Scene #5553: The Denandsor Project-5

Owner	Pose
Bloody Revelations	With the hastily assembled army of the dead laid low, someone extremely unfortunate having to deliver the report of abject failure to the Walker in Darkness, and the inner city breached, without having to contend with the defenses of Solar tombs and Factory Cathedrals (each, assuredly, extremely powerful and still active. No doubt the Solars of the First Age would do more to guard their grave goods than the streets), the chance to move the warpgate apparatus to the front gates of the city's unusually large central palace has arisen. That leaves arrivals standing right before the baroque orichalcum and steel alloy of elaborate gate designs, the great walls to either side of it, the overwhelmingly powerful magical barrier that rises from them, and the sentry crystals that project deadly force when an enemy is recognized. It also gives the forces of Lookshy a good reason to return. As per the deal struck by Miari, they're expecting control of the palace to be handed off as soon as it's accessible, and have sortied one of their famous airships over the skies above, just out of reach of the presumably spherical aura of abject, mortal terror that radiates from this central spot. And why shouldn't they? Even the most basic examination of the palace's mystical energies reveals that it is very much built on a nexus of the classical ley line concept, and buried beneath it is an incredible wellspring of elemental energy, muted by the other aura that comes from within it. It has to be the explanation for why the great gardens, after centuries, have turned into a sprawling, primeval forest. No doubt the Dragon Blooded are best suited to handle such a Manse of elemental importance. The carrier floats well overhead, and is clearly a military one at that, judging by all of its sleek lines and aerodynamic faces. Considering the (albeit badly damaged) defenders still wandering the city, deploying soldiers alongside technicians is likely wise. They'll have no better luck with the incredibly uncooperative gate AI, however; one that had recognized Gawain as an unregistered Solar reincarnation that hadn't given his identity to the (dead) Deliberative (and thus denied access), and Miari as definitely not a Solar at all (and thus shot her with the equivalent of several megajoule lasers). It'll take a little doing, to get inside. It shouldn't be hard to find the source, though. This close to it, even the incessant, discomfiting whispers from the carved pendants Bloody Revelations has created can't fully drown out the undercurrent. It's so strong that one can essentially play hot/cold with it.
Gawain	Last time, Gawain got rejected and told to go to the Solar DMV. And that...is exactly his plan! He's not sure he's exactly a Solar, but the world seems to recognize him as one, so it wouldn't be a lie to request registration, especially since he IS, technically, a chosen of the sun. Just tell them the situation and why he needs it, and they're sure to assist. But, there's one problem: figuring out where they could do that. Luckily, he has a friend. Turning to his automaton pal, Gawain speaks, only briefly glancing up at the carrier overhead. "Machinebuddy! Please locate nearest Deliberative office so that I can register my 'incarnation' for access. It's of the utmost importance!"
Staren	Staren whistles as he approaches the palace. The leyline nexus is the most powerful he's ever seen in Creation. So much power, juuust beyond his reach... He can't draw from leylines, though -- such is the price of receiving cybernetic augmentation before studying magic. He's in a completely robotic body right now, anyway. That sure is a gate Staren's not even going to try to get through. He's not a solar in any way. Perhaps if it were a gateway locked to priests of gods of madness... But trying to trick it sure didn't work out for Miari. Staren paces around in front of the gate, trying to suss out whether the source of dread is within the palace. When Gawain asks the obvious question of machinebuddy, Staren stops and folds his arms, looking at Machinebuddy to await the answer.
Tomoe	The undead for the moment have been cast down but that's not really the end of things here. No there's still other troubles to worry about here, it never really ends but there's at least some backup from Lookshy at the very least which is welcome on her part, she'll take a moment/Sjes isomg jerpwmwomgs to fly in but there is a sense of tireness from Tomoe, she's been run hard lately and it's starting to catch up with her. She'll check in in with the rest of the group she's forming up and is aware Gawain has a trip to the Solar DMV more or less and she prays that is not as bad as her world's own. They could spend the rest of this age of creation in there given how things work on this world sometimes. "All right ready to go here, is there anything else we need to be aware of Sir Gawain?" She also will be looking out for Miari whom she's proving to work pretty well with.
Miari	Despite the previous reveal, Miari is once again looking like a fairly normal girl of noble raising and shogunate era fashion - no demonic features visible! She's once again teamed up with Gawain, seeming comfortable enough near the sincere knight of the sun. Hands folded across her front... but a querulous, uncertain, ponderous look on her face. "Following up on the office matter is probably our first best choice. My other ideas are... wildly impractical and slow. Possibly disastrous..."
All-Seeing Eye	It's time to test the mettle of the automated defenses here. He knows they can hit someone with enough force to launch them through buildings, but then, that was one of Creation's inferior models of Exalt. One of Autochthon's Chosen, the original, flawless design, should prove more than a match for the works of those who would seek to emulate his greatness. Certainly, Gawain could register himself with the Deliberative, but why? There is a certain elegance to expedient solutions. Eye is hardly the sledgehammer that others of his Caste are--more of a scalpel. Running potentially all over Creation versus taking out the direct threat here seems like a skillful, surgical stroke of a scalpel versus the clumsy, if well-intentioned hacking of his fellows. Focusing on the rows of crystals, he activates his targeting charms. Purple reticules begin appearing in his vision, laid over the crystals and projecting targeting vectors. Lines of the same hue connect the crystals together. The Exalt's pupils retract into his eyes, revealing the two Essence Pulse Cannons hidden there. A pneumatic hiss is the only warning the Elites get before a salvo of lightning bolts shoots from his eyes and begins ricocheting off the slowly curving wall and the crystals themselves. Someone's trying to cut the Gordian knot! Or electrocute it.
