Scene #7349: ANB: Cobra-La

Owner	Pose
Gawain	It's a nice sunny day. The group has already touched down in the island settlement of Cadmus, which is still steadily progressing, square prefab buildings growing more and more. Solar panels are already being set up, even if generators do most of the job for now. But hanging out in Cadmus isn't the goal. Father Titan slumbers, and Cadmus's volcano, Little Titan, worries about him. The Paladins have made a deal to investigate the 'men with birds of metal' and, if connected to Father Titan's slumber, deal with it. Research on a logo found on scrap inside the Caverns has traced it to a group known as Cobra, a terroristic supervillain organization from another world. What they may want with this volcano is unclear, and if they rendered Father Titan comatose...how? Gawain is on their mini-yacht, as he makes last minute preparations. Once he's done, they set off, straight for Father Titan. "Okay! I believe we should try and negotiate with Cobra, if possible. If they're living around here...well, they haven't bothered Cadmus yet, so drawing attention to the settlement or starting a feud will certainly not be great."
Gawain	As the boat starts approaching the colossal volcano in the center of the archipelago, a few things happen that make life difficult. First, there's a storm, centered chiefly on Father Titan, which is abnormal. It's not a volcanic storm - there's been no eruption - there's just heavy storm clouds in the air, striking lightning into the water and onto the land at random intervals. Second, Gawain starts to lose control of his boat. He's not an expert in boats like he is land vehicles, but he has enough training to know how to pilot one, and it's not the storm that's affecting him. It's like there's a magnetic hook on the boat, pulling him closer towards the island at a rapid pace. Finally, those with keen eyesight, of which there's a few here, can spot metal in the distance. A sheen of wreckage on the shore of the volcanic island, with movement among it. Whether or not the movement is human is difficult to tell. The mini-yacht keeps pulling closer, against Gawain's will, when suddenly, two hydrofoils pull up across the water! They're armed with odd-looking turrets, without any clear ammunition source, and each has a driver. They don't shoot immediately, but they're clearly trying to corral the mini-yacht closer towards the wreckage at the shore. "I have to keep control of the boat! Handle this, please!" Gawain shouts to his allies, who are in 'cool jump range' of the hydrofoils, should they decide to board enemy crafts instead of negotiating.
Tamamo	Tamamo, once again dressed in her Safari Mode, sits in apparent comfort on the boat, upper body staying still against the direction of gravity despite the increasingly turbulent motion. The trip being rather short, she hasn't yet gotten out the tea and snacks, but she was definitely thinking about it right up until the storm broke. The abnormality of it is what gets her to quickly stand, and to start searching for a cause. Hands reach into pockets, but don't yet draw out any of her tools. She doesn't need those to do a quick reading. As there was a strong spirit to the volcano, is there also a spirit to the storm? Is there anything arcane at work in its appearance, or else in the pull of the boat toward the island? "Are they not pulled by the same force?" If it is so directed that the opposing force is unaffected, then there must be some reason that's so, and 'it's aimed' is only one possibility.
Sierra Kereson	Dealing with a volcano spirit isn't quite what Sierra pictured as her first official mission, but it's one she has a certain interest in thanks to a discussion about a certain type of fire-based bird a few days ago. If she plays her cards right, she might be able to get a lead on that. Alas, that's jumping ahead way too far, and she needs to focus on the job now. As she listens to Gawain, she straightens out her stereotypically large witch's hat before rummaging arund in her pouch. She looks every part the stereotypical witch or magic school student, complete with a short cloak and a mostly uniform color scheme of white, black, and purple. "You think so? Negotiations means taking time that we might need to wake up the Father and giving them a leg up for whatever else Cobra's got planned. Giving in to their demands means giving them valuable resources. Giving them resources means less for us to use if we need them for..." Don't say paychecks. "... Ensuring the locals' safety. But yeah, getting into the thick of things here won't do anyone any good. We'll just have to see what the situation is once we find them all." Hiding a brief smirk by popping a dried scallop into her mouth straight from her pouch, she turns her attention back to their destination to try and come up with some way to spin this better. The first test comes when the hydrofoils approach the ride. Peering at the drivers, she raises one hand in a broad wave while planting one foot on the edge of the mini-yacht to strike a more decisively confident pose. "Ahoy! What brings you out here, sailors? Vacation, business, other?" She shouts towards the pair of hydrofoils, testing the mini-yacht's sturdiness and trying to figure out just the right angle to do a cool jump from in case a firefight breaks out with those strange turrets on board.
