A Dream of Quiet (IC)

[Scarlet Dragon]

"I see no enemies, I see weird protrusions"
Dancer then begins to describe to Drake the surroundings as aptly as he can with his broken Flametongue while pointing in their general directions.

Spoiler

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How much Dancer can go into detail is up to Recaiden

[Drascin]

"That's a blessing, at least. Keep an eye out. I can't see **** in this place.

Let's head for the center, carefully. I kind of want to see what the hell this place runs on"

With that, Drake is going to slowly and carefully walk up to the center of the room, to check what that weird silence is. Essence is never silent, not even in the Underworld, so there has to be some sort of collection engine or oblivion machine or something in this direction...

[Recaiden]

As he gets closer, the magic can be heard to flow along the designs on the ground, heading towards the silent center. Once Drake enters the circle, he can hear a lot more essence.

The floor tilts up very slowly, until the center of the room, where the four remaining patterns in the floor spiral up into a tall ring. Luckily, it's surrounded by a rickety staircase. It looks to be maybe five yards across, and the sound of essence is muted to a whisper near it. Machinery hangs overhead of it, the source of the conduits and pipes, and evidently built down from the ceiling.

[Drascin]

"Well, if there's a power source we can try to rig to explode, it's probably this thing. Let's give it a look" Drake sighs, carefully using the staircase to get up and be able to check it more closely. He's always been pretty good with machinery, overall, so he hopes to be able to run some guesses about how this works by being able to give a detailed look to the machine.

He's eyeing the sides as he goes up, though. No security measures yet. Either when the ex-dude just now took over officially he deactivated all of them, or the Lion has more hubris than Drake expected.

[Scarlet Dragon]

"Say what need me do, I not good at mechanics" Dancer offers while looking around for any possible danger since it was one thing he could definitely do.

[Rhyvurg]

At the back of the ship Pyus does a quick scan for pursuit.

[Leliel]

"Okay, sweetie, you've got the idea? Good. Holler if you need me."

Corona, deciding she needs to really introduce herself to the ring after making a pretty terrible first impression, decides to go find them.

If Raziel was still awake, he would have probably mentioned that Corona, not being a god-queen anymore, could not really afford to mend bridges at this moment. Not strong enough yet. As it was, he had fallen fast asleep in his own subconscious, giving Corona free reign.

Walking into the generator room, she overhears the conversation.

"The long, skinny one is the wind regulator. Shoot it, and the ship will crash, but that's likely leaves the rest of it intact unless we scuttle it over the sea.

And before you ask-Masque is doing fine, that's why I'm down here."

[Recaiden]

[Generator Room]

When you look into the basin, it is dark. As black as anything you have ever seen, the light falls on it and vanishes. Dancer's enhanced senses do not help him. There is simply nothing to be seen. And it sounds big. Deep. There is no tiny echo from sounds near it. You wouldn't normally pick up on it, but even to unenhanced ears it sounds wrong, somehow. And you notice that the air around it is cold.

The machinery above is more interesting. There's the wind regulator just pointed out, which is connected to many of the jade conduits and is visibly moving about as Masque steers the ship to level off. There's some essence gathering things, quite large, which seem to be drawing energy from the pit. There are pumps, hanging a bit further forward. At the center of many of the soulsteel lines is a spiky assemblage aimed down at the pit, which hums with the distinctive sound of prayer. And there are other things you can't quite understand yet.

Spoiler

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Valor checks, please.
And Intelligence+Occult if you want to figure out what some of the things do.

[Leliel]

"Ummm...okay.....

...That does not look friendly."

Spoiler

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Valor roll.

(1d10)[2](2)

"...Well, this is interesting.

"I appear to have Raziel's amount of pluck and self-confidence, which is to say none at all. Drake, I need to talk to you about that later, after someone else checks that out.

...Sorry I'm not being helpful. I really haven't caught up on the last several thousand years.

[Recaiden]

[Back of the Ship]

Looking out back the way they've come, looking through one of the little windows, Pyrus's quick scan does pick up some things.

• They're too high up for ghosts to reach with their flight charms.
• They're flying faster than any of the pursuing moliated shock troops can keep up with.
• The Lion has other airships at the yard, and although thy're much smaller, they're also going much faster than the Maelstrom is, though it looks like they only just got into the air moments ago; the three little craft are still a good ways away.

