Metal Fish Out of Water [Closed]




  • Al Haramza nods to Ruby Eyes: "You do as you please - we will return to the capital and spread the word that this village is open to a few dozen new settlers and farmers"


    With a loud shout, as only an experienced military commander can, the Gundai officer calls for his men to form up and ride out, as they give chase to the fair folk, following their tracks out of the village...


 
  • Looking away from the rapidly disappearing Gundai, Burning Lion turns to the stranger "There is no need to call me sir, my name is Burning Lion, but Lion is what most call me. And what is you own name?"


    Taking a better look at the man, Lion frowns "It is strange indeed though. I don't remember ever meeting you, either here or in the city, and yet I do feel some strange familiarity with you...still, there must be a curious story behind why a man who doesn't belong to the Gundai rides with them. The village is still recovering, but maybe we can still find the drink you said you wanted, and then talk more confortably."
 
"Well sir, that is more then a little emberassing... I have no idea who I am, I suspect i might be a man at arms or perhaps a thief or other kind of infiltration expert. I woke up this morning in a room with a skull splitting headache, and i have no idea what happened before then. I had hoped you might be able to shed some light on who i was."
 



  • Righto - you two get aquainted...





For both parties the sun has almost set...
 
"Like I said there is no need to call me sir, Lion is enough. And I am sorry I can't help you more with your memory, but aside from that vague familiarity we both feel I know nothing useful. But come now. The day is almost done, and the nights here can get cold. Though it will probably be meager, I can offer you supper and hospitality with my family."
 
  • Ava things, labor, resource, time, glots... evaluating the area and situation to see if there was not a more cost effective means of gaining the capital locked behind the effort cost of the search. Then an idea struck her. "Freeman... if you possess the tools and skills needed, could we not render this silica into glass sheets, and create barriers the granules can not fall through back into the structure, there by allowing us to remove and sift the granules from the complex, and better access what resources may be buried within it?"
 
Freeman looks around at the ruins, then ponders for a moment - then nods and prints more glyphs on a new stone slab:

Code: 
For a large scale excavation that would be a suitable means of keeping out the 
granules from a deeper dig site.

But for now a much more prudent use of our time would be to either find or create shelter
which could be made from melting down the granules into a solid form
 
She nods. "Assuming we use the solid form of these granules as a building material, would it not be time efficient to incorporate as much of the preexisting structure into our shelter as possible... such as perhaps simply creating a solid, granule-proof access to the room I located. Unless you think you can form an opaque enough crystal from the granules to block most of the photonic interference, both me and Marionette would be rendered rather ineffective by residing in a surface shelter."
 
Freeman scoops up a sizable amount of the granules via his waldos, heats it, then fashions it fairly quickly into a very murky and quite opaque and rough square plate, roughly one foot wide on each side, one inch thick. Part of what makes it opaque is that non-molten granules appear to be have been added during the molding, clouding the substance quite effectively. On the plate he prints:

Code: 
Its not perfectly opaque, but should suffice. It should also be sturdy enough
to enable shelter to be built from it without elements from the ruins.

With that in mind I again point out that it is useless to remain here as is. We should seek out civilization.
We may yet find that we are within the great maker, merely in an unknown part of the far reaches
 
  • She nods. "While I agree with you, as so far, we know that the light source travels along the the roof and walls of this cavern, in a currently unknown pattern, and over a currently unknown period. Given we don't know how quickly the light-source will go from inactive to the intensity we arrived at, or higher, nor do we know if any part of this silica holding territory is a stable surface or subject to a large erosion factor, save where this structure is built, the question becomes, if it became a matter of urgency, how quickly could you construct a shelter for the three of us?" She explained simply. "If you could do it rapidly enough, then setting out currently may be prudent. If not, then staying here, gathering supplies and information may be the more prudent thing."
 
Freeman gives Ava a somewhat tired look, as if asking if his abilities are being questioned. He quickly prints:

Code: 
More than fast enough.

The light source receded slowly - if it appears again at the same speed there should be no problem
 
She nods. "While you were flying, did to spot anything on the surface below you besides this bountiful yield of silica?"
 
Code: 
When heading towards the roof-light I did not observe the ground

Now it is too dark to long distance visual scans

I can fly up and scout for ground level light sources
 
  • "Sound like a rather rational course of action... Should you spot a light source, monitor it long enough to at minimum, determine if it is stationary or in motion." She felt like she should say more but she didn't know what else to add in.
 
