Increase inclined his head once.

"Of course Curator."

Increase would be sure to kill the Curator at some point in the future. He wasn't one that took being chastised well and had little desire to endure such things given his elevated status. Perhaps he might yet earn his life but for the interim his days were effectively numbered by Increase's good graces; of which he had few.

"Excellent. I will review the information and see if I cannot determine some manner of pattern."

He then turned his attention to his companion who had removed some device from a hidden space within the wall.

"Claire. What is that?"

Claire looked at Increase. "You should know that I also follow the Creator, Increase," she said mildly.

"I don't mind exploring the ruins at some other time, particularly if there's a hint that our...friend is in there."

Increase nodded to Claire as well, unsure as to why she would believe in such an outdated concept. He had seen what she had done, what she could do again. When had God done the same? When was the last time God had done anything for mortal man? No he had seen the machinations of God's supposed creations in his own homeland. They had corrupted the Church and tainted the Atheocracy with the false teachings. He would cleanse this world of such things and set it upon the true path, the right path.

"Of course. You will have my assistance. Should the need arrive."

(OOC - Sorry, got busy with stuff today, will post more after a few hours sleep, but Claire got some info)

Later, when you review the information..

It turns out, there was a number of artifacts seized from Howlers found wandering the desert, carrying a number of odd artifacts, including the "bits". The howlers were sold into slavery and the items catalogued in the university. This included a number of rather familiar looking robes, as well.

There have also been a number of bright republic teams that have been selling new artifacts to the university. That's kind of odd, since the Republic normally has good relations with the howlers (unlike every other nation that live next to them). Are the Howlers trading their artifacts now? That would be weird.

(OOC - More info to follow, I need some sleep)
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:26, Thu 18 June 2020.

"I think we need to talk this over with Gaja," said Claire. "She may have more information." She paused. "I have a possible contact in the Republic if it turns out that we are dealing with Republican sharp operators as well as Lomites."

"I remember the last time we had Bright Republic 'hunters' sell some items to us. I believed that they had dinner with our professor of Republican studies, and a few other students." Said the curator.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:11, Sun 21 June 2020.

"I see. I'd like the names of the students, and to know if any of them are still around for me to chat with, if possible."

"Of course. There are always a few students who are fascinated by the bright republic.

I believe one of them is still here. I will instruct them to co-operate.

I would request that you do not use or imply violence in your investigation. If they are uncooperative, let me handle that instead." The curator intoned.

(OOC - If you want to do something else here, just let me know)

At a later time, you make a brief detour with the curator to the administrative building, and a competent clerk helps you find the relevant student, Micheal Descenzo, and bring him back.

The student is in his early 20's, and wears the standard robes of the senior students of the collegium. The administration office helpfully tells you that he has completed the undergraduate program for Bright Republic Technology, and is continuing his studies in Engineering, and will likely go on to study theotehnology or clockwork automatons. He's from a minor family, far inland, so he's probably a bit quaint compared to some students.

The curator walks you over. "Senior Student Micheal Descenzo?"


The curator continues sternly, "Please treat these individuals with the utmost courtesy. They are patrons of the collegium. Is that clear?"

Student Michael Decenzo: "Yes, Curator."

Increase found the pattern interesting and map a note of the locations that he saw. Beyond that he saw little else to be gained from the sight of the attack and would need to see if there was any more information that could be gained from the formal reports of the dead, although he didn't imagine that there would be. Still the lead on the students was interesting although not expressly within Increase's areas of strength. So he left that to Claire who was by fair the more charismatic of the pair.

Apologies for the lackluster post but I'm not sure what to do with myself. Just sort of spinning my wheels here.

Autopsy reports are a literal mess, largely because most of the bodies were blown up with that weird soul magic. A few were killed with some kind of unusual etheric weapon: the corpses were a bit more "intact".

OOC: At least you now have some additional places to check out in the waste, though you will probably piss off Gaja if you break into old Howler ruins.

Claire smiled at Michael and sat across from him. "Hello, Michael," she said, taking a moment to admire his cyber and his laptop. "Very impressive tech and hardening, and the physical concealment's top notch. I just wanted to ask you some questions."

She visibly relaxed a bit with a twirl of her wrist. "I recall you, the Professor, and some other students had a discussion with some Republican tech hunters," she said. "I'm curious to know what they're about." Her body appeared relaxed, but her eyes were subtly focused on the boy, trying to see if he was worried or hiding something.

The curator frowned "What.. are you talking about?" He said to Claire.

