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Steve     The toil of two weeks had been completed, and it was time to make a show of the unveiling of the results. As mid-day hits, the curiously cubist sun beams down at its strongest upon a stage that has, apparently, been spontaneously constructed a short distance from Steve's primary fortress. That means the pigs, cows and sheep in the fenced enclosures have a front row seat for whatever is about to transpire, upon that platform made of planks of freshly-sawn wood. Whatever is being presented remains veiled for the moment, behind what seems like thick wool blanketing, though it is not hard to notice that a sturdy lever has been placed closeby. No doubt it is attached to whatever mechanism Steve has rigged up for the presentation.

    Guests had been sent invitations ahead of time, through more proper mail channels than usual. The list included those that Steve had already had contact with, as well as any that might have expressed interest in his project or world. It wasn't some black tie party that's difficult to sneak into. That does not mean it is completely lacking black ties. Before the stage area is some roughly made, wooden seating, far more than is likely to be necessary. Waddling between the stands are a series of three golems, seemingly made of baked clay, carrying trays that have the local specialties, such as porkchops and roast beef. These are where the ties are to be found, a black bowtie on each one. They stop by patrons briefly as they make their rounds, offering up their tray just above their heads, which considering they are a meter tall, would be about right for easy reach.

    Then there is Steve, himself. Not expecting trouble, and not really feeling the need to dress up, he's in his usual t-shirt and pants, for today. It's not like any great works are being produced or enacted, at the moment, so he will skip that side of theatrics. Instead, for the moment, he is primarily Steve, the miner. It appears he's just back stage, as it were, working on some last minute preparations by sprinkling a curious red dust between several wooden enclosures, each of which has a grill, much like a speaker.

    In case of those that somehow wandered in without knowing what this was about, a wooden sign is affixed above the stage area: Better Living Through Golemancy!
Sanary Rondel      The last few experiments Sanary's been to, things had gotten a little... Weird. That's why, for this one, she's actually prepared for a fight! Her trusty gunaxe tied to her hip, a kite shield on her back, and a suit of... Fluffy winter-wear? It's armor, even if it doesn't quite look like the usual sort.

     "Sooo. What do we got today, Steve?" She calls out from the front area, peering at the stage in the assumption that Steve is actually back there. She's still a little apprehensive, of course, just in case he isn't. If so... Well, she can just pretend she was on the comms or something, right?
Auron     Auron had heard that something involving golems was going to happen, and decided to go to where it was happening at. Mainly just for backup, since this is an experiment. Experiments can always go wrong after all. Experiments with golems and other dangerous things tend to go catastrophically wrong, if they do. To that end, he does have his sword with him, his Katana, in a gray sheath on his back.

    It's all right that Steve didn't feel the need to dress up. Apparently Auron hadn't felt the need to either. He's in the attire that has become typical for him after Mt. Ordeals -- meaning his coat, breastplate, pants and boots, but without the collar and shades to hide him -- save for one thing. His coat is red as per normal, but it has armor plates along the shoulders, and along all the edges and hems. There's a winglike emblem on the back.

    He's arriving on foot, from the looks of it, the brow of his remaining eye raised in curiosity as he examines his surroundings, and the serving-golems.
Alexis Maaka     Auron isn't the only one in a coat here today.

    Alexis Maaka has arrived in her iconic armored longcoat, a battle rifle slung over her back as she makes her way towards the village. Really, she's just preparing for the inevitable rampage these things might cause in the event of things going wrong, as well as for defense when traveling from home to here via her muscle car, the vehicle stopping outside of the village.

    She spots Sanary and Auron, greeting them with a friendly grin and an armbump to both as she removes her shades. "Hey San, Auron. Long time no see. I take it you guys got the message too?" She asks, curious as she eyes the golems herself.
Steve     "Hey, is that Sanary!?" A few footsteps can be heard, before Steve clears some of the wooden pylons that form the bulk of the stage area, slapping his hands together a few times to clear it of the residue of that red powder. He's got a broad grin on his face, as he explains, "Oh, you'll see shortly. Just doing some last second stuff." He glances behind her to Auron and Alexis, each newly arrived, and reaches a hand up to scratch lightly at his beard stubbled jawline, his tone of voice more curious than worried, or offended, "Why's everyone coming in armed, anyway?" It took him weeks to get this far, and that obviously means he's got everything figured out and all possible angles covered. There is no sense of dread weighing on him, whatsoever.

