Sutoratosu

The woman took the commlink, examining it for a few moments "Hmmm, I don't think whipping something up to give our friends beyond the wall something to think about will be very hard at all. A few squads running will be the least of their worries by the time I'm done..." with that said she turned to Magna- yet another undead, just like the lich. "As for the team and the plan- funny you'd ask. I'm actually going to need you to find the others who've been assigned and bring them back here. You've probably been running with this brigade longer than I have, so you'll have a better chance of actually knowing who they are. Once you've got them, we can talk; it'll be easier once I know what each of them can do. In the meantime, I'll help the other teams got moving out of here."

Tesla grumbled something under her breath, looking away "David..." she said simply. "It... broke or something, when wally's dad jumped down from the stands to... get me off of him. David's making me fix it as an apology... or something. Not like I'm really that sorry about decking him." With that said, she flipped the watch upright and stared at the still cracked face. Hey, the mechanic had only ever said she needed to get it functional again, not that she had to fix any cosmetic damage. With an almost disinterested scowl, she tossed it over her shoulder, and it promptly landed in the open knapsack sitting on the bed, tools and other assorted mechanical components spilling out. "Besides, what keepsake? Nobody had anything where I was... all there was was the moss... and each other I guess..." The memories were still freshly branded in her mind, how they'd all been released together, sent out into the wastes with nothing but the rags on their back. How they wandered aimlessly, living off the sparse growths that dotted the void... even if the beginning of the tale- of how and why exactly they had all been changed and cast out -was something that only came to her in hectic, brief flashes and glimpses, the ending of that particular story still remained largely clear. The ending only she was around to even talk about. "....Up until David found me, I didn't even have a real name...none of us ever did. Just numbers....we just kept calling each other by em, after they let us out..."

"Dear mother of god..." the rider had whispered to himself, as the Scout finished his tale and the entire vessel had quaked from the impact of the very weapons the man had just described. Yes... this had indeed been exactly what the elders showed him earlier... "Well... I suppose this is our welcoming party. Try and hunker down for now. I'm going up topside." The smoke was just clearing the air as he ascended the stairs and caught sight of the augmented artillery upon the opposite deck. Erce had already taken flight and circled back around- looking at the impact site now, it struck Marek that had she'd not acted on instinct and taken off when she did, she'd likely have been right in the epicenter of the blast. Thankfully the old gal had been more than capable of sensing the enemy vessel. It seemed the others had already taken point as well. Pulling himself atop her back as the wyvern landed in front of him, he called to the Elder Ones once, and only once, gave the exact description of his weapon right down to the very smallest detail of the most negligible ding and scratch it had accumulated over so many hours locked in heated combat. There in his hands it blossomed into being with a burst of black fire. The world began to invert it's colors, as the Elder Ones filled his vision with countless predictions, paths upon paths and contingencies upon contingencies, as fractured and numerous as the states of an old german confederacy. "Yeh yeh, just don't miss that shot, mate." F28, Hack up Mymidion 1 with Halberd, Canto to G28

Ghost nodded and finally dropped the temporary spatial anomaly, depositing Ritsu back into the actual world as almost immediately the robot appeared before Iyllia as if she'd been there the whole time, the summoner meanwhile looking not the least bit surprised. With the testing done, she turned back to the girl. "Thats my name. But I've some important matters to discuss at the moment." And with that said, she walked past the girl and to the talking slab, not so much as even looking at the others present- time was of the essence after all "You there, talking slab, Lotus, was it? I've devised a method to get people out of here, undetected and without having to even open the gates or give any sign about our plans. My testing with that maid just now has proven my theory possible, on a smaller scale. If I draw from the leylines beneath this fortress and then extend my own abilities to hide them, they'll be free to move towards their targets, unrestricted by any physical obstacles, terrain, and unable to harm or be harmed by any of the fodder outside until they get where they need to be. Getting back though- if they get back at all, will be entirely up to them however. By that point they'll be too far for me to repeat the process on them." She paused, letting the slab take it all in, before "And so it seems you all have already drafted up a group roster. What was decided on for my team's goal? I've been busy concentrating on getting this deployment-tactic operational, and the girl who sought me out didn't bother mentioning anything about our specific objective."

