Participants: Abraham, Aushana, Dirionis, Maina, Reilly, Rukais
<Downtown Eiru, Pyracan>
Fortunate indeed that Eiru accepts all the crazies, because this woman is fit for a celebration in all those skulls and bones and leather. Aushana does not look comfortable at all, and even the most curious of glances is enough to have her freeze for a heartbeat, so her pace is set not in any timely manner but instead starts and stops. Still, she advances and once in the middle of the busy streets, she calls out. "Any here who are brave... there are some--" Her voice gives out about halfway through, scratchy from disuse, and she coughs and tries once more. "The Men in Amber need your help."
The answer, at least initially, is the assorted blaring of any vehicles she is impeding and the colorful dialect of the modern laborer which consists of several fustrated demands that she move her ass.
Reilly takes the psionic contact like a champ, but looks no more reassured by the Hiver's placating noises. Her jaw sets, tongue pokes at the inside of her cheek, and a patently disbelieving 'mmm-hmm' is vibrating in her throat when suddenly there is a wildwoman winding through the well-trafficked streets. The Sivadian finds Aushana in the dull glow of her cybernetic eyes. "Cor blimey, just open th' /floodgates,/ why don't you."
"What's goin' on man?" Diri greets as he offers a hand to shake/clap/clasp in an appropriate manner." A look towards Aushana then, and Diri shakes his head. "This chick doesn't give a fuck about traffic." A smirk, and he motions for Rukais to follow. "C'mon, I know her." He steps over to the woman, motioning for her to move away from the traffic "Hey!...I'll help out. Be careful." He points out the various vehicles.
Maina blinks, looking over at the announcement, then smiling. "Oooh. Is this the wild woman I heard-..." she trails off and frowns when she hears someone needs help. She looks to Reilly and rises, "I'm willing to help," she offers. To Reilly, "Coming, too? This sounds important." And now to Aushana, "Who needs help?"
"Not much, it's -" Rukais is interrupted in his reply to Dirionis by the sudden upheaval in the road, "...Or hairbrushes." He comments after Dirionis, following behind with a more casual gait. The man has a pipe, after all.
Abraham watches as the group attends to the wild woman. ~Such madness...~
At Dirionis' call, Aushana looks to him. Then nods, stepping out of the way to her own personal soundtracks of slurs and honks. "Thank you." It is, first, to the familiar faces and the bow encompasses the strangers that offered assistance. "The peak." She points to the not-so-distant mountains, "The men in amber still sleep." She, noticeably, doesn't seem to be wielding any. At Maina's question, the 'wild woman' shakes her head. "Better to show. Follow." With that, and no more, she whips around and stalks toward the beach. Abraham's summary is likely not too far off base.
"Oh, aye, 'cause there's no bleedin' way /this/ could go tits-up," Reilly snorts after the rifter, and is content to sit there and enjoy her newly-arrived bottle of Frostmouth until she sees the number of folks who are marching off to the mountains. Doubt blooms on her face, then indecision, then an odd marriage of capitulation and annoyance. "Oh, piss on it," the outverser finally grouses, having one last draught from her glass before abandoning the table to slap on her helmet, hop on her bike, and hum after Aushana.
Maina starts after Aushana when she starts wandering off, giving a shrug and a grin to Reilly. "It's good to help people."
Curiousity getting the better of him, Abraham chooses to follow, and his shimmer begins to trail behind the group.
<Mountain Ridge - Eiru, Pyracan>
Aushana would not have been talkative during this, and in fact, if engaged would skitter away like a deer. Still, she leads them to the mountain in an efficient enough manner, the sun already falling into the sky by the time she finally stops after the not insubstantial hike. It's as if she isn't winded at all. "From here... up." One slim, dirty hand rises to point toward the summit, hardly paying any mind to one of the bodies that is sprayed out obscenely inches from bare feet. "Catch your breaths... and get off your strange dragon." That last is for the bike-riding Reilly, who was wise enough to get on a vehicle.
Rukais appears to have been somewhat distracted half of the time and communicative with Dirionis the rest. "You say you know her?" he queries, in a somewhat hushed tone.
Abraham floats up behind the group, coming to a stop nearby as Aushana points towards the summit. ~Indeed... along climb for corporeals.~ he says.
Reilly's features are hidden behind her helmet's darkened faceplate, save for the twin pair of faint scarlet ghosts that are her eyes. She does not get off her hoverbike as instructed, though she does ease it back down to ground-level, keeping the shared weight level with a balancing foot. Her gaze turns skyward, following the mountain path. "Yeah, no, I'm stayin' on my strange steel dragon, thanks."
