Outside 45

[8BitNinja]

[Temple Assault]

Wenomir shakes his head.

"We're not here for spoils. We just want to kill demons. Now let's get moving. We can't do anything about the lake until we reach it. Take point, Felandria. You're flying, so you won't sink if the terrain shifts. As for you two..." The warrior glares at Steve and Luvon. "If you want to be a part of this expedition, now is a good time to stop ignoring me. Fall in. That's an order."

Steve says "My apologies, I didn't mean to ignore you. I simply wanted to get our heavier members of the assault team across the lake." Steve turns his horse to follow Wenomir.

[McBish]

"No one else. And yeah, the last people aboard shot me. I patched it up ok I thought, but it seems to have gotten infected. One of the reasons I was wanting to land in something like a hurry. But if you have a way down that doesn't include crash landing why don't we go park this thing in orbit."

There is enough gravity on the ship to walk, but not a full g. She takes a few steps towards the cockpit, not turning her back on him. She waves him to follow her, happy to leave him in the bulky suit figuring it will slow him down if he turns hostile.

[Recaiden]

"I gather they're in worse shape, though?"
Cloud follows along slowly. So unusual to meet someone with a healthy amount of caution.

"I can help with that, then. ... There. Shuttle on the way. I admit, I didn't expect this place to be so under control - your message was barely coming through."

[Morty]

[Ruins]

Fayyaad shrugs and leaves the room. He doesn't have much time, clearly, but he also has little idea where to start looking. He enters the room immediately adjacent to the one he just vacated. This one contained vital information, so maybe the others are worth investigating too.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

The room adjacent to the terminal room is also damaged fairly heavily, marked with old burn holes and score marks in the walls. There is no terminal here, and, oddly enough, no robots, either, but four chests are placed against the back wall. There's also a scattering of broken machine parts on the floor; most are too badly damaged to be of use other than as scrap. They almost look as though they've been torn with teeth. Perhaps the chests will contain a map or some other useful documentation.

[Morty]

[Ruins]

Might as well try the chests, now that he's here. He's largely going blind, so he badly needs more information.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

The first chest contains nothing more than a large shard of a green crystal; it's obviously been broken off of a much larger piece, but it glows with an odd light. The second and third contain keys like the one he found earlier, only these are green and red, respectively. The last is more useful. It contains two books, both written in languages Fayyaad can understand. They're both beaten up, but still readable. The first is a book entitled "Holon Machines: Design and Construction" It's an engineering primer into building machines that use what the book calls "Quantum Refractors", crystals that release a high energy field that can be captured and used to power machinery when spun. The book goes into quite a few details and has some basic schematics as well as a few theories. The book does not mention how these crystals are made or produced, however. The second book is a log book of sorts, detailing repairs made over the course of about 90 years or so (the dates probably won't make much sense to Fayyaad, but the writer occasionally made reference to earlier entries as being 10 or 20 years in the past). Amid the technical jargon, Fayyaad can deduce that the facility's dimensional equipment and power system was upgraded numerous times in an attempt to buy more time to keep what the writer refers to as "The Entity" locked up, and that at the time of the last entry, a 1% reduction in the system's reserve power would take approximately 5 years, give or take a few months. This, the author estimates, is the current limit of their technology, and they obviously hope it will be long enough that a more permanent solution can be found. It's difficult to tell how long this book has been sitting since it was last written in; it was obviously damaged at some point, though whether it was during the author's lifetime, or after they died or abandoned the book, is impossible to tell.

[Morty]

[Ruins]

Most of it says nothing to Fayyaad. He comes from a very low-tech world, and this is all black magic. Still, he can deduce that the facility has been here for a very long time, and that the power won't go out in a matter of hours. Can he do anything about the entity trapped here? He doubts it. If all those people, with all their technology, could only trap it, it's unlikely that he could have any impact. Perhaps he should inform one of the peace-keeping groups of the Nexus about it. HALO, maybe? They felt like the kind of people to be interested in it, during his visit.

All that aside, he has a job to do. The tielfing goes to check out the other two rooms. The ones he's been in contained important information, so he's hopeful for the others.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

The room opposite the terminal room seems to have been used for several things at one point, with the last being some sort of living quarters. A bed frame and the remains of a box spring occupy one corner, while a metal workbench occupies the length of the wall next to the door. There are no chests in here, and most of the tools are missing, though there are several red crystals, spherically cut, resting the bench. They probably look familier; the robots he's been encountering have eyes that look exactly like the crystals. There's not much else of interest left in this room other than the crystals.

The room adjacent to the bedroom seems to have been a kitchen of sorts; there's a refrigerator, though it isn't running, a stove, and what seems to be a small power generator in one corner, though it obviously isn't working any more, as the fridge is plugged into it. There's also an odd-looking box with a spigot on the side; probably for doing something with water, though exactly what is hard to tell. A few pots and pans are scattered about on the floor, as though whoever lived here last left in a hurry and didn't bother to clean up. Nothing else of note is visible.

