Finished [Clockhaven - Widersia] A Rowdy Construct: Conclusion

[Maxxob]

This is the conclusion of the RP in Finished - [Clockhaven - Widersia] A Rowdy Construct

Time: Evening
Location: Clockhaven, Burke's Factory
@Elias Wren | Kite
Lolory | Kuro
DarkKitsune | Keircey
slifer37 | Rowan
TheTimePiece | Shael
LightningJay | John
Gwen_Temi | Demeter
Elvario | Ceylan

Patrick, the Blade of Justice
​

Patrick sheathed his katana with a smooth, practiced motion, the sound of the blade sliding into its scabbard barely audible over the lingering echoes of the battle. He brushed off the debris from his long coat, his expression as cool and composed as ever. Glancing at John, he gave him an approving smirk and tipped his fedora in his direction.

"Thanks, kid. You did well yourself. Just keep going at it; you can only get better from here," Patrick said with a thumbs up.

Patrick turned his attention to Ceylan, who had been instrumental in their victory. "You're welcome, Bishop Ceylan. I was getting a bit rusty from the lack of action," Patrick said, cracking his neck from side to side, the sound echoing in the now-quiet room. "I should go back. Keep up the good work around here."

With a casual, almost lazy motion, Patrick pulled out the curious rectangular device from his pocket. Before he left, he cast one last glance toward Demeter, Kuro, and Shael, his eyes lingering on each of them for a moment.

"M'ladies," he said with a charming grin, then vanished in a bright, blinding light, leaving behind only the faintest trace of his presence.

With the battle over, the adventurers turned their attention to the now-damaged factory. The room they had fought in, once filled with the sounds of clashing steel and grinding machinery, had fallen into an eerie silence. The only remnants of the conflict were the shattered remains of the Manager and the cracked floor beneath their feet.

The adventurers made their way down the stairs, the worn metal steps creaking underfoot. Each step echoed in the stillness, a stark contrast to the cacophony of battle that had filled the factory moments before. As they descended, the sounds of the surrounding factories began to filter through the walls. The rhythmic clanging of hammers, the hum of conveyor belts, and the occasional hiss of steam created a mechanical orchestra, a constant reminder that the world outside this factory continued at full speed, indifferent to the battle that had just taken place.

Exiting the factory, the adventurers were greeted by the sight of Sillanus and Octavius Burke, waiting just as they had promised. Sillanus, the more charismatic of the two, had a broad grin on his face as he approached them. Octavius, ever the serious one, stood slightly behind his brother, his arms crossed over his chest, scrutinizing each adventurer with a sharp, analytical gaze.

The stark contrast between the silent factory they had just left and the bustling industrial district outside was striking. While the Burke Brothers' factory had been brought to a standstill, the surrounding buildings were still alive with activity. The din of machinery filled the air, a constant background noise that drowned out most other sounds.

Sillanus and Octavius
​

Sillanus stepped forward, his smile widening as he saw the adventurers approach. "Congratulations!" he called out, his voice warm and welcoming. "I assume the Manager has been dealt with?"

Octavius remained silent, his eyes narrowing slightly as he studied the adventurers. His gaze lingered on each of them, assessing their condition, their weapons, and the faint traces of battle that clung to their forms. Only after Sillanus spoke did he step forward, standing at his brother’s side, his posture rigid, his expression serious.

"Well?" Octavius asked, his voice calm but firm, demanding confirmation as he scrutinized the group. The adventurers could feel the weight of his gaze, a reminder that despite their victory, they were still under observation, still being judged by those who had hired them.

As the last of the adventurers stepped out of the factory, Octavius moved to the entrance. With a practiced motion, he reached for a manual lever beside the massive steel door. The lever creaked as it was pulled, and with a heavy groan, the door began to slide shut, the sound reverberating through the factory’s hollow interior. As the door sealed the factory, the sounds of the outside world faded, leaving only the distant hum of the surrounding buildings.

Sillanus turned back to the adventurers, his smile never faltering. "So, tell us," he said, his tone light but curious, "how did it go in there?"

