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Bloody Revelations     With the Golden Bull of the North slain and Samea, if she hadn't bled out on the way, no doubt undergound intensive care hundreds of miles away, now is the time to strike. There's only barely been enough time to disassemble the kill boxes and cart the warstriders with replaceable components away, so the dig op to bypass the lowest ring of Gethamane, forbidden to outsiders due to its crucially important First Age magitechnology feeding the entire city, could only just have finished. There just hasn't been the luxury of mapping out the dark, twisting tunnels it breached into; maybe just long enough to slap down a couple of lights.

    Needless to say, the actual people of the city under the mountain are confused about how to treat the Multiversals. On one hand, they had saved their only home from being looted by a Solar warlord who would no doubt find an excuse to leave a force there permanently (or at least discover an old, blocked up secret entrance), and thus may have completely just saved their way of life. On the other, they'd secretly set up all manner of contraptions that frankly terrify the broad populace, without the guard finding out, in a matter of days, and the battle in the antechamber had been horrifically destructive even with the boxes isolating the damage. Were the gates themselves damaged, they'd probably find no way back, but as it is, visitors seem to be able to return to the same trade district as before, by some very concerned and befuddled city guards. Rules are rules, and rules keep Gethamane running. They paid to get in, and they haven't used up their month.

    Despite the underground city's population, and its high concentration of savants, Dynasts, and their trade with the Guild, there appears to be nobody capable of tracking them with a dematerialized slave; a common tactic of demonologists and geomancers alike. That makes it not terribly difficult to sneak off to the dark corner the Flotilla had managed to bore through several miles of mountain, and make whatever descent they have been able to provide.

    The tunnel they enter is much deeper than those that directly connect to the districts above. No doubt they had missed several on the way down, and skipped a great deal of walking . . . and a great deal of safety. No special crystals light this passage, though it is clearly artificial in nature, perfectly semicircular, with mirror smooth walls, and unerringly level ground and equally spaced, curving walls. Something that looks very close to a set of train track rails (without the planks) shoots off into the distance, possibly for miles, but there's no indication that it's been used within a very long time. At various points, breaches have been made in the passage. Some look like they were roughly hewn with tools, and much less expert craftsmanship. Some descend far more steeply, and practically seem to spiral as they go, seemingly . . . chewed away. A distant rumble can be heard passing overhead, just for a few seconds. The rattling of jumping pebbles sounds like the skittering of legs, echoing onward forever.
Alucard Tepes     Whether it had helped or hurt their case that Alucard hadn't bothered in putting his wards back in place is anybody's guess. His allies hadn't seemed to react unfavorably to his unhidden form -- in fact, some had even seemed to like him MORE -- so he didn't see the need for it. As for the people of Gethamane? Like any emo vampire dude, he figures they're better off staying away from him anyway, so if it scared them away, so much better. Also there would (hopefully) be fewer people around to tattle on the Flotilla, so there's that too.

    Hopefully his better vision would allow him to see down here well enough to navigate, even if they didn't have lights. To assist with this some, Alucard locates a card and draws it from his cloak. With a pop and a blue-white flash of magic, the card disappears, and a glowing fairy woman -- for, tiny as she is, she is not proportioned like any child -- drifts down from above. Her gentle glow might add to the light a bit, and her perceptive abilities could be useful.
Septette Arcubielle      As is her habit, Septette attempts to take point, or something close to it. If something unexpectedly attacks them in these tight tunnels, it's marginally more likely to do so from ahead than behind- and she is, as always, only too happy to maximize her chances at interposing herself between unknown dangers and her allies.

     Her presence might not actually be making the party safer, granted- her clanking footfalls and aura of ambient magic tank their chances of going unnoticed, for one, and there's little to be done about that. But winding and mysterious underground labyrinths are her forte, so useful or not, she could hardly be persuaded to stay away.

     A trio of small, hovering magitech drones- one red, one yellow, one blue- materialize around her, and dart ahead of the party to accompany the fairy. They don't provide any illumination themselves, but act as extensions of Septette's own senses, allowing her to peer into suspicious-looking holes from a distance before the Elites approach them.

     "I doubt it'll be anything to measure up to yesterday, but keep on your toes anyway," she cautions somberly, peering back over her shoulder at the party. "This place is setting off all my old instincts... I'd bet anything it's not going to be a simple treasure grab."
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.

    Seft appears damaged, and as they go, George is still on-duty for handling little bits of welding and constant exchange of parts. She limps awkwardly, but not without purpose. In her hands is a heavy brass and glass apparatus, a scanner seeking that familiar mineral profile the Flotilla acquired from the front gate! If the Flotilla can get a signal, they intend to exploit it for all it's worth. The others are far more focused on aspects of exploration. They're experts at tunneling, mining, and underground excursions. They stick close to Septette, wielding a mixture of mid-range firearms and melee weaponry, all with backpack-mounted lighting active. They're still pretty beat-up too, considering that Seft is usually the one to repair their armor, and so some pieces are missing, others dented, and they are all frankly kind of exhausted.

"Floran wantsss big prey, big prey!"
"Bitey, just this one time I really hope you wind up disappointed."
"I always hope for Biteblade being disappointed."
"Nnh. Focus."
"Aye. Still some profit to be found. Picking anything up, tincan?"
"Exasperated. Running scan..."
Gawain Up besides Septette would be Gawain, assisting her in taking point - he's durable and also the type to want to take everything face first, including horrible wounds. The knight is bandaged up, but still weak - he can't use his Noble Phantasm again anytime soon without killing himself. With his sword in hand, he glances around with his eyes, asiding to the others.

"So, do we know what this weapon looks like? Are we going to destroy it, or capture it? These are all important details we need to settle on!"
Miari Miari is still bitter and torn up about yesterday. A dark gaze is aimed at Septette on a few occasions while the group descends into the tunnels, but she just as often takes deep breaths, steadies her feelings, and clears her face of any sign of them. Clearly trying to put the mission first.

    And the mission is, frankly, terrifying. She'd RATHEr spend her time pettily grudging at Septette's back. But nope, not happening today.

