5564/Wrench in the Works-3

Wrench in the Works-3
Date of Scene:	11 November 2017
Location:	Claslat <CL>
Synopsis:	The Elites enter the inhospitable Reaches to search for the hideout of
Cast of Characters:	All-Seeing Eye, 1119, Kotone Yamakawa, Rebecca Chambers, 1129
Tinyplot:	Wrench in the Works

---

All-Seeing Eye has posed:
CLASLATI REACHES

     Autochthon's body was never meant to sustain life. Nowhere is this more apparent than the Reaches. In Autochthonian parlance, the Reaches are those portions of the Great Maker's body which don't house human settlements. The Eight Nations collectively comprise so little of Autochthon's body that this term barely begins to describe how vast the Reaches are, to say nothing of the difficulty in navigating them.

     Elites assisting in this operation will have received advance notice: expect low-atmospher, low-light and extreme travel times. For Autochthonia as a whole, and especially for the Reaches, maps are more suggestion than fact. The transport which takes the Elites to the outskirts of the Claslati Reaches even boasts a three-dimensional map. Every hour, landmasses shift, caverns open and close. Upon arrival, a few hoverbikes will be available for Elites without expedient travel. Respirator masks with 25 hours of oxygen will also be available.

     The Claslati government has given Eye and his allies a ten hour timeframe for the completion of this operation. Any further, and the paths which lead to the landing zone may be closed or radically altered.

     The landing zone is about 40 miles outside of Claslat, not part of the cavern nation but near its current position. It is a cavern so large that looking up, even with flashlights, merely reveals an immense blackness comparable to a starless night sky. There are two sources of light in this cavern. The first is the floodlights from the transport, which form two large illuminated ovals upon the ground. They reveal a jagged metal platform, upon which the Elites stand, which connects to the beginnings of a catwalk. Far, far in the distance, presumably at the end of the catwalk, there is a lonely, slowly blinking red light, not unlike a radio broadcast tower on less technologically advanced worlds.

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    Josuke really hadn't wanted to contact the Speedwagon Foundation for a rebreather. Not that they wouldn't have had any, or that they wouldn't have let him use one. He just didn't like to have to bother with them. He wasn't exactly on the best terms with his dad, for Reasons, and he'd rather not chance his dad being around when he asked.

    So he'd showed up at the area without gear. Well, mostly without gear. He had a flashlight. One of the really good ones that the American guy on TV claims can withstand being run over by a thousand pound truck or something. One of those 'tactical' flashlights. And boy was he ever relieved to see the rebreather masks!

    Josuke's not wearing his usual school uniform this time. He's wearing the outfit he wore at Brimsteel -- the almost western-looking outfit with the green turtleneck shirt under the brown V-neck sweater, black jeans with the two belts. His usual dress shoes have been replaced with a pair of sturdy boots, and he wears a pair of brown leather gloves.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone is clad in a simple but mostly form fitting space suit of some sort it's got a light unit built into the helemt though and she's got a matter maniplator on her hip likely carrying a bit of other gear. She's had some experiance in space or in void like places. She'll take one of the hoverbikes though as she moves to get on and she seems to be ready as she'll ever be for this. She will deploy from the transport and takes in the strange place.

<<Haven't seen something like this before.>>

To Josuke she might look like she wandered out of a SCI-Fi game, manga or anime from the looks of her suit.

<<So here we are...>>

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Once Rebecca has gotten into her protective suit, she hmms at it. It's pretty tight fitting but not restrictive in the least bit. It feels almost like a second skin in some ways. Once she gets it slipped on and her helmet is secured, she looks around at the others, surveying who's here and prepping for her mission mentally. It's been not long since she was in this world on an investigation, and now it seems that she's back.

"I just can't stay away," Rebecca jokes to no one in particular. "I should move here maybe." A chuckle escapes from her, but it more than likely would be brushed off as a lame joke attempt. Sighing, Rebecca says, "All right, I'm ready to move out when everyone else is."

Miari (1129) has posed:
Miari, being what she is, is fine as long as she has the Essence of Creation to draw upon. ... But she is not in Creation. She is in Autochthonia, whose Essence flows are much more tightly regulated than the abundant supply in Creation. Hence, she grabs a respirator just in case it's needed.