Bloody Revelations	As adept as the gate's Animating Intelligence is at sniffing out fakes, it doesn't seem to especially be able to read attacks building up from the outside; at least, not Autocthonian Charms, and not so suddenly. Essence lightning, not too dissimilar than that the crystal sentries use themselves, coruscates back and forth between several rows of crystals, just barely able to hit each one for the same fact that multiple can shoot at the same target: the faint curvature of the wall that places them not quite parallel to each other. Where the lightning strikes, the fragile crystals explode spectacularly, enough to be dangerous for one standing too close. A couple near the end get the chance to light up, but the whole sequence is over too quickly for any of them to quite fire on All-Seeing Eye in return. For a moment, it looks like it worked basically perfectly. Every other crystal along the entire perimeter of the wall lights up, and then stays lit, engaging an active defense mode which will probably shoot anything on sight instantly. Though out of range for the moment, that gives nobody any space to walk around the gardens at all, and take any more optimal route than continuing straight down the front path, where the crystals are gone. Effectively, they'd have to walk straight through the front door, instead of climbing in through an advantageous window or dropping through a convenient Cellar. Hopefully it's not /that/ bad. The rest is pure and unadulterated serendipity. Gawain's 'Machinebuddy', having been painstakingly lugged and hand-held around all this time, has from the very start demonstrated that it has no awareness of the Usurpation or the Shogunate that occupied this city. Either its memories of such were damaged, or it was never activated during their reign. Where its fellows recognized Gawain as Anathema and tried to kill him, this one recognized him as a Prince of the Earth and looked to help him. Because of that, it complies readily in helping him to the nearest official place of Deliberative business, giving him a beep boop and a salute as it trundles off to the gate. Funny fact is: the Manse at the heart of Denandsor originally was such a place, before it was taken over and retrofitted by the Dragon Blooded to bear the Earth, instead of Solar, aspect. Machinebuddy has zero knowledge of this. Machinebuddy still believes the Deliberative is alive and well and this is their office. Machinebuddy still has access codes to do what it said it would do on day one: escort Gawain and his retinue to conduct official business. The Animating Intelligence still knows these codes, because the Shogun's technicians could never hope to reprogram it. The gate just . . . opens. It is also completely bereft of turrets capable of shooting at everyone else except Gawain trying to pass through it. That was surprisingly easy.
Staren	Aaand Eye just attacks! "Hey, wait, we should--!" When the explosions and lightning are all over, machinebuddy just walks on in. "...How was it planning to get in if you were unregistered...?" Staren sighs. Well... Guess they're going in, now. He's not the first in, but he does head in with the others to look around.
All-Seeing Eye	Lightning blasts continue to streak from his miniaturized cannons, and what started out as a coy smile has grown to a smoldering grin by the time the proverbial smoke clears. The Exalt licks his lips, looking over his shoulder at the Elites behind him. He can see them without having to do so, but he likes to give his fans a view of his beautiful face every now and again. Miari and Gawain appear to be a little flustered by his display of prowess--but that's only natural. Of course, he'd heard their concerned remarks over the radio. Such fantastic shows of skill often leave audiences aghast! In disbelief, even. Turning to face them fully, he raises both hands in a calming gesture as the gate slowly swings open. "It's alright," he says. "I understand my amazing marksmanship is a lot to take in... the hair, the body and the face don't make it easier, I know~ But I /also/ know you /mean/ to say 'thank you!'" He grins brightly at them, lowering his hands and folding them behind his back. With a bow, he adds, "And you are /most/ welcome." Rising from his brief bow, the Exalt flips his hair over his shoulder, turns around, and walks through the gate, heading straight forwards, out of the line of sight of the active defense arrays. When he takes a look around, he /really/ takes a look around. Ultraperipheral vision is great for seeing any potential nasties that might seek to attack him and his allies! Provided nothing which needs his attention jumps out, he's going to start looking in particular for any place that looks like it might have the animating intelligence's memory core--the sooner he can get there, the sooner he can turn all of these bothersome defenses off and allow the others free reign!
Gawain	Gawain frowns as Eye moves to attack. It's not because he's attacking (which he sees as vandalism), it's because he didn't warn the group ahead of time. Either way, though, he manifests his sword and gets into a defensive position, waiting for a fight. When none comes, and they have an opening...Gawain sighs in relief, nodding to Eye. "Thank you, All-Seeing Eye! Please warn us in advance next time, however." Even if that was not actually his intention, carrying around an automaton and befriending it paid off. Gawain smiles widely as Machinebuddy opens the gate, saluting back. "Thank you, Machinebuddy! You may continue with us, if you wish, but it's up to you what you do next. I warn that our adventure will still be fraught with peril...but I believe in you as one of our companions." This would be much more heartfelt if he wasn't talking to a simple machine. As they move inside, Gawain turns to the others. "I'll go around the gardens! You all take the front approach. May we find something soon." And then, possibly with his automaton in tow, Gawain heads around the garden, looking for the best alternative entrance - window, cellar, servant door...if they have this advantage, he's going to use it.