    Instead she's scanning about the tunnels with her Essence sight, hunting for any sign of trouble. She's not alone in this either. Those capable of seeing immaterial spirits might notice four fist-sized beetles skittering around in formation. They sometimes dart up to the edge of corners ahead of her and the group only to hop up onto Miari's shoulder and whisper reports. But they have been strictly ordered to never break line of sight, not even for a second.

    Miari fears that whatever's out there might snatch one when it's separated, after all. And she can't have that.

    "Whatever we are hunting... it's probably very old, and very powerful."
Devola and Popola Although the android twins weren't around for the fight with the Golden Bull, they're ready and raring to go once it comes time to start looking for that artifact that's become the new center of attention of this whole ordeal. They're dressed in their usual/only outfits, a pair of swords and larger swords floating behind the two along with large folded-up sacks in their hands.

"How bad do you think it'll be?"
"Not too bad, I hope. There should be enough of us to handle anything that comes our way, but..."
"... Well, if it's anything that bad, at least it'll be fast."

Devola draws one of the larger swords closer while squinting at the tunnel in front of her, then at the Fairy helping to illuminate the path. "Does that one need us protecting it, or...?" She looks wary about the tiny creature's presence, but she does calm down slightly when Popola gives her a pat on the back.

"We'll act as the rear guard in case anything comes at us from behind. Just worry about what's in front of you, and we'll be fine~" Popola sounds and looks cheery enough to balance out Devola for now, at least.
Bloody Revelations     Despite how incredibly loud and clanky Septette's movements are on polished stone and what amounts to an acoustic pipe in any respects, nothing descends from the ceiling or pops up from the ground to eat her. At first, it's grating to listen to, and uncannily nerve wracking, but soon the rhythm starts to become oddly reassuring.

    Peering ahead into the main tunnel, either with night vision or drones and Demons, reveals only that the tracks remain perfectly level, and just go on for further, possibly longer than anyone would want to walk for any reason, and a solitary cart atop the tracks that has long been rendered non-functional. In accordance with what they had heard, the machine looks to be of truly ancient make, being wide, circular, fashioned out of elaborate and precisely constructed alloys, and seemingly formerly full of furnishings. A transport car? Miari can detect the tingling traces of a completely depleted Essence battery.

    The mineral scanner is having a hell of a time though. Pretty much down every single side passage, it pings responses for thick veins of iron and gold, dense clusters of gems and jade, and some other things the machine can't really recognize as much else than 'different from the surrounding rock'. No matter which way they could turn off the rail, theyre practically certain to stumble into something valuable. It seems the Gethamanians either haven't mined this deep yet, or don't want to. Pretty clearly, the rail can't be theirs.

    Then, amidst the many footfalls of the ground, one more set joins them. A steady, wet split-splat sound, like someone walking with their feet covered in oil, moving on just ahead of them. Soon, the light reveals a trail of glistening black footprints, mildly seared into the rock, with appear to be, without a doubt, human. The inky footfalls continue for quite some distance, before, like the figurative ghost atop the stairs, the edge of the lamp light catches something which disappears as quickly as it appeared.

    A woman, easily in her eldermost years, dressed in a black furisode, and hugging herself in paroxysms of shivering sobs. Pitch black tears stream down her face, speckling the stone floor when she looks up abruptly at the group, and then disappears with a final, echoing, sorrowful heave. The air chills sharply and uncomfortably. A gust passes by, carrying the faintest, suggestive whisper.

    "Go back."
Alucard Tepes     Actually, Alucard's Fairy may be trying to hitch a ride on one of Septette's drones. Hopefully she doesn't end up sitting on a camera. Though if one of the drones happens to dump her off, she gives an indignant yelp and catches herself in the air. Oh and then there's something ELSE interesting! Miari's beetles will probably draw scrutiny from the tiny Fairy too. Though it's unlikely she'll try to hitch a ride on one because they're probably sideways to her. And then there's Devola and Popola, they get a lap around in the air. There's SO MUCH TO LOOK AT!

    Eventually though, the Fairy will get tired of pestering Septette's drones and Miari's beetles and Devola and Popola -- and everybody ELSE too -- and start doing what she's supposed to do: scanning for abnormalities, mainly in the walls themselves.

    The footprints get the Fairy's attention, and she calls Alucard's attention to them. However, the appearance of the woman gets the Fairy to zip under Alucard's long hair to hide herself! Alucard stands, frowning at the woman as she disappears. That suggestion. Oh he wants to. But he also knows they can't. They need to get to that... thing first.

    He tilts his head back to scent the air. Yeah, nothing he can distinguish from the rest of the supernatural stuff down here. As he does, the Fairy comes out from under his hair. "...I doubt I need to note this, but we should be cautious," he notes. "Spirits generally guard a thing because it contributed to their demise. And I smell something dark in these tunnels."
Starbound Flotilla "Thaaaat was unnerving."
"Hey! Hey wait! Come back!"
"She's gone, matey. It's just a warning."
"One I imagine we shall have no eagerness to take."
"Frightened. So it seems at the moment. That figure seemed so tortured..."
"Starbound, on me. Damaged vehicle."

    Some kind of transport? The Starbound Flotilla immediately set upon it, trying to determine if there's anything on it that they can salvage at all. Specifically: Is there any way to restore it to function using all the various spare parts and bypass techniques they possess and have learned from examining the Warstriders, AND some way to have it call up ancient pathing to guide and take them elsewhere? One or the other would be good enough! Seft sort of hangs back and keeps /extra/ close to Septette though. She seems genuinely spooked by the strange figure, and her eye-visor flickers between various nervous displays.
Septette Arcubielle      If she notices the sorceress's gaze boring into the back of her head, Septette doesn't respond- at least, not for a good length of time. She waits for a nice, long lull in the conversation, and doesn't turn around to look at the sorceress when she softly says: "In my world, it's considered rude to stare, Miss Miari. Are manners so different where you come from?"

     The drones, when the fairy pesters them, don't seem to react at all- but even when the drones are out of her sight, the fairy's playfulness towards them draws a quiet laugh from Septette. Perhaps the term 'drone' is inaccurate, then- they seem to be more like direct extensions of her will. The robot herself seems remarkably amenable to being pestered at, but does try to steer the fairy away from poking at anything sharp! "Whoa there, glitterwings. Maybe you can dance on the head of a pin, but let's not find out if you can do it on the edge of a knife, okay?"