[Drascin]

It would be a bald faced lie to say that Drake is glad to see Corona at all, but right now she's useful, so he bites his tongue. As he moves further, though, he himself feels the wave of fear washing over him as he looks in, and his knees go weak in much the same way they always do whenever he gets a cut in his hands. He stops for a moment, resting against one of the tubes and looking away, breathing.

Okay, no. Eyes closed, he talks to himself. I just ****ing fought a goddamn Neverborn. I've looked into the Loom of Fate. I'm not going to be scared of a stupid bowl. Thinking that, he punches himself in the stomach pretty hard, intending to ride the pain and anger long enough to finish his examination before his blood decides to come calling and he starts the near-fainting routine as usual.

Spoiler

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Spending one willpowe for one success in the Valor roll. My Occult roll got 5 successes. Does that suffice?

[Rhyvurg]

Pyrus quickly moves back to the bridge. "Great news everyone, other airships are taking off to chase us."

[Recaiden]

Raziel hears something. Very quiet, but very clear.

"It has been a long time."

Drake manages to get over his fear of the thing. One of the first things he will notice is that the bowl/pit is bigger than it looks. It does not merely go to the bottom of the room. Or down a floor or two. Or even to the bottom of the ship. It goes down forever.

As for the machinery, he gets to figure out a lot more about that.
The prayer thing is connected to the generator pit, but mostly it runs itself. It's collecting prayers from...somewhere and uses them for backup power, seems like?

There's a wind regulator and a backup regulator. The rest of the soulsteel lines head out everywhere, and from the pattern of essence you can tell they're used for a defensive system of some sort.

There is a lot of energy in the pit. But it is the pure, icy energy of Oblivion. Not very volatile. It would be hard to release it all in a destructive blast. But it would not be impossible. It bears further investigation and experimentation.

The ship speeds up a noticeable amount. Not enough to throw you off your feet, but enough to mess with your balance a little.

[Leliel]

"What the-?"

"....That voice.

"......Um, I hate to be the bearer of even more bad news here, but I just heard a telepathic message, infested with Whispers, that knows who I am.

"I'm going to hazard a guess and say there's also a First Age ghost behind us. Possibly a Deathlord.

If you need anything, I'll be back in the bridge, trying to help evade whoever these guys are."

Now running (with a limp), the Malefactor's Past Life gets back to Masque.

[Drascin]

Drake's not in the bridge (kind of in the opposite side of the ship, really), so unless someone takes the time to poke by the generator room he doesn't have any idea about Pyrus's warning. What he sees is worrying enough as is, really. He'd hoped for some sort of cyclic essence generator or maybe a motonic reactor, not some sort of oblivion sinkhole. This isn't going to be able to be rigged easily. They need time, and he needs access to some reference materials. And the prayer node... damn it. Is there a chance that someone could follow the prayer flow to track this thing? And...

Preoccupied with all that, he barely notices Corona speaking... right up until she says "Deathlord", which is the kind of word that can perk anyone to attention in 0.2 seconds flat.

"...oh you have to be ****ing kidding me"

And with that he's going to gesture at Dancer to follow (note to self - get this guy some tutoring) and run-jump down the staircase and back to the bridge.

[Recaiden]

[Bridge]

Masque is still here, leaned over the controls and pulling levels and generally keeping the ship going at that faster speed, now that she's heard the news.
"Thank you, Pyrus. Did you happen to? Find any weapons on the ship. Corona suspects those panels operate them, but. Was unfamiliar. As am I."

[Returning]

(I am not a ghost, Corona. Do you not remember me?)
The voice is fainter. Barely perceptible to Corona. And then it stops.

[Bridge]

Masque looks up as the people as they burst back in. "Why the haste?"

[Leliel]

[Returning]

(I am not a ghost, Corona. Do you not remember me?)
The voice is fainter. Barely perceptible to Corona. And then it stops.

"If I could, I would tell...you..."

Corona came to a sudden stop.

"Wait."

She retraces a few of her steps. Closer to the engine room.

[Recaiden]

"If I could, I would tell...you..."

Corona came to a sudden stop.

"Wait."

She retraces a few of her steps. Closer to the engine room.

As she makes her way back towards the engine room, where she first heard it, a whisper becomes perceptible again.
"Ah, you are returned. You begin to recall, and to understand."

[Leliel]

"....Wait a minute.

