Vanyra and Yuu head to the Daedalum University to find their employer and ask about getting their wine analyzed. The university it turns out has a number of different campuses in the city-state, and checking the details of the contract it specifies their contacts are in the Central Campus some distance from the harbor area they're in now. A Dr. Salis Vanhaak of the Department of Archeo-technology and Dr. Nami Ulaar of the Department of Archeo-Socio-engineering are leading the expedition. From the area of their hotel the Central Campus is about 60km inland, and is accessible via a high-speed tram system with stations located throughout the city. Within 30minutes they get to the quite large Central Campus, which reminds Yuu much of the Royal Academy back in Ossylia though the architecture is radically different, the buildings hear appear to be made either of some sort of metal or polished ceramic or stone. Everything has a rather minimalist and sleek appearance.

After some time walking about and asking for directions from students and staff, who seem curiously surprised at the presence of such foreigners, they manage to find the building that houses both of the expedition leads.

Meanwhile Zelpuz heads off to the local chapter of the Order of Ashes to report in, after confirming to meet up after at the Central Campus tram station. The chapter office is located near the port area as to be expected. It is notably smaller than many of the other offices he's visited, but as Daedalum is quite smaller geographically and an extremely homogeneous population incidents with renegade Mespah are no doubt rare. The Chapter Master is glad to see another member of the Order, though he wasn't expecting anyone; they do not get many new faces. He inquires as to the purpose of the visit, and can provide a basic overview of the city, both positives and negatives.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:58, Tue 21 Jan 2020.

Zelpuz listens to the Chapter masters' city overview and inquires about any needs of the Order and any special behaviors he or his friends should be aware of in the city, considering they seem to attract the occasional stare by passers-by. Zelpuz offers to check in again when he returns.

The Chapter Master says there's no Order related activity here at this time. Daedalum is a fairly closed society, with a population of over 99% Terrans, so outsiders are few and can draw some additional attention and scrutiny. They've developed an extremely high degree of technological capability at the expense of Nether-manipulation, a result of their isolation up until the age of the Zhen Halan empire. Consequently she recommends refraining from overt displays of magic. Nether manipulation is looked upon no different than weapon use, so it is restricted to those with the necessary permits. Foreigners usually run afoul of the authorities due to ignorance of this policy, and casting some trivial spell in public. To be on the safe side it's best to just avoid casting if you can.

As for the other Chapters they've not heard of any significant news, just the usual transmissions of warrants and updates on cases. The new class of acolytes will be ready for deployment soon so they're getting ready to receive some new faces.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:54, Fri 24 Jan 2020.

Having found the entrance, Yuu steps inside and begins looking around the lobby area for some kind of board with floor and building information.

There is an information board and map of the campus. With a few minutes of looking at the map and cross-referencing with the board Yuu feels he's got a fairly solid sense of the campus layout. The building that houses the departments of archeo-technology and archeo-socio-engineering is about a 10~15 minutes walk from their current location. There's no information on the two professors they're looking for here, but he believes there will be more detailed directory at each department.

"Looks like it's right here, easy enough." Yuu narrates, and begins heading in that direction, through the interwinding buildings and student bodies buzzing about.

Vanyra and Yuu quickly locate the directory of the main campus tower, and the office of Dr. Nami Ulaar on the 9th floor, and head up. The office is one of many located on the floor, it is not very large given the number of adjacent doors and the spacing. They knock and hear a voice beckons them to enter. The office appears smaller than it should be, though likely that is due to the various books, data tablets and random objects neither Vanyra nor Yuu can identify that are sorted, stacked or piled about it. There is a decent sized window on the opposite wall that is partially obscured by the clutter and the desk next to it, at which sits Dr. Ulaar, or so you presume.

She turns to ask something, before catching herself and observing you with a quizzical look for a moment, "Umm, how may I help you?"

"Hi, Dr. Ulaar..?" Yuu asks openly.

"Yes, the one and only. I take it you're not students..." she replies.

"No, we're with the Freelancers. To accompany you with the upcoming expedition."

"Ah, excellent. You're a bit early, I wasn't expecting Freelancer's for a couple more days, but no matter. We don't plan on departing for another 12 days, and we've scheduled an pre-departure briefing  in 7 days. Since you're here now though, I suppose I could give you a general breakdown of the expedition and answer any immediate questions you have. First, have either of you been on a scientific expedition before?" the professor asks, and gestures you to the a bench partially covered by books. "Oh, just toss those aside... sorry for the mess."

Yuu carefully pushes some books to the side, giving a brief look over their titles, and sits himself down.

"We have some other business that brought us here, so we came a little early. I haven't been on a scientific expedition before, well.... not like this. I do science stuff... nether and mundane related, machines and gadgets... some computers, mostly." Yuu realises he may be rambling. "But um, no, not like this."

"Right then, most of the details will be explained at the briefing, but there's nothing inherently dangerous about the expedition we're embarking on... at least that we know of. We heading to a fairly uninhabited area far to the south of Zhen falas, on the continent of the same name. We contacted the Freelancers for some security support since we're crossing through so many unsecured areas, and regions patrolled by foreign militaries, and they offered the best, politically neutral option. The biggest concerns are mostly wildlife and bandits or pirates." She pauses to let the basic mission scope sink in and allow for any questions.

Yuu listens, nods when appropriate, and adds a couple questions. "Are there any known threats at the site itself? And is there anyone there now, or will we be the ones setting up the camp?"

"Finally, what is the importance of the site we'll be visiting?"

