Scene #4695: It's All Hot Air

Owner	Pose
Anne Blakely	Investigation into the parts has lead to one particular factory, in one particular city... though notably, it's at least in the same world as Winterfield is, which might be a good indicator that it's the right track. This time, the city is the obscure and relatively unknown city of... Sheffield? This world doesn't follow Earth geography exactly, but there are similarities in both countries and history. Similarities only. It's roughly the 1980's in this world, and correspondent to the Sheffield of the 'Core Earth' many are familiar with, this one has also suffered from some economic collapse relatively recently. The difference is in the development of technology, which has fixed wing aircraft gaining dominance rather late in time compared to lighter than air ships, and the lack of an atomic age that is recognizeable. Hard times means a lot of abandoned factories, but the one in particular that is of interest is a massive, rusted out hulk that looks to have been abandoned even before the economy tanked. Oddly, despite the huge floor space it offers, nobody seems to have picked it up. Records are a little hard to come by, but the factory was apparently part of Durham Air Transport Company, and was involved in making dirigibles of some kind. That explains the size of it. The whole place is fenced off and chained up, too, with all kinds of warning signs, though there's nobody actually STOPPING anyone from trespassing.
Staren	Staren leaves research of the world to those more accustomed to not working with the internet, and graciously takes their offered info. "So this world is technologically behind, huh? Wonder why... Do atomic physics work differently, or were they afraid they'd set the sky on fire or something?" Staren comments to whoever's listening. He looks at the massive factory. "Maybe she just liked airships, and sought this world out for one..." Confronted with an AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY sign, he mutters, "I authorize myself." and makes a thruster-assisted leap over it. The power armor is probably overkill, but hey, this factory looks to be in pretty bad shape, who knows if the roof might fall on him or something? Once inside, he'll keep an eye out for anything that strikes him as unusual, or any sources of magic or dimensional disturbances that show up on his sensors, but barring that, as before he's headed for offices and records and such.
Guest Psyber	Still fulfilling his Uncle Duties, Psyber is here! He is, however, continuing his strategy of hovering back a bit and watching over the situation rather than actively involving himself. Last time, this wound up accidentally helping the mission. Today, he's going to be careful to avoid that. "Ugh. No local Wi-Fi. My mobile data's gonna be shit overdrawn this month." He grumbles, "Duet. Remind me to purchase a data pack before they charge me for an overage." The half-angel is holding a cell phone horizontally in his hands and watching Netflix on it as he trudges through the streets and tries to avoid looking around the depressing city, "This place looks like Detroit in 2007." He grumbles. A few moments later, "Oooh. Netflix added more Cutthroat Kitchen."
Emiya Shirou	Although his reasons are a bit different, Emiya Shirou has taken an approach similar to Staren's. He comes across the 'Authorized Personnel Only' sign... but given the lack of video surveillance or police around, the all around dilapidated appearance of things... A bit of magic is authorization enough. Skillfully weaving some magical energy through his body is all Shirou needs to send himself vaulting over the fencing. But the magus takes a different path from Staren once he reaches the factory... he decides to check out the main chambers and work floor to start with! Just to see if anything stands out.
Ariel	Ariel is more curious about things than some, it seems! She actually takes the time to search out a few people nearby, hopefully children, and prance up to them in unicorn form! They all get the same general questions: if anyone has been to the factory and stuff. Mostly because, well... kids do like to go into factories that are abandoned, to play. Once she has those answers, she'll make her way to the factory, doing a quick double jump upward. Al Azif is with her today, and pages swirl around to coalesce next to her, in the typical dress. With a frown, she too gets to work looking for unusual mystical power, though she doesn't expect anything here given the last place.
Homura Akemi	Given a moment, Homura will have investigated, briefly, whether the factory is the source of any odd rumors or not. Noises in the night, strange figures going in and out, anything that might stand out to the people who live closest and within view of the factory. Basic questions. Once it's time to move, she leaves Psyber's side, noting: "You'd think when you have cross-world coverage they'd give you more data. More data can't possibly be that much more expensive than having your phone work absolutely everywhere." You'd think that. As people make their way over the fences, Homura follows suit, or rather she just appears on the other side of the fence and then makes for one of the numerous side-entrances of the factory. She does not bother doing any sort of scanning, given Ariel and Staren are probably covering both possible angles.
Heaven's Armory	Ari follows along behind Psyber. She's taken the whole trip on her own two feet, this time, which might have something to do with the fact that she's switched out her half-armor for a more modern look. Some research may have gone into it, but the disguise value is questionable, since the black pantsuit was chosen based on early 21st century American standards, and she's still a teenager(?) with (very light) blue hair. "These are rather recent ruins." She might also be misunderstanding something about the process of urban decay.
