Scene #6157: What Was Awakened

Owner	Pose
Ryouma Sakamoto	La Cumbrecita, Argentina, South America. Following a brief briefing by the Mage's Association, volunteers (and meddlers who arrive of their own means) were given the coordinates for this out-of-the-way little village, an undercover site owned and run by the German branch of the Clock Tower. The site, set up several decades if not centuries ago, nobody's quite sure anymore, is essentially a monitoring area built atop the lair of something the people giving the briefing evidently fear. Your task is pretty simple, really. Go in. Ascertain it's still sleeping. Go out. If it wakes up, try not to die. If it's gone... find it. Bloody find it. The Association itself had rather obviously not wanted to send so much as a single man in there. Go figure. The village, for its own part, looks and feels pretty normal. There's something incredibly foreign somewhere underneath it, but it's hard to gauge how far down. The current generation watching over the site don't even recall where the entrance to the lair is. Somewhere in the mountains behind the village, by most accounts. It's a nice cool temperature out right now, the Sun still in the sky and the breeze being just right. This'd be a nice vacation spot, if you knew less about its location.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur's beef with the Mages' Association extends precisely as far as one incident concerning the origin of one object and not many other places; it's not like he's off their radar as a potential ally! And so when his Questorium gives him an alert for a mission that he can take from them despite the lower Prestige Index with that particular subfaction, he decides to take it and head to South America. He's been wandering around the village harassing locals and gotten much the same information everyone else got, of course. Chattering around the village is almost nostalgic! But sadly, it soon comes to an end. It's time to head up into the mountains. Arthur's certain that other meddlers or other adventurers will have a better lead than he does, but his own is simply to take the classic Dungeoneer's Method: Wander around the region looking for the rather more telltale signs of a temple, cave, facility, mine, lab, or other similar structure, hundreds of years old, while getting in fights with the local wildlife. Yes, in fact, he's got a minimap of the area with one of those big circular "find the thing in this area" icons on it, and he's just trying to run about the mountains or fly above them on his rocket-broom until that changes to a quest marker. He'll get it eventually!
Thomas Alva Edison	Edison did not like the Mage's association. Not at all. However, he had to at least pretend to play ball, especially as he was working politically in and out of the association. He did not forget or forgive their black listing on his proclimation about the reality of the world, their clinging to old traditions...and the murder of a old Magus because he was inconvient. The blame could be laid at his feet, but in the end he considered the fact there were no other recourse but it to be of their design. Edison, currently is walking with the group. It WAS a good day, that much is true. The events about the world nearly shattering were not lost on him, assuming it was true. It would be a good chance to get into contact with Mages that could be talked to, instead of Mages clinging to their old ideas...instead none of them showed up, and they litterally were making them do all the work. Edison is not happy. However, he hides this well. As they walk, his Robotic Secret Service fans out, attempting to cover more ground. They're not actually alive, so if anything eats them then they know where to look. If not, they know where NOT to look.
Yomi Isayama	The Mage's Association has recently come to the attention of the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division of late, mostly because of wanting to know more about Servants and how they work... and more importantly, how to properly check them or even figure them out. And so Yomi is here today on behalf of the Agency as a liaison. While she's not too happy about the organizational politics of everything, she's at least quite willing to lend a hand, even if she stands out in South America as a Japanese teenager in a schoolgirl uniform. Not sure how well her supernatural vision will be able to detect whatever is going on here, she still keeps her eyes and ears open, hand occasionally reaching to adjust her sword's carrying case on her shoulder.
Gilgamesh	The King of Heroes is here. Mostly out of his own curiosity more than any obligation or interest in the Mage's Association's wellbeing. To be perfectly honest, Gilgamesh is of the opinion that the Association is a group of worthless creatures who fail to recognize what they're trying to grasp, and thus are thoroughly unsuited to grasp it. Even by the standards of ordinary human beings, Gilgamesh considers the Association a pathetic parasite, and when he arrives at the site and sees that literally no one from the Association is present despite his intel from his mage retainer, his opinion of them drops even lower. He draws a golden tablet from the Gate and scribbles something on it with a long golden rod, then deposits it back into the Gate. Anyone who could read cuneform would see that it reads NOTE TO SELF: EXTERMINATE MAGE'S ASSOCIATION. This would probably make him surprisingly popular. That said, it did lead him to this surprisingly pleasant vacation site. The King of Heroes' aura of radiant perfection settles around him as he walks, largely wearing the fashion of the locals more out of a fondness for the old style than any desire to blend in. It's not like he can blend in when he's a perfect god-man anyway, when every step is supernally beautiful and graceful, when every motion is supernally efficient and perfect. When Edison arrives, Gilgamesh falls in next to him, content to allow the King of Inventors to go ahead largely because he has nothing to prove. Yomi receives an approving, and somewhat leering, glance. "At least this won't be a complete waste of time," the King observes to Edison as they walk.
