2017-08-06: You're Not The Only One

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  • Log: You're Not The Only One
  • Cast: Riesenlied, Kahm Yugh
  • Where: Sacred Grounds of Linga
  • Date: August 6th, 2017
  • Summary: Kahm runs into Riese again during an evening sojourn to Linga ruins, and attempts to casually pump her for information.

=================================<* Sacred Grounds of Linga *>=================================

The Sacred Grounds of Linga are an ancient cave system renowned for a bevy of rare subterranean plants and geological formations. Researchers in the nearby Academy City are known to pay for a wide variety of materials taken from the Grounds for use in their studies, and so the upper regions see a steady stream of Drifters.

The lower reaches, however, are darker and more sinister, populated by strange and twisted monstrosities. A few stories are told of ancient relics being discovered there, some of them predating even the Metal Demon Wars, but few who enter the depths return to corroborate the tale.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHEMyH9XbhM
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

It's been a while since Riesenlied and... 'Marcus Rider' met -- back in Port Timney months ago. Ever since then, so many incidents have happened, chief amongst them that the winged Drifter has revealed herself as a Metal Demon at the Fairgrounds in Adlehyde, intent to express her opinion that the abuse of ancient ARMs and Dragon Fossils must stop. It all seems thinly honourable at the surface, though no doubt there's much criticism of how she still lent a hand to those other Demons that aided the slaughter of so many.

Ever since then, she's been a presence in and around towns, garnering notoriety and interest both with awareness campaigns -- her goal does not seem to be to directly assault any sites so much as to express the current abuses happening in and outside of Adelyn, such as the ongoing tensions happening around Aveh and Kislev. And Riesenlied herself has a... reputation of working with Drifters, even after her outing -- there've been mixed reports of how she seems to be more peaceful and less aggressive than some of her counterparts.

And of course -- there is Old Petra, the supposed site of the Metal Demons and yet a village of the Tainted, which was decimated by a presence that both Riesenlied and Kahm are too keenly familiar -- the Demon of Elru, the crimson flash, Id.

All of that is words upon the wind now, of course -- the Tainted demon is currently standing where all of this started, near the Sacred Grounds of Linga. Where she drew upon desperate power to save herself and Jacqueline and Ethius, months ago. How distant that all seemed...

Next to her, there's a 10-ish foot tall... dragon? It doesn't really look like a dragon, more like an... ahriman or something -- it's round, vaguely onion-shaped with the peak at the top of its head, and with a big eyeball that's more goofy than anything, along with undersized claws and legs and big leathery wings. "Muniii..." it squeaks.

"Just a little longer," Riesenlied expresses quietly to her... mount? Her companion? Something.

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

"What to do about the metal demons" is not a question that has been getting asked much around the any of the major Gebler strategy sessions lately, largely because the demons themselves haven't been forcing the question ever since they sacked Adlehyde and killed King Justin. Ultimately it was down to a matter of resources - the Solarians presently lacked a suitable amount of them on the surface to feel confident in taking any aggressive maneuvers against the ancient threat, particularly while they still knew so little about them. Thus, the present operational paradigm was one of damage control: limit the damage to Adlehyde, gather intelligence for the demons' next move, and slowly restore a sense of order.

As for Riesenlied in particular, Kahm had said it himself some few days ago: They did not have the time to put out every fire on the continent.

The Captain's current missions had seen him making a series of trips in the region of the silver coast to assess and gather intelligence on several key initiatives, the most important of which was the neutralization the individual known as Ethius Hesiod. Several reports had placed the man at the Sacred Grounds of Linga on past occasions, and so Kahm had come-not expecting to find Ethius per se, but in some hope of learning more about the man himself by retracing his steps.

It was a key element of the hunt, one could say. Stalking the haunts of your prey, studying its leavings. It seemed overmuch of his time lately was spent on the hunt for one individual or another.

While he doesn't spot Riesenlied immediately, her large companion is more obvious from a distance. The Captain doesn't halt his approach, but he does become more cautious-doubly so when he spots Riesenlied at a closer look. Keenly aware of where each weapon is on her person and the various different scenarios in which he might draw him, the man took another step forward and announced himself.

"Miss Riesenlied." He says, his voice as crisp and professional as when they first met at Port Timney, "You were certainly among the last I expected to find here."

