Vigil

[Zefir]

[Training Ground]

Mia sights again, this golem is a handfull. Even thought shes a young adult she already got enougth experience.

"Look! This area is NOT open for public use. I'm not a leader, but since i am a member i am in charge of this related to a civilian like you are. On top you can meet the boss as he trains here regulary..."

Mia is not going to attack him anyway unless he attacks. She has seen his strength and she would avoid any 1on1 fightst even if the results is open. Her sword for example is highly magical and might be able to damage the golem.

[Shadowcaller]

[Face Time]

Wenomir breathes out. That went even worse than he suspected it might. And there's always a tinge of guilt that suggest to him Ilpholin's accusations aren't unwarranted. But there's nothing to be done about it now, is there? She's crossed too many lines and in some ways, so did Vigil.

"I think that topic is concluded. Let's focus on our plan against the King in Rags and this Jaryło. Did you have someone specific in mind for that fey expert, Cessie?"

[Face Time]

"Ambrosia." Cessie replies curtly. "I don't know anyone who knows more about fey than her. Though if you have a fey expert from your own world, like perhaps Dorota, they might be more useful."

Ambrosia was also uniquely motivated to help out in Cessie's mind. As long as she didn't let her temper and pride rule her actions like last time.

[Morty]

[Face Time]

"I agree. Ambrosia is the best source of information." Wenomir was expecting it. "Dorota... the alchemist from HALO? I don't know how much she knows about fey, but she is from my homeworld so it's probably worth asking her."

[Shadowcaller]

[Face Time]

"What we can agree on is that the experts can be found in HALO, which won't be a problem. They're working against the King as well after all." The question was just when Ilpholin needed them.

[TeChameleon]

[Training Grounds]

Eddie was looking increasingly frustrated.

"I don't suppose you could sponsor this visit for me? Cleaning up won't be an issue, and there doesn't seem to be anyone else around to risk them getting injured?"

"Also, I'm not a civilian. I've been an adventurer for more than fifty years and have handled more ridiculous, dangerous nonsense than any ten other people I know of." Granted, he didn't know a lot of people given how often he'd had to relocate, but since those that he did know were, for the most part, also adventurers, he figured it balanced out.

[Reinholdt]

[Face Time]

Ilpholin listens quietly. She believes she's heard Wenomir mention Dorota once a long time ago, but couldn't recall why or in what context so the names don't mean much to her. "Is Vigil on good terms with HALO again then? Or should I personally reach out to them?"

[Zefir]

[Training Grounds]

Eddi is not the only one frustrated. Mia can just imagine that the young looking Golem is either not that experienced or doesn't know how to handle common things.

"No, I would ask you to clean things up and end your training here." Mia says. "We are lucky that none else is around to get injured, so we leave it with cleaning."

Then he argues with adventuring which seems to get Mia even more frustrated.

"Adventuring doesn't give you the freedom to do as you like. Also how should I know that or even proofe that? You don't seem to be a member of Vigil and I can't find any other informations about you. That means you are properbly new to the nexus. If that is the case I suggest you to get more knowledge. I would even offer you to answer questions you have right now to prevent any more missunderstandings."

[Morty]

[Face Time]

"No, we're cooperating closely with HALO again." The turbulence of the two groups' merge and split is a thing of the past, fortunately. Even Wenomir, prone as he is to holding grudges, has moved on. "We'll let them know you'll be in touch." Since it will take some explaining.

[Shadowcaller]

[Face Time]

"How would you get in touch with them?" Cessie asks Ilpholin. "Since I think it would be best if we get them the heads up."

[Reinholdt]

[Face Time]

Ilpholin waves her hand. "By all means, go ahead. Why don't I let you confer and gather the team you're considering for the operation and you can contact me again later once they've been briefed?" They can formulate a more thorough plan from there. Unless there's something else Wenomir or Cessie needs to add or ask, Ilpholin will hang up and let them work.

[Morty]

[Face Time]

Wenomir has nothing to add. Once Ilpholin has disconnected, he sighs deeply.

"I do hope we don't regret this later."

[TeChameleon]

[Training Grounds]

Eddie groaned. He started ticking down on his fingers.

"I chose a time that I hoped the grounds would be largely deserted so as to be able to use them without risk to others, 'luck' has very little to do with it." A finger went down.

"And adventuring doesn't allow me to do what I like, it makes me a non-civilian." another finger folded.

"If I'm cleaning up anyways, is there any special reason I cannot at least finish my training regimen, especially as no-one else is around?" a third finger.

