Scene #5507: The Denandsor Project-2

Owner	Pose
Bloody Revelations	Things are kept simple this time. A rarity, for anything involving any iteration of this nonsense world and its nonsense people. Clearly expecting that the naturally occurring warpgate nearby wouldn't have been discovered by now, people responding to the call are dumped out on the same, lonely, windswept hill, heavily shaded by the very old forest to the west, and overlooking the long, thin, and winding road that intersects with the city a few miles in the distance. The assumption seems to be that, if nobody can get inside, or even really linger in the surrounding area, who the hell would scout the place out for something they barely know exists? What kind of mad idiot would actually scout for miles around /Denandsor/ for a way of quick travel that would be totally useless to anyone going any further anyways? No. After word had started to leak into the Scavenger Lands that someone had ventured into the city and come back sane, /with/ functioning artifacts, it makes much more sense to assume that they would return via road or air to continue their historically unprecedented plunder. So, that's probably why someone is waiting for them there. A significant number of people, actually; probably several hundred in total, dispersed in a semi-circular barricade around the frontal perimeter of the city (the only side with a gate), clearly visible by the lights of multiple camps starting to glow in the setting sun. They are accompanied by what appears to be some kind of silvery, manta ray-shaped skyship over thirty feet long, without any kind of visible flotation balloons of any kind, hovering high overhead, with a better view of the sides and rear of the city where it crowds up to the wilderness. Were it not for the sleek ship, occasionally crackling with sparks of energy around its tail spires, it'd be easy to assume the camps to be a horde of bandits, but now it seems likely to be military. So, basically, despite their quarry being being in plain (albeit distant) view of this formidable assembly, probably put there specifically to detain and question whoever comes back, none of them are in any position to so much as yell at anyone within earshot. That can only be either dumb luck, or the Deathknight operating three yomi layers up from them. Mindgames. From there, they're pretty much on their own, though. Unlike last time, Ju'uni isn't present, so there's no cosmic heart attack ghost to follow around. They pretty much just get a dead drop, comprised of an ebony case latched with pewter, inside of which are at least a dozen talismans of some kind, carved out of onyx and designed to be worn around the neck via silver chain. It could be the imagination, but looking at the etching, aside from unintelligible language and death motifs, a lot of them seem to have something that bears a resemblance to a particular attendee; at least one they might individually identify with. Creepy. The city is the same as before, though; a sprawling, oriental-styled mini-metropolis, vastly overgrown with greenery that practically spills out of its tiled walls, and glittering with lights even at night. Despite the stakeout, it seems that it holds true that nobody can venture near it; the camp is well outside the radius where the curse starts to kick in, and the airship is probably well above it, assuming it's a roughly equal sphere.
Miari	Miari is nervous as can be upond iscovering that their quarry is being staked out by SOMEONE ELSE. And an ARMY of all things? She quickly goes through scenarios in her head... "That airship's a relic of the First Age!" She announces to her friends from their shared approach overlooking the gathering. "Lookshyan forces. They are waiting here... and they sent out a formidable gang for it. Camping right in our way... and as if they knew exactly when we'd be..." An eerie sensation runs down Miari's spine, and she hurriedly grabs one of the talismans, double-checking it with her sorcerous sight to make sure it's... reasonably safe to don and attune. She reaches out with her spirit to begin that process and bind it to her soul... The physician dusts off her kimono... casts another glance at the hovering skyship. "If we're caught skulking they will be very disgruntled. Might be easier to just confront them..." But she's unsure of their disposition, and that is enough to give her pause... But after analyzing a half-dozen scenarios, she decides to do the thing that Lookshy would probably be most approving of. Slowly and obviously approach the gate with no weapons visible. Oh she's tense as it gets, but... "Sir Gawain, an escort if you would please!" She chimes merrily... and goes right on marching.
Gawain	Well, that's certainly an army. Gawain considers whether they'd have legal right over the city at first, before nodding to himself when he realizes there's not.Picking up a talisman, not yet feeling the sensations, he grabs the one that reminds him sort of the sun, what with the etchings. Placing it around his neck, the knight activates it as he replies to Miari. "It'll be fine! We can either run past them, or talk to them, depending on which we think would be more fruitful. But I'm not a skulker, so I think the latter is easier!" The sun knight is in full armor, Excalibur Galatine summoned and hilted at his side. He also has a companion. A security robot for Denandsor, named 'Machinebuddy', that has a t-shirt haphazardly placed over it saying 'Chicago - Greatest City in America'. Gawain turns to the drone as they start to approach. "Machinebuddy! We march back to Denandsor! Are you ready to go home and help us finish our quest?" And then Miari asks for Gawain's assistance. He nods, grinning. "Of course! Machinebuddy, onwards! We follow Lady Miari." The knight begins to march alongside Miari, whistling a tune, as he waits for the guard drone to follow along as well. He's taking this in stride.