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied has her regular sword, by all counts a human weapon, by her side -- though reports would've noted that she can deploy the feathers on her wings as 'Pinions' at some point, though apparently not at some cost to herself with how it seems to draw blood from her.

Red blood, the report would also note. Metal Demons that they've slain and examined from Adlehyde and abroad have all bled silver. It's a curious fact to note.

"... Mister Rider," she expresses in turn, the rotund roly-poly of a dragon looking just a little agitated as it flinches left and right. "I would not have expected you here too -- were you in search of something in these grounds?"

A pause.

"Do beware of the owlbears. Do not underestimate them."

A metal demon, no matter how tainted, saying that is probably worth something.

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

The demon was not who Kahm had out for, but her presence created an opportunity nonetheless. The inconsistencies between her appearance that of the creatures creature like the one he and the Lieutenants had engaged at the fall of Adlehyde were obvious, but the whys were not so apparent. In addition to witnessing Riesenlied at the battle himself, he'd reviewed enough reports and video footage to have good sense of her capabilities in a fight, should it become necessary.

Fortunately, it seemed his alias remained intact as far as the demon was aware. "I was investigating some company business, but it can wait, along with the owlbears." He said, being somewhat acquainted with them already.

Though he doesn't reach for his own blade, as poised indicates a degree of sensible wariness. "I have to admit, I thought there were some strange qualities about you when we met in Timney, but this was not one of them." Kahm said, narrowing his eyes in professional curiosity, "The woman who was with you...Noeline, I believe. Was she an accomplice as well?"

His tone is little more than casual querying, but the word 'accomplice' carries a certain weight to it.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

The way Kahm asks his questions is rather pointed of his desire to accrue more information from her -- but as it turns out, Riesenlied isn't exactly one in the business of hiding too much information. There's a degree of freedom that one can afford when one's operation isn't deeply mired in secrecy and webs that can't afford to be broken, after all.

"Miss Noeline is a dear friend of mine, a Crimson Noble," she expresses. That's the story as it stands, and though Noeline is considering breaking that story, it'll be on her terms. "She is sympathetic to my desires to see coexistence between demons and humans, as she first told me long ago when we first met."

She bobs her head to one side as th dragon flinches just a bit. "In that way, I suppose you can say she is an accomplice, though perhaps not in the way you'd think of. She did spend some time cleaning Adlehyde up after my brethren's assault." She sounds regretful, in that topic.

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

A crimson noble. Well, that was at least as bold claim as being a metal demon, or at least it would have seemed so until they attacked Adlehyde en mass. "I see." Kahm said, dipping his chin slightly in acknowledgment, and seems to have no further interest. Noeline's alleged activities in the wake of Adlehyde's destruction, and Riese's own seeming regret for the event itself, seem to have no bearing on the man's demeanor.

So there were at least two factions withing the Metal Demons. One, it seemed, that advocated for complete destruction, and another that advocated for peaceful coexistence-on the condition of enforcing the Treaty of Iscariot through any means necessary, of course.

Neither were particularly palatable in terms of Solaris's continued operations on the surface, suffice to say.

"Well, I hardly would have expected either of you to tell me about yourselves back then, so be at ease. I'm don't feel particularly deceived." He said, shrugging his shoulders. It would be somewhat hypocritical, anyways.

"That said, what brings you out here?" He asked, his eye finally sliding to her monstrous companion, "And is that a...bodyguard?"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"This is one of my Dragons from our home," Riesenlied introduces the creature, who... kind of just seems content to rock about left and right like it were a ball that's about to stabilise on the ground, a tongue out as it peers at Kahm with some curiosity. "A Metal Dragon, albeit a... cast-off, as they would say. A Tainted creature, like I myself am. Its name is Muni-Muni. It is a dear companion of mine."

'Tainted'. The word's floated around just a little, particularly owing to what people have seen at Old Petra and the events leading up to it -- guardsmen and other mercenaries saying that they evacuated with demons who didn't kill them on sight.

"And I thank you for that allowance," she bows her head. "I do not particularly enjoy deception, even in my line of work. Honesty and transparency in what I do is paramount to dispelling the cloud of hatred that has allowed to foster in the thousand years since my brethren clashed with the ancestors of today's humans."