"And finally, did you know that you have a mana leak in your backpack, which is probably causing some instability in your hover-shoe things?" the final finger folded.

[Zefir]

[Training Grounds]

"The area is still no public place to train." she argues his first point. I think thats the main thing here. he isn't meant to just go here and train. I mean it would be even worst if one was around and people just notice someone smashed the training ground.

"What?" she replies to his second point. "We migth missunderstand civilian here since your occupation doesn't change it. Let's rather say your not a member of this organisation."

Then she sights. "Again. You aren't supposed to train here in the first place. I wanted to make a clean cut here, make you clean up and leave the topic with that. Just this simple reason. I don't see that you have a right to finish your training. If you want I can offer you a shuttle to a deserted island which will bring you there and get you back to the ground."

Instead of replying a screen pops up in front of her and she gives some inputs to see the data.
"Yeah, looks like the transfer system couldn't handle the in and outpput well enougth and leaks the overdose."

[TeChameleon]

[Training Grounds]

Eddie muttered something, clearly not happy with the way the conversation had gone, but rather than fussing, he simply gathered up wood from the destroyed and partially-destroyed dummies. With quick, certain movements, he began reassembling them into a more humanoid form once more, simply pressure-sealing them back together with raw strength. They would be a bit smaller than they had been previously, but not by much, and he was supplementing the damaged wood with a log or two he had found nearby.

As he worked, he said "The third Solomonic Seal on the join and Merlin's Fifth Sigil on the throughput should even things out and maintain the balance; if the overpressure is too much and you develop problems elsewhere, get rid of the Seal and Sigil and use the Rune of Skuld-the-Future to dissipate some of the flow without causing mana-eddies, although that might cause a power dampening effect, so I'd advise trying the Sigil-Seal combination first."

Standing the third dummy back up and slamming it firmly into place, he turned to Mia. "While I will happily accept your offer of a shuttle to an empty island, it seems to me that would be a great deal more trouble than simply allowing me to finish my routine would have been."

[Zefir]

[Training Grounds]

It is a bit suprising that he can fix the dolls with his bare hands, Especially since it looked like he smashed them into pices with his hit and didn't left much to reassemble.

"The what and what?" Mia asks confused. "I don't think we are on the same terms here."
Mia came a bit closer to oversee the work Eddie does. In that case he should notice that her backpack shoes and gloves don't have runes or sigils. Those things are mainly high tech tool with electrical resistance, diodes etc. Maybe some parts look like those things he mentioned but it should be obviouse that she doesn't use any arcane art. Thought that might rise the question where the mana cam from. The sword she holds is a powerful magic item imbeded with a holy sign of Mia's God Deus Mechanicus. Should heknow divine magic Eddie might see that the sword is filled with it and it is easy to assume that the lightnings that fed her other tools was a result of divine magic.

"That is your point of view." she replies as again a screen pops up and she gives the input to ready a shuttle for Eddie. "For me it's much easier to explain that i send you to another place."

[TeChameleon]

[Training Grounds]

The dummy reassembly finished, Eddie simply stood and watched Mia. The pack was more technologically-inclined than he was used to, but...

"Mana is mana." he said, pointing at the pack and tracing the pattern of the flows in the air with his finger. "It doesn't really matter where it comes from. And while this certainly isn't the only way to fix your difficulties, it's the way that I'm familiar with, and barring anything exceptional, it should work."

He knelt down and traced several symbols in the dirt. "Emboss this into the two pieces of the join..." he said, pointing to the first symbol. "... then imprint this onto the throughput insulation..." he said, pointing at the second, "... and it should adjust the manaflows in an admittedly more old-fashioned way, but I'm not aware of any reason it shouldn't work. New ways of doing things don't make the old ways suddenly stop working, at least not normally."

He stood up and waved a hand at the third symbol. "Runic magic tends to be for more brute-force solutions, as runes are powerful and generally don't allow for a lot of fine-tuning. Although it might be a little more compatible with divine workings, if that became a problem. And in any case, these don't have to be permanent solutions, but if they work, then you would be able to see how things worked and adjust your own methods to get the same results, if that's your preference."

As he talked, he got his outer clothes from his pack and started putting them back on. "One thing to keep in mind, since you don't seem to be very familiar with this type of enchanting..." he said as he pulled the hoodie back on, "... is that this sort of magic runs strongly on symbolism, so painting the symbols on or using a wax imprint or anything like that will be fairly temporary. Embossing it or engraving it is more long-term, so it should last far better."

