(11:06:13 AM) Ikiryo: It wasn't too hard to get someone to give you a lift to the planetoid that holds what you are looking for. Dr Desemona always enjoys exploring new things and Reiko has the coordinates of it. The planetoid in question looks too small for an atmosphere of it's own...but despite that, the ship registers breathable air down on it's rocky surface.
(11:07:40 AM) Claire: In spite of that, Claire still seems nervous about going down, as though she worries any atmosphere will just drift away while they're down on the surface.
(11:08:10 AM) ***Alexa_Kalina isn't worried at all! Because she's programmed an EVA suit into her device. "So, bets as to what we'll find?"
(11:08:24 AM) Ikiryo: Reiko looks down at it, it's surface grey and seemingly uninhabited. "It looks more or less normal..."
(11:08:54 AM) Alexa_Kalina: "Well, that's a good sign to start..."
(11:08:59 AM) Altea: "Orryx, hopefully?"
(11:09:07 AM) Earthflame: "I hope we'll find nothing wrong..." Tazzari bites her lip.
(11:09:45 AM) Alexa_Kalina: "Mmm. Hopefully. The odds, though..."
(11:10:15 AM) Ikiryo: Dr Desdemona shrugs. "Well, one way for you to find out. Bring me back lots of data~"
(11:10:21 AM) Ikiryo: Reiko gives her a dirty look.
(11:10:52 AM) Alexa_Kalina: "Only what Reiko allows us to bring," Alexa says.
(11:11:17 AM) Alexa_Kalina: "I respect her family's right to privacy, and since she's not a rival I'm not about to steal research data from them then rebrand it as my own for an early, poorly tested release."
(11:11:21 AM) Alexa_Kalina: SHe's probably joking!
(11:12:59 AM) ***Claire ignores the byplay. "...Alright, I'm ready. C'mon, Tis. Hopefully there won't be a need for barrier jackets, but..."
(11:13:15 AM) Ikiryo: Reiko sighs. "There is a lot of dangerous things down there...everyone be careful."
(11:13:43 AM) Earthflame: "No poking anything weird or interesting looking." Tazzari looks at Altea and Alexa.
(11:13:55 AM) Altea: "Kay."
(11:14:30 AM) Alexa_Kalina: "It's all well known and studied," she huffs. "What would be down there worth poking in this situation?" She lets Reiko lead the way down.
(11:14:35 AM) ***Claire gives Tazzari a significant look as well.
(11:15:07 AM) ***Altea follows.
(11:16:44 AM) Ikiryo: They are halfway down in the shuttle when familiar rainbow hair pops up from behind a seat.
(11:17:07 AM) Earthflame: "...Hecate!"
(11:17:29 AM) Altea: "Hi Hecate!"
(11:17:49 AM) ***Claire grins in spite of herself. "Getting into trouble already~?"
(11:18:37 AM) Ikiryo: "People are going on adventures, I want to go on adventures."
(11:19:12 AM) Alexa_Kalina: "Sounds fine to me!"
(11:19:13 AM) Ikiryo: Reiko's eye twitches but the shuttle hovers just above the surface of the planetoid...which starts to open up beneath them.
(11:20:22 AM) Earthflame: "...This is an important and dangerous investigation, Hecate... Not an adventure."
(11:21:07 AM) ***Altea whispers to Hecate. "Most of the time those turn out to be adventures, so you're half right."
(11:21:21 AM) Ikiryo: Hecate nods to Altea, giving her a small smile.
(11:22:03 AM) Ikiryo: The shuttle heads down into the planetoid...the inside not metal and plastic like expected but carved and runed stone. It looks old...too old for space travel of all things.
(11:22:56 AM) Earthflame: "...Old magic..." Tazzari grumbles.
(11:23:15 AM) Alexa_Kalina: "I like to think that life is an adventure, personally. No reason to assume it's not going to be, with our luck... and there's no problem with that, is there?" She immediately goes to a wall, looking at it. "Mmm... was this taken off ofa  planet at one point, or was it kept sealed and carved purely with magic originally, gotten to with teleportation?"
(11:26:02 AM) ***Claire whistles, standing well *back* of the shuttle's viewports. "Reiko, your family...must have been doing this a long time."
(11:26:48 AM) Ikiryo: "There is rituals that can be used to reach it, when the stars align." Reiko nods. The runes are...hard to look at, rarely the same twice. It's going to give people a headache if they stare at them too long as the shuttle sets down in the middle of a large stone circle.
