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Owner Pose
Mordremoth     Verdant Brink.
    The entrance to the Heart of Maguuma that the Pact uses, it has that ability for a simple reason. It is near the wastes of before, but on the other side of that rock wall... which has lots of holes in it! That's why it's used to enter the jungle, and the Pact has set up a fortified camp to give some kind of security in the dangerous jungle! A wall of crushed and murdered vines(sniff!) has provided cover, and numerous soldiers of different races wander about, stacking crates and taking inventory. Some of the crates look damaged. In the middle of the camp, a glowing blue box floats above the ground, under heavy guard. A small panel, looking sleek and futuristic, sits next to it. At this time, there's also a large helicopter of some kind nearby, undergoing some repairs from two large, bestial catlike people.
    Also of note: the t-rex-sized dinosaur that is being butchered near the cliff so it can be cleared away before the smell gets to anyone.
Khusso     Khusso has assembled a team and invited people to come along. Their mission: find an entrance to the lost city of Rata Novus. She's not wearing her blindfold now, geared up for exploration more than combat. With her is a quiet and glaring plant man, much like the Mordrem but looking cleaner... ish... than they do. A literal giant of a man, eight or nine feet tall and with a shaved head, looms behind her and eyes the Union invites warily. Finally, a large glowing golem is nearby, with a tiny asura, just like Khusso, perched atop... with a cute pink bow in her hair. She looks like a child.

    Khusso turns and gives a brief summary. "So... welcome to the Heart of Maguuma. This place is dangerous. It's Mordremoth's home ground, so it's crawling with Mordrem, and every once in a while he'll send a plant tendril our way. Even without that worry, it's full of toxic mushrooms that move and attack, strange beasts that can swarm and even wyverns and drakes. It's a dangerous place, so we'll be taking a Waypoint to the nearest secure location to the Nuhoch and Itzel tribes of hylek. We've allied with them already, and we think they may know a way into the city. Any questions?"
Shadowed Scales     Most certainly the gecko on the nearby tree was not invited to this outing. Why would it be? It's just a gecko; niether here to sate the curiosity of a far more greater being, nor sell auto insurance.
    Of course, a gecko wouldn't invite suspicion as it sits on a branch. It probably isn't even noticed at all as it overlooks the camp.
Staren     Staren comes through the warpgate in his armor, as usual. Since it doubles as both combat armor and environment suit, well... it just makes sense to wear it pretty much all the time! He might be mistaken at first glance for a construct himself, with the look of the armor and the fact that it completely covers him -- but once someone sees the face dimly visible behind the visor they should realize it's a suit. Staren looks around curiously, smiling as he sees the golem, and then gives Khusso a blank look as she throws a bunch of proper nouns out. "Who are all of those? Did I miss a report?" He stares into space for a moment. "Nope..."
Stygian Mirror     It's past the guarded wall and already in the forest that one could find the white-haired, fox-eared, cat-tailed and lizard-eyed Mirror. Her usual clothes-- that dark long-sleeved tunic, and the bone and Soulsteel gauntlets and thigh-high boots-- are covered by a dark green cloak, hypothetically allowing her to meld with the environment. In practice, her Lunar Tells prevent stealth past a point, their psychic signature functionally impossible to ignore.

    Lucky her, the environment isn't trying to kill her, courtesy of her employer. Not-so-lucky her this place is incredibly alive (discomfort) and she's not very good at navigating forests (lack of experience). With only a vague idea of where to go and a telepathic guide, she's definitely lagging a bit behind.

    Still, she's on the road and has a decent lead. She hadn't decided what she'd do if she found the place, though... or for that matter, if she stumbled on Khusso's group, whom Mordremoth suspected was on their way.

    With her luck, she's going to turn around a corner (or tree, more likely) and bump right into them, but that's alright for now.
Duet Fortuna     Duet heard of a lost city. That was enough of a reason for her to tag along. Khusso's little speech has her nodding, and she readies a standard blade at her side, with a pistol at the other side. "All right, this sounds like a standard expedition. I'm ready."

