Dusk had caught up with the rest of the group in front of the building.
15:52 Dusk looks curiously at the building.
15:53 Lost_ lets out a sigh and walks into the building. A reckless action, which he would later blame on the Drink Spider had given him. But his mind wasn't so addled that he went in with his eyes closed.
15:57 Dusk "This building looks very very recent... what do you think made it?"
15:58 Peerless "Probably another Solar who's reincarnated, Dusk. Won't be surprised if there are others like us running everywhere."
15:59 STExalted The inside of the building is surprisingly cramped, consisted of very long hallway, that ends on... it looks like a door, at least. A door made with some kind of metal.
15:59 Peerless "If you'll excuse me..." Peerless said, before going after Lost_.
16:02 Dusk considers what to do before deciding to wait outside.
16:02 Lost_ "Dusk, can you come here and examine this door for any traps? I see nothing wrong but you can never be too careful."
16:02 Dusk "Well, I'll wait outside then."
16:05 --- Peerless is away (Dinner)
16:09 Dusk raised an eyebrow before sighing. "Right, right, coming..."
16:14 Dusk /me pulled out an arrow from his quiver as he approached the door. First, he looked for obvious trigger or mechanism leading to or from the door before tapping the door and the frame it rested on in his attempt to find anything amiss on its structure that would reveal a hidden mechanism behind it.
As far Dusk know, there is no trap, but it is shut really, really, really, really, really,really...
16:16 STExalted ...really, really, really, really, tight.
16:18 --- Peerless is back
16:19 Dusk "Mh, don't think it's trapped," Dusk relayed, putting his arrow back. "But it's locked tight."
16:19 STExalted ...there is no keyhole, but there are plenty of screws around it.
16:19 *** Spider joined #exaltedrpsvic
16:22 Dusk "Well, screwed tight might be a better fit."
16:25 Lost_ nodded as Dusk worked, silently taking in the structure and positioning of the door and the hallway. He examined the make of the material and determined how much damage it could take. He then took a look at which direction he felt the door would open and envisioned the ways someone or something would get in or out. He He checked the ground around the
16:26 Lost_ door for any ware and tear and put all the peaces together.
16:29 Peerless While Lost_ and Dusk are examining the locked door within their own specialties, Peerless carefully considered the make of the door, the positioning of the screws and the various strange glyphs written on it, all connected to the same point of origin. Are they of a thaumaturgical nature, his mind ponders, or are they of a sorcerous make?
16:29 STExalted There is no wear and tear that you can see, and the door swings to your side. Incidentally, the metal seems quite thin, but it feels heavy.
16:32 Peerless Or, an inner part of his tactical mind whispers to him, is it the pure genius of a Twilight Caste of forgotten past, whose brilliance combines Solar-tier crafting, with Sorcerous bindings and thaumaturgical defenses? He considers the strategic usage of such methods. . . and devised ways to both weaken, in the case of meeting the same obstacle prepared by his
16:33 Peerless opponents, or strengthen them, with the aid of Lost_ and Dusk, should he decided to incorporate its designs into the defenses of Twin Rivers. Bur first, he must solve this puzzle.
16:37 STExalted The building emanates almost no-Essence, so it is intended for stealth. One long hallway, plus a door with no obvious way to pick means it will be hard for invader to overwhelm the defender.
16:37 STExalted And that means there is no need for a lot of people to defend.
16:38 STExalted You are not terribly sure, but the thaumaturgical ritual used is... well, functional. But a bit different than what you expect.
16:39 STExalted Even then, you don't know how to anchor it, since the walls is smooth, bare metal, bereft of any writing or pattern or anything in that vein.
16:43 Peerless frowned. "Lost_, how do you anchor a thaumaturgical ritual in conditions like this?" he waved his hand at the condition of the corridor they were in at the moment. "And how exactly does this particular thaumaturgy works? It seems that this building is more focused towards stealth and ease of dealing against invaders."
16:44 STExalted Dusk notices there're strange, rectangular section of the wall, made with dark glass.
16:45 *** Nekraa is now known as Dragon_
16:48 Dusk moved to look at the screw when he noticed the dark glass.
16:49 Lost_ "A tricky method. It involven impressing the magics directly into the liquid metal before it had been laid down. A mind numbingly boring task that takes a lot of precision and the slightest mistake can ruin the entire block. It takes a long time to make enough to make a building out of it and is generally beyond mortal and even most Exalted as the
16:49 Dusk "Hey there's some kind of dark glass on the wall," Dusk told the others. "and it looks pressable."
16:50 Lost_ skill required is legendary.....well unless you are making it with an Altier manse or a Factory Cathedral in which case all you need to make is the template."
