TURN TWENTY-FIVE: SHINING ALEXANDER
Random.org is down. Nooooo!
Eh Ah
"I would certainly accept, Your Majesty, and am greatly honored by the way ma'am places her trust in me. What would this position exactly entail, if I may ask?"
Eh Ah [autoaction]You agree to the Empress' proposition, at least for the moment. It will serve as a closer connection to some higher sources of knowledge, at the core. If you ever need to bail, well, it can't be that hard to avoid a foreign noble on a familiar island - unless, of course, she has already accustomed herself to the nature of this odd place.
The Empress leaves you alone on the top floor of the Government Complex while she plans for the arrival of the ships. It takes a good while - to the tune of about four hours - but she eventually returns for you. Her facial expression would tell you that she is not exactly happy about the situation at hand. Behind her, an aide follows closely, scribbling with a pen as the Empress speaks with a frustrated tone.
"...send Lioth Team to observe the ships for any specific markings or insignias, and... oh, Mr. Ah. Why don't you follow me?" She takes you abruptly by the arm, looking you straight in the eye with determination and purpose.
"I wish for you to learn the magnificence of my power. After this meeting, we may get work, I do think. Shall we?"The three of you, plus a few more guards and some other logistics commanders that accompanied the initial invasion forces. The Empress' group, you included, travels from the Government Complex down south to the dock that is hugged by the bay. You observe the crowd that surrounds you. Various military personnel, young and old, chit-chatting among themselves. A pretty uninteresting group, yet there is one thing that you do notice: they all have dull eyes. None of them seem particularly interested or even entertained by the situation. You would even go so far as to think that they are somewhat annoyed by the Empress, which is something you had not seen before - before, they seemed either in fear or in submission to the Empress. Something to keep in mind, perhaps.
You watch as the large cruisers make their way by the island, the dark, fierce watercrafts that they are. One of the cruisers slows down near the northern tip of the island and dispatches several smaller landing boats to arrive on the island. The ones that your party is to greet. Finally, the small military ships turn their way into the bay and arrive at the dock. You count three small boats total that are currently landing the group of Theyin Empire troops onto the island. There seems to be about thirty-two troops in total, including several high-ranking officers and one other person in a light cloak. The officers shout out various commands and the troops raise their weapons, looking for and identifying the Empress' group. Without warning, a hand grabs onto your shoulder.
"Who are yo-" You feel the hand get pulled off of you.
"I would refrain from harassing my adviser if I were you. Get back in line!" Seira Theyin hisses at the soldier, who promptly jogs back to his own group. The cloaked man briskly walks forward and stops. You can't get a good look at him, seeing as you are on the left of the group and he is facing to your right. Yet, you can hear his voice. Strong, calm, and clear.
((If this text color bothers anyone, please let me know.))
"So, Seira. You managed to lose your whole fleet?" Seira laughs with an annoyed tone.
"Very funny. Yes, my fleet was destroyed by a supernatural attack. All of my naval troops, gone. My ships, at the bottom of the ocean. All because the universe decided it wants to give this world a little shake-up." The cloaked man stands motionless.
"I suppose now would be as good of a time to tell you, then.""What? Tell me what, now? And refer to me as "Your Highness," dammit! It matters not if you are of the same blood as I am, cousin!""Well, Your Highness, the people of the Central Theyin Empire have seen it fit to appoint me as the Commander of the Her Majesty's Armed Forces.""Who gave you the right to command? I am the commander of my forces, and no one else! Claiming to do so is treason!" Seira draws a pistol from under her own cloak, causing an unsteady split between the two groups of the Theyin Imperial troops.
"GO TO HELL, APOLLO!"Before anyone can respond, she fires her pistol directly at the cloaked man. All you see in the next few moments are flashes of electricity. You can hear the bullet land harmlessly on the floor in front of the man, Apollo. Next, you hear Seira yelp out. She lets go of the pistol, her hand slightly burned by a blast of light. Apollo removes his cloak from his head. You can see that he has golden hair that is done perfectly, along with his shining, golden eyes. He has a face that could have belonged to an immortal being.
"I ask you to acknowledge your new Commander, Apollo Devicus."
Warren Drake
Follow the strong line, but do so cautiously. You wouldn't want to blunder into yet another close encounter with beings of terrible power, would you?
Warren DrakeYou begin to follow the glowing green trail that snakes along the side of the river. You know not what it is there for or why it exists, but it's your only lead thus far. After all, the only other option is to die of hypothermia, so might as well get a move on. You follow the trail for about ten minutes before it diverts off from the river and moves down into the deeper wetlands, over the mountains and the plateau down south. Still persistent, you continue following the trail without too much hesitation.