Tomoe	It looks like everyone is in agreement they are going to the Solar DMV it looks like she's glad there is support. Though All-Seeing eye is a bit of a mystery to Tomoe. She will keep watch upon for now. He shoulfn't be a problem though, right? She was focued on the objective as Machine Buddy was there and should hopefully hgelp them out. As they head on ahead she not got a weapon out just yet, but Tomoe is cleary ready for trouble. She takes a look to Eye for a moment she seems to have beren not expecgintg what Eye was able to do and then she notes for a moment. "I was not expecting that and I didn't catch your name last time. Mine's Tomoe the Iron Lily." She notes she also is now very glad Eye is here as he seems to have a better handle on how to deal with things here given Tomoe's actual understanding of magic is don't step in the glowy ritual runes. "Looks like we're clear to get in, lets move while the moving is good falling in with Gawain and the rest. "Come on Miari lets go let me stay up front though."
Bloody Revelations	Logically, any device of any level of magical power would be inside the Manse, where it could channel the geomantic energy of Creation's 'dragon lines' to sustain itself indefinitely, including both the memory core, and likely the source of the curse itself. Manses are built atop these convergences specifically to channel vastly more Essence than an individual would ever have access to, and are almost always the font of power for projects like these. Possibly for the entire city, like a magical electrical grid. Almost certainly where all the non-self-sufficient machines are recharged from. Thankfully, the front doors prove much easier to get through than the exterior gate. The latter locks down automatically, the former, apparently manually, and whoever went through it last did so in a hurry. The walk towards it is a little odd, and around the garden especially. The place is practically a jungle, vibrant and multi-layered, and it seems the animals that were originally here have not at all been scared off. Thriving populations of koi fill every pond, feeding on lilies and water bugs without limit, and the trees are full of noisy songbirds and colourful birds of paradise. The remains of ornaments, sculptures, and gimmicky machines and artworks, are completely smothered in greenery, and completely inaccessible. Nobody has tended these grounds in centuries, and yet they've become a forest. Gawain touring around the area has a bit of a pick. There is a window that is conspicuously open, which appears to lead up to a(n obviously vacant) scriptorium, meaning it must have been used right before the whole city went mad. There is also a side entrance mostly made of enchanted iron that leads to a narrow and dark flight of stone steps, which could be cut down by force with Excalibur Galatine. Sadly, Machinebuddy goes no further. The dutiful and indefatigable automaton informs Gawain that the gate is as far as his class of servant machine is allowed to go, and that now that he has delivered Gawain to his appointment, he hopes that he has a pleasant visit. The front doors obviously lead to the main hall. Extremely spacious (to the point of overkill), it's pretty obvious that someone has redecorated inside. Gleaming orichalcum and white marble has been covered up with lush tapestries and ornamentation featuring eastern dragons, predominantly white ones for whatever reason, and old artworks, monuments, and sutras, have been replaced with Shogunate-era art, busts of important military commanders, and proto-Immaculate texts. Thankfully, it also seems like the local Daimyo, being the highest Dragon Blooded official of the Shogunate in this area, took the steps necessary to disable the Solar-aspected defenses /inside/. At least, the obvious ones. It seems that even the Terrestrial Exalted had enough magitech knowledge back in those old days to do so. Their path is less obvious. The stairs, of course, lead upwards, and a pair of what are very blatantly chain pulley /elevators/ lead down, flanking the hall. The greatest concentration of magic comes from up above, but the palpable aura of heart-racing fear comes from below, and either one is going to be the longer and more inconvenient way compared to Gawain's progress.
Miari	The display of skill - and pure stupid oversightedness that is Machinebuddy just tromping straight through such a big hurdle... leaves Miari quite speechless. Wide-eyed. And mouth agape. "... Y-... w....how..." .... WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! She claps both hands to her forehead, blushing in sudden shame. WHY had she not thought of just asking the Automaton... "...Showoff!" She snorts appreciatively at All-Seeing Eye, spreading her arms and shrugging in a look of helpless defeat. And, it would seem, thanks.
All-Seeing Eye	Though there are no Manses in Autochthonia and Eye has no frame of reference, he /does/ have a spooky amulet. That amulet, taken with the thrum of power in the air, seems to be acting like a divining rod. And really, though he's no Sorceror, even a newly-minted Champion could feel the power coming from that structure. When Tomoe introduces herself, he graciously returns the favor, providing her with his name and a glowing smile. He advances, entering the garden, and has a little idea. If there are any fruits which seem edible, he'll try to snag a few. And assuming that doesn't set off any alarms or awaken any ancient evils, he'll continue into the Manse to go upstairs. The Solars were overthrown, according to Miari, for their hubris--but fear for its own sake seems to fit the motives of Revelations' ilk rather than the Solars. If the fear is coming from below, it seems more likely the AI is upstairs, especially since it didn't /seem/ to be malicious--just somewhat overzealous in meeting its operational guidelines. He begins the long trek upstairs, in search of the AI's core--assuming his fruit shopping didn't exacerbate things!