Kotone Yamakawa	The Research on the Logo that she and Archer uncovered has proven useful, it's given her some ideas about what could be up with Father Titan. She can now kind of have some idea of what to guess could be going on. She's on the boat and seems to be enjoying it. "I agree if they are not bothering the colonists we should try to keep things from escalating but who knows what Cobra could be up to." Kotone seems relaxed for the most part as they make for the volcano and she takes a moment to look it over Father Titan for a moment. Thing then gets wild as Gawain loses control of the boat. She's affected but there is not enough metal in her shell to drag her like the boat. She's moving a bit lower. The other craft as not shooting at them yet and she'll stick with Gawain's plan as she attempts to contact them. She will follow the lead of Sierra as she's opened a dialogue with the incoming Cobra Agents she'll let her take lead in the talking. She is, however, keeping track of distances with hydrofoils, She knows a fight may break out so she's making ready for that. She's also trying to size up the craft too.
Lilian Rook	Lilian is outfitted the same way as last time, for the same reasons. This is, a little unfortunately, a lot less intimidating than would otherwise help in this scenario. Lilian can project a 'pick up the can, citizen' kind of intimidating, but would need to be eight inches taller and two hundred pounds heavier to project a sense of threat from merely wearing jungle hike clothes. In this case, she decides she won't even bother trying to scare off the metaphorical wolves. Whether she believes it to be a lost cause, generally beneath her, or irrelevant until she has the kind of probable cause she likes, is largely answered in her verbal engagement with Archer accusing him of being 'a vigilante street rabble' and threatening to 'gas and beat him like one' until he can pull up something specific. Instead, she sits herself down at the bow of Gawain's mini-yacht, distantly wishing for a full-sized one, while working knife point on the handful of volcanic rocks she'd picked up off the sides of Little Titan. Given that this is a rare opportunity where they aren't all being actively shot at right this second, it means she has enough time to kneel still and focus, having a good several minutes to construct the paticular patterns she wants, and perform a decently robust chain of pre-druidic consecrations. Once done, she stands back up and casts the engraved pebbles out into the water, sprinkling them into the choppy waves across a wide arc. Where the water accepts them, it rises up in equal measure, pulled into the air where the stones sink, until a considerable wall of sculpted water is looming in the boats' path, rippling with the natural motions of the sea like living blown glass. Smoothly risen from the cresting waves themselves, the bottom third is a steep 'ramp' by shape, meaning it's unlikely a boat would actually crash unless they gunned their engines on purpose, but the upper portion is far too steep to get over; meaning the mini-yatch should be stuck there for a while instead of pulled into the heap of wreckage ashore.
Archer EMIYA	Not wishing to take the full wrath of the tropical bugs this time, Archer has opted to wear most of his usual attire. The only bit missing is understandably, the red coat. Between the sudden storm and being held at turret point really makes him wish he did pack it though. If only to help keep his shoulders dry and to provide a bit of additional protection should the guys manning them decide to turn them into swiss cheese. Granted, the second problem wouldn't be a thing if enough people weren't opting to try and TALK with the terrorists. But he asked the group what they wanted to do, and you don't ask things unless you're listening. Still, being idle while people talk is completely counter to being productive, so Archer decides to actually make use of this moment by actually analyzing the weapons being pointed at them. Extremely faint green lines running up to his eyes being the real indication that he's doing anything other than just standing there.
