Scene #5403: The Double Edged Sword

Owner	Pose
Bloody Revelations	Meeting with the people of Whitewall, Multiversal visitors had been greeted with one of Creation's last bastions of safety, civility, culture, order and prosperity, and learned from their neutral and peaceful people, the threat the Golden Bull of the North and his conquest poses to their way of life. Meeting with the Bull himself at the Mother's Heart, sacred ground to the Icewalker tribes that worship him, Multiversal visitors had been greeted with the spectacle of his gathering military might and sorcerous companions, and heard from the powerful, upcoming Solar himself, the truth of the city Whitewall is built on, and its ancient ties to the Unconquered Sun itself; told of the power to drive back the marauding fae and the malevolent dead from the North, and establish an empire unlike that seen since the height of the First Age --if only they would hand it over. Now, debating their few choices, and considering the narrow perspectives of the two, one last group of Elites is, through some means or another, drawn to the summons of one more party with some stake in the conflict. A mysterious message from a talking crow, instructing them to arrive at the ten thousandth pillar of the sacred inland road, at the dead of midnight, if they fear not the Solar Exalted, and wish to hear the truth. The Travelers Road, as it is often called, is hardly a shabby or rural affair. Twenty yards wide and paved in near-immaculate white granite, studded with ubiquitous pillars every forty yards that were likely meant to be light sources once upon a time, it's as convenient as a modern highway, and seemingly, roughly as safe. Even venturing out at night. nothing troubles them on the white pathway, no matter what rustlings and distant lights they might see in the bog to either side. Rumour has it, that a powerful curse lies on the road, which afflicts anyone who commits murder upon its stones. Eventually, though, the brief, marshy summer of the Northlands starts to go awry. The frequent ponds and small lakes of melted snow and icewater become stagnant and fetid, without fish or birds to be seen. The boreal trees grow withered and lifeless, with only strange, black pines keeping their needles. The moon and the stars dim slowly but steadily, under a steel-grey haze of atmospheric mist. Elk and rabbits and the croaking of frogs disappear, replaced with the croaks of ravens and the hissing of unseen underbrush dwellers. The lights in the distance no longer look like torches or campfires, but strange, unnatural wisps of something else entirely, dancing across the inky water. Visibility is poor. The air is sterile and heavy. The most reassuring signs are that, all along this stretch of the road, probably several miles in length, the people of Whitewall have erected a tremendous number of shrines, to a tremendous number of regional and greater gods, predominantly of health, life, fertility and happiness. Though something of a bold statement, their paper talismans and circles of salt remain unmarred, and passing them is something like stepping through a brief bubble of fresh air, where even the sky brightens up for the few moments one remains within their bounds.
Bloody Revelations	It's fitting that they'd meet a traveler as sketchy as their surroundings, then. Stood flat on the road, directly in their path, is a figure covered in heavy black hooded robes, though they aren't the purposefully generic affair of a skulking thief or assassin. They're woven in fanciful layers, embossed with designs of gleaming silver, and ornamented with rings of black jade and tiny, crimson jewels. It's someone important, most likely. It's also someone with a highly uncanny presence. The moonlight around them seems almost harsh and stinging, but their surroundings are blackened even further from the natural dark. There is a deeply unsettling otherworldliness that pervades the immediate area, and it is not merely 'neutrally strange and incomprehensible'. It feels actively antipathetic; some pitiless and unsympathetic alien force that knows just enough about humankind to hate them. It's hard to put a finger on, but it's there, and not found elsewhere in this bleak stretch of road.
Tomoe	Tomoe is thinking of many things in regard to this being able to drive the fae and undead from the region would be huge, but at wat cost? Could here be a possible allince to let the Bull have access to the temple to fix it? She didn't know but she'd like to presue that also the matter of Pavo comes up and the likely lethal measure that might have to be taken against the Pirate as well. Who'd have thought they could be fanatic a Staren on that topic? For now though. She'd hear this party out but the region already had her on edge. There was a giant mess and she also owed Mairi an summary of the situation as well, but that would wate as she moved to sit down and waits. Something ... just doesn't feel right about this place. She'd flown most of the wy but had moved in on foot at this point.
Starbound Flotilla	"Those who wish to know the undoing of the Bull and the truth of Ondar Shambal, meet at the ten-thousandth pillar of the Traveler's Road at the midnight next. Those who fear the wrath of Sol Invictus need not apply." That's what they were told. So, with Pavo's urging, that's what they're doing. Moonfin, the fishman, is in elaborate full-body durasteel armor that looks like a powered cross between a diving suit and a samurai's armor, glowing cyan at the faceplate. Biteblade, the humanoid plant, is in durasteel plating with elaborately carved wood and bone ornaments over glowing powered components that glow an intense green. Pavo the bird-girl wears a pirate-aesthetic set of mesoamerican-style armor, with yellow bands of energized fabric linking the pieces to her central piratey longcoat. Albert the monkey-man is wearing elaborate dystopian commando armor reconstructed with a 'rebel spy' aesthetic: A sleeker faceplate, a slimmer form, and a more chaotic design that integrates thin, resilient plates of durasteel, and lines of bright white. George (just plain human) wears a futuristic combat EVA hardsuit that glows a gentle red at the flat faceplate. Seft, the robotic Flotilla member, is wearing full-on medieval knight armor with a soft energized blue glow below the plates on her body, and especially around the eyes. Each has a heavy industrial-yellow two-pronged plasma-cutter-like tool strapped to their side, a Matter Manipulator. "Nervous. I don't trust it." "Isss very... Dead. Floran not like." "Hmph. Someone knows about this. Only way to pursue the lead." "Legitimately uncanny if you ask me." "Certainly unnerving to receive such a message amid Pavo's current feelings." "Keep goin'. I see someone up ahead, boys." "Shall I handle the talking in this matter? Perhaps it is--" "No. You don't hate as much as I do." Sorry, Tomoe, that dread is right. Pavo is the one who strides ahead of the other Flotilla members, who have been shifted to an uneasy and unnerved state of mind, keeping weapons ready in their sheaths and their keen eyes peering around. Pavo is the one who focuses solely on the hooded figure. "Ahoy, matey!" Pavo calls out, a little more at ease and letting that habitual pirate accent slip back into her voice. "Have ye a word for a friend? I've a search for the ten thousandth pillar, but a little too distracted to count." She stops a medium sort of distance, cautious but social, from the stranger, planting both feathered hands on her hips with a wide stance. She knows the question's answer, but a light bit of cautious standoffishness helps set the tone.
