"Captain." Higura says, his tone lower now, after Tycho turns around. "Do no misunderstand me. I am not accusing you of creating these things on purpose. I know you are worth more than that, or I would spend no time arguing with you. The only thing I am asking you to consider is what you will leave behind, when your time is up. That is all." He glances back at the mechanical man, and shakes his head softly.

"You and I are not so different as you imagine, Captain Tycho." He says, before nodding once more. "At a later time, when we are not so caught up in things, I will explain to you why. If, of course, you are interested in a talk." He smiles faintly, before turning towards Drachma. "Mister Drachma... Worry not. I would never do anything to endanger your safety or that of the other refugees. I have accompanied you this far, and promised to see you through. I will not back out on my word. These prisoners are our responsibility alone, and none of you will be made to bear that burden."

He nods once more when Nanaret comes by, corroborating Tycho's words. "The Captain is right. No argument remains. We need to pull together and clean these grounds before more patrols get curious. I will handle the prisoners for now - let us move our people back to camp, and hear Nanaret's report." His gaze does linger on the Lunar, however - who now seems free of the influence of Ranavalona. He keeps his stare from lingering on her too long, however, instead busying himself with thinking of a way to carry on the prisoners' transport. He does pick up the remaining daiklave, however testing its balance before sheathing and tying it to his belt.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:51, Thu 26 Mar 2009.

"A great many things. But I will not mention now." Nanaret replies to Tycho, then shoots a glance at the one conscious Immaculate. "We gather elsewhere and I tell all."

Nanaret nods to Higura when he looks at her. "Doctor, everything is fine. But I hope everything fine for you. It is more difficult to heal feelings and relations between others. Very difficult, when much is at stake." Her words are not judgmental, though, and express a genuine concern. Mostly, she wonders how Higura will handle the Immaculate prisoners on his own without them becoming a danger.

She continues moving back and forth with equipment or, now and then, limp bodies. A thought comes to mind, which she brings to Higura, quietly. "Collars may work, but we need something stronger to keep them in control. Maybe can also use the potions Healer Saffron made..."

"That was my thought, as well. A combination of the two would be best, perhaps. We shall not be keeping them for long, in any case - just like with the refugees, we should not force anyone to join us. Once we are ready to move on, I will find a place to leave these people." He nods, then turns back to them. "I simply want them to have a chance to see the other side of the spectrum for once. Perhaps it will accomplish nothing in the end, but even though the moment might be fleeting, the memories of what happened here will remain."

He nods towards Nanaret, and shakes his head softly. "Please, you need not be concerning yourself with me. This is my duty and I fully accept all of its aspects."

"So I live?" Jade Willow looks at Higura plainly. "And here I thought the Solar would be the one to keep me. I hope you know what you're doing. I am drained, but if you wait too long, I can still attempt to take out these men." The Wood Immaculate nods toward the four gladiator spearmen still watching her. They look... disgruntled, though they sharpen up when it starts to look like she might struggle again.

Talia examines the collars for the first time without actually wearing one. The specifics of how they work involve a complex amalgam of circuitry and magical material interaction. More simply, using the collar requires the owner to place it on the neck of the target, then attune Essence to the item, which ought to take at least a couple minutes from what Talia can tell (which is why it cannot be done during combat).

She is pretty certain that a non-Terrestrial could use them on a Terrestrial, but they would have to expend a great deal of Essence to maintain control over it, and must work very carefully to ensure the inner circuitry does not reject the unexpected Essence.

Talia also suspects that unless a collar is deactivated (no Essence flowing through it), only the owner of the collar can safely remove it. Though she would have to test it to see, that could possibly be inhumane. If she cares about that.

---

OOC: More or less I'm going with the "attuning the wrong magic material" rules. Meaning to use the collar effectively, you'd have to attune double (16 motes in this case) and roll Wits+Lore difficulty 3.

Third has returned, at this point, to the settlement, settling into the small area it calls its own, and sinks down into meditation, to regroup its spirits, and to try to think about what has just happened to it. It's thoughts run quickly. If anyone asks it, it will be willing to commit its essence to sealing the Wood Aspect, and begin its work. It will be more difficult to convince them with its essence bound up in sealing them, but it will have the best chance of successfully binding them, at last. It meditates on the Daiklave, studying it quietly. It seems like it will be a difficult task to control it, but until an Orichalcum daiklave can be forged, it's a grand sight better than nothing. It slowly breathes in, as it begins the process of attuning, reshaping it's essence to interact with the foreign materials, to make the sword a part of it's body, and hopefully, to keep its body from rejecting the weapon.