    Then again, it seldom does until he is already in over his head.

    The diminutive service golems continue their work, tirelessly and quietly. They seem to possess little in the way of intelligence, but thankfully are completely harmless. They simply glance at the visitors that they pass close to, with the empty depressions that serve as their 'eyes', and offer up the trays, before moving on. They seem quite simplistic in what they can do, much like one made of straw, that could be seen shearing sheep further in the background, while another collects and deposits the wool in a container.

    More importantly is the future of golemancy, which Steve belatedly realizes would have looked a lot better on the sign. Stepping onto the stage, he glances over the trio assembled, and gives just a trace of a thoughtful frown for a moment; perhaps he was expecting a bit larger turn-out? Regardless, it doesn't last long, before he's beaming again, and steps to a crudely constructed podium. "Friends and newcomers, as some of you know, I am Steve, a miner and thaumaturgist," he begins, not concerned with raising his voice too high, since there isn't much of a crowd to speak to. "Golems are an important cog in my daily machine. Tireless workers that can automate the most piss-boring tasks! However, golems have a flaw. First, they are stupid - they can basically only follow one simple instruction at a time. Second, they can be fast, but weak. Or strong, but slow."

    Having addressed these issues, he gives a meaningful glance toward the wool blanketing, "That is where today's revelation comes in. I heard of a material called Erchius, and managed to obtain samples of it. This stuff apparently has the properties I need to at least solve the second issue." He then pulls reaches over and pulls the lever. Hydraulic sounds cause the wool to retract into the wooden stage, revealing a meter-high humanoid made of that volatile, reactive crystal. Presently, it is inert, if its bowed head and lack of movement is any indication. The reveal is accompanied by an off-tune music score, played by the 'note blocks' back stage. "...damn it, I spent hours working on that," he mutters, before continued, "Gathered friends, I give you the Erchius golem!"
Sanary Rondel      "Oh, you know. Just a safety precaution in case... Uh. Interlopers!" Totally. That's totally what Sanary had in mind with that gear on. Hearing two others arriving from behind her, she turns around to give Auron and Alexis a quick salute and smirk in acknowledgment. "Glad to see I'm not the only one here. Yeah, figured I'd come by to help out with whatever. Always fun seeing new stuff before it hits the public."

     Hopefully, there wouldn't be much literal hitting involved.

     Sanary turns to Steve as he begins speaking, her eye shifting briefly at the movement of those golems not too far away. Her attention returns to that blanketing once Steve draws attention to it however, and she lets out an intrigued 'ooh' when the new golem is revealed! She does struggle to hold in a snicker at that apparent mishap with the sound, but tries to avoid drawing too much attention to it with a strategic nose-brushing to cover her mouth.

     "Erchius... Nice ring to it. So this thing's gonna be fast and strong, but still dumb enough to not go too nuts? How much work is there in gathering enough of the stuff?"
Alexis Maaka     "Dangerous wildlife and bandits." Alexis responds casually, glancing back at the MK 14 EBR she has slung across her back. The rifle seems /vastly/ overcustomized for what would be just a simple nature walk, of course, but knowing Maaka she has her reasons to be toting around a battle rifle with a scope, folding bipod, mags duct-taped together, and other little add-ons that make it much lighter and more comfortable to use in the field.

    Then again, she IS a mercenary, and they never seem to feel wholly dressed without their guns.

    Folding her arms, Alexis takes a second to grab a drink from one of the golems if they make it available, and she takes a swig of water. She immediately frowns as she hears the word 'Erchius'. "Hope he knows what he's doing there." She mutters over to Sanary, already concerned for the moment. "A lot. Steve was with me when we investigated an asteroid filled with the stuff." says the cyborg. "It's what powers my ship's FTL systems, as well as those of other flotilla vessels. Though we still don't quite know how it really works other than that, but what we do know isn't good."
Auron     Auron hears his name and turns to regard the source of the voice. He offers a pleasant half-smile as he notes who it is. "Maaka," he offers, by way of greeting. To her inquiry of whether he'd gotten the message or not, he nods. "I heard about it on the broadband." There had been some conversation about it at one point in the past. "Thought it might be a good idea to come by. Just in case."