(11:27:57 AM) Earthflame: Tazzari implements a visual filter to avoid a migraine.
(11:28:25 AM) ***Alexa_Kalina fishes out a bottle of pills and takes a few pre-emptively. She is... basically memorizing the runes as best she can. Might be recording. You know, just in case.
(11:29:32 AM) Ikiryo: Hecate is looking at them with great interest as the back of the shuttle opens up.
(11:29:59 AM) ***Altea is too busy looking at other things.
(11:30:42 AM) ***Claire heads down the ramp. "Let's go, ladies."
(11:30:55 AM) ***Earthflame sticks close to Claire.
(11:31:01 AM) Earthflame: *Tazzari
(11:31:06 AM) ***Alexa_Kalina keeps looking at the walls! But follows Reiko
(11:31:07 AM) ***Altea follows. "So this whole thing is a vault or something?"
(11:32:57 AM) Ikiryo: Reiko nods. "It's where my family stores things too dangerous to allow to roam free. Just...be careful and don't touch anything."
(11:33:07 AM) Altea: "Okay."
(11:33:11 AM) ***Altea is on her best behavior.
(11:33:37 AM) Alexa_Kalina: "Not a thing, unless it calls out to me promising true infinite power," Alexa says cheerfully. Definitely joking.
(11:34:42 AM) Earthflame: Tazzari gives Alexa a Look
(11:35:28 AM) ***Alexa_Kalina chuckles. "What?~"
(11:38:28 AM) Ikiryo: Hecate puts her hands behind her back primly.
(11:41:47 AM) Claire: "Well...lead the way, Reiko. It IS your family's place, not ours."
(11:42:22 AM) Altea left the room (quit: Ping timeout).
(11:43:44 AM) Earthflame: Tazzari groans, rubbing her forehead. The visual filter wasn't helping.
(11:54:42 AM) Ikiryo: Reiko nods. "Alright, please don't touch the runes. Some of them are very, very old." The room splits off in several directions but she leads through one of them confidently.
(11:55:34 AM) ***Claire follows the others following her--namely, Alexa and Tazzri, making sure to herd them toward the middle of the corridors.
(11:56:05 AM) Earthflame: Tazzari sticks close to her, looking a bit uncomfortable, out of her element.
(11:56:41 AM) ***Alexa_Kalina looks perfectly comfortable! She follows Reiko, but keeps trying to get close tot he runes to get a better look at them.
(11:59:57 AM) Altea [[email protected]] entered the room.
(12:03:31 PM) Alexa_Kalina: Alexa lets out a rather woflish whimper, pulling out another pillbottle to take a couple more. "Oww... on the other hand... amazing," she says breahtlessly.
(12:15:47 PM) Ikiryo: Claire isn't entirely sure how but she's gotten seperated from the others in a single long corridor...
(12:17:47 PM) Claire: It doesn't make any sense; one minute she was doing her job, making sure nobody touched anything. Then she looked over her shoulder to verify Tisiphone was still there and then...well, now...
(12:17:50 PM) Claire: "Guys?"
(12:18:36 PM) Ikiryo: Even Tisiphone isn't here. There is a cell to her left, runes on the bars to it...and sad sobbing from within.
(12:20:29 PM) Claire: In spite of almost every instinct she has screaming that she knows better, Claire creeps over to the cell door, peering through the bars...
(12:22:22 PM) Ikiryo: Inside is a small girl in a brown shift, looking like she's not had a bath in years. She's crying as she wraps her arms around herself.
(12:22:57 PM) Claire: "...Hello?"
(12:23:55 PM) Ikiryo: She looks up. "H-Hello? Who's there?"
(12:24:24 PM) Ikiryo: She has short blonde hair and blue eyes...with her pale skin, it makes her look a lot like a miserable and short haired Epsilon.
(12:26:22 PM) Claire: "I'm at the door. Have you seen my friends?"
(12:26:47 PM) Ikiryo: "I've not seen anyone since they locked me away..." She shakes her head.
(12:31:37 PM) ***Claire licks at her lips. "Uh...I'm...sorry to hear that."
(12:32:32 PM) Ikiryo: "When is it? I just...I'm sorry...I won't be bad any more."
(12:33:53 PM) Claire: "Uh...later. It's...later. I'll see what I can do, but I can't let you out, so...just sit tight, I guess?"
