5273/The Ruins Beneath The Minds Holds Statuesque Secrets

The Ruins Beneath The Minds Holds Statuesque Secrets
Date of Scene:	24 May 2017
Location:	The Quilt
Synopsis:	The rebel government, headed by Perplex and backed by the Watch (and Gaige) descend to find the treasure spoken of by the Starlight Bandits.
Cast of Characters:	Starlight Bandits, 857, 1112, Lyria Mason, August Kohler

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Starlight Bandits has posed:
    The atmosphere in Chapter is tense tonight. The new guard, formed of the most martial rebels, has the whole place on lockdown. Rumors of some great, magical book in the Opera Bibliotheca have Perplex and the new council on edge. Entering to the underground library is now utterly verboten, and the guard has been keeping the shaft brightly lit and under constant guard. Initial searches turned up a collapsed wall, not on any maps, and an expedition force has been assembled to search beyond. They stand at the bottom of the pit, torches lit and weapons sheathed.

    "Tonight, we secure our positions!" Perplex says. He's leading the expedition tonight, clad in shining armour clearly made for someone taller than he. "There are those that think they have the rights to this kingdom. But they are not the ones who built it, who fed and watered it! They are not the ones whose blood and sweat became the mortar between the stones! We are those people! We have the right! With this final act, we secure that right!" A mighty cheer erupts from the gathered guard, before the mass descent begins.

    Down the ramps and into the mines. Here, the guards show their true feelings for the Opera Bibiotheca. Shelves are spat on; books are knocked to the ground and trampled underfoot. This library represents the blood, sweat and tears of their class, with little to show for it. Most are illiterate, and the place has taken the lives of friends and family. It's understandable, but still not right.

    Finally, the hole in the wall that leads to the hithero unknown section is located. Stepping through is like entering another world. Up until now, the library had just been tunnels supported by wooden struts. Now, everyone is flanked by statues and the structure is free standing. The path goes on ahead, but also splits to the left and right...

Eve (857) has posed:
    Having been involved in the rebel uprising, it's only natural for Eve to continue to be involved as the rebels secure their future. It'll be interesting to see what will happen as the group gains power. If they'll be wise and just rulers, or if they too will need to be pulled down. Such is the duty of the Watch, it might seem. For Eve at least though, it's a simple mental exercise without much compelling weight behind it.

    If there's one way to piss off the little do-gooder rebel though, it's to mistreat books. She has no issue with shelves being spat upon, but when Eve sees books trampled she rushes in to protect the helpless volumes. With her body if necessary. She'll push people off the books, blocking one small pile with her body. She can't protect them all, so she'll have to settle for one.

    "What's the matter with you?" she demands hotly of one such guard. If they offer any belligerence her way, she'll meet it with a sweep of a suddenly-manifested staff of gleaming metal, fully the equal of one of the guard's spears. "If you want something to destroy, fight the corrupt nobles. These books have never done you harm!" she insists.

Gaige (1112) has posed:
Gaige had realized there'd be an ancient kingdom of old, mythical treasures. So she'd brought a machine gun that shot fire, a rocket launcher, a... Okay, no. Despite her insanity, she actually WAS someone who took history seriously(it was like, her third favorite class, to be honest), so her gear worked accordingly. Her shotgun, her electric sniper rifle, a standard pistol and a standard assault rifle. Her shield was even common basis, it sucked out blood to make itself stronger.

Wait, was that standard? Either way, she was going to be RESPECTFUL. Ish. Respectful for her.

"Sorry I'm late, sorry! There was this whole outpost thing, like, fifty bandits! I'd say they were organized, but I think they were having some kind of cook out. There were a bunch of dolls on the grill and... well, nevermind. The important thing is, I'm here and--" She then... "Oh my gosh! This is SO RETRO!" she said, before poking a guy's armor. "Man, this world really IS old as HECK! Like, you guys wear armor and stuff! You know, this is probably the good stuff. I wonder if my shotgun could blast through it in one... errrrrrr..." Then looked up at the guy. "Eh heh. Aaaaaaanyway. Yeah, what the lil girl said. Books are knowledge, kiddos! Shouldn't go breaking them! Like, you might NEED them one day! Or your kids might! And if you don't have them, all the important stuff they could teach you will need to be relearned. And that'd suck, cause it'd be like going to school. Again!"

Lyria Mason has posed:
Lyria Mason hjas come along to help but things are Tense she doesn't like the idea of the Libary being sealed off but the cost in human lives? Well that's certainly a thing. Still things can change later or at worse she cna break in and start liberating books from it. For now however she's looks to Eve for a moment and she finds her self very sympathic with Eve as she mvoes in attempting to help her and trying to prect some.

