2622/The Mechanics of Diplomacy: A Clockwork Blorenge

The Mechanics of Diplomacy: A Clockwork Blorenge
Date of Scene:	13 July 2015
Location:	Paragon City <CoH>
Synopsis:	A foreign diplomat is being held hostage by a bunch of scavenging robots in Founders' Falls! What heroic types will come to the rescue?
Cast of Characters:	Maya, 346, 560, 769

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Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    A hotel in Founders' Falls is the site of the disturbance. Founders' Falls may cause a sense of familiarity in those who have studied a bit about most common versions of Earth... A city called Venice, in Italy, where there are canals instead of roads. Modern buildings mix with older historical sites to create a strange, unique, and impressive feel to the place that Paragon City was born from and grew up around. But it's a specific hotel that heroes are being called upon to visit, not site-seeing.

    According to the PPD radio, a bunch of Clockwork have attacked this hotel, where a diplomat from Wales is staying during some discussions with Paragon City's leadership. The Welsh diplomat, and the other guests at the hotel, and the people working there, are all in danger from the mysterious mechanical menace that is the Clockwork... Scavengers, for the most part, the reason for such a brazen attack in a place they have never previously been sighted is unclear. What IS clear is that something has to be done before anyone gets hurt!

    Mission Objective: Rescue 6 hostages and the Diplomat

Saber (346) has posed:
     Though the King of Knights as of late had been fairly occupied with the management of Dun Realtai, her duties of knighthood were equally as important. When there was a crisis which could be solved with her aid, and there were no other pressing concerns, Saber never hesitated to act on the chivalry she held dear. To do otherwise would be to no longer be a knight.

     Paragon City continued to be a rather peculiar place for the Servant, but she would hardly overlook whatever problems the PPD needed some assistance with. A city of heroes though it was, Paragon nevertheless had only so many heroes to go around, and requesting help from the Union -- or anyone else of a similar disposition -- wasn't unreasonable. She hadn't focused on the details other than that there was a hostage situation involving some downright strange mechanical...well, whatever they truly were. Saber didn't think too much on it, not when the objective was a rescue mission.

     The suit-clad blonde arrived as she typically did via Yamaha V-Max, dismounting even as she smoothly parked the armoured motorbike on an adjacent street with more grace than should have been possible for a vehicle so difficult to control. Yet, after crossing the street and approaching the door, the three-piece suit was replaced in a flash of wind and light by her usual battle armour, her hair once more bound in its braid-encircled bun, Excalibur cloaked in Wind King and invisible in her hand.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou's starting to become a fairly common sight in Paragon these days when awful things happen. His rusty, cheap, but well-serviced motorcycle can barely keep up with Saber's, and that's assuming she's not flooring it. He arrives after her, parking the bike at the roadside and stretching after he hops off. There's nothing flashy about him getting ready for battle. He just mutters a familiar phrase under his breath and calls out his most trusted, simple weapons. Kanshou and Bakuya appear in a faint flurry of prana, congealing within his grasp.

    "I'm not the only one who thinks this city's always in trouble, am I? What do these things want?"

Maya has posed:
Maya had been using the name the Blue Witch for some time here and had the outfit to back up the name too. IT was different it was fun, it was the sort of Thing? Maya normally didn't wear. She was a bit after Saber and Shirou when they arrived. She looks over to him as he arrives and shakes her head a bit.

"It's just the nature of this world it seems to be a nexus point of trouble like your home town seems to be Shirou."

She looks to Saber giving the one true ruler of England a nod.

"We should get to it shouldn't we?"

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Police have cordoned off the area, but they aren't really equipped for super-powered menaces (or at least not yet, but that's a tale for another time). That means that while they give the newly-arrived heroes plenty of room to get inside without panicked civilians, having helped evacuate those who managed to escape thus far and keep any gawkers from getting in the way, they won't be going inside. It's a tall building, but not a skyscraper or anything. A very nice hotel, but not a super-sized one. That means that, hopefully, there will be fewer floors to check for hostages, and fewer hostages in need of rescue. And maybe, just maybe, fewer enemies to defeat.

    Whenever those gathered entered the building, they'll immediately be able to hear the churning and chattering of gears, the metallic grinding and machinery enough to set one's teeth on edge. Visible in the long, column-filled room with a reception desk at the far end, are several of the strange robots patrolling past across the marble, checker-board-patterned floor. Stairs seem to lead up on both the left and right, to another section of this floor. Possibly an elevator might be up there too, but with lots of side rooms to investigate and clear out, rushing ahead might not be wise without defeating at least a few of the robotic ruffians.