Duet Fortuna	Duet is curious about... well... why the factory is closed, and why it remains in such a state. Easy enough to ask the nearby workers that! She's already wrapping that up as she walks up next to Psyber, wearing uh... a weird mix of modern clothing like jeans at a sweater, plus a sword belt holding what looks like a shitty decorative sabre. How does she get in? Snapping a chain and opening the gate. The chain appears to have been heavily-rusted the entire time! Or maybe just... after she touched it. She's going to head onto the work floor as well, unless she's learned something that might change that plan. "You know you could just DVR it," she points out.
Setsuko Kaminagi	Much as Setsuko usually doesn't care to go on investigations, if for no other reason than her divine side making things potentially difficult, the swordswoman is here, because it concerns Anne, and she's hit the point where she would rather go and see things for herself. So she has come, rather more low-key than usual, simply arriving at the abandoned factory on a motorcycle doubtless issued from the Union's motor pool on condition that she'd take much more care of it than she typically does hoverbikes. Ironically, it's more expensive to pick up and maintain something like this. She is, as always, keeping at least some attention on her battlesense, if for no other reason than her very presence tending to attract conflict. Much as the others, she has little care for the warning signs, and winds up coming down on the other side of the fence shortly after Ariel. For the moment, in fact, she opts to stay near the unicorn, putting her superhuman eyes, ears and nose to work while the unicorn does her magical sensing.
Anne Blakely	ARIEL AND HOMURA: Asking around about rumors and what the children say are almost identical. Children DON'T PLAY THERE. There are too many stories of haunted assaults and the like. Too many disappearances. Ariel does find one person who actually knows someone who went in and came out, but they reported it was pretty boring there. So... not much. Except that at least one person did insist they heard noises of clanging and activity in there! DUET: Asking about the factory's status indicates that the company, while not nearly as huge as they used to be, is still solvent and actually owns the property. The factory was supposed to be a marvel of automation... which explains Blakely's involvement. Though her name isn't mentioned, 'proprietary automatation' is, and word is that the factory was VERY active for a decade or so before accidents with the few living workers suffered a sharp spike, forcing the factory to close. Since then a few people have disappeared in the vicinity, too. Not many, perhaps eight, but it's enough to make people wary. Police investigations didn't find anything, though. Fortunately, this world has been unified long enough that nobody raises TOO many eyebrows, and while not officially a MEMBER of the Union, flashing a Union ID actually helps and people are generally friendly. As for actually going inside... the place is HUGE! And not just the work floor, there are several floors of offices, even if most look to have been cleaned out. Power's off at the moment, though maybe still being run. The work floor is a bit vague. The MAIN work floor is actually huge, multi-tiered, and used to assemble an airship or three at once. The floors leading up to these are what Shirou likely encounters first, as they are assembly lines for smaller parts, leading up to engine assembly. Very strange to go from small parts manufacture all the way up to full airship in one factory, but that may have been the ambition. The conveyor belts are lined with numerous clockwork figures, though they are only the barest in human shapes. They have 'heads' and bodies, but their arms usually end in specialized tools, and many are welded in place. Even the mobile ones are more carts and wheels than humanoid. Two things immediately stand out. One is that the battle sense will tingle that there is likely to be a fight at some point. Another is that while the place is obviously old with broken windows and aging walls... there are no pieces of glass or rubble lying around, and the layer of dust is a very, very fine film rather than caked on.
Sigrun Stem	Sigrun made her way over on her own, and is currently standing on a nearby building, connecting a thin silk wire to the rooftop. After she's done with that, she ties the other end of the wire to an arrow, and takes a shot at the factory walls, then she starts to slide down that wire onto the factory grounds. A moment later she spots Psyber and hears his complaints about Netflix, and makes a disappointed sound. "Had I known getting in that way would be that easy, sir, I wouldn't have bothered with the fancy approach. I assume Netflix is like Etherwatch?" She asks, popping open a spherical spell that displays a show that looks eerily like Cutthroat Kitchen. "It's a good show."