Eventually, tired and in desperate need of food, you come to a much deeper point of the wetlands. It is warmer down here than it was up at the arch, which is a good thing. However, the glowing trail has not dimmed itself down yet - in fact, it has only grown stronger. Hopefully, this means that you are getting closer to the source of the light. Finally, you reach a circular clearing with a rather large tree in the middle. The air is lighter here and the wind has picked up somewhat. In the middle of the clearing, you can see the someone sitting down, petting two ocelots that have run up to him or her.
"Oh, who's a good little kitty? You are, oh yes you aaarree!"
For now, burn wood or coal to heat a slab of stone, and set the creator to bake. Have the miner Goldman who die well finish with the lava job, and have the others excavate a large room with a slab separating the top and bottom. If lava is poured in the bottom, the slab will heat up, allowing me to bake clay on it. Now, all that is left to do is move said lava into the bottom chamber.
Rune((I'm assuming you mean "golem" and "mine well," because that's a pretty awkward sentence otherwise.))
5 + 2 = 7, bonus to focus and domain bonus!
Find wood: 6
Bake the creator: 4, well baked
Golems 4, 5 <dig for lava>: 1 + 3 = 4, 3 + 2 = 5, success
Golems 1, 2, 3, 6 <excavate large room>: 4 + 1 = 5, 4, 6 - 1 = 5, 1 - 2 = 0, 14/10 work units succeeded
This is becoming an elaborate project now. Soon, you will have a factory complex up and running right under the noses of everyone living on Atis! Specifically, a factory meant to produce golems which will be under your every command. You should waste no more time on thinking, now is for work. You, with your mental prowess, command the golems to begin digging for some lava and for a workbed for your production. You, specifically, move up and out of the underground in order to look for a log to burn. You're quite dizzy from being underground for so long, but you get over it soon enough and find a tree that was knocked down due to the explosions from the invasion. You prefer not to think about the invasion for too long and head back underground.
You spend some time down in the underground, looking for some good flint to spark up a small fire on the log. Finally, you find a couple of good pieces of flint that should suffice for your work. You scratch them together several times and manage a spark for the fire, which you create right under the golem. It's going to take a longer while, but at least the fire has been started.
(Ergo, one more turn and it should be done.)
Meanwhile, you venture downwards a bit more and find that the golems have struck magma. Praise the miners! Well, not really - I mean, it's just magma. Whatever, though, it's good enough to work with. You allow them to dig a small trench that leads to the excavated room that the other golems have dug out. Now, you have a small flow of lava heading down into the bed under the rock. This should allow you to create your own oven for the clay and produce golems on a wider scale now.
Behind you, you hear a high-pitched whine coming from the direction of the cavern. That, and you can see a faint glow coming from higher up in your tunnels...
Drain moisture from the ground an use the nutrients to heal myself
Alex RamanDisheveled from your launch into the sky and subsequent hard landing, you attempt to draw some life from the ground in order to heal yourself. Calling on the moisture from the snow and the wet dirt, you force the water to rise to the surface and hopefully deliver something that heals you. Apparently, it delivers just the opposite instead. You sit up and wince in pain as many minuscule points of ice prick into your skin and your back instead, much like tiny thorns composed of frozen water. You spend a good while taking these little spikes out of your shirt and begin focusing on finding a way in the city. As for the ice, it doesn't seem that your power favors the healing aspects of the environment. You did a pretty good job in destroying a bunch of stuff, however.
Near you to your left, you hear some conversation. You can only pick up bits and pieces over the noise of the vehicles, but it seems to hint at
something you can follow.
"...anyways, you hear about that Vicks guy?""Yeah. Vicious, or something? Heard it from TO Macro. Told me that the guy planned to take over the military, something like it.""Is that why 43rd Kolos is mobilizing now?""I think they've been on that for a while now. Jaunatne's stepping up their game, y'know. The first TESS troops are gonna land on the shores in a couple a' days.""Damn. Hope they reestablish comms with the Atis teams. The Empress too."
"Yes, I'll be out in just a moment."
walk over to Cromwell and shove his shoulder on the side that seems least likely to be able to hit me from if he attacks in response.
"Hey, wake up!"
Then put things back how they were before I moved the furniture. Next open the door, casually checking both sides of it and the ceiling above as I step out, and if the speaker offers to guide me, let her. at food, wait to eat until I've seen someone else eat the same food type as I want, and pick my own utensils/plate/etc rather than letting someone pick them out for me.
try to avoid being obvious about what I'm doing.
at the meal, ask for directions to sources of income.
Lirian & Cromwell Jackson [autoaction]You arrange yourself and begin to move the furniture pieces back to their proper place. After you are sure that the furniture looks like it should be fine, you walk over to Cromwell and give him a good shove, telling him to wake up. At first, he is drowsy and incoherent, but he eventually comes to his senses and gets himself straightened out. Once the two of you are ready, you cautiously open the door and look around for anything that might be able to threaten you at the moment. As far as you can see, there is no danger in the immediate vicinity. All you can see is a girl standing in the hallway and a fluffy white cat standing beside her. Again, as far as you can see, there is not much potential for the girl to overpower you or hurt you. The cat might leave a few scratches if it attacks, but nothing too bad to worry about.
