He nods politely and heads into the back, making a quick call on his radio along the way. He'll take a look at the place to get an idea of crew and capacity. For instance: how many vehicles could the place hold? do they have top notch equipment? does it look like they do much TW equipment? does the crew look competant? hardworking?

Upon finding the owner he'll ask, "You the owner?" Assuming that answer is 'yes': "I'm Corporal Fanel, of Pluto Company. We're the Tolkeen company sent here to help defend Madtown. I'm going to be in charge of setting up a mechanic team to start arming this place. I wanted to start making some TW equipment and adding upgrades to troop armor, and I was hoping I could count on your help. I was told up front that you weren't going to help me until you were forced to, and it won't be long now until you will be. But I just thought I'd check the place out and see if this would be a team I could rely on."


(I said that of course assuming she has a team. From what I read in the book, it says they do handle TW stuff as well.)

As the worshippers stand - and appear as though they may become violent - Mithas stands tall and grunts, allowing flames to escape his nostrels. Small fires ignite in various places on his body.

The minotaur speaks in a loud booming voice:

"LEAVE NOW!"

The worshippers jump as Mithas demonstrates his abilities. They quickly grab the naked girl - who is still barely concious - and shuffle out the front door.

The priest slowly stands to his feet, glaring at Lotus. Blood trickles down from his lip as he wipes it with the back of his hand.

The priest looks around at his surroundings, realizing there is little he can do - he begins walking for the door.

"and here I thought Tolkeen would help us... you will get what is coming to you dark knight. You are all going to die here..."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Braga and his crew approach the bartender. Braga asks "Are you being the owner of here?". The 'tender responds with a "yeah, who's asking?" "Pluto Company will need to using here for military structure. Was once bunker - will be bunker again. You have two hours to close down and have the people to be leaving." - The 'tender is surprisingly co-operative... and nods. Not that he is happy about the decision... but he is compliant. Braga thanks the man and leads his team out.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   "So, sergeant, you wanna search the church and I watch the entrance, or you want me to do it?  After a sweep is done, we can get on with something more interestin' dontcha think?"
   Lotus paces a bit, looking around the large chamber of the church.  She kicks a chunk of the floor out of her way - debris from her previous energy blast warning shot.

"Do you dig many trenches back home old boy? I hear humans are forced to shun their own bodies because of the level of demon poulation in their lands... is it true that men who are ashamed of their insignificance transform themselves into a mechanical version of my kind? Because if it is true I feel sorry for their women..."

 'Masque looks away from his work - which is for the moment being performed with a small notebook-style computer rather than a shovel, plotting the best avenues of fire and sight that head towards the town, as well as working out what regions of the ground are best suited to lines of communication and entrenchment - and up at the large Gargoyle, presumably sat nearby since getting the 'setting up' stage right could save plenty of digging later.

 That the Gargoyles (and presumably the Golem) largely ignored his little homily on the art and science of digging in seems not to surprise him, but the off-hand question from the nondescript demon-thing does at least get a mostly civil answer...

 "Have dug plenty of holes before now, da... to shit in, to hide in, and to bury demonkin invaders in..." he states in a manner almost humble until the last, his upper shoulders shrugging expressively, "Enough to know is art to taking cover when hellstorm of missiles and lasers and railguns is coming."

 A moment more, and the brush of a silver-clawed hand through his headfur, and the oversized 'Borg goes on, "But you are having story backwards. The Rodina calls, and men are proud to answer. When mortal strength fails, we take up steel in hand... when steel in hand fails, we take steel into flesh. We do not step back, we do not surrender, we live and die to answer her call." - a second follows, and a dryly mechanical chuckle follows the far more passionately fired words, as though acknowledging that he sounds not unlike a Party broadcast - "And you may feel sorry for them if you wish, but do not turn your back on them... for you would likely not live to turn again." he adds not entirely unkindly.

Photios steps aside from the doorway to let the priest and worshipper's pass, before joining the other two within. Looking about the room for a passage that might lead to a basement, "If you don't mind I'll be searching about for a good place to hide a Circle of Travel in case we need an emergency evacuation."