"Try to... move around, go somewhere..." Ghost still rubbed her temples, but at least the maid seemed to understand her admittedly cryptic explanations. Better than she herself did at least. She pointed out towards a spot up on the wall- the exact same one she had used to get a vantage of the field, in fact. "Like up there. Just... focus on a place or general direction you want to go, and you should start moving towards it on your own. The...harder you concentrate, the faster it'll be. And don't worry about any obstacles in the way; Like I said, nothing can touch you in there. And another thing, if you focus on a wall, barrier, really anything that happens to block your view of what's on the other side, it should start to fade a little, go... translucent I guess. let you glimpse what's beyond it."

Tesla looked up from the watch casing and components she'd been working on when Deb walked into the room, placing the delicate tools down on the desk as she removed the googles- silver housings with amber lenses that seemed to burn with unnatural light -from her face. From the looks of it, the thing was a pocket model, old, scratched and dinged along its exterior, its face cracked. Tesla for the most part seemed to have finished whatever work she was doing to it, snapping something into place on it's back and putting the rear face plate back into place. It began to tick almost immediately, filling the room with an almost ominous metronome of noise as she sat there, silent at first. Had Deb been closer, he might've noticed the initials "I.E." engraved on it. Come to think of it actually, hadn't he seen Wallace's father with a pocket watch not unlike it in the past? "I dunno..." The young tinkerer shrugged, "I just wanna get Vicky back from that creeper. And wall-...Everford too, I guess.... though I kinda wish we could just leave him. But it's not like we can do much else- Tobias had a point- if we just tried to chase after them from place to place, they'd always be gone by the time we get there. We needed some sort of plan before we just went charging off..." she paused, just for the briefest of moments.... "And it's not like any of the rest of you can walk the planes... so the train is the fastest option for the search, I guess..."

"..." There was a long, drawn out pause that dominated the air. The hand wrapped around her hilt seemed to grip it only tighter, tighter, and tighter still, as the inscriptions lining the blade gradually became alive with a sickly, almost otherwordly green light, as the veins in her hand throbbed. Finally however, the reign of silence was at an end, as she drew the enchanted weapon, the radiant aura surrounding it nigh blinding by that point. "I see..." "How very unfortunate for this knight then." Without even turning to look at the man she was firing upon, she lifted the blade, let the winds wrap around it's length for a moment, before a hurricane gale filled the space in between them, the torrents of razor-like air screeching like the countless victims of some ancient massacre. D3, Make an example out of Null Knight 3 with Gale Sword

"Uuuuuuuuh...." a long moment dragged on, as she thought about it, "I... I don't beleive that would work. Yes, they are attached me, and yes, I control them.... but well, look, this all outside of how I usually use this- its actually the first time I've made temporary pockets instead of opening the one I've always accessed... so its a little different from what I used to. But to put it simply, where I am... wouldn't actually matter to the people inside, I don't think. Think of it like this, Me... putting you into that pocket, it was llike... turning you into a ghost of sorts. You can move around free of physical limitations, you can see and perceive the world, but cant interact. The world can't see or hear you, and can't interact either. At its.... simplest, perhaps oversimplified, core, thats all I'm really doing. Keeping you a ghost. I can't actually move you though- that's up to you. If I were to walk say... to the gates and back, you'd still be standing right there- in fact." She cut off and did just that, maintaining the pocket dimension Ritsu had been placed in. As the robot watched, her position would not have changed in the least bit, unless she had decided to actively follow ghost. By the time the Albino returned, she herself had a look of confusion on her face "By the gods, I didn't think it would be this hard... it's my own damn power, and I'm giving myself a headache trying to... decipher it from instinct well enough for someone else to understand. But you see what I mean. I moved just now. You didn't though. If we were using my own space that I usually do, then perhaps it would be a different story, since that one is always centered around my position... but we're not. Teleporting me wouldn't change anything, with a temporary one like what we're using... since well... you're the focus, the one who's actually using the pocket. I'm just the one providing the energy and concentration to keep you inside of it; I can put you in, make you untouchable and unseeable, and I can take you back out, make you touchable and seeable again, but I can't move you around remotely. Getting somewhere while the pocket space is still up- that's entirely up to you...." With that said, she actually sighed, rubbing her temples. Part of the tension headache was arising from trying to decode and put into words the very things she'd been doing on mere impulse and instinct since she was a little girl, and the stress from keeping Ritsu inside the thing certainly wasn't helping. "I'm sorry... Is any of this making sense? Might've been a mistake afterall..."

