Scene #7340: DkS: Graves of Gods-1

Owner	Pose
Priscilla	What might very well be the final stretch of the near-legendary task lies ahead. One of Gwyn's many secrets, revealed in bits and pieces at far flung corners of the world, is almost within reach. Something to do with ancient lore of archdragons, harrowing pilgrimages to the edges of the earth, a long-lost civilization blessed by the gods and swallowed by calamity, and now, finally, fragmentary records distributed to the three remaining corners of Lordran's recurring themes of four. After months of work, Priscilla's personal knowledge, long lost to almost all of Lordran, has served to collaborate with the last of her immediate relatives --the son and daughter of Gwyn-- and deciphered the ancient runes of Archdragon Peak, the mysterious monuments of the underworld beneath the cities of men, and the sanctum sealed in time within the ghost of Oolacile. She believes she knows where to find the only concrete instructions left by the late Great Lord, intentionally divided between three immensely influential figures, such that it would take a cooperative agreement between all of them, united, to perform the grave task of traveling to the lost city erased from history --the object of Priscilla's recent obsession. The nature of things, however, has changed. Despite her best attempts at planning otherwise, Priscilla has reluctantly admitted that these fragments --ciphers, really-- cannot be retrieved simply by kicking down doors and taking them. One for a dire sociological reality, enshrined within Anor Londo, city of the gods, itself. One for the lingering fallout of a catastrophic metaphysical disaster unintentionally catalyzed by the first and greatest Witch, ally of Lord Gwyn, now long gone. And one for being sealed in a hidden tomb for the forgotten gods who died in the ancient war against the dragons, lost even to the First of the Dead during his long slumber, even were it possible to so casually meet him, Nito, again. To these matters requiring a measured and tactical hand, Priscilla has delegated them to the last of the four Knights of Gwyn, Lordsblade Ciaran. The contact and handler is a woman of largely shrouded history, nowhere near the imposing size of Artorias or Ornstein, nevermind Gough, but who wears an eerie silence like a mantle. Clad in dark cowls of midnight blue and contoured armour of jet black, the pervasive trend continues via a porcelain white mask that obscures her face, barely sculpted with the suggestion of a grim and watchful gaze, set with a vertical sort of third eye adornment, only revealing a lengthy golden blonde braid. She is, simultaneously soft spoken and yet somehow the most severe-feeling of the four. It makes sense when Priscilla passingly describes what the division of the Lordsblades she once commanded were for. Essentially, Gwyn's secret service. The actually secret, secret service. As opposed to the publicly known Darkmoon Blades, tasked with hunting down heretics, oathbreakers, blasphemers, and various villains and criminals, the Lordsblades have essentially one function: to purge dangerous knowledge and relics from Lordran, and those who hold them. In this way, it could be said that Ciaran is the closest Gwyn would have had to a right hand in his incomprehensibly vast and intricate plans, revealed only in flashes by dogged and dangerous prying by many Elites. The first of the three ciphers has been chosen by her already. One handed down by Gwyn himself to his youngest progeny, Gwyndolin, the sole god who remained within Anor Londo after Gwyn's final departure in order to ensure the success of Gwyn's final failsafe plan in the event of the end of days. No doubt even Gwyndolin never realized its full significance. Unfortunately, Gwyndolin is also dead. Slain indirectly by Priscilla's inaction. The main black mark on her inheritance of Gwyn's throne, for the obvious implication attached to the death of who might otherwise have been his heir.
Priscilla	Worship and service to the dead goddess still continues to this day, though greatly diminished, within the principle church in the inner section of Anor Londo, attended by those faithful to the old covenants and the last vestiges of Gwyndolin's order of the Darkmoon Blades. Supposedly, they hope that their object of devotion may eventually be restored to physical form by some suitable miracle should long years of proper rites and worship and sacrifices to the ephemeral remnants of their soul --a tangible thing in Lordran, which Priscilla had been too reluctant to assimilate herself. For that reason, the church is tightly secured and well-watched. And because of that, it would be a grave, grave error for Elites associated with Priscilla to barge in and either demand or take by force what they require; not so much for themselves, but for the chaos such an act would create for amounting to a borderline treasonous power grab, as well as public defilement of a memorial and religious site protected by ancient rights. More or less, Elites need to seek out and retrieve three items without anyone knowing. The Roster of Blades; a tablet that documents every Darkmoon Blade from first to last, and records their deeds, lives, and deaths. The Register of Indictments; a divine document that tracks those who have sinned greatly enough to warrant execution by the order, who had prayed and supplicated for their destruction, and when and where they were finally eliminated. The Catalyst of the Dark Sun; a sorcerous implement used by Gwyndolin herself in life, one of three personal relics, once having channeled enormous divine powers to the purposes of magic, and something Priscilla is sure can be utilized for psychometric reading. The Church of Gwyndolin isn't exactly hard to get to, being accessible in the thoroughly gigantic city that Priscilla essentially runs (in principle at least). However, it is closed to the public, only allowing in the old clergy and pilgrims, and their descendants and acolytes, for their grave and sensitive work. It has three main storeys, one of the requisite items on each, in the previous order from the ground up. Ciaran, of course, has the floor plan, drawn up by an expert hand ahead of time to study. The Roster of Knights on the first floor is technically only an obstacle because it can't be removed without someone noticing on the same day, and thus has to be accessed past various observers and old guard, and compiled on the spot. The Register of Indictments on the second floor is sealed more substantially behind many complex locks and barriers, and though it is checked less regularly, leaving them a smoking wreck would be discovered from the outside quickly enough. The Catalyst of the Dark Sun is enshrined on the third floor in a secret chamber, hidden and protected by various magics, changed since Ciaran's heyday, which will have to be figured out and bypassed.
