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Lezard Valeth     Castrum Occidens has gone dark.

    The Eorzean Alliance is completely mystified as to this fact. Castrums don't normally just spontaneously just end up ceasing activity for no reason. Usually, it involves heavy artillery and a focused push by a small army headed by somewhere between eight and twenty-four hero types. Alerts have gone out to the Scions, as well as the Paladins, Watch, and Concord. This calls for an investigation in force.

    The Castrum, as advertised, is quiet. Not even the Garleans seem to know what has happened, which means there is an opportunity of sorts. It doesn't take long to find out why it's quiet.

    It's because everyone's dead. Every single Garlean present seems to have come down with a lethal case of stabbing, though some also seem to have died from virulent poisoning. Many of the infantry appear to have been assassinated with a blade of some kind, while the harder targets seem to have been simply... dismantled with a combination of some kind of strange non-energy as well as telltale scorchmarks from bombs and some kind of powerful electrical discharge. That... Makes this a lot more straightforward. The more you look through the place, the more it becomes apparent that whoever did this was being /extremely/ thorough. Most of the lockers have been popped open almost effortlessly and emptied of notable objects, as well as what looks like some Magitek storage units. It's almost adventurer-esque, really.

    The trail of murder seems to more or less lead towards a large lift backed directly against a shaft that seems to bore into the massive amounts of corrupted crystal set into the mountain. There are some signs of non-Garlean construction here as well, advanced alloys and patterns that speak of Allagan technology. It looks like this area was intended to be an excavation of some kind...

    The only solution, of course, is to board the lift and descend.
Lezard Valeth                    IMPERIAL EXPLORATORY SITE - 237 YALMS                    

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMknCxfX_ek

    The lift drops you down a couple hundred yalms into what looks to be at first a heavily fortified base camp. Metal reinforcement and heavy defenses line the metallic floors. The air bears an electric scent, some kind of metal, unearthly tinge that sticks in the back of the palate. The Garlean design promptly ends there, however. The vista opens wide upon an incomprehensible amount of corrupted aetheric crystal mingled with clearly Allagan technology buried within it. Massive melting swathes of crystal form a bridge across a dark span directly into the side of that Allagan technology. There is one problem, however: A hovering black sphere shot through with red lines in complex patterns seems to be a guardian before a loose plate in the Allagan structure. The moment you draw near, it emits a shrill series of noises, and begins blasting at those close by with waves of high voltage electricity and laser blasts.
N'Raha     Death is a constant for the Warriors of Light. Warring with the Garleans is a constant for the Warriors of Light.
    This is not what warring with the Garleans is about. The waves of corpses on the way to the lift are just the start though, this place has been... ransacked. and in a hurry. Who the hell has time to do all this in just a few hours?

    N'raha sighs as he advances on the Guardian Sphere. Allagan nonsense. His armor flashes and glares with repeated blasts of coherent light, his aether and steel keeping the worst of things off of him as he advances towards the orb. "I got it's attention, someone kick it, please!"

    Nothing about this bodes well.
Alruna Greengate Some crumbling soot falls from Alruna's fingers as she rubs them together, carried from touching one of the bodies up on the surface. Sniffing the air, she makes a face and reaches into one of her pouches for a soft caramel. She silently unbuttons the pouch and holds it out for anyone else who wants something to mask the unpleasantly industrial taste of the air down here.

She vaults over the first railing and hits the next landing below rather than use the stairs, and immediately regrets it, clutching at her side. "Nngh."

Gritting her teeth, the paladin draws her 'sword and board', as Yang called them, and runs in along N'raha, the combination of red and orange lights casting her figure in uncanny form.
William Pauwel "But I wanted to play around with the magitek!" Will doesn't... /quite/ whine as he steps off the elevator. He is very obviously a little bit sad that he didn't get to go full-on chopshop on a moderately-sized walking tank, but his demeanor perks up almost instantaneously as he looks around and takes in all of the... /everything/ all around him. "Oh my golly, what /is/ all this? Some kind of ancient ruin...!?"

"Oh man!" The giant orb starts beeping furiously at them! Will stares at it with ~stars in his eyes!~ "They've even got SENTRY DRONES! Thattun's mine, y'all! Don't bust it up too bad!"

That poor Allagan drone has approximately two seconds to fear for its fate as Will advances upon it. He fires a series of electromagnetic blasts designed to temporarily disable electronics long enough for him to poke at it in ways that are probably not at all safe.

Will looks every bit like a kid in a candy store, though. He's... Trying to keep the horrible carnage he'd seen outside out of his head, for now.
Amelris Belthrone      In a sick twist of fate, in many ways, this... grisly alarm to investigate has been something of a great timing for Amelris. Sometimes, when you're just out and about, mining your own buisness, mining your own ore, the last thing you expect is your mother at the head of a small wargroup out to kill a big beastie. Then being interrogated by say maternal on, oh, are you eating correctly, or making sure you're polishing your weapons correctly because they WILL rust if you keep the blood of your enemies on, not making pacts with Voidsents and all sort of tiny well-meaning barrage of affections.

     It was ALMOST with relief that Amelris received the call from the Scions to investigate the Castrum, which allowed him an easy escape from overbearing maternals.

     Amelris steps into the Castrum, leaving off his Chocobo as he joins down the elevator.

     The Red Mage lets out a loud whistle as he stares around, adjusting the collar of his vest, staring at the digging and the crystals. "This is DEEPLY some corrupted crystals." He comments, taking the stairs like a regular person, drawing his rapier with one hand.

     "Well, I don't think THAT'S Garlean." Amelris comments, energy gathering at his free hand as he thrust it out, unleashing a bolt of lightning at THE ORB, followed by a blast of Air.

     "We'll try, Pauwel, we'll try!"
Tomoe One of the Imperials Castrums had gone dark? That was cause for concern by her. She had been sent an alert to the going on and was quick to arrive there was no one there. Well, there were but everyone was dead the entire Castrum was a charnel house. The place has been looted of nearly everything of value one could carry easily by normal or magical means. Tomoe looks to be very on edge as she stops checking the bodies.

"I don't like the look of this."

It looked like a party of adventuring sorts went through here.

"All their armour has been stripped for parts too."

She's got a spear out of one that might be mistaken for a Doman weapon of some sort from its stylings. She keeps the spear ready as she goes to the lift. She will look at the parents and pause for a moment.

"Is this Alagan?"

She wonders with a good deal of worry.

She rides the lift down with the rest of the party looking alert as they reach the bottom of the lift. Just their luck, there is something waiting to kill them.

Tomoe does not even pause she darts forward right after Alruna and N'Raha.

Still focusing on doing damage she's still trying to get upfront and in the grill of the sphere as she launches into several rapid stabbing combos on it and throws a fire spell into the mix.
Ritsuka Fujimaru After her last attempt at doing osmething vaguely helpful, Jeanne has become a little more wary about letting things like personal preferences get in the way of having a good time and spreading her name. Personal preferences as to what is unclear and unidentifiable, but she's resolved to simply let her sword, flag, and fire do the talking this time around.

It probably helps that she has no attachment to anyone here. Not the murdered soldiers, not the adventurers she's joining, and certainly not the electricity and laser blasting sphere even though its aesthetic isn't entierly terrible.

