700/Astute Observations

Astute Observations
Date of Scene:	29 September 2014
Location:	Cybertron-2
Synopsis:	Mihk explores a dead Cybertron, finds a mysterious liquid, and almost ends up bug lunch.
Cast of Characters:	Blurr, 573

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Blurr has posed:
    Cybertron is a dead world, for the most part. Ever since Vector Sigmas spark-igniting pulsewaves came to a grinding halt, and the war tore its thriving civilization apart, it has been lifeless and desolate, a husk of what it once was. Where its city-states once stood, only ruins remain. Additionally, when the Decepticons created the Insecticons, only three were considered successful. The rest, the failures, were set loose upon the ruined landscape. Starved of energy on a resource-depleted planet, these mindless savages exist for a single purpose: to devour all who happen to cross paths with them. This horde of brutes was dubbed the Swarm...

    Or at least they're -supposed- to have the single purpose of devouring anything and everything in their path. Lately, they've been displaying some odd behavior. -Organized- behavior that seems to have purpose beyond just eating, that being keeping anyone from venturing into the catacombs below the surface.

    The warpgate would open up onto the edge of a vast, fragile landscape previously dubbed the Mitteous Plateau. Here, one ought to watch where he treads, for the delicate sheets of metal that cover it will easily give way to deep caverns below. Just beyond the plateau lie the ruins of the great city-state of Iacon, once the shining capital of the mechanical planet. For as far as a typical eye could see, there is nothing and no one but ruined terrain and shambles of structures. But perhaps, if one looked hard enough, he or she -might- be able to find something worth salvaging...that is, if the vicious Swarm doesn't find them first.

Mihk Lihzeh (573) has posed:
    Mihk steps out of the gate, turning back to peer at it. "I doubt I shall ever become accustomed to this." she muses softly to herself, before turning her mismatched eyes over the landscape. The dusk light is perfect for the Keeper, and she notes the fragile footing. "Best get to work then." she notes to noone, before pulling her book from her belt and opening it.

    She then strides out with confidence, now that her primary mode of defense is ready. "First things first... get the lay of the land, plan attack and escape routes, make backup plans and adaptions based on possible threats." She notes, marking in her book with a quill. "Little Aetheric energy here, must use it wisely."

Blurr has posed:
    As soon as she sets foot on the ground, the metallic terrain cracks under her weight. A small chip breaks away, clattering into a deep cavern below, the depths of which are too dark to see far into. Luckily for her, she's much smaller than the previous inhabitants of this place, so it doesn't send her sprawling through and down into the chasm.

    There's not much in the way of ruins here, since the fragile landscape didn't allow any structures to be built. But not far to the north are the ruins of a great city--visible from here. There are other city ruins in the other directions, in fact, it seems that most of this planet was covered with metropolis after metroplis, save for the areas that simply couldn't be built upon, such as the one at present. However Iacon is likely the closest. Which direction will she take?

Mihk Lihzeh (573) has posed:
    Taking stock of her location, and the simple fact that the ground beneath her can barely support /her/ weight, let alone anything else, Mihk chooses the closest location with signs of more stable ground. Heading north to Iacon, the Miqo'te steps carefully so as not to dislodge anything else or plunge into the dark depths below. "This would make a good ambush ground... not many places to flee to, however, open terrain would mean anything not camouflaged would be readily visible." she muses softly, marking in her book some more... is she drawing a map?

    "This area could be used to my advantage... mark safe paths, if pursued, lead aggressor into the area... if local may turn back due to known danger, if non-local, may fall to their death in the depths below." scribble scribble. Step, peer.

Blurr has posed:
    All those observations -may- prove useful to Mihk later, given the current...infestation. Fortunately for her, since she's comparatively small, she doesn't have too difficult of a time picking her way across the fragile plateau and finding more solid ground in the ruins of Iacon.

    The dusk is slowly but surely fading into the night, and she'll probably need a light source of some sort--it's very dark without Lambda Scorpii filling the sky, since all the lights that once illuminated the city have long gone dark.

    Despite the dilpidated state of all the structures here, one could tell that they were enormous. They must have housed giants, once... A warehouse is still standing, but with a wall and part of its roof missing. A casino lies in several large pieces, with various bits of holographic gaming equipment gathering dust and dirt in the scrapheap. Several more blocks east, a medical and research facility is partially standing. Maybe a few walls just sticking out of the ground here and there, amid piles of broken down cryogenic regeneration chambers, containers of long dried-up nucleon, cracked spare armor plating, and other medical supplies. There are also ruined residential complexes, bars, and clubs, and in the industrial sector are the remains of an energon refinery, waste management plant, and other facilities.

Mihk Lihzeh (573) has posed:
    The one thing that a Keeper-tribe has over their Seeker brethren is superb nightvision. No lights are brought out for her to see by, relying on the twinkling stars overhead to provide just enough light that her large pupils drink in like a dehydrated Hyur would at an oasis.

    Even now, however, she's scribbling down a basic map in her book, marking locations for possible later investigation, while also keeping an eye out for anything useful that may present itself to her now, and of course, keeping her guard up in case something still calls these ruins 'home'. Leather boots crack along the ground, grinding glass, dust and other debris underfoot, and possibly making quite the racket in the still silence. "This seems to have once been a medical facility... yet the scattered debris suggests instead some kind of repair yard for Magitek golems of some kind... intriguing, perhaps the residents were some kind of... golem creatures?" she muses to herself, moving on while snagging some small fragments of metal and placing them into her satchel.