Starbound Flotilla	The STARBOUND FLOTILLA are here, in their standard Durasteel equipment! Moonfin, the fishman, is in elaborate full-body durasteel armor that looks like a powered cross between a diving suit and a samurai's armor, glowing cyan at the faceplate. Biteblade, the humanoid plant, is in durasteel plating with elaborately carved wood and bone ornaments over glowing powered components that glow an intense green. Pavo the bird-girl wears a pirate-aesthetic set of mesoamerican-style armor, with yellow bands of energized fabric linking the pieces to her central piratey longcoat. Albert the monkey-man is wearing elaborate dystopian commando armor reconstructed with a 'rebel spy' aesthetic: A sleeker faceplate, a slimmer form, and a more chaotic design that integrates thin, resilient plates of durasteel, and lines of bright white. George (just plain human) wears a futuristic combat EVA hardsuit that glows a gentle red at the flat faceplate. Seft, the robotic Flotilla member, is wearing full-on medieval knight armor with a soft energized blue glow below the plates on her body, and especially around the eyes. Each has a heavy industrial-yellow two-pronged plasma-cutter-like tool strapped to their side, a Matter Manipulator. "Alright, fancy stuff to wear I guess." "They are talismans, George, they will grant us a measure of protection." "Anxious. Well, hopefully they can guard against the awful effects long enough." "Don't test them. Work fast either way." "Aye, if we're to get done, we'll need to work fast." "Meansss, get inssside fassst too! Gooooo! Ssspecial weapon!" The Flotilla finish arming up, and then deploy their HOVERBIKES yet again! This time, though, they have something rather unusual. Some kind of... Mortar launcher is mounted on the back of Albert's? They hand out quick-use gasmasks of some sort to the others here, and then approach. They'll wait, at least a moment, for Miari. But the absolute VERY SECOND that these locals seem uncooperative, if they do, Albert will surge the bikes forward, and launches something in a high arc... When the projectiles land, if they ever wind up being fired at all, they'll burst into gas designed to provoke the physiological responses that the curse itself caused; quickening of the heart, fight-or-flight urges, and the like would be amped up by this product of their biochemistry, scanning, and medical abilities. They've had plenty of time since the medical scans they performed earlier to craft a chemical weapon to fit the need. Hopefully they can just get the soldiers to flee out of fear of the curse with it! And then, of course, amid all the stress and disorganization, they'll simply charge their hoverbikes straight through and make a beeline for the geometric center of that circle they roughly determined in the last visit.
Staren	Staren's put his talisman amulet on under the armor, to prevent any lucky shots from causing 'hilarious' shenanigans. He's also brought a second bigger-on-the-inside bag to help with looting. Actually he's also got a bunch of constructs with backpacks and saddlebags too, but when he sees the people gathered here, he sends them back through the gate. He doesn't want to deal with trying to get them all past the army. Plus, if the army decides to attack the gate, maybe the constructs can help defend it at least to buy them time to make it back. He's considering trying to sneak past, but when Miari and Gawain opt for the direct approach, he goes along with it. He can't decide what to do with his hands, all of a sudden. Putting them in his pockets for a relaxed look would be good, but he doesn't have pockets. Just at his side doesn't feel right. He settles for clasping his hands behind his back. "Any thoughts as to their motivations and intentions regarding us and the city?"
Kyoko Takada	A-39 is here, probably for the loot. She's not exactly a mercenary, but she absolutely is a scavenger. She's not wearing her mask at the moment, using natural eyesight to take in the place, gaze not lingering overly long on any individual. She may not have actually seen Miari or Staren up close before, but recognizes the voices from more than one altercation, once on the opposing side. Fortunately, she never spoke during on the radio during that battle. Just play it cool. She takes a talisman, only after several others do, and fingers it with some curiosity. She doesn't do anything in particular to activate it, and won't notice a difference unless there's an obvious, visual change when others do. She just tucks it somewhere it won't jostle around or get loose, nor bother her when moving. And then she does get moving. It seems like some people are going for the direct approach. That's fine. It'll draw attention away from anyone just taking the long way around in to sneak in from the side. The terrain is rough enough that she doesn't predict any major problems in that regard.
Tomoe	Well now this was making Tomoe very nervous for the moment she had no idea who these other people where but she could have ideas of what they were up to. She would wonder about it for a moment longer as she was flying in but she was keeping it low a she went. She didn't want to come back here but she had little choice, she also thought about the blade she picked up here and would need to find someone to fit a proper hilt to it so she could make use of it. For now though such thought drift out of her mind as she makes for the cursed she lands and will take the rest of the way on foot as she catchs up with Gawain and Miari whom she also intend to fall in with. "Sir Gawin, Miari? I guess here we go again?" The STarbounders are around here and she hopes the machine buddy as Gawain was calling it will work out as an edge for what they need to do here too.
Bloody Revelations	There's no dressing up the fact that the little artifacts left for the group are obscenely sketchy. A native without a lot of context would probably buy one instead of even try to sell it. Even the most cursory extra-sensory examination would confirm the things ooze bad juju. So far, though, the Deathknight has yet to flat out lie to them, and the pattern seems to hold. Donning the pendants, after a space of time from a few seconds to several minutes, depending on how magically active the wearer is, their activation becomes immediately obvious, as the aural sensation of a constant, steady stream of whispering voices, just barely too quiet to make sense of, or pick out any words, but which gives off, somehow, the unmistakable impression of being very, very important. If only they were a little louder, they might have something critical to say. That's the kind of way it feels. It seems that the effect is just harmless, spooky noise, though. It's the kind of thing that induces a background radiation on low-key anxiety, but for those approaching the road, it starts to become apparent that said anxiety doesn't get any worse with proximity to the city; overriding, rather than stacking with, the fear aura. It's uncomfortable, and mildly unnerving, but it'll be total cakewalk compared to the nameless dread that had boiled up inside them behind the city walls. "Understood. We will provide escort and direction to the palatial estates." says machinebuddy, completely non-reactive to wearing his brand new t-shirt over his magical chassis. He's so cooperative, strutting with Gawain down the hill, and so gracious, letting Staren and Tomoe come along especially.
