The Legonater Posted May 5, 2015 Posted May 5, 2015 I'm ready. Let's see what's behind door number two.
Myrddyn Posted May 5, 2015 Posted May 5, 2015 Hybros shrugged. "These visions are never so clear. Yet we are expected to trust them, heh! Such things are how I found my people, after all..." "Your people? Can't say I've ever met anyone who looked similar to you."He hands Melvin the Talisman and heads to the kitchen
CMP Posted May 5, 2015 Author Posted May 5, 2015 "Well, what choice do we have? Let us go around to the kitchen." The party heads down towards the kitchen. They head past the mystery room and the stairs - but as they passed the latter, a pained groan escaped from what was, based on what they'd seen above, a collapsed ruin. The captain frowned, and pulled open the door to the room as they passed by, without waiting for input. There the heroes found a sight that was to many of them probably entirely unsurprising. Men in red, black, and white robes and clothing lie crushed under whatever had collapsed the stairs, and seemed to have been there at least a day or so, judging by the stench. Regardless, one of them managed to cling to life, a young man who looked liked he'd been struggling for a rather long period of time underneath the rubble. He looked up at the heroes just outside and sighed under his breath. "Well.....hell."
JimBee Posted May 5, 2015 Posted May 5, 2015 "Your people? Can't say I've ever met anyone who looked similar to you." He hands Melvin the Talisman and heads to the kitchen "That might change soon enough, eheh. Melvin, you said my people have started appearing in Zylstra? I am... glad to hear that. How are they doing? Has the Baron accepted them into his city?" "Well.....hell." "Heh! Well if it is not the Crimson Crown, if I am not mistaken. Necromancers, vampires, Bonapartes... now you." Hybros leveled the tip of his scythe to the trapped man's throat, intimidatingly. "Explain what you are doing here."
CMP Posted May 5, 2015 Author Posted May 5, 2015 "Heh! Well if it is not the Crimson Crown, if I am not mistaken. Necromancers, vampires, Bonapartes... now you." Hybros leveled the tip of his scythe to the trapped man's throat, intimidatingly. "Explain what you are doing here." The man looked down at the gleaming point of the scythe and shivered. "Same as you, I'd guess. I heard fighting a while ago." He glanced sideways at Captain Illdria. "Slaughtering Bonapartes is kind of your thing, yeah? Did you realize they were allied with the Cold Circle before, or after you killed them all?" "I'm told purging your lessers is what your group does, actually." "Don't be so idealistic, you're starting to sound like Heroica. This atrocity is exactly the kind of thing we try to prevent." The man struggled under the rubble. "One of our spies reported the Cold Circle had contacts within Melville's ranks. We infiltrated them as well. Apparently he got paranoid, trying to control the minds of his own people, so we attempted to strike first. We thought we had the element of surprise. You can see how well that went."
JimBee Posted May 5, 2015 Posted May 5, 2015 "Hmph." Hybros moved his sycthe slightly away from the man, but still within range of his jugular. "Our goals may be intertwined but they are not the same. We are here to rescue the rest of our crew and get out. What else can you tell us about this place? Are there more traps? What is the Cold Circle's purpose here? Are there more of you?"
CMP Posted May 5, 2015 Author Posted May 5, 2015 "Hmph." Hybros moved his sycthe slightly away from the man, but still within range of his jugular. "Our goals may be intertwined but they are not the same. We are here to rescue the rest of our crew and get out. What else can you tell us about this place? Are there more traps? What is the Cold Circle's purpose here? Are there more of you?" "Can you get me out of here and fix my leg first? I'd hate to bleed out in the middle of my interrogation." The man replied, with a wince.
Emjajoas Posted May 5, 2015 Posted May 5, 2015 Mortimer steps forward, intending to help haul the rubble off the man trapped underneath.
Scubacarrot Posted May 5, 2015 Posted May 5, 2015 "Crimson Crown. They've tried to kill the Guild's Masked Man and there was a Crimson Crown rat in Baltarok that was responsible for a whole lot of trouble. We shouldn't be helping him, we should leave him or finish the job." To the Crimson Crown agent, Guts said: "Let me guess, Joel, West, two of yours?"
Scubacarrot Posted May 5, 2015 Posted May 5, 2015 "He won't bleed out as you long as you don't move the rocks that are keeping his leg in place." Guts pointed out.
