tsab other mission

[07:27] <Ikiryo> Anai's grandfather's tomb is a few hours by land out of the city...but Anai was able to provide a precise enough coordinate for the group to use the ship's teleporter. With a flash of white light, you all appear outside a...remarkably small stone building. You'd have honestly expected bigger. The heavy stone doors are closed...
[07:28] *** Earthflame has left #TSABIC
[07:28] <Ikiryo> There is desert in all directions, the city little more than a spec on the horizon...
[07:29] <Tazzari> Tazzari glances at Anai, wearing her TSAB recruits uniform, it's armour glinting in the sun and the grey cloth contrasting to the bright desert. She looks around the area, trying to figure out why a tomb would be here, of all places...
[07:32] <Lily_Mardock> "So...Is this what they'd call a masoleum?"
[07:34] <Ikiryo> Claire: The building almost glows with magic though. Whoever did this stonework? Was a genius. It's built on a massive ley line, drawing magic from all over the planet. There is about as much magic here as in the engine core of a TSAB ship.
[07:35] <Ikiryo> *Lily
[07:36] <Ikiryo> Anai nods "I havn't been here in years. My father took me once."
[07:36] <Ikiryo> Atalanta is silent, watching the area through her rifle scope.
[07:37] <Lily_Mardock> "There's a lot of power here.  Is that to protect the tomb?"
[07:38] <Ikiryo> Anai frowns "I don't know. This used to be his library too, before it was his tomb. It's where he did most of his work."
[07:39] <Tazzari> "Power? I don't feel anything." Tazzari offers Lily a glance.
[07:39] <Ikiryo> Atalanta shrugs "I've got nothing on my sensors...but I don't understand half of them anyway."
[07:40] <Lily_Mardock> "Well, if there was anything mechanical in there, it's pretty safe to assume it's still running if it's still turned on."
[07:41] <Ikiryo> "...I don't honestly know what's in there. He died when I was very little, so I've never seen the inside."
[07:41] <Tazzari> "...Do you know how to, um, open it?"
[07:44] <Ikiryo> Anai heads over to the door. "Maybe? I mean...it should probebly just be a standard magical...no, it's blood locked." She pulls a small knife out of a pocket of her outfit. "I know this one. It was in a book in the library I read once."
[07:44] <Tazzari> "Blood locked? Is that, um... Any blood, or, um, a related bloodline?"
[07:46] <Ikiryo> "Family...I think. Well, family or royalty or...I don't know what the third is." She's trying to understand something in the spells. She pricks her finger with the knife and starts to trace runes on the door. "Why?"
[07:47] <Tazzari> She smiles a little. "...Maybe this place was, um, waiting for you. You said it was his library... Maybe it will be, um, yours, too... One day."
[07:47] <Lily_Mardock> "Good thing we have you with us.  Also because I don't know anything about blood seals."
[07:49] <Ikiryo> The doors rumble open...and reveal stairs, made of stone, going down into the deep. This must be why it's so small on the surface. Even those who wouldn't feel magic before...can sense the sheer power of whatever is down here.
[07:50] <Tazzari> "...Wow..." Tazzari blinks and stares, flicking a wrist and calling up her staff, the jewel upon it glowing with light.
[07:50] <Lily_Mardock> "Watch for rampaging boulders!"
[07:50] * Lily_Mardock heads inside
[07:51] <Ikiryo> It illuminates a long way down...but it must be at least 100m, all staircase. You don't envy whoever carried the body down into this.
[07:52] <Tazzari> Tazzari nods to Anai and Atalanta before moving down behind Lily. "Um... Be careful..."
[07:53] <Ikiryo> Atalanta frowns "Should I go first? It might be dangerous..."
[07:54] <Lily_Mardock> "I'm probably most likely to see traps first.  Or just trigger them.  Either way, I'll be the pathfinder."
[07:57] * Lily_Mardock starts walking down the stairs
[07:57] <Lily_Mardock> "So did your grandfather build this place, Anai?"
[07:58] <Ikiryo> "I think so..." All them notice one of the steps is a different shade than the others, just slightly. Rather off. That and the tripwire just behind it. "I don't know how he did it but I don't think he found it."
[07:59] <Tazzari> Tazzari highlights the step and tripwire in AR, just to be safe, as she steps around and over the trap.
