And Fei...

Lily is still using her magic when Fei is screaming, and she tries to block it out.

It's almost easy, as the screamed question echoes in her mind. 'What the hell IS SHE!?' it lingers, rattling in her skull as she renders her opponent into ashes. She could've been shot in that moment... But thanks to Jude she wasn't. Already she starts trying to catch her breath for another spell, but in the process she can hear the others fight, hear words back... She doesn't hear Captain Legrand anymore in short order.

One hand stretches out towards one of that pair of soldiers, the one that was holding the rifle and no longer is. Ther rifle still has a beautiful strap attached, red with the leather portion embossed. The main is pointing that revolver. Lily's hand shakes.

The men bolt, and the room is silent. Nauseatingly, awfully silent, as Lily's hand just doesn't stop shaking. She stares where they were, and then looks out over the room, at the red uniforms.

It is now her shoulders that shake, not just her hand. "I... I only wanted..." Her voice breaks, and the stoic young women lets out an audible sob, hugging herself as she tries and fails to hold back tears.

They fall onto the ground, not so far from the remnants of ash left to a soldier, as Lily Keil shakes in place. "Father... Father, why...?"

She can't see the light. 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei hears the crack. He stops.

He looks down at the body. He looks at his hands. They're soaked. They're even MORE soaked in his mind. He feels the blood on his face. He looks at the face. He doesn't see Legrand's face. She had a face portrait once. It's gone now. No he sees another woman lying there.

"No it wasn't..." He says. "It wasn't me. I didn't do it." He stammers, in a terrified panic. "I didn't mean to... agh...AGGHH..." He rolls over, clutching his forehead. "You're always making me...!"

No.

"I didn't want to hurt anybody!" Fei wails.

No. I am not coming out.

"I just wanted them to be able to go home! Why couldn't they let them go home??"You can't make me!!

Fei squeezes his eyes tightly shut and curls into a ball. There's a faint red crackling. It's difficult to tell whether it's struggling to come out or to stay in. "I just wanted to go home!"

THIS ONE WAS ALL YOU!

He howls, "Mommy stop it, mommy please stop...!"

I AM STAYING PUT! LOOK AT THE TAINTED! LOOK! YOU FUCKING COWARD!

The pain of the bullets and spellfire stop suddenly. He opens his eyes. He looks at Riesenlied. He can see Riesenlied. He is no longer here, but he can see Riesenlied.

"That's right..." He whispers to her, as if remembering something. "I'm a coward. I'm... tainted."

The crackling red energy vanishes instantly and Fei collapses, breathing heavily, tears pooling from his eyes and snot dripping out his nose. A near complete mental breakdown.

He's gonna need a minute. 

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

That's one shot. Unlike a rifle, one can fire a little more quickly with a sidearm, even if the accuracy can be a little dodgy (depending on the make, depending on maintenance, depending on a whole score of things). She doesn't stay put.

Josie ducks, attempting to push further down the stairs -- stepping aside as Jude pushes past her in the fray that follows -- and the moment darkness rips through the air, she follows, using it as a form of cover.

From there, once she's at the bottom, she simply takes what shots with what openings she can.

Up until the point, that is, when Fei engages melee.

"Fengalon's teeth," Josie hisses, dark eyes watching Fei as he leaps at the captain and bears her to the ground. It's enough to stall even her, even mid-combat, even with multiple targets up and moving.

That's going too far, even for her tastes. "Shit-- kid, Fei--" she calls out.

There's a sickening crack. Josie squints one eye halfway shut, as if in a wince.

When those two soldiers flee for the stairs, she doesn't even attempt to take the shot.

Everything has gone utterly silent. Josie would swear she can hear the sound of her own heart.

And even as she dares to approach Fei, it's a sob from Lily's direction that steals the entirity of her attention. Her lips part, and something about the archaeologist's expression goes entirely, utterly soft.

In silence, she approaches Lily and puts a hand on her shoulder.

Gently. Lily does not like to be touched. 

<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.

The Captain is tough, but Bart has been in tough spots before. He lashes out with whip and fist, deflecting the blows from the knife with a rather practiced eye. It doesn't help the Captain that her opponent has been training to fight since he was twelve, and has been killing Aveh and Kislev soldiers for quite a long time on top of that. And as the two struggle, he simply grins. Because the pirate enjoys frustrating people who think that he needs to just up, roll over, and die.

