MERC

[Zefir]

[Stone Boy, Another Boy and a Buoy]

Sylas did expect at last a bit more information, which Frigate delivers. With a side look he nods at him. He's not sure if Frigate just spoke out what Dipsnig avoided to tell. Anyway, the problem is still a bit unclear. Where those involved just young careless teenager who missed the experience? In his world it's commen to see young people at this kind of job so he can't really make out what event caused this to relate to all young people.

"I was just asking for something simular." he says. "What are the options at this point? I mean it could get really complex if you take into account that some races reach their adulthood later
or in some cases they look adult, but they are just a year old. I admit that for now my options are slim."

[Morty]

[Stone Boy, Another Boy and a Buoy]

Dipsnig breathes deeply, suppressing a sigh. His ears dip down slightly as well. What is it with MERC and eager youngsters trying to get in?

"An apprenticeship is an idea we've considered before and decided not to implement. It would take up our members' time for unclear gain. So I'm afraid I must turn you down, Mr. Skyfire. You are free to return when you are older. As for you, Mr... Eddie, we can find you a place, as long as we're cautious."

[Meowmai]

[Familiar Feathered Faces]

"I'm sure Valerie will be glad to help." Fayyaad gives Val a little wink. He can't blame her, really. Kes is quite fetching. "And so will I. It's easier than it looks, really."

[Familiar Feathered Faces]

"Oh of course, I was lucky enough to learn growing up, but Astrana had to learn from scratch as well. I helped her out, so I'm a bit of a teacher already." Valerie giggles.

[Familiar Feathered Faces]

"Thanks, the both of you," Kestrel offers a shy smile as she continues to work her way through the form. She kept unconsciously sticking out her tongue in concentration as she did. "There's a lot of new stuff here they didn't have back home, tricky to get used to it all."

[TeChameleon]

[Stone Boy, Another Boy and a Buoy]

Eddie bowed again, subtly differently- this time a millimetric-perfect bow that was appropriate to the scion of a noble house to a commander that they had enlisted under.

Then he turned to give Sylas a sympathetic look. "If I find anything that I think would be helpful for you, I will get in touch. I don't really know a lot about this Nexus yet as it is, I am sorry."

Returning his gaze to Dipsnig, he added "Master Razortooth, would you be able to direct me to your armoury? I am hoping that there will be enough armour scraps of appropriate size to bodge together a believable suit of platemail."

[Earl of Purple]

Stone Boy, Another Boy & A Buoy

"I be hearin' o' a school for those that want t'be heroes down in Inside. Mayhaps ye can start yon quest there? (I have heard of a school for would-be heroes in Inside. Maybe you can start your quest there?)" Frigate remarks before Sylas leaves. PREP might not be suitable, but then again it's an option.

Frigate maintains his own personal armoury, only occasionally visiting to top up on gunpowder. He might be able to lead the way, but isn't going to offer because he's not immediately confident in his ability to find where the actual armour is stored, rather than just the powder stores.

[Morty]

[Armory]

After departing the meeting room, Eddie will reach a place that isn't quite an armory, but rather an extensive and multi-purpose workshop. Inside, the first people he'll meet are two goblins, a man and a woman, busy taking apart a box-shaped automaton. They look up when Eddie comes in.

The woman is the first to speak. She's a large woman (for a goblin) with dark grey skin, yellow eyes and a pair of cybernetic arms. The goblin next to her is tall and muscular (once again, for a goblin) and his features are similar enough to suggest they're related.

"Well, look at that. A new face."

"What brings you here?" the male goblin then asks.

[Familiar Feathered Faces]

"I also grew up without them. Taking it one thing at a time does help." Fayyaad's tail swishes back and forth as a mischievous thought strikes him. It would be only polite to help Valerie out a little, wouldn't it? "There's plenty you can do with a phone outside of just talking, so learning all of it can be entertaining."

[Zefir]

Stone Boy, Another Boy & A Buoy

Well Sylas is not happy about that outcome, but he knows that there isn't much to do.