(12:33:59 PM) Claire: She starts to back away from the door slowly.
(12:35:24 PM) Ikiryo: "...you...but...please." She sobs pitifully. "I didn't mean to be bad...I'm sorry..."
(12:36:25 PM) Claire: "I can't I don't know how I'm sorry!" And this is when she flees.
(12:37:27 PM) Ikiryo: Hearing the crying follow her as she flees...and runs into Altea's back without warning.
(12:37:59 PM) Claire: "Awf!" She bounces off and falls backwards.
(12:39:52 PM) ***Altea turns. "Oh, sorry, I didn't realize I was walking so slow."
(12:40:30 PM) ***Claire looks more spooked than hurt, pushing herself back to her feet. "...Sorry, Altea, just--where *were* you guys?"
(12:41:04 PM) Altea: "Right here with Reiko. Wait, were you gone?"
(12:41:07 PM) Ikiryo: As far as anyone can tell, Claire was just walking with them until she started running.
(12:42:12 PM) ***Alexa_Kalina blinks. "... Claire, are you feeling okay? You were just walking normally, adn then you started... well, sprinting..."
(12:42:20 PM) Claire: "What?"
(12:42:24 PM) ***Claire blinks.
(12:42:51 PM) Alexa_Kalina: "Yeah. Are you..." She frowns, putting a hand to Claire's head for a moment.
(12:43:42 PM) ***Claire is cool to the touch, no fever. "...No, I was--you guys were gone and I was down a hallway and there was a little crying girl in a cell who looked like Epsilon...if, uh, Eppy were an urchin."
(12:43:53 PM) Altea: "WAS IT A GHOST?"
(12:43:57 PM) ***Altea is suddenly excited.
(12:44:02 PM) Altea: "Reiko, are there ghosts in here?"
(12:44:17 PM) Claire: "I...I don't think so?"
(12:44:24 PM) Claire: "I don't know, I guess..."
(12:44:26 PM) Altea: "Ae."
(12:44:29 PM) Altea: "Aw."*
(12:44:30 PM) Ikiryo: Reiko frowns. "Spirits of sorts...yes. I'd not really call them ghosts though and nothing should be able to reach out of thier cells."
(12:45:22 PM) ***Claire gets a hold of her panic and stuffs it down. "Uh. Okay, so...spirit who looks like a dirty younger teenage girl, blonde hair, blue eyes, says she's sorry and didn't mean it? Sound familiar to you?"
(12:46:06 PM) Ikiryo: Reiko shakes her head. "Not at all. Or at least, not specifically."
(12:46:59 PM) Alexa_Kalina: "Hmm. It's either someone being honest, or an absolute trap. Probably the latter."
(12:47:11 PM) Alexa_Kalina: "So this place can effect us individually, though... that's worrisome."
(12:47:45 PM) Claire: "...I didn't touch the bars or runes or anything. Not this time. I'm not gonna repeat *that* mistake."
(12:48:16 PM) Ikiryo: "Which it shouldn't...if something can reach out of it's cells, then the wards are weakened." She starts to move more quickly, almost running down the hallway.
(12:48:49 PM) ***Claire urges the others to keep pace.
(12:49:34 PM) ***Altea follows at pace.
(12:50:56 PM) ***Alexa_Kalina follows. "And if the wards are weakened, then... soemone who wasn't supposed to be here was here," she growls.
(12:54:12 PM) Ikiryo: Reiko nods, turning a corner...and stopping. There is a heavy, runed door up ahead...and it's little more than slagged stone now. The stone vault behind it looks empty, save for a few scattered coins and bits of broken jewelery.
(12:54:47 PM) ***Alexa_Kalina stares for a moment. "... This is where Orryx was, wasn't it?" She asks quietly.
(12:56:01 PM) Ikiryo: Reiko nods silently. "Along with several other artifacts."
(12:56:54 PM) Altea: "What artifacts?"
(12:57:34 PM) ***Alexa_Kalina lets out a breath. "Let's assess the damages."
(12:59:53 PM) Ikiryo: "The prisons of powerful spirits. Fire Vampires of Fthaggua, Shoggoths...Colours..." She bites her lip. "It's not our most important vault but it's not far off."
(1:03:54 PM) Alexa_Kalina: "Well, I recognize the names..." She frowns. "And the fact that they're on the 'call in heavy support IMMEDIATELY' list."