The curator looked confused, and the young student looked both scared and confused for a few moments. Normality returned swiftly to his face after a moment: he recovered swiftly.

"I have some republican items on me I got from the traders. I'm sorry but.. You are.. Claire Durand, right?? That's crazy? What the heck are you doing here?!

Eventually, he realized he'd been asked a question. A sheepish look came on his face.

"I'm kind of fascinated with republican technology and culture. It's hard not to when you get access to even the basic stuff they package on the university computers. When a republican comes here, I like to talk to them and trade. Sometimes those that are heading home will trade us shielded items like music players."

"I can't believe you are here! We should talk later about the republic and your music.  Most of us were sure you were an expert system, not a true AI.

Is this about unlicenced music? Sorry, the export copy licence on copyright is REALLY expensive and hard to find. I kind of figured it might be wrong, but had no idea it merited a response like this. It's so crazy you are here though."

He turned to the curator, his speech becoming more formal as he addressed the Vissian.

"I apologize for any shame or disgrace our group caused the university for sharing files. No insult was intended to the university or your family. I will not do so in the future and will let the others know that this behaviour is unacceptable."

The curator looked sternly at the man as though considering an appropriate punishment. He was under the impression that he'd done something wrong, but he had absolutely no idea what the hell he was talking about. He'd let the outsiders handle this one.

(Ugh, this message was deleted to the GM hitting the wrong button. Sorry Claire!
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:59, Tue 23 June 2020.

"I am.... glad. It's not easy to get recorded music out here. I'm hoping to bring some of the church chorals to the Republic some day and perhaps have them recorded for posterity.

I didn't buy anything. We did do some trading - shielded electronics are very popular here, and we had some clockwork bits and small artworks we traded for odds and ends.

You think the traders were involved in students deaths? Had I have known any connection, I would have volenteered such information immediately."

The Curator raised an eye brow "How do you know about they are dead?"

A genuinely sad look came over his face. "Curator, the students are studying Theotechnology, my field, a year ahead of me. They have not shown since, and were assigned to the adjunct lab that has been closed off. I had, of course, been hoping that they were merely in the infirmary, but it's been so long..."

A short uncomfortable silence ensued.

"I've picked up a number of little trinkets from the republic over the years. Perhaps we can go over them privately? I am guessing that you are both very familiar with republican technology and theotechnicial principles? Even though I have a degree, the universities access to republican tech is limited, for obvious reasons."

If Claire were a cat, the mention of "clockwork bits" would have her ears standing straight up.

"Alright. Please lead us to your items, I'm most interested in them." She smiled at the Curator. "We thank you for your time, but we don't want to be an imposition. Increase and I can talk with Michael and geek all out about our friend's tech."

The curator paused a few seconds, looked very carefully at all three of them, and then sighed.

"Very well. I hope this discussion bears fruit. No doubt you'll want to talk about your upcoming project as well."

Very quickly, Michael goes to gather a few things from his dorm and then offers a nice "walk" on the spacious campus grounds with Claire and Scholar. Once he is far enough away that he is sure he is not being overheard, he turns to claire.

"Ok. So. Claire, I don't suppose you know the song, "Patron Fidelis Maximus? No? Ok then."


After a few moments, he sighs, and hands over a small leather case with multiple compartments. There are numerous gears, tiny crystals, and howler items.

"Right. Here are all the little things I picked up from the traders. It's mostly shielded tech, but I do have a few tiny pieces of howler artifacts. I'll answer any questions you have the best I can about the traders."

Increase moves closer to the leather case and examines each of the items in turn, inspecting them and trying to understand their construction and operation. When he was done with one he placed it back into the leather case and continued his inspection.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:44, Sat 27 June 2020.

(Ugh, I really need to stop hitting "edit" instead of quote).

Each of the items are relatively simplistic, but you are able to glean a bit about these artifacts. They very clearly use thamaturgical principles largely unfamiliar to you, so are clearly Pre-howler. Some, from their feel, you can tell are additional parts of the great work, though much smaller in scale and less powerful and dangerous then the bits. You are able to identify batteries, and small shards of crystals, slightly different, that you believe may have once been a data storage device: using your gifts, you are able to determine people speaking and reocording things into them.

"There are a bunch of them with different motivations. Obviously, the ones I dealt with were from the Republic. There were some really serious guys. I'm not sure but they seemed like the really competent ones. A few others weren't much older than me. They seemed more like freshmen from noble families: having an adventure, do a little impromptu trading for some extra cash.