"Friends, whatever is inside that pit is the source of the telepathy. And it knows who I am. Assuming it isn't the pit itself. Soulsteel.

"I'm going to find out what it is. Again, if I could remember, I would tell you.

Tell me your name. It will jog my memory, perhaps."

Corona stays at the periphery of the engine room, as far away from the bowl as possible without leaving the room.

[Drascin]

When Raziel disappears from the bridge to go to the engine room again, Drake shoves Dancer slightly to call his attention. "Dancer, please, follow him and keep an eye on him for a second. If he so much as starts acting possessed, punch him unconscious. After what just happened I don't think we should trust any voices in people's heads. I'll be back momentarily". Right now after being shaken by the engine he's acting in full stress mode, which makes him a bit curt.

He then turns towards the others. "Okay, guys, the explosion plan has a problem. Setting this thing to explode is going to be an incredible pain. It uses some kind of strange Oblivion reverse engine - even if we overloaded it, the most it'd do might be implode on itself, and that if we're lucky. There's no way we can manage it mid flight. And I don't know how long it'd take even if we got a decent workshop and some reference books on how this goddamn underworld essence works.

And Raziel's... passenger is acting super weird. She's hearing voices. I'd like to get the absolute worst possibility out of the way first, so, tell me, Masque, do you think there is any chance a Neverborn, like say that very same that Corona just left without a puppet" the distaste in Drake's words is obvious as he says the word "puppet". Wahtever else he might be, mind control angers him "could communicate with, or start whispering to, one of the people that helped kill it?"

[Scarlet Dragon]

When Raziel disappears from the bridge to go to the engine room again, Drake shoves Dancer slightly to call his attention. "Dancer, please, follow him and keep an eye on him for a second. If he so much as starts acting possessed, punch him unconscious. After what just happened I don't think we should trust any voices in people's heads. I'll be back momentarily". Right now after being shaken by the engine he's acting in full stress mode, which makes him a bit curt.

Dancer nods to Drake "I'm on it." and follows Raziel back into the engine room keeping a close eye on his actions.

[Recaiden]

((From here, I will stop transcribing the whisper-static most of the time.))

"I have no name, Corona. You know this. Come closer. Remember."


Masque thinks, pausing at the controls for a minute. "It is...conceivable. We have ways to pass whispers on to others. Corona had heard the voices before. When she lived. The Neverborn may have done so. Through his body. Or. It would be easy to reopen. The connection with the right trigger. What did you find?"

[Drascin]

"There's a sort of pit. All the tubing comes from it. There's also some sort of backup prayer generator, and a few more things.

But I'm betting that if anything did it, it was the pit itself. That thing is packing serious Oblivion power. Seems to go down forever, and looking at it hits you like a hammer. I worry if it isn't a conduit of something."

He then remember the other thing he got up for. "By the way, I noticed we sped up. Any problems?"

[Tavar]

"We're being followed. We may very well have to fight again, and they might just be able to wear us down. Any ideas?"

[Leliel]

"O....kay.

"Either you're just Whispers altogether, or you're a very insane ghost.

In any case, I'm staying at this wall."

[Recaiden]

"Do you not want to remember? Who you were before? Who you were before Corona? Do you not wonder what became of Karesni?"

[Leliel]

That got her attention.

"K-Karesni!? Y-You know what happened?"

[Drascin]

"We're being followed. We may very well have to fight again, and they might just be able to wear us down. Any ideas?"

"...wonderful. Do the cannon batteries work?

...does anyone know how to aim a cannon battery?"

[Recaiden]

That got her attention.

"K-Karesni!? Y-You know what happened?"

"Yes, Corona. I know. He tried to protect you. Of course, you know how that turned out. He did escape the Usurpation. Come and see."

"...wonderful. Do the cannon batteries work?

...does anyone know how to aim a cannon battery?"

"Probably work. Pyrus has yet to figure out for sure, or how to aim them. But it cannot be. That hard."

[Rhyvurg]

[Bridge]

Masque is still here, leaned over the controls and pulling levels and generally keeping the ship going at that faster speed, now that she's heard the news.
"Thank you, Pyrus. Did you happen to? Find any weapons on the ship. Corona suspects those panels operate them, but. Was unfamiliar. As am I."

Pyrus moves to the panels, trying to figure out what they do.

(4d10)[5][6][9][3](23) Int+Lore I think