"Then I will have to take—" Gaja began, but saw something in Increase's expression that stopped her.  "...very good care of them.  That is a dangerous power to hold."  She turned as she spoke, gesturing for Plaga to come in with the others, and shook her head.

  "Claire was right.  This was my... 'mission'.  So everyone I bring, and everything they do, is in my name.  I won't order them killed.  I have no vendetta, and they are no threat.  The dingoes will have their due, or they'll awaken in time to take shelter."  She rapped on the cave wall with her knuckles and dislodged a bit of stone, freeing a small stream of shining water.  "And if they do, they will survive long enough to recover their strength.  They deserve that chance."

  "Increase.  The bits, please."  Gaja held a hand out, palm upturned.  She made eye contact, but seemed emotionally withdrawn.  It was all the more striking for her typical expressiveness.  "Your debt is paid.  Vasati's too.  And Claire will have my aid on her terms, in her name.  Plaga... I've forgotten what we agreed.  You can tell me on the way back to the camp.  You have all played your parts very well."

Increase hesitated for a moment, his body reflexively recoiling from Gaja's outstretched hand. He looked down at his own hand, gripping the bits tighten then he consciously wished them to. A part of his mind understood. It was too powerful to simply let go, to give to anyone. No it had to be his, all his. Only he could command such power, such awesome might. No mortal being could command the colossus he had seen. With it he could become the master of all Reality.

No.

He could be God.

He shook his head, dismissing such nonsensical thoughts. There was no god, living or dead, and he was not in pursuit of becoming one. Using a supreme act of will he relinquished the bits to Gaja.

"A debt earned is a debt paid. Wield it wisely."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:14, Tue 26 Feb 2019.

Claire looked at Plaga. "Can you tell me where the prisoners' souls are, and whether rites have been performed for them?"

She then looked at Vasati and gestured to the automata. "You have...some familiarity with the merchants of Vissio. Is the theotechnical scrap from the automata worth carrying back to sell in the city?"

As the others answered (or not), Claire began looking into what she had pulled from the computers' hard drives.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:26, Tue 26 Feb 2019.

It's probably more valuable to the collegium, but you could get some cash for it, and there are a few pieces that Scholar might find valuable.

Claire is able to access the strange Bright Republic machinery.

"Rites... I don't think that this poor bastards died a normal death. Their bodies are tainted, their souls likely ripped from them. What was of the souls I cannot tell, but I highly doubt they have moved on... nor I think they are still within reach of salvation. Whatever was performed here must have been a very disturbing act of depravation."

Behind the mask, Plaga smiles as Gaja mentions a promise. "A favor owned is enough for me at this moment. When the time comes, I'll ask for your aid on my own affairs"

  The unexpected weight of the stones catches Gaja off-guard, and she nearly drops them before she gets both hands involved.  There's some clumsy fussing with them while she tries to manage with as little actual touching of the stones as possible, but she eventually gives up and balances them on a shoulder.  She looks unsettled by the whole thing.  "All right, then.  Enrich yourselves however you can here.  I will be outside where the sun can see these bits with me.  When you're done, maybe Sarnai will have breakfast ready."  Then she walks out into the dawn to study the floating rocks.

  She sets the stones down heavily in a sunlit patch of soil, then sits, cross-legged among the hoofprints.  For a time, she just watches the pebbles drift, studying the steps of their dance before trying to interfere, in case it starts to whine again and she needs to set things back. And then, after a short time or a long time, she starts things moving.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:41, Wed 27 Feb 2019.

Vasati looked about the cave, his large eyes gleaming in the dark.

"There must be plenty of wondrous things for us to pilfer, let us see what we can dig up, no?"

He opened himself up to the possibilities, letting the near infinite variety of potential.  He didn't need the gold, but that wasn't the point.  He didn't steal because he needed to, he stole because he enjoyed stealing.  It was who he was, and here he had been presented with what he hoped was a golden opportunity.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:56, Wed 27 Feb 2019.

Increase began examining the cave, first for structure and design and then for any devices or implements that caught his interest. The automatons were of lower priority. Compared to Claire they might as well be children's toys and he had no time for childish things.

Vasati is able to uncover wealth 5 within the cave. It's an esoteric collection only very specific antiquitors would be interested in, but there are a few ancient Howler empire artifacts.The books and artifacts were quite rare, but there wasn't much of a market for them.

There were a few sets of clothing and other bits of emphemera that were hard to identify.

Increase found a lot of interesting custom tools for arcano-magitech - basically items powered by magic. Most of them were custom made. He could tell they were for soul manipulation and there were a few simple items for automation as well, and construction of magical items.

The automatons aren't too interesting, though they were slightly augmented for long term use and to be highly resistant to the usual problems desert climate made for mechanical items.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:41, Thu 28 Feb 2019.

Claire dragged the scrap automata out behind her. "These might be of interest to the Collegium in trade." She figured that doing profitable business with the Collegium would pay dividends down the road.

Claire spoke to Gaja. "We did not find their master," she said. "I found records of a man with eyes like burning coals who led them, and who was dealing with technicians of the Bright Republic. We may have made an enemy."

  Gaja looks up when Claire approaches and takes in the information with a somber expression.  She stands before answering, and takes her time doing it.  "Let him be mine, then.  He brought dangerous magic to my lands; he was my enemy already.  Let his eyes b—  Wait!  Is that...?"  Hurrying over to where Vasati is hauling out a bundle of absolutely ancient fabric, she traces the detailing on one robe with a finger.  Her frown looks perplexed.

  "These designs are...  They are like ours.  Like the oldest of ours.  But not the same.  Rajachura, will you spare one of these robes?  When we leave here, I go to my elders, and this... I would like to know what they have to say."  She already looks grateful, in advance of his response.  It's a terribly devious trick, the worse for possibly being sincere.  She doesn't even act coy about it.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:12, Thu 28 Feb 2019.