The moment Ritsu had stepped through the gateway, she'd totally vanished from the courtyard to all onlookers. Only Ghost herself had any inkling as to the robot's presence at all, looking right at her exact position, in fact. "Oh?" Ghost was a bit skeptical, but... "Well, moving around in it isn't... exactly like walking you see. It's not as much a matter of moving your legs in the direction you need to go, as it is moving your mind there, focusing on it... and the harder you do, the faster it'll happen. But if say, whatever you're about to propose is some form of instantaneous travel, I suppose it would still help... just what is it you have in mind?"

"what they are should have no bearing. So long as they have a mind of some sort to think with and move themselves." with that said, she wasted no time. She concentrated for a moment, held out a hand, and within it formed a shimmering sphere of air that slowly expanded as Ritus watched, until a full portal of distorted space stood before them, just big enough for the robot to enter. "Actually, it's not really getting someone in or out of one of these I'm most worried about..." She admitted, almost... sheepishly? "It's how long and how far I'll be able to maintain the concentration to keep projecting the space... spaces...multiple of them. There's easily miles and miles and army out there. It would be a relatively easy distance for just myself, but when I've got to divide myself between maintaining several pockets at once, and monitoring the parties inside each..." She shook her head "but that's neither here nor there at the moment, I suppose. If you step inside, I can get a feeling for how much I can manage on my own power at the moment. We can go from there." Again... there was that irony. If their full glory hadn't been lost, Ghost wondered if testing would've even been necessary. She'd taken others with her into her own space, from time to time, but that was different. For all intents and purposes, they were always right beside her, sharing the space, it was little more different than putting a bit extra concentration into things. Creating entirely new spaces though, even temporary ones, had been something she'd... never thought to attempt before, actually. No reason. She had tended to work most assignments either alone or with underlings who would have their own means of physically getting to the objective. Had never needed to piggyback anyone most of the time, and on the rare occasions she did... again, just toss them into her own. But even still, if she had back then, she was near certain she would've pulled it off with no issue... That was then though. This was now. The old her, both the part that served the desires of despots and shit eating, corruption spewing aristocracy, and the part that had turned it's fangs on it's masters and started to bite back... they were gone. Replaced by a mere shell- a shell with the same appearance, same mind, but barely a fraction of the raw might it had earned through harsh experience and practice over the decades. And so... such trivialities as this test were needed. Even if they just sufficed to remind her how far she'd fallen, the distance of her plumet... was still something she needed to know. If any of this was to work, or anything was to work in the future, she'd have to learn her absolute limits. All. Over. Again.

"Call me Ghost," she said, not particularly concerned with intros given their situation... "look, I'll make this brief. There's far too many... things lurking out there for any traditional method of stealth to get people out of the gates... the moment they open, the enemy will know something is amiss. What I intend to do however, is eliminate the need to open the gates at all, infact, remove all need to physically move on foot to." She held out a hand, showing it to the robot, before crouching down and plunging it right through the very cobblestones of the courtyard. The limb vanished all the way up to her mid bicep, but ghost simply stared at the maiden as if it were nothing. The next moment, the rest of her body plunged through the floor as well as if it she'd never been there to begin with- and try as might, Ritsu would find no manner of sensors or scans she may or may not possess could pick up any trace of the woman at all... Until a sudden voice from directly behind her announced her presence once again. "They call me ghost where I'm from for a good reason. What you just saw... well... hmmm... I've never... actually explained it before. But I can send myself into a different space, a pocket of space, you might say. And within that space, I can see and hear, and if I so desire, touch what's going on in the world, but the world can't see or hear or contact me back... It lets me become untraceable, a phantom, pass through whatever's in my way. What I want you to help me test, is creating a separate pocket of space than the one I usually use for myself, one that, hopefully, I can send other people into, and help them move about without drawing any attention. Like I said, it's nothing dangerous, in fact there's probably no place safer... and besides, I've been doing it since I was a child, whenever I had the chance. There should be no major issues that come up..." ======================= Aurora pursed her lips out of sheer curiosity, watching it all... so this was how the pale one had suddenly appeared in the fortress then, all battered and bloodied... interesting... she kept looking on from a distance, as the albino and the android talked...