Bloody Revelations	Coming down the straight and short way, they are spotted very quickly. The camps may have a number of lookouts with pretty decent equipment. When they make their way down to the road, a quartet of men on horses ride up to them, meeting them halfway there. The horses are very normal, probably only being transport animals, but the men on top are clad heavily clad in fully-concealing armour, looking like multiple layers of samurai-style fused together into a very vaguely futuristic-looking suit. Even the visors have little glowing gems instead of slits. "Hold, travelers. Chozei Yu, of the Lookshy Fourth Field Force. I won't say for sure, but you are currently very likely to be the ones my commander is looking for. You've previously entered the empty city, haven't you? There are a lot of questions we need to ask you." The man speaking the points at the automaton Gawain has in tow. "Bring that with you. I'm sure he'll want to examine it. If you can treat with respect, this may end well for you, so don't cause a scene."
Miari	Having Tomoe and Gawain as earnest companions - and the Flotilla as wild cards - is pretty reassuring, enough so that Miari's comfortable approaching the soldiers, keeping her bearing upbeat but dignified with a hint of a smile and a glint of scholarly curiosity alight in her eyes. "Questions important enough to send the Fourth Field Force complete with that skyborne relic, it would seem. Keeping a force here of all places must be like hell. Caeleen Miari, physician, Sorcerer-Engineer, and something of a Scavenger Lord at the moment." Her answer's honest at least. If not the whole truth. "I can't speak for all my companions, but I want no trouble."
Starbound Flotilla	Starbound aren't interested in dealing with Lookshy. They do a quick vote on who wants to do what -- five for quick infiltration, one (Moonfin) for speaking with Lookshy. Deciding against interrupting Miari regardless, they pull their bikes away and circle around. Apricot's efforts are something they intend to mirror in their own way, but well intend to avoid interfering with her. Spread out a little more, that makes sense. They'll circle a bit and plunge straight through the field at another segment of wall. All six bring out mining beams, settle their crafts, and ready themselves to BREACH the walls by way of a heavy digging beam, surging corrosive energy into the outer walls to craft a small tunnel and hoping that the talisman's protection has already activated properly. Fine, FIIINE. They won't gas the inferior Creationites. They'll just destroy ancient, possibly valuable wall structure, and then hopefully ride on through and towards their intended target!
Bloody Revelations	A-39 has a lot of experience operating on her own in the wilderness, and in all honesty, this is pretty easy comparatively. With a bunch of people making a big impression at the front, it's quite probably the airship crew aren't especially on the lookout for anyone else, and so it only requires slightly more caution than normal to time with its slow hover and climb up over the walls. Though high, sheer and sturdy, there's nothing really special about them. Blessedly, A-39 was also absent for the time everyone had to suffer the full brunt of the curse, and so she feels nothing especially remarkable but a slight intensification of the pitch of the whispers in her ear. It's not the most incredibly advantageous spot to fall in, but it'll do. The streets were already jam-packed with piles of fanciful buildings that seem to have no common building code but 'be beautiful', and then filled even further with constant sights of statues, water features, ornate gardens, and stranger things (like what appears to be a public art piece involving a crystal perpetual motion machine). Now, they're an even more dense tangle, where those same gardens and orchards have run rampant in the centuries since, and spread a maze of roots and branches over everything that isn't paved and tiled. She seems to have found herself in some kind of exhibition area, populated by reams of abandoned stalls, vacant amphitheaters, empty stages, and barren gathering plazas, which provide the most space she really has to move. In many places, she can see machines similar to Gawain's 'machinebuddy', in grades from 'collapsed and useless on the ground', 'hopelessly stuck in roots that grew around them', and 'still able to jerkily trot around on endless, pointless patrols'. Past them, there appears to be another series of higher walls, with ornate, golden gates, topped with crystal spires with a glow that might not be super great. Beyond them, appear to be even larger and more fabulous buildings, of unknown purpose. It would almost be pleasant, serene, even, if there weren't human skeletons ever present in most directions the head can turn.
Tomoe	Tomoe is wary of the artifact for them, he has no true magical talent all of it is an emulation born of her world getting warped at least that's how Tomoe sees it. She doesn't like the look of the item. She doesn't trust it but she doesn't have much choice she might have to hit up some old allies and connections afterwards to make sure nothing happened to her with it. She'll put it on but she doesn't seem to like it. The things do seem to being protecting them so far and she finds the dread from the curse, doesn't get any worse as she gets closer to the city she doesn't move to fight she's not even going for her weapons. "Tomoe the Iron Lily, I'm working body guard for her more or less, and I'm not looking for trouble either." She's not reading like she wants a fight from her body languate at the very least but she is sizing them up as a good body guard would. She is relaxed though and she gives the rest of the small group look over her companions seem all right for the moment.
Bloody Revelations	The Flotilla find that the walls are, while very pretty, nothing particularly fancy. In the face of a coordinated squad of experienced minecrafters and their laser beams, they turn into swiss cheese very quickly, and with little resistance. It takes less than minutes to breach opposite of A-39, and even make a hole big enough to drive the hoverbikes through without issue. What they find on the other side appears to be a section of the city mostly dedicated to metalworks. They have a scarce view of the gathering plaza A-39 is at in the distance, and some view of the grander inner city, as well, as a view downwards to the business and checkpoint areas they had dallied with before. The sole complicating issue seems to be that huge sections of the metalworks are actually gilded all over with magical materials. Orichalcum and moonsilver gleams from goddamn everything, creating a dazzling impression of smithies and clockworks of gold and diamonds, but making them factually a /bitch/ to drive down. Attempting to use the bikes in any seriously speedy capacity is just asking to smash into a borderline-indestructible steam pipe or bellow stack. Of course, there's guaranteed still piles of raw material sitting around in various states, and sure to be quite a few more useful pieces of magitechnology than the little toys and gimmicks they found before, if they would rather slow down and prod at it, but also a number of much more pristine automatons sitting in their shops, and little to no way to tell if they're incomplete, or simply dormant. It'd be so easy to smash, grab and run, if there were any space to drive. Of course, nothing /really/ stops them from making progress to a different area. The whispers keep their minds busy with low-level nervousness and dread, rather than turning inside out, and there are very few trees and no walking guards here. They may want to think carefully.