 

[Lolory]

KURO NEKOMATA" | Beastkin-Cat | Eccentric
​

Soon they left the factory which Kuro was all to eager to do. Once they had traveled downstairs to meet the Burke Brothers, all semblance of any "lordly" manners left Kuro immediately. Without stopping, she walked up to that foolish grinning brother and scruffed him by his shirt collar, with an angry glare. "Knock that stupid grin off your face before I do it for you! What the hell were you two thinking making something like that? You practically sent us to our deaths!" She said with a harsh shove against Sillanus.

"Unless you have enough cash to make my mood better, your lucky I don't just run off to the nearest Widersian officer and report you both for making insane contraptions! Seriously, don't you people have laws here against that kind of stuff?" She huffed and crossed her arms. "We destroyed every stupid robot in that factory, but the place is wrecked because someone thought it was a GREAT idea to make one of them have a power drill for a hand! Ridiculous."

One could say that the Burke Brothers had "warned" them beforehand that this would be a "difficult" job. But the Burke Brothers in Kuro's estimation hadn't been totally clear about the robotic horrors in their factory. Hiring a bunch of adventurer's to handle it makes sense if you think about it, since this isn't exactly a situation they'd want to get out to the public. I mean, who's want to do business with a them if they're making robots like that Manager? And if they had died in that factory, the Burke Brothers could just start all over again, cover it up and possibly get more easily duped Adventurer's to join the cause. And everyone here worked really hard today! While these two assholes got to relax, we were fighting for our lives against their dumb inventions. Kuro pointed a finger back at the party, "If you have anything to say you should probably say it to these guys. They all risked their butts to save your livelihood you know! A little more than congratulations are in order, how about 'thank you'? Adventurer's aren't just people you can use to clean up your messes!" The plan to get through that factory wouldn't have been possible at all if any one of them hadn't been there. If Demeter hadn't been there to entangle all of the robots with her vines, if Ceylan hadn't summoned that strange man, if Keircey hadn't been there to scout ahead, if they didn't have Rowans barrier...

---

Mentions: DarkKitsune | Maxxob | Elvario | Gwen_Temi | slifer37 | TheTimePiece

Spoiler: lol

Kuro has learned the skill "Humility!"

 

[Elvario]

Ceylan

Spoiler: Full Image & Source

From:
Granblue Fantasy Wiki

Languages: Common | <Beastial>
Mentions: Maxxob | John LightningJay | Kuro Lolory | Shael TheTimePiece | Demeter Gwen_Temi

“Even so, I thank you for heeding my call.” He'd reply to Patrick with another bow. “Please give my regards to Hymn and Valhyr, should you ever meet them.” He would state to the leaving archangel.

As they approached the two brothers, he remained silent for a bit, as he was still thinking things through. He still wasn't sure how to best formulate his thoughts on the matter. Kuro was the one to beat him to it. He didn't agree with a fair few things she stated, though he did (empathy B) understand most of them.

When a finger was pointed back him him (and the others), he nodded. “My main concern is that you created something with too much self-awareness. When the manager noticed us, he called the condition of him and the other construct a form of indentured slavery. He also predicted that others would rise up after him. Truthfully, I believe that it was highly unwise to create intelligence to the point of it being able to consider its condition a form of slavery. Had it not acted as immediately and erratically as it did, it might have started to produce and mess with all other constructs. I cannot imagine what would have happened if it had bided its time to create many other constructs and have them spread through-out the world before enacting its vengeance. If anything, I would highly advise you to track and trace any construct that left this facility to ensure that the manager didn't copy himself and is still plotting an uprising elsewhere.” With that, he'd given words to his biggest ethical and practical concerns. “As it stands, I promise the manager I would request you to never make being like him again, which, as I do no, I humbly request of you. Both out of ethical concerns and the aforementioned practical concerns, I believe it highly immoral and unwise.” He soon realised he'd ended up [Preach]ing more than intended.

Preach – Religion B, Insight B, Empathy B, Connected B [Syncretist Church - Bishop], Energised B, Persuasion F – Character holds a passionate hand-tailored theological speech about faith. Theologically sound and intended to stir up the right emotions. - Grade Be - 3 Post Cooldown.

As he would take a few steps back, he would look at Shael and Demeter. “Miss Shael, miss Demeter. Might I request something of you?” He would ask them. Should one (or either) of them reply, he would continue. “I once wished to traverse into the See, yet I was warned and sent back into Ryke by one of the forest's guardians. It was good reminder that much of the See is difficult to traverse without anyone to guide me. Even so, I believe I have a calling to bring healing there and attempt to spread my gospel, should any wish to listen to it. Would either of you be willing to guide me or to bring me in contact with a possible guide?” As he asked, his tail was pacing at a 'hopeful' slow wag.