     Then the ghostly old woman appears, and her earfins twitch upwards to indicate razor-sharp focus. 'Fear', 'shock', 'nervousness'- all of those things are so alien to Septette's consciousness that she doesn't even try to feign them here. But 'concern'- concern is something that can touch her. Concern for what, exactly, that momentary apparition meant- and what it could mean for her allies. "Getting shades of the Fell here. ... Maybe the superweapon isn't a literal artifact? If you stop and think about it, it could be a place of power, couldn't it? Like another shadowland..."

     Even in her preoccupied state, Seft's distress doesn't slip past her. She puts one arm around the Glitch's shoulders, supporting her limping frame for a moment, and squeezes lightly. "Hey. Chin up, Captain. It's nothing we can't handle, alright?" Her face slips into a warm, easy smile that neatly masks her own misgivings. "Remember the Erchius asteroid, with the Hylotl disphot? Now that was spooky. This, we've got under control."
Devola and Popola Popola seems more amused about the fairy than Devola does, although both of them are accomodating enough to let her inspect them while plodding along! Soon, however, they see...

A woman. A... Human? No, there's something distinctly inhuman about her. The twins keeps their swords at the ready (Devola with the large one and Popola with the thin one), and the fact that she disappears so suddenly before they have a chance to get a proper look at her have them on edge.

"... Some kind of effect?"
"No, that sort of technology is... Is that possible here?"
"Hell if I know. Could even be that magic stuff that keep getting thrown around."
"Spirits? Perhaps... Well, we won't find out standing around here."

And with that, the twins join up with the Flotilla in inspecting the vehicle, trying to see if there anything vaguely recognizable as far as more straightforward and distincly non-magical repairs go. Devola does raise an eyebrow at Septette's comment about the place of power, though.

"You mean like a... Power plant? That /could/ be pretty dangerous for humans to be around, yeah. If there really is that kind of machinery down here, then..." She shrugs. "We can handle it. Just don't get too close to anything glowing."
Gawain As they walk through the tunnel, everyone seems to be reading the elderly woman as a possible threat. Gawain can tell that she's magical and powerful, but...she's an old lady, and she's crying. The knight rushes up to her side, crouching. "Are you alright, maam? You're crying. Please, if we can help you, just let us kn-" And then she disappears. "Oh no! The old woman has disappeared...something's going on here. She must have been trying to warn us, by telling us to go back. But...this means that she and other spirits may be in danger in there? We need to investigate!" And then, rejoining his position in the group, Gawain turns to the others. "Our quest is clear! Excelsior!"
Miari Miari's brow furrows sourly at Septette criticizing her. "Basic etiquette includes distrusting the Celestial Exalted, demons, beastmen, wyld mutants, ghost-blooded, and talking machines." She counters wittily. "I'm sour over what happened, alright?" Follows a moment later, in a voice of resignation.

    Meanwhile, one of the Spirit-Beetles - a Sesselja - idly hops up when the Fairy passes by and nips at the air, but it seems to just be trying to harass the pixie instead of anything serious.

    Of course, the Sesselja are childish and fairly stupid, so ALL FOUR OF THEM spot the apparition at once and flock to miari, climbing all over her!

    Despite them being spirits. This results in a bit of flustered flailing and a sheepish look of brief panic. One that didn't come from the forlorn apparition.

    The girl draws her arms in and shivers a bit. She is NOT fond of the Underworld, and yet...

    "I... just had a horrible thought. The reason that Gethamane was discovered empty. I have a feeling it has to do with what's in these tunnels. Something wiped them all out so thoroughly that not even their ghosts were able to pass word of what happened."
Bloody Revelations     The transport, upon closer inspection, is very clearly not of the same make as the warstriders. Not made of the same materials. Not even made by the same civilization. It appears to be largely comprised of odd alloys and matrices of stones and crystals as much as metal, and is covered in heavily geometric designs rather than fanciful ones. There appear to be no real moving parts of any sort, so it's clearly a completely different paradigm of technology. It's likely the web of crystalline filaments exposed in several places channels some sort of energy, and floats it along the track, judging by the lack of wheels. It looks like it could plausibly be repaired, but it would require possibly several days of effort, depending on how difficult it is to track down and mine out some more of this material. It's also very uncertain where it goes.

    They won't have too long to obsess over it, though. The early warning eyes and ears of the group quickly pick up the skittering thunder of hundreds and hundreds of legs, and the scraping, clicking grind of many sharp things hollowing stone. There's just enough time to get into a defensive posture, and wait anxiously for the first sign of an enemy, but not any longer than that. The stone breaks away in two dozen places around the group, crumbling into fine powder to allow the emergence of just as many creatures. Like centipedes, the size of a man, and with jagged carapaces seemingly made entirely of black opal, the things hiss horrifically as they appear from the floors, the walls, even the ceiling, salivating trickles of what looks and smells to be mercury.

    Within moments, they're all over. They rise up at the floor to snap their massive, axe-like jaws around ankles and legs, to drag people down screaming into their tunnels. They surge forward from the walls to box the group in and throw their bodies on top of them to tear them flesh apart with their jagged legs. They pop down from the ceiling to pluck people right out of the middle of the group and decapitate them. They're /everywhere/.
Alucard Tepes     Alucard nods to Septette's words. "That is possible," he agrees. "We do not even know if this artifact is mobile or not." The thought that whatever's down here would be able to turn this place into a similar environment as Marama's Fell... that's a disturbing possibility.

    Miari seems to have that same thing in mind, and Alucard frowns. "I had that thought as well. But if that were so, would this not already be a shadowland itself?" he asks. He hasn't commented on the 'discussion' between Septette and Miari -- it's really none of his business unless it starts interfering with their mission, and it hasn't yet, so he ignores it for now.

    The scuttling sounds gets Alucard to recall the Fairy. There should be enough time for him to draw a second card before the centipedes appear. The card disappears in a blue flash and a... skull floats down from above. The skull is missing a jaw, and is also surrounded by a ghostly flame that's either blue or green; it seems to flicker between the two colors.

    Before he realizes it, his cloak is being grabbed. In response, the garment seems to pull back of its own accord. Alucard draws his sword and hacks at the mandibles that have grabbed it, struggling to hold his ground, even with his greater than human strength. He's not being pulled away just yet, but he's definitely been taken off his guard.