Athela Valemore	A civilization at threat of invasion, possible expulsion and even execution from their homes - check.... And honestly, that was all Athela really needed to hear. A knight goes where they may next be needed, regardless of realm or even world. Peril upon the people was her duty to lay low, no matter the source, no matter the source of the threat. ... That all said and done, something about this arrangement has started to make her twitch as they walked down the roadway towards the indicated ten thousandth pillar. The otherworldly sensation as they near the location figuratively stings at the edges of her divine awareness. It's almost too similar to the entropic apathy one feels around the higher ranks of the Regis' cultists, truth be told. Enough that the Vaporeon following at Athela's heels was likewise on edge. But discomfort would not turn her away from investigating this properly though. That didn't prevent her from keeping a hand at the ready on the hilt of her sheathed sword as a precaution while narrowing eyes at the darkly cloaked figure. Not a rogue or bandit, they would of just jumped them approaching without preamble of waiting. But still... unsettling. "Is thee the one wishing to speak of supposed truths?" Sprite curls partway around her heels, tail fluke resting over the toes of her armored boots. Though the Vaporeon's attention actually turns in the other direction, eyes squinting at the armored Moonfin. From one amphibious creature to another as it were.
Septette Arcubielle	In a place like this, many travelers would hug their cloaks tightly against the supernatural chill and bow their heads, perhaps hoping to pass unnoticed by the Fell's ghostly denizens. Septette's reaction is quite the opposite: she has come without pretense of humanity or humility; her customary shawl is drawn back like a cape to reveal a tan, skeleton-like carapace over black metal and glowing magitech components, and her head is held high in quiet pride. To those who saw her performance yesterday, it's quite a jarring change of affect. Every heavy step she takes sends echoes of metal-on-stone through the unwholesome bog; as the natural starlight dims, her lavender eyes and red crystalline core glow seem to glow brighter by contrast. Despite the stinging and unpleasant aura around their host, she doesn't come to a halt until she's less than ten feet away. Her luminescent gaze slides along the entity from head to toe, deliberately conveying the impression of a deep and intrusive inspection. Then, finally, she speaks up after Pavo. "A little birdie told us," she enunciates slowly in that warm yet static-edged voice, "to come here if we did not fear the sun. Strange that such would be a condition for meeting in the absence of it."
Alucard Tepes	...Boy, isn't THIS familiar? Well no, not exactly. The atmosphere is similar to what Alucard knows -- that whole 'hating humans' thing, given his father's opinion on human beings in general. Not completely baseless but... well anyway, yes. It's somewhat familiar, even if it's not exactly the same. Despite that it's probably a bad idea given how oppressive this place is, Alucard has come here as he has been seen in other places in this world -- with his supernatural nature suppressed until he seems no more or less a pale, but ultimately normal, human being. Adding to that, it didn't take Alucard long to discover that his horse would only be coaxed so far along the path before it flat-out refused to go further and threatened to throw him if he tried to force it. So he secured it to the last pillar the beast would pass and continued the trip on foot. He does have his sword and shield, so he should be all right. Though weapons may not deter something that really wants to attack what looks like a normal human. It isn't as if the figure has made himself (or possibly herself, he doesn't know at this point) hard to find, stood there as s/he is right in their path. But this is who they were supposed to meet, so he walks toward the figure. Alucard stops far enough away from the figure to be in speaking distance, but not close enough to be in direct swinging distance. He's keeping on his guard. And he doesn't speak yet, since there are others willing to do that. He is here to observe.
Evangeline	The little Neuroi known as Evangeline was drawn here by one of that crow as well. Flying about Whitewall after hearing there was something brewing, the crow had found her and led her to this foreboding area. Evangeline wasn't sure where she was being led, but now her curiousity was piqued. When she reached the site Evangeline stopped and took a look around. She pinged with her natural radar and other sensors, but doesn't see anything in the immediate area. This area feels almost like being in one of the enemy Neuroi hives, what with the hatred in the air. When Evangeline sees Tomoe she raises a finger-less arm to wave. "...do you know what this is about...?" she asks as she floats there a few inches off the ground. But, that question might get lost as others start arriving. Evangeline watches them all silently, almost like a ghostly spectre herself thanks to her dark coloration and small glowing lights. Not to mention constantly floating rather than walking or obviously flying in some way.
Staren	"But rumors of a curse wouldn't deter animals, right? There must be more to it than that." Staren points out, as they travel the road. Then things get weird. "Is this a shadowland? And people still /travel/ through it?" He's concerned, but the signs that people have been here, and that the shrines have some power, is encouraging. And then they meet a Mysterious Figure with a weird aura about them. Staren waits for a few seconds before asking, "Well? Are you going to say anything?"
Devola and Popola	Devola and Popola had gathered some pretty interesting information their first time around in Creation and learning about this whole situation with this Golden Bull. Today, they're back to gather some more intel and figure out what the hell is going on here! It didn't sound like they were getting all the information the first time around with the giant frog person, so this time... They're here to visit a mysterious third party! Who is it? Who knows. It's not the Bull trying to gain power, and it's not the people of Whitewall trying to maintain it. Who else could it be, then? They'll figure it out soon enough, but there's more pressing concerns at the moment. The marshy terrain has them moving carefully, testing everything with measured steps and careful observation before committing to actually putting their weight forward. They're more than happy to let Pavo speak to their contact first, not entirely due to taking quite a while just trying not to sink in the muck before even reaching them.
Kotone Shiomi	Kotone isn't really sure why she's coming, beyong curiousity, and knowing that someone is asking for help. She looks somewhat curious and nervous about the otherworldliness, "Feels oddly familiar here." She mutters to herself, part of the sensation reminding her of nighttime journeys into an otherworldly realm. Thus, she keeps one hand on what appears to be a handgun, and another on the naginata on her back.
Miari	A crow bearing a disturbing message before Miari had left this new Creation... is a troubling-as-hell sign. She has spent a decent amount of time since summoning a few demons that now invisibly patrol around her area, looking for spies and observers... But she doubts they will find anything, for she has chosen to walk the Traveler's road to the tainted region where Whitewall strives to push back the tide of darkness with their shrines and meet whoever decides crows are amazing messengers. "I warn you, as has everyone else who knows of this ancient road. If you value your life, harm nobody while upon it. The only thing awaiting someone who breaks the peace is a swift death by hanging. I cannot and will not protect whoever is foolish enough to test it." She has done much work to cloak her nature and hide the Yozi taint. Her Essence has a Solar aspect to anyone who would test it... Her footsteps grind to a halt a good twenty paces away from the hooded, robed figure... and furrows her brow. Concentration lead to a briefly glassy expression, but she quickly and subtly affixes her Essence-Dissecting Stare on the stranger...