"I think these collars should work on Dragon-blooded, although the energy requirement will be increased.  It's not ideal...And I'm talking to myself again, aren't I?"  Talia sighs, and follows the others to...wherever it is that they're going.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:48, Thu 26 Mar 2009.

While Nanaret informs her allies in the abandoned mining settlement about the goings-on at the Conclave, Third and Higura manage to fasten the collars onto the three captured Immaculates, restraining them along with the two acolytes that were spared. Fortunately, Willow is the only one of the prisoners in any shape to be a threat, and she remains in Third's close watch. Of course, this is but a temporary solution: sooner than later they will have to be either, converted, disposed of or abandoned when the Celestials and refugees finally break camp. [Private to Third Beneficiary of Orderly Knowledge; Yaishin Higura: Though it's not all played out yet in your private thread, I'm just assuming that you'll succeed so I can start pushing ahead. Don't see any reason why you wouldn't since Willow is the only conscious person to collar.]

After resting for a couple hours, Nanaret departs for the Conclave in order to beat the laborers' curfew. Traveling in near darkness, she uses her night-vision, her memory of the route and Third's descriptions of the automatons to her advantage.

The rest of the encampment settles down to sleep, and wakes again to another day in the dirt and dimness of the lower Coils.

Three days still remain before the scheduled visit from Hive Irix Chilomena. The group explains to Talia that their neighbors in this part of Floor B25 are a race of large, sentient insects engineered thousands of years ago to help with the repair and maintenance of Five Coils. They are Celestial allies, and may well be able to aid the small group of free Celestials escape or even take over the Earth District. After all, it is the builder bugs of Irix Chilomena that pulled the area around the mining settlement offline -- meaning that the automatons and AIs of the district are blind to its existence. Thus the name "Lost Corridors."

Until Queen Chilomena and her entourage arrive, Dena has time to enact her plan to close the outer tunnel. Those who wish to continue exploring (to find the nearby stairway indicated in Third's recent map, for example) could make a short excursion, though leaving the safe area may mean encountering machine sentries or human patrols.

---

OOC: If you'll explore, make the attempt in "Floor B25 - District of Earth, Further Exploration". Otherwise, start posting what you'll do for the next three days in this thread, including any training or crafting. [Private to Talia Zerith: The settlement has a fully stocked blacksmith's workshop and access to all the necessary materials to make steel. So I figure you could either assist Danae with magitech (you will need to buy Craft Magitech up to 3 though) or you could start crafting better mundane weapons/armor for the refugees.]

[Private to Tervila Dena: To block the tunnel we'll make it an extended Int+Craft(Earth) roll. Keep rolling the same dice pool and add the successes until you have over 5 sux. Each roll represents a day of work, though if you botch you'll have to start over from 0 sux. You can have Turtle help out as a NPC if you want, he'll add +1 success.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:15, Mon 06 Apr 2009.

Dena's first order of business, once the meeting is over, is closing up the Immaculate's tunnel.  Heading for where it splices into other passageways, Dena spends several hours running her hands over the stone, feeling it out and discerning where the cracks are.

Having gained the knowledge she wants, Dena switches to her warform and flares her anima banner for greater strength, then flies up to one corner where her understanding of the earth tells her the weakest point is.  In a single punch, she drives her arm into the stone up to her shoulder, then flexes titanic muscles inside her carapace, leveraging against the stone until it shifts.  Moments later the avalanche begins, this key point releasing others in a cascade until thousands of tons of stone are falling, filling in the passage entirely with a natural-looking cave-in.

[Private to GM: 23:06, Today: Tervila Dena rolled 8 successes using 10d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,3,7,2,3,2,5,7,10,10. Int + Craft + Conviction. ]

The rumble and noise of the avalanche ought to have alerted at least a few sentries. The tunnel itself, though, is sealed tight, and the collapse appears quite natural. One would have to be an extremely skilled and attentive engineer or architect to notice otherwise.

It is of course uncertain whether the cave-in will even be connected with the Immaculates, but it certainly will be inspected in the near future. Hopefully that will at least buy the group enough time to figure out an escape plan or a new place to move to. In the meantime, Higura and Third have opted to keep the three monks and two acolytes in two of the empty storage rooms, and personally take responsibility in keeping watch over them.

The digging out of the new passage is designed and accomplished largely by Grinning Turtle, who is quite accustomed to this kind of labor. He also has the aid a small band of worker refugees culled from the group he familiarized himself with during Tycho's mining exercises the week before. The mild-mannered tortoise Lunar reassures Tycho that the men are only being 'borrowed' for the task, though all can agree it is an important one, as the collapse of the previous tunnel has cut off the Lost Corridors from the rest of Floor B25. Fine for those who wish to stay cooped up in safety, but the allies in the Conclave need an entrance to return through, and any would-be explorers need an exit from which to leave.

