[Nexus] MERC XV: All In One Package

[Zefir]

Tunnels

Fade isn't as polite as Krayger is and just remains standing there.

"As he said." he speaks up. "There wasn't anything to do for some time. I offer my help, too."

[WarKitty]

Tunnels

Xun just darts forward along the tunnel wall, dropping the poor dead mouse in the process.

[Lord Magtok]

Tunnels

Krait pats the silly cat, and turns his back on the others, headed back the way he came.

"Enjoy mining with the hired help, minotaur." There's a rather smug grin hidden away in that statement, behind his expressionless chrome mask. Silly cow man, volunteering to do work that Dipsnig already hired some smelly, noisy miners to deal with.

[Morty]

[Tunnels]

The gobin miner is rather surprised, not that it's easy to tell under all that protective gear.

"Are any of you qualified miners?" he asks.

Should Xun go in the direction the goblin came from, the noise will only get louder, as will the dust in the air. The goblins are clearing out the debris caused by explosives as they prepare the ritual chamber.

[Deathkeeper]

Tunnels

Krayger ponders the question, mentally quite glad the self-important kobold has made his exit. The only thing more annoying than his image of himself was his mouth.
"I've done some excavation during salvage work, some demolitions for buildings, but not any actual mining work, sorry."

[Zefir]

Tunnels

Fade tilts his head slightly to a side.

"I had to work with a pickaxe if that's what you eman, but I didn't got anapprenticeship." fade replies. In the past he got his shadow giant which made him strong enougth to smash through walls, but he doesn't think the gobin means that.

[WarKitty]

Tunnels

Xun sneezes and proceeds to sniff after any magic smells. Or mice. Or funny-smelling goblins. Well, funnier smelling than usual.

[Morty]

[Tunnels]

"Sorry, but we can't really let unqualified miners into the exca- hey!" the goblin exclaims when he sees that Xun got past him.

Meanwhile, the cat will smell a fresh waft of magic as the work stops for a while. The drills are turned down as a pair of goblins is chiselling an extremely intricate rune pattern into a still-untouched wall of the chamber, which is currently half-circular.

[Deathkeeper]

Tunnels

Krayger shrugs and stands up.
"Very well, then. Good luck, fellows." he says, heading off with a wave.

[Zefir]

[Tunnels]

Fade isn't suprised by this answer, at least he doesn't thought the goblin will take him due to the question. But instead of just heading away like Krayger, he would like to know what's going on.
"I see. Could you tell me what you are building down here?"

[WarKitty]

Xun stops for a moment, sniffing the air. Runes, how neat! Then she darts over to a pile of rubble, sniffing it too. She's still slightly interested in the possibility of mice, though the runes are curious. Besides, it's more fun to see how people react to thinking she's an ordinary cat! Though she's heard disturbing rumors about goblins on that score...

[Morty]

[Tunnels]

"Your boss paid us to make a circular room under your base," the goblin explains. "Something about a ritual chamber. Does that cat belong to anyone? It's kind of dangerous back there for small critters."

Meanwhile, the miners noticed Xun, which causes a bit of a commotion among them. They don't seem interested in eating her, but they do try to shoo her back towards the tunnel exit. An excavation is no place for cats!

The runes are strange. They're peculiarly asymmetrical, in a way that almost makes eyes water. They seem to be placed on the wall at random, but at the same time, they seems to be an order to them, although a bizarre one. Their alchemical effect seems to be relatively weak, but insidious, worming its way into the rock to make it pliable, easily crushed and soft.

[Zefir]

[Tunnels]

Fade nods. He doesn't really know why a ritual chamber is needed, but the boss has a reason and that's enougth.

"I don't know who is resposible for this cat. I haven't met the owner." Fade replies. "I should warn you. The cat is testy. It can transform into a panther and doesn't like to be treated like a 'normal cat'."

[WarKitty]

Tunnels

Xun clambers up a nearby rubble pile to observe, hopefully out of reach of the diminutive humanoids. She's curious. Runes are interesting!