    He also gives a polite nod of greeting to Sanary. And to her statement he returns, "Indeed." He too is hoping there's not much literal hitting that's going to be involved. But he's prepared if there will be. Maaka's mention of this stuff 'not being good' gets a raise of his eyebrow.

    When Steve starts speaking to the crowd in general, Auron turns to regard him, and listens. And at the reveal, Auron's gaze switches to the inert golem. He doesn't know anything about this 'Erchius' stuff, so he isn't sure what properties it has. Until Maaka starts to tell what she knows about it. Her information gets a raise of his eyebrow again. "...Remind me again why it's being used for this?"
Steve     "She has the gist of it," Steve seems to indicate about what Alexis says, in answer to Sanary. "Those Flotilla people know their stuff. Had the deepest mine I'd ever seen, and this stuff was embedded right in the moonstone." Shifting a bit at the podium, he once again regards the weapons everyone has brought, and gives that same ponderous scratch of his jaw, "Well, I wasn't planning on activatin' it, just yet. But, I guess it never hurts to be prepared." He's grinning once again, though, once Auron brings up a point he was wanting to make, anyway, and he rests both of his fairly meaty arms on the wood of the lectern, "Glad you asked! At the dig site, I made a pickaxe out of this stuff, and I noticed it seemed to react to what was needed at the moment. It's not so much that it'll be fast and strong. If my theories are right, it'll adapt to the workload."

    Of course, he had only intended not to activate it. Erchius is still a bit beyond his fully grasp, and he honestly knows less than the Flotilla. Even though he had managed to coax it to take this squat, humanoid shape, there had been several explosions of various degrees to get this far, and he conveniently leaves out that little detail. The golem that had just held up bottles of water for Alexis continues its pacing, though having more people around apparently confuses it. He did say that they're dumb, after all! Lacking a great deal of articulation, and agility, accordingly, it somewhat stumbles around onto the stage, careening front-first into the Erchius golem. Steve glances over from where he's standing, and momentarily laughs, "Case in point." However, his laughing stops as the Erchius golem raises its head, and pushes the other golem off of it, apparently of its own accord.

    The other golem falls to the stage, lifelessly, its tray of drinks ruined. On its body is a cavity where the animation core used to be. The same animation core that has apparently now fused to the Erchius golem. Even with this, the miner-turned-mage looks more intrigued than worried, "Huh. Well, that seems to be going better than I expected." Right as he says so, however, the Erchius golem takes off as a blur of speed, crashing through the fences of the sheep pen and beginning to hurl them into the air. It'd be pretty funny, really, if the sheep weren't apparently collapsing into a broken heap after. "--man, why can't anything just work the first time?" He glances to the audience, "Can you de-activate that for me? I'll figure out something to use as payment." Whatever the case, it's probably best to decide fast. It's already moved on to the pigs, and apparently the peaceful worker golems.
Sanary Rondel      "Space-y materials, then... Huh. Cool." The potential danger involved isn't lost on Sanary, but... Space materials. That means it has to be strong, right? The cleric certainly seems impressed enough once that little fact is cleared up, although she does mirror Auron's wariness with a nod of her own. "He's got a point... You planning on taking these things to space, then?"

     Hearing the commotion from the stage, she chuckles at first when the Erchius golem pushes back against it's weaker brother. "Not too slow, not too fast... Could be good for security, eh?" Although the healer laughs at first, her own laughter fades once that Erchius golem goes from being there to.. Distinctly /not/ being there.

     "That's... Uh. How the hell are we supposed to catch up with that?" Sighing lightly, she takes out an Ice shell from one of her many pockets to load it into her gunaxe, then breaks into a run for the rogue golem. "Got it! Come on.. Uh.. Erchi!" Even as she calls out and runs, she's firing rapid blasts of ice at the ground around the golem, trying to make the terrain a little less stable for the golem to move around in.
Alexis Maaka     "Uh huh." Alexis just kinda nudges the golem away from her before she observes the prototype some more. One could almost swear she was counting down before it went haywire.