Kyoko Takada	Alpha-39 isn't prone to speaking to herself, and generally reticent about speaking to anyone else without a clear need. And this is a sneaking mission, so she maintains radio silence with the people she doesn't trust who are talking to the people who would have stopped her from entering. They can get to cooperating when they're all inside, even if they were sort of cooperating in being a distraction. If she were one to talk to herself, she might say, "Just like home." In respect to the abandoned cityscape and the scattered, aged corpses, at least. The overall design is different, but not so off from what she's used to that she isn't reasonably confident that she can continue to sneak about. She's taking no chances with the still-moving machines, nor anything that looks like where a guard would post itself and wait interminably for trespassers. She may need to take a chance on the spires, but not just yet. This place looks like it might have already been cleaned out, but a quick look around to confirm that fact shouldn't hurt. And if it has been cleaned out, then someone must have stayed sane long enough to do so. That would be worryingly counter to intel.
Gawain	There's a wide smile at Machinebuddy. What a good pal, Gawain thinks, as they approach...where they're stopped by a man speaking. "Well met, Chozei Yu. Sir Gawain, Paladin Warden, Knight of the Round Table. I'd like nothing but to have a respectful discussion!" As they point to Machinebuddy, Gawain nods. "I believe Machinebuddy would be quite happy to allow such for the purpose of completing our tasks. What do you say, Machinebuddy? It's up to you." Yes, he's leaving it up to the automaton. They have rights too. Needless to say, Gawain pretty cheerfully goes with the man. Despite his sword at his side, there's no sight of hostility...and if Chozei Yu and the other men around are mundane or non-Elite, they may feel themselves that Gawain is pretty knightly. It's in his demeanor, his stance, just...his essence makes seem impressive. "How long have you all been camped out here?"
Starbound Flotilla	"Avast! Hold, we've a plunder to take!" "Anxious. Why not simply abandon the bikes...?" "Profit, honestly. Not like anyone is using all this. And it's industrial!" "We don't have time for this idiocy." "This could be all we need for Project Morphite, Mr. Petrov. I believe we should take it." "For once, Floran agreesss with fish. Take all shininessss!!" Fuck it, who cares about speed when there's PROFIT here!! Thank goodness the Starbound Flotilla also have well enough expertise to abandon their bikes, get out their grappling hooks, and -- four to two (Albert, Seft) vote -- work to strip these incredibly valuable metalworks facilities fucking bare of clockworks, smithies, automatons, raw materials, magitechnology, and other materials in their immediate path, navigating around the no-doubt platformer-friendly clockworks and industrial apparatuses to maximize their speed, splitting up into an incredibly coordinated spread of rapid looters. Miari granted them knowledge of how to craft Orichalcum, and here's the sort of materials that could be worthy of practically bringing that up to industrial scale! They're, of course, not planning on making Orichalcum itself, but they've properly worked out a means of synthesizing fantastical materials with similar methods. Hopefully if no alarms or something have been set off by them yanking cogs and pipes and other suchlike out of walls and machines, they can surge through this unexpected blockade and then out into the streets. Still follow that same path! Still rush that same old objective!
Staren	Staren looks at the guards, then at Miari and Gawain. It was their idea to go this route... He lets them speak first, before saying anything about why they're here that might mess them up. "Staren. I... research... problems. To find solutions." He's clearly choosing words carefully, which they may or may not take the wrong way. Then he realizes what they said: "...Wait a minute. What do you mean it only /may/ end well for us if we come with you?"
Bloody Revelations	Machinebuddy flickers his Essence gem eyes, then whirs out: "We will make allowances for acceptable delays in dealing with necessary Terrestrial bureaucracy. Please finish your business as quickly as possible." Oh good. He didn't say anything about Solars. What a clever and subtle guy. Gawain's sword (as long as it's in its scabbard and not blazing magic everywhere) is far from notable except for its quality. Nobody goes around the Scavenger Lands unarmed. In fact, even Staren barely seems to raise eyebrows. His powered armour is certainly a different aesthetic style than their own, but he could /very/ credibly say that it belongs to the same world, so long as a sorcerer engineer doesn't stare too long at it. Some design sensibilities are universal. They might even figure he's from around here, and managed to purchase one of their expensive exports. They don't particularly question Tomoe's bodyguard story either. 'Iron Lily' is a pretty unobnoxious sobriquet, and Miari is pretty clearly a Creation native. They naturally assume that she's the head of the expedition, and mostly speak to her as the head. "The subject of retrieving anything from Denandsor is understandably an important, if not nigh urgent one. If you don't seek to cause a problem, that's fine, but there are concerns you may cause one inadvertently if left alone to mount these expeditions. Follow me." The horses turn about and start going back along the path. The leader shrugs with his back facing Staren. "Whether or not you reach an agreement to your satisfaction is above my pay grade. I'm an officer, not a diplomat." From there, the group, machinebuddy included, is taken to the encampment ahead of the walls. The men on horses aren't exactly stand-outs, it seems. There are ranks upon ranks of soldiers wearing similar gear, carrying ornate lances and what look very much like sengoku-era rifles, with some in heavier and fancier gear. The only ones not fully armed and armoured are either maintaining gear, organizing supplies, writing reports, or cooking food. Everything is exceptionally well organized, and accommodations are far better than mere tents and campfires. Proper bunks and outdoor kitchens have been set up, even. A temporary command quarters sits at the rear of the line, surrounded by stone walls seemingly risen and shaped out of the earth itself, and under a faintly visible dome of shimmering Essence, anchored by a number of tiny cubes mounted on spikes. They're lead in through a series of tent flaps, though it appears to just be tarp draped over an interior building largely made up of an easily transported steel frame, filled in with local materials.