    As for the Hoverbike she takes? Well, she could probably do without and use a lot of Essence. But AS A FAN OF MAGITECH and EFFICIENCY, she absolutely HAS to take one and give it a try to see Autochthonian engineering in action!

    Curious for a person of Creation, she takes only about a minute of examining its controls and mumbling about it with geeky appreciation... and then confidently hops on, gripping the controls with the confidence of one who lived through the First Age's time of wonders. Her own Primordial Essence flows through the sturdy Autochthonian magical materials and the bike hums and thrums at resonance with a Celestial Anima.

    The other problem - light - well, she is an Exalt. She is her own walking spotlight.

    So while it may mean obviating stealth, so would bringing ANY KIND OF OTHER LIGHT SOURCE. She radiates what seems to be the golden-orange-red light of the Twilight Caste in a brilliant blaze from her skin... and it's bright enough to light the tunnels for hundreds of feet.

    "So please jog my memory. What brings us to this point of the reaches specifically...?"

All-Seeing Eye has posed:
All-Seeing Eye is in his element. As an artificial being with mere organic sensibilities, he breathes only to speak, which means the low-atmosphere conditions of the cave don't bother him a bit. The Exalt stands, legs spread, and extends a hand over the jagged metal surface of the platform. From his palm, a pair of handlebars slide out. From those handlebars, a deep red hoverbike slowly constructs itself, unfolding with the same familiar whirs and clicks as before. By the time it's finished, he sits astride Tranquil Egress with a small smile.

     "A very appropriate question, Miari dear!" Eye, again wearing his personalized Regulator longcoat, takes a moment to flip his long hair over his shoulder. "Brilliant and Luminous Innovator believed that Ever-Triumphant Strategist, our suspect, had a maintenance facility hidden in the reaches. The Starmetal caste has analyzed maps of the Reaches dating from Innovator's dissapearance to today, and conclude a 78% probability he dissapeared somewhere within this sector."

     They can't be /completely/ sure because so much of the landscape changes, but apparently enough of it is similar to snapshots taken on earlier dates that they have reasonable cause to suspect a correlation.

     Once everyone has geared up, Eye activates Tranquil Egress. Contrary to Miari's bright display, his Essence causes the vehicle's jets to burn a bright purple, leaving behind cinders in their wake.

     Between Josuke's flashlight and Miari's anima, the Elites can clearly see a couple of yards in front of them. Distressingly, neither seems to be able to illuminate the /bottom/ of the cavern either. Still, the Exalt takes off along the catwalk. Assuming the others follow, it's a good twenty minutes before they reach the other side of the cavern.

     There are a few things of interest here:

     Kotone, Josuke, and Rebecca (the Elites visiting from more-or-less modern worlds) will, upon crossing the catwalk, be reminded of AM radio towers upon seeing this. It's nowhere near as tall, but that's only at first glance. The base appears to extend all the way to the bottom of the cavern, through a hole in the sharp metal platform. A bright red light slowly flashes on and off, as if there to warn aircraft of its presence--yet the only such craft in the cavern is all the way on the other side. There is an access panel upon this tower, bearing a faint coating of rust. It hangs open, revealing a yellowed plastic interface and some sort of access port.

     Miari's anima will also illuminate what appears to be the first bend of a winding pathway. Upon the wall, everyone can clearly see dull green glyphs which appear to have been made by human hands. Miari in particular will recognize some of them as Old Realm, but others may elude her.

     Upon seeing the glyphs, Eye's visage sours into a scowl. "Tunnel folk."

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    Josuke follows along with the other Elites -- it hopefully won't take him long to figure out the hoverbike. And he'll probably need both hands to operate the bike, so he'll need to partially summon his Stand to hold the flashlight. It'll just look like a pink-and-blue hand sticking out of his shoulder, holding the flashlight.

    "Geez... this place is still huge," he comments quietly as the group heads to the location. Once they all stop, he dismounts the bike and looks at the tower. "Why does it have a warning light on top of it? This place doesn't exactly look like it has a lot of air traffic..."