Letting the other two stay in charge he'll be happy to follow the one who is chosen to search the place.

Obidiah having been standing stock still doing nothing moves forward with a grace that should not be possessed by a two ton statue. Now standing next to Masque he broadcasts his telepathic speech in a radius around him. "That is right you sub-demon scum and you would do well to remember it. Throughout human history your kind have been nothing but a minor blight on humanity as a whole. In this time of magic you may be more akin to a plague but one that goodness will overcome regardless of the cost. I suppose my words ring with a certain hypocrisy don't they? Personally I am ashamed of the nation I love and in many ways it has already perished in the flames of war. Pray demon that I do as well otherwise your life will be the first I take once the invaders are pushed back. Stepping back to show he is not necessarily challenging the gargoyle the golems face remains expressionless locked as it is in mystic steel. His voice however belayed emotion he rarely if ever shows tinged with a little bit of desperation. Something Masque said struck a chord in him and he wanted to believe it. Slowly slipping away from his humanity he needs to.

   Lotus looks to Mithas, waiting for the cow to decide on what they should do and who will search the church.

OOC - Lotus is attempting to defer to the higher-ranked minotaur.  I'm also assuming that there is not actually an in-character delay in his response.  If there is, Lotus would just ignore him and make the decision herself.

Doing her best to land softly, Calliandra still manages to crunch the ground a bit with her new power armor.  She looks up and down the street before looking over at her metalic companion.  "So anyway, my grandpa knew someone from way back and he got me in.  I had to do some training, prove that I knew how to handle Bernadette..."  The young woman pauses a moment, then continues, "Oh, that's right, you never met Bernie.  She was my first 'bot.  I fixed her up myself.  Ah, I think this is the place, right?"

"I'm not sure where to start looking... the passage to the underground area is what we need to find... should have kept one of those fanatics around... What are you doing here Photios?"

The woman just turns away from Van. It is clear that order will have to come before she does a damn thing for him.

Just behind Private Deacon, the mercenary Oksana and Private O'Hare enter the shop.

Photios looks to the Minotaur and then indicates the Church, "After a brief census, this is one of the few buildings in town capable of withstanding modern weapon fire. As a church it will be seen as a bastion for the people and is likely to have a basement floor. I set up a Circle of Travel in Tolkeen and from my survey of the town this is probably the best building to put it in."

He'll assume Mithas knows what a Circle of Travel is before explaining and getting himself a dirty look for assuming the Minotaur was not highly educated in the ways of magic or at least the more difficult spells.

   "What do you mean you're not sure where to start searching?  This church isn't that big.  Just pick a spot and look, I'll fuckin' do it if you want.  And Photios is it?  What the hell is a circle of travel?"

   Anger.... rising.....patience....slipping away....

The female spoke with such vulgarity, something he didn't hear often though given her profession and that helmet she wore he should have been able to guess. Looking Lotus over he nods, "A Circle of Travel is a high level incantation consisting of two Magic Circles inscribed in two different locations. Upon activation of either one, people can be instantly transported from one to the other. I inscribed one of the Circles in Tolkeen and wish to set up another here to be used in a worst case scenario where we can evacuate as many as possible using it."

   "That sounds damn practical. Wish more o' the new recruits could give a straight fuckin' answer like that.  You're in 1st platoon right?  Tell me, do you have to activate this circle or will it stay open for anyone to jump through.  And, is it two-way?  Can we bring in supplies and shit?"
   Lotus' expression sounds interrogative, almost demanding of answers.  Those who don't know her might be offended.  Mithas however, might have the sense that she is genuinely interested in this so-called "incantation" that Photios has presented.

He nods to the inclination that he is from First platoon, "Yes I am, as for the limitations... each time I activate it, it should allow 10 people through with everything they can carry. Besides myself there are others with experience in dimensional magic, Shifters as we call them, who can also activate the Circle but only for two others and its more taxing then if its creator uses it. It can conceivably used to ferry supplies back and forth though I would be required to hop back and forth with them and it is limited by what people can carry as opposed to weight like a Teleportation spell can accomplish."