Bloody Revelations	It isn't a pretty journey, nor a particularly relaxing, or even reassuring one, but it is one without significant incident. Those with the technology sensors on par with Septette and the Neuori would be constantly detecting flickers of movement, some of which appear and disappear without sense, inexplicable lights, and sudden cold spots in their surroundings, but nothing that gets close enough to acquire more than the equivalent to blurry crytopzoology photos. Those with more supernatural senses such as Miari and Alucard don't have to even think about it to know that something is wrong with this stretch of road, or rather, the land it crosses. The very earth has been poisoned; metaphysically salted and made radioactive by some horrific past event, which stretches on for miles. They can also definitely sense someone /else/ there. Or something. A second visitor, or rather, spectator, to their meeting. A rough, dry, male voice speaks from the shadow of that heavy hood, as if gargling sand as he speaks in reply. "I wouldn't say I've ever stooped so far as to have a real friend in my life." he chuckles, like grinding pebbles. "But no, you've come to the right place. It would be inconvenient meeting you outside of Marama's Fell, for what remains of it that still darkens this abominable road. By coming here, you are associating with enemies of the Unconquered Sun. You are straying from his light, and parleying with the accursed dead whom the people of Whitewall and the Golden Bull abhor both. Is that alright with you?" Whoever he is, he certainly sells that sketchy aura of undeath. He doesn't sound, or even feel, quite real, subtly disjointed with the surroundings, like only an abomination which shouldn't exist, can. He has the voice of a mummy, the scent of dry rot about him, and what can be guessed of his figure under the thick and ostentatious robes must be truly skeletal for a grown man. Or, actually, maybe it's a little /too/ mismatched? It's easy to imagine that a rasping speaker for the dead things that dwell here would hit every bump on his way down the uncanny valley, but those already on-guard might find it a little too janky, like the budget is slipping just a little. His radar profile is genuinely kind of screwy, the rustle of his robes doesn't really match his motions, and a little more than just the smell of dry grave rot comes off him. It comes off a little . . . puppet-like. Of course, it's difficult to tell what that could mean, given the strange things common to Creation. His laughter is comparable to a shovel striking the hard earth, ruffling his hood. "Death by hanging? Oh, no, I've certainly had worse, little lady. And still, you've come here prepared for a fight." But he continues. "I've heard much about you, though I cannot enter the white city's gates, nor lightly tread upon the Mother's Hearth. You seek the defeat of the Bull, and yet you are dazzled by the remains of the First Age he promises within the realm of Whitewall. What if I were to tell you, how you could have both?" His speech is deeply creepy, but even moreso, now, in the sense that it doesn't quite sound 'his own'.
Staren	Is that alright with you? "Meh." Staren shrugs. They're used to pissing people off. You've come prepared for a fight. "Of course." Staren answers. The man(?) poses them a question. "Well, are you going to tell us?"
Tomoe	Tomoe waves back to Evangeline for a moment and gives her a wave. "Trying to find out just what they want here." The Slamander now turns her attention aws she looks over the party she knows most of the people though Kotone? That is someone she doesn't know. She looks at her for a moment. "My skin's crawlins here myself." She looks to Mari for moment. "Got it, no fighting." She is taking a liking to the strange Scholar and falls in with Miari. She's now getting just what's going on anc coming here was a mistake she thinks but well if she's in? It's tim to gather information, maybe they can gleem a few things out of this but the Iron Lily is very much on edge. "Out with it." She's got a very bad feeling as the offer you can have your cake and eat it to, starts to be made.
Devola and Popola	"Enemies of the sun... The accursed dead?" Popola furrows her brow slightly at the hooded figure as she sizes him up slowly, glancing over at Devola. The messier-haired android gives her twin a light shrug, then turns to the figure as well. "Hmm.. Why not? It wouldn't be the first time anyone's made snap judgments about us." Devola sounds just a little bitter about that. Neither of them seem to mind the smell, at least, and even his janky movements don't bother them too much. It's actually somewhat endearing. "Both? That sounds a little too good to be true, you know." Popola speaks up again, regarding the hooded figure and glancing over at Staren with a brief nod. "We'll believe it when we hear it. You didn't call us out here just to ask that, did you?" She sounds more amused and curious than annoyed by the possibility of having been strung along for the hell of it. Devola, meanwhile, has move don to watching the ground around them. Swamps are awful, AWFUL places.
Alucard Tepes	Alucard regards the figure before them with some interest; the raised brow and slightly tilted head telling of a serious consideration. The expression is not one of disgust or revulsion, merely of thoughtfulness. He is also aware of some other presence here, though he does not make to turn towards it just yet, if he's able. That might cause the second presence to attack. And it would out him as not the normal human he appears to be. Though, as with his resistance to Samea's mental compulsion, his mere presence here may do that. The warning from the figure gets a bit of a frown. "I come here not to make enemies. My purpose is to hear, to observe, not to attack or denounce." Yet, anyway. But it's still the truth; this trip is just for gathering information. "If you can speak for a side in this conflict, I would hear it." His deep voice is calm and even, seeking not to offend or anger, but neither showing immediate sympathy.
Septette Arcubielle	The odds that Septette will end up allying with whatever unhallowed entities reside here are, frankly, near zero. But she still has a compulsion to find out who these 'people' are and what they want- the fewer unknowns in her decision-making process, the better. She still hasn't entirely decided on whether she'll help to kill the Bull- certainly not on how. "You require our help," she answers in a cool and crisp tone. "You would not seek aid from unreliable outsiders if you could accomplish your goals here yourself. So out with it plainly. What is it you want, how would you profit from it, and what would you give us in return?" Septette crosses her arms behind her back in a stern posture, giving the impression of one who is willing to listen but will tolerate little nonsense. It's a difficult look to pull off when one's a five-foot-tall robot, but she manages.
Miari	"Even Heaven has diplomatic connections with the Demon Princes, however frayed. If the dead wish to speak, I will take the time to at least listen. Sorceress Miari... to whom do we owe the pleasure?" She wrinkles her nose slightly, but Miari does her best to keep her composure even... and even steps forward to halt at ten paces away.
Athela Valemore	It's not just the gravelly tone of his voice. It's the way he says it, his mannerisms beneath the depths of the robe. Everything is just... off about this man, if he even was such. Not to mention many of his words could be construed as a verbal trap. An attempt to mislead, to lay bait in the form of promising both of what the other camps may hold? Such offers tend to be too good to be true. The sort that carry a price that is never clearly shown. All the same, Athela keeps her composure, and a biting responds to herself. Since others are already voicing the doubts of the 'too good to be true' sort. Instead she merely raises a brow a bit, after a consideration of how to say what she wants without letting herself get drawn into one of the wordly traps. "If you are the one that summoned us then you know we yet have no association with -any- side of this affair. We are merely here to listen, as it is only right for all sides to get their time to speak. So bring forth those so-called 'truth' that was purported."