"Since you asked so nicely." Moving along steadily, Jeanne takes full advantage of N'Raha and Alruna taking the lead as the designated meat shields to get closer to the sphere in relative safety. A stray laser singes her cheek, and that gets an angry shout and field goal-esque kick in return.

Sadly, William's request is not heeded by the Avenger. "If they get broken from something like this, then they're not worth keeping, anyway!"
Inga Freyjasdottir Being greeted with a large number of bodies on arrival, Inga searches in vain for a survivor, but finds none. "What do you suppose will be done with the bodies?" she asks N'Raha lowly. She has a bone-fence or two to mend you know.

She'll keep somewhere in the middle of the party, provided everyone doesn't decide to run at top speed onward. She'll ride the lift with some degree of satisfaction. Maybe these Garleans aren't so bad.

She's about to blast the glowing ball thing, but William seems so excited about it and appears he may know how to disable it.

She will absolutely accept a caramel. "Thank you Alruna," she says, and chews.
Staren     Staren visits the mysterious Castrum... it turns out to just mean 'a style of aboveground fortification favored by Garleans'. It's weird how it's been... left like this though.

    Although... is it really? Or is this what a place like this usually looks like after a pile of elites rolls through? Staren sends drones ahead to scout the surface while he...

    ...Reanimates Garlean soldiers. They'll be limited to melee weapons, but hey, a corpse is already dead, right?

    Staren hurries to the elevator once it's found, squad of Garlean soldiers in tow. Which... he has stand back from the strange sphere. "I think we can better take it down from range, but thanks for tanking! We have a healer, right?" He opens up with blasts from his beam cannons... and then holds back since William asked to take it without destroying it and starts rummaging through his bag. If it lasts long enough, he starts throwing EMP grenades at it.
Lezard Valeth Staren does some quick SCIENCE NECROMANCY on some dead Garleans to bring a bunch of ablative zombies with him. This surely isn't going to get any arched eyebrows from the other people who have had some recent traumatic experiences with a multitalented necromancer. Meanwhile, Amelris absolutely is calling it right. They're in the middle of a massive spike of corrupted aether crystal, clearly the remenants of a chunk of Dalamud falling and striking the earth.

    The drone guardian might have stymied the Garlean rank and file, but the stalwarts of Eorzea and the Multiverse beyond are more than a match for the thing. The trio of tanks keep the thing occupied while William tries to taze it with EMPs. It looks like it might be helpful, but Amelris doesn't take any chances and blasts it with elemental strikes. The magic damages it like anything else, it seems, the Allagan technology tough but not invulnerable (that comes later). Staren blasts it with some beam cannons, and they prove quite effective, crashing into the drone and blasting holes into the matte-black surface. It doesn't last all that long though because Jeanne straight boots the thing, sending it crashing straight through Allagan bulkhead and opening the way with a scattering of drone-parts across the area. The group is able to move forward through the opened hole into the cavern proper.

    The cavern is /massive/. This is mostly because of the most striking feature, that which is forming the brace of the upper area of the ceiling. And that would be a ribbed, familiar-looking draconic wing of gargatuan proportions. Crusted along it and all through the area in a dome is incomprehensible amounts of corrupted crystal interspersed with hexagonal platforms that form a rough, winding path through the caverns. A large number of mutated creatures that seem to have taken on strangely morphic attributes litter the area, some of the mass glomming into hulking golems formed of protomatter. In the distance is another transportation lift.
Alruna Greengate Alruna frowns. She didn't have any familial obligations to duck out of for this, but she /did/ have to slip out from under the watchful eye of the Scions' healers, and that's something she's going to pay for, later.

That sentry node didn't stand a chance. She reaches under one arm, cinching one of the straps a bit tighter with a grunt. She looks at the reanimated ashkin Staren has created with distaste, but elects not to comment.

"Allagan, yes." Alruna confirms for Tomoe. "But..." She's looking back, not forward, and doesn't understand N'raha's reaction at first. When she turns around, letting her eyes trail up across the vast span of THAT...

The paladin stumbles, her sword clattering on the rough, uneven surface of the corrupted crystal she falls to her knees upon. Colour drains from Alruna's face.
N'Raha     The drone is shattered, busted and the way is opened. N'raha is going to jaw at Staren for making corpse walkers but...

    No. No, he cannot bear to say anything other than to just look up at this place, this chamber, this.... this blasphemy of creation. Nothing that any mortal mind in their presence could possibly match what is happening here. "...Thal's balls, we're... they're digging up Bahamut a-"

    N'raha hears the sword clattering, and then swears. "Shit. Alruna, stay with us." He scuttles over to the fallen Paladin, and carefully braces her a bit. "Steady. Steady now."
Amelris Belthrone      Amelris feels a bit bad that they trashed the ORB. It's okay, they'll probably find others in there. A dirty look is given over at Staren but the Miqo'te don't really say anything to the other-feline based individual. As long he don't lose control of them. This is just a bit distastefull. The strange, almost albino-like young woman however, do seem like someone to study later.

     Then they step out.

     The Red mage stares up, his mouth wide and agape, his hand on his rapier tightening. His tail's fur stick out on end with his ears flattening. The Calamity is not something that anybody forgets for anyone that lived through it. The sight of the firey dragon, spreading in the sky. Larger, bigger than anything they've ever seen. The death. The fire. The earth upheaving. The light.

     Amelris takes a deep breath, closing his eyes, then exhales, then look back up.

     He was a lot younger when the Calamity happened. It's a scar all Eorzean shares... some more than others, if Alruna is any indications.

     "... Well." He speaks, his voice a bit horase. "I guess we know where Bahamut went, now. In a big bubble of corrupted aether, at that... is it being reconstructed?"
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga's eyes move in the same direction in the impressively cavernous chamber, gaze fixing on the wings. She's no native, but she's spent enough time in the world to know what she's seeing immediately. "Oh..." he says, her eyes wide.

The clatter of Alruna's sword brings her attention back to the group and she limps forward toward the Paladin, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Alruna, are you alright?" she asks quietly, but shortly Inga too falls to her knees, suddenly thrown into a vision. Her eyes roll back as she trembles with the force of it. It is all consuming. A huge battle, Bahamut...the Calamity.

Her lips part, and rather than describe what she sees she....sings.
William Pauwel Staren definitely gets a stink-eye at the... reanimation of very recently deceased soldiers. They didn't /need/ a small army of walking corpses down here. They just need to do some old-fashioned robot-hacking, just as soon as the party disables the drone--

                                   *punt*                                  

"N-noooo!" Will cries, "Ooooooooorrrrrrrb!!!" It was... It was too good for this world. The good ones... They always go too early...

But then-- then they find their way into some kind of cavern. A cavern filled with some manner of strange dinosaur corpse. A dinosaur corpse that... seems to shake the local Eorzeans right to their foundations. Will stares up at the corpse with an uncertain, but concerned expression. "What am I looking at here, guys? Some kind of... Giant dragon?"

There's a beat. He turns his head toward the mutated horrors in their way and clicks his tongue thoughtfully. "Everyone, eyes front! We've got company!"