Its quite obvious he's spent far too much time locked up with books of magical knowledge and incantation study. The way the spells work is very intuitive and hard to study, but the effects they achieve have been well documented, "A Circle of Travel crafted with my current level of expertise will move 10 people at a time, compared to the 5,000 pounds my Teleport can handle. Though in terms of resources a Teleport Scroll requires about 15 minutes to recover from while within range of a Leyline; if I had two mages to assist in pulling energy from the Leyline we could activate the Circle of travel once every few seconds for as long as was needed."

   "So, what yer really sayin' is if I want to retreat, I should make sure your ass doesn't get fragged first.  Gotcha."

Photios does a little math, "Any Shifter should be able to activate it, though the cost is double with 1/5th the passengers. I don't plan on dying yet, though I certainly see nothing wrong with anyone else helping me stick to my plan."

Glancing back to the Minotaur since Lotus seemed to defer to his judgement which he assumed meant he was of a higher rank.

After the entrance to the underground facilities is located, Mithas decides he will watch the church and keep it empty for the time being. Lotus can return to Sgt. Braga or Magnet Man for orders.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Braga directs Na-Wa to assist Silvermasque with his duties.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As instructed Na-Wa seeks out the metal cat, and after asking several of the towns people:

“Na-Wa looking for a big white cat, you see one?”

Finally at some point Na-Wa finds the big metal cat, and inform it that he was sent to help

"Na-Wa was told by the ugly creature with many gun to find you the big white cat and help you.”

 Humanity is a curious thing - embrace it too tightly and you can only be certain of losing it in a wash of blood that wipes away all rational thought. Spurn it as a weakness and you will find yourself unable to appreciate the strength it can lend to the most innocuous soul. Turn yourself into a big giant metal killing machine to defend it and... well, you start to make speeches.

 Through the buzz of static that clutters the mental voice of the great Golem, at least in 'Masque's ears, enough meaning filters for the borg to nod once and raise a hand, "Is perhaps being good time to remember real enemy is not being inside settlement. We do not have to be liking one another to fight side by side, but hating ally is worse than having him as enemy."

 'Masque may be about to go on, but as he is about to do so a small and relatively nondescript Psi-Stalker appears at about hip-height, bringing his head around and down to look at the man, visor to eyeball... A moment passes, and a moment more... and then there's a deep chuckle, one lower-left hand like a shovel coming up to very, very lightly (and with plenty of time to be ducked or sidestepped) buffet the newcomers shoulder, "Good! - we are going to be digging in for when enemy comes to shoot guns at us. You are knowing anything about traps and guns?"

Callie looks up and down the street, noting the looks on the faces of the few citizens to remain there after she and Oksana landed.  Though she has spent far more time up to her shoulders in a machine than she has socializing, it's hard to mistake the looks of anger, mistrust and fear there.

Callie raises the arms of her SAMAS up to the helmet and air hisses for a brief second as she releases the seals there.  Her suit would not be operating at anything near its proper level without the helmet, she would be woefully vulnerable should someone decide to act on their feelings and, truth be told, she looked a bit ridiculous with her (now) small-looking head perched between the folded wings and jet intakes of the power armor, but hopefully that concession would earn her treatment approaching the human.

Gingerly she opens the door and sticks her head into the shop.  "Hi, I'm looking for Van...er, Corporal Fanel.  Has he been here yet?"

The girl behind the desk replies to Callie : "Some soldiers came here a few minutes ago - check the back..."

She watches Oksana and Calie intently as they walk into the garage area - where they find Corporal Fanel and Private Deacon talking with each other.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:39, Wed 11 July 2007.

Once the chapel has been relatively cleared, he'll find the basement floor and go about setting up the Circle as he had originally intended before the delightful delay involving the religious folks.

The ritual is quite lengthy and more then a few spells are involved so he'll be occupied for the next few hours with his work.