[IC] TotMV:G2: The Battered Hero

[Strider]

Edmond stuck his hands in his pockets, and stepped over to the doorway to the office, delicately avoiding a few scattered papers on the ground. He leaned against the wall next to the door.

"Yes, Edmond's my name. I came here because some of the people from the village mentioned installing some form of engine, and I thought I might assist them. I have little familiarity with the magic that so many people wield here, but I have some technical knowledge, so I thought I might be of some use. I presume you're searching blueprints or a manual of some sort?"

From the where he was leaning next to the doorway looking outward, Edmond could see only a small fraction of the engine. However, it seemed to consist primarily of an old-fashioned electric motor passing extending through multiple rooms. It probably connects gearshaft to supply torque to the treads somewhere...It's certainly enhanced by magic at the very least...Something of this size might work in the real...in my world, but it would be incredibly inefficient. This is going to be one heck of a job.

Edmond leaned down and picked some pieces of paper off the floor. He carefully dusted them off, making sure to not break the antique parchment.

They appeared to be a fragment of a report on some maintenance for the power source. Probably the small sparking reactor we fought earlier?

 

"I think this is some kind of report? They were planning some type of maintenance on the power source..."

Edited January 24, 2017 by Strider

[DragonRage]

[In the Barracks]

"I will gladly help you," Alexandria tells Dimitri and Theo, "However, at the moment I have somewhat more pressing concerns."  She holds up her eye, with the piece of shrapnel in it.  "I believe I will require assistance with this.  I am certain you would prefer I assist you with depth perception.  Being a machine does not make me infallible."

----------------------

[Out in front of the castle-tank]

A brilliant flash of light briefly renders the area greyscale for a few seconds, sending an electric feeling through everyone assembled's skin/outer layers/whatever they have.  An extremely pale woman steps from the center of the light show, the fading illumination gleaming off the steampunk chemistry lab she seems to have strapped to herself.  Oh, and there are two pairs of big, white, feathery wings on her back, and a glowing halo hovering around her head at eye level.  That kind of draws the eye.

 

The woman looks around, takes a deep breath, and then sighs.  "Urza's bones, I don't recognize this plane," She mutters faintly, then calls out to the assembled individuals in a louder, friendlier tone, "I don't suppose any of you could tell me where I am?  I seem to have... botched a teleportation spell.  Should've used less red, probably."

[S34N1C]

Theodore

 

"Ouch, when did that happen? Tell me if there's something I can do to assist with getting rid of it."

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki looked somewhat startled at Venus's appearance; she'd been thinking, not paying attention to her surroundings. Is it really a good idea to talk to him? He seems . . . off. Like, artists are supposed to be kinda weird, but he's scary off. Still, you're supposed to be polite, and we are on the same team. . . "Um, yes."

[Sutoratosu]

Aurora

 

Perplexed could not begin to describe her expression as the fleshbag left. Apparently he wanted her to melt down the gold he'd set aside. And apparently, he wanted her to... use a very small... casing, he'd called it? And he mentioned... a potato as well. She... didn't quite know what to do now. She'd only ever seen spuds used as food or seeds to be sewn into the earth in order to gain more food, from her occasionally spying on human farmsteads from afar whenever their party had passed close to one. The other suggested material, she'd never seen before the battles of today, when so many individuals had been firing their strange sticks of metal and other materials... 

     She left both of them alone, turning her attention instead to the gold itself. There wasn't terribly much of it. She could probably reduce it to slag in only a few moments, even with the Shard acting a tad awry. There was still the issue of how to contain it though... generally when you melted things to use them in other things, it was a gold idea to have a container... she again looked to the Potato, ignoring the casing entirely. If there was some arcane use for the starchy plant that enabled it to be used to forge gold in, then it was a secret far beyond her ability to crack. the Squid could likely have helped here, but Squid, like everyone else from the old group, was sadly not.

 

There was one idea that struck aurora though. The threads she had used several times in the past when they'd been met by some type of troublesome spell or other such working laid as a trap. The threads that bound and sealed, restricted and restrained power. Drawing a few strands of radiant, golden light from her wrist, she set about laying the framework of the small cocoon to house the metal, it's base glowing like a miniature sun as she piled more layers on, working swiftly and methodically until the construct was goodly sized enough to serve it's purpose, the top half still open to the air. Shrugging, she picked up the relics, crushing those that could not fit in their current form with her bare, chitin covered hands and tossing them inside one by one. 