Priscilla	The building itself is also difficult to navigate, being sized for giants of old, with only minor concessions to human devotees, meaning cavernous vaulted halls with little cover, brightly lit at any time of day or night due to the culture of sun worship and the moon being the object of symbolism here, reflected in its design (though slightly less during the latter, which is why the operation takes place on the night of the new moon). There are enough people still present that it would certainly be difficult to navigate around them, harder to mingle or bluff, no doubt impossible to bribe, and an egregiously bad idea to kill off unless it could be overwhelmingly convincingly pinned as some sort of accident or natural phenomena. The upper floors have certain magical monitoring systems in place, which Ciaran has highlighted and provided the details of. Avoiding the many, many windows would also be a plus, on the off chance someone might see from the outside, unlikely as that is. There are a handful of guardian constructs, old enough to serve no other purpose, but nothing the group couldn't overcome, save that engaging them with a frontal attack would be tremendously loud and obvious.
Starbound Flotilla	"Classic." "It certainly offers a measure of similarity to times of old, does it not?" "Sheepish. Somehow I feel less connected to this, even as a knight." "Focus." "We've got our job to do. But we better respect the dead god while we do it." "Alright guys. Let's focus on..." A haggard man with a thick beard wanders by briefly, in what might, on very close examination, turn out to be a chameleon jumpsuit made with extensive re-patterning technology to allow it to look a little closer to the local tunics and such. This place is closed for visiting, but certainly not closed for "looking at it from the outside". Crucial action first: Case the joint. Using memorized floor-plans and observation from the outside, George can chart optimal exit paths for each floor. His scheme is to do what the Starbound Flotilla does best: Rapid builds. Rapidly deconstructing and reconstructing a wall will do the trick when it comes time, but that's for later. For now: Can he mark anything on the tactical network as the optimal exit points? He also is wanting to check on the state of the architecture and environment here. One way of getting this kind of thing done? Be a construction crew. It's entirely realistic that Priscilla would send an offering of expert architects, and Anor Londo was abandoned for an awfully long time. What's the state here? Can George possibly fool the priests and pilgrims by making his way in with a hard-hat and some well-made equipment? Moonfin would love to run a restoration job on this place even if it weren't a bamboozle.
Captain Flint	Seek out and receive three items, without anyone knowing. Discretion is very much a skill any good liar should have, and so this directive is not so daunting to Captain Flint as it might initially appear. Brute force is not the only tool at his disposal; merely one of many. "Well?" asks John Silver, the wavy-haired quartermaster of the Walrus, and Flint's right hand. He has the look of someone hardened by necessity, a survivor if ever there was one. A sword hangs at his hip, a pistol at the opposite end, and he leans upon a cruch. His demeanor around the rugged captain, and vice-versa, seems to imply that the two see each other as equals. Flint looks up from Ciaran's floor plan. A few Walrus pirates surround him, some genuinely studying it, others merely pretending to. "We'll not take the Roster or the Catalyst easily." Silver's nose wrinkles. "But the Register, locked away to Hell and back, that should pose no problem," he dryly remarks. "Every lock has a key. I'd expect you of all people to know that," comes Flint's retort, with a small shade of knowing amusement. Some kind of inside joke? "Someone here among us can handle it, I'm certain." He takes a moment to peer through his spyglass at the Church. The way that he closes it indicates he's made a decision. "Feeling nostalgic, Mr. Silver?" "No." Flint approaches the building and studies the comings and goings of the clergy, pilgrims and guards, attempting to find whether or not there's a pattern, and if so, where the best place to enter might be. In the mean time, Silver takes not to the Church, but to the streets. He navigates the sprawling city's mass well, taking a circuitous route through alleys where he can to make tracing his path more difficult. He's gathering very specific information about the Church: who typically goes there, and from where? What does an interested pilgrim need to do, in order to gain passage unharassed?
Tomoe	There was one task left so far as Tomoe was aware, and she had done her best to make ready for this. She'd bought supplies and made sure she hadn't worn herself out before this all got going. Things had been going along pretty well, with the first three tasks that Priscilla had set them on. She also aware LAdy Priscilla has been hard at work for some time on the information that the teams had recovered too. So would this be the end of it? The final task? Or would it lead to something else new? She'd find out more once they met the last of the four knights. That being Lordsblade Ciaran, this would be interesting Tomoe mused. This would not be the traditional sort of operation force was a bad idea she'd got that much already. They were going to have to be sneaky on this, and Tomoe knew that would be a weak point for her. Still, she could find some way to support the rest of the team through even if it's simple information gathering. For what little good it would do she's switch to the far less imposing appearance of Esien Blume for this operation. She has joined the Starbounders to be part of the construction crew. She'll make use of her smart phone to when it would make sense for a woark crew to be doing this after all there is some outside bleed from the multiverse right? She will folllow the Starbounder's lead in the end.