Finally, when Mia tells him about explanations being easier, he gave a rattling sigh and grunted "Mmph. Internal politics." Which was basically his way of giving up on ever really understanding it, as he'd found that organics often simply nodded gravely when he said that.

[Zefir]

[Training Grounds]

Mia looks at him rather confused. Her magic has nothign to do with mana. Thats an arcane thing and her magic is mainly divine. That is a difference at the world she comes from. Especially since arcane magic doesn't exist in her world. At last not as far as she knows.

"I think you missunderstood." she replies but then he starts drawing the runes. She just listens since he seems to be in some lecturing mode and she doesn't want to cut in as it might be rude. The current situation here is already tense fro her point of view.

"I can't imagine a drawn rune is even working here." she says. "This kind of magic you refere to is mainly arcane and I use divine."

Without getting deeper into it she pulls a few buttons which call a shuttle. The shuttle is simular to some Sci-Fi shuttles. looking like a small spaceship in form of a halfed tube. This one is totaly running on electricity so the stone golem might be confused how this one works.

Should he go in Mia will take the place as a driver and do as she tols him, which might need a bit as the islands are in Outside. Still he might first have some other questions.

[TeChameleon]

[Training Grounds]

"Oh. Divine magic." Eddie said a bit flatly. A lot of the times gods get all huffy when you start re-directing their magic with methods that they didn't come up with, and if you were using their power primarily, you probably didn't want to annoy them no matter how silly the restriction was.

"I understand that it's a common restriction, but it always struck me as a bit odd when there are divinities who are, themselves, spellcasters- Hecate, Odin, Anansi, those types. Heck, the rune of Skuld-the-Future comes from a system that Odin supposedly devised. Which, come to think of it, might be another problem there." he scuffed the symbols away with the toe of one foot. It wasn't likely they were going to do anything just scratched into the dirt, but when you worked with magic, you didn't leave bits lying around.

He eyed the shuttle curiously, his eyes flashing briefly as he scanned it. Pure technology wasn't completely unknown in his world, but it wasn't terribly common. He climbed aboard without any hesitation- being absurdly durable meant that your self-preservation instincts worked a little differently- and stood calmly.

"If you could take me to as large an island as is available, that would be best for my purposes... or if there's one that matches Skyside in size, that would be best of all." Eddie said at first, then added "And I thank you for the ride. Are magic-less shuttles common here, a personal preference of yourself or your organization, or simply happenstance, or something other entirely?"

[Zefir]

[Training Grounds => Shuttle]

"Where i am from those names you mention are unkown. I just saw those names while I searechd in the net of the nexus" she replies in a normal voice. "I would say those people are just spellcaster who think they are on the same level as a real god. "

Mia doesn't start immediatly as he makes his request for a place she gives some inputs in the computer which is connected to a drohne system.

"Might be impossible to find something close. Skyside is highly populated which would make a difference to an empty island. I look what i can find." she continues making the inputs.
"Magic-less shuttles or kids of Deus Mechanicus as are all machines, are more common then you think. The minority of people can use magic, magic items or others. Shuttles are rare as aflying vehicle is still complex. Otherwise cars are extremly common. They run on fosile fuel in most cases. They can only travle on ground but with streets they are fast ways to get around. Me and my people have a high sensitifity to technologie so we can make use of things others can't."

[TeChameleon]

[Shuttle]

Eddie just made a non-committal noise when Mia declared the various caster deities to be non-gods.

He'd met Hecate in person, and while he thought she was a dribbling imbecile, even he wasn't crazy enough to tell her to her face that she wasn't a deity. As far as he was concerned, magic was one thing, reality warping on a whim was quite another.

The little golem frowned slightly. "I don't think that population will make a big difference- it's the island's mana field that I need to adjust to, and that seems to be largely dependent on the size of the flying stone, not what's on top of it."

"Huh." he said when she switched the topic to machines. "Where I hail from, cars and whatnot are common enough, but most things have at least some minor enchantments on them, as they tend to be more cost-effective than their purely mechanical counterparts. It's extremely rare to see a piece of technology that is only that, and not magical in some way."

[Zefir]

[Shuttle]

For Mia thats just how she sees it or how she learned it. They got only two gods on her world. She accepts other gods thought she can t take all seriouse as she just told him. As said shes mostly based on dnD where gods can happen just by passing a test. Not a trustworthy way to become a god.

"It might not do directly." she says "But the more people the more likly some of them interact with the magic of the island like we do here."