Guest Psyber	"You'd think! But apparently the cross-world roaming package doesn't include a dataplan. I have that separate," Psyber comments to Homura as he walks along watching the cooking show. He sticks close to Duet in terms of making entry to the building, following her when she cracks the chain open before responding, "I could DVR them, but I can't DVR them to my PHONE, Duet. I wanna watch them now, not later when we're on the couch chilling." He sighs a bit and puts the phone into his pocket, looking around at the area and responding to Ari, "Yeah, when the economy goes to shit in an area, a lot of big industry buildings wind up abandoned because there are no jobs there any more." He notes in a quick explanation. Psyber looks over at Sigrun as she appears, "It's a great show! I love all the challenges. My favorite is the one where they dunk a contestant's bread into water for a sandwich challenge. Shit was rough." The half-angel stretches and pops his back, taking a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it. For total reference, he's carrying the sword that Ari manifests from on his back. But so as to not arouse unwanted attention, it IS in a large cello case.
Staren	he similarity to a robotic assembly line is interesting! It may also tell him something about Anne's construct magic that they needed heads and two arms each, rather than the single robot arms often used in factories. A marvel of automation, huh? "That explains why it's so /clean/. The cleaning robots must still be running." He investigates the offices, but they look to have been systematically emptied rather than sbruptly abandoned. They probably didn't leave records behind, then. So. The power's out. The assembly line is off. But the cleaning robots are still running? Maybe if he could find them, they might lead to any other activity that's still here. So how do you find where the cleaning robots are based? Staren reaches into his bag and pulls out an empty potion vial. Then he drops it on the floor. crash "'Oops.'"
Emiya Shirou	Shirou almost passes by the assembly lines, but the fact that CLOCKWORK HUMANOID ROBOTS are at them has him pondering. Clockwork assembly line? Really? It's weird.... not to mention suspicious. Intrigued, the redhead warily approaches one of them. The plans for Kanshou and Bakuya appear in his head, ready to be deployed instantly if needed... because the eerie atmosphere has him worrying. He reaches out to touch one of the machines with outstretched fingers. "Trace, on..." If all goes well, he sends a tiny pulse of mana through the construct, mapping out its construction and comparing it with what he's seen of Anne's work so far. And, of course, checking for the presence of any magic. WHAT the magic does is beyond him, in all likelihood, but its presence is another matter.
Homura Akemi	"It's possible they're powered by batteries, and the factory's power only matters for the assembly lines. Some of these robots are mobile. They have to have a power source. Instead of making a mess, can't you take one of them apart and see how they work? When they were last powered?" Homura says, towards Staren, though she doesn't discard that making a mess might be one way to get the janitor to show up. For her own part, Homura starts looking for a map of the factory. A big 'YOU ARE HERE' sign, or maybe just signs pointing in various directions. See if something stands out. If nothing does, she's going to look for the main breaker room, make sure power really IS off.
Ariel	"Yeah it was pretty easy to get in here," Al notes. "But it seems like most people don't want to. The whole haunted thing. Probably partly true. We should stick together." Ariel mns, trotting along to look over the assembly lines. A gentle poke at one of them raps it with a finger, but in all... it seems pretty disappointing. "Kind of quiet... but Setsuko says there's a battle or something? Maybe we get into a fight for me dragging you all out here."
Duet Fortuna	"I suspect that Blakely actually provided the automatons," Duet surmises. "Though they seem rather... mundane compared to her normal ones. Then again, you have to pay the bills somehow, right? Maybe she just did this in return for those parts, or as part of royalties or something. Maybe this is her company, who knows?" Duet walks down the assembly line looking for something else, though. She's trying to find any way to switch them on, or more importantly off if they turn on. Though that wouldn't help for the wheeled ones, would it? "Don't they have apps that download your DVR things to your phone? Sounds like an untapped market."
Setsuko Kaminagi	"It's hard to say," Setsuko replies to Ariel, walking along with slow, steady movements. "I can sense severity, and how near in the past or future. If a fight is /very/ intense, I might be able to pick up impressions or glimpses. But other than that, I can't really glean anything." She pauses, as if considering something, then adds, "I'm going to go investigate the rafters." There could be something up there her eyes or nose pick up that the cleaning bots missed, and the different perspective could show her something on the ground that others have missed. So, she silently glides upwards, floating her way up to the highest rafters.