((I'm going to change the dialogue color for this person to something I feel suits her more.))
The girl gives a small smile and bows slightly.
"Good morning, I hope slept well! My name is Erin Kito, and this is my cat, Tileno. Say hi, Tileno!" The cat slurs out a long, drawled meow. As for the girl, you can see that she has light blonde hair that is done in a ponytail. She also has pale skin and a teal, woolen sweater. Her glasses and blue-green eyes seem tired, as if she's spent a while awake.
"Well then, breakfast is waiting! Would you like to join us?" You agree tentatively and follow behind her, Cromwell exchanging glances with his kitten a few times.
You head over to the left branch of the complex. The decor seems to follow the same pattern as the room and the entryway, although the design seems to follow a lighter tone than before. You follow Erin through a couple of doorways before you come to a room with glass walls on both sides, and a simple, pentagonal doorway on the opposite side. In the middle, there is a glass table with simple chairs on all sides. You check all of the seats for anything that might be dangerous. After you ascertain that the room is safe, you take a seat along with Cromwell.
"Alright, I'll be back with the meals. Please, do make yourself comfortable." You can see that utensils are placed at regular intervals according to the positions of the seats. Nothing really seems to be out of the ordinary. You take a couple of the utensils out of their pouches and find nothing wrong with them. Cromwell still trades glances with his kitten, which is meowing quite frequently now.
"I think that Tileno cat is what we're looking for here. We might want to talk about the cat sometime later..."Erin arrives through the pentagonal door with a tray carrying noodles, seafood, and some grains.
"I prepared something simple but delicious at the same time. I hope you like it!" Her father appears soon after and greets the two of you once again. You wait until everyone gets settled and begins eating. As far as you can see, nobody is choking or being poisoned right now, so might as well eat to not attract attention. The food is warm and refreshing, considering that you have only eaten a few seeds on your way here. It is nothing short of a delicacy compared to your arrival on this new land. Without wasting time, you begin to ask some questions for the two of them.
"This meal was nice, thank you. Is there somewhere I can work? We might be staying for a little while, so that would be great information."Erin thinks to speak, but she whispers to her father, letting him take over for her.
"We don't really have too much work this time of the year, especially since the river's pretty much frozen. However, we do always need help here at our complex. We never really have any help other than Deon, and our work demands a knack for tenacity. Of course, you might be able to talk to some of the shop owners down in the town and find some work there, but it's always up to you. If I may, how did you end up in a little town like this? It's pretty far off from any other places of interest, like up in Makoi."
Look around for a few more books about the main land. This place really is big. Maybe something more about the Juantine. And try to listen in on what people are whispering about... Speaking of, am I wearing my Aecrocian clothes still?
Cecil G. PalmerYou look yourself up and down. Yes, it appears that you are still wearing the clothes that you had from when you were still in Aecrocia. After you are sure of this, you skim through several books looking for more about the history of this place. What you can tell so far is that this continent has maintained itself in a massive coalition that falls under the flag of a group of new, liberal-thinking people called the Jaunatne. These Jaunatne have taken it up to themselves to create a new, combined military and defend themselves from the Theyin Empire. Anything between the two are left to be caught in the crossfire between the nations. As far as you can tell, there is no definite leader of the Jaunatne Coalition. Instead, it is meant to work as an autonomous entity governed by the people and only the people who live within it.
The oddity about the Jaunatne is that it seems to be taken in three different perspectives: it is, altogether, a military, political, and social entity. You can see different forms and shapes of the Delta Cross icon, even inside mundane things like the books that you are reading through. It seems odd that such an emphasis would be put on a group such as the Jaunatne.
You exit the Information Commons and look for a mode of transportation when you hear a voice behind you.
"Hello there! 'oo might you be?"
Diana nods "Very. I only been here for a day or two and that was unconscious so this is the first time I been 'at large' in this town."
Diana Crown"That's a shame. But hey, you haven't missed out on much," she says with a joyful laugh.
"Nah, the real deal's gonna be here in a week or so. How long ya plan on workin' here? If you wanna take on some more serious work, I can find something for you, but there's not much else to do other than the gathering for short-term work. Oh, and you might find something over at the Kito Complex. They always have some weird shenanigans going on over there.""Oh, by the way, my name's Maggie. Nice to meet you. If you ever need some help on getting around this town, just call me. I've been gathering dust long enough to know who said what and who went where. That's pretty much my job now. Oh, and don't go prowling around at night. There's some nasty creatures that walk around at night." She chuckles and leans in closer.
"Oh yeah, the nasty buggers. Stay away from them and stay indoors. Nothin' good ever came out of them."
Author's Note: Not much to note about other than my business. I will probably be slower with my updates due to some work that I have undertaken, but the updates will come no less!
Also, expect new players to enter soon...
As always, have a good day/night,
Artemis.