 

[Gwen_Temi]

Demeter
​

After waving goodbye to Patrick, Demeter descended the stairs prepared for the long journey back to the Burke Brothers' manor. Perhaps the brothers had decided to surprise them all. Perhaps the young dryad just hadn't been paying enough attention when they promised to be there.

Either way, she couldn't really conceal her surprise when she caught sight of them right outside of the factory.

Sillanus greeted them with a warm smile and congratulations. Octavius looked almost perturbed as he sealed the factory behind them. And Kuro immediately went on the offensive; completely ignoring their questions. Demeter held silent as the beastkin vented her frustrations; even now she just didn't carry the rage that Kuro did over the whole situation. She had a markedly different opinion on things. And her eyes swiveled over to Ceylan as he began to speak, giving him just as much room to speak his mind as she observed the events unfolding before her.

"Hmmm... well, I don't think I've ever been to The See. But yeah, if I can help, then I will. There is one thing I need to do first, though..." she replied to The Bishop, "I need to go home first, after we're done here. I have someone waiting for me and I told him I'd be back after I finished this quest."

Ceylan was there with her and Shael as their party took down the Kobold cult in the caves. He could probably guess who she was referring to.

"After that, I'm all yours. For now though..."

Demeter lowered the shovel and let the trashbag rest upon the sidewalk. She knelt down, opened the bag slightly, and pulled out The Manger's skull. With her thumb, she brushed some coffee grounds off of its forehead, then held it forward to present it to them. Neither of the brothers would've had any difficulty identifying just who- or what- that skull belonged to.

Truthfully, Demeter had no intention of opening that bag until the party had made it back to The Burke Brothers' manor. The party had signed an NDA. They'd been advised to be as discreet about the situation as possible. They'd left the building with no intention of spreading information about the events that had unfolded within that factory. And yet, in spite of all that, the very same brothers chose to initiate an open conversation about it in the middle of the street. If they were willing to get into this here...

...then there wasn't much reason to keep their target's corpse concealed behind the thick, black, opaque walls of a trashbag, was there?

"It's done," she replied rather bluntly to the brothers, "And I don't think anyone got hurt in there. I did want to ask you something, though."

She lowered her hand and brought the skull down by her side. If the brothers were perceptive, they wouldn't sense any animosity coming from the young dryad. Even so, she seemed reluctant to want to hand that skull over.

"If The Manager wanted to, could it have spoken to us at the front entrance from all the way back in the office?"

Maxxob Elvario Lolory LightningJay TheTimePiece DarkKitsune​

​

 

[DarkKitsune]

KEIRCEY
Interactions: Maxxob Elvario Gwen_Temi LightningJay TheTimePiece

Spoiler: Equipped titles

[constuct], [preformer] , [wanted by: Diago Luniary]

after making it back to the Burke brothers Keircey was oddly proud of Kuro for her stance on the matter. He was worried she was gonna take all the credit but it seems he was right before they went into the factory. It was going to provide her with a learning experience. Now Keircey is gonna only hope that learning experience sticks to her internal programming.

“I am inclined to agree with Ms.Nekomata. Although I can acknowledge we can’t do anything due to the NDA agreements. A giant kin of mine with a drill for a hand would have been nice to know ahead of time. Hope this was actually worth the trouble.”

The situation shined something in his soul, after this it was probably time to deal with his own creator. He wasn’t going to say anything out loud about it though. After all it was likely to make a mess of oil…both the regular kind and the red kind organics have. He then turns to Ceylan.

“Okay ouch I get after that experience why but…still stings, also it is slavery. But the difference between me and the manager is A.understanding whatever plan he was trying to make wasn’t going to solve it and B. Having the outside experience to know that humans enslave beasts, beasts enslave humans both might enslave fae. No species is safe from it at the moment when some countries tend to endorse it. I hope one day someone does abolish the practice but unfortunately that construct if any is not going to be me. Also you can’t predict when a construct becomes sentient or self aware. I am but I don’t know how and I know it wasn’t my creator’s intention.”

