Horatio@Bridge Presents: Lost in the Realm of Brass and Shadows

[chailem]

--Ongvove--
To the locals:
"We gratefully accept your offer to travel to this city, Thutot," Ongvove replied, "Please tell us if there is anything we can do to assist you as we travel. Are you finished with your business here?"

[Hayaiken]

I turn around and look at the bottomless pit and I say, " Why not.", then jump in.

Spoiler

Show

rolling dex plus athletics

Spoiler

Show

[rollv]8d10[/rollv]

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Hayaiken]

Spoiler

Show

for some reason the roll results didn't post so here they are

Spoiler

Show

(8d10)[4][10][4][5][3][1][3][1](31)

[Horatio@Bridge]

--Ehren--

Bored and downtrodden, the inhabitants of the room gather around to listen to your tales of living under the sky of Creation. Most seem dismissive of your promises to take them to that world and treat your words as merely entertaining stories, but a small core of mostly disaffected youth gather around you, including the thief you apprehended earlier. After your speech, he and Corben speak for a while, then Corben turns to you.

"It seems Garis and his friends are interested in what you have to say. To be honest, they're mostly troublemakers and petty thieves, but they do know many secret ways around the city. Anyway, he wants to know how you intend to bring them to the sky lands."

Spoiler

Show

Technically, addressing a group uses Performance. I should have caught that Tuesday night. Still, that's a 3 die stunt worthy address, so between that and the willpower you've influenced a few mortals.

--Zilla and Peleps Laelia--

The Authocthonians stiffen at Zilla's refusal to swear, but Peleps's mother speaks swiftly in their language. She turns back to you.

"It will be more difficult because you refuse to take the oaths, but they are willing to accept my troth for you. You will of course be under guard at all times until you leave, but you will be allowed to leave. You have my word on that."

She moves to leave.

"My daughter is weary and needs to recover. I would appreciate it if you would accompany us to her room. I think it would do her some good to have a familiar face nearby."

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

Accompanied by soldiers and two of the Autochthonian Exalts, Captain Peleps's mother takes you to a well-appointed room deeper in the building. She lays Laelia on a comfortable bed, then turns to Zilla.

"There are a few things I need to discuss with Bright Beacon. I will return in a few minutes, but you may take the time to make yourselves comfortable. Do not try to leave, since doing so will end what protection I can give you."

Spoiler

Show

That'll give you two a bit of time to talk over your situation.

[Horatio@Bridge]

Testing. 123

[Ehren the Lunar]

Ehren nods at the younger men. He motions them all to gather closely.

"Corban, if you will translate please. Gentlemen, I need information foremost. I need to know all of your capabilities, or you may get unnecessarily harmed. Also, I need information about this place. Last, I am looking for some associates. This is what I have in mind......"

Corbin then gleans which ones can fight, which can sneak, if any of them can read. He then works them into an information network, sending them out as scouts. Finally, he gives detailed descriptions of all of the people he is looking for, and a few he knows are not in this infernal hole. Then, he goes on the hunt, he thinks there may be away to capture some of the prey's memories, but he needs to take a new form to do it. He thinks an officer would be a better candidate than the riff-raff he has fallen among.

[Horatio@Bridge]

--Ongvove and The Man With No Name--

The small group, now with two more members, continues its journey into the strange landscape of the machine world of Autochthon, the nature of which the travelers explain to the two Exalts as they walk.

One of the younger travelers, a young girl of perhaps nine years of age, shows a great deal of interest in The Man With No Name. When he catches sight of her she's stealing glances of his forehead, but blushes when she notices that he's noticed her and retreats behind an older woman who must be her mother. Noticing the interaction, Harol, the lead traveler, writes on the tablet.

"She's curious about your soul gem. Did something happen to it, or did you never have one implanted?"

[Horatio@Bridge]

--Hayaiken--

You're weightless for a few brief moments, hanging in a black void where the only sign that you haven't fallen into Oblivion is the wind rushing past your face. You're falling for just long enough to wonder if perhaps you made a mistake when you hit the floor of the tunnel and begin to slide. The slope of the tunnel keeps you from building up dangerous momentum, but you're propelled through several twists and turns before sliding to a stop. Before you can do anything, though, the floor drops out from underneath you. Your flailing hands catch hold of a rod, jerking you to a halt but leaving you suspended over an endless emptiness. There's a hiss and a slight change in air pressure as the hole that opened beneath you in the tunnel closes, leaving you trapped in this open space.

[Horatio@Bridge]

--Ehren--

Several days pass as Ehren scouts his new environment. The room he first found himself in is one of many dormitories in the city of Gulatch housing the lowest caste of Autochthonian society, the Lumpen. He's able to hunt and slay a member of the Populat, the broad working class/lower management of the society. He tends the man's job each day, going to one of the citie's factories and overseeing a small squad of eight workers. The target wasn't particularly close to his workers or competent at his job, giving Ehren considerable leeway in his daily impersonation. The factory seems focused on the production of weaponry, producing prodigious amounts of personal scale arms and armaments.