"Book burning will only lead your people to /ruin/ Seal this place fine but this? Information is power and you want to throw it away."

August Kohler has posed:
August is there as well, dressed in a hoodie, gun in a holster and a strange CD case on his side. He's with the others, and he's frowning. At everyone. As pretty much 'in charge', he steps up to speak. "Alright, everyone, calm down. Perplex, have you and the council considered selling these books already mined in Multiversal trade? Reimburse those who have toiled for them, while allowing those who want them to pay for them. Doesn't that sound like a better idea than burning?" It might actually be clear on his face that he's saying this to placate the rest of the Watch, instead of actually caring /too strongly/ about it. He's walking as he speaks, and stops at the crossroads, the redhead taking a look. "Let's see. Central path gives off a vibe of being more important. Let's check out this one first, yeah?" He's walking in that direction before even awaiting a confirmation, willing to be the scout/pointman.

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    The guards are stunned when Eve actually throws herself on top of the books, ceasing their tantrums and backing up to make room. Well, as much room as one can get in a tiny mine tunnel. They look incensed, especially when others join in to heap accusations and insults on them. One looks ready to shout back, only to be silenced by a hard look from Perplex. "We will take your suggestion into consideration," he says to August, giving the fellow rebel a firm squeeze on the shoulder.

    The guards, though mad, become professionals once inside. It helps that the place is creepy, and smells like what one would expect an ancient ruin beneath a mine would smell like. August, being the type who doesn't care when going down one path in an RPG leads to inescapable progress that renders you unable to take the other path, goes straight ahead! Perplex and some guards follow, the path beyond leading to a very important-looking room.

    It's big, and packed with writing desks. The old kind, tilted with a dip specifically for ink pots, which they all have. The contents have long since dried up though. At the far end is a very extravagant door... sealed with chains and locks, two of them. They look like far more recent than anything else down here.

    There is, of course, the other two paths to consider. But this certainly seems like the goal.

Lyria Mason has posed:
Lyria Mason seems to like what August ois going on about and it's a better idea, but if these people wnat to be illetate extraversal savages? Lyria will just walk right out and /work/ for the King. Though with August suggestion it may not come to that now but she's just disgusted at these would be savages. Extraversal really could be backwards she thinks interally. But if they start with the burning of books? She will happily deal with them.

Hopefully it won't come to that but the King could end up with a new ally if it does and she just gives the guards looks and mutters something in old Levitani as she fallows along.

Gaige (1112) has posed:
Gaige stared at the door and her eyes lit up. "Oh my gosh. Yessss. See, that right there? That's the sign of something BAD ASS coming! I bet when we open it, like, a fifty foot long acid spitting worm will come barreling out of the walls, or a hundred foot tall minotaur with an axe the size of a car will charge in and kill that guy," Motioning to one of the soldiers with ehr thumb. Why him?! "Or these old king people will come swinging in and try to ambush us, resulting in this big, bad ass fight where all the mooks in armor get slaughtered so only us bad ass people escape, then the whole tunnel EXPLODES and we run off, not even looking behind us!"

"LEt's open it! I got a grenade!" Holding it out.

Eve (857) has posed:
    While even Eve would admit that protecting books is secondary to protecting lives, she's fond of books. Not only are they interesting and enjoyable, they're the best way she knows of to gain knowledge and banish ignorance. In large part that's WHY she's so fond of books. While some may claim that ignorance is bliss, Eve's been ignorant before and it brought her no happiness. She greatly prefers knowledge.

    She gets rather annoyed at the guards here, but Eve's at least reasonably professional once a solution's proposed. She refrains from sticking her tongue out at any guards when anyone might actually be watching her. Anyone who might object, that is. Those who defended the books are exempt from that requirement, and just might get to see Eve in a rare childish moment.

    Eve follows behind willingly enough, padding along, glancing around to be sure no other books are mistreated in her sight. So long as they're not, she's content. When the group reaches the extravagant door she studies it as well. "It seems the nobles had this door chained up." she says, stating the obvious. "Either because what's behind it is valuable, dangerous, or both." she adds, less obviously.

    She glances at Gaige, frowning. "Grenades are dangerous." she claims. "Please don't throw them into confined places. If we're the only survivors because you kill the 'mooks' with a grenade, our friends won't be very happy."