    And then All-Seeing Eye makes another comment. "What are tunnel people?" he asks. "From the look on your face, I'd guess they're not friendly?"

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Rebecca follows along as well, not seeming the least bit uneasy at all. She's already become accustomed to this place somehow, and she's eager to take on whatever's needed of her here. She looks to Josuke and says, "Yeah, it's even bigger than I imagined." A pause as she adds, "You never know in a world like this why they have that light."

When Rebecca hears about the tunnel people, she furrows her brow a little. "From the look of things, I'd say they're not people who want to invite us in for coffee, that's for sure."

Miari (1129) has posed:
"Seventy-eight percent is enough for me." Miari agrees after taking a few moments to consider the words. "Starmetal Caste... I would assume they are mostly tacticians and planners by profession? Following the example of Orichalcum Caste being brilliant leaders and inventors... and your own affinity for grim necessities." And if they're anything like Sidereals, their predictions are very good - but so might their schemery be...

    She purses her lips, hidden by the respirator.

    She has little trouble navigating Autochthonia from here. As she steps, she leaves a faint trail of invisible Essence to mark her path. Wispy silver sands that show only to spirit sight, and will be gone in under a day...

    Her attention first shifts to the glyphs... and Eye's grouchiness at them. She sets in to translate them first. "Tunnel folk? ... outcasts from your society, I assume?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Radio wasn't quite dead on her world hell it was doing better than TV when she thought about it, as that tower makes he think of AM radio towers back home it's not that big, or is it? Wait she takes a second look and it's huge. She takes a moment to stary chekcing things out but Eye's comment gets her attention she looks over to him for a moment.

"Tunnel folk? What are they and are they a problem?"

From the tone she suspects yes but best to ask that while she makes for hte radio tower a well she wants to get a good look maybe just maybe there's something she can interface with it on it.

All-Seeing Eye has posed:
"Irrelevant~" The change in disposition is like whiplash. "Do you care if a roach in your pantry is friendly?" The Exalt turns astride his bike to look at Josuke (probably the worst possible person to say this to) and smashes one fist into an open palm. He grins. "No--they are parasites." Miari's question earns a simple nod. "They huddle together in the Reaches and steal from the Great Maker. In some cases, their very existence is theft--but after an ingenious initiative by yours truly, even these wastrels can be made to serve!"

     Miari's attempts to decipher the glyphs will uncover that, where the Old Realm portions are concerned, it seems to be directions to food, heat, and shelter--all things which are in very short supply here.

     Kotone attempts to jack into the radio tower's access panel. Her augmented vision will reveal a suprisingly simple, easy-to-navigate interface. As she explores, it's obvious this was meant more for Autochthon's chosen and whatever artificial denizens might be lurking. Its purpose seems to be a place where such beings can send and receive messages.

     Said messages are encrypted and mostly appear as gibberish, but what isn't gibberish is the frequent demand by the system for Kotone to provide "Divine Authorization." The message provides her thirty seconds to reply--just enough time for her to check the activity logs of the uplink station.

     Displaying the current date as 21:45 11DAI4908, Kotone can make out access points throughout the terminal's history. One of them reads 16:00 01DAI4908--the most recent of the entries save for Kotone's current one. The timer expires.

UNAUTHORIZED USER. TERMINATING SESSION. SECURITY COUNTERMEASURES ACTIVE.

     The terminal promptly boots Kotone from its virtual interface--and from within the bowels of the Reaches, a clattering is heard, like metallic legs scrabbling across a surface.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is lucky worse hasn't happened to her to be perfectly honest. She moves to attempt to hack in and pull up dat also hearing Eye on the Tunnel people does bring up a cringe of horror within her but she's got here job to do. If she can pull up information on what's going on here it might be of use to them. She'll check the activity lods and copy them as best as she can with the other data. She then pulls out. Even as she hears Eye's warning on the comms' She's already moving to get up to attempt up for it's time to leave.

"I got some data about the activuty here last but IT might ... not be worth it."

Given this is realted to creation and well more and more shes finding things to be worse than a third world nation on her own world.

She's going to start running now tyring to get for the transport, this is not a good day.