Gawain	Tamamo tries to discern the nature of the storm. She checks if it's magical, and if she can communicate with the spirit inside. She can't, because there is none. This is a completely 100% artificial lab-grown all-unnatural storm. It's being generated from somewhere inside the island, and the lightning strikes are either controlled or set to a specific pattern. The magnetism seems equally artificial, but from a separate source. A purely technological storm, though...what exactly kind of power is Cobra playing with? It's even enough to affect Kotone. Sierra moves up to talk to the soldiers across boats. To her credit, they don't shoot her! But they're quiet, until one of them pulls up closer. "Halt! You've approached Cobra-La! Everything inside this territory belongs to Cobra Commander! Come quietly, and you'll have your chance to explain why you're here." There is absolutely a sense of Bad Feelings to this, but not like they're going to shoot you as soon as they get a chance. They're treating you like 'criminals', though. Archer scans the turrets. They're laser weaponry - decent firepower, decent range, decent rate of fire. Their ammunition is rendered by 'solar power' and 'batteries', allowing them to fire as much as they need to out in this tropical area if they leave the storm. As the water wall rises, though, the boats try to veer out of the way to avoid getting stuck, circling where possible, as the mini-yacht comes to a halt. Gawain brushes the sweat off his brow, moves forward, and is about to speak when the other soldier speaks up. "S-sorcerers! Who do you work for?! Come quietly, without a fight!" They're actually afraid, apparently not too comfortable with magic, but it's the kind of afraid that if things go bad, they'll probably start shooting wildly.
Tamamo	"Oh, well, if they should be willing to speak, perhaps we can handle portions of this peacefully, after all. Lilian, you know of what I speak, yes? This storm they make has no scent of magic, and now, I think, they have no 'sorcerers' at all." Tamamo is at first disappointed at the lack of storm spirits, but perks back up at the fear and confusion from the guards. "This suggests, perhaps, a flaw within their defenses." And she has no issue with abusing that, it seems. Tamamo move over to one side, hailing and waving to the Cobra soldier. "Yes, hello! We come in peace! By all means, take us to your leader!" She hasn't actually answer any qestions, but that's less likely to matter, because she positively radiates kindness and trustworthiness, together with unhealthy levels of brainfog. If she concentrates and focuses like this, putting a single man into a trance state isn't terribly difficult. The conclusions present themselves in the victim's mind as the effect-before-cause of a dream. Tamamo is trustworthy, therefore, she's not a threat, therefore, those with her aren't a problem, therefore, her aims should be fully supported. It appears to follow, therefore, it does. "Please, how might we navigate our way toward the heart of Cobra-La?"
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone is still feeling dragged down by whatever is effecting the boat, she's not of action but she is hampered by it. She waits is the cobra operatives get closer and they seem willing to talk. She's got quite a bad feeling about this but bad feelings mean bu on your guard right? While people talk she will attempt to see if Cobra's got any wi-fi networks she detect and see if any of them are open for her to get an idea of what infrastructure Cobra might have here, she won't be an attempt to hack just yet as that would be hostile and might sabotage the effort to talk she doesn't know just what Tamamo is doing with the Cobra Soldiers here. "Cobra-la? Are you colonizing here?" He inquires while she keeps up her digital sniffing around. Maybe she can pull up some useful data.
Sierra Kereson	That's certainly a reaction that Sierra takes some small delight in. Although she didn't get a chance to see Lilian doing whatever it was she did to call up the water wall, she can at least guess that it wasn't the Cobra soldiers' doing judging from their reactions. Keeping her expression mostly controlled, she follows Tamamo's lead with a grandiose flourish of her kind-of-short cape. "Did they teach you nothing in orientation? The less you personally know, the better for yourselves and for you-know-who." She taps on her nose twice before flicking tongue up to gesture at her nose, possibly doing some kind of vaguely snake-like impersonation without having to outright say cobra. "Now, take us there, and if you play your cards right, just maybe..." Leaning forward, Sierra squints slightly to try and make out any kind of identifying... Anything worn on these soldiers. ID cards, color-coded patches, anything of that sort that might help her recognize them from anyone else wearing something similarly dressed. "... Somebody might put in a good word for the diligent soldiers that got us there on time." She tops that off with a well-practiced wink, then takes her foot off the edge of the mini-yacht while settling back into a more inquisitive tone. "There haven't been any interlopers snooping around here we should know about, have there?"