And Will... has a very big, plasma-launching gun to shoot them with if they think about approaching.
Ritsuka Fujimaru Shaking her leg off after that kick, Jeanne smirks briefly at William moment of sadness because of course she would. Afterwards, she notices that hole the orb left in its destruction, then continues onwards. "Let's hope the rest of this technology isn't so fragile. The crystals seem more interesting than anything we've found so.... Far."

And then they encounter Bahamut. Or, rather, the wing of it. "This Bahamut sounds like it could be useful." She responds as several others in their number explain what the wing belongs to, eyeing it for several long moments before noting the mutated creatures milling about.

"... Well? Are we just going to stand around navel-gazing, or are we going to head in deeper and see what else is worth finding?" It's a rhetorical question as Jeanne just continues onwards and walks right past Alruna and N'raha, simply assuming that Inga and Staren (and his zombies) and Tomoe are still with her as she approaches the mutated creatures.

"If you want to live, serve me. If not, line up so I can kill you faster!" She's serious about that, too, as she breaks into a brief sprint, blade drawn and lashing out at whatever creatures so much as look at her the wrong way instead of doing something to indicate that they actually understand.
Tomoe Tomoe has had run-ins with actual undead before to see someone she considers a friend do something so callous in her mind get a legit look of horror on her face. Then the talk of Bahamut comes up. She looks confused. That's not the sea monster of her world's myth they are talking about.

She also notes Inga is her which is quite welcome and then Jeanne alter which leave her a bit uneasy but so far? Jeanne has not directly tried to set her on fire or stab her.

She's also glad she did take the caramel, it helps make things bearable down here. In terms of the flavour of the air.

The teamwork of party tanks enable the rest of the party to do their thing unhindered. Which lets them take the thing down.

"God in heaven."

She mumbles as she looks out the cavern she's never seen anything like this before.

"God in heaven..."

She will form up with Alunra and N'Raha to push forward.

"looks like that's the only way forward."

She swaps her weapons out for her sword and board. Before she dives back into the thick of the horrors that lurk down there. She also seem to be not bothered by all the platforming she has to do either.
Staren     Staren looked back at the people giving him a stink-eye. "They're already dead. Whatever did this, we might need some backup."

    Now they're in an alleghan ruin which appears to be automatically excavating a dragon.

    Jeanne's reaction makes the most sense to him, not being especially connected to Eorzea. He nods, following her. "We may as well take it for ourselves if it's just sitting here... but is someone already controlling this, or is it on automatic?"

    He gestures vaguely at the mutants. "So are these ancient guardians or something made recently?" He's ready to defend himself, of course.
Alruna Greengate Alruna shivers, her gloved hands creaking as they clench tightly. N'raha doesn't reach her, the paladin staring blankly past him at the vast span of the wing arching overhead, lost in memories just a few months old for her. Inga echoes the words of a song - sometimes a dirge, sometimes simply a remembrance, something that Alruna herself sings when she meditates or the past threatens to swallow her again.

She bows her head, tears running down her cheeks as she slowly blinks. "I'm fine. I'm..." She's not fine, but... 'Look to those who walked before, to lead those who walk after...'

Alruna draws a shuddering breath, picking up her sword and grabbing N'raha's shoulder. "I'll be all right." she promises. "Come on."

They have a Servant to catch up to, after all.
Lezard Valeth     The wing is imposing beyond belief, and it raises terrible spectres of a threat thought gone, vanished with the Calamity. The dire threat of the wing's mere existence, let alone the creature it belongs to, brings up memories of terror and flame.

    However, that doesn't make the local prowling creatures go away, and the group battles forward through the enemies. It does not take an excessive amount of effort to push through and eliminate them, travelling across the hexagonal platforms with frozen molten crystal bridges in between. The mystery of this mingling has yet to be answered, but the lift in the distance beckons them on. None of the monsters seem to understand Jeanne's demands, they aren't draconic enough to fall under her command, it seems. Still, they are dispatched easily enough as Tomoe moves up to join her.

    The group reaches the next lift, and it is... definitely not Garlean make. It looks much more technologically advanced, bearing all the signs of Allagan design. They are moving firmly into unknown territory at this point. They descend...

             LOWER AETHEROACOUSTIC EXPLORATORY SITE - 912 YALMS            

    The lift deposits the group into what seems to be a large, terraced area that weaves back and forth inexorably towards a terminus at the bottom of some kind, but it is some distance away and below. Both paths seem to lead to an array of differently-colored and shaped drones of a similar nature to the guardian at the entrance. Each is dispatched without much difficulty, but as they fall, there is a surge of energy that flows down through the area towards the bottom.

    What they meet at the bottom seems to be a more advanced version of the drones above, the object blasting at the incoming investigators with a bewildering array of crushing energy strikes and deploying a clinging energetic field that detonates some time later for an intense amount of damage... Unless one passes the unstable field along to someone else. They seem to be getting more complex and dangeorus over time... And this is a lot of space to be using on a defensive layer. Still, once they win through there is another lift down... How deep does this go, anyway?
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga comes to, shaking from the intensity of the vision, but manages to pull herself to her feet. She motions for anyone left to go ahead. She'd catch up. Probably. She can at least provide defensive wards before they go. A quick cut, and her blood magic shimmers into existence around the rest of the party.

She'll catch up at the next elevator.
N'Raha     This place is digging up a lot of old memories, a lot of ancient energy rippling through the place, and clearly it's affecting the Eorzeans more than the rest. This place is a Bad Time already and it's promising to be even worse. N'raha helps his friends to their feet, and takes off after the Offworlders, a few paces behind them now that they're ahead.
    Stopping to fight the mutants at least lets the rest of the party catch up and...

    And to the next lift. This is even worse. The Warrior steps in to tank more shots, his ax flashing reflexively to take on the drones, but all the while, he's looking up at the architecture, at this behemoth of a... whatever it is, built inside and around the Elder Primal.
Ritsuka Fujimaru After the mutated creatures are dispatched, Jeanne takes a moment to pace herself and get a better look at the more complex machinery. A hand goes to her chin as she narrows her eyes slightly, nods once, then paces back and forth slowly before heading into the lift.

"... This world's technology is confusing. Why would something older look so much more advanced? Did the people of your world become stupider over time?" She asks to nobody in particular, although N'Raha, Amelris, and Alruna all get more pointed looks due to... Well.

It /is/ their world, and she did just insult them. Kind of.

Jeanne gets to have fun punting more drones, at least. For whatever reason, she seems to be more inclined to kicking the things than blasting them with fire or slashing them apart. As the group gets through more of those drones, she does take notice of that energy surge heading downwards.

"I have a feeling we'll have something more potent to fight the further down we go. Best make sure we don't miss anything before we get there." Indeed, Jeanne makes sure to go after every drone in the area, even going as far as hurling the occasional spear at far-off drones if nobody shoots them. She wants to be thorough!

Passing the unstable fields to other people, not so much. Not without it being explained to her by someone that notices how it works, anyway.
Staren     Staren tries to use EMP to disable at least ONE of these drones for Will. A second one for himself would be nice, too...

    When they reach the miniboss drone, he exclaims, "Oh COME ON! Not ONE attempt to talk to us? What was with these ancient Alleghans... We need to find the command room or at least a terminal, and find out what kind of program this place is running on..."
Amelris Belthrone      Amelris snaps out of it. There's a big mystery here and they need to not be day dreaming of horrors past.