"I see, but a word of advice. It sounds like those trouble were caused by the two and for that you punish all young? That doesn't seem to be fair. Maybe you should expand the recruiting process to check for such behavior. Still I accept your judgment and wish you luck with your work."

he nods to Eddi and Frigate. "I will try to check this place, but my hopes are slim. Even in the best case I would require some money for my needs."

He will then leave without much more to say.

[Armory]

In a corner on a pillow lays a cat like creature a bit larger then a normal can and with some features that make is obviously not a cat. The white fur like it's an albino might be just rare, but it also got four transperant tentacles ogrowing on its back. currently it rests or maybe it just fakes it?

[TeChameleon]

[Armory]

Eddie starts to respond, then gets distracted by the woman's cybernetic arms. While there is a superficial resemblance to the golem-based prosthetics he is familiar with, they are clearly different and he is more than a little intrigued.

After a moment, he realized that he was staring openly, and he reflected yet again that his expressions were rather more unguarded than he'd prefer. He'd gotten too used to his face being hidden by a hood, and his usual shyness was short-circuiting because of it.

He twitched a bit, curling in on himself in clear embarrassment, and managed a small "Sorry..."

Recovering a little, he said "Master Razortooth sent me down to acquire some armour that would conceal my face, as I appear far too young to be doing adventuring work, despite it being my vocation for more than fifty years. It does not need to be terribly functional, as I am already more durable than any armour I have encountered, although it needs to not restrict my movement overly, or else I might tear with a careless movement."

He paused for a moment, glancing around the workshop, and raising an eyebrow at the... cat(?)... sleeping in a corner.

Then he thought briefly, and added "Oh. And it cannot be dependent on magic for its structural integrity, or else it will fall apart quickly as I absorb the magic."

Another pause, and he almost cringed through the floor as he realized he hadn't even introduced himself. "Oh, bloody hell. I am Dag Wenick Filias Edmond Lapis, more commonly known as Eddie. Please forgive my poor manners."

As the goblins might have noticed or guessed, Eddie tended to try and mask embarrassment with polysyllables, the words getting longer as he got more embarrassed.

[Morty]

[Armory]

"Not to worry, you're among ill-mannered people here." The goblin woman gives a short laugh. "I'm Olvisin Zuulit-Obeleck."

"And I'm her brother, Kuvesh."

"And the sleeping beauty over there is Quisp, my pet."

"A unique specimen and she keeps it as a pet."

"You're just jealous. Anyway, you did look a little young when I first saw you. Were you built like this?"

"If it's armor you need, maybe we can repurpose this thing's carapace. It wasn't durable but it should be easy to work with."

[Zefir]

[Armory]

At the mention of it's name Quips seems to wake up and starts stretching. Then it holds his head up and observes the conversation.

[TeChameleon]

[Armory]

Eddie made a very strange face as he imagined what his pater Edmond would say to the notion that he could let his own manners lapse simply because those around him did.

Then he shuddered and gave a shallow bow to each goblin in turn, saying "My greetings to you, Mistress Zuulit-Obeleck, Master Zuulit-Obeleck."

Then he gave the cat(?) a quick bow as well, just to be on the safe side.

Turning back to the siblings, he continued "I was created this way, yes, although it was not entirely deliberate; I was conceived as an experiment, to give a golem a 'childhood', a period of intense learning, in hopes that it would allow for more flexible thinking than the 'carved with full knowledge' that was standard until that point. As a result, I have looked roughly ten years old for the last seven hundred years or so." Eddie made another odd face, although irritation was clearly predominant in this one.

Glancing at the boxy robot, he finished off "As long as the carapace is sturdy enough to be believable as armour under casual inspection, it should serve well enough. My thanks."

[Morty]

[Armory]

"Did it work, at least?" Olvisin asks as the two goblins start pulling the carapace off the robot. "That is, do you really think more flexibly than other constructs?"

