HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

Ambrosia is the first to arrive.
She and Dorota already knew one another so hopefully she wouldn't be too nervous about speaking to her.
It does seem like she has something to say to the alchemist in private as she approaches Dorota as soon as she enters the room.
"Miss Glinska I'm sure you have a lot on your mind right now but if you need someone to talk to regarding your recent change in civil status know that I'm willing to listen or talk to you. Whatever you feel you might need right now." She gives Dorota an solemn nod of support.
"That said, before we start the meeting I also wanted to say that I prefer to keep what was said during our meeting with VIGIL between us and Rein. In particular regarding my own status of being. I would like as few people knowing about that as possible since it could be dangerous for me."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

"Uh... thank you." She wasn't expecting to be approached about her divorce. But she does appreciate the sentiment. "I'm doing fine, I think. Had to move out and live here. But I'm managing. And I'll keep your secret, of course."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

Ambrosia nods. "Thank you, I really appreciate it. But you might also have to introduce me to anyone else coming along on this mission. After all I'm not really familiar with anyone here besides Rein and yourself." She glances at the door she came from hesitantly. "So... erm, just what is generally expected out of me while working for HALO? Since I'm not sure if I compare myself to any of them when it comes to knowledge of technology and nexus. I come from a underdeveloped world when it comes to science."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Reinholdt's Office]

If only she had half the confidence in herself that Reinholdt has in her, she would be unstoppable. Callie stands up, quietly thanks Rein for the opportunity, and heads out.

[Strategy Room]


An arctic foxgirl walks past the strategy room on her way out. She stops and pokes her head with black hair and rounded white ears into the doorway for a second look. It sure seems like a mission of some sort! She steps inside the room and tries to smile and wave and act like she belongs.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

"I wouldn't worry about it. Not all of us are scientists and our approaches are very different. What we share is using our knowledge for the common good. It might be my alchemy or your experience with spirits." As Dorota explains this, an unfamiliar foxgirl comes in. So much for introducing people to Ambrosia. "Oh, hello. I don't think we've met. Are you here to join my expedition?"
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

"Good to hear that knowledge will be useful here at least. Considering how common advanced technology is in the nexus I was nervous that I might come off as ignorant or backward."
Then as she hears the door opens she turns around. Oh, another humanoid with animal features? A fey perhaps?
She steps back to let Dorota greet the stranger as she's just planning to observe their exchange for the moment.

It did come to the scholar that this newcomer might see her in the same light as she saw her considering the horns. It was honestly embarrassing how her true nature shone through this body these days. But what could she do? At least there were plenty of people with animal features around, like this young woman, so she would be easily be mistaken for one of them.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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Ironsmith wrote: Nov 29, 2022 12:46 am [Airbase]

"No one is as smart as father." Septimus replies, tilting up his chin for a brief moment, before letting out a little sigh. "...Especially not me. I am too young. Still stupid, for an elf." He gives Mr. C a little pat on the head. "I doubt you are as smart as he is, either. I do not think you are as stupid as I am, or as this man is."

"Hey."

"But still not as smart as father. He is just too smart."
[Airbase]

"Urg. You don't sound like he was able to recreate his intelligence in you." Mr. C says obviously annoyed.
"Let's try get to another subject were you don't repeat yourself all the time. What is your current problem that you went to MERC and now here?"
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

"Oh, I'm Callie. And yes, I am."
The sorceress considers leaving it at that and pretending like she totally knows what Dorota is talking about. But perhaps some honesty would be right. "Actually I'm not completely up to speed on, uh, what your expedition is? Reinholdt just hired me, like, five minutes ago. I don't have an ID card or anything yet but I'm definitely Callie." Her tail swishes nervously and she looks over to size Ambrosia up before returning her attention to the alchemist. "But I'm happy to come along and help however I can!"
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

Oh dear. A fresh member? Does that make Dorota responsible for her conduct? Play it cool, Dorota...

"My name is Dorota. I'm an alchemist. This is Ambrosia, she's a scholar. I'm leading an expedition to a forgotten temple. It will hopefully give us information about an enemy we're facing."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

Ambrosia smiles at Callie. "I specialize in dragon lore though in my case that intersects with fey and spirit lore a lot. Which just so happens to include our enemy."
She offers her hand to shake. "But I'm actually new as well. I think we both know that doesn't make us amateurs however." The last thing is said with a glance at Dorota since she had seen her nervousness.