Myrddyn Posted May 5, 2015 Posted May 5, 2015 Huh, Sophia was Crimson Crown. Had those goons try to kill everyone in the inn, f' some reason. Surely they're better than Cold Circle, though. Erik steps forward a few seconds after Em, but stops before he gets to the man. Except... the necromancer in the inn was just mindin' his own business when we killed him. Maybe he'd have killed people later, but the Crimson guys just decided to try kill everyone they saw. And even though that vampire was controlling people, they were fine afterwards. Except for the dead ones, but if they were Crimson Crown... ~ "I ain't leavin' him. If the world's better of without 'im, I'll take 'is head off, he'll die quickly and we'll know he won't cause trouble later. Or we bring 'im along to help kill the necromancers, and let 'im go afterwards, 'cos even a crazy Crimson Crown isn't as bad as, what, two vampires, whatever th' megabluck Melville is, and Sylvania knows what else."
JimBee Posted May 6, 2015 Posted May 6, 2015 "Em, have you really forgotten that quickly who these people are? Guts is right, we should leave them..." Hybros watches Erik and Em continue to dig out the rubble. "Ehehm... well I guess he is not getting away anytime soon..."
Emjajoas Posted May 6, 2015 Posted May 6, 2015 "I've no intention of letting him go free," Mortimer replied. "But information is valuable, Crimson Crown or not, and I'm sure he'd feel better about dying on his feet."
The Legonater Posted May 6, 2015 Posted May 6, 2015 "Crimson Crown. They've tried to kill the Guild's Masked Man and there was a Crimson Crown rat in Baltarok that was responsible for a whole lot of trouble. We shouldn't be helping him, we should leave him or finish the job." Wait, Jaret? That scum? If these folks are connected to him, I'm not sure they deserve the help. That said, there is one way to get answers. "Can you get me out of here and fix my leg first? I'd hate to bleed out in the middle of my interrogation." The man replied, with a wince. I'm not sure, those rocks look really heavy. It'll take us a lot of effort to lift them, and I'm just not sure we have the strength to right now. Why don't you tell us something to sweeten the deal? Or we pile on more.
CMP Posted May 6, 2015 Author Posted May 6, 2015 (edited) Mortimer steps forward, intending to help haul the rubble off the man trapped underneath. The man helps push the rocks off of his legs as well, and with Em's help the stone pillar is lifted enough for him to drag himself out from underneath the rubble. One his legs is badly broken. "Thanks for that." "Crimson Crown. They've tried to kill the Guild's Masked Man and there was a Crimson Crown rat in Baltarok that was responsible for a whole lot of trouble. We shouldn't be helping him, we should leave him or finish the job." To the Crimson Crown agent, Guts said: "Let me guess, Joel, West, two of yours?" " 'A whole lot of trouble'. Like what? I'm not even part of that sect. As far as the Masked Man goes, you know damn well that whole thing was a farce. He was trying to put out some sort of immortality elixir. If anyone was capable of that, it was the Guild, and do you have any idea how much damage a potion like that could do if it got out into the wild? Then there was that whole thing with your damn camera, you can ask these three how that went," he jerked his head towards Em, Hybros, and Melvin. "My guys are all right here." The man jams a thumb over his shoulder at the Crimson Crown men buried under the rubble. "Everyone else still here are the people Melville was able to put under his control. It wasn't a perfect spell, and there were those who resisted. He had them killed by their own allies." "I ain't leavin' him. If the world's better of without 'im, I'll take 'is head off, he'll die quickly and we'll know he won't cause trouble later. Or we bring 'im along to help kill the necromancers, and let 'im go afterwards, 'cos even a crazy Crimson Crown isn't as bad as, what, two vampires, whatever th' megabluck Melville is, and Sylvania knows what else." "I'm not going anywhere with a leg like this. What trouble do I have to cause? Unless you were going to leave the power-mad necromancers alive before you left, our goals are as aligned as they can be. I imagine you've all been screwed over by us a few times, but we need to maintain connections around Olegaia to respond quickly to threats like these. Even if it went bad this time." I'm not sure, those rocks look really heavy. It'll take us a lot of effort to lift them, and I'm just not sure we have the strength to right now. Why don't you tell us something to sweeten the deal? Or we pile on more. "It's not as though you have that threat hanging over my head anymore, but what kind of information are you looking for? We had a threat level analysis for this place but that went out the window when we learned the Cold Circle had vampires here. They tend to be pretty high-level operatives. They're allying with Melville for some reason and they're likely the ones maintaining this mind control spell." Edited May 6, 2015 by CallMePie
UsernameMDM Posted May 6, 2015 Posted May 6, 2015 Hoke checks the men in the rubble for any signs of life or any useful items.
