LongTech Industries - The Heat Is On Part 3 - RPLOG
Participants
Date
27/8/477
Log
The group has been led by a hefty security-escort from LongTech industries, and they have made steady progress past the dustbowl that constitutes the Drytongue Flats. Already early on, the Tower made an appearance in the distance, and several minor battles with the local creatures were quickly passed due to the combined force of security and freeswords, though of course, the mission is only barely started.
"RIGHT. Since we are now significantly away from the city itself, I have to inform you," the leader of the security-forces rumbles, pulling out a letter with the new Longtail seal on it. "The Lady has informed me that your instructions... Are not as she said they were."
"We are to expect a trap within the tower by none other than the High Lady's family. Anyone who wants to turn back should do so NOW. For anyone else... WE will set up a camp and ensure that no-one can enter or exit the tower without being apprehended by us. YOU are expected to go inside and pacify any and all hostiles you may find. Use lethal force only when necessary, we would like to be able to interrogate them. Am I clear?" The commander bellows, gesturing at the giant tower nearby.
"Any questions regarding the mission?"
"What?" Dio questions immedietly after the briefing, two claws gently scratching his forhead in confusion. "Quite the bait 'n' switch if I ever saw it, but..." The lion slams the base of his spear firmly into the ground and grows a proud stance, shoving out his chest and tilting his chin upwards. "If it's fer the sake o' takin' out some o' those old Longtails, suppose I wouldn't mind 'elpin' out. While I was excitied fer some explorin', those Longtails that can't let go are becomin' too much o' a problem to ignore." With a metallic clank, he bolsters his large tower shield, ready for duty.
The silent nurse shark has hundreds of questions, but she lacks the ability to voice them, and instead hopes the others will ask on her behalf. She waits for the lion to stop talking, then attempts to sign She's currently only holding a well worn travel staff, but it is far more than it seems, much like its wielder.
Hearing the new orders, the towering Fern adjusts her gauntlets and hefts her shield. Having readied her preferred weapons, her hands, she eyes the entrance to the Tower cautiously. Eyeing te Lion and his shield, smiles inwardly with the knowledge that damage should be nicely spread around. Hopefully. Silent as always behind her fully masked helm, the plant woman casually moves to a position that better places her in-between the object of their attention and the rest of the group. Mentally dividing the group into smaller pseudo groups of those who will need protection and those who likely wont, she makes a plan she knows will likely be useless in about 10 minutes. Pulling the gigantic sheet of metal in front of her person, Savi readies herself for violence by slapping her thickly spiked and armored glove against the shield face, as if to test it's mettle.
Thelergramor is completely unbothered by the weather, temperature and dry heat of the flats. Even in his coat, chainmail, and equipment. Or by the change in objective. Only thing that does bother him, is being told to leave the targets alive. "I'll leave some of them breathing. Only because you asked so nicely." He stops to drink from a flask with the words 'water only' scratched onto the side, before offering it to Technetium. He picks up on Cirras sign language, and, in an attempt to inform her of his proficiency with such, he responds: "Don't be nervous." He looks to the others, scratches his neck, and pulls his plague mask over his face. The red lenses lending him a grim visage.
Mishka wanders along through the flats in company of the security team. It was a little bothersome with all the heat and her heavy armour, but the shiba bears it with determined expression. "I'm not sure if I'm keen on being misguided like that." She glances back, briefly considering returning before offering a little shrug and checking the straps of her shield. "Oh well. It is what it is, I guess. Might as well help out, hmm? I'll do what I can, certainly."
"As long as we're in the know ahead of time, this one has little worry.", says a small, accented voice from nearby. The source of the voice, a Bearded Dragon clearly from the small clan, balances a dagger in the palm of his hand as he sits cross-legged on the ground.
It was an odd call for help but despite that Sylera still answered the call. Or perhaps it was due to rumors of what happened during the last time the industries required help like this that the betta wanted to come along to help, to prevent another such happening. As a result Sylera travels with a heavy load. A bow upon a shoulder, a backpack filled to the brim with medical supplies, some leather armor, and her staff held in hand.