"Threats? Not that we know, but we don't really know much. We should be the first ones on site for some time, as far as we're aware. There could be others in the vicinity, but it's unlikely they'll be interested in what we are, which is an old Zhen Halan imperial research facility, one that pre-dates the Golem Wars. We have only been able to collect indirect references to the facility's location, like shipping records, and most of those have seemed to have vanished or been destroyed during the war. It is likely the facility was shut down shortly after the start of the war as we can find no mention of it thereafter. What type of research they were conducting we do not know, so this expedition is being planned to first find the facility and then simply ascertain what kind of facility it was." Dr. Ulaar explains quickly. "Once we've established that and secured the site we can plan a second expedition to better investigate it's nature. It is unlikely there would be much if anything of value to most people in the facility since the Imperium would have cleared it out at the time of evacuation. But it is curious we cannot find any mention of it in the usual Imperial records on file, almost like it was forgotten... or erased."

"That sounds quite exciting." Yuu remarks genuinely. "Would you expect much left of the site? Comparing to other time period ruins that have been discovered and studied."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:32, Tue 11 Feb 2020.

Vanyra stands there looking around the room, somehow pulling off stoic and nonchalant at the same time.

"Well the Empire built to last, so we're hoping things will be mostly intact. There have been numerous abandoned Imperial structures recovered over the centuries. The area is remote though, so there may have been a natural disaster the prematurely shut it down. If nothing else we hope to find out clues of what was done there and perhaps why it was shut down. Many official structures our nations use today are from before that period, and the world gate on Arghos is millennia old, though all of those have the benefits of regular maintenance. That's partially why we're taking a relatively skeleton crew on this expedition, just to ascertain the situation before committing to full study."

"Dr. Vaanhak has been trying to piece together some idea of what they may have been doing there based on the supply records we have, but there's a lot of speculation involved due to the lack of said records. From both a technology and social standpoint this could be quite the find since it pre-dates the Golem Wars and would have been relatively unchanged by them, unlike all the other surviving places."

Dr. Ulaar then hands both Vanyra and Yuu a card, some sort of ID pass, along with a map of what appears to be the campus. "The map shows you where the briefing for the expedition will be held in 4 days time. We expect it to take most of the day as we'll be going over many specific details. The start time is the 5th hour of morning. There will be meals served throughout. Unless there's anything else I would suggest checking in with Dr. Vaanhak as well, just so he can meet you."

After his visit to the local Order chapter Zelpuz makes his way up through the city streets of Daedalem. The further he moves away from the harbor the more alien the architecture becomes, with more and more structures spaced very closely together and built vertically. Some easy reach twenty stories or more and he can see massive towers further inland. The amount of metal, glass and concrete in use is mind boggling. Most of the shops he peruses have similar wears, though the styles and fashions are as different as any other nation he's visited. The uniformity of sizes does lend credence to the homogeneity of the population; he can't fathom a Gnarm or someone of similar stature fitting much of it.

Eventually he makes his way, after asking around a bit, to a shop specializing in ranged weapons. The shop is full of a variety of arms from common bolt throwers to rifles and even arcane technological weapons he is unfamiliar with, though there does appear to a lack of nether casters. The weapons are stored in well secured cases with reinforced glass windows, or so he suspects. The shop keeper is quite courteous and curious at Zelpuz's entrance and his own rifle. The two engage in a lengthy discussion of the nature of the weaponry on display and how it differs from Zelpuz's own magical device, with him learning that due to the general lack of mages in Daedalum all weapons are built using advanced technologies. Daedalum and the Spacers have had a knowledge sharing partnership for centuries and have salvaged or re-engineered many technologies assumed to be developed by the Ancients. He is quick to point out that a special government issued license is required to purchase any of them, and recommends to Zelpuz that he register his own weapon with local police just in case as the penalties for an unregistered weapon can be quite severe.

Yuu thanks the professor and takes the card and map, glancing over them briefly. "Um, there is one other thing, perhaps you can help us with." Yuu waits for a nod to continue. "We arrived in Daedalum early to pursue an investigation we were conducting in Ossylia. We have a liquid sample, from a bottle of wine, that we needed to analyse. Our facilities in Ossylia were limited, and although we were able to break down most of the compounds, a few anomalies came up that we would like to better understand. Is there anyone you know on campus that might be able to assist with this?"

"If it's a chemical analysis you're needing this is not the right campus. The Faculty of Chemistry is at the Core Campus, though the Bio-Med campus may also be able to assist. The core campus is typically off limits to non-citizens since it's located in the old city." Dr. Ulaar explains, then pauses. "I would probably try the East Campus first, where the Biology and Medical campuses are. You'd need to setup an appointment with a relevant faculty member to enter an application for sample analysis. I may be able to provide some references, depending on what it is you need analyzed. Alternatively, each campus has a test lab company to handle non-academic requests that you could use, which involves fees based on the type and speed of the testing."

"We don't really have time for filling in applications and waiting out responses, so... paying up front is probably our best option. You suggest the East Campus for this?"

"Yes, that would be your best bet. The Core Campus, in addition to being off limits to most foreigners, also places a very high priority on their own research over others so you may be waiting a while. We typically use the East Campus facilities as a result if we need microscopic analyses done." Dr. Ulaar replies and writes something down on a small piece of paper. "This is the name and address of the testing lab there. You'll need to fill out more paperwork than you'd probably like, and as a non-academic entity you'll need to pay up front, but you'll have your results when you need them."

Yuu takes the paper and thanks the doctor. "We'll go pay a visit with Dr Vanhaak, and then see to this. See you in a few days."