[08:00] <Ikiryo> Atalanta hops over them both with one of her improbable jumps. Anai frowns and very carefully avoids it. "...I guess Grandfather wanted to be careful."
[08:01] <Tazzari> "The power of this place, um... I can see needing to keep it, um, safe if you weren't here..."
[08:01] <Lily_Mardock> "...I wonder what it does..."
[08:01] * Lily_Mardock eyes the tripwire
[08:14] <Ikiryo> As you travel down...the worked stone stops, leading to an area of unworked stone...and then to metal. Everyone notices a tripwire ahead of them and steps over it...everyone save Tazzari that is. A spray of darts fly out from one of the walls at her...
[08:17] <Tazzari> Tazzari was tense every step of the way... The tension proving her downfall as she stumbles on stiff legs and frantically tries to get limbs to move... And then her eyes shine purple as processing kicks in. Analysing trajectories, velocity, margins for error... Minimising the potential impact by taking a single dart to avoid all the others is the only logical option. No time to draw up a
[08:17] <Tazzari> barrier... She prepares for the impact...
[08:25] <Ikiryo> The dart hits her...and she can feel a toxin entering her bloodstream...but it's only one dart's worth at least.
[08:26] * Lily_Mardock catches Tazzari to stop her tumbling down the rest of the stairs.
[08:26] <Tazzari> She staggers, bracing herself against Lily with a slight whimper. "...Sorry..." She reaches across, biting her lip as she quickly tugs out the dart, just in case there was any more toxin left to come.
[08:27] <Lily_Mardock> "Ew.  You ok?  Oh, are we supposed to try to suck any poison out?"
[08:28] <Ikiryo> Anai jumps. "Tazzari?" She hugs her. "Are you alright?"
[08:31] <Tazzari> "I'm..." She whimpers a little more. "...I'm okay. It was a small dose..." She shakes her head, feeling a little dizzy. "I can, um, keep going... But someone else go first..."
[08:32] <Ikiryo> The corridor up ahead of them is metal...worked metal. Well beyond the tech level of this planet.
[08:32] <Lily_Mardock> "Neat!  I wonder where this is from..."
[08:33] <Tazzari> Tazzari blinks a bit. "...He didn't make this. He, um... He must have found it..." She trails off, shaking her head again. "...But he built the stairs. Um. Probably to keep it safe..."
[08:34] <Lily_Mardock> "Oh?  You think this was already here?"
[08:36] <Ikiryo> Anai frowns "...this might be an area I can't help much with, after all."
[08:36] <Ikiryo> Atalanta frowns "...this is belkan work."
[08:37] * Lily_Mardock taps on one of the walls.
[08:37] <Lily_Mardock> "You think?"
[08:38] <Ikiryo> "Yes, I do. As opposed to any other source of old technol..." She looks like she's sulking a bit. "It's not a ship, whatever it is. The walls look wrong."
[08:39] <Tazzari> "...I'd expect it, um, to be Belkan..." She slurs a little. "Planetery history and, um..." She continues to lean against Lily, walking okay but still seeming just a little groggy. "And, um... You opened the door, Anai... Who knows what else your, um, grandfather left?"
[08:40] <Lily_Mardock> "I wonder if this is why this place needs so much power?"
[08:40] <Ikiryo> As they head along the corridor, they encounter what looks like an honest to goodness blast door.
[08:40] <Lily_Mardock> "Or why it has so much.  It could be that, too."
[08:42] <Tazzari> "...Your Grandfather could open this, um..." Tazzari murmurs again, glancing to Anai. "If you can, um... It'd probably be safer than me hacking it..."
[08:44] <Ikiryo> Anai nods...and gives Tazzari a hug before heading for the door. An AR display appears, with many patterns repeating.
[08:45] <Ikiryo> She sits down and opens up her book. "There MIGHT be something in here? Maybe?" She looks around for a while and sighs. "I think I might have the combination. Maybe?"
[08:47] <Tazzari> Tazzari looks at the displays, cross referencing them with her records of the book... Trying to keep her slowed down body and mind out of it, ignoring the pain and letting the silicon pathways through her cerebral cortex do what they do best, process and analyse data...
[08:52] <Ikiryo> She can sort of get a vague idea...but nothing concrete. It's too heavily based in a magic system she's still not fluent in.
[08:53] <Ikiryo> Anai sighs...and taps them in.
[08:55] <Ikiryo> "...oh no..." Anai and Lily both feel something change...a feeling of being watched. "I think that code was wrong..."
