Week 1

Nanaret brings Third and Xurizu to the area she came across before resting. Together, they discover the facilities available in the caves that once housed a small mining community.

They find it large enough to house about 100, though most of the bedding is barracks style. There are enough single rooms for the Exalts, though, once housing crafters, the thaumaturge or doctor, the foremen and other such individuals of importance. There is even a mess hall, where the miners went to eat, as well a kitchen stocked with cooking utensils. Unfortunately, there is no food to be found that hasn't rotted or disintegrated away in those mysterious white piles. It also appears they may have kept some sort of domesticated animal before, but the pens are empty but for broken ropes, once tied to creatures that seem to have gotten away rather than ashed.

A storage area holds a stockpile of mining tools, as well as some light sources, watertight storage barrels (unfortunately empty), and some other basic tools for survival. Another room served as the hospital, with a supply of bandages, disinfectants, thread and needles, even a few soporific drugs, but no other medicines. There is also a small blacksmith's forge, not nearly the quality necessary to build artifacts, but it serves well enough for mundane crafts. The other crafter in residence had apparently been a clothcrafter who worked with thread of an uncommon strength, traces of which are found on his or her abandoned loom.

The last room of interest is the master foreman's dwelling, which consists of a small private dining area, a bedroom and an office. He seems to have lived here with his wife. The office appears to have been hurriedly vacated, and there are no dust piles in these rooms at all.

There seems to have been a mining railway that moved through this area, back when Essence power and lighting were still working in the area. It is, of course, no longer functioning, but most likely was how the miners transported what they excavated here to elsewhere in Five Coils.

[Private to Ledaal Xurizu, Third Beneficiary of Orderly Knowledge, Saina Nanaret: Roll Perc+Investigation or Awareness if you're wanting to investigate further or look deeper into a particular detail. Otherwise you can just post back in Lost Corridors to let others know what you've found, and possibly offer to help others on their tasks.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:46, Mon 09 Feb 2009.

Xurizu spends some time wandering about the complex, looking around and trying to determine when, exactly, people left the mines.  He also tries to estimate how many of the people left, vs those that had apparently been rendered unto ash.  In fact, if the truth be told, it was the ash that bothered him most of all.  If it were something inherent in the location, some form of control mechanism, then this place could be a deathtrap.  If, on the other hand, it was something that had happened, then perhaps people could stay here.

"Third, Nararet, do you have any idea what might have done this to people?" he picks up some of the ash, let it run through his fingers.  "There doesn't seem to be any obvious signs of scorching ..."

After some pontificating on just what might have happened to them, Xurizu returned to the foreman's office, starting a methodical search for anything of interest that might have been left behind the rush.
[Private to GM: A lot of investigation rolls, I think.  Xurizu has none, so hopefully they can be Int based rolls he can spend 4m with the Intelligence Excellency on.  Also, an Int+Occult roll to think of any occult means of causing the ash.  Again, spending on the excellency.  Int 5, Occult 5]

"Hrrmph..." Nanaret shrugs a little helplessly, pausing to consider Xurizu's question. Does she know of any sort of entity capable of such a thing? From what she can understand, most of these people had been asleep when it happened, whatever it was, and it had likely happened so quickly that they'd not had a chance to escape.

"Well, for certain this is no natural enemy. Must be some man-made weapon. One with wide range and difficult detection. Perhaps like weapons that Equalizer carried, an extermination weapon. A Purge on smaller scale." The blue-haired Lunar clucks her tongue and shakes her head, as her monkey-tail slopes downward in a disapproving gesture. "This fortress very frightening. Their technology create greater and greater means to destroy human life. One day they run out of people to try it on, then what? On each other?"

The two things that stand out to her are the hurried departure of the master foreman, as well as the frayed ropes holding whatever animals they might have kept. Seeing that Xurizu has concentrated his efforts on the former, she decides to inspect the latter, as animal life is something she would be more inclined towards understanding to begin with. Whatever she discovers -- if anything -- she shares with Third and Xurizu.

