[Nexus] NO XIII: Do Clockwork Penguins Dream of Mechanical Fish?

[Gullara]

[Front Door]

"And a pleasure meeting you too, Twig." Kirk smirks and steps aside, gesturing for her to enter. "I'm not much for formal reports, so you can feel free to tell me about the temple business now."

[Devixer]

Front Door

"They're a bunch of psychos, but they know what they're doing when it comes to magic," Cassidy says as she enters the base proper. "Had to pull a long con to get into their armory." Kirk may have noticed a scimitar strapped to her hip.

[Gullara]

[Front Door]

"And the results of getting into their armoury?" He prompts. the drow's eyes wander tot he scimitar, but he'll let her supply the info herself.

[Devixer]

Front Door

"Not much. I got a new sticker," Cassidy says as she pats the hilt of her scimitar. "They've got no decent tech in their weaponry, but the weapons they do have are enchanted."

[Gullara]

[Front Door]

"I hope stealing a sword wasn't all you accomplished while you were there." Kirk says. He'd have to pose the idea of quality testing new applicants to Dipsnig if that's all. She gets the benefit of the doubt for the moment, however.

[Shadowcaller]

[Kirk's Room]

Kirk raises an eyebrow, but he isn't fazed. "If you're trying to scare me, you know perfectly well that won't work. Enough with the stalling already or I'm going to think you're all talk."

[Kirk's Room]

Dena laughs, "Don't say I didn't warn you." She says before reaching for her cloak which will Kirk will learn is filled with not very child-friendly toys. At least Kirk will get to try some things he never tried before.

[Gullara]

[Kirk's Room]

Dena may be underestimating Kirk just a little bit, but there's little doubt she'd be the person to surprise him. The drow won't hesitate to reach for the curtain again, whether out of pride or he's really not all that concerned about letting Dena do things her way.

[Shadowcaller]

[Kirk's Room]

I'm sure they have a swell time, though the scene can probably fade out about now.

[Morty]

[Lab]

A knock on the door will be heard. Dipsnig has been around inventors often enough to know that entering a laboratory unannounced tends to be hazardous.

[Halae]

[Lab]

Rilla herself moves a bit of blond hair out of her eyes as she goes to answer the door. She's currently wearing a sleeveless but modest shirt and pair of comfortable looking pants of an unidentified cottony material. The burn on her left arm is still fairly visible, but it's healing.

"Oh, hello Dipsnig. Something I can do for you?"

[Morty]

[Lab]

"Just wanted to see how you're settling in," Dipsnig says, looking around. "I think I've already told you that we've never had any proper scientists on staff before."

[Halae]

[Lab]

Against the far wall is a circular gate that glows with purple energy, and she's somehow already managed to fill every shelf with some sort of piece of equipment. Her golem is currently carting boxes to a wall from just in front of the gate.

Most of the equipment in here looks esoteric or needlessly complex, but it certainly does look like a lab now.

"You did. Given the state of the lab, I'm inclined to believe it; no scorch marks when I got here at all," of course, she's joking about the explosion she hit herself with. That might go over Dipsnig's head though.

[Morty]

[Lab]

"It has been sitting mostly unused, yes. I was sure glad to see a talented engineer show up. We've always had to buy our equipment, and you know how this can be. Speaking of schorch marks, how did it go with CB in the infirmary? I see your burn is healing." If asura engineers are anything like goblin engineers, he assumes this sort of thing happens often. There's a reason the one that sold him the clockwork penguins was bald.

[Halae]

[Lab]

"It went fine. He still creeps me out, but he knows what he's doing. This doesn't even hurt anymore." She looks at her arm in a bit of wonder; it wasn't healed, but it didn't hurt. How did that work?

"Is there something in particular that brings you down here, or are you just checking in?"

[Morty]

[Lab]

"Checking in, mostly. But I also have to admit I'm curious about your people. Asura, was it? They seem pretty similar to goblins like myself," Dipsnig says. "For years I've been the only small person around here, surrounded by big oaves." With some exceptions, like Kuko or that gremlin ages ago.

[Halae]

[Lab]

"Oh, I know exactly what you mean. Lion's Arch never had nearly enough Asura for my tastes." she sticks out her tongue, showing distaste, "Still, it was a nice enough place to live until I arrived here."

"As for the Asura, we the most technologically and magically advanced race on the face of Tyria, capable of anything we set our minds to. Originally, we're from undergound, but the elder dragon of fire, Primordus, forced us to the surface, where we excel anyways." That explains the over-large eyes, "What about goblins though? Given our similar stature, I imagine we have similar origins."

[Morty]

[Lab]

"So it would seem," Dipsnig says with a nod. "We still live mostly underground, though, and have done so ever since anyone can remember. It's why my office is in the basement. We're also the most technologically advanced race of our homeworld... relatively speaking. Not so with magic, but it seems that it's very different back home than what you have in Tyria."

[Halae]

[Lab]

Rilla nods, "That may very well be the major difference between our races then; centuries of magical advancement where your race has only pursued the technological. Before you came to the Nexus, had your people discovered gunpowder? Just trying to get a handle on the technological level."

[Morty]

[Lab]

Dipsnig rubs his chin. "Gunpowder... yes. It was still in early stages of development. Goblins had mastered the use of alchemical explosives long ago, but they're not particularily stable. Gunpowder came as an attempt to make something more reliable. Humans were already trying to steal it from us when I left, of course."

[Halae]

[Lab]

Rilla nods, "Not that they haven't made a few advancements of their own, but humans tend to steal advancements others make, from what I've seen. Guns are a fairly new thing in my homeworld as well."

[Morty]

[Lab]

"Some of the weapons people here use are pretty mind-blowing," Dipsnig says. "Guns are only the start. I imagine it'll take you quicker to get used to it than it took me, though."

[Aric Kale]

Main Entrance

Zane approaches the door(?). He knocks and waits for an answer.

[Halae]

[Lab]

"Likely," Rilla says, nodding, "I've seen a megalaser built specifically to fight an undead dragon. Now that was an impressive piece of work."

She sounds almost smug.

[Morty]

[Lab]

Dipsnig raises his eyebrows and his ears perk up. Sounds like something people at Watchtower would cook up.
"Interesting. How did it work?"

[Halae]

[Lab]

"A collection of transatmospheric and spacial magic magnification into a focusing aparatus writ large, from what I understand," Rilla says, "there's details that I wasn't informed of, but that's the gist of it."

[Morty]

[Lab]

Dipsnig scratches his head. He thinks he understands what it's about...
"Sounds impressive... did your people build it?"

[Halae]

[Lab]

Rilla nods, smiling proudly, "Of course! The asura are the foremast magical inventors in Tyria. The Charr may be better at nonmagical equipment, but they don't hold a candle to us in mystical matters."

[Morty]

[Lab]

Dipsnig chuckles.
"Yes, that was a rather silly question on my part. Did it kill the dragon?"

[Halae]

[Lab]

Rilla nods, "The autopsy showed that it destroyed no less than a third of the creature's torso. Even undead can't survive that sort of attack."

[Morty]

[Lab]

"It's hard to imagine something that could survive this, given your description," Dipsnig says. "Looks like we got lucky that you decided to work for us rather than someone else," he adds with a smile.