Veldygar Arhandor and Broken Eternal enter the interior of the Inner Temple, bottom level, after ensuring no one is waiting just inside the door for them. Harue, who decides whatever the two Celestials are up to is much too involved and dangerous for her tastes, opts to skip out another way while still wearing her doctor's disguise. She did manage to at least find the way into the temple, and replenish her drug supply, and now it's time for her to cut losses.

The temple interior is built not of stone, or even ordinary metal, but adamant, that Autochthonian metal of incredible strength and (at least found loose and harvestable) rarity. That in itself is a sign that the group is within the central column of the Five Coils, though how close to the exact center is not certain. Garnet Cog's approximation is about a half-mile away if one could move in a straight line.

The halls and rooms closest to the entrance the Exalts just stepped through appear to be completely devoid of any personnel, Immaculate or hospital or otherwise. It seems that the group that came in before them must have evacuated either further away, or even upward. The immediate area seems to lack any sort of map, not like the hospital, so only Cog's memory and the Exalts' senses can be relied on for any sort of navigation.

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor; Broken Eternal: Decide together (IC, preferably) what to do.
- Wait and rest a while. This will replenish your motes to full. Veldy may also attempt to heal Dezephiel with Wound-Mending Needles so it can stop accruing Limit for its unfulfilled Warden role. Or Eternal who has taken 3L damage.
- Do some exploring. (Be specific about what you are looking for and how.)
- Go to a specific destination or direction (toward a cardinal direction? toward the center? etc.)]
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:20, Tue 11 Aug 2009.

Veldygar, giving Harue an intrigued stare as she decided to get on her own way, decided to, first and foremost, search for a safe place to hide and rest - and, if possible, use the healing magic of his Wound Mending Needles on Broken Eternal, should he need it.

"We should perhaps rest a bit," he said when he was reasonably sure no one was in earshot. "I can patch you up, if you need it, and my servants might need some rest too."

Eternal grudgingly agrees on the resting. Naturally he is unhappy about it, being so eager to spill more Immaculate blood. But being reckless in the confines of their monks' own turf is an even stupider idea, so he stays put. As for healing, he shrugs -- he is not too badly banged up but he would gladly get some of his wounds patched up as they hinder his movements and reflexes somewhat.

Veldygar finds it is easy enough to find an empty place to rest in the abandoned areas close by. Though the Inner Temple is indeed a temple, it also serves as a base for their militant monks, and therefore he is able to find a nearby barracks for rest. Even after waiting cautiously a few minutes for passers-by he and Eternal hear nothing of note approaching their way. They may hear, if they listen hard enough, distant voices and footsteps, even sounds of combat, but it is far away, and fading.

So they rest for a time, regain their power and, if Veldygar wishes to expend the Essence, heal as well.

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor: Unfortunately Eternal doesn't want to post on weekends now *sigh* so I am assuming his actions, though if this becomes inconvenient for too long he too will have to 'disappear'.

If you will heal him he has taken 3L damage (2L healed would bring him to -0 level). If you heal Dezephiel he has taken 7L (2L healed would bring it to -1, 6L healed to -0 level). Hopefully that'll give you an idea of how to distribute your Essence, as it is 3 motes per level you heal. You'll be forgiven if you decide not to bother healing Eternal :P but I would recommend healing the tomescu enough that it can contend in battle again. Also, besides the spent motes, you still have to roll Perc+Medicine diff 1 to heal each level, unless you have a base Perc+Medicine pool of 7+.)

After you subtract Essence spent for healing, post how many hours you will rest to gain all motes, assuming you regain 8 motes per hour.]

He waited.

He was trained to wait.  He could remain motionless for hours, maybe even days, while he waited for a target.  It was easy then, because it was all part of the process.  Waiting for the opportune moment, so he could inflict as much damage as possible on his target.  So what if it took time?  He was Broken Eternal, after all.  He was not going to age, and he was not going to die.  So what was a few hours?  What was a few days in the face of such things?  It was in this way that he had to think of this small respite.  Yes, monks were waiting for his blades, but they were not at full strength, then less blood would be spilled.

If they were going to suffer, it would be as much as possible--so Eternal waited.

"Heal your demons.  I'll be fine."  He said gruffly, sliding his back down the wall and sitting against it, his arms over his knees as he closed his eyes, apparently resting.  He knew where he wanted to go--the terminal had told him where the monks were, and that was where he would go, as swiftly as he could, once he was at full stregth (mote wise, at least.)