Archer EMIYA	"Sorcerer? Couldn't be me, I'm just your average Chinese blacksmith. Unrelated and for future reference though, do you mind telling me how many shots those turrets of yours can make without the sun?" Archer, rather mockingly, puts his hands behind his head as the Cobra cronies make their demands. He probably should be keeping his mouth shut when it comes to these kinds of things, but given the belief that shit is going to hit the fan eventually, knowing the full limits of what their up against will probably pay off later.
Gawain	Tamamo works her arcane charms, and comes to a discovery. The guards do not have mental blockers or any protection from magic like that. As she brainfogs the soldier, who happens to be the superior of the two, she is able to get some information. "Ah, well...normally you'd be sucked into the scrap, we'd take apart your vessel, and throw you in the detention center to be interrogated, but..." He gestures towards part of the island, away from the scrap. "Our super-duper-top-ultra-secret entrance is over there. The code on the 26-letter keyboard is S-N-A-K-E." The other guard furrows his brow, wearing a mask but having his eyes visible with the helmet. "Hey, boss, are you sure we should be telling them that?" "It's fine! She's cute, isn't she? Besides, nobody can stop Cobra Commander's ambitions." A pause towards Kotone. "Colonizing? No way, we have greater plans than that!" It doesn't seem like he's gonna talk about them, though. One of them squints at Archer. He doesn't answer. The reason he doesn't answer is actually pretty easy for Archer to assume - he has no idea how many shots this has, because he didn't read the manual (or potentially wasn't given one). He's brainfogged enough that Sierra's words also work, though he doesn't catch on to her impersonation of being Cobra or realize that's what she's doing, due to Tamamo's influence. "Ah, there's savages everywhere! To the north-east, in the southern islands... But the Commander is almost done with this volcano, and then they won't matter anymore." There is absolutely no way to identify these two guys, because it seems 'conformity and mass-production' is the goal of their soldiers.
Lilian Rook	"A surprising change of pace, but not an unwelcome one." is what Lilian has to say to Tamamo's assessment. On the surface, it's a slightly disinterested sort of radio-filler comment, like some secondary character says to kill time while waiting for a disguised loading zone to cycle. Beneath that, there is a faint tone of begrudging approval of 'something'. It probably has to do with the motions she makes as if she's about to start cracking her knuckles, then stopped, when the goons begin talking to each other. "God I can't believe this is happening." she sighs to herself, returning towards the cabin. As she does, the wall of water breaks and slumps back into the ocean, as if it, too, can't believe this shit. Out of the long round of baffled speculation, her most driving concern is "Who builds an artificial storm-generation machine and some kind of island-wide magnetic ship trap, then locks their doors with QWERTY? This is why delegated decisionmaking exists. There is at least one brilliant person involved, and they aren't calling any shots regarding any of the things they have expertise in." After a few more seconds of deliberation, she returns to the main group, and passes along to at least Gawain and Tamamo "We're probably dealing with at least one megalomaniac, who is himself inept and making allc command decisions, with at least one potentially dangerous person beneath him, who is not making any. Take that as you will." Then she looks especially at Gawain. "I thought you said these islands were uninhabited. What's this about savages?" There isn't even an audible air quote around it. She just says it. Then, possibly to just blow off suspicion, she defaults to "Who knows, Gan Jiang. Maybe you could try standing in front of one and count them for us on the way there. It'd kill some time, wouldn't it? Perhaps you might go with them as collateral."
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa listens as Tamamo seems to have a way with the Soldiers she does suspect something's been done, right. It beats a dight as more information is given she starts to wonder. Just what is Cobra up to here? Then comes the answer to her question. "More than colonizing? Impressive." She tries to figure out what they could be doing. Well, she at least thinks their IT department isn't entirely foolish while she can pick out there is intarnet but no Wifi or standard internet access. Looks like Cobra is keeping all of its systems on its own network She nods to Lilian as she checks in with them but the mention of Savages both from her and it catching Lilian's attention. She will then note something on the radio.
Sierra Kereson	Potential contacts to the northeast and south. The Commander's plan (whatever it is) hinges on the volcano that just so happens to be their destination. A potential treasure trove of scrapped machinery somewhere else. That makes things easier in terms of figuring out where to go next to thwart this whole operation, but actualy getting there undisturbed is still a lingering issue. Also, the war thing that she's just learned about, but that's another matter entirely to try and keep track of in this Cobra volcano situation. "Is that so? Well, if the Commander's almost done, then even more reason for us to get there sooner rather than later. Come on, let's get to it. No sense hanging around here any longer than we need to." She still speaks with an authoritative tone, although those she's working with might be getting the idea by now that Sierra is just bluffing and flying by the seat of her pants already.