"I think here people use magic to make the produktion faster, like allowing to form some parts easier and such. The nexus has gathered a bunch of different worlds were tech from many different worlds collide. Steampunk tech meets industrial meets microelectronics, if those things are known to you."

[TeChameleon]

[Shuttle]

"Unless they're drawing enough magic from the island to make it start falling, it shouldn't affect how I draw from the flying island enough to matter very much- kind of like the difference between 350 ml of coffee and 351 ml of coffee for an organic. At least, that's been my experience in the past, the Nexus may be different- but that's part of what I need to practice." Eddie told Mia.

He nodded at her second statement. "Interesting. I guess I maybe come from a world with higher base magic than most. But I do know industrial tech and microelectronics. Steampunk is a new one to me, though."

[Reinholdt]

[Khafir's Lab]

Twas a simple and straightforward visit. Reinholdt had some very specific business to attend to, some thing he's been putting off and needed to finally follow up on. He isn't much for phone calls if he can help it. He's always believed in two things. Talking to someone face to face and walking when you want to get somewhere! Well ok, he had to fly here but still. Vehicles and phones are the death of interaction and Rein would be damned if he started overutilizing these tools of isolation. With a phone call you get the conversation and that's it. With a visit you might encounter all sorts of things along the way or on the way out. You get to see a part of the life the person lives. Their decorations, their mannerisms. You're there for when the random encounters occur and a block golem attacks.

Either way, Reinholdt's here now, walking in through the front door and adjusting his jacket at the temperature change. It's hot in here! Well compared to outside anyways. Experiments and electronics certainly give off a lot of heat when running all the time. Rein'll take his jacket off and stow it in his hammerspace for now as he proceeds inside.

[Ironsmith]

[Khafir's Lab]

Thankfully, it's not as bad in here as it could be. While Khafir does indeed have electronics working in this room around the clock, most of them are designed for low power consumption and with independent batteries attached, so that important data is not lost to something as mundane as a temporary blackout; this has the secondary benefit of very few of them functioning analogously to a space heater. This does not, however, do much of anything about the fact that Reinholdt is essentially walking into a giant box, on which the sun has been shining nonstop since dawn, without any means of cooling it down; the result is still rather more oven-like than is likely comfortable.

...It's probably not too terribly comfortable for the half-dozen caged cats in the room, either. Each of them is in a cage of fairly substantial size, the sort that appear to have been intended for kenneling a large dog. Each of them is about half-covered with a thin blanket, and most of them are situated next to desk fans that gently swirl back and forth, each of which have half-empty ice trays behind them, so that when they blow through the cages the air they deliver is substantially cooler than the ambient temperature of the laboratory. The cats themselves are laying in their cages, batting around a set of toys and lapping at metal bowls filled halfway with water... at least until one of them spots Rein, at which point she bolts over to the nearest side of the cage and starts to lead the others in a chorus of attention-seeking mews.

There's no sign of Khafir anywhere just now. At the moment, there's nobody here but kitties.

[Reinholdt]

[Khafir's Lab]

Reinholdt knew Khafir was cold. Callous. But cruel? He had no idea she was a horrid monster. Does Cessie know about these poor caged cats? That Vigil was condoning slavery and unfair imprisonment? Truly debased! These cats should be free to roam the island at their leisure!
...
This mission may have turned into a jailbreak. But he can't just let them out now, they'd run havoc over the lab and he's pretty sure everyone would know it was Rein who let them loose. Is that a necessity? Is he ready to sacrifice his reputation to become the freedom fighter these poor kitties need?

"Well hi there," Reinholdt says, stepping over to the cages and kneeling down to the first trapped cat who spotted him, holding his finger just in range for her to sniff. To gauge her reaction to it and if it's welcome, provide all important loving scritches and pets while Rein examines the mechanisms holding these cats in place to see how utterly generic and fascinatingly sophisticated they are.

[Zefir]

[Shuttle]

"Unless they're drawing enough magic from the island to make it start falling, it shouldn't affect how I draw from the flying island enough to matter very much- kind of like the difference between 350 ml of coffee and 351 ml of coffee for an organic. At least, that's been my experience in the past, the Nexus may be different- but that's part of what I need to practice." Eddie told Mia.

He nodded at her second statement. "Interesting. I guess I maybe come from a world with higher base magic than most. But I do know industrial tech and microelectronics. Steampunk is a new one to me, though."