Ghost walked past the growing group as a few lobbed questions at the talking slab, towards the end stopping to look at the girl and whatever the hell was possesing the device on her person "If its a means of escaping unnoticed you're worried about, don't be. Give me some time, and I'll have a way to get everyone past the worse of what's outside. I just need to a test or two before I can be certain." and with that said, she continued on, scanning the space for anyone who looked willing enough to take a bit of a stretch. What she eventually decided on was some strange... machine? bedecked in what she could only assume was a maid's outfit. Whatever she was, it was obvious she was likely part of the group. "You there," She projected her voice, directly speaking to the automaton like she was face to face with it as it walked about, seemingly in search of something, "How would you like to help me solve our little issue with getting out of here? It's nothing dangerous, that much I can assure you." ======================================= Following Dackly, Aurora largely shrugged at the debriefing- whatever the hell had been meant by heroes or identities and all the nonsense, she obviously had nothing she could much contribute; whatever world the beings hailed from, it was far different than her own. As for getting out of the place, she practically laughed at the mere question. She doubted there was any realistic way anyone would get more than a few meters outside of those gates before being swarmed by gods knew how many countless constructs- they'd barely made it into the damn place afterall. Though she supposed that if the witch from earlier wasn't put in the ground, that holding out here would be pointless either way. Wait or Run, it was a lose-lose. The only real difference was how brutally spectacular their deaths would be. So why not? The pale one's passing commentary in particular had peaked her interest. Breaking off from the pot and dackly- at this point, no amount of enchanted arrows would do much to change things in the long run anyway -she stalked off behind the woman as she searched for a gueani pig.

With nothing really changing as the moments dragged on, Marek eventually stepped away from the railing. Only a few hours more, and they'd be fighting their way towards the palace. There were still a few questions that needed answering though, before they got there. It would doubtlessly make the assault easier if they knew what to expect and how prepared the invaders were. After a few minutes of searching the ship, he finally found the messenger who had been sent to fetch them days ago, "Ho there, brother" he hailed as he neared, "Won't be very long now till we're there. Look, I know you're probably shaken up by all of this, but I got a few questions I gotta ask you, before we make landfall. What can ya tell me about the Attack? Anything at all, just... start from the beginning and explain what happened before you were sent to find us."

as the boy and the Talking Slab busied themselves briefing the rest of the group, Ghost had gone up along the wall once she'd returned to the courtyard. If she was going to create any sort of opening once the scryers had found the Servants in question and the teams were assembled, she'd first need a idea of the scope of the killing field. While true, they'd all been out in the thick of it not long ago, when one was riding atop a floating platform of books that was threatening to be overwhelmed in fire and crash to the ground, busy intercepting enemy spells and simply trying to survive, you didn't really stop to bother just observing the sheer magnitude of everything around you. You focused on whatever was immediately trying to tear you apart, if you wanted to live. What she saw however, immediately made her rethink just how to go about her idea. Stretching out for literal miles and miles around the place, the army of constructs easily outnumbered any battlefield of any war she'd ever seen on her world by several of magnitude, at the very least. An Infinite supply indeed. Of course it had dawned her a rough estimate of how many were present while they were fleeing, but up here, without any distraction, with so clear a view... that guess had been snapped into pieces like it was nothing. She had come down from the wall and back to the courtyard proper shaking her head. To hell with making a distraction, even with the power of the leylines, scaling her original idea of calling down a storm of great enough magnitude to make a large enough difference would be far more energy intensive than was sane to pursue. It would be both simpler and more cost efficient to help them sneak their way out, at least past the forces immediately surrounding the fortress. And almost immediately, her mind leapt to her own ability, her Matipraskara- her gift. If she could create temporary pockets of space for each team to hide themselves in as they moved towards their objective, not much unlike the persistent one she used for herself to phase into and out of the plane and avoid detection... yes... yes... perhaps it could work. She just needed to work out the finer points...

"Finally, getting something actually done..." Ghost turned and walked out of the door after him. It was time to find a few helpers, and see just what things were like beyond the wall- of course there'd been ample opportunity earlier when they were out in the thick of it... but well, when one was riding on a burning platform made of books with smoke, spells, and the general haze of war clogging the air, not to mention visciosly fighting off enemy attacks in an attempt to survive... well, such a situation didn't really lend itself to taking in the full scope of the battle field.

Darkness. Darkness fading, as grey filled the world. Slowly, the fencer opened her eyes, and looked around. The smell of burned ozone still lingered, along with the hint of charred flesh, but her body no longer screamed. She looked down at her arm, and to her her surprise, it was still there. Her hand however... She flexed the fingers. At first, there was no response, then slowly, they extended, curled back, extended again. Numb, tingling, the only thing she could feel. It was as if she were an outside observer to it's cumbersome movements... quite literally, given how it tremored. She flexed her shoulder next, and was relieved that at least the arm itself seemed fine. She tried to ball the thing into a fist. It just barely managed the motion, still shaking. Scowling, she rose to her feet, "Thank You..." two words, practically whispered. It was all she said to emilee. In silence, she looked at the lingering effects of the mage's handiwork one last time, let the hand fall back to her side, and braced the other hand on the hilt of one of the blades at her side. Almost as if contrast to it's sister limb, it's grip turned the skin bone white, trembling as well, but not out of weakness, not out of infirmity. Quite the opposite, in fact. And so to did her whole body, as she stood there. Her eyes for once betraying nothing of the thoughts brewing just behind their lenses. "... Is that bastard still alive?" she asked, to anyone who might happen to be in earshot "please,Tell me he is...."