Gawain	The water wall goes away, but the guards are still dumb and entranced, respectively. One of them signals to turn off the magnetism briefly, leading the boat towards the SECRET ENTRANCE, which is not really guarded. This might seem like an oversight. As the guard moves to type in S-N-A-K-E unless they get rid of them, it isn't. Gawain is staying with the boat to make sure it doesn't get ripped apart by the humanoid robots standing near the scrap. The entrance into the volcano is through a tunnel. It's hot, but there's no lava or magma to worry about, as they enter through narrow tunnels and start navigating out towards the volcano's heart. Normally, these tunnels should take you straight into the lava, or into sweltering heat, but there is none. Instead, it goes up, like ramps, and then dumps out into the cauldron, where the lava has somehow lowered to the very bottom, not affecting anyone. It's just a hot, steamy, hollow mountain at the moment, where one wrong fall will burn you alive. There's numerous passages through it, but crossing them immediately is a bad idea, because... This place is packed. Hundreds of soldiers and workers have built multiple buildings inside in 'a very short span of time'; labs, barracks, command centers, docking bays, air hangar...somehow, the volcano is big enough to fit all of it. These passages all end up twisting around something in the very center of the volcano, towering from the bottom to the middle. It's humanoid in shape, immensely tall, and made of metal. It's being worked on by engineering crews, and is almost done. Two arms, two legs, a bulky body, and a snake-like head. Geothermal power is being used to set up their labs and such, as they're building a mecha. This is the great project of Cobra, that required taking over this volcano. But geothermal can't power the entire robot, can it? In the stomach of the machine, is a cell. It's noticed by the intense arcane forces and the multiple magically-attuned users, as tunnels and buildings twist towards it, making it heavily guarded. Inside this cell, with heightened senses or a pair of binoculars, is an old man who has deteroriated and shrivelled up into a husk. His skin is obsidian, his hair is magma, including his beard. Father Titan is being used as a power source. His cell is not locked traditionally - there is no door, just a barrier powered by five strange gemstones that serve as the locking mechanisms.
Gawain	The group hasn't been noticed yet because of the hustle and bustle and everyone being disinterested in the top secret entrance. There is a holographic screen nearby, playing a recording. A man in a military uniform and a metal helmet covering his entire face is featured on it, his voice a snake-like hiss that hurts to imagine imitating. "Minions! This is Cobra Commander speaking. We are almost ready for launch, within several months. You have done awful jobs, but all the same, we're almost there. Serpentor will be ready for launch, and we'll take the world by storm. Make Cobra City proud. For two thousand years, have we safeguarded humanity. Now, we can safeguard the world. Nahahaha!" A cough. "Remember to speak to Major Bludd if you have any complaints. The sounds when he 'works' with you people are so pleasant to hear!" The transmission switches to a short video. It shows crying children being safeguarded by Cobra Troopers, as mutants and aliens are blasted away. Words pop up - "IN COBRA WE TRUST" Definitely a lovely place.