      Then there came the moment of truth... or rather, not truth, for she knew from past experience how the threads operated, how they were far different from ordinary silk, much too specialized to be used for the purpose of merely weaving garbs and baubles. This silk that arrested the raw essence of a force or being the moment it touched it, trapped it within itself; stole power, essentially. 

 

She blasted the innards of the makeshift forge, the shard emitting a fierce lance of cosmic radiation that seemed to combust the very air around it with it's intensity, and to her surprise, the burns forming on her palm were noticeably more minor than those left before. She held the heated ray there for a few seconds, the Arachanian Silk absorbing the excess heat and power of both the now molten metal and the weapon like a sponge to water, sealing it all away before it could penetrate from the outer shell, essentially providing the perfect form of insulation. 

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And one more thing – I’m not ascertained as to how potent your venom is, but mild enough as it may or may not be, it may be useful in cleansing impurities from the gold when it’s done. I detest impure gold, but nothing I will set my expectations too high on.

     She had no real idea what the hell she was supposed to actually do to the stuff with her Venom. Hell, she considered it surprising she'd even gotten this far with her general lack of comprehension towards his elaborate instructions. Only thing she could really think of was to just drip the stuff in- if it worked, which honestly she'd have no way of even telling, great... if it didn't, too bad. Perhaps next time, actually telling her the steps instead of just making insinuations and leaving her addled mind to figure out what it all actually meant would've been a better idea...

 

The molten hissed, sending up black smoke as the acrid venom sprayed dropped her fangs, Aurora using her tongue to trigger the actual muscles responsible for discharging the poison from the glands. It looked no different than before when she finally dripped enough to started getting bored. again, she shrugged. 

 

There was only one thing left to do- cool the stuff back into a solid form. From how she'd woven the Cocoon-crucible, it was honestly easier to just contract the holy threads into an enclosed, spherical shape and then let the strands fulfill their purpose in full, hence exactly what she did, letting the metal gather up inside the shrinking space, mixing and settling as the heat was further robbed from it, until at long last, the metal was again cold, hard, wrapped in simple ball of white silk as the threads power receded, the magavired ritual complete as far as she could tell. 

     Why he asked her to do this instead of one of the flesh-bags who were obsessed with breaking things down and making new things out of them, she didn't know. But it didn't matter. She'd done her part of the bargain. Taking the silk bundled sphere of gold, small enough to fit into the palm of her hand, she retreated back into the castle to dump the hunk of metal back into its owner's possession...

 

Tesla

"Not searching... Found them." She said, pulling out an aged, ink blotted sheet of parchment that was still legible despite the ravages of time. Some of the writing on it was far too faded to make out, but the design showcased as the focus of the sheet was unmistakably a mechanical diagram. Tesla unfurled it completely and laid it out on the ancient desk, setting the box of old invoices and other records on the floor.

     "Man, looks like they're still using gears and cogs for the most part...even more basic than I thought" Of course, coming from her it didn't mean much in terms of insult. Just about anything became "Basic" in comparison when the people of the world you hailed from were capable of infusing metaphysical and emotional energy into the vast majority of their creations, but she digressed. "anyway... looks like this thing only describes how the tread components all fit together and function, no details on the actual power source for the engine itself..."

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Edmond: "I think this is some kind of report? They were planning some type of maintenance on the power source..."

She looked up at the engineer, only now noticing he too had found something. "Great, then it looks like we might have everything we need... set it down here, let's see how all this stuff is supposed to hook up to each other. Definitely easier than just going in and dismantling it section by section."

 

 

[Noir]

Venus

 

The Hellfire Knight's disquietude did not go unnoticed by the artist. Surely, he was dressed to impress, but he had to admit that the way he expressed himself did serve to intimidate at times, especially to that of a young girl. Venus mustered the softest smile he could, attempted to quell that worry she had, to remove any barriers that would impede their conversation. His approach was rather blunt, however, "I sense you are fearful of me, my mechanical miss. Rest assured, however, that I simply desire conversation. It's been....scarce, to be able to articulate an artist's thoughts to our subordinates in this group, perhaps, but you and I seem to have....something in common."

 

Satisfied that he had gained Hiroki's approval, albeit a reluctant one, Venus seated himself at a comfortable distance from the girl, enough so that he wasn't too close, but also sufficient for the girl to hear him.