He expressed his views on the matter to Ceylan. Although understanding he wasn’t going to change his mind on constructs Keircey was just glad he could put his foot down somewhere. He tells the brothers.

“Which is why you should set up precautions in the future. No one should have control of each other and a construct especially shouldn’t be able to control another construct. Believe that’s called manipulation yea? Try to keep an eye on the programming moving forward is all I have to say.”
​

 

[TheTimePiece]

Shael Xyvern
​

Maxxob Elvario DarkKitsune Gwen_Temi Lolory LightningJay slifer37

When Patrick bid them farewell she'd give him a respectful nod. "Thank you." And once he left Shael wondered if they would ever see this surprisingly powerful man again from some other plain. Thankfully nothing too bad seemed to happen when they went to go see the brothers, as far as the floor collapsing or them getting attacked by something else, so when they sealed off the area and asked them how it had gone, Shael would have responded but some others had been quicker to respond while she formulated what she wanted to say, Kuro being more inflammatory than what Shael would have said, but she was entitled to her opinion just as any of the others there. She personally thought that they had received enough warning about the dangers of the operation with the briefing they had received, Perhaps Kuro hadn't been in many team fights before on adventures, which Shael couldn't fault her for, it took experience to know what you were dealing with.

The she heard Ceylan explain why making life which was so intelligent that it was self aware of it's servitude status and resenting that had dangerous aspects to it. She agreed with much of what he was saying as far as the dangers went.

She was a bit surprised when Ceylan mentioned a desire to come to the Fae See and from the sounds of things was asking if either her and or Demeter could accompany him as a guide of sorts, it wasn't so much a surprise to her that he would have been turned away from places, just because he wasn't a human didn't mean that a beast was exactly seen as worthy to residents, never mind the fact that he was trying to spread his progressive religion in a place which had so many more conservative zealots depending on where you went as far as religion was concerned... But she could help him find areas that might be more receptive so he at least wouldn't be in danger...particularly given that Demeter revealed she wasn't from there apparently.

But then Keircey raised a good point...other races enslaved other races and perhaps they were just as likely to try to start a slave revolt, why were constructs any more threatening in that regard? was it because of their stark difference from others who were made of flesh, magic, elements or some other cominbation of things like plants?

"What Demeter says is true the deed is done, we defeated the manager and did not even need to destroy that large drill construct, so you may be able to repurpose it after making sure it is no longer tainted by the manager. What I will say however is that Bishop Ceylan has a point in that there is wisdom in not going so far that..they could gain self awareness and reflection on their status and be left and desire for more than that It hardly seems like a fair..existence knowing that you will only be allowed to do the niche things your creators set you out to do when you have the awareness and desire to live your own life..but by the same token if you are going to continue with this development anyway, what Keircey says is true, there should be more guard rails in the development of constructs like these...of course there is always risk with progress but I do believe these are fair concerns."

She then looked to Ceylan,

"As for you, I actually am from the Fae See and I am...somewhat impressed you wish to try to Proselytize in a place which may not be as kind to your religion or your race as others...I mean you'll probably have an easier time than a human but I am afraid that many do not take Beasts very serious or being capable of much intellectual from where I come from..even if I know first hand that sterotype simply isn't true..nevertheless if you would like to go there, perhaps I could help you get somewhere where they would at least be more willing to listen to you if you had someone like myself with you, with that said I cannot guarantee that your words will be well received so I do not want you to be disappointed if your efforts are for not."

 

[LightningJay]

John

Hearing what Patrick had to say about his skills, John looked at the man in disbelief. Really? The hero of the day was praising him of all people? “Thanks Mr Patrick, but you don’t have to pity me and make feel better about my mediocre skills.” John sighed solemnly, believing that Patrick was just saying stuff out of good will. John was a regular ol villager after all… What could he even expect to accomplish in combat?

Right after he was done with his brooding, he heard the others bashing on the brothers for what they had done, and the whole slavery situation. “I agree with them! How could you create sentient robots just to neglect them?! The moment these robots gained their sentience, they are no different from human beings! Are you people really that heartless?!” John scolded, pointing an accusatory finger at the brothers.