Kotone Shiomi	This stranger doesn't make Kotone any more at ease, she draws the weapon and slowly points it towards her temple, and then takes a deep breath. The trigger is pulled, and with a bang and a sound of breaking glass, energy flows through her head, forming into a large floating skull, a snake twisting through it and hissing loudly. The presence of this creature seems to put the teenage girl more at ease. "I'm Kotone Shiomi, Special Extracurricular Execution Squad. Who are we talking to?"
Starbound Flotilla	+_+ Pavo's eyes light up under the shadow of a piratey tricorn. "Aye, matey, I've an interest in the price on his head. And others in breathin' the life back into Whitewall. I've little care for decrees of sun gods, less than I do for any other decrees." She says, adjusting her hat and narrowing her eyes. Her accent's coming back, at least a little bit, so she's feeling oddly at-ease with this situation. "Explain what ye mean. I'll be happy if I can see both ends reached. If yer truth and yer undoing be the way to reach that, all the better." "Halting. And tell us who you are as well. Clearly you know what we are doing and intending. What are your interests here?" Seft speaks up, pushing forward a bit, much to Pavo's visible annoyance and stress. "Worried. A site like this for a meeting's a suspicious sort of thing..." She fusses, fidgeting with her fingers in front of her. She's deeply offput by what's happening, but nods to Septette especially. "Affirming. And what you need from us. Something to do with Whitewall's restrictions on you...?" She tilts her head, her eye-screen displaying somewhat more narrowed eyes. She's critical and maybe a bit suspicious of the man, but stressed enough by the few indicators of who and what he is that she keeps her distance out of disgust or aversion.
Evangeline	Evangeline doesn't quite know what to think. Usually the sun is good and accursed dead are bad, but she can't really assume something like that with her background. And the strangeness of his motions and mannerisms are kind of lost on her since she isn't that familiar with human mannerisms in the first place. But, his comments about making enemies simply by coming to this meeting put her on edge. "...I did not come to make enemies either..." she says, tilting her head slightly. "...why would simply listening make someone mad...? ...without information...it is impossible to find peaceful solutions..." she says. The sudden shot from Shiomi causes Evangeline to flinch in surprise and suddenly train her weapons on the source of the gunshot. Red panels on her leg-wings and the ends of her arms start to glow with a sinister red light, but when she sees that Kotone was simply summoning something she slowly relaxes and powers down. "...please warn people before you do that..." she says in that ever quiet and barely inflected voice before she looks back to the strange creature before them. "...I am Evangeline...of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing..."
Bloody Revelations	"It's a necessary thing to ask, if only so that you've no one to blame but yourselves when cowardice turns your stomach." is the decidedly barbed, in more metaphorical ways than one, response. "I already know what you want, but whatever your plans are, they aren't going to work. Perhaps if you had the luxury of catching the Golden Bull with just his retinue, as he scurries about his Empire, checking here and there, you might deal with him on your own terms, but you don't. You can't wait for that opportunity, if your desire is to keep Whitewall from him. Now that he has gathered his troops, he will not separate from them on the long march to the city's walls, nor until he has won. And he will win." The dead man's voice grows increasingly harsh and sibilant. His robes practically seem to vibrate. "The Golden Bull is one of the Solar Exalted's foremost generals. His powers gift blessings of the Unconqured Sun upon his followers simply for fighting in his name. It wasn't well-trained savages with spears that brought the Tepet Legions low, but warriors made utterly fearless and suicidally loyal through magic, layered in enchantments and blessings to grant them the strength of ten men, armoured and Essence and acting with one mind. They've looted the Legions for all they're worth, now possessing the Realm's military artifacts and engines of war, including a number of their vaunted Warstriders. If that isn't enough to convince you, his allies number six Solars of significant puissance, with rumours of more joining him. They will converge on Whitewall with all their combined power, their relics, and flocks of Demons to do the Sorceress' bidding." The talking corpse then quiets, but only briefly. "But he is not wrong. The temple-manse at the heart of Whitewall is a design beyond the understanding of the savants of this pitiful age. Alone, lighting, heating, purifying and guarding Whitewall would be a trivial affair. It would become an impenetrable sanctuary from which his lackeys could throw the Thousand-Year Pact to the winds, doing as they please and waging war with the enemies of Creation without consequence or reproach. The Realm, weak as it is, could never hope to take the city. Only the Deathlords have the power to do so, and not if that temple is reactivated. Surely, all of you can understand why this worries and inconveniences those that I represent, yes? To have a mad Solar warlord in control of an asset like that, rather than the timid and inconsequential mortals of Whitewall. I've just as little a wish to see that outcome as any of you, clearly, but I can scarcely approach either."
Bloody Revelations	That crawling, cracking laugh comes back at Pavo's reaction. "Good! Good! I can see you can sense an opportunity where one lies! Under normal circumstances, we would not ever speak, but your interference is the by far that with the most potential of any remotely neutral party in the entire region. With your skills, I believe it possible to recover a weapon capable of decimating the Bull's armies and slaughtering his cadre of Elite Solars, as well as their enslaved pets. By turning it over to us, your payment would be all the other treasures of the First Age you could carry out of its vault. Who knows? Maybe one of them could repair Whitewall's broken power grid. I'm certain its people would pay you twice over for all the conveniences you take for granted. My clients don't care if a gaggle of ignorant mortals are in possession of such wonders. Better than the entitled, twice-killed Anathema." When Septette pesters him for a name, though, the emissary of the dead merely spreads his arms, though no hands are visible under his sleeves. "Come now, is that really important? I speak on behalf of the powers of Underworld who own their rightful share in this wasteland. Those who signed the pact just as any other, and who are entitled to Whitewall's yearly sacrifice. Think of me as any nameless ghost you will." And yet, for some generic dead guy messenger, when Kotone pulls the trigger on herself and summons her Persona, the noise is met with a brief, but sharply overpowering wave of blood-chilling, gut-dropping malevolence, as if something in the very air had been lying patiently in wait, but just for an instant, failed to stifle its breath.
Athela Valemore	Athela Valemore raises one hand to a thoughtful cusp of her chin. "So even the denziens of the hereafter have reason to dread the Bull's coming." While the initial though of assisting the undead makes her twitch, she has to remind herself this is not her world, and such concepts are not all regarded in the same ways. If they do have certain rights by this mentioned pact with the other groups, and this temple can really do to them as said, then they have every right to be concerned. But can they be trusted with such a weapon?... Impossible to tell without knowning what the weapon actually does. But asking for more details here is likely not to be answered. Such a strange scenerio to find oneself in.