Doctor Strange	A burning eye appears in the air of the tiny village. It's not huge, but it is seemingly made of burning sparks or orange neon--and it's not hidden behind any nooks or crannies, either. Just... hovering in the air. It remains there for a few seconds, and then a hole is burned into reality, a ring of showering orange sparks. It creates a circular window to another part of the Multiverse, a snow-covered expanse of gently sloping hills, with the faint outlines of houses on the horizon. And, more pressingly, a man in a subdued blue tunic with a pleated, high-collared cloak resting upon his shoulders. When he steps through it, the portal closes behind him. Strange doesn't care for the Association at all. Most iterations of them are cold, callous, entirely unconcered with the safety of anyone but themselves. But... their interests and his do sometimes coincide. They want things like this brushed under the rug because they don't want the attention. He wants the same thing, because of the risk to innocent lives--and the chance that it might find its way to his Earth, specifically. Better safe than sorry. If it's stil asleep, no problem. Strange flies up to the mountain, then begins scrying, searching the area from a top-down view for anything that looks like it might contain a sleeping public safety risk. Or tracks. Knock on wood.
Maya	Maya is here to check out things for the Mage Association if something has those mages spooked? One should pay attention. So here she was clad in a cloak with a hood and a mask, normally desert gear, and maybe not the best choice in South America? It does cover her off-world gear and clothing until she gets to the town, when she gets there she will pull her mask off and hood down as she gets moving. "So this is the place huh? A whole mountain to search." She notes to herself as she will hit the street and start asking questions of the locals about strange goings on, people vanishing, livestock having bad things happen to it, the normal sort of stuff which really does bring back memories of her life before the unification during the Heretic war. Maya is aware of Gil and Thomas being here and keeps in touch with them on the Paladin's comms. To anything that can sense magic Maya would show up like the noonday sun.
Cu Chulainn	There's two Association representatives themselves present, even if they don't count as 'the representatives', both of whom have talked to the villagers, gotten the information, and then are heading towards the mountain, trying to find entrances. They're both dressed in hiking clothes - Cu Chulainn, the blue-haired wild Lancer, and his master, Felt Haddask, the purplish-black haired serious-faced man. Cu Chulainn has yet to draw his spear, though Felt has his wire ready. Felt's also avoiding talking to Edison unless addressed, due to their current 'problems'. They're mainly progressing towards the cave, Lancer using his superior eyesight and sense of hearing to try and locate the entrance through scanning, moving fast to take point. Felt responds to Gilgamesh along the way. "To call these many Elites...it must be a serious job. I don't have any intel. Must be above my paygrade." Felt seems a little unhappy with that. Maybe he's more ambitious than he comes off as?
Lezard Valeth	Lezard was not sent here by the Mage's Association. To be fair, he'd probably be one of their more upstanding members, but the Sorceror of Midgard is loath to submit himself to any kind of hierarchy that wouldn't serve his needs at least as much as he would serve theirs. This of course means that the Sorceror has been monitoring the world on his own for some time since he was drawn out of his research by a certain event, his attention drawn even further by the arrival of a new and interesting threat. So it is that when the others arrive, he is sitting on top of one of the buildings, casually drinking from a mug with one hand while the other gestures over the book in his lap. The magically inclined can probably tell he's working on some scrying work to try to locate the lair in the area. He doesn't bother stirring or looking up at all but for two things: The arrival of the Kings of Heroes and Invention, and the arrival of the Sorceror Supreme. He looks up, humming for a moment, but then looks back down, getting back to work narrowing things down in the area on his own terms. Papers begin floating up around Lezard from his 'book', words scribbling themselves on them before he gestures about, dismissing and erasing things while muttering to himself. "No, No, that wouldn't work..."
Ryouma Sakamoto	A bird's eye view of the mountain reveals vast snowy peaks, and not a single wild animal in a ten miles radius. Not one bird overheard - not one insect in the soil, not a single chirp or creak to be heard. The silence on the mountains is staggering, but it isn't just the lack of things. The soil absorbs sound, dulling footsteps and leaving very little echo to anything done. Even Edison's robotic men produce far less noise here than they might normally, blatantly scouring the peaks for anything unusual. Doctor Strange's scrying spell, even, seems to be somewhat dampened by the soil. It's... something is off. The further into the mountains they head, it stops feeling like 'Earth'. Gaia's grasp on reality seems weaker here. Elsewhere. They're elsewhere, but also clearly not - there's no displacement magic at play, no Reality Marble deployed, the mountains are still there, the village behind, and the air is still air. But this isn't Earth. This tiny part of the world is outside Gaia's domain. It is Cu Chulainn and Edison who have the easiest time telling. Their existences are no longer being challenged by the rules of the world. If they remained here they could exist indefinitely without ever having to worry about mana, assuming they avoided spending it. A cave, finally. Half-collapsed. It'll need some work for people to get in and explore safely. To clear the path, to keep it from collapsing further, to light the way in. No telling how deep it goes, but it's the only clue so far.