"Ah, and to answer your other question -- I was trying to sense the presence of my ancestors' bones," Riesenlied adds. "... that is often what brings me to these digs -- to try to intuit the presence of Fossils, so that I may lay them to proper rest."

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

A metal dragon. Kahm looks at the creature momentarily-his calm, inscrutable gaze every bit removed from the naive curiosity it seems to reflect at him until he slid his regard back to Riesenlied.

The word 'tainted' is one that he fixes on, both for the meaning it seems to have to Riesenlied and the fact that he has heard it before, floating around on the tongues of chatty drifters and sullen refugees. "Tainted..." He speaks the word aloud, though not with the judgment the word itself seems to suggest, "Is that why your appearance is human, while the others of your kind do not? What does it mean?"

He could take a guess, but he wants to hear it from her.

The woman's reasons don't gain further question from the operative, but her supposed missions seems to have him mulling over something in his head. "If ending hatred is truly your goal, then perhaps you could help with something i'm working on at the moment." He offers, feeling comfortable enough to take a few steps closer, "I too would like to see an end to the chaos and violence that afflicts Filgaia."

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied peers back towards the yellow dragon as it vies for some attention from her, and she lays a hand not unlike how one would pet a dog. "Plenty of us have human appearances, but the name harkens back from a time when I was born. Many of us Tainted are judged as 'unfit' by our brethren -- whether because of defects that we were born with, or more recently, those of us that have been injured in battle to the point where we are seen as cast-offs. We are an unwanted minority to them, Mister Rider. I am one of the few who still can hold some sway in our politics, so that I can vouch for and champion the disenfranchised."

Is the red blood one such symptom? It'd just be a guess at this point.

She tilts her head to say, "What are you working on, Mister Rider? Perhaps I can be of assistance, then?" She's listening.

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

As Kahm sees it, too much questioning about Riesenlied's physiology-and that of her demon brethren-might seem suspicious, even considering how open she is willing to be thus far. The actual criteria that makes one tainted...defects, injuries, a failure to measure up to an standard of 'purity' in the social order...they were not unfamiliar ideas to one who had lived in Solaris. "So you and your Ebony Wings represent this marginalized population, then." He concludes, though it had the air of another question to it, "But do all tainted share your views, I wonder?"

Whatever answer she has to that, it's Kahm's next question that he's more interested in moving on to. Providing information in exchange for information was always a risky proposition from an intelligence perspective, but at least in this case it was nothing to do with himself or Gebler. It did not need to be cleared.

Kahm crossed his arms and, for a moment, the veil of 'Marcus Rider' slipped a bit. Those blue eyes shone like cold diamonds in the crisp evening air, his mien one of deadly seriousness.

"The teardrop." He says it with full expectation that Riese should know what he's talking about, "Do the demons have it?"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"... I can't say I speak for all Tainted, of course," Riesenlied comments in return. "There are those that straddle the line, and hold out desire to climb back up the hierarchical stratum of our culture. And I cannot begrudge them for that. But for those that have lost everything, we are there to provide them with a sense of direction and belonging. It isn't easy to be at the bottom..." She pauses. "But it is better than nothing."

Riesenlied glances towards those eyes -- she's fairly certain that there's more to Marcus Rider than being a member of Smith & Luio, of Bledavik. She's certain he would have no business being out here if that's all he is.

"Yes."

That much, is very simple to answer. And it is no secret. The Quarter Knights don't keep that information secret, and not a lot of other people do either. To them, it was a symbol of their victory, after all.

"The Teardrop is currently in demon hands, yes," she reasserts. "But of my brethren's plans to utilise it... I am not at liberty to say, you will understand."

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

As a persona, Marcus Rider was merely a means to end, and Kahm did not expect to keep the charade up forever. "Need-to-know information, then." He says, nodding but offering no fuss about it. "That's just as well. Adlehyde's Princess means to reclaim it, and my client in this particular case would prefer she avoid doing something so...well, reckless."

It would serve to provide at least some reason for such a potent question, he had decided.

His next question, however, has more of that same potency. He hadn't been at Old Petra, but had heard mixed and varying levels of reports-enough to know that there was more than one kind of demon involved in that little mix-up. "Old Petra." He speaks suddenly and without much of a transition, eyes reflecting the same keen-edged attention, "I heard a gear was sighted there...a red gear."