Maksim Messerglas	"You know," Maksim says quietly, looking up at the enormous church, "every building in this city makes my neck hurt." "I have a tonic for that," the woman at his left remarks. She's in brown dress and red shawls, with satchel, pouches, bandolier and belts all laid overtop, each draped and dripping with trinkets and baubles. Only her nose to her brow is visible on her face, her hair covered and her mouth concealed. Her expression is best described as 'constant scholarly intensity.' She immediately gives the impression of someone far too interested in the things left behind by people who weren't. "Let's see here..." "He's fine, Josie," Dismas says. The roguish man in the long coat lingers at his right, hands concealed and the lower half of his face covered, as usual. "Pay his complaints no mind, or you'll be treating boot pebbles and popped stitches all day." "Neither of those is particularly dire, except when they suddenly are," the trinket-laden woman says, "and my name is Josephine, thank you very much, not... 'Josie.'" "Until you answered to it," Maksim sighs. He rubs the bridge of his nose. "Alright, well, we know what we're here for, yes? Dismas? Josephine?" "Something called a Catalyst," Dismas responds. "I'm sure it will be guarded with stupendous traps," Josephine opines, a little excitedly. Dismas shoots her a look. "Best we avoid them, then." Maksim starts moving. The two fall into step with him without prompting. He circles the building, taking his time and looking much like a man of standing out on some business or other. It's a huge structure, so taking his time is mostly a matter of fact than choice. Eventually, he finds himself on the eastern side... and he nods at a wall. "Dismas?" "Aye, I can make that." The Highwayman reaches into his coat and draws out a rope and grapnel. Maksim hastily presses a shard of sea glass on a cord into his hand, and holds out another for the less sketchy-looking lady on his other side. She takes it and adds it to her many baubles. Dismas looks up, squinting, and winds up -- They vanish from sight, before anyone can call them out. Climbing to the top is going to take a little while.
Eryl Fairfax	A figure strides through the front door. Hooded head bowed low, begrimed hands clasped together in supplication. Soft whispers can be heard from them, quiet prayers to Gwyndolin. Prayers for merciful, swift justice. For all intents and purposes, a human pilgrim from far away, having finally reached their destination. In truth, Eryl Fairfax, clad in his hooded cloak, making his way directly to the first of three things they need. Two of which don't necessarily need to be removed from the premise. A copy will do. And if there's one thing Eryl can do, and has done on this long endeavour, it's saving copies. He strides through the massive entrance. His first target, the Roster of Knights.
Guzma	Guzma and the main three Goonzmas are outside, on an opposite side of 'casing the joint' from the Flotilla as to not group up and cause suspicion. They're not the stealthiest, but they know how to skulk about a bit and not be seen. What they're actually doing, though... Is sending in a scout. They've borrowed a Haunter from one of the other Skulls, and the Trio are commanding it while Guzma finishes a sandwich so he has Gangster Fuel. Haunter turns transluscent, flies high up towards the 'ceiling' of the first floor Entrance, and starts moving in a straight line towards the Roster of Knights. The transluscent ghost makes sure that, if nobody's paying attention to it for more than a few seconds, nobody's going to casually glance at it and see it, and is generally skilled at skulking anyways. While this is happening, Team Skull moves for the east. They move to use their parkour skills to rapidly climb through the window, and start progressing straight for the Summons Bell, trying to sneak through so that they can eventually ring it to help cause a distraction.
Yuuki Kuran	The entire setup for this absolutely positively reeks of 'that specific wedge of activities that Kuran Yuuki is absolutely, positively, without a doubt totally useless at. It's a big subtle puzzle! A jenga tower of disaster for a thoughtlessly probing finger to send tumbling down. A terrible trial from which only sadness can font from. Yuuki is, thus, 'on business' today. She is wearing (novelty non-perscription) black wide-framed glasses and carries a tablet computer in chromed silver. She has made... an appointment. In advance! As soon as she learned from Priscilla that the actual matters to be attended to were of utmost secrecy she had contacted the Church of Gwyndolyn for arranging a permanent Grand Dorado memorial for the 'fallen ~~brother~~ ~~sister~~ hero and sibling of the First' and other various official functions. Outreach, as Director, was her priority and mission. Well, and being a total bumbling ocean of normalcy. But that was normal, right? And so, trying to not come in at the same time as the mysterious cloked hooded figure #1 through #27 (are they all cloaked hooded figures? It feels like they are...). "Ah, yes, hello... I'm here for my appointment? I called--" She winces, and smiles. "--I sent missives announcing my intention and intended arrival." Yuuki makes a great effort to start going through her tablet for the proper piece of digital paper. "It must be around here... somewhere." She really did! But fumbling of this sort is a good smokescreen for actual competence.
Priscilla	The Flotilla and Captain Flint scoping the outside see that the second storey --though more akin to three storeys on a building constructed by human hands-- is slightly smaller than the first, tapering upwards to the peaked roofs at the very top and their steeple-supported iconography. The buttresses and windows are rather ornate, and difficult to replicate precisely, but they're repeated regularly without deviation, meaning that getting a good lay of one part of the wall means that it can be just done several times in sequence. They get some lingering stares and a polite ask about what they're doing there, but don't draw considerable attention yet. An exit from the Register's holding room is ready.
Priscilla	Climbing the external surface of the church is both harrowing and exposed. The construction itself is large enough to make for paths to walk upon, even including simple engraved ridges, with a little shimmying, but also tall enough that a grapnel hook simply can't be thrown high enough to catch in most places, requiring a lot of creative circumnavigation. The skylight at the highest roof is. Remaining invisible through the jaunt prevents them from being spotted, but several people begin climbing the stairs after seeing the dangling rope. Not very fast, but they'll eventually arrive, putting a little heat on the entrance to the third floor, at Medium Yellow Alert. From there, they can access the lift down, or the chamber to the Catalyst. It's essentially a straight corridor inside, unnecessarily high even compared to the other two floors, lined with a seemingly endless procession of life-sized statues of knights. There's an honest to god circular stone elevator behind them in the shadows, on some sort of corkscrew pillar, with a great big mechanical lever next to it. Ahead however, past rays of moonlight shining through veiled windows, the hall simply terminates in a larger, circular room, with similar great statues of the four knights, Gwyn himself, Gwynevere, Gwyndolin, and an empty pedestal.