Gilgamesh	"How refreshing!" The King of Heroes stretches as he enters the Zone Of No Gaia. This is a wonderful feeling. He had been sluggish, exhausted, conserving prana after exhausting and injuring himself against Enkidu. Now? Now he has no need to conserve prana to wield the Gate of Babylon. With a snap of his fingers, the King of Heroes pulls forth a gleaming golden...book? Tablet? It's hard to tell what it is exactly. Light pours out of it, forming into hovering, almost holographic, cuneform. The King of Heroes runs his finger along it thoughtfully as they walk. "Normally I don't get to show off in this manner. It's such a hassle to bother with the rules of the World, so I simply don't. But!" "This is such an excellent opportuity!" Around him, more ripples appear in the air. What look like magic wands and staves stick forth around him. One of them, he pulls out by the hilt, and it reveals itself as a massive, elegant gold axe with a silver hilt, which he slings over his shoulder. The other wands and staves simply hover around him like satellites. "It's not merely blades that my treasury has the finest of!" The King boasts as they walk into the land that time forgot. He holds up his book and murmurs something in ancient Babylonian, then swings his hand dramatically forward. The staves pour out power. From Gilgamesh's hand leaps a single bolt of energy, caught amidst the spiral of light. It goes screaming for the rocks that bar the way. The King seems most pleased with himself. "Even at this lowly discipline, my talent is limitless! Fuhuhahahahaha!" Yeah he's literally spitting in the Association's eye right now.
Thomas Alva Edison	Edison can feel...something. He can't quantify it, but the pressure of the world around him is lifted off of his shoulders. Taking a deeper breath, he starts recalling his men back to him. Looking out over the land without the restriction of the world, the inventor watches the King of Hero's start to show off. Not one to be out done...especially by sorceress tricks, Edison flexes his own power on the world. The area immediately surrounding him changes, as benches and work tables appears. As he works, his soldiers, people who ask for one, are provided AUTO-SHOVELS. DC powered, of course, that easily move earth without much effort of the user themselves. However, a few moments later, A backo rumbles to life, as the DC powered monstrosity appears, to start shoveling large amounts of dirt out of the way. Edison, riding in it's driver's seat. It is obnoxiously loud, because all heavy equipment like this is obnoxiously loud.
Doctor Strange	Strange frowns. The silence is oppressive the further his mystic eye gets to the mountain. Is Gaia's grip on this place lessened? Why? Is someone perhaps forcing her fingers open? This would be the general area the... thing in question was said to have been in. Sure enough, the caved-in entrance is found, and promptly blown open by Gilgamesh. Strange rolls his eyes, cuts the scrying spell, and lands upon the ground near the cave entrance. He begins weaving some manner of sorcery, creating an elaborate mandala of glowing orange energy. The glyph is turned on its side, and dissipated, forming a wisp of brightly glowing white flame in the doctor's hand. When the rubble clears from Gilgamesh's attack, Strange enters. Little embers spread from the flame in his hand, splitting off and hovering up to the ceiling of he cavern to light the way slightly ahead of Edison. "SO I GUESS WE'RE JUST GONNA WAKE IT UP AND KILL iT, HUH?" He has to shout to be heard over the machine.
Cu Chulainn	Felt is in an even worse mood after radio conversations. Cu Chulainn's fine, because he actually has no true love for the Association, they're just his employer and his pal's all for them, so. When they step forward and feel a shift of energy, Cu Chulainn stretches his arms out, summoning Gae Bolg, his spear, into his hand. Normally he'd accept a shovel since that actually does the job, but his Master's pissed at Edison, so he doesn't want to get yelled at when they get home. As such, if the collapse is still there after Gilgamesh's magical showing (which has Felt super envious, he wishes he was Gilgamesh), Cu Chulainn moves to use his spear as leverage to start lifting rocks out of the way. If they get it open, he'll volunteer to be the first one in - he's fast, after all.
Yomi Isayama	When she feels a chill go up her spine, Yomi glances back and eyes Gilgamesh briefly, quirking a brow. Don't think she hasn't noticed that glance. She's also noticed Strange's arrival, thanks to the odd shifting of energy in the area. "Well.. good to put faces to all the voices I've heard the last few weeks..." She glances around slowly, lips pressing together into a thin line. "There really should be more animals around here. It's unnerving." It takes a while for her to notice the sound, but when she does, she taps her foot in place a few times. "...huh. Are things seeming strange to anyone e--" Yomi pauses as she glances back and sees all that summoning. "...I suppose so. Well. I guess I won't need to call Ranguren to help clear the rubble, then." And then there's all this heavy equipment as well! With Strange lighting the way, she unzips the carrying case for her sword and walks into the opened cave, holding the sheathed blade in one hand with the other ready to draw it at a moment's notice. "We don't even know what 'it' is that we're dealing with down there. Maybe it's a really heavy sleeper?"
Lezard Valeth	The difference is subtle, but profound. It's something Lezard can sense with a little bit of work. The possibilities rapidly narrow as he samples various directions and takes specific readings. It might in fact basically be a neon sign to those who know how to look for it. "Ohhhh. That's interesting..." He giggles lightly as he considers what he's discovered. "This is /very/ interesting indeed." He stands, the mug and the book levitating around him as he spreads his hands and casts teleportation magics.... And another circle appears on a suitably dramatic rock overlooking the cave entrance. "Well well. King of Heroes, leading an expedition? I trust you are well. Sorceror Supreme, good to see you again. It looks like we are all here to investigate the same thing." Perhaps notably, he isn't even addressing anyone else. There is a pause as he looks over ot the cave entrance and frowns for a moment. "Hmm." He says, adjusting his glasses, but if there's something he sees that is an issue with the matter of the cave entrance, he's not saying anything.