16:53 Lost_ "As for the defence? They are just normal ones that are well known if outdated and arcane. Some areas are new and innovative if very weird and alien but otherwise, something you would find in places like this."
16:54 Peerless nods at Lost_'s explaination, deep in his thoughts. That is, until Dusk told them of the glass.
16:55 Peerless looked at the Night Caste, thankful of his discovery, before moving to press it. However, his palm stopped short at the button (?), as a thought came into his mind.
16:57 Peerless "Lost_, Dusk, what are the chances that this switch-thing is keyed to those who are authorized to enter the area, and the chances that nasty traps are prepared to give a rude welcome towards unauthorized personnel pressing it?"
16:58 Dusk "I wouldn't know about the first, but the latter seems likely."
17:07 Dusk sighs.
17:07 Dusk "I'll take a look around the building and see if I can find another way to enter the building." Dusk said as he went out of the corridor.
17:09 Peerless ". . . Be careful."
17:09 Lost_ "Oh for the love of...." Lost_ muttered as he walked forward and pressed the glass panel.
17:10 Peerless sighs at Lost_'s inebriated actions, before taking a defensive stance in front of the Twilight Caste. "Remind me to get my artifacts upgraded when we get back."
17:10 STExalted At first, there is nothing.
17:10 STExalted ...then there is nothing.
17:11 STExalted ...and then a sound, somewhere can be heard, and you all can hear someone spokes... something. You've never heard that language before.
17:14 Peerless twitches at the language, and instead of trying to understand what the fuck is that, instead he focuses on the /intent/ behind of the language, whether it is a warning, a spike of killing intent, or something /else/. He's not Spider or Lost_, but his situational Awareness is considerably better.
17:15 STExalted Lost_: The speaker wants to know who you are.
17:16 STExalted Peerless: The speaker seems rather alarmed with your group.
17:17 Lost_ thinks hard and finally answers in old realm. "I am Lost Soul. We come in peace. We mean you no harm unless provoked."
17:17 Spider answers in harsh, old realm, coughing as she does and muffling her oice
17:19 Spider telling them to just hurry up and open the doors.
17:21 Peerless relaxes slightly, but does not drop his guard. "I apologize for the intrusion," he finally said. "But we are in the middle of an investigation, and signs showed the suspect is heading towards this direction."
17:22 Peerless He then turned around, asking Spider to help him translate the sentence.
17:22 STExalted The speaker falls silent, then there is a flurry of hushed, half-heard whispered conversation, plus a lot of scratching noise.
17:23 Dusk watched the convo from the outside.
17:24 STExalted Then there is another statement, this one sounded vaguely apologetics, before nothing else can be heard.
17:24 STExalted ...incidentally, the dark glass panel is now covered with some kind of metal, similar with the door.
17:29 Peerless sighs.
17:29 Peerless "How troublesome," he finally said.
17:30 Peerless "Lost_, seems that they want us to come back another time."
17:31 STExalted Dusk notes there's a vent, fuming clear, barely seen smoke some distance away from the building.
17:39 Dusk tells the other about the vent.
17:42 Lost_ still irritated about the whole affair, storms his way towards the vent. He looks and sees that the vent is being used for expelling more than just air. Essence is being expelled as well. In addition, the air was tainted, the type that normally was emitted be clockwork machina. How many were needed to expel this much tainted air and for so long, he wasn't
17:42 Lost_ sure, but he knew that the vent wa important.
17:47 STExalted The vent expells thick, black smoke, that you guessed a coal by product for twenty minutes or so, before it shut down.
17:48 STExalted After that, you can see another smoke, somewhere further in the forest, black and thick as well, before stopping in twenty minutes or so.
17:49 STExalted Then the same thing happened, for eight times.
17:50 STExalted After that, the vent you are closest to began emitting different smokes - this one is light grey, with a smell that reminds you of oil and cinnamon, and it follows the same pattern like before.
17:51 STExalted ...well, looks like they have ten vents scattered around the area. ...you think they must burn resources at massive rate. Based on what you can detect,
17:52 STExalted they use coal, all magical materials (including Adamantium), crude oils and it's product... and you are not sure, but you think they've began experimenting with vitriol.
18:02 Lost_ having calmed down, took a breath and let it out. "Well then friends," He began. "Shall we cover the vents and risk hostilities where peace would have been possible or shall we wait till tomorrow and risk the welcoming they are preparing for us?"
18:06 Peerless frowns and adopted a thinking pose, ". . . Do not cover the vents. Prepare for combat, should that be initiated. Lost_, can you make more of those sorcery knot things within a night? We might need to use it tomorrow."
18:07 Peerless "Spider, you will take charge of negotiations tomorrow."