"You're not bad!" he shouts, keeping her occupied. "But I've fought better every week, and you're nothing compared to Gebler's elite! Come on, why don't you stop TALKING about killing me and actually kill me-"

And then Fei takes her down... hard. The pirate looks at the kid for a moment, and looks as he has a breakdown. And Bart walks over and puts one hand on Fei's shoulder. And he states quietly, "Thanks kid. That wasn't looking good, and she'd have probably had me if you hadn't jumped in there."

It might be a lie, but it might not be. But the look on Bart's face is understanding, especially as Fei grapples with his own emotions.

There's not a lot more he can do there.

Bart looks at Lily for a long moment. He strongly considers saying something rash and probably unhelpful. 'It's hard to understand if you don't actually tell us anything!' hovers on his lips, threatening to escape and probably doing even more damage at this point.

But as the enemy flees, several of them having been dealt with rather severely, and the pirate coils up his whip onto his hip. And he lets out a long, slow breath. "Never gets easier," he growls. But he closes his good eye, and looks around for a moment.

"...we should be getting close now, Leon. Let's take a moment, get ourselves back together, and then move on."

As far as Bart is concerned, the greatest respect you can show for someone you had to kill is get the job done, and the next job, and the one after that. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied is calm, but not unaffected -- she can't possibly be unaffected in such a moment. Her eyes widen as she senses that build-up of energy -- an energy she herself should know far too well, twice now. But she stands strong, stalwart through the moment. It's resilience and a gentle shoulder to cry on that's needed-- not tough words, or reminders of a harsh reality, nor anything else.

She looks back at Fei. Her eyes are wet, but she doesn't yet cry.

"It's okay," she relays very softly, even as she glances to where Lily's suffering her own anxiety and breakdown as well, biting her lip. They say they lived and breathed war, but it ravaged them so. She knows that pain all too well -- and the pain of fearing that one can't move past it, to conquer that fear, even when it makes them suffer.

"I'm a coward too," she expresses to Fei. "But it's okay to be afraid."

She lays her hand on his, holding it gently. "It's okay to ask for help when you need it too."

She winces as she finally retracts the Pinions to slip by the arches of her wings once more. They don't 'click' back into place smoothly -- they're bloodied as they come back, dripping onto the floor, joining the blood of those who've fallen just now.

She knows they don't have long. It's difficult, but they have to keep going. An even greater threat may lay before them. She reminds him of this gently. "Can you stand, Fei?" 

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon stares down at the corpse at his feet. He knew this man. He sparred with him; practiced with him; learned with him. He doesn't sob or cry out, the way that Lily is. There are no tears to be shed. He looks down, blood having splattered his shirt, his vest, and his coat. It slicks the silver blade of the Argent Divider, and the weapon doesn't feel like the sword that cut Princess Cecilia's ties to her past.

It feels like the day the Black Wolves died, he realizes. The same, gnawing, empty feeling that made everything so hollow -- that makes it so he can drown out even Lily's sobs, even Fei screaming that he didn't mean for this to happen.

His blonde hair, longer and far more unkempt than it was that day, hangs down in front of his silver eyes as he looks down. He lets out a breath and is surprised to find that he was holding it. It shakes in his throat. He closes his eyes and tries to center himself. It isn't easy. He looks about -- and in the end, it's Jude Moshe who he sees.

The man who tried to turn them in, but then he helped Lily -- and just now, he leapt between them and the Crimson Wolves. He has wondered, before, if he was wrong. He decides, now, that he was. He underestimated him.

There are, he reminds himself, Black Wolves still alive.

He flicks the sword to the side. The motion sends a splatter of another man's blood onto the wall, but leaves it clean. His eyes drift to Bart, when he speaks, and he nods once. "Yeah."

He flips the sword around, then he slides it back into its holster. He walks closer to Lily. He looks at Josie, meeting her eyes, before he crouches down. "Lieutenant," he says, quietly. "We need to get moving. We'll have time to mourn and ask why later. Remember what I said? We have a long road ahead of us." He leans forward, kissing her on the forehead, before he makes his way towards Riesenlied -- and towards Fei.