[09:01] <Ikiryo> Runes flare up, previously unseen on the walls. They shift and warp...and start to join together. Forming human-like shapes as more and more runes join them. Semi-Humans made of so many runes you can't see each individual rune. They form bladed arms...
[09:01] <Lily_Mardock> "Yeah.  I just hope it wasn't really wrong..."
[09:01] <Lily_Mardock> "See?  Not too bad."
[09:02] <Tazzari> Tazzari releases Lily, letting herself slump down against the wall... And settling into a braced firing position there. "...We can beat them."
[09:11] <Tazzari> Tazzari focuses on the rune creatures... Eyes flickering, following the flows of energy, the pulses and patterns... "Lonely Star..." She murmurs, a single point of light gathering at the tip of her staff. "Shoot." The staff echoes her words, the purple star fired forwards in a probing shot at the first foe.
[09:12] <Ikiryo> The figure shatters into nothingness, though there are plenty more where they came from...
[09:14] * Lily_Mardock darts forward, axe flashing into being as her barrier dress forms around her body.  She strikes out at the rune-critters.
[09:14] <Lily_Mardock> "Anyone know what these are made of?"
[09:20] * Lily_Mardock 's strikes spark against the walls but fail to connect with the mobs of guardians
[09:27] <Ikiryo> Atalanta frowns...and changes her hold on the rifle shape of her device. [χειροβομβίδα φωτιά] She launches a purple ball towards a pile of them...which detonates, blowing a chunk in the horde.
[09:28] <Ikiryo> Anai flails with her book at any that get close. It's not very effective.
[09:32] <Ikiryo> The horde lashes out at them with a flurry of rune-formed blades...
[09:34] <Tazzari> Crouched where she is, Tazzari's purple barrier holds... But while it stops the blade, she has to resist the physical force herself. Even with a wall beside her, the dizziness overwhelms her and she sprawls back after the final impact, scrabbling to get back to her feet...
[09:40] <Ikiryo> Anai forms a wall of fire to keep them off her, stopping the attacks and burning a few along the way. Atalanta bounces off the walls, dodging in her inhuman way.
[10:14] * Lily_Mardock hops, skips, and jumps around the flailing blades
[10:29] <Ikiryo> Atalanta dashes foward, weapon switching into it's blade form. The phantoms swarm her and she cuts a swathe through them like wheat being harvested. Several runes on the wall burn out.
[10:37] * Lily_Mardock leaps into the center of the next group, axe crashing into the floor catching at those not fast enough to move out of the way!
[10:43] <Ikiryo> Anai keeps up the small blasts of fire and the flailing with her book...but she's really not an infighter.
[10:48] <Ikiryo> The horde, though smaller now, lashes out again.
[10:48] * Lily_Mardock lifts up the axe, seeming to overbalance and bending over backwards...as the blades of the foes around her pass through the air above her face
[10:49] <Tazzari> Fallen, barely able to drag herself up onto one knee, Tazzari sweats and shakes as she focuses everything into her barrier... But it holds.
[10:49] <Ikiryo> ...more runes flare and burn out at attacks going for Anai results instead of them catching alight as her fire barrier flares.
[10:52] <Tazzari> "Constellation: Double Helix..." She breathes, focusing as more points of light spill from the staff, surrounding it in a pair of spiralling lines, as the circle around her feet glows and turns. "Binary... Shoot!" Both lines fly in a percisely calculated pattern, filling the space to both sides before converging in a withering crossfire on the remaining rune creatures...
[11:00] <Ikiryo> Many of them are wiped out...but the runes spawn more to replace them, even if they are looking only just short of the same overloading...
[11:05] <Ikiryo> Anai raises a hand and focuses...and punches a hole in the wall, right where the runes are with a thin laser.
[11:05] <Ikiryo> The figures all shatter.
[11:07] <Ikiryo> And it's silent again.
[11:07] <Tazzari> ...Tazzari flops against the wall, panting, head fuzzy.
[11:07] <Ikiryo> Anai runs over to her and hugs her tight. "Are you alright? I..." She looks very worried.
[11:08] <Tazzari> She smiles. "I'm fine. Just... The poison... And using magic. My biomonitor is within safe limits..."
[11:09] <Tazzari> She's too tired to hug back with much enthusiasm.
[11:10] <Ikiryo> "...I...we should call my brother. He's good with medicine..." Anai is biting her lip.