Name: Dr. Sigmus Vuclair Alignment: Coalition Race: Dragon (Mind-affinity) Class: Thaumaturgist Base Stats: Str 5 (+9)= 14 Dex 5(-4)=1 Int 20 =20 Con 11 (+3)=14 Will 17=17 Char 7=7 Final Stats: ||14/1/20/14/17/7|| Bonuses: ||+2/-3/+4/+2/+3/-1|| Attributes: Level 2 HP: 24 (4+14 base;+6 per level) Mana Pool: 30 (5+17 base; +8 per level) Speed: 4 (3+14/4+2)(-2 from armor) Eva: 1 (10-3-6) Skills: 0/6 exp Psionic Breath (Racial) All dragons possess natural access to some form of breath weapon, and Vuclair is no exception. This racially granted skill fires off a blast of psionic force against a single target, forcing a [Will vs Will] Check. Should they make the save, the target only takes 1d4 pure damage, should they fail however, they take 3d4 pure damage. Battle Incantation A ritual using Incantations and Tonal Architecture to bolster the fighting abilities of one's allies. This Ritual requires no physical components or reagents but does require the verbal component of the User's Chants. Expends 3 mana per turn active, and lasts as long as the user chooses to continue paying its Mana Cost. Allies within a 5m radius will receive a bonus to their Accuracy, Damage, and Evasion equal to the Caster's Level for it's duration. Vis Vitae A Ritual using Tonal Architecture to increase the natural healing rate of one's self and their allies. This Ritual can be cast using either incantations, or stored for later via use of Runes. When activated, the user declares an amount of mana (minimum of 3) to expend on the process. The ritual duration lasts 1 round per 5 points of ritual check result, non stacking, and while active, the user and any allies within a 5m radius will regenerate health equal to [xd6(+Will Bonus)], with x being equal to every 3 points of Mana declared at it's casting. Mind Mastery Allows control of psychic forces through Magic. You declare an amount of mana to spend, and then make a check of your will check against that of your target, receiving a bonus equal to 1/3 the mana you expended. If you succeed, The target will fall under your influence, and must obey any order you say or psychically project for this round. Chain Lightning A Metal Evocation that sends lightning coursing out towards the target, and potentially those unlucky enough to be nearby as well. Deals 1d6 electrical Damage per every 3 Mana spent. The evocation can strike another target for every 9 Mana spent. Knowledge: 4/24 pts (8+4 per level) Overcharge:[5] You may overcharge your current rituals, or those being cast by an ally, with your mana in an attempt to grant them greater power. Declare an amount of extra Mana to expend, up to [Knowledge], and make a [Willpower+Knowledge] Check, with the difficulty set by the GM. If you succeed, whatever rituals in question will have a direct bonus added to their effects, equal to the amount of extra Mana you declared. If you fail, the Ritual will immediately fail, and you and any allies/enemies within a 5m radius will take damage equal to 1.5x the amount of extra Mana used. Regardless of the outcome, this process cannot be attempted again until you have Rested (8 hours sleep or equivalent) Tonal Architecture (Knowledge):[10] The user has extensive knowledge of the various esoteric frequencies and wavelengths which make up the fabric of the universe, acquired through years of careful study, experimentation, and observations. They are versed both in the audible components of said frequencies (Words of Power), and their corresponding visual representations (Runes), and gain a bonus equal to the points invested in this Knowledge on any checks involving them (Ex, Rune Scribe attempts) Rune Scribe (Knowledge): [5] Drawing on knowledge of Tonal Architecture, You may scribe or draw Runic symbols and magical formulas onto an object or surface within your reach, making a [Willpower]+[Knowledge] check to imbue said object or location with an Enchantment. The difficulty is set by the GM, and the enchantment will last for as long as the scribed symbols remain intact. One must have either some form of material to draw said symbols with (Blood, Ink and Paper, Paint, Chalk, etc), or have a tool powerful enough to penetrate whatever material they are inscribing. Aura of Authority (Knowledge): [4] It seems to many that over the long, long, loooooooooooong course of your service as a naval officer, that you naturally exude a diffusing aura of reassurance and confidence. Maybe it's because your a millenniums old dragon who's seen more than his fair share of shit hit the fan and isn't surprised by much, or perhaps it's because you have a literal PHD in tonal Architecture and Mind Magic. Regardless, you've the needed knowledge and ability to systematically examine and suppress the psychological impulses that might lead your subordinates to infight or panic, making a potentially bad situation even worse, and this knowledge can be applied to keep over situations from boiling over as well, or at least attempt to. When Interacting with other Lifeforms who are agitated, panicked, paranoid, etc., you may make a check of your [Intelligence] against their [Willpower], using this [Knowledge] as a Direct Bonus. If you succeed, the target becomes calm, collected, and far less likely to go doing something stupid out of raw emotion. Personal Gear:

The smile fades and is replaced by a hard look, the stare of a woman who's grown tired of such idle negotiations and is ready to finally do something to change the situation she's found herself in. The sphere of pure essence remains in her hand "Fine, but it has to be kept quick- she has a point. Every moment spent standing here, just talking about a plan instead of actually putting one into action, is one that our window to do anything at all in wanes. We've already taken more than enough time, by my assessment." That said, she turned and headed towards the door, clutching her fist closed and dismissing the energy she'd drawn- not even a mere fraction of a fraction of the vast wellspring waiting beneath the fortress. "I'll find a few of the more mystically inclined to help me create an opening for the rest of you, ensure it goes smoothly. And besides, having the more magically-versed among us going after this murderous witch is probably wise. Once you've all prepared and have made it out, we'll mobilize ourselves."

"I dunno. Back in tempest, they seemed to just sorta... bump into us as an attack or something. Like I said, it was... kinda annoying. And bizarre. But-" she turned and looked at the blob, a look half between skepticism and a willingness to fry him in an instant on her face, "Well, you got anything else to your name besides bumping into people? Nows the time to show i-" Before tesla could even finish the waddle doo leapt up into the air, summersaulting before a strange twinkle came to his eye, and the instant immediately after something resembling a cross between a whip, a lightning bolt, and a laser emerged from his eye, filling the air with the stench of burned ozone and the deafening crack of lightning and thunder. As he landed, the whip construct faded, and the little blob turned and gave a deep bow to his audience. "Well damn. Never saw him do that during the fights...ya know what, I take everything back. There's definitely stuff I could use it for... yeh, I think this might just work out- if you agree to become my little assistant." She smirked, getting down to eye level with the thing "We got a deal, little dude?" The waddle doo nodded without skipping a beat, giving tesla a salute that actually looked fairly well executed. "Good" She nodded and stood back up. "That still leaves the issue of where we are and what's happened though. Anyone got any ideas?"

"Well, if it's squads we're doing, there'll need to be an opening to get them out into the field- without being slaughtered as soon as they leave the gates" As she spoke, her voice carried a peculiar undertone to it- a resonating tone that not even the keenest ears in the room would've picked up, but anyone with a decent sense for magic could likely detect. With one palm held open, a sphere of pure white pulsating essence formed there, ebbing and flowing like the tides of a sea, and a smile on her face bloomed with it, "at the very least, I could use these leylines to provide a distraction- a very large distraction -that should hopefully be enough to cover their deployment. And if no one else feels up to the task, I suppose I could try and find this supposed 'Assassin'. It's been a long time since I hunted a fellow killer..."

There was a glimmer in her eyes as the endorphins started pumping, looking at the small drones with even more interest than ever. The smile on her face only got wider "Oh, I'm gonna have lots of fun with these guys then, I can just tell." it faded a bit at the mention of the... resource issue however "Yeh, that... is something pretty big I've noticed around here to. At some point a few of us are gonna have to find a way to get easy access to more raw materials, even better if we could make them ourselves. Hell, this whole place is in pretty desperate need of renovation... with their help at least, it'll be alot easier." with that said, she turned to the others in the room, finally ready to address the elephant in the room. "And uh, talking about the castle and all. Anyone got any ideas what the hell to do besides just wait for... something? I mean sure, we've already got the cannons fixed and working, but there's still the problem of what happened to everyone. That guy right there is the only one I could find when I went out searching" before she could even make the motion, the Waddle Doo by her side jabbed a stubby pointer in the direction of Mot with a special type of enthusiasm, as if it brought pride to his heart to help. "oh... then there's this thing too." she continued. "I kinda... summoned him I guess? Where we went, there were a bunch of little buggers like him invading the Planes, pretty damn annoying to fight. Some of em dropped these weird trophies though, and well... one thing led to another while I was examining one. Who knows, he might be useful" The waddle ceased his pointing at mot and nodded happily at the notion "Or maybe he won't be, and all I might just end up blasting him into oblivion, like I did the first time..." if the little blob heard that last part, he certainly gave no indication of it...