"Fei," he says, after Riesenlied speaks. "Can you hold together a little longer? We're almost through. You came for us. We'll leave here together." 

DG: Jude Moshe has drawn a new Challenge.

====================<* CHALLENGE - The Execution Chamber *>=====================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 One might think that whatever forced its way into the ruins was turned back
 by those doors. They would be wrong. It entered, somehow, and the room shows
 the signs of severe damage. The room is darkened, whatever lighting it had
 since destroyed.

 It is dark, but the light shining from the antechamber shows Gryndille's
 handiwork.

 Bodies are strewn across the ground. Most are not combatants. The
 bureaucrats, support staff, and scientists hid here during the attack -- and
 the automaton forced its way in. Limbs are thrown about here and there.
 Blood slicks the floor, and tables and chairs where knocked over. Some of
 them were forced into corners, only for all of them to be gunned down
 methodically or ripped apart.

 It did not come for information. It came to kill every last person here --
 and by all accounts, succeeded. Information, however, is available. Papers
 and documents have been knocked over. However, recovering them will require
 wading through the blood and viscera on the ground, and trying to salvage
 what can be saved from such stark conditions.
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================

<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

Starting to reach the point of no return here, Jude had noted, before they had cleared the path to the soldiers.

And now, with Fei curled near just one of the bloodied remains of what used to be a squadron of Kislevi soldiers, the reporter can say with some level of certainty that they've finally arrived.

When the soldiers all fall, they fall messily. Violently. There's nothing glorious or beautiful about any struggle for survival, whether it be a war or otherwise, and this is no different. The scent of iron clouds the air in an ever-present reminder of the fresh violence wreaked here. The bodies just, inevitably, add to the mass. Whether or not people knew them before. There's only one thing they are now.

And as the others go through their turmoils, Jude Moshe watches on, with a quiet sort of detachment. His amber eyes fall on Fei as he loses himself in that panic. There is a light, but it's only on the periphery of Jude's vision as that haze of red clouds around Fei like a bloody mist. His lips pull towards a pensive line. His gaze draws towards Lily, trembling and quietly sobbing. Towards Bart, Riesenlied, and Josephine, all doing their best to try to console after what was rightfully a harrowing ordeal by any stretch of the imagination. That cool, inscrutable stare meets Leon's for a moment, offering not indifference, but something hard to place.

The reporter's head bows, mess of dark red hair obscuring his gaze as he lets his ARM fall back into his coat and pockets a cigarette. Now would be the time for comfort. For consolation. For words of sympathy. How could one not be affected by this? Their comrades, dead, treating them like an enemy to the bitter end. A young man traumatized by his own outburst, hinting at so many deeper, darker issues beneath. Now is the time to weigh in.

But by the time anyone looks his way again, Jude Moshe is already gone, the spectre of him slipping away into the chamber the fallen Wolves tried to breach without a single word.

---

Whatever this place was, most of the people working here must have thought this chamber was a saferoom.

All bloody, visceral evidence available right now, however, points very much to the contrary.

Bodies, limbs, innards spill about in an unpleasant spectacle of an indifferent massacre. It's the cold efficiency of a machine at work, caring not for the grim work it weaves, just that the end result is achieved as efficiently as possible. There is no one -- nothing -- here left alive. It is all nothing more than a tribute to a simple fact: there -are- no safe places here. Not anymore.

And amongst the blood and viscera, pushing through corpses is Jude Moshe, a cigarette hanging limply from his lips and rummaging through the remains for anything of worthwhile use as Jacob flies above, spotting places of interest to stop by and scout with the same methodical single-minded that must have driven the automaton that caused this seemingly senseless massacre.

Through it all, Jude doesn't say a word; he looks as lazy and indifferent as ever, if not for that unreadable look in his eyes.

Like someone just going through the rote of something they've seen too many times before. 

DG: Jude Moshe has used his Tool Jacob toward his party's challenge, The Execution Chamber.

<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.

Bart has seen bad before, but this is something else. He would concur, if Jude had said it aloud, that this was a place where people had tried to flee in hope of discovering some degree of safety. What they had discovered, sadly, was horror and eventually death.