 

"Pray tell -- what but a thing befell you that led to your disfigurement?" He said, trailing his fingers up his face to brush his hair, nearing his mask. "I do apologize to pry, but nothing I mean ill of, you have my word. I overheard this earlier when you were mentioning to that friend of yours."

Edited January 24, 2017 by Noir

[Twinwolf]

3 hours ago, Code: PIRULUK said:

3 hours ago, Twinwolf said:

Hikari shook her head. "Sorry. Never heard of it. What does it have to do with my... butt?"

"Perhaps that is what she does to fight? She does make extensive use of her rear." Ivory supplies.

((phone post, so no colors)

 

Kagari shook her head, dismayed.

 

"Keijo is the greatest sport, ever! Basically, it's a bit like sumo wrestling, if sumo wrestling were a girls-only sport, took place on a ring that was suspended in the middle of the pool, and had only our butts and boobs as a point of contact. You do have sumo wrestling, right?"

 

Sumo was such a quintessentially Japanese thing that Kagari just assumed that Hikari's world had it. After all, if it had Japanese names, it almost certainly had sumo wrestling.

 

"Outfighter and Counter are classifications for Keijo competitors. Outfighters move quickly and rely on agility to win, like myself."

 

To demonstrate her point, Kagari performed a rudimentary Hip Gatling on the empty air, thrusting out her butt thirty times in ten seconds.

 

"While counters rely on turning their opponents' force against them. Counters are a pretty rare sight in the sport. You should try it out, it'll be fun!"

"We have sumo wrestling, yeah... but... attacking with your butt or your boobs...?" Hikari trailed off, but her blush indicated her embarrassment at the thought. She looks quite surprised by the demonstration. "I don't know how you can do that so fast..."

 

 

-----------------

 

Victoria wanders onto the ship... really having no idea how to process all that's going on. She sits down on a bed in the servant's quarters, eventually, just trying to figure out what she'll do.

 

[kj1225]

Seeing as he's not getting much of a responce at all Andre sneaks off to follow Aurora. At the very least she was hella more interesting than the slime at the moment. Aurora would probably notice him with ease given how big he is. And the fact that he's not very quiet. And how he isn’t hiding much at all. You know, thinking on it now, Andre isn’t stealthy at all.

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki flushed slightly and looked down. "Um, I'm not actually disfigured. I just said that because, um, telling the real reason for the disguise would have made it pointless." Her discomfort was clearly growing, though it was now fairly solidly directed at herself and being caught in a lie. "I'm, um, not mechanical either; my mech doesn't even have a real AI." Ugh, he's just gonna get mad at me for lying and then stomp off and call me a kid or something, damnit. I knew this would happen.

[Strider]

"Ah, that's good."

Edmond carefully set the pages he had picked up down on the desk, next to the large diagram. He glanced over, surprised by the blueprint's completeness.

"Interesting. I'm rather surprised that it's still intact. What I found is more of a report on planned maintenance. I don't know how helpful it will be, so I'll be checking to see if there's anything else in the other office."

 

Edmond entered the next office. There was a desk in the middle, and a few rusted filing cabinets to the left of the entrance.

Those seem like an adequate place to start...

He walked over, and rattled the drawers. Locked...

With a grunt, he pushed over the filing cabinet. It landed with an echoing clang. He gave it a kick, and the rusted metal caved in before his boot. He reached in and carefully extracted the folders.

He gave them a cursory glance as he sorted through them. Ah, that's better!

They were reports on previous repairs and adjustments that had been made. He picked them up, and carried them back to the other office.

 

"These might be more useful. They're the actual reports on battle damage, and the repairs enacted. Even if they don't have too much info on the actual engine design, they might be useful as a guide for what types of damage this castle is likely to take. Might reveal some structural weak points, or give some info on how things like what maintenance the treads and cannons need."

Edited January 24, 2017 by Strider

[Hal Henderics]

Mar, satisfied with his work, gets started on something he should have done a long time ago.

 

"I require the assistance of the finest designers and mages here.  Also, I require Theodore's assistance for this as well."

 

"I plan to move the Heartless Beast to a device which will allow us to contain it while utilizing it.  It will take as many of us as I can gather.  But I do believe it will be worth the effort.  Anyone who wishes to conclude this business with the Heartless, Meet me atop the Castle Shortly."