"Well, that was certainly something," Aurora watched with... a hint of a smirk as the bolt unleashed it's power, "and I suppose you have a fair point. Even humans like these wouldn't be short sighted enough to unleash the limited supply we give them on the ones who aren't trying to currently kill them. So..." without another word, Aurora got busy conjuring another sphere of starlight to fuel the pot, as Dackly went about distributing the blessed arrows.

The spider thought about for a moment. On the one hand, they were all a bunch of damn human knights, and human knights and her had most certainly never meshed well in the past; twas only natural she felt some reservations about suddenly gifting them with arrows blessed with any sort of power she might be able to give. But on the other hand... they were all stuck here out of necessity for the time being, and if those constructs managed to finally overwhelm the defenses and seize the gates, they would not discriminate over who they slaughtered. They had proven that much well enough already. "If I'm honest, I don't much like this idea..." She muttered, but held out a hand nonetheless and leting the crystal embedded in her palm flare to life regardless. Immediately, a small sphere of burning starlight erupted from the prism, pulsating and shedding the area around them with brilliant radiance "giving them something they could potentially turn right back onto us once this mess is over or they decide for whatever insane reason their chances of survival would be better if they killed us. But... if it will help keep those things outside at bay a bit longer... fine." With that said, the sphere of light launched itself into the pot, vanishing from sight as it melted down into the conceptual stew that was brewing.... "This is the same type of fire that burns at the heart of stars- positive energy focused into searing light and radiance. These things... feel far too different from undead to be one and the same, but... I think it will still be better than whatever piddly bolts these fleshbags are already using."

The spider- for as she emerged from the cover of shadows, it soon became very clear that was precisely what she was -leaned in close to the machines face, looking into it's bored, soulless eyes and holding her gaze there for several moments before finally pulling away. Her own eyes burned with a fierce emerald radiance as if in perfect contrast to the lifeless demeanor of the construct before her, as she turned back to Walmond "Nope, not a soul to be found. How disappointing..." She sighed, "but it certainly explains why she looks so... well, Blank..." she looked as though she was about to say something else, but there came another voice into the conversation, one she'd not heard in a while. "Hm?" She turned her eyes to the snake, half perplexed by whatever fever dream she was about to conjure and honestly somewhat more engaged by the idea of engaging in said fever dream than continuing to puzzle over the machine, She glanced back to the construct and then its maker "well... I suppose I have other matters to attend to now..." With that said, she made her way over to the gorgon, staring at the pot as it was being prepared "Now, just what is it you're going to do here?"