    In retrospect, it might have been lucky that he called Ghost rather than Sword or Demon. Ghost is intangible, and while it might be slightly thick in the smarts department, it recognizes something is trying to hurt its master and that's not good. So it settles on the centipede harassing Alucard, trying to draw its energy away from it.
Starbound Flotilla "Report."
"Floran can't get to work, not without daysss."
"Aye, we've no chance of a shortcut here."
"Was worth a shot. We manage to--"
"Alert! Unknown entities within the surrounding area!!"
"Flotilla! Stand your ground!"

    Seft seems to take some comfort in Septette's recollections, nodding a few times, but then very, very suddenly, becoming quite distressed by the noises her scanner is making. There's only a moment more before she readies herself with the other Flotilla members, albeit in a far more defensive situation. They've spread their equipment exclusively to heavy weapons -- massive area-of-effect burning weapons, huge melee weapons, and other assorted suchlike -- as well as configuring and practicing a wide variety of the tighter formations they heard distant reports of. The locals knew tunnel combat best, and the Flotilla have oriented their loadout and their playbook precisely for it. While Seft stays on defense in the backline, the other five exhaustedly strike against the foes in perfect tandem. While their armor is shredded under those teeth at times, it gives delays enough that they can power through and strike against the creatures with tremendous sweeping blows.

    This is some kind of hunting pack, perhaps, or a roaming swarm; the environment can't sustain an assault like this indefinitely, so they just have to wait it out, don't they?
Septette Arcubielle      Septette's musings are abruptly cut short by the burrowing myriapedes that erupt from the ground! Her danger senses are finely-tuned for random monster ambushes, but even so, she's barely given a moment to prepare: all three drones recall to her side, and her blades just begin to heat up before the monsters begin their assault!

     The first one to pop up within her arm's reach is promptly skewered with a searing blade. The second one is stomped on unceremoniously, suffering a thousand pounds of pressure in an instant. But by the time the third, and the fourth, and the fifth burrow up, she's no longer able to maim them as quickly as they're emerging!

     Her voice crackles to life, having lost its usual warmth and affect in favor of cold clarity: "Defensive positions! Area attacks, suppression!" Terse commands that she scarcely anticipates anyone will heed- but minimal direction is better than none.

     These creatures can burrow through solid rock, which implies physical barriers won't be of much use in keeping them out- but she has to stem the tide somehow. The red drone begins to glow and crackle with magical energy at the same time as she holds out her right hand, enveloped in a similar aura. Then twin gouts of fire arc from them, torching the hallway ahead of the party and wreathing it in flames- hopefully, no more will be coming from that direction.
Devola and Popola "This looks like a mess."
"It's not that bad, Devola. It just doesn't make any sense."
"We could probably figure it out, but it'll take a couple of days at /least/."

Looking somewhat dejected, Devola lets out an irritated grunt while Popola consoles her with another pat on the back, but the twins don't have much time to settle back down when they notice the telltale clicking of... Something. "You hear that? Sounds like... A drill?" "No, a drill would have that motor noise behind it. It's closing in fast, though, so be prepared and stick close to each other!"

The androids get their weapons ready just in time for the EVERYTHING to burst open with giant centipedes, and they quickly put their backs up against each other. They start circling around each other rapidly, lashing out with their respective blades to keep on the move while defending the other at the same time, never letting any of the centipedes keep their fangs embedded in either twin's arms or legs for too long without a sword to the head for their trouble.
Gawain Well. Those are giant centipedes. As they appear, Gawain moves into a defensive position, brandishing his sword and using it to try and ward them off, when one starts focusing on him. Weighing it over in his mind, he does what he thinks is best: he jumps on its back. Wrestling to mount it, he kicks both of his feet hard into the centipede creature's side, trying to force it to move forward, and using his sword to knock back the jaws from biting him. Setting his blade on fire, Gawain attempts to drive the centipede into a hoard of Other Centipedes and immolate them all, skidding the centipede into a drift (poorly) if he can. He's never ridden a centipede, though.

This could go poorly.
Miari This is NOT what Miari was expecting to find. Tunnels bursting in every direction and... "... WHAT ARE THOSE?!" It is NOT a good sign when the Savant of the group doesn't recognize a thing. She turns her Essence gaze on them, but doesn't have much time to study in detail.

    Because the things are, frankly EVERYWHERE. And there's far too many of them. FEAR shows in her eyes. Fear like she's never shown so far.

    Yet she doesn't move. If anything, she stands ever stiller in place as the creatures swarm.

    Because they're not getting close to her. Brow furrowing with intense concentration, she simply GLARES at some of them.

    And their path is barred as something WRENCHES them aside. Slams them hard into the walls. Spikes of pure formless TELEKINESIS are driven into chitin and eyes in a flurry of strange occurences.

    It likely won't be enough though. She can barely fend off her own attackers, let alone defend anyone else.

    "Any ideas?!"
Bloody Revelations     The tunnel is instantly plunged into a chaotic furball the likes of which clearly demonstrates why Gethamane guards are so heavily armed, with armour-cracking weapons, and move in small groups rather than huge formations. A military regiment would be helpless in this situation, and quickly gobbled up from either end. Despite being so fast and vicious, the centipede creatures also have hard carapaces more like stone than living chitin. They don't do anything to prevent life draining magic, making Ghost a good choice for having one wither, thrash and die at Alucard's feet, but most of the others have to do it the hard way.

    The Flotilla is pretty well prepared. Circling up and covering one another's backs, the heavy weaponry blasts through the partial cover of their trap-door tunnels and disloges the critters inside, using their legs for incredible anchoring grip. Massive melee weapons crack down on their bodies and sever their legs, batting them away as they surge forward. Septette's blades pierce the segmented seams of their bodies, skewering them and leaving them pinned in pools of spreading mercury blood and saliva. The rest seem loathe to approach the flame, and quickly begin burrowing new holes and passages to get under and around it.