Most of the guys I was dealing with were the not so serious ones, but there were a few of the really serious guys I could trade with.

There's actually a real market for that stuff. I know that the best stuff the howlers get is all sold to the republic, but the republican teams aren't the only ones who go out there: there's also generic treasure hunters. The families also have a pretty good selection.

I do know that a lot of the people who come in have been talking about getting lots of more stuff from "weird robe wearing howler cultists." I normally don't think I'd have been able to buy this stuff on my own, otherwise."

"Howler cultists selling Mandala tech. Now that is useful," said Claire. "A couple more questions. First, did your really serious people have connections to my creators, Bright Record? Second, do you know a Celias Triante? And third, do you know how they make contact with the cultists, and any timeline in which I could expect to meet these cultists?"

Claire grinned. "And fourth, I think you've earned an internship on my team, if you want in."

Increase burned the designs of these items into his mind but made no special considerations about them. When he finished examining each he returned the leather case to the table and turned his attention towards Michael once again.

"I have no further questions for you Michael. Thank you for your assistance."

He then listened to the exchange between Claire and Michael, mostly interested in what this internship was that she was proposing.

"Bright Record? They... produce... your music, right? They weren't exactly advertising who they were working for. I'm just a student in Vissio, right? The serious ones weren't super forthcoming about who they were working for. Maybe they are looking for old recordings?

I don't know that much about the republic's politics, but I understand they are a lot like Vissio, in that they got a lot of competing interests. It's hard to tell if they are working for their national military, one of the companies, or some government agency.

I've not heard of that name, though it sounds kind of familiar. Obviously a bright republic name, right?"

"As for meeting up with the cultists, nah, I'm afraid I don't know how to get ahold of them. If the collegium knew they might try and cut out the middle man. I got the idea from the non-serious people that it was a bit accidental though, a lucky find. I'd heard that tribes near the sea and further away from the borders are more open to trading. I don't know much about the cultists themselves. I know we have a professor who specializes in anthropology here.

Now.... what I've heard is that there are howler tribes by the sea have some way of signalling republican traders that they are ready to trade, and that they come to the shore."

I do know that howlers who live close to the sea tend to be way more hospitable and open to dealing with the Republic, with a few exceptions. My country and the Howler tribes are basically constantly raiding each other. But Howlers know that's not going to go well if they try it on the republic. Besides, the republic's big on art and music from the Howlers.

As for this internship.. this does sound interesting. I'll have to work it out with my current program head though. My family paid a lot of money for me to learn specific skills, and if I didn't I'd be disappointing them. But this does sound pretty amazing. I can get you a few students, at least, who'd be sympathetic, to help. I'll try and square it with my professors though."

Claire nodded. "Thank you for your time, Michael. And yes, as many students and professors in the appropriate disciplines as are interested would be welcome."

She looked at Increase. "I hope you've found something useful to your investigation here," she said. "For me, this has been a very productive outing, despite the guns pointed at me."

Increase made a non-verbal utterance.

"It has been a mixed situation. The Collegium is an institution worth preserving, worth capitalizing on, but I find the adherence to dogma among its constituents to be distressing, as you have seen. It runs counter to my Lommitic teachings which admittedly are biased. Still it draws me to question the Collegium's ultimate goals if they limit themselves with idols and arbitrary codes of morality."

He shook his head, waving a hand to dismiss his own ramblings.

"Still that is not important. If you've concluded your investigations I believe I've learned as much as I can about the culprit. Any more information likely lies in the Howlers, among these ruins, and with these cultists that are selling off fragments associated with the Bits."

"I trust you don't question my ultimate goals," replied Claire a bit tartly. "I choose to hope that the Creator will come back and fix things Himself, but I'm not sitting on my pretty ass waiting. But you know what I'm all about. I want to make the world a better, happier, more beautiful place, and Unitary or not, the Collegium can do a lot of good towards that. Especially if they're working with us."

She nodded to Increase. "We'll ask Gaja what she's learned when she returns to alla Sabbia. This is starting to fit together in places but we're missing some...bits...of the puzzle."

Increase smirked at Claire's words.

"I question everything. Think nothing special of it. We are allies and I believe in you if nothing else. As for making the world a better place we are in agreement on that. A better world is something we can all desire. At the very least I shall endeavor to improve the lives of my fellow Lommites. We've labored under the heel of the Atheocracy for long enough."

He then nodded.

"Yes that seems the most prudent course. Shall we return then?"