    Indeed she is. The masked woman is wearing a sleeveless top with a vest over it. The vest has tons of pockets. She's also wearing a pair of cutoff shorts, and a pack of course. Sunglasses and a pith helmet make up the rest of her outfit... as well as a very subtle, tightly-focused entropic field that ensures any insects diving toward her die before biting.
Mordremoth     There are still large beasts that look dangerous, but so far Mirror has not encountered any of the more aggressive ones like smokescales. The Arrowtails are more common in this area, and as long as Mirror doesn't go near the nests, they're fine leaving the Abyssal alone. This is probably good for their health, because Arrowtails aren't all that tough to experienced warriors.
    The Pact soldiers finish up tuning the Waypoint and wave Khusso and the others over. They're met by one of the 'good' plant men, a male one. "Commander, I'm glad that you're here," he greets. "Hello everyone. Welcome to the Verdant Brink. We've managed to secure a location close to the Itzel village. Is there anything we can provide before you leave?"
Khusso     "Thank you," Khusso replies with a quick snap of her hand in a salute. "We'll take it from here. Hopefully, the city will have something we can use." She turns around to the others and motions for the Waypoint. "Any last questions, ask them now? Canach, how are you holding up?"

    The grumpy-looking plant man finally speaks up in a dry voice, "It is tolerable. I believe Mordremoth's attention is elsewhere at the time. It may be this 'unification' has weakened his attack on us."

    Taimi, the little child on the golem, calls out, "Ready when you are, boss!" The golem's front opens and she crawls in... literally crawls, and it gets a little more obvious why she has that golem, since her legs don't appear to work properly. They aren't paralyzed, they just don't move well.

    Khusso motions to the waypoint, that hovering blue cube. "Just step underneath and brace yourself. The first trip is a little rougher than the asura gates."
Stygian Mirror     Mirror does avoid obvious nests of dangerous-looking creatures. She's not experienced with wandering around forests but she has the common sense not to wander around making loud noises and swinging her sword at anything that moves. She listens for sounds, too; if Mordremoth's enemies intend to explore and find a lost city they surely won't travel alone, and groups of people make noise. Also important: keeping an ear out for stealth t-rexes.

    It's a more common problem than you'd think.

    It helps that she's motivated. Ancient ruins, who doesn't want to find and explore some? Plus, if the dragon is so sure they're not a threat if discovered, that means she won't have to kill anyone. Probably. Hopefully. There's always the chance they'll stumble on something inside that makes the dragon change his mind.

    Isn't this the same tree she passed ten minutes ago?

    Ugh, forests.
Staren     Staren shrugs. He has no idea what they should have -- he'll trust Khusso on that. He does look curiously at the waypoint, wondering how it works. Perhaps it's basically a magical version of the erchius teleporters?

    He notices the child's problem with her legs. Do the Asura not have magitech prosthetics, he wonders? Then again, perhaps as long as she can operate a golem, it really doesn't matter.

    Now, he stands under the waypoint and waits, expectantly...
Shadowed Scales     The gecko licks its eye and watches the gathered group a moment longer. Until the Asura motions at the Waypoint.
    It has no idea what it is.
    But really who's going to notice the gecko slip off its branch, skitter through grass and fallen leaves, and lazily attach itself to the foot of Taimi's golem.
    Whatever color it was before, the gecko's scales shift to match the metallic plating.
Duet Fortuna     Mn, teleportation. Duet is kind of used to this, but she doesn't let on. Staren's confusion makes her smile a little, even if some of the words are unclear. "I'm sure that it will all be cleared up soon enough," Duet says, heading for the Waypoint. "We should keep close, though. Khusso here is the one who knows the territory, says, heading for the Waypoint. "We should keep close, though. Khusso here is the one who knows the territory,
Mordremoth     The waypoint activates! It causes a funny stretching sensation before everything vanishes into a flash of blue!
    Everyone dies. The end.
    Not really! The party appears! It is nearby a small village in the trees, with a huge frogman holding a hammer nearby. He grunts when he sees Khusso and the party with her, waddling closer to inspect. "The Nuhoch greet you. Itzel are ready for your request." He gestures toward one of the smaller frogmen nearby, a limber and tiny one that scampers close, only barely bigger than Khusso herself.
    Huge eyes blink a few times before he croaks a greeting. "You want to visit the old city? The chak tunnels are the only way. Sealed it off, they have... we can get you there, but the seal needs melted. The chak use an enzyme, can you find some for us? We can do the rest."
Duet Fortuna     Duet stares at the frog, but then she nods at the reasoning. "We should look at this first, there may be something I can do. I have an ability that might be just what we need."
Stygian Mirror     Noise, finally! That is, noise that isn't birds or assorted creatures. She thought she might have seen light, too, but only going towards the voices will tell. It helps she has enhanced hearing thanks to those ears, too.

    Mirror shuffles closer; there's no stealth to her, leaves and plants rustling as she passes through and on them, before settling by a particularily large tree to watch the group from. Her head and ears stick out from the side, as she wonders what manner of creature they're talking with, and why there's a village here.