Priscilla	Yuuki has the significant benefit of being known as Priscilla's direct right hand. 'Handmaiden' in local parlance, hilarious a moniker as it might be. This has the mixed benefit of drawing legitimate attention to speak with her (about business), and also drawing legitimate attention to speak with her (somewhat suspiciously). Still, she hasn't done anything overtly problematic; the worst anyone expects is an annoying or unacceptable request. It causes a delay as they have to bring one of the head clergymen to the front, causing lesser members to stop in the halls and bow their heads, and several personal guard (largely ceremonial) to leave with him to 'be around'. This gives Guzma ample opportunity for his haunter to slip past, ghosting to the Roster chamber, and his goons some blind spots to clatter off to the summons bell. The chamber is an amphitheatre-style auditorium, and clanging the baroque silver bell draws a lot of attention. That's sort of desired, but people are already somewhat put off by the fact that they'd rung it exactly like hooligan goons, rather than whatever pattern the clergy are used to, and they converge on the area briskly and with a suspicious disposition, setting it to High Yellow Alert. Eryl paths his way through the vacuous halls just fine, with only modest attention with all the stir happening towards the entrance and the auditorium, but the haunter following in his wake, and the chills and ominous trails it leaves, create a solid line of people pausing their business to chatter about something potentially ominous in the church, leaving the way back solidly Low Yellow Alert. The difficulty of getting around has decreased however, due to Guzma's work, and Yuuki's stalling. The Roster is borderline unguarded at this point, allowing him to slip in and the haunter to linger invisibly, currently only having to watch a couple of massive golems standing resolutely outside, clad fully in heavy brass armour and white tabards, and set up with gigantic shields and halberds of silver. Someone passing by will probably notice Eryl poring over the great big white marble tablet on the central plinth under a ray of auspicious moonlight, scrawled extensively with runes in the ancient high-Lordran style, requiring considerable processing power to crunch. By the time he's done, several people going by have noticed someone lingering around in the room with all of the scrolls and books and the big important artifact. The golems have turned to attention and are watching his exit, though Yuuki has pulled the intelligent decisionmakers at the front, leaving him at Low Orange Alert.
Priscilla	Tomoe ascending through the exit created by George and Flint creates no fuss at this point. The Register isn't as easily accessed as simply walking through the back wall, however. The room seems to double as a sort of armoury, for an extensive collection of excessively elegant and well-made weapons, the combined weight of which radiate a palpable aura of magic. Thick tomes are locked in glass cases, while weapon racks are fastened to the walls with complex steel locking bars. There are rows of heavy iron strongboxes bolted to wrought silver display desks, containing who knows what, engraved in script she can't read. The largest of them should probably be her target, but it's a legitimate half-sized bank safe, set into the floor itself. Leveraging her strenght gets her as far as forcing the external crank, but a loud crack echoes out from the room. She can hear footsteps on the outside as the room goes to Yellow Alert.
Maksim Messerglas	This seemed like a better idea when it was maybe a straight shot to the top, and even that wasn't a terrific one. Maksim feels like a fly on a giant's windowsill, and the feeling is not one he particularly relishes. He expects an enormous monk to open a window, slap him and his entourage flat with a lazy hand, and then brush them off into a twenty-plus foot drop to the street, all without really knowing what they were doing. It makes his forward progress particularly weak-kneed, except when he's jabbed by Dismas to keep moving, or tugged along by Josephine, who leads the way up the rooftops and around the spires with a definite purpose in her unseen, soundless stride. The physical contact is reassuring, otherwise. They'd probably lose track of one another. Once they're actually inside the third floor, Maksim sinks to a knee and gasps, breathing hard. Dismas immediately sweeps the hallway visually for any obvious guardians, while Josie inspects the lever and the elevator without actually touching either. It gives Maksim time to stop being a wuss and start being a... whatever it is he's supposed to be. Dilettante? Itinerant scholar? Accursed noble? None of these are really appealing. "Someone definitely saw the rope," Dismas murmurs. "We should be quick." He leads the way towards the chamber that's supposed to be holding the Catalyst. The other two follow him quickly and quietly, using the presence concealment still afforded by Maksim's strange baubles. There's no Catalyst. It's an empty pedestal. "What? But -- no, that can't be it, can it?" Maksim looks up and around, while Josephine scrutinizes the pedestal more closely. Dismas watches out behind them, wary of guardians on their heels. Maksim eventually murmurs, "If it's supposed to be secret, though..." He looks towards the statues, and Gwyndolin's in particular, trying to see if there's a secret passage or an illusory wall or something concealing a real treasure chamber. Or if there are traps and the victims of those selfsame things around. Ghosts like to speak to him, you see. He thinks the likelihood of such a thing being here is about equal with the odds of someone taking the lost soul to use for currency, though.
Eryl Fairfax	It is a strange feeling, Eryl would admit, to be ghosted by a literal ghost. Even if it is on his side in this regard. He doesn't look back at those whispering about an ominous feeling. Just a pilgrim here. Eventually he reaches the library and stands before the tablet. Two problems immediately leap out at him. One; the tablet is huge. Much bigger than he would have thought. It makes sense, given Lordran's long reign, that there would be many Darkmoon Blades, which would necessitate a large tablet to put all their names on, but this is a bit much. And two; High-Ancient Lordran is a nightmare to transcribe and decode, and he can't afford to half-ass this, least some vital detail be omitted. And so he stands there, shifting his prayers from Gwyndolin to the Darkmoons themselves, praising them for their courage and willingness to purge the world's evils as Original Face crunches away at getting a complete record. "O Darkmoons, I supplicate before thee; thou looks to the wickedness of the world, so we may LOOK AWAY. Thou CONFOUND the doings of evil men. Thou ever-DISTRACT them, nary a peaceful night knowing thou art hunting them." He's hoping Haunter gets the message and does something to keep the golems from coming over and pulling him away.