One evening, Corbin meets him outside of work. He draws Ehren away from his small group of workers as they leave at the end of their shift. The workers seem vaguely disconcerted by the presence of the Lumpen, and Corbin seems to take special pleasure in their disgust as he makes a point of walking right in the middle of their path back towards their dormitory.

[Ehren the Lunar]

Ehren begins following Corbin, displaying the same look of disgust on his assumed face.

"alright you sludge rust! If you didn't do the job right this time, I am going to rip off that rust pocked arm of yours and beat you to death with it. Well, stop doddling around oaf, show me!"

After Ehren can confirm they are not being observed, he listens to Corbin's report. He also starts making plans to liberate arms and armor from the factory, and suggests the scouts start locating food stores.

Ehren knows this guise will not be useful for long once this starts, so he is going to start hunting the factory owner. His hope is that it will provide a new form and monetary assets to fund this little uprising.

[Horatio@Bridge]

--Ehren--

Corbin adjusts his pancho to better cover his replaced arm as the two walk away. He leads Ehren into a seldom used workshop, turning to check that no-one is paying undo attention when they arrive.

"Still no word on your friends. Garis has been checking the slave pens to see if they've been brought in from the raids, but it's slow going. They're bringing in a fairly decent volume, which tells me that they've really ramped up their operations. If your friends are as competent as you are, though, they're not likely to be held among the general population. We need eyes where the Lumpen aren't normally allowed."

"Back before my injury, I used to be part of the militia. If your friends are being held, they'd have to be involved. And if they're involved, there's got to be a record. I've still got a few friends in the clerk's office, so I had them take a look. Now, most of the documents involving the sky lands are classified, so they couldn't get anything specific, but they were able to find out where those records are being held. It's in Central Command, which is a fortress, but my buddies did me one other favor."

He pulls out a folded piece of paper from one pocket.

"This is the layout of the place, with guard schedules and checkpoints, plus a list of half a dozen officers with authorization to access the records. We ought to be able to cook up some sort of plan with all this."

--Peleps Laelia--

A few days after her arrival, Laelia's mother comes into her room in the morning. She checks over Laelia's injuries, then turns to address her daughter.

"We have been invited to a funeral. It seems that you've mostly recovered from your exertions, so it seems only courteous to our hosts that we attend."

[Achan_hiArusa]

Is it yours? I would then be more than happy to comply. But for now I will show all due respect to whoever is else is dead, even if they are anathema. /spits on the ground.

[Horatio@Bridge]

Jasmine Morning Glory's face hardens at Laelia's vitriolic reply, but she says nothing of the matter.

"The funeral starts in an hour. I have brought servants here with proper attire. The guards have instructions to bring you when you are ready."

With that she turns her back on her daughter and walks stiffly out of the room. A few moments later, a young servant girl walks gingerly into the room carrying a long black dress. She is accompanied by a pair of female guards outfitted in heavy magitech armor.

[Achan_hiArusa]

I give a sharp grin at my mother's back. When the servant girl comes I snatch the clothes away from her and throw them down. "You send me these rags! I will go as a proper soldier of the realms, bring me my armor!" I turn my back on them and wave them away. "And make sure it is properly polished and repaired."

[Horatio@Bridge]

--Captain Peleps--

An hour later, Peleps Laelia arrives at the site of the funeral. The service is held in a simple but beautiful garden, unremarkable until you consider the unrelenting urban nature of this environment. A group of mortals in somber dress clusters around a young couple; the young woman crying inconsolably, the young man holding her close. Your mother stands among the crowd, silent but compassionate. Her face is troubled by the scene, and though she likely has no connection to the couple she stands close by them to offer her support.

The Orichalcum Man, dressed in a black toga elegantly draped over his massive form, steps next to you. He looks over your martial dress, but says nothing of the matter.

"It was their child. Stillborn, tragically. Such scenes are increasingly common, and even the Tripartate Assembly is not immune."

[Achan_hiArusa]

The child has been spared an existence of pain and sorrow. It is at peace. This Tripartate Assembly, I am curious. Who are they? And what forces do they command? What are their intentions in creation? And where are we?

[Horatio@Bridge]

The Orichalcum Man smiles slightly.

"It seems we both have many questions to ask the other. Perhaps we could retire somewhere a bit more private, and leave the mourners in peace."

He gestures to a small path through the garden, leading into an area behind some low vine-covered walls.

"In answer to your final question first, you are in Gulatch, a city in the nation of Yugash, which is one of many nations residing within the body of Autochthon."