Septette Arcubielle	"Turn it over to you," Septette mulls, rolling the words over in her mouth. They leave a bad taste, but the disgust doesn't reach her face. "I think you can understand why we would all be deeply skeptical about the benefits of doing so, when there are so many known and unknown unknowns in dealing with you... and your masters." Does she know for certain that this creature has masters? Not exactly. But its reaction could be telling. The wave of raw malevolence washes over her, but if she's capable of feeling that kind of supernatural menace, any kind of involuntary reaction is absolutely absent from her affect. It's difficult to tell just what's going through her head. "There are too many unanswered questions here for me to promise you my aid just yet. What does this weapon do? What are its origins? Why should we turn it over to you instead of taking it for ourselves? What do you plan to do with it after killing the Bull? If you cannot tell us these things, then you cannot reasonably expect our help," she concludes. "We have a luxury of choice here, and you do not yet seem like the most appealing option."
Alucard Tepes	Alucard is not expecting his own allies to surprise him, so as Kotone pulls the trigger on the device, the sound startles him, and he looks in her direction. Though as the skull and snake form, he merely watches. And he nods in confirmation with Evangeline's words. "It would be appreciated," he agrees. However, the stranger's words do seem to confirm what Alucard had feared. The Golden Bull won't negotiate, and despite his great use in driving back that which threatens Whitewall -- and everyone else, from the sounds of it -- and his standard of living, he won't accept less than complete surrender of Whitewall. And he may yet prove to be an even worse tyrant with the power of whatever is inside that temple on his side. He becomes aware of the wave of malevolence and frowns sharply, drawing a step back and placing a hand on his sword. He doesn't draw it YET, but he seems prepared to.
Staren	Staren listens. And then nearly facepalms as Septette suggests, out loud, taking the weapon for themselves. "Well. Now it's out there. Any chance that taking the weapon for ourselves would still serve your purposes? Or can it only be used by a death knight or it runs on the souls of forsaken children or something? I also kind of wish we didn't have to massacre his entire army to win. Is there no way to like, counter or shut off that buff power so we can rout normal soldiers instead?"
Devola and Popola	"What's the worst that could happen?" "Everything." "Oh, come on, Devola. It couldn't be that bad, could it?" "It could be worse than that." After that moment of banter between the red-headed twins, Devola taps Popola on the shoulder before taking a single step forward and glancing at her feet. No sinking? No sinking. Afterwards, she looks back up at the stranger while Popola starts looking over Septette and Neuroi Girl curiously. They're curious-looking, after all, especially "Let's say we do get this weapon. Wouldn't it make more sense to use it ourselves instead of turning it over to you?"
Tomoe	Tomoe listens as the dead talks, she narrows her eyes slightly and she can't help but feel creeped out. She hears about whatit knows about them he hears, she listens of the hardware that The Bull now has. She heads about one possible way he did it so all the solars power backed by the hardware of the Empire.That was certainly a thing she now gets it what it's after. She flistens but she doesn't seem to be showing much if any emotion she sees Pavo buying in and it's no big shock. She starts to make hear terms and he just remains quiet, it's a hell of a situation here, ir really is. She's reallys tepped into it thinking the Whitewall job would just be a simpled defence action. Nope it's anything but and she's caught in a game in scope far over what she is or her own world. She has a feeling this is the meeting that's going to fully draw up lines here and it's going to get bloody. She feels the meance the sort of menace someone in her world should never experiance. As such things if they exist have no real power in theworld any longer if they ever did. She looks to Devola and Popola for a moment tiling her head she'd talk to them later.
Kotone Shiomi	The response to summoning her Persona unsettles Kotone some, but with her Persona there she feels far less weak than she did before, and she weathers it. "You may be a messenger, but it's clear you're not 'just' a messenger. Just tell us your name, there should be no harm in that." She insists, putting her evoker back in its holster.
Evangeline	Despite all that she has heard, Evangeline gets the feeling that perhaps this is an appropriate cause to back. Not necessarily the returning of the weapon to a faction that seems to have little but their own best interests at heart, but stopping the Golden Bull as he is apparently called seems like a good idea. The wave of malice is not lost on Evangeline, but she remains stoic despite the sound and feeling. She merely raises her head and looks around slowly, using her sensors to try and find where it came from. "...what was that...?" she asks their contact in that quiet voice of hers. And when she notices Kotone's reaction to her reaction, Evangeline softly says, "...sorry...it was just..surprising..."
Miari	"A weapon capable of... I do hope you're not referring to the folly that brought down Bagrash Köl." Miari's gaze sharpens considerably with suspicion... but her eyes are still a bit wide with growing curiosity and she cannot quite hide the smile that springs up at the thought of uncovering a lost treasure trove!
Starbound Flotilla	"This guy seems legit." "Ergh, but... Give weapon? Isss not good." "Stressed. Weapons trade at such a scale..." "It's a way to get things done quickly." "This interferes in local power balance far more--" "Stop. We can all figure this out as we go." "Matey," Pavo says, narrowing her eyes critically, but eagerly, putting a finger up to silence her fellow captains and their muttering. "I've an interest in yer deal. I'd like to see its details. Ye say I could dredge up a weapon ye could use to take down the sun-scker. Where? How?" Septette is covering a lot of this. "What can ye offer that we couldn't be figurin' ourselves? I'm guessin' some stupid riddly magic be afoot for it."
Bloody Revelations	"The entire /world/ dreads a revisit of the days of the Solar Deliberative." the dead man hisses at Athela. "Those that don't are either too stupid to, or the Solars themselves." He continues regardless, gesturing at Staren. "The boy has the right of it. Try to take it if you will, but exactly as he suspects, it would be utterly useless to you. Beyond useless. It would destroy you. Its only place is in the hands of those who created it, who once fought the Solar menace. It sole purpose is to exterminate the Chosen of the Sun, and devour their souls, and it will accept no other master. You may think you have the luxury to choose, but in reality, you have precious little. Though you may succeed in slaying the Bull, you will not accomplish it before the fall of Whitewall, and not without cost to your own." When Kotone and Neuroi continue poking and prodding at him, however, refusing to take his word without his identity, and Alucard is pretty clearly cluing in on it, he lets slip and explosively rasping sigh, and acquiesces. "Oh fine. You people are so dull." His tone is abruptly less cryptic. All at once, in the motion of pulling back his hood, there is a colossal surge of black magical pressure that feels like driving slivers of ice into one's bloodstream. The moon flashes pale, and the shadows leap crazily from the pillars and withered brush. A moment later, it dies back down again. The jittery puppet show effect is no more. The sensation of sketchy, vaguely ominous death is replaced with the certain weight of powerful, cold malice. The reek of grave rot fades away, to be replaced with the smell of funeral incense, though it doesn't entirely mask the scent of sickly sweet blood. Especially for Alucard. Poor Alucard. His finely tuned vampiric senses pick up such an offensive wave of blood scent that it's as if the person before him had been bathing in it all day, and stepped out not minutes earlier. The mismatched, unnaturally slim figure under the robes is answered pretty quickly. Raven hair spills out of the hood, ornamented by a comb of translucent ghost flowers and blood red spider lily. It's a familiar face to a couple, unfamiliar to most, but one of a clearly living woman, whose appearance screams the uncanny side of 'eternal youth' rather than 'undeath'. The sign of a sunburst with eight rays smoulders a lurid, bloody red on her forehead, glowing faintly in the dark.