Anne Blakely	Yep, Sigrun finds that getting inside is pretty easy! It's not hard to join the others. Really the place IS pretty dull, isn't it? Why is everyone worried? And what's with all the rumors? It looks pretty... well, clean, neat, and not at all like an abandoned factory should be, other than some age and broken windows. Ariel's tapping gets a satisfying hollow ringing, but no results. Staren then breaks something, and there's no immediate effect. Just a shattering noise that echoes through the place. Looks like he wasted a potion vial! That's not good. Shirou does a trace and finds... well. It's a COMPLEX piece of machinery, but not nearly so sophistocated as Anne's other things. Built with a singular purpose in mind! It's also 'powered' by clockwork, with a giant screw turning in each line of the assembly, attached to a much larger mechanism in the middle of the factory... which seems to be wound, somehow. There's a hint of magic there, but Shirou CAN recognize it, as it's mostly reinforcement magic on the parts. Homura scans the walls for a map, and eventually finds one. Airship hangar, offices, 'Mainspring' in the middle, various assembly lines and storage areas, loading dock, power station, and supervisor's office overlooking the assembly line and hangar, high above at the top floor, though the windows on that are one-way. Duet does find a switch, but it appears to be locked in the off position. Literally locked, as it's padlocked. Nothing that she couldn't take care of, or just about anyone else here. Setsuko floats up and finds... the rafters are clean, too. Parked at some of them are what look like mechanical mice, probably the cleaners of the rafters, currently silent. This gives her a bird's eye view of just how neat and orderly everything is... even the positions of the mobile units. It's only after a few minutes of poking around that the door slams shut, and barriers of steel roll down over the windows. This makes it dark, and there doesn't seem to be any power to turn on the lights still. At least Homura got a look at the map before it went dark? A loud clicking sounds as a cabinet in the wall opens up, and those with nightvision can make out a humanoid torso speaking in an inflectionless voice, "Parts shipment logged. Please assemble parts shipment at assembly lines for preparation and packaging."
Guest Psyber	Psyber can help out Duet! The half-angel takes a look at the lock and as he chats with her, "Your ass is an untapped market, too," Psyber points out in a joking tone before adding, "No, but seriously, maybe we should get a developer in on this idea and make some cash." Psyber suggests. "Here, lemme help you out," Psyber comments regarding the lock preventing the switch from being flipped by the secretary-and-nothing-else. He reaches out and pretty roughly tugs the padlock, exerting some amount of strength to try to pop the lock open for her.
Heaven's Armory	Ari continues keeping pace, both walking and carried, following in after Psyber and Duet, giving a low 'I see' in response. There's much more to look at, inside. The clockwork, in particular, seems to interest her, and the entirety of how the assembly line is arranged. One ear is kept cocked to Setsuko and Ariel talking of impending conflict. And just then, the doors shut on their own--despite the building being, supposedly, unpowered. Hm. "Best to take care in choosing what to break. Some things that pose difficulty can still be useful otherwise." That lock certainly isn't doing any good, apart from knowing it was there, at least.
Sigrun Stem	"It's pretty good, yea--" As soon as it's lights out, Sigrun does a little thing to light up the little hand that extends from her bow, like it's a torch. It's a quick movement, and it should provide at least enough light to provide vision. Of course, it will also make it much more obvious where they are. She takes a deep, nervous breath and then follows it up by creating a series of magical blue orbs that spread in all directions. The orb that previously displayed that show on Etherwatch is replaced by a small constellation of smaller orbs, which provide a view of the areas surrounding the orbs that spread out. Some kind of surveillance magic. She glances towards Psyber, "Are you two dating or what?"
Homura Akemi	The 'Mainspring' sounds a lot more interesting than the power station. Homura produces a flashlight, and heads in that direction. Let's see what a Mainspring is and whether it's explosion-proof or not.
Setsuko Kaminagi	They even clean all the way up in the rafters. Damn. Then the lights go out. Setsuko drops from the rafters immediately, letting gravity take full hold of her so as to quickly drop to the ground - right next to Ariel. By the time she hits the ground, she's drawn Zanjintou, though it remains in its sealed state. Rather than worry about trying to see, the swordswoman lets out a breath, and then focuses on her other senses. Smell, hearing, even touch to feel vibrations in the ground. They're sharp enough that she might as well be able to see, at least for the purposes of fighting. "Ariel, are you alright? Stay close, and don't start any lights. They'll make you a target."
Staren	"Oh well." Staren mutters after looking around expectantly for a cleaner bot. And then the lights go out. His armor includes multiple flashlights. And he pretty much immediately gets that they're the parts. <"Now we know what happened to those people who went missing..."> he mutters. Also, apparently his paranoia in wearing his armor to a simple exploration mission is justified! "So," he asks the humanoid torso, aiming his beam cannons at it. "You're not the type to be bargained with, or people wouldn't have gone missing around here. But I don't suppose you're the chatty type? Want to brag about your work before we try to kill eachother?" He's also trying to figure out just where it /came/ from, since it might give insight on where a hidden area of the factory is.