Then Nanaret inspects each of the rooms and facilities for anything that appears out of place or immediately dangerous. (Without any formal investigative training, she goes with senses and instinct instead.) She also attempts to quantify all the supplies and equipment available in the storage room, the crafters' workshops, the kitchen/mess hall and the hospitals. In the cases she doesn't know exactly what a tool or substance does, she sets it aside to ask about later. She will spend the entirety of four days in the first week doing the broad inspection and inventory listing, though definitely welcomes any help offered.

[Private to GM: I'll do... let's see. Int+Lore for Xurizu's question, I suppose. Then a series of Perc+Aware, maybe once per area? (first the animal pens, then... barracks, bedrooms, hospital, kitchen, mess hall, blacksmith's, clothcrafter's?) I'm not sure what the inventories would require, hopefully not bureaucracy because I'm BAD at that :D]
This message was last edited by the player at 08:25, Thu 05 Feb 2009.

Xurizu concentrates his efforts on the master foreman's office. He pieces together over time that the man (whose name was Granite Creed, apparently) had been shunting some of the materials found here to a location beside the B25 storage facilities. Creed had also been communicating with a man, or an entity, known only as "FREE". Much of the evidence has already been torn or disposed of; Xurizu has to dig deep into logbooks and tall stacks of paper to put together this truth, as Granite Creed had been in too much of a hurry to be thorough.

[Private to Ledaal Xurizu: Xurizu realizes with sudden, chilling certainty that Granite Creed had not gotten far in his escape.

Hunting him had been a matter of waiting for the right moment, skulking in caverns populated with laborers and heavy machinery, plenty of shadows between the workers' spotlights. The King Snake was patient when necessary, and could sleep without truly sleeping, remaining still for days.

Creed was a austere man with brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard, and when Xurizu ambushed him, he had been with a woman with dark purple hair. The pair was arguing, the man pushing a package or parsel or some sort into the woman's hands. "Bring it to him," he was saying sternly, "just go!"

Patience was her name. Creed shouted it when the barbed chains from Xurizu's spell wrapped inexplicably around his neck. "RUN!" was his last word, just before his neck cruelly snapped.

She ran. But Xurizu had not been directed to kill her, and the mind-control was, at times, maddeningly narrow in focus. He let her go... with whatever Creed had left to her... and had forgotten all about her existence, until now.]

It is all but certain Granite Creed had some prior notice of whatever struck the settlement. It is uncertain whether he fled to save himself and his wife, or to draw attention away from the townspeople, as they were largely oblivious of his rebel activity. Sadly, they had died anyway -- though the method is not something that would be discovered through Creed's office alone.

Examining the white dust itself proves more lucrative. Without signs of scorching, the effect that caused it must have been something that specifically affected living beings, or even certain organic matter in general (as some food had also ended up similarly disintegrated.) It must also have been something that acted very quickly, was virtually undetectable, or lulled them to sleep before killing them.

The effect also appears, for whatever reason, to have had no effect at all on insect-kind.

[Private to Ledaal Xurizu: To accomplish this sort of destruction with magic, it must have required a large amount of essence (as it's an effect that touched only specific targets, in a wide area, and all but annihilated them).

Some conclusions you suspect:
- A powerful supernatural entity, or group of entities. (Hard to have an exact name or identity without a library to refer to.)
- A high level custom spell (requiring a Celestial Exalt's 'cooperation')
- An artifact with Celestial spell-like effect (something like the chorus cannon, powered by some spirit feeding it Essence).

There's also the possibility of this weapon having some biological origin as well (you'd need someone with decent Medicine or Survival to confirm, or could try to do so yourself).]
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:53, Fri 06 Feb 2009.

Third carefully studies the ash piles, devoting its time to discovering just what, exactly, they are, mind focused on the task. Learning about what Xurizu has found, however, it notes 'Third has heard of this person. A Lunar, so they say, maybe one of the most powerful Celestials in Five Coils, maybe nothing more than a famous name.' It is scanning its mind, seeing if there are any records of weapons, diseases, natural animals, or anything else in the Five Coils databases that were capable of an effect like this.

'It may be worth our time to investigate the storage facilities. But if this were the intended effect, Third strongly doubts that there would have been a closing off of all information.Third suspects that something went wrong."