Maya	Maya gives up in town at this point and will haul tail to catch up the two Servant and other allies such as Doctor Strange, as she gets closer the pressure she feels when she's on this world just lets up, she lets out a sharp breath and relaxes slightly at this, she'll then narrow her eyes. "This is not right, not for here." the world's hold seemed weakened here almost that puts her on alert. It doesn't take her long to get to the cave, and since they are away from things as it were she can actually use her magic. She'll slide a card out of a pouch form somewhere in her folks and start to focus her powers. Blue fire leeches into the card and out of her body and she'll focus the earth chard on the rocks blocking the cave, she'll just fling them away into the jungle away from anyone she's aware of being there she'll also give Gil a bit of a nod. "Humm could be something big here, I don't feel this word being annoyed at me not playing by its rules." She watches Thomas efforts as well and will do what she can to aid him, Maya finds the sound of heavy machinery comforting it's like home to her, given the nature of the forges of her home city-state. "ITS HOW IT TENDS TO GO IN THE MULTIVERSE! DOCTOR STRANGE AS MUCH AS I HATE TO SAY IT!"
Arthur Lowell	Arthur eventually heads down once someone gets a good angle on the location. He settles down among the snow, dismounting with a stylish flip and then snapping to swap his God Hood with something more appropriate to the cold, with nice furs and such. He's regarding the entryway when Gilgamesh decides to go at it, doing his best to annihilate the structure as much as possible. He watches with some wide eyes. "Damn, dog, what kinda FETCH MODUS you got?" He says. Edison's fancy autoshovel is regarded with the kind of artificer's eye that is trying to figure out which two items were combined in a magical crafting interface to make it. Arthur himself steps up to handle more. Collapses are dangerous! Especially with such destructive means of tearing apart the obstacles. So Arthur approaches this an entirely different way. What's the easiest way to prevent a collapse? Clear things carefully? Create supports? Why not just remove the concept of collapsing at its root: Gravity. Arthur plants his heavy metal broom into the ground, and pulses gravity magic deep through the structure. While those walking will walk just as easily, the terrain itself will be subject to a comprehensive absence of gravity! After all, nothing can fall if falling isn't a compatible concept in the first place. Arthur wanders nearer Doctor Strange and the others speaking to him like Yomi and Maya. "S'ALL GOOD HOMEBOY." He's speaking like he normally speaks, but it's still clear. "Remember, we're talking a SLUMBERING MAGIC BEING pro'lly, right? That shit gotta be woken with HELLA MAGIC, usually. Back when I was dealin' with DENIZENS, you had to go through CRAZY SHIT just to get 'em WOKEN UP. We'll be FINE, PROBABLY." He kicks some rocks off the ground just to watch them drift weightlessly.
Gilgamesh	Kings do not dig. As such, when everyone else decides to take advantage of the hard work Gilgamesh already did, he simply snaps his fingers and produces a throne. He snaps his fingers again, and the throne reclines, popping up a legrest. There's the sound of something vibrating underneath him as a pair of silver sunglasses fall onto his face, and he holds up the golden spell tablet like a sunning mirror. Yes, he's sunning himself while the rest of you work. Once the work's actually been done, the King swivels back up and joins the rest of the party, telling Arthur, "The Gate of Babylon contains all the treasures of the world worth owning, all the wisdom gathered by the wishes of mankind. Marvel at it! It's only right to gaze at the most splendid of all treasuries with awe in your eyes!" "And what do you have? What sort of treasures do you hold? Tell me."
Ryouma Sakamoto	Lightning cracks and shatters stone. Edison's machines start digging through the rubble. Flames lights the cavern. A legendary spear is used like a lever. Blue flames clear the dug path. And Arthur lessens gravity. Arthur feels something off. This is completely natural for the landscape. The land doesn't just accept Arthur's little tweaks, it accepts it like it's how it's meant to be here. With these efforts, the way forward is clear and safe. The cave goes down... and down... and down. For ten, twenty minutes. Finally, the first signs of something unusual start coming up. Crystals. Beautiful, gleaming crystals, encroaching on the walls like a parasite. And the futher in they go, the more of them there are. The crystals aren't magical. They're also blatantly not made of Earthly materials. There is nothing in Gilgamesh's vault even remotely like these crystals. They come in countless hues, some multicolored, shifting from purples to greens, blues, yellows and oranges, their exact color changing depending on the angle they're looked at from.
Gilgamesh	Gilgamesh is Gilgamesh. He flashes a perfect grin at Yomi as he stands and sticks his hand in a pocket. He's gorgeous. Stupid, unbelievably, unrealistically gorgeous. Factory-made pretty. Without a physical flaw. It's probably a little bit weird. He pats Edison on the shoulder as he passes by. The throne has vanished. The glasses, the staves and wands, the book, and the axe-staff have not. Gilgamesh enters the cave a bit behind everyone else, since he had to stand up and all. The crystals immediately prompt his instincts. This is something Valuable and Beautiful that Does Not Exist In His Treasury. This is something new. Something wonderful. Something... There's a light in his eyes. Gilgamesh murmurs something about them not existing on Earth. He's certain. This is something different. Immediately, he's...looking around. His eyes are red as they scan the place. He's not looking for the source of the magic. He's looking for the most perfect cut of the crystal, with the most perfect light, and the most perfect design, and the most perfect shape. The one that would be the most valuable.