Saber (346) has posed:
     Saber shook her head. "No, it is most peculiar," she replied to Shirou's muttering. "I do wonder about the objective of these machines, myself."

     After a nod to Maya, the Servant was the first to enter, being the member of their party capable of withstanding the most amount of damage. Immediately she could hear the strange, signature clicking of gears as she set foot inside the hotel, only growing louder by the time they reached the reception area. As she was in the lead, the petite swordswoman would be the first to be attacked with blasts of electricity from afar before the bizarre creations of the Clockwork King charged forward, mechanical fists swinging. Once they did, Saber was already prepared, having dropped into her en garde stance even as the Cogs closed the distance enough to fire off blasts of energy, using Excalibur to absorb the blasts and giving the others the window necessary to act.

     "Such strange machines..." she mused calmly even as she switched from defence to offence, swinging at a Cog with its 'head' tucked under its 'arm'. "And most dangerous. Be on your guard."

Maya has posed:
The Blue Witch knows the clockwork well enough and she know it's time to get moving. She k=see them she waits for a moment as Saber seems to be majking ready to get in.

"I don't know but they keep causing trouble that much I know!"

She's pulling a card from the leather pouch on her clothing where she keeps her fate cards she's moving in now and casts a spell ward Saber and protect her from damage.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Having someone dedicated as the 'punching bag' is not a thing Shirou's so happy about. The only thing that does please him is that he's never seen Saber get seriously hurt by all these crazy escapades.

    He goes in after her, at about the same time Maya does. And with her going on the offense with melee, he decides to fight with ranged weaponry instead. Kanshou and Bakuya remain in hand, but... "Trace on...!" It takes quite a bit of effort, but he raises an arm and conjures up several masterwork but mundane swords. These? These fire like missiles at outlying Cogs!

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    After a pitched but relatively brief battle, the three heroes, with tanking, healing, and damage at their disposal, are able to clear the room out of Clockwork enemies. After exploring the rest of this floor, they should be able to rescue two out of six people, not counting the diplomat, who have been reported as missing from those evacuated. They thank the heroes for the rescue and then flee along the now-cleared path to the exit. Eventually, they should make it to the elevator, and from there, up to the next floor. More exploration occurs, more hostages rescued... But the relatively short Clockwork, so short that even Saber is taller than them, are gradually becoming fewer as taller Clockwork appear. Ones closer to an adult in height.

    And then they run into their first Clockwork Boss.

    A metal man bearing crown-like spikes of metal upon his his head. Not very ornate, still looking like scrap metal, but... He has powers not yet seen from the Clockwork thus far.

    The Assembler Duke, once confronted raises his hands and sends electrical charges from his palms, sizzling all over the area, tearing bits of metal from the general area and assembling them into a Cog to fight by his side. That kind of ability could be trouble if not dealt with!

Saber (346) has posed:
     Fortunately, Saber's protection against magic only protected against spells meant to harm her rather than all magic. Buffs and healing work as intended! "I thank you, my lady," the knight-king replied, her voice somehow soft and yet completely audible over the din of attacking Clockwork at the same time.

     Equally as fortune is Shirou holding his tongue on Saber's tanking habit. She wore faerie armour, possessed the fortitude of one of the strongest classes of Servant, and had been celebrated in legend even before then. It wasn't as if he needed to worry. At least, when it came to the Clockwork minions. As they rescued two of the hostages, the Servant thanked them for what information they could provide before moving onto the next batch of insane psychically-controlled pseudo-robots. It was reasonably smooth going as far as battles went...at least, until they faced the Assembler Duke.

     What Saber could normally shrug off was not such a simple matter of deflection this time, and the Servant was in for a quite literal nasty, painful shock. While magic couldn't affect her, a normal electrical blast could. She was trapped for a few seconds before she could move in on the hulking metal 'man', cleaving at its claw-like 'hands' with a hoarse battle cry. As much as that attack had been painful for her, she would rather Maya and Shirou not be within its blast radius.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    The frequency of Clockwork appearances means Shirou cannot keep bombarding them with weapons. He eventually develops a different strategy of going after stragglers with his twin swords instead of into the thick of things. Slash slash, Cogs go down!... And with some adventuring, they clear a path for more captives to escape...

    But then there's something different. His weapons come up, but NOT fast enough. "AAAGH!!"