The room is simply a mess, and Bart steps inside without a word. Unlike the rather blase reporter, the Pirate Captain doesn't hide his disgust or his anger at the scene. He's seen terrible things in his time, but this is definitely up there. You don't get people who have been more or less ripped apart all that often, but Bart's seen it.

He's been the cause of it. War is hell.

But he crouches down and looks at the paper for a moment. And then he pauses, eye narrowing.

And he looks back at the door. And he looks at Jude, and tries to pull some papers out of the gore and ichor spread across the room.

"Now, I'm just a simple pirate and all that, and this here is messed up beyond belief," he growls, but there's something... wary about his voice and posture. In fact, he almost seems ready to pull out his gun. "But this is way too fresh to have been some act of horror that occurred a while ago, and the Wolves out there didn't seem bloodied up enough to have gotten in here."

That single blue eye narrows, and Bart gives Jude, Leon, and Lily a look.

"So where the hell is Gryndille? We certainly didn't pass the damn thing on the way in." 

DG: Bart Fatima has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Execution Chamber.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei is stabilized by Riesenlied. It's okay to be afraid. That speaks to him. It's okay to ask for help when you need it too. That also speaks to him. Hoarsely he manages, "I don't want you to feel it," to Riesenlied with utmost sincerity. "No... you've felt it. You must have by now. Feeling it again and again that failure over so many years. I wish I was like him. I wish I could just do it like he does. I don't know how you can keep pushing for something that's going to fail...but I guess I'm the same kind of idiot."

Can he stand?

Bart gives something to Fei. It's a lie. And on some level Fei knows it's a lie. But there's a saying.

Some lies are worth living. No? That's in another chapter? Well it's still true. He nods slowly, then rapidly. "Yeah... yeah... yeah I can do this. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He stands up unsteadily, resting a hand on Bart's for a moment. In a short time, he's come to see this man as a source of inspiration and hope. It's not always a pleasant thing, but it's still there. He can still move.

"Thank you." He adds, rubbing at his eyes. He seems oblivious to the weirder things he shouted but he seems to gradually recover. Not all the way, but enough to move. He can feel Jude's gaze but he doesn't dare look back at him right now. If he's a journalist he doesn't want to imagine the article he's writing in his head.

After all, he already killed a woman today. A woman who was overconfident and had the empathy of a brick, but someone who had loved ones all the same. An unkillable monster from ancient times will be easy compared to that.

And indeed, when they reach the chamber he doesn't seem particularly bothered by the bloody mess. He just takes it all in like it's business as usual. Perhaps once upon a time, locked away in his memories, it was.

He reaches into his kit and lets drop a ttop on the blood because he still doesn't want to walk on it any more than is neccessary. He looks around a bit and says, "It can't just be a mad machine." to himself. "It wouldn't make any sense. Why go to all this trouble to murder people? It can murder people anywhere!" 

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, The Execution Chamber.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Bart's restraint does help. Lily isn't prepared for hearing something like that, she's barely prepared for Josie's approach. She stiffens for a moment at the hand on her shoulder, but only for a moment; she nods at Josie and tries for a few more moments to stop crying. In this case...

In this case the touching is fine.

These soldiers were Lily's friends. More than one of them had wounds that she'd tended herself; the one who escaped she practiced rifle drills with. She'd been to the Academy with...

It's not working so well for her. She can't say much of anything to anyone else, is still shaking faintly, eyes closed until she hears Leon's voice. Like from amidst ice her eyes open, watches him rom where she sits. Her pain is obvious to someone who knows her so well; he would understand it. So one of two remaining Black Wolves stares back, closes her eyes as he leans forward and nods after the kiss. "...I remember," she answers. Another deep, shaking breath before Lily wipes her eyes on the backs of her hands and begins to stand. "Yes, Captain. I'll still follow." It sounds like she's recovering, but she doesn't hesitate. There's a softness to her tone where her love for him is understatedly present.

Why she calls him 'Captain' now, well, maybe that's just how they are.

She glances to Josie beside her and murmurs, "Thank you. I'm fine. I just... I'm fine."

At that, Lily moves over to the rifle dropped by the fleeing back, by the leather pad on its strap that is embossed with lilies. "I didn't think I would ever see you again," she murmurs, before dropping like a stone her old weapon and taking this one into her hands, examining it for readiness. It's slung over her shoulder a moment later.