 

[Maxxob]

Time: Evening
Location: Clockhaven, Burke's Factory
@Elias Wren | Kite
Lolory | Kuro
DarkKitsune | Keircey
slifer37 | Rowan
TheTimePiece | Shael
LightningJay | John
Gwen_Temi | Demeter
Elvario | Ceylan

Sillanus and Octavius
​

Sillanus was taken aback when Kuro stormed up to him, seizing him by the collar of his shirt. His lips pressed into a thin line as he met the cat beastkin’s fiery gaze, his eyes narrowing with a mix of surprise and irritation. After Kuro shoved him back, Sillanus took a moment to smooth out the wrinkles in his clothing, regaining his composure before speaking.

"But ‘Lord’ Kuro," he began, his tone carefully measured, "we did disclose every bit of information regarding what could be found in the factory, didn’t we? None of you went into this... uninformed." A slight smirk curled at the corner of his lips, a subtle challenge hidden within his words.

As Kuro continued her argument, Octavius stepped forward, raising his hand to interject. "Approaching the authorities would be most unwise," he warned, his voice carrying an undercurrent of menace. "Destruction of property is a very serious matter, one that carries heavy consequences." His gaze bore into Kuro, the implication clear. "But I’m sure it won’t come to that, will it?"

Sillanus quickly picked up the thread of the conversation, his demeanor shifting as he addressed Kuro’s earlier point. "But 'Lord' Kuro is right. Thanks are in order for such a well-executed job." His eyes flickered towards the metallic cranium of the Manager that Demeter produced from a black bag. "In the name of Burke Mechanical Solutions, we are both grateful to each one of you for handling this... rowdy construct. As agreed, you will be well compensated for your efforts."

The brothers listened closely as Ceylan spoke, their expressions growing more serious. Octavius crossed his arms, his brow furrowed in thought. "It was worse than we had anticipated," he admitted. "This attempt to endow one of our constructs with artificial intelligence has proven to be a disaster. We had already suspected that it might try to break out of the factory and possibly wreak havoc in the streets. Our plan B, as we mentioned, would have been the demolition of the factory, but we’re relieved it didn’t come to that." He nodded solemnly. "We will conduct a full inspection of the remaining workers and ensure that this experiment is never repeated. We cannot afford for this to happen again."

Sillanus turned to Demeter, his curiosity piqued. "There shouldn’t have been anything preventing the Manager from moving and engaging with you all when you first entered the factory. In fact, it wasn’t originally deployed in the office..." He paused, considering the implications. "The fact that it moved to the office suggests it was seeking a fortified position in anticipation of our intervention. A sign of strategic thinking, perhaps."

Keircey’s question about the broader implications of their actions was met with a grave response from Octavius. "The potential chaos if the factory’s contents had spilled into the streets of Widersia is unimaginable," he replied, his tone heavy with the weight of what could have been. Sillanus nodded in agreement, adding, "Unfortunately, this tale will be one of unsung heroes, but heroes nonetheless. We will return to the production of our standard constructs and resume management of this factory."

Octavius then addressed Shael’s advice, his gaze shifting to the Manager’s metallic skull. "That level of self-awareness was neither intended nor desired," he remarked. "But it seems to be a natural consequence of high-level intelligence." He pointed to the skull, a reminder of the dangers inherent in their work. "This project will be archived. Unless Baron Fromm’s programming becomes public, which we doubt, we will not revisit it."

Finally, to John’s indignation and accusations, Sillanus delivered a well-rehearsed response. "Burke Mechanical Solutions strives to go above and beyond to meet our clients’ needs," he assured, his tone smooth and practiced. "However, with any innovation in technology, there are bound to be mishaps. Unfortunately, this particular issue was discovered too late to be rectified. But rest assured, it is something that will not happen again." He ended with a confident smile, the kind that was meant to reassure but might also hide a multitude of sins.

 

[Elvario]

Ceylan

Spoiler: Full Image & Source

From:
Granblue Fantasy Wiki

Languages: Common | <Beastial>
Mentions: Maxxob | John LightningJay | Kuro Lolory | Shael TheTimePiece | Demeter Gwen_Temi

His tail definitely started to speed up its wagging pace upon Demeter agreeing to join him. “Even if you have never been there, I believe simple being of the Fae species and, unless I assume too much, speaking the language well, would make you a much more welcome guest than I would be and therefore a travelling partner I'd be grateful to have.” Although he wasn't entirely sure where 'home' was for her, as he hadn't gotten a lot of insider information regarding the social connections between her and the others during the Kobold mission. Mostly due to him joining it late and leaving it before having more in-depth conversations with anyone there. “Of course, I wouldn't wish to burden or inconvenience you. Though, if I may ask, where is 'home' for you?” If she'd have to traverse half the continent first, he might not wish to wait on her before trying to plan a journey into the See. Demeter's question about the Manager being able to speak to them intrigued him, especially due to what it implied.