    Protection against magic? Not so useful. His minimal amount with the two weapons is bypassed utterly by LIGHTNING BLASTS. Shirou's blasted to the ground, gasping in pain and twitching... But he doesn't stay there. The boy scrambles to get up again. "Is this one in charge of the others...?!"

    His gaze quickly focuses on the Duke's ability to create more Cogs. "No way, that doesn't make any sense!" But it happened.

    Gritting his teeth, Shirou HURLS Kanshou and Bakuya in wide arcs, hoping to catch the Boss in between them!

Maya has posed:
Maya has enough of an understanding abour how sabers fight well enough. She is going to od what she can to support them she's not attacking but given how these things fight? She's grins at Saber.

"No problem."

It's funny Maya mused, that her heling and support abilities had become so much more of use in the multiverse than her raw power of her spells. She fell in trying to support the others.

"No idea these things are a mystery to me too!"

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    The modified Assembler Duke's area electrical attack isn't super strong, as it's meant more for damaging multiple enemies at once than defeating a single enemy, so the output of energy is divided. But the newly-created Cog comes rushing in to try to punch Shirou right in the ear right a fist made of metal while Shirou and Saber are busy slashing the boss with with their respective weapons (one held, the other two blades thrown). The boss staggers under the onslaught and seems heavily damaged but doesn't quite seem to be out of it. If he were a normal robot, with vulnerable electronics, and so on, then sufficient damage to delicate instruments might shut him down. But he seems to be put together from scrap metal with no apparent motivating force, power supply, or anything. It's a completely nonsensical design that still somehow works. And no sign of magic being involved anywhere!

    Truly bizarre!

    With Maya busy healing and shielding, another couple of Sprockets that run down from a stairwell nearby and shoot lightning past her along the way may be in a position to hit her... At least until an invisible force strikes one of them and sends it flying across the multi-stair-cased 2nd-floor room and into a wall hard. It doesn't get back up. Flying in is a man in a black bodysuit with purple spirals across its surface, his blonde hair sticking out of the top of his mask. "Oh, man, I'm so totally not supposed to be in this area." Cortex remarks worriedly as he tries to take some of the heat off the other heroes.

    One more hit on the Assembler Duke, currently trying to shoot lightning from its palm at Saber at close range, should be enough to take him down! Hopefully, anyway! There's an even an elevator visible right behind him, behind some glass doors! The final floor!

Saber (346) has posed:
     Even what little Saber understood of technology was wholly inadequate for her to even begin to understand the Clockwork. For all she knew, they could have been magical, not unlike Caster's summoned creatures. But for all of how they worked, they might as well have been. By all rights, the pseudo-robots should not be able to function at all.

     Not that the Servant was helping matters along. This time, she was able to deflect the electrical blast, though not without some black scoring of her armour. With a downward slash attempted to cleave the confounding Assembler Duke in two. Her attack had left Maya vulnerable to the Sprockets descending down the stairs before she could attempt to lure them away...if not for the psychic hero's timely entrance. Even if he technically wasn't strong enough for the area they were in. Once the Assembler Duke was down, Cortex would earn a bow of gratitude from the Servant, but for now, she still had the hulking pseudo-robot to deal with.

Maya has posed:
Maya has started to like this honestly it's proven to be far more use than her generally slinging spells about, right? She's proving to be far more of use here supporting them and she's sees Cortex arrive and moves to also give him the protect spell treatment as well cause hey let's try to keep her friend together, right? Given ther last outing they nearly lost Cortex after all.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou DOESn't get hi in the ear, at least. Thanks to a last minute swerve he instead takes the blow to his shoulder. Which still hurts and sends him staggering, but he retaliates with a swift slash from a quick re-projection of Kanshou and Bakuya! "If he keeps making those we'll get overwhelmed. Saber, Maya! Disable him quickly!"

    Then... then he gawks. When did Cortex get here?! "...Cor...tex...?!"

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Cortex smiles appreciatively towards Maya at the protection spell. He certainly needs it. Hovering as he is, he has a mild defensive boost, but not as much against these enemies as Maya can provide. And with all these other heroes here, though he may feel like a sidekick, he has the benefit of their experience and ability to boost his own effectiveness.

    Saber cleaves the Assembler Duke in half, and he falls to the ground with a loud clank, small rusted springs flying from parts of him and other bits of metal jangling from the impact. Shirou defeats his Cog attacker with quick swordplay despite the injury her suffers in the process. Cortex gives a thumbsup to Saber and Shirou after firing off a psychic attack against the remaining Sprocket, discovering to his surprise that his mental powers are actually effective against these things that have no minds. Huh.