Blurr has posed:
    There is a great variety of unfamiliar items of all sizes sprawled about in heaps on the ground, much of it broken or cracked. There's a pile of plexiglass cylinders, most of which are empty and cracked, but wait...is that a hint of a faint, pale green glow somewhere buried under the other empty containers?

    ...And was that movement on the periphery of her vision field? Maybe a glimpse of a set of glowing yellow eyes? Footsteps scraping over the rubble. Perhaps this place wasn't -completely- dead?

Mihk Lihzeh (573) has posed:
    Mihk is on guard, so that flutter of motion gets her on edge. "Not alone... must hurry." she snaps closed the book, replacing it at her belt before hurriedly digging for whatever is glowing under the debris. She's strong for her size, but it's slow going, something might be able to get the drop on her as she struggles with the heavy containers.

    She's not defenseless, though, as even while digging, she's building up Aetheric charge, gathering the scant power within herself to perform a spell. One the Arcanists are known well for and feared.

Blurr has posed:
    The scuffle of the foosteps comes nearer, and seems to speed up. Some of the containers are fairly large, but not so heavy that she can't at least push them aside. Finally, the source of the light looks to be a relatively small cylindrical vial with a pretty small volume of a pale green liquid that seems to be giving off the faint light.

    What is it?

    She may not have time to figure that out right now, because something giant and ugly has come up behind her, and fully intends to pounce on her and devour her whole, its massive mandibles snapping at her body! It's a good thing she'd had her guard up...

Mihk Lihzeh (573) has posed:
    "Topaz!" calls the Miqo'te, Aether surging outwards into a small yellow gemstone she tosses from a pocket. Whatever the thing is, soon gets a face full of angry golden-yellow mana-beast, the thing yowling and brawling with it.

    Mihk herself snatches up the vial and jukes around whatever it is attacking her, not without some injury, a nice gash runs down her left shoulder where the thing got a grip before her Carbuncle got in its face.

    "Escape plan White Swan." she whistles shrilly, calling her Summon back to her in a flash of yellow light. "Guard me." she commands, the little fox-being scampering ahead to keep watch for threats.

Blurr has posed:
    The giant that attacked her looked to be a massive mechanical bug-thing that resembled a wasp of some sort, only without the bold-colored stripes. Instead, it has purple-blue armor plating on its back, and its legs are covered with silvery blades. Its mandibles snap at her, but don't manage to grab her before the mana beast comes to her aid. It screeches and stabes at the other creature with its bladed legs, opening its jaws in an attempt to devour it.

    The fox would indeed catch sight of additional threats. In fact, there are two more headed her way. One resembles a twisted fusion of cricket and house fly, moving out from behind the warehouse, while another looks more like a giant beetle with spikes on its carapace. Their yellow optics pierce eerily through the darkness, and they all look -very- hungry!

Mihk Lihzeh (573) has posed:
    Mihk pulls her book from her belt, drawing more Aether into her body. She spots those two glowing sets of eyes and points her open pages toward one of them, launching a glowing white sphere at the Cricket-Fly, while Topaz darts forwards and bodily slams into the beetle. The tiny thing is much heavier than it seems, either that or the Earth Aspect nature makes its strikes far more potent than it might have otherwise.

    "Choke." she states, 'pulling' something from the pages of her book and making a throwing gesture after the energy ball has been sent on its way. The air around the Swarmers becomes a choking cloud of Miasma. It may not work as intended on the mechanical beings, but it may work as a smoke screen of sorts. Mihk continues to run, letting her Summon distract the Insecticons.

Blurr has posed:
    The sphere slams the one, sending it sprawling into the first one. They...seem to fall apart easily, and their legs just break off like twigs. The body slam is surprisingly effective for such a small creature against something so large, sending the spiked beetle to the ground. It hisses and snaps its front claws at Topaz, hoping to grab it and get a bite.

    The miasma wouldn't choke them, since they don't need to breathe the way most organics do, but it does confuse them. More are on the way...there must have been hundreds of them in these parts! But they are so large and brutish it's unlikely they'd make it across the fragile Mitteous without falling into the caverns. Some of them can fly, though, so she'd probably have the best luck making a run for the gate while the current group is distracted by the smoke screen, and before the rest of the horde arrive.

Mihk Lihzeh (573) has posed:
    "Heel! Operation Express!" she commands, the Topaz Carbuncle grappling with those sharp mandibles sckreeing at the Beetle as it gets a bite of... well effectively nothing, the Mana making up the creature is severed from itself, but it reforms a moment or two later, flashing back over to the Miqo'te.

    Boots beat against the ground, soon turning from the dull thump of earth to the metallic thunking of metal. "To the Aetherite. We are overmatched here." she commands the Carbuncle... and soon enough, she's diving through the warp gate.

Blurr has posed:
    The beetle-like one is confused when Topaz doesn't seem to have any kind of substance, and consequently loses interest, skittering away back into the ruins. Some of the flying members of the Swarm attempt to follow Mihk, though the rest of them are at least smart enough to know not to try to go tramping across the plateau. They don't fly that fast though, and she manages to jump through the warpgate just before they manage to reach her and perhaps chomp off one of her legs! Close one, but perhaps it was worth it...depending on what exactly that pale green substance is that she found in the rubble of that research facility.