She follows the others into the room, and when Lily arrives ahead, she sees the carnage o Gryndille's passing. She has more questions, but she offers no emotional reaction whatsoever. It is as if what happened with the Crimson Wolves has used up any such feeling the black-haired sorceress could have left. She similarly does not look back to Riesenlied or Fei, or... any of the others.

Muted, she speaks up, "Captain. I'll consult my notes on retrieval and restoration methods." Lily goes to her satchel to begin to do exactly that, implementing only after she has a thorough plan of action.

She says nothing else unless others ask for instructions. Or ask... Questions...

"I don't know." This is Lily's answer to Bart. "If you're concerned, a watch would be useful."

She returns to her work. 

DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Kislev Field Manual toward her party's challenge, The Execution Chamber.

<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.

Before entering the room, Bart gives Fei another light clap on the shoulder. "Remember, unlike these poor bastards in here, we know those people chose to be here. Their first reaction was to try and kill us all, and they knew the risks. Sometimes the dice just come up snake eyes. I know it's not easy, but you did the right thing." He pauses, and adds, "Come on, let's see if we can find what the hell that monster wanted in here. We find a way to stop it, we'll keep anything like this from happening again."

Not easy at all.

But as Bart digs around and Lily suggests a watch, he shrugs slightly, looking around. "I was tempting fate - figure if the damn thing was around it would jump at us from the darkness when someone asked where the hell it was. Creepy things always seem to like that trick." 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"... I guess... because I know it's worth fighting for, no matter how many times I fall, no matter how many times I fail, no matter how hard and painful it gets," Riesenlied expresses back to Fei, with equal sincerity. "Because there can be something better, kinder and gentler than this, for all of us. The Tainted know this. That's how we can limp onward, even something after like Old Petra."

She doesn't have time to give a speech, nor does she think Fei needs volumes of words, just empathy. To let him know that others care. Not just her -- Bart, too, and in their own way, Leon and Lily. She's glad that Fei has that support, even if it brings them to rough places like this one.

Rough... is an understatement.

She follows the others to the back room, one clearly used for research... and her face contorts to a frown. Unlike Jude, she doesn't bother to hide her disgust under nonchallance -- she murmurs: "... this... is the kind of result I exactly wish to prevent..."

And yet she failed here. Just how many more atrocities must come to pass? These kinds of incidents are not isolated, and they only serve to stoke the public's fear and hatred of the past even more. They can't move forward with this kind of fear gripping them.

"It is a good question," she comments to Bart's own observation. "I don't see an obvious breach here, and the path we took did not diverge greatly from what we saw..."

Did it have the ability to teleport? That would be even more concerning.

Her eyes gravitate towards the back where some of the reports and information have mounted -- she's also got an eye over some of the personnel to try to ascertain their tags and their positions. Even if they can't find anything here, information on what -this- base is would be useful...

...if only to better determine the merciless automaton's next path. 

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Execution Chamber.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

Josie only moves aside, her hand departing Lily's shoulder with a single soft pat, when Leon approaches.

It's not as if she's any great master with relationships. Still, there are some things you want from your beloved at a time like this, and she knows that.

She reholsters the firearm, glancing away from the two as she does so. Her gaze lingers on the walls, the blood. Drops down towards the bodies. Slowly, slightly, the archaeologist shakes her head.

But yet still remaining at Lily's side.

"...Yeah," she says, when Lily pulls herself together at Leon's prompting, assuming the role that allows her to cope with what's happened. "Yeah, I know you're fine. You're a tough kiddo, we're gonna get through this." She smiles, if lopsidedly, at the younger woman. "Besides, I still owe you that drink, right? Tell you what." She rummages in her pocket and hands the flask over.

"Consider this a little downpayment on what I owe."

Just a little bit.

With that, she turns, following after Jude at some remove into the depths of whatever remains in this base.

Josie stops, even before she emerges inside the room well-coated with blood and other remains. She can smell it, a peculiar metallic scent that clings to the air.

In this case, like an abbatoir.

Perhaps it's one reason that while she stops dead and blinks at the carnage within, it doesn't come as a surprise. Her expression darkens, but rather than pull back, she...

Treads into the mess, slowly, carefully. There are things she would rather not step on. Even the dead are due respect.