August Kohler has posed:
August is frowning pretty heavily at Gaige as they reach the door. "No grenades. They'll take out all of us. Also, please don't jinx it, I'd rather it be a peaceful entry." Though he's lifting up the jewel CD case as he says that, glancing into it briefly before speaking as blue energy circles around him. "Persona!" A robotic soldier with a gun for a leg and covered in burn scars appears in front of him, staring at the door, as August ushers everyone away from it...

And that gun-leg is pointed up at the lock, before spewing fire. He's aiming to burn straight through the lock, and once it looks like it'll fall off/has fallen off, the Persona is dematerialized, August moving back up to open the door.

Lyria Mason has posed:
Lyria was wrong she didn't have the full story whuich could likely change her tune about what she thinks of the locals. However for now she'll fall in line and keep slient as she works along until Gaige goes to briong up a grenade? That could work if it's done right but she look to Eve.

"Not everyone's packing shielding."

She'll let August use his lock pick she'll let him get to it and at least she's being silent right? She has no idea about what the king did to them.

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    Perplex looks to Eve and shakes his head. "This part was only uncovered after the revolution. The royals could not have done it. The only ones who were here before us were the pair that began speaking of this place." So the Bandits are the only ones who could have this... but why?

    Either way August steps up and undoes their hard work with blasts of fire. The guards and Perplex all back off at the sight of the Tin Soldier. Once the locks melt, the chains come apart, and the doors can be opened... once they cool from all that exposure to flame. Stone does not burn, but it can become hot.

    Unfortunately, sounds from the entrance echo into the chamber. Men breathing, the clank of weapons and armor. Perplex gasps, and hisses "Hide!" while gesturing at the blind spots beside the door the party entered this chamber through. Of course, if some would just rather jump the approaching people, getting ever closer...

Gaige (1112) has posed:
Gaige blinked, then perked up. "Ohhh, sweeeet, excitement!" Her shotgun formed in her hands and she ran off, straight towards the people coming at them, COMPLETELY ignoring the guy telling them to hide.

"Hey, yo! Go ahead, try to kill me!" she said, a wide grin on her face. "I TOTALLY called this!" Just gonna charge right into them. But hey, she was nice. She'd only start blowing them away if they like... tried to hurt her. Then frowned. "Oh right and I guess if like, you're nice and stuff don't try! Cause... then I won't have any reason to blow you up. But it'd be a lot funner if you tried!"

Eve (857) has posed:
    Eve's puzzled by Perplex, which should only be natural really. But what he's saying... so the only ones who could have locked and chained the doors weren't the rebels, and they weren't the original owners? Well, then it seems obvious who locked the door. Only is it so wise to break in under those circumstances?

    Well, Eve's curious enough. Locks and chains are for someone other than her. She's a LAWBREAKER now! At the warning she pulls to one side, calling a heavy mallet to her hand and readying to make with the smashing. Only to see Gaige run up and ruin any possible surprise.

    "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." Eve quotes with a sigh. Then she moves for the opening, readying to charge in. It might be foolish to do so, but she's not going to leave Gaige out there in the open, exposed and vulnerable, without at least watching to see if she's attacked. Her own fault if she is, but that won't stop Eve from trying to protect Gaige. She hasn't actually learned anything about the crazy teen that would make Eve not trust her after all.

August Kohler has posed:
Well, it worked, even if the stone is hot as hell. August is waiting for it to cool down before he moves to grab the door, but someone's coming. He hears the 'hide', but then sees Gaige moving, and his reaction is quick. He joins her. She's going to go no matter what he says, judging from her known personality, and if she gets hurt, he'll feel guilty. He draws his knife, hardening it to full machete form, as he responds. "Who's there? We're armed, reveal yourself."

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    The party announce themselves! Much to the annoyance of Perplex and his men, who do take up hiding positions. Those who have just arrived become silent at the sound of everyone's voices. There's muttering, before an answer comes.

    "We are Loyalists of Chapter. We support the true king! We are coming to claim the treasure, so that we may topple Perplex and the false leaders! Get out of our way or die!" And then they punctuate that point by launching things along the hall to land at everyone's feet. Rememer those points that were made about Gaige's grenades? They apply to these ones too.

    They explode, the sound bouncing off the walls and making the roof tremble in a concerning way. Smoke fills the air as the loyalists charge in, packing swords, spears, and one rifleman at the back!

Gaige (1112) has posed:
Gaige giggled with glee as the boom went off, making her shield glimmer. She then laughed at them. "Oh. Oh. You didn't wanna do that. Say hello to my LITTLE FRIEND!" And there was an ominous hum. Then about 800 lbs of death, steel and blades appeared in front of her. "Death trap? Sick 'em."