The memory of blood in the back of his throat came back so easily.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"She is inexorable," Riesenlied has to comment on Adlehyde's princess, though with a sigh in turn. "But at the same time, I do wonder if her absence will be keenly felt by Adlehyde. I worry about the Guard's presence in that city." A pause. "Perhaps it is in poor jest for someone who participated in the raid, no matter the capacity."

She glances towards Kahm, and decides to see if she can pique a reaction in turn.

"The Demon of Elru," she expresses. "The Butcher of Garlyle. Are you familiar with it, Mister Rider?" Her own red eyes are firmly levelled on his. "Personally, and you can take this as truth, the reason I first came here to Ignas is to pursue the truth of Garlyle. I had heard rumor that they had a resurgance here along with Aveh's forces... and it was true indeed."

A pause. "But I can confirm to you that it is one and the same. A threat from the east has come here."

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

In this particular instance, Kahm's face hid nothing. The moment she confirms the demon of Elru, it's there....a drive, an impulse of resolve write all of the man's clean-shaven face.

"I was there." He says, an undercurrent swell of nascent fury twitching along edges of his timbre. He offers no further clarification, though the implicit suggestion is perhaps that he was a refugee from the continent after the fall of Garlyle.

"How strong was he?" He asks his next question, along with the next, "Where did he go?"

This was not part of his duties, officially...but all the same, he had to know.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied gazes into Kahm's eyes in turn. She can sense that anger, and she doesn't even need to empathise or use anything special. There's damage there, a personal connection to it. "Then we have something in common."

She lowers her head. "You can see the village's state after he was done. He was powerful enough to contend with our leaders, the Quarter Knights. He could demolish a battalion of soldiers on his own, levitating one of our belltowers effortlessly to crush them. And, of course, his Gear possesses immense energy powers as well..."

She glances to one side. "... We may have been wiped out if I had not--"

She swallows.

"Communed with him. Using the light of Laevateinn." Such a word was murmured during the Fairgrounds -- and the light that she created from her sword that ... didn't hurt people, but seemed to pacify them in their tracks. "It wounded me mentally and emotionally for a few weeks. He is not an opponent that any one faction can hope to take on."

She lowers her head. "But of where he went... I do not know. I was unconscious at the battle's conclusion, and I had heard of no trace of where he disappeared to." A pause. "It is disconcerting, as it may indicate that he does not act alone. A Gear of that size and magnitude is extremely obvious... so it may have cloaking factors."

She looks back to Kahm. "I did gather something from our conversation in the mental landscape he drew me in. A name. 'Id'."

<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.

So, he was as strong as ever.

Kahm greeted this news with a glower that almost seemed practice. That Riesenlied had been at Elru as well had some interesting suggestions, but he could not focus on them right now.

She gave him name. Id. Unbound, primal instinct.

This was the act of a wild animal.

He seems less interested in how and what the tainted demon did than the fact that she has no idea where he went afterwards. "The fact that he has appeared again, and on Ignas at that, is enough to know right now." He said, bowing his head, "Thank you."

"I ought to get going." He decides, offering a wave by way of thanks. No doubt he'd asked enough to harm the credibility of his cover in its various moving parts, but the information he'd gleaned was worthwhile. Although he was no closer to drawing the noose around Ethius Hesiod, he doubted he was going to find much about him here anyways.

"You aren't the only one who has misgiving about the Guard, by the way." Kahm spoke over his shoulder as he looked back, glancing back at Riesenlied with one eye, "They are not what they appear to be."

And with that, he'll be on his way back down the path unless the tainted one has something of her own she'd like to ask after him of.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied shifts and lays her hand gently on her dragon companion's forehead, as Kahm begins to move. "... indeed, they are not," she expresses in turn. "... if you choose to pursue action against Id, do at least consider contacting me. I feel we both bear scars from him -- and he is no enemy to fashion a duel out of."

She's not sure if he'll her -- she feels like he has the type of air to hold a personal grudge. She can't stop that. But she does climb onto the Dragon to quietly rise into the air, afterwards. It bobbles, unsteady and clumsy in its gait -- is this really one of the legendary Metal Dragons?

"Be well, Mister Rider."