[Morty]

[Tunnels]

"That's just what we needed. I need to warn them." The goblin runs back towards the excavation site.

Meanwhile, his co-workers are increasingly annoyed by Xun's intrusion. One of them starts climbing the same pile of rubble, trying to simply grab her. He's far more nimble than he looks, given his thick protective gear.

[WarKitty]

Xun decides she's seen enough, darting towards the nearest exit, hopefully not the same way she came in.

[Zefir]

[Tunnels]

Fade just nods and heads back. He got the information he need and doesn't care for the cat.

[Morty]

[Tunnels - Ritual Chamber]

Soon enough, the ritual chamber has been completed and linked with the tunnel network. Astrana will be called down there so she can examine it and decide how to furnish it.

[Shadowcaller]

[Tunnels - Ritual Chamber]

Astrana will descend into the tunnels to inspect what the goblins have accomplished. She would offer to decorate the new summoning chamber herself, prefer rich bright colors in stark contrast with the no doubt gloomy cavewalls. Would they be able to get electronic lights down here as well? Preferably magically shielded lights as some summoned beings liked to play with the on and off switches.

[UncleWolf]

Road to Main Base

Anyone outside the main base will hear a series of loud chugging and roaring sounds as a pair of large trucks speed up the mountain road at a breakneck speed. Both trucks are spewing out thick diesel smoke from their stacks, Both trucks are a little rusted but covered in thick armored plating and the backs are the same. The rear tires have been replaced with treads on each and metal bars are over the obviously thickened glass.

Whoever is here is either here to join or to wreck stuff.

When they get to the area in front of the base, the trucks skid to a stop and the back doors fall to the ground heavily, as another series of engines begin to roar to life. Seconds later four armored modified snowmobiles pour out with armored people on them(2 each). The ones not driving are armed with some rather large bore guns that look more like small cannon than normal hand held guns. They split up instantly and begin racing around to look over the outside of the base.

Finally, a single figure steps out from one of the passenger seats of the trucks, standing tall and imposing. The person is easily close to seven feet tall and quite broad of shoulder, especially with the heavy white armor and the wolf shaped helm. The gauntlets are the armor fade to black instead of being completely white and have long curving blades attached to the back of them. The figure walks up to the front of the vehicles and stands tall as the helmet slides into a gorget, revealing the white furred head of a Wolfen. She's missing half an ear and part of the lip on the right side of her muzzle has been torn off, revealing her teeth on that side and showing that her fang has been broken off on that side. "I am the Raid Leader Brokenfang. You have thirty minutes to send forth one person with fifty pounds of gold, gems, or other precious materials. Your base will be untouched and the emissary will be unharmed if you do so. You have my word. You have one half hour to comply before we use force. If you wish to speak of other terms, provide such and we shall negotiate."

[Morty]

[Tunnels - Ritual Chamber]

Astrana will be given relatively free rein to decorate the ritual chamber. Electric lightning will also be no problem.

[Road to Main Base]

The doors and windows are covered with shutters, locking the base. The Aperture Science turrets on the rooftop and to the sides come to life, training themselves on the raiding party.

"Oh, I have some terms for you alright," Dipsnig says, his voice booming through a loudspeaker. "Turn around and leave the way you came and you won't be shot full of holes. It's a limited-time offer."

[UncleWolf]

Outside the Main Base

"You have one half hour." She repeats again before raising a paw above her head and making a quick circle motion with it. The snowmobiles pull back to the trucks but don't go inside, their engines idling as they sit by to watch. Brokenfang doesn't move from her position and simply stands there, waiting. Even so, she's not too much of an idiot and makes it so her helmet slides back up over her head.

Back at the trucks, a pair of new people, both of them seeming to be human and unarmored, race to the side of the foremost truck to pull a lever. The side of the truck falls open, hitting the ground with a loud clang, revealing a giant harpoon cannon with a forward facing shield to protect those manning it. Such an unwieldy weapon is surely useless as it only gets one shot.