And then she and death trap charged in, her shot gun blaring as she ran in them like some kind of deranged LUNATIC! Her shield flashing red with every shot whenever the shield started getting low. Death trap, of course, just stared going in, slashing with its claws. "I don't know HOW you got third place in the science fair!"

Lyria Mason has posed:
Lyria Mason humm what are the bandits up to now? She has no idea about it but he has to wonde she keeps on guarge for a moment as she heads the men breahingpeople moving but somwething just seems to be up. "So this is the bandits work if anyone or someone they told?" She muses for a moment as the party encounters the King's loyalists. "... Oh deep six me!" She turns nad tries to run to get to some cover but it's not enough as they come in close she's already caught by shrapnel and she's going for her cutlass which is now out, the blade vibrades and she moves to attempt to enage the up close ones.

Eve (857) has posed:
    When explosives are presented, Eve ducks down low, spreading her hands out before her with fingers splayed. A curved metal shield forms before her, the metal flowing rapidly outward from her fingers, giving her cover. The grenades' explosions rend the metal, but Eve herself is relatively safe though the blasts themselves rock her and send her hair whipping about in disarray.

    Not that she cares about the metal shield. As the last of the explosions go off, she draws the crumpled metal back in on itself, reforming it into a long-handled weapon about halfway between a warhammer and a two-handed croquet mallet. She charges forward, whipping her weapon about with a speed and that belies her apparently-weak body. High speed is her best defense; that and striking out with a weapon that's too brutal to be ignored and too long to easily dodge or counter.

    "It seems there were still loyalists down here! They meant to defend this place above all others, perhaps?" she calls out to Perplex, the effort of thought apparently not slowing her down in combat.

August Kohler has posed:
Well, looks like it's going to be a fight. Since the machete's already out, August raises it to his eyes and resummons his Persona with a call, which immediately begins a roar of bullets down the hall in the angles that aren't 'filled by the others', in an attempt to drive them back. He's honestly not considering that it might kill someone, and he'll probably blame Gaige anyways, as he starts retreating with his Persona towards the doors of the 'vault'. "We don't have much time! Let's find what we're looking for and get out of here!"

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    The loyalists have zeal. They have love for their country, and hatred for how far its fallen. Passions that make the heart beat so loudly can give someone the strength of 10 men, the resilience of a stone wall.

    But that is still not enough against a robot conjured from the technoether.

    Deathtrap smacks one of them, sending them flying against a wall, narrowly avoiding hitting a statue. Their armour is little match for shotgun blasts, with several crumpling almost immediately. And even that level of penetration pales in comparison to Lyria's HF-cutlass, which whips through one of them like a hot knife. But he retains enough life to grab on to her, hoping that his allies can dogpile her.

    Unfortunately for them, Eve's mighty swings sends them flying, nearly impacting another statue opposite the one that Deathtrap nearly smashed with someone's body. August's hail of bullets, though perhaps not as lethally intended as Gaige's, is enough to drive the few that still live to flee. The guards didn't even have time to attack.

    "A fine show, friends," Perplex says, not even the slightest bit unnerved by the level of violence. "You'll be remembered for this. Let us retrieve the book and be on our way. I suspect it would be behind that," He gestures, back at the statue-flanked, formerly chained door.

Gaige (1112) has posed:
Gaige laughed and shoved open the door, her hands shaking. "OH YEAH! I AM ON FIRE!" Her hands were twitchy, her gun was rattling, she was in discord mode. Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

"LET'S AMP IT UP!" And shoved open the door, death trap charging in ready to slaughty ANYTHING that tried to get in their way as she ran in, laughing like a mad woman.

She was one of the good guys! Best to remember that! Totally NOT a psychotic nut job or nothing! ... Yeah right.

Eve (857) has posed:
    With a sigh of long-suffering woe, Eve collapses her weapon into her palm, making it disappear. "If you're on fire, you should probably cool down." she says. "Being on fire is generally considered bad." And no, Eve's not actually trying to make a pun.

    The level of violence doesn't exactly upset Eve. She hates killing, but she's not naive enough to think she can save soldiers who attack them. She'd only feel responsible for their lives if they were the ones she'd defeated and rendered helpless. Those, most likely, got away. She'd never attacked to kill, nor even to maim. Several might suffer broken bones but that's their problem to deal with, not Eve's. Broken bones don't end lives, and they have the welcome advantage of giving a target time and incentive to reconsider their lifestyle.

    And so once again she's content to pad not-quite-silently after the leaders, to see what's behind the locked door number one. Hopefully it's not a goat.