    The Sprocket collapses.

    "Yeah, I heard you guys were in the area, and I thought I felt something weird here, so I decided to check it out." he replies somewhat distractedly, before looking to the elevator room. "Maybe it was just my imagination though. I haven't seen anything but these robots so far." Then he lands and says, "If you'll let me come with you, I think I can help with fighting out way to the diplomat. ...You guys knew there was some Welsh diplomat here, right? Aeron Jernigan?"

    Unless people have a reason to stick around, they should be able to advance to the third and final floor of the hotel, where they rescue the remaining two hostages, the hotel manager and his wife. The wife has something to say to the heroes!

    CLUE FOUND!

    'The hotel manager's wife had this to tell you: "Those metal menaces didn't seem interested in us, or anything else in the hotel... For some reason they wanted to know where Mr. Jernigan was! Aren't they just scavengers? What could they want with an ambassador?"'

    Just then...

    "Heroes... Detected! Stop... them! *BZZT*!" A small pack of Clockwork are coming running down the hall outside of the office. There was a big open room beyond there. Maybe they came from there... And as that's the final place unchecked in this hotel, aside from all the locked rooms, maybe that's where the diplomat is being held hostage!

Saber (346) has posed:
     With the Assembler Duke successfully downed, Saber finally rendered that proper bow. "I thank you, sir," she replied to Cortex, even if such formal manners might throw him off. She was a knight, after all. "Yes, we had been informed of the hostage situation. However, we have yet to find the diplomat himself."

     Until the party reached the final floor, that is. Once the other incidental hostages had been freed, the stoic Servant thanked them before urging them to depart, where PPD officers were waiting outside to further protect them while the requested heroes finished the mission. With no time to spare, it would seem.

     Saber blurred into action, once more positioning herself between the new ambush and the squishier party members. "Most curious...they would appear to build and rebuild themselves," the petite blonde knight observed mildly even as Excalibur swept in large arc to eliminate as many as possible as she advanced towards what was most likely their goal. "Perhaps the person we seek is being held in there."

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "Just don't get too hurt again like the other time!" Shirou's grateful for the help. That is NOT grumbling. But if Cortex gets seriously hurt again... ow.

    Things get hectic in a hurry though. Shirou uses the doorway for cover, whilst taking to some archery instead. He uses arrows formed of prana instead of swords for now, but with that bow? They hit with a WHALLOP.

    Of course his target is more of those Clockworks running about. "Why would these guys want a diplomat? They must have some kind of plan."

Maya has posed:
Maya is going to keep supporting the others as best she can, she's now turning her attention on these things but it seems the others have dropped them.

"So your saying they were after information? They want VIP like that? That makes no little sense."

She nods to Saber in agreement.

"Let's go see what we can find out. Hostage likely get leverage over the country they are from?"

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    The ambush is dealt with fairly swiftly, though with some of the enemies stopping when they get within range to shoot off more electrical blasts while others continue to rush towards melee range, and the overall toughness of such 'trivial' enemies in this world, it is still not necessarily an easy fight. Nonetheless, the heroes eventually triumph over the Cogs, Sprockets, and Cannon Knight, with Cortex seemingly weirdly effective against them, though not any more so than the others. Sword strikes seem to do reduced damage to them, but given the strength of Saber and Shirou, it's still adequate for the job at hand when paired with psychic attacks and Maya's support magic keeping them safe, and healing injuries they may suffer.

    Cortex nods in agreement with the others. "I've no desire to get injured again... And it's very much unusual behavior for the Clockwork. I've never heard of them wanting anything except to tear apart anything metal and run off with it. But... I've noticed something strange about them... Usually, my mental attacks aren't very effective against non-living or mindless enemies. Like the undead of the Banished Pantheon we faced. It's unusual when such beings can be influenced. Maybe there's more to them than meet the eye?"

    After that discussion, along the way to the final room, the heroes finally get there and may hear something almost like an engine running... And see a man in a suit and hat standing before a rather large robot with exhaust ports coming out of its back and shoulders, and smoke pouring out of the pipes. That's... One big Clockwork.

    "You will come with us, or you will be disassembled," the Cannon Prince commands in an artificial, echoing voice.

    "Neither of those sounds beneficial to me." Aeron Jernigan responds, his accent evident.