    An errant movement makes her step on a dry twig, which snaps loudly. An attempt to recover causes her to trip on a root and fall face first forward, tumbling down with a loud THUD.

    "I hate forests," she mutters, straightening herself back up in front of Khusso's party. This is awkward. "Hi."
Khusso     The golem spins around as soon as Mirror thuds to the ground. "Who is THAT?" Canach, the plant man, narrows his eyes, but the larger man - Braham - steps in front with weapon ready.

    Khusso is agreeing with Staren and Duet, "Let's have a look at this seal. Maybe we can do something about it sooner rather than later. Lead the way-" Aaand Mirror appears. Whoops! Khusso draws her sword immediately.

    "You... I remember you," she doesn't attack immediately, since there's no oncoming attack from Mirror. "What are you doing here?" She does remember the woman saying it was nothing personal.
Stygian Mirror     "Well, right now, I'm pretty busy being lost," Mirror answers honestly, dusting herself. She doesn't produce her sword, though its black edge can be seen sticking out of that dark green cloak. "That dragon told me there were some ancient ruins out here and I kind of wanted to see them. He didn't seem to think it'd matter if you guys found it, so I'm not here to stop you or anything like that."

    She motions vaguely towards the forest behind her. "Every square mile of this forest looks like the adjacent eight square miles, though. So that hasn't been working out so great."
Staren     Staren glances to Kusso. "I think we should examine this seal ourself, see if we can open it, unless this enzyme is really easy and quick to find..." He smiles as she agrees, and then...

    Someone walks up from the forest. Someone he's seen before. He whispers over his radio, <<"That person is a wanted criminal on my world, who assisted with the kidnapping and murder of innocents.">> He /doesn't/ immediately open fire, because he's tired, and not sure he can win a one-on-one fight right now. If the others decide to help out though, that's different...
Mordremoth     The Itzel doesn't seem to care if the group really is wanting to see the seal. "This way." He ribbits lightly and motions for the big guy to come along, and the massive frog man ambles after. Stygian Mirror is unknown to these two, so her getting lost is nothing they care about. A faint rumbling makes the vegetation shift! The ghost of a mental touch gives a moment of Mordremoth's presence... but it is weak here, where its servants are few and far between.
    It is good to have a guide! The Itzel leads the party away, and avoids several nests of raptors, strange mushrooms that run around in circles, and more. He stops at the entrance to a cave network, with lots of glistening resin shoring it up. It looks kind of like a termite mound. "Chak within. Very dangerous. Outsiders will be careful, yes?" He takes a short few minutes to sketch a path to the seal.
    From within the cave faint chittering noises and scratching may be heard.
Khusso     "Oh... those are the Chak," Khusso realizes. "They're insectlike things. Big. Some of them are really big. And some of them hurl magical bolts." She looks quickly at Stygian Mirror. "If you're really going to come with us, then you might be useful. I'm keeping my eye on you though. It worries me that Mordremoth knows about Rata Novus... but I shouldn't be surprised. It's one of the three largest concentrations of magical energy in the jungle."

    Sigh. Braham is the one who steps forward, glaring into the cave. "Fine with me. Coming or not, I just want to find this place so we can see-" He's elbowed by Canach, and then looks over at Stygian. "What's there," he finishes.

    Khusso asks Canach gently, "How are you doing?"

    The plant man rubs his head. "The call is weaker here. I used to mock Trahearne and the other firstborn, but to lead an attack while dealing with this... the fortitude must be immense."

    Khusso tugs her blindfold on and sighs. "Right. Thanks for guiding us, let's see if we can bust through this without yanking enzymes." She draws her sword and marches right in... but keeps Stygian Mirror in her 'sight,' if being blindfolded can do that.

    Taimi, inside the golem, remarks, "I'm getting a lot of strange readings... magical energy all over the place. It's weird, I'm not sure what to make of it. If I had better sensors than what Scruffy can carry... but I think we're on a ley line, or very close to one."
Staren     Staren keeps a wary eye on Stygian Mirror. It's a bit hard to tell with the visor covering his face, though, so it's not as blatantly obvious as it would otherwise be.

    He nods thanks to the Itzel, and is about to follow Khusso when Taimi mentions leylines. "You have those here too? How powerful are they?"
Stygian Mirror     There's a brief moment where Mirror glances up, feeling the dragon's presence. She's not sure what he was trying to say, or if he can hear back, what with his seemingly diminished presence, but she does keep her mind open to connections if it'll help at all.