Since as she had just pointed out, she was also new yet Dorota should know that she was competent. Since it was likely than Callie was just as competent than her if she had managed to become a member, right? Not that she knew how high standards HALO had on their recruits yet but they had all seem competent so far...
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

"A pleasure to meet you both. Before this I was a research assistant to the Good League of Good's Medical Director. My magic works just as well in the field as in a lab." Callie shakes Ambrosia's hand while explaining a bit about herself. She doesn't want them to think she's totally fresh, but she's also too paranoid to explain to people she's just met what exactly her magic is. "So we're enemies with some kind of spirit? Is the temple dedicated to the spirit itself or, um, a deity that fought this spirit in the past?"
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Airbase]

"I went to MERC because I need to work. And they seemed like they would be good people to work for." Septimus explains patiently. "I told them I was missing pieces and they said to come here, that you might be able to help with that."

"...How are you walking around if you're 'missing pieces'? That's... usually not a very survivable condition, unless those 'pieces' are peripheral. And I think you have all your fingers and toes."

"I do. The pieces I am missing are supposed to go up here." Septimus points at his head.

"...You know, I think I can believe that."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

"Let me start from the beginning." Dorota pushes her glasses up her nose. "Our enemy isn't a spirit. It's a fey, named the King in Rags. One of their rulers, or the so-called Gentry. The temple we'll be exploring is something that I ran across during my own research. I was looking into my people's gods. And it seems this temple belonged to a god that was deliberately stricken from history and forgotten. And the King in Rags has shown interest in human deities, according to our reports. What little I've found about this forgotten deity implies some connection with fey, one the other deities don't seem to have approved of."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

So she was originally from GloG...

"Magic?" She inquires as Callie had just brushed past something important. Since neither she or Dorota were officially magic users of any kind so Callie's talents might be quite useful here.

But if Callie don't want to answer that question Ambrosia is interrupted by Dorota's mission brief.
She's going to wait until she's done before asking her any questions though.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

Callie gives Ambrosia a quick nod before listening attentively to Dorota. The idea of working with people who (probably) won't kill her at any point between the completion of the job and the payout is going to take some getting used to. Keeping the details of one or both of her types of magic a secret has always been an ace up her sleeve, but it seems like she'll be able to help with this mission...

"Is the temple guarded? Either by whatever the forgotten god may have left behind or something the rest of the pantheon may have set up to keep the temple abandoned."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

Ambrosia tilts her head as she hears Callie's question. She couldn't say it was an unreasonable question even given what little she knew about the nexus but it hadn't seemed like the sort of mission Dorota was gearing up to either.
She had imagined it more as an archaeological expedition where their largest concern would be to not disrupt the site they were going to. But that sort of job usually required a lot more people to help digging so perhaps Callie was closer to the truth here.

"So it's a still standing building then?" Is her own question. A lot more basic yes but when she imagined ancient temples it was less of a dungeon that you explored through and more a crumbled building that you walked over.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

"I don't believe there will be any guards as such. The temple is partly still standing, but mostly a ruin. My people's gods... well, they're supposedly all dead. And it's not clear if they ever existed. However, the deity was a secretive and controversial one even before their worship was suppressed, so we can expect riddles and puzzles obscuring what information we can find. And it is a relic of an ancient era, so lingering sorcery or haywire artifice are possible." Dorota checks her notes. "The closest settlement is a halfling town. I asked them and they don't mind us going there as long as we don't bring anything from there near them. They consider it to be bad luck."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

Ambrosia's eyebrows raise. "Is... is that common practice? Hiding information in riddles and puzzles I mean? Since I recall a similar practice used by the a number of cultures in my homeworld but they often completely erased any traces of any religious practices they considered unfit to exist. A curious variant being the draachi who absorbed other gods into their own religion as a way of 'preserving' them. I'm guessing perhaps that those who suppressed this religion didn't want it completely gone for whatever reason?"
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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Ironsmith wrote: Dec 05, 2022 2:47 am [Airbase]

"I went to MERC because I need to work. And they seemed like they would be good people to work for." Septimus explains patiently. "I told them I was missing pieces and they said to come here, that you might be able to help with that."

"...How are you walking around if you're 'missing pieces'? That's... usually not a very survivable condition, unless those 'pieces' are peripheral. And I think you have all your fingers and toes."