Cu Chulainn	As they step inside, Felt is a little creeped out by this, and it shows. Cu is also slightly creeped out, but he's acting chill, and as they proceed, maintains the lead. When they get to the odd crystals, well...that's certainly something to investigate. "Any idea what these are? Never seen anything like 'em." Cu Chulainn asks. He notices Gilgamesh looking them over, so after the king makes his pick, and if he doesn't take the whole lot of them, Cu's going to reach to check out the smallest crystal he can find, something that might be good for jewelry. Obviously he can bring it back to the Association, right? Nah, he just thinks it's really pretty, and if Gilgamesh doesn't suddenly explode from touching them, he probably won't either.
Yomi Isayama	When Gilgamesh flashes that grin at her, Yomi just rolls her eyes and shakes her head, an amused smirk coming to her lips. She can acknowledge pretty, at least, even if he doesn't catch her attention the way he seems to want to. As the strange crystals come into view, Yomi takes a few steps toward some of them. "I wonder if your Mage Association knew about these." Not yet touching them, she reaches out a hand to the air nearby, just... feeling. Trying to sense if there's any life or spirit energy in them or, alternately, any undeath in them. "Something must have caused these to grow here, right?" If her initial sensing tells her they're harmless, she even reaches to touch one of the crystals. "I'm trying to tell if there's anything more to these than just pretty lights. Not that I'm an expert on crystals, but..."
Thomas Alva Edison	Edison's head snaps up...the air of the group changed suddenly. It went from a light day, to...a mystery. There was something looming, and the feeling did not sit well with him. Shutting the machine down, he jumped from the side to follow the King of Hero's down. As the Group moves, Edison takes a moment to gather Crystals of every color, making sure to get a spread of them, a sample of each to make sure they can properly be analysed. He also takes samples of pure crystals, flawed crystals, and unpure ones. Attempting to gain as many samples as he can. While others search, he brings them back upstairs to the territory he created. To the lab he had produced to make his tools and such. The table turns into a chemestry set, as he proceeds to do basic analysis on the crystals to find out more about their composition. While his expertise is mechanical engineering, the basics of chemistry are there as these things are built on each other's backs. Edison's guards split up, half go with those who go into the cave, the other stick close to him.
Maya	The way has been cleared, the strange crystals sighted and Maya will take a moment to look them over but she'll leave the study to Thomas he got a lot more experience with this than she does. The talk of mud baths only brings up memories of tramping through swamps for her, then again there are just some earth things the junker just does not /get/. She does also see Gil seems pretty hype about the crystals. Maya's going to try to find the source of the magic herself along with anyone else who is seeking it. "Never seen crystals like this before, at least on this world." The talk from Strange and Lezard is also noted the mystery deepens here, quite a bit.
Doctor Strange	Strange tosses the ball of fire into the air, where it simply vanishes. He sits in the lotus position, slowly hovering in the air, and closes his eyes. With one exhale, his astral form leaves his body, visible to the Elites present. The translucent Strange opens the Eye of Agamotto, bringing up all sorts of questions about the logistics of his magic. Another translucent Strange appears beside him. The two of them split up. One of them flies further into the crystal formation, seeking to test if they interfere with his intangible form. The other remains beside Strange's unconscious corporeal form, because Lezard Valeth is here and has already proven himself to be a sketchy fuck. If the one venturing forth is able to fly through the crystals, he'll just return to his body and open a portal to the nearest open space, to cut back on digging time for his allies. And Lezard.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur is pretty quick on the draw when it comes to checking over not-of-Earth things. Though he's loathe to ever reveal his /secret nature/ as a total fucking nerd, Arthur has most of the expertise of the average astrophysicist and quantum physicist, which is why he focuses, briefly, on the crystal, the OTHERWORLDLY crystal. Is it a spacey thing? Arthur stops just briefly to run his magical interactions through it, examining its structure at deep levels with the full knowledge of dimensional and celestial phenomena. He's trying to see if this is from /space/, if it's from /another dimension/, or if it's something else. More importantly, if whatever's responsible for these crystals is of his Aspect's purview of the heavens and dimensions, he wants to check to see if the source of the phenomenon can be traced, its activity levels judged, or its location discerned through some presence or absence of active stuff. As he does, he tries to play off the magical analysis done concurrently with Yomi as just sort of a quick casual examination. "Eh, BUSINESS like THAT sounds like NERD SHIT FOR REAL. The MAGE'S ASSOCIATION is a bunch'a NERDS, right? Gotta have STUDIED this shit." Once things are finished here, he'll quickly follow along deeper into things. Gotta keep up!