    Devola and Popola's swords are designed for fighting Machine life forms, and so are coincidentally well suited to the task of shredding mineral bodies. They're so well in synch that it's too difficult for either one to be ambushed by the tunnel hunters, and their telekinetic reach can keep them largely at bay. Telekinetic force from Miari can fling them around to much the same effect, piercing through them and pinning them to the tunnel

    The problem becomes, very quickly, that the four-meter wide tunnel is rapidly /filling up/ with tangles of corpses that block the Elites line of fire and visibility, and allow the living reinforcements to wriggle through to close distance unchallenged. Soon, it's so much of a tangle that it's difficult to even fight in melee, and the creatures are popping up at point blank, snapping down on armour, feet, shoulders, and robotic limbs before there's even time to respond. Gawain is spared the worst of it, because even if the monster thrashes wildly, he can steer its weirdly adhesive legs up the walls and ceiling as he pleases, and crash through an obstruction of its ilk, driving them away with the light of the sun, which they seem to despise.

    With all the chaos, the heavy blows, the weapons fire, and most of all, the rapidly multiplying tunnels that the enemy is boring into every surface, excavating the solid rock until it's practically hollow, just before the group can be drowned in bodies, the floor itself can no longer withstand the violence of combat, and gives way. Only Gawain, affixed to his wall-crawling mount, is spared a very sudden drop as a huge length of stone just completely caves away, and any last-minute handholds crumble just as easily if used. A steep plunge into inky blackness follows.
Bloody Revelations     As it so happens, though, literally every member of the group is capable of arresting their fall, or simply tanking the shock of terminal velocity without much issue. The only one who would suffer real injury is riding a wall-clinging mount. The fall is long enough that nobody would be denied the opportunity to exercise their mobility powers and technology, and so hitting the bottom isn't worth describing as a threat.

    However, the creatures do not follow. Their corpses smash all around the group at various intervals, but the pack does not pursue. In fact, they /flee/. Gawain can only steer his down so long before it refuses to go any further, and struggles to break free like a panicked horse. Surely, even as vicious animals, even they can feel the sheer, staggering, choking aura of death that fills the wide, bleak cavern below. The nauseating, psychic stench of necrotic power, and the echoing horror of an ancient, mass killing field. It's as if thousands of people were murdered horribly on this spot, and the terror of their ghosts permeates the stone, as well as an impression of something so unbelievably hateful that it renders people sick to their stomach. Even those /without/ stomachs can sense it, acting on a level more like ambient heat than merely a physiological reaction.

    This has to be, at the very least, a place where such a weapon was used. Far from the more benign First Age technology far above that provides food and warmth and clean air for the inhabitants of Gethamane, whatever this device is, it was buried long ago for a reason. Yet, looking around, despite the clear signs of an overwhelming magical energy signature, pulsing like a beating heart, there is no device to be found. They are left merely atop a wide, stone platform, surrounded by a faintly rippling sea of quicksilver, just as rife with the toxic stench of the chemical as everything else.

    Except, then the ripples intensify, of their own accord. The lake of silvery liquid begins to vibrate, then wobble, then spike, like water poured on a powerful subwoofer. A sub-audible bass thrum fills the cavern, loud enough to rattle bones and jiggle hearts disgustingly in chest cavities. A few seconds later, a surge of quicksilver rises, then arcs over the group like an incoming wave, and stops just short of crashing to shore, retaining its surface tension and tapering down to some sort of pseudopod, swaying side to side as if . . . staring. Sizing them up.

    The cavern then echoes with horrendous, deafening, booming laughter, rising up from the mercury waters in every direction. Part of its range can only be felt, rather than heard, but the churning, bass, acidic sound that is audible can /only/ be described as laughter; the laughter of of a killer whose target had just dismissed all their guards and wandered down a dark alley by themselves to relax and light up a cigarette. The sadistic mirth of something that can't help but contain the feeling that this is just too easy.
Gawain Sun-powered fire blades are handy in scaring off bugs, Gawain learns, as he haphazardly rides his centipede. Climbing up on the wall and holding on tight, he scares them back, but then - the floor collapses. As he sees the others fall, he shouts out to them, and begins forcing his mount to skitter down the wall. "Guys, are you alright?!"

As he descents, Gawain's centipede refuses to go any further. He stops it, and speaks to it, petting it softly with his free hand. "You've been good. Go, be free!" After that, he leaps off, sliding down the wall with his feet before jumping to the bottom and landing with a small 'augh'! Pulling himself up and shaking himself off, Gawain glances to see if the others are alright, before taking a look around the area - and feeling the magical energy. "Oh...oh dear. This is...bad. That spirit was warning us about this - she must have been a victim of...whatever this was." Despite the horror, Gawain forces himself to keep smiling, to keep having courage, and raises his blade to the air. "Everyone! We must stop whatever this is, and /destroy it/! For the sake of all those who are dead-" And then, he hears the ripples of the lake, and the terrifying laughter. "Everyone, keep on their toes! We must work together defensively...I'm still nursing yesterday's wounds."
Miari While Miari could deal with some of those corpses easily enough, prudence demands not displaying more than she must, not expending more power than she must.

    As such, she wasn't expecting the FLOOR to collapse of all things! She tumbles into the collapsing cavern with a frightened shriek, and falls for a good three or four seconds before suddenly flaring her arms out!

    Scarlet streamers of wind howl around her briefly, and she shifts to weaving around falling debris. When she does land, it's on top of the horrible mess instead of the bottom!

    Though she's quite frankly JARRED by this development, still jittery. Both her hands fidget together, folding and unfolding nervously.

    When even THAT proves unsteady, she yelps again and RISES on those scarlet winds, settling into a pattern of circling around the cavern. Golden light begins to shine from her flesh and illuminate the gloom...

    "Wh-whatever it is, we have found what Bloody Revelations seeks... and I am h-having second thoughts about this!"

    She swoops around to hover agitatedly near Gawain. "Sun knight, does that mean you won't be able to summon forth power like you did yesterday?"
Alucard Tepes     Alucard notes that the draining abilities of Ghost seemed to work well enough. These things are EVERYWHERE, though, so that one killed isn't going to be enough. He sheathes his sword and his left hand starts to glow with arcane power...

    But before he can do anything, the floor drops out from under him! He gives a startled sound, instinctively shifting to Bat form. Oddly, despite having already chosen a second victim for its dopey wrath, Ghost pauses when Alucard changes forms. One can almost see the question marks as it turns first one way and then the other. Then it phases through a wall, disappearing.

