Eberron With Giant Robots 00

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Ah—Lieutenant is a higher rank than Commander, then?" she asks before continuing on with the tactical discussions.

Commander Deneith laughs, slapping Vedner on the shoulder. "Ha! No, the Lieutenant here's my immediate subordinate, in fact. He's just lucky he wasn't with me when I was hired out to Karrnath. They execute officers who take that tone with their superiors there, isn't that right Lieutenant? Pretty nastily, too."

The Commander looks like he's clearly joking, but Vedner seems to have decided to play it safe, keep a serious expression, and nod.

Commander Deneith releases his shoulder and walks over to the group. "I don't think I've introduced myself, actually. Commander Zoren Deneith, or "Thunderbolt" if you listen to ass-kissing bards. Pick a name, I answer to any of the four as long as there's a 'Commander' in there somewhere."

(A DC 10 Knowledge History or Nobility check will tell you that this man was a well-known mercenary in the Last War, fighting variously for Karrnath, Breland, and Thrane as his unit's contract was incrementally bought out. He ended the war as one of the most decorated men in the Blademarks Guild.)

"Er," the recovering Vedner says to Nozomi, "No, no packages. Why, were you expecting one?"

[Winged One]

"Well...I was expecting a package to come soon before any new toys that Father would think are interesting enough to show off personally." Nozomi answers Vedner. Might just be something I wasn't involved with. I'm not even completely sure I have any of them used anyway.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Zephyr, who had remained silent on the way back, now speaks as he exits his Spirit. Just Deneith? Not d'Deneith? he asks.

[Elvith Jars]

"Actually, Lady Nozomi, I didn't consider that House Cannith would willingly sell Mobile Suits to the Invaders. I'm sure, however, that they'd be interesting in acquiring one and studying it, just as we're likely to study the constructs we've felled, assuming we haven't already. And my understanding is that creation forges were destroyed after the Last War to prevent new construction of my kind. It would be most unfortunate if a forge were somehow restored to operational capacity by the Invaders, or perhaps studied and copied. I'm no expert- I'm a weapon, not an artificer- but the constructs do appear to have similarities to warforged."

Hm. It seems arguing is a form of battle with words. I wonder if that means I should downgrade Lady Nozomi from comrade to ally? No, that would violate Directive 2. I guess verbal battles are like training skirmishes. She seems to take offense easily. Maybe that's why people think she's Merrix's gender-switch clone...

Crowbar re-racks the sword and shield he absent-mindedly picked up on the way to the garage and parks his battered Spirit. Despite Nozomi's timely repairs, Crowbar's Spirit looks rather well worn with numerous dents and scrapes. The cracked and split shield still has the spike lodged in it from the construct's ranged attack.

The warforged pilot remains silent until he's dismounted from the Mobile Suit. As the commander introduces himself, Crowbar immediately stands at attention and snaps off a salute. His five fingered hand almost looks like a blade.

"Warforged Melee Unit Alpha Promethium Dash Zero Zero one, designated Crowbar, reporting for duty Sir."

Shiali doesn't know the chain of command? Odd.

[Winged One]

"You don't get a d' unless you're an actual blood member of your house." Nozomi explains to Zephyr. "Sorry, Crowbar, but I can't let a rumor like that even exist. It would just be too bad for business. I don't see any similarities myself, but I'm not a real artificer either. I should write down your suspicions anyway." She takes out her notepad and writes "AP-001 suspects a connection between Invader constructs and warforged, to the point that he referred to one of the former as 'points hostile warforged titan'. AP-001 suggests a pilot-controlled repair function. AP-001 is really ****ing annoying. I should remind Father to give me any relevant Y.B. during his arrival, as he may forget otherwise. AP-001 was able to engage over half of an Invader squadron without damage to himself in a Spirit 2. AP-001 suspects that Invader constructs function as 'recruiters', converting existing animals to combat readiness. Additional anti-construct products may be in order."

[Lucid_Archon]

Volker lets a smug grin cross his face as he walks along with the rest.

"You certainly do have some interesting ideas..."

He casts a quick glance at Crowbar.

"Although as to the connection between warforged and the controller units, although the visible similarities are evident to... most people, it could be indicative of either a common source or merely a convergence on the same processes and technologies for the same goal."

Suddenly his grin ratchets larger almost violently, contorting his face with a mixture of malevolence and mad glee.

"So, you're father is going to be here, Nozomi?"

[Winged One]

"That's what Commander Deneith said." Nozomi says. "Every time I see that look, 2 hours later everybody's dead, the airship is on fire, and I've lost my hat either we have a prototype for a new type of weapon or the lab has exploded. Why do you have that look?"

[Lord Iames Osari]

Oh, I see. I never paid much attention to the intricacies of the Houses...

Your father is Baron d'Cannith?

[Nerd-o-rama]

Unnoticed by the group, a small, rather dingy-looking dwarf has entered the hangar area, just in time to catch the end of the conversation.