Lezard Valeth	Lezard walks in with the others, having not been run off. This is a new and pleasant feeling for the Sorceror of Midgard, one that helps show the nature of the changes in the general Multiverse since he secluded himself. It reels of... opportunity. The crystals prove to be something very.... interesting. Lezard's eyes widen the moment he sees them. A hand reaches out towards them... But he pauses, and steps back. He raises a hand and makes a quick gripping motion... And nothing happens. He scowls, and raises a hand. "Fire Storm!" He cries out. The ground lights up around the thing... And there is a big explosion. The ground shatters under the crystal. The crystal does not. It falls over, as gleaming and geometric as it was a moment ago. Lezard's frown deepens. "This behavior is unnatural even by my standards." He mutters, and lifts the crystal, making sure to never directly contact it as he brings it ovet to the lab. A section of it transforms into a complex alchemical forge system. and Lezard places it down upon the central plate for examination. He begins bringing out small tools and testing the thing, looking at it intently under various lenses. Next to him, the book flutters, pages flying back and forth at high speed as Lezard consults the book extensively. His expression becomes one of distaste and fascination. "I cannot identify the nature of this crystal. It's completely outside the scope of my knowledge. It seems nearly indestructable, the lattice unable to be sheared even with focused effort. I would need to take this back to my laboratories in order to do anything significant with this." He says this, pondering to himself and creating teleportation rings around the crystal. Yeah, he's keeping some of this for himself.
Ryouma Sakamoto	The crystals possess no life, nor death or undeath. They are impossibly hard. The kind of hard that would require the combined firepower of everyone present to noticeably damage. This makes cutting them or taking samples exceptionally difficult through physical means, but it's possible to just rip them out of the rock/ground and do it that way. As for their exact composition... it really isn't anything like any other material on Earth. It's incredibly hard to gauge anything about it when your basis is materials that respect the rules of Earth. Trying to figure these out is like trying to figure out how carbon lifeforms work when all you know is silicon lifeforms. It's weird, and it'll take more time than is available right this moment. What's certain is that these would be exceptionally hard to work with outside lab conditions. The sheer amount of heat that must be required to even hope to treat this crystal like an ore would spell certain death for everyone in the cave. The brute force to shatter them is similarily too high to be practical. Nevermind cutting them. Doctor Strange... cannot pass through the walls. Or rather, he can pass through the normal soil, but underneath he finds more of those crystals, and they block his path. He might be starting to get the feeling that the crystals are armor. Arthur can at least determine the crystals are from... probably space. They're alien, for sure. Otherworldly is... relatively. If you consider Earth a world, then they absolutely are. They carry the signature of another world, with its own rules and its own physics. But the crystals did not fall out of the sky. They grew here. What made them probably did fall out of the sky, though. On the bright side, there's nothing stopping people from continuing their descent the normal way. And it isn't much further. Deep inside the cave is a massive chamber, broken apart into a valley. It isn't underground anymore, and yet it definitely is. There are trees of glimmering crystal, cracks along the ground that spread like a massive spider's web. Everything here is made of that strange crystal, and in such a quantity, it appears even more beautiful than before. And yet, terrifying. Something about it rattles at the back of the mind, like unease or unexplained fear. It's easy enough to overcome, but it's got that initial punch upon first seeing the valley. The Crystal Valley, if you will. Near the center is a massive pit, surrounded by broken spheres of that strange crystal. Two such spheres are still intact, and might attract Gilgamesh's attention. They're larger than he is.
Gilgamesh	Spheres being larger than Gilgamesh is are irrelevant. He sees the glittering, glistening, beautiful glory, and he just slides down the pit, stopping next to the two crystal spheres. With a delighted grin he waves his hand and opens the Gate of Babylon underneath them, claiming one of them for his own. There's a ripple in the world that simply...slurps the finer of the two downwards. Now that that's over, Gilgamesh can actually be useful again. He beams. A phone appears over his shoulder and just starts snapping pictures of the place as he takes it in. "Now, this is a fine place for a vacation palace."
Doctor Strange	Lezard may not have been run off--but the Sorcerer Supreme has a long memory. While he experiments with the crystal, the ghostly Strange keeping watch over the corporeal one furrows his brow. With arms crossed, he offers his own opinion. "Anything significant," repeats the sorcerer. It's not intoned like a question, but the intent is clearly interrogative all the same. That's when the other Strange returns. "I can't get through," he explains. It seems like he's explaining it to his temporal counterpart just as much as to the others. He then vanishes in a flash of light. The remaining Astral Strange briefly disappears in much the same fashion, traveling back in time to assist his past self. When he reappears, he enters his corporeal form, leaving the Astral Plane. Strange's consciousness returns, and his feet gently touch down upon the ground. Without a way to take a shortcut, and with not much left to go, he simply follows the others. The Sorcerer Supreme is familiar with the fear that gnaws at him. He felt the same thing coming face to face with the Dread Dormammu. A sense of something wholly unfamiliar, strange. Something alien, in the truest sense of the word. This time, he is prepared for it. The Eye of Agamotto once more opens again, and Strange's focus is on the remaining intact orb. So many of these are broken--like eggs. A band of solidified time forms upon his wrist. Aiming that hand at the unbroken orb, he speeds up the passage of time. The moment it appears as though he's correct, he immediately reverses it. To wit: if it looks like something will hatch, he turns back time.