[Lord Magtok]

Main Base

"They are confident in their abilities. This base's capabilities are a known factor, whereas their arsenal is anything but. Fifty pounds of goods is a pittance, if a particularly dense commodity is delivered. They would certainly come back a second time, but by then we would have constructed traps more than capable of seizing their entire raiding party."

Krait, advising a non-violent solution? What has the world come to?

[WarKitty]

Main Base

Xun emerges back from the tunnels. She shifts up into her panther form and armor hums to life around her. She sniffs the air by the door, searching for unfamiliar enchantments.

[Zefir]

Main Base

Fade has returned to the AMin Room after the thing underground. He listens to Krait.

"That sounds resonable. It just might be that they will use what they got to increase their force." Fade adds.

[Lost_Deep]

Main Base

"We must assume that whatever happens here today will be known," CB points out, "And cooperating with them will make us look weak."

CB is making these comments from the infirmary, which he is prepping for triage. Which one he expects is clear.

[Morty]

[Main Base]

"There's no way in hell I'm bowing to their demands just because they rode up to our base with weapons," Dipsnig says, as he sits down in the cockpit of his power armour. "If they want something from us, they can come over and take it."

[UncleWolf]

Outside the Base

The panther won't be able to smell any magic or the like, though whether it's because the group has none or is too far away on the other side of the door is another story and one that'll have to be found out the hard way.

Outside, Brokenfang and her people stand idly by, waiting for an answer. She continues to give casual looks around but otherwise doesn't move from her spot.

[Halae]

[Main Base]

"They didn't come heavily equipped, I can tell you that," Rilla comes up from her lab at this point, messing with the bracer on her arm and the etheric readout it shows. Those who haven't seen her in a while will note that she's dyed blue highlights into her hair.

Without waiting any longer, she brings up a small map of the base as a hologram, and then eliminates the power sources inside the base, to further show what the newcomers came equipped with. There's only three points of dim light. "There's no huge machines out there, no permanent magical enchantments, anything. These two power sources are mundane, and while they're larger than, say, a car, they still barely show up. I'd say... probably powered armor of some sort, likely electrical based. The third source is some kind of undead, but it's so weak it doesn't look like much of a threat. Not that that means much, given how many uses a necromancer can put even a weak undead to."

"This system can't detect mages though, or most vehicles that aren't stonking huge. Whatever they're packing, it's not golems, and it's not powered by magic. I'd say they likely prepared more mundane means of cracking the base; something to destroy the entryway to give them access. Given the thickness of the walls and doors, I'd say they probably won't attempting driving a vehicle into it; explosives are much more likely."

She breathes out, scratching her head as she looks around the gathering, "That's all the information I can give you, guys. I prepared something though," She lets the hologram map fade away, before reaching into her pocket for, and pulling out ten black objects that look like collars, "these are communicators. Put them around your neck and they should self-adjust for your size. Hold a hand to it and it should let you talk to everybody else within two hundred feet, and it should stay constantly active for incoming sounds, barring an etheric discorporation. This'll allow us to stay in communication; even if you can't contact any of the other communicators, You should still be linked up to my terminal in the lab. Because of that, and I'd be worse than useless in a fight, I'll be playing coordinator here from the lab."

"And yes, I was going to show these to you in a little while. I was just going to spend another couple weeks tuning them before handing them out; as it stands, they work, they just... might have the wrong volume levels. I'm sure it won't be too much of a problem."

She scratches her head again, and grunts, "...Dear, I know this is a point of pride for you, but I have some iron in the lab that we can artificially densify. This isn't a smart confrontation, no matter how prepared we are at the moment. Their abilities are a complete unknown, and we'd be risking people in what might be a trap." She breathes out, "I'll go along with what you decide, but this seems like a bad idea to me."

((Detections of the group outside the base were approved by Wolfy. Everybody who takes a communicator can determine for themselves whether theirs needs to be tuned better or not, but they all work properly unless something disrupts them.))

[Lord Magtok]

Main Base

"Even the metal box doctor advocates war," Krait mutters in distaste. These fools were going to get themselves killed in a siege, all because of pride. He wanders to the armory to prepare for the inevitable.