Bloody Revelations	"Is that better? I must be terrible at wearing these fake bodies. I need to get some practice." Bloody Revelations clutches something at her chest, and then rips off a second cloak; one made of some formerly invisible, ghostly substance, and tosses it by the roadside, where it quickly vanishes. It had the face of a man. An unnervingly realistic one. "Not Bagrash Kol, stupid. I'm employing you to get into Gethamane. I don't care that you've never heard of anything important coming out of that dump, I've done the research and I know what's /really/ there. I've /been/ to its mirror in Underworld, and seen it for myself. So really, this is very, very simple." The smile of a beautiful woman in her prime is somehow ten times more unnerving than the rot and grave earth voice she had on earlier. "I want what's there. Only I can use it. I'm going to use it to exterminate the Bull and all the rest of his followers. If you get it for me, you can carry off all the ancient magitech you can find down there, and hand it over to Whitewall or else do whatever you want with it. Take it to pieces for all I care. Once that's done, I'll kill the rest of the Solars in the region, wipe out all Raksha I can find until I get bored, and then I think I'll get back to my work in the Labyrinth once I've had my fun." It's a worthy detail that, even after the Exalted had revealed herself and the ambient necrotic power level had skyrocketed, the weird 'other' presence still isn't gone. There's a heavy silence for a few seconds, before she reconsiders some words. "I'm sorry, I wasn't entirely honest for a second. When I said 'exterminate' the Bull, I meant I'm going to /break/ him. I'm going to grind him down to a flayed, maimed and screaming husk, until he renounces every one of his oaths to the Unconquered Sun, and begs for the sweet release of Oblivion. None of your concern, though, right~?"
Staren	Staren stares as... /something/ happens, and the body changes into... He narrows his eyes. /Her/. He nods briefly at the assertion that she needs more practice. And then she explains. Staren crosses his arms. "No deal. We're not going to let someone indiscriminately kill people, even Solars, and we're certainly not going to help you torture people."
Kotone Shiomi	Upon that change, and the topic at hand, Kotone glances towards her Persona, and the skull cries. Tears of darkness drip down from the skull and onto its summoner, staining her black and cladding her in what is beyond a shadow of a doubt power, and those who have the means to tell kinds of power apart can tell it's a power that belongs to the dead and the unholy. "You have just made it my concern." She answers Bloody Revelations softly.
Athela Valemore	The last revelations bring an actual frown to the young woman's features. To defeat the Bull and prevent him from ravaging the city and land was one thing... but this woman(?) wanted to do so by methods to the same extremes. "Trading one genocide for another, even of the enemy..." Athela mutters under her breath. No, this was not the sort of answer she should be looking for. Two wrongs do not make a right, you can't compromise replacing one terror with another. It was not a path she would follow, but Athela has learned enough of the Multiverse to know the shades of grey exist, and it was not her place to try and dissaude others from persuing their own solutions. "Come Sprite," she called to her Vaporeon as she turned back the way they had come, pulling up the hood of her cloak as she did so. "We can do more for the city itself than we can here." With that said, she simply starts to walk away, her pokemon following. Simply defending the city may not the best solution. But it is the solution of the way of the knight, and she won't compromise the ideals she serves for the sake of a simple, possibly more damning, solution.
Starbound Flotilla	"Oh hey, this one's dangerous, she's already in her stage-four boss form." "Stop being stupid. You know her voice as well as I do." "Tense. I don't think we should take any deals." "I'm disinclined as well, I must admit." "Floran want to hear more." "We figure it out as we go, mateys, no more or less." "Glad seein' yer face, lass." Pavo says, adopting a posture of readiness but not hostility. Unlike Staren, she seems quite intent on completing this transation of data. "I see yer terms now. We get ye yer weapon, ye use it for us, and the bull goes away, and we walk out with the treasure." She narrows her eyes and seems to ponder it. "Heard yer a tricky one, but treasure's treasure no matter what, and if we get green 'round the gills after we find yer weapon, we'll still have gotten the tech." She says. "Lass, I'll give ye terms as generous as I can make 'em. Ye give us what we need to get inside, tell us where t'go, and we'll decide what to do with it when we find it, aye?" She may be negotiating a bit rapidly, but tensions are clearly rising fast enough that it's a good idea to do so while the woman is still here. "I don't care about the Solars. Might as well be the Sunborn for all I care. If it's them yer wipin' out and not my paycheck, then they sure aren't payin' me enough to care about their wellbein'. Deal's still on, far as I care."
Alucard Tepes	At the wave of bloody scent, Alucard emits a choked sound that he ruthlessly quashes. That smell. That SMELL. He may have the vast majority of his powers suppressed, but he cannot suppress the instincts of what he is. In defense he takes a second step back, less out of fear for his own safety and more to symbolically separate himself a little further from that scent. A symbol to himself, a denial of his instincts. Despite this, he remains silent as the now-revealed lady outlines her plan. It would all be so simple, but... her described treatment of the Golden Bull does NOT sit well with him. Kill him, fine. But this... this is another thing altogether. That's a little more than he's prepared to allow. But as before, he remains quiet and listens. He's here to hear and observe, he said, and that's what he's going to do.
Devola and Popola	The twins settle back on listening to the stranger discuss things with the rest of the group, occasionally murmuring between themselves and taking copious mental notes (or at least appearing to). It's not until the hood gets pulled back and that sudden pressure hits them that they finally stand back in more defensive stances, preparing for the worst and looking utterly confused when Bloody Revelations reveals herself. D: "Bagrash Kol? Gethamane?" P: "... I've got nothing." Rather than disturbed, they actually seem to be somewhat intrigued when she makes her goals more obvious. They each give Staren and Kotone curious looks, then at each other before turning back to the still-mysterious... Whatever Bloody Revelations is. D: "She's honest, at least." P: "More than some of us." D: "They've got a point, though. That's going kind of overboard, isn't it?" P: "A little. There's a lot we could learn from that technology, but those people are still human." D: "... Maybe?" The twins both frown thoughtfully, regarding those stating their opposition to Bloody Revelations and the latter with curious gazes and slowly turning from side to side. It's hard to make decisions like these on a whim!