     Fighting through the drones and mutants do help to sooth the nerves of the Red Mage, amusingly enough. This is is something familiar. Something he can fall back on.

     "No, I'm pretty sure people back then are just as stupid as they are right now." Amelris answers Jeanne, somewhat dryly. "With the notable exception that they had the annoying tendency of blowing themselves up in Calamities of their own. The War of the Magi, the fall of the Allagan Empire... that happened quite a few times here."

     Amelris takes mental notes. This IS a lot of Allagan stuff. Was it here all this time? Corrupted Aether wasn't around at THIS high density until the Calamity. Or... did it grow from here?
Tomoe Inga's song is a surprise and it's a very haunting one, there's no time to dwell on, she does seem concerned for Alruna. Still, when she says she's all right and N'Raha helps her up she'll get a move on with the other two tanks. There are no old memories for her here, yet she knows of places that will hit her just as hard and she grimaces. They keep going to catch up to a certain JEANNE who ran ahead and the wing stops tomoe in her tracks for a second that thing is massive it's hinting at a creature bigger than a battleship.

She's only getting the faintest idea of the terror that it let loose on this world in the past.

They keep going down, deeper and deeper and Tomoe keeps going fighting her way through the next things to get in the party's way.

The new drone's 'mechanics' are noted and she'll roll with them as she hacks, shield bases and throws magic at the thing. She is keeping a bit more attention on her fellow tank's statues though this can't be an easy place for Alruna, N'Raha and even Amelris. Even if he's not a tank himself.
William Pauwel "If it's anythin' like what happened on my world, then I blame calamities," Will answers Jeanne as they keep marching on through the dungeon. "Though... Dang, I didn't think there was /anything/ this advanced out here. I can't hardly make heads or tails out of this stuff, not withtout takin' it apart and puttin' it back together again--"

Suddenly! ANOTHER DRONE!

"Okay!" Will perks up immediately, resorting to his usual standby of Shooting Electromagnetic Pulses At it. "Can we please disable THIS one? Judgment n' I might be able to pull some information out of it about what exactly this here place is meant to be /doin'/ if we don't just kick it off a cliff!"

There's a beat as Will is hit by that clinging energy field... And promptly taps Staren on the shoulder to pass it along once he figures out how it works.

To Staren.

Not one of the walking corpses.

Just... Staren.
Alruna Greengate Alruna focuses on her job. The cacophony of battle masks her whispering the words of the song that's still ringing in Inga's ears after her vision, to remind herself of their wisdom. Endure, strike forward, cut the path for those that come after you.

She is definitely off her game, however. Alruna suffers for her emotional turmoil, taking strikes she shouldn't need to and failing to handle the arcane mechanics of the defence systems properly. Inga's wards prove her saving grace, protecting the paladin sufficiently that she makes it to their next destination.

She doesn't even take Jeanne's little stab at them personally. "Aye, well, we've had a rough road." she says, without further explanation. She's not in the mood for a lecture on the history of apocalypses Eorzea has endured.
Lezard Valeth     The architecture is pure Allagan, aggressively so. Extensively so. They're already past the corrupted crystal at this point and are descending into the bulk of a huge machine of indeterminate nature of purpose. Was this part of Dalamud?

    Jeanne makes sure to murder every drone on the way down as if to make a point. The guardian at the end, however, seems to have accumulated all of that power and energy and proves to be a tough, but short battle. EMPing the drones is a valid strategy, but Jeanne is just singlemindedly set on destroying them all, it seems, denying Staren and William their Christmas enjoyment. Because it's not Christmas. Unfortunately, none of them seem to be planning to talk back, either.

    Staren does eventually get to experience the fun of being blown up by Allagan Rot, though. It's painful, but not cripplingly so thanks to the group generally being far more powerful than the defenses at this point.

    Amelris is left with a lot of questions and fewer answers. That always seems to be the way of things, at least for now. Maybe more answers will be deeper.

                RAGNAROK-CLASS INTERNMENT HULK - 1233 YALMS                

The lift takes the investigation team even further down into the Allagan construction, leaving them standing on what looks like a huge cylinder. The air hangs heavy with crackling aether-heavy fog. Something is damaged here. Something is leaking energy into the environment. Lots of it. However, the tough Allagan-designed alloys seem to have remained traversable... in a manner of speaking.

    The entire area seems to be separated into layers of platforms that are mounted into the walls. Various hatches on the walls likely might have led to other areas, but they are firmly sealed shut with no apparent method to open them, forcing them to descend deeper and deeper. The problem is one of mobility, as there is no direct path. Why there is none leaves one to boggle... But there seem to be strange pads of some kind. When stepped on, they launch whoever steps on them in the direction they point, sending them hurling at high speed... But landing safely on the other end as they pass through spinning rings that attenuate their trajectories and speed.

    Unfortunately, all through this area are even more of the protoplasmic entities that attempt to ambush and crowd the group as they proceed, trying to interfere with them as they work to navigate through humming fields of energy that seem to be prevalant through the descent that blocks one's path. It would probably be a bad idea to drop into them, but various Allagan terminals seem to be present at points to adjust them and open the path forward.

    Eventually, they will reach yet another lift, even deeper... What could lie at the bottom?
N'Raha     This time, the axing from N'raha is interspersed with bouts of politely picking up his Seer, and holding on to Inga as they both get propelled over aether jumps. That seem to be programmed for whoever steps on them. That's... nice at least, they they don't have to monkey with trajectories and such, but... This is all overdesigned, over wroght and STILL built into the side of a dead Elder Primal.
Staren     Staren scowls when he gets blasted and passes the field onto a zombie before pointing out the hypocricy of caring about THOSE dead guys while working to raid the alleghans. Once the fight's over, Staren's careful to make sure the path ahead is clear of interference by tossing small rocks or other junk onto the pads first, and blasting any troublesome enemies along the route. He examines the terminals; he'd like to study them more, but the group keeps moving, so for now he sticks to familiarizing himself with the basic operation of alleghan terminals.
Inga Freyjasdottir Once Inga is recovered, she starts putting her magic to offensive uses as well. Enemies are dealt with by fire and blood in between healing Alruna. She's not at the top of her game, no, but who could blame her with those memories fresh on the surface. It's in Inga's mind now as well.

Inga winds an arm around Raha when he takes her accross the jumps, grateful for the assistance. Even with the devices to slow and direct them toward their destination she's afraid she'll go ass over teakettle.

"Was this all part of the moon? Or was it here already?" she muses as the approach yet another lift. "Further down..." she sighs.
Amelris Belthrone      This is becoming more and more confusing. Amelris is following along on the pads. THAT part is actually kind of fun but he's not sure what the Allagans were thinking by making... this section like this.

     "You know." Amelris comments, dashing through to skewer one of the critters down there, then blowing it away with a fireball point-blank. "I AM starting to wonder if you're correct on that front, Inga. This feels like it MIGHT've been part of Dalamund."

     The Red Mage leaps, landing away from the pad he was on, adjusting his hat when he does. "That make more sense than THIS facility was here miraculously where Bahamut landed and crashed here. The alternative is that Bahamut was /moved/ and I'm not sure I like that option."
Alruna Greengate "Oh gods, not these..." Alruna mutters. She doesn't deal well with Allagan jump pads. Every single time she jumps onto one of them, she lands badly, sprawling on the unyielding floors and narrowly missing being cut by razor-sharp angles from the broken segments.