Bloody Revelations	At least a partial command staff is there, seated on mats around a low table, covered in maps and reports, and the remains of dinner. While still armed, they're mostly just dressed in robes fitting the same 'historical aesthetic' as the troops. The head honcho is pretty obvious by his rich, gold and scarlet robe draped over his shoulders like a greatcoat, pinned with a number of medals. It looks a little weird contrasting with his indoor sandals. "So you must be the ones." he says, taking a moment to put down his pipe and tap out the ashes. "Nobody has succeeded in bringing back anything of worth from Denandsor since Lookshy's foundation. I'm impressed, but I didn't petition to come out all the way here to praise you. You understand this city currently constitutes the largest remaining source of First Age relics in the entire region, and the largest currently known to be accessible in Creation. For a nation such as ours, that has carved out its independence in part due to the pains we have taken to preserve our understanding of how to care for, maintain, and deploy, the legacy of technology passed down by our ancestors, you can clearly understand how we cannot afford to let a loose cannon begin pillaging and distributing what lies behind these walls without question." "If you know anything about these lands, you know that it is Lookshy's technological and military superiority that is the lynchpin of balance between the provinces all along the rivers, that keeps the Realm at bay, and protects them from the Raksha. While you aren't currently suspected of being saboteurs, making the wrong moves with the plunder you take from Denandsor could violently upset this balance." Then he takes a good long while with his pipe again, to see how people respond to his probing questions.
Bloody Revelations	Meanwhile, behind the walls, A-39 poking out in the gathering plaza finds out a couple of things. One, is that there are absolutely zero signs of any sort of looting whatsoever. It doesn't even look like footprints have disturbed the dust that sits an inch thick on counters and benches where there is protection from the wind. The other is that there wouldn't be much practical reason to loot here except pure profit. Almost everything she finds is purely decorate, meant to be shown off as part of a performance, or so complicated and arcane that there's no telling /what/ it does. A lot of it definitely isn't portable without a wagon or a team of men carrying it around, and most of what is comes down to immaculate sculptures, time pieces, jewelery, and other such things that could be sold as trinkets to really rich people. Mixed in are a number of odder things, though, like what appear to be single, large JADE DIE carved with non-numerical patterns, little stacks of coin-sized SKY-BLUE STONES, something that is almost comically close to the famous GOLDEN EGG of a certain story, a CASE OF NEEDLES of the acupuncture sort, heavily decorated and made of precious metals, and an especially sophisticated and COMPLEX-LOOKING RING, set with tiny gems and glimpses of interior mechanisms. They're scattered amongst a number of different places, obviously, and going between them runs an unavoidable risk of being seen each time. One extra thing may catch her eye. Still looped around the neck vertebrae of a skeleton practically drowning in jewelery, long after his clothes rotted off his bones, is a simple CRYSTAL DISK. It's in a quiet corner, but a little out of the way.
Miari	Miari does her absolute best to maintain composure, drawing on everything she can from ancient memories to draw herself up into a proud and confident, but kindly posture. It's not QUITE a match for her current life's physique, though... On the plus side though, her emerald-and-gold kimono does fit right in, and her facial features hint at Shogunate aristocracy heritage. Then there's the name, Caeleen...? Assuming that Gens even existed in this Creation. She doesn't expect Lookshyans to be familiar with it though. "Your worries are completely understandable. Seeing you down here in such force so quickly is a surprise though, to be sure. If we do succeed in dispelling the curse, someone would need to settle the city... and you are right. Lookshy is the only nation in the Scavenger Lands equipped to do such a thing responsibly. It is the knowledge that I am after, more than the city and its physical treasures. And ensuring that nobody uses it for ill. So I'm glad you arrived. Now I needn't worry about a Deathlord setting up shop here!" She just lets that last problem DROP in the commander's face. "Unfortunately though, even the most skilled and noble of the Dragon-Blooded doesn't have what it takes to operate the Factory Cathedrals at their full potential. Or obtain the exotic materials and services needed to purify and fuel them... that problem remains unsolved..."
Bloody Revelations	Normally, any sane engineer would tell the members of the Flotilla that they're goddamn idiots and going to get themselves killed. You don't just run around like kids in a candy store, stripping anything shiny off of anything else and pocketing everything not nailed down. That's how you get blown up or electrocuted or your soul gets fried or something. Either those people are stupid, or these guys just have basically the best luck in the universe. Clambering around the metalwork jungle, then can make rapid work of stripping gilding and plating off of everything by zapping the mundane materials underneath with their manipulator beams, leaving them with a hefty ratio of normal metal to magical metal they'll have to separate later, but /still a lot of magical metal/. The raw forms seem to have solidified into huge bricks where they were being distilled, like entire vats full of solid orichalcum, or long sheets of moonsilver, but a good amount of it was only half finished, and breaks pretty much instantly. As it turns out, all of the automata in this quarter are completely inactive. They look gorgeous, and exceptionally more advanced than the ones patrolling outside, as if they were build built as part of a competition at the time. Sadly, they're worthless without a functioning AI core, and none of them have one. There /are/ a number of traps and alarms around various shops, but they're largely activated by wire, plate, Essence laser, or a warding line that doesn't account for blink-porters and grappling hooks, and so they aren't too difficult to circumvent; those that are can just be ignored. Moving on from there, packs full of loot, they find out why there are no functioning guards left around the 'works. A number of clearly military models, heavily armed, have shut down and collapsed in a wide perimeter around the huge gates to the inner city, cordoning it off from the grand plaza. They must have just flat run out of power, and it isn't hard to see why. Human bones pile the streets ten skeletons high for a ways around them, flooding much of the plaza in remains, apparently slaughtered in droves where they tried to charge into the inner district in a fit of curse-induced insanity the peacekeeping machines didn't understand. They must have utterly exhausted their batteries fighting, and then there was nobody left to recharge them.