Evangeline	Evangeline watches all of this impassively. Even the removing of the 'cloak' only causes her to turn her head and gaze at the face curiously before it evaporates. "...no...I meant...what was that...? ...what else is here...?" she says in that quiet voice of hers. "...you being in a disguise is not much of a surprise...this entire encounter has been a bit...off..." she adds. She then floats around the area slowly as BR goes on explaining what she wants. The little Neuroi can't quite localize the source of the additional feeling. When BR finally finishes, Evangeline comes to a stop right beside Kotone and her Persona. "...I also can't agree to that...I am fighting against such actions in my home world..." she says, then turns her head enough to look at Kotone before back at BR. "...fighting until all are destroyed is pointless killing...and I will not help in such an endeavor...especially if you are doing the things the others are saying..." She pauses for a moment, then tilts her head. "...but...stopping this Golden Bull sounds like a good idea...if you agree to spare the Solars that surrender...then I may be willing to help..."
Miari	Miari turns her head to glance at Devola... lips pursing a bit. "Bagrash Kol was a sorcerer-king of some.. semi-recent fame. He happened across a legendary artifact that troublingly keeps vanishing after working miracles great and terrible... that usually end up with something BAD happening to whoever possesses it and everything around them. The Eye of Autochthon... I'm willing to stick my nose into a great deal but THAT is an Artifact best studied from... very far away." She makes a hopelessly exasperated noise at the futility of any likelihood of just claiming such a thing, wherever it is now... The transformation that follows gets her lips curling and shoulders tensing, but Miari manages to keep her composure otherwise... apart from all the muscles in her body tightening. "Deathknight...!" Nevertheless she holds her tongue for the rest of the ambassador's speech... sourly frowning in the end. "The Bull's death, I am willing to tolerate... his utterly BREAKING is another matter. Your interests are served so long as he does not rule Whitewall and put it beyond your ability to deal with, yes? And you want our help to stop him. But once you have this weapon of yours, whatever it is... what is to then stop you from doing as you please? What keeps it from the hands of others? This is a rather dangerous gamble you offer with no assurances at all."
Septette Arcubielle	The reveal is deeply unexpected, but at least now they know who they're dealing with. Septette's expression doesn't shift, but her gaze seems vastly more attentive now that she isn't looking at a mere puppet, following Revelations' every movement and micro-expression. If this woman speaks the truth, then acquiring the weapon she mentions may still be the best course of action to save Whitewall... but there is no guarantee of that. "I recognize that voice. It's good to finally put a face to it, Ms. Revelations." The honorific is probably a butchery of her name, but the little robot can't particularly bring herself to care. "I am not strongly concerned with what you do to the Bull and his friends. They are only six people; the citizens of Whitewall are thousands. What I do care is that you seem eager to obtain this weapon even over helping us kill the Bull and his circle ourselves- which I still strongly suspect we are capable of. That would suggest that you have even further ulterior motives for obtaining it." Septette tilts her head slightly, her expression impassive. "So tell me. What else do you want it for, really?"
Tomoe	A Feelibng of both fear and anger builds up in her, fear of Bloody and rage at Pavo. Cutting a deal with an Abyssaql which is arguable a worse bein than the late sungun and their relation that Pavo hates so much. She bites both down for the moment as she hears Miarisnidea to buy Pavo out it will be costly she will hte it but it's far better than things would beotheriwse the altnative pretty going to be messy and will end badly. For her or Pavo? She does not know, and she stands her ground but all the while the bitten down fear is lurking there. "Somehow ... I should have guessed." She's pretty much out at this point now, but she remains maybe just to see who she's going to be working with. Or who she'll be up against...
Bloody Revelations	"Gods you're so /dumb/." Bloody Revelations says to Staren, without so much as a moment to stop herself from rolling her eyes. "I don't need your /help/ to kill anyone, and it would most certainly be utterly useless in the process of breaking him. One way or another, whatever it takes, I'm going to annihilate him, and your choices are that I do it after he's already broken Whitewall, or that I do it while it's nice and easy and you make out like bandits with a pile of irreplaceable magitech. Do you get it? Try taking a hint from the bird and the twins." The Deathknight shirks a little bit of the robe; enough to free one of her obsidian-gloved hands so she can affect a posture of bored and exsperated nobility with her cheek in her palm. "I'll put it to you this way. The signees of the Thousand-Year Pact here are the Walker in Darkness and the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears. Both of them are rival Deathlords to my liege, and both are varying degrees of a joke. I have no allegiance to them, and no obligation to help any Deathlord in the North. It's not like I'll lie to you. I /will/ continue to kill people --as many people as I want-- but I'm the only actor in this region with no stake in anything, except getting revenge on a pack of degenerate glorious golden boils on Creation's bloated corpse." "I don't particularly give a damn if you object to my methods, or my vices, but helping me is the quickest, cleanest way to terminate the disruption to the balance of power here. I didn't sign the Pact, so I can't break the non-aggression treaty. I can't enter Whitewall. I /won't/ help the Deathlords here, and I hunt Fae for sport. The Bull is the antagonist, and if I annihilate him and go on my merry way, what does it matter to you? That I was /mean/? Do you have any idea what insanity goes on in the heads of the Chosen when they stare at the sun too long? How it cooks their brains? What kind of atrocities he'll visit on Whitewall in a fit of deranged pique?" "And I'll say it again. The weapon that lies dormant under Gethamane is something only the Abyssal Exalted or the Deathlords could possibly hope to control. It's also something Ondar Shambal was built to protect against in the first place. Everyone has told you the same story. The powers of creatures of death are useless against its walls. The only ones who could possibly use it, I've already told you about. What keeps it out of their hands? The fact that it's /mine/ and I don't /share/. Whitewall was smart enough to make peace with their neighbours, living, dead, or Fair. What's /your/ plan?"
Bloody Revelations	When some of that exasperated mini-tirade wears itself out though, she smiles with an uncanny degree of barely-there fang towards Septette. "Helping you kill him is a lot of work with less payoff. I don't get my new toy, and you don't get your lost technology, or paid a hundredth as much. It's not beyond my capability. I'm no coward like the Lover's Deathknights. I'd pick Samea off in the battle, and then when they're recovering from their victory, slaughter their livestock, burn their farms, and starve them until their champions are forced to fight me on my terms. You'll notice, this involves a lot more dead people, and the loss of Whitewall. Whatever your plan is, it's going to involve a lot of dead people too; most of them innocent. If you people would listen to me for five seconds, you'd see why I'd choose the bigger payoff for less work, and spend my free time elsewhere." When the X-11 goes floating around looking for the spectator, the Deathknight sighs quietly, before trying to bring back her attention by just showing her. Out of the mists in the road, a figure materializes from nothing, roughly at that center of hostile, alien unease. It's as if the moonlight itself is twisted together with the fleeing shadows and absorbed into the ghastly fog, tangled together into an unnatural conflagration of light and dark and alien stars, and clumsily forced into only vaguely human shape. Floating above the ground, the second presence is significantly taller than anyone else, though not enormous in proportion. It seems vaguely feminine, perhaps by the way that a smoke of warped, dreamlike shadow and sparks billows off of it the approximation of flowing hair, but it has no facial features to speak of; merely a blank white mask of stinging, colourless light, upon which flashes a nauseatingly quick stream of incomprehensible, brand-like black symbols. Whatever it is, it's clearly no throwaway ghost or Demon. It circles loosely around the Deathknight, orbiting her on a non-existent eddy of air. Its 'aura' is very different from hers, but no less malicious, and certainly not any weaker. "Ju'uni, say hi." says the Abyssal Exalted. The thing's face flashes with a hundred obscene icons in a split second, instilling a sense of vertigo more than understanding.