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    Josuke blinks a little at All-Seeing Eye's reply. "Parasites?" He blinks. Then he gets the idea, this 'stealing' business, and 'made to serve'? None of that sounds right to Josuke. The worth of others' lives aren't determined by what service they can offer. And it takes every fiber of his self-control not to say something to that effect. But as All-Seeing Eye said on the radio, priorities.

    Those priorities are going to get reshuffled again, since it seems that Kotone's prodding has made the thing they're inside angry. The sound of scuttling happens, and then All-Seeing Eye explains it on the radio. Josuke looks towards the scuttling sounds, hoping to catch a glimpse of what's making it. Just a glimpse, long enough to find out two things. One, what is it? And two, where are they coming from? The latter is so he can know which way to aim the hoverbike -- AWAY from those things!

    Once he finds out which direction NOT to go in, he hops back on the borrowed hoverbike and guns it away. He is, however, making a concerted effort not to get separated from the others.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
"Parasites?" Rebecca gulps a little. "That does not sound good." But then Kotone makes something angry, and now there seems to be trouble coming towards them. Fast. "Oh no, let's get out of here!" Rebecca exclaims as she jumps for the jetbike she borrowed as well and attempts to follow after Josuke. "This wasn't supposed to happen I don't think!"

Miari (1129) has posed:
"Well, if anyone knows the locale then it would be them. If someone has seen our mysterious saboteur, there's a high chance they have some kind of relations. Even if only for someone to talk to." She posits, now pondering the chances of negotiating anything with the tunnel folk.

    "If they're undesirable in Autochthonia, I could be willing to help re-integrate a number of people back into Creation." She offers smoothly. "... Assuming there's some way to get the word out to these people and they'd be interested..." Which seems unlikely, given the way Eye's referring to them.

    But then, with a sudden CLATTER-SCRABBLE from far away, she whirls about... and hisses irritably. She begins to chant and gesture, scribing Old Realm glyphs between her hands out of rapidly-shaped Essence. Her flaring anima focuses and swirls inwards, some of it congealing against her skin... which takes on a complete and total tinge of bronze.

    She CLANKS when she steps now.

    Another complicated series of sigils combining in ways that they probably shouldn't be later... and she hurls forth a ball of congealed wind. It bursts and cracks open like an egg, revealing a horze-sized wolf comprised entirely of visible, swirling winds - an element quite foreign to Autochthonia!

All-Seeing Eye has posed:
Kotone's path will quickly be harried by the very thing Josuke's looking to see. A mechanical spider, easily the size of a double-decker bus, crawls up the wall. A panel on its thoraxs slides open, and from this panel a telescopic rod extends. A beam of white light stretches from one end of the rod to another... and then the rod turns, expanding itself into the shape of a bow.

     Mounted on a pivot, the bow turns towards the transport. The mortal pilot attempts to take off and flee, but as the lumbering vehicle rises, three lances of searing white energy pierce it. One of the engines explodes in a spectacular, pyroclastic display, and the vehicle lists until it crashes against the wall of the cavern. Rolling all the way down to the bottom, there is another explosion.

     The spider raises two forelegs, which split open to reveal a series of six open tubes that rapidly begin to rotate. Miari's position is promptly buffeted with a hail of metal projectiles so dense it might as well be a laser, with the sound like the constant unraveling of a zipper across treads.

     "This way~" Eye calls out to Kotone in particular (as if she needed to be told twice). Tranquil Egress kicks up a cloud of fine metallic dust as Eye accelerates. He disappears around the corner with the green glyphs around it.

     What follows, for all the Elites, is a winding path taken at blistering speed, under and over jutting brass pipes and through spewing clouds of steam. Miari's Essence and Josuke's flashlight keep the hallway illuminated. Were it not for that, the only light down the wide corridor would be that of the fainly glowing green glyphs. Behind them, the sound of the destroyer clanking away, and ahead of them... silence.

     The longer they go on, the more narrow the corridor becomes, until gradually, everyone has to ride (or, in Miari's case, run?) single file. A final white lance of energy surges over the Elites' heads as the path dips, and after a long, ponderous downwards spiral, they arrive at a small chamber no bigger than the average Earth classroom.