Tamamo	Tamamo rides along on the way toward the base's entrance, and takes a good look inside, once they're afforded a view. "My, my. There is the prisoner we seek, yes? The heart of a volcano is difficult to miss. Shall we free him, now? I imagine he would be most cross; I would not wish to be wearing the colors of an enemy." At the topic of going in loud, "Oh, I could cause a great deal of loud and terrible trouble for these people, should this be the preferred option. However..." However, would that truly be a satisfying continuation of their adventure? She's only just arrived here, and hardly explored about at all, and now there's the risk of dropping flaming rock everywhere. There aren't really any upsides to that, that she can see. Oh, sure, it would free a prisoner sooner, but it's not like land spirits operate on the same mayfly time schedule as humans do, and it's not as if they're friends. She a great interest in humans, but an omnibenevolent goddess, Tamamo is not. To Gawain, "Not safe at all, I should think, unless he is as friendly as the little one. And would you be, after being wrongfully imprisoned? Spirits of fire tend not toward sedate behavior." To Sierra, "I? I am Tamamo no Mae. As for the methods, I would require a close look upon these seals, and to either unravel or curse them, perhaps aided by attempts to wake the volcano, and fill the caldera with flames. It would be an impolite awakening, and so, 'finesse' does meet with my approval. Oh, but let us take our souveniers, before we do leave." This said, Tamamo no Mae, who is far too bright an existence for stealth, strides in using that most ancient, yet still perfect in modernity, of spy techniques. She acts as if she belongs there, having no doubt of this fact, no more hurry than any other person present, and takes the straight route past the numerous soldiers without paying them even the slightest mind. She does look very trustworthy, still. Somehow. If nothing appears that hard-stops her progress that can't be waved off with an air of confident importance and subtle applications of charming enchantments, she'll take that closer look she mentioned, carefully analyzing the seals, getting a better read on the sealed spirit, make one attempt at making contact, and then pull out the most touristy-possible camera to take pictures, before turning back around again.
Sierra Kereson	As they draw ever closer to the volcano with all its heat and burning death lava further below, Sierra finds herself reconsidering her choice of long sleeves and a freaking cape. While they're led further in, she yanks a small vial out of her pouch and gives it a quick once over before downing the contents. It won't protect her from burning to death, but it'll at least make the suffocating heat not quite so suffocating. She'll offer some of that same mixture to anyone else that requests it for a small materials fee, of course, or a convincing enough reason not to have to pay. The soldiers, if they're still around, even get offered the same, albeit at a substantially increased price for 'reasons that don't need explaining'. Following their designated path obediently for lack of wanting to get into a fight with all the soldiers in open space, Sierra's attention is soon grabbed by the giant metallic humanoid being built by the engineers. The snake head gives her a decent idea of who it's supposed to be for, but she hasn't quite put together enough to figure out its purpose just yet. At least, not until the leader of this whole scheme speaks up. Maintaining her poker face, she has to work quite a bit to not burst out laughing, although the fact that there's so many soldiers about actually following the guy doesn't make it too difficult. Also, the enslaved Father Titan. With the plan to free him seeming to veer away from making the entire volcano erupt violently, Sierra's mind moves right onto phase two: Actually getting out without anyone being the wiser! Making sure to throw her voice just enough that the group's escorts might be able to hear her, she places two fingers to her ear as though speaking to an earpiece hidden under her giant hat. "Is that so? Right... Yes, sure. Right, right. These two will do. Understood, Commander." With that fake bit of banter done, Sierra lowers her hand, lets out an irritated sigh, then smiles sweetly at the two soldiers. "Change of plans from the top. You'll be accompanying us on our next mission. We'll fill you in once we're back outside. Can't risk having..." She pauses, then holds her hand to the side of her mouth in a pseudo-whisper that's still kind of loud. "... THEM finding out." She leaves that nice and vague, of course, but still loud enough to try and keep the soldiers focused on herself instead of Tamamo as the latter goes to investigate the actual cell itself. "Come on, no time to lose." She claps her hands once, then holds her elbows out and beckons the soldiers with her head before turning right around. Yes, she's trying to get them to be her arm candy on the way out.
Kotone Yamakawa	So they seem to have a plan finess to properly free the local volcano god, so he hopefully wakes up in a good enough of a mood. To not smite the colony along side Cobra. For the moment Kotone will be looking about for any hardline connections where she might be ble to briefly tap in and see what data she might be able to grab to go over later. It could be useful to the operation if she can pull this off. As for Tamamo
Archer EMIYA	Again. The group chooses not to go in guns blazing. Honestly, for the best. But Archer would be lying to himself if that wasn't his actual best application. He's a big boy and will live though. "Mind if I join you three? I realized I forgot something I need to grab real quick, and I'm a bit too old to be going around alone." He's obviously not too old. But he's not trying too hard to make an excuse. He's also not even going to acknowledge Sierra's weird potion stuff because weird liquids aren't trustworthy. Once they're outside, unless stopped, he's going to knock them out and steal their uniforms.