Ariel	A little glow sparks at the tip of Ariel's horn, but at Setsuko's suggestion, it sputters out. Others have lights to shine, too. She'll just watch those and save hers for an emergency. "Al... Magius form?" "Good idea," the Grimoire agrees, swirling into pages and reappearing in miniature on Ariel's shoulder. The unicorn stays close, as ordered, and doesn't go anywhere near the assembly lines. "What if we refuse?" She'll start edging toward Homura for now, speaking into the radio, "I think Homura and Shirou are onto something. Let's look for that Mainspring."
Duet Fortuna	The lock is free! Duet refrains from flipping the switch. "If this turns on the line, I'd rather not be disassembled." She frowns and glares at Psyber for the remark, then tugs at her jeans, "Stop that, I'm sensitive and a delicate flower!" Then Sigrun guesses what they're up to, and Duet mns, "Either that, or my boss is sexually harrassing me. It's fifty fifty odds, knowing Psyber, so I'll leave the guess up to you~" The tone is pretty playful though... before the serious matters set in again. "I'd rather not split up, so let's go to the mainspring together."
Emiya Shirou	Lights out, huh? "Trace, on...!" Instead of Kanshou and Bakuya, Shirou extends his hand and projects a sleek, gleaming silvery-white longsword. Almost instantly, the blade ignites, flames gently flowing along the edge. Scorching hot flames. Bright flames. Poor Excalibur Galatine, reduced to a mortal's torch. Not that Shirou could hope for much more out of his poor understanding of such a noble blade. Fairy work is so far beyond him. Turning away from the worker-bots, Shirou decides to trace the connections he sensed and head towards this 'Mainspring' machine... VERY. CAREFULLY.
Anne Blakely	Staren tries to chat up the 'bot' up above! "Please present materials to the assembly line for packaging and preparation." Either it is ignoring Staren, or it just isn't all that intelligent. Certainly it doesn't SEEM aggressive... but the mobile automatons are rattling and starting to move, straightening up and presenting an assortment of riveters, screwdrivers, and saws and the like. There are several of them, turning to approach the group... But fortunately it is clearish in the direction of the mainspring. Most people must not head that way... because it will corner them. And the automatons DO pursue, just at a lazy pace equal to a walk. This place is probably pretty horrifying for a lone explorer or even a police officer, but so far there's nothing all that threatening so long as the group keeps moving. The mainspring isn't even that far... just down the stairs behind a locked door(easily handled) to reveal that it is basically a shaft in the ground with a giant reinforced spring tightly-wound sunk into the ground. It can't be that easy, can it?
Heaven's Armory	Ari looks between Psyber and Duet, though the poor lighting hides just what kind of expression she's making. Rather than commenting on their hypothetical relation, she says to the former, "Psyber, I can't see well from inside the case."
Staren	Staren sighs. He turns off his flashlights, throws a handful of little lights on the ground, and then makes his way after the others, dodging around the slow constructs.
Guest Psyber	"Oh, so we're just lying now, then?" Psyber replies in response to Duet's comment about being a delicate flower. Either way, the case is taken off his back and unzipped open. As he does that, he looks to Sigrun and laughs a bit, "Ah... you know. Little of column A, little of Column B." He pulls out, from the cello case, a pretty huge Greatsword that's about three-quarters as tall as he is before attaching that to his back and leaving the case on the ground, "Sorry about that, Ari. Forgot that once we got here, the case wasn't really necessary." As people are heading to the mainspring, Psyber also heads that way, "I agree, Duet. We shouldn't split the group." Still, he does use Ari like a stick, pushing one of the robots square in the chest to try to knock it over in somewhat of a 'dick move'.
Sigrun Stem	As they wander, Sigrun makes sure to keep her little orbs exploring, not just for threats but looking for things of interest as well. In particular, she's sending a pair off to investigate the main floor and the airship construction bits, and holding out the paired orbs that reveal what those orbs sense in front of her, and holding her hand out towards Psyber and Duet, while the others remain floating in a constellation around her arm. "I don't know anything about technology, could you maybe help look at these orbs and see if anything seems off to you?" She asks no-one in particular.
Heaven's Armory	Ari follows along, as well. She doesn't take any particular action when her true form is used to bully a killer(?) robot, but she is able to 'see' through the dark a lot better when not relying on just her eyes. It's more of a purely magical set of senses.
Homura Akemi	Homura stays ahead of the automatons by matching their brisk pace and just going a bit faster. She isn't in a hurry, seeing as once she reaches the Mainspring she simply halts time and starts tinkering around for levers, buttons, anything that looks like it might in any way relate to the giant spring and shaft. Whether she finds something or not, eventually she returns to realtime for the other arrivals to regroup with her, no doubt with the horde of machines leasurely strolling behind them. She will share her findings, if any. If not, she's already musing where to place the C4.