"...Was this Gryndille?" she asks, gaze this way and that, her expression set. "This is... deliberate. An execution. Is this..." She trails off, as if unwilling to voice that thought for once.

What it was intended to do all along. A machine made for reaping people.

Her mouth twists as her gaze falls on one poor soul in particular. Slowly, she shakes her head.

Before crouching down with care, and reaching for their pockets.

"Poor bastards..." 

DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Execution Chamber.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon looks to Fei. He nods, once. "It's... there isn't anything that you owe us an apology for," he says, his voice quiet. He looks at Lily, then, and he affords her a tired smile. "All right. Then... let's go."

He starts ahead -- but he lets the others go in, ahead of him. Even Lily, after she fetched her rifle. He looks back out over the room -- and at the dead Wolves. He feels that emptiness there, gnawing at him. He hears the voice whispering in the back of his mind.

He can't protect them. He failed them once. He will fail them again. His eyes squeeze shut and he tries to ignore it.

But then he walks through.

Leon draws in a sharp gasp as he enters the room, covered in blood and viscera like this. This... this is far worse than the deaths of the Black Wolves. Those had been deaths in battle. This was no fight. This was an execution. His jaw tightens, and it is a sickened feeling in his stomach.

"...It was here," he answers Bart. "The burn wounds, some of the gunshots--I recognize those." He looks at Josie and nods. "It did this. It must have... it was already out of here, by the time we arrived." He isn't sure whether to call that lucky or not, seeing this grisly sight. "But it..."

It must have come here just before the Crimson Wolves did. It must have arrived no more than hour before. He starts to feel sick for another reason. He looks sideways at Riesenlied. "...It came in ahead of them. They knew. Not that it was here--that it was coming here. And... they knew when it was leaving, too."

His jaw clenches, and his voice thickens with emotion. With anger. "They knew." 

DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Execution Chamber.
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Leon Albus has successfully explored Mount Eldrin Ruins!

=================<* CHALLENGE - Knowledge Worth Killing For *>==================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Among the debris and ruins of the final room, after much looking, you find a
 note. It is a typewritten page, though space has been left for a hand drawn
 map. It is far from precise. The page itself has little context, but a
 little experience explains it: a page from a notebook detailing military
 targets. This one is titled: "SUSPECTED GRYNDILLE RECHARGE STATION."

 It shows a map of the far western Badlands. While an area is circled, it
 covers some dozens of square repsharls. It is more than they knew before,
 though. Whatever this knowledge is, it was likely why the Crimson Wolves
 came.

 And it was worth killing for.
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================

<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.

As the others eventually, inevitably join him, Jude only looks up briefly, tracking Fei's movements inwards before drifting Lily's way -- but ultimately, returning to his work with the slow inhale of smoke into his lungs. He focuses on his the task before him, gloved hands stained with old and caking blood as he sifts through bodies to find forms of identification, objects and belongings of interest, and scattered, blood-stained files. Anything. Anything that looks like it might be pertinent.

"Probably," he remarks off-handedly to Josephine's observation, as he stands up. His gaze shifts Jacob's way, where the bird hops upon what looks like a slip of paper far from the ravages. "Something like this isn't the work of a mindless animal. An animal protects its territory, it doesn't need to do anything more than that for survival. This..." Jude gestures around him with his cigarette.

"... this is targeted."

Things start to fall into place, little by little. He doesn't voice it, though; Leon soon comes to that conclusion himself. Jude, instead, pulls off those blood-stained gloves one after the other as he makes his way towards Jacob, offering the automaton a wry smile and an affectionate nudge to the head. "Atta boy, Jake. Let's see what you've got, yeah?" He pulls up that paper, stares at it... and his head tilts.

"Well... wherever it is now, it didn't need to stay here long," he observes slowly of Bart's observations, of Leon's conclusion. "It's a machine, end of the day. It probably came here to do whatever it was designed to do and then got the hell out when it was accomplished. Let the wrecking ball hit 'em hard..."

He turns, making his way back towards Leon and Lily. To offer that page to either of them. Military targets. And a single, simple, damning title coupled with a map:

'SUSPECTED GRYNDILLE RECHARGE STATION'

"... and then sweep in to pick up the pieces." 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily did, for the record, take quite a bit from the flask, a solid drink. She needed it. She needs more of it, but handed the flask back without complaint before draining it.