 

Mar Goes and Explains this to Theodore, Argent, Alexandria, and Edmund, that he needs some of their services as well for this project, but It is perfectly optional, of course.

 

Then, Mar goes to the roof of the castle, if possible, and lights a fire with a puddle of oil poured on the castle bricks, and waits for the others.

 

 

Edited January 24, 2017 by Hal Henderics

[S34N1C]

Theodore

 

"Alright. I'm not really doing anything important right now. The idea I had can be enacted later. You said to meet you at the top of the Castle? I don't know how to get there, so I'll just follow you."

 

Theo follows Mar.

[Noir]

Venus

 

Venus raised an eyebrow in surprise at Hiroki's admission. The Hellfire Knight did not carry a marred appearance behind her drapes -- Venus tried to bring up reasons on why should would do so to his head, to little avail. Before him, she was the epitome of a young child, caught red-handed in telling a lie. Yet the artist only chuckled upon learning the truth, as opposed to the anger and pique the girl had expected from him. 

 

"Worry not, my meek young maiden." Lowering his hand from his face, he urged to caress the admittedly endearing sight of the embarrassed young girl on the head, but resisted, knowing that he didn't want to discomfort her further.  "Say it again I will -- you and I have something similar. We wear masks and lie about our reasons for wearing them -- yet another thing we seem to have in common, now that you've been honest with me. And again, pray tell -- wherefore lie about your disfigurement? I trust you have your respectful reasons, but is lying the most ample solution? Wherefore must a young maiden such as you disguise yourself in such somber garbs? If you tell me your reasons, I'll tell you my own." 

[Endlessblaze]

Argent heads up to the roof, egear to see if he can help in the project

[DragonRage]

Lexiel starts, and then takes a deep breath in.  "Uh, I think your house is on fire.  I'll go try to extinguish it, but you should probably call the local fire brigade or something."

 

[Lexiel moves from in front of the castle to the roof.]

 

Lexiel touches down on the roof of the castle, and homes in on the fire.  "Uh, whoever's up here?  Your house is kind of... on fire.  You going to do something about that, or should I?"

[Hal Henderics]

"No, It's fine, This is just stone anyway, unless I am mistaken.  I am going to Tame this Dark Beast strapped in here."

 

Mar says, holding up the Possessor Shard.

 

"Perhaps you can be of assistance?  Either way, I suppose this is all that will be arriving.  So let's begin."

 

Mar Starts by explaining exactly what the plan is, and offers openings for Theo, Argent, and provided she offers it, Lexiel, to comment and concern.

 

Mar will start by crafting an Arcanite Chain from Mana, at this point, He will assemble the chains into a harness with a lot of slack chain hanging off the back for grabbing, and use the remainder of the Heartless Metal Armor Chain as well, creating a set of chains roughly the size of the possessor.  Then Argent will create a ring of hellfire to box everyone in, then Theo will Play his music, one song to strengthen the Chain's Magic, and one to Serenade the Possessor.  From there, Mar will crack open the shard in the Pile of Chains, so the Possessor Appears already bound.  Then we will go from there.

 

"Does everyone understand the plan?  Or have any concerns?"

Edited January 24, 2017 by Hal Henderics

[Endlessblaze]

Argent looks at her

"the roof is stone, it will be fine.

He looks and mar

"Uhh, what hapens if it gets loose and I can't keep it boxed in?"

[Chevaleresse]

"I'm not meek," Hiroki replied with sudden vehemence. "That's exactly why I wore the cloak and those fucking shoes." The expletive was somewhat unfamiliar in the girl's mouth; it was something she mostly heard in the music she listened to, and was certainly never supposed to repeat. "People never take someone like me seriously. Every single person I challenged in the first round of that tournament laughed." Not strictly true, but close enough that it didn't matter. "Because OBVIOUSLY a little girl couldn't POSSIBLY be fighting, and even if she was, there's no way she could beat your face in, right? I'm sick of it."