Nanaret's inspection of the animal pens yields stiff hairs, carapace fragments and even some black traces in the dirt that she realizes are insect droppings. The livestock kept here were not mammals but apparently domesticated insects. The carapace fragments are various shades of iridescent green, some blue and occasionally black.

Her time spent inspecting the rooms of the cave finds nothing of note that could have triggered whatever killed the people here. Whatever it was came and went, and left nothing behind but the piles of dust. There isn't even anything left here for insects to infest on; it's likely they already swept in, took what they could and left. Only the dry rations remain, the ones Nanaret had procured earlier.

Cataloging all the supplies is time-consuming menial work. By the end of a week Nanaret has quantified most of it and can make a report about what she has found. Very little found in the area is directly plant based, but for wooden components of buildings, tools and containers; the wood was very likely imported from the Wood floors above. Even the thread found with the loom and in the medikits is insectoid in origin.

It should also be noted that the abundance of mining tools found -- shovels, hammers, chisels, picks -- could also double as weapons or be forged into better weapons.

Third, meanwhile, examines the composition of the piles themselves. They are, to its senses, mostly salt and calcium based. One would also expect carbon, to go with the theory of human remains, but the dust is whitish rather than black.

[Private to Third Beneficiary of Orderly Knowledge: Your memory is surprisingly vague about such things. You know few specifics of what could have caused this effect, though you know what is not: no natural animal or chemical could have done such a thing. It could either have been a purely magical effect or a manufactured biological weapon, or some marriage of the two. It certainly appears to have functioned something like a 'virus', affecting only humans and mammals.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:49, Fri 06 Feb 2009.

Third, one day, after some time has passed, asks the other two to join him to discuss the situation. " From all Third is able to tell, these are not natural. That this is all is disturbing for Third. Have either of you found any further information that might help to explain? Third imagines that if this was the result of a biological weapon, it was designed to burn itself out so as to avoid wiping out the city, so at the very least, chances are low that it will afflict us unexpectedly. The lack of carbon..." Third stands for a moment, pondering. " There are many uses for carbon. It is a dark suggestion, and one that would not be easy to prove, but if this was the work of an engineered disease or a weapon, then it would not be impossible to imagine it had an ulterior purpose." For now, any such speculation is just that, but if it were true... It would make quite a stir among those who inhabit five coils. A prison in a riot is easier to escape one in harmony.

"Mmm..." Nanaret looks up from counting through boxes of hammers, trying to ignore Ranavalona's excessive grumbling during the idle time and menial tasks. Well, once she is done here she would have the freedom to help explore or even train the refugees. "I do not have book knowledge as you have. Can only observe and describe what I have seen, and what I guess from there."

"I have searched this area many a time, though, and do not think that whatever weapon destroyed people here has any trigger close by. I would think this weapon was brought here... then left again when job was done. And much like Water Purge, they cared not for who got caught in the blast."

"Either all these people who lived here guilty..." She gestures to encompass the settlement in entirety. "Or it was Granite Creed who is guilty, and others died in his stead. Now only insects can tell the true story, yes? If one could speak to them, maybe they would know."

"But what we do with the ashes, now? Should not leave them in beds. But not just dispose them either...?"

Hmmmmmmmm, Xurizu thought, as he reached his conclusions about the fate of the mining foreman and his wife.  And the lack of conclusion about anything else.  "Certainly it would be something that was brought in, yes," he joined in the discussion of the nature of the weapon.  "If it were sorcery, it is a sorcery beyond me at present, perhaps beyond many in Five Coils.  If it were a weapon then it would be a complex and rare one.  If it were something odder ... well, creatures such as that don't tend to stick around."

"Creed was definitely the guilty one here, though if the people of the settlement knew, Creed, or the records he left, were in ignorance of this."

Xurizu was helping Nanaret with the classification after the investigation, something he had seen in the office making driving him to deep thought.  He seemed quite capable of sorting despite this distraction, although occasionally he would record something wrong, notice, and correct it.

"I have another name and another face we should look for.  Patience.  She has dark purple hair.  She might be able to take us to this 'Free', or to someone who can."