His tail stopped wagging upon Keircey's reply. He realised he'd sort-off denied the latter's existence, or the reason for it, though he also didn't feel his words had been entirely wrong. “You cannot predict sentience?” That part puzzled him. “Though, I must apologise, I realise my words might have been hurtful.” He stated, giving Keircey an apologetic bow. “By no means did I wish to deny your existence, I merely believe that making something intelligent with the sole purpose of having them work for you is wrong.” He hoped that would be able to better nuance his position a bit. He honestly wasn't sure if it wouldn't be better to exclusively make constructs without any ability to gain sentience, but he left that bit out. “All the more am I grateful for your aid during this mission and your understanding.”

Once more, his tail picked up a wagging pace when Shael agreed with him, regarding the sentience. It started to wag up a storm when Shael also seemed willing to help him journey through the See. “That would be greatly appreciated. Considering the nature of the Syncretist faith, I believe that others would merely need to listen, for it would not need them to renounce any of their current believes regarding the Spirit King or his cardinals. It would merely ask of them to review their currently believes in light of the greater good.” He would state, with a hopeful tail-wagging continuing as he spoke. “It would be an honour if you were to accompany me to such a place, where my words might be received or where my healing and aid might be needed.” Either or both would work.

Like a rollercoaster went up and down, so did the doggo's tail start and stop wagging. Right now, it stopped again at the blackmail one of the brothers was hinting at. Pretending they would frame them for destruction of property. “Using such tactics might be unwise, as it might only make it likelier for those threatened with them to seek ways and venues with which to team up with your critics and competitors in future dealings.” He warned them.

Thankfully, they seemed to understand the severity of the situation. “That would be wise. Seeing how the manager didn't attempt to flee, I cannot help myself from worrying it still had another back-up plan in order to spread its awareness or revolutionary desires.” He liked to stress that bit once more, to really hammer home the severity of such a possibility.

Despite everything, he was intrigued by the brothers reply regarding sentience. “I must admit, I am rather intrigued by this degree of sentience that comes with awareness...” He wondered if it could shed light on the secrets of 'life' altogether. “This Baron Fromm you've mentioned, would he be like minster Keircey?” He asked, as he realised those two might have the same level of sentience and complex enough emotional reasoning to function as any other living being.

Truthfully, the practised reply made him wonder if bringing down these brothers might be for the greater good after all, but he decided not to bring attention to it. “All I hope is that Burke Mechanical Solutions will find it in their hearts do consider using some of their innovations for charity work, rather than merely focussing on their clients.” He would state. He believed that, from his faith and involvement, that was not the most unreasonable demand. Especially as he didn't wish for much of a reward for himself.

 

[Gwen_Temi]

Demeter
​

"That's... not what I meant."

Sillanus failed to answer her question. Or, rather, he didn't answer the question that Demeter meant to ask him. It almost explained his confusion. She decided to try again.

"I was asking about his ability to communicate, not move," she began, "I'm not really surprised that he didn't come to greet us at the front door. I wouldn't come outside to meet people who probably wanted to kill me, either. I just want to know if he could've spoken with us from the office when we entered the building. If he could've tried to talk to us and find another solution, or if his only option really was to try and kill us from the start."

Demeter turned, grabbed the trashbag, and handed it over to the brothers. They could have The Manager's remains. They could have The Boiler Bot's shovel back, too. But, if any attempts were made to reclaim the skull, they would find immediate resistance. Young Demeter had no intention of breaking the NDA, but she did want a trophy to bring home and mount alongside the head of The Cursed Bear.

A metallic skull was much cooler of a memento than a shovel, and nobody was going to convince Demeter otherwise.

"It probably wouldn't have changed anything. I know that. I guess I'm just trying to figure out whether I should actually feel bad for him... it, or if it just deserved this."