     Various pans, dented from use, are laid out beside pipes to collect either condensation, or murky, nutrient-filled slurry. Thick rubber cords are woven into the wall, and in places, they've been cut open, revealing a flaxen substance beneath. Sheets of hammered metal form crude huts, and there is every sign that people once lived here--especially the skewered rats cooking over a glowing, heated grate.

     But there is only one figure here, as the Elites pull in. A single figure, wrapped in multiple layers of denim and cotton, complete with thick woolen gloves dirtied from years of use and a patchwork hood covering his head. He turns to face the Elites, and reveals a much older model respirator. His clothes have rubber ports woven into them at the front, from which plastic tubes, hanging and bouncing like artificial umbilical cords, run between. He gestures to the rats invitingly.

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    Josuke hears the explosions and looks at the transport, his eyes wide. He emits a choked sound when he sees the fate of the transport, and a striken look comes over his face -- there's no way the driver survived that. But he turns forward once more, quickly, before the spiders catch him too. Won't do the the driver any good if he dies too!

    His look moves to one of sheer concentration as the group speeds away into the tunnels. He's not going to lose anyone else, he decides. And so if it looks like someone's falling behind, the Stand will manifest its full torso above Josuke, and with the hand that's not holding the flashlight, Crazy Diamond will try to grab hold of anyone falling behind. The Stand should be able to tuck someone under its arm. It's gonna look damn weird him riding with someone tucked under the arm of a half-manifested pink and blue armored torso sticking out of his back, but one does as one must.

    Crazy Diamond ducks under the white bolt (if he's had to manifest to assist another). Josuke's not taking any chance of the bolt being able to hurt his Stand. Sure, they may be immune to casual, mundane damage... but a bolt of white energy from a god-being's giant spider-shaped white blood cell is ANYTHING but mundane!

    Josuke keeps his concentration on the road ahead, not wanting to run into a wall going as fast as he's going. In fact, he pauses to switch hands -- he takes the flashlight in one hand and allows Crazy Diamond's now freed hand to pilot the hoverbike. The Stand's reflexes are faster, and it will be able to react faster. If he hasn't had to carry anybody, he'll hand the piloting off completely to his Stand.

    Once they get into what's clearly the Autochthonian ghetto and find a place to pull over, Josuke takes a moment to look around, in wonder. "Whoa... would you look at this place," he murmurs quietly. He sees the rats and his eye twitches. And again when the figure seems to be offering them the rats. "Ah... thanks, but I already ate," he says politely, offering a wide smile to the figure. The mask probably hides the smile on his face, but everything about his countenance smiles when he does that. "Besides, food's probably hard to come by here... so I don't want to take what you've got."

    A pause, and he looks around. "Um... it looks like this was a town. Where is everybody?" Pause. "If you don't mind me asking?"

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Eyes on the road at all times. That's the golden rule of operating a vehicle.

Rebecca keeps her gaze steady and her focus as clear as possible. This is kind of new to her, being on a jetbike, but she's gotten the hang of it and she doesn't want to risk crashing at a high rate of speed. She just keeps focused ahead and tries not to think about what had just happened back then and there. It's not until Josuke comes to a stop that Rebecca comes to a stop as well. Once she sees the area, she frowns a little but says nothing.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
This is a bad day, a very bad day for Kotone a she moves to run. She's also very darn fast she sees the horrible almost bug like thing coming for her. She sees the bow shape she knows what that is and she'll follow Eye and not comment on what he just said she's worries about being torn to bits again, it's something she's experienced once already in her life and never wants to do so again. She has not even recalled to turn on her. She was not expected a she keeps running, Eye is gone and they are on their own. She does not think they been ditched he is an native of this world and an exalted, perhaps he's doing something else to keep things from getting worse.

She will skid to a halt shortly after Josuke does.

She looks the figure over for a moment.

"It's' like my friend said, we're not from around here to put is mildly."

Miari (1129) has posed:
Miari created the Hound of the Five Winds specifically to act as a guard dog. It trails behind her, stopping only when the spider unloads its payload on her. Despite being made of wind, the flechette spray carves into the thing's windy material body and drives it back as it bleeds sprays of Essence...