This new tunnel is much narrower and inconspicuous. It opens out from the cavern where the Celestials are lodging, containing the buildings that once housed Granite Creed, his wife, and various officials and professionals in the mining settlement. The general idea is that this way the Celestials will be closest to any trouble that may occur should they be discovered again. Turtle also stretches the tunnel a respectable distance away from the settlement proper before digging the exit out; this gives plenty of space for guards or traps, and time for people inside to escape deeper into the Lost Corridors or position themselves advantageously for battle.

As the tunnel is being closed, Tycho begins to get the refugees ready to pull out. With Drachma's help, he assigns work details to bury the dead acolytes, clean up the battlefield, and begin eliminating the more obvious signs that this settlement had been recently occupied at all. Dry dirt from the training area spilled over the floor, improvised nooks and rooms to be gradually broken down until they look as disused as when they first arrived.

For now, he just has them focus on the outer areas where someone hunting for the missing Immaculates might look just in passing. Provided they could get out of there soon enough, time and nature would do the job of covering up for them in the rest of the settlement.

Other refugees, particularly those planning on leaving their group as soon as they get the all-clear to try, he puts to work bundling up as many of their supplies and equipment as he can. Making improvised carriers out of old tarp and splintered support beams or even shoulder-sacks that could be hung off the head of a pick-axe. Nothing much is loaded yet, but he wants it all made ready in case they need to pull out swiftly.

During the work, he goes to the prisoners, to Jade Willow specifically, and brings her to where the graves are being made. Down in the training tunnels, they are virtually small tombs hacked into the rock face. Ones that could be covered up and never noticed without close examination. The mechanical Solar does not mask his hatred for the woman, yet he has not threatened any of them outright. "Your Third and Higura's responsibility, but this didn't seem something worth getting them for. Even your dead deserve to be buried properly. Do you have any words for them or should we just throw dirt over them and call it done?"

The work Tycho puts the refugees to keeps them busy for the next couple days, at least: scraping away footsteps, sprinkling 'dust' over unused rooms, disposing of garbage and wastes while planning how to 're-neglect' the rooms they are using. A great pile is made in the back of the settlement that will need to be buried, possibly torched.

For now, it's hard to say how believable the effort will be, and it won't be complete anyway until they really move. Other than making the area appear unlived in, the best the group can do is ensure that no one knows where they have gone to.

Jade Willow is unhappy with being pulled away by the machine-man, even more so without Third knowing. It isn't clear whether it's because of a budding familiarity with Third or because she just trusts Tycho that much less. She looks as if she wants to respond to the obvious, unveiled glares of hate he sends her way, but still she says nothing, and follows him until he presents her with the graves.

Another moment of silence passes. She clears her throat and begins to speak.

"Aspen, Elm, Linden and Yew. Acolytes of Sextes Jylis. They died as a casualty of a war whose lines have been drawn since before the Terrestrials entered the Coils. They died for what they believed in, and believed they were doing good for their people, and for Creation. Let it be said that they were led into this act not out of malice, but by the guidance of those who looked upon the broken world above and chose never to allow this to happen again."

"May you go safely into your next life, children of the Earth, and may you live in a time where such choices need not be made. A braver future than anything you may have seen in this one." Willow bows her head, and murmers a prayer in an archaic form of Realm, a prayer for each of the Immaculate Dragons, ending with Sextes Jylis and the cycle of life he represents. "I will say one last thing, sir... machine. We prefer our dead incinerated to ash. But if this cannot be arranged then I understand. I am, after all, a prisoner."

Dena spends some time thinking over ways to connect the prisoners to the cave in.  At one point she considers cutting bits of their clothes to add to the debris, but she ultimately decides that no evidence will be less suspicious than anything she might add.

So for the two days before the Build Bug arrival Dena sits near a fire and holds hot coals as part of a meditation on the nature of pain instead.  For some reason most of her allies leave her alone as the vile odor of burning flesh surrounds her.

"You should hate your enemy while they are alive," Tycho responds the inflection in his voice like a quotation. The machine-man has kept a respectful distance while the Immaculate spoke, though the two guards with them keep their spears pointed at her and his own hand never strays far from his baton. "But you can afford to respect them in death."

"We'll burn them when we burn the garbage. Separately from the garbage," he adds. "The bodies won't add any more smoke than we'll already be creating."