But Lily looks blankly at Bart as he mentions tempting fate before she sighs. "That's not exactly..." She shakes her head. "Mm."

Rather than saying more about it, she glances once over at Riesenlied, as she follows up on the question after saying she hadn't wanted this. The questions keep coming, and they were looking for at least information, but Lily doesn't join more of them. She's seen Gryndille's handiwork before, and questions aren't the role she's playing at the moment. Particularly not because this is so, so much worse. ...Nevertheless is she is quietly closer to Josie than not...

Leon's statements come. Lily's eyes widen. "What?" she asks, a painful knot in her stomach. "They couldn't have. There's no way. That would mean--"

Her voice breaks off abrubtly. She stops, as Jude speaks, mentions targetting, and watches Jude as he mentions his conclusion. She looks to the page, and takes it, holding it as she shows it to Leon as well.

Her jaw sets. "...There's nothing that happens among the Wolves that my father doesn't know about." This time she is not on the verge of tears, though she seems for a moment after to be closing her eyes, concentrating on something. She takes a slow breath. She is... also angry.

"I don't know if I believe it. There has to be some other explanation, and yet... It's just like back then. Captain..." She trails off. "We were set up." Angry, yes. "They knew. They knew back then, too. I don't even know what to think about this. I don't..." She hands Leon the page.

"...The man in charge of our squad--and the Crimson Wolves--is named Dietrich Keil. He's my father. And I don't know what's going on anymore. ...But we have a location, Captain." 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied's eyes narrow in turn with Leon's. "... they used Gryndille to their advantage," she comments. "Either that, or worse -- they know how to control it. Either way, it doesn't bode well." The mystery just continues to deepen further -- it definitely seemed to be poised to be anti-Aveh and Garlyle forces, but at the same time.

She does something no one probably expected a Metal Demon to do -- she goes around the room, closing the eyes of the deceased, to at least put them in some semblance of rest where she can. She can do so little here. But she must do what she can. The departed must be respected.

She stares just for a moment as Jude calls out, before walking towards the papers presented to glance at it, commenting, "... this was a hit against their counter-intelligence." She closes her eyes for a moment, before remarking, "Aveh's troops were searching for points of vulnerability for this killing machine."

She shakes her head, and glances towards Leon and Lily. Dietrich Keil... she'd heard that name before, once, from Lily. Does that mean that Gryndille was sent against the Black Wolves -- and ordered by Lily's father? The very thought was horrifying. "... we've got much to speak of, but... not now." She looks towards the others, before she remarks, "Those scouts are definitely not alone -- we'd best return before they square our rendezvous route out." 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei flinches when Riesenlied mentions Old Petra but he doesn't seem to have the werewithal to comment on it directly. Riesenlied says there can be something better, kinder, and gentler. It sounds familiar. He finds himself thinking of Elly for reasons he can't really explain. Those words SHOULD work. They're good words to say. But Fei just admits, not without sympathy but with a kind of resigned bluntness.

"Yeah," He says. "And after we make it...we can crush its throat."

Sometimes it's like he's seen the end of so many beautiful things.

His gaze finally travels to Lily. He's been avoiding it. Her own suffering...it's worse for her, Fei tells himself. You feel it strongly too, you feel all these things, but she feels it worse. It's a kind of reminder that can keep him stable for now. If Lily can do it, he can do it.

"Sorry," He adds to Riesenlied. "I think I'm just a glass half empty kind of guy. And I didn't really thank you properly for what you did back there. I hope you can find a place where you can be yourself without reservations someday." He knows she has her reasons for sticking with the other Metal Demons but he isn't going to push that right now. It's not in him. He's just trying to be nice right now. Just in a Fei-like way you know.

He examines the report. He glances at it. He listens to what Leon says about them knowing. He listens to Jude mentioning the strategy.

"It...it doesn't make any sense. If it's working for Kislev why would they target their own soldiers?"

It makes sense.

Fei's eyes widen. "No... that's...that's so cruel..." He steps backwards. "They killed your men to test it. There weren't supposed to be survivors. They couldn't let people know about that so they had to brand you as traitors. Then nobody would listen to you." He steps backwards again. "They had to manage perceptions within their own military. If they were going to use it they couldn't have you talking about how it killed their own soldiers. Hell, maybe they don't control it and just drop it somewhere and if it kills their own people while it's working--'who cares it got the job done.'"