Setsuko Kaminagi	A group moving to investigate the main spring - with a slowly-advancing line of automatons. There's a simple solution here. "Ariel. Go on ahead. I'll give you some light to work with." Setsuko pats Ariel on the head, at the same time as her aura shimmers into being; a silent, billowing nimbus of sky-blue, that looks more like a stormcloud than any sort of fire. Complete with tiny, soundless arcs of 'lightning'. It's been some time since she's used it, but it produces plenty of light, and hopefully makes her a more tantalizing target than the others with less illumination. In a place like this, she doesn't dare call out Zanjintou's full size, but the katana alone will be plenty. She steps into the line of automatons and just starts swinging, fierce and precise cuts intended to carve them apart from shoulder to hip across the torso.
Ariel	Ariel is actually pretty combat-capable in this form... but she's quite happy to let others do that, taking the pat on the head and nodding. "Be careful, Aunt Setsuko! You don't want one of them getting ahold of you!" She's not all that worried, given Setsuko's raw power and experience, but concern is in her nature. "I'll do what I can," Ariel replies to Sigrun. "But this all looks really... strange even for most technology. Atlantean tech is based off of biological things and magic, not clockwork." The mainspring though? "Do these things even need this to move? And yeah... what IS winding it?"
Duet Fortuna	Duet considers staying... but she doesn't seem to be well-armed for this, with a dress sabre and all. Sighing, she heads down with the others. "We might as well disable the assembly line. Staren can record what he can about this along with Miss Stem here, and we can analyze it later." The question about winding is good though. "I know... a little about this technology? The airships, anyway. This clockwork is vastly more complex than the technology we have on Terra Majora. We're at early firearms there. I'm all for just snapping this thing. Maybe AFTER we finish exploring. Anyone have remote detonators?"
Emiya Shirou	Eeeergkh. Shirou, being nearest the automatons, REACTS SWIFTLY when they come alive. By vaulting clear across the factory floor with a magic-boosted leap! Like hell is he going to be anywhere NEAR anything that might grab him before he's had a chance to see what ELSE is going on in here! This brings him pretty close to the stairs... so he takes them in a hurry. A slash from Excalibur galatine will make short work of the door lock... and also break his weapon, but... oh well! Time to examine this thing.
Anne Blakely	Well it... is that simple. Frankly the automatons rely on their implacable pace and unstoppable nature against bullets and weak blunt tools, and from the first sword stroke, it's easy to dismember one. This DOES cause some alarms to sound, and it will have an interesting effect. The ringing bells are accompanied by the clatter of robot parts, these automatons not actually... MADE for battle. They're fairly fragile! The one in the wall cabinet announces, "Damage to factory sustained. Please report to the supervisor's office for redistribution and repair." The mainspring, meanwhile, appears connected by a complex array of gears, which lead to a central pylon for the spring, and a crankshaft on the other side for powering it. It looks like in theory a human could wind the thing up... though it would take forever, and more likely the large hole facing the sealed door to the loading dock is intended to be used as some kind of winding mechanism. Either way, it suddenly lurches to life, everything around the mainspring ticking and clattering loudly. Sigrun, with her explorer lights, sees this most dramatically. The assembly lines start to move, and the various automatons go through the motions of making things... or disassembling them. It's hard to say. The airship hanger bustles with activity too, as automatons move about and prepare to assemble parts that will never arrive into an airship.
Anne Blakely	For the record, pushing a robot over? That... just has it pushing itself upright again. That isn't a difficult thing for them to do, but it is theoretically possible to just... keep doing it. Of course with so many of them, it's not likely to be a tactic that works for anything but a huge group. there have to be at least a dozen here. Or were, Setsuko is carving that number down pretty well.
Staren	Staren wasn't sure the objective was to fight these drones, but... people seem to be doing that, so he helps. He has plenty of weapons! <"So, what's our objective here? Are we just smashing every single robot, or trying to find something, or trying to escape?">
Guest Psyber	Shove. Whumph. "Haha." "Alright, Ari. Let's do this. Slash and burn. Nothing too fancy." The half-angel, holding the huge greatsword in one hand, gives it a spinning flourish as he twirls the handle over the back of his hand and then catching it in his palm with ease. The casual way he's able to do it indicates Ari is potentially well-paired with an owner of such immense strength. He rams the sword through the robot on the ground and twists it clockwise to finish it off before it can get up again. A few seconds later, he's dashing forward into the mob of robots alongside Setsuko. Bracing a foot forward, he uses one hand to swing a cleaving horizontal strike meant to slice through a few of them with a single blow.