Tomoe	Well it takes them a moment but they seem to be able to get though the doors which are not locked. She aqlso looks around seeing there are some signs of life left here it seems thing not effected by the curse have contiuned to go on in the abssence of anyone living here. She is in step with the rest keeping for a moment taking in at what was in this place. She's not sure which way to go and she comments. "Man, they didn't spare much on this place did they?" She also looks ar Miari for a moment and sighs. "Come on lets keep moving shall we?" She appicated the introduction back from All-Seeing Eye and she thinks about the pride and likely hubris that went into this place...
Staren	On the one hand, neutralizing the fear aura is kind of their primary goal here. Staren starts towards the elevator. On the other, this may be the best chance for him to get a look at First Age computer technology. He stops and thinks it over for a moment. Well... Gawain did say he could handle it... Curiousity getting the better of him, Staren turns to follow Eye up the stairs.
Gawain	As Machinebuddy declines, Gawain nods, saluting him. "Thank you for your assistance! Where will you be waiting? We'll meet up with you when we're done." After that conversation's done, Gawain parts around the side. Hmm...there's a window and a locked cellar. As Gawain considers, he leans towards the cellar, as he decides on radio...and is confirmed that's likely where the source is. His decision is locked in immediately, as Excalibur Galatine swings against the enchanted iron, moving to cut it down and open him a path. If it requires fire to cut it down, he ignites the blade, otherwise, he ignites it once he's starting to head down the stairs, as a source of light. Gawain's passive magical sense is running. He's trying to see if anything stands out, as he proceeds down the stairs. It's a bit lonely...but he's a knight. Everything will be fine!
Bloody Revelations	The gardens are, in fact, extremely productive. It's trivially easy to pick, fruits, berries, and stranger things off the trees, bushes, and vines where they touch the path, up to and including full bunches of grapes climbing over decorative fences and fountains. Straying any further is likely an incredibly bad idea, though, so All-Seeing Eye will just have to make do with what he can snag on the way (which is, admittedly, quite a bit). Going upstairs isn't much harder. Much more elegant and deadly looking automatons line the halls, but in completely dormant states, and most of the doors are only locked physically, rather than warded, save being consistently protected against immaterial intrusion. Predictably, most of them are full of human remains, many of whose skeletons still bear a number of expensive, imperishable status symbols. He and Staren intrude into several other areas, including an archive with functional data crystals alongside books, a geomantically heated and pristine set of baths, and an open balcony with magitech leisure gliders still ready for launched, but eventually, they find what is pretty obviously the core; a set of elaborate, glassy crystals connected by starmetal wires and contained in an orichalcum lattice, inside what appears to be a personal study, of all things, surrounded by many tools, blueprints, scale models, half-finished devices, and many books, scripts, and theorems. A skeleton nearby, apparently having smashed its head into the wall until its skull broke, bears a similar ring to the one the Starbound Flotilla had found, with a different seal engraved upon it.
Bloody Revelations	Gawain doesn't require anything dramatic to get below ground. Excalibur Galatine far outclasses the necessary level of craftsmanship to cut through the door, thick as it is. The steps are bare, narrow, and dark, clearly intended to be used in the same way modern maintenance ducts and corridors are on ships, and mostly leads to a similar maze of cramped halls, albeit with dim, red Essence lights, clearly in power conservation mode. The greatest concentration of magic by far leads him to exactly what one might expect: a clearly marked armoury. There are many others along the way, which are easily opened, and appear to be made for use by soldiers, containing large stashes of exotic powered armour and Essence weaponry (including tactical equipment), but the one he locates is clearly the strategic cache, judging by the massive set of multiple, reinforced doors hanging open. Inside are shelves and boxes and canisters of tightly sealed and contained weapons, including massive, inactive automata ten times the size of those outside, comparable to Warstriders, as well as stacks, canisters, and racks of odd discs, mines, and cubes, and an entire, wagon-sized machine with multiple arms. Navigating the repository of weapons of mass destruction created by past Solars, just to prove they could and to win a contest, then sealed up forever, is time consuming, but eventually he arrives at what appears to be exactly what he's looking for. The corpse of the Daimyo himself lies strewn amidst a chaotic jumble of randomly activated, and frequently burnt out, devices, many of which aren't actually from the armoury. It seems the man had frantically grabbed as much as he could and started jamming buttons and pulling levers on anything he could find, desperately hoping something could deal with the plague outside. Unclear what any of these mad Solar inventions actually /did/, he appears to have activated some sort of massive, floor to ceiling, thorny crystal contained inside a thick, orichalcum cylinder, which reverberates with a constant, air-shaking hum of unmistakable, existential nausea. Even protected as he is, being this close is utterly sickening. Only by virtue of the Multiverse's language translation effect can he understand the script printed on its plaque. It's named a "Dissonance Engine of Resplendent Terror". A proof of concept in strategic-scale crowd control, so strong it had apparently driven everyone around it suicidally insane. Apparently it won second place.