Myrddyn Posted May 6, 2015 Posted May 6, 2015 "I'm not going anywhere with a leg like this. What trouble do I have to cause? Unless you were going to leave the power-mad necromancers alive before you left, our goals are as aligned as they can be. I imagine you've all been screwed over by us a few times, but we need to maintain connections around Olegaia to respond quickly to threats like these. Even if it went bad this time." "Might not be goin' anywhere any time soon, but I'm sure you'd survive. Only time I ever dealt with the Crown was for some Sophia woman. Wanted us trackin' down an assassin, then she leaves our pay and disappears, and guys in funny white masks start shootin' up the place.""Maintain connections, pshh." The barbarian mutters. "What are you, anyway, some kind a' international ethics enforcers? Religious, then?" He asks, examining the Crimson Crown agent's strange metal eye.
CMP Posted May 6, 2015 Author Posted May 6, 2015 Hoke checks the men in the rubble for any signs of life or any useful items. It attracts a few harsh looks from the survivor, but Hoke pries the gloves off one of the bodies. Sterile Gloves (Immune to poisoned and bleeding, handwear, suitable for anyone) "Might not be goin' anywhere any time soon, but I'm sure you'd survive. Only time I ever dealt with the Crown was for some Sophia woman. Wanted us trackin' down an assassin, then she leaves our pay and disappears, and guys in funny white masks start shootin' up the place." "Maintain connections, pshh." The barbarian mutters. "What are you, anyway, some kind a' international ethics enforcers? Religious, then?" He asks, examining the Crimson Crown agent's strange metal eye. "The Cardinal is picky about who she hires. I imagine she wanted to test you, make sure you were worth hiring again if needed. If it helps, getting the Blue Assassins off our back was pretty damn helpful." "We're certainly not a religious group. Ethics fits better. We're an ancient organization whose sole purpose, essentially, is to make sure the world advances at a sustainable pace. There are a lot of trappings we could do without when it comes to improving the future of our world. Example. Magic. It's too dangerous. Every few years someone pops up trying to become a god or threatening to tear holes in the fabric of the universe, and the only thing that enables that kind of power is magic. You're always going to have crazy people, but at least without magic we won't have crazy mages. There's also a lot of advanced technology around that could threaten the natural order of things. Take a look at what all these automatons and airships are doing to Xu. The most we're willing to use is alchemy. Some of the higher-ups suspect Ji Pei is literally ahead of our time. That could be a major issue. And of course there's the gods. Relics we should've grown out of centuries ago. These are the things impeding our natural advancements, and without them, maybe the world can be just a little bit less chaotic. You wouldn't even believe how much progress we've made." "Since you asked." The 'eye' was more a metal 'patch' than anything. The man frowned and scratched his chin.
UsernameMDM Posted May 6, 2015 Posted May 6, 2015 Hoke stows the gloves in his pack. It attracts a few harsh looks from the survivor, but Hoke pries the gloves off one of the bodies. Sterile Gloves (Immune to poisoned and bleeding, handwear, suitable for anyone) "There's also a lot of advanced technology around that could threaten the natural order of things. Take a look at what all these automatons and airships are doing to Xu." "I guess that explains the smashed Tri-tech gear upstairs."
Emjajoas Posted May 6, 2015 Posted May 6, 2015 (edited) "You plan to kill gods?" Mortimer glares at the man, frowning, but notices Erik examining the patch over the crimson crownsman's eye closely. "Erik," he calls, shaking his head once he had the man's attention. Edited May 6, 2015 by Emjajoas
JimBee Posted May 6, 2015 Posted May 6, 2015 "I have had this conversation with you predecessors, and it comes down to this: who are you to decide?" Hybros asked softly, without vindication and with a hint of curiosity, as if he actually wanted to know the answer. But without waiting for one, he began walking away, towards the kitchen. He called back to the others. "We must continue. That one will be of little use with one leg. You may patch him up if you want, but if he must be carried then we leave him." He continued walking. Regulators of progress... he had never heard of anything so conceited. While not all of the encounters he had with the Crimson Crown had not ended badly, they were no better than the Imperial Order. Why fight to keep everything the same when the changes of the world were so spontaneous and abundant? Without change, the world might as well freeze over. Without magic or technology, Hybros never would have been able to become reunited with his people. Anyone seeking to prevent this was an obstacle, in Hybros' mind.
UsernameMDM Posted May 6, 2015 Posted May 6, 2015 Hoke and Torc follow Hybros to the kitchen, keeping a cautious eye open.
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