Priscilla	Scouting around the room reveals nothing unusual to Maksim for a while. Unfortunately, he can't get much more than the barest whispers of old souls who'd died in this church, almost exclusively in the form of elderly priests who'd simply reached the end of their time a century ago, and they aren't very informative. Just vague impressions of the importance of their duty, and also of an equal, if not slightly greater, deference to the Great Lord himself. That's the deception. Gwyndolin's own statue has nothing special about it, outside of exquisite attention to detail, down to every serpent-like tip and the spokes of the face-conealing crown. The eighteen foot tall behemoth of a statue of Gwyn's simpler and older attire, unadorned sword pointed down and hands clasped over, allows searching hands to phase right through, causing it to phase and flicker. The reliquary is hidden and 'protected' by the by the effigy of Gwyndolin's father. However, behind it is only a short, plain hall, and a dead end wall of solid, smooth marble. This one is most certainly not an illusion. Furthermore, the elevator can be heard descending, then grinding its way back up, followed by hurried footsteps as whoever has arrived thinks they might have spotted a flicker in the statue far at the end of the distant hallway, rendering the dead end Maksim is at a Yellow Alert.
Guzma	As Eryl gets to work and hints at Haunter, it initially doesn't catch on, but being a ghost and therefore smarter than more 'beast-like' Pokemon, it eventually does. It grins wildly, even though he can't see it, and then flies towards the approaching golems. Right out of arms range, it reveals itself, tries to lure them the opposite way back out, and then moves with rapid speed to lose them, make a loop, and shift back through the wall and to Eryl's side. Meanwhile, the bell is attracting suspicious people. Guzma and squad can't stay down here. As soon as they hear the footsteps of clergy, they rush up the stairs, heading towards the Golem area. They won't be able to sabotage it just yet, due to the amount of time it'll take for them to get up there, but hopefully it'll help them lose attention.
Priscilla	Haunter revealing itself immediately draws the golems. They're specifically there for this. Thundering footfalls and the clank of hundreds of pounds of brass chases the ghost at a surprisingly brisk pace. Given that they can't see it after the initial reveal, they don't go into any kind of visible 'battle mode', but it draws a little more attention than Eryl might like due to the noise. At least the golems themselves are off his back, no doubt being much less discerning about his words and actions. The roster itself is in an incredibly difficult to sort order, rather than nicely chronological or alphabetical. As far as he can tell, it seems to list the most esteemed knights at the top, and work its way downward, almost like a ranking board. In his search, he finds names affixed with years up to a thousand years old, then a sudden jump all the way back to fifteen hundred years, all of those lacking information present in the rest, not scrubbed out, but never recorded. The tales of their victories are simple and vague, intentionally saying nothing about where they were. They're likely names that can be dug up with some legwork later, once he records them all. The amount of heat he's drawn leaves him at a High Orange Alert, but short of a Red due to the missing presence of the golems. He needs to move quickly, however, and both stairwells are at Yellow Alert now due to the movement of Guzma's troopers. As is the hub of golem activity at the center of the second floor, once again favouring elaborate stone circles. Many inactive golems stand in recesses in the wall, like the statues on the floor above, gleaming like decorations from pale white lamps mounted between them. Circles of arcane runes ring the room in concentric circles inwards, contracting around a short pillar with a heavy bronze chalice of some sort, filled with water, for unknown reasons. Two of them stir from their recesses and step down from the low platforms, standing to watchful attention now that people have entered, on Yellow Alert.
Maksim Messerglas	Deference to the Great Lord. Even minor whispers from the dead have that in common. It's far too long before he He stops looking at (admiring, if we're being honest; he's from a place rife with this kind of grim ornamentation) the statue of the obvious bait, turning instead to Gwyn's simpler form. He marches over there instead, passing Josie who is presently barely restraining herself from trying to move the pedestal itself, reaches out... and passes right through. "Aha--!" Dismas' low utterance of the word, "Shit," fortunately doesn't carry as the grinding of the elevator tells them that company is approaching. He moves to the other side of the passage, using the statuary as cover while he keeps low and watches the hall for signs of movement through the moonlight. Maksim's 'psst' draws the attention of both of his co-conspirators, and they quickly and quietly duck into the passage behind the statue. That's definitely the path they need to go down! As soon as they get inside, he hurries to the marble barrier ahead of him -- and walks straight into a solid wall that he was absolutely certain was an illusion. Maksim pitches over backwards. Josephine, hot on his heels, catches him, guiding him quietly to the ground. With Dismas closer to the false statue and all of them in some way or another pressing up against the left-hand wall, the three of them fade back into invisibility, hoping to wait out the guards. Maybe they're unaware of the actual nature of this place? If they aren't, this could get a bit close for comfort... especially if one of them, say, notices the spot of blood left by Maksim's wall-headbutting. (His nose is bleeding profusely.)
Tomoe	Okay thanks to the Starbounders and Flint? Tomoe can get in fairly easily, which makes things less troublesome for her. Now she's found what seems to be her objective but she's not the most sneaky sort. So she's going to have to use what her strengths are to try and get through this. She gets some progress however, it might not take too long for her to be able to get the thing free. However, the more she makes noise the more attention she's going to grab. At this point, she can hear footsteps and is going to need to figure out a distraction so she can get back to work. Tomoe gets an idea it's not the best idea but it's better than just ignoring the alert going up and her trying to smash and grab. So she'll halt working on the safe for the moment. <<Hey Captains? Could you give me a diversion, I have an idea but it will take a moment to get this lose.>> She will stop trying to brute force it and think a bit smarter for once. She'll get down low for one and will quietly chant a light spell narrow and focus as she's going to try to use it as a cutting laser to cut the bolts free. She'll have to trust in the captains to help reduce the heat on her while she does this.