Maina follows along quietly, her steps light, seemingly also not winded by the journey. She frowns at the bodies, then glances up towards the summit. "This should be, um... fun."
"Yeah. Well...Kinda." Dirionis responds, smirking a bit towards Rukais, "We've run into eachother once or twice. She mentioned someone needin' help before this too." He continues to step along, peering up the mountainand checking the rifle over his shoulder.
Aushana just nods, taking the lead once more, though there is a sudden wariness about her that before was absent. Not of the people she is with, as she no longer keeps at least some of her attention on them, but instead the landscape. Which, just by footing alone, is treacherous but out here in the wild there is no guarentee that one might not be ravaged by a great giant toothed cat with seven inch claws and a bad temperament.
Squeak. Or maybe a small furry thing will throw a nut at the noisemaker Reilly is mounted on before scampering away.
"You get the impression she's dangerous?" Rukais queries, brow pulling upwards as they pull to a stop to appreciate whatever small rodent-like animal is taking a distaste to Reilly's transportation. "I only have to call it in. You heard the news this morning, right?"
Maina follows along, still, not really having much trouble, herself, with the terrain.
Abraham floats along himself, hanging back a bit but still curious as to the men in amber to which Aushana refers.
Reilly has left.
<Cavern of the Jotal Desecration - Eiru, Pyracan>
This is a large, extremely clean dark grey cavern, with plasma lights dangling from the extremely high ceiling. The floor is covered in slip-proof plastic, and a small reactor sits near the entrance, humming softly. It has a magnificent view of the teal green waters of the ocean to the south, and the sharp slope of the dark gray rock down to the jungle below. Over three hundred clear plastic coffin-sized boxes are stacked five high along the walls of this horseshoe-shaped cave. Each box seems to be filled with a dun yellow liquid, and upon closer inspection, floating within each is a Pyracani body.
Dirionis shakes his head back towards Rukais as they proceed along, "Not towards us, anyway...I mean its..." He pauses as he enters this area, staring around a moment in silence. A look to Aushana.
Aushana leads the entire crew to a hidden overcleft, and pauses at the entrance, blue eyes narrowing. "I will go no further... but here the sleepers rest, and my service is complete. You will help them." She slinks backwards, a slow methodical creep.
Maina furrows her brows as she looks around, frowning deeply. "What is this?"
"What the fuck?" Rukais manages, hunching forward and leaning on his own knees to catch his breath as he glances forward at the large cavern filled with Pyracani storage tanks.
~Ah... I understand now.. the men in the amber... although this seems more like a burial chamber.~ Abraham says.
Aushana remains kneeling, and though she watches all of them, she gives no clues or explanations. "I found them when I first arrived. Alone and unguarded. They gave me a purpose other than survival... I killed all predators that came, but I could never find a way to free them. Until I found your people."
"How long ago was that?" Diri asks Aushana as he steps forward to take a peek at one of the Pyracani, lightly rubbing away at some light sweat over his brow.
Maina looks to Aushana with a furrowed brow, waiting for an answer.
"Many full moons," Aushana admits. "None have stirred in that time. Not one."
Abraham floats over towards the reactor. ~Curious, though, that a burial chamber would have such implements. Perhaps storage... but for what purpose?~ he muses.
Rukais peels away from the group, raising his wrist to his mouth and speaking into it with an authoritative tone. "Milcoms, this is Reub James Rukais. I'm at... uh... The... The Laoch might want a look at this. I'm patching through a visual feed now."
Maina sighs a bit, glancing to the others. She steps further into the area, examining one of the boxes.
"You might wanna..." Diri starts, until he peers closer. "Rukias...Look at these bodies." A frown as he raises a brown. "Malnourished...Signs of imprisonment..." He looks around. "What the fuck is this place..."
~A good question.~ Abraham says.
Ayshana shuffles uncomfortably, still observing.
Maina frowns faintly, "Perhaps a grave? Or a prison?" She checks for any signs of life inside the 'coffin' sized boxes, or any indication of what the fluid is.
Rukais turns back at his name, walking over to Dirionis and reaching up to his chest so he can turn on the small flashlight mounted there. He directs it at the tank, "You think they're alive, not just preserved..?" He looks across to Dirionis with a concerned look.
The liquid is a clear-golden hue, and obviously some manner of preservative if Aushana has been guarding them for months. Or even a nutrient-rich fluid that keeps them alive. It won't be clear until the 'coffins' are broken into.