"Feels like the side-effects are something your creators really should have seen coming."

Olvisin then leaves the workbench for a moment to step over and scratch Quisp on the head.

[TeChameleon]

[Armory]

Eddie shrugged.

"It is not the easiest thing to quantify, but by the best tests of the time, I do seem to at least be less prone to 'glitching' and making 70,000 pots because nobody remembered to tell me to stop or anything like that. Although that might be in part because I was raised as a son, rather than simply expected to work almost from 'birth', and thus less prone to unspoken rebellion."

"As to side-effects being unforseen... leave us merely say that experimental genius and foresight are perhaps companions less often than they should be. Especially as I was the prototype for drawing power from the world's mana field rather than simply an internal circuit, as well. Both more-or-less worked; I am arguably a more able thinker, and inarguably vastly stronger, than the average golem, even with modern advancements in the craft. But I am stuck looking like a small child, and cannot operate at full strength unless I am in contact with the ground."

[Morty]

[Armory]

"Have you considered... altering your appearance? If that's even possible."

"This is way more advanced than anything our alchemists have managed to accomplish with golems. I've never heard of one being sentient, for one thing."

"I think the ones down south have done more. Where the boss comes from."

As they speak, Olvisin is heating up some parts of the robot's carapace. Her mechanical hands give her the ability to withstand the heat without using tools.

"I know the boss' wife makes magic-powered metal golems. You might see them around the base if you stick around."

[TeChameleon]

[Armory]

Eddie sighed at the question about altering his appearance.

"I've tried makeup, prosthetics, I have even tried sticking my head in a batch of molded concrete to make a mask. Nothing sticks for very long, if at all. My 'skin' is very smooth, and the way it moves so that it looks like I have muscles animating me and not just magic, means that it shifts in ways that just do not work with anything adhering to it. And things like rubber masks simply aren't durable enough to withstand my strength. Armour has been the only method I have found that makes a lasting disguise, and even there I have to be careful."

He smiles a little at being called advanced. "My pater Edmond was considered the finest golem crafter of his century, possibly even his millennium. He did things that those on my home plane could not duplicate, even seven hundred years later. I am hardly the only sapient golem amongst my 'siblings', and I believe he may have been the only golem crafter in the history of my home universe to create a stone golem that could fly."

Eddie watched Olvisin forming the carapace, always interested in the ways that others worked with their hands.

"And I am always fascinated by the creation of golems and constructs- it was my life's work for the first century of my existence- so I look forwards to meeting Mistress Razortooth and her golems."

[Zefir]

[Armory]

Quips accepts the scratches and looks a bit disapointed when they stop. As the carapace get heat up quips also stands up and leaves the bed to get a bit away , aiming for the entrance. On its way it looks up at the golem, tilts it's head and then tries to bite into the golems leg. Just for taste testing. The golem will properbly not feel anything as it can't bite stones of.

[Morty]

[Armory]

"Yeah, I can see why- Quisp, stop it. I told you, no biting people."

"You shouldn't have let him bite your arms. Now he's used to people not feeling anything when he does it."

Olvisin snorts.

"Since when are you an animal expert?"

"This armor we're putting together should do for now, but in the future we might try to invent something more long-lasting. The sea's the limit, right?" That's a rather odd variation on the "sky's the limit" phrase.

[Gullara]

[Familiar Feathered Faces]

"Thanks, the both of you," Kestrel offers a shy smile as she continues to work her way through the form. She kept unconsciously sticking out her tongue in concentration as she did. "There's a lot of new stuff here they didn't have back home, tricky to get used to it all."

[Familiar Feathered Faces]

"I also grew up without them. Taking it one thing at a time does help." Fayyaad's tail swishes back and forth as a mischievous thought strikes him. It would be only polite to help Valerie out a little, wouldn't it? "There's plenty you can do with a phone outside of just talking, so learning all of it can be entertaining."