By the time they finally weave their way through the labyrinth of broken corridors, she's bruised and her calm is severely damaged.
William Pauwel "N-nooo! Why the drones!? They're all so useful!" Will bemoans the continued obliteration of ancient technology. Unfortunately for Jeanne, it seems that the only way to stop his incessant whining is to . . . leave him stuff to take apart . . .

It might be hard. These things explode /really/ nicely, it seems.

But! Soon, there are platforms-- and platforming challenges associated with them! Will clicks his tongue at the small army of mutants infesting the facility. Did the Allagans create them, too? "I don't know if I trust those weird catapult-lifts too much," he murmurs as he makes his way to the edge of a platform. "Too many points of failure. They could send you flying right into a wall if those brake-rings don't work. I think I'll just... make my way down the old fashioned way.

The old fashioned, grappling-winch way.

It also happens to give him an excellent vantage point to lob great big blasts of blue-white plasma at unsuspecting, mutant-rich platforms. No reason to just leave those things wandering around.
Tomoe Tomoe makes note of tombstones as something he should hang on to and sell to the Ironworks. The poor girl does not know what she's in for if she ever finds any of those things. As the party pushes deeper and deeper past the corrupted crystal at this point. The scale of this construction is insane what the heck is this place anyway? She keeps going as her companions give her more information about what this place is. She will listen to Amelris request to not frag any further drones. If they do run into any more she will try to leave something for Staren and Will to poke.

New types of monsters assault them and she will not want to drop down into the strange energy field that's just science but she has to wonder how many more lifts are there till they get to the bottom?
Lezard Valeth     If N'raha's experience with Allagan technology so far is anything to measure by, being overdesigned and overwrought is an Allagan maxim. A significant portion of Ul'dah can probably fit inside this area. Inga's accompaniment helps them proceed with magic and ward.

    William and Tomoe make their own ways. William's grapple works well enough. He can make his way around effectively as he likes, allowing him to ambush some enemies on his own terms.

    Amelris continues to ponder his theories as he proceeds. Which could it be? The thrumming continues around him, informing him that this place is quite /alive/. But what is the purpose? If it is part of Dalamud, how can it continue to function? What IS the function of this specific area? Maybe some kind of access hatch? Or maybe it was never actually intended for normal access in the first place? Considering the energy fields, perhaps it is more something like...

    Staren's tendency to test the path forward allows him to verify that the platforms don't seem to be designed to toss anyone into a lethal intersection. The platforms actually stop working if they would, which leads one to generally have 'getting lost' as the biggest threat... Though getting lost can be a problem if one is ambushed by sufficient amounts of enemies.

    He checks the terminals and quickly finds that the interface is designed to alter the frequency and intenisity of the fields. The terminals are labeled 'RAGNAROK-CLASS INTERNMENT HULK DRIVE SYSTEM MODULATION'. Huh.

                   RAGNAROK DRIVE CYLINDER - 1,524 YALMS                    

    The next lift is not just a lift, but what looks like an industrial-class cargo elevator... But Allagan-style. Upon activation, it begins descending slowly, Walls of metal all around them slowly passing by as machinery with unknown purpose surges with aetheric power and endlessly churns....

    It becomes more of an issue when hulking heavy weapons platforms drop from above, slamming into the platform and swinging across the tight space with swings of clawed arms and wide-angled beam-cannons. This is interspersed with more guardian drones and swarms of tiny machines that attempt to latch on and shock people with potent blasts of electricty

    This continues, a seemingly endless assault until the elevator reaches the bottom. It takes a while.
Ritsuka Fujimaru The successive battles has Jeanne grinning widely the whole time, occasionally laughing and cackling to punctuate her being... Herself. Still, she probably shouldn't be wasting so much time on minions when there's that dragon to search for, and those strange fields certainly don't help much when her defenses are a bit lacking compared to the sturdier members of the group.

"People can be such idiots when it comes to powers they don't understand..." She comments with a rare moment of contemplation, that grin fading for a moment while that lift takes them further down. She doesn't even take further jabs at the natives to this world, even going as far as NOT murdering every single moving thing she sees. She needs to start thinking about conserving energy just a bit more, although she's still rather violent with the drones that come close enough for her kick.

At least she's not chasing them down now. The weapons platform, though... That quickly becomes her primary focus as she gets caught on one of those clawed arms and proceeds to start setting it on fire as she heads towards center mass to apply more fire to the machine.
Staren     Discussing the words on the terminals leads to a revelation: This was originally a space prison for Bahamut!

    And the Garleans dropped it on the planet. Wow.

    Staren's not sure what to make of that just yet. He'd like to hear the Garlean's side of the story. Right now though... they go deeper.

    And are faced with an ELEVATOR BOSS. Staren doesn't have any particular problems facing a giant robot but he doesn't really have anything especially great for dealing with them. He tries to manage blasting the giant robot, dodging wide area beams, and firing the occasional missile to explode groups of drones. Hopefully keeping the adds down will make it easier for the others. And if EMP grenades work, maybe William can finally get some toys! His armor does not make it through unscathed...
N'Raha     Elevator Boss is not fun. That said, it's a lot of things for N'raha to beat on, in rapid succession. That's something he's very much built for.

    Each wave of machines is met with vigour and anger and raw power, bouyed by the magics of Inga and partnered by the efforts of Tomoe and Alruna. All he's got to do is keep the Baddies out from the middle of the DPS, as it were, and make sure that everyone's still alive. It gives him little time to properly think, but...
William Pauwel The drones! The poor drones! At least Jeanne isn't destroying ALL of them. Will is definitely going to try and capture at least one if he can! If nothing else, it might be able to give them some very useful information. And if not, he's got a souvenir!

Soon, though, they come to... another lift. Another elevator that goes straight down. Down. Down! Ever deeper down! Toward the very heart of the world. Certain revelations play out across the local bandwidth. Dalamud...

"This... this place was part of a moon? Your ancients /built/ a /moon?/" Will shakes his head in mild disbelief. The Allagan Empire... Must have been incredible. If only he could have seen it in its full and total splendor, instead of just wandering through the fragments left behind. But then, that feeling isn't uncommon in places like these. His own world has enough ancient ruins lying around that a well-honed sense of wonder isn't exactly strange.

But then! Robots start dropping from the sky! Will makes a sound of barely restrained glee as he starts blasting at them, even as THEY blast at HIM! He almost gets his face seared off by a wide-angle blast as he races forward to try and wrangle himself on top of one to try and hijack it.

With his gun.

His... AI-equipped, hack-capable gun.

HACKIIIIIIIING!
Alruna Greengate Alruna's sweat mingles with tears on her face as she fights. Where Jeanne relishes the battle, and Alruna /ought/ to be doing the same, but this is all hitting much too close to home for her.

She takes a moment, in the brief lull as they step onto yet another lift platform, to take another caramel out of the pouch on her hip. "Aye," she replies to William tersely. "Built a prison for a monster, and then the Garleans tried to bring it down on our heads."

She /savours/ the sweet taste this time, closing her eyes and taking a long, deep breath.