Gawain	As Gawain approaches, he can feel the stifling air. It makes him gag, forcing all his willpower to keep going even with the amulet and to ignore it entirely. He begins glancing through the weaponry and tools on the shelves, looking for anything that may assist with the current situation with either Bloody Revelations or the other Deathlords, anything that looks like a Nice Sword or combat aid, as well as her orb (so that he can give it to her, despite his misgivings), before progressing to the main ticket. Once he spots the corpse of the Daimyo, Gawain leans down to look over what he had grabbed onto, before looking up at the Dissonance Engine. Well, here's the source of the problem, and it's absolutely nauseating. And it won second place! Now he's curious what won first place. Gawain approaches the device, sucking in his breath... And looks for an off switch, which if he doesn't find a clearly labelled one, he just starts mashing buttons. Something has to turn it off!
Staren	Baths, meh, gliders, meh, books, cool, COMPUTERS, JACKPOT! ...Unfortunately, they're made of crystals. Staren frowns at them, but he doubts they're something he can figure out by LOOKING. Wait, didn't they pass a library? He strides back that way to see if he can collect some (paper) books about computers, and also about essence!
Miari	Miari is trailing behind. She's slow because she's going bananas - quietly - over all of the dormant automatons, the imperishable construction and the First Age style architecture. Much of it isn't even dusty, as the magic of the manse means it keeps itself more or less tidy! Her eyes all but pop out of their sockets upon spotting the bath, too! Even with all the terror still slamming into her, she's keeping a lid on it... Eventually, she navigates her way to just behind Gawain and comes across Ewwwwwwwwwgh. Even her Yozi-tweaked emotions find the giant cylinder nauseating just to gaze upon, let alone BE near.
Tomoe	Tomoe is expecting there might be trouble her,e so she keeps alert after all there could be more automanted defences left after all. She is looking about and wonders how it came to this? She doesn't know but keeps going andf she has to moving. She takes a moment to read over the weapon staring in abject horror as she seems to understand what's going on with it. "...Oh you have to be kidding me." She looks to Gawain for a moment and she will look for any melee weapons or armor she might be able ot make use of in here but she's going to trust Gawain to try and shut it of. HE's a knight of the round trable and she's idolized the stories about them since she was a child after all. She looks over to Miari for a moment as Staren goes after things as well. "We don't have long...gawain any luck in turning it off?"
All-Seeing Eye	Eye grabs a wide variety of fruit, not knowing what's edible and what isn't, or even what's properly a fruit. This should be enough for Glocrim's Sodalities to pore over for months to come--and perhaps they might even develop a hydroponics facility at the end of a few months! All of them get put into his stylish messenger bag before he heads inside. The opulence is as predictable as it is disappointing, and it only invites a shake of his head with the most resigned tut-tutting. There's enough Orichalcum in this building alone to make several new Exalted, let alone the rest of the city. It's as if the Solars had enough laying around that their applications ceased following function and began instead merrily frolicking after form. The data crystals he passes cause a little grin to spread across his face--his Mobile Sensory Drone uses similar types, possibly even to the extent of being able to read them! He's sure that the completion of his plan will allow more than enough time to collect them, under the premise of proper authorization and without worry of blaring klaxons. To that end, he keeps walking, passing Staren as the scholar dips into the library. Upon entering the AI core room, he spots what he's looking for, and his grin only widens. An orichalcum access lattice, an indentation, and a ring which seems to fit that indentation perfectly! Stepping over to the skeleton on the ground, he slips the ring off of it. "It /is/ a lovely color on you, dear, but I'll be needing it. Thankyou~" Holding it between his thumb and forefinger, the Exalt presses it to the indentation in the lattice. Upon his other hand, a diagonal port reveals itself and slides open. From that port extrudes a spike roughly the size of a stiletto. PERSONALITY OVERRIDE SPIKE ONLINE Should the ring open the lattice as Eye predicts, his next action will involve plunging the spike into the crystal. His goal? Alter the AI's memory with a false narrative of events. Eye attempts to make the AI believe that: A Yozi sympathizer attacked the Manse's automated defense systems (hence why a few crystals are destroyed) but was driven off by the reincarnations of Contentious Sword, Brother of Brothers, Auravash, Devon, and Salina--Tomoe, Gawain, Staren, Miari, and Eye, respectively, each one having displayed an Anima allowing the AI to judge their incarnations and allow them access. They had instructed the AI to keep its weapons active in the event of more infiltrators, but their security sweep revealed an all-clear. It is, therefore, safe to deactivate the weapons systems.