He rests his hand against a blood wall. "How high up does this go...? It can't just be some mid ranking officer..." Could it have been Lily's own father? Would Lily's own father order the death of her daughter? Or did he expect her magic to pull them through? Or was it someone above him and he did not know about it?

"This is horrible." He says. 

<Pose Tracker> Bart Fatima has posed.

Bart doesn't say too much. He figures that Leon and Lily have a lot to work out, so he goes about providing what dignity he can do the dead here, and ensuring that there is nothing that they missed. There's a lot of damage here, but at least they had some idea of where to go from here.

It wasn't a total loss. But Bart looks at Lily and Leon again for a long moment, and he wonders... a man didn't sacrifice his own flesh and blood casually. He could see Leon being done away with, but Lily...

And there was the whole 'Ether' thing as well, and accusing her of being a Solaris agent. There were still pieces missing to this puzzle.

Sadly Bart is not great at puzzles. He'll have to see just what else turned up and if maybe even a blockhead like himself could figure it out.

"Well, we've got an idea of where we're going." He looks at the pair of renegade Kislevians, and then grins. "Sounds like you two are gonna need a ride. And maybe some bigger runs." 

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

Leon looks at Jude, and sees him reach the conclusion he did. He looks more calm about it -- and how could he not be? This doesn't reach him in quite the same way. But, he is here -- and he says something that makes sense.

Especially as he holds up that report, with that title.

His eyes widen slightly, as he steps forward to look at it closer -- to burn it and the map into his memory. Then, he looks at Lily. He quiets, before he glances down. Lily's father must have known about this. Then...

Riesenlied makes some conclusions that mirror his thoughts. His hand balls into a fist at his side.

He looks down at the page, as Lily thrusts it into his hand. "We do," he says, quietly. "They didn't want this information escaping -- just as you said, Riesenlied. They were willing to kill for this. But--"

He looks sideways at Fei. His eyes widen for a moment, as he makes those conclusions. His throat clenches, tightens, and he feels sick all over again. He swallows, then looks down. "...That might be. It would explain a few things. That--that's unforgiveable, if it's the truth."

He frowns, then nods. "...We need to get out of here. It isn't safe down here. We'll want to be clear when they come with reinforcements. We have a location."

The Badlands, he thinks. Quite a trip. He looks to Bart, then nods. "I think that we will." 

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

"You even left a little for me. You're a good kid," Josie remarks, as the flask's handed back to her.

So this is the work of the fabled machine before her at last.

Some things only really hit you once you see them. "Damn..." she mutters, shaking her head once again as Leon explains that it was here.

Just by a hair, they missed it. Is this what you would call good luck or bad?

"...Exactly. A machine does as it's told. ...I've heard stories about ancient constructs running wild, but you'd expect it to be more indescriminate if that were the case." Her gaze darkens as she stares down at the remains of what was once a living, breathing person.

"This was a slaughter. None of them got out."

Her hand comes out of the torn pocket -- empty -- a moment later. Closing her eyes, Josie huffs out a breath, and rocking back a moment on her heels, rises to stand up straight in the shallow pool of blood.

"...And those soldiers out there... the timing's too good," she agrees, turning to face Leon. "Especially out here, beyond their borders. Something's going on..."

Dietrich Keil. Lily's father. Her gaze meets Lily's, a silent question followed by an equally silent request.

In other words, 'Later. We should talk'.

Treading across the pool, she heads for the doorway.

She's seen enough.

"...And I don't like it."

Using people like this, using their own soldiers as testing fodder, if the various guesses mushrooming across the room are correct.

The whole situation of it.

Josie only stops on her way out of the slaughterhouse that is this room to approach Fei. "Here. You look like you need a stiff one." She passes over the flask -- what's left of its contents, anyway.

"Just give me that back when you're done, kiddo." Without further word, she heads out the door, apparently intent on heading out into the hallway.

She needs a Guardians-damned smoke after all this, away from all the blood and gore.

Retrieved from "https://dreamchasers.space/index.php?title=2017-08-05:_Ruin&oldid=3508"