Third crosses its arms. ' The ones at fault when a jailbreak is stopped by force and bystanders are caught is not the criminal. It is the warden. Even more so when the prisoners are innocent.' it says solemnly as it considers the information. ' It sounds as though, if we can find this Free, whatever shape it may take, then that would be the wisest choice for us. Of course, it may also be a trap, to snare the unready.Whatever the truth is, we cannot stay here forever, or it shall be merely another enslavement under the Dragon-Blooded.' Third's feet, it would seem, are burning on the ground already.

' Do we have any leads for how we can find this 'Patience'? That seems to be a painfully light description to try to search an entire population for. Does it mention where she stayed?'

"Patience..." Nanaret commits the name to memory, and tilts her head at Xurizu, then Third. "I wonder if she still would live on this floor. Maybe good idea to ask around in labor town that Dashu spoke of."

"I hope there been other groups that remain alive and defiant of Terrestrials. 'Free' is one such who keeps hope alive. If we could stir all citizens toward revolution... but better to start small. Better not to have Earth Purge instead," she quips, shaking her head at the thought. Her thoughts trail off a bit as her dark eyes roam the 'scenery', the dusty caves that have become, for the moment, their camp.

"Maybe we not find out the origins of the weapon used here, but at least I think it is safe here. I will tell others of it when things are clean and organized."

Still unsure of the fate of the human ashes, Nanaret decides she will take matters into her own hands. She takes as many empty jars from the medicine cabinets and storage as she can find... then, using folded bits of old documents made into makeshift funnels, she pours ashes into jars one by one. It's macabre work, but she can't bring herself to just throw the remains away.

After that, tidying up is easier. If Tycho, Higura and Saffron allow it, she even brings in refugees to help out: sweeping, dusting, cleaning the dusty sheets in the underground river, making the entirety more livable... until they had somewhere else to go.

Week 2

Once given the okay, the Exalts and the small population teleported upward with them settle into the rooms cleared by Nanaret, Xurizu and others. The refugees take up about half the beds in the barracks; the spacing allows for a certain amount of privacy, the rest approximated with bedsheets stretched out as delineations. They leave the Exalts among the group with their pick of the private rooms, including the master foreman's dwelling and office, if desired.

The blacksmith's shop is pretty much assumed to be Danae's 'territory'. She works there with five laborer refugees assigned to duty with her, and Dena when she can spare the time. They are not very much used to working with a young woman, but they recognize her immense skill, and soon they even forget she is smaller and younger than they once they are witness to it. Having completed two harmonic adapters already, Danae can continue with the staff that has taken up the most of her time lately. [Private to Danae Adela: You also got another 2 sux from your last craft post's stunt, so that's 8 sux total for the staff so far, I believe? If you didn't like your last roll for this week you can reroll it, since I only accounted for two rolls total so far.]

Similarly, the small hospital goes to Saffron and her new assistant, Tamra. Tools are available there for alchemical works as well as the basic medical supplies Nanaret found. [Private to Saffron: You can make a couple of Craft(Water) rolls to work with the samples of poisonous gland and mushroom brought to you. Rolling well may allow you to make a poison antidote and/or a mild, pleasant soporific respectively. Or you may prefer to roll to distill the negative effects to brew poison and hallucinogenic powder. Each type of pharmaceutical you attempt to make requires a roll, you may get extra successes from the workshop, assistants, etc.] Tamra also shows great interest in the loom available in the clothcrafter's shop, but right now there is no material available to weave with. She can do repairs of clothing and other fabric, though.

Other than the mess hall (suitable for group meals as well as large meetings) there is a large room adjacent to the foremans' and crafters' living spaces that once served as a council room. Here the Exalts may congregate to speak with one another on matters of importance.

This week there are several courses of action to discuss and consider.

Dena has contacted the builder bug hive, gaining an invitation to meet with their Queen. (Go to: Floor B25 - The Lost Corridors, Builder Bug Hive)

Dashu has found Floor B25's human settlement, where the group may find out information on the district, secure more supplies and so on. (Go to: Floor B25 - District of Earth, Laborers' Conclave)

Those who wish to continue scouting/explore other areas of the mining sector may do so. (Go to: Floor B25 - District of Earth, Further Explorations)

Training, organizing and interacting directly with the refugees continues in the meantime. (Go to: Floor B25 - Building a Revolution)

Any other tasks (or reporting on tasks completed) can be conducted within the mining settlement.