    Fortunately for Alucard, a bat can fly. And it does so by jumping off of high places anyway. So it is that as the group lands, a large black bat flutters down, and then a few feet off the ground, its form changes, its shape elongating, until Alucard stands in its place. Oh, and Ghost finally gains track of his master again. Stupid thing.

    Ah, yes. More familiarity. The sensation of this, it's much like what it feels like in his father's castle, where hundreds of people die every time it reappears. Though he does not find comfort in that familiarity -- that always means something foul is afoot. And sure enough, when the silver liquid arcs up and stares them down, he can feel it. A predator. And one likely not pleased to find a second predator in its territory.

    Alucard's hackles rise, figuratively speaking, and he only just barely resists the urge to bare fangs at the thing and growl. For the time being he doesn't strike out at it, but he does make it clear he's not going to be an easy target.
Septette Arcubielle      The little war-machine's solution to the mounting weight of attacks seems to be, simply, to ignore them: even buried in a sea of gnashing jaws, she loses neither her composure nor her functionality. Dodging or blocking that kind of swarming offensive is beyond her skills, but the insects' jaws can do little more than scrape or rasp at her armor. For a few seconds, she even appears to be making good pace at cutting through them...

     And then the floor falls through. Again, a problem for which she has no easy solution. Septette has all the mass of a car crammed into a five-foot-tall body, so her impact on the floor below is a resounding crash at best, and plants a small spiderwebbing crater in the rock at worst! Even so, she picks herself up off the ground and shakes off the debris with an unhurried deliberateness, her expression not evincing a trace of pain.

     "Well," she states in even tones while stepping closer to the edge of the mercury sea, "This certainly explains quite a bit. Close formation, wounded and ranged or support at the center." Her voice transitions abruptly back to that cold, utilitarian tone she used in combat just a moment ago...
Starbound Flotilla     Grappling hooks. Glider boosters. Flickering short-range teleportation. The Flotilla all activate their own substantial mobility, all calling out in a panic as the ground gives out. Seft, for her own part, has to get saved by George, who grabs onto her hand mid-air during the fall. They slow their descent, eventually turning it into a gradual reel, before slammning into the central platform heavily.

"Report."
"I've descended safely."
"Aye aye."
"Reporting. Barely...!"
"Floran alive!"
"I'm actually dead."

    All six seem okay, and brandish their weapons defensively as the mercury rises and the laughter begins. They hold in place, each worried and unnerved in varying levels. Only Seft, oddly, has the presence of mind to try to take this moment to do a scan. Another mineral scan. Is there anything SOLID here? Anything that might be controlling the liquid metal? If it even IS some kind of directed fluid metal. Anything to target? They need to figure it out FAST, or else this thing is going to overwhelm them with its advantageously distributed and clearly high-volume body.
Devola and Popola     With all that chopping and slashing and telekinetic thrusting going on, it's no wonder that the android twins have their hands full and don't quite notice the floor getting hollowed out underneath them until it's too late. They kick off centipeded corpses rapidly to try and slow their falls somewhat, mostly delaying the inevitable impact and cushioning their fall with crunchy crunchy centipedes.
    
"That could've been worse!"
"Could've been better."
"Oh, stop. We're fine. Everyone's fine, I hope?"
    
    Popola's cheery as ever as she helps Devola up onto her feet, the two taking a moment to get the bearings straight while bringing their swords back into a floating position behind them. The lack of living centipedes is something of a relief, but not for long as even they can notice that there's something strange about the whole area. The quicksilver, the stench, the growing ripples in the quicksilver lake...
    
    The giant surge of silver bursting into the air. "Oh, that's lovely. If only it made more sense..." Popola comments while gripping a sword again, peering around at the sound of laughter surrounding the group. "We're okay, Gawain. It sounds like someone was waiting for us, though."
    
    Devola, meanwhile, keeps her hands free while moving towards Septette alongside Popola. "You okay? That fall sounded bad." They're both preparing to use thei healing abilities on the Yggdroid, waiting for the go ahead just in case.
Bloody Revelations     For whatever reason, the sick, boiling, burbling laughter only intensifies as the Elites band together. Seeing them move together, readying weapons, discussing tactics, preparing to fight; it's all too amusing to this surreal, long-forgotten lake of capital D Death. Seft's scan reveal that it /isn't even mercury/. The thing's substance is almost like /blood/, but seems to let half her scanning waves just pass right through, as if it isn't really all there. It's some kind of half-energy being, and that immediately poses some extreme concerns as to how they're going to hurt it without any idea of its composition.

    he sickening thing begins rising up. Like an animate ooze, but incredibly flexible and prehensile, it lifts some of its colossal bulk, and produces a vast array of dextrous tendrils, rising up all around. Some are as thick and solid as entire pillars, some are more like wriggling wires, all dripping with silver liquid that spatters on the stone . . . and then begins burning right through it with plumes of no doubt poisonous vapour byproducts. Definitely not mercury. Some kind of death-energy acid. The whole thing. Wonderful.

    Already beat up from fighting the Bull, and the fight down here, surrounded on all sides with no easy way up, it's an incredibly bad position to be in, and the feeling one gets from this thing's incredible bloodthirst is that it fully well believes they haven't a prayer of escaping, or even resisting. It takes its time, just a little.

    Which proves to be a mixed blessing.

    Penetrating into the entity's miasmatic hate, is a sharp, ice-cold aura of a much more complex, sentient, and deliberate malice that can only belong to a human being. A gentle hum and faint current of air comes from up above, and looking to its source, it looks as if a patch of blackness is twinkling with the stars of some alien night sky. That, and a glowing point of bloody red light that, as it descends, resolves into an iconic mark of an eight-rayed sun.

    Bloody Revelations descends from out of the darkness, aloft on a splay of six, void-black wings, dotted with those phasing stars. Her caste mark burns with light on her forehead, reflecting scarlet light on the liquid-being's silvery exterior. She utters a name and one word, her voice echoing piercingly through the cavern with a completely different kind of tone of powerful command than the Bull once had.

    "Vodak!" she shouts.

    "Kneel!"