    And haywire it goes! Alexis swears under her breath, before she immediately makes her way towards the Erchius golem in a dead sprint. "Auron, Sanary, keep it busy!" She calls out to the others, before she pulls out a length of fibercord with a custom grappling hook on the end. Auron will recognize this as the Hylian grapple she acquired from that shipwreck years ago, and Alexis flings it toward the Golem's neck. As it hopefully wraps around the golem, Alexis immediately yanks with all her strength at the little guy. "Gotcha!" She's strong enough to possibly lift it, ideally.
Auron     Yep. That's about what Auron expected. The Erchius golem seems to have grabbed a power source from a smaller golem, and now it's wreaking havoc. Auron's already pulling his sword when the golem starts to move, so Maaka's statement gets an affirmative grunt. As Maaka attempts to immobilize the thing with a hooshot and Sanary tries to ice the ground and its feet, Auron runs around to the front of the golem and angles his sword to act as a shield. He's not going to attack immediately, that would be stupid. What if the stuff explodes when struck?
Steve     The bad thing about experiments is that they're experiments for a reason. Honestly, Steve isn't certain of what to expect anymore, from what has become an effectively self-actuating golem. Not that he'll let on about that! Instead, he focuses on certain universal truths of golemancy, as he calls to the others: "There's basically a few ways to go about it! You can break or remove its animation core," which would be the conspicuous medallion-like thing that it swiped from the other golem, "Or you can beat it down. I don't know how the Erchius would react to that, though." Probably explosively, going by how annoying it was to even create the little guy. Regardless, the pigs are flying like bingo balls, by the time Sanary's ice shots begin making their way over. Though it may be made of an exotic substance, its legs are still ultimately the same stubby variety the other golems have. It's not made for that kind of terrain!

    It goes sliding, having to abandon its pig tossing as it smashes through another fence; apparently a side effect of its adaptive strength is that it just walks through these obstacles like they're not even there. That could have its uses, but right now it just makes it that much more slippery. It prepares to sprint away as soon as it is clear of the ice, but by then Auron has enough time to maneuver into position, and then it catches a grapple around its body. GOTCHA. But not quite. That same adaptive nature suddenly causes it to become much heavier, and its stubby legs drag along the ground. That buys it time to wheel around, its innocent 'eyes' fixed on Alexis as it raises both arms at her. Is it wanting a hug? Not a chance, it begins firing tiny darts of Erchius. Small, but probably not a great idea to see what they do!

    Steve, without his wand for now, withdraws his trusty iron pickaxe. He's probably a good deal less equipped than these other folk, but he can't help marveling a bit, "It's able to use a dart launcher, even without a guard-type of animation core? This stuff is crazy!" He somehow missed that in the quick notes on the properties of Erchius.
Alexis Maaka     Uh oh. Alexis yelps as the golem fires darts point-blank at her, getting her in the chest and grazing her face. "AUUGH, FUCKIN-" She drops the golem, cursing a blue streak that could blister paint while she kicks at the little bastard. She's hurt, but her iron-hard skin and bullet-proof jacket does ease the injuries to the level of annoying bee-stings rather than being shredded by countless little darts.

    "You better start running and hope I don't catch you, you little shit!" She yells at the golem, before she suddenly reaches inside her coat to draw a Hylotl-forged katana, found during the Erchius affair. Then she swings at the golem, chasing it down like an angry farmer.
Sanary Rondel      "Sounds... Uh. I don't know if that's easy or hard!" Seriously, what did animation core even mean? The thing's heart, perhaps? It would probably be easier to just break it outright at that rate. She certainly considered that option (especially with the golem rampaging around the pigs earlier), but it didn't appear as if Auron was going with that option just yet. Sighing lightly, the cleric instead resigns herself to trying to continue bringing it down without destroying it in the process.