As news of the misdirection comes to light her face grows dark. "I hope this isn't how the Longtails typically do business... But it shall slide for the moment. I can understand trying to ensure your objective doesn't find out about the mission." The betta digs through her various pouches and such as if to ensure that everything was in order. "Still so long as LongTech pays for any injuries..." Trading her staff for the bow she looks with interest to the others that are signing. <Hopefully will be alright. Least if someone is hurt I can help.>
Mishka gets a short glances from the leader, before he shakes his head. "The Lady did not inform her closest allies until we left, and this sealed letter is the first /I/ have heard of the plans. Her family has spies everywhere, however, and I can imagine the need for secrecy," the newt notes, before gesturing at the tower.
"And I reckon she chose this one here so there wouldn't be any place for them to hide but inside."
"The reward will be all the same, one-thousand crown for each member of the team. More if the Lady seems it appropriate. And any creator implements you find are to be handed over for inspection," he notes, before gesturing his men to set up camp around the base of the tower in a wide circle.
The tower itself has a single, broad entrance, and it quickly becomes apparent that the building is completely made out of creator steel, with every corridor smooth and shiny, if covered in a layer of sand and dust from the outside... Well, nothing for it but to explore... Left or right?
Dio scratches idly at his fuzzy chin. "Ooh, so there's still some creator artifacts to be had, eh?" Interest peaked even further, the lion's tufted tail swings and brushes against the floor with hints of excitement. "I've been trainin' to become a machine priest an' all, studyin' creator tech in my spare time. Wouldn't mind takin' a look at whatever we might find. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Let's move quickly now," he claims as he puts a tight grip upon his armamanets and moves closer towards the tower. "We should stick to one path an' keep together. I 'ear some o' these ruins 'ave some traps in 'em and such. Maybe the left path is worth explorin' first?"
The nurse shark signs to the wolf and the Betta. <Hello. I am Cirra. I do a bit of everything. Just not well.> She takes her staff in hand, adjusting her oilskin clothes. She sizes up the tower, looking around. The turns to the Betta. <My instincts tell me to go left and follow the left wall. No chance of getting lost.>
In her whispered low voice, in fact almost a no-voice, Saviante agrees. "Always go left." she whispers from under her helm. Stepping forward without any warning, the tall plant takes a busted and damaged shield from her pack. "There is a reason I keep this." she whisper-speaks to no one in particular before moving her arm and casting the damaged buckler down the left hall in the manner of a discus, or more correctly, a flat pebble cast at the surface of a pond. "lets see if anyone is awake, shall we?"
"Hold on for a moment... Creator tech isn't getting handed over to the Longtails." Thelergramor steps up to the front, continues: "Not under Floras jursidiction. Direct any complaints to Major Sally Solacious." The wolf shows a badge with a symbol of a pyramid with an eye over it to the leader. He moves on afterward.
Walking over to Dio: "Why not? Need to go one way or the other, right?" He heads off to the left, telling the fern. "Good job. Subtlety is overrated, yeah?" Steps up to the front, drawing his swords.
Shliek frowns at the commotion everyone else is maaking and speaks up at the mention of subtlety being overrated. "Whichever path we choose, perhaps you would prefer an experienced Rogue to take point, hmmm?", the Bearded Dragon says. "Should there be any traps, my weight is less likely to set them off, and this one can disarm many. Or in the case of Ambush.. this one is less likely to be seen, yes?" He flips his dagger in the air and catches it, sheathing it with a flourish in his belt. "Unless of course someone else would like to blunder in and set everything off? This one is, after all, only making a recommendation and should someone else wish to soon have less blood in their body than current, I have no problem with this."
Mishka heaves a sigh and tugs her helmet on before stretching out. "Right. I'll let someone else take the lead. I'll cover the back," she says as she falls into line, checking over her armour and shield once more as she follows after the group.
Sylera frowns, odd that the reward should stay the same given the lies that they had been fed but then she wasn't necessarily here for that. With a shrug the betta moves into place behind the front lines, arrow notched to bow. "You mean aside from the obvious trap?" She observes, a small smile upon her face. "Still left is as good as any."