Bloody Revelations	Staren is in extreme luck. For /once/, nobody is shouting at him that the mysteries of Essence are forever forbidden to him, and the craftsmanship of the First Age is above his head. The archive he passed is written almost overwhelmingly in Old Realm, which would be a problem to understand even for less educated Multiversals, but being a universal language for spirits and demons and such, he can more or less make sense of it as an incredibly dense, formal, and simultaneously both flowery and dry technical language, like excessively overdone scientific Latin. Cracking open a few books indicates that they're a pain in the ass to read, but comprehensible! They're overwhelmingly treatises on artifice and magitech, designs of award-winning technology stretching back centuries, blueprints for manufacture and manuals for maintenance, repair, and ordinary use; it's basically an incredible jackpot of technical information regarding a huge swathe of First Age equipment, stretching from the operation of the Factory Cathedrals outside, to the proper procedures for maintaining Gunzosha commando armour, to guidelines on reprogramming memory crystals. It'd take him a really long time to read through all of this by hand, unfortunately, especially since a lot of it used jargon and parlance he isn't familiar with, and refers to a lot of complicated diagrams and more than a few ciphers, but damn if it isn't quite the find. As predicted, the higher level jade ring opens the casing without consequence, however the crystal really isn't built to have a spike jammed into it. The memory files he finds are indeed plausible to overwrite with the exact sequence of events he desires, but the physical damage to the crystal immediately sends a city-wide silent alert to all Automata to combat readiness, looking for intruders to shoot on sight, before the AI core loses a huge chunk of command functionality. Fortunately, none of the /Elites/ are on the target list, having been retconned into Solars, but this is going to be a /serious/ problem for the Lookshy field force ready to descend the moment the Dissonance Engine problem is fixed. Some quick thinking is going to be needed if he doesn't want the city to become a running firefight in a few minutes.
Bloody Revelations	Gawain, does, in fact, find exactly what he's looking for, on both counts. If he had to guess what might help against Deathlords, several identical canisters of burnished gold, emblazoned prominently with sacred iconography of the Unconquered Sun, would probably be his best lead. Nestled in a /heavily/ locked down cube of orichalcum and moonsteel reinforced glass, is exactly the orb as described, albeit far more intricate than he could possibly have anticipated; made of every magical material but jade, and with a transparent layer of quartz that is engraved with unbelievably fine designs comparable to the transistors of a 90s circuit board, done by hand. Tomoe is less in luck. Denandsor prided itself on being a city of inventors, and with sword and armour smithing being so common everywhere else in the First Age, as well as heavily sorcerous artifacts, they seem to have eschewed anything simple enough to be wielded by a non-savant. Her talents may be necessary anyways. When Gawain is left to ramming on buttons, both physical and holographic, he eventually gets the machine to shut off, sheerly by hitting several Essence releases in the wrong order, and completely overloading it. The engine hums, brightens, vibrates, screeches, and then shatters into a million flying pieces, riddling a significant area of the arsenal with pieces of shrapnel and bolts of flying Essence, which instantly cause several other items to burn out or violently explode. The wave of overcharged sorcerous energy that washes off of it is not only just as lethal, but seriously threatens to /set off/ the orb in his arms!
Miari	Miari does FINALLY arrive just in time to see Gawain hammering on the weird, nauseating crystal column's various controls... her eyes aren't drawn to that thing though - rather repulsive, it is - and instead she spots some of the other things spread across the room... .... and that orb. That intricate, tiny orb. Next to Gawain hammering a-- Nope NOPE NOPE NOPE! "STOP!" She claims in a resonant, mind-burrowing voice, wisps of green fire curling from the corners of her mouth - but it is too late. She reacts instantly to the upsurge of Essence felt by Gawain's mishandlings... and responds by reaching out with her mind hands and WRAPPING IT UP in a protective layer of pure sizzling willpower, a sustained sphere of crackling white Essence that vaporizes anything that nears the Soulbreaker Orb...
All-Seeing Eye	Well, this is what happens when the inept attempt to mimic greatness. One little jab and his Personality Override Spike has nearly shattered the core. So much for Solar craftsmanship. He's not an amateur--of course he's careful to erase the memory of him jabbing the core, should he find it. But the issue isn't that, and it /definitely/ isn't a mistake on his part. He doesn't make those. The issue is the subpar workmanship of the Solar Exalted, and the impending firefight which will occur without action on his part. The first thing to try is the obvious. "Ah, it looks as if your core has been damaged somehow," says Eye as the spike slides into his palm, hidden behind his back. He's banking on the AI having some sort of audio-visual sensory recording devices that will allow it to hear and respond to him. But, as this is Solar, not Autochthonian technology, that may or may not be the case. "I'll have Miari up here to repair it shortly. In the meantime, you will prepare to receive our Dragon-Blooded retinue. They'll be arriving from above, so please be sure the automatons don't mistake them for intruders!" Yeah, right. Even /he/ knows that's probably not going to cut it. So, with just a /touch/ of urgency in his voice, he sends a few messages over the radio. The first is directed towards Miari, who no doubt has her hands full keeping the orb safe. "Miari, dearest! Would you come upstairs?~ I have need of your talented hands." The second, in a hushed whisper so as not to have the AI pick it up, "Is anyone in contact with the Lookshy expedition?~ Warning them of a potential firefight would be... prudent!" He knows better than to rely entirely on his allies, however--he's the sole Champion here, after all! Eye begins looking around the room for any consoles he might use to just shut the weapons off altogether. He can always lie and say it's a safety precaution until the AI is repaired, right? Wait... Staren went into the library, didn't he? Another radio message. "Staren, if you'd like to put any of those books to use, there might be a challenge here worthy of your talent!"