Noting the confusion on your face at this explanation, he adds "Autochthon is the Great Maker, a Primordial. He and his brethren formed your Creation from the raw stuff of the Wyld untold ages ago, though he joined the god's rebellion due to the abuse his brethren heaped upon him."

He pauses. "Please stop me if this is known to you. It has become apparent that the people of your world have lost much of their history, but then most of my exposure has been to your Lumpen caste. I would not wish to assume any ignorance on your part."

[chailem]

--Ongvove--
Answering for 'Mike',
We never had soul gems implanted. This custom is unknown to us. What are Soul Gems, exactly? Do they protect you?

[Horatio@Bridge]

--Ongvove and the Man With No Name--

"They're implanted in us at birth," Harol writes. "They save our souls upon our death and allow them to be implanted in the next generation. How do your kind pass on souls if you don't have a soul stone?"

[Achan_hiArusa]

Lumpen? Anyway, yes I would like to speak with you. I have mourned the death of too many of my men in battle to be comfortable doing it for a child I barely know. Though normally for them a drink was in order.

[Horatio@Bridge]

The Orichalcum Man smiles.

"A drink could be arranged. In fact, I have a little something stashed away in my office. I think this would be an appropriate time to break it out."

[Achan_hiArusa]

Well let us go and talk, but first.... I go over and make appropriate propitiations (clapping hands, making prayer, burning incense, whatever) and then turn back around and nod to the man.

[Horatio@Bridge]

The ritual, overseen by a green-robed priest, involves the planting of a new flowering plant in the small garden. The priest provides a casket of dirt, whose contents he spreads in the garden before he places the new plant in its place, intoning prayers in Autochthonian as he works. Your mother nods in approval when she sees you taking part, but is distracted by the grief of the young parents, so she does not see when you leave with the Alchemical Exalt.

"It was good of you to take part," he says as you depart. "That kindness will speak well of you in the days to come."

[chailem]

--Ongvove--
Ongvove thinks for a moment. He then writes, "For the great among us, those endowed with special abilities, duties, and destinies, our souls return on their own with time. For the rest, their souls journey to the afterlife for eternity, where they live out their days in either paradise or torment depending upon the choices they made while alive. Souls are actually born new amongst these people, so that the populace grows, much as do the animals, though we do not think animals have souls."

[Achan_hiArusa]

I am a Dragon-blooded of the Realm. Ritual is an expectation and requirement. Now, your office?

[scsimodem]

The souls of our dead either re-enter the Great Cycle on their own, or they linger, either in our world or the underworld, as ghosts. My job is to make sure they don't become ghosts.

He then looks at the girl.

Kids are often scared, but don't worry. None of you have anything to fear from me.

[Horatio@Bridge]

--Ongvove and The Man With No Name--

Just then, the tunnel shakes. The travelers look up, a little nervous, but then it rises in intensity. Soon the entire tunnel is visibly moving, and a horrible grating sound reverberates from all directions. The entire tunnel network seems to be collapsing!

[Horatio@Bridge]

--Peleps Laelia--

The Orichalcum Man leads Laelia out of the garden and down the hall. A few turns and flights of stairs later, he opens the door to a small office oddly spartan for such an important personage. It looks more like a mid-level bureaucrat's office than the office of the general of an invading army.

"Please, sit," the Orichalcum Man invites, gesturing to a rather worn set of chairs across from his desk. He sits in the chair on the other side and opens a drawer in the desk, pulling out a bottle of clear liquid and a pair of shot glasses.

"I think you are likely going to detest this," he says, pouring alcohol into the two glasses. "It's extracted from the industrial solvents we use to keep our factories clean. It tastes like piss and burns like acid, but it does have one redeeming quality. It gets you drunk very quickly!" He slides you a glass across the table, then takes his own.

"So, how is it you do this where you're from? Raise the glasses like this?"

[Horatio@Bridge]

--Zilla--

Zilla's room is a large area, comfortably appointed but very, very solidly built. The walls even seem to have been reinforced with jade to keep a person from breaking through them. Her hosts insist she is not a prisoner, though, and she is allowed to leave at any time she wants. It's just that she's always accompanied by a quintet of guards, one of whom is always one of the magical material people that seem to be the champions of these strange folk, and there are a great many places that are "restricted access."

One day, Laelia's mother enters the room. She's dressed in a black dress, made of a very fine but manufactured looking material. It looks as if she's been crying, though she seems composed now.

"Good evening, Zilla. I came to see how you've been. My daughter is meeting with Bright Beacon, and I must confess I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. Would you like to go for a walk?"

[Achan_hiArusa]

"Yes. And we make a toast? Oh, let us say to relations between your people and the Realm." And then I will see how much military information I can get out of him before I pass out from inebriation.

Do I need to roll anything?