As Thel speaks Sylera smirks. "Fair point... Besides I'm not certain the rewards offered thus far outweigh the handing over of such valuable objects." She observes. <I am Sylera, healer.> Signing back to Cirra.
Technetium peers over at the majority of the group, having stayed to the sidelines and not spoken most of the whole time. She quitely makes her way more to the center to get a better view of what goes on, or, generally, to make sure nobody loses the /other/ half of their leg. *Ahem*. Not being accusatory or anything, nope!
"I have a missive from the church stating that any and all creator tech found will be inspected by the church, and that only those things safe for use will be even considered to become property of LongTech Industries," the newt notes towards Thel, before raising a brow. "This has been a coordinated effort between the Church and LongTech Industries. If you have any issues with that, I suggest you leave, right about now. In addition, these ruins have already been searched in the past. Look, the door is open. You're not going to find more than a malfunctioning scorcher or a sacred doctor or two, if you're lucky."
Meanwhile, the buckler clangs repeatedly as it hits the wall, the floor, and then the floor again, finally sliding to a halt and just gently tapping against a servitor that was busy sending sparks at the wall. It seems the coast is clear, so far, although that servitor is quick to incinerate the buckler, before getting back to its work.
Further along the curving corridor, more servitors are working along the walls, paying no heed to the party, so long as they don't stray too far from the path and don't walk in the way... If they do, well, the servitors have a habit of providing a little zap to whoever comes too close.
"That would be great," Dio replies to the possibly roguish one in question. "An' anyone else if ya think yer good at findin' some traps o' whatever. Hopefully it won't be too much o' a problem. Just keep yer eyes open now." With the buckler tossed, the lion watches the reaction of whatever's inside with extreme interest. "Oh hoh... Tough things. As expected from our Creators. Let's move forward with caution an' try not to disturb him," he claims before moving forward, shield out in a slow manner.
Cirra winces and mentally curses herself. She was hoping to at least not have the quarry be alerted to exactly where they are. She hangs towards the back, joining the healer, since she does not want to be caught with the loud oafs who are bumbling ahead. She does nod at the the rogue's suggestion, since her own knowledge of traps, while extant, is limited.
Having noted the demise of the shield, Savi also nods to the little rogue. "Just don't lose any more pieces." The fern says softly, her soft voice making the comment unclear in its intent. It might be a joke, it may not. Tower shield at the ready. Holding her place for now, Savi waits for Thel to begin moving forward before she continues on as well. Head scanning the area ahead of her, the paranoid plant can't help but expect to be ambushed at every step.
Thelergramor ignores the words of the longtech guy. Planning to take anything he finds back to Sally; she can negotiate with the longtails and church. Thel blinks at the servitor. "Yeah... Don't go near that. As for traps, I can probably handle those." He looks to the small, roguihs one. "I'm a rogue too, more or less. Can also handle dark magic, if we need to make our enemies bleed internally or attack each other." The wolf does indeed move forward. Though, now, he wishes his coat were flame retardent.
Technetium peers through the crowd yet more, trying to look at everyone there, take in what actually was happening. She does listen to the Longtech representative, but that only gives her a sneaking suspicion something deeper is going on here. She mutters to herself, "Why is longtech working with the church?" As she pushes her way to be near-er to Thel, noting that wandering into more traps is generally a bad thing. "Thel. What are you doing?"
Shliek stands up and cracks his neck and back. "This one is not likely to lose any 'pieces'.", he says somewhat derisively. He pushes past or walks under the gathered Beings and starts to carefully creep down the passage, eyes alert for danger. He makes a note to give the servitors a wide berth when possible.
Mishka remains fairly quiet for now. Finding traps wasn't really her thing, nor was solving fancy puzzle. No, she was mostly here as back-up for when things went south. And given how people were already throwing shields noisily down the hall... She figured they probably would before too long.
Sylera glances towards the front and back of the group, good both ends were covered by defenders. As the shield sails forth she briefly tightens her grip upon the bow but relaxes when no significant reaction was had. She'll move with the rest of the group, keeping an eye on the sides for any traps the others might have missed.