And then another Allagan sentry node damn near flattens her, and does knock her off her feet. Well, the respite was nice while it lasted. The simple taste of something associated with the normal world seems to do her a world of good, renewing Alruna's determination. She slaps the node aside with a swipe of her shield, almost knocking it into the one William is trying to subvert.
Amelris Belthrone      This get more and more confusing as things deepens. More questions are generated than answers! The Red Mage is noticably less provocative, less extravagant in this romping. In fact, you could say that he is somewhat brooding, pensive, introspective.

     And thinking like a Kobold, apparently.

     "Is THIS why we have so much Corrupted Aether around here!?" Amelris exclaims, unleashing a barrage of crystal swords aimed at the sides of one of the robots inside the elevator, dancing around to pummel it with a flurry of punctures. "This damned giant Primal just..."

     The Red Mage steps back, spreading out his arms to cast out another flurry of lightning bolts. This is very enervating. "Why DID they have Bahamut inside a giant floating moon, anyway? That's probably the question we should be asking ourselves."
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga focuses on keeping everyone protected and healed, since as far as she is aware she's the only one here capable of doing so. Blood magic is thrown about like she's throwing candy at a parade.

"This is madness, why build a lift and then have it set to be attacked?" she asks. Its one of many questions being asked here.
Tomoe Tomoe finds out more and more about the Allgans as they work deeper she knows about the Emperor, Tomoe will keep going deeper and deeper as they hit the deeper part of the hulk. What they dungeon crawling though comes up and that raises more questions. Then come the little bit about the moon drop. She keeps moving deeper into the hulk. It sounds like a Prison and maybe a ship to boot. Then comes the lift and the attack he gets into the fight and will try to not utterly destroy the drones when she can, she gave her word after all.
Lezard Valeth     Jeanne sets to work, smashing through anything in her reach. There is no shortage of targets for her disdain and bloodlust, though all the targets on the elevator itself are, sadly, constructs and so have no blood, nor shriek in pain as she cleaves through and immolates them.

    William does William things, and exposes himself to absurd amounts of danger so he can try to wrangle one of the Clockwork Dreadnoughts. He shoots the Dreadnought, trying to hack it. It's somewhat uncertain, but he manages to gain something resembling control of it for a time, allowing him to use it to brutalize other machines until it, too, ends up requiring to be sent to the scrap heap. At least he gets to live the dream for a bit.

    It's hitting far too close to home for Alruna. Everything is getting officially Too Real for her, but it's a mark of her volition that she can soldier and and force herself to meet the challenges before her instead of collapsing in despair and horror at the things before her. She gets a moment of solace. Just a moment. Just enough... And then the battle resumes, Alruna crashing forward to reassert dominance.

    Amelris asks more questions. Maybe the Primal might be the reason for all the corrupted aether, indeed. What's going on here, anyway? Why a moon? But Amelris contributes while he asks the questions that need to be asked. The issue is... where the hell are the answers?

    Inga also asks a pertinent question. Unfortunately, the only answer anyone can really give for that is 'Allagan assholery', in the end.

    Tomoe comes up with some insights, using contextual information provided by Staren. At least they know WHAT this thing is. But how does it work? WHY does it work? She fights on, searching for answers.

    Staren wants answers too, but he doesn't have any Garleans to ask. Not living ones anyway. Someone was /really/ thorough about that. He fights his way through and gets to enjoy watching William rodeo-wrangle a Dreadnought for the requesite 8 seconds or so. Thankfully, he's not the clown.
Lezard Valeth                          RAGNAROK CORE - 1910 YALMS                        

    The elevator descends into yet another massive cavern. The crystal returns, the walls of the hylk having been breached. The cause is obvious as the elevator continues down, as one cannot miss the massive talons that curve upwards on a trio of massive crystal-scaled appendages. The elevator comes to a stop, allowing the group to step off into what can only be the palm of Bahamut's hand. It is large enough to crush everyone in its palm, were it mobile. Thankfully, it seems to be inert in its current state. More corrupted crystal spirals around the other side of the palm, swirling down along the arm to another large platform that connects to what looks like another opening in an Allagan bulkhead once more.

    There is a figure standing there before the entrance, looking up into the blackness above with an intent expression. That person appears to be Lezard Valeth.

    He doesn't look back. "I have been expecting you lot. You are right on time. Unfortunately, if you are seeking answers, I am ill inclined to act as your guide in this respect."
N'Raha     There's a rather ugly noise from under N'raha's helmet as the elevator stops, he's still all hopped up on FIGHT MILK, and then there is Lezard. Like right there. While he's all FEELING IT.

    And to his credit, Raha, clan N', does not immediately charge across the platform to murder Lezard. Because he spots what the fuck he's looking at here, and his rage goes out of him in a second, replaced by sheer, yawning horror at...

                     -- THE BINDING COILS OF BAHAMUT--                      

    "...Twelves, what the hell have you done." Though, he staggers forward and it's clear, for once, that he's not screaming at Lezard for this one. He steps onto the claw of Bahamut and then, finally, his attention turns right back to Lezard. "...You found this in the Tower, didn't you?"
Staren     Staren is surprised. Noone told him about this! But, over the radio it seems to be the real lizard. LEZARD. The real Lezard.

    Staren steps to the side to make sure he's not in the way of any of the 'heroes' -- he's sure Lezard can handle them -- but he's watching Jeanne carefully.
Ritsuka Fujimaru By the time the Clockwork Dreadnoughts are brought down, Jeanne is looking... Actually, she's looking physically fine. Magically, she's a little drained, but not too badly. Mentally, though...

She seems to have checked out already. Not from fighting things, since dismantling those machines still brings her some joy, but she does seem to be moving a little more cautiously than before.

Not cautiously. More like she's actually holding back on completely destroying things. Even though Alruna correctly assesses that she enjoys it, Jeanne seems to be holding back just a bit finally. William might appreciate that if they run into more machines. Alas, it seems like rather than more machines, the group faces Lezard instead!

"Oh. It's the sorceror. No, I'm not really here for answers." She gestures at the giant Bahamut fist, then back towards the elevator. "There were more parts of this beast around before. All I want to see is the creature freed to do my bidding. You can do whatever you like with the rest of this place for all I care. If the people of this world are so quick to call idiots and the other side of a war 'villains', then..."

She trails off. Jeanne actually sounds intensely disappointed at that last part.
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga follows N'Raha. She gives him a look, knowing it will be challenging for him not to give in to that rage and go after Lezard. But he is making strides it seems.

Inga looks around, frowning gently before she focuses her gaze on Lezard. She has nothing to say. She just keeps her keen eyes on him, patiently waiting for this part of the tapestry to be woven.
Tomoe Tomoe is still seeking more answers she has some of the what, but not the how and why. This place is older than just about any civilization her world, it still /works/ after all that time. The one good thing she can think of the Allgans si they didn't do planned obsolesces on stuff like this. Once the entire party finally makes its way through the gauntlet of old security system and who knows what else? There's another elevator, as yes there's always another elevator.

That's just how it goes until they run into Lezard Valeth she stares for a moment weapon at the ready but does not attack.

She does shoot a glance at Staren wondering where he's going to fall. She makes note that things could get even dicier very fast, the fight with Haseo still fresh in her mind.