"Your father's Baron d'Cannith?!" he adds in surprise. Then he looks at the assembled Mobile Suits. "Gah! Your father's Baron d'Cannith and ya did this to my Mobile Suits?!"

Promptly ignoring the group, he hustles over and begins inspecting the damage to the suits. "What in all the various planes did ya do to this bloody shield?" is followed quickly by a string of what is probably Dwarven profanity (though Dwarven is one of those languages where it's hard to tell.)

"Bloody rookies. Volker! My wand kit, snap to it," he concludes distractedly.

Volker recognizes his boss, and the local master artificer, though I cannot for the life of me find where I put the information where I initially mentioned him, and therefore I might be going insane. Regardless, bear with me for an hour or so until I can look up his name.

[Winged One]

"Yes, he is." Nozomi says with a sigh. She draws the rod she had been using as a cane earlier and the rod she used when she repaired Crowbar's mobile suit, then strides toward the one she had been using and says in a patient tone, "We didn't do that, sir, the Invaders did." She raises the dragon-headed rod, touches the other to her suit, and causes some magical energy to flow from the dragon-headed rod to her dragonmark and then to the suit through the other rod.

Spoiler

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Empowered Repair Light Damage, multiply by 1.5 (1d8 1=7)

[Elvith Jars]

"I merely used the shield to stop a potentially fatal ranged attack. Had it not taken the blow, and had we not put ourselves and our Mobile Suits into harms way, this base would likey be overrun with Invaders right now. Damaged equipment seems a fair trade for dead Invaders, Sir."

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Apology accepted, now leave it alone and let me do my job. The nobs'll be wanting to speak to ya. Volker!" And thus does the newly renamed Master Sergeant Bazranak demonstrate his racial Charisma penalty.

"Actually, Bazranak, I think I'll be taking Sir Volker to be debriefed now. He fought admirably on the spur of the moment, and I think he might be better suited for frontline duty," Deneith explains.

"Uh, wait..."

"Wha! Now how'm I supposed to be fixing your bloody armor up if I don't have one of you oversized, underhaired monkeys to reach the high spots?"

"We'll hire you another monkey. Now, team, let's walk and talk, and maybe we can get you settled in before some other bizarre thing happens." He hefts his own rather heavy-looking rucksack which he apparently dropped off here before rushing out into battle. "Hm. You there!" he says, pointing at Dencamp. "You look like you could use some exercise. Too scrawny to be a real fighter. Take this." Dencamp has fifty pounds of traveling gear chucked at him, which is fortunately easy to catch, but uncomfortable to carry.

[ExHunterEmerald]

"Wh-"

Fwump. Dencamp takes the bag to the stomach, but recovers remarkably and grabs it up with his hands.

"Y--yes, sir."

He fixes Lieutenant Vedner with what might be a very pleading glance before falling into step behind Deneith.

[The_Snark]

Shiali listens politely, a little bemused by the conversation's turn away from the enemy. The bit about the dragonmarked houses was interesting, though. "Oh, that'll be nice," she comments as somebody mentions Baron d'Cannith arriving soon. "I've never actually met him before. He doesn't seem to get out much in Sharn."

She looks particularly relieved at having brought her suit back in fairly good condition as the dwarf emerges and begins inspecting the suits. "About the attackers, though," she broaches again now that she doesn't have to interrupt anybody to speak, "I'm not sure control is all it was. I have a little mental ability, and when I probed the animals, they all responded at once. An animal shouldn't have responded at all, and certainly not more than one of them. I don't really know what would cause that, but I think they must be under the direction of a single mind."

[Winged One]

When Deneith mentions getting them settled in before any other bizarre things happen, Nozomi just says "Very funny, sir." Shiali's pronouncement, however, leads her to take out her notepad again and write "Rierdan liaison reports all nearby animal Invaders reacting simultaneously to a 'probe' that should work on one non-animal mind. She concludes that they" At this point, she looks up and asks "You mean that they all have the same mind, right? Not that one mind is controlling them?"

[Lucid_Archon]

"I had wondered about that myself. But, if you examine the actions of the enthralled creatures, it seems that a hierarchal control structure with those constructs acting as intermediaries between the animals and a separate sentience is the only possible device in this situation. If a mere hive intelligence was controlling the creatures, then you're probe wouldn't have been able to find a central intelligence, assuming a nominal similarity in function to enchantments. If the constructs were the root intelligence we wouldn't have seen the pain based reaction spread through the control network as the extraneous sensory data would be discarded. The only remaining solution is a top level sentience which reacted to both the physical sensations and the probe which must have been funneled upward."

Volker pauses, and glances at poor Dencamp.

"I assume."

[Winged One]

"She never said the probe was pain-based, though...but I think I noticed the animal Invaders flinching at one point in the fight." Nozomi says, writing on a new line "Battlefield support suspects that the construct Invaders act as intermediaries between animal Invaders and some other intelligence in a hierarchal control structure."