---

OOC: You might want to start by organizing groups here. Unless you're all going to tackle things alone. Oh right, and you should take training times into account, if you're going to use any days of this week for training please post about that as well.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:18, Mon 09 Feb 2009.

Dashu after his initial scouting venture, Dashu took the rest of the first week to train.  This often involved him going into a vacant cavern and practicing his kata's and meditating in darkness.  That being said, this week Dashu spent much more time around people than he had in several years.  This obviously effected his general attitude towards everyone.  Before, where he wanted to help the former slaves on principal and leave the humans to die, he actually was starting to consider the Celestials his friends.  He figured he might care enough about the mortals to actually help them every now and then since they seemed to be willing to work against the society which had enslaved him.  All in all, while he was still fairly cold, people found him much more approachable.

During the times he wasn't training, he had put in some effort into making a disguise which would work better than just smearing his face in mud.  He had found some old minor's clothing which he had set aside.  "I'm going back to the town, I consider my initial incursion a success, but we can still get more information.  We're not going to be able to many people by the sensors but if any of you think you're good enough to sneak by with me, then you're welcome to come with.  If we need supplies, maybe I can trade something for them.  Any ideas on what we need, what we can trade, and what information we should get?"

With everyone moved into the settlement, Nanaret has made a little 'nest' for herself in one of the private rooms. Part of her is still keen to keep to herself, rather asocial and brooding, like the aye-aye is traditionally considered to be. Ranavalona's present curdles in her, impatient and fuming, but Higura keeps her quiet more often than not.

In her dreams... Ranavalona dreams of flaying him alive.

Nanaret herself, however, continues to concentrate her efforts toward survival -- both for herself and for the group. Her belief is that as a group, they all have a better chance of surviving together. As much as Ranavalona insists on her superiority, even Nanaret knows that her body is still yet weak to reach the surface of this fortress alone.

Monkey-ears twitching, she uncurls from her current resting place, a nearby chair, when Dashu brings up his plans. "I would like join you, Dashu. I am good at sneaking... better at lying... to enemies, of course." Her head of blue hair ducks slightly. "I am working on perfecting moon-technique, allows me to assume looks and behavior of another, fools all physical senses... however, will take few days yet to train. If willing to wait, I may help very much." (OOC: it'll actually be 3 days training.)

"Needs... I believe cooks are wishing for basic things, flour, cooking oil. Salt be useful as well. Helps preserve food." The Changing Moon shrugs. "But even better we gain information. Learn about what happened below, find a dependable way up. There were also people Xurizu and Third mentioned..." She looks toward them, to include them in the conversation.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:57, Tue 10 Feb 2009.

Third approaches Dena. Third will accompany you to meet with the hive queen. Third is interested by what you tell of them- They could make useful allies, and if they have information about what caused this, all the better.' it states,  bowing to the Lunar politely, as it offers to join her travels.

In the time off that it has had during the week, when it is not working on the projects around the camp, it has slowly been working to train itself in more of the Even Blade style. It knows enough of the style from its experiences with the Dragon-Blooded to emulate it- It is now only a matter of bringing each ability out of itself, one by one. Long hours are spent in meditation, eyes closed, hands flat upon the ground, elegant fingers taking on a sharp quality as it forges its body anew, for the purposes of war.

This week, it will do much the same. It studies them, piece by piece, learning the katas. It occasionally comes to Danae, watching her progress with the forging, awaiting when it can use a true blade again with ambivalent patience.

Dena hesitates a bare moment, having planned to try to drag Danae away from the forge to the queen originally.  Then she realized that this plan was largely because she'd been around Danae more than any other "smart" person, not because of an inherent advantage.

"That sounds like a good idea.  If I may suggest, insects are generally quite sensitive to odors and the language involves pheremones as much as sounds and body language.  I'll be switching between my human and spirit forms in order to translate, although the insects may be able to understand low realm I don't think they can speak it.  Since they are so sensitive to smells, I'd recommend you bathe thoroughly before we leave and avoid using any sort of cologne or scented soap."