The hallway itself has a door near the kitchen that most likely leads deeper into the facility.

[McBish]

"Yeah they got dumped in vacuum. After being shot several times. I don't take kindly to those that try and kill me and my daughter. Are you a healer of some sort? Um... is that part of your magic?" The threat explaining the caution, at least partially. She is the only person she trusts to take care of her infant child in this galaxy. Not to mention all the extra danger of living in a tin can flying through space.

It is only a few steps to the cockpit. Inside of which looks like a mess of wires and display screens. It looks like it was obviously made to be ran by more than one person, and then modified so that one could handle it.

The woman slides into the chair and starts to type on a screen displaying several possible paths around the planet. It is possible to feel a bit of thrust altering their path to put them into orbit. She keeps her gun in one hand the whole time.

"Yeah sorry about that, I was using the holographic projector from the Hub, the other ship. I wasn't sure if it could handle the range. But I wasn't sure who I would be talking with down there."

[Green Elf]

[Temple Assault]

"I'll fall in, but I don't recall not listening, or you being the leader. But please don't get in an argument about it. It's not worth anything." He turns to Steve. "I'll bend the trees to make a sort of bridge. Give me just a second." He looks downward but toward the trees and reaches out a hand. The trees should start (unless anti magic is involved)
impossibly bending the trees at the feet of Steve to form a path.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Siege of VIGIL]

Thariza lets out a low, rumbling growl. It seems she can't quite muster the kind of rage she'd like to, though.

"You brought me back? Why? Couldn't you just let me finally rest?"

[The Siege of VIGIL Temple Grounds]

Sargon turns to stare down at 'Jaccalish'. "For once I am in agreement with a mortal, you should let it rest, as your kind always go on about."

The hooded charr does not return the demons stare however, all his attention is focused on Thariza. "So you would want me to return you to as you where? Since I could do that. However, there is a 'bigger picture' thing going on here. You are the first I bring back, of what I hope will be many more. You will be a proof that my method works, so that others might use it to bring back those who would be more accepting of the idea." 'Jaccalish' argues.

[Temple Assault]

((I should note that while there are trees around here, they aren't tall enough to get the party across the entire swamp, nor are there enough of them. It is a swamp after all, not a forest. It could help a bit on the way though.))

[Recaiden]

"You should always give the dead a gentle push towards something or other. Don't want 'em just floating in the black forever."
Cloud puts a hand on the wall to steady him from the sudden acceleration.
"Some sort of healer, yeah. Part of the life force tradition, rather than the surgical or revisionist. It's kind of a big thing with our magic, making sure injuries pass and people don't die early."

He looks over the screen, understanding a little more. She's still not necessarily trustworthy, but it's looking better.
"Pretty slick screen there. But I guess it doesn't do much automatically?"

[McBish]

"*******s that big will surely float into something eventually. And if they don't it isn't going to keep me up at night."

She keeps an eye on her displays making sure all the thrusters fired correctly, and that there course is set. "It needs a decent amount of input but it does all the hard math. I am just picking the path. I could probably plot a crash landing course, but I wouldn't trust myself to park it in orbit. I don't really have the training for that."

She pauses her collecting her thoughts putting the words in the right order before she speaks. "These two ships have been my home for 16 years. The only home my daughter has ever known. So I am ill inclined to abandon them. So I just want to make sure, if you help me, if I get on your shuttle, these ships are still mine. No claiming salvage rights or anything like that from you. And um... If we go to the surface without landing this ship, how hard would it be for a person to get back up in space around here?"

[Recaiden]

"There must be quite a story to that. But no, I don't plan on trying to take your ships." Cloud doesn't really know what he'd do with a run-down spaceship. Selling it for parts is always an option, I suppose. "Now, I can't promise they'd be safe, sitting up here with no one in."

"Not bad. Two of the big cities around here have commercial spaceports. More expensive than a train ride, but not out of reach at all."

[Morty]

[Temple Grounds]

Thariza spits.

"And you chose me to me your lab rat? If you plan to make me your slave, better kill me now and spare yourself the trouble."

[Ruins]

Fayyaad grabs a crystal. They're not what he's after here, but could be valuable. After that, he heads deeper into the ruins.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Ruins]

Though the door at the end of the hall, Fayyaad will find a small, circular room with another elevator that will take him deeper underground when he's ready.

[McBish]

"There must be quite a story to that. But no, I don't plan on trying to take your ships." Cloud doesn't really know what he'd do with a run-down spaceship. Selling it for parts is always an option, I suppose. "Now, I can't promise they'd be safe, sitting up here with no one in."

"Not bad. Two of the big cities around here have commercial spaceports. More expensive than a train ride, but not out of reach at all."

She nods that is good news. A bit if stress lifts from her shoulders and it shows on her face. "Makes sense, I should be able to lock it down and keep it out of sight and will just have to hope for a little luck. I can gather up some stuff that I should be able to sell for a decent price. How big is your shuttle, will it be able to latch on or should I get my p-suit on for the trip?"