Saber (346) has posed:
     Saber nodded at Shirou's question. "Why, indeed? Or this one in particular?"

     As for Cortex's observation, she simply shook her head. "I fear that I know very little of what is effective and what is less so against certain opponents," Saber admitted once they had dispatched another round of Clockwork minions. "Nevertheless, I would imagine that is a useful discovery."

     Jade eyes quickly scanned the room; under normal circumstances, it would likely be the most beneficial to flank the lumbering machine in the event there were unpleasant surprised waiting for them, but it seemed they had little time for finesse.

     Were the Cannon Prince human, he might have been surprised when the tiny knight-king stepped inside with all her customary regal being. "You will release your hostage," she commanded quietly yet with a voice that mysteriously seemed to carry. And if it wasn't for the multiversal translation effect, only the diplomat would have understood what she said, though he was likely wondering why her Welsh was so positively /ancient/.

     For her part, Saber didn't expect the thing to simply comply with her order, though she at least waited politely for it to attack first before laying into the bizarre mechanical 'man'.

Maya has posed:
Maya has proven she does know what she's doing when it comes to healing and support magic. She thinks she should have turned to this far more often years ago. She'd likely have done more good that way but there's no real chanign her past as she. She looks at Cortex for a second.

"Theya re acting strangely.

Maya's now also is holding back from launching any attack until it makes the first strike. Unless a miracle happens and it surrenders?

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou's a bit scraped and banged up by the time the groupr eaches the one who's REALLY ain charge... he hopes.

    If size means rank, he doesn't want to know if anything bigger than that will fit in this building. Just no.

    "You're thinking they're changing? Like something's given them minds of their own?"

    He bursts in right after Saber, Kanshou and bakuya having once again replaced the bow. The boy grimaces, then raises one weapon at the Cannon Prince. "What do you guys WANT? You're not getting it, if it's a person!"

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    The Cannon Prince turns when confronted, large, tread-like feet stomping as he immediately yells out, "Heroes! You will not... *ZZT* Interfere." as he unleashes a lightning bolt from one hand in an attempt to not only damage but also drain the endurance from the heroes. The bolt goes right past Saber, oddly, despite her probably wearing the most metal here, and seems as though it's going to hit Cortex! ...Instead, however, it seems to skim off the defensive spell that Maya put on him, just barely leaving him undamaged.

    "Gah!" Cortex yells and then unleashes a TK blast to try to hurl the enemy away.

    But, heavy and Boss-level as it is, the Cannon Prince merely takes the impact of unseen force and continues to charge towards them. Resistance to knockback! Curses!

    Aeron is cheering for the heroes in the background now, shaking his fists above his head energetically. "Have at them! That must be one of our own homegrown heroes here to rescue me!" he remarks for no apparent reason other than because people narrate things sometimes. It happens all over the Multiverse.

    If he is confused by the ancient form of Saber's speech, he gives no indication of it. But perhaps he is simply more concerned with what's happening before him right now as the behemoth rushes the group of heroes.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    As before, Shirou employs the attraction properties of his twin weapons by hurling both in opposing sideways arcs to converge on the Cannon Prince. It will be timed with any other attack - like a charge from Saber - so as to take full advantage of any openings and create plenty more!

    Of course if nobody charges, he'll do that anyways... and then charge himself with a swift double slash from a second set of the twin weapons. "We're not stopping until everyone's safe!" Is his answer to the Clockwork.

Maya has posed:
Maya is doing her best now as they are getting some moral support form the hostage she gets why they don't want get into it given what that thign could do to the. STill the show of suppor ti welcome and Maya's now unleahisng a temporal spell on the enemy to slow them down.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Saber stands by and taunts the enemy, who is then slowed down by Maya and attacked by Shirou. Eventually, after a gruelling battle involving rather strong mechanical blows being delivered, sword slashing through scrap metal, Excalibur being used to tear the enemy apart, and Cortex hammering whatever force motivates the metal monster with his mental powers, all while Maya heals and supports... And then, after the Cannon Prince falls, smaller robots arise from its remains amidst sparking electricity, the pieces just floating up into the air and assembling themselves... Well, when all is said and done, the diplomat is saved, and he smoothly transitions from cheering to approaching the heroes to congratulate them.

    "Come see me later. I appreciate your efforts, but I have a favor to ask of you." he calmly asserts before running towards the exit in a rather controlled manner. He really seems to be taking this whole thing rather well.

    Dun dun DUNNN... DUN!

    MISSION COMPLETE!