She tenses for a moment and says.

"Guide? I expected you to hit us with the biggest spell you have."
Amelris Belthrone      Amelris also show restraint. The Miqo'te steps off, looking up at all the corrupted Aether Crystals... and more importantly, the Warlock, standing by the Entrance. The Red Mage lets out a long sigh, a hand reaching for his face and pinching his eyes.

     "That suddenly explains a few thing." He mutters, looking up back at Valeth. "No, no thanks you, it seems like that we are well on our way of exploring this whole place on our own, thanks you very much."

     He straightens, tilting his head over at Jeanne with a lifted eyebrow, an ear twitching. "First off, that's also a very bad idea. Second off, There was nothing 'quick' about it. That's a bit more pedantic than I expected out of you, honestly. Save your judgement when you hear more of it rather than pouncing on a 'gotcha' use of a word, if you would."

     Amelris cracks his fingers, wringling them to his side. "So. Warlock. I'm imagining you're laying claim on this, now?"
Alruna Greengate Alruna hesitates before she steps off the platform. All this is a product of the long months prior to the battle of Carteneau. The steady leeching of Eorzea's lifeblood, its aether sucked up into Dalamud and /twisted/, polluted by a Primal's malice. It might be another Age before the corrupted crystals are fully reabsorbed into the flow of Hydaelyn's aetherial sea.

And there's the fact that it's the frozen claw of fucking Bahamut. Big enough to crush a building. They wouldn't be much more than smears on its claws. "Why does it still have physical form." she mutters under her breath as her sabaton crunches on the orange crystal. If Bahamut were alive, it should be devastating Eorzea. Yet if it were dead, its form should have dissipated into aether. One less dreaded blight upon the world.

She stands at Inga's shoulder, looking past Lezard. Alruna's heart hammers in her chest, involuntarily picturing the rest of Bahamut's body, attached to the forearm.

No, it wasn't /that/ big. Surely. The wing above, this claw below... Bahamut's body must have been torn apart by whatever befell it after... after they failed. But the question still stands. Why does its body persist?
Inga Freyjasdottir The pieces of Bahamut. The fact that it hasn't discorporated, as they primals do when defeated. Inga looks around again..."It's to do with time, isn't it?"
William Pauwel Will lives the dream for a tragically short spurt. But at least the time he spends cackling madly atop a magitek war machine. Lasers go everywhere! From the thing's arms! From its mouth! From Will's handy doom laser! Every day spent atop a walking tank is a good day...

But nothing good can last forever.

He spends a quiet moment in the aftermath of the skirmish, paying the fallen machine its due respects. Poor Allagan magitek protector. They barely knew ye.

What they do know too well, though, is that man standing before them. That man, standing before the outstretched hand of a truly massive dragon. A /king/ among dragons, even. Bahamut...

And its observer, Lezard Valeth.

"It's you... Lezard," Will starts, making his way forward. He takes no hostile action, instead just... Peering inquisitively at the massive Primal and the machines attending to it. "...Did you do all this? The Garleans up top too? I didn't think swords were really your thing, so..."
Lezard Valeth     Staren stands to one side. Lezard nods to him, and makes sure communications are establishes this time. This is not the time to be embarassingly working at cross purposes again.

    Jeanne, however, proves to be something of a more demanding issues. Lezard arches an eyebrow at her. "Ah, Avenger. It has been a long time. Have you flourished in your efforts?" He pauses, looking her over. "Perhaps not as much as I hoped. As for freeing the beast..." He shrugs, smiling. "I think this beast might be beyond even your ability to command, Avenger. It is a creature possessed of its own will... And that will is strong indeed. But I think you will find that there are dragons enough to sate you throughout. Continue to push forward, ever deeper, and you will see the results of the work of Allag."

    Inga stares at Lezard, and the Sorceror of Midgard looks back to her. At least he's not getting blasted by lightning this time, it seems. He looks away, moving on as others demand his attention.

    Tomoe's comment gains a shrug from the Sorceror. "I have other things that demand my time. I have no desire to brawl you lot at this time."

    Amelris inquires of Lezard, and the Sorceror of Midgard shakes his head. "Claim? If the Dragon Witch has no guarantee of controlling this beast, I do not have any certainty either. But there is much to learn here. Much to gain. But I will unearth those secrets before you."

    Alruna stares at Lezard, and Lezard looks back. "I see the question in your eyes. 'Why?'. You must have experienced great pain at the hands of this beast to look like that. I have seen it on the face of many a hero who has experienced great tragedy."

    William asks him about this place. Lezard laughs. "No. I did not create this place. I am not the one who has set these things in motion... I am simply the one who found the remnants when pointed in the proper direction using the information the Allag had left in the Tower. But if you want to know more... Feel free." He gestures behind. "I have seen all I need. And now..."

    There is a hellish scream from above, and a large, deadly dragon sweeps down, accompanied by a pair of smaller wyverns. The huge beast lashes between the Necromancer and the line of heroes, the air blasting past them in a rush as it twists, circling to begin hovering in the air before them. Around the beas't neck is a series of strange collars, glowing as they constantly rotate around its neck.

    "Ah, there it is." He holds out a hand, and a complex circle forms before him, glowing... And the collars surge, lighting up and cycling. With a angry screech, the large dragon drops, bowing low before Lezard, whom leaps upon it, mounting the beast. It takes back off, carring the Necromancer into the air as Lezard smiles down at the others. "It is time for me to delve deeper. Catch up... If you can." At that, Lezard is carried off, the huge dragon taking Lezard with it.
Lezard Valeth     The path is left open. Nothing bars the group from proceeding from here into the next room. The next room is...

    The bridge of the ship, as it were. A large console makes up the front of the room, with extremely reinforced bulkheads to either side. It is a large area, but simply designed, as if it was not really designed for extended use. Much of this design, in fact, does not seem to lend itself to a manned ship...
N'Raha     And then Lezard is riding off into the sunset^H^H^H^H depths of the Hell Mouth Of Bahamut Rebirth.

    N'raha, for his part, looks very defeated for a moment or two, even through his armor. You don't have to look at his face to see the slump of his shoulders, as he plants his Bravura back along his back.
    The helmet does come off, and, sweating and grumpy, the Warrior shuffles over to the console of the Hulk, looks at it for a moment or two, and then... attunes to it, to turn it on. In the manner of most Allagan bullshit, you just have to... Magic at it.
Ritsuka Fujimaru "Oh? You're telling the Dragon Witch that taking a dragon is a bad idea." Predictably, Jeanne starts laughing at Amelris. It's not for quite as long might be expected, though, as she goes right back to the flat-ish tone. "Yeah, how about no. I came here to fight and see if there was anything worth taking from here. I have fought, and I have seen something worth taking."

She gestures at the Bahamut fist for emphasis. "If you mean to lecture me about your virtuous mission, save your breath. I know what I want." Unfortunately, Lezard tells her that Bahamut might be beyond her abilities, and that get a wide, if moderately crazed smile from the Avenger. "Is that so? Well, we'll just have to see once the creature is freed, then. Until then..."

He mentions more dragons further below, and that gets Jeanne's attention quite easily. Not quite as much as the screaming from above, but it's still pretty impressive for someone that isn't a potential minion. She raises an eyebrow slowly as the air rushes with the dragon's landing, then narrows her eyes slightly when the collars activate.