[11:10] <Tazzari> "Later... We need to finish this." She nuzzles at the other girl before straightening up, looking to the door.
[11:12] <Ikiryo> Atalanta is looking over it. "Should we go for the blunt method?"
[11:15] <Tazzari> "Show me that combination, Anai... Maybe we can try again?"
[11:16] <Ikiryo> Anai nods and taps it into the display again...but this time does not enter it, just letting it hover there.
[11:19] <Ikiryo> Anai is pondering over it. Atalanta clearly has no clue what she's looking at.
[11:19] <Tazzari> Tazzari shakes her head, still finding it hard to focus...
[11:23] <Ikiryo> Anai nods to herself and swaps two runes, entering it. The door slowly slides open, revealing...an incredible room. Where most military ships would be simple colours or greys, the inside of whatever this place is...is white, with gold trim.
[11:24] <Ikiryo> There is machinery all over the place...and, to one side, bookcases, thier wood frame a very big change from the rest of this room...and whatever else it leads to.
[11:25] <Ikiryo> There must be a dozen large bookcases, each filled to the brim.
[11:25] <Ikiryo> There is two exits from this room other than the entrance you came in from. One to the left, one to the right.
[11:26] <Lily_Mardock> "Einy-meany-miney-moe?"
[11:28] <Tazzari> "...Wow." Tazzari blinks, staring around the inside of the room. "...This. Um... I'm sorry, Anai... The TSAB will need to, um, send a team in here... Just to make sure it's safe..." She doesn't step inside yet, making sure there aren't other traps...
[11:30] <Tazzari> She crossreferences data for a moment, purple light flickering behind her grey eyes... And then she speaks, awe in her breath. "...This is... This is..." ...And she forgets to steady herself. And falls over.
[11:30] <Ikiryo> Atalanta frowns "...oh Hades..."
[11:35] <Ikiryo> Anai catches her...not very well. The pair go to the floor but at least Tazzari landed on something soft.
[11:35] <Lily_Mardock> "Whoops!"
[11:35] * Lily_Mardock walks over to help them up and check on Tazzari
[11:36] <Tazzari> She lies there a moment. "...These are the Saint Kings colours..." She breathes, slowly standing, helping Anai up and leaning on her. "Um... Wow..."
[11:36] <Ikiryo> Atalanta nods "Royal colours...which means whatever this was, it was very important."
[11:42] <Ikiryo> Anai nods, holding up Tazzari.
[11:43] <Tazzari> "Let's, um, have a look around." She nods to Lily and Atalanta, before stepping in.
[11:48] * Lily_Mardock walks in and looks around
[11:48] <Tazzari> Tazzari heads towards the book shelves along with Anai...
[11:49] * Lily_Mardock heads for the machinery, her forte
[11:53] <Lily_Mardock> "Check this stuff out Atalanta..."
[11:54] <Ikiryo> Atalanta heads over, studying it.
[11:55] <Ikiryo> Tazzari has found spellbooks. Spellbooks and diagrams...and all very well organized. It's a treasure trove of information.
[11:56] <Tazzari> "...Later, I'll take a copy of all this. Before, um, we let the TSAB go over it... You'll never lose your Grandfathers legacy, Anai... I promise you that." She speaks quietly as she stares in awe at all the books before her.
[11:56] <Ikiryo> Anai nods...but frowns
[11:57] <Tazzari> "...What's wrong?" She gives her a shoulder squeeze.
[11:57] <Ikiryo> "Nothing..." She's clearly not telling the truth.
[11:57] <Tazzari> A squeeze and a nuzzle. "Please..."
[11:58] <Ikiryo> "...it looks like some sort of power regulation system for...something." Atalanta is puzzling over it.
[11:58] <Ikiryo> "...later."
[11:58] <Tazzari> Tazzari nods slowly. "Okay... Um. Do you think the code might be in these books?"
[11:59] <Lily_Mardock> "Oh.  Maybe for something through one of these doors?"
[11:59] * Lily_Mardock walks towards the left exit to take a peek
[12:00] <Ikiryo> It's a mostly empty room...save for a sarcophogas of a man holding a book.
[12:01] <Lily_Mardock> "Anaiiiiii"
[12:02] <Ikiryo> Anai looks up "...yes Lily?"
[12:02] <Lily_Mardock> "I think I found the, um.  Burial chamber."