[The_Snark]

"They might have the same mind, or it might be a single controlling one so closely linked that it felt the probe. I've never seen it before, so I can't really tell. And no, it certainly wasn't pain-based." Shiali looks faintly indignant. "It was a subconscious prod—unsettling, but not painful—which is why it should only work on something with a fair degree of sophistication. A hunting wolf wouldn't have paid any attention to it. What I'm not sure about is whether all of them were affected, or only some—I couldn't see all of them. If the constructs were the controllers or the intermediaries, I'd think they would have been affected too, but I didn't see anything. I wasn't very close, though."

[Elvith Jars]

"Well, we do have a couple of 'dead' constructs, perhaps we should analyze them and see if they have evidence supporting our theories." Crowbar watches Dencamp struggle with the duffle bag. He seems fascinated, but doesn't move to countermand the Commander's orders.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Commander Deneith leads the group to a set of rooms not far from the hangar, apparently a secondary non-commisioned officers' barracks with about a dozen unoccupied rooms, and invites them to drop off their personal effects. He and Lt. Vedner then lead the group on a loose tour of the base, showing the way to any important facilities you might think of. Oddly, most of the base seems to be underground, and of recent (last 3 years or so construction), despite the large and rather aging tower that makes the facility visible from miles off). As you walk, the commander relates, in a rambling and almost heroic-poetic fashion, this team's mission profile. Lt. Vedner occasionally pops in to clarify the information into something actually useful. Their overall spiel can be summed up to:

The six of you (Vedner tries to correct him to five, but apparently Commander Deneith is determined to appropriate Volker for frontline work permanently) are the official Mobile Suit Team responsible for defending the northern Sharn area from Invaders. Deneith is your field commander, with Vedner as executive officer. Above Deneith, and in charge of the Last Tower base as a whole, is Captain Mina ir'Frey, from the airship branch of Breland's navy, who will be here with your special-issue mobile suits in about a day. You'll be using her ship, the Green Dragon for rapid deployment to areas outside the immediate vicinity.

"And that about sums it up. We're on duty all day, every day, with an option on long-term deployment if someone higher up the chain decides we want to mount an offensive on the whatever-they-ares. Any questions?"

[ExHunterEmerald]

"Er, where can I put this...?" Dencamp asks quietly, still holding the bag.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"Oh, you're still carrying that?" Deneith says. "Same hall as your quarters. Why don't you just carry back when you're dismissed. Oh, you're dismissed for now, by the way."

"Actually, sir, I need to speak to the troops individually for some paperwork," Vedner adds. "I thought I'd start with Bertrand. Alphabetical order and all that."

Deneith laughs again. "Ha! Lucky you, Dencamp. Saved by Vedner's obsessive-compulsive disorder. Fine, I'll carry it back." He takes that bag over one shoulder, and walks at a jaunty pace in the direction of the barracks.

"As the commander said, you're dismissed for the moment. There's some paperwork I need to go over with each of you, but you should have time for some...relaxation for now. Mr. Bertrand, if you'll come with me."

[ExHunterEmerald]

"Yes, sir."
Dencamp stretches his liberated shoulders and looks over the "party."
"I guess I'll see all of you later; I'm sorry I haven't been able to really introduce myself in all this confusion."
With that, he follows the Lieutenant to his office.

[Elvith Jars]

Crowbar waves goodbye to Dencamp. "Lady Nozomi, unless there is anything further you need from me, I think I shall go practice on the archery range. I'd help with the cleanup of the 'picnic area' but I'm a weapon, not a janitor."

[ExHunterEmerald]

A short while later, Dencamp returns to the barracks as everyone's settling in. He approaches Nozomi and clears his throat quietly.

"Ah, Miss D'Cannith? Lieutenant Vedner would like to speak with you next."

He quickly moves aside and claims a bunk for himself, setting his gear down at its feet.

Sitting back on the bed and sighing, Dencamp looks over their quarters in contemplative silence.

[The_Snark]

Shiali departs, heading to their quarters to look over them and find out what the sleeping arrangements are. Her own pack, placed neatly at the foot of her bunk, is small and light-looking.

[Winged One]

Nozomi nods to Crowbar, then starts unpacking her things from her backpack until Dencamp arrives. "Oh, so the d' doesn't count in alphabetical order. I can never remember. Thank you." She says, and then goes into Vedner's office.

[Lucid_Archon]

Volker surveys the quarters quickly. "It looks like we're pairing off for bunks. Any suggestions as to the division, or should be just draw from a hat?"

[Lord Iames Osari]

It doesn't really matter to me, Zephyr says, taking his pack and claiming one of the bunks.

[Winged One]

Nozomi emerges from the Lt.'s office and says "Volker, wasn't it? Your turn."