Devola and Popola	"... She's still got a point there." Devola answers with another cautious look at the more vocal objectors to Bloody Revelations' proposal. "If she does take out the Bull, then the people of Whitewall wouldn't have to worry about his crew rolling in and killing them." "Although then there's that soul steel issue that someone brought up before. Whatever that is." Popola looks over at Tomoe questioningly, then over at Bloody Revelations again while remaining close to Devola and pulling her leg up a bit. Swamps still suck. "Can you explain about that? A lot of these names still don't mean much to us since we're not exactly locals, so..." Popola turns to Miari next, looking between her and Tomoe as if expecting something.
Septette Arcubielle	The little robot's eyes track both Ju'uni and Revelations for a few seconds, moving in separate orbits like a chameleon's. Once she feels she's gathered all the information on the big monster that she can, she turns her attention back to the smaller monster. "I understand what you're saying. And I think that it might turn out to be the best option, once I've done my homework. What's the expiration date on this? Do we just need to get it to you before he hits Whitewall, or is it going to take more time to scrape the rust off of the thing and get it running?" Internally, of course, the living antique is still thinking hard. A plan is starting to form in her cunning little mind, and it doesn't entirely match up with her cordial tone. If the Bull got his hands on this information, it would force him to immediately respond. And if they can use that to lure him out into the open, then maybe they can fuck over the Solar and Revelations both... "I think that about covers everything," she concludes. "We'll operate on our own initiative as for how to secure the artifact. I think you'll be impressed."
Evangeline	When Ju'uni is revealed, Evangeline goes still as she stares at the creature that looks rather like her. Sure, Evangeline is more solid, but the floating, the lack of features, the general feminine appearance...it's very much like herself. She slowly floats back to the others, then looks toward Bloody Revelations again. She can't deny that it seems the best way to stop the Golden Bull, but she doesn't feel like she has enough information to make a good call. She defers to Septette on this and nods in agreement. But, once Septette is done, Evangeline speaks up in her quiet voice. "...killing is bad...especially when you are killing just to make something like a building material...I hope you don't think that people will actually just turn a blind eye..." she says, then looks squarely and intently at BR. "...because they won't..."
Miari	With the spirit she knew was here finally choosing to reveal more of itself, even Miari - the sorceress that she is - is forced to take several steps backwards from pure gut fear. Her whole body trembles, shivers, and jitters... "Hekatonkhire," She whispers, voice filling with dread. She swallows hard... but steels herself. Tiny embers of anger slowly build in her eyes, though at WHAT is hard to say. She clamps down on them quickly enough... "There can be no deal that unleashes WORSE horrors than already exist. That goes far beyond simply protecting a neutral city's interests... in fact, if something that dreadful exists in Gethamane, I doubt anyone within will survive it being released and controlled!"
Tomoe	Tomoe is listning she's getting a feel on things but even with the points Bloody Revelation makes whieh will make hwer reconsider how she's going to do thing hser she's till not working with her and she looks up to see the new arrival and shudders. She also looks at Devol and popla for amoment. She's in sucha situation here. She's not a good speaker and she knows it, it may be best to just let Bloody Revlations talk on that. Before things go further on the Soul Steel issue? She gets a comm from Miari about another horror from Creation. She also has no idea the soul steel complex was not Bloody Revelations own faculty. Then then ame Hekatonkhire scares Miari it only makes things worse.
Staren	Staren is unconvinced. "Yeah. Sure. Condemning people to torture will save people this time... and the next time... and the next. I'm not building a future on suffering. Not only do I have ethical problems with that, but it'd get the whole thing smashed by heroes one day, if I could even get enough other people to support such a future in the first place. I'm not going down this road." Staren's angry stare eventually turns thoughtful. "...If all of you /really/ think it's the best option... At least get the Bull to volunteer. Like, get him to consent to a duel to spare his people, knowing what will happen to him if he loses. If he's willing to sacrifice himself to save them, that's his right to decide."
Starbound Flotilla	Pavo has made her decision. She's going to follow this until they absolutely have to make a unified decision whether or not to reject it. She seems mostly finished with the diplomacy "Where is Gethamane and how do we get to the weapon and the treasure." She says. It's not a question, it's almost a sort of demand. More accurately, it's an overt statement of intention. "We're going to figure this out."
Bloody Revelations	The Deathknight finally cracks a slightly more sincere smile as people start to (at least pretend to) acquiesce to what she views as common sense. She spares a derisive noise for Staren, if only to say: "Smashed by heroes? Is that what you really believe? This world hasn't had heroes since it was made." But she seems disinclined to pursue that line. "If you can somehow convince that musclehead to fight me one on one, then by all means. I /really/ doubt he'll take the bait, but if he does, you can watch as I flay him alive. The supposed 'Lawgivers' don't scare me." Finally, she gives her attention to the people looking for it. "Gethamane is obscure and unremarkable, but not secret. It's Whitewall's closest trading partner, for a certain definition of 'close'. It's less than a hundred miles north, underneath a very large mountain. The people there have squatted on their own First Age ruins, some of it actually functional, for centuries, so they're frankly inbred and xenophobic, but it's fortified enough that it was considered not worth the Scarlet Dynasty's time to try and conquer, even though it never once paid tribute to the Empress. You have a week, at the very most. The Bull won't be able to take his entire army through one of those warpgate things, but he'll move faster than you expect, augmenting his troops for twenty four hour marches." "Don't expect you'll get to the bottom of Gethamane in an afternoon either. The people will be trouble enough, to say nothing of the complicated magic needed to even find the vault. I'm honestly not sure about the city gods, if there even are any left." She cracks one last, toothy white grin. "So, if you're still not in agreement, fight each other all you want~ Whoever sides with me will get their promised reward. Whoever gets in my way, I'll crush like a bug~ You have my word."