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki is quite capable of wasting an infinite (literal) amount of time on this. But still, she wishes to be helpful. Useful. owing respectfully - the precisely calculated social bullseye of 'I am probably more important than you, but right now I'm trying to defer to you to get something I want' - Yuuki smiles up at the Important Intelligent Decisionmakers all drawn to the front entrance. "Hello." She favors the lead member. "I'm Director Kuran. As my, ah, missive must have made clear: I am here to work out the details of a permanent statue. So, with you here--" Yuuki pauses, considering. "Are you empowered to negotiate and make decisions? I would hate to open dialogue multiple times! Establishing shared understandings takes so long. Perhaps there is an auditorium or other..." She is hopeful for a moment. "Boardroom space?" She winces at the anachronism. "For the meeting. Could you gather up any lectors or others who would be able to furnish the Concord with a religiously respectful and meaningful..." Yuuki starts messing furiously with her tablet. "... Edifice? Yes! No. Is edifice the correct word? A pleasing statue. An ere---" She just halts and smiles at that one.
Starbound Flotilla	Each piece, each precisely-sliced section, is carefully arranged. Moonfin covers for the group, performing elaborate restorations on each individual section. You know, they're stealing some shit, but it's very important to get this all actually restored after all. George puts out a big yellow sign. All it says is " ! ". The sign is a universal indicator: "Official things are happening here, and you'll look very silly and stupid if you start asking questions about what they are." Tomoe is intending to work the safe, and the Flotilla will join them. Their complex industrial architecture equipment remains active, but Seft sets sensor arrays down with each set of equipment. All point directly at the safe, and work to pierce and analyze the position of the metals within. Normally this is used for finding ore. Now, the Flotilla uses it to find the more pure product, with greater precision. George runs the vault-cracking as much as he can, employing combinations of subtle drilling (covered by the noise of laser-slicing out chunks of wall for restoration), tumbler-cracking (he only spins inputs as an idle motion as he walks by. Subtle is more important than fast), and monitoring (splitting up the group to multiple areas of restoration-work to make sure they know when they have a chance to open it). If all goes well, and he gets his backup in mitigation or speedy assistance, he should be able to churn through much of this challenge with minimal risk. Moonfin's warming up his camera to rapidly copy the document in its entirety, before they set it back...
Captain Flint	Naturally, Flint has a lie ready for just such an occasion. "I'm waiting on a friend," he says. "A pilgrim. Dark hair, walks with a crutch." And who should come around the corner, fresh from gathering information, but John Silver the Pilgrim, dressed in simple, locally sourced clothes following the advice of several people about town. He is indeed still walking with the crutch, and his face brightens from the moment he sees that Flint is being questioned. It's part of the Old Friend act. As part of this same act, Flint's determined, watchful frown melts into a gladdened, warm smile. "I thought you would keep me waiting all day," he says jovially. "And I thought you'd find a way to pass the time." says Silver. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the two disappear around a corner. Out of sight of the politely inquisitive soul who came to ask Flint's business, Silver hands to him a similar, humble outfit, With that, the two at least have the look of pilgrims. Silver entrusts their swords to two waiting Walrus crewmen, wrapped up in their previous outfits to conceal their shapes. As the Walrus crewmen return to the staging point to await further orders, Silver and Flint turn down the volume of their radio earpieces, so as to hear vital information without necessarily giving themselves away. With that done, the two simply wait a moment and enter through the main entrance, under the guise of pilgrims. Once inside, they'll make a beeline for the second floor, aping the body movements of other pilgrims--if it's 'bow head in reverence,' that's what they do precisely, but only when there's no way for them to stay out of sight. Every nook, cranny, artifact or icon on display is used to their advantage, the both of them 'admiring' or 'praying' as appropriate. Their goal is simple--make it to the Register's chamber and make sure it's secured without drawing attention. They both turn and look at one another, at the sound of that loud, mechanical clank, and hurry their pace. Should either Flint or Silver encounter anyone on the way to investigate that same noise, the two of them will try and stop them (especially if whoever it is is clergy) and badger them with general 'it's my first time here' sorts of questions.
Guzma	Guzma and squad are at the Golem Hub. The golems are causing them problems. The golems are a risk to everybody. Guzma's barely done anything all operation besides 'ring a bell' and it doesn't satisfy him. So when Tupp asks about the chalice and nobody says anything, he makes the decision for himself. Grabbing a Pokeball, he releases it next to the short pillar. "Heracross, tip it over." The super-strong blue beetle moves up to the chalice, moves to heave it off, and just dump all the water. This is a terrible plan. It's not subtle at all! But hopefully it causes a large enough distraction to get everyone Out Of There, while the Goonzmas...probably flee through the balcony or something, if they get a chance. Meanwhile, once Eryl leaves, Haunter's just going to follow him.
Eryl Fairfax	The thumping of the golems puts Eryl's teeth on edge, and there's still so much to go. The order is... glory? Honor? He can't say, but he thinks it must have been a nightmare to rectify should someone come along and surpass those who came before. He probably doesn't have much time before someone comes snooping, so he has to speed things up. On top of Original Face's analytical systems, he begins running its predictive subsystems. With this much exposure to High-Ancient Lordran, it's absorbed enough that now it can begin filling in gaps before the analytical systems can process them, ergo reducing the overall processing time. Once it's done, he makes good his escape. Taking the western stairs up to the second floor to skirt the likely oncoming attention, he makes for the golem hub. The great armored guardians are proving to be far more vexing that he anticipated. The best way to assist the operation is to get them shut down.