[Familiar Feathered Faces]

"Oh definitely." Valerie agrees readily. "You can take pictures with a phone and send them to people. That can be a lot of fun." Valerie smiles, as though at some private joke. "You'll have to give me your number if you get one. That's how we can keep in touch."

[TeChameleon]

[Armory]

Eddie noticed the bite- it didn't damage him, but he was sensitive to changes in pressure so that he didn't accidentally crush everything he touched. He checked his pants, but thankfully they seemed undamaged. Quips probably felt slightly odd as a tiny bit of its magic drained into Eddie on contact, but other than that, nothing much happened unless the cat-dragon-thing bit hard enough to crack its own teeth.

Eddie nodded to each armourer in turn, thanking them, as he took the newly-crafted armour and tried it on, his movements quick and careful.

He stretched and moved cautiously- if there was too much resistance within the normal range of motion, there was a chance that he could rip the armour. If all went well, he would thank them again, then tilt his head at the statement about the sea being the limit.

"I suppose the sea could be the limit, depending on what you're trying to do? Then again, the sky isn't really the limit anymore either... of course, 'our efficiency in storing life-support and reaction mass is the limit' doesn't really have the same ring to it."

[Zefir]

[Armory]

Quips let's loose when Olvisin scolds him, but also hisses at the Golem as it made him feel uncomfortable and tasted bad.

To be clear this creature appears like a bigger cat so far with tentacles. the dragon part was just an example. Quips is a magical beast, but no dragon.

Either way Quips just tries to open the entrance unless the golem left it open.

[Morty]

[Armory]

Olvisin will hold the door open for Quisp. She trusts him to find his way to her room and knows he's not likely to get into too much trouble in the base.

The armor is surprisingly flexible, but it doesn't provide as much protection as other suits of plate might. Eddie doesn't need it, but if he ever takes serious damage, the armor might not survive it very well.

"Yeah, we haven't had much luck exploring the sea. And if you dig deep enough you'll hit it eventually. Which you don't want."

"How's the armor? It's a bit of a rush job. In time we might figure out something sturdier."

[TeChameleon]

[Armory]

Eddie raised a bemused eyebrow at Quips' exit. Apparently he still wasn't a cat person, no matter how odd the cat in question was.

Turning to the goblin siblings, Eddie bowed to them again, this time in appreciation.

"The armour seems to be well-suited to my needs, thank you again. Sturdiness is... well..."

Eddie glanced around, spotted what he hoped was an old anvil, and took off one of his gauntlets. He picked it up one handed and squeezed, apparently quite gently, before setting it down and taking his hand away to reveal that he had sunk his fingers into the main body of the anvil hard enough to leave easily-distinguishable fingerprints.

"While it is highly likely you have smithcraft unknown to me, I have yet to encounter a metal that can withstand my strength, especially under regular use." he said, retrieving the gauntlet and putting it back on.

A thought struck him, and he added "Do you have a weapon I could carry to complete the disguise? Functionality is, once again, not a priority; I simply don't want people questioning appearances."

"And... the sea lies under all land here? This seems to be an odd plane of existence indeed..."

[Meowmai]

[Familiar Feathered Faces]

"I also grew up without them. Taking it one thing at a time does help." Fayyaad's tail swishes back and forth as a mischievous thought strikes him. It would be only polite to help Valerie out a little, wouldn't it? "There's plenty you can do with a phone outside of just talking, so learning all of it can be entertaining."

[Familiar Feathered Faces]

"Oh definitely." Valerie agrees readily. "You can take pictures with a phone and send them to people. That can be a lot of fun." Valerie smiles, as though at some private joke. "You'll have to give me your number if you get one. That's how we can keep in touch."

[Familiar Feathered Faces]

"Oh, that sounds really cool! I don't have a camera yet either, so it'll be cool to be able to use one!" Said Kestrel, suddenly quite excited at the concept. Fayyaad and Val's implications soared amusingly far other the adventurer's head. These two definitely were selling her a lot more on the concept of picking up a phone though. "I'll let you know if I do!"