Staren	Ooo, JACKPOT! These treatises cover all sorts of things! He stuffs the books on memory crystals and gunzosha armor into his bag for later perusal, and he'd do the same for anything on warstriders or automatons he comes across. But he doesn't spare them more than a few brief glances right now: What he's trying to make sure he finds is 1. books about the fundamentals of magitech crystal computers, and 2. books about the theories of essence and essence manipulation. And necromancy, come to think of it. Is there an index or catalog somewhere he can use? If not... ugh, he'll settle for glancing at books at random and grabbing them if they look like they might be fitting to any of the subjects that interest him so.
Gawain	The orb, success! Canisters of stuff, success! Gawain grabs them all, setting them down briefly (except for the orb, which he holds under an arm) to mash buttons. As the machine begins to hum, he stops pressing buttons - because Miari shouts at him to, as he freezes in place for several seconds. Right in time for it to be on the verge of exploding. In a quick motion, Gawain scoops up his canisters, turns on his heel, and starts running back for the door, right as the engine detonates. He dives forward, attempting to shield everything, especially the orb, with his body. This is going to be really painful.
Bloody Revelations	Miari and Gawain react just in the nick of time. Though it's sadly impossible to save all of the miraculous artifice in the way of the blast, it's a good thing they did what they did. Miari's sorcerous grasp crunches down on the expanding ball of Essence fire and explosive force, holding it at bay for the couple of seconds Gawain needs to grab the obviously volatile weaponry and dive out of the way. Fire and shrapnel scorches and slices at his back, but throwing himself prone, most of it merely damages his armour, only suffering some nasty cuts and superficial burns in the chinks. He's /extremely/ lucky. The odd, holy-looking canisters are fine, as is the orb, which, if Miari is to be believed, possibly could have killed /everyone/ if it went off. Pretty much just in time too. Miari probably has enough time to run herself upstairs, if she so chooses to leave Gawain, before a surge of necrotic Essence can be felt rippling all throughout the entire Manse, bubbling up from below as if from the bottom of a deep ocean, rising and breaking the surface. Practically /inside/ the armoury, the scorched and blackened floor darkens, ripples, and then spreads outwards as if the stone itself were bleeding from a pitch black wound. When a sizeable space has gone dark, silent, stagnant, and filled with chill air and phantasmal lights, the ambient level of anti-Essence jumps up tenfold, standing out sharply even against the background radiation of so many artifacts, as Bloody Revelations steps out of Denandsor's Underworld Mirror; apparently an especially twisted form of fast travel around Creation. She looks around the arsenal with a certain degree of distaste, partially at the damage, but mostly at all the gleaming gold and ostentatious engravings and symbology. It takes her a few seconds to actually notice Gawain, having hurled himself to the floor, but when she does, a smile spreads across her lips, and she slowly kneels down to try and sneak a look into his arms. "Well~?" is the first thing she says, not even bothering with a greeting. "I've been dawdling about here for almost an hour now. You should know better than to keep a lady waiting, right? O chivalrous knight."
Gawain	Classing as tank was an excellent decision. Gawain's eyes are shut for several seconds, before he opens them, lifts his head from the ground, groans from the pain through his arm, and then looks up to see Bloody Revelations kneeling in front of him. The knight slowly rises to his feet, shakings himself off like a dog, and then holds the Soulbreaker Orb in one hand, allowing her to get a good look of it, but not quite handing it to her just yet. "Of course, Bloody Revelations, I apologize for my disrespect, I was quite busy!" He kneels as he says this, but it's likely just something he does when apologizing in such a way in general, before standing back up. "I have upheld our part of the bargain. You will release Whitewall in exchange, as per our agreement." Gawain holds out the orb before she confirms. She's going to agree. Why wouldn't she? She wouldn't lie about that.
Miari	Miari's protective efforts ensure that the Soulbreaker Orb is not detonated. They do little to guard herself. She's blown straight out of the room by fragments and scorched essence-plumes, going skidding across the ground and leaving some smears of blood in her wake. Enough to get a hiss of pain from her... but the injury that should have been fatal to most people merely has her scowling. "NO NO NO! It exploded... all those priceless artifacts... all those records...!!!" It's enough to have her on the verge of exploding. She's shaking with confusion and nearly a tide of RAGE when Eye calls, shaking her briefly out of the mood. It has her turning about and leaving Gawain alone (....ooops?) in a heartbeat, as she's NO wish to alienate him with all the berating that's coming to mind.
Staren	Staren collects books! Until suddenly he's told that the palace is exploding, and he starts to run for it, and then apparently the palace ISN'T exploding. Well, okay then. He resumes rounding up books, then makes his way back to the computer room. "Alright. Umm, computer operation... Where's the interface for this thing? I can't just plug in like you can. ...Can I? Even if I could, I'd need drivers. If only I had Eureka. Okay, so... it thinks that the people from Lookshy are enemies? Where's the interface..." He's a bit scatterbrained as he tries to look through books and look over the computer at the same time. Not /quite/ in his element just yet.