Somehow, she looks even more irritated than she usually does. "... Well, come on, then! If you loiter, you're getting left behind!" And with that, she goes right on ahead once more, stopping at the bridge to stare at the console.

"... What the hell is all this?" She asks as she watches N'Raha doing... Something with it. She mimics the motion and tries putting in some of her mana to see if that does anything, although she has to make sure not to also set the thing on fire in the process.
Staren     Huh, no fight after all. Convenient! Staren relaxes a little.

    "Oh hey, is this the control room?" N'Raha beats him to the console, though, so Staren watches at first. If Lezard's operating here, hopefully fellow Concord Staren won't have too much problem revisiting. He can be patient.
Tomoe Lezard is always a hard one to place he's not some evil wizard out of a story. No, he's always got a plan and he's not just about to pick fights if it gets him nothing. There's no real-time to stop him as he calls some strangely collared dragon.

She can't fly long enough down here to chase after him so that's no dice there.

Tomoe will put her weapon back into her inventory. Slinging her shield across her back before she goes to check out the console.

She'll pull out a smartphone from her inventory and start taking video of the whole affair.
Lezard Valeth     The console is easily activated. The system soon shows a plethora of information about the RAGNAROK-CLASS INTERMENT HULK IC-01.

    As one might expect, the readouts indicate that the systems are damaged, but that there are three CONTAINMENT COILS that are currently in full operation. There are progress meters indicating various rebuilding and energy allocation processes. They can be manipulated, turned on or off (they are currently on), and one can also open the 'observation deck'.

    When someone inevitably does that, the heavily reinforced bulkheads slide open... And they see what they are truly dealing with.

    A yawning chasm opens before them, the front of the craft firing a blazing beam of aether directly ahead. And what is ahead, by now, would be obvious.

    The sheer scale however, boggles the mind once more. A maimed, half-extant dragon hangs in the distance, held up by Allagan bonds. Three beams fire into it, two from other directions. The aether beams are being absorbed greedily by the huge mass of mangled dragonflesh, the body half missing... But by all accounts... It is being regenerated. A dead dragon god, unable to live, unable to die, being forced back into existence by Allagan machinations before their eyes.
Amelris Belthrone      "Hey, you were the ones talking about people doing dumb things. That is probably a dumb thing to try but do try if it's important to you." Amelris replies with a similar flat tone, tail flailing behind him, throwing a sideglance at her. "And quite frankly, I'm not interested in giving you a lecture. If you are offended at my previous use of 'villain', then you have my apology at my apparent bias over ancient history. Can we save the philosophy debate /after/ we're out of the guts of a growing giant Elder Primal?"

     Amelris was, for a brief moment, tempted to fire off a Lightning Bolt over at the fleeing Lezard. This wouldn't help much, for one, he probably have shields. For two, well, that'd be a waste of aether at this point. Unlike SOME people, he's limited on his internal supply.

     Amelris leaps off to check on the console peering over at the YAWNING CHASM that opens up, wincing at the beam of aether. He stares up, looking at the giant primal, stuck in middle of what is visibly life support for the bloody thing.

     "Oh." The Red Mage lets out, lowering his rapier hand with his eyes wide. "Oh."
Alruna Greengate Alruna breathes slowly, and deliberately, meeting Lezard's gaze, but not replying to him. She's said a good deal more than she was supposed to today already.

Inside the bridge, she knits her brows, staring at the readouts N'raha and Jeanne pull up. "It /is/ him." she breathes. The paladin runs down to the observation deck, staring mutely at the sight in front of her.

"Shut it off, N'raha!" she shouts back at the Miqo'te.
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga moves with them, sticking close to Alruna as she figures she is the most likely to need a little emotional support for what lies ahead.

And there it is. A great, big, Bad Idea.
N'Raha     Yeah, you don't have to tell N'raha that one twice, Alruna. He concentrates, shifts his attention into the device, and starts to hunt around for the 'turn off this bloody beam' button.
William Pauwel Lezard flies away on his collared pet dragon. Does that mean the Lezard Valeth made his escape aboard a... Lizard Valet........?

...........?

Will stares after him for a moment longer before Raha does magic at an Allagan console. Will himself is terribly useless in that regard. It's magic! He has about as much magic in his entire body as Raha has in his fluffy tail! Will is not magic, he cannot make Allagan nonsense move without cheating.

This, ultimately, is unimportant.

The bulkhead unlocks. The bay doors unfold. The thing hidden behind them is... Horrifying. Monstrous. Will pales at the enormity of the beast. Bahamut, trapped in a state between life and death. How much is it suffering right now? Does it hurt more or less the more its body regenerates...? "It's... healing," Will murmurs in muted awe as he reads through the contents of the nearby data console. "There are... Three of these things? Supplying 'aether' to 'Bahamut?' I'm guessing aether is like... Life Energy? If we don't shut all three of them down, though..."

"...How long will it take for Bahamut to recover completely...?"
Amelris Belthrone      "Thall's Balls!" Amelris shouts, rushing over to the other end of the console to start working on it along with N'Raha. It's not is biggest field, but hell. He knows enough.
Staren     N'Raha's turning it off. Staren considers, briefly. Apparently this thing is a particularly mighty primal, which means when it's complete, it's going to mind wipe a bunch of people. That... can't be allowed. On the other hand, at the slow rate it's going, Eggman's experiments might yield a way to avoid that long before then.

    It would be best to just watch. Lezard's got the run of the place. If they want to regenerate Bahamut after all, he can turn it back on later.

    Besides, there's also Jeanne interested in trying to control it, who knows where that's gonna go.
Ritsuka Fujimaru The sheer number of meters just makes all of it go right over Jeanne's head. Not for lack of trying, but she's just too impatient to want to deal with that sort of thing right now. Instead, she just resorts to trying things at random, and eventually...

They're greeted by the sights of Bahamut in the distance. Jeanne's eye twitches slightly as she looks towards the beams, the tech keeping the dragon in that odd state, and the people trying to turn one of those beams off. For now...

She's content to see what happens when it gets turned off. Whether activating or deactivating those beams will help or not remains to be seen, and it's more important to know /how/ it gets turned off in case she needs to reverse or repeat the process down the line.
Tomoe Tomoe steps aside from those rushing the console to get the heck out of their way.

"Hold on we need to know how this works.

"Right we need to stop it from regenerating. This thing is not something I'd want to face if we can avoid it somehow."

She will lower her camera and pops it back into her inventory. She seems concerned about Alruna but given what she has experienced in her own past? She somewhat gets why both the emotional and very logical reasons to have the big elder primal /die/ for good.
Lezard Valeth Nothing prevents them from shutting down the aether transferene beam. The beam stops, and the system registered the deactivation of the First Coil. Two remain. The group can see the other two bridges of similar ships poking into the cavern. They will need to locate entrances to the other ships to shut them down...

    But for now, they have made progress.
Amelris Belthrone      Amelris lets out a grunt, pushing away from the console, shaking his head.

     "Nothing else we've got else to do here." He says, looking over at the deactivated coil, looking upward. "We'll have to find the other places to do it for the other ... Let's call them Coils."