    With just that command, the strange pseudopods freeze in their path, then slowly begin to slink back into the greater mass. The largest, main 'head' pauses, and then gradually reclines backwards, waiting with palpable, fascinated anticipation. The Abyssal Exalted stops just short of touching down, so she can look imperiously down at the other Elites. Shaking her head slowly, she runs her fingers through her raven hair, and takes a casual, faux-disappointed tone.

    "You really did think you were being clever, didn't you? That somehow you could beat me to something you hadn't the faintest idea of what to look for, or what would happen when you found it, before I found out you killed Yurgen on your own. Do you think I'm stupid? I told you there was a weapon, and that only I could use it properly. I gave you no further details /precisely/ to dissuade you from getting any funny ideas. And here we are, all these greedy little strangers trying to have everything their way, lined up in a row. I was nothing but straight with you, you know. All you had to do was follow my instructions. You'd not have to fight at all. You could have wiped out the whole Solar Circle with no opportunity for revenge. Whitewall would have praised you as heroes, with this being our little secret. You'd have been rewarded twice, and gone on your merry way. I could have shown you all the lost relics, hidden in clever little places, and all you'd have to do is take them. Was this really worth it? Was it /that/ important to try and get one over on me? What a half-assed job."
Alucard Tepes     The voice makes Alucard narrow his eyes. "...I might have guessed," he mutters under his breath, recalling Ghost. Because of COURSE that's how this would shake out -- just lead the bad guy right to the thing. For now he says nothing else, because he knows this sort of person. Nothing he says will get through, his words will be twisted and used to attack him. He has no intention of giving anyone that kind of ammunition.
Septette Arcubielle      The roiling mass of silvery death, accompanied with Revelations' entrance and speech, are flatly terrifying things. They ought to frighten most sane people with any instinctive self-preservation, or a realistic impression of their own abilities and chances, or even normal human capacity for fear.

     None of those things describe Septette. None of them ever have.

     She doesn't bother addressing Revelations' speech with some dramatic spiel of her own. Breath would be wasted here. Both of them are tyrants over their own emotions, with no realistic possibility of convincing the other of anything. She merely takes one clanking, resounding step forward, and then another, staring into Revelations' face with her own glowing violet eyes.

     When she speaks, her voice is preternaturally calm, utterly divorced from anything resembling human affect or warmth. "And yet, Revelations, you are the one with nothing more to gain here, and everything left to lose. Your words tell me you think you could win. But your actions tell me you wouldn't dare try."

     Her gaze abruptly sharpens, emotion flooding back into her voice like searing blood into a frostbitten limb- dripping raw contempt and almost-suppressed venom. "Or prove me wrong, Deathknight."
Devola and Popola With Bloody Revelations making her presence known and the twins getting caught on the back foot with the group caught red-handed, their initial plan isn't looking quite as good as it did earlier. Still, it's not like things could really get any worse beyond dying horribly, and if Septette's right about her analysis?

     They might just have a shot here. Devola starts to step forward, but stops when Popola tugs her back. They instead keep their eyes trained on the winged being in front of them, swords held at the ready while they let others do the talking. No sense making themselves bigger targets than they might already be!
Miari Miari's not sure whether to be relieved or MORE WORRIED when the Deathknight enters the fray and shouts down the object of her fears. That single turn of events, in fact, has made her ALL THE MORE intent on getting out of here as quickly as possible.

    "Well, for much of that, I agree with you. Taking on the Bull was foolhardy." She doesn't specify, though, between takinghim on AT ALL or according to Bloody's plan...

    "Thing is, I would be a fool to trust you... and you know it. In fact, from the moment you came up with this plan I knew you were up to something. You were perfectly capable of slipping in here all on your own or slaughtering everything in your way if you wished. What was going to stop you? The mortals above? No, the only thing you gained from telling us is the fact that we'd be here too."

    Her voice is cold and calculated, but full of wariness.

    "I would have much preferred if this thing was no more by the time you arrived... but I'm forced to admit, this Hekatonkhire is like nothing stories speak of. However did you even learn of it?!"
Starbound Flotilla "I never think I'm being clever, 'cause I can't be."
"She has tamed the beast in a way, it seems."
"Robot friend, readingsss right? Thisss... Not real?"
"...We're outmatched."
"Anxious. That evil woman again...!"
"Wait. Just a moment."

    Pavo steps forward, eyebrow cocked, with a scowl of sorts. "No, it wasn't." She says, ruthlessly. "Aye, I'd wanted to go with that plan from the start. There was most profit in it. The others outvoted me 'cause they don't trust ye; figured this all would turn out badly." She gestures to the energy-acid creature all around them.

    "Believe me, lass." She paces forward, her face still looking grim. "Ye can consider me taught quite a bit about all of this. I didn't walk away from that fight without learning something." She gestures broadly. "I took a long hard look at what their divinity meant. Yer lil' scheme taught me a great deal about all the weight and the magnitude it carries."

    "And ye know, I think ye knew that. That I'd learn a little from all this either way. Either ye'd show me some fancy scheme with yer weapon and we'd see what it's like when the whole Circle dies. Or we'd learn somethin' going up against the Sunborn and seein' him die alone, with his Circle behind him. So here's what I've learned." She crosses her arms, and the shifting air currents that emerge from the dramatic motions of the energy creature begin to billow her coat out dramatically. "Their divinity's only worth the power behind it. He had all that faith, but it was only the guns at his back that could make it. And they all had so much faith in him, 'till he took his final swim. No matter what, we get a little peek behind the smoke and mirrors when a Circle breaks. I think I saw a little of what yer trying to show."

    Her eyes burn vehemently. "I went and saw Thornwing. Told him I understand what he'd been selling the whole time. Bastard bird had never been trying to peddle some impossibly powerful divinity. He'd been trying to tell us," Her grim look finally breaks into a grin. "Divinity's worthless enough that even us mortals can grab it. All that raging power of the sun, and he dies with faith in those lesser sons of bitches, just because -- from the start -- I'd always thought it was supposed to be something so strong I couldn't /take it/."