     "Darts? Those ain't poisonous or anything, are they?" She sounds particularly concerned about that last bit for some reason, drawing healing energy into her hands and sending it towards Alexis when she hears the telltale cursing of someone that's just been shot in the face.

     She's had experience with that sort of thing before.

     The non-destructive option also seems much less plausible with Alexis swinging her katana at that thing, and the healer readjusts her own strategy: Trying to keep pace with Alexis and the golem while firing more ice blasts at the ground to the sides and past the golem. With any luck (and if her aim's actually on point), she's trying to close the Erchius golem in with that slippery ice!
Auron     "You did say it could adapt to it's environment," Auron points out to Steve's marveling statement. Auron remains in his place. He's going to /try/ to keep the thing from advancing any farther, but it'll probably try to throw him if he gets in arm's reach. Until it does, though, he advances, hoping its attention is too focused on Maaka to see him drop his shoulder and try to just take the thing off its feet. It's probably too heavy, but that doesn't mean he won't try! He's aiming for Sanary's ice. With any luck this means the golem will go skidding on its back.
Steve     "Poison darts?" That had the tone of somebody that had just been given an idea for later, but Steve soon dismisses it in the near term, as he shakes his head to Sanary, "Nah. If it's emulating my guard golems, they're not like that." Though the amount it was spraying, there is no way a normal guard golem's darts could keep up with that. He's now beginning to get an understanding of why at least Alexis was prepared for the worst. This Erchius stuff is a bit beyond his predictions, in both good and bad ways! There was also some apparent confusion when he mentioned the animation core, which he clears up, "The animation core is that seal-looking thing in its body. It normally tells them what they do, but, this'n seems to think outside the box." Again, promising, since imagine the possibilities of a multi-role golem! But, if they're always this out of control...

    The adaptive nature of the golem makes up for its other shortcomings, when it comes to annoyance factor. It's easy to imagine that an army of these could actually be a terror. For now, though, this one scrambles away from Alexis. As Steve had disclosed earlier, though, and as Auron pointed out, while it can adapt, it cannot be at both ends of a spectrum at once, at least in the Flat Earth's physical reckoning. Being fleet on its feet to hop and escape the wrath of Alexis' swings means it no longer has that 'enhanced gravity' effect, nor the strength it was using to smash through barriers and solid objects. It is nimble enough to dodge the ice for a while, but having to deal with both that and Maaka chasing it down is beginning to cut down on its angles of escape. This also again gives Auron the time needed to outflank the somewhat hapless golem, and its arms raise in an emotive surprise when it's actually shoulder-tackled.

    It happens suddenly enough that it wasn't able to shift its mode, and it takes a slippery tumble. The look in the voids of where its eyes should be almost manage to express, 'Why!?' In despair, it takes advantage of its spinning slide to fire even more darts out. You're not going to take its animation core, it stole that fair and square! Steve had just raised his pickaxe, and looked like he might actually intend to drive it right into said core as it was passing by, but he's peppered by those darts, and grunts, flinching, and missing his chance. "What a little jerk!"
Sanary Rondel      Maybe it'd be worth looking into these things more once Sanary isn't busy with trying to chase that very thing down. "And this is just one of these things! If you dropped a bunch of 'em on some place you hated..."

     That'd be a fun show to watch. For now, however, Sanary's job is still trying to stop this thing from wrecking more of Steve's place than it already has. It's definitely much faster than she had expected, although probably not entirely surprising considering that whole adaptive... Whatever Steve had mentioned. She cheers inwardly when Auron manages to bring the thing down, and the healer directs some healing magic Steve's way after he gets hit with those darts as well.

     "Just stay down and be a good bo... Gi... Golem!" With that, Sanary holds her shield in front of her before just jumping right onto the golem's legs, trying to both weigh it down and latch on to make it harder for the automaton to run off again. Whatever happens after that... Well, the others can be trusted to do that without making it blow up, right?
Alexis Maaka     Alexis is going to CRUSH THIS THING.