Staren	Staren nods along with Miari. "We need to keep an artifact out of the hands of the death knights searching the city. Beyond that... our interests..." he pauses for a moment looking at his companions here and realizing he'd better not accidentally hint at the others, "...are scientific, engineering, and humanitarian. Sure, we could find things here worth a lot of money. But far more valuable is the information. Studying the principles of operation of artifacts we find in hopes of using them to help people... I mean, look at this guy." He jerks a thumb at the automaton. "Imagine if you could make more like him? Uncorruptible police, soldiers to protect against fey and undead... And beyond that, finding ways to help the people of Creation. It sounds like Denandsor could become a bastion of civilization, like Gethamane. Creation sorely needs more cities like that."
Tomoe	Tomoe is just happy that the troops are willing to talk and not go for their weapons, this is refreshing really She falls in with Miari and moves along in step with the rest of hte group. She looks over to Staren and then to the trooper. "Understandable, you got your job to do." % A little time passes as she catches up to meet the ones who can ash out a deal. she listern as they lay down a solid argument abotu what they are here. She seems to agree with Miari's assessment of things as well though she does add. "Your concerns are very valid and I'm not looking to sell off things willy nilly. I'm well aware of how dangeorus such relics could be if one is ignorant of them." She backs off and she chills out to let the res tof hte group have their say.
Starbound Flotilla	Further in, further in. The Starbound Flotilla doesn't hesitate. Well, Seft hesitates; she's the one who has worries about corpses, but by deactivating bits of her own personality relating to that in the face of the /mountain/ of bone and dead metal, she can suffer a small debuff in exchange for not being disabled by corpse-induced stress. "Panicked. There are so many corpses, I..." "You okay there, Seft?" "Calm. I am fine now." "You really must stop that awful habit of yours." "No meat! Where'sss meat! Floran gonna take bone anyway." "Use what we have. Clear the way. Let's establish a forward camp." George brings out... That ring! God, here's hoping this works. The Starbound Flotilla work on... Experimentally charging up those automata on the fringe! If they're going to get over this mountain easily, and maintain a camp, they're going to need help. And if they're going to get help, they'll need to use the local resources! George brings out some heavy engineering equipment, and Seft gets to work on an Erchius-based power bridge system, to recharge these automata, while the others quickly retrieve any non-AI-core parts they might need from the automata available in the metalworks. If they can get one working, George is going to test his ring, attempting to issue commands to start clearing the path. And if they can get /one/ set to work, they'll try to salvage many of the rest, and get them working on clearing the way. The inner city's entry is a good point to set down an artificial warpgate and quick encampment, and using the local machines to maintain it should cover other issues. Assuming, of course, that this scheme to set up these machines in the first place actually pays off in any effective way.
Kyoko Takada	Alpha-39 sets a hand on her sword, checking the smooth motion of its sheathe without drawing it, and leaving her right hand free. This could wind up going badly, but with the machines in as bad a shape as they are, she's willing to take a measured risk. The selector on her SMG is flipped over to full-auto, but the weapon stays set to her left shoulder, finger off the trigger. This is as "ready for anything" as she can get without hunkering down or hampering her stealth. The valuables are one thing, but a the disk makes her think of an information storage device. Does this world have those? Maybe not. Too bad she no one she can trust to ask that sort of question, along with the potential value of stones, eggs, gold and jade. Jade was like gold in ancient China, right? Or something like that. Weird to just see it all outdoors, though. How rich was this place? With a mounting series of suppressed questions, she sneaks around, showing appropriate care in both going over and cutting through buildings, watching for those patrolling machines, assuming anything that looks like it could be a guard to be one, and getting around to the CRYSTAL DISK.
Gawain	Gawain stands tall, a bow as he enters the command tent. As the commander speaks, he listens intently, before replying. "Sir Gawain, Paladin Warden, Knight of the Round Table. We apologize if entering the city before caused any alarms! Our objective is not to harm this region, but to assist it, including removing the curse on this city and acting against the deathlords seeking it." The Knight of the Sun seems honest, atleast, nodding to Miari and Staren. "While several of us want technology, my primary goal, one that my companions will agree with, is assistance. If it reassures you, I do not believe any of us have plans to redistribute the technology here! We are not here for profit." Or, that's what Gawain hopes, atleast. Sure, the Flotilla is here, but Seft's among them, so they probably have good intentions. Right? Believe in people, that's what you do. And then Gawain ponders for a second, before turning to his machine pal. "Ah, right! The soldier outside told me that you may want to see my friend, Machinebuddy, for the data he may have. He was one of the automatons inside, and I recruited him and brought him out to assist us as a guide. I do request you not hurt him, though."