Sigrun Stem	And as everyone else seems to get ready to smash, Sigrun starts to do something else entirely. She transfers the visual images of the orbs to her hand, and raises the hand with the glove in which the codex gem is embedded, an intricate pattern of runes and lines starts to form in the air, and then that lights up and a big green beam goes up and down from her hand, which then extends into a flat plane that extends pretty far, going through any physical objects that don't have anything to block her. Then, it starts rotating. As it passes through magical things that aren't hiding from such scanning, the entire section of the plane between the magic and her lights up, with an intensity that marks distance. It's an incredibly blatant detection magic. But then they're not hiding anyway.
Setsuko Kaminagi	Setsuko is quite fine with carving the number down; though it presents little challenge, it's at least a task she's well suited for, and it keeps the others free to do their work. In moments, she's joined by Psyber, and the way the demigod shifts aside is precisely perfect for making way; stepping around him to take out one further on the perephiry while he moves forward, with a smoothness that could easily be a rehearsed technique. But it's her simple sense for the flow of battle, and she follows it into the crowd, making her body count in continuous slashes where Psyber works via broad swings. She'd do the same, but it's not exactly safe for the structure to swing Zanjintou's full size around.
Heaven's Armory	Unlike some multiple-form beings, Ari technically never transforms herself, so there's nothing her human half needs to do but stand nearby while the magic flows through her true body, acting according to Psyber's will. What happens when she's stabbed into the robot isn't quite like emitting flames. It's more like the magic grabs ahold of all nearby material it can, and ignites it. Some things don't really burn except at very high temperatures, which makes that the temperature these things are briefly at, for only slightly more effort on her part. There's still a surrounding flame, since the air itself is also flammable. Ari-the-girl just watches with eyes narrowing toward the target, otherwise oddly relaxed.
Anne Blakely	The supervisor's office is, indeed, occupied by possibly the greatest collection of magic in the place. It is subtle magic, not the sort to announce its presence, but driling for it like that reveals it well enough. Well, the greatest collection aside from those present.
Ariel	The noise upstairs is getting louder while the mainspring starts to turn. Ariel considers... then mns, "Homura, can you plant some explosives just in case? We'll go up to the office." Seems like the idea to do. Have insurance! Ariel will be heading up the stairs and flying, if necessary, to the Supervisor's office. "Come on, let's see who's in here. Or um... what, I guess?"
Anne Blakely	The factory is coming to 'life' again, but it's all very... orderly. Setsuko and Psyber shear the mobile constructs easily, tearing them apart with springs and gaskets popping everywhere. It's almost insultingly easy for this group. Like the last time, it's almost as if the group has ended up in someone else's horror story, one which is not effective against them. The divine blade makes short work of them, and Ari's heat discovers that reinforced or not, these things aren't at all battle ready or armored, and the parts melt so very swiftly. The group that chooses to go to the supervisor's office will find something else though. The door is... actually unlocked, though it says 'By appointment only' and shows no signs of previous entry. Opening it, however, reveals a desk with numerous controls, and someone sitting at said desk, facing the door. A rotting old cloth half-covers the figure, with gleaming eyes and shining metallic skin. A metal arm is resting on the desk. In a clear voice that shows both emotion and nuance, the half-cloaked figure speaks. "I wondered how long it would be before someone came. I had hoped it would be proper maintenance. These inferior parts are crippling, but the automated systems insist upon using them." A synthesized sigh. "But you look more like a decommissioning crew. Of... some kind. Has the world changed so much in these decades? Is there a new position for me or am I to be dismantled as well?" One might think that this is a sad robotic construct that is going through programming cluelessly. It would be partly right, too. But when he rises, the cloak falls away from the other side, which has had significant damage. Clockworks exposed, rust showing, and... jury-rigged fixes. A skeletal arm is held together with wires and gears to animate it... literally skeletal, with most of the struts replaced by human bone, including fingers. The way he starts to shuffle from behind the desk, it looks like his legs have been replaced as well. Poorly.
Guest Psyber	"Honestly," Psyber remarks to Setsuko as the two shear through the cosntructs with their blades and handle the mob of incoming robots with relative ease, "We are fortunate that these do not seem to be her combat models. In these numbers, some of her stronger shit would have been a serious threat." As it is, for a sort of finisher move and to try to play cleanup, Psyber lifts Ari up over his head and then brings her down in an overhead swing. The goal of it is to create a sword of wave of force from the swing, "Ari! Ignite!" He shouts. His aim is that Ari will have enough ability to turn the wave of force into a wave of fire AND force to finish off some of the leftovers in one fell swoop. He presently has no idea what's going on with the supervisor. Probably best.