    "You know what? If you're saying that the plan you'd had wouldn't have let me see that? Maybe it would be worth it. But I think we both know I'd have gotten that peek around th'curtain no matter what." On some level, this is calculated; Pavo knows that a person becoming disillusioned with a grand ideal's worth in an almost self-destructive way is likely to please Bloody Revelations. And that Bloody loves to know that something she did has taught people something rather devastatingly nihilistic. But at the same time? Every word she's said is authentic. Her beliefs have turned, steeply and aggressively, towards this divinely nihilistic megalomania. "It taught me what the endgame of greed is. Grasping any and every power these 'divine' could have ever had."
Bloody Revelations     The Deathknight looks down on Septette without any of the petty cattiness of the last time she had seen her. It might have befitted someone exasperated with a bunch of irrelevant weirdos who won't settle down, but it's clear her view of them has changed. Enough to take them seriously, even if she views them as lessers. Despite that ego, there is very clearly cold and canny pragmatism behind that blood red stare; the refined mental gears of someone who has reached incredible power through finely calculating catastrophic risk. Not entirely unlike herself.

    "Don't think I couldn't kill at least you, automaton. Neither your quickness nor your metal skeleton are any use against the highest circles of the Void, and neither would your friends save you if I focused my attention." Despite that confident statement, however, it's true that she doesn't look inclined to get into a brawl. There is, factually, no profit from it. Even if she kills everyone here, so what? The Bull is dead and she has the Hekatonkhire. What does that accomplish?

    She only looks disgusted at Miari, however, convinced of her Solar nature. "You really are just a child, aren't you? Do you have any idea how time consuming it would be to kill eighty thousand people, five thousand soldiers, a gaggle of Dynasts, three elder gods, and a tribe of Jadeborn? How much Essence that would waste? What would I not stand to gain from having a group of flunkies walk right past them so I can do something else?"

    "Believe me, I considered the option of traipsing in through Gethamane in its Underworld mirror, but do you know what I stumbled upon? /Him/. All this time, a Hekatonkhire had lurked underneath this city, sealed in by old Jadeborn wards and Solar magic, and nobody even knew. No records existed of it at all. And such a strange one too. Did you know Vodak exists both in the Underworld and in Creation simultaneously? Gethamane in the Underworld is a wasteland, because his spawn --his simulacra-- can run free, and they devour every ghost they come across. Surely you must have at least sensed them? In either case, in your haste, you dug a hole straight to him, and shattering the wards was trivial, so I suppose I should thank you for making this easier."

    "I have better plans, though, now that I have his cooperation. Something in mind that you may find . . . instructive, about the consequences of your actions. About listening to the blind leading the blind, instead of /me/."

    But then, she actually smiles at Pavo, for a brief moment with malice. "But I think, at least /you/, have learned your lesson, haven't you? Ahhh, it's a shame so many have to fall down and hurt themselves to figure it out for themselves, but a mistake isn't a problem if you never repeat it, right? I like you. You're welcome to come and talk, sometime. There may be hope for you yet. Hopefully the others can learn from your example, and profit from these final years of Creation's lifespan, instead of getting themselves killed."

    Then she addresses the giant pool of sentient hate. "Vodak. Friend~ I know this is short notice, but I'll need you to come with me. You've been cooped up in here so long. Wouldn't you like a little exercise? You must be . . . hungry~"

    Picking up a crystal from her sash, she crushes it in her hand, and flicks a few droplets of blood from the splinters. A powerful surge of necromantic energy swells from the ground, which then opens up into a yawning chasm straight down into who knows where. Almost definitely nowhere in the world of the living. The quicksilver abomination is only too eager to comply, swiftly funneling itself down with a cacophony of slick bubbling and hissing, draining away like an unplugged sink.

    "Oh, and you lot, try not to get yourselves killed on the way out. I want you to see this." Then, Bloody Revelations ascends again, and flies off.
Alucard Tepes     Alucard frowns, as both the silver mess and the woman leave. Looking at the various members of the Flotilla, he notes, "Have you any teleporters? I can take a beacon outside and place it so that the others can leave more quickly." It would also bypass most of the dangers of getting down here.
Starbound Flotilla     Moonfin hands Alucard what looks like a small rod. "Plant it upon the ground." He says, in a formal tone, nodding. It's... An expanding, unfolding flag! It'll pop up and unfurl when it's time. Their beacon! A sunrise from space is emblazoned on the flag, when Alucard does eventually plant it. "We shall be along as soon as you can plant it, Mr. Tepes. You've my gratitude for a swift extraction."
Miari "... And yet you slipped right past all said people without doing so anyways." Miari counters bitterly to the empty chamber as Vodak sinks into the Necromantic abyss, not really expecting a response.

    OF course by this time Miari has risen off from the ground and is clinging to the rock walls of the cavern with a growing sense of dread.

    "... It's not really much consolation to know this is happening in a different Creation." She adds squeakily.
Alucard Tepes     Alucard tucks the item into his cloak once it's given to him. Once there it's considered 'his' and 'on his person', so when he changes once more into a bat and flies up the way they came in, it should make the transition with him. Or shift into the Multiversal equivalent of Elsewhere, however that works. Either way, he'll get up there. Enemies along the way may force him to change to Mist form at times, too, depending on what, if anything, tries to take a bite out of him. But his Bat form is faster.

    It's probably going to be quite draining, having to fly the whole way as either Bat or Mist. When he finds a clear spot, he all but tumbles out of Bat form, stumbling to a knee, panting slightly. Mana usage. But as he's already on the ground, he extracts the item from Moonfin and plants it in the ground. Then he stands -- slowly, due to fatigue -- and steps back from the area. He sends over the radio, "Moonfin. It is done."
Septette Arcubielle      The possibility of death isn't something that is ever really present in Septette's thoughts. It's accounted for as some abstract set of variables in her ethical calculus, true- but it isn't something that ever occurs to her conscious mind as real. Centuries of close calls, of outliving every other machine cast from the same mold, of taking grotesque risks because they had to be taken and coming out the other side barely in one piece, have utterly banished the concept from her consideration.

     There might be some truth to the deathknight's prideful promise. There might not be. Gods have tried and failed before- but she was whole then, not this tired and broken machine. But if the threat rattles her, it doesn't show on her placid surface.

     Septette slowly bends down, picks up a rock from the debris, and begins to sharpen her blades on it.

     After all, what else is there for her to do?