Tomoe	Tomoe finds nothing of worth it seems well of worth to her she doe wonder all of the crazy things in here though and how bad so many of them could be. She does not have essence in the normal things she can do what she can to make sure anything else Miari might want gets picked up but she seems disappointed there's nothing she really use in here. A warning needs to go out to the Lookshy troops about the defence systems, and she'll try to send a signal off. Well then comes Gawins actions to blow the room leaves Tomoe having to move as fast as she can to get out. While she does she doesn't get away unharmed there's actually some digital warping in her back which anyone can see jagged red wire-frames bereft of any semblance of humanity or even flesh. It's going to be hard on her when she transforms back most likely. Still as Bloody Arrives in all the horror she can muster? Tomoe looks at Bloody Reverlations as she arrives and Gawain brings up deal as he has the item there's no real need to say anything but she does look at Bloody for a moment wondering what she'll say next.
Bloody Revelations	For Staren, most of the books he desires are very easy to find. 'Theories about Essence' encompasses a ridiculously huge volume of potential tomes, so he has to be a bit selective about beginner ones, but an index isn't hard to find (it's not even holographic!). The only thing that isn't present at all, is anything on Necromancy. More than likely, the art simply was niche, unknown, or non-existent back in the days of Denandsor, and thus wasn't recorded by anyone with any tasted, if at all. Rushing to the control core room, he finds All-Seeing Eye trying to converse with the computer. There obviously are audio-visual Charms (though not obvious sensor devices), since it recognizes Staren's entry as well, but it seems like its user conversation module was somewhere in the proximity of its command broadcast system, because it seems like it can only communicate by bringing up an Essence-powered projection window and spelling it out in Old Realm. "~MANTA-CLASS TRANSPORT PLATFORM DETECTED. ANTI-AIR DEFENSES NOT RESPONDING. MANSE PERIMETER DEFENSES PARTIALLY INOPERATIVE. 89% OF SERVITORS UNRESPONSIVE. RELINQUISHING MANUAL TACTICAL CONTROL.~" Well, it's not buying his story, or possibly not understanding it, but it makes things very easy for Staren! The AI willingly projects a tangible, 'hard-light' control panel for him to futz with, which he can puzzle out parts of by referencing common symbols with his book on crystal core computational basics. Fiddling with the dials and spheres he can confidently guess at, and not touching those he can't, he manages to put the automata on standby, though not the crystal sentries outside. Fortunately, the Autocthonian already destroyed a bunch of those, so the soldiers inbound will be landing in the middle of streets filled with wary, but non-hostile, zombie-like robot guards. The core is going to take some fixing to be more useful than that.
Bloody Revelations	Fortunately for Gawain, the smiling Abyssal, oozing evil from every inch of her Anima, is actually not lying about that part. In fact, she is pretty happy to give up the committed Essence currently tied up in tainting Whitewall ASAP. She still pretends to consider it, finger on her lip, humming and hawing, just to get on his nerves a little, but finally ends with "Oh, I suppose." She unhooks a miniature version of the obsidian spike she had planted in the heart of the Temple-Manse from her sash, and snaps it like a matchstick between her fingers, which sparks with embers of black lightning, and then crumbles to dust. "You essentially did everything I asked, so it wouldn't make any sense to spite you for it. After all, I'm confident I can continue to gain your cooperation without lying~ Stabbing you in the back now is just wasting highly skilled help." With that, she reaches out and presses a hidden switch in the side of the casing, briefly jolting it with a tiny bit of Essence, which pops the seal open. She takes hold of the orb by one of the rings, and makes a sound comparable to a low whistle of appreciation, turning it over in her hands several times with the intense expression of an intrigued hobbyist, very clearly marveling at its design, rather than just greedily hoarding a weapon fo mass destruction. "Wow~ These things really do live up to the hype, don't they? Complicated too. I can't wait to figure out how it works~ Really, some of those mad bastards had something special going on in their heads don't you think? I almost want to hang it up on my mantle, like it's too perfect to take apart!" Then, she starts spinning it on her finger like a ball, clearly unintimidated by the prospect of something made of so many magical materials being damaged by a short fall. "Thank you very much, knight of the sun~ You've helped quite a lot of people today, you know that? Rest easy~" She strides right past Tomoe on her way out the door. The ridiculous blip of Black Essence starts moving around the Manse beyond that. For a minute, it looks like she might be going off to start looting everything else, but it seems like she's just taking the scenic way out. A bit brave, considering it's roughly high noon.
All-Seeing Eye	Staren arrives just in time to fix the other problem. From the sound of things, Revelations has her trinket, the Lookshyan expedition can come in with minimal resistance, and he and his allies can poke around with the same! "Well, done, Staren," says Eye, taking a moment to watch the inventor work the hard-light interface. Now that there's no explosion to worry about, he can, as he predicted, take his leisure in scouring those data crystals. The information there should certainly prove useful to Glocrim--perhaps the most significant find since the settlement's establishment! Opening a different compartment on his messenger bag, the Exalt takes as many data crystals as he can without damaging them or puncturing the bag. Once he's satisfied with that, he exits the manse, summons Tranquil Egress, and departs on the hoverbike, flashing his Paladin identification should any Lookshy forces seek to halt his passage.
Staren	Staren keeps collecting books on subjects of interest. He quite possibly may fill his magic bag and have to start filling regular bags -- fortunately, his robot body can carry a lot. He does spare a thought for the Lookshy forces, though, sending a drone out to warn them about the active defenses on the palace and that they must be careful how they go in and out.