Bloody Revelations	The rest of the command staff sits by and appraises the group brought into their midst. The assemblage of Elites is coincidentally fortunate. They pass for a Dragon-Blooded sorcerer-engineer, with bodyguards comprising trained swordsman and some foreign commando; almost definitely a Terrestrial Circle. It's actually the kind of people Lookshy tends to deal best with, being militarily and technologically oriented themselves. Nobody raises any objections to the discourse with the big boss. "I expected to hear something close to that. Nobody with expertise necessary to break through the hollow city's curse would only send a handful of scouts to bring back whatever they could carry. The smart move would be to keep their hand a secret, until they could organize a task force and strip it bare as quickly as possible, before anyone could respond. Though I could assume you aren't working for one of the major powers in the region, I could not simply assume that you had no ties to an individual or foreign faction with alternative designs. I will ask, however, what is your interest in the city, if not for profit or loyalty?" Staren actually . . . explains that pretty handily, though. As a rich, probably important, Dragon-Blooded sorcerer-engineer, it's only natural that Miari would have interest, that being so young would mean her interest would probably be abstract, idealistic, and without a solid plan, and those that follow her would be people enamoured with the idea of humanitarian knowledge she had sold to them. Plus, Staren probably doesn't seem to them like the type who's good at lying. A round of muttering goes through the room at the mention of Deathlords, though. "Lookshy has eventualities prepared for the Mask of Winters. If you have information regarding what he's been spending all his time doing while holed up in Thorns for all these years, get on with it. The directorate has been proposing plans to oust him for some time, but there has been too little information on his forces, and too little in the way of resources to spare on our parts. Denandsor could change that. Adding its arsenal to our own, I am confident Lookshy would have the power to sweep him from the region." He definitely sounds confident, for a guy who, like everyone else, doesn't really know for sure what's inside, and, like almost everyone else, has never really seen a Deathlord in-person. There's a possibility he could be right, though. There's also the obvious fact that he has no idea a completely different Deathlord already has designs on Denandsor, and may not have ever even heard of him. "What could hypothetically be done Factory Cathedrals is beyond our concern; only practically. Even if they were only to produce Warstriders at our current rate, we would have a massive numerical advantage over the Realm within thirty years. Save solving that problem for academia once the city has been reclaimed. You will have full access to the facilities, excepting any state secrets, should you cooperate with us in divulging your method for entering and navigating the city unaffected." The general motions with his hand, and a pair of men in powered suits come in to claim the automaton. "We'll have our top haichei examine its memory crystal for any information of value. I can't make any promises, but I will see to it that they be as careful as possible. At the moment, the automaton is your lawful property."
Staren	"I seriously have no idea how this guy's still running after centuries without maintenance." Staren waves a hand at their automaton buddy. Then strokes the chin of his helmet. "Although... if there's leylines here... could they recharge at a manse? Could a factory-cathedral send them energy remotely?" He looks at Miari -- creation magitech is something he never really got around to learning. "I don't know what Mask of Winters is planning. Someone like that, I bet they have a whole bunch of plans going on at once. But we have reason to believe he's sent a couple of death knights to Denandsor in search of..." he looks at Miari. "...something." He obviously knows something more but isn't saying it. And... now their automaton's being taken away? "W-wait! I mean... not to give you orders, but... this machine is willing to listen to us. Can't we just /ask/ it about the information you want, rather than risk destroying it?"
Bloody Revelations	A-39 is, more or less, playing a stealth videogame. The navigation is a total mess, sure, but the guards she's trying to avoid are extremely loud, move in really predictable patterns, their position can be accurately judged with just her ears, and they have heavily impaired senses from centuries of degradation, never really thinking to turn and look around or stop at random like human guards are known to do. It's really not hard for a single, quiet person, skilled in stealth tactics, to maneuver their way around them. It'd be more difficult trying to go through the open spaces that separate all those incredibly valuable items, though. She can at least reach the crystal disk pendant without difficulty. The clasp pretty much snaps right off the skeleton's neck when she yanks it free. Upon closer inspection, there appear to be tiny threads of coloured metal inset into portions, almost like circuit transistors. The central portion is polished into a very regular sphere, which glows faintly as she picks it up, and pulses weakly with a flickering cone of light. Information storage was a close guess. When the disk is handled, for a moment, it manages to properly light up, and project rays of washed-out light into the area around her, garbled by heavy amounts of fuzzy static and audio-visual corruption. She can barely make anything out, but it is immediately clear it's trying to play an A/V recording, like a hologram, and just before it craps out, she can hear people speaking in garbled tones. It could actually be incredibly valuable insight into the city, what happened to it, and how to fix it, but it obviously needs repair, and is no use to her in this condition.
Miari	"How we resist the curse? Oh please, officer. Contesting the First Age's sorceries requires more of the same." Miari exclaims with a bit of a sigh matched with a humble little bow. "More of an answer will test your temperance and sour what should be a moment we both cackle with glee at how things will improve in the River Province if Denandsor's factories and workshops ring with activity once more!" She's smiling but it's a 'please don't let that have been the wrong thing to say' smile. A smile that puts more trust than Miari's comfortable with in the officer. Because she's not willing to lie over that. Not directly. Not to Lookshy. She respects them a bit too much. Thankfully, Staren's question takes her by surprise. She blinks a few times and quickly launches into Miari-sensei dialogue. "Manses can be used that way. Plenty of devices rely on geomantic power grids... or did, until the First Age's collapse." She's not using the term 'Usurpation' in front of fellow scions of the shogunate, it would seem. "But just as many can be tuned to respire it from... the world around us. Just as spirits and various sorts of enlightened humans do. Among other things." She then gives Staren a bit of a grimace and shrugs with her shoulders. "I /told/ you that the Seventh Legion does things its way when it comes to anything big. Not much helping it, is there?" It's a rare moment of oddity from her for sure. Apparently she doesn't view Gawain's companion as much of a person.