(1:04:02 PM) Altea: "And then Orryx."
(1:04:11 PM) Altea: "On top of those whatevers."
(1:05:28 PM) Ikiryo: She nods. "This is bad. The wards should have alerted us if this was done, whoever did it knew how our wards worked and how to disable the alarms."
(1:05:57 PM) Altea: "Who would know how your wards work?"
(1:06:29 PM) Claire: "Aynfean, probably."
(1:06:49 PM) Ikiryo: "In theory, just our family...we've even denied TSAB access before." She sighs. "But they are also very old wards, given time people could reverse engineer them."
(1:07:58 PM) ***Alexa_Kalina bites her lip. "At the risk fo sounding like a paranoid belkan, Reiko--is there anyone in your family who could be bought or... convinced, blackmailed somehow?"
(1:09:13 PM) Ikiryo: "I hope not."
(1:09:41 PM) Alexa_Kalina: "Is that 'there's no one you can think of', or a 'You don't want to think about it?" She presses.
(1:10:05 PM) Ikiryo: "Both."
(1:11:15 PM) Alexa_Kalina: "Okay." She relents, but still looks worried.
(1:11:31 PM) Claire: "Let's just...okay, come on. This needs to get reported. Reiko, can you lead us back out to Doc's ship?"
(1:12:00 PM) Ikiryo: She nods. "Alright."
(1:12:16 PM) Ikiryo: On the way back, Claire hears faint sobbing...though where it's coming from, she's not sure.
(1:13:59 PM) Claire: "There it is! Does anyone else hear that?"
(1:14:04 PM) Alexa_Kalina: "hear what?"
(1:14:30 PM) Claire: "The blonde spirit kid, crying!"
(1:14:42 PM) Altea: "Someone's crying?"
(1:15:00 PM) Ikiryo: Reiko shakes her head. "I don't hear anything."
(1:15:08 PM) Claire: "..."
(1:15:35 PM) Claire: "I swear to the Saint-King it's there..."
(1:17:17 PM) Alexa_Kalina: "..> Claire, are you, uh... are you getting al ittle close to your madness place?"
(1:18:08 PM) ***Claire rolls her eyes. "I know what I saw, and I felt really bad for her, but I still didn't try to open the door, so let's just leave it at that."
(1:18:30 PM) Alexa_Kalina: "Hmm."
(1:19:54 PM) Claire: "Let's just go, okay?"
(1:20:46 PM) Alexa_Kalina: "Okay." She frowns, looking a little worried.
(1:21:34 PM) Ikiryo: The crying pitiful and hopeless as they leave, it sounding just like Epsilon. Soon they are back at the shuttle though.
(1:23:36 PM) ***Claire looks increasingly on edge the longer she has to listen to it, almost pathetically grateful to be back on the ship.
(1:24:10 PM) ***Alexa_Kalina frowns... putting an arm around CLaire and hugging her tight as they walk.
(1:24:10 PM) Ikiryo: Reiko looks shaken herself, though for very different reasons.
(1:28:25 PM) Alexa_Kalina: "Well, we learned waht we needed to," she says.
(1:29:00 PM) Ikiryo: She collapses into a seat. "this is...oh dear."
(1:29:00 PM) Altea: "Sorry it was bad news, Reiko."
(1:30:37 PM) ***Alexa_Kalina lets out a breath. "Balls."
(1:36:20 PM) ***Claire starts pacing. "We all suspected, but thank you, Reiko, for bringing us out here and trusting us to see the place. So now we get back to Mid, compile what we know, and figure out a plan to stop these losers, now and forever."
(1:38:54 PM) ***Alexa_Kalina nods. "... It wasn't magic," she muses. "Blasting charges."
(1:39:52 PM) Altea: "Yeah, I agree."
(1:47:26 PM) Claire: "When we get back, we gotta let Sarge know...and maybe even the LT and Miss Tia."
(1:49:16 PM) ***Altea nods.
(1:50:46 PM) Alexa_Kalina: "Agreed."
(1:52:07 PM) Ikiryo: The trip back is rather quiet, Reiko looking despressed and not saying much...
(1:53:50 PM) ***Alexa_Kalina glances to her... and gives her a hug.
(1:54:58 PM) ***Altea also gives her a hug.
(1:57:05 PM) Ikiryo: It helps a bit.