Darkening Skies: An End To History

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Excession

Excession

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Horror, fantasy, sci-fi.
CHARACTERS: BY INVITATION ONLY - CHARACTER INDEX - Darkening Skies: Characters
OOC: BY INVITATION ONLY - Darkening Skies: An End To History

It is the Year of Dominion 288, and the people of Imeria live in interesting times.

The Ember Rose, airship of recently-promoted Desolator Olimak Lenore, is docked at Puddleglum Spire where progress and tradition are preparing to clash for the throne. Worse, her crew includes an exiled Stormlord noble with some of the deadliest assassins in the known world pursuing them.
Can they turn this crisis into an opportunity?

RULEBOOK
 
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Nat

The Marketplace

The moment that Puddleglum's soldiers appear on the scene Nat's gun has disappeared back into its concealed holster. He peers up at the slight girl for a moment before replying, absent-mindedly scratching at his whiskers, now that his hands are free. Suddenly he lurches into a deep, formal bow, his nose nearly touching the ground.

"Why my highest Lady," he simpers, in perfect clipped Spire.
"I wasn't aware that we were in the presence of royalty. Thank you for deigning to stain your silver tongue with Trades cant, I know that the harsher syllables can tear at the cultured throat." He rights himself once again, glances over his shoulder at the perimeter, and continues, "I'll handle the guards, and you'll get me a space on your boat as an engineer; you'll find my record is without reproach."

Without waiting on an answer Nat turns on his hind paw and marches towards the mustering Puddleglum forces, paws clearly visible. When he gets within a few meters he pipes up.
"Afternoon, Master Enchanter. Your intelligence network appears to have royally fucked up. This was a terror attack by dissident elements in the Spire; Dissatisfied workers and the like. Lucky for you I have a detailed facial memory and emotional imprint of the cell who conducted the bombing on hand. In return for me pulling your ass out of the fire you can offer me and my crew escort back to our vessel: The Ember Rose, along with medical attention.
"I have been assured that the bomb carried a secondary effect as well. It would behoove you to keep this cordon up until you have properly examined the area."
As he is speaking Nat's hand dips into his breast pocket and pulls out a small sliver of ruby. A minuscule flash of light heralds the transfer of his memory from PULSE to the gem. He proffers it to the magus in front of him.
 
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Lezek Urral

Disdain evident on her furrowed brow as more and more rats began showing up. Most of their colors evidently aligned with the Spire, Urral looking coldly upon them. Their shiny clanking armor a shadow of the true glories and concealing their ruinous nature. Urral had tried to deal with them and their fleabitten ways but now the truth was out, as it always came out. These rats are not deserving of a Spire, let alone their 'noble' titles and bearing. Filth.

"More Vermin" She declares coldly to all before stepping forward to firmly grasp the shoulder of the Maiden Heresh. "I would not play courier to any here save yourself. You are of proven worth and among this darkness, vermin and [blind to the light] Mortals, that is an asset worth placating with any favor. In any truth, your request is proper and thoughtful. I shall take flight to my Cousin. Be wary here"

With that, Urral simply turns on her heel and with a strong pull of her wings, alights toward the shaft she'd descended from and back towards the Rose. A beacon of light above a burning city.
 
Heresh

Oh fuck.

"Urral! Slow down, there's a field around the area! Exit on foot!"

Heresh yells her warning at the top of her lungs, right as Urral turns to spread her wings.
 
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Abigail - The Ember Rose

"No problem," she responds as as the Captain leaves the room.
Left alone she relaxes a little in the chair.
So fucking tired.
She pulls on her cigarillo some more, eyeing Cassandra's deck node with mild suspicion.
 
On The Rose - Interior

"Well," Cassandra says, node glinting, "isn't this nice."

On The Rose - Exterior

As Lenore arrives on topdeck, she sees a guard and a knight at the foot of the gangway.
"Hail, Captain," calls the knight, "it's urgent that we speak with you."
Other such pairings are visible visiting other ships docked nearby.

Ground Zero

The Enchanter stares past Nat, but a nervous apprentice accepts the chip.
"Um, you'll need to wait for us to check this and confer with security forces," she says, placing into a padded case. Behind her techs and soldiers bustle back and forth, watched over by a stern old rat in exceptionally made powered armour.
"And you don't get to leave so easily," the Enchanter snaps, suddenly looking right at Nat. "Something is very wrong inside that field, and it's clinging to you. You'll remain quarantined until I'm satisfied you're not a threat to the rest of the Spire."
 