Priscilla	As the Flotilla enter the chamber of the Register with Tomoe, progress on the safe increases exponentially. Seft's penetrating scans show Tomoe exactly where to drill, and since the door in is still closed, none of the spell's light filters out, save for a very thin slice under the very finest seam beneath it. Furthermore, George's expertise in drilling and cracking comes in extremely handy here; many of the mechanisms are familiar to him, though some seem like pure and absolute nonsense, seeming to have no function or no way they'd work without electricity, making prime spots for Tomoe to precisely melt through. It's very slow going, only sped up by the sheer number of Elites on the job. It's more than enough time for someone to show up, but Flint's pilgrim act is just barely passable enough to hold up the attendant Blade squires in the hall. Away from the Golem Hub too. Their intentionally asinine blithering raises eyebrows and uncomfortable stares, setting the pre-hall to Low Yellow Alert, but they get the job done, uncovering a reinforced glass case (which can simply be taken, if somewhat awkwardly) encasing a scroll of some black substance, thick as a tree trunk, edged with bright gold thread, the surface of which seems to shimmer with shifting pale runes. It gives those in the chamber of the Register just enough time to squeeze out without more than plenty of glances over Flint's and Silver's shoulders and a hurried excuse to examine the doors. However, nobody is called who can produce the requisite keys and rites to enter; they're pretty distracted with Yuuki right now, who is starting to make a bit of a 'mildly bothersome scene' at the entrance, setting it to a Low Orange Alert. It allows the team at the Register to abscond at the edge of a High Orange Alert, and since they made their own exit, they don't have to add to the commotion at the Golem Hub.
Priscilla	Having to move around in a pair through the halls, especially with people starting to widely feel that something is amiss, leaves a trail of increased suspicion behind Eryl and haunter, albeit it's only a short distance up the (incredibly obnoxiously steep and lengthy) stairs and to the Golem Hub, leaving a few areas at Orange Alert as they start to draw crowds of people piecing together what they'd seen in small groups. The Golem Hub is starting to become a crowd. Heracross fucking yeeting the chalice monument out of the floor is certainly something that gets their attention. All the golems activate now, all in visual range of the act, and begin pursuing Guzma. Eryl can distract and get in the way only so much, limiting the amount of heat to Low Red Alert; they'd better get out of there fast, with the sounds of golems all over the area approaching. That includes upstairs. Where Maksim and company are hiding. The dead end wall is solved for them, the moonlight in the hallway shifting unnaturally and illuminating hundreds of invisible runes, which dematerialize the many feet of solid stone, and allow a pair of twenty foot tall 'grand golems' to sedately thunder through, their tremendous bulk and flowing capes making them easily audible and visible from a long ways away, descending the elevator one at a time to the second floor. Since they'd committed to remaining hidden and still, the alert level doesn't rise at all. Slipping into another hallway, previously guarded by said grand golems. The moon outside casts ghostly white rays through the many arched windows, despite the fact that there should be no hallway here whatsoever, far extending past the dimensions of the third floor. Worst of all, the longer they walk towards the light issuing from the open doorway at the end, the more apparent it becomes that they're not getting anywhere. Infinite hallway.
Maksim Messerglas	Maksim holds his breath, because he's clutching his face, where his bloodied nose is. It hurts like a bitch. Josie and Dismas, a bit more experienced in dangerous situations like this -- not much more, given the hyper-specific circumstances, but more -- do it by reflex. The golems trundle along sedately, like small mountains out for a stroll. They do not become part of the geological processes of this place, mostly by virtue of being outside their patrol path. Once they've moved, the trio quickly moves through the opening into the next hallway. They hurry through ghostly rays of light, past windows that shouldn't exist, towards a door at the end of a hallway extending into the distance. They hurry through ghostly rays of light, past windows that shouldn't exist, towards a door at the end of a hallway extending into the distance. They hurry through -- "We're not getting any closer," Dismas mutters with a necessary follow-up curse. Maksim turns and looks back the way they came, then forward again, then to Josephine. The trinket-laden lady opens her biggest satchel, drawing out a cylindrical, perforated object on a heavy metal chain. She strikes a spark nearby with something small and metallic in one hand, casting it into the interior. Smoke starts to issue out of the censer, rendered blue and hazy in the moonlight. She murmurs a quiet chant as she waves it this way and that, slowly striding forward towards the exit, her own esoteric expertise finally coming into play while Dismas and Maksim exchange tense, skeptical looks.
Starbound Flotilla	"Alright, alright... There! We got it, let's book it!" George whisper-calls in a tense way, stowing the elaborate glass case entirely in his Matter Manipulator. They were hoping to have Moonfin simply transcribe it, but if those glyphs shift too much... Well, just gotta pack it up! Looks like upstairs needs the help! The Flotilla swiftly wrap their restoration work (if someone looks closely, they'll find that Moonfin has done extensively dedicated recreation of important engravings and improved any sites of worn-down precision throughout the area) and book it. Pavo flies up. Gotta take the heat off of the ROOF ENTRANCE AREA so that Maksim can get out easier! She keeps her golden holo-gem wings on low brightness as she descends, directing Biteblade and George as they climb an exterior wall. With the three of them working together, they start looking for pursuers or investigators who would obstruct it, and during their patrols, they use the intimate knowledge they've gained of this area's architecture to rapidly and precisely build fake structural recreations of this area's aesthetic nature, to make those who are looking to get eyes on the exit lose their way and think they've made a mistake. These should decay pretty quick, at least; they're all made of George's fancy hull-foam, after all!