"Of course, Signora Gaja."

Vasati handed her the entire bundle.

"What is the point of finding treasures, if not to share?  Did I not owe you a favor? And now I don't, what a wonderful ending for us both?"

Without pause, he moved towards Plaga.

"And for you, Signora Plaga.  The beginnings of our new venture together, no?"

He began handing her the accumulated wealth his raid had procured.

"On to the next tale?"

He asked once he was finished.

Claire nodded. "After I negotiate the sale of this with the Collegium's theotechnicians, I know some people who might tell a tale of dwellers in the dark," she said. "Who demand the sacrifice of humans. I should warn all of you that there will be some climbing involved, as the storytellers are on a cliffside."

Increase collected the arcano-tech tools, intent on making a proper study of them when he had more expendible time. He then noticed the books among Vasati's collection and approached him.

"Vasati. If you would be willing to temporarily part with those tomes I would be most interested in reading their contents."

If Vasati accepted then Increase would make a promise to return the favor on a later date but if he wished to keep with his windfall, temporarily or otherwise, Increase would accept without further comment.

He then moved to Gaja.

"These instruments seem related to soul manipulation and the creation of magical artifacts. They may have been used to create, in part, the Bits. Or perhaps derived from an understanding of its mechanisms. Finding whoever was responsible for their collection and construction could prove...useful."

"I am always happy to collect favors."

Vasati said, handing Increase each of the tomes he had looted.

"Let us go and greet the sun then, and hope the one who fled does not care overmuch to follow us."

If he was actually concerned about the powerful theurge who had escaped them, he didn't sound it.  He turned, and started to walk out of the cave.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:52, Fri 01 Mar 2019.

  Gaja gets over her immediate startled response in time to give Vasati a little bow of thanks, arms full of fabric.  She sets aside one of the better-preserved robes and spends a bit tying the other pieces into a sling that lets her haul the funny stones with most of the weight on one shoulder and hip, with the spare robe folded for padding.  She still grunts unhappily when she stands with the weight.

  "Thank you, Increase.  I expect you will be studying their use.  We should compare our discoveries when I return."  She smiles as a specific gesture of gratitude and turns back in the direction of the camp.  The extra weight makes her lurch forward, but that just lengthens her strides.  "Come on, then.  We will gather ourselves and pretend for a little to be people.  I will ride with you as far as the fort, but then I turn north.  At the latest, I will come down the coast in time for your dwellers on the cliff."

"I mean...."

Vasati sounded embarrassed, scratching at the back of his head as he spoke.

"If there is a desire for the companions of legend to stay together, there is a way we could be about Signora Gaja's business and see these story tellers both in less time then it would take us to cross the desert on foot.  It would leave us much less time to recover our strength though, for those who might need such things."

It was unclear by the way he spoke if he was one such.  Perhaps that was where the embarrassment stemmed from.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:03, Fri 01 Mar 2019.

  "Thank you, Vasati, but Sarnai and I will ride." Gaja gestured over her shoulder for the others to follow. She didn't turn, but her voice didn't really need to be pointed in the right direction. "Her training will take time. She is only first developing strength, and needs more."

"Then for us, it is time to go home."

There was a passion in his voice, a longing that was hard to describe.

"Increase Scholar, do you have wings of your own?"

Vasati said as they drew near the mouth of the cave and back towards the light?

Increase shook his head in the negative.

"No I do not. I am largely constrained to the land. If given resources I can fashion carts, carriages, and boats but I cannot fly. Perhaps with time I could also build vehicles that fly but that is not today."

"Do you mind being carried?"

He said with a smile, and it was pretty clear he wasn't joking.

Not seeing any objection, Vasati reached over and scooped Increase Scholar up in his arms.

It was a uniquely strange sensation.  Vasati was a large man, but there should have been some effort involved in lifting up the devotee.  When the thief snatched him, it was like he weighed nothing at all.  The feeling of being carried was all wrong as well.  It did not feel like one man holding another aloft.  It was as if Increase were being carried by some massive force, resting comfortably on the palm of an enormous creature he could neither see nor touch.  He felt enclosed by it, as if he could be engulfed by it completely.

Suddenly, Vasati crouched and leapt straight up into the sky.  There was a tremendous whooshing noise, as dust and sand went hurtling out in every direction in a fifty yard radius. At the pinnacle of his leap he dipped in the air, and there was the sound of enormous wings beating at the sky.  More wind and sand swirled and eddied with each invisible stroke, a storm of wind that was both there and not there.

"See Signora Gaja, now it's a true telling, and all the richer for it!"

He shouted, his voice more than loud enough to carry over the beating of unseen wings.

Increase seemed contemplative rather than fearful or awe-stricken by suddenly being seized and lifted into the air by Vasati. He looked around, mostly concentrating on the height and speed that they were accomplishing.

"I will have to invest in flying ships. They would prove more useful then I originally anticipated."

  Far below, and farther by the second, Gaja raised one arm high and waved at their departure.  The sound of wingbeats broke apart for an instant into the chiming of bells, before her voice—of course—reached them.  "So ends one verse.  Go and sing in the city.  I will come back when I can drive the leviathan away, I promise.  I finish what I begin." 

  The camp was still more than a mile distant, though, and through terrain difficult enough it would be treacherous if such treachery could touch her.  She returned her attention to the path ahead, and her thoughts to the one that stretched out beyond it.  Sarnai would need to eat soon, and the sweet girl would probably wait for at least some of them to return first.  Gaja cracked a smile and hastened her pace, nearly skipping despite the extra load.  It was time to go home.