Heresh
Ground Zero

Oh, good.

Heresh pads over behind the suddenly well spoken Rat at the barrier, and speaks softly.

"My apologies, Engineer, I spoke in haste. Master Enchanter, there is indeed something awry, something seemingly caused by the bomb. It may or may not be contagious, but we have a Communer present who has confirmed that it is inimical to living tissues. Unshielded persons present may need to be cleansed and seen by adepts of the Silver Tree."

Oh please, Colby, be ok.
 
Olimak Lenore - The Ember Rose

Looking first to the pair before her, then to others, to the smoke rising in the distance, and then finally back to the knight and guard, Lenore speaks.

"Speak," is all she says.
 
Weaver

Spire? Ok, it's been a while but he thinks he gets the gist of what she was saying. Weaver barely notices the skinny one darting off as he attempts to put his response together, before the Scion's abrupt exit snaps him back to attention. He picks up Colby carefully, gently coaxing cells back together as he carries him to the girl and the rattus beside the barrier.

"Excuse the delay, [honorific for elderly noblemen]. As I said earlier, your [species of rabbit native to South-Eastern Kelen] friend, Mister Colby, is stable, but needs proper treatment soon"

Weaver takes a moment to congratulate himself on remembering the proper word for a Rattus, before turning to the Enchanter.

"You have a Communer in the security department, right? She interviewed me when I arrived, particularily tall Rattus. Get her, and any other Communers you have on the payroll. This is urgent."
 
Abigail - The Ember Rose

Holy fuck what?!

"I, uh, I suppose it is." she offers lamely, unsure how to speak to an AI.
 
In The Market

Runners are dispatched, and the crew on the far side of the barrier offer hot drinks and food to the quarantined.
"You may be in there a while," a waifish young guardswoman tells Heresh as she passes a cup of coffee through a miniature airlock.
Weaver has to give everyone a dose of accelerated healing every ten minutes or so until the other Communer arrives.

"Well," she says, stepping through a larger lock in the barrier and looking Weaver up and down, "at least I know this isn't your fault."
Without hesitating she lays hands on Colby, and slips into a trance.

Lucius Puddleglum arrives and immediately gets into a heated discussion with the Master Enchanter.

Ember Rose Deck

"Captain, I'm afraid dissident elements within the Spire have detonated a magical bomb," says the guard, "investigations are ongoing, but it's possible some of your crew may have been caught in the blast. The site has been quarantined due to an unknown lingering effect. Would you accompany us to, um, medical?" The guard trails off. The Knight steps forward.
"Forgive me, Ascendant," they say in near-flawless Urd, "but it falls to you to determine if your crew are among the dead."

Ember Rose Interior

"I think it's been a whole month since we were last at a port in crisis," Cassandra says, "but you wouldn't know anything about that."
 
Urral

Having swooped back down at Heresh's warning, Urral was now visibly pouting. She paced the perimeter of their shielded enclosure, occasionally prodding at the edge with the jolt of her halberd with a dour expression.

This was not feeding her Vice, there was no glory in being quarantined and seeing rats and spire folk alike moving freely outside was irking her further.

She turns away in a huff to find Heresh, wings boosting her along as she half hopped, half walked to her friend.

"Thus the Great Lezek, Urral Leketh became savior of the vermin-spire by sitting upon her golden haunch...golden arse...inside a dome of the newly created domain of slothful magic." She spoke loudly in Urd, her tone oozing discontent. "Heresh, we must get out of this thing. I'm sick of this and wish to help uncover the plot that harmed our family. In my own way, the justice of this spire is obviously full of rot."

With every ounce of her body full of drama, she shrugs in exasperation.
 
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Colby

He flinches and keens at the new intruder slipping into his personal space, but otherwise continues to be an unconscious ball of blood, fur and soot.
 
Heresh
Inside the barrier

With a wry twist, Heresh thinks to herself, I have most clearly fucked up on the question of language. Hopefully these gents will be understanding about it later.

She'll look up from muttering to this Weaver gentleman, "Thank you. He's precious to us," to see Urral getting antsy.

Padding over to her friend, Heresh looks up at the face of golden displeasure, and offers a gentle smile.