    But the real target, Miari, dives back into the tunnels with the others as her spirit howls in defiance and leaps to engage the Spider.

    ... And yet for all she gave it a directive to engage, it's only going to tussle and bowl around as best it can, not go for any serious damage. Its automaton intellect doesn't care about self-preservation, only following its orders.

    But Miari does mount the bike and ride after the others! On and on...

    By then her Wolf is probably mincewind.

    On and on they go until they reach...

    Miari blinks a few times. Her nose would wrinkle if she wasn't wearing the respirator. After that rambunctious run, finding someone out there like this means...

    She hopes that thing cannot track her.

    "I thank you for the offer... but I believe you need them more than I...?"

All-Seeing Eye has posed:
Josuke's question causes the person to hang his head... as if in shame. "Taken," he says. "I... hid." He links his hands together, looking up briefly to steal a glance at the Elites. "What nation are you from?" In his mind, persons with such fantastic technology at their disposal must be from one of the Eight Nations. But then, Kotone answers his question.

     "Oh."

     Eye dismounts his bike and approaches the tunnel person, a coy little smile on his face. The exalt places a hand upon the figure's chest, his fingers toy with the rough edges of the tunnel dweller's attire. "Taken by whom, darling? Machine spirits? Regulators, mm?" Slowly, his hand slides up to the side of the mask. "A Champion?~"

     The figure locks up, backing up before the Exalt simply clutches a strap of denim upon his patchwork clothing. "Y-Yes..."

     Eye pulls the man closer somewhat... forcefully. "You're not going to keep us in suspense, are you, dear? Tell us who it was~"

     "...he calls himself the Herald of the Black Engine."

     "Ooh~ You're telling the truth!" He giggles melodiously, and like a fan demanding an encore, he makes another request. "Do it again! What Caste does this Herald belong to...?"

     There's a pause, and the figure looks around nervously, as if worried someone else might be listening. He swallows, the gesture hidden behind his respirator, and his hands clench anxiously. "The Adamant Caste."

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    Josuke nods at Kotone's words. He places a hand on his chest and introduces, "My name's Josuke Higashikata." He's aware that the name probably sounds alien. In fact he's counting on that. It will lend more credence to Kotone's statement. Hopefully it'll be clear that they're not Autochthonian. Aside from All-Seeing Eye, of course.

    Though when he witnesses All-Seeing Eye's treatment of the tunnel person, he frowns. Stepping forward, he notes, "I don't think all that's necessary... he's scared enough, look at him." He doesn't touch All-Seeing Eye, though. Yet. Playing good cop? Maybe.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Rebecca doesn't like the harsh treatment either. "Don't you think you could ease up a little? Sometimes, harsh treatment like that isn't the best option." She sighs a little. "Unless, of course, you were working for Chief Irons, in which case he'd give you a raise and a bonus if he saw you doing that for him..."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa listens as the man speaks and she tilts her head for a moment.

"Canada."

She gives the name of her homeland and she looks to see as Eye arrives and the figure for a moment and there's thoughts of what has been said, given she's heard about the. She's hiding here feelings though she looks almost doll like and people might notice that chance in expression as she listens to more upon the radio.

"I'm Kotone Yamakawa."

She looks as Josuke falls into good cop mode but her gaze does turn to All seeing eye for a moment she's got a real bad feeling about what comes next.

Miari (1129) has posed:
"The herald of the... that sounds very ominous." Miari notes, bringing a curled finger thoughtfully against her chin and rubbing as her mind turns to overdrive. Facts and suspicions start to link together, but pieces of that puzzle are still missing. Conclusions would be pre-mature.

    ... and then those words are spoken.

    Things are explained. Her expression turns deeply troubled. The emerald-haired lady adjusts her kimono while remaining silent... "Adamant and blackness have nothing in common." She eventually murmurs.

    "How are you so certain they were an Adamant Caste?" She asks the man, doing her best to retain a professional distance and impassion from Eye's approach.

    Her Patron being who she is, silencing her own emotions and keeping distant is actually VERY easy.