Ariel	Not what Ariel expected. The part-undead nature of the construct is a little disturbing, but in a life of disturbing things, Ariel isn't queasy so much as shocked and dismayed. "You..." Yeah it's obvious to her what is going on. Ariel swallows it down. "Do you know who made you? Do you know about Miss Bakely?"
Setsuko Kaminagi	"True," Setsuko replies, her pace never slowing, until with one last swing she downs the one clockwork remaining for her to take apart. "...but then, my Zanjintou shows its strength best against an army. So at least I'd be in my element." The weapon is flourished, then returned to its sheath, before she turns to look towards the office, finally allowing her aura to die out. She has no particular need for it anymore. "Either way, little challenge to be found here. Almost... disappointing." It's a rare moment for Setsuko; though she has long since accepted that part of her lives for the thrill of battle, she seldom admits it out loud.
Duet Fortuna	Duet keeps her question even simpler. "What happened here? Why were you abandoned?"
Staren	Staren gets out the beam swords and cuts a path, following after Ariel. "Inferior parts?" Staren echoes. "Do you realize the factory has been trying to use /people/? Or does that not mean anything to you?" It's possible the guy didn't know. Maybe.
Sigrun Stem	While the others talk and ask questions, Sigrun is doing more magic. In particular, she's running a full scan of the magic that keeps this supervisor running, comparing the magic on previous constructs of Anne she has ran into, finding any elemental alignments, and any particular aspects of its magic that would be of note. She's not being secretive about this either, runes light up in the air and magics swirl around as she goes through her spells. Should anything else be magical in this room, she'll include them in her analysis as soon as she notices.
Heaven's Armory	"Understood," says Ari, at the same time as she draws energy from the burning constructs and converts it. Rather than all going to heat and light, she quickly but carefully splits the conversion further, directing a wave of kinetic force that carries the fire forward in an expanding arc of crushing flame.
Anne Blakely	The supervisor stares at the questions. "My priority," he replies to Staren, "Is keeping this factory operational until countermanded from headquarters. They never sent that order, though I received many that claimed to be so. The loss of life is a regrettable expense which severely impacts our otherwise stellar safety record, but when I was damaged the only parts available immediately were from other workers, and they decay too swiftly to remain a permanent replacement. Permanent replacements never came." It's all said rather dispassionately, like the loss of life was a liability on a balance sheet. Regretful, but not overly concerned either way. No malice, simply expediency. Duet and Staren answered, he replies to Ariel. "Miss Blakely? It has been a long time since anyone mentioned her. She created many of the automatons here, as well as giving myself the intelligence and drive to control them. I believe she had an agreement with the company to perform this service. I only met her a few times, but she seemed quite polite and businesslike in our dealings. What do you wish to know?" Minor enchantments are common in this world, but the major working is indeed the supervisor. It can be assumed that he is either an extremely advanced model, or constructed with one of those captured souls.
Staren	Seeing that the supervisor doesn't value lives and doesn't see why using people for parts is wrong, Staren mentally files the supervisor into the 'not person - has no value in ethical considerations' category and makes a mental note to kill him after they're done questioning. "We want to know anything you know about what else she's done besides this factory. Where she went, any other projects she mentioned..."
Ariel	Ariel adds another question, "Do you know what she wants? Was this for money? And um... do you know why you're intelligent?" Can't hurt to ask.
Anne Blakely	Peer. "Not my business. I last saw her... it must be thirty years now. Forty? She used to do upgrades for automation all across the city, but retired after a few years. This was a project to pull her out of retirement. The most ambitious automation yet! I'm sure she would be disappointed that it went wrong. Why do you ask?" Ariel asks the biggie though. "I don't know what her desires are, but she always liked to see things moving smoothly. She didn't like disorder, even though a lot of her inventions were so very disruptive." The construct sits down again. "I am intelligent because she programmed me to be so. She gave me my skillset and memories and personality, as she does with all constructs. I'm merely different because the essence of the previous supervisor was placed within me. It gives me the talent, if not the memories."
Duet Fortuna	Duet speaks up suddenly, narrowing her eyes. "Just to be clear. She can't revive someone from the dead by putting them in a construct? Is SHE a construct?"
Anne Blakely	"What?" The supervisor turns to look at Duet. "Goodness no. That would be necromancy at best, and that level... unless she's learned it since. I'm hardly an expert. But I do know she isn't a construct! Flesh and blood, just heartless. A little strange, now that I think about it. After all, she can make limb replacements easily. The foreman had one."