"Honoured-Ascendant, no battle-visage can visit ruin on your loveliness. Risk we dishonour to walk shadow of Hulbrad? At this time, we wait. Desolator Lenore is aware of our departure."

With the sunny smile which comes easily to her, Heresh speaks again.

"Let's talk about trust. Or perhaps, let's talk about ways to ensure it? I am a mortal-sorcerer, and you are Ascendant, but those words in my tongue are magus and Infernal. Did you want to learn about basic greetings and goodbyes? If you wanna learn the basic politey-bits of Spire, I'll throw in some wicked insults for free!"
 
Olimak Lenore - The Ember Rose > Spire Medical

"Of course," she says softly in Trades, peering down at the two ratkin.

"I would have a Communer sent to the ship as soon as possible in preparation," orders Lenore, falling in long, slow steps beside the Knight. "Additionally, explain to me who these dissidents would be, and why they would target my crew,"

A grim expression is etched across her face as she explains, the light from her eyes shrouding her features in the waning evening.

"After all, such an act cannot be forgiven,"
 
Abigail - The Ember Rose

Hmmm ~

"So, am I to gather the crew has a habit of finding themselves in, uh, complicated situations?"
 
Nat

Quarantined Zone

Nat shrugs a scrawny shoulder as the Master Enchanter rebuffs him and flashes Heresh a toothy grin as she approaches from behind him. "Well, it was worth a shot. 'Fraid we're gonna be stuck here for a bit, though." As she turns away to placate her Infernal companion Nat takes a coffee from one of the ports and takes a sip. He opens his senses again, dissolving the artificial calm surrounding his psyche, and takes a sampling of the area. After doing so he wander over to the Communer, Weaver. "Folk keep going on about some disturbance in the area. I assume it's not just the bomb. Got any insight into what it might be, friend?"
 
Quarantine

The Communer leans away from Colby, shaking her head as if to clear it, then gestures at an aide beyond the barrier. Said aide passes her what appears to be a raw haunch of unidentified meat. She distends her jaw to devour it whole and chews, thoughtfully, as she resumes healing work.

Colby is waking up.

Infirmary

On the walk over, the Knight explains that certain rebellious youth of Puddleglum's noble families have been scandalizing their parents with outlandish dress and habits, fraternizing with lower classes, talking about 'seizing the mana of production' and other insane concepts.
"We don't think they targeted your crew specifically, only that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

There is a long line to the morgue, but you are taken to the head as befits your status.

Your crew are not among the dead.

On the Rose

Somehow, the ruby node is capable of projecting a sense of being side-eyed.
"I think this is the third time. Statistically significant."
 
Colby

He blinks, bleary eyed.
Oh, I... am I still here?
Shapes swimming in his vision rapidly sharpen to a wince inducing degree.
Oh no, I liked it better when it was softer.
Ow.
He coughs, lungs still feeling like someone had sucker punched him. Everything ached. A constant, dull, grinding sensation with spikes of itching white. He glances about, his magi senses flaring back into existence, informing him of everyone's weapons and metallic items long before the rest of his senses caught up with it.

"Ah... familiar faces...?" there was a lot less breath to say that than he thought.
 
Olimak Lenore - Spire Medical

"Your children would raise their hands to their kin in such a manner? To their home? Over mere matters of thought?" asks the Captain as they walk amongst the morgue, a twinge of incredulousness in her voice.

Her eyes stray to the bodies lined up, face impassive save for the slightest thickening of her brows. She lingers on the faces, young and old alike, on the burns and on the blood.

She looks down to her escort.

"None of mine number the dead. Tell me, is this the first time an incident of this ilk has occurred?"
 
Weaver

Weaver watches the Communer work on Colby intently, taking a moment or two to register the greasy rattus' question.

"More biomass, she must be doing some high energy work. Understandable, the degradat- oh, sorry. Ahem. Well my intial theory was that this was a Communer attack. Saw something similiar near H'kaer a few years ago, a deliberately engineered disease. This is different though, I don't know of any Communer who could pull this off. That tingling feeling in your paws is your cells degrading. See, your body is made up of tiny little bits called cells, and those cells are currently trying to die. It's why I keep touching all of you, to counteract it. Wash your fur, by the way."

He cranes his neck to get a better look at Colby before remembering his manners and sticking out a hand.

"I'm Weaver, nice to meet you."

From a social perspective today has been a huge success!
 
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