Lyria Mason has posed:
Lyria Mason attempts to kick away at the attacker to get them poff jher she's going to keep fighting ast this she doesn't seem too happy about this. She is going to howeve try not to die any idea of working with the king kinda dries up here, ya. Seriously the extraverse was just a chaotic place sometimes

August Kohler has posed:
Once the fighting is over, August once again desummons his Persona, and is ABOUT to open the door when Gaige comes roaring in with her death robot. He blinks once, sighs, and then follows behind her, keeping his machete at hand in case of conflict. "You know, you could stand to be a bit more cautious."

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    BAM! It's a credit to Gaige's psychotic strength that the heavy door opens so easily as she barges in. Unfortunately, the room contains nothing to vent it on. Just a pedestal, with a plain, leather-bound book sitting upon it. Perplex approaches it, and gingerly lifts it before flipping to the first page. There's a pregnant pause as he examines it... before his face goes pale, and he slams it shut.

    "This is it. The book that writes your future. Let us go." And with that, he begins to storm out, without a words ot anyone. The guards all look confused, but start to follow.

    When one of the statues by the door springs to life, and snatches the book from Perplex's hand.

    With a laugh, it sprints off, pursued by the other statue. The man, the ruler... is speechless. Until a shout rips from his throat. "PURSUE THEM!" The guards race off, after the strangely familiar statues! What will the others do?

Gaige (1112) has posed:
Gaige blinked and then her shotgun disappeared. "RIGHTEOUS!" she yelled, going down to one knee as her rifle appeared in her hands. What? A weapon for EVERY situation.

She quickly gets down on one knee, takes aim... Shot, adjust, shot, adjust, shot. Crazy she may be, but she knew how to fire a gun. The bullets seeming to be made of electricity and, hopefully if they hit the person, stunning them.

Zap zap zap.

Eve (857) has posed:
    After them? Well, Eve WAS curious about the book. She'd even been rather miffed that Perplex peeked into the book and then shut it so quickly. To Eve there's really no such thing as forbidden knowledge. She's read heretical spellbooks in front of a priest. It's not like she intends to USE the information or anything!

    As to the statues, she considers attacking. Problem is she's a melee fighter and they already have the jump on her. Besides, she'd also be charging into Gaige's line of fire. That doesn't strike her as a particularly wise move.

    Instead Eve turns to Perplex, surprise evident. "They were... hiding here all along? Outside the locked door? Then who locked it?" she asks, genuinely confused.

August Kohler has posed:
As they go in and get the book, August is watching, carefully. When Perplex comes out, he's about to move too, when a statue snatches the book and runs away. And then another one runs away. It takes about two seconds for August to figure out exactly what's going on and who those statues are. Part of him wants them to escape, being entirely biased towards the Bandits, but at the other hand, they're working with the rebels. On ANOTHER, he's not sure if the rebels will kill them if they get captured. So, in a rush, August is moving forward as Gaige fires stun bullets, machete at hand, moving up to the Bandits as if he's going to secure them. Mostly, he wants to be the closest one to them incase something goes south. As he gets closer, he talks quietly. "Molly, Irving, that was a good one, but uh, you could have /teleported/ away with the book?"

Lyria Mason has posed:
Lyria Mason has had a time of it with the loyalist she's abiot worse for wear now as she comes upon the bandits latest stunt. She's not sure just what to think about the pair but today they are pulling a hell of a stunt and she's lagging a bit behind august and other as Gaige fires stun bullet and august does his thing. She's unaware of his plans at least for the moment.

"bandits I got to admit I am impressed but... i think it's over at this point." She's not making a move to attack at the very lest!

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    Perplex is snarling as he answers Eve. "I don't know! It can only be them... but why would they lock it up? It's a simple item to take. Did they only want to safeguard it? Why take it now then?" He looks... baffled. Trying too hard to make sense of the pair that makes no sense.

    The pair of Bandits fight! Those lightning rounds are dangerous, so Molly gets between Irvine and her. She tanks the hits, her form convulsing... but she stays up, grinning at the Vault Hunter with a maniac look in her eyes. Meawhile, Irvine draws his own blade and blocks Lyria's with it! "A fine strike, I rate it among the clouds! But we are of the stars! You'll have to aspire higher to beat us!"

    The pair regard August as he gets close, hearing his whispers. They seem... down. But with a shrug, Irvine produces Terminal Getaway and touches it to the still-stunned Molly. And with that usual *bip*, they're gone.

    Perplex rubs his face and sighs. "Damn! But... I suppose with it gone, the loyalists can't have it either. I only hope those two make themselves scarce so they can't pursue them..."