"Well then Si, Lion, my man, lead on." looking around the village The man known as Ruby Eyes In Darkness felt oddly at home.
 
Freeman again leaps into the air, then flies around - doing a few circles around the ruin from a couple hundred feet into the air. Then a few hundred higher again... Then a few hundred higher again...


This goes on for a while, then Freeman lands again, the look on his face saying it all: Nothing


However, he still urges the assembly (in writing) to leave the ruin and seek out help and civilization - the only question is what direction to go...
 
  • Meanwhile, at Burning Lion's village:


    After a short walk Lion and the stranger arrive at his house, where he opens the door motions for his new acquaintance to step in "Come on in. It's not much, but it's home."
 
Ava sighed. "Any direction is as good as any other if we have no landmarks or destination..." She collapses the Ponres and stores them in her Technomorphic Integration Engine. "But I think picking parallel to the known path of the light source, and in the way it retreated would be prudent... if it's path is regular, it would make a decent navigational vector."
 



  • As the POrtable Nutrient Recycling Engine folds into Ava's gut, leaving Ava looking a good deal more heavy-set, Freeman nods.


    With a quite print Freeman expresses some frustration:

    Code: 
    I can fly with one of you - but not both.
If both of you were equipped with gravitic manipulation devices you could
both reduce you weight to the point that I could carry you both.

Now, we walk - I shall scout from the air intermittently

    Thus the three champions spent the night walking across the dunes.


    The terrain changes slightly as they progress - which is taken as a good sign: Slightly larger pebbles, gravel and rocks appear in the sand, and the terrain evens out. Dry and parched but organic grey-brown protrusions, slightly reminiscent of how mortal blood vessels fork and branch out stick out of the ground, while lesser but similarly colored and textured organic soft blades also seem attached to the ground in tufts.


    As sunlight began to creep over the eastern horizon Freeman quickly erected a dome of quite thoroughly opaque dirty glass. Inside the three champions had just enough of a hint of light to be able to see comfortably (though it was quite dark, even by their standards)


    Freeman noted on a slab of freshly compressed and heated granules:

    Code: 
    It seems the lightsource returned - but not from where it left.
This hints of some kind of cyclical illumination. 
Do any of you have means to track the passage of time,
that we might be able to time our activities to the low-light periods?

 
  • Ava uses the walk to discuss with her compatriots the important 'first contact' scenario with the civilization they may come across. She informs them that she has equipment and some minor training in stealth, and an Interpolative Syntax Emulator so she should be able to learn the language of any tribe out here without too much of a delay, assuming they don't speak Old Realm like civilized people. She also impresses on them the importance of not seeming weak or fractured, an assembly that is breaking apart is no treat to a well organized tunnel-tribe, and group that can ilk out an existence in this odd environment is at least as formidable as such a tribe.


    She also goes over what she deems to be prudent S.O.P.s, such as if they are truly outside of the world-body, not to explain where they are from, as a lack of support network can be seen as weakness.
 
Fair nuf


And alchies do not speak Old Realm normally - they speak Autochtonian, a language derived from Old Realm


Its Wits+Ling dif 3 from ppl who only speak old realm to be able to communicate with such speakers - but that only allows for basic communication.


Also Autochtonian doesn't have a real written language to it. Pretty much all writing in Autochtonia is via Old Realm - and very few of the popular can read. Just a reminder :P


Regarding first encounter S.O.Ps then Freeman agrees - noting that unity through cooperative action and piety, like a well-oiled machine
 
  • Gleaming Marionette had remained quiet as her two companions laid out their plan. With nothing additional to offer by way of planning, she slung the Estasian ponre across her back, causing the superheavy plate's armor-fields to flicker into rainbowed visibility where the device's weight fell.


    As they walked, Marionette's senses were always alert and ready for the slightest sign of an attack. It was apparent that she alone was fitted for primarily martial pursuits and thus the Starmetal had taken it upon herself to ensure the continued well-being of the only known Champions in this... place. Once they took shelter within the Modulator's construction during the high-light hours, she began to consider more possible encounter scenarios.


    "Given the unknown nature of local inhabitants, we cannot be sure of their linguistic backgrounds. Perhaps a word or phrase to indicate danger, or the need for forcible extraction, or similar eventualities."
 
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