    "GET BACK HERE!" She calls out, swapping swordhands in order to comfortably draw the Desert Eagle she has holstered on her hip. As she tries to draw a bead when the golem is knocked down, she narrows her eyes before she fires at the core itself, just in time to feel the sting of darts in her chest. "Agh, fucker really doesn't wanna stop yet." She grouses, before firing two more times. It's tough, but has yet to withstand .50 AE rounds just yet.
Auron     Auron's digging in his coat as the thing fires those darts again, and he sees that it's Steve who gets hit. He pulls a small blue vial out of his coat, and then tosses it lightly into the air. Steve might see some green energy around him, and with any luck, some of his pain should ease. With all the ranged attacks, he's not going to risk getting in melee range with the thing himself. "Did that work?" He's never sure if Spiran items are going to work as planned in other worlds.
Steve     It was desperate! Ultimately, though, while it could adapt certain physical features of itself, things that were inherent to golems, such as their overall construction and the reliance on an animation core, were constants. That means its somewhat clumsy form is prone and vulnerable, especially to a well-aimed .50 round. That doesn't stop it from trying to flail its arms to cover the core, but they just don't bend that way, and the disc-like core makes a distinct 'pop' sound as it dislodges from the golem's body and lands on the ground right next to it. The golem itself continues moving for just a few moments as it slides to a stop, sitting up in an 'oh shit' moment to look right at each participant, in turn. However, hopefully before it can cause any more panic or annoyance, its head bows forward again and its ceases any movement.

    Steve, having recovered from the flinching, feels Sanary's recovery magic, and Auron's own special blend of recovery, over him. The darts basically dislodge on their own, and the wounds that were there close up, with double the attention paid to them. "Hmm... Yeah, I think I feel better than when this crap all started, actually!" He paces over to where the golem came to a stop, and nudges it carefully with a toe, just in case, before he picks up and pockets the mostly intact animation core. He then glances over to some of the broken fences, and the limping sheep and pigs, and gives a scratch of the back of his hea, with a long sigh, "It made quite a mess of things, huh. Research sucks sometimes." He then realizes something, and looks pointedly at Alexis Maaka, in particular, "Think you can hook me up with another meeting with the Flotilla? This stuff is promising - as Sanary agreed, but I can't have this happen every time."

    A more easy going scratch of his beard follows, though, "I believe I promised you all some kind of reward, and I'm a man of my word. How's this: Help yourself to anything you like in my storage boxes." He pauses, "Well, I'll ask you don't pack *everything* off, ha ha. Thanks."
Alexis Maaka     "About time." Alexis holsters and sheathes her weapons before she nods to Steve. "All you had to ask." She says, before she gives the fallen golem a swift kick for good measure. One has to be sure when something isn't going to come back up and eat your face, after all. "Sanary, wanna take care of the animals while we're here?" She asks, motioning for the sheep and pigs. She herself seems fine by comparison, the cure spell having made her face a lot less bloody now. After clapping Steve on the shoulder, Alexis wanders over to the storage boxes and begins rooting through the contents. A handful of iron and diamonds will come in handy as raw materials, among other things, and she stores them in her matter manipulator. "You'll get one of these if you sign up, too." She says, motioning to the device with a cheeky grin. Mercifully she takes only a small helping.
Auron     Auron breathes a deep exhalation when the golem falls still. And when Steve prods it with a toe, Auron asks, "Is it taken care of?" Referring to the golem, of course. It seems so, as Steve picks up the core and pockets it. He looks at the mess. "Do you need help rebuilding?" he inquires. As for payment? Auron shakes his head. "That's all right." He doesn't say he's just 'glad he was here', but it rather goes unsaid.
Sanary Rondel      Panting lightly as the golem finally stops moving, Sanary watches it for a few more moments before getting up. "Holy.. Shit, that was a thing. Good work, everyone." She chuckles while swirling some more of that healing energy around, tossing a bit more Steve's and Auron's way before focusing on Alexis. A healer can't be too careful, especially with co-workers!

     "We'll let the Flotilla know. But first things first..." She looks from the boxes to the injured animals, stroking her chin lightly before nodding at Alexis and starting for pen to get to work on even more healing! "Sure thing. Might even have to grab one of these for my own place or... Somewhere. They're kinda.. Cute, in a weird chunky way."