"... Thank you," Jade Willow replies to Tycho, almost at a loss of words at first.

"I would prefer to be there when it is done. But again that is up to you and your allies." She expects the spearmen guarding her, but seeing Tycho up close still seems difficult for her to behold. It is almost with a morbid curiosity that she lays her eyes on the results of the Daedalus Project, which she had only heard of in bits and pieces.

The young Immaculate seems lost in thought, something that brings a grim cast to her face, and a weary one. But she does not look for long, and soon her hand rises nervously to touch the collar whose tendrils reach into her brain. "I should be returned, unless you require more from me. You clearly despise me, and what I represent, so there is nothing more to say."

"It won't make any difference to us if you're there or not," Tycho answers, his voice cold with disinterest and spite. "We wouldn't even stop you if you chose to join your comrades in the flame. Not that I think Higura or Third would let you have it so easy."

What goes through your mind?

As she stares at him, Tycho stares back, his lidless eyes glistening as chemical wash pumps over them. He expects nothing but betrayal and hardship will result in keeping these things about. You could cage an animal, but that does not mean you can tame it. He has spent years now in bondage worse than the Immaculates were subject to without a moment he did not contemplate escape and destruction for those who held him. They would do the same.

And grudgingly, he respects them for it. As one animal to another.

"I'll have someone send for you when the bodies are burned," he says, his tone a dismissal that prompts the guards to come forward and take her away. "Tell your living comrades they can attend too, if they wish. It's the last kindness they can expect from me, until I do the same for their corpses."

"Fine," is Willow's only reply. She is, in fact, not considering destroying anyone. But she thinks Jilava would. Jilava always had the mettle that she didn't, and cares little for the weakness of compassion. In some ways she wonders whether the Fire Immaculate is the wiser of the two. Faced with the wrath of this tortured man robbed of his humanity Willow would definitely defend herself -- but a part of her would wonder how much of that hate was born from the mistrust that the Terrestrials have for the Anathema.

Jilava would never hesitiate. And neither would Tycho.

None of these thoughts are anything Jade Willow speaks aloud. The guards march her stiffly back to the storage area she is being kept in with the others. The prisoners very rarely emerge from the storage rooms, only to relieve themselves or to walk in the company of Higura or Tycho. The Fire Aspect in particular is deeply wounded enough that she does not completely wake for days, though. The day she does, muffled shouts and curse words are heard from the room she is held in. They continue on for a while.

Fortunately the storage rooms / prison cells are far enough away from the tunnel where the Queen of Hive Irix Chilomena is expected to appear. On that day, a couple hours after the settlement wakes for the day, there is a minute tremor in the ground that only highly sensitive (Perception or Awareness 4+) individuals can feel. Any insects found in the area behave oddly, interrupted from their usual habits to dance or buzz excitedly, form up into unusually neat formations, or hurry back to their own hidden hives.

---

OOC: Skipping ahead now. We'll say this is the fifth day of the third week. Write up any preparations you may have to receive the hive queen, the 'festival' for the refugees, etc.

Dena spends the last couple of hours washing off the stink of burning skin from herself and heading to make sure preparations for the festival are well underway.  A large put containing fish soup bubbles under the watchful eye of two refugees, who have already figured out enough to keep Dena away from "helping."  Skewers with more fish roast over coals.  Actually given the supplies available most of the dishes are a variant on fish but that's survivable.

Dena had briefly considered festive banners but decided against it.  First the cloth was too hard to come by, and could be better used as clothing for refugees.  Second it would just have to be torn down later and they were trying to make it easier to leave in a hurry, not harder.
Lastly Dena wasn't sure the builder bugs would actually be impressed.  There was no way she was going to come up with a banner better than their enamel/chitin decorations on their own hives.

So Dena contented herself with sweeping up dust in the last few minutes before arrival, using her warform's wings to blow dirt and debris from life (and her little cave-in) away into the rubbish area.

Between his newfound guard duty with the Immaculate prisoners, his private consulting with Nanaret (before her departure) and now Jilava, Higura has no trouble keeping busy. He still continues to maintain the written aspect of the encampment's functions, keeping track of people's functions, of newfound equipment and materials, and of tasks that need to be addressed in order of priority. Since writing lists and reports is a work he can easily carry around with him, Higura mostly finds himself writing while sitting at guard duty, using the quiet time to fill the bureaucratic aspect of the group.