Gawain	Gawain visibly frowns when he's told that the automaton is his property, but nods. "If he consents to such, Staren, then it's alright. We can't make the decision for him." There's a glance to the automaton, letting it decide if it'll let them look through the memory crystal. "But if there are safer alternatives, they may be more acceptable to all of us, wouldn't they? We'd all like to come out of this friendly and happy with one another, I believe!" Gawain's not answering the questions himself, mainly because he cannot lie, but is also aware that telling the truth is dangerous here. He's hoping they don't have to fully explain themselves, though he's ready to fully spill the details if such is needed.
Staren	"/Really/?" Staren comments, re: automatons respiring essense. "...I guess that's how my golems work, but... I couldn't power weapons with it..."
Bloody Revelations	The ring does not appear to do anything to recharge the automatons. If it interacted with them at all, it did so when they were working. Rummaging through the hulks, the Flotilla finds out that an unfortunate number have become habitats for vegetation, but they're consistently the machines that had exterior breaches from combat. Those that were untouched are pretty much pristine, though it might take a lot of tinkering to boot them up. Juicing them up with nebulous space energy seems like it can activate select systems, such as their weapons, but they can't really figure out which part is the 'brain', or even particularly where a central power unit would be. It would probably take someone with specific knowledge to Creation's style of automata, or else a long period of study with several sacrificial samples. There is some good news, though, and it's almost entirely accidental. The ring works on the gate. George going anywhere near it plays a game of hot-gold with the white jade on his finger, and when he presses it to the city seal on the lock, the crystal pylons to either side deactivate, and the orichalcum mechanism ticks and clanks unlocked. There is the palpable feeling of 'electrical' discharge, like a lot of high voltage power cables had grounded all at once, with enough bleedoff to make hairs stand up. There was almost certainly a lot of powerful magic lying in wait on that gate. Serendipitous. Some of it must have been designed to prevent entry via magic, too, because right after it gets switched off, the artificial Warpgate starts functioning after a long period of nothing.
Bloody Revelations	Miari does actually get a little bit of a sour look from some members of the command staff, and a deep, slow frown from the general, with what is clearly a conversational dodge, but they don't press it. They'll wind up seeing it in action no matter what, after all. In all probability, they're also thinking that if Miari proves to be belligerently uncooperative, they can always use spies. That's how Dragon-Blooded are. Still, it's about as good as anyone here could reasonably expect. He even addresses Staren seriously. "If your information is correct, and not a fanciful rumour, then it is all the more imperative that we secure the city quickly. By all accounts, his forces are large and well-equipped enough already. Creation doesn't need him adding any more to his arsenal. I certainly hope your sources are reliable. I often doubt the veracity of anyone's claims to know anything about the Deathlord." There's a bit of general grumbling as he and Gawain get really precious over the robot, but the general does motion for the soldier escort to halt. "The automaton's memory unit is more valuable. These kinds of things should be build with the capability to easily and non-destructively access it, for copying or altering memory information. If you have concerns about the skill of my staff, please see to them by overseeing the procedure yourselves. It should only take an hour; perhaps two, if it is badly damaged." Machinebuddy says: "Confirmation. My last examination by an experienced technician was eight hundred and three years-six months-twenty three days ago. Inspection and maintenance is in order."
Gawain	"Very well. I trust you." Gawain says to the commander, nodding towards his machine pal. "I believe you to be honest and good people, who will not cause any harm to happen. Please take your utmost care, and godspeed." It seems that their honesty and their offer to allow them watch has convinced Gawain to trust them, as the sun knight glances to the others. "All will be well, everyone! Have faith."
Staren	Staren just gives a slight shrug as to the veracity of his sources. After the exchange with machinebuddy, he adds, "I suppose a delay of a couple of hours won't hurt anything, and might even improve our ability to explore the city, if lost functionality can be restored. I have no reason to believe that the death knights have a counter to the curse yet." He frowns at a sudden thought. "Although... if /you've/ heard about us coming here, /they/ surely have as well. Come to think of it, how did you hear?! We didn't see anyone but automatons on our first trip." He'll observe the procedure, though he can't contribute much. As an expert on other varieties of automaton, he's got a sort of professional interest in the workings of Creation's.
Tomoe	More questions get asked a good deal of questions get asked and they are above her pay grade for the most part as she might put it. She does look to the officer for a moment and she looks to Staren shrugging. "They just made them that well and your guess is likely better than mine. As for the Mask of Winters it's not the what h4e's planning more how he plans to do it right? That's the biggest problem." A deal is made though and she quiet up now she tilts her head." At Machine buddy bringing up how long it's been operating Tomoe's jaw hangs open for a second. Yup nothing like her world at all. She looks to Staren while she's interested she'd be curious about it. "That is something I wanted to ask how did you hear of us. I didn't think we were known in Creation."
Kyoko Takada	Alpha-39 doesn't feel particularly good about getting out of here without an immediate payday, but she doesn't want to shoot up the place and put it on alert if they're just coming back, anyway. And she probably will be, considering. The real dirt's probably behind those defenses, and she may need help getting in there. For now, she tucks away the crystal, if she can figure out how to get it to turn off, into one of her pouches. Then she gets back out, roughly the way she came. She's going to bury the talisman, somewhere between here and home. Bury it good and deep with an entrenching tool, then dig it back up if--when she needs to come back. No sense keeping something like that close by.