Thomas Alva Edison	Thomas would need more time to analyse, so he doesn't even get far enough to get to go back, because his collection process is taking so long. Eventually, walking behind the group until they came to...well... The center. Something does not sit right with Edison. This place...these crystals. The atmosphere... "What in the hell..?" He moves towards one of the other orbs, trying to observe it the best that he can. What is it? More alien material..? Did this come from the multiverse...or...?
Maya	Maya presses onwards going deeper as she does not have the means to study the strange crystals here, she's left it to those far more suited to study them and she will find the valley there is s sense of wonder, it's so very beautiful the strange crystal landscape, but then there's a tinge of fear enough to hit her in the gut of her wonder and make her eyes dart about. She has the idea to take images of this place but not for the full-on pleasure she pulls a Paladins issued smartphone out and brings up the camera taking several images before putting it back into the folds of her cloak. Doctor Strange gives warning he's about to do something, she takes heed and will move to give him cover should he need it.
Yomi Isayama	"No life energy... no anything. They're not alive or spirits." Yomi doesn't seem too interested in taking any for herself, though they are pretty... There's just something unsettling about them. Besides, she gets the feeling that gifting some strange unknown glowy thing to someone she cares about might be a bad idea. As she walks down into the large chamber, she calls back toward the others. "Anything else stand out about this place?" Her hand slowly closes over the hilt of her sword, and, after a moment of hesitation, she draws the katana from its sheath. Yomi taps the blade a few times against some of the exposed crystals in the ground, but it's the large spheres that draw her attention. Weird, she's used to. There's always more weird. But just because she's used to it doesn't make it any less unsettling. "What you're doing to that one... should we be ready for a fight?" Yomi glances sidelong at Strange, and any with energy senses should be able to feel the buildup of chi flowing through her arms and focusing around the sword.
Cu Chulainn	As they approach further, Felt hasn't yet noticed that Cu ripped a crystal out of the wall. When he eventually does, he'll probably be really upset, but for now, they move forward. When Doctor Strange moves to accelerate the crystal, doing something to it, Cu Chulainn stands with his spear at his side, while Felt just mutters. "Holy shit." as he sees the rest of the cavern. It's beautiful and...bizarre. Nothing that should be on Earth. Also, if the crystal is indeed an egg, Cu /immediately/ pitches his own as far away as possible.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur picks over the scene of what could be some sort of disaster like he was picking over a corpse. How fresh /is/ any of this? The absence of life deprives him of any of the relevant signs of something being hundreds of years ancient, and while his magic may interact quite well with subatomic phenomena, it's pretty hard to carbon date when you're not a Time-aspected Seer or Mage, so he leaves Time shenanigans to Doctor Strange. "You a MAGE of TIME, homie? NICE CLASSPECT, I use to hang with a KNIGHT of TIME. COOL DUDE. Had ALIEN HORNS, tried to STAB ME before I BEFRIENDED him." Cool story, bro. He checks out the pit. Does it happen to lead anywhere? Is this their final destination? Planting two hands on the ground, he summons up... A big, weird platform-looking thing, with a giant swingy robotic metal arm, a big fancy appliance about two fridges wide that pushes out weird green cylinders when you turn a crank, and some kind of elaborate punch-card computer. "YO," He calls out, grabbing up some of the broken crystal material. "Anyone got any, like, RADARS, or SENSORS, or some shit on-hand? EDDY LION? Maybe RED SPEAR AND BLUE over there?" That must be Thomas Edison and Cu Chulainn, but he's looking for anyone who has any kind of sensor item. He has a feeling they've missed the boat on something here, and may need to find it; he's already exploring a way to locate it, if such a thing might be possible, judging by how he's taken some chunks of shattered orb into one of his CAPTCHALOGUE CARDS and is trying to do some kind of punchcard science with it.
Cu Chulainn	"I'm a pretty good hunter, but I don't have any devices or anything. Can sense magic, but there's not a trace of it in this cave." Cu Chulainn responds to Arthur, twirling his spear in his hand.
Lezard Valeth	Lezard continues to not shank Strange. Not that the potential isn't there, because expecting a wizard to not be a wizard is much like expecting a snake to not be a snake. Once Lezard and EDI SON get their mutually unhelpful conclusions and he's done stashing his crystal via teleport, Lezard moves along and takes Strange's helpful TELEPORTATION PORTAL to the central area. That's very swell of him. The sight of the alien crystal web causes Lezard to immediately rub his chin. "Interesting..." He hums, considering, perhaps, SIMILAR constructions that he might have observed before. The work with the potential egg is also noted, and... He pauses, blinking. "Ahhhh..." He hums. "If those are what I believe those are..." He looks around. "Where is the /progenitor/"?
Ryouma Sakamoto	Gilgamesh acquires a shining orb of crystal. Doctor Strange decides to egg-check the other one. As green magic washes over the crystal, it starts cracking. It breaks apart as a monstrous, crystaline spider surges out - only to rewind back into the egg a moment later. As Arthur, meanwhile, looks down into the pit, he sees that it's been dug down. Very, very deep down. By something that's at least fourty meters tall. Past a point, it curves and heads off North-East ish. There's water in the pit. Something flooded it. It won't be long before Edison, Strange, Lezard or Arthur figure out a way to tell that whatever was here dug a hole down, and headed... probably into the ocean. Several days ago now. Assuming it keeps going in a straight line, it's tracing a direct path to Denmark of all places. The remaining egg rumbles. Strange may have rewound it, but he disturbed it. Luckily, it might not be strong enough to break out of its own egg yet, but it's clearly awake now, and the crystal is starting to chip, slowly.