[DragonRage]

[On the roof]

"It is?  I mean, of course it is!  I knew that," Lexiel states unconvincingly, before trying to change the subject, "Arcanite, huh?  It's made from pure mana?  Sounds a lot like etherium.  I'd offer a sample for comparison, but those Esperites are not big on spreading their tech.  How many layers of containment do you have on the thing you're trying to seal?  Even if the chains can hold it, and whatever it's in right now can hold it, the transfer is going to be dangerous.  If you give me a few minutes I can set up a standard secondary containment ward, maybe with extra options depending on what it is we're sealing."  The angel pulls a long rod with a glowing tip from her belt, and starts inscribing symbols around the edge of the crafting area as she continues to magitechnobabble excitedly, "Ideally, we'd have physical secondary containment as well, something nonreactive and magically resistant would be best.  I don't suppose you have a few tons of Mizzitium lying around?  No, of course you don't.  This isn't Ravnica.  Gold makes an acceptable substitute; its mana conductivity is less optimal, but it's way more common and easier to shape.  Lead's cheaper I guess, but it's a mana insulator.  If something goes wrong, the explosion could...  We should totally build the secondary containment out of lead!  That way we succeed whether the sealing works or not.  And if you're planning to use a sonic mind alteration as the primary containment during the transfer, we have to make sure not to violate Trostani's third principle...  How many carnivorous plants do you think we could get up here in a reasonable amount of time?  Oh, but with all those plants and that lead around, a standard fire-based ward is going to be highly sub-optimal.  Does anyone here know a frostfire conversion formula?  I'm still working on that one myself, but I think I could Gruul-rig a weird to do the job for us..."

 

[OOC:  Just assume that Lexiel will keep amping up the complexity until somebody interrupts her.]

 

-----------------

[In the barracks]

"Dimitri, thank you for sticking around.  I could use your assistance," Alexandria smiles warmly at the man, placing her damaged eye on a nearby table but not letting go of it, "Afterwards, we shall see about upgrading your firearm.  But for now..."  The android produces a clear lens and some complicated-looking circuitry from somewhere any onlookers can't see.  "I must keep hold of my eye at all times or it will break even worse.  But, this procedure cannot be done with a single hand.  The holed lens and the shrapnel must be removed steadily and simultaneously to prevent additional damage.  Then, I can patch the damaged sensor, replace the lens, and re-install my eye."

[Sutoratosu]

Aurora 

 

The spider paused as she made her way through the halls. It had only been a few paces beyond the gate before she immediately picked up the scent of a Flesh-bag, and the vibrations of his heart and footsteps transmitted through the stone floor far more conformation than she needed, their persistence in following where she tread far too similar for a coincidence. Without turning about or acknowledging she'd detected him at all, she gritted her teeth in annoyance, continuing to press on through the main entry hall... still clutching the silk-wrapped gold in one hand. Perhaps if she merely ignored the Fleshie as she delivered the parcel, he'd go away. And if not, she was fully capable of ascending to heights and and nooks and crannies he could never reach unassisted. Either way, she was displeased to be so obvious trailed...but again, the White One would scold her if she was rash. She knew it.

 

Tesla

"Hmmm..." the woman thumbed through the pages briefly, obviously pensive, "Yeh, these could definitely come in handy later. If the engines are in this crappy a shape, Gods know what the actual Treads and Artillery will look like. Some good thinking there..." The last part almost sounded like a compliment as she laid the documents down next to the blueprints. She paused though, hovering over the assorted plans and sketches. 

    "How'd you end up with this group, if ya don't mind me asking?" She finally spat out, violet eyes turning to him "Did everyone just wake up on the ground like they'd been out cold from a night on the town? Or did anyone at least get asked to do any of... all this stuff that Deadman walking was talking about."

[Hal Henderics]

"Actually, only half of it's volume is magic, the other half is Silicon, enchanted silicon, designed to propegate it's magical sister material."

 

"If it escapes, we hunt it down.  Nothing Else to do, but Even so, That is why I picked this area, We have around 1000 Meters of Empty space with nothing for it to possess, unless it can possess the entire castle all at once."

[Endlessblaze]

"I reallyyyy hope it can't posses the entire castle at once....how did you get this thing agian?"

[Hal Henderics]

"I had a shard of a magic barrier I flaked off, so I made a crack in it, and Wrestled the Dark Creature inside with Izumi's Help."

[kj1225]

Andre follows for a few feet more before calling out.

"Um, 'scuse me ma'am but could I offer ya some bacon?"

Andre smiles awkwardly as he continues to follow the spider woman.

[S34N1C]

Theodore

 

"I don't have any questions, just give me a minute to think of what songs to play."