He did not pay any mind to Harue as she had decided to leave them.  It was her own path to pick, and he certainly knew the want to travel and be alone.  It simply wasn't his path anymore, it seemed, despite his wanting it to be otherwise.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:27, Mon 10 Aug 2009.

"As you wish," Veldygar replied. He worked on his demon as soon as possible, trying to meld his knowledge of demon physiology - if they could be said to have such, being manifestations of raw Essence after all - and healing to his servant.

He would probably spend an hour or two in their hiding place after that, shepherding his mystical energies.

[Private to GM: [OOC:23:48, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 3 successes using 4d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,2,8,8. Per+Medicine.
23:48, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 3 successes using 4d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,6,10,7. Per+Medicine.
23:48, Today: Veldygar Arhandor rolled 1 success using 4d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,6,2,7. Per+Medicine.]]

Eastern Barracks:

Veldygar and Eternal rest a couple hours. Veldygar's demons, of course, do not need to sleep. Gugoona, simple-mindedly eager to help as ever, scouts the immediate area while dematerialized. Garnet Cog, however, is no servant. She spends quiet time reminding herself of the interior of the Temple and its layout.

The rest allows Dezephiel to recover its energy and reemerge into materialized form. The demon seems to glower uncomfortably in the confines of the barracks. Insistent on serving its purpose as Warden despite its injured state, it pushes empty beds and footlockers aside to make room for it, remaining in front of the door leading into the barracks.

At this point Veldygar takes an hour to heal Dezephiel slightly. The tomescu makes no sound or gesture of thanks, only a soft keening... which eventually escalates in volume toward a loud shrieking wail. The healing and passage of time remind it of pain, and its tenuous mortality. [Private to Veldygar Arhandor: 4L healed. Since it's 15 min. per attempt I just let you heal an extra HL on the demon. Unfortunately this also means that Dezephiel has to remain materialized, and now it is doing its usual dawn/dusk scream of pain (likely dusk in this case). You can order it to stop, it will accrue another point of Limit (bringing its total Limit to 3).

Gugoona has 1 Limit now, due to being surrounded by material it cannot dissolve (i.e. adamant walls/doors). This'll only happen once a scene.]

Gugoona returns hastily to report its findings. The Inner Temple seems much more a fortress than a temple, from what little it has seen thus far. Rooms are devoted to sleeping quarters, combat training and equipment storage. Small prayer chambers, but no large, central place of worship it has seen, for the central chamber is closed off, similarly to the adamant door Veldygar and Eternal have recently passed.

The metody mentions other beings moving around on the current floor: no monks, but large red insects with straight swords and hook swords for limbs, scouting the halls further westward. It also claims there are humans coming this way that are neither bald nor robe-clad.

[Private to Veldygar Arhandor; Broken Eternal: Veldygar gains 16 motes. Eternal can gain up to 24 since he didn't exert himself while Veldy did the healing.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:21, Tue 11 Aug 2009.

Moving Eastward:

Entering the Inner Temple from the north, the group consisting of Dashu, Dena, Third and Danae make their way east with Third's keen memories to guide them. Navigating the temple corridors, they too pass storage and training areas, prayer rooms decorated with scrolls of Immaculate sutras, paintings and carvings of the Elemental Dragon of Earth, and the ubiquitous mon of Pasiap, the Omphalos Triumphant.

They encounter no monks, but eventually meet several Ruby Warriors originally sent in from the west. Evamae pauses to commune with them, and translates to the Celestials that they have pushed the remaining monks in the area either toward the center of the Temple, or upward. However the very center of the Temple is closed off by locked adamant doors, and the insects claim the stairways off-center (of which they have found two, thus far) are not much safer, as the regrouping monks are now watching these closely. It is more likely at this point that they will wait for the Celestials to come... at least for a time.

Ahead of the others, Dashu is the first to hear the strange, inhuman scream emanating from the barracks area they are now approaching. He can pinpoint exactly which door it is coming from. Hearing that wail, the builder bugs following behind chitter in a chorus of nervousness. [Private to Danae Adela; Peleps Dashu; Tervila Dena; Third Beneficiary of Orderly Knowledge: Can roll Int+Occult to figure out what that wail might be all about.]