Thomas Alva Edison	Edison stops messing with the egg after Strange had stopped messing with his...and by stop messing with, it broke out and then he reput it back in the egg. His attention was taken to the hole...one that stretches so far down that there is water. With their proximidy...that would mean either it hit a ground water source...or it was coming in from the ocean. As it is moving in and out, he drops down there to confirm. DC powered flight assisting him with rising and falling. The water was indeed salt, and it was a burrowed cave... He measures the exact direction, and rises. To one of his men, he speaks. "Get me a map, a world map, and a pen, a ruler, and a compass...both kinds."
Maya	Maya watches as Doctor Strange works and the thing is indeed an egg, there's a look of horror on Maya's face as she sees a giant freaking alien spider thing. It's a spider thing it seems to be worse than the spiders back home. She goes for her rifle, thankfully Doctor Strange is able to put it back in the box. She looks to the Wizard for a moment. "So that would be something I don't think we want to hatch." She looks at Edison as he goes to work, she'll head over to him reach into a pouch and pass the Presiking a pen. "Here."
Doctor Strange	"Oh, you're--" Strange nods in understanding of Arthur. "Sburb, right? That explains the verbal tic. No," he says, shaking his head. It takes him a moment to pore through his knowledge of the game, squinting slightly. Smacking his lips, he shrugs his shoulders. "I mean I'm a sorcerer, sure, but if you wanna fixate on the Time thing, more of an... more of an... Heir. Of Time. I qualify for a lot of things on a lot of worlds. There's this crazy French lady that thinks I'm a Heroic Spirit... a Caster. It's ah... it's a lot." He frowns slightly, nodding his head in a 'you know what I'm saying' kind of way. Of course, his attention snaps back to the egg from the moment it cracks open. "Yyyyep," he says. To the spider. "Bye." His magic forces it back into the egg, but as a being not of this world, it's likely aware of the passage of time in a different fashion than the average Earth-like lifeform would be. "Ho-kay, guys, these little orbs are eggs," says the sorcerer to the group. "And that little tunnel, and those little /broken/ orbs aren't painting a pretty picture. So." One hand folds behind his back, the other extended outwards. A burning ring of sparks forms over the slowly chipping egg. When the portal completes, the room is suddenly quite brightly illuminated. Viscous, bright red molten rock pours from out of the portal, enveloping the egg in a blazing inferno. Strange keeps the portal open for a few seconds, as if he's waiting for something to cook. Before the lava can reach them, he closes the portal. As it steams and smolders over the egg, Strange is already at work on another spell. With both hands weaving strands of orange energy, he creates a square upon one hand and a circle on the other. Pressing both together to form a mystic sign, the sorcerer winds both arms back for a double-palm thrust. A blast of freezing cold billows from his hands, cooling the molten rock to harden it over the egg.
Ryouma Sakamoto	Doctor Strange burries the egg in lava. It... doesn't melt, or for that matter appear especially damaged. When the hot lava cools and forms a shell around the egg, the rumbling stops. If nothing else, that put the thing back to sleep. Apparently a common trait of the progenitor and its spawns.
Lezard Valeth	Lezard watches everyone else begin to ask the same question to themselves as soon as they all notice the massive tunnel dug down into the ocean. He doesn't bother helping Edison with the trivial task of determining the most likely destination precisely because it /is/ trivial. Edison is far to intelligent to not figure it out himself. What DOES get his notice is what happens to the egg, and how Strange seems to pacify or kill the creature within. Lezard looks on in approval, nodding to the Sorceror Supreme. "Thorough." He comments to the pseudo-enemy wizard. Quietly, he looks about the place and hums to himself, considering the crystalline area. It will bear further study. Soon.
Arthur Lowell	"Yeah, homie, I got that SICK FLOW." Arthur confirms his Sburban nature to Doctor Strange. "You seem like the kinda guy gets OVERQUALIFIED for a lotta shit, yo. Yeah, IT'S A LOT." There's a sort of nod of solemn understanding, before Arthur gets back to being a swaggering asshole. "Nobody's got that GOOD SHIT for me to get ALCHEMICAL on? Ah well. YO!" He examines what Edison is doing. "You got that shit FIGURED? We got a BEARING or a VECTOR or whatever you get?" He keeps up with radio chatter while he watches the egg sink into the lava. "Doubtin' those OTHER DUDES gonna be as easy to hit the SNOOZE BUTTON on. Any chance one'a you can talk to those MAGE'S ASSOCIATION dudes and find out where the WEIRD CRYSTAL ALIENS come from? 'Cause if they can get me COORDINATES or something, might be the right idea to hit up that SPACE WARP and see if we can't get our BANISH ON, you know what I'm sayin'?" He wants to figure out if he can make a portal to shove them back into when it comes time to fight these things. He's concerned about the /sheer number/, one assumes.