"I do. The pieces I am missing are supposed to go up here." Septimus points at his head.

"...You know, I think I can believe that."
[Airbase]

Mr. C seems to have enougth of the teasing and likly ignores the comments that just fire things up.

"Okay, So you know you miss something." he says. "From the sound I assume you can't clearly state what is missing. Are there any error codes you can give us? Do you have any construction logs? It is kinda hard to find out what is missing if we don't know what is supposed to be there. Kinda like looking at a picture while the artisst says it misses a color but we don't see a spot where it has no color ."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Airbase]

"I do not. Father always kept those books with him. I did not take them with me when I..." The elf frowns, running a finger along his temple. "...I... I do not recall leaving." He says, a note of concern entering his voice. "I... I must have left, but I do not remember it. All I remember is suddenly being here."

"...Like, just now, or...?"

"No. On a train to MERC. That is where I... (woke up/became aware/first recollection)" The last word is a garbled mess, sounding like three different voices providing three different translations. Apparently, whatever he said doesn't map to English very well.
Who're you? ...Don't matter.

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Here's to us!
Who's like us?
Damn few,
And they're aaaaall dead.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by FireFox »

[Strategy Room]

"That doesn't sound so bad,"
Callie muses. "Traps and magic puzzles only try to kill you once, in one way. Magic guards will keep trying new ways to kill you until they're stopped."

She's not too surprised by the preservation of suppressed information. People have an aversion to throwing things away or using them up for good. Like a super strong health potion left in a backpack all adventure, what if you need that knowledge?
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Morty »

[Strategy Room]

"My understanding is that this deity's followers delighted in puzzles and riddles," Dorota clarifies. "Maybe it's what preserved what remains in the temple. Or you're right and the other gods' followers chose to leave it behind. Finding out will be one of the benefits of going there. In addition to the immediate concern of the King in Rags."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

Ambrosia gives Callie a concerned glance before turning back to Dorota. "...they didn't happen to also delight in deathtraps, did they? Since there's a big difference between the two." Callie and she seemed to have very different understandings of what this would involve.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

The foxgirl gives Ambrosia what she hopes is a reassuring smile. The two scholars won't have to worry about any deathtraps with the sorceress there to protect them! She's gonna do such a good job on her first mission and get that promotion.

Out loud, however, she only jumps on the last thing Dorota said. "I, uh, haven't had to pay attention to big Nexus events lately. Why's this Raggèd King an enemy of ours?"
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

"I don't think they had any deathtraps." Dorota isn't as sure about it as she'd like to be. "Still, we need to be ready for anything." She looks to Callie and thinks about how to fill her in quickly. "The King in Rags has been causing trouble. He wants to return to his homeland, the Fairest of Lands, and doesn't care who he has to trample over to do it. He also seems to have something to do with a story that somehow spread through the Nexus... retroactively through time."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

"I'm not the right person to deal with deathtraps if we come across them." Ambrosia remarks.
At least not as a human.
"So I guess we have to rely on Callie for that sort of thing." She returns the smile seeing that Callie clearly had expertise that she lacked. She must have been in the nexus for far longer than her.

Which was exactly why she wouldn't hesitate to fill her in on things she lacked. In a way to prove her own usefulness if nothing else.
"Yes, and VIGIL have had a lot of trouble with him as well. Been advising them for a while now and they were actually attacked by him now long ago. So it isn't out of the question that he might attack HALO as well."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by FireFox »

[Strategy Room]

"Okay, yeah, that sounds bad." Callie looks down at her pencil skirt and heels and her ears pin back sheepishly. "Okay so I think I overdressed for the job interview and definitely overdressed for exploring a ruined temple. Can you write down the coordinates of this place for me? I'll meet you two there after I get into something a little more sensible." Body armor and automatic firearms... she wants but can't get away with. Maybe a Lara Croft cosplay.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

"If you say so. The temple is at [location of a gulch out in the marshlands]. I do hope we can learn a lot there," Dorota says.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

"I'll head out right away then." A beat. "Actually, aren't we going to go there in some manner of HALO vehicle? Or are we supposed to reach it on our own?" She looks between the two. "I'm new so I'm uncertain on what the procedure is."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Strategy Room]

"I arranged transport by helicopter," Dorota replies. "It's a fair distance, so it's easiest this way. You can come along or get there on your own." What with being a dragon.
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