He also spends some time trying to discuss with Third, as they both share responsibility over the Immaculates, and at least seem to share a certain affinity in their purpose in that regard. The Doctor is never invasive in his dealings, however - as a result, most of his time is spent in solitary, working on the little things that help the better functioning of their small group. Not necessarily because he wishes to, but because even though he is used to working with minds and emotions, making contacts for himself have proven rather difficult.

As the time approaches, he also starts to prepare for the coming of the Hive Queen. Being who he is, Higura actually looks forward to meeting one of the venerable creatures populating the Coils. He had vaguely been aware of them through Prochorus, although his information on them was old and sparse. Meeting the Queen in person would prove to be an enriching experience.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:03, Sun 12 Apr 2009.

The refugees help where they can with the preparations, but it's clear their hearts aren't all in it. Many know they will soon depart the settlement because the Immaculates attacked, and do not understand any benefit of meeting with this Hive Queen now.

In particular, most of them have become loyal to Tycho, for better or for worse. The training he has been subjecting them to most certainly does not lead them to be in a right mood to celebrate anything. The machine-man himself seems unhappy and restless, continuing to oversee the packing and preparations to move, but no one's ever seen him be excited or upbeat about anything.

A smaller group is more inclined toward the peaceful attitudes Saffron helped instill in them, mostly cooks and artisans and others skilled in non-combat arts. They are much more amenable to the upcoming visit, and contribute to the cooking and cleaning duties.

Finally, Queen Chilomena's procession comes into view, moving into the perimeter of the lamplight illuminating the settlement. She and her immediate entourage have all taken androgynous, humanoid form, though there is still a distinct insectoid appearance to them. Their 'skin' is made of chitinous plates in gemstone and metallic hues, and their long wings drape like opaline capes over their slender shoulders. They have four arms, and walk bipedally on human-shaped legs. Their eyes have no pupils, standing out on their smooth, hairless faces in dark colors, and their heads are topped with a pair of antennae. The only hair they do have are short, stiff strands dotting the chitin joints and extremities.

Standing out at the head of the procession, the Hive Queen's coloration is a pristine white. An artifact crown sits atop her head with a dazzling diamond gemstone. To her left, a couple steps behind, walks a golden humanoid builder bug, while arrayed around her are her six princesses, their exoskeletons a silvery-blue.

The other representatives of Hive Irix Chilomena march behind this group of eight, but unlike their superiors, only possess an insect form with head, thorax, abdomen and six legs. The second rank consists of a contingent of four oversized ruby fighters, larger even than Chilomena's human shape, their front limbs genetically modified to form wickedly jagged blades. The third rank consists of eight sapphire artisans, the only sub-species of the lower classes capable of flight, their delicate wings folded over their backs. The fourth rank is twenty-four emerald producers, smaller than all but the sapphires but still reaching up to the size of a large dog or pony.

If unhindered from their advance, the procession continues on its way until Queen Chilomena stops at the very center of the mining settlement clearing.

---

OOC: Since we are soon losing a player and I don't know how many of you in Further Explorations will also post here, this part of the game may mostly be narration from me. :/ We'll just work with what we've got.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:19, Mon 13 Apr 2009.

Dena steps forward first, standing a brief moment before the Queen before bowing.  Not a deep bow she'd been forced to give Dynasts when delivering messages, but the shallow one with one knee flexed to show respect to an equal she'd been forced to give to their servants.  For the first time in ages, Dena performs this act willingly.  She bows also to the princesses although she makes sure to make each of their bows two inches shallower.

"Welcome, Queen Chilomena, to our modest hive, such as it is." she glances over the others assembled and briefly tries to decide whether to introduce them or let them do it themselves.

Third joins Dena a moment later, the slender Exalt bowing at the waist, a perfectly measured 45 degree angle, showing respect without grovelling. " Third wishes to extend its greetings as well. We have looked forward to your presence with great anticipation." There is something different in the Solar from the last time it appeared before the queen. It waits to see which of the others will join in conversation, the same as Dena. It follows with a bow towards the princesses, and like Dena, tones the bow down slightly, bowing 36 degrees, with the sort of mathematical precision that an insect might approve of.

Taking the cue once Third and Dena approach the Hive Queen, Higura steps forward as well, bowing low to her procession and making certain he pays respect to each member - following Third and Dena's example to make certain he follows proper procedure and does not cause offense involuntarily. Once the other two have spoken, he also speaks up in a quiet and respectful tone, aiming to welcome the Queen and her retinue.

"It is a pleasure to finally get to meet you, Majesty. I have heard many great things about you and your subjects through your comrades, and I am glad to be able to greet you myself to our humble encampment. I am Doctor Yaishin Higura." He bows once more, and takes a step back, unwilling to take too much attention from the actual greeting.