[Shuttle]

"You draw energy from it?" she asks, her mind getting to the readings she got earlier. "Is it really a good idea for you then? I don't know how stable the manaflow od those islands are in the long run, but they can't regenerate energy. That means you slowly destroy it even if you only take a little." She is happy to brought the mechanical shuttle instead of one of the flying ships. Their magic allows them to fly but such magic is sensitive if you draw from it.

[TeChameleon]

[Shuttle]

"Are you certain that the magic does not regenerate? That would seem to be counter to my experience- the flying islands that I have known remain at least somewhat connected to the planet's mana field, or else the need to constantly fight gravity would drain them relatively quickly." Eddie said, looking a bit concerned.

"And my drawing of magical energy functions differently, depending. I consume a small, steady amount whenever I am in direct contact with a magical object; it is entirely involuntary, and necessary that I do so to remain active and 'alive'. And I draw directly from the planet's mana field when excercising my abilities on a higher level, such as what you saw me do on the training grounds with the dummy." he explained. It probably wasn't all that needed, but Mia seemed to be the type that would be reassured by understanding things more completely.

[Ironsmith]

[Khafir's Lab]

Reinholdt knew Khafir was cold. Callous. But cruel? He had no idea she was a horrid monster. Does Cessie know about these poor caged cats? That Vigil was condoning slavery and unfair imprisonment? Truly debased! These cats should be free to roam the island at their leisure!
...
This mission may have turned into a jailbreak. But he can't just let them out now, they'd run havoc over the lab and he's pretty sure everyone would know it was Rein who let them loose. Is that a necessity? Is he ready to sacrifice his reputation to become the freedom fighter these poor kitties need?

"Well hi there," Reinholdt says, stepping over to the cages and kneeling down to the first trapped cat who spotted him, holding his finger just in range for her to sniff. To gauge her reaction to it and if it's welcome, provide all important loving scritches and pets while Rein examines the mechanisms holding these cats in place to see how utterly generic and fascinatingly sophisticated they are.

[Khafir's Lab]

Oh, yeah. The finger is most definitely welcome. The poor kitty is all over him immediately, rubbing her head against the side of the cage just to get that little crumb of affection. Khafir evidently was not keeping up with the ever-important task of giving these cats their daily recommended intake of headpats and ear scritches.

The locks on the cages are surprisingly complex. Normally, on a kennel like these, all that's really necessary is a simple pull-pin system with a spring, such that anyone with opposable thumbs can open it from the outside. These, however, have full-on electric locks; there's a device resembling a thermostat right where the spring mechanism would be, with a little LCD panel, a series of unintuitively-labelled buttons, and a little glass window near the bottom-right corner.

Out in the hallway, the rumble of cart wheels against linoleum floor can be heard. Rein isn't going to have a lot of time.

[Reinholdt]

[Khafir's Lab]

That's... a lot. Seems excessive. Reinholdt will be sure to give the kitty extra headpats and scritches and pets and love while he examines the lock. Ugh. No time to pick it right now. He'll have to come back and do it later. His loving pets are withdrawn so that he can pull out his phone and take a quick picture of the lock in question. Once he's had time to examine it in greater detail later, and maybe look up similar locks, he'll be much faster at unlocking the cages. Be able to do a quick in and out. Especially if no one knows he's come to visit. Right now, he went through the official shuttle system so he's on record as being on the island.

One last ear scritch... and one more for this one. And that kitty too. Ok that's enough. Rein'll stand up and turn around to look at the hallway, patting his shirt a little to fight the heat.

[Ironsmith]

[Khafir's Lab]

The laboratory door opens just as Rein pulls his hand away from the pair of cats vying for pats. A cool breeze rushes in from the hallway as the lab's operator steps in, wheeling in a cart with a large bucket of ice and jug of water.

Doctor Khafir is not in her usual attire, having forsaken her usual lab coat and scrubs in favor of a pair of black short shorts and a sleeveless crop top that is maybe an inch of fabric away from being mistaken for a bra. Normally, the ensemble is reserved for when she goes out on a jog, but it serves reasonably well in its repurposed use as her go-to equipment while inside her overheated lab.

"Good afternoon, mister Terenti." The doctor greets coldly, wheeling her cart past him and stopping at a little panel on the wall. "Please do not feed the tulpas. They are on a carefully regimented diet." She taps a few buttons on the panel, causing the words "MAINTENANCE REQUEST SENT" to flash briefly onscreen as she makes her way toward a set of computers in the back portion of the room.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Khafir asks, her voice completely toneless, her gaze still focused elsewhere.