"I dunno, but this is fucked up," The merc replies, looking back towards Aushana, "How much of this have you explored? Is there any other rooms that seem important?" Dirionis runs a hand lightly across one of the tanks.
Abraham merely observes for the moment.
Maina frowns faintly to herself, "Do you think we should try taking one out? If it's dead, it's probably a grave. If it's alive, we can ask what's going on."
"I have lived on the mountain for a long time," Aushana responds. "But... I never wandered far. These people needed me, to guard them during their rest."
"If taking it out of the tank doesn't kill it..." Rukais replies with a falter, "Uh, /them/." He frowns, "Command, are you getting this?" There he goes again, communicating with the voices in his head.
Abraham floats closer to the tanks... his mind probing them... ~Their state made it difficult to determine, but it would seem she has been guarding them for naught... their minds are empty... they are no longer living.~ he says. ~We have found a burial chamber...~
"I ain't no doctor or nothin', anyone got some insight into whether they're alive or not?" Diri peers through the amber liquid and then back around at the group. As Abraham speaks up, he looks back towards Aushana with a slight frown. "I'm sorry."
Aushana is silent. Suitably, as quiet as a grave.
Maina gives a little nod towards Abraham, leaning back from examining one of the boxes. "The liquid looks like, um... a preservative for the deceased. I do think they're dead. Very dead."
"This isn't right." Rukais murmurs, "Pyracani burn their dead. Why preserve them? What's different?" He frowns, two fingers raise to his ear as he listens to whatever's being communicated to him from up high. "Ugh, you're no help." Evidently, they're no help.
~If what little I have learned of the species is accurate, this is a great dishonor to these individuals.~ Abraham says.
"Hey, we gotta let the Laoch know about this, and not fuck with it. Obviously this aint cool, but I don't want them thinkin' we fucked with this stuff." A look to Rukais then, "How bout that comm?"
Maina looks thoughtful, "Well, someone did mention they had injuries consistent with being imprisoned? Maybe they did something really, really bad, and this is their punishment? If this is such a big dishonor to them."
"No," Rukais counters Maina with a frown, "I'm sure every Pyracani has the right to a funeral pyre. The belief is that their spirit would be left to wander the world otherwise." He shakes his head to Dirionis, "They're not forwarding it. They're trying to figure out if this is a military issue or not."
Abraham has left.
Dirionis just peers back at the bodies then, taking a step closer, "You don't think they were bein'...Experimented on or anythin'...? Where'd the coffin-tanks come from, ya know?" The Lunite looks back towards Aushana a moment.
"They were here when I arrived," Aushana says. "/They/ have been here, I assume, since before me. I apologize, I do not know anything further... and it is getting dark. The mountain is not safe after sundown."
"What do you want to do?" Rukais queries Dirionis, "I could call an evac, get a proper team in here?"
Maina shifts her weight some, frowning a bit. "This just all feels wrong."
"Well lets get goin'," Diri agrees, stepping towards Aushana, "I'm sorry we can't help right now, but someone can get to the bottom of this." The Lunite frowns a tad, reaching into a compartment of his armor that pops open and offering a small water canteen to her.
Aushana takes the canteen, pulling off the skull helmet, and takes a sip. "Thank you." With that, it is tentatively offered back. "We should hurry."
Maina gives a little nod and a sigh, "Back we go, then..."
"Alopex command, requesting a small evac from coordinates I'm uploading now." Rukais wanders away from the group to do his thing.
Dirionis nods and takes the canteen, storing it in said compartment and moving for the exit. "This shit's nuts." He says under his breath, taking one last look over his shoulder.
<Western Settlement - Eiru, Pyracan>
It is midnight, or close enough to it, when they finally finish the return trip. Aushana stops at the edge of town, looking to her travelling companions. "We were blessed to pass through without complications. You will... speak with your leaders, aye?"
"Yeah, or the proper leaders." Dirionis comments, eyeing Aushana a moment with a bit of concern. He frowns slightly. "Hey...You wanna like...Eat some food? Take a shower or anythin'? No tradin' required."
Rukais has left.
Maina folds her arms under her chest with a frown. "Should probably leave it up to the others... I have no leaders to contact."
Aushana looks to Maina, "You are apart of that.. group of healers, no? They could be important."
"I'm gonna notify the Red Eclipse," Diri nods, looking to them both. "Yall have a good night." He steps off, confident swagger included.
Dirionis has left.
Maina looks over towards Aushana, "I'm a healer. I don't know how many others work the same place I do, but I could try and find out."
Aushana nods, "Best go then... I need to find a place to sleep." With that, she creeps backwards toward the shadows.