    She makes a note, next time she works for him, to get him an amulet or hearthstone with communication-related properties. If only to keep in touch-- and maybe to let the older being actually keep active eyes on her. Might be easier if he just sent one of those plant-people though.

    Offering Staren no reaction, she nods to Khusso and her men, not minding the stares. She's used to it. "That's fine. I'd be wary too. Nice to meet you all, I'm Mirror." Her tone's pretty honest.

    She reaches into her cloak, pulling out the long, jagged Soulsteel sword that was hanging from her waist. She's as ready as everyone else, as long as this is going to be a simple murder trip.

    She does wonder what's in the lost city now, after the way Khusso's company reacted, but she gets a feeling asking wouldn't help. Certainly sounds important and magical though.
Duet Fortuna     Duet has no idea why people are so wary of Mirror... okay that's a lie, she knows why because she has been paying attention, and can surmise a little bit what's going on here, especially when a soulsteel blade is drawn. "Staren, why don't you analyze what we're dealing with here? I'll hang back with you, I'm not really a combatant."

    Drawing her pistol, Duet lingers back and covers Stygian Mirror, too. "Let's see what we can find in here."
Mordremoth     Going into the tunnels! This is bad. Lots of chak about. Most of them are little things, where "little" means the size of a german shepard. Crawling insectlike chitinous beings with strange bioluminescence glowing around them. These swarm and chitter badly, but are easy to kill if the party stays together and takes them down as they come! Those aren't the bad ones.
    The bad ones come shortly after! The shuddering of the tunnels precedes the reveal of two of the big ones, each twice as large as a horse. These have scorpionlike tails. The tails crackle with magical power, and send blasts of mystical lightning out, enough that they really HURT if they hit anyone, and it's easy to see how one of these could kill a lone or even a couple of explorers. A seasoned and powerful group like this can take them with some care!
    Skipping past the battle to get to the meat of this: the seal! It is a huge thing, maybe ten meters wide if it's an inch, and is of a hardened resin that thrums with magical power, reinforced by the chak's ability to siphon energy from the ley lines and use it in their biology. IT also allows for the mixing of unit types like meters and inches probably. It is no wonder that the Itzel recommended using the enzyme to melt it, because blasting it open would take so much force it might well bring down the tunnel around the party.
    This is definitely the right track though. On this side of the barrier, the remnants of a small metal beacon or turret of some kind are clearly visible, the material unrusted despite the ages, but scored by the unnatural hardness of the chak mandibles and claws.
Staren     Small chak are not a problem -- Staren's beam cannons can take care of them. He was content to leave them alone until they attacked, though. The large ones are more of a problem, but manageable with the team cooperating. Staren's forcefield seems able to absorb the lightning, although it looks increasingly damaged each time it appears.

    "Hmm... supernatural resin? Interesting. Well, I suppose it's worth a shot..." He reaches into his bag, pulls out a spray can, and sprays the barrier with disassembler nanites.
Shadowed Scales     There is no gecko. Just a patch of gecko-shaped metal laying attached to the boot of Taimi's golem. A rather clerverly artistic design choice isn't it? Or perhaps something foriegn and not part of the mechanical construction at all.
    The latter is more the case. At some point during the sudden interruption by chak, the lizard detached itself from the golem.
    At some point during the fracas with the insectoid beasts the freakish mutated sight of bug-eyed, spider-legged, crocodile latched jaws somewhere vital and drank deeply of a larger chak's lifeblood. And then one of the very selfsame chak joined in the slaughter- taking out its rage and aggression upon others of its like. By the time the party makes it to seal... It's still following them-- assuming no one turns weapons in it; its slavering mandible jaws drooling with that precious aforementioned enzyme.
Khusso     Khusso and her team have fought these things before, and she knows what to expect. The Revenant for the first time can truly demonstrate her powers, sending waves of chilling mystical power out with sword swings to blast and freeze the insects nearest her. She has a definite limit to this though... she pauses after each wave, allowing the insects to crawl closer and closer, until she has to rely on a simple sword blade to do the work for her. There's none of the fancy teleportation of before, either.

    Braham proves to be useful here. At first, he puts a protective barrier that blunts any of the projectiles. That does falter, but by the time it does, he's transformed into a massive werewolf beast, roaring and crushing the nearby chak. He comes out of it with a few gashes, but nothing terrible at least.

    Canach uses a rifle, shooting with very precise shots at any that slip through. He stays by Taimy and Scruffy, who don't appear to be combat ready... but when one of the chak slips through, the golem demonstrates that it CAN throw a punch, with a hiss of pistons enhancing the blow.