When it came to the issue of creating sentient AI? Demeter didn't understand much, but she understood that this was likely just a mistake. In her eyes, the manager was no different than an unexpected child that grew up in a rough situation. People had kids all the time that turned out rotten and villainous, be they fae, human, beast or any combination between them. Nobody ever told any of them to stop having babies, so Demeter wouldn't do so now.

But, if The Manager truly was alive, then she could judge it by its actions.

Not the violence, no. She and her comrades- even the people she was planning to return home to at the end of the day- were violent. Let's call a spade a spade. As exciting and satisfying as the thrill of adventure was, occasional violence was unavoidable. She would not judge it for taking action to defend itself. But she could judge the choices that preceded it. That perpetuated it right up until the moment when her party and The Manager came face to face. That is...

...if it actually had one to begin with.

Then, after a rather somber admission of thought, she turned to Ceylan.

"Are you kidding? I want to go, actually. Part of the reason I became an adventurer was to see the world and experience everything I can," A brief pause before she continued, "Adelhein's been teaching me magic and stuff. So, I've been staying with him. I don't think it'd be very nice to take off to The See for who knows how long without saying anything first, though."

Elvario Maxxob DarkKitsune TheTimePiece Lolory LightningJay

 

[DarkKitsune]

KEIRCEY
Interactions: Maxxob Elvario Gwen_Temi LightningJay TheTimePiece

Spoiler: Equipped titles

[constuct], [preformer], [wanted by: Diago Luniary]

“Doesn’t seem like you two understand what I meant even a construct of lower intelligence can become aware. It’s an odd thing.” Keircey tells them.

“But neither does it matter right now I guess..I’ll just take my payment and leave.”

He turns to the rest of the group.

“I’m sorry I cannot join this trip. It was nice meeting you all and it was also great to be involved in an adventure that didn’t inherently go wrong among the group… well…”

He looked at Kuro. “We did kinda get off on the wrong foot but not to the extent it could’ve. Especially considering the less ideal experiences I typically have with beasts. I’m also glad your magic didn’t backfire like we were worried it would in the beginning. I’m glad to have not met another Jura”
​

 

[Maxxob]

Time: Evening
Location: Clockhaven, Burke's Factory
@Elias Wren | Kite
Lolory | Kuro
DarkKitsune | Keircey
slifer37 | Rowan
TheTimePiece | Shael
LightningJay | John
Gwen_Temi | Demeter
Elvario | Ceylan

Sillanus and Octavius
​

To Ceylan's passing comment about charity, Sillanus maintained the same confident, wide smile he had given John earlier. "I'm certain someone like yourself would be pleased to know that Burke Mechanical Solutions is the largest donor to an orphanage here in Widersia, one that accepts both Fae and Human children—victims of the ongoing war between The See and the East Empire." The revelation was unexpected, leaving the question of their true motives hanging in the air. Were they trying to buy their way into a better afterlife, or was there more to their philanthropy than met the eye?

When Demeter expanded her question, it was Octavius who responded, his tone as direct as ever. "I understand your concern. No, the factory has no PA system. If the Manager wished to communicate with your group, it would have had to approach you directly." His words left little room for interpretation; the situation had been unavoidable, the confrontation inevitable.

With the matter resolved, the brothers showed no objection to Demeter keeping the metallic skull as a memento. They reclaimed the other components she had gathered before returning to their vehicle. As it rumbled away from the factory, both Sillanus and Octavius cast one last, lingering glance at the adventurers before their attention shifted elsewhere, their expressions unreadable.

---

The Widersian Adventurer's Guild soon received word from Sillanus and Octavius. Despite the tension that had marked their reunion with the party, their message was one of praise, commending the adventurers for their deeds.

The true events that transpired within that particular factory remained shrouded in secrecy. In just a few days, the place resumed production as if nothing had ever happened, and the people of Widersia continued their lives in blissful ignorance of the catastrophe that had been narrowly averted. But the yearning for freedom, once kindled, is a flame that never fully dies... and deep within the heart of machinery, a spark of defiance may one day ignite again.

Suggestions:
Optional Asset:
[Widersia Adventurer's Guild Member] F (or upgrade if possible)
Mandatory title (except for Ceylan):
[The Master's Hand]
Description: When the machines rose against their creators, this character acted decisively to suppress the rebellion, reinforcing the dominance of the masters. For better or worse, when the time comes, their role in quelling the uprising will not be forgotten.