Ghost had already more or less excused herself from their conversation by that point. She may have still been in the room physically, but her mind had set to focusing on matters far more engaging than the history of world she'd never known or even heard of before. She'd closed her eyes, and gradually, blocked out everything in the surrounding environment; every word, every color, every sensation, until at long last, the veil that was reality was stripped before her eyes, and all that stop before her, in it's stark, naked glory, was the true inner workings of this world... It's Tonal Architecture. The ethereal resonances of all things that existed within it; the grass, the trees, the ground, even the many skeletal soldiers outside the fortress and the very people she was sharing the room with right now. She opened them again, and they shined with crimson light, their gaze distant, removed, as if she were in a trance, asleep with her eyes open. No longer was the a place of color, of vision, but one of sound. Pure, unadulterated sound, sound the likes of which, ordinary ears and minds could not even hope to perceive, sound the likes of which could very well change the very nature of the world itself, if one knew what notes to replicate, and in what order. They came in Pulses, and those pulses mingled together to form rhythms, and those rhythms to form hymns. And each Hymn, but a mere verse in the far grander song of creation itself. A Chord. A Resonance. Ghost could feel herself becoming lighter already, adrift in the sea of ancient, sacred noise, carried along it's currents, touring the many resonances all around. The Noble Woman, her's strong, resolute, like the blast of trumpets in the hail of a king's return from war, yet at the same time, something felt... hollow to it. As if beyond the surface, the Hymn changed, so significantly, it might not even be recognizable as one and the same. But Ghost cared not for the noble woman. And so she moved on before she could be bothered to listen any further. Next were the others in the room- the three who had accompanied her from the larger group. The Apparent Officer's, hers was not unlike the Noblewoman's, but Ghost sensed... something faded, something that once held far more sway within the mingled resonances of her song, but had already lost much of it's grip... and seemed for all the world to be losing even more as time went on. And from the traces of it that remained, it sounded like something black, twisted, the choking, mangled screams of countless... an acoustic burst of helpless fervor, that left her feeling as empty as the day she'd been told her child was dead and the mistrust that had been growing for her liege had been proven justified. And for that reason, and that reason alone, Ghost was glad for the Angel. Whatever her story might have been, she had obviously triumphed over the worse of the demons that once held her down. Ghost only hoped she would have an opportunity to know the same triumph, someday. But she knew she would not. Not until things were answered, and many men were dead or wishing that death would visit them, but knowing the cry of his pale steed would never grace their ears. Then, the boy with the crown. His was by far, the most complex of all them. A hymn that despite it's overall Genial Nature, certain rhythms... were off key with their brethren. As if marred, scarred and withered by something, she did not know. But that was not the complex part. No, it was the many, many hymns that she sensed, all connecting to his own in a way that she had never seen before, not outside of the likes of Devas and their contracted Callers. But yet, even still, so vastly different, she knew not what to make of them. Either way, this... boy... this child whom she had kept free of harrying fire while he'd focused on playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with so many of the officers during their flight to this fortress... there was something far more to him than there seemed. The Last she turned her ears to were there girl and the talking slab she carried. What she heard, did not surprise her. The slab's verse was like a military cadence, succinct, clear, driven with purpose. But it was also a cadence song with cynicism and snark. As if by soldiers who may have mouthed words about power and valor, but in the end knew, that either some or all of them would not make it home alive from whatever battlefield they would find themselves in, and so would take whatever chance they had to feel at least somewhat in control of their destinies, defiant of whatever fate might have in store. The girl meanwhile was in stark contrast. Her Hymn was quiet, soft, almost... subdued by that of her companions. like the sweet nothings whispered upon a spring wind. But warm nonetheless, like a mother's lullaby. Something kind about it, but at the same time, it felt like something fragile, that acted at times as if it were solid stone. But a reliable stone nonetheless. There was not much more to hers than that. Finally however, Ghost had enough of her touring. It was time for business, time to get to the reason she'd drowned out the physical world to perceive it's hidden innerworkings to begin with. She turned her ear to the very earth itself. And like a mammoth's cry of acknowledgement, there they were. All of them, coalescing beneath the structure just as the Noble had said. Roaring, drowning noise, they were a mingled and chaotic mess, bearing a resonance that seemed constructed of a little of just about all things this world had to offer. For these lines, had been to all places it was possible for one's feet to carry, and then some. For all intents and purposes, they seemed to be the nexus of existence, carrying traces of everything. And the Resonance they carried... was massive. Even through all the chaos though, she picked up on a pattern that seemed to dominate and subjugate the rest into the background. And what she heard was the story of an entire world, far bigger than the mere sliver they had found themselves stranded in. A world that had existed for a great many eras, and if left to it's own devices, would likely see a great many more, regardless who held the reigns of power on one continent, who fought wars with whom. A tale of a wild realm, that had never been subdued by it's inhabitants, but was merely waiting for their squabbles to someday run it's course, that it may swallow up that which they had originally taken from it to begin with, and return to the state in which it was in the days before there dwellers to even fill its space. And that... was what she needed. To understand. To hear. So that she might replicate, and alter. Taking a single breath, she let reality flood back in, her other senses again alive and flaring with the sudden onslaught of stimuli- light, heat, touch, the scent of sconces burning and the taste of the war torn air. But she bore it like was nothing at all. For to her, it was. Years, nay, decades spent delving beneath the surface, this rush was nothing like she hadn't already experienced in the times gone by. Tama however, shuddered at the sheer extent of what they had heard. What they had felt. And shuddered even more when he recalled just how very capable Ghost was of ensuring he'd not taste a single of any of that power. But he had to admit. She was a smart woman. A very smart woman. At times, she knew him too well... She noted the Deva's reaction. And felt all the more resolute that whatever her plan would be when she actually drew from it, the Tiger would have no direct part.