[Zefir]

[Armory]

Olvisin will hold the door open for Quisp. She trusts him to find his way to her room and knows he's not likely to get into too much trouble in the base.

The armor is surprisingly flexible, but it doesn't provide as much protection as other suits of plate might. Eddie doesn't need it, but if he ever takes serious damage, the armor might not survive it very well.

"Yeah, we haven't had much luck exploring the sea. And if you dig deep enough you'll hit it eventually. Which you don't want."

"How's the armor? It's a bit of a rush job. In time we might figure out something sturdier."

[Armory]

Challange accepted. Quisp will head for Olvisin's room, but on the way it might cause some trouble.
When she will leave or anyone else there is an obviouse lead of bitemarks on everything he didn't taste before, like the plant in the corner, Some pieces of paper left on a table and so on. A seat on the way got some scrath makes, too. Anyone migth run into the cat like creature while it explores the area. It's main goal is to seek a window or any other place with sunlight.

[Morty]

[Armory]

"No, it's a saying from our homeland. Which is a colony in a mountain range by the sea."

"So the sea isn't literally under everything, but close enough."

The two of them watch the demonstration of strength with equal parts surprise and awe.

"Good thing it's an old anvil."

"We do have spare weapons, but none that would withstand your strength. So be careful if you have to pretend to use it. What kind would you like?"

[TeChameleon]

[Armory]

Eddie's shoulders rounded very slightly under the plate, relieved that he hadn't ruined a good anvil.

He nodded, eliciting a *gloink* noise from the inside of the helmet before he caught himself and said "Ah. I suppose that makes sense, the sea being the limit in that situation."

"As to the weapon... a bec de corbin or a lucerne hammer... really, any sort of a two-handed bludgeoning weapon... would suit the image I am trying to project."

[Morty]

[Armory]

"My thing are one-handed melee weapons... but let's see what we've got." Kuvesh begins to rummage through another part of the armory.

"I hope Quisp isn't getting into any trouble. I haven't had him for long and I don't really have a lot of experience with pets."

"Didn't stop you from keeping a unique mutation of a predator as one."

"Oh, shut it."

[TeChameleon]

[Armory]

The little golem started to bow in thanks again, then stopped. He'd been bobbing up and down so much that he was probably making the siblings seasick, but he wasn't sure what else to do. He brightened a little at the mention of pets, relieved that he could at least sort-of-contribute to the conversation.

"I unfortunately cannot help much- my experience with pets is very limited. I dog-sat for a colleague once; thankfully the animal was intelligent enough to guide me to its food supply when I was unsure what it wanted. When you don't eat yourself, it is uncomfortably easy to forget that others may need to."

He gestured to Kuvesh. "And if there aren't any pole-hammers immediately handy, paired morningstars or warhammers would suffice- I mostly don't want people wondering about bludgeoning damage to monsters after the fact, or why I'm not carrying a shield."

[Morty]

[Armory]

"Our family had a small tunnel cat when we were younger. But it was a long time ago. Our parents did most of the work. Our boss has a big wolf pack... his people are big about wolves. But his experience raising them doesn't apply as much."

"Right, let's see... will this one do?"

Kuvesh seems to have come up with a flail. It has a long haft and its head is bound with spiked metal bands.

"Kind of looks like a human farming implement someone weaponized."

[TeChameleon]

[Armory]

"I am fairly certain that's exactly what it is." Eddie said, taking the flail. He gave it a short experimental swing, and the chain snapped, the head shrieking across the shop like a horizontal meteor, to embed itself in the far wall.

Eddie stared at it for a long moment.

"I... do not think that one will work, no." he said after a while, handing the haft back to Kuvesh. He crossed the workshop to yank the head out of the wall, giving the hole an uncertain look before coming back and handing the broken head back to Kuvesh as well.

"I might be wise to refrain from swinging any weapons involving a chain in the future." he said reflectively. "Uhm... sorry about the wall." he added with an audible wince.