She types into a command console call up a list of damaged parts that she is pretty sure she will need to buy to fix up the ship right away. Then while that is compiling she sets up a program that will let her keep in contact with her ship. Most of this is all done while talking.

[Recaiden]

Cloud is skeptical of its ability to remain hidden, but it is her ship, after all. Not his problem.

"The shuttle? It could probably take ten people off of here, but you should get your suit."
"So what went wrong to get you into this situation, almost-crashing here?"

[Felandria]

[Temple Assault]

Felandria nods in assention.

Sir, yes sir!

And she will float over the swamp, watching carefully for threats, her gun at the ready.

[McBish]

"The last planet I was heading towards sent out two ships to intercept me. I tried to run but they had hit me with some sort of long range energy weapon that had disrupted lots of things including my hyperspatial engine so I couldn't just jump away. They had better sub light engines and hit me with some laser fire that fried a dozen other things. Then they boarded. I tried to hold them off but couldn't, so I tried something desperate. I got the hyperspatial engine to jump us, no safety buffers and docked to another ship, it should have killed us, but i got lucky. It took half the ship docked with me. Critical failure at the air lock vented this whole ship. I was in a suit, most of the aliens weren't. I finished off those that were left, patched myself up and headed here." She explains continuing to type commands to the ship and keep an eye on Cloud.

[Recaiden]

"That's pretty amazing. Stupid lucky, yes. But brave."
"Anyway, one healing spell for an infected wound, coming up."

Cloud puts his hands together, half-overlapping, and closes his eyes. His halo starts to shed more light, and he remains in that meditative pose for a moment. If she doesn't interrupt, after a few seconds he'll twist his hands to flat, the halo will dim to normal, and she'll be cured. No magic words, no laying on hands, just done.

"So you've lived here for sixteen years, and your daughter is just a baby. Was there anyone else here before, or have you always been raising her alone?"

[McBish]

"Both. There were 7 of us when we first got lost. We were down to 5 by the time we got the ship limping along. But they were all gone by the time Eve was born. I was by myself at that point."

Then there is healing. She opens her mouth to say something but stops herself. So far he has seemed peaceful enough. Plus she is curious to see his "magic" as she can't help but think of it. She figures at best he has some sort of device, probably the halo, at worst he is some sort of charlatan. She doesn't consider other options that could be real and worse than a con-man.

Inside the wound there is still one small and dozens of tiny pieces of a bullet in her. That is what caused the infection that is removed. But unless the spell takes care of that one relatively large piece the infection will return, and would cause internal bleeding at some point as it moves around inside of her.

[Recaiden]

Cloud rattles the bullet pieces now held cupped in his right hand.
"That looked pretty bad. The angels tell me that 'the good thing about miracles is that they do what you mean.' I guess I usually know what I mean pretty well."
He sets the broken bits of projectile aside on one of the non-functional cannibalized consoles.
"You come from someplace where the world all makes sense, don't you? Like clockwork."
"Sorry about the other six."

[McBish]

She looks a bit shocked. More then a bit actually. She actually holsters the pistol she has been holding this whole time. She checks her forehead for a fever then tenderly pokes where the wound was. She nods and answers slowly and quietly. "Yes, even if we didn't really understand it all. It seemed like it did. Here?"

[Recaiden]

Cloud chuckles to see her feeling for fever.
"Here, it doesn't seem like that. Everything seems to follow rules, but not the same ones from time to time, place to place, thing to thing. Get used to seeing impossible."
"So, 've you two got names?"

[Morty]

[Temple Assault]

"You signed up to a Vigil mission, so you listen to the commander of Vigil," Wenomir says, as he follows Felandria over the bent trees.

[Ruins]

Fayyaad takes a deep breath, shrugs and descends in the elevator. No reason to turn back now. How much time did it take to build all this?

[McBish]

"Oh geeze I am sorry, I guess I am being rude. Yes of course, I am Naftly Sabin, and my daughter is Eveland or Eve for short. I really al appreciate all of your help. I thought I was going to be in a much worse position than this."

Apparently done entering commands she slides out of the chair as gravity lightens to about 1/3 normal. "Easier to grab stuff this way. She explains.

[Recaiden]

Those names sound fake as hell, thinks the healer who hasn't gone by his birth name in years and years. But he doesn't comment. After all, you don't get much more foreign than another star/universe.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Sabin. The shuttle is well on its way by now."
Cloud takes a few steps back the way they came, testing the drifting lack of gravity.
"I don't blame you being prepared for the worst."

[McBish]

The names aren't fake at all. It doesn't help that Naftly got the last name Sabin on a world a galaxy away from her home.

"Good because then you will hopefully understand my next request. I'd like you to wait for me in the airlock while I gather my things. It is about the only place I can lock you up because I don't want to have to keep one eye on you while packing, and I, sorry again, don't trust you alone on my ship."