    After demonstrating the only teleport this battle - a quick bolt to end up behind one of the big ones, to slice at the tail and foul the aim of the stinger - Khusso removes her blindfold and breathes heavily. "All right. Let's see what we can do here. More chak might be coming, so let's hurry it up."
Stygian Mirror     What happens during the battle: Mirror kills things. It's unnecessarily gory, and people who pay attention might catch glimpses of that Soulsteel sword more or less absorbing blood like a sponge does to water. People who stare at the sword are going to catch the ghostly faces and moans of the people trapped in it, so it might be best not to past a point.

    Mirror's demeanor does notably change while in battle-- where moments ago she tripped on a twig and tumbled down to the group, in battle she makes no mistakes and strikes like a killer. Her strikes are efficient, dismembering and killing with minimal effort. She might suffer a few injuries too, but with that cloak it's hard to tell how serious she's hurt, especially if she doesn't talk about it.

    Mirror does not, personally, contribute to the effort to open the seal. The best she could offer is to carve a way through, and yes, that would probably bring the tunnel down on their heads. They probably wouldn't appreciate it very much. She stays back, curiously watching how people approach this problem.

    Mordremoth will probably want to know how people got into the lost city, if nothing else. Then again, he might already know.
Duet Fortuna     Duet does not charge into the fray, just as she said she wouldn't. She instead relies largely on her friends and allies here... and her pistol, shooting now and then at any who slip by. It is not perfect, and once she lets out a shriek as the nearest chak bites down on her leg, forcing her to kick it away.

    A kick, some may note, which sends it hurtling so hard that it splatters on the wall. But maybe that slips by any attention, given that she WAS injured.

    Unloading a clip into the second of the two large ones, she's forced to eat one of the blasts, rubbing her shoulder as it smolders. "Staren... break me off a shard of that before I use my powers. I could use the material. And... that's odd..."

    The chak 'helping' is noticed, but she gives it room now. And when the structure is weakened enough, she gestures for the others to stand back and touches it, using her entropic acceleration to age it decades in the span of a few seconds. With the dissassembler nanites and enzymes weakening it, that should cause it to fall apart, she figures.
Mordremoth     Screeches fill the tunnels, and soon the group will need to clear out! But that barrier will be gone by then... won't it? It should! Because it took a lot of time to create, certainly. Why is it here?
    All these questions will be answered! But for now, the disassembler nanites try to eat through. It is slow going because the magic reinforces it more than a normal material would, and it takes the application of some of Scales' enzymes to help speed the process up. Parts start to slough off! Staren can do what Duet asked and get a large piece if he wants to listen to her.
    Eventually the whole thing is starting to look like it is rotting, and Duet uses her power. The rotting accelerates! The seal starts to crumble away, leaving large holes and showing why the chak sealed off this part of the tunnel. They are not active now, but the wreckage of aged golems and depowered, deployable turrets lay beyond, the tunnel heading some distance into the depths. Definitely the right way to go.
Staren     Staren takes a sample for later study! Maybe a couple of samples. Maybe three, so he, Khusso, and Duet Fortuna can each take one! However many are needed.

    Staren whistles at the sight of what's beyond. "Khusso, is there any chance those will reactivate and attack us?"
Khusso     It is Taimi who answers. "WOW! This is just what I wanted. Oh boy... the lost city of Rata Novus! I can't WAIT to see what kind of methods they used. Look at the design of those golems! Primitive... but it's a direction we never went!" Scruffy is already lumbering forward, and the hatch opening to let the tiny girl hobble out.

    Oh yeah Staren asked. "What? Oh they're functional, but it looks like the main power grid is down," Taimi replies. "They won't hurt us unless we turn on the power... whiiich we will need to do, but I'm sure I'll figure out how we can make them work for us!"
Shadowed Scales     Where did that chak go? It was here a moment ago, slathering the seal, but then... It's just gone.
    Wherever it went, it's long gone now. And it's not like there's a seal-colored chameleon scootched under some of the rubble.
    There really isn't. Pay it no mind.
Stygian Mirror     "It's not a romp through ancient ruins if nothing attacks us, so I'd bet it's going to happen with or without us turning the power back on," Mirror says, speaking from experience. "Oh, we can't forget the puzzles. There'll have to be some of those."

    She pokes one of the inactive golems with one finger idly, and might even help herself to a part or weapon laying around, just for the sake of having a souvenir.

    The real prize is the city, really.