Kotone Yamakawa	So they seem to have a plan finesse to properly free the local volcano god, so he hopefully wakes up in a good enough of a mood. To not smite the colony alongside Cobra. For the moment Kotone will be looking about for any hardline connections where she might be able to briefly tap in and see what data she might be able to grab to go over later. It could be useful to the operation if she can pull this off. As for Tamamo, she'll leave her do her thing. SHe's versed in Magic, Kotone? She knows enough to not touch the glowing strange lines and that's about it. But if there's no time she'll move on and get herself out of here.
Lilian Rook	The notice that the interior of the volcano is filled with a small city's worth of heavy equipment, sensibly being powered by the geothermal energy one would expect to find in a volcano, reinforces one of Lilian's suspicion on sight. She had been prepared to do a lot more than "Look. It's as I said before." after docking, but that's what she sticks to for as long as nobody is paying attention to them being there. It doesn't cost her anything. If the worst should happen, Gawain is still outside, so is the boat, and she can easily exfiltrate the most important person here. There's no passive cost to 'being visible in the background'. When 'Cobra Commander' gets on the interior television, Lilian even adds "I'm up two." She only has to peer from a distance to locate Father Titan; even if she hadn't the senses for the magic to light up in her vision, she'd recognize him from having briefly come into contact with his . . . son? Nephew? Apprentice? "As much as I'd enjoy seeing these particular fireworks, the point of being here is, at the moment, attempting to increase the archipelago's habitation, rather than literally scorching the earth." A moment. "Though, it'd help us a great deal if we could establish some means of communication prior. At minimum, surveillance. Priming this area for an immediate hot return is-- that should be obvious, yes? We can run around finding keys, but there's no point if breaking him out that way results in the same eruption. If you have anything you'd like to leave behind, do it now." What she means by this becomes more obvious when she finds an accessible but out of the way corner near to the 'secret' entrance, and begins working on carving ancient ogham into the walls and marking out a boundary with streaks of something iridescent she has to uncork from a tiny bottle. The best she can do under the current circumstances is create a ten foot diameter area or so where people will naturally and compulsively not think to go near it, and where the markings and consecrations, as well as everything inside its perimeter, won't show up on camera, or even really be visible without close inspection, unless they emit bright light, or make a lot of noise. It'd be an ideal place to put a camera, microphone bug, radio, code light, or potentially some sort of loud distraction, disabler, or bomb.
Gawain	Getting actually straight up to the barrier involves bypassing security doors, guard checks, and alarms, or alternatively making a death-defying leap over the lava at a superhuman level to the other side. Luckily, there's an observation deck close enough to get an analysis and pictures. Five arcane gems. Each one attached to a keystone, which when tapped to the gem, unlocks it and restores part of Father Titan's power trapped away. They could be shattered, but he'd go from 0-100 in a flash, shrivelled to angry, instead of gradually regaining his will and energy in a way they can calm him down. A guard almost spots Tamamo taking the pictures, but she's able to get away in time, and regroup. Sierra is able to convince the two soldiers that she's actually Cobra (one of them mutters the word 'Baroness?' to the other), and they're going to lead her out. Kotone is able to grab a file before the system would detect her. It's on the gemstones - who has them, to be exact. One is with the eponymous Cobra Commander, leader and micro-manager who calls the shots. One is with Major Bludd, commander of the soldiers. One with Destro, weapons manufacturer and vehicle master. One with the Baroness, head of espionage. And finally, one with Storm Shadow, the 'Minister of Foreign Affairs' and super-ninja. Archer heads outside with the guards and Sierra. They are /really/ ineffectual, because as soon as the mind control starts to wear off, they are clobbered over the head, have their uniforms stolen, and probably stashed in a bush. On one of them is a signal device to not have the magnetism affect them and their boat. Probably useful for the group's navigation, until they can shut down the machine. Lilian creates her ten foot pocket space, which can be used as they need to set up equipment. Gawain can get her some cameras, should she not have any. After that, it's time to exfiltrate back towards Cadmus and the warpgate. Dark things have been discovered. Hopefully, they can stop Cobra Commander before he uses this giant robot for evil.