Captain Flint	Once it's clear that their allies have the Register, Flint and Silver, curiously, have a convincing enough portrayal of 'apologetic new blood.' They shy away from those awkward stares, Silver offering a paltry excuse to leave. Together, they take whichever route is likely to avoid attention, maintaining the same obeisances they see of others as they pass by icons, shrines and other such places of note within the church. The two of them attempt exit from the Flotilla's route, so as to avoid bumping into the high priest that's speaking with Yuuki. They make a show of saying goodbye to each other, though in truth, all they really do is split up. Each one takes his own path through the innards of the city, back, not to the staging point, but to secluded locations out of sight of the church. There, they radio the Walrus crew waiting at the staging point, who bring their clothes and weapons back to them. If it all goes according to plan, they'll have made a clean exit.
Tomoe	Tomoe is very thankful for the aid that the starbounders give. This will let the job get done much faster now. With Seft's aid and George's long and storied history of safe carking, it should not be too bad. She will go from prime spot to prime spot as she's directed. Work carries on and thanks to Flint's own actions? They don't get crashed in on. So the work is slow but steady the pace is, she'll look to the starbounders. "You should take it, you work directly for our patron in this affair." Once the item is secured she's going to be squeezing out of here and following after the Starbound Captains it seems to be working with sticking with them. She brings some things to the table to help them and they bring things. Which helps cover her own flaws. Oh if she had some of Esien's old abilities right now... She sees that the Flotilla is done so she'll follow them out, she'll fly out after him Tomoe will use her moblity to get around and help Pavo find spots to build her distractions, hopefully this will help speed her up. Then in turn aid Masaim to be able to get things done.
Eryl Fairfax	Eryl arrives to a scene in dissaray. Guzma is wrecking whatever ritual keeps them going, and there are too many oncoming to deal with. Eryl rushes towards the elevator as it descends and leaps into the shaft, grabbing the rising cord to ascend and pointing his finger up to fire a bullet into whatever pulley facilitates the movement . Not to break it, but only to jam it and prevent these golems from getting into the second floor. From there, he begins to climb up to reach the third floor and go join Maksim in getting to the catalyst.
Guzma	As soon as smashing the ritual does not take out the golems,, Haunter having regrouped as it passed by with Eryl and returned to its ball, the group freaks out as Every Single Golem is coming after them. With Eryl coming, stopping the pursuit of more, and then immediately leaving, Guzma's out of his depth - he has no way to screw with the runes without making a bigger scene, so... "Scram! We'll lead them out and then get out of here!" Team Skull bursts for the balcony, moving to parkour off it, and then start dashing away down the roads, trying to lose heat.
Priscilla	Guzma absconds from the balcony with a hell of a commotion on his tail. He can hear the golems picking up the pace behind him, somehow managing a jogging pace, with the expected level of noise. He leaps from it just before any human spots him, leaving the exit at a high level of risk on Orange Alert. Something of the same can be said for Eryl, though he's further from ground zero, and can move faster and more subtly than Guzma's goon squad and pokemon besides. The elevator is a smooth ride up, but the sudden grinding jolt at the top as he sabotages it is loud enough to have echoed and drawn some attention, leaving the route behind him at High Yellow Alert. Together, the golem hub has been left in a state of High Red Alert, certainly unsafe for anyone else to go near, tactically compromised in the extreme. He's able to skirt past the investigative party up top, thanks to Pavo and Tomoe working together to confound their progress and sense of direction, coincidentally very easily done by some knowledge of 'weird hallways' up here, which Maksim's party is currently stuck encountering. They have to keep it up for a dangerous level of time before their occultic powers, hiding the start from the end and the end from the start in the warped space, have their desired effect. Below, Flint's men manage to slip by all the way through the routes they came up, leaving the eastern wing at a higher state of Yellow Alert, but ultimately their exit as 'mere pilgrims' is clean and their work uninterrupted. Up above, exfiltrating Maksim's party requires going back the way they came. The group enters into one final room, god knows where in space, where a far balcony looks over a sea of foggy mountains that certainly aren't here, where the moon is both on the horizon like the sun setting, and unnaturally massive and bright. Three simple pedestals present three items of darkly burnished, nearly black gold; a headpiece that obscures the upper face with an artistically designed solar face and equidistant radiating rays, a shortbow of contoured and intertwined metal boughs, styled with its own rays along the outer edge, and strung with silver, and a short staff styled as the same, with a suspended black jewel at its tip shaped again like a sun, cut partway to show a crescent moon simultaneously. All three of them are intensely magical. Removing the Catalyst, already described to them as the staff, causes them to be bodily thrown from the room and hurled back down the infinite corridor. Some precaution against a single person going rogue and taking all three pieces of regalia, no doubt. It's quite dramatic, and reinforces the final chamber to a level of Red Alert, and escaping through the skylight again, leaving the fake interior to dissolve again and those trapped anxiously and suspiciously within to find the final chamber sealed and undisturbed, strains plausibility, but the last members are able to escape under mere Orange Alert. Then, just about at the time Yuuki has somehow bumbled a begrudging agreement out of the people she's just trying to stall they all together disappear into the night. The church is halfway to a mess of commotion, but there are no concrete sightings of anyone. A jammed elevator is possibly explained by the golems running around on the fritz, that too possibly attributable to the disruption of the Hub, and a lot of people left scratching their heads at the summons of the Bell. Enough to suspect some kind of intentional meddling, but not strictly from any outside number. Without special intervention either. Not bad.
Tomoe	The moment Tomoe is aware that Maksim and their team is done? She will look to Pavo for a moment, confident that the Starbounders can get out. It's time for her to leave, too she'll pull out a strange glowing crystal mutters "Alne" With that she'll vanish in a very brief set of glowing rings, teleporting away leaving no further trace that she was here.